𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒

五十七 | 𝐈𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐘

꧁꧂

  
    "Ryuzaki, what's the meaning of this?" Soichiro questioned when it was revealed that Higuchi had been released from confinement to the Japanese police who made his trial quick and speedy before executing him under the death penalty—such processes weren't told to the Task Force until after the fact. "Didn't you want to wait until Higuchi told us how he killed? What is going on?"

    "My dad's right," Light stepped forward. "What made you change your mind?"

    L didn't turn to face them.

    They were all currently in the main hall of Task Force Headquarters, the blue glow of the large computers casting ghostly shadows across the room. The fact that it was raining that day wasn't helping either, instead making the mood dampen more.

    "I didn't change my mind," L muttered as he stacked empty plastic pouches of coffee creamers. "We were just getting nowhere with Higuchi."

    "What does that mean?" Light scowled.

    "There's no doubt that Higuchi was Kira," L continued, not specifically answering Light's question. "From surveillance videos of his actions and from the Yotsuba meetings, there was no denying his guilt. Yet, for some reason, until the very end, he never admitted said guilt. I wondered why until it became obvious: somehow, someway... his memory was lost. Taken, more like."

    "Taken?" Matsuda gasped. "How would... no, why do you think that?"

    (Y/N)'s eyes narrowed.

    Well.

    L has always been the smartest in the room.

    "It's truly baffling, isn't it?" L exhaled, watching as his coffee creamer tower fell, the pieces clattering all over the desk and to the floor. "A man like Higuchi would crack easily under pressure and confess. But he didn't. I've pushed the boundaries of everything I thought as real as soon as I heard of a power somehow killing criminals with nothing but a heart attack. They didn't even have to be in the same room to do so. Shinigami, lost memories... I've wondered about all of that."

    "Ryuzaki... what are you going on about?" Light's brows furrowed, something about the way L's eyes in the reflection of the computer screens looking off.

    "I'm not even sure myself," L leaned back in his chair, exhaling softly.

    Silence descended upon the room.

    No one was sure what to say, for no one had ever seen L this melancholic. They had come so far in the Kira Investigation, had cracked so many clues, yet they still couldn't figure out how the killings had been done. What was more, L still couldn't shake the feeling deep down that there was something off with Light—that he was the original Kira.