Day Five of Surveillance

Keiko’s POV:

“You know what, Mr. Stalker,” Misa suddenly called out, grabbing both L and Keiko’s attention, “your video won’t sell if it’s just me sitting here the whole time…why don’t you loosen me up? It’ll be more...interesting...that way, and I promise I won’t run away. I’ll do whatever you say. Please. I just don’t want to be stuck like this anymore.”

Keiko heard the detective let out a soft sigh right next to her. It was clear that he was rather annoyed at the fact that Misa was still keeping up this whole stalker act.

She had to admit, it was a little irritating to her as well. Keiko knew full well that Misa Amane wasn’t innocent. After all, she had willingly kissed Light knowing that he was in a relationship with Keiko at the time. It still bothered her that she had fallen for Misa’s little friendly act the first time around, and she wasn’t about to let that happen a second time. In fact, she wasn’t sure if she could trust Misa Amane ever again.

“There she goes again,” L muttered. Keiko glanced over at him as he continued on, “I mean, surely she must realize that I won’t fall for her little charade...it’s way too ridiculous. Does she honestly think she can get out of this if she keeps this up?”

Keiko watched as L then shifted his attention from the blonde haired model to Soichiro Yagami. Her gaze followed his, and she also studied Light’s father, noticing his disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes. It wasn’t like Light or Misa were in mint condition either, the two of them also didn’t look that good. Misa’s blonde hair had lost its sleek shine long ago, and Light had barely moved from his spot in front of the bed. It was almost as though he was starting to lose his spirit. However, it was obvious that the chief’s condition was far worse in comparison.

It looks like Light’s father hasn’t slept since he’s been locked up...in fact, he actually probably hasn’t. I can only imagine what he must be feeling like right now. I only recently had the chance to get to know and fall for Light Yagami. His father loved Light since the moment he was born, actually no, probably since the moment he first knew his wife was pregnant. This has to be extremely difficult for him.

“Yagami-san looks pretty bad...no he looks absolutely terrible. It’s clear that, out of the three of them, he’s taking it the worst,” L commented after a long while of staring at the dejected policeman.

Keiko tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. She had been thinking the same thing, and she didn’t doubt that the Task Force had been thinking it as well. However, L had been the only one to voice it. Somehow that little fact didn’t surprise her, by now she was used to L’s bluntness.

“Well of course...what did you expect, Ryuzaki-san?” Matsuda responded, “it’s been five days since Light Yagami, his only son, was imprisoned and since then not a single criminal has been killed. In these sorts of situations, I think the parents must suffer a lot more than the one accused.”

“No kidding,” Aizawa added, “especially now that we are seeing proof firsthand that Light is Kira.”

There was a chill that ran down Keiko’s spine, and she fought the urge to shiver. Aizawa was right, the fact that no new criminals had been killed meant that things didn’t look too good for her ex-boyfriend.

Of course, Kira’s taken short breaks in the past, but if he doesn’t kill soon...well...then my ex-boyfriend really is Kira. If Light Yagami is Kira then that means I was in love with a murderer...a mass murder...not only that, it would pretty move prove that Misa Amane was his Second Kira...meaning that I was the biggest fool of all.

Keiko could feel the tears threatening to form in the corner of her eyes, so she gave her arm a hard pinch. She then drew a deep breath in an attempt to further try and calm herself down. There was no way she could lose it in front of the other detectives.

Relax, Keiko...it’s only been five days. Kira’s been inactive for seven days before, a whole week. Keep that in mind. There’s still a chance that Light isn’t actually Kira. It’s possible that the real Kira just had a horribly timed break from killing off criminals.

It took a few more seconds of self convincing, but soon Keiko was no longer in danger of crying. She definitely didn’t want to cry, not in front of L and the rest of the Task Force. That would only be embarrassing, and she felt that she wouldn’t be taken as seriously as a detective if she openly let her feelings get to her like that.

Despite the fact that Keiko had been trying hard to hide her feelings, L’s sudden look in her direction told her that he knew exactly what she had been freaking out about. She shifted a little under his intense gaze.

I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised that he knows...after all, nothing gets past him…

Much to Keiko’s relief, the raven haired detective didn’t comment on her emotional state. Instead, he turned his attention back to Light’s father.

Keiko watched as he hit the chief’s speakerphone, “Yagami-san…”

“What is it? Is it good news?!” Soichiro Yagami demanded. He gave a wild look into the surveillance camera, “or...perhaps, is it bad news?! You can tell me, I swear I can handle it!”

“Oh, chief…” Keiko heard Matsuda murmur quietly behind her. There was also a soft sigh from Aizawa.

It was quite clear to everyone at Task Force headquarters that he, in fact, couldn’t handle it.

“There’s no news, Yagami-san. That’s not why I wanted to talk to you,” L replied.

“T-then why?!” Mr. Yagami fiercely questioned.

“I wanted to tell you not to worry so much,” L said simply, “it doesn’t matter how much time you devote to worrying about this; the outcome will still be the same. That being said, this could go on for quite some time...perhaps you should rest in a more comfortable place.”

“Impossible!” The chief almost shouted. He stood up so fast that his chair nearly tipped over behind him. He stared straight into the camera with a scarily determined look, “what makes you think I care where I am?! It doesn’t matter to me because, like you said, it won’t change anything! Mark my words, no matter how much time it takes, no matter what the result is, when I leave here...it’s going to be with my son!”

L closed his eyes a moment and took a deep breath, “I understand, Yagami-san...however, if at any point you change your mind and want to be let out, Watari-san and I are more than willing to offer you a room here at Task Force headquarters. Of course, you would still be monitored and you wouldn’t be allowed to leave, but it would be more comfortable than your current space.”

Mr. Yagami’s face softened a little, “thank you, Ryuzaki-san...but given the state I’m in, and how much of a reaction I just had, I think it’s best that I remain here…”

“I understand,” L replied once more. He turned off the microphone and Keiko eyed him as he brought his thumb up to his mouth.

Why did he offer Light’s father a more comfortable accomodation in the first place? Surely he knew that the chief would decline his offer. Did he just do it to ease his conscious? On second thought, does he even have a conscience? Sometimes I truly wonder what goes on in that mind of his...

/timeskip/

L’s POV:

The time was nearing eleven o'clock, meaning that it had gotten rather late. Unfortunately, there were still no new leads in the investigation. Misa was still convinced that she had been kidnapped by a stalker and Light had barely moved a muscle. He was still sitting at the foot of his dingy bed, staring at the floor of his cell.

L was rather bored because of all of the inactivity. His dark eyes drifted over towards where Keiko was standing in front of the coffee machine in the corner of the room. She was watching the coffee as it dripped down into the little pot below with a certain eagerness.

The detective had sensed her weariness when she had been sitting next to him earlier, so it was no surprise that she needed the little boost. Keiko lifted up the coffee pot as soon as the dripping slowed to a halt, pouring it into one of the empty mugs sitting on the coffee table. Afterwards, as he predicted, she poured in an obscene amount of caramel creamer into the mug. She then stirred it to perfection.

L watched as she raised the mug up to her lips and took a rather large sip. The corners of his lips curved upwards.

Heh…how interesting.

By now it was no surprise to him what her preferences were when it came to the caffeinated drink. She didn’t like to add in pure sugar like he did, but adding in huge amounts of coffee creamer was apparently no issue.

However, it’s the same thing, just in a different form...

He watched as Matsuda walked over to where Keiko was standing by the coffee machine. L could see the start of dark circles forming under his eyes. The young policeman looked just as tired as she was.

“Would you mind pouring me some coffee as well, please?” Matsuda asked her, gesturing over towards the coffee machine beside her.

Surely he can get his own coffee...why make Keiko do it? I know she’s standing closest to the machine, but she was just about to move anyway.

“Oh. Sure, Matsuda-san,” Keiko replied, setting down her coffee mug. She then grabbed an empty mug from the table.

L watched as the young policeman gave Keiko a soft smile, “thank you, Keiko-chan.”

She filled the mug up to the top with the fresh coffee, “it’s really no problem. Do you want any milk or creamer?”

“Oh I can do that part myself,” Matsuda responded, taking the mug from Keiko’s hands and stirring in some milk.

“A-alright,” Keiko grabbed her mug once more. She looked like she was about to walk away, so L assumed that Keiko’s little interaction with Matsuda was over.

Finally.

The detective was about to turn back around to watch the surveillance cameras again when he heard Matsuda speak up once more. L paused, glancing back over in their direction.

“Uh, K-Keiko-chan...wait a moment…” Matsuda murmured. His voice was quiet at first, uncertain.

What could he possibly want from her now? Does he intend to try and cheer her up somehow? Knowing Matsuda, that’s probably it. He, too, doubts that Light is guilty after all...but is it truly necessary?

L watched as Keiko turned back around to direct her attention towards him again. He could see the question written in her eyes, “hmm? What is it, Matsuda-san?

“I was thinking…and…well…I just wanted to say...” he suddenly trailed off, glancing at the floor of the hotel room a moment. It was as though he was fishing for the right way to finish up his sentence. A few seconds later, he met Keiko’s gaze once more, “well...to be blunt, I’m glad L never found reason to suspect you of being Kira or the Second Kira.”

Keiko’s eyebrows shot up. It was clear that Matsuda’s sudden confession had thrown her off. L watched as she swallowed uncomfortably, “I, uh-”

Matsuda interrupted her before she could respond, his face was flushing, “oh...I hope you don’t take that in a bad way...I just mean, it’s, uh, unfortunate how Light’s under suspicion right now, and I’m glad that you don’t have to go through what he’s going through.”

“O-oh...uh, yeah. R-right…that’s, uh, that’s good,” Keiko stuttered out. L could tell that she honestly didn’t know how to properly respond to him.

“Y-yeah...” Matsuda nodded running a hand through his messy, dark hair earnestly, “well, that’s all I wanted to say…”

Hmm…leave it to Matsuda to make things awkward. How he manages to be so irritating is beyond me. Of course he means well, but he has the oddest way of going about things, and his stating the obvious is a bit too much.

L was done listening in, he had heard enough mindless chatter. He swiveled his chair back around so that he was facing the surveillance feeds. It appeared that Keiko was done as well because, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her settling into her spot right next to him once more.

He glanced over at her, keeping his face unreadable, despite the annoyance he was feeling at watching her little interaction with Matsuda moments ago. She set her mug of coffee down on a coaster. Keiko absentmindedly brushed a strand of hair away from her face and studied the surveillance feed. Her gaze lingered on her ex-boyfriend, and L had no doubt that she was feeling torn once again.

Even though he had stated the obvious, Matsuda had still been right earlier, there was no way that Keiko was Kira or the Second Kira. Her emotions were way too easy to read. If she were Kira or the Second Kira, she would have revealed herself long ago. Her face would have given it away if she were guilty, so L knew without a doubt that she was innocent.

On the other hand, both Light Yagami and Misa Amane were far from innocent. L was determined to prove that fact. It helped that all of the evidence gathered so far pointed to both of them. There was also no way that their meeting that day on the street was just a mere coincidence. He was certain that Light and Misa had planned things out so that Keiko wouldn’t be suspicious.

L also knew that Light had to have told Misa to befriend Keiko, despite the fact that the two of them had nothing in common. After all, Keiko and Misa were pretty much polar opposites; one was an outspoken, blonde haired bombshell and the other a soft-spoken, burnette honor student. He deduced that there was no other explanation for their sudden friendship, meaning that Light had told Misa to take advantage of Keiko’s kindness.

Keiko’s kindness was her major downfall, it made her soft. Not only that, but her love for Light Yagami had made her blind. Her love had made her trust Light despite the detective’s warnings, despite the fact that all evidence pointed to him as being Kira. It had also made her trust Misa Amane, who was most likely the Second Kira.

Intelligence almost means nothing if one only runs on emotions. Emotions only make people weak, and weak people only let others walk all over them...that being said, it’s such a waste that Keiko was so hung up on Light Yagami, L thought, taking a bite of his strawberry cake. He studied the girl, watching as she bit her lip, staring straight at her ex-boyfriend on the surveillance feed.

No...actually, it’s a waste that, after all of this time, she’s still hung up over him. Keiko might not want to admit it, but the longer we go without news of a new heart attack victim, the worse she looks…

L watched as Keiko slightly shifted in her seat and took a sip of her coffee.

While it’s frustrating watching her like this, it’s also sort of funny in a way...she can accept that Light possibly cheated on her one day and break up with him, but she still can’t accept that all signs point to him as being Kira, even though we’ve had evidence of that for months. The bottom line is, it’s obviously hard for her to accept the fact that Light Yagami is Kira. However, if she wants to stay working on this investigation, she has to. After all, if things continue like this then it’s only a matter of time until we will be able to properly convict Light. I wonder if there’s any way she could get over him sooner?

Day 7 of Surveillance

Keiko’s POV:

Keiko could yet again feel L’s watchful gaze and she gave a feeble attempt at making her face unreadable. She noticed that he had been keeping a frequent eye on her the last few days. There was no doubt in her mind that the detective was trying to get inside her head, to see what exactly she was thinking and feeling about the Kira investigation. Or, more specifically, to see what she was thinking and feeling about Light Yagami.

While it had made her uneasy, she had been able to somewhat brush it off before. However now, with it having been a full week without any new Kira victims, it was much harder for her to ignore his watchful eyes, especially because they were currently the only ones at Task Force headquarters.

Keiko swallowed hard. She had been trying hard to stay silent, to disregard the young detective, but she was growing tired of him trying, and succeeding, at reading her. It was becoming too much for her to handle.

She finally gave into her urge and questioned the raven haired detective sitting beside her, “Ryuzaki-san, is it really necessary for you to constantly keep an eye on me? What, am I also now a suspect in this investigation? You of all people must know that I’m not capable of being a mass murderer.”

Keiko watched as L’s lips curved into a smirk, “I am well aware of your innocence. It’s just...well...as I said before, Kagami-san, you’re quite an interesting person. I daresay...it’s rather fun keeping an you.”

She fought an urge to roll her eyes, “why? You like watching me slowly realize that there’s a high probability that my ex-boyfriend is Kira?”

“Well, you said it, not me,” the great detective responded, “however, you’re right; I do. I told you from the very beginning that Light Yagami was suspected of being Kira, but it appears that once you fell for him, you forgot that fact. You were so blinded by love that you basically ignored all of my little warnings and reminders...sure, you were cautious for a little while afterwards, but then you’d start to slip right into Light’s hands once more. A lovestruck girl...it was almost too hard for me to watch.”

Keiko gave a soft sigh. While she disliked his harsh way of explaining things, she knew she couldn't argue with him. She knew that he was right, if Light Yagami was really Kira, then she had fallen right into his trap multiple times. The thought left her feeling severely unsettled on the inside.

The evidence was just stacked way too high against Light Yagami. It didn’t help that it had now been a week since Kira’s last victim. Of course, Kira had taken short breaks between his killing sprees before, but if this was just a break, then it was at an exceedingly horrible time. However, she still held a small hope that Light was innocent, a hope that was constantly getting crushed every single day that Kira wasn’t killing new criminals.

Seeing Keiko’s response, L continued on, “of course, I have to give you some credit...after all, you finally ended your relationship with him, a wise choice on your end. It’s unfortunate that you had to experience the heartbreak of watching Light and Misa kiss first though...and, as I recall, it’s not the first time you’ve had a boyfriend cheat on you…”

Keiko froze at the detective’s sudden mention of Daicho, it was like an arrow going straight through her heart. L knew just how to push her buttons, he knew just how to upset her. However, once again, he was right, she had been fooled not only once but twice.

“They say that history repeats itself...” L looked her straight in the eyes, “and they’re right... you’re living proof of that. You’re rather smart, but...ass I said before, despite how cautious you might think you are, you’re naive. I always knew you were naive, that’s why I tried to warn you. But...you’re blind when you’re in love, you let your emotions cloud your judgement. That being said, you don’t see the facts...or, perhaps, you see the facts but choose to ignore them, because the truth hurts. Well, Keiko-chan, the truth may hurt but the truth always has a way of coming out in the end...and right now, the truth is Light cheated on you with Misa, and...that there’s now a 90% chance he’s Kira. There’s a quote, ‘the more trustworthy someone is, the more they have to lose’, well, Keiko-chan, it appears that you’ve lost.”

Keiko could feel the blood rushing to her face. She wasn’t quite sure how she was feeling, but she knew she didn’t like it very much. There were multiple knots in her stomach, and she could feel her heart pumping faster in her chest.

“I know that the truth is hard to handle, Kagami-san,” L replied, “but it’s better to face the truth sooner rather than later. That way, one can avoid getting hurt.”

Keiko couldn’t stop herself from snorting at L’s words.

Avoid getting hurt? No matter what, there was no way I could have avoided getting hurt in this situation. He’s just making fun of me now! Or at least that’s what it feels like...he’s always so blunt, sometimes it’s hard to tell...

The sound of the detective speaking once more broke her away from her thoughts, “if you’re upset with me again, that’s fine. I can live with that. As a reminder, you’re free to come and go as you please. That means there’s nothing stopping you from leaving if this investigation’s getting too much for you to handle…”

Keiko narrowed her eyes at him.

“Leave?” she bitterly spat, “you of all people should know that I have no intention of leaving, not until the investigation is over, once and for all…”

“Oh, Kagami-san,” the detective gave a soft chuckle.

He then leaned in closer towards Keiko. She could feel the warmth emitting from his body as he spoke, “if you have no intention of leaving, then face the truth; Light Yagami is Kira, and he’s been stringing you along all this time.”

With that, L leaned back into his original position, leaving Keiko momentarily frozen. He had said that multiple times before, but this particular time, under these particular circumstances, it had the most effect on her. The first few times he had said it, it had been easy to wave away and deny, but now after days of surveillance with no new killings, it was hard to ignore the obvious.

However, it was a hard truth for Keiko to swallow.