“Are you awake yet?”

She wouldn’t be able to see him because of the blindfold, but she should be able to hear his voice and the sound of his footsteps down the stairs, the sound of something being dragged across the floor, the barely audible click as he turned on the light. She was completely naked, bound with rope and completely at his mercy. 

He dropped whatever he was dragging with a soft bang, and a few moments later, the blindfold was removed. “Konnichiwa!” He smirked, a derisive snicker slipping from his lips. “I swear, all you goddamn foreigners are ruining this country. You think you can just come here and have a good time, a vacation, when I spent twenty-three years and eight and a half months fighting for my country?” His tone was just as angry as a washed-up old man, but a moment later he was laughing, the sound almost childish. 

yagami light has been, so far, someone nana has enjoyed spending time with. he’s polite, he’s mature, and he’s focused. if anyone is going to produce results, it’s going to be him. so the fact that he entertains her at all seems like a blessing, and his tolerance of their budding companionship almost a miracle. men like light don’t spend time with women like nana.

swallows as she studies the wrapping around the bento she’s prepared him. i hope he likes salmon. is that a stupid thought? everyone likes salmon, she assures herself. fixes her hair, opting to leave it down because once he had mentioned that it looked good on her, and the flush returns to her cheeks. but this is just yagami light … he’s the son of yagami sachiko, a woman that her mother has known, and has smiled kindly at nana. a family she’s tailored suits and dresses for every occasion, and finally —— light’s orientation to college. he looked handsome, she recalls, the day he graduated.

❝ yagami-kun, ❞ she says, offering her best smile. nana is ignoring prying eyes the best she can, looking far more comfortable than she’s actually feeling. ❝ it’s no trouble at all! it’s important for you to keep at your best. i…have to admit you looked a little more tired than usual when we last saw each other.

  oh! actually, that reminds me! here —— i brought you this, too. ❞

extends out a canned coffee, the most natural she could find. the few time she’s seen him eat or drink anything, it’s never been more than what’s just enough. her thighs press together subconsciously, attempting to make herself thinner in front of his lithe figure. i must look so stupid right now. what am i doing? bringing him lunch everyday. is that too much?

❝ what are you studying today, mister smart guy? hm? ❞ speaks in jest before she peers over to get a glance at his textbook, then leaning back to give him his privacy. ❝ it’s pretty incredible, you know? being that bright. that takes a lot of hard work. i admire that about you. ❞

If he wasn’t so frustrated, if he wasn’t focused solely on the development of the new world, he might have found her nervous little mannerisms like swallowing and adjusting her hair endearing, but now, she just seemed like someone easy to read, someone easy and ordinary, someone beneath him. Weren’t all gods lonely, since no one was capable of understanding them? 

But he knew the role he was playing. A smile as he leaned back, trying to give the impression that he was relaxing around her, moving aside his bag so he could sit beside him even though these benches were likely intended solely for student use. 

...Tired? How had she noticed that? Had Ryuga picked up on that as well? For just a fraction of a moment, the corner of his eye twitched as the paranoia crept up, but he quickly shoved it aside. “I’ve just been staying up late studying,” he lied, his smile softening a bit further at the coffee. Thoughtful, he noticed without even meaning to. 

But Nana wasn’t so bad. She was a woman who knew her place, a woman who would make for an ideal wife. “That’s very kind of you,” he said, accepting the gifts gracefully. “I appreciate you looking out for me so much, Adachi-san.” He’d noticed women liked it when you called them by name, liked it when you made them feel valued. They were all the same, try as they might to seem special. 

Damn him. Damn him, damn him, damn him. It wasn’t enough that he’d made a shame of him at orientation; he just had to go and keep talking to him in school. As if Light wanted to be seen with a freak like him in public. It was bad enough that they’d had that tennis match, but the more they spoke at To-Oh, the more people stared. Not in the good way, the way they stared in envy or admiration back in high school; no, it was like they were trying to see what the hell happened next, like Light was a character in one of those atrocious anime they watched instead of studying like good productive members of society. 

But all he could do was act normal. That was the plan, after all. Always act in a way that made people less suspicious of him, until, finally, the will of Kira would be recognized as the supreme law it was. 

And the role of being covert required keeping his grades perfect. He did his best to ignore the stares of the people, focusing on trying to get as much homework done before it was time to go to his next class, but then--

Being as underweight as she was, it was pretty hard to find clothes that matched her style in stores, so, naturally, Misa was used to having her clothes custom-made, and, even more naturally, she was prone to striking up a friendship with her tailors. After all, she was something of a social butterfly; making people smile was her job!

Still, she was one to pick favorites, and the seamstress she liked the most was Nana Adachi. She just had such an air about her, something Misa couldn’t exactly name but almost reminded her of herself. She was nice to talk to, and the clothes she made her were to die for! She understood her fashion sense perfectly, sometimes even making suggestions Misa wouldn’t have thought of. 

Obviously, Light had never made a single poor decision in his life. Everything had been done with the utmost intelligence, and style, and grace, and, frankly, perfection. 

...But this blond hair wasn’t working. While it did bring more attention to his face, it failed to bring out his eyes. He’d considered dying it back to black, but then--

Misa had never been this excited in her life. Light had promised her that, if she left him alone all day, they would go on a real date tonight! Just the thought of a date with him made her feel like she might faint. Every fiber of her being belonged to him, and him alone. She’d do anything for him. Anything at all.

So it only made sense, that she’d spent the entire day trying to look as gorgeous as possible. She’d had to change her clothes multiple times because, time and time again, she’d suddenly be overcome with the feeling that it just wasn’t good enough. But finally, finally she had decided on these clothes, had done her hair and makeup with more care than the best surgeon in Japan, because she had to look good to be worthy of the perfect man, to be someone he could proudly call his girlfriend... Oh, she loved him so much...! 

And finally, finally, it was time. She waited with her heart in her throat, until, finally, finally, there was a knock on the door, and immediately, she swung it open, and, with a loud squeal of his name, she tackled him in a hug...

this wasn’t much of hotaru’s scene when it came to the topic of ⋆ ˚｡⋆♡ romance ♡⋆｡˚ ⋆.

in her mind, finding true love would come in a more star-crossed, heavily-unrealistic and soul-fated fashion. you know, like the kind of thing that exists solely in fiction and hollywood films, where the universe was literally written to bring you and your soulmate together.

this time is a one-off exception and only for the sake of confirming she had tried this route at least once (and because her friend asked fairly incessantly).

now that she was here, she honestly couldn’t say she’s all that mad, this guy looked pretty cool! she wouldn’t get ahead of herself.

    “kimura hotaru, it’s nice to meet you,” nods in a polite hello, “um, how are you doing tonight? did you want to order something?” uck, boring, terrible starter. she’d get him in the second round, she just needed a second to think –

While his expression was perfectly friendly, perfectly charming, perfectly perfect, Light was carefully sizing her up. He’d never cared for unnatural hair colors, but aside from the red hair, she was... passable. He certainly could have been paired with much worse, that was certain. And she seemed polite, docile, a girl that knew her place in society. Those were the kind of girls Light preferred. 

“I’m doing well. How are you?” Polite. Not too forward yet. But then she went and gave him the perfect opportunity to flirt, and he just had to take it. Part of being perfect was being charming, after all. 

this was terrible. matsuda had been swinging from the idea of totally isolating himself andhaving to protect the people. being the ultimate rookie didn’t really help him gain much of people’s confidence during this time. despite it all, he was still trying to meet with people - actively seeking out those that might slip between the cracks as easily as himself.

when approached he had been coming from one such private meeting that had gone sour quickly (and here he thought megane-types were supposed to be mature), turning with initial confusion at a greeting from the sayaka maizono.

    “…me??” she had said ‘matsuda,’ hadn’t she?“yes, absolutely!! I mean,” clears his throat, face tinting from his own zeal, “sure, that sounds fine. is everything okay?”

even if it wasn’t he couldn’t help himself, a smile spreading from ear-to-ear in anticipation of spending quality time with an idol - and one he had heard before to-boot!

His overt zeal actually made her feel much better, a giggle like the tinkling of bells spilling from her lips. “Yes, you, silly!” Her smile was as warm and radiant as it was in all of her photoshoots, everything about her picture perfect even in this predicament.

At least, until he asked that. “…Ah.” Her smile wilted. “Well… This situation definitely isn’t ideal…” A momentary look of panic entered her eyes and she unconsciously drew her hands over herself in some semblance of a hug. Why was this happening to them…?

Ah. She abruptly came back into herself, forcing a smile. “But I’m sure we’ll be rescued soon!” She sounded like she was trying to convince both Matsuda and herself.

God, this dude wanted in Todd’s pants so bad it was almost scary. Lucky for him, Todd was a very generous guy, someone who really believed that sharing was caring. “Not really. I spend most of my time in bed. Other people’s beds, that is.” A smirk. “Maybe I could get in yours sometime, hm?”

He was so fucking sick of this shit. School was exhausting and work was beyond frustrating. He didn’t care about any of it. It took an ungodly amount of self-restraint to keep from shattering a wine glass and stabbing all the customers that treated him like he was subhuman just because he was paid to take their orders.

At least there was still that bitch from the club locked in his basement to take his anger out on. All he had to do was get back home. When he got to his own abandoned neighborhood, he started to speed like he always did since it wasn’t like there was anyone here anyway--

Bump. Fuck. 

He peeked in the mirror, seeing the crumpled form of what had to be a person. God fucking damn it. He couldn’t afford for them to press charges, so he had no choice but to kill them. 

Sangwoo knew he should be more wary of dashcams, but he’d had quite a few victims who’d probably been caught on them before and nothing had ever been tied to him yet. He put the car in reverse and ran them over again, hoping two hits would be enough to make them lose consciousness. Some vague part of him wondered what the fuck his life was anymore. Bump.

If whoever was doing this had even a little bit of mercy, Sayaka would be locked in here with someone she knew. Someone devoted to her. Someone who would protect her. Someone she knew was of good character, someone she had seen act selflessly.

No one like that was here. Everyone was so strange, so larger than life like the talents they possessed. She’d noticed two people whose gazes lingered on her, two people she assumed actually cared that The Sayaka Maizono was locked into a school with them. Leon’s aura irritated her, which was why she was seeking Matsuda out instead. 

Mello didn’t believe in ghosts. He thought it was stupid that everyone at Wammy’s kept blabbering about how the abandoned old house  on the outskirts of town was haunted. Apparently there’d been a brutal murder there and the spirits of the slain were lingering, vengeful and eager for blood. Apparently, no one who entered during the night had ever returned.

One of the other kids had dared him to go. Mello would never back away from a dare, but more importantly, he had a hunch that he might be able to figure out some kind of information there that would prove once and for all he was a better detective than Near. After all, it wasn’t like Near would have the balls to sneak outside Wammy’s and break into such a dangerous location! Only Mello could be so brave! No one else--

Why was there already an opening in the boards? Had someone else came in just before him? Undaunted, Mello crawled inside, only to see that there was, in fact, another person here. 

Light wasn’t particularly interested in this sort of thing. Dating had never exactly appealed to him; it was just something he did, something normal, another piece in playing the role of Light Yagami, perfect honors student. When his group of friends invited him to try to gōkon, he had no reason to decline.