"Light, hurry up. You don't want to be late." Mom said as I pulled on my jacket and slipped on my shoes. Then she and Sayu stood by the door as I walked to the gate in front of our house. "Do your best!"
"I know you don't need it, but good luck!"
"I really don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this." I said, turning to look at them as the gate closed behind me. "It's too early in the morning too."
They just stared at me, so I decided to get away while I could. While I sat on the train, Ryuk loomed over me.
"I'm relieved. We don't have to deal with wire taps in the house anymore." He said.
Of course, I didn't respond. When I got there, the guy at the gate said the exam would be starting in ten minutes and I might be late with my leisurely pace, but I just told him I prefer not to wait. Ryuk called me confident, but really I was only fitting the mould of who I was supposed to be. I turned out different because of my past memories remaining. Or, suddenly surfacing? Whatever. Still, shortly after we were told to begin the exam, I couldn't help but feel a little excited. I did my best to hide it though, looking at the test before I picked up my pencil. The supervisor started walking down the aisle right next to my seat and I followed him with my eyes, but he walked past me as I picked up my pencil.
"You there, student number 162. Sit properly in your chair." The supervisor said and I couldn't help but turn to see who he was talking to.
The barefooted man crouched in his chair and holding his pencil by the tip looked up as I stared over my shoulder at him. We locked eyes and his expression remained unreadable, but I felt my lips twitch and turned my head back toward the front of the room as I failed to suppress the small smirk. Good thing I had that instinct to get me through the damn thing.
However, waiting those few months until the opening ceremony was killer on my nerves. I was constantly distracted by the fact I was finally going to meet L, but that wasn't the only thing. I was terrified of the speech I had to give. I did not do well with public speaking and I was really just going to have to rely on my instinct to get me through it without skipping the thing entirely.
So, donning my new university uniform, I ended up at the school, pretty damn nervous. My shinigami stalker did not help.
"You're a college student now. That's kind of exciting. I'm filled with joy." Ryuk said.
"Shut up." I muttered, slightly irked, then filed into the building with everyone else.
"Now for the freshman address, freshman representative Light Yagami." The announcer said.
"Y-Yes." I stood up from my seat, hoping my terror wasn't showing.
"Wow." Ryuk commented.
"And freshman representative Hideki Ryuga."
"Oh, uh, here." He called from somewhere as the gasps and whispering started up.
I rolled my eyes, finding an amused smile crossing my face as my arms crossed. Then, we both headed up on stage and stood at the podium. I read from my paper for my speech, bowing when I was finished but not really paying attention as Ryuga held up a paper with nothing written on it and gave a half-assed sounding speech, then finished by scratching at his head while I bowed again before we left the stage.
"Light. Light Yagami? Your father is Soichiro Yagami of the NPA?" Ryuga asked as he followed me down the stairs. "Your respect for your father is matched only by your strong sense of justice."
I didn't respond, instead trying to push away the thought of how creepy that was and returning to my seat. He crouched on the chair beside me and I stared at him as I wondered how he could do that on these cheap folding chairs. The guy just watched me from the corner of his eye as he started talking again.
"You're planning to join the police agency when you graduate. And you've got experience seeing as you've helped the police solve a number of cases in the past. Now you're showing an interest in the Kira case. I'm impressed by your abilities and your sense of justice. If you promise not to tell anyone about this I have important information concerning the Kira investigation that I'd like to share with you."
I blinked, then turned to face forward again, instead looking at him out of the corner of my eye.
"You do realize we're in a room full of people who could overhear, right?" I asked.
"They're not listening." He responded without hesitation.
"Well, I won't tell anyone. What is it?"
He turned his whole head to look at me now. "I want to tell you, I'm L."
I couldn't stop my smile as I turned to face him fully as I replied. "If that's true, you have nothing but my respect and admiration."
"Thank you." He replied. "The reason I chose to reveal my identity to you is because I believe you could be of some use to us on the Kira investigation." He faced forward again, not looking at me now.
I did as well, looking out of the corner of my eye at him as Ryuk started to chuckle.
"If this guy is really L like he says, then consider me impressed." The shinigami said.
I watched the black-haired man's thumb start to trace his lips in a familiar fashion and had to make myself look away before I started laughing like a crazy person.
It was pretty difficult to sit through that ceremony when I was trying not to laugh, but I somehow managed and got the hell outside as quickly as I could.
"I didn't think the ceremony would be so interesting." Ryuk commented as I walked toward the street.
"Hey Light." A voice caught my attention and made me stop.
"Hear that? I think it's your new friend." Ryuk commented.
"Nice meeting you." He said.
"No, the pleasure was mine." I replied, then watched as he approached a fancy black car that a driver had opened the door for him. It really didn't match the jeans and long-sleeved white shirt the guy was wearing.
"Well, I'm sure I'll see you on campus." He said before getting in.
"Yeah. Take care." I replied as the door was closed behind him and the driver got in to drive away.
I heard the others talking about him, but I just started heading for the train I had to take home. Once home, I took off my shoes and found Sayu sitting in the living room.
"Hey, welcome home Miss To-Oh!" She said as I walked past the room to go upstairs.
I stayed quiet, locking my door after getting into my room, then sitting down at my desk and just staring down at the surface of it for a moment.
"Hm?" Ryuk seemed curious about what I was doing.
Instead of cursing L, I started to laugh hysterically. I fell off my chair and proceeded to laugh like I was mad, arms wrapped around myself and feet kicking. It was a bit worse than the last time I had broken out into hysterical laughter.
"What? What are you laughing about this time?" Ryuk asked.
"D-Dammit. H-He r-really…" I started, but broke the sentence with more laughter.
That fit lasted until I nearly passed out from not being able to breathe. Once I finally calmed down to just short bouts of giggles, I picked up my chair and sat back down. I hung my head back and did my best to control my insane giggles before I finally sighed, wiped my watery eyes, and looked at Ryuk.
"This is going exactly how I want it to." I had a fit of giggles before coughing from my sore throat and cringing at the soreness of my abdomen, then continued. "L has revealed himself to me, which means he is suspicious of me. He thinks he's trapped me, but he's unaware of my true intentions by challenging him."
"What are your true intentions? You're not going to kill him so what's your point?"
I just smiled at the shinigami, tilting my head slightly. "What do you mean? It's L. Like most humans, I would like very much to interact with the person I look up to. I have no intention of killing him. No, I intend for something very different to happen this time around."
"You say some pretty strange things, you know that?" Ryuk responded, scratching his head in a confused manner.
I felt my expression turn cold and blank. "I have no interest in going out of my way to entertain you. You said you won't interfere with what I'm doing."
He looked put off, but nodded. "That's what I said."
The shinigami left me alone after that. I'm not sure if I scared him or just reminded him that he was a spectator, but it allowed me to delve into what I should do in the future. Mainly, it was how much I plan to reveal to L before I write my name and burn the notebook. Then I began wondering when I should write my name.