The Ability to Fall (Death Note)

11 ♚ Façade

♚ : 11

— Façade —

Pacing around the room at headquarters while awaiting Lawliet’s return was making me more wary by the minute. No, make that by the second. I couldn’t help the fact that my stomach was churning; the recurring thought of that nightmare was taking place in my mind, and I didn’t want anything of that sort to take place. The chances of that happening were now increased, since Light Yagami was probably standing right next to Lawliet right at this very moment. I constantly asked Watari if he’d heard anything from Lawliet (referring to him as Ryuzaki, of course) or had seen him walking towards the entrance, but he kept saying no each time. One could only imagine how much worry that had added on.

“Watari-san, what time do you think he’ll be returning?” I asked.

“Miss Hayashi, please don’t worry too much. He’ll be back when he is, and I believe you know about the level of his intelligence and experience. Doesn’t that make you a little less wary?”

I sighed. “I’m sorry, sir. It’s just the fact that Light Yagami is with him at this very moment. Who knows what could happen?”

Matsuda, the only other person in the room at that point, chose to speak up. “Kyou-san, he’s L. I think he knows what he’s doing.”

I raised an eyebrow to him, and his expression was almost apologetic, as if I’d just threatened to beat him in the head with a stick. I didn’t look at him in that way because of what he’d just said, though. I merely wanted to ask him a question.

“Hey Matsuda, aren’t you part of the task force?”

“Well yeah,” he replied hesitantly. It was as if he wasn’t proud of his job or didn’t believe in it.

“Really? Why aren’t the others here?” 

“Well,” he said, “the others have families and other things to take care of, but I’m still a bachelor and all. So I just spend my free time here. They figured I’d need it anyways for the experience, and I need a lot of that, according to them.”

“I see,” I said, plopping down on the sofa. “I’m considering majoring in something related to either law enforcement or things concerning the police.”

“Really?” Matsuda asked eagerly, his smile wide. “Maybe we could work together!”

I shrugged. “Well, I’m not sure that’ll happen.”

His face fell, and so I hastily added on the fact that it was still possible.

If Lawliet didn’t come back that night, I had didn’t know what I’d do. 

Thirty-some minutes passed, and Misa and Light had walked through the entrance of headquarters. Watari showed us what was taking place, pointing to the feed on the screen from the security cameras located in that area. Misa was in front with her hands tied back, looking for Light even though he was right behind her.

“Light? Light!” she yelled, “Where’s my boyfriend?!”

“Miss Amane, we’re going to have to take you in for questioning,” one of the guards said.

“But my soul mate!” she half-whined and half-shouted.

Light, who wasn’t within her sight at the moment, looked at her with the same annoyed expression he’d had during their time at the airport. He seemed to be questioning her sanity. 

“Misa, calm down,” he muttered irritably, causing her to swing around. He had his hands tied behind his back as well. “I’m right here, so you can stop doing that.”