Let's try to create a bond, it's eighty-three percent accurate.
Enfer
VI
| I don't like to commit myself about Heaven and Hell, you see, I have friends in both places |
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The third week of May reaches its end. People in the Task Force are tense, especially since they received that mysterious diary from the Second Kira. Four men are gathered in the living room of some hotel room, trying to piece things that they aren't even supposed to understand.
And then there's this.
"Ha, Gin! I win, old man. Pay up." Watari smiles at her, sliding a lollipop on the table. Nao smiles, the red of the deck of cards glowing in the dying afternoon sun. "It's your turn to shuffle." She unwraps the treat and shoves it in her mouth – the sugar is rich and it melts in her mouth.
"Why are you here again?" Nao looks up with a blank face to stare at Aizawa. That man is just itching to use his gun on anything, Nao's figured as much. His dark eyes meet hers with a mixture of disbelief and annoyance.
"Ask him." Nao says with a shrug, pointing to the detective currently hunched over a stack of papers in the armchair that overlooks the room. Aizawa turns his death glare away from her and onto the dark haired twenty-four-year-old.
"Why is she here, Ryuzaki?" The detective doesn't even bother to look up from his files.
"Nao-san is very valuable to the Task Force, Aizawa. She is also here to provide insight on things that would escape us." The man with the afro sends him a look that clearly says 'prove it'. "Nao-san, what do you think is the profile for the Second Kira?"
Nao looks up from her cards and her brows furrow for a minute.
"Well, someone young, between eighteen and twenty-five. That person most like feels as if they have been wronged by the judicial system, that it failed them. Either they have been the victim of some criminal act or someone they love was a victim, and the person responsible was never properly punished." She peeks at the cards for a second. "Kira probably offed said criminal in one of his killing frenzies and now that this person feels justice has been served, their life purpose has become to find Kira and help him in his quest to rid the world of bad people."
She's fully aware that every eye in the room is on her. She rearranges her cards.
"But obviously…" She adds. "The Second Kira feels as if they have something that the first Kira needs, which is linked to the fact that they only need a face to kill. It could very problematic, especially for detectives who like to remain nameless in expensive hotel rooms." Her hand hovers over the stock pile.
There is silence.
And then, even if she hasn't won this game yet, Watari slides another lollipop towards her. It's not like she's going to refuse. It's not those cheap candies you find at the grocery store. No, it's handmade, just like the ones her father brings her back from his many business trips.
When she finally looks up, stuffing the second lollipop in her mouth with the first, Aizawa's jaw is slack. Soichiro Yagami looks like she just proclaimed she was Santa Claus, a mix of serious and awe and bewilderment. Matsuda's mouth is actually on the floor; she can see drool on the carpet.
L looks like a smug bastard, hunched in his chair.
"You see, this is one of the many reasons Nao-san is on this case." And then, he looks up from his paper. "Although I wish Watari would stop feeding her my candy." Like that will ever happen.
"He just likes me better." She pulls her tongue at him, holding a lollipop in each of her hand. It's red from the candy. At least it's not the finger, he should be grateful.
"Now, now." The man says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I like you both equally. Ryuzaki, you already have yours, I bought those especially for Nao." She winks at the old man who chuckles.
"I won't lie, I feel a little betrayed right now." Nao rolls her eyes.
"The king should stop whining and eat his very expensive cheesecake before I decide that I want his piece." She shoves the lollipops back into her mouth and goes back to her cards. "It's your turn, Ojii-san." But it comes out distorted.
The three other men stare at the exchange with what can only be described as morbid curiosity. They have badges and degrees and yet somehow this twenty-year-old seems more adept at profiling than them.
Light chooses that particular moment to enter the hotel room slash headquarter and stands in the doorway for a second, taking in the three stunned men, the hunched over detective, the only girl in the room with two lollipops in her mouth and the old man who shuffles his cards.
"Did I miss something important?" Nao smiles.
"Light, come play Gin with us." There, she is not the only one with a freaky life.
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While Light and Matsuda have their little day out in Ayoma and Soichiro and Aizawa spend some time with their families (she pictures mama Yagami happy to have her husband home if only for a day) she somehow has to babysit the great detective L because Watari has some out of the country business to attend to (the old man had smiled and asked if she could watch out for him and it's not like she had anything better to do).
She's already on a first name basis with the three receptionists of the hotel. It's sad that she spends so much time here. Her mother thinks she has a boyfriend and that… that's just wrong.
So, it's her and her chemistry books and L and his paperwork, in a fancy hotel room for the whole day. Well, at least until three o'clock, when he looks up from whatever he is doing and starts staring at her.
"Nao-san and I are friends." She blinks. "And as I understand, friends spend time with each other. Like this?" This is a very weird conversation, very, very weird.
"Sure." Although it doesn't usually involve case files. But it's not like she minds, she has an exam soon and the hotel room is quiet enough that she can study.
"Would Nao-san like to do something else? I understand she is very fond of the card games she plays with Watari." It's not that she's fond of card games, it's just that it's something to do. And Watari always give her candy when she wins.
"We don't have to play cards, Senpai." She shrugs her shoulders. "I think friends don't care what they do with each other as long as they are together." When she does see her friends, they mostly catch up since they don't see each other often.
"Curious – is that what they call bonding?" She nods. "Watari told me that I should get to know Nao-san, on a more person level." Why is she not surprised? "I merely suggested cards because it's one of the things I know she enjoys, like chemistry."
"What would you like to do?" Because he really doesn't have to know her on a personal level. This is just another proof that her life is really weird; her in a hotel room with a detective that talks about bonding with her.
"I know Nao-san's personality to be very passive, to the point where she just goes through the motions. If I were to suggest something, she would never tell me that she does not enjoy it." Well, he's not wrong.
"You want to do something… that I want to do?" He nods.
"Yes, I believe it would help us create a bond." And the real question is…
"Why do you want to form a bond with me?" It seems strange, yeah? "I mean, I'm already here…"
"Watari told me it was nice, to see me making friends – ones that are not plotting my demise in secret." She snorts. If her relationship with L is weird, then his with Light is even weirder. She's never seen two people so passively aggressively nice with each other. "He informed me that I should make an effort to preserve my relationship with her."
"So, you want to be friends with me because Watari told you to?" She's not even surprised.
"Watari never tells me what to do. He gives opinions and I decide whether or not to consider them." Yep, that definitely sounds like the narcissistic detective she knows. "And while Nao-san has no interest in cases, even with the potential she displays when faced with them, the percentage that we could get along as friend is still very high – almost eighty-three percent."
She blinks; that was a very long sentence.
"Simply put; Nao-san and I are very compatible. As such, we should make an effort to create a bond." That's probably the oddest way anyone has ever asked her to be their friends. "Of course, if Nao-san does not want to be my friend, then we shall never speak of it again and return to the way we were before."
He stares at her and for a minute, she considers pretending like this conversation never happened.
"Pizza." She says then, randomly. He blinks at her, like he always does these days. "We should order a pizza. And maybe watch a movie, that's what I usually do on Saturday nights."
"That's what Nao-san wants to do?" She nods.
"Yes, it is." He nods his head back at her.
She thinks that at least, with a movie, he won't stare at her as much. He does anyways, large black eyes gauging out every reaction she has. When Matsuda and Light come back that night to report that the Second Kira didn't show, Nao offers them leftover pizza and fizzy drinks.
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Nao understands the dynamics of the people who make up the Task Force. There's Soichiro Yagami, who is the definition of a father figure, especially to Matsuda (and to Light, but he's his actual father, so that doesn't count). Matsuda is the newbie, the one who is sent to get coffee. Aizawa is frustrated. Mogi barely comes around, but when he does he's pleasant enough.
There's Light who smiles at her and always makes small talk, always with his eyes on L. Said detective, always makes jabs at Light and tries to get him away from her (not that she minds, Light is Kira, so you know). Watari sort of comes and goes, sometimes he plays cards with her, sometimes he gives her cake, sometimes he asks if she needs help with her studying because he happens to be quite good at chemistry.
And then there's her.
Her afternoons become meetings with the Task Force in expensive hotel rooms, except on Wednesdays. L doesn't ask much of her in terms of work – it's not like he's paying her. But she answers when he asks questions and his questions can range from what she would like to eat that night to what do you think about that video the Second Kira aired about finding the first Kira.
"Does Light-kun have a girlfriend?" See, he asks questions. She's in the middle of writing down the answer to an equation, seated at the same table in the corner where she always is. Light isn't there today, he has classes.
"Well, he introduced a girl to me today – her name is Takada." Yep, Miss Toho herself. Nao thinks it's good that way, it means that Light won't try to recruit her to join the dark side anymore.
"Describe her to me, Nao-san." Uh, what the hell?
"Well, black hair cut short. Taller than me. Very pretty – people call her Miss Toho. She's very popular." Not that she pays attention to gossip. But her classmates are almost all boys and they talk. She just has ears.
"He introduced you?" She nods. "And how did she act around you?" Her eyes raise to the ceiling as she tries to recall the encounter. It barely lasted a minute and she's pretty Light had purposely searched for her so he could introduce them.
If this is his way to try and make her jealous, he really doesn't understand her.
"Well, she didn't look too happy to see me. Well, at first." She pauses. "And then Light mentioned my father and suddenly she seemed perfectly okay with me being there." Kiyomi Takada is a stuck-up bitch.
"Your father?" Matsuda says, like he really has no idea.
"Nao-san's father is a very popular architect. He has designed many hotels, in many different countries. I'm quite a fan on his work." Well, Nao supposes he would, since he happens to live in hotels.
"Not just hotels." She adds with a smile. "He also designs buildings, like those in downtown Tokyo. He also made the plans for our house." There's a reason Nao loves her house so much.
"Nao-san does have a nice house." Matsuda mutters a 'wow' under her breath. Aizawa just sends her a look that is mildly impressed and Soichiro already knows all of that, so there is no reaction. "But, Takada?"
"Her and Light make sense." A lot more than her. "I don't think she's the one you're looking for." He nods his head and all three other occupants send them a look, obviously not quite sure about what they are talking about.
L doesn't have to tell her. The Second Kira contacted the first. Anyone new in Light's life is a suspect. The detective doesn't leave the room as much and she barely sees him around the school anymore. If the Second Kira can kill with only a face, she understands his hesitation to be outside.
If she didn't know better, she'd probably think the detective is stressed out. Paranoia is justified when there is someone out there to get you. She thinks she almost feels bad for him.
Almost – at least, until a couple of days later, when she finally meets Misa Amane.
And when Nao says meet, she actually means that she finds the Task Force in front of a screen that shows Misa Amane bound and blind, standing in what looks to be the most uncomfortable position in the world.
"We do that now?" That's the only thing that comes to mind, her eyes trailing on the picture of the blonde girl who looks inhuman displayed this way. Is that what L does to people he can't manipulate?
"Misa Amane has been arrested on suspicion of being the Second Kira." And from the looks of it, she and Light were the only one not in the know. Is this what the Task Force does when she's not around – kidnap wannabe models and tie them up to stare at?
"I may be Kira." The world slows for a second, L's toes curling and uncurling, his fingers on his cup of tea as he stares at Light and then at her. Soichiro is outraged, desperate. Aizawa tries to come up with a reasonable answer. Matsuda looks about to pass out. And Nao?
She doesn't buy it, doesn't buy the despair and agony on Light's face. She doesn't buy the way he seems like he's given up, like he knows he might be doing something horrible. And yet, the words that come out of her mouth;
"You know you're not Kira, Light, stop saying that. Do you really want to be placed under confinement?" Solemn, he looks solemn, but she can see underneath it she's caught him by surprise, that he didn't expect her to speak up.
"If it's what it takes to finally clear my name, I'll do it." And then, he pauses to really look at her with a small smile. "Nao-chan has so much faith in me, I want to prove to her that I'm worth it." She never pictured herself as an actress, maybe she should. "And for Otou-san. Let me do this." That last part is directed towards L.
L looks at her then and she can only stare back.
a/n : I hope I kept L as much in character as he should have been. I wasn't sure about that whole bonding part, so I hope I made it convincing enough. Thank you all for the feedback and I know how much people enjoy the fast updates. To be honest, this story pretty much writes itself. I hope you enjoyed, drop a review to let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.