24. HOMECOMING
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26TH
There is nothing quieter than the sound of death. And when L Lawliet and Light Yagami had experienced it, they experienced it in shades.
L's death was like a thick poison that had seeped into his lungs and strangled him from the inside. But, despite this, he went far swifter than his adversary.
On the other hand, Light's death was remorseless and determined, like a hunter. It stalked him for many days and nights, but eventually it had found him and cornered him. And no matter how much he kicked and screamed to escape its hold, his end was absolute.
Death does not waste its time on mercy. It comes and it goes like the tide. There's no stopping it, no reversing it, no erasing it.
Until now.
The first thing Light sees upon his rebirth is the blue sky. He sits up from the gravel and examines his surroundings. People walk by him, unbothered by the man lying in the middle of the road on a busy Tokyo intersection.
I'm back, he thinks. Light stands up and pats himself down. The bullet woulds from when he had been shot are nowhere to be found underneath his black longcoat. Yet, as he comes to terms with his revived body, he can't help but contemplate whether he's a ghost or if the rest of world is just far too preoccupied to acknowledge him.
He tries patting a man on his shoulder for directions, but the man simply looks through him, not over him, through him and waves to someone within the crowd. The other man walks through Light like an open door and the two of them melt into the throng.
"They can't see or hear us," a voice near him says.
Light turns his head sharply to see a familiar face. "Ryuzaki," he says, his tone giving off some mixture of relief and shock at the sight of the pale man.
"You seem upset. Is something wrong?"
Light examines his companion, who had once been his greatest enemy. But now, as his mind grows lucid, he begins to reconnect why they both are standing here together, ignored by the rest of the world.
"Kami. The Shinigami King." Light massages his temples. He hears a voice in his head. It's foreign at first but then gains familiarity the more it echoes his names. "Ryuk. The Death Note."
The pale man approaches him and leans forward. "Have you already forgotten why we're here?"
The memories come at him like a tidal wave. Light remembers a dark place where he had been reborn and given a task. He remembers the great abomination that had given him said task along with a burden—that burden was Ryuzaki as his familiar. Together they have returned to the human world. Light recalls Ryuk's haunting cackle and the Death Note dangling between the Shinigami's long, filthy fingers. Light's full name sat inside it's pages, begging the young man to save it.
Light continues massaging his temples as he answers, "We were given orders by the Shinigami King to retrieve the Death Note with my name in it. Only then would we both be free. But Ryuk took it to the human world. And now we're here." He finally drops his hand. "Is that correct?"
Ryuzaki presses his thumb to his bottom lip. "Yes."
"Okay," Light says through a sigh. "So I haven't lost my mind."
"Yet."
Light ignores the remark and surveys the streets for some hint of recognition. When he was a high school and university student, he frequented these busy streets to and from school, usually with a book in hand to pass the mundane travel time.
"As I said before, nobody else acknowledges us," Ryuzaki says.
"It must be similar to how Shinigami are," Light adds. "You can't see or hear a Shinigami's voice without contact with the a Death Note first." Which means the only plausible way for either Light or Ryuzaki to make contact with the mortal world is to find Ryuk. "Come on, we need to discuss some things." He starts forward and finds a small alleyway less than a block away. Even though the men have the freedom to discuss their plans within a sea of people, the commotion is too distracting. Light pulls Ryuzaki into it by the collar harder than intended.
"Easy there, Light-kun," Ryuzaki says with bite in his tone. "There's no need to be forceful. I'm quite fond of manners."
"Sorry," Light says, releasing his hold, "but this is important. We need to find Ryuk."
"Obviously."
Light presses his lips together and crosses his arms over his chest. "My hunch tells me that he's somewhere in Tokyo."
"And why do you suspect that?"
"Because Ryuk likes a good chase."
Ryuzaki cocks a brow. "Is that really your best assumption?"
"It sounds ridiculous, but I've spent time with Ryuk. Enough time to say that he isn't the type to run. He'd prefer to watch idly from the sidelines and have someone else deal with me." Light paces and accidentally kicks an empty beer bottle. Odd. Though they are both equally invisible to humans, inanimate objects seem to react to them."He's a lot lazier than you'd think."
Ryuzaki remains unflinching. "How can you say that without any leads?"
"We have a lead," Light counters. "Did you know that Shinigami like apples, Ryuzaki?"
His dark eyes narrow. "What?"
"Ryuk loves apples."
"So you're suggesting we search every apple in the entire city of Tokyo for him?" Ryuzaki purses his lips. "I doubt we'll successfully complete such a task given our limited resources."
True. "Then what do you suggest we do?"
The pale men's glazed eyes lower to the ground, as if searching for the answer to Light's question among the empty beer cans and plastic garbage bags. When his gaze rises, he asks, "Do you still have family, Light-kun? Or someone you can trust. Someone you were close with?"
"My mother and sister," Light answers. "But I'm not sure if they are still living in the same house we had."
Ryuzaki begins heading toward the crowded streets of Tokyo. "Then we'd best go and see for ourselves."
"Wait," Light says, halting the other man in his tracks. "What about Ryuk?"
"We set a trap."
"Trap?"
Ryuzaki nods and the slightest smile appears on his pasty face. "If Ryuk loves apples so much, we need to get into contact with someone who has access to apples." He puts his hand up and presses it against the brick wall. His fingertips sink through the structure. "As you can see, we are invisible to things of this world. However, like you, I believe Ryuk won't travel too far. Besides…" In the thin shadow of the building, his eyes start to glow. "I have the ability to sense where your Death Note is. And I have a feeling it's still with Ryuk."
Light blinks. Perhaps this won't be as troubling as he had initially anticipated. "But if humans can't see us, how will my family know we're there?"
Ryuzaki nods to the beer can Light had kicked earlier. "Certain objects seem to respond to us. We may be intangible to the naked eye and to structures, but smaller, lighter objects react to our touch."
Light considers. "I'd rather not get my family involved. This has nothing to do with them." He recalls his father's demise. How he had looked into his son's eyes and believed him not to be the infamous Kira until his last breath. "I don't think my mother or sister will be able to handle my return."
"Would you rather Ryuk fly around with your name imprisoned inside his Death Note?" the pale man asks with a quizzical brow.
"Very well," Light concedes, though still cautious. "Let's go."
The two men weave through countless swarms of people for a time until they give up trying to avoid inevitable contact. Neither man needs to avoid conflict with either humans or cars because it matters not. Even when one of them walks into the street as traffic comes flying toward him, the vehicle passes through him, and the unharmed ghost continues on.
"Instead of my family, we could pick an apple from the store and plant a trap with it," Light suggests as they pass a marketplace.
"Do you really believe a floating apple will go unnoticed with this many eyes in one place?" his companion replies, giving his a sidelong glance.
Light nods. "This is true." He had already considered that issue. But, for some reason, only when he hears Ryuzaki confirm his suspicion does he toss the thought away. In his past life, he'd have only himself to deliberate with and trust. But that was before he had experienced death. Before he had made too many mistakes. Nowadays, he has an extra pair of eyes and ears to bounce ideas off of.
"Ryuzaki," he says, watching the way the pale man's black hair bob off the nape of his neck. "Do you have family?"
Ryuzaki's head turns slightly, but he continues walking ahead of his companion without missing a step. "Not that I remember."
"You grew up in an orphanage. Surely you must have been close to someone there. Or were you all separated from each other?"
"Was I?" Ryuzaki replies, as if he honestly doesn't know. "Who do you think I was close to?"
"Did you know someone named Near?" Light considers the young man's true name. "Nate River," he corrects.
Ryuzaki mumbles the name softly to himself. "It sounds vaguely familiar. Do you know what he was to me?"
"He was your successor. Well, one of them. You were quite fond of variety back when we knew each other," Light almost chuckles. If it hadn't been for Mello and Near's combined talents, he wouldn't be having this conversation with this manifestation of his former rival. "Even I didn't expect there to be another L after you were gone."
Ryuzaki stops at an intersection, as if he's waiting for the traffic to flow by and the pedestrian sign to shine on. As if he's actually human. "Light-kun," he says. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure."
"Were we ever friends?"
The question comes as soon as the pedestrian sign flashes on and people trickle onto the streets. Light and Ryuzaki remain frozen in time as the rest of the world moves along without them.
"I…"
Light remembers siting in front of a monitor screen, typing away code. When he finally breaks away from his duties, he turns to his left and sees an empty chair beside him. On the table in front of the chair rests a lonely piece of strawberry cake. Inside his chest, a black mass grows thick and heavy.
"We…weren't."
The pedestrian sign shuts off, and the pale man dips his head. "I see. That's what I thought you'd say."
And then he starts forward again.
The men reach Light's house street sometime in the afternoon when the sun has begun to set and the sky has started to darken. Light walks forward, and Ryuzaki falls into step beside his companion.
Nothing's changed, Light thinks, examining the rows of townhouses closely knitted together, almost as if they are one being. He holds his breath, even though he doesn't need to, as he rounds a corner and sees his house in sight. The gate comes up in front of the men, and Light instantly turns his attention onto the family name carved into the residency's entryway in kanji. He releases the breath he had been holding until now.
"Sakamoto," Ryuzaki answers for him. "You sure you have the correct house, Light-kun?"
"Positive," he says, recognizing everything about the townhouse as his own minus a few cutouts of animal pictures plastered on the windows of his bedroom and a clothesline hanging across a lower balcony. "My family's moved." Oddly, he's relieved. He hadn't planned on getting his mother or sister involved, nor had he wished to. Their interference would've cost him a lot more than what he's already lost trying to regain his Death Note.
"You seem relieved," Ryuzaki says, having noticed.
"Honestly, I am. If we had gotten either one of them involved they may have caused more harm than good."
The pale man's eyebrow rises, and he releases a soft hum. "So you don't care about them enough to trust them?"
Light's gaze returns to the townhouse that once belonged to his family. He had grown up in this very place. The memories he once held dear as a child have since fizzled with age and experience. The first time he moved out of his house was when he had started working with L. His life had shifted so greatly after contact with the Death Note. Light had left his quiet, suburban family behind for a life where he constantly danced on eggshells. His time spent doubling as both Kira and L's right-hand had been so consuming, he rarely ever stepped back into his family's townhouse outside of business or birthdays. There are no personal feelings remaining with this place. Returning now feels like returning to a gravesite.
"Do you want to go inside?" Ryuzaki suggests.
Light chuckles mockingly. "Why would I want that?"
"This is your home, isn't it?"
Light examines the foreign décor around the townhouse. "No, it's just a house." Turning back to his companion, he says, "We shouldn't dawdle. Let's figure out another way to find Ryuk."
The pale man's eyes watch him, as if he wants to say something else. He finally replies, "You're right. Our mission's more important."
With that, both men walk on.
23 DAYS REMAINING