"Is this seat taken?" a voice muttered next to you, and you felt your gut tighten as Ryuzaki pulled out the chair and sat on it without waiting for your answer.

"What do you want?"

He wasted no time in getting straight to the point. "Yagami-Kun joined my Japanese Task Force to catch Kira."

Your voice wavered as you thought aloud. "W-what? But that's led by... oh shit. Just... shit. Go away. I don't want to get involved in this." You were struggling to keep your breathing under control now. Your heart was erratic.

Ryuga smiled. It was an empty smile, one lacking any warmth or humour whatsoever. "I think you do want to get involved," he said, shuffling his feet. "I think you're very interested in this. I think you're very interested in Kira, and in Light. I think you're very interested in who I am and why I suspect Light of being Kira-"

"Okay, okay," you hissed, digging your nails into your palms. This boy was putting you on edge, really putting you there. You felt like he wasn't giving you a choice, like you were on the edge of a cliff, about to fall, and accepting his offer would be your only salvation. But that was all in your mind, right? Just like those thoughts, those terrible thoughts you had about Kira. All in your mind.

Ryuga's smile faded a little. "Do you want to help me?"

"Do I want to? Not really," you muttered, brushing your hair back out of your face. "But I guess I don't really have a choice."

"Oh no, you have a choice. It's just... very limited," he said with that cold smile again.

You gave him a tight look. "So, what do you want from me?"

"Isn't it obvious? I want you to-"

"-spy on Light," you finished, sighing heavily. "Yeah, I figured. But he's still my friend, you know. And right now, I trust him a hell of a lot more than I trust you."

"That doesn't matter," he said, shrugging in that careless, lopsided away. "I just need you to act normal around him, but report anything interesting back to me."

"Interesting?"

"Anything suspicious."

You had difficulty swallowing; a small swell of panic stuck to the back of your throat. You knew for a fact that Ryuk was suspicious, that Light's actions in the past have been suspicious. You also knew that Light was a nice, charming guy who was entitled to his own secrets.

But now you just weren't sure what to think.

Light had helped you a lot over the past two years; with your studying, with getting into the prestigious To-Oh University, with being your only real friend, the only person who actually gave a damn about you.

It was ridiculous to believe he was a murderer simply because one weird boy at college who claimed to be the detective L told you so.

Why did things have to get so complicated?

"Okay," you answered shortly. Ryuk would stay a secret for now; you'd promised Light that much. "So, if I see anything interesting, I just give you a call, right?"

Ryuga nodded, already getting to his feet. "Don't call me directly. Get in touch with my assistant first, and he'll pass you onto me over a safer line."

"How do I-"

"I'll tell you later. Now, do you want to see how much incriminating evidence I have that Light is Kira?"

You blinked at him, horrified. Incriminating evidence? But even if he did have some, it couldn't be enough to convict Light of being Kira, otherwise he wouldn't still need your help. You forced yourself to look down at your hands. "I... I'd rather not," you said, your voice tight. Regardless of whether or not he was L, you couldn't betray Light so openly; you didn't want to give yourself a reason not to trust him, when everything Ryuga was telling you could well be a lie.

Ryuga just shrugged. "I'll be in contact later. Have a good day, [L/N]-San."

//

You were in the college library, pacing to and fro and on the lookout for Light. You felt like you were back in high school, waiting for him to tutor again; you remembered the time he was late, the time he'd dropped that piece of paper, an act that had seemed so inconsequential and mundane at the time, until you picked it up and tumbled into a world of monsters you thought only existed in myths and folklore.

You stopped then. Froze on the spot as if all of the air had been knocked out of your lungs.

You looked around. Books. Books, stories, myths and folklore...

It had been almost two years since you were introduced to Ryuk and still didn't know a thing about him. Every attempt at asking was made futile by Light interrupting and smoothly changing the subject. You understood he was entitled to his secrets; he hardly wanted you spreading rumours about his 'magical pet'. But you'd been stupid enough to not take it into your own hands and look for any information about him.

And now you were in a library brimming with books, books that might well contain information on giant bat-like creatures that could only be seen from the touch of magic paper. The story seemed so absurd you had to scold yourself for not looking into it any sooner.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a ping from your phone. It was a message from Light.

From: Yagami
Subject: Sorry.

Sorry [Y/N] but I'm going to be a bit late! I hope it isn't urgent.

That's all it said. No additional explanation, no reason why.

But his timing was impeccable. Now you had some time to browse before you met him.

Heart jittery with excitement, you hurried over to the librarian's desk; she was a short woman with her hair pinned up in a tight bun, and you faltered under her stare. "H-hello. I was wondering if you might direct me to any books on, uh, mythical creatures? Or Japanese folklore..." you trailed off with a bashful smile. "It's to help me a project," you added quickly, and she nodded, a curt little gesture, before moving out from the desk.

"This way," was all she said, leading you to the back wall of the library. She pointed to a shelf that was bulging with thick, dusty hardbacks that looked as though they hadn't been touched in years. "There you go."

"Thank you," you said with a polite bow, and she walked away stiffly. You got to work immediately, running your fingers along the spines, pulling a couple out and either dismissing them or adding them to a pile to leaf through. You didn't have long, and you didn't want Light to catch you researching his pet, so you moved quickly. As soon as you had a decent stack, you carried them over to a table and began thumbing through the pages.

The first book revealed nothing similar to Ryuk, nor did the second. You gave a hopeless sigh and moved onto the third, scanning the contents page for the second on otherworldly creatures. You came across a chapter on Gods and shared a quiet laugh with yourself. Ryuk certainly didn't seem like a God; a God of apples perhaps, but nothing righteous.

"Hmm... Gods of Calamity... Yato... Gods of Death... Shinigami." You shuddered as you muttered the word under your breath, the back of your neck breaking out into a cold sweat. You'd had enough of hearing about death these past few days.

"There you are!" You jolted to your feet, startled by the sudden voice, and whirled around, your heart thundering in your chest.

"God, Yagami, you scared me!"

"God Yagami, huh? I rather like the sound of that," he joked with a tight edge to his voice. "So what're you read-" You turned back and slammed the book shut, sending up a small plane of dust that had settled on its pages. Light jumped, surprise flashing across his face.

"Nothing."

His eyes darkened as he peered over your shoulder and read out the title.

"I watched a documentary last night," you lied, pushing the books aside. "It was really interesting so I wanted to do some extra research." You gave him a weak smile.

"Okay," Light muttered, but you could tell he wasn't convinced. "Well, is that why you wanted to meet me here?"

You shook your head, swallowing thickly. "No, uh, actually I wanted to talk to you about L."

"L... oh, yeah. Ryuga. So you believe him now?"

You quirked your brows. "Apparently you trusted him from the start. You're part of his task force now?"

He grimaced. "I was going to tell you."

"Sure you were," you said through gritted teeth, interrupting him as he made to protest. "So that weirdo really is the world famous detective L?" You clarified, and Light nodded, sliding down onto the chair next to you. His eyes lingered briefly on the books.

"It's all a bit crazy. But basically, my dad, the Chief of Police, was drafted in to form a task force under L with the primary purpose of catching Kira. I guess L thought I was smart enough to be of use and let me join," he explained loosely, clearly not willing to go into any more detail.

"So tell me why Ryuga... why L suspects you of being Kira."

Do you want to see how much incriminating evidence I have that Light is Kira?

You wanted to trust Light, you really did. But there was so much working both in and against his favour that it was difficult to pin down whether or not he should be trusted.

Light looked calm as he answered your question, nonchalant almost.  "My connection to Soichiro Yagami gives me access to secret files that nobody else has access to. Somehow Kira managed to get these files; it's how he was able to kill criminals not shown on TV."

You weighed that up in your head, frowning. "I'll admit it's suspicious, but Kira could have accessed those files some other way. Maybe he's a genius hacker," you suggested, and Light threw his hands up, smiling ever so slightly.

"Exactly! The 'evidence' is nothing but wishful thinking," he muttered, shaking his head. "He's convinced I'm Kira for some absurd reason, but still allows me on the task force. I can't weigh him up."

"He probably wants to monitor you more closely," you said, forcing yourself to look away. He wants me to monitor you more closely.

"Yeah, that's why he applied to To-Oh," he added, "to follow me around and collect 'evidence'. It's all so ridiculous. But I'm going to prove I'm not Kira by helping him catch the real one." You nodded along with his words; an empty action.

"Well, the real two," you corrected. "Have you been following the news? There are two Kiras now. Oh Light, what's this world coming to?"

//

Your heart was jumping nervously as you walked up to the door, long blades of grass snaking over the path and snatching at your ankles. This was the first time you'd been to Light's house, and it wasn't even by invitation. It was Saturday evening and you had decided it a good time to return the textbooks Light had borrowed you.

You could have easily waited until Monday to do so, but you were hoping to use this opportunity to do a bit of investigating. You knew it was wrong, that it was unfaithful to Light as a friend. But you were mostly doing it because you were convinced you wouldn't find anything suspicious; you were doing it to remove any doubt whatsoever that Light was not who you thought he was.

You raised a shaky hand and knocked, then took a step back. The night was cool and your breaths came out as short plumes of fog. The door opened a few minutes later, admitting a girl a few years younger than Light. This must be his sister, you thought. "Hello," she said, smiling. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, ah, I'm a friend of Lights from college. Is he in?"

The girl shifted, the smile slipping from her lips. "Uhm, you're free to come in, but he's actually with his girlfriend right now."

Her answer was a jolt to your system; it took you a few seconds to reboot and respond. "W-wait. His girlfriend?"