Sorry about ch1. I agree that it wasn't all that realistic. I think I'm always just too invested in writing something non-serious/mostly silly. But I didn't want to rewrite it. In case anyone wanted to see it continue, though, I decided to finish ch2. I hope it's okay. I guess I should mention that it's mostly just going to be kind of ridiculous, since that's the kind of thing I like writing. Sorry about the plotholes/general idiot-ball holding, I really feel dumb for not thinking things out more when I was planning. I realise that I made mistakes and got pretty embarrassed.

This one is kind of the same unfortunately. I'll try and improve.

A rational explanation could not be found for this.

The room had clearly been abandoned. Tea with only five sugar cubes dropped in; unstirred, the presumed sixth left a small distance away from the pot along with the teaspoon set down by the side of the cup. Untouched, though not undisturbed work; no progress made.

Watari knew these signs of absentmindedness well.

At some point, L had decided to leave, most likely spontaneously. The only problem was the decision not to send a message notifying him of it, which L would most certainly have done had he wanted to go out alone somewhere. The reception desk reported no one matching his description spotted leaving, although if he'd truly wanted to keep his little excursion a secret, it was hardly a mystery as to how he could have managed it.

At some point, he'd disappeared without a trace, and at this time could be anywhere.

Disappearing without a trace. But regardless of what had happened, there would be time later to give priority to worrying about L's potential motivations. Right now, it was time for Plan B.

(As unfortunate as that term now was.)

Roger had been ...Surprised,to put it mildly, at the call. Trying to excuse the unclear terms of your failure this early into the investigation and requesting the default to the pre-prepared emergency backup plan was... very awkward to word.

...

"What? Did... I hear that correctly?"

"Unfortunately, yes. L has... disappeared."

"Let me guess, then."

"The Kira case is not one that can be opted out of. I fear we have no other choice."

"You want me to speak with them. Unfortunately, only one is available right now. Fortunately, it's not Mello. I'll have him informed by tomorrow."

"I'm glad to hear it. Let me just repeat that I have absolutely no idea what happened – it's a complete mystery. But I will admit that he was acting... strangely at times, prior to this incident. And the state he left the room in... However, that is neither here nor there. It rests on myself to try and find him now. I'll look forward to working with his successor in his place."

Click...

..

It mostly paid to suspect the worst.

Nothing is ever as bad as your instinctual, irrational fears, and therefore, when the truth is revealed, no matter what it is, it will always be better than the terrible things you first imagined.

It mostly paid to suspect the worst, but this time, Watari didn't want to even consider it.

A rational explanation could not be found for this.

It started when Light was sitting in his room, in the middle of doing some homework when his mechanical pencil ran out of lead. He clicked the end, but it was empty. So then, he'd reached for a new one and clicked it – but again, nothing came out.

Normally, this would not raise any sort of suspicion in his mind. But for all Light's many talents, off-the-wall paranoia was his most understated.

That pencil in particular was the one he used for the lead signal in his door to alert him to anyone that had been inside his room. He would usually break small parts off in regular amounts, and last he had checked, there had been enough left for one more - or so he thought.

A rational explanation could not be found, but an irrational one was happy to pet the dog and make itself at home.

Light got up and checked his door. The paper slip was still in place, and so was the lead. Furthermore, there was no broken one on the floor. So, therefore – logically... rationally, it was most likely that this fear was... unfounded.

But even as he returned to his desk and tried to blot his overactive imagination out with mindless work, that little thought, that little paranoid voice just wouldn't stop nagging him.

As he tried to think of ways to distract himself, the door swung open and Sayu rushed in. "Hey, nii-chan! Dad has something he wants to tell you! He just got home!"

"This may not affect us, but I just wanted to be careful."

Sayu and Light had been sat down for this, a solemn pause reminiscent of the interrogation room stretching across the table.

"The man you found yesterday... escaped. He claimed first that he would accept police custody, but he escaped sometime during the night. How, exactly, is a mystery. Multiple cameras were found dismantled or disabled, and nobody claimed to have seen him. And so, it goes without saying that he must still be out there."

Light tried to tell himself that this incident and the previous were just a coincidence.

Upon returning to his room, he continued on with his work, but looked inside the closet just to be safe. No one there.

He really did feel silly, now. Being so paranoid surely wasn't healthy -

But then again, neither was being dead.

The days were somehow getting even colder now. Gradually, Light forgot about the news of the escape as he caught back up on Kira case news, though information sure seemed sparse recently.

He forgot about the pencil lead. Everything had gone back to normal.

At least, until now.

Deciding to go get a drink, Light was quite happy not being paranoid in that moment until he froze to the spot, confused. Sayu was standing by the opened fridge, assaulting him with the most demonic glare he had ever seen on her face. She didn't say anything, though, and he decided to shrug it off and continue over to make himself some coffee. There was only just enough left for one more cup.

Sayu soon joined him, turning on the kettle and making herself a cup of hot chocolate. It was still very cold outside, after all. "You better not steal any of my marshmallows, nii-chan," she chastised, sticking her tongue out and pulling the packet of them from the cupboard.

"You know I'm not addicted to sugar like you, Sayu."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really now? I wouldn't have guessed."

And with that, Light was left utterly baffled as she left the room with her mug.

Even with some caffeine in his system, it was still hard to concentrate as the clock ticked on later and later. Deciding it might be easier to work if he was more comfortable, Light moved over to the bed and brought the book he was meant to be annotating with him. Writing down notes when he didn't really need them was tedious, but he had to get it done regardless.

There was a soft thud as Light dropped his pen and heard it roll under the bed. Sighing in annoyance, he reached down to try and get it, but found it must have gone too far. So then he bent down, hanging over the edge and peered underneath.

The pen was there. Held loosely between two long, pale fingers, accompanied by eyes that gleamed in the dark like headlights.

"Here's your pen," a low voice rumbled.

Light reached his hand down and took the pen. "Thank you," he replied.

He then slowly sat up to the position he had previously been in on the bed.

Light allowed a few seconds to pass before practically jumping off and crouching down beside it, grabbing underneath and yanking whatever his blindly grabbing hands could find – something that elicited a pained gasp, his fingers digging into dirtied fabric – an arm.

"Out! Get out of there!" Light snapped. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He knew the other wasn't in any sort of shape to attack him – hopefully, at least.

The man hissed, trying to resist as he was pulled, eyes widening in pain as his chest dragged along the floor over his gash. "Sto-" he gasped, before crying out louder as his leg twisted oddly. "Agh... Stop..."

"Then get out by yourself," Light grumbled, "and bring an explanation with you."

Slowly the man crawled the rest of the way, gasping and shutting his eyes every time his leg moved. He had to move it using both of his hands, eventually sitting up, careful to leave it lying flat on the floor.

"I knew something was up..."

"And I knew I couldn't hide myself forever."

The man looked terrible, and that was an understatement, because he'd looked terrible in the first place as it was. His bruises were all discoloured, and he was lucky nothing was infected. Some blood had seeped through his jeans where his leg – it must have been broken. The bags under his eyes looked even worse, and now he was covered in dust from being under the bed.

"I need to stay here. That's all I ask for. So long as no one else finds out."

"So you really are some kind of criminal and you were lying all along."

"No, I... couldn't stay in police custody like that. I couldn't be out in the open. They would send me to a hospital and undoubtedly put my face out there, everywhere in order to find my identity. And I couldn't risk it."

Light blinked. "What? But that's what you-" The man interrupted him. "There is one thing that I remember. Just a feeling. But a strong one. One that I'm ninety percent certain concerns my life."

There was a pause as he stopped himself there, possibly waiting for Light's reaction. He decided to let the man finish and said nothing.

"Someone, something, is looking for me. It's hunting me down. There's no other option for now other than to hide." The man fumbled around in his pocket and pulled something out, holding it up. "Look at this."

It was... a pen, oddly-shaped with a blood-stained nib. "I lied when I said I had no possessions. I found this near to where I woke up the first time. This thing is what made this -" he pointed to the gash on his chest. "You can tell by the shape – I'm certain of it. This is my only lead." Another pause, shorter. "...While you were out, I used your computer and did as much research as I could. I checked universities and colleges and foreign exchange programs, I checked missing person reports. Nothing. I found nothing that could be related to me."

Taking in all this information, Light exhaled slowly, still suspicious.

"All I ask is that you let me stay here until I know I'm safe to move. To put it frankly, I'm alone, scared, homeless... and very willing to do your English homework in exchange for chocolate buttons."

Light narrowed his eyes. "Bribery, huh?"

The man frowned. "It doesn't have to be chocolate buttons."

Light stared at that bloodied leg. It wasn't like he could kick the guy out like that. But, more importantly for now at least, he had a question to ask, and deciding whether to let him stay could wait till he'd found out the answer.

"Alright, Hobo-san."

"Hobo-san?" The man tilted his head. "Technically, I have a home now. It's the underside of your bed, Yagami-kun. Can I call you that? Or maybe Light-kun, since we're clearly best buddies now. I'll have to introduce you sometime to my spider friend Davis."

Light stared.

"Well, you have to stop talking to yourself eventually under there."

"...Yagami-kun will be fine."