My heart stilled. Of course, I'd been dropping tiny hints here and there to Light that I had an inkling that he was Kira, but I hadn't expected him to have caught on completely this early on.

"Oh? What makes you think that?"

I heard Light sigh. "It's obvious, Ryuk. Of course, you weren't there then, but since the day I got the notebook, I've said a lot of things that should have clued her in, intentional or not, and she hasn't called me out on them."

"What kind of things?"

"The day I first got the notebook . . . she almost got hurt, and I used it to try and help. Of course, I had no idea it was her at first, because she had a hood up, but that's beside the point. I was almost panicking then, and I definitely let slip that I had almost killed her—she would have died, had that truck been any faster." A pause.

"Then there was all the stuff that happened during that hijacking incident. I told her, 'curiosity killed the cat,' and then there's the fact that I admitted it was my fault . . ."

"Well, technically, it was your fault," Ryuk pointed out.

"I know," Light snapped. "Why do you think I was extra careful with writing down what I did with the FBI agents? The Death Note may not kill anyone whose name isn't written in it indirectly, but that doesn't mean that it won't involve other people."

"Right," Ryuk agreed.

"Mikko isn't dumb," Light continued, "so there's no way she doesn't have some theory pieced together, if she isn't already sure of it. She hasn't called me out on it, either, even when I got distant while writing in the Death Note, but whenever it comes to other things, she wouldn't hesitate."

I've been so busy trying to make sure he thought I didn't notice something was up, I didn't even realise that I seemed too ignorant . . . plus there's the hints I've dropped since the deaths of the FBI agents. Damn, he got me!

"Yep," Ryuk agreed. "She did call you out on your attitude this morning."

Light seemed to ignore the latter part of Ryuk's statement. "Plus, there's the hints she's dropped since Dad told us the FBI agents were dead. Do you remember what she said?"

Ryuk must have shaken his head.

"'I know,'" Light said after a moment. "She said that she knew, but never specified what. And last night, she pointed out that I stay in my room all the time now, like she only just noticed, which can't be possible."

"Oh," Ryuk just said. "But isn't that not enough to decide that she knows?"

"Human instinct is a powerful thing, Ryuk. Not that you'd understand. And if what you said about what this former FBI agent told her, that should pretty much confirm it to her, if she wasn't already sure. After all, Penber did show his name to us and us alone."

. . . Oh. I'd been too negligent after all. I should have told Ryuk to keep quiet about what had happened, if nothing else. Of course, Light revealing that I know who he is isn't that surprising to Ryuk, since he already knew, but Light himself wasn't supposed to figure it out this early on . . .

"And you're not going to confront her about it?"

Light seemed to hesitate for a moment, before deciding, "No. She hasn't said anything to me about it, and she obviously isn't going to tell anybody. If the FBI agent she talked to was any indication, she's going so far as to keep it secret. I . . . I don't want things to change between us."

"And what if she asks, huh?"

Light's response was too quiet for me to hear.

I decided to go back home that night, silently promising myself that I wouldn't change what we had by saying anything too early.

The following week was, for the most part, uneventful. I didn't confront Light about him being Kira, and he didn't ask me anything about it. Eventually, the lying became normal.

And I had to admit, it was aggravating. Or rather . . . boring. It felt as insincere as it was.

I want to talk to Light, without pretenses. "Hey, Light," I said, opening his desk drawer as he entered the room, "I'm reading your diary."

"Sure—wait, what?" Light protested (but didn't object), and Ryuk laughed. "Mikkooooo," Light mumbled as I snickered, but flipped to the latest entry on his diary.

January 6th
17 people killed by Kira: 8 killers, 4 drug traffickers, 1 arsonist, 3 sexual abusers, 1 child trafficker. No strange circumstances since the deaths of FBI agents. Further activity from Kira and L pending.
School homework finished in class, none pending.

That's not a diary . . . "Light, this is an investigative journal. Do you even have a proper diary in which you, you know, write your feelings in?" The journal's a good backup for if his room was searched, actually. "Also, I want in on your investigation."

"But . . ." Light hesitated. "Wouldn't it be dangerous if you got found out? You could die."

"Are you prepared to die?" I retorted.

"Well, no . . ."

"Good, because me neither. You're too smart to let us die, anyway."

"You're plenty smart too, you know."

"Not as much as you, Mister Number One Nationwi—"

"Let it go already, Mikko!" Light groaned, but if the twinkle in his eye was anything to go by, he was absolutely relishing in the praise.

"Please, when have you ever been modest around me?" I scoffed, but at Light's reaction, I gave in. "Okay, I'll cut you a deal, then."

Ryuk made a sound of sorts that sounded like one of curiosity, and Light narrowed his eyes, but nonetheless asked, "What?"

"If you enter To-Oh with the top scores, I get to tease you about it as much as I like. If not, then I'll let it go, once and for all." I stuck my hand out for a handshake.

"Isn't that a win-win for Light?" Ryuk asked, and it took all my effort to not crack a smile. It's not a win for him if he loses the bet—which he absolutely will, if he takes it. Of course, it was foul play on my part, since I already knew that Light would pass his entrance exams and with a flying hundred percent in everything, but it wasn't like anyone else knew it. And Light wouldn't risk doing badly on his exams on this.

And besides, it was just a silly bet, rigged or not, and Light loved the praise anyway.

"Fine," Light acquiesced.

"Oh," I added at the last moment, "and if I win, I get to see your real diary."

Light tried to sulk, but, as usual, he ended up pouting instead. Cute, I thought, poking his cheek. He'd have to lose his round cheeks if he ever wants to get rid of that pout. I stifled a laugh at the thought, as his face grew warm under my touch.

I drummed my fingers over the balcony railing in my room. School had started again today, but I'd been told to take another day or two of rest at a minimum before resuming my studies, and that I had to go in for a check later today. The wound in my arm was already well into the healing process, and had already clotted over—despite the unsightly dent in my arm, it was healing quickly.

It was the middle of the day, just past lunchtime (I'd managed to heat up some leftover rice and miso soup from Aunt Sachiko to eat), and I was bored out of my mind.

Normally, I didn't have a problem staying home alone, and I would take the opportunity to have some time to myself or plan something Death Note-related, but the former wasn't possible because of my injury, and the latter was simply not needed. Sayu and Light, of course, had gone to school, and Aunt Sachiko was out meeting an old friend of hers.

So there was literally nothing for me to do but while time away. It was nice, I supposed, not having to stress about anything. But it was also boring.

I was about to step back into my room when I saw an old man in a suit on the street—one whom I'd certainly never seen before. In person, I added a moment later, when I caught a glimpse of his face. You're Watari—Quillsh Wammy, aren't you?

Of course, he didn't answer my question, or notice me at all, for that matter. I stepped back in my room, and sat on my bed as I began to ruminate.

If Watari's sneaking into the Yagami house, that would mean that he's setting up the surveillance cameras, right . . . ? I don't think it's too out of place. However, there's no way he'd have done it today if he knew I'm here.

That meant that, for now, I'd been off L's radar. Maybe a "friend of Light's," but nothing more than that. Of course, that's going to have to change now, I realised dully. I couldn't hide out in my house forever; not when Uncle Soichiro was aware that I was mostly in his own nowadays.

I can't believe I'm thinking this, but I wish Dad were here—then, at least, I'd have an excuse of sorts. Then, another thought raised to my mind, unbidden: I miss him. I miss him actually being my dad and not just some roommate I don't get along with.

I lied down forcefully to clear my head of the thought, wincing at the shockwave of pain that coursed through my arm upon the impact with the bed. What kind of idiot only shoots with one hand? If you're going to hijack a bus, do it properly . . .

I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up hours later, sprawled across the bed with Light's face looming over me.

"Has anyone told you it's creepy to watch someone sleep?" I mumbled, my voice hoarse from disuse.

Light stared at me flatly. "I came to get you for appointment, you know. You should get changed so we can go. Besides, there's some stuff I want to pick up from the convenience store that's nearby," he added quickly, before I could even think to say that I'd be fine on my own.

"Don't wanna go," I just said sleepily.

Ryuk laughed, and I only just had the self-awareness I needed to keep myself from throwing my pillow at him and blowing whatever cover I had left.

"Mikko," Light sighed exasperatedly, but didn't hesitate to carry me off the bed and into the bathroom, sitting me on the stool with a decent pair of clothes that did not consist of a tank top and sweatpants, as I'd been preferring to wear now. "Go on and get changed," was all he said, before closing the bathroom door behind him as he left.

Now fully awake, I did as Light had said, changing into the outfit Light had picked out, and made haste to the appointment. Thankfully, I received good news: the bandage could go in a week, and so long as I applied the salve they'd given me, I could go about my daily life as normal. I would need to check in every month until then, rather than every other week, and it would heal within the month, provided I didn't strain it.

But there was, however, still going to be a shallow dent in my arm them where the bullet scraped out the flesh. It felt weird knowing that there was going to be a small chunk of my arm permanently missing—no. It didn't feel just 'weird'. I hated the sheer thought.

"Something on your mind?" Light asked softly as we left the convenience store, he having bought what appeared to be the entire store's worth of crisps and apples.

"I don't like knowing that I'm going to have a dent through my arm," I admitted, my own voice dropping to match Light's.

He winced, no doubt blaming himself for it (I'd given up on trying to convince him otherwise), and even Ryuk stopped his weird snickering routing.

"Anyway," I said, abruptly changing the topic, "any new developments?" I'd managed to get Light to 'cooperate' with me on solving the Kira case (and really, so long as I didn't bring Naomi up, there shouldn't be too much of an issue). Light had already filled me in on what he'd allegedly 'come to reason'—that Kira was likely a student anywhere between junior high and high school based on their idealism and the killing times, that they had access to police information, that they were probably able to control the victims before their deaths, and that Kira almost definitely worked alone.

That had literally been it.

Light paused to think for a moment. "Regarding Kira, not really," he said thoughtfully, "but I get the feeling that I could be a suspect."

Ryuk whooped out a few hyuks in laughter, clearly not having expected that.

"What? How come?" I asked, mimicking Light's signature confused pout. Don't let him know you know he knows you know, I told myself. Did that even make sense? Figuring that it probably did, I just waited for Light's answer.

"There was someone in my room earlier, and it wasn't Mom or Sayu. Or you, since you were passed out on your bed for what I assume was probably half the day, and your spare key was still on the counter. Nothing in the house was stolen, either," Light said somberly.

"So based on that, you think you're a Kira suspect?" I asked as incredulously as I could.

Light shot me an impatient glance. "Mikko, think about literally everything we know about Kira. Plus there was that FBI agent who was going to Spaceland."

"Good point," I admitted, nodding sagely. "No one goes to Spaceland alone on a weekend. Didn't he say he had a gun, too?"

"He did," Light affirmed. "Guns are illegal for civilians to own, and he'd have gotten caught."

"Someone should have told that to the hijacker," I said airily.

Ryuk lost it at that, bursting into laughter on the spot.

"Could you be a little more serious about this? I've got good reason to believe there are cameras and wiretaps in my room—and possibly the rest of my house, too," Light snapped, clearly irritated.

I bit my lip, embarrassed. The surveillance arc hadn't bothered me too much back when I first read the manga, but it was only now that the full extent of its implications sank in. I knew that there were, in fact, cameras all over the house.

And that meant that Light, Sayu, and Aunt Sachiko wouldn't have a lick of privacy within their own house, whether they were aware of it or not.

"Yeah . . . sorry." I sighed. "For someone who parades around calling himself 'justice' on national TV, L's deceptively willing to break laws and basic ethical rules, isn't he?"

Light's gaze hardened. "Yeah, he had no problem with having that death row inmate die on live television, too." I'd momentarily forgotten that public executions were illegal (at least in Japan), but Light was absolutely right.

"So, what do you plan on doing about the cameras?" I asked, reverting back to the previous topic.

Light raised a shoulder in a small shrug. "Nothing, I guess. It would look suspicious if I were to find one right off the bat, and suspicion is the last thing I need."

If there was one manner of Light's speech that had changed over the week, it was that he was a lot more open with what he said, and he was a lot less choosy with his words. Now that he knows I've found out, he's relaxed a lot more around me. He isn't walking on eggshells around me anymore. And now that I knew he knew, I could do the same.

It was undeniably refreshing.

"So you're just going to let them invade your privacy?"

"I don't really have a choice, Mikko. It's terrible, but at least Mom and Sayu don't know, since we can't exactly just go somewhere because of it. It would just become even more suspicious."

"I'd offer my place, but your point still stands of it being suspicious," I confessed.

"You know, Light, if you're so sure she's on your side, why don't you ask her to write some names for you?" Ryuk suggested.

Both of us ignored him. Even if Light did ask me to cover for him by writing down names, I'd refuse. I wasn't using that notebook, no matter what. Plus, I already knew Light would make it past that.

And if I thought about it, Light probably wouldn't ask me to, either. If his silence about being Kira despite me knowing was anything to go by, he had no inclination to involve me with any matters of the Death Note.

I had absolutely no qualms about it, either.

"But you should definitely head back to your house after we study." Light pressed his lips together thoughtfully. "Mom wants to know how the appointment went, and it would be weird if you suddenly stopped showing up."

"Yeah," I agreed, pulling my winter jacket on tighter, completely concealing any sign of the bandage. That was something L didn't need to find out about. It may have worked with Naomi, but L would absolutely find it suspicious.

"Are you guys just gonna walk past your house?" Ryuk asked, pointing out that we'd almost walked right past it. Both of us stopped talking, and went in.

"How did it go?" Aunt Sachiko asked the moment we stepped in.

"It's getting better," I said, intentionally trying to be as vague as possible about it. Uncle Soichiro knew that I was injured, of course, but he didn't know how—that was a secret privy to only Light, Sayu, Aunt Sachiko, and myself. "But it's going to remain dented."

Aunt Sachiko and Sayu, who'd been doing math at the table, both winced in sympathy.

"It'll be fine," I said, forcing a smile. "Anyway, Light and I were going to study until dinner," I added, using my right hand to drag Light upstairs.

"Kimiko, at least take off your jacket before you—"

"It's cold," I protested from the top of the stairs, and Aunt Sachiko gave in.

I wasn't sure whether to be happy about it or not, but Yuri had managed to send the chemistry and Japanese worksheets that were assigned as homework through Light.

"I'm surprised she did it without asking," Light commented as he passed them to me.

"It's called 'friendship', Light. You should give it a try," I teased.

Light glanced at me in mock offense, but the smile that pushed up a corner of his mouth betrayed his amusement. "I thought you were my friend, Mikko."

"Hmm," I tapped my chin, pretending to think it over. "What do I get in return?"

"You get graced with my holy presence. Also, better grades."

We both burst out laughing. Light . . . looks so much more carefree when he laughs, I thought, transfixed, and I could have sworn my heart flipped.

I ignored it and got to work on the chemistry worksheet. "Say, Light, what's the molar mass of a molecule of iodine?"

Not missing a beat, Light said, "Two hundred and fifty-four grams."

"Thanks."

Thankfully, the rest of the work didn't take long to complete, and Light and I found ourselves checking over our answers in no time. "This one here," I said, pointing at one of the options, "should be C. You've got the pentyl ethanoate with A, but C includes the water that forms in the esterification reaction."

Light looked at it again. "Ah, right," he said, quickly correcting his answer. He leaned in closer to look at my page. "You got question eighteen wrong—aluminium ore's called bauxite."

I hummed in acknowledgement, fixing it, then turned to face Light—

—whose face was mere centimetres from mine. Light's eyes were wide open with shock, and it was only this close that I could see smudges of purple beneath them from exhaustion (physical or mental, I didn't know), but his eyes were still aglow, the brown almost a honey-gold where the room light reflected off them.

I couldn't bring myself to pull away, I realised, just as his eyes fluttered closed. Mine did the same, and we were close enough for me to feel his breath—

"Light, Kimiko, dinner's ready!" Aunt Sachiko called from downstairs, breaking Light and I out of the reverie we'd been in. We both jolted back, unable to even make eye contact as we headed downstairs.

I almost kissed Light. I pressed my hands to my face, which was burning enough for me to assume it was beet red. Oh my God, I almost kissed Light. I even forgot that there were cameras here! My blush only worsened at the realisation that L had been watching—and that Uncle Soichiro had almost witnessed me kissing his son.

Clearly, the universe was enjoying toying with me.

"Not another music program . . . watch the news once in a while, Sayu," he sighed, shaking his head. Is he seriously unaffected by what just happened? Was it feigned?

"Not when Hideki's on! He's gorgeous," Sayu sighed dreamily. "Why don't you like anybody?"

That only brought to mind what had just taken place moments ago upstairs. "It's not about liking anyone," Light quickly deflected the question. "It's about what's important."

"Love is important, though!" Sayu argued, turning back to the television. "'NKK news bulletin' . . . ?" she read aloud off the screen. "'Interpol to send a total of one thousand, five hundred detectives from various countries to Japan to help solve the Kira case.'"

Light scoffed. "Interpol would have to be stupid to do that,"

"Huh?" Sayu asked.

"I see . . ." I said after a moment. "After the deaths of the FBI agents, who'd come in secret and still were found by Kira, announcing that more agents are coming in would be pointless."

"Exactly," Light agreed, smirking to himself. "This is definitely a ruse to make Kira feel cornered. What they're trying to do is instill fear into him and put him on edge, so he could potentially mess up."

"But in that case, isn't this a little too obvious?" I asked, frowning.

Sayu's eye twitched. "For smart people like you two, yeah, but think about the rest of us!"

"But wouldn't Kira have to be pretty smart to have avoided being caught for this long? L is the greatest detective in the world, after all," I pointed out.

"Bet I could find Kira first," Light interjected.

"It's not about who finds him first," Aunt Sachiko cut in smoothly, "it's about hoping that Kira gets stopped in the end."

Unruffled, Light continued, "Anyway, you're right about Kira having to be smart. And if he is, he'll probably have seen right through this announcement, too."

"Yeah, odds are it isn't true," I agreed, knowing fully well it wasn't.

Light hummed in agreement. "Anyway, I'm done eating now, so I'm gonna head upstairs," he said, taking his plates into the kitchen, and subsequently grabbing a bag of crisps from the snack cupboard.

"No way, Light, you're eating potato chips right after dinner? You're gonna get fat, you know." Sayu pointedly took another bite of her rice.

"Then again, he'd go out of his way to work it all off," I countered. "The day Light stops taking care of his image is the day I'll die of shock."

Light huffed in indignation. "These are for later, since I'll be studying till late." It's a shame I won't be able to witness the infamous potato chip scene in person.

"Which reminds me," I said, getting up from my own place, "that I ought to go back home now. Thanks for the meal, Aunt Sachiko!"

A few goodbyes later, I was back outside my own house, away from the view of the cameras. I couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief as I unlocked my house door.

Only to see a man already in my apartment, with poor posture and dark hair, chugging a far of strawberry jam. Suspiciously familiar red eyes met mine, and he grinned.

I don't believe in coincidences anymore. "You know," I said, not even bothering to question it, "I get the feeling that I should be a lot more surprised right now."

[A/N]: Is it just me, or are the weeks passing faster? Hmm...