"For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
It had been two solid weeks since Light had first found L. Since then, the two had plenty of time to bond, aside from when Light was in college. L insisted that Light should see if he could take classes that were more suitable for teaching, but Light stubbornly refused, afraid that his dad would find out.
L had grown close to Light, so close that Soichiro and Sachiko got used to seeing him every time they saw Light. In fact, it appeared that Ryuzaki would follow Light around everywhere, like a duckling following its mother.
On this particular day, the family had decided to take an outing to the mall. Sachiko wanted to get Sayu new clothes. And Light needed to get L new clothes. He had tried on Light's clothes one day, but they were way too big; he could barely walk two centimeters without tripping over the cuffs of his pants. So he borrowed T-shirts and sweat pants from Sayu, ones that looked plain enough to pass as boy's clothes.
"Are we almost there?" L asked every two minutes.
"No," Light would answer, and the young boy would turn and stare out the window for two more minutes before repeating the question and receiving the same answer.
Finally, after what felt like forever to L, the car slowed to a stop. "We're here," Soichiro announced. L practically leaped out of the car, excitement bubbling up inside him. He spun around so that he was facing a large building. He knew it was the mall the instant he saw it, despite the fact that he had never seen a mall before.
"Woah," He said, his voice hushed in awe.
"Is this your first time going to a mall?" Sachiko asked. L nodded silently, obsidian eyes glimmering with anticipation.
"Can we go in now?" He pleaded as the last one in the car, Sayu, struggled out, complaining about something that L barely paid heed to.
"Mom, Dad, I'm going to take Ryuzaki inside," Light said, grasping L's hand. L practically bounced up and down enthusiastically, causing Light to laugh a bit.
"Okay," Soichiro and Sachiko said in unison. And with that, Light and L set off, hands still entwined.
"What's it like in there?" L wondered, glancing sideways at Light as they walked.
"Well, it's usually really crowded, but it's really big and there are lots of different stores you can buy stuff from," Light explained.
Crowds? L shuddered the slightest bit, pressing himself against Light's leg. That means that there are going to be lots of strangers... a-and maybe even... n-no, don't think like that. It's impossible. Why would HE—no, THEY—be in a mall? Seriously, you're just being paranoid. You'll be fine, as long as you stick close to Light, L assured himself inwardly. He finally zoned back in to reality to find that Light had been talking.
"...ores," Light finished, and that was all that L actually heard.
"I-I'm sorry, what?" L felt stupid for not listening in the first place. Light's disapproving look made him feel even stupider.
"Did you even hear a word I said?" Light asked, letting go of L's hand and turning to face L.
"N-no," L admitted. At least, not a whole word, He added silently, but knew better than to say that out loud. Light sighed dramatically and repeated what he had said, the only difference being that this time L was listening.
"I said: What's the matter, are you afraid of crowds? Because if you are, it's okay; we can just go into empty stores."
"Oh. Y-yeah, that sounds good," L agreed, hastily latching onto Light's arm before the older boy could start walking again.
Light started towards the entrance of the mall again. When they arrived at the double doors, L expected Light to simply push them open. But instead, he hit a large square button with a picture of a blue stick figure in a wheelchair on it. The door opened on its own. L couldn't help but gape.
"That's the handicapped button," Light explained as he walked past the already-open door, L being dragged behind, still clinging to his arm. "It automatically opens the door. It's made for people who can't open the door by themselves, but anyone's free to use it."
L nodded in understanding, absorbing everything that was now around him. People milled around, practically shoving each other out of the way as they tried to get to one of the many stores that looked never-ending, sticking out from the sides of the walls, all right next to each other. "There's so many," L gasped.
Light chuckled and began pulling L towards a store. He glanced up at the sign that hung above it. 'Borders,' it read. As they entered the store, L's eyes instantly lit up. Shelves towered over him, brushing against the ceiling. Books were crammed into every nook and cranny of the shelves, and of the store itself.
"This," Light said, sweeping his arm as if he were a game show host revealing a brand new car for the winning contestant, "is a bookstore."
"A bookstore?" L marveled at the thought of being able to bring any one of these books home. Back at the orphanage, they had a small library with very few books, and were inhibited from bringing them back to their rooms. The books were strictly for research purposes only.
L crept up to one of the shelves and snatched up a random book that caught his eye. On the cover was an illustration of a boy with dark hair, cape fluttering behind him and glasses askew as he ducked under an archway, riding aboard a broom. His arm was stretching upward in a vain attempt to catch a small golden ball with wings. A mysterious white horse with a horn on it's forehead galloped past in the background, and a suspicious-looking building sat opposite of the direction the horse was heading towards. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," L read out loud. He glanced towards Light inquisitively, who raised an eyebrow.
"It's a pretty popular series with a huge fan-base. I've read it before, though I'm not very into fiction books. It's a good book," Light said with a small shrug.
Series? Fan-base? Fiction? All these terms were lost on L, who'd only ever read biographies, dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, and the lot. "What's it about?" Surely it was impossible for any of what was on the cover to actually be in the book. White horses with horns? Boys who wore capes and rode on brooms? Flying golden balls with wings? It sounded like something a 3 year old kid would come up with.
"It's about a boy who's parents died in a car crash when he was young, so he's forced to live with his nasty uncle, aunt, and cousin, all of whom absolutely hate and mistreat him. The boy, who's name is Harry, soon finds out that he's a wizard and that his parents were actually killed by a dark Lord, and that the evil Lord tried to kill him too, but he survived and destroyed the Lord instead. Then he's taken to a wizard school called Hogwarts, where he meets new friends and enemies and has to overcome obstacles and stuff like that," Light explained.
Now L was even more confused. He didn't understand about three-quarters of what Light just said. But he didn't want to make Light mad, so he nodded and pretended that he completely understood. He put the book back and scanned the room, wondering if there were any books that were completely based off of facts and not... whatever that Henry Panner (or whatever it was called) book was based on.
"Are there any books about animals?" He asked Light. He didn't know why, but he'd always taken a liking to animals. He especially liked canines and felines, such as wolves, coyotes, lions, and tigers. Plus, he'd wanted a pet for as long as he could remember. Unfortunately, pets were forbidden in Wammy's, so he'd never had one. (Although there was this one time he snuck a stray cat in... but that's a completely different story.)
"I think so..." Light tapped his chin with his forefinger thoughtfully, pacing the room, searching for an animal book. After a couple of minutes, he declared, "A-ha!"
"What? What is it?" L eagerly asked, bounding over to where he heard Light's voice. He nearly ran straight into him, but was able to stop himself just in time.
"I found a couple. Animals of the Arctic, Animals of the Rain Forest, and Animals of the Jungle. Which one do you want?" Light asked, spreading the three books out in his hands so that L could inspect the covers.
Animals of the Arctic had an adorable picture of a small, fluffy white animal with flippers, no feet, no ears, and tail fins. Animals of the Rain Forest had a beautiful black bird with a multicolored beak. And Animals of the Jungle had a typical picture of a tiger. L was positive that he didn't want Animals of the Rain Forest, because he wasn't quite fond of birds.
So now he was stuck between the arctic one and the jungle one. He kept glancing back and forth between the two, indecisive. After a long moment of his mental debate, he still remained unsure. Light, fed up, took both books to the cashier and paid for both of them.
L wouldn't stop thanking him as they left Borders and headed to another store called 'Gamestop.'
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you," L continued. By now it was just a flood of words that wouldn't stop rushing out of his mouth; it sounded like he was rambling.
"You're welcome, for the thousandth time. You can stop thanking me now," Light said, rolling his eyes. L obediently fell silent and once the two were in 'Gamestop,' Light explained what video games were.
The rest of the day was a blur. The two went to a bunch of different stores, sometimes for Light and sometimes for L. At some point they met up with Soichiro, Sachiko, and Sayu. But this only lasted ten or fifteen minutes before the group split up again.
Light even took L to a weird machine that was kind of like a vending machine. Except you were supposed to sit inside it and there was a curtain so that people couldn't peek in. Apparently, according to Light, it was called a 'photo booth,' and it took five photos. While it took photos, people were supposed to do a bunch of random poses.
So Light and L did just that. Afterward, Light took a strip of paper out of a slot on the side of the photo booth. He held it out towards L, who took it and looked at it. It was five pictures of the two in random poses, exactly the poses they had done in the booth. The raven grinned and gave the paper back.
"I'll put it in my wallet," Light said as he got out his wallet and carefully put the photo strip in, "and save it so that I'll always have it."
"Always?" L asked disbelievingly. 'Always' was a really long time; it was as long as 'forever.' He doubted that Light would keep a simple strip of photos forever.
"Always," Light echoed. He glanced at his watch. "Ah, shit, I almost forgot the whole reason we came here! C'mon, let's go buy you clothes that actually fit." He quickly grabbed L's hand and the two sprinted toward yet another store.
A couple of days after the mall trip, the phone rang. Normally this isn't what you'd call a rare occurrence, but the Yagami household hadn't had anyone call their house in a while.
Soichiro got to the phone first and answered it. Light, L, and Sayu were watching TV in the living room, and Sachiko was doing the laundry in the basement. L, who wasn't very interested in the TV show, strained to listen to what Soichiro was saying, but he was talking way too quietly. He kept casting glances towards L, his expression unreadable. Finally, he hung up the phone.
Without a word, he walked into the living room, approached the TV, and roughly hit the power button. As the TV turned off, Sayu protested with an irritated, "Hey!" Soichiro ignored her and faced Light and L, glaring accusingly at the two. They shrunk back into the couch, intimidated by his stare. He opened his mouth and growled two words, two words that made Light's eyes widen and L's blood run cold.
"Wammy's called."