"There are many types of monsters in this world: Monsters who will not show themselves and who cause trouble; monsters who abduct children; monsters who devour dreams; monsters who suck blood; and monsters who always tell lies."

"The truth is... You're the first friend I've ever had," L stated flatly, his voice tinged with a hint of sarcasm. The claim momentarily caught Light off guard. L's intention was clear—to unsettle Light, to exploit any vulnerability. "Friend?" Light thought, momentarily taken aback. Surely, L didn't have friends, except perhaps Watari. Their relationship seemed more like a professional arrangement. But L and him? That was out of the question.

Light regained his composure quickly. "Well," he retorted, breaking the tense silence, "I'm not Kira. If you want us to be friends, you might need to start believing that."

L raised an eyebrow, his dark eyes scrutinizing Light.

"Not Kira?" L muttered, almost to himself. "All evidence points otherwise."

"Maybe," Light shot back, a trace of frustration creeping into his voice, "you just can't be happy unless I'm Kira. Well, sorry to disappoint. While you waste time accusing me, Kira slips further away from justice. If I have to, I'll bring Kira to justice alone."

Light's words hung in the air, heavy with conviction. He turned to leave the room, but he felt L's gaze follow him, a silent challenge lingering between them. As Light reached the door, he hesitated.

"Do you really believe, without a doubt, that I'm Kira, Ryuzaki?" Light asked, his voice softer.

L's eyes narrowed, his expression unreadable. "Of course."

Outside, rain streaked down the windows. L watched the droplets with detached interest, finding solace in their rhythmic patter against the glass. His work often triggered debilitating headaches, pounding within his skull like a relentless drumbeat threatening to burst through.

Boom, Boom, Boom...

His skull remained intact. The pattering of rain always helped to ease the pounding. A tap on his shoulder.

"Are you alright, Ryuzaki?"

It was Matsuda.

"Yes," L murmured. "Just a headache."

"I brought you some coffee," Matsuda offered, holding out a steaming cup.

"Thank you," L acknowledged with a slight nod.

Light sat a meter away, focused on his laptop.

"Light…?"

"I've been drinking too much coffee lately. I'm trying to cut down on all this caffeine." A pause. "But thank you."

"Right." Rubbing a hand behind his head, Matsuda let out a short sigh. "You know, after the Kira case… I think we all need a holiday."

Light glanced up. It was such an odd thought that it momentarily seemed ridiculous.

"A holiday?"

A holiday. In the midst of a mass murderer killing hundreds every day? In the midst of them risking their lives to catch someone who was probably planning every moment to end theirs?

"Yeah… When I was younger… My mom and dad always took me to Okinawa in the summer…"

"Perhaps you should take the rest of the day off," L suggested. "It seems the stress is getting to everyone."

"Huh?"

Okinawa. Light had been there once before. Blinding white. Salty ocean. Running and running on rough sand that stretched on and crystal warm wind.

"Um, no. I'm fine." Matsuda didn't sound certain. "I just need to catch up on some sleep. Anyway, trying to find Kira... is... taking it's toll on all of us."

And Light could feel that Matsuda was staring at him.

Could you really… be Kira? Just like L says?

The question that always poisoned the air stubbornly refused to leave. Day in and day out, whether it was Matsuda, Soichiro, Mogi… his father. There it was. Staring right back at him.

No. I'm not Kira. L has it wrong. And every moment you believe that, we're wasting time. You really think I'm a murderer?

He glanced over at L, seeing fatigue etched on his face.

He was staring again into his cup.

"I haven't yet seen Prague," he murmured. "Although, I can imagine it's…"

"Ryuzaki, if you want, you're going to see it one day," Light cut in. "Don't talk like that. Take a painkiller, get some rest. I'm fine to continue working for a while. I want to solve this case not only to stop Kira, but also to prove my innocence. Let's find Kira. Then, Matsuda, you can talk about taking a vacation."

"Uh…"

"Light is right." L shrugged. "The sooner we apprehend Kira, the better."

Misa Amane.

Light Yagami's girlfriend suspected of being the second Kira.

She sat opposite them on a sofa, pouting. Her pretty blue-lensed eyes shining with contempt.

"Why can't we go on a proper date for once?"

Light folded his arms, and L took note. Light probably didn't want to be there, sitting on a sofa opposite her, let alone on a date. However, Misa Amane didn't seem to notice.

Misa, acting as the second Kira, sent several tapes to Sakura TV, which broadcast messages to the public and the original Kira. These tapes contained instructions and threats meant to communicate with the original Kira and to spread fear among the public.

L stirred his coffee.

"Both you and Light are under surveillance. Until Kira is caught and your innocence can be proven, I'm afraid you can't have a proper date. But..." He popped a cube of sugar into his mouth. "Don't mind me. Just pretend I'm not here. That shouldn't be too hard. After all, Light outshines me in almost every way. And he's much better to look at."

"Isn't my Light so handsome!"

Even though it wasn't a question, L answered, "Oh yes, the most in all of Japan."

"Why..." Light hesitated, "do I suddenly have a fan club in here?"

"There's hardly enough people to be a club." L smiled, popping another cube of crunchy sickly sweetness into his mouth. "Mm, but perhaps that's a good idea. We could use this strategy to expand the task force."

"Oh, Ryuzaki," Misa giggled. "You're so funny. But really, it would be so nice to go somewhere more romantic. Light, when this is over, where will we go? Oh, what about a picnic? Just lying on the grass, talking, looking up at the sky... Wouldn't that be romantic?"

If Light had a romantic bone in his body, he didn't show it.

"Yeah... sounds great."

The task force had retrieved the tapes that had been sent to the TV station from the second Kira and conducted a forensic analysis on them. There were traces of Misa Amane's DNA: fingerprints, and strands of her hair.

Light shifted uncomfortably.

"So, Misa, seeing as you haven't been chained to anyone lately, how have you been passing the time?"

"Well, I was reading some magazines! Do you know Hideki Ryuga has a girlfriend? It was a huge scandal! They've been dating in secret for three years, and the public found out about it because a fan saw them together and spread the pictures. Can you imagine? Having to hide the person you love for all that time... Ah, how difficult it must have been... I feel so sorry for him."

The presence of Misa's DNA on the tapes provided evidence that she was directly involved in the creation and distribution of the tapes.

"Have you ever had to hide your feelings before?" L asked Light, despite 'not being there', like the question was loaded.

Light's eyes shifted to him.

Feelings such as murderous, violent thoughts, for instance? L's face replied.

"Not in the way that you think."

"What?" Misa asked, "Light, is there something that you're not telling me? Oh, I get it! You're too embarrassed to say how you feel with Ryuzaki around."

"Yeah... something like that."

"As I said," L put up a hand, "just pretend I'm not here."

"Ohh, this isn't fair!" Misa squealed. "Ryuzaki, hurry up and find Kira. You're supposed to be the world's greatest detective or something like that, aren't you? So why haven't you found him yet? I've been waiting a long time to go on a normal date with Light, you know!"

"I'm curious, what kind of dates did you go on before?" L threw back.

"Well, we... um..." As she thought about it, her lips crumpled. "We haven't..."

"You haven't been on a date?" L brought his cup of coffee to his lips. Cold. "Then how did you and Light start dating if you haven't even been on a single date?" He sipped it anyway.

"Hm..." Even Misa couldn't answer that. She had fallen in love with Light at first sight, and she remembered going to his house to confess her love to him. But, that was all. Blushing, she waved him off. "Never mind about that. That's not any of your business. Pretend you're not here, remember?"

"As you wish."

"Ridiculous," said Aizawa. "We're never going to catch Kira at this rate!"

"Hey, of course we will!" Matsuda replied. "We just… need to take a break! Let's call it a day... Or, er, night?"

"Ugh," running a hand through his hair, Aizawa nodded. "Well, it's going to be the same tomorrow anyway. I have a kid waiting for me at home. Soon she's going to forget who her father is."

"Everyone can leave," L instructed. "It's difficult for me to concentrate with all of you here anyway."

Grunting, Aizawa put on his coat. "Yeah, well, 'thanks for all your work,' 'you're welcome'!"

"Yes, thank you for your work," L nodded.

"Son," said Soichiro, "I'll see you tomorrow." Feeling a hand land on his shoulder, Light glanced at the clock, 1:21 am, before turning his head to look up at his father. The hollows under his eyes had turned into dark pools of exhaustion. "Make sure you rest too."

"Yeah, I will, Dad."

Round and round, wherever Kira went, they were always somewhere behind, chasing him in a spiral that only seemed to go further down.

Another criminal, dead. And another. It was hard to feel sympathy for them; in fact, Light wasn't even sure that he did (and that's why you're Kira, L mumbled in his head), but a killer was a killer and murder was murder and hunger was hunger. After all, who will Kira kill after all the world's worst criminals are dead?

Throwing his headphones off and with news reports finally leaving his ears, Light closed his eyes.

A killer that can kill with only a name and face. One wrong step and they could all be…

"Cake?"

His eyes reluctantly jammed opened.

"What?" Light mumbled.

"You'll need energy if you're going to stay awake."

"I told my dad I'd rest…"

L pushed a piece of cake closer to him.

Cake makes you fat. Misa's voice echoed somewhere around his tired brain.

"Thanks."

First, there was the distant taste of cream. Then, the metallic spoon sat, idle in his mouth. Everything had almost lost its flavor lately.

"Perhaps you should rest."

Light shot him a sour look.

"Although your dedication to catching Kira is truly impressive," L continued, "when you don't sleep, your mood becomes terrible."

"Your mood is always terrible."

"I don't usually work with other people. You want to join the police force, so you should develop better social habits."

"And your goal," riled Light, "is to put me behind bars as soon as possible. Do you think I'm even thinking about my future career at the moment?"

"You don't envision a future career? Interesting."

"That's not what I…" Sighing and not taking the bait, Light stood. "Let's rest," he said decidedly.

Sleeping next to L was never easy. Light always felt watched. Although whenever he opened his eyes, L was always either looking up at the ceiling or had his own eyes closed.

Light always slept under the covers, and L always slept on top of them. Light would often wake up trying to pull the blankets over himself more, but they were always firmly anchored underneath a caffeine-addicted someone. It was a wonder that L could even sleep, with all that coffee and sugar ebbing inside of him.

Healthy habits. The irony of those words even leaving L's mouth.

Night wasn't only just a different time, but it was also a different dimension. The Light Yagami around the task force and then only around L was a different Light Yagami. And so was L. The building was different. The walls, the way their voices echoed, and the sound of L's breathing was different.

Swallowing, Light decided to, again, ignore the thoughts that intruded into his mind at these times.

"Light?" L's voice broke the loud silence.

"Yeah?"

"Where would you go?"

"Huh?"

"On holiday... Matsuda was saying..."

The conversations were different. For moments, when L was tired, he sometimes spoke to Light like he wasn't Kira.

"I don't know..." Light hesitated. "It's not something... I can even think about right now."

Misa Amane was Light's girlfriend. L thought that he was Kira. All of the evidence pointed to him.

Light Yagami couldn't be Kira. He knew he wasn't.

"Probably wherever you go." Light replied. "After all," he lifted up his arm from the bed. The chain connecting them clinked in the darkness.

"Good point. Then, where would we go?"

"Old Town Square?"

"Then?"

"The castle. I've only seen one in Japan…"

"Hm…"

Light turned to look at him. A glow of light from the city outside filtered through the large, mirrored glass window. "How's your headache?"

"Getting worse. I might ask Watari for different medicine. I think they've turned into chronic migraines."

"Try and sleep..."

"You don't get them?"

"No... You should take care of yourself more."

"It almost sounds like you're worried."

There had been a pause before that statement, and Light's eyes had already wearily closed.

"I am." Light replied. "No matter what you think... I swear, I'd give my life for you. If it came to it. I want to catch Kira... probably even more than you."

L frowned. Uncertain, for a moment.

"Sleep." Light repeated. "Can you?"

Light brushed his teeth clean. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he barely recognized himself. The same dark circles under his father's eyes were also under his. Tinted moisturizer couldn't fix it. But at least it gave him a lustre that didn't make him look terrible. Now he looked stressed and sleep-deprived, but with a slightly more even and shiny complexion. He blinked and glanced over at L. L had just washed his face and was drying it with a towel. Water dripped off the front and sides of his hair.

Light often wondered where exactly L was from. His hair was even darker than Light's natural hair color. His eyes were thundercloud grey. His skin pale. And he spoke several languages fluently. L had mentioned being a junior British tennis champion before, so maybe he was simply from England. Although, when he'd spoken in English before, his accent hadn't been British.

"Do you have a headache today?" Light asked in English, deciding to see if he could pinpoint it exactly.

"Why are you speaking in English?"

"Decided to practice. Anyway, you're always speaking Japanese. Don't you get tired of it?"

"Not really." L deadpanned.

Raising an eyebrow, Light asked, "Does my accent bother you?"

"No…"

"But something's bothering you?"

"I'm just used to speaking with you in Japanese."

Light thought that L's accent was more American. Although, he could have easily just been faking it. It wouldn't be a stretch, considering he wanted to keep everything about himself a secret.

"You sound different." A smile tugged at Light's lips. He tidied the sink and vanity, putting everything away, back in its place: toothbrush, moisturizer, razor…

"Than when I'm speaking Japanese?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"I don't know exactly…"

"Well, so do you."

"Am I making mistakes?"

"No. Although I'd like to remind you that I am a detective, not an English tutor."

"And I'd like to remind you that I'm a straight-A student, not a mass murderer."

L shrugged. "It's possible to be both."

"Yeah, well, you still have soap in your hair Ryuzaki."

"Where?"

"You're the detective." Light smirked.

"What are they talking about?" Mogi whispered to Matsuda.

Matsuda, also puzzled, shrugged. "I think they're speaking in English. Do you understand it?"

"Not at all."

"Aizawa?"

"Count me out."

"Chief?"

"Uh…" Soichiro peered up over his glasses. "They're discussing something about Kira's killing patterns… changes?"

"Whoa, you can understand it?"

"Not really," the older man admitted. "I just picked up on some words here and there."

Light Yagami was sitting next to L, as he usually was, and they were both in deep discussion.

My son, next to the world's greatest detective, speaking in another language…

He almost didn't believe it himself. Light was always a brilliant student; he'd even helped the Tokyo police solve cases before, but he had never felt so much pride. Light, his son, being Kira? It had to be a mistake. Even if L believed it, he couldn't bring himself to. No, Light was helping them catch Kira. He certainly wasn't Kira.

Aizawa cleared his throat. "So, want to tell us what you two are discussing?"

L pointed at a screen, and Light's eyes were fixed on him.

"Um, is anyone else seeing what I'm seeing?" Matsuda asked tentatively.

"Yeah," replied Aizawa, "Ryuzaki's ignoring us as usual."

"Um, –"

"Ryuzaki," Soichiro said loudly and more firm.

L's head turned.

"Yes?"

"Could you tell us what you're discussing?"

"Yes."

"And that is?"

"We were discussing the Kira case."

Aizawa sighed, rubbing his temples. "I'm taking a cigarette break."

The door clicked shut behind Aizawa, and Matsuda leaned back in his chair, exhaling loudly. "Man, it feels like we're in the dark here."

L tilted his head, eyes back on the screen. "We were analyzing potential changes in Kira's patterns," he explained. "Light had some insights that were quite valuable."

Light nodded, adding, "Kira's recent killings show a deviation from his usual methods. It's subtle, but it's there. We're trying to determine if it's intentional or if something else is influencing him."

Matsuda scratched his head. "A deviation? Like what?"

"There's a slight increase in the frequency of the killings, but also a change in the types of targets," Light explained. "Previously, Kira focused primarily on high-profile criminals, but now we're seeing more low-profile targets. It's as if Kira is broadening his scope."

"So, he's getting more reckless?" Mogi asked.

"Not necessarily," L interjected. "It could be a strategic move to create more chaos and fear. Or... As I suspected, this is not the original Kira."

Coffee only gives you more energy if you have energy to spare. Light reminded himself of this as he watched L drink another cup. If he wanted to at least try and maintain his health, he knew he needed to cut down, but every day it was becoming harder to focus. Kira slipped through every crack and trickled everywhere they couldn't reach. L was certain that the person who was killing now wasn't Kira. Most of this assumption was based on the fact that L thought he had Kira sitting right next to him, unable to make a move. Light chalked this down to stubbornness. Although, the patterns that Kira killed in were slightly different. This didn't mean exactly that it wasn't the same Kira, but it was certainly a noticeable point. They had been discussing it that morning, reviewing everything again, to check that there wasn't anything they'd missed. They could only come to the same conclusions as before, and grew more fatigued.

Watari had brought everyone more coffee. He'd briefly spoken with L about something Light couldn't completely understand. Whatever language they were speaking in, Light didn't know it.

What if you are Kira?

I'm not.

Although, wouldn't I have done what Kira had done, given the chance?

No, this time, L had to be wrong.