Light’s POV:

“Light,” he heard his father say into the phone, “Ryuzaki-san, or L, whom you know as Ryuga...has decided that he would like you to help out with the Kira investigation. If you are still interested, then I can provide you with the hotel information. That being said, if you do want to help out, you will have to come here right away.”

Perfect...just like that, my time has come. I have no doubt that Keiko had some part in this. I knew she would be useful to me...and whenever I was with her, I was careful not to act in a suspicious manner so that she would have nothing out of the ordinary to report to L about me. That way, L would want to recruit me, even if he’s still a little suspicious. That, and with the appearance of this new Second Kira, they probably want my expertise. Heh...of course I’m still interested, dad. In fact, I’ve been waiting for this. I’m more than ready.

“Okay, dad,” he replied, “I understand. Of course I’m still interested. I want to do my part in helping you and the rest of the Task Force catch Kira.”

“Good, good. I had a feeling that you would say that,” his dad replied. He then gave Light the address of the hotel and the room number of the room that the Task Force was currently staying at.

“Thanks, dad. I’ll see you soon,” with that, Light hung up the phone. He looked over at Ryuk, who was laying down lazily on Light’s bed, eating an apple.

“Here’s my chance,” Light told him, an evil smirk forming on his face. “Watch me. I can finally get closer to L and find out more about this Second Kira...killing two birds with one stone. It’s perfect.”

“Hyuk, hyuk, so I’ll get some more entertainment? How delightful,” Ryuk commented, finishing up his apple. Light smirked, standing up to get ready to go.

I need to figure out who this imposter is before someone else on the Task Force beats me to it. And the sooner I can get rid of L, the better.

/timeskip/

Light’s hand hovered over the door handle. It wasn’t that he was nervous, in fact he was feeling rather confident now that he had gotten so far. He was just preparing himself, mentally making a note to act shocked when he saw Keiko sitting down on the couch with the rest of the Task Force. Light knew that she had to be in there right now, waiting with the others for him to step inside of the hotel room. Waiting to see her boyfriend, and investigate with him.

Keiko doesn’t know that I know L already is in contact with her, and has been for quite a while. Meaning she also doesn’t know that I know she’s been spying on me. So, I can’t act suspicious now, or that would ruin everything I’ve worked so hard to accomplish. However, I should be fine. I know Keiko’s falling for me, I can see it in her eyes whenever I’m with her. I can also read it on her face when she mindlessly glances over at me. I’m getting her wrapped around my finger, which is right where I want her to be. I can handle this.

Now feeling ready, Light took a deep breath. He opened the door and stepped inside of the hotel room.

The first person he saw was L, who was sitting in a computer chair near the front of the room, his thumb partially in his mouth and his hair sticking out. He was staring at Light rather intently, an unreadable expression on his face. Beside L, sitting on the couches, was the rest of the Task Force.

There was his father, who nodded at Light as soon as he saw him step inside the room, Aizawa, who had a rather determined look on his face. Next to Aizawa, he saw Mogi and Ide, who were quietly sitting with serious expressions on their faces. To the left of them was Matsuda, who smiled warmly at Light as he walked in, and to the left of Matsuda was Light’s girlfriend.

When Keiko noticed Light was staring straight at her, a confused look displayed on his face, her own face quickly turned a bright red.

Heh, as I suspected, Keiko was here waiting for me. Although it’s probably a little uncomfortable right now for her, I’m sure she’s glad she will no longer have to lie to me.

“L-Light-kun,” she stuttered out, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face. It looked like she wanted to say more, but the words died on her lips as soon as she noticed that L was getting up from his spot.

“Light Yagami,” L announced, walking over to where the light brown haired suspect was standing. When Light saw that L was headed towards him, he stepped forward, meeting the world’s greatest detective in the middle.

“Thank you for choosing to cooperate with us,” L continued once he was face to face with Light. He held out his hand for Light to shake.

“No problem. I want to catch Kira just as much as you do, Ryuga. And everyone else here, for that matter,” Light replied, giving L a firm handshake. He also gave him a half smile as he knew he had nothing to worry about. This was because he was certain that, if L had another test for him, he would be able to pass it.

“Please, call me Ryuzaki here,” L replied, “that’s what everyone else in the Task Force calls me as well. Makes things easier, although I suppose you still should call me Ryuga at school...which leads me to my next point, everyone here in this room has been given a fake name, along with a fake id. Now, I would like to ask you to please, while out in public, use the fake name. This way we can all protect our true identities. However, when we are all gathered together here like this, I suppose using real names should be okay.”

“Of course. I understand, Ryuzaki-san,” Light replied, looking over at the rest of the Task Force sitting around on the couches.

L led Light over to them, gesturing for him to take a seat. Light sat down next to his father while the detective went back to his original seat.

“Perfect. Well, moving on...I suppose now would be a good time for everyone to introduce themselves,” L murmured, glancing over at the policemen.

When no one immediately went, Matsuda leapt forward, taking out his fake id as he did so, “heh, glad to finally have you on board, Light! I’m now Taro Matsui!”

He gave an awkward chuckle, and sat back down once he realized that all eyes in the room were on him. “S-sorry, I got a little too excited,” he mumbled.

Aizawa gave an awkward little cough, and he introduced himself, “I’m Daito Aihara.”

Mogi went next. “I’m Kanichi Moji,” he said softly.

Right next to him, Ide followed, straightening his tie,“I’m Hiro Ichi.”

Keiko glanced in Light’s general direction, but wasn’t looking directly at him. Light guessed that it was probably because she couldn’t muster the strength to look at his face.

Keiko must be a little embarrassed. She was, after all, harboring a pretty big secret from me. She had to have known that L would have invited me to the Task Force at some point, but it’s clear she didn’t quite anticipate it being today. Heh, I have to admit, she’s pretty cute when she’s all flustered...but falling for her is out of the question, no matter how tempting it might be...but...no..I can’t think like this!

Light pushed that thought aside, and gave a little cough. He had been having quite a few of these thoughts lately, much to his annoyance. No matter how similar the two were or how often he saw her, he couldn’t let himself weaken. He couldn’t have feelings for her.

“I-I’m K-Kana K-Kinomoto,” Keiko stuttered out rather quickly, her face turning a bright pink. Light noticed, yet again, that it looked like she wanted to say something more, but his father cut her off before she even had the chance.

“And I’m Yonjuro Asahi,” he told his son.

“I see, so I suppose I should start calling myself Light Asahi, then,” he replied, glancing back over at the detective, who appeared to be in deep thought. He was looking at something else, documents from the investigation, Light assumed.

“Yes, please do so,” L responded, finally looking back up, away from the papers he had sitting out in front of him.

Light continued on, looking over in his girlfriend’s direction, “now, Ryuzaki-san, I would ask what Keiko-chan is doing here, but I think I already have a pretty good idea. While I know that she already had some interest in the Kira case, that can’t be the only reason why she’s here. Ryuzaki-san, last time we talked, you bluntly told me that you suspect me to be Kira. Although you said you think there’s only a slim chance, you probably wanted to do some more digging on the side, just in case. I can only assume that you asked my girlfriend to spy on me, and given her own personal interest in the investigation, as well as her romantic interest in me, she agreed to it.”

“Yes, that is correct,” L replied, a lazy smirk on his face. Light watched as L glanced in Keiko’s direction, an unreadable expression now entering his face, “I had your girlfriend spying on you for me. One can’t be too careful when Kira is on the loose. Don’t worry, according to her, you’re not that suspicious.”

“And please don’t be mad at her for it,” Matsuda added, his face flushing a little as he looked in Keiko’s direction.

Heh, it’s just as I suspected. I’ve been managing to fool her quite well. Though, now that L’s finally brought me on board, I have to be extra cautious with my behavior. While I can pretty easily fool my girlfriend, because of her feelings for me, L is another story entirely...nothing will get past him, I’m sure of it.

Light gave a small chuckle, looking over in Keiko’s direction, “I’m not worried, because I’m not Kira. And Keiko-chan...I suppose this means at the hospital you and my father pretended to not know each other...don’t worry. I’m not in any upset or mad at you, if that’s what you’re nervous about, I would have done the same thing if I were in your position. I’m just happy that now I can work besides you, the world’s greatest detective, my father, and, of course, the rest of the Task Force.”

Light could see the relief washing over Keiko’s face, and for the first time since he had stepped into the room, she properly looked at him. He flashed a grin at her, which made her give a shy smile in return, and he ignored the pang he felt in his stomach afterwards.

“Not so fast, Light-kun...I hope you don’t mind me calling you that here, I can’t call you Yagami-san, that’s your father,” L interjected, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was staring intently at the light brown haired boy.

“Whatever you want to call me is fine,” Light replied, watching as L got up out of his chair. He was headed towards him. Light knew that, whatever Ryuzaki’s plan was, it couldn’t be good. He braced himself.

Act natural, Light Yagami. Whatever’s about to happen, you can’t let him evoke a strong reaction out of you. Stay calm, act natural.

Once L was in front of Light, he stopped. He leaned in real close, so close that his face was only inches apart from Light’s own, and there was a glint in his eyes.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

L smirked, “really? I can call you whatever I want to? Well...what about Kira, then?”

Light heard his father give a slight gasp beside him.

That bastard! I can’t believe he’d go that far as to say something like that in front of everyone here.

L’s dark eyes had remained on Light as he spoke, and Light just stared straight back at him. He was extra careful not to show any emotions on his face...although what he wanted to do was sneer and punch L square in jaw.

After a few seconds, L gave another smirk, and started to laugh a little, “relax, Light-kun. I’m only kidding, of course.”

“I knew that, Ryuzaki-san, but still. A joke like that isn’t funny,” Light replied. He matched L’s amused look with a serious one, “especially because it’s not true.”

“If you’re innocent, then you will just have to prove that to me. Which leads me to my point...as I was going to say earlier, not so fast Light-kun. There’s something I’d like you to do for me before you can join us. I would like you to start by looking over all of our current information on Kira, including these videos,” L held up two tapes in his hand, “they were sent to the police station, but never released to the public. For security reasons, you are not permitted to take notes. All materials must remain in this room. Afterwards, I would like to hear the conclusions, if any, that you’ve come up with. Are you willing to start right now? If so, I can have Watari set you up.”

Ah, as I suspected. Another test...this has to be information dealing with the Second Kira...heh, well L, this was just what I was hoping for. Bring it on!

“I understand. Yes, I’m more than willing, Ryuzaki-san. I want to prove to you that I am ready and capable to be a member of this investigation,” Light glanced over at the detective, a determined look on his face.

“Wonderful. Watari-san, please, set everything up for him.”

It took only a couple minutes, and soon Light was sitting in the same computer chair that L was sitting at only a few minutes prior. He had first looked through the documents that L had left out on the desk, they had contained the information about the second Kira’s victims. The T.V. show hosts, to be exact. It made Light a little sick that this Second Kira was ignoring his main ideals in order to get his attention.

Unless they try to deliberately get in my way, which is most unfortunate for them, innocent lives should always be spared.

“Alright, I’m ready for the videos now.”

Watari stepped forward, and pressed play for Light on the video recording. Light watched the first few minutes of the video, scrutinizing it as best as he could, for any clues at all about who this Second Kira was.

“Now that you have seen proof of my powers, you should have no trouble believing that I am Kira. People of the world, please listen to me, the last thing I want to do is kill the innocent,” the distorted voice on the tape announced.

Geez...This video is so mediocre...it’s making me sick to my stomach. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m the real Kira, but this is just a complete disgrace to everything Kira stands for. Whoever this person is...they can’t be that smart...if I don’t find this person soon, things will end badly…

He watched on, finishing the rest of the video tapes that Watari played for him. As soon as he was done, he stood up from the chair, and faced the rest of the Task Force.

“So, Light-kun, I know you are quite intelligent. What do you make of this? Have you come to any conclusions?” L asked him.

What is he mocking me? Trying to get a good reaction out of me? Well nice try, L. You won’t catch me off guard. Besides, there’s only one conclusion that one could draw from watching these video tapes: that there is possibility a copycat Kira out there. It would look more suspicious if I didn’t acknowledge that fact.

Light took a deep breath, “well, I can’t say for sure but it appears that their might be another person out there with Kira’s power...”

Keiko’s eyebrows furrowed, and she looked over at Light curiously, “wait...with Kira’s power? Light-kun, what do you mean by that?”

Damn it...perhaps I should have watched my wording better...but I can still play it off. So it should be okay.

“At the very least, I’d say this tape was not created by the Kira we are familiar with. It is extremely out of character for him to use these kinds of victims for his killings. And...since we have established before that Kira needs both a name and a face to kill, it makes you wonder how he was able to kill that detective and those two officers right outside the television station like that.”

“Ah, I see, well Ryuzaki-san and I both came to that conclusion as well,” Keiko replied thoughtly, and she flashed a smile at him. Light smiled back at her, glad that he was able to make her forget about her question.

Light watched as L glanced over at Keiko, a sly look on his face, “yes. Like what Keiko-chan said, we also believe that it was the work of a second Kira.”

“So, Ryuzaki-san,” Light started, looking over at the detective, crossing his arms out in front of him, “you were testing me with the video tapes, right? Did I pass? Am I able to help you guys out with the investigation now?”

“Yes, yes, I suppose that you did,” L replied, “and the fact that the three of us all came to that conclusion...well it makes the conclusion that much more believable, Light-kun. As expected, you were of great assistance to us, so thank you for that. Of course you can help us out with the investigation now.”

Light smirked, “good. I hope that I can continue to be of assistance. So when do I officially start?”

“Well, you can officially start now. First, we must focus on stopping this copycat Kira. From what we’ve seen, he sympathizes with the real Kira, but he doesn’t appear to be very bright. I think he would be willing to obey the original Kira. If so, we could lure him into a trap by sending our own message from the real Kira. I was thinking, since you said you want to help us out further, Light-kun, would you like to play the part of the real Kira?”

“M-me?” Light stuttered out, “you want me to play the part of Kira?”

Damn him! Of all things, I wasn’t expecting this! He probably had this in mind all along, I can’t keep letting him catch me off guard...that test he gave me before wasn’t the real test, the real test is this...and I can’t refuse him now, I have to do what he says if I don’t want to arouse suspicion.

“Yes,” L responded, a faint smile on his lips, “with your genius, you should be able to do it. At any rate, we don’t have time to waste...do you think you could script a message from Kira to air on tonight’s news?”

There was only one thing Light could say. “If you say so, Ryuzaki-san. Just leave it to me.”

/timeskip/

Keiko’s POV:

“Ryuzaki-san, is this all right? I think I managed to make it pretty believable,” Keiko heard Light ask. She lifted her head up off of the desk, watching as Light brought the paper over from where he was sitting to where L was currently sitting.

Finally...I hope L’s okay with Light’s draft, that way he will have some freetime...I want to talk to Light alone in private, I’ve been wanting to ever since he stepped into the room, but...L’s only been throwing Light more tasks.

Almost all of the embarrassment Keiko had earlier had faded, which she was happy about. It was hard facing her boyfriend at first. However, even though Light had told her it was okay, she still felt like she owed him some sort of explanation. Especially with how she had jumped on him earlier.

I’ve gotten so wrapped up in this investigation...he was only answering L’s question, nothing more. I know there’s no way Light could really be Kira, or at least, I don’t think so...I feel like if he was Kira, he would have slipped up by now...or I would have probably noticed something more suspicious.

Keiko watched as L read over the document Light handed him, “hmmm...honestly? I think you’ve done an excellent job of this. However, if you don’t omit the part that says ‘you’re free to kill L’, then I’m going to end up dead.”

This caused Light to laugh a little, and he scratched the side of his head, “uh, sorry...I guess while pretending to be Kira I got a little carried away. I thought he would demand that you would be killed...I was only improvising, feel free to change that to whatever you would like, Ryuzaki-san.”

“Alright, that sounds good,” L replied, and he waved Light away so that he could continue to work.

Keiko took this as her chance to approach her boyfriend, who was now standing near one of the windows in the hotel room. She lightly tapped his back, “Light-kun, if you’ve got a moment, I was wondering if you wanted to talk in private.”

Light turned around, giving Keiko a friendly smile, “I always have time for my girlfriend. However, I feel like it might be up to L, though. I know he wants the news to air the clip soon…”

“You two go ahead. I figured that Keiko-chan wanted to talk to you alone in private,” L called, waving his hand behind him, “for now, I am revising the note you just gave me. When the time comes for it to air on the news, I will tell Watari-san to come and get you two.”

Geez, how much can his ears pick up? We weren’t even being that loud.

“Thanks, Ryuzaki-san,” Light replied, taking Keiko’s hand. The two of them left the hotel room, and headed upstairs, towards the balcony of the hotel.

“Will they even be able to find us up here?” Keiko asked as they climbed up the stairs.

“Oh, I’m sure Ryuzaki-san has his ways,” Light chuckled as the two of them reached the top of the stairs. He opened the door to the balcony, the fresh, evening air now hitting their noses.

The sky was turning brilliant shades of pink and purple. It had been a while since Keiko had properly been able to appreciate the beautiful scenery around her. She had been too focused on attempting to keep up with her schoolwork and the Kira investigation.

“It’s gorgeous,” Keiko muttered, staring up at the sky and soaking it all in.

“Not as gorgeous as you,” Light replied, causing Keiko lightly punch his side as she rolled her eyes at him.

“Light Yagami, why, I already agreed to being your girlfriend a couple months ago...there’s no need to try and flatter me now.”

Light chuckled, “I suppose you’re right, but surely even you would like to have a compliment every now and then...anyway, why did you want to talk to me alone?”

Keiko turned so that she was face to face with Light, and suddenly bowed her head. She started spilling out all of emotions that she had kept deeply hidden within her the last two months. Emotions that she had held in for far too long.

“I’m sorry, Light-kun! I-I wanted to properly apologize for lying to you for all this time...the truth is, L got me on board a couple days before you officially asked me out...I know you said that you understand, and that you would have done the same in my position b-but...being L’s spy for that time, having to live a lie, that honestly sucked. I wanted to tell you, but I also couldn’t, for obvious reasons. I know you’re my boyfriend, and I shouldn’t have suspected you in the first place b-but...the chance, however slim, was still there,” she took a short breath before continuing on, “and the suspicion is still there, according to L...honestly, in my eyes, the chances of you being Kira, while they haven’t entirely gone away, are just getting slimmer and slimmer. B-because if you w-were, you probably would have revealed yourself by now, but back then, I didn’t know and I-I just couldn’t ignore it! I-I just had to properly explain to you what my reasoning was and-”

Keiko immediately stopped as soon as she felt Light’s hand brush up against her chin, bringing her head up so that she was once again level with him.

“Breathe, Kagami-san, it’s okay. You shouldn’t feel the need to apologize to me. You went through a hard time, not being able to tell me the truth. It wasn’t easy hearing the truth today, trust me, but that is now all in the past. What matters is the present and currently I’m here now with you. Together, with the help of L and the rest of the Task Force, we can catch Kira, and the Second Kira.”

Before Keiko could even react to what Light said, he snaked his free hand across her back, lightly pressing her so that they would be closer together. He then gently kissed her. She was shocked at first, but then she kissed him back with even more intensity, one of her hands resting on his chest and the other finding its way towards his hair.

Light’s POV:

Heh. Well, I think I’ve finally done it. Even though L invited her to join so that he could frame me somehow, she’s actually prevented him from doing so. All according to plan. And her confession just now has to mean I have her fully wrapped around my finger. Good, good. You know what else is good? How she smells...like vanilla, with a faint hint of coffee beans...no, no! There’s no way I could be...falling for her? No, no. That’s not possible, I’ve been so careful. But, however, she is my type...

When Light suddenly felt Keiko’s hand roaming through his hair, his first instinct was to deepen the kiss, letting the two of them getting even more tangled up together. His mind was screaming at him that he should stop, and yet, he was finding that he didn’t want to.

Light stop! Whether she’s your type or not, you’re treading in dangerous waters if you develop any feelings for her. Stop kissing her for so long, the longer you kiss her, the weaker you’ll get! Gods aren’t weak; gods have no weaknesses that can make them weak. Don’t let her become your weakness. She’s only your toy, after all...

“Ah-hem. I’m sorry to interrupt such a tender moment of young love but Ryuzaki-san would like me to inform you that it’s time,” a voice said from behind them.

Watari.

Startled, Keiko broke apart from Light, her face turning a deep crimson. Although he didn’t jump like Keiko had, Light had to admit that he had been startled as well. He turned his attention away from Keiko and onto the older gentleman standing in front of them.

For once, he was grateful that the two of them had been interrupted. This way, he was no longer entranced by Keiko’s charms. He was free for now. He made a mental note to be more careful around her, especially considering the hypnotizing effect she had on him just recently.

It has to be because I’ve been spending so much time with her lately...she’s really getting to me...however, there’s no way I can break up with her now. I have to squash whatever feelings I might hold for her immediately. I can't be this careless around her.

“Of course. It’s time to go back to work,” Light replied, “please, lead the way, Watari-san.”