Chapter Ten

L stood up and took the handcuff keys out of his pocket.

"Ryuzaki? What are you doing?" Light asked.

"If I am going to question Ayano-chan, I'll have to do it by myself," L said. He unlocked the handcuff around his wrist and clicked it around the arm of the chair that Light was sitting in. Then L reached into a drawer and pulled out some chains, then wrapped them around Light and the back of the chair.

"….Is this really necessary, Ryuzaki?" Light asked nervously.

"Sorry Light-kun, but since I think you're Kira I have to make it so you can't move from here until I get back." L said, locking the chains. "Everyone, turn off the cameras and bugs in Amane-san's room. I'm going to talk to Ayano-chan in private. Keep researching Yostuba until I get back."

"Right on, Ryuzaki!" Matsuda said, turning them off. L turned and walked out of the room.

The minute L was out of the room, Matsuda ran back to the computer and switched the cameras back on again.

"What are you doing, Matsuda?" Light asked. "Didn't Ryuzaki say to shut the security cameras off in Misa's room?"

"Why would he want the cameras off? Unless he wants to have a love-chat with Ayano-saaaan!" Matsuda giggled.

"Matsuda, this is the Kira case! Take this seriously!" Soichiro snapped and shut the cameras back off.

"Besides, maybe Ayano won't talk unless she knows all surveillance is off," Light said.

"Aww, you're no fun," Matsuda groaned. "Can't we at least have a bug on?"

"No!" Soichiro said. "Besides, L and Ayano-san will probably tell us anyway."

"Yeah, everything except for the good stuff," Matsuda grumbled. But he shut the cameras off again and brought the data page for the Yostuba people back up.

"Ryuzaki did look sort of jealous when he was watching Ayano-san flirt with Takahashi." Matusda muttered.

"Matsuda! Focus!" Soichiro said.

I was hammering on my keyboard, trying to hack into the website of the coffee shop that I'd been in yesterday. By now L was probably trying to investigate where I was yesterday.

But wait. Why did I care if Toshiro told me not to tell L? It wasn't as if he was Kira….right?

Of course, the alias I'd used for the FBI wasn't my real name. I'd taken precautions. But there was a possibility that Toshiro could know... he was my ex, after all. I couldn't remember ever telling him my real name, but it was possible I'd have told him something after a few drinks...

But if he was Kira and he was feeding me lies about the FBI suspecting L, he would still have tried to use me for an information resource. The FBI suspecting L was far too absurd. It was stupid enough that Toshiro could've come up with it.

But then why would he kill off the business people? There was nothing in it for him. Besides, all of the evidence was pointing towards Kira being in Yostuba.

Maybe I was thinking too hard. I sighed, put the laptop down on the glass table, and closed my eyes, trying to relax.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I jumped. Could Misa be back from her movie shoot already? I quickly got up and opened the door. I blinked. Already, he was going to try talking to me? With Light?

"L?" I asked. "I said I'd be down in a minute…."

"Ayano-chan, I have to talk to you," he said, staring at me. I blinked again, then looked behind him. Uh-oh.

"Hey. Where's Light?" I asked.

"I chained him to a chair downstairs," L said, coming inside the room and crouching on the couch. "Please don't play coy with me."

"Who's playing coy?" I laughed nervously and took a few boxes of pocky out of a kitchen cabinet.

"You are," L said. "You went to that coffee place last night and met up with someone, who threatened you for information about me. Is that right?"

I froze. He'd hit it right on the mark.

It was useless trying to talk my way out of this one.

"Yes," I said, bringing the pocky to the table. L took a box and began to open it.

"Why didn't you tell me?" L asked. I sighed and flopped down on the couch next to him.

"I didn't say anything because…well…I was afraid…I guess I wasn't thinking clearly…" I said softly. L nibbled on a pocky stick, then put it down on the table.

"Ayano-chan, who was it?" he asked.

"Toshiro Gakusha," I said, closing my eyes. "I knew him from when I was in the FBI."

"I remember you telling me about him," he said. "He also was the ex you were talking about earlier, right?"

"Yeah," I sighed. I opened my eyes and looked at L. I couldn't read his expression as he stared down at the unfinished stick of pocky.

"So he was prodding you for information about me, because the FBI thought there was a possibility I could be Kira?" L asked.

"That was what he said," I said.

"Mmm." L picked up the pocky stick and finished it off. "So how was it left?"

"He let me go when you called me," I said. "He told me not to tell you and to contact him."

"So that was him texting you, when your phone vibrated," L said.

"I think so," I said and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I pressed a button and Toshiro's text came up on the screen.

Time's running out, Ayano. If I don't get a reply to this in 2 hours, I will assume that you have decided to keep withholding information. If you text me back, saying that you comply then meet me tomorrow at exactly 3:30pm in front of the To-Oh University main building. However, if you do not comply or do not reply to this message, then I will send in my special team to the task force headquarters and I'll forcefully take L into custody. I hope for a positive response.

~Toshiro

"Wh…what the hell is he thinking?" I cried. "How can there be enough evidence to freaking arrest you?"

L said nothing, just stared at the phone. His eyes narrowed.

"I don't like this," L muttered. He took the phone out of my hands and peered at it. "Ayano-chan, is it all right if I borrow this?"

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"I'm going to send a reply." L said. He opened the phone's keypad and typed out,

This is L. I assure you, Ayano hasn't told me anything. I figured it out by myself. May I ask what sufficient evidence you have?

He pressed the send button before I could stop him.

"L! What, have you gone crazy too?" I cried. "What's asking him that going to do?"

"I want to find out exactly why I'm being suspected by the FBI, if that is even the case," L said. "Ayano, do you think that there's a possibility that Toshiro was threatening you because he was or connected to Kira?"

"It occurred to me…." I said. "I suppose it's possible. But why would he make the random businesspeople die? He doesn't have a connection with Yostuba, or anything."

"Well, it's very possible he could be….a fourth Kira." L said.

DON DON DOOOOOOOON! AN EVIL CLIFFHANGER!:3 Thanks for all who reviewed my last chappie and a free death note for all who review this chapter! :D