Part 4

The three of them took their seats at the booth, with Oki sliding to the inside, L sitting across from her and Light next to L. The three of them sat and chatted for a few minutes while they waited for the sundaes. The waitress finally brought them and placed them in front of L and Oki.

“Here you go. Oh, I see your friend made it, would you like anything, sir?”

“I’ll have one of those,” Light said gloomily while pointing at the hot fudge sundae in front of Oki.

“Thank you, miss,” Oki replied to the server. “This looks really good.”

“Yes, the sundaes here are delicious. The first time I had one was when Light had me meet him here,” said L.

“You also had a piece of chocolate cake,” Light added as he crossed his arms and set his elbows on the table sullenly.

“Yes, I recommend the chocolate cake too. It is very good,” L went on, “So Oki weren’t you telling me about where you worked.”

“Oh yes, I almost forgot,” Oki reached into her purse and pulled out a small piece of paper. “Light, I wrote down my number for you. That way you can call me if you are running behind again.” Oki stretched her arm across the table and dropped the paper in Light’s palm.

Light looked down at the folded piece of paper. No mistaking, that this was her plan. He looked up to see Amaterasu standing beside Oki.

“Hello, Light,” Amaterasu said.

Light looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, so as not to draw attention to himself. He smiled back at Amaterasu before nodding his head and placing the piece of paper in his inside jacket pocket where it would be safest.

“Thank you Oki. Now I can at least get a hold of you when I need to,” Light told her.

L chimed in, “how did reminding you of what we were talking about, remind you of that?” he asked.

Oki, a little surprised at this question, replied, “Well, I work this weekend and Light and I have made plans to hang out. I thought that if something were to come up, it would be easier for him to get a hold of me this way, rather than calling the clinic I work at.”

Light reached into his jacket pocket again and pulled out a pen, before taking a napkin from off the table. “Well if that is the case I guess I need to give you my number just in case something happens on your end,” Light quickly wrote down his number for Oki.

“Ok, now back to what we were talking about L.”

L smiled and nodded, pausing when his phone rang. “One second please,” he said while reaching into his pocket and pulling the phone out. “Hello? Ahh... Yes Mr. Yagami. Could you hold one second please?” L looked at Oki, “excuse me please, I need to take this in private.”

Light got up from his seat to let L out, and then slid to the inside of the booth as L walked away from the table. When he saw that L was at the front of the café, he turned back to Oki.

“Giving me your number on a piece of the Death Note, was slightly risky, don't you think?”

Oki shrugged her shoulders, “I had to get you to touch the Death Note somehow and I thought that this was the best way. Writing my number on it was just a good cover.”

“Yes it was, I am sure L thought nothing of it,” Light replied.

“I did it that way because I had a feeling L was going to show here tonight,” Oki told him.

“He has been sticking around us like the plague,” Light stated.

“L is very intelligent and cunning, but he is as obvious as the nose on his face, just like you Light. You two do not realize you reveal your weaknesses, even subtly.”

“Then can you tell me what you are thinking? What is my weakness?” Light asked.

“Well the weakness I am talking about is me,” Oki explained. “I have been watching the way you two have been acting around me, and I know what you told L today. Honestly,” Oki started to blush and fidgeted with the spoon in her sundae, “some of the girls at school are beginning to ask questions.”

Light looked over at L, who was still talking to his father, then turned back to Oki. “You’re not upset with me are you Oki?” he asked.

“No I am not, Light. I know you meant well with what you told L. It is just we both have a Death Note and L is going after Kira, who also has one. We are in danger of having ourselves mistaken for being Kira,” Oki said.

“Well, L already suspects that I am Kira, but I have to make sure Kira does not learn I am also looking for him. If I am not careful about how I handle this, death or imprisonment is a definite for me. Any day now, Kira could find out that I am on the investigation team and write down my name and I will be dead. It’s the same story for L.”

“Well, at least you have some hope for living through this, since you can use your wits to stay alive. However, I am running out of time. I’m sure Ryuk already told you this, but I’m dying, Light.” Oki hung her head, “I am sorry for not telling you this Light, but my life is going to end soon.”

As Oki looked up at Light, a tear trickled down her cheek.

“You were right, Oki, I did know you were dying. I do not know what I can do for you, but I promise I will help in any way that I can. All you have to do is ask me, okay?”

Another tear made its way down her cheek, “I am scared of dying” she said, in a voice that was little more than a whisper.

Light gently squeezed her hand. “Don't be scared Oki, I’ll be here for you, I promise.”

Suddenly, Oki looked towards the front of the café and hastily began wiping her tears away. Light turned to see L on his way back to the booth.

As L approached the table, he saw Oki had been crying, “are you okay? Light didn’t bore you to tears, did he?” Oki held back a laugh and smiled at the humorous jab at Light. Light just rolled his eyes.

“Well, good to see that at least two of us can understand some humor,” L said with a laugh of his own.

“Well, Hideki, not everyone can write their own material,” Light jabbed back. “I have got to give you credit though, it was a good joke even though it was really old.”

Despite her best efforts to hold it in, Oki let out a snort followed by hysterical laughter that caused L and Light to join in.

The three of them enjoyed their ice cream and each other’s company until the waitress informed them that the kitchen was closing, so they decided to head outside.

“Oh my, look at the time,” L said as he looked at his phone. “Some of the investigation team is waiting for me so I had better get going now. I had a lovely time Oki. Perhaps we can do this again?”

“Yeah, it was fun,” Oki replied.

At that, L turned, stepping away from them before stopping suddenly and looking over his shoulder at Light. “Oh Light. The second set of tapes has made their way to headquarters. I thought you might want to know.”

Light nodded as L turned away again and walked over to a sedan that had been waiting to pick him up.

“L has a chauffeur?” Oki asked.

“Well, L is one of the world’s greatest detectives,” Light answered. “It stands to reason that he’d have things an average teenager wouldn’t.”

After the quiet engine of L’s sedan faded into the distance, Oki sighed and turned toward home.

“Wait, Oki. It is dark out. I can’t let you walk home by yourself,” Light said.

“Oh, thank you, Light,” she replied. “But I don’t mind walking home by myself.”

“It won’t be a problem for me,” Light explained. “I’ve been meaning to ask you a couple questions.”

“That should not be a problem,” Amaterasu answered.

“Well, my first question is more of a hunch that I want verified. You don’t live with your parents, do you Oki?”

“Well your hunch is right. My parents have not been around to keep me company, but I have had Ammy with me for the last 4 years, so I am not lonely. How did you guess that, Light?”

“Well, you act so independently and there seems to be some kind of sadness about you... but mostly it was a guess,” Light explained.

“I think I should be more honest with you,” Oki started. “My parents were in a car accident 5 years ago. They managed to survive the initial car wreck, but they both died in the hospital. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

“I am sorry to hear that, Oki,” Light said as he looked at the ground.

“They were hit by a drunk driver... he lived through it,” she continued, “I was so mad...”

“So, what happened to him?”

“They put him in prison and he was released a year later. I just wanted him dead. I stumbled across my Death Note about six months after his release. I was walking home from school. At first, I thought it was a prank or something, but I took it with me...” Oki stopped walking, “I’m sorry, this is hard to say.”

“It’s okay, I’m patient,” Light said as he also came to a stop near her, “This story sounds like you will need to sit down to tell it.” He led Oki over to a bench on the side of the walking path to sit down.

“I tested the Death Note by using his name. Just having done that made me feel better afterward, but I was horrified when I read in the newspaper the next day that his death had actually happened exactly as I had described it.”

Oki paused to wipe away a tear from her eye. “He was an honest man, Light. In the year and a half since his accident with my parents, he had paid his prison sentence and got out on good behavior. Then he started doing great things for people. I learned that he was giving so much to charities and families affected by drunk drivers. I only think he kept his apology from me out of shame.”

“So you think what Kira is doing is wrong because the people in prison deserve a chance to redeem themselves like that man did?” Light asked.

“Yes. He didn’t mean to kill my parents,” Oki said as tears welled up in her eyes. “He just made a mistake. He even paid for it. But I still killed him for my stupid revenge.”

Light put his arm around her shoulders as she started to cry. “Ok, but you said you use the Death Note to help people, so have you used it in a better way since then?” Light said gently.

“Yes, I help the people who are about to die by giving them one final day without pain; a happy ending,” Oki explained.

“Oki found a very noble way to use the Death Note,” Amaterasu said. “And I will continue using it the same way Oki has when I return home.”

“It is interesting that you found such a sincere way to use it, Oki,” Ryuk added.

“So, you’ve been doing that for 4 years?” Light asked.

“Yes, at the clinic I work at there are many patients that end up on their death beds because of terminal illness. Sometimes these patients suffer more and more every day until it finally ends.”

Light got up from the bench. “Let’s finish walking; we both need to get some sleep.”

Oki nodded and got up. “Thank you for talking to me about this, Light.” Oki said. “I haven’t been able to tell anyone about that. This is a big weight off my shoulders.”

“You are welcome to talk to me about it anytime, Oki.”

“Oh! I know, you can come and visit me at the clinic sometime!” Oki exclaimed.

“Visit the clinic?” Light asked. “Why would I want to visit the clinic? You aren’t going to have me visit someone you are giving the last day to, are you?”

“Light, that’s not it. I want you to understand the pain these people are going through and the reason I keep doing what I do with the Death Note,” Oki explained.

“I...” Light stammered, “I don’t know if I can handle that. I am not very good around people in pain. I mean, I don’t even know these people...”

“Can you come and visit them, please? I want to show you...” Oki saw Light becoming agitated with her persistence in him visiting the clinic, and so stopped mid sentence out of worry and a hint of guilt.

“I... I think its best that I didn’t. I don’t know what you want to show me, but I don’t want to see people dying all alone.” Light told her in a slightly uncaring tone.

“You jerk!” Oki yelled before she dashed off towards home, leaving Light standing in front of the park bench. Amaterasu looked at Light and shook her head disapprovingly before she followed Oki home.

“Ha, ‘women’ as your people sometimes say,” Ryuk chuckled.

“Shut up,” Light said, “I let myself say something I shouldn’t have, and it hurt her feelings.”

“Well, now what?” Ryuk asked.

“I wait for her to calm down so I have a chance to apologize... if I’m ever given a chance. After that, it’s up to her to forgive me.”