Everyone in the room seemed surprised by Ryuuzaki's outburst. Noyoki guessed that he wasn't one of those people who laughed very much. In fact, from the look of utter disbelief on Yagami, Matsuuda, and Light's faces, she wouldn't be surprised if they'd never seen or heard him laugh before. All the same, seemingly unaware of the total silence other than him in the room, he kept laughing. Smiling slightly, and quite amused, Noyoki stood and watched him.
Being the dumb he was, Matsuda spoke.
"R-Ryuuzaki-san?"
Ryuuzaki immediately stopped laughing, and once he realized what had just happened, a strange look of mixed disbelief and chagrin crossed his usually emotionless face. His eyes met Noyoki's, and for a second, she thought she saw-was it?-no, it couldn't be. She could never believe he'd look at anyone that way. Pushing the unwelcome thought from her mind, she joined in with the rest of the Kira investigation team laughing at Ryuuzaki.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. The laughter abruptly ended, and Ryuuzaki spoke.
"Come in."
The door opened, and a young girl walked in. She went over to Yagami and handed him a note. He read it, and handed it over to Ryuuzaki, who read it as well. Everyone else was watching the two, wondering what was going on. Yagami turned to the team. "
Everyone except Ryuuzaki, Noyoki-san, and Matsuda needs to follow me and Sayu right now," he said, his voice urgent. The team stood up and followed him out, leaving Noyoki, Ryuuzaki, and Matsuuda.
"Hmm. I wonder what that was about," Matsuda stated. He glanced at Ryuuzaki, who was staring absently into space. Noyoki watched the young man intently, wonering what he would do, if he would ask Ryuuzaki what was going on. However, before Matsuda could speak, Ryuuzaki did.
"Matsuda-san, feel free to take the rest of the day off. No-" he said, cutting off Matsuda's question,"-we won't make any more progress today. Go home, rest. I'll contact you if anything happens."
Matsuda nodded, and with a respectful half-bow towards Ryuuzaki and a cheerful wave towards Noyoki, he left. Ryuuzaki turned to her.
"Finally, all distractions are gone," he said, his voice gone suddenly quieter and lower pitched. "Let's finish our old conversation, about your life and how you found out about all this Kira mayhem. But first, sit, and we'll have some tea." He bent down and picked up a box of clean teacups from the floor. Taking two out, he replaced the box. He set them each on a saucer and poured the steaming tea. He then reached for the sugar bowl and emptied half of it into his cup. Noyoki's eyes widened in surprise; that was a lot of sugar. Ryuuzaki noticed her expression, and a hint of a smile crossed his face.
"In case you couldn't tell, I enjoy extremely sweet tea," he murmured. "I drink about five cups a day. This is my fourth. Now, feel free to add as much sugar as you like, and let's begin."
Noyoki reached for the bowl and put four spoonfuls of sugar in her tea. As she sat, stirring her drink, she began.
"Well, as you know, my husband worked for the local neighborhood police. He's been following the Kira case ever since it began. He spoke very little of his findings to me, so naturally, I became curious and started my own little investigation. When he discovered what I'd been doing, he was slightly annoyed, but we agreed to work together from then on. He told me everything he found out, except for his last. He knew who Kira was. He said he wasn't going to tell me, because he knew Kira would kill me if I knew. He was going to go to the police and tell them. Kira obviously found out, and killed him before he could make it. And..that's about it."
Everyone was silent for a moment, until Ryuuzaki spoke. His voice was unnaturally soft and compassionate, and it was obvious that everyone else noticed and that he'd never spoken that way before.
"Well. We'll certainly be willing to accept any information you have, and you can most definitely stay here. We'll keep you safe. I promise."