Chapter 17: Inevitable Return
Light had insisted that L needed to see some of the sights in Tokyo, so they were on their way to Shibuya, with a good deal of reluctance on L's part.
"Come on, L!" Light insisted. "How long have you lived in Japan?"
L thought for a second. "Three months, two weeks, and five days, Light-kun."
"And have you ever been to Shibuya?"
"No."
"Then you have to come! Shibuya's a lot of fun. And you got to show me your Festival of Lights. It's only fair that I get to take you to Shibuya." Light wasn't going to take no for an answer on this point. L grudgingly got his shoes, following Light to where they could take the subway to Shibuya.
As the train sped along, L watched Light. He seemed happier than usual, maybe because L had actually agreed to go somewhere. Light glanced over at L, saying then, "What? You're staring."
"Merely thinking, Light-kun." L replied.
Light blinked, then smiled. "You know, there's a really great café here, with the best doughnuts ever." He laughed as L's attention was immediately focused on him. Some things never changed, and the former detective's sweet tooth was one of them. L frowned at him, and he smiled. "Don't look at me like that. It's not my fault I know your weakness."
"It's not a weakness." L protested.
Light grinned. "Right, my mistake. It's an addiction."
L frowned again. "Be quiet, Light-kun." But he didn't sound upset, and Light knew that he was just being childish.
When they got off the train and went up the stairs back out into daylight, L's eyes widened. "You didn't tell me there would be this many people!" What seemed like a thousand people were milling around the station. Light laughed.
"You haven't seen anything yet." He led L out of the station, through the bus terminal, and to an open square area full of people. They sat around, laughing and talking. Some leaned on a statue of a giant dog, looking around expectantly like they were waiting for someone. Others were just passing though, on their way to or from the bus terminal.
"That's the statue of Hachiko." Light explained. "It's a popular meeting spot. We'll go past here to the scramble. Then you'll see what a lot of people looks like." They maneuvered through the people standing around, emerging into a wide-open intersection. "Behold the Scramble Crossing."
L stared. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people, all going their own places, no two alike. L had never seen so many different kinds of people all in one place before. He watched a group of girls heading towards a huge skyscraper, and pointed. "That's 104, right?"
"Yeah. Shopping, shopping, and more shopping." Light said. "We'll go this way, and head towards Towa Records. It's an American music store."
L nodded, following Light through the crush of people. Once they were clear of the scramble, things started to thin out, but only slightly. There were people everywhere in Shibuya.
xXx
Teil yawned, walking out of the Cyco Records store in the Udagawa district. They hadn't had the CD he was looking for, so he decided to check AMX and Towa Records next. He looked around, seeing familiar faces everywhere. One good thing about frequenting Shibuya so often was being able to recognize a lot of the people who were there on a regular basis, like the ones who owned businesses or worked in shops. He was great friends with most of the music store clerks, as well as the people who worked in A-East's concert halls. And even if he wasn't personally friends with a store's clerk, he usually knew their name, unless they were new.
Shibuya had so many people that no one could possibly keep track of them all. It lent a certain anonymity to walking around. No one cared who you were or where you were going. Unless, of course, you happened to be some kind of idol or celebrity. But Teil was neither, and drifted aimlessly through the crowd in the direction of AMX.
xXx
Light and L had stopped briefly in Towa Records, but there was nothing new on the shelves. So they went on past the store, through Miyashita Park to Cat Street. The café that Light had mentioned was called the Wildkat, about three quarters of the way down the street.
"It has a really weird schedule." Light said. "It may not be open. If we're lucky, it will be." As they approached the door, he glanced at the sign in the window. "Oh, good, it is open."
The café was deserted, except for them. The man at the counter brightened when he saw them. "Oh, hey! Customers! What'll it be?"
Light grinned. "Normal coffee for me, thanks. L?"
"Normal coffee." L said, noting the box of sugar packets on each table. "And some doughnuts."
When they had their drinks, and in L's case doughnuts, they went to sit at one of the tables. L bit into a doughnut, commenting, "These are really good! I don't see why there aren't more people in here." Light had picked a good café. L considered for a moment. Obviously Light cared about him, that much was clear. So…
"I don't know." Light said. "Maybe it's the schedule."
"Maybe." L said. Stirring seven packets of sugar into his coffee, he asked, "So, what are we going to do about Kira?"
Light reached over and snatched a doughnut, looking thoughtful. "If we could find a way to spy on Taro, if we could find him, we might be able to learn something about who he's working with. Or, we could even try talking to him in person, see if we could trick him into telling us something."
"That's a possibility, but you have to remember, Light-kun, that we no longer have access to a lot of the resources we had last time we were hunting Kira." L reminded him. "I no longer have the ability to bug people's houses or have them followed."
"We could follow him ourselves, if we could find him." Light said. "But finding one kid in a city of hundreds of thousands of people would be nearly impossible. We can't find him through the phone book, because it wouldn't list him specifically."
"At this point, the most we can hope is that we run into him by accident." L said. Both of them looked around as the door to the café opened, and a boy with light-colored hair hurried in, up to the counter.
"Heeey, Josh!" the guy at the counter drawled. "What can I do for you?"
"Mr. H, don't joke around. …You have customers?" the boy asked.
"Of course! You didn't think my café was empty all the time?"
L and Light went up to the register, paying for their coffee quickly and getting a box for their remaining doughnuts. Mr. H waved at them, then went to the back to talk to Josh. L and Light left the shop, feeling much better.
"Well, seeing Taro in Shibuya is something that would never happen." Light said, shaking the doughnut box. "Even if he was here, we could walk right by him and not realize it." As they walked back towards Miyashita Park, he said, "We should go by Spain Hill. It's a really cool street."
"Sure…" L muttered, distracted. He had the really weird feeling something was about to happen, and not something good. He glanced around, but they were the only people in the underpass. The road ran from Cat Street, through Miyashita Park and back to Towa Records, and this underpass was like a tunnel separating the different areas. The occasional car whizzed by, but other than that, the two were alone.
xXx
Teil came out of Towa Records vaguely disappointed. Apparently none of the music stores in Shibuya carried the CD he was looking for. Sighing, he turned onto the road leading to Miyashita Park, and paused.
That was them, wasn't it? The two people walking his direction, they were the ones Taro had described. The First Kira and the original L. He looked around hurriedly, wondering what to do. He didn't know their full names, but there might be a way around that…
"What are you going to do, Teil?" Zellogi asked. Teil frowned, still scanning the surrounding area.
"I don't know. Give me a second." He finally spotted someone he recognized, the man who worked at the clothing store up on Cat Street. He was obviously driving to work. Teil considered the rules. You weren't allowed to control someone to cause the death of someone else. If you tried, the person would only die of a heart attack. But what if that was all he needed…?
Teil praised whatever higher power had granted him the memory to remember so many of the store clerks' names, and opened up the Death Note. "Zellogi, if he has a heart attack, what are the chances that he'll hit those two up there?"
Zellogi's expression roughly amounted to a frown. "You'd be relying on luck."
"Well," Teil said brightly, "I'm good at that." He scribbled down the man's name quickly, wrote down a time, and hoped that the other gods were on his side.
xXx
L and Light had continued walking, oblivious to Teil plotting their deaths about thirty feet away. Light was tossing the doughnut box up and down, catching it as they walked.
"Light-kun, stop it." L said. "You're either going to smash the doughnuts, or drop the box."
"It's fine." Light said. He tossed it again, and this time, it bounced off the tips of his fingers, tumbling out into the road. L rolled his eyes, sighing. Light looked over at him. "Don't even say anything."
"I wasn't…" L muttered, biting his lip to keep from laughing. He raised his thumb to his mouth, peering down at the end of the underpass as Light went to retrieve the slightly dented doughnut box. His eyes widened as he saw the car speeding up the road, high above the speed limit with no intention of stopping, right at Light. He froze for a split second, his mind completely blank for once in his life, and then did the only thing that seemed appropriate at the time. He dove at Light, tackling him out of the way. Both watched as the car careened into the underpass wall about ten feet away and crashed.
xXx
Teil cursed under his breath. Almost… It had gone how he thought. When the guy had a heart attack, he inadvertently stomped the accelerator. It had been so close…
xXx
Light got up, pulling L to his feet next to him.
"You…" he said. "You saved my life."
L blinked. "Yeah." He didn't know what had possessed him to dive out in front of traffic like that. He wasn't the type of person to go around throwing himself in harm's way for other people. But this time… he had acted without thinking.
Light glanced at the doughnut box, which had been the only victim of the wreck. It lay in a flattened splotch in the street. "Sorry, L. I got your doughnuts smashed."
L stared at him incredulously. Light didn't actually think…!
"You think I'm worried about the doughnuts?" he asked, amazed. Light stared at him, confused, and L yelled, "You almost got hit by a car! The doughnuts are the least of my worries! I didn't save that box; I saved you!"
Light smiled. "Yeah, you did. And you know why, too, don't you?"
L stared at him a moment. It was like Light could read his mind. "Yeah. I finally came to the conclusion that I don't think I could function without you either."
Light hugged him, grinning. "Yep, that's what I thought." L hugged him back, realizing that he had never really had to come to that conclusion. It had been there all along, he just hadn't recognized it for what it was. He smiled at Light, pulling away from the hug to say cheerfully, "But you owe me doughnuts."
Light started laughing, and as L smiled, he noticed something strange over Light's shoulder. A boy about their age, with black hair, pushing a black notebook back into his bag. L stared at him for a moment, saying quietly, "Light?"
"Hmm?"
"That wasn't a car wreck. It was an attempted murder." He pointed at the boy, and Light turned to look. Notebook safely away, the boy looked up, meeting their eyes before taking off in the other direction.
"After him!" Light yelled, and both hurried to chase him. If this was another one of the multiple Kiras, catching him would be very important.
xXx
There was only one thought in Teil's mind. Run like hell.
xXx
They chased him through the crowded streets, keeping their eyes on the mop of black hair ahead of them. He was shorter than they were, and despite his head start, they were gaining ground quickly. Light managed to snag the back of his shirt just outside the entrance to Towa Records, bringing him to a complete halt. They dragged him off to the side, out of the middle of the street, and Light demanded, "Who are you, and why do you have a Death Note?"
"My name's Teil…" he panted. "And I don't know what you're talking about! Do you always go dragging innocent people around?"
"Then why did you run from us?" L asked. "What do you have to be afraid of?"
"Crazy people chasing me!" Teil exclaimed. L frowned, going into his bag and pulling out the notebook.
"What's this, then?"
xXx
Taro Kagami, inside Towa Records with his mother, watched what was happening with wide eyes. He looked up at his Shinigami, saying in a low voice, "Ryuk, what do I do?"
Ryuk laughed manically. "Ask Drevan. He's your 'leader', isn't he?"
Taro frowned, but pulled out his phone. His mother was on the other side of the store, in the easy listening section. He dialed Drevan's number, quickly explaining the situation.
"What!"
Taro glanced around nervously. "What should I do? We're in trouble if they find out, right?"
Drevan's voice was serious, but there was the tiniest measure of glee to it that Taro didn't understand. "You'll have to kill him. We're seriously screwed if they can get any information out of him. And if they take him to the police, the real L will find out, and everything will be over."
"Kill him?"
"Teil Miura. You can do it, Taro. We're all counting on you." It was impossible to tell from Drevan's voice what he was thinking.
"O-okay…" Taro said nervously. He hung up the phone, taking one last glance around the store and out the window before pulling out his notebook and opening it up.
xXx
L waved the notebook at Teil. "That," he said, pointing at Zellogi, "is a Shinigami. As if we need any other proof." He passed the notebook to Light to touch, and then asked, "Who are you working with? Taro? Emi? Give us names."
"I work alone." Teil said bitterly. Light scowled.
"You're lying. You're lying to protect whoever you're working with."
Teil narrowed his eyes. "They don't need protection from me! High and mighty as they think they are! You want to know? I'll tell you-" His words cut off in a strangled sound, and he reached up to grab at the fabric of his shirt, over his heart.
"Damn it!" Light cried.
"Higuchi…" L whispered, another fragment of memory surfacing. "Someone doesn't want him to talk." Teil collapsed to the sidewalk, and L sighed. "He's dead. We need to call the police."
Light had set the notebook to the side, out of the way, and now reached for it again. "This can't be around when they show up, though. We should take it with us." As he spoke, he picked up the notebook, and L saw the smallest flinch. He froze where he was, staring into Light's eyes. Picking up the notebook passed ownership to him, and now… There was a gleam in Light's eyes that hadn't been there before. L didn't want to believe it, but he remembered that look.
Kira.
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... (drumroll) KIRA! Actually, I'm rather sad. Considering that L finally figured out that he liked him. :(
More indulgence on my part, because I wanted to write about Shibuya. Ignore Mr. H and Joshua. They're there for my own personal amusement.
So I'm leaving for the beach literally this afternoon, so it will probably be awhile before the next chapter. So enjoy this, and I'll continue as soon as I can. Love and hugs to all of you!
Li