L was neck-deep in his work. Being the detective he was, was never an easy feat and it would never be so. Not a day's break, not a minute's relaxation, not a moment's happiness would rid him of the pressures the world constantly buried him in. If his rounded shoulders and posture that rivaled a camel's hump weren't proof enough of his stress then I don't even know what was.
His hair was as messy as it could get, his pupils were blown wider than his iris, and the bags under his eyes hung lower than his social skills.
This wasn't anything new. It's just how he had always been. Always compromising, always reducing the time he spent on himself to catch the people that were ruining the world.
It may seem like he was the 'obsessive insomniac' that drowned himself in mystery after mystery for the pleasure of it, but the sheer volumes of neverending dull in his eyes spoke otherwise. He seemed to gain no such joy in the conundrum and found it rather tedious instead.
L's job was to solve the riddles that were sent his way and there was no childlike excitement about it. From ruining his sleep to ruining his health all for the sake of the public, L had lost the 'love' he had for his job long ago, but there was no stopping him.
Cases usually weren't hard for him. He was like the Sherlock Holmes of the real world, solving cases as if they were nothing, but the newest case on his hands had him in a fix.
The Kira Case
Something that was unlike anything the world had ever seen, and it angered L too much for his own good. He never showed it though, never let his irritation come out, acted like the 'detective' he was supposed to be, and kept scratching his head over the vexing question with a grim expression on his face, but it wasn't working. He knew it wasn't working but he would never show it.
So he delved further and further into the case till he could not swim back up in time to refill his lungs when the breath he held ran out. He did everything he could and forced his mind to run faster until finally, Lind L. Tailor happened.
For that trick to have worked was like a blessing for him. It was the first massive breakthrough he had achieved in the case and he was more relieved than happy. It was all a ride after that. All his deductions to the FBI agents to their deaths to narrowing down their suspects to installing surveillance cameras in the homes of Soichiro Yagami and Deputy Director Kitamura, things were moving fast, just like how L wanted it to be..
But now, there was a new character in the play.
Initially installing the cameras was going to be about Light. He was the main suspect and he was the only one being investigated even though the surveillance was put up in two households, I mean, have you ever seen them look through the Kitamura tapes? No. It's because they were never looked at. They just stayed quietly in the corner of the hotel room the task force called their HQ, but on the 8th of January, when Kiyohime Ikari walked into the Yagami household for a simple dinner, Light suddenly wasn't the only suspect.
It had all been going smoothly, a bit too smoothly to be honest. L and Mr. Yagami had watched as Light had walked into his home to his room, laid on the bed with a sigh, changed his clothes, and left the home silently. There was nothing suspicious about the boy until now and that just seemed to irk L. Was this all going to be a waste? All this convincing and shouting and going through tape after tape with no rest, everything just for this whole surveillance situation to turn into a disastrous fiasco?
"I don't see how you could even consider this! If this got out we would have a Civil Rights scandal on our hands, we'd all lose our jobs!" Aizawa had exclaimed.
"You told me you'd be willing to risk your lives for this investigation, but you wouldn't risk your jobs?" L had replied confidently.
But now, maybe that confidence wasn't as strong anymore. L himself didn't realize how his subconscious had started questioning and calculating the 'percent of success' of his actions, and as his doubts increased, so did his focus on the screen almost as a defense mechanism to avoid even realizing those doubts.
L watched as Sachiko and Sayu returned home after a while, Sayu went to her bedroom and Sachiko got busy in the kitchen making what seemed like an elaborate meal. Light returned home with a package which he was going to open, but his mother called for him, interrupting him.
"Coming!" Light shouted a reply before pushing the unopened package in his bookshelf and walking down. As soon as he arrived in the kitchen, his mother looped her arm into his, pulling him in to taste the extravagant foods.
"So what's the occasion?" He had asked as his mother's smile widened.
"We have a new neighbor and she's going to come over for dinner today!"
L watched as Light shook his head with a soft chuckle at his excited mother. Just then, a knock sounded at the door to which light replied, "I'm coming, one sec!" and jogged to the door.
He pushed it open, and even though there were no cameras to cover the shock on his face, his voice clearly conveyed that.
"Y-you!" He shouted and "M-me!" she replied.
And what followed after that was utterly surprising for the two men watching, one left more intrigued than the other.
This conversation made it quite clear to L that the girl, Kiyohime Ikari, knew her way around words. She was smart and patient and knew how to tackle different situations. She knew how to say things without saying them at all and she could be as sly and cunning as a fox when the moment called for it, and the fact that she had so confidently and openly said that she was not going to 'tell on' Kira, simply put, somewhat shocked L.
What Kiyohime had said was that Kira.. wasn't.. wrong? While saying that he was not right either? And it, despite its 'clarity', almost confused L on how her brain worked. Her kidnapper analogy wasn't as bad as he would have expected it to turn out to be, he might just call it logical. She also didn't use it to justify how Kira was right, she only used it to explain the mindset in which he killed Lind L. Tailor and the FBI agents.
'Wouldn't you think Kira would want to be appreciated' she had said when she could have very well said 'Wouldn't you think Kira should be appreciated'. She didn't let Sayu put words in her mouth even though what Sayu was saying was actually a much simpler version of what she had said. 'I'm not saying anything' Kiyohime would say and then add a 'but' and continue to say a very diluted, correct-sounding version of what Sayu had said.
It was amusing.
It was also suspicious.
How did this girl, that came from a different region in Japan, just around the time the Kira killings actually started, know so much about Kira's thought process and faulty actions? She was smart, maybe. She was detective material, maybe. She was the next member of his task force, who knew? But she was a suspect, definitely.
Installing cameras in her house was not difficult in the least. No one was at home for almost all day, and as Kiyo engaged in the seemingly simple and plain conversation with Taro Matsui who was coincidentally a member of the Kira task force, in the Teito hotel, which just happened to be their HQ, L engaged in monitoring her innocent self as Watari swiftly got the surveillance installed in her home.
The shocker was the fact that she managed to figure out that there were cameras everywhere, and yet although she initially showed shock and possible fear in her tone, she seemed pretty much unfazed about it. Almost as though she had expected something like this to happen, which was impossible unless she somehow knew that there were cameras in Light's house and the reason behind their installation in detail. That would also mean that she did whatever she did and said whatever she said knowing the fact that L was going to be watching her, and why the fuck would she want to do that?! Why in the world would she want to, intentionally make herself a suspect in the Kira case? L couldn't understand it, even though there was no way she could have known, he just didn't understand it.
To add to all this confusion, when Kiyo explained the reason why she suspected the cameras, she spoke about the bathroom door and the jar of maple syrup as if she was looking for those details. Had she left these things out on purpose suspecting that someone was going to break into her house? Her reaction when she seemed to 'remember' that the syrup was out of the fridge seemed so natural, was that an act too? L, again, couldn't understand it.
When she had arrived at the 'HQ' and made those observations from the Yagami house tapes, L could feel his curiosity go through the roof. He had a very similar observation and theory about Ray Penber's death, about him straining to look into the train, even though that was a neglectable and minute detail, then how did he fail it see it this time? The fact that someone had managed to present to him a plausible deduction that he hadn't thought of himself, made not only L but also Watari's eyes widen in shock, however small that widening might have been.
L had noticed Soichiro's surprised expressions at his sudden trust in the girl, and even though allowing her to view the tapes first and then inviting her into the task force just like that did seem very impulsive and irresponsible on L's part, we all know that L does NOT do impulsive and irresponsible.
Okay maybe sometimes..
But right now, it was the most well-thought-out plan he had, after all, it was the same method he was going to use on Light to constantly keep him under observation. Inviting Kiyo into the task force would be the most straightforward and simple way to find out more about her as well as keep an eye on her while using her intelligence to move forward in the case, and so he did just that.
A few minutes after accepting, Kiyo had gone into the bathroom for a shower and had later fallen asleep on one of the couches in the living room while watching like tapes of the Yagami house. Out of exhaustion, Mr. Yagami had also fallen asleep, leaving only L and Watari awake for the remaining of the night to watch tapes, but L wasn't watching anymore.
L had been looking at the video on the screen in front of him, nothing more. His mind wandered back to the girl sleeping on the couch only a little further away from him no matter how much he tried.
Something just seemed out of place about her. Maybe it was her 'mightier-than-all' attitude he had managed to spot within a few minutes of her arrival, maybe it was the fact that she was a bit too intelligent and observant for his liking, maybe because she looked like she knew everything about everything or maybe that's what she wants to show to everyone, L didn't know.
And L hated not being able to deduce things such as these.
This wasn't his work, he wasn't being paid for figuring out Kiyohime, and yet his mind seemed to be a bit too involved in just that. It angered him. Even though his face remained stoic, cold, and calm as if he was amused by the situation, only he knew that within him, he felt confused and irritated, and being the best detective in the world, he hardly knew how to cope with such feelings.
Only after eating a strawberry shortcake with tea that rivaled sugar syrup at this point, did he manage to calm down and focus completely on the Kira case. Hopefully, Light would turn out to be Kira and the case would be over soon and he would finally go back to his usual small (comparatively) cases,
But little did L know, that this wasn't just a journey, it was a whole damn roller-coaster ride.
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Hey guys!
So.. I have a question
I've been wondering whether I should keep the romance subtle and casual or make it a proper theme in the story,
I could have Kiyo fluffing around with everyone or I could just pick one character and stick to it, and I want to know your views on that.
If you prefer the latter, would you rather have the love interest to be the usual ones, Light and L, or would you like to see Matsuda as the interest instead?
There is some stuff I've planned that is going on with Matsuda, but it's at an uncertain point, and I need you guys to lemme know what you would prefer to see.
If you have any badass quotes or suggestions for how you would like to see things go ahead in this book, you can post them in the comments, If I've made any errors please let me know
Thank you all so much for your comments and love in the previous chapters, @Wgfkidlul and @cerealonmytoast thank you so much! I can't tell you how much it motivates me and pushes me to write better and better each time.
I'll see you guys in the next chapter (It should be out soon)
Byee!