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Chapter 30: Memories

Aug 9, 2004; 12 00

Rui stumbled, then tried to pretend otherwise.

"How was your date yesterday?" Watari had asked, just as they were making their way back to the task force from where they'd seen off the professional cleaning crew. Watari's eyes were sparkling despite his neutral expression, and he just seemed like a kindly grandpa trying to make small talk. Why was he here, though?

The events of the day before had completely ruined Rui's association with the word 'date'. It now brought to mind Misa's comically shocked face, flames everywhere, and the four of them running out of a smoke-filled room. She snorted before she could help it.

"Eventful. It took a bit to plan. I hope Light and Misa enjoyed it." Despite Rui's valiant effort to present a straight visage, her voice cracked at the last sentence, knowing full well that at least one of them had not. Still, Rui was grateful for small blessings - at least she hadn't had to personally clean up the mess.

"I'm sure you and Ryuzaki did, as well," Watari replied mildly, but it set a niggle of suspicion off. Rui wasn't sure where the cameras were positioned in the kitchen, but it was possible that Watari had caught that weird moment between them. What were the implications of that? Not the moment, the fact that Watari had likely noticed. Oh, who was she kidding. She wanted to know the implications of both the moment and of Watari cottoning on to that.

Rui laughed, somewhat uncomfortably. "As much as we were able to around serial killers, I suppose," she said, lightly. Perhaps she should assume that Watari already knew about her crush on Ryuzaki. No, it was likely also that Ryuzaki knew about it, from the way he was acting around her. Nevertheless, all things considered, it would be in everyone's best interests for her to maintain the status quo. Yes, that was the best-

Rui shifted her gaze to whatever had given Watari pause.

Perhaps it wasn't the brightest idea to be so careless about her words in the lobby entrance, for Misa was now staring at them indignantly.

Rui blushed bright red under her mask. Misa was supposed to be off with Matsuda, working or something. They must have finished early. Still, despite how true something was, Rui absolutely hated to be caught talking behind someone's back.

"Why does everybody think Misa is a criminal? Misa is NOT a serial killer!" Misa huffed, stomping up to a still-cringing Rui. How do you even recover from that? "And Misa will prove it to you!"

However Rui had expected Misa to prove her unlikeliness to being a serial killer to her, them having cut fruit and milkshakes, a romantic drama playing in the background, and a toenail-painting session was not it. Strangely, it wasn't as awkward as it sounded.

"What do you think of Misa's room?" Misa had asked, twirling around dramatically with her arms outstretched after having thrown open the door with a flourish.

Misa's room was incredible. It was mood-lit and had a ton of cute little creepy-cute plushies, crosses, a checkerboard patterned carpet, red curtains, and gothic style furniture with an Anna Sui-aesthetic, complete with a small dressing table on which were ornate little dishes in which various perfume bottles, cosmetics, and stray accessories were haphazardly but beautifully arranged. Oddly, there was also a little of that 'Live, Laugh, Love' thing going on - Rui had spotted stray motivational stickers with nonsense phrases like 'NO DREAM!' and 'Go Go!', as well as that one wooden picture frame that didn't fit the gothic aesthetic, despite the picture of the elegantly creepy seraph it contained - though it seemed she was in the process of phasing that out. Rui hadn't paid all that much attention to Misa's room design plans back then, but she was pretty sure Misa had done a lot to change it. There was a stack of fashion magazines in the corner, as well as a couple of picture frames with Misa herself in them. Rui found herself pretty impressed at the sheer number of nail polishes lined up on the racks just behind her closet door, among other things.

Rui said as much, to which Misa had beamed and begun describing exactly what she had to do and where she had gotten everything. She had spoken almost too quickly for Rui to keep up, but her enthusiasm had been contagious, and soon Rui'd found herself beaming along with her, squealing along as Misa had taken out exquisite dress after dress (a large portion of which were sponsored or gifted to her after shoots), and then they (or rather, Misa) had bounced onto the topic of romantic dramas and the kind of drama she would like to star in. Surprisingly, Misa wanted to star in a highschool coming-of-age romantic drama. Rui had figured that she would have liked some sort of gothic romance, maybe even a musical, or at least one which had fantastical elements in line with the whimsical image Misa marketed, but it made sense, if you thought about the kind of guy Misa had presumably fallen for - clean-cut, young, but professional. It made even more sense when Misa'd confirmed that she'd attended class rather irregularly as she focused on her modeling career.

"Misa thought Misa would get a boyfriend in high school," she had pouted. "But I was in and out of class so much that they all broke up with me." You know how there's always one key person in the friend group who made or broke the mood? Misa had to be that person. Having felt the mood shift, Rui had cast about for a change in subject.

"Well, now you've got Light," she'd ventured. That was enough to lift Misa's mood again.

"RIGHT?" Misa had exclaimed, squealing. "Light's such a Prince Charming! He's handsome, and capable, and..." Abruptly, she had paused. "We must plan our next date!" Having whirled around to face Rui again, she had clutched Rui's hands in appeal. "Rui, surely you understand how much Misa loves Light! Please help me find a way to get closer to him!"

"Eh-uh..." was all Rui had managed, before Misa had drawn up short again.

"No, we need to set the mood first!" she had declared, wagging a finger. "Misa is most creative when she's doing romantic things!"

And so here they were debating nail polish colors, Misa having bullied Matsuda into getting them cut fruit and milkshakes (which she only picked at), with Glass Mask playing in the background.

"Misa has always wanted to go on a romantic picnic date," Misa sighed. "There would be a cute picnic basket, and wine or champagne, flowers... Oh! Maybe a gift, like a necklace... He would ask me to turn around, and put it on for me... Rui, could you find a way to hint to Light that we should have gifts for our next date? Then it would feel more like a proper date. Hmm, but city lights are romantic too, like in Paris... Oh have you chosen your color already?"

It was amazing how quickly Misa switched topics. Rui, who wasn't used to wearing nail polish and was, in all honesty, dazzled by Misa's collection, only shrugged at her sheepishly. "Uh... They're all beautiful..."

Misa tutted, before a contemplative look stole over her face. "Say, let's do something Ryuzaki would like!"

Oh heck no. "Nonono, why would we do that," Rui managed to babble, slowly backing away. "He's my employer and it would not be approp-"

"Oh, an office romance!" Misa cooed, stars in her eyes. "How romantic! Although I didn't think that guy would be the type to date, but..."

Yeah, Ryuzaki wasn't the type to date. But what? But what? The heck was Misa on about?

There was no stopping Misa. She had begun on a spiel about 'sexy and mysterious' nail polish colors*, and Rui could only nod quietly, overwhelmed at the intensity of the discussion on Misa's end. It was much easier just to go along with everything. "I think Ryuzaki, being that creepy and mysterious- oh, I mean, unique," Misa suggested, "that guy would probably like deeper and interesting colors like these." She picked out a deep burgundy bottle, and an emerald one. "Which color do you like better?"

The red one , Ryuzaki thought. Misa's body language pointed to her favouring the red slightly more, as well. He hid a smile at the corner of his mouth as true to form, Rui hesitantly reached out a hand to point at it. Rui, too, was a natural at reading people's unspoken desires, even if this was not something she was consciously aware of. It was both a strength and vulnerability.

"Classic choice, Rui! Misa is sure Ryuzaki will like it! Now, what kind of girl does Light like? Maybe I should go for a pink?"

He listened with half an ear as Rui shared her hunch about Light seeming to like sophisticated ladies, guessing at her chain of thought (Light had seemed to like being seen with the shot-haired woman from his university), and watched with uncharacteristic interest as Rui tried really hard to paint her toenails, growling and wiping off the polish as soon as it smeared her cuticles. The color did look rather nice on her. She didn't have particularly beautiful feet, but they were interesting-looking: exceptionally bony, narrow and high-arched, but with a small bunion before each big toe.

Gifts, huh? Watari, too, had been harping on about that... On a whim, he called out to Kira.

"What, Ryuzaki?" came the distracted reply. The boy did not look away from the monitor he was working on.

"Have you prepared a gift for your girlfriend? I heard it's customary for men to give gifts on dates," Ryuzaki continued, knowing that something this trite would annoy him.

"Wha- She's not my girlfriend!" the former Kira protested, a furrow beginning to appear between his brows. "I told you, all I know is that she said she fell in love with me at first sight, and now she won't leave me alone-"

What had Rui said about the Death Note, that the act of giving up ownership removed all memories related to it? If that was the case, Yagami was likely to be experiencing holes in his memory. Perhaps they ought to start with the basics.

"Humor me, Light-kun," Ryuzaki began, accidentally interrupting the boy in the middle of his spiel. "What do you remember about the time the existence of Kira first became public knowledge?"

Yagami looked puzzled, then ponderous. The pause could easily be attributed to him taking time to recollect, but to Ryuzaki, who had familiarised himself with Yagami's quirks, it seemed more like Yagami was ever so slightly disturbed. At an unexplainable gap in memory, perhaps? No, he was getting ahead of himself.

"... Around the end of November, to early December," Yagami stated, "that was likely when Kira emerged in the public eye as criminals died en masse of cardiac arrest. I follow the news quite closely, on account of my interest in law enforcement as a future career choice. In any case, the large number of criminal deaths, all with the same manner of expiry, did not seem like a coincidence."

Ryuzaki was 56% sure that Yagami was overexplaining himself, since he couldn't discount the possibility that the former Kira was attempting to be as helpful as possible to ingratiate himself. "I understand. You, too, must have arrived at the same conclusion that I did - Otoharada Kurou was Kira's first victim." He didn't bother with the flattery this time; it would've set off Yagami's suspicions.

At his nod, Ryuzaki continued. "I would like you to cast your memory back further. Do you recall anything of your circumstances, personal or otherwise, around the time Kurou's death was reported in the news?"

Ah, there was the beginning of a frown, before Yagami caught it. The pause was barely noticeable this time, too. "I remember that was the same day I witnessed Shibuimaru Takuo's traffic accident. He had been harassing a woman just before," Yagami replied, calmly enough.

"Do you recall what you were doing just before? Had you been planning to call for help?" Ryuzaki pressed on, out for blood.

This time, the frown on Yagami's face was visible to all. "I don't- Why are you asking me these questions, Ryuzaki? I don't see how it'll help in solving the case. We're wasting time here."

Ryuzaki wouldn't be able to get away with more, at least, at this point in time. Yagami had already turned back to his monitor, in a worse mood than he'd previously been in, though it was covered up with industriousness.

He hadn't been in favour of Rui getting that close to Misa, but perhaps it would turn out to be useful.

Aug 12, 2004; 17 00

There hadn't been much to do these days. Instead, Ryuzaki had asked her to befriend Misa, no, the Second Kira, as much as was possible. It didn't seem hard - all Rui'd had to do was make herself more available to the bubbly model, go along with her conversation, and the model herself would do the rest. Misa seemed to have forgotten Rui's throwaway remark about her being a serial killer. Conversation was light, and Misa was a really fun person to be around. In spite of herself, Rui couldn't stop the warm glow of happiness that arose at being called Misa's friend. She had had to remind herself that friendship didn't stop Misa from leaving her friend's fingerprints on the Kira tapes.

The two girls had gone out shopping with Matsuda. at first, for clothes and accessories, where Rui found herself lingering over the perfumes and scented products in the store, but being unwilling to use Ryuzaki's credit card for frivolous things, and then they ended up purchasing a karaoke machine to use for the next date. It was lucky they had Matsuda to do the heavy lifting, for online shopping wasn't yet common.

Eyeing the model, who was sipping on some unsugared iced tea in what appeared to be a relaxed mood, Rui judged this to be as good a time as any to take action.

"Misa, you know, I was wondering, how did you fall in love with Light?" Okay, that was rather abrupt, but eh. "I wanna meet cute guys like Misa did!"

The model in question perked up. "You want to hear about Misa's love story with Light?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

"Yeah!" Rui tried her best to match Misa's level of enthusiasm.

"It was in Aoyama, around spring or summer last year? Misa saw him in a crowd with friends, and fell in love with him at first sight!"

That was surprisingly little detail for how much Misa usually went on about Light. "Wow, what a fortuitous coincidence!" Rui exclaimed. "I heard that Aoyama's great for trendy stuff. I haven't been there yet. What did you do in Aoyama?"

Misa looked surprised. "Eh? Not been to Aoyama?"

Rui prayed that Misa wouldn't get too derailed from the original topic. She should've said she hadn't been to Aoyama much. "Yeah, I haven't been in Japan long," she explained, sheepishly. "I was here to work and study. But do go on, I wanna hear the full story!"

Misa giggled. "Misa went to Aoyama because Misa felt like it. It must be divine intervention!"

That was still uncharacteristically brief. So she didn't at all remember why she was in Aoyama, what she was doing there... Did those memory gaps bother her, as they seemed to bother Light, at least according to Ryuzaki?

"Well, how did you get his name? I'm not familiar with the dating conventions here," Rui said, rather sheepishly. It was true, she had no idea how to approach guys. The one time she'd dated, she'd been approached.

"Eh, does Rui like someone? Is it Ryuzaki?" Misa asked, her eyes widening. "Because Misa thinks Ryuzaki likes Rui!"

Rui blushed, before she could help it. Thankfully, it was hidden behind her mask.

"No way, why would you think that? That dude is only interested in-in being creepy," Rui said, as dismissively as she could. "I only work for him."

Misa hummed thoughtfully, holding a finger to her lips cutely. "Misa doesn't know. She just... thinks so. Well, that's why we should plan out our next double date so that you and Ryuzaki get closer!"

As Misa launched into another rapid-fire discussion on plans for the next date, Rui admitted ruefully to herself that the turns had tabled quite masterfully. She had yet to find out what else Misa remembered after the Aoyama incident, but she couldn't think of another way to bring the topic back. Besides, Misa wasn't letting her get a word in.

Aug 12, 2004; 20 20

Rui had been winding down when Watari knocked on her door. "May I come in, Rui?" he asked politely. He was carrying a mid-sized box and a folder, and had a trolley of tea things behind him. Watari didn't usually visit her.

As he stepped into her room, he handed her the box. "Compliments of Ryuzaki," he stated simply, a strange twinkle in his eye that caused Rui to raise an eyebrow. She felt its weight, then untied the black ribbon that held the box closed.

The box had a deep golden interior that looked expensive, but tasteful. On the back of the lid were the words 'Bespoke Scents', and then in smaller font 'Perfume, Bath and Body'. Nestled amid the luxurious-looking scented paper was a full set of toiletry products - shower gel, moisturizer, body oil, the like, in what looked like just-as-expensive packaging.

If it were possible, Rui's eyebrow would have gone higher. "You're saying Ryuzaki got me this?" At Watari's own eyebrow raise, she amended her tone of voice. "I mean, while I very much appreciate the sentiment and gift, it seems rather out of character for someone like Ryuzaki. Pardon my frankness, but are you sure you didn't just get it on his behalf for whatever reason?"

Watari chuckled softly. "I assure you, Rui, this was very much Ryuzaki's request, although he left it to me to follow up on. Ostensibly, Ryuzaki wanted to recognise your valuable aid in this case."

Ostensibly ?l

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Watari continued, sounding amused. "In any case, this is yours, no strings attached. Just remember to thank Ryuzaki next time."

Well, she could always decide what to do with this later. "Well, then, I will. Thank you too, Watari, for bringing it to me." But he hadn't left yet. "Was there something else?"

Watari handed her the folder and a pen. "Would you help an old man with this?"

It looked like a stack of quizzes that consisted of multiple choice, open-ended and rating questions. Rui frowned. Back when she'd still been a student, she'd taken multiple IQ and personality tests online to kill time (which had confirmed that she was indeed, no genius). She'd done something similar in one of her job applications, only the questions seemed to have been geared towards measuring her reactions in the case of issues cropping up at work. She later learned that it was meant to measure one's adversity quotient.

Watari's folder of questions somewhat reminded her of a combination of all of that. There were general knowledge questions interspersed with open-ended questions on crime scene solving and social situation, rating questions on the strength of one's reaction to a certain challenge, mixed up with math and strange pattern recognition questions... If this was indeed what she thought it was, Watari must've had a really complicated point allocation system for this. Did he come up with this himself? ... Could this be what they used to test children at Wammy's? What the hell.

"It's an interesting set of questions you have given me, Watari. But I was under the impression I'm no longer in school. Why do I have to do this?" Rui inquired, keeping her tone light. Did Ryuzaki put him up to this? It didn't seem likely, for he hadn't mentioned it. She couldn't think of any downsides to completing this stack of papers, either, unless it disqualified her from her current role or something. Well, besides the time-consuming nature of the task. It wasn't as if Watari could make her do that, could he? Were there even any upsides to doing this?

"It's a stack of questions designed to measure and predict your abilities in most situations, Rui," Watari said amiably. Rui didn't miss that he'd chosen to answer a simpler question instead. "Do not worry if there are questions that are out of your scope of knowledge, some of these are very specialised. Ryuzaki, too, has completed a variant of this test. There is no time limit, but do try to complete it before the Kira case picks up again."

"Bu-"

"Then, have a good night, Rui," Watari cut in, with an air of finality that brooked no objections.

Aug 13, 2004; 04 25

Yagami was a quiet sleeper, but he never seemed to sleep as well here as he did back at his home, at least, from what he'd observed, through surveillance footage and otherwise. He appeared to be experiencing worse sleep quality than prior nights at the task force headquarters this time. Ryuzaki watched dispassionately as Yagami squirmed about restlessly on the bed, getting progressively more tangled in the blankets. It was not typical for the boy to make much sound in his sleep, and this was no exception. However, he was clenching his jaw more tightly than usual, and his fists were balled up tight. These would all have been easily missed by someone less familiar with Yagami's tics, but for one more observation: he was most definitely perspiring, with damp strands of hair stuck to his forehead and cheeks. Yagami never perspired in his sleep.

It could have been mere coincidence, but Ryuzaki was not about to overlook anything to do with Kira. There must've been something that disturbed the boy's psyche enough, and the only thing out of the ordinary that had happened recently had been his probe into the boy's memories. He was 99% sure of that; he'd been with Kira in all his waking hours, after all. He'd have to continue probing Kira, until he was sufficiently sure of the sequence of events that had transpired enough to be able to visualise them.

Ryuzaki himself was familiar with nightmares and poor sleep quality - the deep shadows under his eyes attested to that. Nevertheless, he had no qualms about the possibility, or rather, probability, of his decision triggering more nightmares in the boy. They wouldn't be here if he hadn't taken up the mantle of Kira, after all. Besides, it would both be a greater challenge and advantage to have more evidence supporting his case.

Notes:

Credit: Casuistor's Yotsuba Light analysis on Tumblr: 'Hellscape - A Yotsuba Light Analysis'.

AN1: I'm wondering if there is enough evidence in Yotsuba Light's account that L could later use in implicating Light, but I'm not sure. In any case, Casuistor didn't go into what exactly Misa remembered during the Yotsuba arc, only Light, so I might try going into what she remembers. It'll probably be little bits here and there since Misa is a master at controlling the convo, and Rui is SO bad at interrogation LOL. Would it have worked better if she'd stayed in character instead of trying to match Misa's enthusiasm? Heh heh heh.

Do you think Ryuzaki really gave her that gift?

AN2: Apologies for the delay in posting and responses. For a time, I kind of misplaced my muchness, and now I've decided to try making a different life decision. It took me like a whole week to write this short chapter, simply because it was a bit of a struggle getting back in touch with my creative side.