Part 6

After classes had ended, Light showed up at the Kira investigation headquarters where L was speaking to Light’s father.

“Light? I was not expecting to see you here today,” L said, slightly surprised.

“I wanted to know how Oki was doing,” Light said while walking towards L and his father.

“She is doing better today. I told her not to over exert herself,” L told him before handing some papers to Light’s father.

“Did you tell her what I asked you to tell her?” Light asked, stopping next to them.

L did not answer Light back promptly. Instead he continued to speak with the Chief. After a few more minutes L turned to look at Light.

“Yes I told her,” L walked to his chair and sat down.

“Did she have a reply for me?” Light asked.

L looked away from Light as if he was daydreaming. “No.”

“Nothing?” Light questioned.

“Nothing,” L repeated. He picked up his teacup and took a sip of his tea. He could see Light had something he wanted him to relay to Oki. However, Light chose to stand in silence. “Is there anything you want me to tell her? I am going over to her place tonight to help her with a paper she is writing.”

“You’re helping her write a paper?” Light asked.

“Well, I am not helping her write it, I am giving her information for it.”

“What kind of information?” Light asked.

“She is writing a paper for her journalism class. It is covering a case I did some years back. She asked me if I could give her some behind-the-scenes information on it. She thought it might impress her professor,” L replied.

“Yes, I am sure that would. An interview with the famous L. He will be highly impressed she was able to just speak with you.” Light responded, slightly agitated. The thought of L being alone with Oki for the night did not sit well with him.

“Was there anything else, Light?” L asked him.

“No, I guess that is all.” Light turned and walked towards the door.

L took another sip of his tea before slowly lowering his cup again. “Call her, Light. She needs to hear your voice.”

Light stopped and turned the handle on the door, “she will not answer her phone.”

“Try again,” L told him taking another sip of his tea and watching as Light walked out the door, closing it behind him.

Once out of the room, Light slowly walked out of the building and paused to look up into the late afternoon sky.

Oki drifted in and out of his thoughts, but she was not there alone, Light also had entertained thoughts of meeting Misa Amane, the imposter Kira from the night before. He was awakened from his daydreams when someone bumped into him as they walked into the building.

“Sorry,” they told Light before walking into the building.

Light watched them walk in then he himself turned to walk thoughtfully toward home. But Light was torn from his thoughts again by his ringing phone.

“Hello...?” Light said in his usual tone of voice.

“Light, I am sorry.”

Light quickly stopped walking as he exclaimed, “Oki! No, you have nothing to be sorry for. I am sorry. I should have never said that. I hurt you and I did not mean to.”

“I am still sorry. I should not have yelled at you and called you a jerk,” Oki told him.

Light smiled and shook his head. “Alright then, if you feel the need to apologize I will forgive you. But, you have to forgive me first.”

Light heard Oki chuckle, “I called you, didn’t I? So I guess that means I forgive you.”

Light laughed, “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

It was quiet for a few seconds. “Can I come see you?” Light asked her.

“I would like that very much,” Oki replied.

“I will be there in five minutes. I am not far away from you.” Light said.

“Ok I will see you in a little while. Bye.”

“Bye...”

---

A few minutes later, Light was standing at Oki’s front door and was about to knock when the door opened.

“Oki...”

The look on Light’s face reminded Oki of a lost child. “Hello Light, Ammy told me you were here,” Oki told him.

Light stood there for a moment just looking at Oki before suddenly taking her into his arms and kissing her.

It was so sudden that Oki had no idea how to react or what to make of it. Her mind didn’t have time to think things through before her body took over. She let out a small scream and pushed Light away.

“Oh, uh… excuse, me…” Light immediately began apologizing. He was so embarrassed that he had let his emotions run away with him like that. He was saved from his stammering when Oki cut him off in mid-sentence.

“No, Light... it’s okay. Just... give me a second,” she said.

Oki’s mind was racing. Her emotions were in such turmoil that she needed a moment to sort through it all.

“Light,” she said. “I know you care for me, and I care for you too, but I’m thinking that this may be too sudden.”

“I know. It was wrong of me. I’ll go.”

“No!” Oki said, “Don’t go. You walked all the way over here, stick around for a bit. I noticed that your mouth was a little dry,” she let out an embarrassed giggle, “you want to come in and get a drink?”

“Yeah... sure,” Light responded sheepishly.

---

When Light entered the apartment he was slightly astonished by what he saw. The interior of Oki’s apartment felt more like the room of a four-year-old than that of a girl in her teens. Looking to his left Light saw the living room. The walls were painted to look like the sky with a bright blue expanse broken up by clouds. Around the room were hung various pictures and posters. Most of them were expected of a teenage girl, like the life-sized poster of Gackt. A dollhouse sat in the corner and books and stuffed animals were lined up and piled on the shelves that hung along the walls. Under the window she had placed a small knee-high table that functioned as her desk. On it sat her cell phone, school books, and her Death Note.

Light then looked to his right where the kitchen was. A partial wall separated it from the living room. A small table for two sat against the wall at the end of the small kitchen area. As he looked around and saw the liberties Oki had taken with the decorating, he saw two other doors at the end of the small hallway – most likely Oki’s bedroom and the restroom.

Oki walked over to the sink in the kitchen and motioned for Light to have a seat at the table. “What would you like to drink?” she asked.

“I’ll just have some water.”

“Do you want any ice?”

“Oh, no thank you.”

She brought over his glass of water along with her own and sat down at the table.

“Light... about what just happened... I know you feel it was inappropriate, but I have to admit that something about it did feel right. I like you a lot and would love to have something more come from our relationship.”

Light’s heart jumped. This certainly wasn’t the response he had expected to get after she pushed him away. This was something different. He liked different.

“You really think that way? With as much as you and L have been hanging out recently I was beginning to get the opinion that you were better friends with him than with me.”

“Well,” she began, “L is a bit pushy.” They both laughed “I spend more time with him, but that doesn’t mean I like him more. Honestly,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “I think he’s creepy.”

They both got a good laugh out of that, it was true that L emanated a slightly creepy vibe. The manner in which he carried himself, the way he continually just showed up out of seeming coincidence, and even the way he dressed. They all conspired to make Oki feel uneasy when she was around him and even made Light nervous.

Light was the first to recover from his laughter, “yeah, I think so too. It feels like he’s some sort of stalker. I’m relieved to hear that you don’t see him in a romantic way. It really had me worried. So, what then is our next course of action? Where do we go from here?”

Oki thought about that for a minute before she responded. “I’d be fine with casually dating. Let’s just see how it goes.”

That was about as good as Light had hoped for, for the time being anyway, so he gladly agreed. The next few hours were spent chatting around Oki’s little table and it was the best time either of them had had in days.

---

After those few days spent recovering, Oki returned to school. But she neither saw nor heard from Light, which left Oki slightly confused. However, she knew it had to be the Kira case keeping him away, because she had not seen or heard from L either.

Walking home from school, Oki smiled happily at the thought of having Light by her side in her last few months of her life. She only emerged from her dreaming when her phone chimed in her jacket.

“Hello,” Oki answered, sounding excited to be hearing Light’s voice again. Light chuckled slightly at the thought causing Oki to ask. “Is there something funny?”

“Nothing, really. You just sound excited,” Light told her.

“Well I guess I am a little. I have not heard from you,” Oki replied.

“Yeah I know. Sorry about that. Things have been a little crazy around here,” Light said.

“I am sure it is the Kira case that has been crazy. I have not heard from L either,” Oki said.

Light laughed under his breath. “Well, that’s a good thing right?”

Oki giggled too, “Yeah, I guess it is,” she replied.

“Oki?”

“Yes.”

“I need to talk to you about a few things and if all possible I want to do that as soon as I can,” Light told her.

“About what?” Oki asked him.

Light paused as Oki heard voices in the background, one of them being L’s. “Now is not a good time. Maybe tonight… At your place? Say seven?”

“That sounds good; I can make you dinner,” Oki said.

“I would like that.”

“Ok then, I will see you at seven.” Oki heard L call out to Light as Light sighed.

“Bye Oki.”

The tone in Lights voice sounded as if he did not want to hang up on her, but knew he had to, now that L was waiting for him.

“Bye, Light,” Oki managed to say before she heard him hang up.