"Good, Bean." L nodded as he crouched on the gym mat before his son, a pair of punch mitts held up in his hands. "Try it again."

Bean planted his feet and braced himself with his fists up by his face. Then he stuck his tongue out in concentration before side kicking one of the pads again, his small leg parallel with the floor.

"A little harder. Don't hesitate," L encouraged him.

"Hes'tate?" Bean brushed some hair out of his eyes, tipping his head curiously.

"Yes, it means to hold back. To be unsure." L held the mitts out a little more. "Be sure of your movements. Hit hard and with confidence."

Bean nodded and planted his feet in position again. He tucked his lips inward with determination as he eyed the spot he wanted to kick. Then he threw his leg out, and the bottom of his foot hit the pad with a thwack! The difference was noticeable.

"Much better. Again."

Thwack!

"Good. Keep going."

Bean's nose scrunched with childish ferocity. His fingers curled a little tighter, and he performed the maneuver several more times.

"Alright, that's good." L nodded with approval, unable to hide a very small but proud smile. "Let's do the other side now."

"Can I get a drink first?" Bean asked, rubbing his forehead with his white dōgi sleeve.

"Go ahead." L lowered his mitted hands to flop between his bent legs with his elbows on his knees.

Bean trotted over to where his Pokémon water bottle sat on a bench. Picking it up with both hands, he took a long drink.

It was Matt who had first introduced Bean to the Pokémon franchise through a video game. But then Matsuda had brought in his card collection, much to the head-shaking of the rest of the Task Force, and Bean loved them now. The water bottle had shortly thereafter been purchased for him by Watari. On multiple occasions, the patient old man had been subjected to childishly long and detailed monologues about the Japanese pocket monsters. So when he had seen the colorful canteen in a market, his white mustache had twitched with amusement, and he'd simply had to procure the small gift.

"Papa?"

"Yes?"

Bean set the water bottle back on the bench, and his bare feet padded back over to L. "Um-- do you ever hesitate?"

"I try not to." L held up the mitts again. "Once I know what my target is, I try to strike as quickly and accurately as I can."

"Like with Kira?"

L's brow furrowed slightly. "Kira?" What did he have to do with his son's karate lesson?

"Well..." Bean shrugged. "You think Light is Kira. But you haven't arrested him..." Dark eyebrows lifted frankly. "You're hesitating."

L sighed, flopping his hands down again. "That is quite different," he stated. "I cannot arrest him without substantial evidence."

Bean's arms swung limply back and forth. "Then how do you get sub...antle evidence?"

"Substantial," L corrected. "And that, I do not know yet."

Sighing, Bean looked sideways as he scratched his forehead. He grew very quiet. Then he put up his hands and assumed the proper position for a side kick using the opposite leg.

His practicing went on awhile longer before there was a light knock on the bamboo and frosted glass door. It opened halfway, and Matsuda poked his head in.

"Ah... Ryuzaki? Sorry to interrupt--"

The interference turned out to be more untimely than he'd anticipated. L was showing Bean some defensive stances, on his feet now with his side facing the boy and his back to the door. Bean was mid-punch just as it opened. L had turned to look, and the forceful strike hit him squarely below the belt.

"Hnng-!" L crumpled to the floor and onto one knee.

Bean clapped both hands over his mouth below wide and horrified eyes.

Matsuda immediately cringed hard, lifting his shoulders and curling his fingers. "O-oh! I-- uhm. Are you--??"

L's head was hung, his knuckles stiff against the gym mat with his other hand gripping his bent-up knee. "...what IS it, Mister Matsuda?" he growled without looking up.

Matsuda's face was the color of a strawberry as he rubbed the back of his neck. "The- the Second Kira has responded to our message..."

"I'll be right there." L's voice was tightly clipped.

All too relieved to be dismissed, Matsuda quickly nodded before whirling around and shutting the door behind him.

Bean lowered his hands from his mouth slowly, twisting them together. "I'm sorry..." he said in a very small voice.

L sighed strongly, lifting his head up. "It's alright." He draped his arm over his knee. "If anyone ever tries to hurt you, Bean... do that."

Messy, black hair flopped up and down as Bean nodded. He felt terrible. Tipping his head, he fidgeted with one end of his white karate belt. "Welllllll... I didn't hesitate..." he offered meekly.

L exhaled in a low chuckle. He looked at Bean and reached out out to place a hand firmly on his shoulder. "No, son, you didn't. Well done."

**********

Hours passed, and the faint glow of twilight found L sitting at a desk in a quiet room. The karate lesson from this morning felt like days ago, as what had subsequently transpired had changed everything... or so it felt to the silently contemplative detective as he sat now, crouched in a swivel chair with a myriad of untouched sweets before him.

As Matsuda had so inopportunely informed him, the Second Kira had responded to their televised message with another one of his own. At first, it was nothing more than expressing thanks to Kira for responding to their message.

"I'll follow orders and do as you say," the dark voice had promised. It was apparent that this copycat was not a rival of Kira's, but a worshiper.

But then, everything had shifted. The Second Kira mentioned something about "having the eyes," and L instantly felt his skin chill and bristle. The very thought of some kind of supernatural power having an influence on the world was nothing short of terrifying... Not to mention the twisted case of the Los Angeles BB Murders. L distinctly remembered Beyond Birthday going on about something to do with eyes, but he'd always disregarded it as the strange boy just being his strange self.

...until now.

Because just after mentioning The Eyes, Kira #2 had uttered a single word that sent a fear unlike anything L had ever known shooting down his spine and out the ends of his fingertips like a powerful electrical bolt. The word had leapt out of the television at him, its pointed teeth bared and clawed fingers curled, and it had shook him to his very core, so much so that he'd found himself frozen and trembling and sprawled on the carpet with his overturned chair beside him.

...and all because of one little word that had altered everything like two tectonic plates, shifting only slightly and yet quaking the very earth.

"Shinigami..."

"What?" Bean looked up from the Big Book of Ocean Animals he was looking at.

"What?" L's thumb parted from his lip as he returned the query from his place at the desk, not even aware that he'd muttered the word aloud.

"You said something," the small boy informed him. He was on his stomach on the floor with his legs bent up behind him, ankles crossed.

"Oh." L's head turned forward again, and his shadowed eyes fell on a collection of mini cheesecakes sitting inside individual wrappers made of colored foil with crinkled edges. Reaching out, he plucked up one topped with a raspberry swirl and then tilted his head back to drop it into his mouth.

"What does it mean?"

L looked over again at the child's inquiry. "What does what mean?" he asked with his mouth full. He assumed Bean was referring to an unfamiliar word in his book.

Bean tipped his head, not looking up from a page with jellyfish on it. "Shi-ni-ga-mi." He carefully sounded out the strange new syllables.

L's grey eyes widened. Damn... I hadn't meant for him to hear that. Sighing, he tipped his head sideways to scratch the top of it. He looked quite like a monkey doing so... sitting against the chair's backrest with his knees pulled up to his chest and his other arm hanging down at his side like an orangutan. "It's a Japanese word for a supernatural being that brings death," he answered slowly, choosing his words with care. "Likely just something made up, like a unicorn... or a Pokémon." But even as L tried to reassure his small son, he felt his stomach knot.

"A mythological creature," Bean echoed importantly.

L had to chuckle a little as he flopped his lanky arm over top of his knees. "Where did you hear that?"

"Mello." Bean lazily moved his legs in the air behind him as he turned a page. Then he gasped, making a rather horrified little expression. "Woahh... Papa, look!" he exclaimed in disgust. With childishly awkward movements, he turned the big book to show L. On the page was a deep sea anglerfish, one with a luminescent fin ray used to lure its prey. "Is this thing real??" It was so much more ugly and terrible in an actual photograph than it had been in Finding Nemo.

L stared at the hideous creature. Something about the uneven rows of protruding, dagger-like teeth and the bulging, dead eye orbs sent another icy chill rushing over him, not at all unlike what he'd experienced earlier in front of the television screen.

Could shinigami really exist...?

But his son was still waiting for an answer to his curious inquiry, and despite the fact that the question had been about nothing more than a creepy-looking fish, L somehow found it difficult to find his voice.

"...yes," he finally responded in a low tone. "They are real."

Could they be?

Bean wrinkled his nose as he flipped the book back around. Resting his chin in his hand, he turned the page again, but the gears in his smart little brain were turning. After another moment, he sighed. "What do shinigami look like?"

L had his arm wrapped around his knees now with the lower half of his face buried between them. His other hand was stacking mini cheesecakes in a wobbly tower with several empty wrappers surrounding it. "I don't know, Bean," he mumbled.

"Because they're not real."

"Right. I believe so."

Bean's fingers drummed against his cheek as his mouth twitched sideways in thought. "But you're not sure?"

L looked at his boy, his dark-rimmed eyes peering over his shoulder. "Bennett, why are you asking me all of these questions? You've never mentioned shinigami before."

"Neither have you."

"I--" L sighed, realizing he'd walked right into that one. Bean was sharp like that. "...you're right," he conceded. "And you might hear me talking about it some more with the members of the NPA and Light. It's just... part of the investigation."

Bean's eyes widened. "So they could be real??"

L was silent then, contemplating how to answer. On one hand, Bennett was very young, and L wanted more than anything to protect him. On the other, the boy was so smart and curious, he'd most likely end up discovering answers on his own and from sources other than his Papa... which L didn't like one bit.

"...I suppose anything is possible," L practically whispered, hating the words even as he said them.

"Would seeing one be sub-- um, substantial evidence?"

L's expression remained somber, but amusement stirred in his chest beneath his plain, white shirt. "That they exist, yes of course. But I highly doubt anything like that would be visible to just anyone."

...we can confirm identities by showing our Shinigami to each other.

The Second Kira's voice reverberated in the deepest hollows of his mind.

"Oh. So they can go invisible," Bean chirped. "Like Ghost-types."

"What?"

"They're Pokémon."

"I see." L pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. "Bean, I need some quiet now."

"Okay, Papa." Unperturbed by the request and quite understanding of it, Bean's attention turned back to his book. But one more thought came to him... one he didn't voice because he was a good boy who, for the most part, did as he was asked. He thought of the invisible shinigami and the probability that they might exist... and if they did, that they might be connected to Kira somehow. And in thinking that, he was fleetingly reminded of the very first words he'd ever spoken to Light Yagami...

"Who are you talking to?"