Arc 0.5: The Introduction

Chapter: The Interview [IV]

The eccentric detective ate away his patience. "I would shake your hand, but I'm sitting too far away, I'm afraid. Let me officially introduce myself. My name is Rue Ryuzaki. I work for the Kira Task Force."

The young man had enough of the detective's bullshit. But he knew how to play the game. "Nice to meet you too, Eru."

It was a small test. The young man was the one being interviewed. But nobody said he couldn't examine the intelligence of the people conducting the interview. The last thing the young man needed was to work for a blithering idiot. But from what he could tell, he had nothing to worry about.

Well, that's not exactly true.

"Ne, Ne, Yukino-chan." Kanra knew when to be annoying. It also helped that Yukinoshita got easily annoyed. "Why did Hikigaya-kun call Ryuzaki-san 'Eru'?" A devilish smile stretched across her lips. "Is that his nickname or something? Do you think he has a secret identity?"

Yukinoshita's face was a treat to observe. All those emotions battling for dominance, her inner turmoil bubbling to the surface, to pick between her duty to the office and her own ego, it was not an easy task. But she was a smart woman. And she worked for the government. It was practically her job to pass the buck and blame others.

"I don't know, Orihara-san."

Oh, it definitely hurt to lie like that. Saying you don't know something, when you in fact know it all too well, that's the worst thing that can happen to a person with a high IQ. The young man would have sympathized with her plight had the woman with the blue eyes not directed her anger on someone else.

"Perhaps Major Kusanagi could enlighten us. After all, according to Hikigaya-kun, she is relatively close to Ryuzaki-san."

Shots fired.

But as it turned out, Major Kusanagi was too old for this kinda crap. "Rue is an anagram of Eru." She simply stated.

Kanra didn't miss a beat. "Ah, but what is 'Eru'?"

Yukinoshita and Major Kusanagi were locked in a silent standoff, but upon hearing the mischievous tone of Kanra's question, both women turned their eyes on the young man. You would think, he would have felt flattered by their undivided attention, but what he was feeling was more akin to a fly trapped in a mason jar.

The young man tried his hand at levity. "Beauty and brains. I feel quite lucky."

None of the girls laughed. Kanra smiled, but it wasn't at his sad attempt at comedy. The woman was enjoying this for all the wrong reasons. Meanwhile, Yukinoshita was practically daring him to cross the line and make that one fatal mistake which will mess up his chances for good. Now she looked every bit like the scary woman that she was, and if he screwed up, she will see to it that he couldn't even get a job as a janitor in Ikebukuro. Even Major Kusanagi looked like she had enough of his crap, because she was definitely not built for dealing with men with big brains and bad attitudes all the time.

The young man cocked his head to the side, tried to look past the stares of the three beautiful women and was able to meet the eyes of the only other man in the booth. "This is all your fault, Ryuzaki. What do you want me to do?"

"How is it my fault, Hikigaya-kun?" Ryuzaki said. "You are the one who tried to get cute with the ladies."

You bastard!

"I mean with you name. Your first name!" Hikigaya clarified. "From what I have heard, you don't make mistakes. It was intentional. You could have just introduced yourself as Ryuzaki. Hell, you didn't even have to introduce yourself, because I already got your name from Kaneki-san. But you did it anyway. Why? Because you wanted to mention your first name. It was a test." He added at the very last minute. "Frankly, I feel a bit insulted that you thought I wouldn't figure it out."

Ryuzaki-san toyed with a spoon. "What was the test, Hikigaya-kun?"

Hikigaya gritted his teeth. This man was beyond infuriating. No wonder a serial killer was out to get him. In fact, at this present moment, he was rooting for Kira to put an end to his miserable life. But a minute passed and nothing happened and the young man saw no other option but to trust this group of people with a big secret.

"Like Major Kusanagi said Rue is an anagram of Eru." He met everyone's eyes, forewarned them about what was to happen, before finally biting down on the bullet. "And Eru is the Japanese pronunciation of the letter L."

Now technically, he was still in the clear.

Or so he thought.

"I knew it. I fucking knew it!" Kanra-san was beyond ecstatic. "You know my brother didn't want to tell me who you were or what you looked like. He sent me here, telling me to expect Light Yagami. But you are definitely not Light." She faced the oldest woman in the booth. "I mean, I don't want to badmouth your taste in men, but you could do a lot better, Major. Have you thought about dating, Light?"

"Light Yagami?" The Major couldn't believe they were having this conversation in the middle of an interview. "The main suspect in an active serial killing investigation?"

"Hey! What happened to innocent until proven guilty?" Kanra countered.

Major Kusanagi turned to Ryuzaki. "Do you have anything you would like to add?"

Ryuzaki was at a complete loss. He didn't know how to handle the situation. Or take into account a woman's feelings. He made the mistake of using logic. "Light won't date you, Motoko. He knows you and I have been together. No matter how beautiful you are, if the two of you ever became a couple, Light won't be able to think of you as anything other than my sloppy seconds. He won't enjoy it. Hehe."

"…"

Did the bastard actually let out an awkward laugh?

Did he think he was being funny?

Kanra-san summed it up beautifully. "Ouch."

Yukinoshita sipped her tea elegantly. "Indeed."

There was an almost inaudible crunch and the young man looked down at the table. A spoon was bent out of shape. It was a metal spoon. Yet it had very clear handprints on it. Like someone was holding onto it really tight to control her temper.

Despite the warning bells ringing in his head, the young man decided to do the right thing. "Are you alright, Major?"

Major Kusanagi looked at him for a moment and caught in her violent gaze, the young man found himself cursing Ryuzaki and his callousness. The bastard had no idea how lucky he was.

"I'm perfectly fine Hikigaya." The Major replied smoothly. "But thank you for asking."

By now Ryuzaki realized he had messed up. But he couldn't let go of his pride and admit he had made a mistake. As a result, he kept digging his own grave. "I didn't mean anything bad by it, Motoko. I was just telling you how Light's mind works. You are not his type." For some reason, he thought another woman would save him. "In fact, he once told me that he had thought about asking Yukinoshita-san out on a date." He took turns looking at both women. "Now you have to admit, you two are two very different women. I mean even your body types are -!"

A plate was knocked off the table.

It crashed onto the floor and broke into a million pieces.

Everyone looked at the guilty party.

"My apologies." Yukinoshita said.

The woman looked completely unapologetic.

"What a waste! Yukino-chan, you should have at least tried to aim it at his head." Kanra-san said while pointing at Ryuzaki. "We would have all backed you up. Isn't that right, Hikigaya-kun?"

The young man held up a hand. "Keep me out of this. I'm just here for my interview."

Kanra pouted. "You're no fun."

The young man chose to ignore the woman in favour of observing the exchange between Ryuzaki and Yukinoshita. From what he could tell, Ryuzaki really had a death wish. He had almost jumped up on his seat when he had heard the plate crash onto the floor. But by now he had calmed down. He still eyed the blue eyed woman warily though.

"Yukinoshita-san, you have a thirty percent chance of being Kira." Ryuzaki remarked out of the blue.

Unfortunately the older man had taxed out all of her patience.

Yukinoshita didn't bat an eyelash. "Learn a new tune, L."

There.

Someone had finally let the cat out of the bag.

Ryuzaki was L.

And Hikigaya hadn't been the one to say it. It hadn't even been Kanra Orihara as everyone feared. In the end, it was Yukino Yukinoshita who had blurted out one of the biggest secrets in the world. It was the woman from the ministry who had inadvertently disclosed confidential information to a bunch of people in a café.

"Shit!" Yukinoshita cursed.

The gravity of her actions finally dawned on her. But she couldn't even have a minute to think of her next course of action, because the waiters were back. Both of them.

"Here's your iced mocha, Hikigaya-kun."

"Thanks."

If Hikigaya found it a little odd that it was Kirishima, the waitress, who had taken down his order, but it was Kaneki, the waiter with the eye patch, who actually placed the glass of iced mocha in front of him on the table, he decided to say nothing about it.

As it turned out, Kirishima had her own role to play.

"What happened here?"

The question was meant for everyone in their little group.

Major Motoko Kusanagi looked at the metal spoon she had ruined with her anger and strength and decided to get over her embarrassment like a proper adult. "I'm sorry Touka. I will pay for it."

Yukinoshita echoed her exact sentiment. "And I will pay for the plate I broke."

"Why should you guys pay?" Kanra argued on their behalf. The younger Orihara sibling looked at the man trapped in the corner. "It's L – I mean, Ryuzaki's fault. He should pay the damages. In fact, I think he should pay for another round of drinks. What do you guys think?"

Everyone looked at each other. Ryuzaki did the smart thing, kept his mouth shut and let the women decide things for themselves. It came as a little bit of surprise when Yukino Yukinoshita of all people found herself agreeing with what Kanra Orihara had just said. But she was too proud to acknowledge it. One by one, all three women placed their respective orders.

"I would like a cup of lemon tea, thank you."

"A cup of hot chocolate, thanks!"

"Another milkshake please."

Touka Kirishima jotted everything down.

Finally she addressed the oldest man in the booth.

"And what would you like Ryuzaki-san?"

Ryuzaki looked serious as hell.

"The bill, please."

Hikigaya and Kaneki shared a look. The two younger men tried their hardest not to smile at the older man's misery. This could easily be one of them in the near distant future.

Nope.

Probably not.

"I will be back shortly with all your orders." Touka Kirishima said to the group of people in the booth before taking her leave.

Ryuzaki shook his head. "Where did I go wrong? You thought I was funny right?"

Kaneki first nodded his head a couple of times, but upon receiving a nudge from an elbow courtesy of Hikigaya, which made him study the faces of all the women present at the table, taking note of their respective frowns and glares, he found himself quickly changing his mind and shaking his head in the negative. Thankfully, he had the presence of mind not to say anything.

Nothing was going in his favour. Ryuzaki wondered why he even bothered to come here. He should have sent Light as planned beforehand. Oh right, Motoko. And,

"Chocolate Pudding."

Kaneki looked puzzled. "Um, Ryuzaki-san, do you want something else other than the bill."

Ryuzaki looked at the waiter like he was an idiot. "I meant it as a joke. And yes, I would like some chocolate pudding. Now leave. We have some important matters to discuss."

Kaneki quickly left with a shoddy apology.

Hikigaya thought Ryuzaki would have something to say to him, but instead he did the right thing for the first time and talked to the woman sitting next to him. And he used a different tone of voice. "Motoko, is everything okay between us?"

It was a conversation which should have been held in a different setting. Thankfully, one of them had the good sense and judgment to understand that, and it surprised no one in particular that it was not Ryuzaki.

"We will talk later, L." Motoko said.

And now the Major had used his name.

Perfect.

Hikigaya thought by now it wasn't even worth thinking about. So far, he hadn't made a single mistake. It was better to enjoy his iced mocha in peace and offer the troubled couple a semblance of privacy.

That was his first mistake.

Hikigaya took a sip from the glass of iced mocha, his first and only sip, before he let go of the glass and let it fall to the floor with a crash of broken shards and ice, a perfectly good waste of espresso, milk and chocolate.

Everyone in the booth acted surprised.

Except the woman with the blue eyes.

"What the fuck did you put in my drink, Yukinoshita?" Hikigaya asked.