Chapter Text
After yet another stifling day, Light Yagami was back home.
It wasn't like him, but he had suggested that all members of the Task Force should take some time away from the office to rest. It had been a long time since an opportunity like this had presented itself, and everyone was exhausted from the investigation. This sudden initiative raised some questions at first, but the idea was generally well accepted. Matsuda even launched into a tirade about Light reuniting with Misa and spending some "quality time" together after they went their separate ways in the United States, which made Aizawa roll his eyes in irritation. A sentiment he and Light both shared, but not for the same reasons.
Ever since he had officially joined the police, he felt like his life had become nothing but trouble. First, Sayu was kidnapped; his little sister, his own flesh and blood, one of the only people he actually cared about, being targeted by the mafia. She was now doomed to live with trauma for the rest of her life, while she was still so young, and deserved protection and happiness; not this.
Learning about L's successors five long, peaceful years after his death was unexpected to say the least. He had spent all this time working in secret, building a new world without criminals and opponents, only to realize there were actually not one, but two people (and their respective teams) conducting research on the case and being somehow related to L. It felt like a bad joke. L was no more, and he knew no one was on his level, so why bother with inferior people who idolized a dead man? It sounded entertaining at first, but he came to the conclusion that Near and Mello were nothing like L; he just found them more annoying, and incredibly pretentious. They definitely had to be executed, sooner or later. How dared they oppose Kira, whose power had even been recognized by the American government?
Not long afterwards, his father died. Pretty much the only man he knew who was worthy of respect. Kira's own family – his honorable, goodhearted, honest family – was falling apart because of criminals. Soichiro was gone because of Mello's goons, while fighting for justice. Mello should've died, not him. It was unacceptable.
Then Aizawa and Mogi started to suspect him, after Near's quick deductions, which is something he had expected at some point, but still caused him a great deal of exasperation. And now, he had to play pretend with Takada, someone he absolutely did not need in his personal life; she was just a tool that'd help him bring his projects to fruition. As if it weren't enough to deal with Misa on the daily, now another woman was in his way. He couldn't wait until all those obstacles finally disappeared.
And there she was again.
"Light!! You're finally back! I missed you so much!" Misa blurted out, while throwing herself into his arms.
Light would have hoped she'd spend more time in the USA before coming back to Japan, but alas. He didn't understand how she could miss him, as it hadn't been that long since they last saw each other; according to him, at least. He didn't care about her feelings, anyway.
"Misa.", he answered coldly, reluctantly putting a hand on her shoulder.
Living with her for five years hadn't made him more sympathetic towards her; if anything, he wanted to get rid of her as fast as possible. But she was still useful, and killing her would've made him look suspicious. Misa also paid close attention to how Light behaved around her. She was used to his personality: he wasn't known for being someone who showed a lot of emotions, but sometimes, it was too much for her, and she'd eventually throw tantrums about it. This explained why he often feigned friendliness and love, when all he needed was to dispose of her; he couldn't stand getting in fights with her. He found women exhausting to be around in general, and wished he'd never been in a relationship with her in the first place.
"How was work? Please tell me about it! It was boring without you, you know?", she asked merrily, thankfully not aware of his thoughts.
I'm absolutely not bored without you, he thought to himself.
"I can't talk about the investigation in detail, but it's going well", he finally responded.
Misa sighed in relief; the only thing she needed was to know all was well. In exchange, she proceeded to tell him about her adventures in the United States: she had mostly spent time with Mogi, and seemed happy about it. They had been shopping together, and Mogi even cooked for her. Light silently nodded at every anecdote, of which he was already aware, but was not in the slightest bit interested. Enough small talk; there was actually something he needed to do. Something that was most definitely welcome after another boring day. Something that would be the real reason why he suggested some time off.
"Tell me, Misa. Could you lend me one of your spare phones? Mine ran out of battery, and I need to make an important call right now." Misa always had a few cell phones, which were very resourceful in her line of work, but also to Light, who had already been using them back when L was still alive.
The actress's eyes widened. "Huh? Wow, you're still working, and it's so late... But alright! I could never say no to my dear Light, you know? They're in the drawer in the living room!", she exclaimed cheerfully, while pointing in the right direction.
"Thank you, Misa. Your help is very valuable. I'll be back," Light said, already turning away from her.
"Alright, I'm going to shower then! When I'm back, I'll have something interesting to show you! We have to catch up after all this time!"
Light wasn't even listening to her. There was only one thing on his mind.
***
Lately, things had been a little different. Considering how the investigation had evolved in the past weeks, neither Light nor Misa could act as Kira anymore. Suspicions had grown within the Task Force after Near made them believe Mogi died of a heart attack, and they both needed to seem as innocent as possible. Therefore, Misa had to abandon ownership of the Death Note, and Light needed to find a worthy successor. Someone smart. Someone loyal. Someone with a strong sense of justice. Someone who would never disobey him.
For this specific role, Teru Mikami had proven himself to be the perfect candidate.
But Light couldn't afford to be in direct contact with him, as it'd put both of them in danger. They needed a messenger, which is why Takada had come into the picture: she acted as an intermediary between the two. This was indubitably the safest way to act, but it prevented them from communicating directly and slowed things down, while it would've proven useful in certain cases.
However, with one of Misa's phones, Light could contact him: she was no longer a suspect, and as an idol, she would make a lot of phone calls anyway. Which is exactly what he needed to do at the moment. Despite having seen him on TV, he still felt the need to meet his disciple and introduce himself as God in-person. He would call him on the number he used to contact Takada, and arrange a meeting. Light would dispose of him if he said no; in this case, it would mean Mikami didn't trust him, and Kira could definitely not burden themselves with a distrustful successor. Didn't believers dream of meeting their God, anyway?
Light purposefully moved to the office; from the bathroom, Misa would not hear anything. He typed the number on one of her numerous pink flip phones, and hit "Dial". It was pretty late already, but he knew Mikami was executing people at night, since he was busy at work the rest of the day.
"Hello?", he answered almost immediately. Light recognized his voice, which made things easier.
"This is your God speaking."
God! It really is you. Just as he heard Light's voice, Mikami felt his heart racing, but he was skeptical nonetheless: it was already pretty late, and mostly, he wasn't using Takada. Why the sudden change?
"... Pardon me, but why are you calling me directly? Isn't this dangerous for you?", he asked, genuinely concerned.
"No. I can guarantee this phone won't be tapped. Besides, I wanted to talk to you without having a messenger in the way", Light explained.
"This is about Takada, correct? Have I not made the right choice? Is she not worthy of you, God?" Mikami questioned calmly, while opening the notebook. Besides criminals, he was ready to eliminate anyone who disagreed with Kira, or disloyal people.
Light heard him flipping a page in anticipation, which was almost flattering, but this was way too soon to kill Takada. "This is not what I meant. I'd like to meet you in-person."
What was the meaning of all this? Of course, he couldn't say he wasn't honored; however, he couldn't help but wondering what was going on. His God, usually keeping His distances out of safety, going out of His way just to meet him. Surely, something important was at stake, otherwise He wouldn't have been doing this.
But he could not allow himself to express any doubts: what God said was absolute, and his only choice was to agree with the proposition. God had granted him His divine power, and it was only natural to obey Him.
"I would be grateful for such an opportunity. May I only ask when, and where?"
"Tonight. As soon as possible. I'm going to book a hotel room and send you the coordinates and the room number. When you've received my message and memorized it, delete it", Light dictated slowly.
This was definitely important. Of course, Kira could not show Himself as such in public; it would've been too risky. But a hotel room? To discuss things privately? How could he refuse? Being granted such a privilege felt like a miracle, no matter what would eventually happen to him.
"Duly noted. Do you need anything else?", the prosecutor asked, having the Death Note in mind.
Light immediately understood what he was referring to. There was no need – the meeting was not going to be about that. "No. Nothing more than your presence."
"Very well. Thank you for your time, God. I'm looking forward to meeting you."
He's incredibly docile. Good, Light thought to himself, before hanging up. It was a first for him too, since he had never met a worshipper before. A worthy one, that is. Misa and Takada definitely admired him, but he felt like their dedication was shallow. They were mostly physically attracted to him, and sought approval and love, the latter of which Light couldn't care less about. Women were the least of his worries, but he knew he was a ladykiller, and used it to his advantage. They were easy to manipulate, but he still didn't like dealing with them. Knowing he was attractive definitely boosted his ego (as if he'd needed that), but to him, there was something frustrating about being told by the wrong people. It wasn't like he had ever met someone who would've been good enough, anyway.
Mikami's devotion, however, was infinite and unadulterated. It wasn't based on looks or on social status; it was based on an ideal they both shared. The only thing that mattered to them was justice. Despite their hard work, there were still too many criminals in this world. Therefore, they had to join forces and fight harder in order to defeat their enemies. It was one of the reasons why Light wanted to meet him at the earliest opportunity.
"I'm back already!" Of course, Misa had to interrupt his train of thought.
"Damn it, Misa, I was thinking!", he barked in surprise. "And what are you even..."
He stared at her, completely unaffected by what he was looking at. She was wearing a black, lacy lingerie ensemble with garters. "What do you think?", she asked, with a huge grin on her face.
Speak about shallow. She was always trying to catch his attention, which exasperated him. Not to mention the purpose of all this: she was obviously looking for sex, which was something that rarely even happened in their relationship. No matter what he thought about her, Light couldn't deny the fact that Misa was a fairly beautiful young woman, and a lot of men would've begged to be in his shoes, even for one day, but he couldn't be arsed to pleasure her in bed. In fact, even when he was on the receiving end, it was difficult; getting in the right mood was almost impossible. He always had something else in mind, whether the investigation or his plans as Kira. Misa told herself that he just might not like sex at all, but she was always searching for new ideas, hoping something would eventually turn him on. Evidently, sexy underwear weren't working either; she had tried different colors, different shapes, different accessories, but he didn't seem to care.
And he did not.
Someone else was going to be waiting for him, anyway.
"Misa, my love." He was lying through his teeth, like he always did to her. "I'm sorry, but I need to go. Something happened at work."
"What?! You're always busy, and I barely came back from America! I just wanted to spend time with you and to make you relax...", Misa pouted, downhearted.
"I'll be back tonight, I promise. Thank you for your consideration." He gave her forehead a kiss, hoping it would calm her down.
Of course, she couldn't resist him. Light wasn't very affectionate, and she knew it; those small gestures were rare, and they never failed to make her flustered. In fact, he willfully did not show her love (or at least, what seemed like it) except in a few chosen moments; that'd obviously make things easier when he needed to manipulate her. And it worked every time. She was feeling a lot better already, despite being a little disappointed.
"Okay, Light, come back soon! Love you!", she exclaimed, while waving at him.
Except for the fact that coming back as soon as possible wasn't in his plans.