CHAPTER 16: Conviction

Later that day, Misa asked Light for a date and that subsequently had Lawliette tagging along. They were surprised though when Misa didn't do or say anything other than a shrug. However, Lawliette could feel that her friend was forcing herself to keep a straight face.

Did Misa get a hunch about her and Light?

"Whoa! I'd take the strawberry cake!" Misa yelled gleefully as she took a plate of the trays of dessert that Watari brought to Misa's room, effectively pulling L out of her trance. L looked blankly somewhere before pointing at a dessert.

"I'll take chocolate, then."

And the two girls looked at Light. "Light?"

"I'll pass."

Misa, considering the awkwardness they felt with her, was especially talkative. And considering how gregarious she already was, that was saying something. They chatted about sweets and their favourite cakes, and shops.

"I like Goldeluxe best!" The blonde said and they only smiled, but otherwise held back some suspicious reactions. "Ne… Is university hard? I was thinking of entering…"

"No." They said simultaneously. And Misa shook her head in disapproval.

"I shouldn't have asked you two—you two are too smart." And paused letting out a semi-seductive stance. "Maybe I should as Matsuda-san instead."

"Yeah, you should do that." Light said, knowing full well what she was trying to do. Misa stared at him while Lawliette, as expected, absorbed things. The raven haired girl tilted her head.

"You seem different talking about Matsuda-san. Do you like him?" Light internally shook his head. The odd genius was kind of slow when it came to these things. Misa, on the other hand, looked away.

"N-No."

"Is that so?" Lawliette voiced out in doubt. But then she recalled they were actually being watched so Lawliette let it go, thinking Misa must be shy or something and how inconsiderate of her to bluntly point it out. She even let out an unconscious pout, telling Light she what she was thinking and the latter mused (again) how slow she was when it came to these things.

"Ne." Misa intervened with her thoughts, just as Lawliette nonchalantly drank her tea. "You two haven't fallen in love while I was looking away right?"

Cough! "I don't *cough* think so." Lawliette muttered, gagging her tea like a 'lady' that she was. Light's eyes widened but composed himself and tried to take the situation to his advantage.

"About that, Misa… I—"

"Ah!" Misa yelled, cutting him off, much to his dismay. She looked straight at Lawliette so she had no idea, or pretended not to, that he still had something to say. "Ne, Lawliette, we didn't get to talk a lot about ourselves. I wish we hang out longer in your house.

"We should do that again sometime, after the case. Light wants to come, too?" She said, finally turning to look at him. "It's a lovely house. But I bet you've been there before… it was pretty close to the Yagami's."

"Yes." And he agreed immediately. At this time, he knew for sure what Misa was trying to do.

"Only on the exterior though." Lawliette added immediately. Unfortunately, Lawliette could be so stupid. Light narrowed his eyes at her and she shrugged feigning nonchalance.

"Ne…Lawliette, have you ever been to the Yagami's before?"

"Yes. But only… out of necessity?"

Light shook his head and went to correct her. "She was always welcome in the house. My mother and Sayu adores her. You should see her flying kick." Light paused, being especially talkative. "She won Sayu's total adoration with that."

Lawliette frowned, also thinking how stupid Light was. Was Light this dense or was he doing this on purpose? Also… now that she had been more exposed on dark motives, and knowing the bored Light after he got the death note… she knew it must be the latter.

And now that she thought about it—

She frowned and glared at a realization, and let her feet do the talking.

BAM!

Kyaaa!

"Lawlitte!" Misa yelled as she watched her kick Light and made him fly, albeit just far enough so she wouldn't lose her balance due to the chain.

"O-OI! What was that?"

"I just thought I should do a demonstration." Lawliette said coolly and Misa gaped before finally went to assist her love.

Light frowned. "On me?" he shook his head and just took Misa's helping hand. "I swear, if you're not a gi—"

"Oh don't use that as an excuse, Light." She said, genuinely annoyed at this man's insensitivity. Mentally, some random US television scene popped up her head. It seemed fitting at the moment. She even tried to strike a pose, albeit awkwardly.

"Female or not I can kick your butt."

---

Later that day, Misa had to go as she had a modelling gig. Lawliette was just eating the rest of the desert with Light, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa, brooding. He had his arms crossed and wore a very evident frown on his face. Eventually, he broke the silence.

"What was that about?" He asked direly, referring to that kick.

"I was going to ask the same thing." Lawliette muttered. "You should be well aware of Misa's feelings for you."

"And you are to mine."

"But you know I cannot answer to your feelings."

"But why am I having this feeling that you're pushing me to answer her feelings? Isn't that a bit unfair?"

"She loves you very much."

"And you don't?" He said, voice cracking. "Those… blushes when I make a move or say my feelings doesn't mean anything?"

Light saw her hand flinch along with her fork, and she looked down making her hair cover her face. But he could tell… she must be red again.

"How shameless, Light-kun." She whispered, but somehow he wasn't as mad anymore… and he only smiled.

"Likewise."

….

Light was then reading some of the paper works they needed to investigate as he sat nonchalantly on a sofa. Lawliette was on the computer and totally ignoring him. He sighed. He wondered why, before all of these, he had such a strong desire not to admit his feelings. Was it pride? Did he look down on her so much? He didn't think so…

Perhaps more oddly, why did it all suddenly disappear making him want to burst and make sure she knew of his feelings?

But then as he gestured to steal a glance when he saw her eyes widen. He stood up and walked up behind her but her fingers were quick to hide the window.

"A reaction from teenage boys watching porn."

"Personal experience?"

"Oddly no."

"…hmn."

Light placed a hand next to the keyboard as a lax gesture. He realized their proximity was now pretty awkward, but he'd rather not move. "What's it about?"

"Something not porn and personal. Like my space."

"…ha."

"Please do what you were asked to do."

"I'll prove to you I'm not Kira."

"I would want that, too." He stared. "So bluntly speaking, please stop distracting me with those advances."

He laughed. "I distract you?"

"Of course you do, Light-kun."

Those words made it feel like he just threw away a bus that had been riding behind his back all along. "That's good."

"No. It is not, Light-kun." She frowned. "We may never prove you're not Kira if you do not stop."

He froze in place for a moment and pondered. He let his thinking be a little slower than usual, and after it finally succumbed. "Fine." He said begrudgingly, but leaned down so his mouth would be nearer her ears. Too bad she had her back on him.

"I'll keep a good distance." He whispered, almost imperatively. "But you will tell me why I distract you when the case is over."

He smiled when he sensed her breath hitch. Finally, she answered. "…fine."

…

Lawliette was proud of herself for maintaining her composure despite everything that had been running through her head… and Light's perturbations. She couldn't say she hated the attention… which she usually was just apathetic. Apparently, she felt the same way as Light did to her… but she was not going to admit to it quite yet.

Especially with this new lead…

She pressed ALT and then the TAB key once more and looked at the email. It was an email from BB…and one look took a lot of willpower to remain looking calm. It was barely working, but she (after stealthily checking that Light was busy with what he was doing) continued reading it regardless.

Death Gods… they are interesting creatures. But other than the capability to see a person's name and life span with just a look I do not know anything else. Sorry.

How did he know about death gods then? After all, he couldn't have just concluded his eyes were given by death gods… unless he actually met one, right?

Have you met one? Where are you, BB? And what the bloody hell are you doing?

He didn't reply. But when she thought he really wouldn't reply again… a final message came. He would never reply to her afterwards, that she knew for sure.

I did meet one once… he just said he gave me a 'gift' and he'll be back soon when he got bored. Weird guy. I believe his name was just as odd—Ryuk.

And he didn't even bother answering her other two questions.

----

A full week had passed since then and they were doing their routine – to face the computers and survey various areas of information. After Light typed a few paragraphs of instructions in lightning speed, he stared at Lawliette. He never did do any more 'advances' for a week now, and God knew he certainly wanted to countless of times. He was reaching his limit.

He blinked. Limit. He felt there was a time admitting he had one was taboo. Oddly he couldn't remember much about it.

In any case, he stopped the thoughts. It was just not like him to be so persistent. Heck, a year ago he would never be able to imagine him being so aggressive at something supposedly trivial like this—his love life.

Thankfully, he and L already had that agreement—the reward of which, uncharacteristically, growing to one of his strongest motivations.

He swore to solve this case soon.

But when his eyes coincidentally ended on his phone, he recalled there was also something that had been bothering him for a while now… "Why didn't you choose to talk to them for that long? They were so worried." He said pertaining to Rokko and Takada. They called him and they, indeed, were. It was another peculiar thing he felt—that distance he seemed to have put within himself and those two (for a reason he had yet to recall) suddenly diminished.

Lawliette stared at him making him blink. "You chose to ask me this now?" was all she asked. It was true anyway. He had a week to ask.

But perhaps more importantly, this simple show of empathy told Lawliette that he wasn't the cold and calculating Light that showed during their battles. She was more and more certain that this was the Light she first met – the one without that damned notebook and the extremely brooding mood. She was becoming increasingly certain that it was that notebook she needed to get a hold of, and destroy.

"Ah… I suddenly got curious, that's all." Light said, lying, oblivious to the various things ongoing in her head. "Why don't you just answer the question?"

L looked at him and smiled sadly. "I was holding you three captive in an almost inhuman way. I don't think I deserve to talk to anyone uninvolved."

"I… see." Light whispered and he even sent her an encouraging smile. "It must have been hard for you. But you needed to do what you had to." Light mused how much an understatement that was. The mental torture she experienced—and still was experiencing was probably more than what they, the physically tortured ones, felt.

His hand moved by itself so it could feel the curves of her face. She probably didn't sleep at all that time. "At least your eye bags are slowly getting smaller." He said, recalling his former advance—that was, sleeping on her lap. He would love to do so again, honestly.

"…I suppose."

But someone cleared his throat, and successfully disrupted their moment.

"Here's your desert, L." Watari said stoically and placed his hand between them as he handed over the plate, his arm staying longer than necessary.

The chief, who saw the whole thing, smirked knowingly. Watari was a father to a daughter, after all, he knew what the old man felt. Odd thing though, Matsuda looked pretty depressed when he looked at the two, as well.

"Arigatou." L smiled and offered Light some cake. "Want some?"

Light shook his head and slowly returned to his screen and Lawliette proceeded to eat her sweets. A few more minutes of simultaneous and thorough search passed but soon enough he found a good lead. There was something common with Kira's latest victims: They were top members of the Yotsuba Groups rivals.

"Interesting…" Lawliette mumbled as she ate her nth cake that hour, and looked at Matsuda. "Matsuda-san."

"Hai?"

"Doesn't Misa have shooting in an hour?" The man blinked… and took three full seconds to absorb things. They all knew he forgot all about it…

"A-AH!" He yelled upon realization. "I'll get ready—"

Thump

And his thigh hit a table—hard.

"GYAAAAAAA!"

And everyone sighed simultaneously.

…

Work continued after Matsuda left and most eyes barely left the computer screen. Someone had to remind everyone to take occasional breaks for the sake of their eye health.

Later that day, they found out that many of the deaths benefiting the Yotsuba Group died during Friday evening or early Saturday morning. Another lead, that was, and L quickly asked Watari to call a few… connections that he fostered during his time with BB and their darker little cases.

Everyone was hyped up, considering how close to Kira they are getting. But then Mogi and the Chief came in bringing in bad news. "The authorities had called the investigation off—" The chief whispered and massaged his head. "People who will continue working with her would be fired."

Naturally, a commotion would happen. However, their principles won and everyone but Aizawa had decided to work with her. Aizawa had a family, after all, and he couldn't take the fact that he wouldn't be part of catching Kira again. Especially when the buchou had a family, too.

Aizawa offered to give her the time after job hours, but she maintained her stand that he can choose only one and one alone. She needed her people to be focused, they couldn't risk not giving it their all.

But then Watari just had to butt in telling everyone that she ensured everyone and their families for a lifetime.

This offended Aizawa and she couldn't blame him. He actually tried to insult her by telling that he was uncomfortable with her antics and methods and such. It may be true to some extent, but she knew how Aizawa really felt as well as how hard he worked for this.

So as he turned his back on her, she closed her eyes and slightly bowed her head. "Thank you for your hard work."

"Che."

…

Everyone shifted their gazes to her after he left, a little confused at the turn of events. But Light knew otherwise and he let his swivel chair take him closer to her.

"You're too nice." He whispered making Lawliette wince, and consequently making her expression soften considerably. It was so weird how transparent she was to this him, and Light knew that. It was one of the things he held on tightly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She lied.

"Are you really going to let him go, though?" Light knew she didn't say anything because she wanted him to have a choice – that he need not be indebted to anyone and he was just following his own justice. By doing so, he would not feel as if he partly took L's side because of the support that she had given him and his family. He was a man, after all, so it was an even bigger deal to his masculinity.

"Let him be."

Light sighed. "Whatever you say."

---

PARK

Matsuda gulped as he stood amongst professionals and cameras, and those other filming equipment he wasn't particularly familiar with yet. He was actually thinking about L and Light… he was not a child anymore, and it wasn't like it was the first time he felt it but it was all really really overwhelming for him. All these feelings envy… he had to keep back since there really was no chance on taking it further… nor was he brave enough to try.

He wasn't being impressive at all times of the investigation, anyway.

Matsuda ended up looking at the Yatsuba building near the set again, as he did so from time to time. There was his chance to prove himself—that he was not useless. That even with his failed love life, at least he could do some success with his job.

But once again, he was not brave enough to do so.

It was then when gasps pulled him out of his trance, followed by murmurs. He looked at what they were gaping at. Everyone in the set were mesmerized by the hot and passionate kiss that Misa-Misa and Ryuuga Hideki shared. Even Matsuda gaped in incredulity for he thought Misa would definitely refuse to kiss Hideki – let alone make-out with him.

For a moment he wondered what could've gotten into her… but then he realized she probably saw it, too—the atmosphere between two of the most intelligent people that they knew.

At least she was enjoying her rebound… his only rebound was his job. He blinked and found himself whipping his head to the building he was staring at just seconds prior. His job…

And so, Matsuda eventually snuck out, pulled out his courage, and decided to sneak in the Yotsuba group.

…

Back in the headquarters, Lawliette turned her swivel chair and stared at the others. The men, sensing her stare, stopped whatever they were doing and looked back. She looked beyond them and saw the two very stealthy new people she asked Watari to invite. They were sipping their teas and no one but her and Watari knew they were there.

"Aiba, Wedy." She called and they stood making everyone else flinch and whip their heads to the direction she was looking at. "Our new allies in the investigation."

They blinked and turned to realize there were two new people in the room. "Eh?"

"Who are they?"

"Aiba and Wedy. As I already mentioned," She said and looked at the two blonde Caucasians. "They are, professionally, a con artist and a thief respectively. Both, as most people would say it…, the 'top of their games'."

"A-A con artist and a thief?!" The chief exclaimed, as expected, and was obviously would require a tad more convincing. To her surprise (well, not really) it was Light who did explained for her sake.

"Father, I think this job would require their expertise for a higher success rate." He said. "Or rather, it might be next to impossible for this to go smoothly without them."

"I…I see." The older Yagami muttered and shook his head. They both knew the man would remain silent there for a while. Aiba though, being the grandiose guy that he was looked around her hotel room as if he just entered.

"I thought you'd have bought that large blue building down the street." He said and Wedy nodded, albeit being a thief she was accustomed to worse conditions. Of course, the hotel was top class—they just expected more.

"We cancelled." Lawliette said. They really would have transferred there—everything was ready. She was also about to give them all their own floors. Misa and Matsuda, the unmarried ones, would have loved that. But, now there was no reason to spend so much money. She knew who the Kiras were—all she had to know were what kind of power created them. "There was really no reason to."

"I see." Wedy shrugged while Aiba shook his head, muttering something that his pent house was much better. "I guess the operating area is big enough."

Lawliette was about to tell them the details when her computer and Watari's cellphone, rang.

Lawliette watched as Watari opened his phone and studied the notification. A second later, the old man frowned and heaved out a sigh.

"What is it?"

"It seemed that Matsuda-san's gotten himself into quite the trouble," he said. "He's currently at Yotsuba."

And with that: everybody groaned, sighed, and face-palmed.

…

Things ran quickly then, as life-threatening situations always did. And fortunately, adrenaline helped pump up Matsuda's brain allowing him not to freeze up suspiciously and increased his chance of survival by stalling the group. They all sat in a large conference table with ample distance to each other—showing just how much business this was all to them.

He asked them to consider Misa as their model, posing as that desperate manager who would sneak up the very very forbidden area of the building for monetary opportunity.

But Misa was not quite answering her phone.

"Hello? Oh, my, Hideki-kun~!" L blinked while Light only stared at her and the others weirdly. Was she still flirting with the actor after all their calls?

"Misa-Misa."

"Oh, it's you Light-kun. I just had a kissing scene with Hideki-kun and I—"

"Misa, Matsuda-san's in the Yotsuba tower and—"

"Hmph!" And the line went dead. Their eyes widened in disbelief while the calmest one, L, just took the phone and rang Misa again.

"Misa-Misa." She said and the girl on the other line didn't say anything. "Good work today, Misa-chan. I know you must have been reluctant to kiss another man than the other one you loved and he seems very unhappy right now.

"If you help us save Matsuda-san from possible death, would you like to have a date with Light?"

"EH? I would be glad to!" She yelled after a pregnant pause. "I'm sorry to make you jealous, Light! I Love you!" And as soon as the line died L heaved a sign.

And Light glared at her.

…

Fortunately, there was enough action and tension going on so that she was able to ignore (at least to some degree) that really strong glare of his. She and the team formulated a plan to save Matsuda, taking into consideration that Kira could be one of these people and could kill without a name.

The plan involved Matsuda pretending to be drunk, acting even more airheaded than usual, and then finally faking his own death by jumping out the balcony.

"I'm Okay!"

She released the breath she didn't notice she was holding.

Now that she confirmed Matsuda's safety, Lawliette turned her swivel again and looked at the only one there other than Light and her—Mogi—as everyone else were in the field with Matsuda.

"Mogi-san." She uttered, in that robotic way of hers, and the large man blinked and looked back. That instant, he knew he was not going to like what she was going to say.

"Y-Yes?" He asked, reluctantly. Light was still in a bad mood, and Lawliette only continued to stare passively at the large-bodied ex-policeman.

And so…, Mogi was officially Misa's new manager.

…

"What was that huh?" He whispered near her ears reminding her of that time in their house, their first kiss. "You went too far."

They were alone, then, as Mogi went out to the 'hospital' to get the others. She went to her room to get some her USB to analyze more data, and of course being unfortunately chained to her, Light went with her. He exploded when the door closed and pinned her to the wall.

"It was necessary I don't let my feelings go between this job." She said almost monotonously, albeit her insides certainly weren't. "You should have known that."

"You're a cold-hearted detective, you know that?" He said with a scoff. "You're torturing me from the inside as well—primarily because I'm a suspect."

"I'm simply putting a greater priority for whatever is for the greater good." She said, looking away. "I thought you'd be doing that, too. You are being very selfish, Light."

His eyes widened and leaned ever-so-closer. "So what? Humans are like that, aren't they?" He paused. "Furthermore, in case you still haven't deduced it yet…. Your reciprocation—I never wanted anything more in my life."

This time her eyes widened and she only stared at him, recalling in full detail their anonymous matches as L and Kira. "Are you sure?"

"How rude." He snapped, making her shiver with his breath. "Of course I am."

But she no longer answered, not for effect, but she was genuinely lost for words this time. Light wasn't sure what case it was so he heaved a sigh. "I'll allow you to use me like this. In one condition."

She opened her mouth to say something but instead his mouth met hers, rendering her unable to finish her sentence. He started it out rather gently, almost like pecks, before pushing it a bit and made it increasingly passionate as the seconds passed by. They parted to get some air and stared at each other. She felt even more of a mess than she already was.

But… however she looked like—Light probably liked, since he did it all over again.

…

Misa-Misa saw—no, was watching—the whole thing. She ran to the room in excitement when she saw Light and Lawliette kissing passionately. She clenched her heart and quickly wiped her tears, closing the door. But when she turned her eyes widened immediately as there was someone beside her.

"Misa—" His eyes were also frantic, probably seeing the whole thing, and was just as hurt. But they turned and everybody else were walking in. Matsuda gulped and yelled—making sure the oblivious couple making out would here. "Tadaima~!" He said with forced energy and dragged Misa to the middle of the room.

Right on cue, the two geniuses came out of the room looking as stoic as they usually did but the flushes on their faces was evident to those who knew what they were doing. They initiated the plans then though, and as cool as they always were.

Making everything so much harder to bear for Misa.

…

That night, Misa, after a light clack created by the opening of a bottle, just sat on the porch and drank her cola. She wanted solidarity, really. It was hard since she knew of the hidden cameras, but she pretended (or told herself) they didn't matter. And in that floor—the balcony, albeit cameras were present… with its openness and availability of other settings, it became the most private place in that house.

"Want to talk?"

"With everyone else listening, no."

"I was the one watching the CCTVs." He smiled and just sat opposite to her. "So… I was impressed with your kissing scene with Hideki.

"I had known their feelings, and I thought maybe making Light jealous would make him see sense." She looked away. "A part of me is hoping that he did—and that he was using Lawliette as a rebound.

"But I doubt it." She frowned and turned to look at him. That desperate yet powerful glitter in her eyes made Matsuda wince. "You like Lawliette don't you?"

He blushed.

"It was obvious."

"I-It was?!" He exclaimed but held back some sound. He was basically lip-shouting. "Goshthisisembarassing!"

And for the first time that day, Misa-misa genuinely laughed.