"A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked." -Author Unknown

-o-

Smoke curled up from the ceramic teacup in the saucer. It hit the edges of the cup and coiled in before swirling up into invisible vapor. The cup was painted with black and pink designs to match the saucer; they were very beautiful. Shika stared at it, or rather stared through it, not really looking at anything in particular. She tapped a random rhythm against the tabletop.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Chihiro snapped her well-manicured fingers.

Shika blinked and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Yeah. Sorry."

Her friend pouted a glossy lip. Aesthetically, she was a perfect foil for Shika: Chihiro dressed in sweet Lolita fashion. Everything was pastel and embroidered with some kind of lace. She looked like a walking doll. She twirled a finger through her curly pink wig. "Is something wrong, Essy? You seem distracted."

"No. I was just thinking about some things."

"Well, okay, if you say so. Anyway, as I was saying, we met down at that shop—you know, the one we went to last month? He's so dreamy, and he has these eyes…" She sighed. "You aren't listening, are you?"

Shika started. "What?"

Chihiro sighed and looked down at her nails, decorated with tiny peppermints and lollipops. "You know, if you're just gonna daydream we can go somewhere else."

"No, no, I'm sorry. A lot of stuff has been happening the past few days. I don't mean to ignore you."

"It's not like you to be all daydreamy." Her eyes lit up through her purple contacts, and she grinned. "You met a boy, didn't you?"

"What?" Shika drew away from her, surprised at the conclusion she had reached. She shook her head and grinned. "No, that's not it."

Chihiro bounced up and down. "Yes, yes, it is!"

"We saw someone murdered on live television just a few days ago and you think I'm distracted by a boy?" Shika gestured at herself. "Do I look like I just met someone?"

"Okay, okay, jeez, no need to get all worked up. So, is that what's bothering you? That…thing that happened on TV?"

"In a way. L contacted me the day of the broadcast and hired me." She sipped her coffee, holding back a smile as she waited for her volatile friend's reaction.

Chihiro stared, then waved a hand. "Okay, I get it. Very funny, darling. This is a joke, right? I can usually tell when you're joking but this is definitely a joke."

"No. I broke into his network and he decided to employ me. I'm to meet him at an upscale hotel for a debriefing sometime soon."

There was a pause. Shika looked at her dumbstruck friend over the rim of her cup. Upon seeing her expression, she burst into laughter. "What? It's true! Don't you believe me?"

"Essy, it's just…it's insane! Aren't you scared?"

"Maybe a little, but I'm ready for whatever happens now. I think I'm actually a little excited."

The loli gave her friend a pitying look. "Well, it sounds interesting, but this L guy could just be another Kira. I mean, he asks you to meet him in some hotel, who knows what could happen! He might not even be L, like what if he's just a pervert or a murderer?"

"I'm willing to take that chance."

"Set!" Chihiro snapped, startling Shika by using an abbreviated version of her given name. "You could get killed! You could be going to meet Kira for all you know!"

Shika straightened. "I told you already that I'm not scared. If I'm going to my death, so be it. I'm going to do something interesting with my life; I want to help people, even if it kills me."

Chihiro sank back. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

She finished off her coffee and stood up, smiling. "Thanks for having me over, Chihiro. I should go before it gets dark out."

"Oh, won't you stay the night? It's been so long since we hung out like we used to."

"I can't. I have class tomorrow. Besides, I…have been having trouble sleeping again."

Chihiro's face dropped, and she looked down, exposing her sparkle-tipped fake eyelashes. "I see. Are you sure it was okay for you to have coffee? If you'd just said something, I have watermelon soda or…"

"No, I'll be fine." Shika smiled wider and bowed. "Be careful out there. I'll see you later."

"All right…" Her friend worried. "Call me any time you need to, okay? Even in the middle of the night I'll pick up, you know, even though it's the New Year."

"I know. Thank you. Happy New Year, Chihiro." Shika left her apartment and started walking home.

-o-

Ping!

Shika hopped up from her couch at the sound of her mailbox receiving a message. She jumped over the low, threadbare back and straight into her chair. Opening it, however, revealed only a spam message from a video site. Sighing, she flopped back. It had been nearly a week already, and she was starting to get impatient. She uncrumpled the crushed piece of paper in her hand, where she had written down the location she was to report to when the time came.

She ran her fingers through her hair and looked at the clock. It was late in the night, but not yet early in the morning. Shika was tired, but didn't want to sleep for fear of what could happen, which only made the probability rise, which only made her more distressed, and so on. Defeated from her false hope email, she sat back down on the couch and continued watching TV.

Some time later, she picked up her phone and called Chihiro. It rang a few times, then a bleary, "Mm, hello?"

"Hey. It's me."

"Essy, it's really early. Did you sleep? Do you need me to come over?"

"No. No, don't come over, I'm okay." Shika staggered from the couch and sat at the desktop. "I couldn't sleep. I just…needed someone to talk to."

"No no, you don't have to explain! I know. Do you want to go get a drink this morning?"

"That sounds good. I'm sure I'll get some…" She squinted at her mailbox. "Some…" The newest mail was unlabeled, sent from a blocked mobile number. The only contents were a time in military and date. "Some rest…what day is it today?"

"It's the new year, silly. Are you sure you're okay?"

Shika checked her watch. "Uh oh."

"What?"

"I have to go. I just got the time from L and it's in less than an hour."

"What? This is sounding more and more dangerous…just stay there, I'll come over and bring some tea; we can stay up and watch cartoons."

"If I don't leave soon I'm going to be late." Shika started hurrying around to get dressed.

"Essy…it's the middle of the night."

"So? I'm not going to sleep anyway. I'll call you back."

"Hey, wait!"

Shika snapped her phone closed and jammed it in her pocket. On the way out of the house she grabbed the ripped, crumpled paper with the address of the hotel and the right room number and a small knife, just in case. The hotel was too far to walk and still be on time, so she was forced to get a cab.

The car ride was one of the most nerve-racking of Shika's life. Not because she was scared, or at least not entirely; no, she was excited. It was 22:49. The lights of the city rolled past in neon streaks. A minute later she arrived at the hotel, paid the cab driver, and ran into the building as the car drove off. She went straight to the elevator and hit the button.

Something about what she was doing made her feel like she was going to meet a mob boss. She watched the elevator count the glowing numbers as she ascended through the building. Shika breathed steadily. She refused to be intimidated.

Upon arriving at the highest floor, she searched out the room number. A moment of hesitation followed her arrival, her eyes fixed on the gilt number on the door. There was still time to turn around, forget about this completely. No one could guarantee her safety. What if she was simply executed, or kidnapped, or drugged upon entering?

Shika took a long breath again and knocked. I refuse to be intimidated.

The door opened to, shockingly, a familiar face: it was the man who had dueled her in the park. The loose-fitting clothes, mop of black hair, pale skin and eyes underlined with dark bags. He was hunched over a little, and had his hands in his pockets. He cocked his head at her, rubbing his feet together. It was like he was uncomfortable standing.

"Hello." He said flatly. "I am L."

Shika blinked a few times. "Don't I know you? You played chess with me."

"Yes. Please, come in." He stepped aside and closed the door behind her. "I realized who you were when you told me your name."

"Oh! Right." She did remember giving him her well-known placebo, twice. "Is anyone else going to be here? I don't mean to be rude."

"I understand. We will be joined in approximately an hour by several members of the Japanese police currently working on the Kira case." He turned away and sat on the sofa in the main room—in the same curious manner as at the park, on the balls of his feet—and looked up at her. "Please make yourself comfortable."

Shika observed him curiously. It wasn't that he was attractive, nor was he particularly unattractive. He had a soft, low voice that hardly changed in tone, and was remarkably young, perhaps only her age at the least. L seemed his own entity entirely. He resonated the sort of atmosphere that aliens would; almost human, but something was a little off. In fact, Shika was surprised at herself that she hadn't noticed he was so strange upon their first meeting. She had simply assumed he was an eccentric chess-lover.

She sat on the edge of the couch, not really that comfortable. "Why am I here an hour early?"

L seemed to be observing her back, staring. "There's no need to be nervous. You have my word that I mean neither you nor any of the task force harm. That is, unless you are Kira."

There was a teapot with a matching cup and saucer on a table that, Shika noticed, looked like a chessboard doubled in length. After pouring himself a cup, he opened a sugar jar, the ceramic edges scraping faintly. L didn't ask Shika if she wanted any, or even set out another cup.

"I'm not nervous, and I'm not Kira. I just wanted to know why I'm here so early."

"Mm." L began putting sugar cubes into his tea. "I brought you here before the police force because you…are not a police officer. You are a civilian whom, due to my belief that you can be of help to us, I have brought into a very serious investigation. The task force members who will be arriving shortly are already aware of the risk they are taking in participating."

"The risk being that I could be killed by Kira?"

"Yes. You're under no obligation to go any further if you aren't willing to put your life on the line to bring Kira to justice. If you walk out of here right now, I can assure you that will be totally safe from harm and no one will ever mention this meeting again or even know it occurred." L stirred his tea after adding slighter fewer than twenty cubes of sugar. "So, what will it be, Kawaguchi Shika?"

"I'm in."

He looked up at her. "Oh? That was quick."

"I'm not scared. I'm not nervous, and I wasn't from the start." Shika said. "I want to help people. If that means catching Kira, or hacking networks, so be it. I'm good at using computers. I would say I'm amongst the best. So, yes. Count me in. What do you need me to do?"

"You'll be acting as our head of technology, mainly security. There has been a leak at the police station, which is allowing Kira to obtain important information about criminals. Obviously, Kira isn't getting his information from regular paper and ink, or I would assume those at task force headquarters would have noticed that critical files were missing. You were very nearly able to hack into my system, which is impressive on its own, but it seems you have a specialization in firewalls and protection, am I wrong?"

"Well, no. That's right."

"Then I want you to monitor as much web activity as you can in and out of the NPA, as well as installll…whatever you feel is necessary to get the job done." He took a sip of tea. "If any unauthorized computer starts trying to steal information or files, then we've found our Kira. Or at least, someone who Kira has manipulated into gathering information for him."

Shika nodded. "All right. That shouldn't be too hard. Consider it done."

"Thank you. By the way, on the topic of names, you should no longer call me L. For safety reasons I ask that you now refer to me as Ryuzaki. You will, for the duration of the Kira case, be under the guise of a low-ranking police officer. A badge has been made for you, with a fake name and rank. I ask that you use it at all times."

"But…you already know Kawaguchi Shika isn't my real name. Aren't I fine with just this?"

"Normally, yes, but I simply cannot trust that you are telling the truth about that. Also, to avoid confusion for myself, using an alias I have already created is simply easier."

Shika nodded. "Okay. I guess I can do that." She checked her watch. "Wow, we still have a lot of time until midnight."

Ryuzaki's tone lightened. "Yes, to be honest I was expecting more deliberation on your part about whether you would even join the investigation. Still, please remain here once the agents arrive. There is plenty to discuss yet."

"I have nowhere to be." Shika found herself to be relaxing already. Ryuzaki's initially off-putting presence had already become secondhand. He seemed perfectly content to sit and wait, drinking his sweet tea.

The silence wasn't uncomfortable, rather, poised in that purgatory of when two people wish to talk but aren't quite well acquainted enough yet for casual conversation. It went on as such for a while; Shika imagined massive chess games on the long checkered coffee table, took off her coat and shoes, and got genuinely confortable in the hotel room since it seemed she would be there for some time yet. After scouring the generic kitchen, she found a cup and got her own tea, thank you very much. By the time midnight arrived, she was sitting against a wall, stoically grinding two sugar cubes together by the corners until they turned to dust again.

There was a knock on the door at 00:09.

Ryuzaki stood to answer it, unhurriedly getting to his feet. When he let the task force in, he repeated, just as he had to Shika, and with a similar reaction: "I am L."

-o-

A/N: These chapters, whew! I had fun writing this one. L is such a pain linguistically because of the weird hesitations and tempo changes in his speech T-T Oh well, it's still fun. If you can't tell, Chihiro is already my favorite supporting character ever. I think it's important that Shika has friends; I see many stories where it's like the protagonist's life doesn't start until they meet the canon cast. But whatever. Loli is fun to imagine!