Impulse Control (Yagami LightxReader)

17

You didn't say anything to him, obviously. Never did in your time there. You sat in silent observation until L and company returned.

The only reasonable explanation for the invitation to do so was that the room was bugged. There is absolutely no material benefit for L to leave his hypothesized Kira and hypothesized Kira confidante to mingle amongst themselves.

He was having Watari or someone else eavesdrop, and you no longer trusted Yagami's mental state enough (nor your knowledge of it) to so much as chance small talk. Yagami was dismayed by your resolution, to say the least.

By the time L had returned to pick you up, you had commandeered enough of the electrical equipment to run Doom on the main monitor. He was unimpressed, and you were escorted to the hotel, where you played Tetris.

It didn't take long before L was backed into a corner by the task force, either.

It's not like you were on his side, but you doubt your wholehearted defense of him would've mattered. You'd never seen the others so strongly and unanimously oppose his judgment. L may have the intellectual authority, but in the end he's only one man; a well-known downside to democracy is the uneducated majority, after all.

With that in mind, Yagami, his father, and his girlfriend were free men no more than two weeks after you first saw them confined.

"I'm not sure I want to see him," you admitted to your roommate, rolling the head of your pawn along your fingertip.

"Why's that?" You gave L an unamused look. He had your queen in his mouth—snagged it mortifyingly early in the game. As time went on, the ball of the piece's crown found its way between L's teeth. Whenever he took a piece since, he'd gnaw on it the slightest bit.

After your matriarchal blunder, though, you weren't giving him many opportunities to get a good bite in. His unblinking eyes followed the bishop you slid across the squares. "You thrive on schadenfreude. Check."

"Tu quoque." He shuffled his king elsewhere. "You'll have to see him if you come in."

"And when may I recommence my studies at To-Oh?" You pressed. "The Kira investigation isn't my raison d'être. I've intelligence to crystallize—I can't remain a willing bondman of yours for much longer."

The base of the queen jutting out from his lips drooped. "Soon, if that's what you want."

"Why wouldn't it be?" You leaned back, brow raised. "Playing private investigator for you was fine back when it and my academic career weren't mutually exclusive. Ceteris paribus, I'll be declared dead in absentia by the university."

"I thought you would understand how some things, like this case, are bigger than you." A devilish smile painted your lips. "Although, I've been wrong about several things lately."

"There's no way you were betting on my public spirit to keep me on this case. You know how egoistic my altruism is," you eagerly edged. When no response came from L, you started to sneer. "Thou shalt not lie."

"I had faith in your ache to show the world how deplorable Yagami is," he admitted, a hint of baby blue on his breath. "Make your move."

"That's less quixotic, at least," you commended. "And that remains an active interest, but in light of its growing interference with my day-to-day, I'm afraid the offer has lost its delectability. I mean, I was on house arrest for a month! Your demands will only grow from there.

"This investigation can be all-consuming for you: it's your métier. But not me. Where's the quid pro quo to me slaving away on the Kira case as my degree goes cold?"

"Finer living conditions," L answered, hand shifting to his pocket.

From it he placed a quartet of photos in front of you, all different angles taken of a tall building of tinted glass situated in the heart of the Tokyo Metropolis. Its dark complexion and sky-scraping quality made it stick out less like a sore thumb than a jet black nail amidst the concrete jungle.