A/N: Hope this chapter isn't too weird when taken in context with the rest of the story. It's important, I promise.
An Interlude
Three years before
Clink. "Ryuzaki?"
The tapping of the keyboard stops abruptly. "Yes, Light-kun?"
"Do you ever have gaps in your memories? Times when you can't remember what you did or where you were?"
Ryuzaki turns, his dark eyes shrewd and calculating. "No. Why do you ask?"
Light shrugs. "No reason."
"Light-kun shouldn't try to play games with me." A slight smile twists those thin, pale, sugar-rimed lips. "Unlike…others, my intelligence is at least as high as your own. Now, again, why do you ask?"
Light shrugs again.
"Have you ever experienced such things yourself?"
Light shakes his head quickly. "No, not at all. I mean…I'm too young for Alzheimer's, Ryuzaki. And I score the highest in end-of-the-year retention tests at my school. I was just…asking."
Ryuzaki taps a few keys. "Neither have I," he says, and leaves it at that.
And later, when it's all over and Higuchi has been arrested, Light's memory lapses grow worse, until he parts ways with Ryuzaki and goes back to his own life.
He'd love to blame L for these odd moments, but later, when they are brought together by a case again, the condition does not relapse. Finally, he settles on sleep deprivation and stress, and tries to forget his forgetfulness.
And so he cant remember why he never wore anything on his wrist—jewelry, watches—again.