The Ability to Fall (Death Note)

12 ♚ Intellect

I’m sure that everyone in the room was shocked on some level, even Lawliet, who didn’t budge or wince in the slightest. He only looked straight up at Soichiro from the seat he was now crouched down in. His expression seemed to ask, May I help you?

“This is an outrage!” Soichiro yelled.

Mogi and Aizawa were still in shock.

“Chief Yagami,” Lawliet began, although there wasn’t much room for him to talk.

Soichiro shot him a glare. “I was already in shock about my son being the prime suspect, Ryuzaki. But this? This?!”

“I’m afraid we didn’t have a choice. Misa Amane is also being held, as you can see.”

I sneezed, practically covering my entire face with a tissue. I was burning up, and so I pressed the cold, moist towel on the table to my forehead, continuing to listen in.

Lawliet continued. “You do know that the possibility of your son being Kira is quite high, don’t you?”

“But wait!” Soichiro cut in. “You did say that Kira has some sort of access to our confidential information. Light doesn’t.”

Sorry to break it to you, Soichiro, but it’s quite likely for Light to have that access.

Lawliet must have read my thoughts. He said afterwards that he wasn’t sure about how exactly Light did so, but I knew perfectly well that he was smart enough to come to the right conclusion about it. It was when he looked over at me that I knew he was testing me again.

I wasn’t sure why he was doing such a thing at a time like this. I was quite drowsy now, but still managed to say what I did with confidence.

“Mr. Yagami,” I began.

He turned to face me, an awkward expression now on his face.

“Light lives with you, doesn’t he?”

He merely nodded, and I continued.

I grabbed the file with all of his information in it. “Your son is a very clever young man, Mr. Yagami. He’s a straight-A student, isn’t he? I bet he has the street smarts as well. Has he talked to you about acquiring a job similar to yours?”

“Yes,” he stated.

“Thought so,” I said, skimming once more before continuing. “Have you ever given him access to the information regarding the Kira case?”

“No,” he interjected, “That isn’t possible. He has no knowledge of it!”

“If he’s as intelligent as these files show he is,” I said, holding up a single sheet of paper, “then he could have certainly hacked into the database. That is, if you share a network at home between all of your family’s computers. Is that correct?”

He stared, dumbfounded, along with the others, not responding. He probably already inferred that this was a rhetorical question; the answer was obviously yes.

“Well done again, Kyou,” said Lawliet.

But the confident vibe that I’d built up was destroyed. I burst into a mad fit of coughing, embarrassed that I wasn’t able to stop. Lawliet had to hand me two cough drops, which I’d used at once. The coughing slowed, and I was feeling more drowsy and overheated than ever.

“Kyou, you really need to get some rest.”

“I’m fine, Ryuzaki,” I said quietly. “Work needs to be done, you know. And I’m not helping if I just lay in bed the whole day like a couch potato.”

He blinked at me, and then lifted me up bridal style; just like he did when I sprained my ankle.

“R-Ryuzaki, put me down,” I muttered, too tired to even consider allowing blood to rush to my cheeks. But believe me, if I had the ability to do so, I would.

“I’ll be back, gentlemen,” he stated calmly. 

I didn’t want to protest any further, because he’d just keep on ignoring me. I instead surrendered, resting my head on his warm shoulder.

Later that night, I was in for a shock when I opened my eyes. Two dark orbs were staring straight back at me as I lay there in bed. With my heart racing, I was just about to run away with whatever strength I was able to muster up, but realized that those eyes were only Lawliet’s.

He was lying down beside me, facing me. You’d think that his eyes would be half closed, especially at this time of night, but they were wide open. 

“Feeling better, Kyou?” he asked.

I rubbed my eyes groggily and yawned. “What are you doing here, Ryuzaki?”

“I needed to check up on you. I assumed you’d know that,” he shrugged.

I raised an eyebrow at him, but as soon as he began to get up and walk away, I stood up and grabbed ahold of his wrist. “Ryuzaki,” I began, looking sternly at him.

He turned around, seemingly intrigued by my tone.

“Yes?”

“Just wanted to let you know that I have your back on this case, alright? And don’t do anything reckless, because remember, your life is extremely important,” I said.

What I meant was, Your life is extremely important to me. And he’d better be careful with this case.

I continued. “If anything happens to you, I swear I’m going to kick Kira in the—”

He pulled me into an embrace before I could finish, and then gripped me by the shoulders while looking me in the eye.

“So I’m the one who needs to be careful, huh?” he asked.

“Hey!”

“Kidding,” he shrugged, and then ruffed my hair up. “Get some rest, Kyou. Your life is important as well.”

As he walked out, I laid back down in my bed, wondering what this case would bring.