Author's Note: Back onto PLOT! Thanks for everyone's comments and the readers so far. C:
Just in case you didn't see it before, I don't own Death Note or anything officially related to it.
Have fun!
It takes Light nearly a block and a half of walking to completely shake the dream; part of the problem might lie in the fact that he's making a midnight trip to the grocery store. He hates to admit it to himself, but he thought he saw a bear at least once or twice. What he should have done is question the text from Misa a little bit more. He knew her vaguely comprehensive grammar was suspicious! If only he hadn't answered the door, he might've gotten Dream L to tell him his name. It's not like he can use it, but it would have been interesting to see what his unconscious-self thought it was while in a state of lucidity.
On the plus side, the dream (he wouldn't call it a nightmare- that would imply he was afraid. Because it was more like a combination of scenarios that he has been expressing uncertainty towards, it was more like an anxiety dream), had given him clarity on how to gain L's trust. As sad as he is to say it, he's going to have to drop the bear plan. His mind must have been trying to tell him that it would seem unnatural to have a bear suddenly attack in a quiet, suburban neighborhood.
And that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't know how to train a bear…
He can train a shinigami, though. There can't be too much of a difference, can there? He's going to have to put 'train a bear' on his list of future goals as god of the new world, just to make up for his inability.
A sudden 'pi,pi, pi' of his cell phone reminds Light that someone tried to contact him earlier. He recognizes the sound as a signal for a missed call. Walking into the bright, fluorescent lighting of the grocery store, Light pulls out his phone.
Missed Call: Yamamoto
New Text Message: Yamamoto
Hey man, I heard you were having a study-thon tonight and thought you needed some fresh air. We're having a mixer at the usual karaoke place if you're interested.
Light notices that the message was sent about three hours ago. He feels a pang of guilt at ignoring his old friends for so long. Most of them existed purely for manipulation purposes: needing a quick date or some reason to be out of the house. But some of them, like Yamamoto, were actually nice to hang out with. He's nowhere near Light's caliber in intelligence, but he's fairly witty and shares Light's love of justice. Unfortunately, he does have a horrible obsession with watching subtitled, classic American TV shows. Light can vividly remember many summer nights on Yamamoto's floor watching The Adam's Family. The humor was sup-par, and he couldn't understand why Yamamoto was laughing so hard, but at least it gave him something to do while school was out.
Assuming it's much too late for Light to make his grand entrance, he tries to muster an 'Oh shucks, sorry about that' feeling into his reply, without having to actually say 'Oh shucks'.
He's thinking 'Oh golly' doesn't sound very good either.
Re:
Sorry I missed you. I was about to study when I fell asleep, and I must've slept through the call. Hope you have a good time, we should get together later!
Light re-reads the message a few times, just a button away from sending. Does it sound too forced? The exclamation mark at the end might make Light look too excitable, but he doesn't want to appear solemn, then Yamamoto will think something's wrong. Mulling it over, Light drops four apples into a produce bag for Ryuk.
He takes the apples to the cashier, handing the bag to her personally. The employee gives Light a curious look as he fishes his wallet out. "You really like these apples, don't you?" She laughs.
Pausing mid-count of his change, Light looks up in surprise. Hiding his embarrassment, he takes a quick glance at her nametag, which read: Otsuka. He tries to remember if she'd seen him buying so many apples before, but he hasn't bothered to memorize the staff of all three grocery stores in his area.
He offers a light-hearted, disarming chuckle, "I wasn't aware anyone noticed me buying so many," he smiles. "I do like them though. Sometimes they're all I can eat." This is your fault, Ryuk. You're going to have to find your own apples if Light has to take the heat for you again. People don't need to think that Light, potential god of the new world, master of his own destiny and emperor of elegance, eats like a horse.
The girl giggles in return, scanning the apples a little slower than Light felt was necessary. "Oh, I see you with them all the time. You're Yagami-san, right?" She continues, already knowing the answer, "I'm Otsuka Tsukiko. We have a class together."
Otsuka Tsukiko. Otsuka Tsukiko. The genius' mind races, wondering which class he could possibly have with this girl, but most importantly, how often she sees him buying apples. It could be worse, though. Ryuk could have been addicted to doughnuts or, even worse, instant pudding. Light can't imagine having to take home four or five boxes of instant pudding every other day. Sayu would have a free-for-all with that, and he can never give her an opening to get leverage over him.
Light smiles apologetically, "I'm sorry, Otsuka-san, but I can't seem to remember what class we have together. Which is it? I can probably remember you then," he remedies. With this information, he'll be able to know what routes he should take in order to refrain from her seeing him buying apples again. Hopefully it won't be too out of his way.
"No problem. I sit in front of you, anyway," Otsuka smiles, taking his change. "We have Philanthropy together. You always get good grades, so I envy you a ton, but you probably hear that a lot."
He knew Philanthropy would be his bane. Hiding his distaste at the irony of the situation, Light feigns delight at having met an acquaintance by chance, "Oh, that's great! I'll have to look for you during our next class." He smiles and casually looks at his watch, "Well I have to get going, but it was nice talking to you, Otsuka-san. Have a nice night."
Otsuka blinks, mildly surprised to see their conversation end so quickly, "Oh, yeah, I'll see you around, Yagami-san!" She waves.
Light gives a curt wave and begins walking. With a sudden realization, he turns to look at Otsuka again. Seeing the back of her head, he knows exactly who she is.
Laptop Girl.
You know, it somehow didn't occur to him that Laptop Girl might have a real name or a life outside of class. She seemed to exist purely as an example of laziness and to copy off of her friends' homework. Oh well, just another reason for Light to tell Ryuk no when he wants apples at midnight.
Looking back at his forgotten text to Yamamoto, Light decides the exclamation mark adds a pinch of charisma to the message. He clicks the send button, feeling wholly satisfied with his charm.
On his way back to the house, Light gets the same spine-chilling feeling he had on the way to the store. The only problem is that he's pretty sure he didn't see a bear this time around. He tries to dismiss it. Knowing there's another world completely inhabited by gods of death, he figures there must be other things unknown to him as well. For all he knows, there could be some kind of invisible creature that exclusively haunts the street in front of his house! That would be exciting, albeit unlikely, but exciting nonetheless.
The student finally gets inside, but even after locking the door, he still feels slightly uneasy. He quietly climbs the stairs to his bedroom, not wanting to disturb anyone or have them, namely Sayu, question why he needed apples at this time of night. Lying to mom and dad is like breathing and walking at the same time. Lying to Sayu is like breathing and walking while he has a rock stuck in his shoe; it's completely possible, but pretty irritating.
Light notices his computer seems to have blue-screened while he was out. Incredibly, Ryuk had left the poor machine alone and is instead trying to busy himself with crawling around on Light's ceiling at top speeds, screaming all the while.
Click.
"LIGHT WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO ME."
"Calm down, Ryuk," Light offers the apples with a sigh, "And please stop screaming."
The shinigami immediately stiffens and falls from the roof. He tries to turn like a cat lading on its feet on the way down, but doesn't quite make it. Lifting the grocery bag from the boy's hand, he tears the plastic to shreds with his teeth.
"Frank rooh Right!" Ryuk tries to say.
"Couldn't you wait until I shut the curtains?" Light looks out the window exasperatedly, "You're lucky no one's out there."
Moving on to his computer, Light almost asks Ryuk what happened to it. He catches himself before opening his mouth, because he knows how much of a waste of effort that conversation would end up being. Luckily, all he had to do was restart it, and everything returned to normal. He still isn't sure what Ryuk did, but it didn't appear to be anything major.
Figuring he wasn't going to get any studying in for the night, Light decides to log onto Sayu's instant messenger instead. On stealth mode, as always.
xoxoMisaMisaxoxo: Offline
L000000L: Online
Seeing as it's pretty late, it makes sense for Misa to be asleep, though Light was still half-way certain that she would have a sixth sense and know exactly when he was logged on. Not yet tired himself, he sends a message to Ryuzaki to see how his case is doing.
HydekiRyugaLuvr: I see you're still awake. Have you finished your salesman case yet?
L000000L: More or less. Something else seems to have come up in the middle of it, however.
HydekiRyugaLuvr: Ah, well if you ever need a hand, I'm never very busty.
L000000L: :)
HydekiRyugaLuvr is typing…
L000000L: Well if I may tell you, I've always found that attractive in a woman, Light-chan.
HydekiRyugaLuvr: I meant BUSY! I'm never very BUSY.
In front of his computer, Light tries not to shudder at the thought of Ryuzaki talking about an actual woman's breasts.
L000000L: Are you sure? I think I like the thought of a small-sized woman with a lot of free time. Perhaps you could help me on the case…
HydekiRyugaLuvr: You sound like a manager who flirts with all of his unpaid interns. Which is, in case you didn't realize, completely creepy.
L000000L: Mmm, yes, but not entirely illegal.
HydekiRyugaLuvr: Oh really? In which countries?
L000000L: A lot of them. ;)
HydekiRyugaLuvr: Thankfully that's vague enough for me not to believe you.
L000000L is typing…
HydekiRyugaLuvr: Will you be able to make it on Sunday?
L000000L: What a shame…
L000000L: Pardon?
HydekiRyugaLuvr: You suggested we go to Pop-Top Café while I was walking home from school. Since something new came up, I was wondering if you were still available.
Strange, it's really not like Ryuzaki to forget things, especially when he was the one who invited Light out in the first place…
L000000L: Ah, you are correct. And we're meeting there at 10:13, I assume I said?
Light isn't quite sure what's going on with Ryuzaki, but he's more than interested in finding out. He decides to pretend he doesn't notice and play along.
HydekiRyugaLuvr: Did you forget? It's ten o'clock, but that's close enough.
L000000L: What an odd time…
L000000L: Do you mind if I bring someone along? He'll be looking like me, and I want you to do your best not to acknowledge or ask any questions about it.
HydekiRyugaLuvr: Is it about your new case?
L000000L: Yes, Light-kun, I'm asking for your assistance.
Success, L is finally breaking down! All Light has to do is capitalize on this opportunity to help the detective, and he'll be that much closer to his perfect world! He'd like to ask for details on the case, but he supposes that can wait for later.
HydekiRyugaLuvr: I don't mind helping you out, but don't count on me not asking questions after everything is said and done.
L000000L: Thank you so much for clearing some time out of your busy schedule for me, Light-kun. Forever am I in your debt. Truly, you are a god-send.
HydekiRyugaLuvr: Oh, it's really no trouble, but you're welcome nonetheless.
L000000L: I see the martyr is still starving. Viciously it claws at the fresh compliment steak, naïve to the keeper that's thrown it…
HydekiRyugaLuvr: What?How on Earth am I a martyr?
L000000L: Quietly the keeper retreats into the shadows, watching the martyr in its habitat, waiting for the next feeding. The keeper smiles, his secret hidden.
HydekiRyugaLuvr is typing…
L000000L signed out.
What was that all about? Light spins around in his chair to watch Ryuk tying the strips of bag together, wondering if L was really joking or not. No matter what, he'll find out a thing or two on Sunday.
Hopefully this was funny enough. This week's been awful.
Here's Yamamoto's wiki page: deathnote -dot- wikia -dot- com/ wiki/Yamamoto
Review if you'd like!