I watched out of the corner of my eye, waiting patiently until L reached for one of his snacks, then yanked my left wrist to make him miss the mark. I had caught him by surprise this time, but I'm sure next time he'll be able to resist. Of course, he was, but I'm pretty sure it didn't annoy him any less just because he was able to resist the tug of the chain. He looked out of the corner of his eye at me.

"What are you doing now?" He asked in that flat tone that told me I was annoying him again.

"My game died." I responded, motioning to my game console that was sitting on the desk.

"Then get back to work."

I sighed. "When's Friday?"

"It's today, why?"

"Then I don't have to work."

"You don't get days off." He responded blankly. "Even though you take frequent breaks to waste not only your own time, but mine as well."

"Nope. I don't have to do anything today because if I'm right, this will be the day we make a break in the case." I replied, leaning back in my chair and putting my arms behind my head.

Before he could reply to me, Dad walked in and started talking to Mogi, who had probably been sitting there the entire time I've been annoying L, I just never really noticed.

"Alright, for the time being, I want you to start going over this list here."

"Yes, sir. Right away."

I ended up leaning my elbow on the desk and kind of spacing out by staring at L, who was about to eat some cake. I wonder if it is unreasonable to say that it's very possible I could be just like that male version of myself that I've seen in those memories. Would I really kill criminals just because I had the power to do so? A better question would probably be whether or not I would truly want to kill L if I were Kira. However, seeing as right now was around the time I would have lost my memories regarding the entire thing, I can't say for certain that I was never Kira to begin with. There's no way I could kill so many people and not remember, right?

"What's wrong? You've been staring at me for the last two minutes." L decided to get me out of my own head. "Wait, let me guess. You must be annoyed because I'm the only one eating cake at the moment, am I right?"

"Yeah, kind of." I couldn't stop the half-smile from reaching my face, but it faded as I remembered what would happen soon.

"Here." He held it out to me.

"Thanks." I decided to take it as I got up, considering I must've looked pretty upset if he's offering me his cake. "Oh, right, here." I said, going to his other side and putting a phone over closer to him before going back to my seat.

"Hm? I don't have any calls to make." He said, looking at it strangely.

"I just figure we should keep that out a while." I shrugged and leaned over to swipe his fork. "Thanks for the cake."

Just as I started eating it, the computer beeped and Watari had something to say.

"Ryuzaki,"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Detective Elraldo Coil has just received a private request to investigate and reveal the identity of L."

I slid my chair over as Dad and Mogi walked over to see as well.

"Isn't Elraldo Coil supposed to be the second greatest detective in the world? After L himself?" Dad asked.

"Elraldo, huh?" I muttered, smirking knowingly, but trying to hide it by shoving more cake in my mouth.

"Who on earth would send such a request?" Dad asked.

The screen changed to show us a man as Watari talked.

"The man who sought out Coil's services was Maiseiko Kida, the head of the rights and planning department of the Yotsuba Group's headquarters in Tokyo."

"So it is Yotsuba." Dad said.

"We know that Yotsuba must be linked to Kira," I started, setting down the half-finished plate of cake and leaning back in my chair. "If they're trying to find out L's identity, it's probably because they want to kill him and need that information to do it."

"This isn't good. We're already short-handed enough as it is and now we have to worry about Coil too." Dad said.

"It's quite alright. The detective known as Elraldo Coil is me." L spoke up. "It's quite simple, really. Three of the greatest detectives in the world. L, Coil, and Deneurve, they're all actually me. It's been my experience that people who try to find me usually fall for this." L said, picking up the untouched strawberry from the plate of cake and offering it to Mogi. "I'll give you this strawberry if you keep it a secret, okay?"

I had to try really hard not to laugh when Mogi actually took it and put it in his pocket.

"I'm impressed as always, Ryuzaki." I said, my voice straining from holding back my laughter.

So, picking the plate of cake back up, I decided to try and drown my laughter with food while L called in Aiber and Wedy and started forming a plan.

"Alright, I just have to get close to him, right? Leave it to me." Aiber said.

"And, you want me to make sure that we're able to breach the security and override the surveillance cameras in Yotsuba's head office? Is that all?" Wedy asked.

"Yes. At this point, it's safe to assume that Kira and the Yotsuba Group are connected in some way. We're going to investigate Yotsuba to determine who holds Kira's power. And if there's more than one person who possesses this ability. We need a clear understanding, quickly." L said.

I checked my watch. It should be soon now if I'm right. I don't know an exact time, but the sun was setting when Matsuda went there before.

"We cannot let anyone from Yotsuba figure out that we are investigating them. Please realize that if they do know this, it means that we won't be able to catch Kira."

I just waited for Watari to chime in.

"Please be sure not to act impulsively, out of panic or haste. And don't take matters into your own hands." L said just before a beep came from the computer behind him.

"Ryuzaki," Watari said.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I have just received an emergency signal from Matsuda's belt."

"Oh, where is he?"

"It seems…That it's coming from within the head office of the Yotsuba Group."

I just smirked and shoved the last piece of cake in my mouth as L seemed to be pretty tired when he spoke again.

"Disregard everything I just said. We'll need to rethink our strategy." He turned back around from the computer with a sort of sigh. "Matsuda, you idiot." He seemed kind of mad, actually.

So, L took the cell phone I had placed near him and called Matsuda.

"Yo, Matsui!" He started talking in a strange, kind of laid back voice when Matsuda answered. "It's me, Asahi! Been a while, buddy." He waited for the response before talking again. "Yeah, it doesn't sound like you're out right now. Don't tell me you're home already?" He paused again. "So, you by yourself?" He paused yet again before covering the phone and turning to us. "He's not with Misa Amane right now. Matsuda must be on his own."

Dad and I nodded before L went back to the phone.

"So, do you wanna go out like drinking tonight?" He paused, then continued. "Aw, what's'a matter? Don't tell me your wallet is in trouble again." He listened, then covered the phone and turned back to us. "Matsuda's saying he's in big trouble." He told us before going back to the phone. "That's too bad. Guess I'll drag you out some other time, alright? See ya, buddy." L hung up the phone.

I tried calling Misa's cell phone, but had no luck. Hanging up, I couldn't help but worry a little about those two.

"Misa's cell phone's on voicemail right now." I said. "I left her a message and told her to get back to me as soon as she can."

"What're you planning to do, Ryuzaki?" Dad asked.

"Well, we have to consider that if Matsuda dies, our suspicions about the Yotsuba Group will be confirmed." L paused. "Let's just watch the situation for the time being."

In the meantime, my worry was drowned in another piece of cake, which I asked Mogi to bring me considering L didn't seem like he was going to move. It was chocolate this time though. No strawberries. I was just taking my third bite when my cell phone rang.

"Misa?" I answered it with my mouth full.

"Light! I'm sorry I've been working so much. I'll be finished soon, 'kay?" She said.

"Misa, you're not with Matsuda at the moment, are you?" I asked.

"Him? He's a total jerk. He just ran off and left me here." She sounded angry. "Oh, hang on. I'm getting a call on my work phone. Oh hey, it's from Matsu!"

"Misa's just received a call from Matsuda." I told the others.

"Tell her to hold her phone so that we can listen in as well." L said.

I nodded, telling Misa that, then listening to the call through the phone that I held out in the middle of all of us.

"Misa-Misa! When you're finished, come over to the Yotsuba Group head office! It's still tentative, but there's still a chance that you might be able to appear in Yotsuba's commercials! We're working it out now." Matsuda said.

"What? Are you for real?! You're amazing Matsu!" Misa gushed. "So that's what you've been up to all this time! Don't worry, we're wrapping up soon."

"Great. It's just a short trip by taxi." Matsuda said.

L grabbed onto my sleeve near the cuff, making me look at him after hanging up the phone. "Huh?"

"Listen to me, Light, there is a chance that we may be able to save Matsuda. But we won't be able to do it without Misa's help. She'll listen to you and do anything you say, won't she?" He said quietly.

I just stared at him.

. . .

It was a few hours later that we were sitting and watching the "special reception" for the Yotsuba Group in Misa's apartment.

"Well, well. Misa's pretty good at this sort of thing." L commented.

"Well, it is what she does for a living." I responded.

Shortly after, Matsuda went to the bathroom and called L.

"Ryuzaki, are you watching this?"

"Yes."

"L-Look, I'm really sorry that I-"

"That's not important right now." L responded.

"Okay. Listen, the eight men who came here were having a meeting to determine who they'd get Kira to kill for them. I heard them say it clearly. There's no doubt they're behind this."

"Yes, that is probably true. But if you did overhear them and they caught you, then they'll almost certainly be trying to kill you now."

"I know. Do you think there's anything I can do to try and save myself?"

"Well, luckily you're still alive, so we may be able to save you. But for that to happen, you will have to die before they can kill you."

"What?!"

"I want you to listen to me very carefully." L said, explaining to Matsuda exactly what we intend to do.

"No way. But that's…" Matsuda was in a state of disbelief. "That's crazy."

Of course, it was also what we ended up doing.

Unfortunately, I couldn't watch the show Matsu put on, considering I had to go put on the rescue worker uniform with L. After that, we had to go get in an ambulance and wait until we had to go pick up Aiber in a body bag, throw him on a stretcher, and get him in said ambulance before anyone realized he wasn't a dead body.

"While I'm aware of the fact that we're short-handed, I'm not very pleased about having to do this sort of thing myself." L commented as we sat in the back of the ambulance with Aiber. "Matsuda, you idiot."

"All's well that ends well, I guess." I shrugged, leaning back in my seat.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" L had apparently decided to confront me about it.

"Why do you say that?" I decided to act innocent.

"Not working, getting that phone ready, and you seemed unfazed by the entire situation. As if you knew it would all work out." He was looking at me suspiciously now. "Light, how did you know Matsuda would do this? And why didn't you just tell me before we had to go through all this trouble to save him?"

I shrugged, looking at the door rather than him. "Who knows?"