L x Light

He remembers that Light mentioned the supernatural.

“What’s happened to you? What—are you?” he asks.

“I’m a shinigami. A death Goddess.”

There’s a creeping emptiness in his gut. Was she always like this? Is
this how they did it?

Death Gods love apples.

We’ll verify our powers by showing each other our death Gods.

He remembers that when the second Kira published a diary, there was
something about death Gods, as well as something about—

He looks down at the slip of paper he removed from Light’s watch.

Something about notebooks.

If you write it four times, and you write it wrong, then it’s rendered
useless.

“Let me think about it,” he says at last, keeping a tight reign on his
fear, “can I meet with you again tomorrow?”

She hasn’t told him, but she shouldn’t be there then. She has to be
with the person who has the Death Note now.

“I hope you choose wisely,” she replies, and as she vanishes, L drops
to the floor in cold sweat, clasping his arms and breathing hard. He is
absolutely mortified. Very slowly, he turns his head in Light’s direction,
wondering if he has really been asleep throughout their conversation.

The murders have started again recently and the members on the task
force have begun suspecting a new Kira, but now L is all but certain that
the apparition he encountered is involved. He wasn’t prepared for something
like this.

After staring at the torn piece of notebook paper on his desk for about
fourty-five minutes, he tentatively reaches for a pen.

Kira needs a face and a name.

She can see the names.

Lips pressed tightly together, he stares down intensely, leaning forward
as to cover the paper from view of the cameras. And writes his own name
– but misspelled.

If he wrote it correctly, would he die of a heart attack?

He writes it three more times, wondering how far in advance he would
have to write it in order for him to die.

Nothing happens.

Is it rendered useless now? He doesn’t dare try writing his name correctly.

Had he not seen the shinigami, he might think this was a perfectly ordinary
piece of paper. No – it must be part of a notebook, as implied in the broadcasted
diary.

“I’m sorry, but I decline,” he tells Misa when they meet again the following
night. She had come to him again in Light’s cell.

This won’t do.

She threatens to kill him. She threatens to kill everyone on the task
force.

“If we release Light, he will definitely kill us all.”

He isn’t certain of this, but it can’t be far from the truth. And he
isn’t certain she is telling the truth, anyway.

“I will continue killing people until you let him go!”

“That would go against Kira’s goal,” L replies in a mockery of composure,
knowing full well that it is not beyond Kira to kill innocent people were
he held back.

“I’ll—“

“Shinigami-sama,” L’s face is completely serious when he stares up at
her, voice trembling, “there is nothing you can do that will convince us
to release this prisoner. Please stop pursuing—“

“You love him, don’t you?!”

She screams in frustration, loud enough to awaken Light, who sits up
with a loud gasp, staring ahead uselessly through his blindfold.

They both turn their heads in his direction. L is quiet for a long time.

“This isn’t about my personal feelings, Shinigami-sama,” He replies
at last.

“Rem?” Light asks, and Misa leans closer to L, whispering, “he isn’t
behind this. He saved your life. Kira can’t exist without shinigami. He
won’t give up his mission now, but I will force him out if it saves him.”

She will force him out of his mission? After she said she supports Kira
and will do anything to promote his goal?

Light is eerily quiet, and L knows he’s listening. Misa does too, so
she whispers very quietly, “If I help you catch the third Kira, will you
trust me?”

So there is a third Kira after all.

Deep in thought, L closes the door to the cell on his way out. “Yeah,
I will,” he says at last.

Misa is nevertheless the very embodiment of agony as she gazes into
the cell one last time.

“You should be the one in there,” she hisses, “Light is a minor.”

 

To be continued…