Taro stared glumly at the Rubik's cube, turning it over in his hands. Watari's idea of 'education' was to provide Taro with dozens of brain-bending games, most of which had completely stumped him. Watari had not been very impressed to find that Taro had been cheating at Sudoku.
"If you do not wish to complete the puzzle fairly, you must at least copy the correct answers from the back of the book," he'd said sternly.
Taro had never once been able to solve the Rubik's cube. He'd been working at it all evening, but the most he could manage was two sides at a time. Yawning, he decided that he'd give the cube ten more minutes before going to sleep. Boy, he really must be tired; he couldn't even get the thing to spin properly. Was it stuck?
Turning the cube over, he saw something wedged between the parts, jamming them up. It looked like a seed from the grapes he'd been eating earlier. He'd started whacking the cube against a corner of the coffee table, trying to dislodge the grape seed when the whole thing suddenly fell apart.
Taro found it hard to be upset about that. He was a little curious about the twisting mechanism from the cube's centre, but it turned out to be another boring piece of black plastic. He began clipping the little coloured blocks back onto it: before he'd realised what he was doing, he found himself holding the completed puzzle.
Ha. That would show Watari.
Setting the cube down on the coffee table, Taro crossed the room and flicked the lights off so he could go to sleep. Unfortunately there was another light shining outside, bright enough to illuminate the room even through the heavy drapes. Annoyed, Taro backtracked across the room and pulled the curtains open just enough to peer out.
The light was coming from a nearby building. It was powerfully bright, like a spotlight, and shone directly into the room as though it had been deliberately aimed. It began to waver slightly like an old film, but it wasn't until it gave a decent shudder that Taro noticed a shadow moving with it.
Stepping back from the window, he stared up in horror at the familiar letter L shadowed against the curtains.
Watari arrived at Taro's hotel room the next morning to find it empty, the lock broken. It seemed a little unrefined for L. He had been expecting to make this discovery for some time now, but L must have been waiting for Kira's capture before retrieving Taro. After all, there was no longer any doubt that Light Yagami was Kira.
He had been rather amused to find the completed Rubik's cube: Taro couldn't have solved the cube by himself, so L must have left it as a sign that he'd been here in person. Watari couldn't remember L going out anytime the previous night, but it was typical of him to be sneaky like that.
Upon returning to L's hotel suite, Watari found him in crouched in front of his surveillance footage with a plate of cupcakes. Of the investigation team, only Matsuda and Aizawa were present: Mogi was away keeping watch at the police station, while Chief Yagami had been voluntarily imprisoned for over a week now.
"Ryuzaki. I found the cube," Watari said.
"The cube, Watari?" A slightly puzzled look shifted across L's face, before being replaced with his standard blank stare. "It's fine. Aizawa and Matsuda already know about Taro's release."
"Yeah, Ryuzaki told us that since Light's in prison and Kira's stopped killing, it's safe to let Taro go home," Matsuda piped up.
Watari hesitated. L had let Taro go home, just like that? Something about this didn't wash. He noticed Aizawa standing silently with his hands behind his back.
"Home?" he repeated.
"I never said anything about going home," L responded, holding a cupcake up in front of his nose and inspecting it very closely. "I only said that he was free to go."
"Oh, sorry," said Matsuda. "I just thought that since he's a kid, he probably wanted to go home and see his parents again. Wouldn't that be the normal thing to do?"
"Yes," said L, staring nearly cross-eyed at his cupcake. He opened his mouth wide to take a bite.
"Are you trying to tell us that you don't know where he is?" asked Aizawa.
L opted not to bite into the cupcake after all. "I'm sure I could find him easily enough."
Everyone fell silent as they processed the implications of that statement, but just when L thought it was safe to eat the cupcake, he was interrupted by Matsuda.
"I don't understand, Ryuzaki!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.
"You don't get it, Matsuda?" said Aizawa, eyes narrowed. "Ryuzaki's up to something. Don't you think it's a little strange that he would go to all that trouble with Taro's identity and the interrogation, only to let him go at a time like this?" He turned to address L directly. "You were so convinced that Taro could tell us something about Kira, and God knows we could really do with that information right now, but it looks like you've changed your mind without bothering to tell us why. We're supposed to be working on this investigation together; I'm sick of you keeping us all in the dark."
"I'm sorry, Aizawa." L gave a small sigh and gazed forlornly at his cupcake: this wasn't an appropriate moment to be talking with his mouth full. "To be honest with you, I'm not sure what to think any more. There's no doubt that Light Yagami is Kira, but I can't accept that he would turn himself in without some ulterior motive… it's not like him… and there's his recent behaviour…"
Aizawa stared as Ryuzaki trailed off, seemingly lost in thought. "And?" he demanded. "Why did you let Taro go?"
"Well, I'm interested to see what he will do. As you know, he refused to speak even a single word the entire time he was in custody. I believe there is a higher chance of learning something useful if we observe his actions rather than trying to get him to cooperate with us." There was another pause: L took the opportunity to quickly stuff the cupcake into his mouth.
Matsuda spread his hands and shook his head. "But remember, Ryuzaki, we already tried that. I followed him every day for a week, and he didn't do a single thing out of the ordinary."
There was no reply: Ryuzaki went still, and then began making an odd gack sound. Matsuda was poised to whack him on the back when he lifted a hand to his mouth and spat out the paper cupcake wrapper he had accidentally eaten.
"Ugh. You're right, Matsuda, but this is not the same. Taro may act differently now that Kira is no longer killing."
Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then why aren't we watching him? Shouldn't we be out there looking for him? It's no good if he does something and we're not even there to see it!"
"Hey, yeah! We should start looking right away!" Matsuda exclaimed.
Much to Aizawa's surprise, Ryuzaki nodded in agreement. He then tilted his head to one side as though thinking. "We'll find him sooner if we split up," he said, resting two fingers against his chin.
"Are you coming to help us look?"
"Yes; I'm sure you're aware that we are severely short of staff. Aizawa, I want you to start with Taro's house, but please be careful not to alert him or his parents as to your presence. Watari, please contact Mogi for me and have him check the school. Matsuda?"
"Yes?" said Matsuda, sounding eager.
"You followed him for several days: I want you to retrace your steps as well as you can and check any place that seems likely."
"Okay!"
"If we're all out looking for Taro, who's going to keep an eye on things here?" Aizawa asked, indicating the surveillance feed. Ryuzaki was usually much more stubborn than this: Aizawa couldn't help but be suspicious of it.
"Watari will contact me if anything comes up," said L. "And before you ask, I'm going to try tracking Taro from his last known location."
Aizawa looked him up and down, one eyebrow sceptically raised. The image of Ryuzaki actually tracking anyone seemed absurd, but he guessed that the world's greatest detective must have at least some skill in field work.
"Anything else we should know, Ryuzaki?"
"Yes. Please remember: we do not want Taro to realise that we are looking for him. We need to be subtle about this."
"Sure thing," said Matsuda. "All right, let's go!"
Aizawa and Matsuda quickly left, while Watari retreated to another room to contact Mogi. Once he was done with that, he returned to find L halfway out the door.
"Ryuzaki," he called, and L turned to face him with an expectant look. For a long moment, neither of them said anything: Watari's disapproval hung thick enough in the air.
"Mogi is on his way," Watari finally said.
"Ah. Thank you," L replied, turning to leave.
Watching him slouch out the door, Watari couldn't help but feel a terrible responsibility. L was the way he was, no matter the reason: still, it was Watari who had raised him to be that way.
Taro stumbled wearily on his feet as he weaved through a crowd of shoppers. Since breaking out of his hotel room late last night, he had been wandering slowly but surely towards his home district. He had no intention of actually going back to his house since that was the first place L and/or Kira would look for him, but he desperately wanted to be somewhere familiar.
He must have been awake for nearly thirty hours by now. He wasn't desperate enough to take a nap on the ground yet, but a park bench was starting to look pretty good. Passing by a small park, he slumped onto a seat and threw one arm over his eyes to block out some of the light, as he had so often done while trying to sleep under L's relentless watch. There was a small fountain nearby: its steady splash was very soothing to listen to. He felt distantly glad that he wasn't cold.
He awoke some time later with a vaguely creepy feeling. The park bench seemed much less comfortable now, and there was no longer any sunlight on his face. Hopefully it wasn't too late: he was dreading the onset of another night.
Groaning, he sat up and rubbed at his eyes. There came a strange sound from behind him: the vaguely creepy feeling suddenly grew very distinct.
He slowly turned to cast a wary look over his shoulder. There was an odd-looking man crouched on the ground next to the park bench, licking his fingers and smacking his lips as though he'd just finished eating something sticky. And even as he was doing this, he was peering very intently at the spot where Taro's head had been just a few seconds before.
After all the death threats and abductions and shinigami popping out of nowhere, it took a lot more than this to scare Taro nowadays.
"Hey!" he shouted, scowling. "What are you doing?"
The man jumped in mock surprise, then fixed the boy with his intent stare. "Oh, hi. You're awake. Taro Kagami, am I right?" he said, offering an odd little smile. The pupils of his eyes were so dilated that Taro wondered if he might be on drugs.
"How do you know my name?" he asked suspiciously, trying to remember where he'd seen that creepy stare before.
The stranger turned his gaze skyward. "You never did come back for those books," he sighed.
"Oh, you're um, that guy," said Taro, thinking that it probably wasn't a good idea to call him 'the weird librarian' to his face. "Hideki Ryuga, right?"
"Look at that, you even remembered my name," said Ryuga, climbing up onto the bench to hunch next to Taro. It was strange to see a grown man sit with his knees drawn up like that, but Taro had already figured that there was nothing normal about him.
"Were you watching me sleep?" he demanded, scowling again.
"Yes," Ryuga shamelessly replied, sticking two fingers into his mouth. He was like an overgrown child, Taro decided.
"You shouldn't watch people like that. It's creepy."
"Creepy?" Ryuga repeated.
"Yes." There really wasn't any better word to describe him. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I wanted you to have this," Ryuga said, suddenly producing an apple and holding it towards Taro. He managed to balance it from underneath with just his thumb and forefinger, as though he'd really rather not touch it.
Taro stared suspiciously. "What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing."
"Then why are you holding it like that?"
Ryuga was watching him sidelong. "Don't you like apples?"
Taro kept staring. The apple moved a few inches closer.
"I'm told that shinigami like apples," Ryuga added, his arm now fully extended. "And I think you could do with something to eat."
"Shinigami?" Taro blurted in surprise. "You're crazy."
"I'm not the one turning down free food," Ryuga pointed out. "Nor am I the one complaining about being watched even after falling asleep on a park bench in broad daylight."
Taro took a long look at his own feet. If he was really the crazy one, then that would certainly explain a lot.
"My arm is getting tired," Ryuga complained.
Well, it was true that Taro could do with something to eat. Keeping a wary eye on Ryuga for any sudden movements, he took the apple and inspected it: there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, but he felt awfully suspicious of Ryuga. It was strange coincidence to come across someone he knew in a place like this, and Ryuga hadn't properly answered the question about what he was doing here. What kind of person brought apples to someone they were barely even acquainted with? And another thing: Taro remembered sleeping with his arm over his face, so Ryuga would have had to take a fairly close look to recognise him. The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that Ryuga had been intentionally looking for him.
Taro was at a loss for something to say, so he bit into the apple instead, wondering if shinigami really did like apples. He couldn't remember Ryuk ever eating anything: he didn't think shinigami needed to eat. Why would Ryuga say that shinigami liked apples? 'Shinigami' was a word Kira would probably use, but Ryuga didn't seem to fit Kira's style. He didn't seem to fit L's style either. Maybe he worked for Watari? Or was he just talking nonsense?
The belt with the tracking device had failed to bring any help last night, but Taro had still worn it in the hope that Watari would find him. Ryuga was now gazing absently off into space, so Taro thought it was safe to secretly click the belt buckle twice.
A moment later, Ryuga's pocket started ringing. He lifted the cell phone out with two fingers and stared at the caller ID, then cancelled the call without answering it. Putting the phone back in his pocket, he gave Taro another sideways look. They regarded one another silently, each wondering what the other was thinking.
Having finished with the apple, Taro waved the core at Ryuga and said, "Thanks for the apple, but I need to leave now. So, bye."
"Okay. See you round," Ryuga replied.
Not if Taro could help it. He got up and put the apple core into a litter bin, then made his way across the street. Just as he rounded a corner out of sight, he looked back and saw that Ryuga was still perched on the park bench, fingers in his mouth. Good.
Continuing along an unfamiliar shopping strip, Taro found what he was looking for: a narrow alleyway. It looked like an access route for delivery vehicles to reach the back of shops. At least there wouldn't be too many pedestrians in here: he needed to be able to see clearly.
Removing the belt, Taro found an air conditioning vent and pushed it in, leaving just the tip of it sticking out in case he needed to get it back later. It was a good thing his pants weren't too big for him. From there, it was easy enough to find his way up a fire escape and onto the top of a nearby shop.
Ryuga couldn't see around corners. If he really was following Taro, he would have to go into the alleyway; and as soon as he - or anyone else - looked into the air conditioning vent, Taro would know that he was being tracked with the belt. From his vantage point, he would be able to see what they did next.
With a bit of luck, he would be the one watching them for a change.