It's nearing eleven o'clock in the evening, still working hours as far as the task force is concerned, and you're pretending to read lists of names. In actuality, you're staring vaguely ahead of you and trying not to fall asleep at your desk. Nothing new on any count. Matsuda traipsing in with Misa in tow is also pretty expected at this time of night. He announces, a little hesitantly, "uh, I dunno what I should do about this, but… I got another letter from Sayu-chan."
"Just ignore it," Ryuzaki says. You stare ahead into the names of the dead, blurring apart into pixels, and try to resist the urge to turn around.
"Are you sure? I mean, I feel really bad about not being able to write back," Matsuda says. "She must be kind of worried."
"I'm sure she is," Ryuzaki says. "But, the letters are part of the investigation, and lives are, of course, more important than anyone being 'a little worried.'"
"Oh," Matsuda replies, sounding subdued. "I guess you're right. Then… I should read it to you guys though, right?" He looks around at the rest of the task force.
Your father, Aizawa, and Mogi have been crowded around one of the glass tables with printouts in front of them for the past two hours, and Aizawa's increasingly irate tone had been a clear indicator that whatever they were working on, it wasn't going well. Now all of them have wandered over to stand around the computer banks, and Misa takes the opportunity to slide away from Matsuda and dart unerringly toward your chair, which she turns with one hand to face everyone while hopping up onto your lap, sitting primly as if she hasn't just committed an absurdly public display of affection.
You plaster on a look of tolerant interest you could probably wear in your sleep, and ignore her.
While Matsuda is reading Sayu's letter (almost word-for-word like her last one, but at least you can't fault your sister for her persistence) Misa slides an arm across your shoulder and whispers in your ear, "hey, Light…"
You can actually feel how warm her breath is, and you clench your hands on the armrest of the chair to stop yourself from pushing her onto the floor just to keep your spine from crawling.
"…I heard you got a present that was just for me…"
"What?" you hiss, under your breath.
"The phone," she says, sounding a little irritated.
Oh, that.
"Oh, yeah, Misa," you say at a normal volume, because now that Matsuda's recitation is over, everyone's watching the two of you. "I got a phone to talk to you when you're out. It was really thoughtful of Ryuzaki."
"But I heard that you had it for a week, and you haven't called me even once!"
"Well, I didn't have any reason to," you explain. "It's not like I was doing anything interesting here. Just sitting in front of the computer, you know… and I didn't want to bother you…"
"You never bother me!" Misa shrieks, still far too close to your ear, and you wince. Smoothing out your expression, you answer her quickly.
"Still—"
"I want you to call me every day!"
"I don't think I can do that," you try to say. "It's not that I wouldn't love to… Misa… it's just that—I'm really busy working on the Kira case, you know. The sooner this is over, the sooner we'll be able to spend time together properly," you add.
"I guess so," Misa says, dramatically forlorn. "But won't you call Misa just for five minutes? Just an eensie-weensie little call to check up on me?"
"I'm afraid it's just not possible," you say firmly. And then, knowing that the eyes of everyone else is on you, you amend, "I'll call you as much as I can though, okay?"
"Okay," Misa says, pouting.
"Matsuda-san, you should probably turn the letter in now," you add, "since it's evidence and all." Carefully, you maneuver Misa off your lap, and she stands up with a huff.
"Right," Matsuda says, coming up and holding the letter out in the general vicinity between you and Ryuzaki. You keep your hands folded on your lap while Ryuzaki takes the proffered piece of paper, scanning over the contents of the letter quickly before putting it away in his jeans pocket.
As Matsuda walks off toward the elevator with Misa, she turns around and shouts, "see you on Friday, Light!"
/
Thursday is a clouded day, and even inside the sealed HQ, the sun that filters inside is duller than usual; the walls close like a fishtank in the blue gloom. You sit at your desk idly while on the big screen, Misa draws with her sketchbook open, her face bent over the paper; her loose hair obscuring most of the image.
"Maybe she's hiding a message in the drawings," you say, just to fill the space.
"I very much doubt that, Yagami-kun," Ryuzaki replies drily. "Unless, of course, she was sending a message to someone watching the security cameras…"
You cross your arms in front of your chest, holding back the biting words on your tongue with a show of boredom. Ryuzaki is glancing your way, finger pressing against his lip, a glint in his eyes as though hoping to provoke you into a reaction, but after a moment he adds, "anyway, I have them checked weekly. No hidden code in evidence so far."
"That's good, I guess," you say.
Misa finishes drawing and closes the sketchbook, then shoves it in her bedside drawer. She goes over to her wardrobe and browses through a selection of outfits before deciding on a striped t-shirt and skinny jeans, throwing a studded belt over her arm before making her way over to the bathroom.
Ryuzaki changes the camera to follow her.
"Ryuzaki," you say, a little irritated, "if you think it's unlikely that she's hiding messages in her pictures you have to admit it's far more unlikely she's doing anything nefarious while changing clothes."
"Oh?" Ryuzaki says. "Is Light-kun feeling protective of her?"
"I'd be protective of anyone you were doing that to—it's unnecessary, at least minimize the screen!"
"Yagami-kun should minimize the screen himself," Ryuzaki says. "If he feels so strongly about it."
You huff and change the camera view so that Misa changing in the bathroom is relegated to the highest corner of the smaller bank of screens. Ryuzaki cranes his neck back to follow, and you glare at him in irritation before glancing at Matsuda on the other side, who's doing the same thing. "Do you think she's doing something suspicious in the bathroom too, Matsuda-san?" you ask sweetly.
"Oh!" Matsuda laughs, a little startled, and looks over at you, "uh, no, I guess not."
"Yeah, Matsuda, pay a little more attention to the investigation and a little less attention to the idol, all right?" Aizawa says.
"I wasn't doing anything—" Matsuda says.
"That was very obvious," says Ryuzaki, who is still looking at Misa. Matsuda opens his mouth and closes it, frustrated.
"Whatever," he says. "I'm going to get lunch."
He stands up and walks away, and Mogi follows him, catching up to him quickly before saying something in a low voice. The tense line of Matsuda's shoulders relaxes a little, and he nods before accompanying the other officer from the room.
/
You scroll through the media, looking for deaths that could be caused by Kira but that wouldn't have been compiled by the database. It's mind-numbing work, and far too easy to get lost down dead-end trails for hours at a time. Ryuzaki loses interest in Misa as the model picks up the phone and starts one of her endless series of phone calls. He rolls his chair back and forth, using his hand on the edge of the computer table to pull himself along. "You seem very invested in your work," he says.
"Someone has to be," you mutter, and he scooches his chair a little closer.
"What is it that Yagami-kun is working on?" he asks.
You've already minimized your list of deaths and show him only what's expected, daring him to call you out: if he's looked closely before this, he'll have realized what theory you've been following recently, anyway. You glance at him brazenly. "Just this. Why, are you ready to actually pay attention to the case again?"
Ryuzaki pulls his chair closer, and you refuse to pull your chair back—it's petty, what Ryuzaki's doing. His chair bumps up against the side of yours and he leans forward out of it, nearly overbalancing. "Hmm," he says. Then he leans back again, sending his chair rolling the way it had arrived until the chain jerks taut against your wrist.
"Seriously, Ryuzaki?" you say.
He only hums and glances back up toward the screen. Misa's phone call has become heated; she's yelling into her phone.
"She might be hiding a message in her phone call," Ryuzaki says.
"Yeah, sure," you say, and tug the chain back toward you. Ryuzaki grabs onto the computer table to stop himself from moving and stares at you, unimpressed. "I need my hands if I'm going to work," you say, exasperated.
Ryuzaki rolls his chair forward again. "Interesting. Yagami-kun is no longer curious about the messages Amane might be hiding?"
"Through a phone call?" you say. "She's not that stupid."
"Perhaps Yagami-kun should make sure."
"Ryuzaki—"
"Turn up the volume."
You meet Ryuzaki's challenging expression before pulling up the correct application and bringing up the volume on Misa's room. "Happy now?"
"—is not hotter than me! You take that back!" Misa scowls furiously into the receiver.
Ryuzaki sighs. "On second thought, turn the volume back down."
/
Friday, already. You feel like you've barely got a chance to breathe since Misa last saw you, and you have a terrible feeling that your 'dates' can only go downhill from here.
"Hi Light!" Misa says when you open the door, running into the entranceway. As you take off your shoes, she chatters on, "Watari's super great. I wasn't sure he'd be able to get this movie but he did and it's only been out for three months!"
"Oh, so it's new?" you ask.
"Yeah, I haven't watched it before. I was going to but, well…" Misa shoots Ryuzaki a dirty look, "someone kidnapped me the day before it came out."
"Perhaps you should have thought of that before being possessed by the Second Kira," Ryuzaki says drily.
"Even if I was possessed, how would that be my fault—" Misa begins, and you interrupt.
"Okay, okay. Why don't we just watch the movie?"
So with Misa in a flounce and Ryuzaki trailing behind you, you all go into the theater room. The movie is another horror one, called Cursed, and before the title credits even start you realize it's going to be just a bit of a problem.
A schoolgirl walking backwards into traffic and getting beheaded isn't the worst thing to happen in a movie, but Ryuzaki jumps and screams.
"Quiet down over there!" Misa says. "I'm trying to enjoy it."
While the title sequence plays over a red background, Ryuzaki says, "this is a movie about a curse."
"Yeah, duh," Misa says.
"I suppose they all die horribly," Ryuzaki adds, huddling in his seat.
"Come on," you say kindly. "Surely you've seen worse than this in your job."
"People are totally different from curses," Ryuzaki argues. "People have motives, and can be caught."
"Oh look," Misa announces loudly, "it's starting!"
It's a pretty basic little horror flick about a cursed convenience store. Pretty well done, actually, and even a bit funny.
"There it is! Right there, Light, did you see it!" Misa exclaims. Misa points at something in the back of the frame, and you squint at… a magazine?
"What?"
Ryuzaki, beside you, has straightened up. "It's an issue of—"
"My product placement for Eighteen!" Misa speaks over him.
"Don't tell me this is why we have to watch the movie," you say.
"Of course not," Misa says. "It's just an easter egg, I wouldn't make you guys watch a whole movie for that," she insists. "Did you know I've always wanted to be in something creepy? I mean, I've never been in a movie before, but to get into something like this!"
"Well, I'm glad you got in it," you say.
"Thanks so much! It means everything to hear that from you!"
Ryuzaki fidgets in his seat and, predictably, screams at all the jumpscares; but the trouble really starts in a sequence late in the movie where three people are followed by the curse at the same time, two customers and the part-timer, Nao, with one lady finding a strange woman in her fridge and a guy getting followed in an empty bathhouse, which ends with blood all around for everyone but the main character. Ryuzaki actually crawls over the side of his seat and sits himself onto your lap.
"ExCUSE ME?" Misa says. "What do you think you're doing?"
Ryuzaki covers his face with his hands, peering at the screen between his fingers. "It's scary," he says.
"I didn't say you could sit on my boyfriend!" she shrieks, and stands up to try to push him bodily onto the floor.
"If you like, I could sit on you instead," Ryuzaki adds.
"You pervert!" Misa exclaims. "Like I'd let you do that! Ugh!"
You peek out from between the tussle that's taking place pretty much on top of you and try to enjoy the rest of the film.
Misa doesn't quite manage to throw Ryuzaki off you but gains enough of a foothold to scrunch herself next to him, and now you really can't see anything at all. Plus, your legs are starting to hurt.
You sigh. "Guys," you say, "would you mind moving?"
"No!" Ryuzaki and Misa exclaim in unison.
You shove Ryuzaki, and after a moment of a lot of kicking legs and flailing arms, manage to throw him onto the floor and stand up, moving two seats over and sitting back down. After a minute, Ryuzaki sits down in the center seat between you and Misa, and grabs onto your hand.
"Ryuzaki, dial it back," you complain under your breath.
"The movie is too scary for that," Ryuzaki retorts firmly, giving you an unimpressed glare.
Misa gets up and moves onto the seat on your left, so that now you're the one in the middle again, and grabs onto your other arm. You're starting to feel like you're playing a kids game of switching seats.
Fortunately, you're pretty sure the movie's almost over.
The two protagonists, Ryouko and Nao, sit in an empty park as an old woman explains the origins of the store's curse; and when she leaves, they talk about their own "curses"—the fact that both of them are psychic and notice the spiritual components that others can live their lives in blissful ignorance of. The terrible things that happen in the world, Ryouko explains to the younger woman, have no reason, and aren't connected to the two of them—they just see it. Therefore, it's none of their business. "These things just happen. You have to think this way no matter how hard it is, otherwise… you'll go crazy."
"Is that all I can do?" Nao wonders.
She herself can quit the store and leave others' fates to them… but on the way home, as she walks through the city, she's haunted by images of her friend Komori, stuck between the store's proprietors with his own fixed, doll-like expression, and she runs… getting to the store just as Komori is suffering locked alone in the dark, in an empty storeroom, watched by hidden eyes. And, through her determination, she pries the door open. Komori runs out… and when, slamming it shut behind him, she follows him outside, she finds he's already made it far past the paved lot, away from the freeway. Nao runs past the industrial concrete, over the path through the grasses and finds Komori sitting in the water, the shallow, flat edges of the river. Blue sky, grey buildings and a bridge, with the setting sun turning his splashes into gold. She pulls him to sit on the gravel shore, and there they stay for a moment, the water glittering, the color of the sun pulled into the tidepools at their feet. Then they get up; walk offscreen; leave the green shirt floating under the surface of the water, leaving it all behind.
And Ryouko walks past the schoolgirls shown at the teaser in the beginning of the movie. Without paying them any attention or warning them away from the curse, she moves on with her life.
As the credits roll, Ryuzaki announces drily, "and that's why we get things delivered."
Misa sighs loudly.
Neither Ryuzaki nor Misa are in a good mood after the movie, and for pretty much the same reason. You're hoping that'll mean a quick end to the date but Misa quickly announces, "Light, it would be great if you stayed for lunch like last week…"
"I agree," Ryuzaki says.
You shoot him a betrayed look, and he looks back at you in all wide-eyed innocence. Bastard.
Misa calls Watari to ask for some food and then, hanging up the phone, announces, "Misa will be right back, Light…! I just want to change into something a little more comfortable…"
She's wearing a spaghetti-strap shirt, skirt, and stockings, a combination she wears practically every day.
"Uh, sure Misa. I'll be here," you say.
"So will I," Ryuzaki adds.
Misa glares at him and stomps off.
You and Ryuzaki move over to the couch in the living area; you flop down onto it while Ryuzaki takes his usual perch near the edge. Neither of you speak.
'Why are you acting so jealous all of a sudden?' you ask, tapping the question with your fingernail on the edge of the handcuff.
'I'm not jealous,' Ryuzaki answers… by clicking his tongue. Which he knows drives you insane.
…He's totally jealous.
You sigh. 'It's your fault Misa's acting like this, you know,' you continue, tapping the words. 'She got wind of the phone for calling her, and that, on top of all these dates, are making her think there's actually something between us.'
'She already thought there was something between you,' Ryuzaki answers.
'Yeah, but you're encouraging her. You're so convinced she's the Second Kira and you want her to slip up through getting close to me. And if I'm not going along with it, you'll play matchmaker. This is all your own fault, so if you can't live with the outcome, stop playing into it.'
'I can live with the outcome,' Ryuzaki says. 'And, like I said, I'm not jealous.'
'Then why are you acting—' oh. Wait a minute. 'This is all part of your plan—you want Misa to fight for me?'
'I just want to give her a little motivation.'
'You're such a bastard Ryuzaki. That's completely manipulative and—'
'What, is it against your ideals?' Ryuzaki says. His tone is completely absent since the message is in code but you can picture his heavy sarcasm as clearly as if he had spoken it.
'As a matter of fact, it is.'
Ryuzaki looks over at you like you're the one who's full of bullshit.
At that moment, Misa reenters the room, this time in something a lot less comfortable, way too over-the-top and fancy for an afternoon lunch in her own apartment. It's even got a corset over the whole thing. It's not quite the outfit she'd worn when she first met you, but it's close enough to make her intentions clear. She crosses her legs, and "absently" pulls up the edge of her already short skirt.
"Nice outfit, Misa," you say quickly. "Where'd you buy it?"
A grin breaks over his face. "Really?" she squeals. "You like it? Oh, I thought so. There's this little store in Shibuya I totally love, and this piece is actually a brand name I got at a…" you let yourself tune out, nodding along to her enthusiastic explanation. She's still going strong when Watari opens the door and comes in with a tray covered in a bunch of things for lunch, and when Watari leaves again and you start to serve yourself she's still on a roll. You're pretty sure that as long as you keep nodding along, saying the occasional "that's so interesting" or "really? Tell me more about it," the rest of the date will consist of Misa's fashion advice, which is fine by you. At least she's not trying to seduce you anymore.
Ryuzaki is unimpressed. But, he's also distracted by food, which will win out over his little game with Misa any day.
"And that corset isn't uncomfortable?" you ask.
"Oh, totally not!" Misa exclaims. "As long as it fits properly—"
"Not if it's properly fitted," Ryuzaki says at the same time. You spare him a baffled glance, but he's in the middle of stacking vegetables and doesn't pay you any attention.
"I mean, there are definitely ones that suck," Misa adds. "I've had these ones for shoots that felt like they were trying to squeeze my guts out, you know?"
"Uh."
"Because they don't even bother to get something in my size," she says. "I mean it's one thing if it's for lingerie right? It's not like you're gonna wear it for any length of time," she adds, with a flirty little smirk in your direction, and you try to quickly steer the conversation back into safe waters.
"So, there are different grades of corset then? Like with shoes or something?" you hazard a guess.
"Exactly like with shoes!" Misa says. "I mean, fortunately, I'm pretty close to a standard so I bought this off the rack but there are plenty of friends of mine that just couldn't go with something like that—" you nod along.
Now she's complaining about the fashion industry, which is another thing she can obviously go on about at length.
"—but, like, I think the indie and street fashions are so much more inventive and high fashion can only hope to compete with—"
"—especially with all the sleazebags who take advantage of girls when—"
"—and, like, you can't fit anything into a handbag that size, well except for lipgloss and a phone which isn't bad if you're just going out for dinner maybe—"
You check your watch. Damn; it's been almost three hours you're sitting here. Maybe you should've just let her seduce you after all, it'd probably have been over by now.
"—and they're always looking for up-and-coming designers and some of the stuff is just so cute!—"
What is she even talking about anymore? Something to do with her magazine again? You stare out the window and think that, actually, falling out into that huge void right about now wouldn't be quite so bad…
"Look at the time," Ryuzaki says all of a sudden, standing up. "Sorry, Misa-san, but Light-kun and I have a lot of casework to be doing and I'm afraid we'll have to cut this short."
"Oh!" Misa blinks and looks around, as though surprised at how dark it's gotten. "Wow, this date really flew by!" She grins at you and sticks close to your side as you and Ryuzaki move toward the entranceway, and she slides an arm around yours as you slip on your shoes. "I had so much fun today, Light!"
"That's great, Misa," you say amiably. That makes one of us.
"It's like, you just understand me so well…"
"M-hm,"
"...and I can't wait until we can…"
"—M-hm,"
"...Bye! Come back soon!" she shrieks, waving wildly as you and Ryuzaki finally escape and shut the door behind you.
You let out a deep breath, and then give Ryuzaki a dark glare. "It's almost six o'clock, Ryuzaki!" you hiss under your breath. "And don't tell me you were enjoying that!"
Ryuzaki strides over to the elevator and presses the button. "It was a little enjoyable," he says.
"What, seeing me suffer?" you complain. "Don't tell me you could make heads or tails of any of it. I didn't even know she had that much to talk about."
Ryuzaki shrugs as the doors close behind you, and you rub your forehead; listening to Misa for so long has given you a headache.
A thought strikes you. "So why did you know that stuff about corsets anyway? Or was it just a guess?"
"No, it was the crucial piece of evidence in a case about a murdered opera singer. I learned a lot about the theater at that time." Ryuzaki looks off into the distance, pressing his lip this way and that with his thumb.
"Wow, so what happened?"
"I caught the bad guy."
You give Ryuzaki a long-suffering look, and he catches your eye and smirks.
Honestly.
.
.
.