CHAPTER 2: THE BEGINNING OF AN ODD FRIENDSHIP

TODAI

It was spring once again in the land of the rising sun. Cool breeze swept past the incoming students, carrying soft pink petals that floated gracefully around them perhaps waiting to be marvelled like the past... before most people lost the sense of beauty that allowed them to appreciate the most banal things.

Indeed... that day was just a normal spring day in Japan, and it was also the first day of classes. Nothing much, nothing special... it was simply the start of another routine year where Yagami Light would be the top. Even if this time, he had a good rival, it did not mean that he was going to lose.

As he neared the school gates, he saw an old fashioned car standing by. He knew by its appearance that it was a considerably expensive vehicle and whoever owned it must be a very important person with deep pockets. He shrugged. He did not care about such gossip and he walked past it as if it is a piece of metal no different than the classroom trash bin.

But the door opened and he saw a flash of a familiar figure coming out of the car and his feet stopped. His eyebrows furrowed at the unexpected sight and, to his chagrin, he stayed there to watch the so-called VIP with deep pockets.

She nonchalantly stepped outside, looking oblivious to the incredulous stare of her new school mates and—after snapping out of his curiosity—he coolly shook his head, continuing his way to the gate suddenly without a hint of care.

When he reached his destination, he stoically looked around, remaining disinterested of the admiring stares that were thrown at him by everyone. Other than the setting, it was the same as his previous years in High School: friendly students introduced themselves their own way, indifferent students hang in random spots, and someone simply stared at the cherry blossoms as if it was the first time she saw it.

He knew it wasn't, though, but he was almost certain that she didn't see it too often– that extremely pale skin of hers told him she didn't go out often to bask in the sun. She was wearing practically the same thing as during the opening ceremony, only this time she was wearing pants. That large scarf of hers was still there, and its tail followed the wind as if it was a wave. He didn't take his line-of-sight away for a moment longer until she abruptly turned to him and smiled: which was an odd thought since her face muscles barely even moved.

He coolly turned his head away to ignore her. He was surprised at how rude he was. After all, she was still a girl and despite his biases he had always been a gentleman. There was simply something about her that rendered him indifferent to such things at the moment.

He continued to walk, hearing squeals and murmurs about him on all sides. The images of her under the Sakura tree kept appearing in his head and he, at least, willed himself to analyze what he just saw. Something interesting must be in that scene for it to stay so unnecessarily long in his head.

He sighed, and told himself to stop thinking about these useless things.

....

Light arrived in his first class, effortlessly ignoring all the stares and sat down on a good seat amongst the rows of pews. A random guy in front of him turned to him and smiled. He introduced himself as Rokko Hiru, proudly pointing to himself as if everyone should know him. He mentally shook his head in disapproval at the boy's misplaced confidence. The guy was also being too comfortable with him, opening topics he couldn't care any less about. He was polite as usual, of course, despite the fact that his mind was telling the guy to buzz off.

Rokko, admittedly, was a relatively good-looking young man. He had short honey-brown hair and familiar-looking eyes. He had a way of speaking, and he was obviously smart– something already given since he passed the exam. But Light genuinely had no interest in making friends and he remained courteous all throughout, for even when he never really bothered to get actual friends, it never did hurt to know people and make connections.

Especially in this school where everyone showed much promise in their future careers.

A moment later, a beautiful woman with short raven hair sat beside him, she had the poise of a lady. And she also pretended to ignore him. Light knew better, of course, and he could not help but sigh internally at her antics.

Women.

"Hello." He greeted pretending to be eager to introduce himself. She did not flinch and acted as in a professional manner.

"Hello."

Light shrugged. 'She's playing hard to get? Oh well...'

"My name is Yagami Light. Yoroshiku."

"Ahh.. Takada Kiyomi."

He just nodded and Takada opened her mouth to start some sort of pseudo-nonchalant conversation with him when he saw her. She was already surrounded by people with fake smiles pasted on their faces. They were probably befriending her because of money, which she pretty much exhibited considering her little entrance.

'Humans.' He sighed sardonically as he watched them with... slight... interest. It was one of the reasons why he never really bothered talking to people other than making them useful acquaintances.

She looked... happy, though—not that he cared. He told himself he pitied her for her trusting nature and that was it. Her group sat at the other side of the room to them, albeit a row in front of his so he could still see her... which was good, since he can monitor his rival for his so-called scholastic reasons.

"She had the same grade as yours, right? She's an odd girl..." Takada commented finally being able to open a topic.

They watch her as she reached her seat and sat seiza on the bench, taking out a massive bar of chocolate and began eating it whole. She also remembered to offer some to her new 'friends' after taking a couple of bites. They politely refused.

"She is also a bit ridiculous."

Light did not even bother to wince.

"Yeah," he said in agreement. And she gets weirder every time I see her.

....

CAMPUS GARDEN

Lunch

Passively looking at the campus' copious landscaping, Light coolly walked around school, hands in his pockets and without a care in the world. He took different routes and explored the place, ensuring that none of his fangirls would follow his leisure walk of boredom. He was not hungry and his lunch break was extremely long, giving him time to afford such activities. Rokko and Takada invited him for lunch, true, but he (politely) refused them. Light always preferred eating alone.

He eventually reached an isolated part of the campus and saw a huge Sakura tree, and saw a very familiar figure eating alone underneath its pink shade. Like before, she sensed his stare and smiled at him in an annoyingly familiar manner. He initially attempted to ignore her (again), but went against it in the end. He did not want her to think he was being rude for no reason at all. She would look down on him. Besides, it would be interesting to find out where her so-called 'Friends' were.

"You're not going to eat Lunch, Yagami-san?" she asked in her trademark languid tone-of-voice.

"I have a two-hour break before my next class."

"Ah. What a coincidence, I do to. You should join me, I have plenty of food for two."

"No, thank you." He said sending her a fake smile, which he thought she actually sensed. But odd enough, she did not even flinch nor did she point it out.

"Just sit with me, then."

"Where are the other students that were with you earlier?" he asked and added quickly. "I saw you when you enter the classroom."

"They're in the canteen. They asked me to join them, of course, but I refused."

"Why?" he asked smiling unconsciously. Had she known their motives, after all?

"Because they would probably ask me to treat them, and I have no money." She answered so casually and his eyes widened at her reply. She knew the motives, yet she did not see what was wrong with it?

How old was she, anyway? Six?

"So you will treat them if you do?"

"Not really, no. I don't earn my allowance, after all. I have to ask Quillsh-san for permission first." She said in an unexpectedly serious tone of voice forcing Light to uncharacteristically stifle a chuckle.

"Yagami-kun..."

"Hm?"

"My neck will get strained very soon if you don't sit down."

"A-a," he uttered and reflexively sat down. His eyebrows furrowed the moment he realized his position, asking himself why the bloody hell he sat. He took all of his composure back and appeared in his normal stoic facade again, and but then she frowned out-of-nowhere and this gesture caught him off-guard.

"Yagami-kun... why do you always look so strained?" She asked so straight-forwardly that he wasn't able to control his wince.

"Ah... you must be imagining things." He smiled.

"No, I distinctly know what I see."

"You seem a little over-confident in your abilities."

"So do you." She spat back and he frowned. Where did this come from?

"You are being rude, Mukahi-san." He commented bluntly, starting to feel more and more annoyed at her and her antics. What was with her, anyway? Telling him things that he already knew...

He let moment of silence pass to compose himself and he finally decided to look at her, and his eyes twitched simultaneously. Why the heck would she look so surprised?

"I am?" She asked. "Rude, I mean."

This couldn't be true, right? "Yes."

"Gomen ne, Yagami-kun." she muttered apologetically, even bowing to show her sincerity, making one of his eyebrow level.

"You're weird."

"Hai."

"That was an insult."

"I know. I simply get that a lot."

"..."

"Ne, Yagami-kun..."

"Yes...?" he asked pushing away whatever kind of anticipation that suddenly attacked him. She scratched her cheeks in embarrassment, and he couldn't help but smile. She looked at him with those shiny black orbs of hers—shiny with anticipation and nerves—and she cleared her throat before speaking.

"Can we be friends?"

...

MATH CLASS

The classroom was huge, with a black board 4 meters tall and with length at least twice as long. It was the first day and it was already full of review lessons from high school. Yagami Light just sat there and stared at it.

He frowned. It was not like he hadn't been asked that question before – in fact many had asked him to be his friends countless times in the past. Some were intrigued by him, some simply interested, and some wanted to use him as some sort of trophy-friend. The thing was, if the person was promising then he will say yes despite never really seeing the person that way.

"Can we be friends?"

Why wasn't he able to answer her? She was evidently a character with a lot of money. She was smart, and despite her appearance she would probably have a good career ahead of her. But what was that feeling of... anxiety?

No, it was not only that. Through further reflection, he knew there was something else. And when he realized what it could possibly be, his eye jerked at a thought.

Fear?

He was bloody scared of her?

Surely not—

In any case, he did not understand his reluctance. And he was Yagami Light– such uncertain things need to end as soon as it possible. He involuntarily tapped his hand, keeping a straight face—which, in the end, still caught the professor's attention.

"Do you have something in mind, Yagami-san?"

"Ah..." he uttered, startled, and quickly scanned whatever was on the black board. He was lucky there was a typographical error.

"Sir, can you please check that last formula?" He paused for a breath. "I think there's something wrong with the sign."

The old man batted an eyelid, and whipped his head to face the board. "Oh. That's right. I forgot the minus sign." He smiled in embarrassment. "Thank you, Yagami-kun."

"No problem, sir." he nodded apathetically, returning to his daze. It was then he felt an ogle and he turned to it. It was her, and she was just staring at him, and at that point he really should no longer be surprised. How weird. Her eyes were as black as ivory and her expression was practically frozen like that, yet he could still see the worry that enveloped it. He wondered if she was making that slight change of expression because of him.

He scoffed. Of course not.

He glared at his notebook and pretended to write the problem on the board.

What the heck was with him today?

...

SHIBUYA

The sun was slowly setting down in the country, and Light could see that so evidently despite the tall buildings arching in front of the cloudless sky. Shouts, yells, conversations, horns, and so many other noises merged yet Light easily tuned every single decibel out of his system. He was walking home that time, and it was definitely one of the longest walk home he ever had. It was only his first class in the university and he was already having a problem.

His only explanation at the moment would be that he really did approve of her as someone who was on par with him. If he didn't think of her as an equal then she would not really be such a... threat to him, correct?

He frowned. He did not think he was such a person. Feeling like that meant that he was insecure, and that was not an option for adjectives that he would use on himself.

He unreceptively passed shop after shop, eventually stopping at the famous Shibuya crossing. He paused as he noticed that he was standing right in front of the large television that was showing the news. To his eyes, though, it was an endless showcase that portrayed just how rotten the world was.

But then a sudden image of her, for some reason, appeared in his mind. He recalled that moment after classes just when she was about to get into her expensive car. Like those two times, she felt his gaze but this time she did not smile back. Her reaction didn't surprise him, it was his.

Nothing could explain the disappointment that he felt.

Putting those unnecessary and troublesome images aside, he continued to watch the news blankly as he always had... pondering if it would ever be cleaned. But an aspiring detective, sadly, even he doubted that.

"Yagami-kun?"

He blinked. What? He could hear her voice, now?

"Yagami-kun." She called again but this time with a slight sarcastic tone in her voice.

"Nani?" he snapped stoically looking at her, masking his surprise.

"Nothing." She shrugged. "I just felt like calling you."

"...so you have nothing better to do." He spat back. Really, though, where were his manners when he talks to her?

"Hai."

Silence

He let out a deep breath and stoically looked around her. "Where's your chauffeur and body guards?"

"I escaped from them."

He narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"I was bored."

"..."

"Aren't you bored, too, Yagami-san? You certainly look like you are."

He did not answer, again. What's with this girl? One moment she... refused to smile at him, and now she's acting all normal again. He stopped his wince under her anticipating stare.

"What do you want?" he asked irritably, no longer able to stop himself. He thought he would hate these moments when he failed to take full control of his reactions, but peculiar to say he did not. Not even a bit. And apparently, neither did she. She continued to talk to him as if he was never uncouth with her.

"You know what the perfect solution to boredom is?"

"I don't even think that I'm b—"

"Psh." She cut him off holding her index finger up. She let a moment of silence pass by for effect, as she maintained a serious expression.

"Eating sweets."

And so... a few minutes later, he found himself at a huge bakery with an unbelievable variety of food.

...

GOLDELUXE

Light was rarely surprised but he was shocked—very shocked—at just how much she could eat. The whole table was full of sweets and it was a table for four. Yet he was pretty much silent for most of the time he spent there. He was too busy pushing the smile that seemed to creep on his face every now and then.

"Like I said Yagami-kun. You look strained. Eat."

"No, Thank you." He stated dismissively and continued to watch her. She did not mind, and his manners seemed to have no meaning with her, anyway. Besides, he found that being rude to her could actually be quite fun—In many ways. And no, he would not use 'teasing'; it was a hideous word unfit for him.

"You do realize that that mentality is why most obese people get fat in the first place?"

"Try this one." She ignored him and pushed towards him an untouched parfait. A sweat dropped behind his head and blankly stared at the food.

"Come on. Just this one."

"Ha...No."

She shrugged and let the cup rest in front of him. She then looked at the ceiling as if something interesting was drawn there.

"I remember watching this show..."

Light raised an elegant brow of amusement. 'Where is this going?'

"...something about the saying that gentlemen should never reject a lady's request."

"But you're not a lady."

"Really, Yagami-kun, really?" he scoffed in amusement.

"Really."

She pouted in her own, odd way. "Just eat."

This time though, he did not hide his smile.

"Fine."

*A few moments of silence and shameless gaping (by Lawliette) later*

"So, how was it?"

"It was good."

"I told you so," she told him, a hint pride audible even within her monotonous way of speaking. "But what's your favorite dessert, though?"

He skimmed through his made-up list.

"Apple pie."

"Liar."

"That obvious, huh?" he answered as coolly as he could. He wondered what could have given him away... he shrugged and decided to answer truthfully. He knew she'd get it. "I don't have one."

"Well you are a weird person, Yagami-kun."

"Coming from you, Mukahi-san, that is quite disconcerting..."

She smiled. "It's true though. The truth hurts, as they say."

"Then this one will be my new favorite." He stated after stifling a chuckle, pointing at the dessert that he ate. His eyes stayed at the sweet though, for a moment, as he realized that he had never had such a casual conversation with a stranger before.

"Why do you sit like that?" he asked nonchalantly, pushing away the thought. It was an odd question, and what even made it odder that he wasn't exactly thinking when he asked it.

"It increases the blood flow to my head."

"Ah." He expressed and did some calculations in his head. It was true, but—"You really sit like that no matter where you are?"

"That sort of like asking a question with an obvious answer, Yagami-kun."

Good point. He didn't even know why he asked that, too. Did he ask simply because he wanted to? And there he thought he wanted to know about less trivial things. But as always, he remained stoic. "You do realize, though, that people look at you differently."

"Hai. But I got too used to this already." She replied. "Well. That and I don't think it matters."

"Yes, it does."

"What other people think, Yagami-kun, only matters if you actually affect them."

He stared at her for a while and quickly rummaged his brain for a reply. She was making points he had never considered before– and he was determined to do the same to her. Passively accepting these opinions was not an option.

"Well... you are extremely blunt and some people are made uncomfortable by your antics."

"That was why I apologized, yes? Besides, people will get used to this." She answered looking below pertaining to her sitting position. She really wasn't planning to lose, wasn't she? He liked that... and he had never wanted to extend this kind of conversation before, either.

Mukahi Lawliette was certainly giving him a lot of firsts.

He blinked when he realized the sentence sounded a bit inappropriate, which was extremely disturbing since his brain had always risen above his body. Perverted thoughts had never been a problem, and this was a harmless culture-based implication that was not true for this case. However, his brain nevertheless continued on that line-of-thought.

He stared at the girl in front of him: long raven hair with waves that framed her face, had a fashion sense of a prisoner, practiced alien-like behaviour, not womanly at all. Of course not. Not his type at all.

Granted, he did not have a type, but that was a different matter entirely.

"Whatever you're thinking, Yagami-kun, is very disconcerting."

"*cough*" he gagged out of surprise. He immediately cleared his throat and caught his composure but it was too late. She smiled in amusement, and he found himself gaping at her.

"I was thinking of why you love that scarf so much? Do you ever take it off?" He lied. And frankly he was a good liar when he wanted to, so he could tell she was having doubts if her senses were right. Darn her senses, it's making him lose his.

He was startled by his attempt to 'tease' her though, and unfortunately it didn't entice the type of reaction he was expecting. He was expecting her to... what? Smile and then make a snide comment?

Lawliette showed the exact opposite: Sadness.

He wanted to apologize immediately or at least add words that would change the meaning of his question but nothing came. He frowned at how his mind seemed to be a bit useless during these moments.

"I don't ever take it off, Yagami-san."

"Ah..." was all he could utter. It was lame, he knew, and it was very uncharacteristic. He needed to change the topic, and to his relief it was not difficult at all.

"What's your favorite dessert, Mukahi-san?" He asked as casually as he could and her face lightened up by a bit.

"Cake. Particularly chocolate cake."

"I see. Want me to buy you one?" he offered and her sudden beaming smile made him flinch.

"You will?" She asked, just in case, but her smile disappeared a second later. "Uh oh."

"Lawliette-sama!" A yell from behind him made him turn. It was her bodyguards.

"How disappointing..."She sighed. "Nice speaking with you Yagami-kun."

But to his surprise, she slowly turned around back to his direction and added confidently, "For the record, I still think you're my friend."

And Light, being the composed person that he was... could only smirk. He pretended not to be affected at all.

"Whatever you say."

.

.

END OF CHAPTER 2

Coming Soon:

CHAPTER 3: DEATH NOTE

______