Part 13

Oki did not hear from Light the next day as she had expected, but one day later, she received a phone call.

“Oki?” Light said over the phone, and though it was faint, Oki also heard someone else talking in the background.

“Light?”

“Oki, I am so glad,” Light said, relieved to hear her voice again, “Can you come here and meet me?”

When Oki didn’t answer immediately, Light took a moment to talk to someone, most likely L.

“L says that he will send a car around. The driver will bring you here.”

Oki was confused. “Aren’t you still based in a hotel?” she asked him.

“No. L decided it was not safe to stay there any longer. L had, naturally, decided this a few months ago and so had a new building constructed. I can’t give you directions though, so you have to take the car.”

“Oh,” Oki paused for a second. “Are you all right?”

She had noticed that Light was sounding a little shaky and very unlike himself.

“I am fine,” Light responded, “It has just been a tough couple of months is all.”

Oki was about to speak again when she heard the sound of a car horn outside her apartment. Amaterasu glanced at it through the window.

“It appears to be L’s car,” she told Oki.

Oki nodded and turned her attention back to the phone call, “I think my ride is here. I will be there as soon as I can. I love you Light.”

“I love you too, Oki,” Light said, though he still sounded shaken.

Oki refused to dwell on it, and quickly gathered her coat and bag, and left the apartment.

“Oki?” asked the driver when she arrived at the car.

He had the air of a refined English gentleman about him and he donned a friendly smile.

“I am Watari. I am here to take you to the new headquarters.” He held open one of the doors in the back of the car, and Oki slid inside.

The ride to the headquarters was uneventful and quiet. Oki tried to keep in mind the buildings they passed and the route that was taken as much as possible, but her worry for Light distracted her.

They arrived at the new Headquarters of the Kira Investigation Team about 20 minutes later. Watari once again hurried out of the car and held her door open for her.

Oki climbed out and smiled at him, “Is that all part of the service?” she asked.

Watari shrugged. “Call it more of a habit ma’am,” he replied before closing the door.

“This way, if you please.”

Oki followed Watari into the skyscraper with Amaterasu trailing behind her cautiously.

“It is very impressive,” Amaterasu said as she glanced around.

Oki nodded, equally astonished by the security.

“L is in here,” Watari declared as he opened a door.

“L?” Oki looked confused. “But I thought I was here to see Light, not L.”

“I am afraid they are chained together, so you have to see them both at the same time,” Watari explained.

Watari held the door open and motioned for Oki to enter. When she finally went in, Watari shut the door behind her.

Directly in front of Oki was a panel of TV monitors, each of them showing a different area. A couch was located against the left wall and L and Light were sitting on chairs located in front of the monitors. Apart from them, there was no one else in the room.

“Welcome, Oki,” said L as he looked over his shoulder at her. “I trust Watari took good care of you?”

“Yes… he did. Thank you.” Oki walked across the room and looked at the screens.

They appeared to show various rooms, probably in the building. She could see that Misa Amane was in one of them, on the bed reading.

L looked at the monitors and smiled, “That is just a precaution.”

He held his hand up and Oki saw the handcuffs that were keeping him and Light together.

“The same as these. Light is not to be anywhere without me, that way I know that he can’t kill any more innocent people.”

Light visibly rolled his eyes when L said this.

“I thought you had released him because you were sure he was not Kira.”

Oki didn’t mention it out loud, but she had intended for her words to remind L of the conversation they had not long ago.

“Well…” L smiled at her, “We can’t rule it out completely. It is true that the killings continued while he was confined, but Kira is smart and probably figured something out.”

“Right…” Oki sighed and looked at Light, “Could you give us some time alone, L?”

“Didn’t you just hear what I just said?” L asked, seemingly amused.

“Light has to be with me 24/7, therefore I am afraid to say that I must deny your request.”

Oki turned back to him, the coldness back in her eyes, “You have cameras everywhere in this building. They are even in this room. So I am sure you are going to be keeping an eye on us. Besides, what do you really imagine we are going to do while you are gone?”

L paused for a moment considering his options.

“I don’t know,” L admitted.

The coldness in Oki’s eyes, and the fact she knew his real name, was enough to make L nervous.

“Then leave us alone, please,” Oki said, keeping her eyes on L.

“Fine,” L said, glaring at her, “Come over here.”

He took the keys from his pocket and unlocked the cuffs. He then suddenly turned and cuffed Oki’s wrist and walked towards the door.

“Don’t try anything, we are watching you both.”

He opened the door and left the room, annoyed at the turn of events.

Oki sat herself in the seat that L had just been sitting in, and looked at Light.

“Are you all right?” she asked him.

He turned to her and smiled, “I am now that we are alone,” Light said.

He still appeared distant but Oki could see from his eyes that he was happy to see her.

“What happened? What has L done to you?”

“Well…I guess I should tell you the story from the beginning. You’ll want to know why I let L confine me, won’t you?” Light asked. Oki nodded.

“I am sure he told you some of it, but… I was worried that I might really be Kira. All of L’s arguments, well to me they seemed to be correct. I knew that if our roles had been reversed and I was seeing things from his point of view, I would have suspected me too. I couldn’t live with that idea and so I asked him to lock me up where I could not do any more harm.”

Oki watched him. She could tell that he was being sincere, but his words appeared to be those of someone else. That was not the Light that she had seen nearly fifty days previously. No, this Light seemed… different.

“It is because he gave up his Death Note,” Amaterasu told her, “He has lost all the memories of what he did while he was Kira.”

“Oh…” Oki moved her chair closer to Light and took his hands in hers.

“Continue,” she said.

“When he first locked me up, the killings stopped. That confirmed his belief,” Light told her, “But then he told me that they had started again, but he still refused to release me. I was in that cell for about fifty days, or so I have been told. Then yesterday he suddenly decided to release me. I think Matsuda or one of the other investigators, put pressure on him. Well L could not just release his two suspects; he had to test us first. He had my father drive us to a remote field and pretend he was going to kill us both and then himself. He held a gun to my head and pulled the trigger.”

Light looked down at the ground, clearly troubled by the memories. “The bullet was a blank. Apparently L believed that if either Misa or I was Kira we would have killed my father in order to save ourselves. The fact he did not die meant that I could not be Kira, and so I was invited to join the team once more and help L find the real Kira. He still doesn’t completely trust me though.”

Light held up his hand and looked at the cuff which now bound him to Oki. “I do not think he ever will, either.”

When Oki reached over to hug Light, She felt an irresistible urge to cry. She was so happy to be with Light again, and the change, well she really liked the change.

This Light was not the one she had met on campus all those months ago. This was a different Light, one that she was sure she could still love. She knew that at one time he was Kira, she would never forget that. But she also knew that this Light, the one she was holding now. He was not Kira. The loss of the Death Note had saved him from that.

“So what are you going to do now?” she asked him. “Do you have to stay here until they find this other Kira?”

Light let go of her and smiled, “That is correct.” “And Misa?” Oki used her un-cuffed hand to point at the monitor displaying Misa, “Why is she still here?”

Light turned to the monitors as well, “L is sure that she is the second Kira and wants to keep her here under surveillance too. There is a problem though,” he turned back to Oki. “She believes that I am her boyfriend. L has noticed it as well. He told me that she seems to be completely in love with me, to the point of risking her own life for me... I don’t know what to do.”

Oki glared at the screen, her free fist clenched. She knew that Light had wanted to act as if Misa was his girlfriend once before, but that was to deflect suspicion. When Light was released Oki had thought that would be the end of that problem. But yet here it was, right back in her face again.

“What are you up to L?” she thought to herself.

Taking her silence to mean she disapproved, Light continued. “Of course I don’t want to be her boyfriend; L wants to use Misa as bait to lure out this other Kira somehow.” He stopped when Oki looked up suddenly, a spiteful smile on her face.

“And you said yes right?” She asked him.

Normally, Oki would despise such behaviour, but the jealousy was taking over her mind and she wanted nothing more than to get Misa out of the way.

“What?” Light looked shocked and confused. “I said no, naturally. Actions like that are just wrong. I would almost certainly be sentencing her to death. Who knows what could happen to her if she actually managed to make contact with Kira. I have told L that I will not go along with that plan, and that he will have to think of something else.”

“Oh…” Oki was silent as she looked at Light. “I understand” she said.

It was the same thing she would have done, had the jealousy not been around.

“So, we are still going out, right? L has not convinced you to ditch me in favour of Misa has he?” Oki asked Light nervously.

Oki knew she only had a few weeks left, and she was determined to spend them with Light. Regardless of what L might wish.

“Well…” Light’s face reflected Oki’s own nervousness.

“What is it?” Oki said, glaring at him. “Please don’t tell me that L succeeded in talking you into this!”

“Not exactly,” Light managed. “I am pretending to be her boyfriend in hope that we can learn something useful later. We are not intimate though, I don’t show her affection. I am her boyfriend in name only.” He looked into Oki’s eyes so she would be able to see his honesty. “You are the one I love Oki. Neither Misa nor L can change that.”

“I am glad,” she managed before she turned to the camera in the corner of the room. She knew that L would be watching them. “I would like to leave now,” she said.

“Leave. But why?” Light asked her, shocked.

“I need some time alone to think,” she smiled sadly at him. “I have found out a lot today. I need to take time to process it… I will call you in a few days.” She turned when she heard the door open. L had walked into the room and was smiling.

“That was very touching,” he said as L removed the handcuff from her, “I thought I even heard a touch of jealousy there.”

Oki just glared at him before she bent over to gather her things.

“Speak to you soon, Light.”

She gave him a quick hug and followed Watari back to the car.