CHAPTER 14: Idol

It had been several minutes and Light had yet to take off his hand. He didn't seem to have any plans on doing so, either. He was amused by this, somehow, and he decided to comment on something they seem to have forgotten.

"It would be awkward if some of our stalkers actually got a hold of this scene. We should start going out." He knew her bodyguards had already scared them off when they were still with them, though, but now she already sent them back to their homes…? He had less reason not to help himself.

Instead of blushing, Lawliette only sighed. "Light… you know we can't do that."

"Because you're L and I'm the primary suspect for Kira?"

"Hai, and Light…?" she asked turning to him, making their faces pleasingly close. "I have a favour."

He elegantly raised an eyebrow.

"Can you please delete our pictures in Takada's camera?"

"Why?"

"It's a precaution that applied to everyone. Watari took care of my photos in records. The other officers hid their pictures if not destroy them, as well. More reason to hide your involvement with us, Light."

"Why me?"

"Didn't I tell you that I'm going back to England?"

"But y—"

"I lied about the duration. I'd stay there for about a day or so."

"It's not like you to want to take a break."

"I'm not taking a break." She muttered, looking away again, eyes eventually ending up on the red scarf. She did not realize she was grasping it. "It is his death anniversary."

...

Light stared blankly at the formula-ridden board yet again.

Really, though… why would he delete those photos? It's a safety precaution from him. Besides, he didn't think she'll blame him since it was too troublesome to have to deal with Takada. He'd just say she's being too precautious and that she shouldn't deprive her friends of the right to 'capture moments in time'.

In any case, he looked back down his desk and started writing criminal's names on a sheet of paper strategically camouflaged in his notebook. He memorized the names and faces from the morning's news, wrote them down neatly, and still got to answer to professor's questions.

He continued to dwell within his own world until he got home, where he passively watched the telecast where the police and media was warning the second Kira into not meeting with him, and telling him that the punishment set up for him will lighten considerably if he surrendered and help them capture Kira.

He only scoffed, gave Ryuk an apple, and continued his writing under the invisible sheet of peace and quiet. It lasted for a good hour, until Sayu started yelling from downstairs. Something about a classmate from University.

He stood up, a little too abruptly.

Was it Lawliette? Hadn't she taken flight yet?

If so, then Sayu must be waiting to see him startled. He wouldn't, though; he had too much control for that—and his sister was being naïve of that fact as she had always been. Besides, it was not like the last time when he tried to kill her and she magically came back to life.

His eyes narrowed immediately at the sight of his visitor, and frowned. His surprise guest was a blonde girl in gothic attire. At first, he thought it was some sort of mistake for his fangirls should not have the guts to go to his house. But then, she said she had to return a 'notebook' that he left at school.

He flinched and mechanically close the door and stared at her guardedly. The girl maintained her smile, which at the moment was something he'd rather wipe off. She smiled even wider and ignored the taint of red on her cheeks, and only watched her take out something from her bag.

"My name is Amane Misa. Please call me Misa." She said, and held up the item in front of him.

His eyes widened immediately.

A Death Note.

"Please touch it." She said, and he slowly did so. He blinked once and the next thing he knew there was a creature, of all-too-familiar form, right behind her. It was no doubt a Death god.

It was confirmed then: this girl was the 2nd Kira.

And he had a feeling she would be nothing but trouble.

He only sighed, formulated a plan, and looked at her carefully... slowly opening the door and signalled her to go in. "Let's go inside." He said, and her eyes brightened in a way that to him, felt rather disconcerting.

Light led her to his room, and his sister and mother were obviously surprised. "I told you about this before." He told them calmly and Sayu opened her mouth to retort.

"But… what about La—"

"We should hurry up to my room." He cut her off and sent a fake smile towards Misa's direction. She visibly lightened up.

"Hai!"

...

Amane Misa explained everything to him, at least to the best of her abilities, which was not really that much.

But, admittedly, there were still some useful information that he got from her. Like the other ability of the shinigami eyes, as well as the way to kill a death god, which made him think she was not that useless, after all.

But he could see that he was definitely being idolized to an extreme too, which was good for him. This girl, after all, had a more powerful killing potential than he did. Only one person can dominate—which, undoubtly, would be him.

He did not expect, though, that the girl was even crazier than he anticipated.

"Please let me be your girlfriend!" she yelled and he let out a deep breath at the ridiculousness of the proposition.

"We cannot do that." He stated in his usual calm self and explained why they couldn't. But she jumped up—so that their eyes were face to face—that she thought about everything and that she was not that stupid.

And that wasn't the height of her psychosis.

"I would have to date other girls for precaution." He said, noting Takada was probably going to be one of them. But she stood up and leaned to him, her hysteric eyes making him feel very, very, perturbed and said:

"There's no way I'll stand for you seeing other girls. If I see that, I'll kill them."

He frowned deeply, forgetting that one of those girls could be Lawliette. "I will kill you if you prove to be a liability." He meant it and he obviously hurt and scared the girl, which was what he wanted. If only her shinigami didn't intervene and threatened to kill him if she died prematurely.

Great

Not only would he have to deal with her for the rest of her lifespan, but he needed to protect the girl from getting caught, too?

Of all the—

He mentally sighed. He needed to calm down and formulate a plan. He couldn't lose his temper. He needed to take control of this situation. He decided to get her to do the final television speech, which he was currently formulating in his mind. Besides, this was just another… challenge.

But then he found himself glimpsing at the blonde and his eyes twitched at one thought:

She's not worth it.

...

MUKAHI RESIDENCE

"We'll be leaving the first thing in the morning, okay?" Watari said as he dropped her off in front of the Mukahi house. After she returned from England she'll be staying fully at the headquarters –which, Watari said, would be permanent and he would be applying the necessary safety securities as soon as they got back. But before going anywhere, Lawliette wanted to sleep in her mother's house for sentimentality she couldn't seem to shake off.

The fact that she was going to England to honour Alluka's death anniversary didn't make the fact that she's an orphan any less bothersome. She was already 5 when Watari took her in, she did not have the privilege of forgetting her parents – not that she wanted to of course, her parents did not deserve to be forgotten.

As she got her keys and opened the gate, she felt a tiny drop of water touch her skin. It was going to rain soon, she could tell, and heedlessly continued what she was doing. She halted, though, the moment she heard an incoming semi-panicking high-pitched voice from her right.

"Waa it's going to rain! I can't afford to be sick, Rem!" A pause, and Lawliette turned her head to the source of the sound. "Oh. Thank you."

Lawliette could swear for a second there the rain stopped at her head as if she had an invisible umbrella. She watched as the blonde ran near her, and slowly raised her hand to get her attention. "Ano…" she uttered, mentally shaking her head for what she thought she saw.

"Hai?"

"It's going to start pouring soon and the bus stop – and consequently the shade – wouldn't be available to you for at least 5 minutes." She stated opening the gate. "You may use my living room as a waiting area."

"I can?" The girl asked in surprise.

"Thank you so much!"

...

Five full minutes passed and the rain had only gotten stronger. Lawliette continued watching the news at a similar television set that the family had used during their time. She was impressed when Watari found one, and he refused to tell her how expensive it was.

"You like watching news, eto…?" The pretty blonde asked. They hadn't introduced each other yet since Lawliette was never really the extrovert while the blonde was busy wiping off the few bit of rainwater that reached her frilly attire.

"Lawliette." She said. "And yes, I do." She soon felt the blonde's curious gaze towards her and her sitting and sighed, without looking at her. "You may join me if you want to. I doubt the rain will stop anytime soon."

"Ah…" the blonde nodded, doing just that as she introduced herself. "My name is Misa-Misa. Yoroshiku!"

"Nice to meet you, too." Lawliette said with her usual monotonous tone of voice and returned her gaze toward the screen.

Misa, on the other side of the couch, continued to stare at the ebony haired girl. The mysterious girl didn't seem know her. Sure, Misa-Misa was not that famous (yet), but she at least expected females her age would at least be familiar with her.

"She's not normal." Rem even commented, and she agreed. But interestingly, neither of them meant it negatively.

Further, Lawliette appeared trustworthy as well. Even Rem, who usually warned her to keep away from bad people, did not speak ill of her.

At that line-of-thought, Misa-misa found her peripheral vision pan to her death god.

Rem had been acting like a strong mother-figure to her now and she particularly appreciated what she did for her with Light. Also… Misa, herself, found an odd liking towards the other girl as well. It was not that Misa disliked a lot of people, but she definitely liked very few of them genuinely. She acted her normal cute and friendly self in front of most, but it was rare she actually wanted to get to know the other. Especially when the other talked so formally…

And there was also the fact that Misa had become much more suspicious since her parents' deaths. But still—"Ano…"

"Hai?"

"Can I call you by your first name?"

"I introduced myself as my first name."

"Ah… so can I call you Lawliette-chan? And you can call me Misa-chan."

"Okay."The other nodded passively (again), and Misa wanted to have do a past-time. So she unconsciously took a seiza position and faced her in anticipation. Lawliette just gaped back with the unfathomable expression that she always wore.

"Ne." Misa grinned. "Do you want to play cards with me?"

"Okay…" she replied and turned off the ancient television set. She followed Misa to the carpet and sat there with her. She took out her bag revealing a gothic and dark style of cards. Lawliette found herself ogling them.

"I know. I have morbid tastes." Misa laughed awkwardly and scratched her head in embarrassment.

"Yes, you do." She agreed bluntly, without taking her line-of-sight away from the deck. "But you like it so no need to look so uncomfortable with your own tastes."

"A-Ah…" she blushed, and added as if it was a normal reply. "I like your scarf."

"Thank you. I love it very much as well."

"You live alone here, Lawliette-chan?"

"I don't live here."

"Eh?"

"This is my late mother's house."

"I see. Your father?"

"He's gone too."

Misa found another odd connection with her already. And Misa found herself softening up even more.

"My parents died too. They were murdered by someone who was set free. And Kira killed him." She blurted out, not really knowing what came over her. It was so odd how much she felt she could just open up with her listening. Her expression didn't change in anyway, but her response told Misa Lawliette took the Kira case quite seriously.

"So you like Kira?"

"Uhm… You can say I'm thankful to him."

"But you agree with his cause?"

Rem stepped forward so that Misa could see her. "I feel this is becoming a dangerous conversation, Misa."

"Of course not. I… don't think killing is right. I'm just happy that person got punished for what he did." Misa cleared her throat and smiled. "Where do you live, though?"

"In central Shibuya." Lawliette answered passively, seemingly unaware of Misa changing the topic. "But I will be leaving for England tomorrow morning."

"Eh… I always wanted to go to Europe." Misa mumbled cutely. "For vacation?"

Lawliette shook her head. "It's a friend's death anniversary."

Neither girls spoke for a moment before Misa placed her hand on Lawliette's, and smiled genuinely. "My condolences." She whispered. "How long are you going to stay?"

"Just a day. I have work here."

"Work?" Misa blinked. "What kind of work?"

But then she blinked at a new card on the carpet; the conversation forgotten. "I lost?"

"Hai." Lawliette nodded. "Another round?"

"…okay~" Misa chuckled and looked outside. The rain wasn't calming down, anyway. "So, what's your job? If you don't mind me asking…"

"I analyze things. What about you?" She said ambiguously, and Misa looked quite proud of whatever she's going to answer.

"I'm a model, actress, and an aspiring singer, too"

"Sugoi." She said excitedly even in her monotonous pitch. "Can I watch?"

"Sure!" She said and took out her phone, full of her pictures. "I also have videos on youtube and the like."

"You're very talented, Misa-chan."

"Thank you. If only…" flashes of old bitter memories passed by her head.

"What's wrong?" Misa stared at her for a moment before puffing her cheek in an attempt to seem apathetic.

"A lot of girls hate Misa-Misa for her talents." She shrugged and pretended not to care. Lawliette though, despite seeming to have no emotions, could easily tell otherwise.

"You know… Humans were designed to look at everything as a whole." Lawliette paused. "It gave us a sense of purpose. It was only when Science became a sole belief for many that that changed."

Misa tilted her head in confusion. "I don't see where this is going…"

"When there is a wrong element in this whole, it is what people notice."

Silence

"O-Oh." exclaimed, touched, at the realization of the meaning behind what she said. "Thank you." And she laughed. "That meant they think of me as talented on the whole."

"Yes." Lawliette agreed stoically and placed a card. "Ah. I win."

"Again!? Darnit. You're real good." Misa complimented and did her exaggerated hand gestures of excitement. She stopped when she felt she had hit something and turned her head when she heard a flop.

She accidentally hit her bag and her eyes widened. Lawliette, though, seemed unaware of the nerves and looked at the exposed contents with curious eyes. "Thank yo—" She stopped when she saw an ominous-looking note. "What is that?"

"This? Oh. This is just a n-notebook." Misa uttered incoherently, as she held up the note, and Lawliette's intuition started tingling more than ever. And Misa's hands shook. "Morbid, I know, but I th—oh!"

plop

Lawliette smiled and reflexively picked the dropped notebook up, not looking into Misa's shocked attempt to get it before her. Lawliette blinked and looked up to give the notebook back. "Here you go, Mis—"

But the first thing she saw was a large, unknown creature that hovered behind Misa. The thing had long gelatinous hair, a bandana, a skeletal figure, and... glowing red eyes. She saw it part its lips moved to say something. L could not hear anything, however, especially since the next thing she knew…

She could no longer see anything.

...

Nonononono

"She has to die." Rem stated firmly looking seriously at the unconscious figure in front of her human. Misa did not seem like she's planning on doing anything of the sort.

No

"Do you want me to kill her? There is only a small chance that I will die."

"NO! Please don't. Don't risk it!" she finally yelled, eyes contracted to its maximum—full of fear, anguish, and panic. "For the first time…" Misa's voice started to crack. "I really thought I made a friend."

"Didn't you have many friends in the past?"

"But… I don't think any of them will back me up if I get into trouble." She said. "The only true friends I had came from my childhood. And most of us drifted apart already."

"Misa…"

"Please let her live. She doesn't know me and she's going to England!"

"She's a smart girl… she could deduce things that may ultimately lead to your doom."

"No, she won't. Let's just leave, Rem. And hope she'd think of you as a dream."

"All she has to do is look for you to see me, Misa."

"It's fine!" She was on the verge of tears now, and Rem could not help but feel sadder and sadder. "Let's just go,

"Please…"She stood up, and Rem let out a deep breath.

"Very well…"

...

TODAI

Light sighed deeply in aggravation and just plain irritation of this waste of time. It had just halfway through the day and Rokko was already glaring at him like a madman. Rokko asked him to come with him to an isolated corridor only to go and yell and him.

"You asked Takada out?! You don't even like her! She even told me that you may even hate her! What are you doing asking to be your girlfriend?"

"Well, she liked the idea. So I don't see why you're so mad."

"You already have Lawliette!"

"No, I don't. And neither do you."

"I never s-said I did!"

"Which is why you're so mad about Takada…?" he spat coolly. "You should know your place Rokko, you have no chance with Lawliette. And you blew your chance with Takada."

"Light!" he yelled, but Light ignored him. Instead, Light turned around to take his leave.

"Now if you'll excuse me. I have more important things to do."

...

ENGLAND

Lawliette, Watari, and many of their acquaintances gathered around the lone apple tree in the midst of a vast luscious field behind the orphanage they all grew up in. It had a marble block embossed in it. It was Alluka's grave.

Greetings were made, hands were shook, and compliments were given. Some were worried comments though, but Lawliette ensured them by saying she was quite sane and was not in the verge of running away or even committing suicide—unlike those two—yet.

It was impressive how she managed to get a straight face on saying that. It really looked like she got over the loss of her best friends. But many of them knew how close the three were, and did not speak anything vaguely related to the topic.

Hours passed, and Lawliette was still staring blankly at the marble stone and then to the tree Alluka was giving life to even after his death. Even after their little ceremony passed, she did not move and told them that she wanted to be alone. Mello, Matt, and Near stayed with her for a while though, wanting to speak with her particularly about her occupation.

"That meant Near and I will be your successors." Mello casually commented. "Matt has no plans on succeeding you."

"Too much competition." The aforementioned number 3 added. He had his goggles off and his brunette hair was especially kept that day.

"Just like A and I were BB's." she smiled and went along with using their respective nicknames. "How are you three?"

"We're doing fine." Matt answered. "I wish I didn't open that topic with our parents though." He said. Apparently, the topic was what led L to want to go to Japan.

"It was a very worthwhile trip, Matt. I learned a lot."

"Like cosplaying." Mello commented out-of-nowhere, and Near smirked lightly.

"He said he missed you."

"I did not."

"Well, Lawliette is already good at that even before going back to Japan." Only Mello and Near could somewhat remember BB. Matt came after he left.

"Whatever."

Speaking of him…"Do you know where BB is?"

"You're still looking for him?" Matt asked, not hiding his jealousy at all. Mello shook his head while Near remained impassive as they waited for Lawliette to speak.

"I need to know something I believe is fundamental to the Kira case."

"And that is?"

"…Death Gods."

Silence

"Pardon?"

"Huge critters, relatively odd looking, and seemed to accompany certain humans."

"What?" Mello muttered. "You sound as if you've already seen one—"

She nodded.

"No way." Matt uttered while the other two gaped. "You can't possibly be high."

Lawliette sighed, but the recollection of previous events required no effort to remember. She only heard Mello shrug and sigh, like always.

"And… there she goes with her flashbacks."

Lawliette was woken up from her sleep as if she had just come from some sort of passive daze. Watari was anxiously shaking her for who-knew-how-long, it seemed, and he let out a deep breath of relief when she finally opened her eyes.

It didn't take her more than a second after her vision cleared to recall what happened: That large overpowering entity of odd form that was so casually positioned behind Misa. No, she wasn't scared of the creature itself. She was scared of its eyes.

…those terrifying eyes that she saw once in BB's sockets.

That was a death god, there was no question about it.

And Misa was one of the Kiras.

"Have you found BB yet?" she asked standing up, nonchalantly hurrying to the car. Watari shook his head and asked (again) if she should be walking so quickly. Lawliette borrowed his phone and called everyone in the hotel. She asked Mogi to keep an eye on Light, and she asked the chief to be ready for whatever might happen.

No. She was not going to do anything yet. But she'd have to hurry, she couldn't have more people dying. She had to find out more. After all, she said it herself:

It was the power to kill that is truly evil

She frowned at the thought. She'd have to find a way to get rid of those death gods, first.

...

They were about to ask things like 'was she drunk' or like 'did she have enough sleep' or 'maybe she really is high' when Watari suddenly walked to them with a serious expression they knew all-too-well.

"L. The Chief called." He paused his steps and said firmly. "He said that the second Kira sent another video."

Lawliette stood up immediately and everybody else flinched. "I'll be off now."

"Already?" Near asked sweetly with his similarly monotonous tone of voice. Matt decided to retort too, while Mello acted indifferent. "Shouldn't you give more time to think more about this? Isn't Kira now the most dangerous criminal in history?"

"Precisely why I need to go, Matt."

"Need help?"

"I'll call when I do."

"...okay." Matt looked away in ponder. "But you haven't seen my new game yet. I designed it for that videogame console you made me."

"I promise I'll look into it after the case, Matt." she smiled and patted him on the shoulder. He got taller. Or did she shrink? She shrugged.

"Wish me luck."

"Good luck." Matt grinned. "It was so boring without you."

Near just stared at her, but they could easily communicate with each other. His tiny smile told her he'll be looking forward to her return, while Mello looked away.

"Che."

And Lawliette can only chuckle. "I'll miss you, too." She said, and turned away. Before she got out of earshot though, Mello decided to yell.

"You better not die!"

She smiled.

She would try.