The Puppeteer

Confirmation

"By any chance did Light come here anytime on the 1st of January?"

"Well, I don't exactly remember the date and time, but Light did come here recently," The receptionist politely said and handed the records of the month of January after flipping it over to the 1st to the very detective-looking duo that seemed to be investigating something.

"Could you please tell us whatever you remember of your encounter with him?" Kiyo finally asked stepping forward and Matsuda instantly and instinctively took a step back, shutting up completely. The look on Kiyo's face screamed pure business and he was in no mood to delay or anger her.

The receptionist's eyes almost narrowed slightly at the girl since he didn't recognize her and his questioning gaze turned to Matsuda who only blinked in reassurance at him. The receptionist nodded back and turned to answer Kiyo.

"Light had come here and I remember him bringing something for his father, I think it was a change of clothes. He asked if he could leave them at the reception desk since the chief wasn't here and I agreed. Since he had solved cases with us in the past I asked him if he would be helping with the Kira investigation to which he replied saying that he would and if all goes well he might beat L to it. Then, then.."

"Then?"

"Actually we weren't alone at the time, Kenji and I," The other receptionist said as his expression showed how deeply he was thinking and trying to exactly remember what had transpired, "In fact, there was this woman, I don't remember who exactly, but she kept asking me to call someone from the Kira Task Force HQ and she said that she had some important information regarding the case that she could only tell a member," He trailed off, scratching his head slightly.

"So, did you call anyone?"

"We tried multiple times, but there was no one at the HQ. No one picked up the call and so I asked her to let me know whatever it was and I could pass her message on but she refused, saying 'it wasn't good enough' and that she 'had to tell them in person'. Kenji you remember this, don't you?"

Kenji, the guy who had spoken to Light, immediately nodded with a look of recall, "Oh yes yes! I remember now, she kept asking to meet someone and so Light had told her that his father was in charge of the Kira investigation. He said that Chief's cell phone was off, but he could pass on the message to him for her."

"Is that all?"

"Well, they did speak after that but it was jus-"

"It doesn't matter what it was, even if it was their tea or coffee preference, I don't care. Please, tell us every last detail you can remember from their conversation."

"O-oh, okay.. umm.. He told the girl that because of the death of the FBI agents, a lot of detectives quit the case out of fear, which is why his father was so busy. It was a bit surprising that he would discuss these things with someone he didn't even know, and I told him that it would be better if such information was kept under the wraps, but he said that all this was common knowledge anyway. He also said that he could trust her and that he could almost see her wisdom and careful nature in her eyes. He guessed that the girl had heard about all this and must have figured out the police had a leak of some kind, and so she wanted to tell the task force members in person, and then they both walked away."

Kiyo looked at the other receptionist who nodded in confirmation, telling her that he had nothing more to add.

"Very well then, thank you very much for your compliance," She said before bowing to show her gratitude, "We will be taking our leave now. If there's anything you remember and would like to tell us, please feel free to call on this number," Kiyo handed to each of the men a business card and shook their hand, turning away to leave with Matsuda.

They had both walked out when Matsuda noticed the thoughtful expression on Kiyo's face. Was she still thinking about the case? Matsuda felt like she had done enough, not in a bad way at all, but like, she was a seventeen-year-old and L was the one in charge so it was him who was supposed to come up with all these breakthroughs and not the teenager. 

Okay, maybe that wasn't the best way to put it..

He didn't mean that L wasn't doing or hadn't done anything, in fact, if it wasn't for L the police wouldn't even be where they were. However, Kiyo was just a.. kid, finding evidence against another kid her age who was supposedly a serial killer. It just didn't sit right with hi-

'Oh yeah? What happens to her being a kid every time you ogle her every chance you get?' A voice in his head snarkily questioned but he immediately silenced it, blushing unconsciously in the process, 'I don't ogle her,' He shouted in his mind, 'You're the pervert here, I only observe her!'

'Yeah yeah, observe, observe her like all you want to do is ask her ou-'

"..tsuda! Matsuda!"

Matsuda snapped out of his embarrassing daze as he almost flinched when Kiyo shouted out his name, "H-huh?"

"I've been calling out to you for the last minute now, are you okay? You even seem quite red.." Kiyo suddenly gasped, "Dear Lord, do you have a fever?! Fuck the investigation, we're going back, and you're not getting any ice cream mister."

"I'M OKAY, I'm okay," Matsuda said, grabbing the girl's shoulders and shaking her slightly, "I was just thinking about something, and I didn't even realize I was going red," He could make out that Kiyo could make out that he was probably bluffing, but she thankfully didn't say anything and only nodded after a while.

"Fine.. you wanna go get ice cream now?"

"Sure!"

-----------------------------------

The pair had enjoyed their ice cream and gone to their own homes satisfied. Matsuda with a satisfied and dreamy look on his face while Kiyo's was rather.. grim.

Lilith was no idiot. She knew exactly what was going on and Matsuda was no exception. Twenty-two years of experience in her previous life and seventeen in this one, being a master manipulator and reader of body language, Matsuda was beginning to develop feelings for her and it was no secret.

She didn't like it, not one bit. Matsuda reminded her of Ralph and that hurt her. Both honest and kind officers, bubbly and childish despite the horrors they are exposed to, both caught in the loop of her mind games even if she had wanted to keep them away from it. She didn't want to do to Matsuda what she did to Ralph, she knew how much he liked her, she knew that he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend after Daniel's trial, she knew to what extend he had been preparing for it all. Truth be told, she didn't want to leave at all, but she had a promise to keep, a promise she had made to Ethan, she did love him after all.

Kiyo didn't know where this game was going to go or how it was going to end, all she knew was that things might go wrong. She might end up saying things and making promises, she might end up as she had in her previous life, and she did not want Matsuda to take the brunt of it because of her.

Honestly, she knew all these characters. She had heard their inner voices and had seen their past, and now that they were all there, right in front of her, just as real as she herself was, she couldn't help but feel attached to them all.

Attachments were never something that had weighed the girl down, they never clouded her judgment. She could be absolutely in love, dependent on someone, and she would kill them if she judged the situation to be necessary, but that doesn't mean they didn't hurt her.

Kiyo was not someone to dwell on denial. She knew herself better than anyone else. 'Oh, but why do I feel this way?' wasn't a question for her, she accepted the answer as soon as she was sure of it. 

Months of being together with the task force, Kiyo knew she was getting a bit more attached to Matsuda than all the others, but he was too kind, too innocent, too pure for her vicious and dangerous self. She had always hoped and longed for a simple and happy life, but that just wasn't in her nature.

Kiyo wasn't a player, Kiyo was the whole damn game. This wasn't a choice, and as long as she existed, she would be destined to be the puppeteer she was.