Day One of Surveillance

Light’s POV:

The cell that Aizawa and Watari put Light was put in wasn’t that large. Of course, he hadn’t really expected it to be all that big. It was a cell after all. However, it wasn’t that small, either. It appeared that there was just enough room for him to comfortably move around if he wanted to. There was a folding chair sitting in the middle and in the corner of the cell there was a single bed with a light blanket draped across.

Heh, so this is where I’ll be staying for the time being...

Light took a seat on the dingy bed and kept his head down. His shaggy, light brown hair hid his eyes as he stared out in front of him, looking at nothing in particular. There wasn’t much in the cell for him to look at anyway.

Hmm...so all I have to do next is wait until it is time for me to get rid of the notebook. It will be at least a week until I can safely get rid of my Death Note...but it should be about fourteen days at least until there are more victims. Afterwards, with criminals dying and me still in this cell, it should become pretty apparent to both Keiko and L that I’m innocent. That I’m not Kira. Once I’ve proved my innocence once and for all, L has to let me go. He can’t keep me locked up in here for forever, there’s no way the other members of the Task Force would allow that...no. There’s no way that Keiko would allow that.

Light smirked a little as he thought about his ex-girlfriend. He had to admit, a part of him sort of missed her.

I know that Keiko still cares a lot about me, despite the fact that she thinks I cheated on her for Misa. I also know that she has a soft spot for me, I’ve seen proof of it...and once I’m free, I’m confident I can properly gain her trust again. I know that I will want her to trust me because I’m fairly certain that, even without my memories of the death note, I will want her to be my girlfriend again…

He let out a soft sigh.

I will want her to become my girlfriend again because...well…because at this point, it’s a bit hard for me to deny the fact that I have feelings for her. That I’m attracted to her. However, in this case, my attraction to her is a good thing. If I can get her back, things will better work in my favor. Once I regain my memories, I will easily be able to kill off L...and if she’s back with me, she won’t be a threat to me. After all, I have proof that if I have her wrapped around my finger, there’s no way that she would suspect me. As long as Misa Amane doesn’t interfere with my relationship again, things should go my way. Well, I can kill her off after L dies anyway...and so that means, after L has been killed off, I will probably take over L’s place and there will be no one of significance attempting to challenge me. Meaning…I will be free to reign as Kira, heh. I will reign as the god of a new world, one free of crime…

Light felt the edges of his mouth curling into a smirk.

“I know I can do this…” he whispered quietly to himself. He was so quiet that no one, not even Ryuk, could hear him.

The sudden sound of Ryuk’s deep voice snapped Light out of his little reverie, “so, I suppose that, for the time being, apples are out of the question?”

Heh...of course, Ryuk...I’m sorry but you’ll just have to stick it out for the time being.

Light fought the urge to roll his eyes at his dramatic shinigami and then moved his head so that he was directly facing the camera. He had no doubt that both L and Keiko had to be watching him, carefully scrutinizing his every move.

He flashed them a grin and slightly raised his eyebrows, “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I won’t be that entertaining to you guys…”

Mark my words, L, you won’t see me doing anything suspicious. Nothing I do while in this cell will reveal the fact that I’m Kira, and in fourteen days I will no longer be him...and once that happens, you will be painfully aware of that fact. I know I will get through this...I have to, no matter what.

Keiko’s POV:

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid that I won’t be that entertaining to you guys…” Keiko heard Light announce, his eyebrows were slightly raised in amusement. Even though she knew there was no way Light could see her reaction, she rolled her eyes at him, watching as he straight straight into the camera.

Light then flashed them a mischievous grin. It was almost as if he knew exactly what Keiko’s response to him was, which made Keiko’s heart plummet deep into her chest. She hadn’t seen his smile in a little over a week. The last time she saw him smiling like that was on the day she broke up with him. In fact, she had last seen his smile just moments before it happened.

Seeing Light smile now just needlessly reminded Keiko of how things used to be with Light Yagami. How things were before she had witnessed the kiss that broke her heart, before either she or Light had met Misa Amane.

Keiko took a deep breath, attempting to force all thoughts of the past out of her mind. It wouldn't do her any good now. She knew that it would only distract her from the investigation and she had to prove she was serious about her work, no matter what her own personal feelings were towards the accused.

“Hmm,” L muttered beside her. His eyes were narrowed and his thumb was lazily resting near his mouth, “you say you won’t be that entertaining, huh? Well, don’t be so sure about that, Light Yagami…”

She heard Matsuda let out a soft sigh behind her, “you know...this whole thing is just ridiculous…I can’t believe Light willingly subjected himself to this.”

“I can,” was L’s emotionless reply. “And if Light Yagami is Kira, then we will find out soon enough.”

“Well...I know for a fact that Light Yagami isn’t Kira! He just isn’t capable of doing something like that. Light’s not evil,” Matsuda responded, his voice raising slightly. Although Keiko couldn’t see him, she bet that he was now crossing his arms defensively over his chest.

“Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell for sure at a glance what a person is or isn’t capable of. Sure Light’s a good kid on the surface but who knows what happens when he thinks no one is looking,” Aizawa commented, “that being said, we will just have to wait and see if any new criminals are killed. If there aren’t any new victims, then we can safely assume that Light Yagami is Kira. It doesn’t matter how much you want him to be innocent, if he’s Kira, he’s Kira, and we will find out.”

“Listen to him, Matsuda-san,” Keiko responded, taking a glance at the man standing behind her. It took her a lot of effort to try and keep her voice level as she added, “because he’s right. I don’t want to believe that Light Yagami...my ex-boyfriend...is Kira either…but all of the evidence we have so far points to him...unfortunately, it’s actually the only thing that makes sense at this point.”

“Keiko-chan,” Matsuda choked out. Keiko could see the emotion hidden deep within his dark eyes, “please...I know you’re hurting a lot right now, but please...try to have some faith in him...even if all evidence points to him, you of all people must know that he wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Quite frankly, that’s hard to do right now,” Keiko replied rather shortly. She took a deep breath, “whether Light meant to or not, he still hurt me...and now he’s under suspicion. This means at this point, my personal judgement doesn’t matter. The facts are the facts and if he ends up guilty there’s nothing we can do about it. No matter how we feel, it won’t change things.”

“Exactly,” L interjected, giving the dark haired policemen a stern look, “so please don’t let your bias cloud your judgement, Matsuda-san.”

Although it looked like he wanted to protest, Matsuda kept his mouth shut. Keiko figured that he must have known that it didn’t matter what he said, neither she or L would be swayed by his words. She also supposed she looked rather bitter, but she sort of was. After all, she had just gotten hurt by someone she cared about. She was emotionally shattered.

As if he had suddenly grown bored of the current events, L leaned forward, grabbing the remote control. He clicked a button, changing the channels on the monitor. Soon, instead of Light Yagami, the screen was filled with Misa Amane. She was still helplessly tied up with her eyes covered.

While Keiko didn’t like the way that L was handling things with Misa Amane, she knew there was no other alternative. If she was the Second Kira and could only kill by seeing a face, then the Task Force had no choice but to cover her eyes and ensure that there was no way she could escape.

“Watari-san,” the detective called out to the older gentleman as he clicked the speaker button on his laptop, “has there been any progress with Amane-san?”

“No,” came Watari’s gruff reply, “I’m afraid not…”

“Well, that’s rather unfortunate…but I can’t say that I wasn’t expecting that. I figured that she would refuse to speak,” L responded. “Please continue to keep an eye on her, and let us know if anything of interest is happening.”

“Yes, I understand, Ryuzaki-san,” Watari replied once more. With that, L turned off the monitor and closed his eyes a moment.

Aside from the click clacking of someone’s shoes as they neared the door, the room was silent. The sounds of the footsteps grew louder and soon enough, the doors of the hotel room swung open to reveal Light Yagami’s father.

The chief slowly stepped into the hotel room, glancing over at everyone with a serious expression on his face. His gaze finally fixed on the detective, “I’m back, Ryuzaki-san…”

“So, does this mean that you’ve taken care of things with your family?” L asked, casting a lazy glance in his direction.

Light’s father gave a quick nod, “yes. Don't worry, everything’s been taken care of.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Keiko watched as L smirked, “wonderful.”

“I told them that, because of his near perfect grades, Light was given a scholarship in order to pursue a police criminology study abroad program this semester,” the chief gave a sigh, “while I don’t like lying to my family, I knew that it had to be done...and that was the most believable thing I could come up with. I hope that’s alright with you, Ryuzaki-san.”

“Ah, yes, that’s fine. I commend you on finding such a good excuse to use. I had Watari-san inform the school that your son was taking time off for personal reasons, so you will be fine there as well. There should be no complications,” L replied. He looked over at the chief, “now...I assume that wasn’t all you came here to tell me…”

“You’re right, Ryuzaki-san, that’s not all I came here to say…” Soichiro Yagami stepped closer to the raven haired detective, “in fact...I came here to say that I’d like to request that, for the time being, you take me off this investigation!”

“B-but chief!” Matsuda stuttered out, an incredulous look on his face, “why on earth would you request such a thing?!”

Keiko, however, wasn’t the least bit surprised at his request. Given his personality, she figured that Light’s father would ask for such a thing. She also had no doubt that L had been planning on him announcing that as well.

Light’s father continued on, “I’ve thought about it, and the fact is...we are holding my son, Light Yagami, as a prime suspect...given that, it’s not appropriate for me to be here. When we spoke earlier, my feelings got in the way of the investigation. It’s impossible for me to be objective in this situation.”

“Yes, yes, you’re right, Yagami-san,” L nodded, “In a case like this, we can’t let personal feelings get in the way. So I also agree that it’s best we don’t have you working here with us for the time being.”

Mr. Yagami nodded as well, “yes, and in truth...if the Task Force concluded that my son is really Kira, I don’t know what I’d be capable of.”

“I agree with you there...to be honest, I wondered what you might do in that situation…” L closed his eyes a moment, deep in thought. “I believe that you’d kill your son and then yourself.”

The chief gave a sad sigh, “yes...and that being said, I have to ask that you confine me as well, Ryuzaki-san!”

Keiko could hear the sudden gasps from both Aizawa and Matsuda. She watched as the younger policeman took a small step forward towards his superior, an incredulous look on his face, “you...you’d really go that far, chief?”

Light’s father solemnly nodded, “yes...I’m afraid, given the circumstances, that this will be necessary. You see, at the moment I’m calm...but, to be honest, I’m not sure how much more of this I can take!”

L shifted slightly in his seat, “I thought you might say that, so I spoke with Watari-san earlier and had him make the necessary arrangements...but your confinement will be different. You will keep your cell phone turned on and maintain regular contact with your family and friends, and keep them updated on your son as well, just tell them that he’s having a good time studying abroad. That should satisfy them, correct? Oh...you also won’t tell Light about your confinement...if he does request to call you at some point, he must be made to believe that you’re still right here at headquarters. And while you are in confinement, we will be giving you continuous updates on the investigation, so you will be up to date with what’s happening...how does that sound to you, Yagami-san?”

“I am grateful, that sounds fair. Thank you, Ryuzaki-san,” Mr. Yagami closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

“Great,” L turned towards Aizawa and Matsuda, “I will be entrusting the two of you with escorting the chief to his confinement. Watari-san will take over once you’ve arrived at the secondary location. I’d leave as soon as possible.”

“We understand, Ryuzaki-san,” Aizawa commented, and he lightly nudged the younger, more hesitant policemen standing right next to him, “come on...let’s get going, Matsuda-san…delaying won’t change anything.”

With that, Matsuda reluctantly made his move. The two of them handcuffed the chief, and walked him outside of the hotel room.

As they were leaving, Keiko could hear Matsuda grumbling, “it feels a little weird apprehending Yagami-san like this...but I suppose it can’t be helped…”

The door to the hotel room closed with a rather loud thud, leaving Keiko now totally alone with the great detective. Keiko let out a soft sigh, running a hand through her light brown hair. There was a lot running through her mind at the moment and she was torn.

Given the current circumstances, perhaps it would be better if I were to stay at headquarters full time to investigate….after all, it’s not like I’ve been getting much school work done lately anyway. It’s a bit hard to focus with the investigation constantly looming over my head. At this point, I’m very personally invested. However…what would I tell my mom? It’s not like I could tell her the truth, and who knows how long L will keep Light and Misa under surveillance. He doesn’t like being wrong, so I know that he’s dead set on keeping them locked up until he can prove that they’re Kira and the Second Kira.

“You seem a bit distant right now...is there something on your mind, Kagami-san?” the sound of L’s voice broke Keiko away from her thoughts. She could feel his eyes burning a hole in the back of her head.

“Actually, Ryuzaki-san, there is…” Keiko turned to towards the raven haired detective, who was staring at her intently with round, unblinking eyes. “I was thinking and, given my personal interest in this investigation, perhaps it would be best if I stayed here at headquarters to investigate with you…because, to be honest, I don’t want to let Misa Amane or my ex-boyfriend out of my sight until I know for sure whether or not they’re guilty or innocent...otherwise, I think I might go crazy. At this point I can’t deny that I’m way too personally involved in this case. It’s affecting my focus. It’s so bad that I can’t concentrate on anything else, even my university classes...I want to be here until the very end, no matter what the result is….I want to solve this case, and make my father in heaven proud...”

“Hmmm,” L looked at her, there was a glint in his eyes and a smirk forming on his face, “you know, I figured you might say something like that, Keiko-chan…”

Keiko felt the corners of her lips tugging into a smile as she rolled her eyes at the detective. Her anger at him had almost entirely worn off by now, she was just determined to get to the bottom of the case. She could understand why he did what he did, though that still didn’t excuse his actions, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. There was no use in fighting over it as there was no changing what had happened. There was no going back, she just had to keep moving forward.

“Of course you did...how silly of me, I should have known…” Keiko started, “and let me guess, you already made arrangements for me to stay here.”

“But of course,” he replied, still smirking at her. He brought his thumb up to his mouth, “it’s been arranged for your personal privacy that you will have your own suite, but...your suite and my suite will have to be connected and Watari-san and I will have to have a spare key...I know that’s probably not ideal, but given the circumstances that’s best in case there happens to be an emergency. That way we will easily be able to contact each other. However, as always, Task Force headquarters will be stationed in my hotel room. How does that sound to you?”

“Mm, that actually sounds pretty good...thank you, Ryuzaki-san. Like you said, I know it’s not ideal, but it’s still the best thing you can do for me, so I appreciate that,” Keiko offered L a soft smile, but a sudden thought invaded her mind. She furrowed her eyebrows and bit her lip, “however...there’s one thing I’m worried about-”

“Kagami-san, if you’re worried about what to tell your mother, then don’t be. I have a pretty good idea of what you should tell her,” L responded.

“W-what’s that?” Keiko asked, running a hand through her hair.

“Well…if I’ve assumed correctly, you didn’t actually inform your mother that you broke up with Light Yagami, did you, Kagami-san?” L questioned, casting a quick glance in Keiko’s general direction.

Her guilty face explained everything. She nodded her head, “you’re right...I didn’t tell her….to be entirely honest, I couldn’t bear to tell her what happened. My mom was so excited that I was dating again, and she really liked Light-kun. She especially liked the fact that he wanted to be a policemen, like his father. She thought, because of that, Light was a good match for me…” Keiko suddenly trailed off, trying to ignore the sadness that was now threatening to overwhelm her.

“I see,” L responded, his eyebrows raising slightly, “so my deduction was right. In that case, Watari-san can arrange things so that your mother thinks you won a scholarship for the same study abroad program as Light Yagami...with what you’ve just told me I can pretty safely assume that if your mother thinks that you are doing a study abroad program with your boyfriend, she probably won’t be too worried about you as she will know you will be in safe hands. That being said, as long as you give your mother regular updates, she should be fine...and as far as To-Oh University will be concerned, like Light-kun, they will be informed that you will be taking some time off for personal reasons. What do you think about that?”

Of course, it’s actually a pretty obvious solution to my little problem...why didn’t I think of that myself? Keiko sighed, well...probably because I didn’t think of that as a valid option because I broke up with Light...however if my mom doesn’t know, then that really doesn’t matter. Technically Light will be around anyway...well, he’ll be behind a screen that I’m monitoring, but that still counts, right?

She nodded after a moment, “hmm...you know what? That’s actually a pretty good idea, Ryuzaki-san.”

A smug look found its way onto L’s face as he replied, “of course it’s a good idea...after all, I came up with it.”

Well look at him, he’s as weird and annoying as usual...is this perhaps his attempt at making a joke?

Keiko didn’t even attempt to hide the fact that she was now rolling her eyes at him, “don’t go getting a big head now; I can barely tolerate you as is…”

“Hmm,” the detective started to say, the corners of his mouth turned upwards slightly in amusement as he looked over at Keiko, “you know...that implies that you can tolerate me now, even if it is just a little bit.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Keiko raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she did so, “but honestly, you’re really pushing it with that attitude of yours.”

I’m sort of kidding, but I’m also sort of serious...after all, he’s always so frustrating at times…it’s because he’s always so guarded, so mysterious...it’s annoying.

Keiko watched as there was a short burst of laughter coming from the detective. It was very brief, but unmistakable. In that moment, Keiko wanted nothing more than to wipe that look of amusement off of his face. He was looking far too entertained by her.

What? Am I that funny to him? Is he seriously laughing at me right now?!

She hadn’t been irritated before, but now she could feel it bubbling up inside of her. One thing was for sure, she didn’t like being laughed at. It made her feel rather uncomfortable, and she didn’t think she was being that humourous.

Keiko narrowed her eyes at him, “what’s so funny, Ryuzaki-san?”

L scooted his chair a little closer to hers. As he did so, his dark eyes never left hers, making Keiko’s stomach flutter a little.

“It’s your reaction…” he explained to her, “you see, to me, you’re quite an interesting person, Kagami-san...you are sharp witted and intelligent but you’re also very easy to read. You might not realize it, but you let your emotions show, because of that, it’s not that hard for me to guess what you might be thinking. That being said, it’s fun watching you get all worked up…”

Wonderful...so he basically just admitted he likes torturing me because I’m an easy target for him...and now I’m going to be stuck working with him nearly twenty-four/seven! Well...not yet, but very soon!

Keiko could feel the annoyance coursing through her veins, but she tried to maintain her cool composure as much as possible as she got up from her chair, no longer wanting to deal with the detective and his confusing attitude. However, she couldn’t argue with what he had said, because she knew it was true, she often let her emotions get to her. She hated how easy she was to read. It was something she was trying hard to work on, especially considering her ex-boyfriend was the investigation’s prime suspect.

“I’m going home,” she announced, even though she knew L probably had already figured that. “I want to enjoy just one more day of normalcy before spending the rest of my life here at headquarters.”

“Yes, do that. Make sure you pack up anything you want to bring here as well. After all, I have a feeling we might be here a while,” L responded.

Of course, he’s back to acting like his usual self. He’s back to acting like nothing happened, like he didn’t say anything to annoy me on purpose just moments ago...

Keiko sighed, feeling his eyes on hers as she opened the door. She couldn’t wait to get home, to enjoy what little time she had left before stepping back into the investigation full throttle.

“I’ll see you soon, Keiko-chan,” he softly called out. Keiko ignored him, stepping outside of the hotel room.