if it's the last thing i do.

   The scream sounded pitifully agonized, even to his own ears. It seemed to hang in the static air for several moments after the sound had died in his throat, leaving his vocal chords raw and stinging with each strained breath. He hadn’t even noticed he had fallen to his knees until he realized how close the view of the concrete was through the glaze of tears.

               can’t bring them back can’t bring them back can’t bring them back ────

    Tears continued to hit the mangled ground, but he uttered a soft, breathless chuckle despite the circumstances.❝Meant a lot to me…? I guess she did, b-but I used her, anyway.❞ His gaze lifted toward Akise, shivering teary irises settling on the boy standing above him. His lip quivered, realizing how pathetic he must have looked in the other’s eyes.  

❝Are you going to kill me now?❞ His fingers trembled around the diary clutched tightly in his hand. How despicable it was that even now, even after all of the people he had killed, he was still afraid to die.

         ❝I guess it’s alright…❞ He chuckled bitterly. ❝The only reason I’m still alive is because I took advantage of her feelings, and now she’s..she’s….❞

       Akise lowered himself to look Yuki in the eyes, gentling putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder, lightly as if afraid he’d shatter under his fingers like a stature of glass despite the urge to just shake some sense into him . The boy was a wreck, and the tears in Yuki’s eyes did nothing to assuage Akise’s growing guilt. He had known Yuki would hardly take the news well, but somehow in all his meticulous planning he’d managed to overlook this breakdown. They had to keep going if Yuki was going to be safe; lingering was suicide in a game like this.  

      Took advantage of her feelings... he’d known from the beginning that Yuki’s relationship with Yuno was a spiral of codependency and hopelessly toxic, but that was on Yuno’s shoulders, wasn’t it? All her scheming and lies, the skeletons in the garden? Everything from the very beginning. And yet Yuki had given his love to her, when Akise would have always told him the truth. It stung more than he liked to admit.

       “You’re really so naive to think she wasn’t using you to win the game for herself?” he said, the words tinged with bitterness. This wasn’t going as he had planned at all. Not that he’d expected to carry Yuki off into the sunset, of course, but it was becoming clear that the shadow Yuno left behind would always preclude their happiness. “Your devotion really is admirable.” 

Light looked up from his notes, case studies and graphs he’d compiled all to appease L. It seemed like all that man did was give him busy work these days, trying to throw him off, most likely. Irritating. The words and percentages were still flowing in his mind, his concentration wavering as the young man addressed him. 

Amber oculars glanced over the boy’s form for a moment, sizing him up. It felt odd for an outsider to be invited here so casually, and Light merely took it as another little test from L. He’d have to be on his guard once more. For now, a polite smile and cordial voice would have to suffice. 

“That’s correct. Yagami Light, it’s nice to meet you.” He blinked, offering a hand out to shake. “My father and I have been working closely with Ryuzaki for a while now. Forgive me, but I wasn’t aware one of the other investigators had a son…?”

Not like I pay much attention to anyone else.

   Akise smiled at him politely, bowing his head slightly for a moment.  He shook Light’s outstretched hand as he looked back up, trying to read the older student’s expression. It seemed that the Kira task force didn't receive visitors very often; understandably, of course, given the nature of the investigation. His father had been reluctant to even let him in the building. Though Aru was on a first name basis with most of the officers here after years of playing detective and had established a reputation as being sharper than his age would suggest, this would probably be a one time deal.  

                   “Akise Aru, at your service.”  

     From the information he’d obtained hacking into case files, the families of the police  were all suspected of being Kira. It was a long shot, to be sure; Light seemed perfectly sane and pleasant, not at all a murderous egomaniac. Yet the thought he could be looking into the eyes of a serial killer at this very moment was enough to send shivers down his spine.

heY FRIEND WELCOME BACK!!<3

WELCOME B ACK

WE MISSED UUUUU