A/N: Haha, I love Matsuda. Well…in a platonic sort of way. He's hilarious. So I thought I would give him a little more time to be his clumsy self. And of course, I love L in a huggable way. I have a little L plushie that perches on the edge of my desk when I write. He's so cute.
Disclaimer: I don't own L…Light…or whoever else.
By the end of lunch, Light, Mikami, and Matsuda were still missing. L didn't really expect them to return, but it was still disappointing. The bell rang for fourth period and Misa heaved a huge sigh. "Misa is so sad that she has upset Light," Misa said in a small voice.
"I'm sorry it caused so much trouble, but I'm glad that you told me that Light is gay. It explains so much. I understand now why I felt so attracted to him. I thought at first I had become gay myself simply because Light is so attractive. But now I realize that I only thought that way because of how he could charm me with his glance. I wasn't falling in love with him. He was trying to make me think I had."
"Light is not a bad person," Misa said quietly. "Please do not think Light is bad just because he is gay."
"I don't," L assured her. "I've known of many people in the cities I've visited who were gay. That's not the issue. The problem is that he was trying to deceive me. He didn't want to just hope I would love him, but to manipulate me. I can't stand for that."
Light didn't show up for fourth period. He had assumed Light had gone home for the day, but as he left class, he saw Mikami and Light standing around the corner, arguing.
"Did you really think I would fall for you after all these years?" Light demanded. "I do like you, but you're not my type. You know that. Just because I don't love you doesn't mean you can keep messing up all my relationships. Just because I can't find happiness with you doesn't mean I shouldn't find it with someone else."
"But why would you even like that little freak?" Mikami demanded tearfully. "Why him? He's just…ugh."
"Mikami, you've known for a long time. When I was a little kid, I fell for L. I'm lucky he came back so I don't have to go searching for him."
"Light, he's not good enough for you."
"No one will ever be good enough for me in your eyes. You just have to let it go, Mikami. I let you chase everyone else away since I never really loved them, but I won't let you do that to L."
Mikami ran past L, not even seeming to see him. Light watched Mikami go and then slowly walked away in the opposite direction.
Matsuda had reappeared by sixth period. "Light wants me to take you home today," Matsuda whispered.
L frowned. "I don't want you to."
Matsuda wrung his hands. "I know I'm not Light, but I really have to. Light will be mad if I don't take you home."
"Do you have to do everything Light tells you to do?" L grumbled.
"Yes," Matsuda said earnestly. "I have to help protect you."
L frowned at him. "So, you think I'm going to be killed too?"
Matsuda looked uneasy. "Well, it's hard to say. Because you're a descendant of a townsperson, they might go easy on you. But then again, they didn't go easy on Noru…well…maybe they did. Maybe they just went after his wife and he moved to save her. Well, I have no idea." He looked apologetic.
L pursed his lips. He stayed quiet as the gym teacher began going over the rules for a new sport, tennis. L glanced at Matsuda out of the corner of his eye. If Matsuda was clumsy with a badminton racket, surely he would be just as bad with a tennis racket.
Sure enough, all the other kids quickly picked partners, leaving L with Matsuda. L sighed. This was not going to be good.
Matsuda seemed overjoyed to be paired with L again. He made up for his lack of skill with plenty of enthusiasm. It was hard to be mad at Matsuda's incompetence when he seemed to take such great joy in playing, even if he was no good.
After L changed out of his P.E. clothes, Matsuda followed L to the school gates. "L, I'm taking you home today," he reminded him.
"I know," L murmured.
"Well, then you need to come this way."
L turned and blinked at Matsuda. "But my house is this way."
"I know. But my car is this way." Matsuda pointed to a black car parked just around the corner.
"Oh, that's right. You have a vehicle."
Matsuda beamed. "I know. I'm one of the few people with cars here. It's such a small town that we don't really need to drive anywhere. But whenever we go out of town, we all use my car."
L inspected the sleek black car. "This looks rather new. Did you just buy it?"
Matsuda shook his head. "No, I won it in a contest. It's so exciting. I never win anything."
L smiled thinly and slid into the backseat of the car. The front seat was covered with books and papers and L didn't want to bother to move them.
Matsuda looked over his shoulder apologetically. "Sorry, L. I use my car like a locker."
"I do not mind sitting back here," L murmured.
"Uh…cool."
Matsuda fell silent as he turned down the street. After only a few minutes drive, he parked the car beside the dirt road leading up the hill. "Sorry, we'll have to walk from here."
"Did Light instruct you to follow me all the way to the door?"
Matsuda smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. I have to."
Matsuda trudged up the hill behind Light. He remained silent until they got to the door. "Okay, L. I'll see you tomorrow," Matsuda said softly. He backed away slowly.
L unlocked the front door and stepped inside. He looked back, half expecting Matsuda to have vanished. But Matsuda was actually walking down the hill, tripping over gopher holes. L shook his head sadly.
L wandered over to the fridge and cut himself a piece of cheesecake. He took it to his room and sat on the bed, browsing through an old book of his father's. L was struck with a sudden thought. He could go visit the town's library. Hopefully, they had a book about the town's haunted house.
L left a note on the counter for Watari and then headed off down the hill. The library looked like just another house. Luckily, there was a small sign on the lawn declaring, "Grayville Public Library". Right as L pushed the door of the library open, Misa flounced out of her house.
"L!" Misa called merrily. "Misa is so happy to see you. Misa will come with you."
L frowned. "You're happy to see me? After all the fighting going on today?"
Misa shrugged. "Misa does not hold L responsible. And it was probably good to finally clear up things between Light and Mikami."
L said nothing and simply walked into the library. It was a small place with a few bookshelves. Paper signs were taped to the wall to indicate the fiction and non-fiction sections.
L came upon a small table set in one corner of the room where people could read. A book was lying open on the table. L caught a highlighted sentence at the top of one of the pages, "The creature is well-known for its hypnotic gaze."
Misa snatched the book up before L could read any further. "Oh, thank you! I've been looking for this book everywhere. It's mine, not the library's." Misa flashed him the spine so L could see there was no library sticker on it. Misa beamed. "I come here all the time since it's just across the street and I always leave things here."
L eyes Misa suspiciously, but let the matter drop. He was too busy browsing through the shelves.
"What are you looking for?" Misa asked curiously.
"A book about that haunted house."
"Oh, that's in the local section." Misa led the way through the aisles to a small shelf on the back wall. There were about twenty books about Grayville and the surrounding area. Six of the books referenced the haunted house in the title, but only three were devoted exclusively to the happenings at the house.
L selected a book called Ghosts of Grayville and began to read it.The first chapter was dedicated to the construction of the house in the 1850s under the ownership of Mitchell Jaevis and his wife Patricia. The second chapter delved into the Jaevis family life, which included the disappearance of the young Maggie Jaevis in 1862 and the suicide of Bartholomew Jaevis in 1893.
As the 1900s rolled around, the Jaevis family became the Jeevas family. All but one of the original family had died out. Patrick Jeevas, the last remaining descendant of the founder, sold the house to another family in town and moved into a smaller home nearby, complaining of being haunted by his dead brother, Bartholomew.
The new owner experienced no ghost sightings. The house faded into normalcy until 1984 when a large fire broke out on the outskirts of town. The fire burned down several homes at the end of the block, but inexplicably, the fire stopped at the old Jeevas house. The new owner, Margaret Watts, died of a heart attack when she saw her house still standing and all the other homes reduced to ash.
After 1984, a series of city people moved in and moved right back out soon afterward. They had all complained of hearing strange noises at all hours of the night, moans and shrieks, and a woman's voice. Several of the tenants had seen ghostly apparitions and demonic children running through the house. The book featured one grainy photo of a girl of about six in a blood-spattered sundress with glowing green eyes standing in a darkened room.
L frowned and closed the book. He selected another book, titled Killer House. The first page showed a newspaper clipping with the details of Cullen Anderson's bloody death in 1987.
The book then went on to list all the residents of the house and describe the ghost experiences each had. L noted his father and mother listed in May of 1996, along with a "young son".
L nodded solemnly as he shut the book. So, it was all true. Some things still seemed a little suspicious, but now L knew what Light was talking about.
The third book, The Hunt for the Grayville Ghost was written by an expert, providing a logical explanation for all of the supernatural events. Cullen's death was dismissed as a murder by a deranged lunatic. The expert also dismissed the photo of the girl that had appeared in the other book as a hoax.
L sighed as he replaced the books.
Misa looked at him quizzically. "Don't you want to check anything out?"
L shook his head. "No, I have an excellent memory. I can recall everything I've ever read. I can even tell you what pages certain sentences appear on and I can quote you whole pages."
"So that means you don't have to study?"
L shook his head. "No. I can easily call up any math formulas I've learned or scientific principles. It has helped me quite a bit in learning new languages. I only need to see the translation once and I will remember that word forever."
"You're so lucky," Misa sighed. "Misa hates foreign languages. Misa chose to take Japanese Culture instead of Japanese. In Misa's class, all we do is learn about the history of Japan and try Japanese foods."
L shrugged. "I'm sure Misa has skills which I do not have. I would not be able to do cheerleading."
Misa giggled. "Aw, you're so nice. Bye, L. I'll see you in class tomorrow. Get home safely, okay? It's getting dark outside and Light would be mad if L got lost."
L nodded and watched Misa skip back inside her house. He plodded home slowly, enjoying the sunset. He didn't notice the figures standing in the shadows watching him.