Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Against the cold wind, my dreams swept me up again.

Why? Why do I never meet their expectations?

Why- even if I try so hard…

Even if it almost killed me-

Did they not care?

So much that they would choose someone over me, again and again?

Why am I always not good enough? I screamed.

Just once! Once!

I saw shackles on my ankles as I tried to run away from the monster that was chasing me.

I was desperate.

Please...Please…

Someone-

Someone help me!

"-yu! Sayu! Wake up!" I heard a voice before my eyes cracked open in pain. "Sayu? Sayu, stay awake!"

I clutched onto whoever the voice belonged to, whimpering before feeling a familiar warmth around me. A fuzzy colour of brown entered my vision before feeling the icy coldness of my own breath. My head was pounding, really badly.

"Why...am I always not...good...enough?"

"Hah...ha…" A dry chortle came out with the remaining energy still in my body. It felt like a black hole in the darkness constantly sucking out my energy.

"Why...am..I…" tears gathered at the corner of my eyes despite their strange dryness. I let out another trembling breath.

"Why am I always alone?"

I felt the person carrying me stiffen.

"I don't…" I trailed off as my eyes started to droop.

"Sayu? Sayu, we're almost there." The voice reassured me warmly.

"I don't want to be alone anymore…" I murmured before falling deeper into the abyss.

"I won't let you," I heard the male's voice growl out as if he was going to fight the whole world for my cause. "I will never let you go."

I woke up to a tired voice outside my room.

"-Why would you send Sayu out at night to find me?"

...Light's back?

"But Light, I was so worried for you- so was Sayu!" Mom's voice ran out behind my door.

"Sayu would have never done something so reckless, mom." I heard a sigh of exasperation from Light's tone. I could tell that Light was trying to hold back his words.

"Is it my fault that she chose to fall asleep in the park?!" My mom bit out.

Youch.

"I was just so worried for you, Light!"

"Mom," I heard a long pause as Light's voice hardened. "Sayu is also your child."

"I'm sorry, it's just that, with your father gone- and then you disappeared-"

"Mom."

The voices fell silent.

"I- I'm really sorry, it was in the heat of the moment…" Her voice trailed out feebly.

"Is...is she okay?" She asked quietly.

Hah! Hypocrite to the max! I have never seen someone so hypocritical!

"She went into a mild hypothermia state," Light answered coldly before I heard my mom's voice sob out.

"I'm sorry, I really am- I just-"

"Mom, please take care of Sayu more. She's your daughter. What's more, she's my sister."

My door opened as Light stepped into the room, gaze flickering to me before shutting my mom's cries outside the door. Ryuk floated in with him, greeting me with a chuckle.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"A bit woozy," I smiled ruefully up at him. "I don't really remember anything that happened after I fell asleep. Must have been one of the symptoms for hypothermia."

"That's normal," Light thinly replied before walking over to me with his long legs and sat on my bed.

"You- er...knew that I wouldn't have gone out to find you?" I worded out shamefully with hot cheeks and pulled up the blankets to cover them.

"I have the Death Note," he turned away from my face. "I know you wouldn't have gone out for me."

Something in the air felt sombre, yet it was the truth.

"Girly, you should thank me for spotting you in the dark." Ryuk came closer to me, staring at me with his crooked teeth. "Few minutes late and you probably would have died."

"You're exaggerating," I scoffed. "Humans aren't that weak."

"But to us you are," Ryuk added before floating back into the walls. "Light, you owe me an apple for this."

And he was gone.

"I...thank you," I lowered my covers and stared at Light. "Sorry for being in so much trouble all the time."

Light twitched his lips before facing me again, his eyes full with consuming amusement.

"Always in my debt, aren't you?"

"To be honest the problem stemmed from you," I pouted at his words. "Had you at least turned on your phone I wouldn't have been kicked out to find you."

"I admit that was partially my problem, but I couldn't control the battery." He leaned back and plopped down on my blankets, just enough to lay his head on my covered lap.

"You…" I glanced at the clock on my table, realizing that it was morning.

February 28th.

It was his birthday.

Realization flickered across as I peered into his face.

"What?" Light stared back at me before exhaling calmly and closing his eyes. I could see dark circles under his eyes, knowing that he also didn't sleep these two days.

"Light," I called out to him coyly as my heart pounded. His eyelids fluttered open before widening at my lips on his. I sucked gently before pulling away, blinking softly at him.

"Happy birthday."

Dad had come home for Light's birthday.

It had been such a while that mom almost burst out sobbing again, clinging to him like he was her lifeline.

"Dad, how have you been doing?" I greeted him with a hug and a peck on his cheek before we all sat down around the feast of food prepared for Light's birthday.

"The case has been stalling. L has leads but doesn't have enough evidence against who Kira is." Soichiro rubbed the bridge of his nose before sighing in frustration.

"I've never heard of L having such a hard time on the case." He started massaging his bloodshot eyes.

"No, dad, I meant, how are you fairing with your body, not the Kira case." I awkwardly bit out as mom helped him massage his shoulders as she gestured us to go ahead and dig in.

"Oh," dad seemed baffled by my question before sputtering out, "I've been fine."

"You don't look at your top condition," I eyed his greasy hair and unshaven face. Light chuckled at my words before shaking his head.

"I agree with Sayu, dad. You need to take a long shower after this," Light bit into his food as the corner of Soichiro's eye darted with a bit of suspicion before completely erasing it away.

"I will, son." Dad murmured, "Happy Birthday, Light. You know I'm always proud to have you as my son."

The words came out almost too forced that Light's jaw tensed.

"Thank you, dad. I am also happy that you are my father." Light smiled pleasantly before distracting everyone with an offer of pasta.

The whole time my eyes darted sneakily between Light and his dad, helping myself to another serving of chicken before gulping it down with stiffness. Had the anime period gone by like this too?

One could obviously tell that Soichiro was beginning to cave into L's suspicion, but it hadn't even been halftime where they met yet. No wonder Light was a bit hostile when his father died. He moved on waaay too quickly for a normal person.

"Light, when is your first day of university?" I broke the awkward silence and looked towards Light.

"I still don't know if I would be accepted, Sayu. But if I do, that would be around April." He shrugged before stuffing in a bite of vegetables.

"I call for Light being the top student!" I raised my hand as if we were bidding. Mom laughed at my silliness, taking away our main dish and placing the cake before us. It was a black forest triple-layered cake, where the cherries were placed so beautifully that one couldn't even tell it was homemade.

Mom had really outdone herself today.

"By the way, Light, did you see anyone strange during your examination?" I teased before reaching out for a piece of Light's birthday, only to be stopped by my mom with a stern but playful expression.

"Birthday boy gets a piece first," Mom wagged her finger at me before I pouted childishly.

"It's okay mom," Light chuckled before mom murmured about spoiling me too much. I got the first slice from Light willingly. Nobody likes sweets as much as I do.

Well, except L.

Hey you know, if I were to get into his place I bet I could have a whole all-you-can-eat buffet of sweets. Maybe I'll have L as my sweets buddy!

But then again, how the hell is he not fat by eating so much?!

"I did see someone who caught my eye," Light answered my question after I took a bite into the blissfully tasty cake. "He seemed a bit eccentric and was staring at me the whole exam."

I felt dad stiffen at the mention, Light catching onto his father's small movement immediately.

"Dad? Do you know him or something?" Light asked innocently as Soichiro cleared his throat.

"I'm not sure, what did he look like?"

"Black hair, dark circles under his eyes, and sat in a really weird crouching position when writing." Light summarized. Soichiro's eyes literally popped out before he contained his expression.

Yes, that's panda L exactly.

"I think I am acquainted with him," dad nodded stiffly.

I leaned over to Light and said with a teasing tone.

"I bet that's the guy dad works for. What's his name again? L?" The smile on my face spread wider as a dangerous flash flew through his eyes, spinning the gears in his mind 24 km/hour.

"Everything literally points to him," I snickered, knowing that I'd change the plotline by doing this. But Light's stiff and frozen expression was so funny that my mouth had to blabber on.

"L is struggling since he lacks evidence? That probably means he already narrowed down to a small range of suspects. Then dad flinches at the mention of his name? Sounds like Mr. Detective over here might try to get closer with his primary suspect."

Dad coughed as I leaned back, Soichiro eyeing me suspiciously at my whispers.

"What were you guys talking about?" Dad's voice came out colder than I imagined, momentarily stunning me.

"Sayu was just ranting how a guy caught my eye instead of a girl," Light rolled his eyes and covered for my speechless state, instantly snapping me back to earth.

"Sayu, Light needs to focus on his studies." Dad's eyes crinkled and pronounced a long sigh of relief.

"But it's true!" I added to Light's cover-up. "Look at my brother! Gorgeous, studious, serious...he's perfect! Yet he's oogling at a male who looks like he hadn't slept in months!"

I literally jabbed my finger at Light as he coughed bashfully, staring at me with wide eyes. Only except the emotion in his eyes was so rehearsed that I knew it was fake.

Well Light, I hope that gives you some time to think about the future and how to reply to L's surprise attack.

Time rolled by so quickly when you were under stress and trying to cram countless courses into your already busy time schedule.

It was March 28, around 5:35 pm when I received a phone call from Miyara. At first, I was confused, not remembering why in the world would she call me, but the moment I picked it up, my pencil fell from my study desk onto the ground.

"Hello?" The man's voice echoed out.

"Mr. Shinori?" I almost gasped out before remembering what I had ordered Miyara to do just months ago.

"How are you, Mr. Shinori?" I bullshitted my way into the conversation before trying to remember what my purpose of calling him was for.

Oh right, my experiments.

"I'm good, thank you." The man's voice scoffed from the other end before falling into silence. He probably doesn't even know why he's at the cafe.

"Shinori," I instantly switched to a more commanding voice before continuing. "Who is in your family?"

There was no hesitation as he answered, making me smile slightly before I bent down and picked up my pencil.

"Do you have a basement?"

Shinori answered positively.

"Good, now, today night, you will call your wife and daughter into the basement. Knock them both out and tie them onto chairs. Leave them for the night. Tomorrow, you will prepare knives of all different sizes. Finish your work as usual and wait for me to come to your house."

"Okay," Shinori's voice came out strongly from the other side before we bid each other a pleasant night and I ended the call. I was not prepared to do the experiment this soon. I sighed before rubbing my temples.

Oh gosh, I better finish today's work and tomorrow's.