Chapter Text
I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea
.
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Her first class of the day is canceled.
It’s a last minute cancellation, meaning that she got up for no reason this morning, but it’s not the end of the world, not when she can fall asleep almost anywhere. Most of her classmates don’t seem to share the sentiment, grumbling under their breaths, heaviness around their eyes and mouths.
It sucks, sure, and she doesn’t have time to go back home before her next class, but at least it’s sunny outside and it’s early enough that most benches are free and the cafeteria won’t have a line when she quickly stops in to grab coffee.
It’s so very easy to let her body fall on the bench near the fountain and close her eyes, the sun warm on her skin.
Her mother always tells her she’s too passive, but Nao disagrees. She simply thinks she adapts better than most, that it makes her practical. It’s easier to roll with the punches and life, life certainly likes to throw them.
"Good morning." She doesn’t bother opening her eyes as the words wash over her. She hears the bench squeak at the newly added weight, feels eyes on her. Practical or passive doesn’t really apply here, not when he’s made it his mission to seek her out, seems to always know when and where she is.
It’s not all bad, either. Sure, creepy, not that he’s particularly threatening, but he always comes bearing sweets of some kind, pastries and donuts and one time cupcakes that looked and tasted expensive.
"My class was canceled." She volunteers, finally opening her eyes, has a feeling he already knew, that, unlike her, he was privy to the information hours before. She doesn’t ask how he knew to find her, has a feeling she wouldn’t like the answer. She does lean forward to stare at the box place between them, freshly baked croissants that glisten and are topped with chopped almonds and powdered sugar.
She’d think him sweet, if he wasn’t, well, following her.
“If Nao-san were L, if she knew who Kira was, but lacked proof, what would she do?” To-ho has a beautiful campus, lush trees and fountains, some sort of oasis in the middle of a busy city. She’s pretty sure the scenery is meant to be relaxing, but it’s definitely not right now.
"Is this for one of your class?" She looks up at him then, as she always does when he throws those questions her way. He seeks her out, bribes with pastries, then talks to her about murder cases.
"Something like that." His thumb trails over his lip. He sits crouched, back hunched over his knees. He doesn’t smile, but he’s not, not, smiling either. Obviously, he must find her somewhat interesting if he keeps coming back.
Maybe what her mother says isn’t wrong, maybe she really is too passive for her own good, because here she is, no interest in cases or murder or criminology, too early in the morning to really function properly, sharing breakfast and talking about serial killers.
Adapting is how human survives, how they evolve to survive.
"If I were L, I’d be the greatest detective in the world, right?” She wonders if, in this case, adapting means answering his questions or running away. She goes for the former, reaching for one of the croissants, unfolds a napkin paper on her knees to catch the crumbs. “It shouldn’t matter, that I don’t have proof. People would believe me, because I’m L, no?”
She bites into the pastry, notices it’s filled with almond butter and chocolate and hums, mouth full. There are still flakes and crumbs that fall on her lap, powdered sugar on her fingers and almond pieces on the ground. But the man next to her clearly doesn’t mind, his eyes fixed on the fountain, not on her mess.
"And if you’d already revealed yourself to your suspect?” He asks, instead of acknowledging her previous statement.
"Why would I do that? Doesn’t Kira kill with a name and a face? Sounds like revealing yourself wouldn’t be very smart.” He turns to her then, a flat, displeased look on his face.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Maybe he’s a fan of L? She’s definitely hit a nerve there, but she stands by what she says. Why would you reveal your face to a killer who needs it to kill you?
She shrugs her shoulders, chews, looks up at the sky. It’s clear today, bright and blue. She mulls it over; desperate time, desperate measures.
"Kira is smart and obviously has the means to access confidential information, but not L’s name, right?” He nods, his lips twitching. “And if L revealed himself to Kira, then it’s because he’d have some idea of what Kira’s next move would be, right?”
"And what would be his next move?"
"Am I pretending to be Kira now?" She means for it to be playful, but he shakes his head, like he really isn’t fond of that idea. She blinks a few times, looks at the box of sweets and then at him.
"If I were L, I’d think that Kira would try to infiltrate the case." Even after she’s been subjected to it a few times, it still unsettles her, to have the entirety of his focus on her.
.
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On a surface level, it seems improbable; that Deushi Nao and Yagami Raito are friends.
They share a middle school, but that doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Not when she’s two years his senior and gravitates towards science and, while not unpopular, even well-liked at times, doesn’t care enough about reputations and appearances to spend lots of time socializing with the proper crowd. Unlike Light, a genius in his own right, who simply excels at everything he touches, remains the highest scoring student throughout his three years there and reigns over his classmates with his pretty looks and boyish smiles.
In the year they cross over, they have very few chances of actually interacting, but their mothers – they met at Parent-Teacher conference one night and bond over having work driven husbands, independent, too smart children and a love for soap operas and shopping for ceramic figurines that they never buy –
But their mother are friends, yes, even close ones, but that’s not enough to make them spend enough time together to be called friends, to have a connection that binds them together.
No, it’s quite simple, just not obvious to anyone who doesn’t know them. Nao and Light are friends because Nao used to babysit his sister and, by extension, him.
It’s Nao’s mother’s idea to volunteer her daughter, who is barely fifteen, but way too self-sufficient already, to take care of the youngest of the Yagami children while the patriarch of the family works late nights and their mother has to accompany Light to all his after-school activities.
For three years, Nao babysits Sayu Yagami a few times a week and it’s nice, because Sayu is like the little sister she never had and, on a few occasions, rare moments where neither of the Yagami parents are present, she also babysits her older brother.
"Oh, Nao-chan – it's nice to see you!" She’s not paying attention, at first. She looks up with a blank stare, but then recognizes him and smiles brightly.
He really does seem happy to see her, sweet smile and warm eyes. Raito has always been a very handsome boy, dimples and squishy cheeks and perfect hair, but now eighteen he’s just ridiculously gorgeous to look at.
"It’s nice to see you too.” She means it too, hasn’t him in a few months, figures he’s been busy with graduation and admission exams and life. “Congratulations, by the way. I saw your picture in the school paper.”
She hadn’t been surprised, not really, that he’d been chosen as class representative.
“Thank you. Sayu is going to be jealous I ran into you, she keeps saying she misses you.” Her smile turns sheepish at the mention of his sister, who still calls every other week just to gossip about celebrity drama and to update her on her life.
"I should really go visit, it’s been too long.” It’s not that she’s particularly busy either, which makes it even worst, not that she’ll say that out loud. She can’t admit she’s just too lazy to visit them, pretty sure her mother is dying of shame just as she’s thinking it.
“My last class of the day finishes at three, if you’d like to come tonight?” He smiles, shiny white teeth and charm turned up and she knows that this how he gets people to do everything he asks. “I knew you also attended To-ho, but I had yet to run into you.”
It makes sense, that it took them this long to meet. The science building is an entity of its own, the chemistry wing farther back, all the different, dangerous compounds locked up tight.
"Sure, I'd love to." And she really has to leave now, if she wants to make it to said building in time for her class. “I’ll meet you at the fountain at three, okay?”
She doesn’t wait for an answer, she grins and starts walking fast, once again not paying much attention to her surroundings.
.
.
"Nao-san never told me she knew Light-kun."
“That’s because you never asked.” She tilts her head to the side, amused, at Ryuga’s wide eyes and Light’s questioning gaze.
"You two know each other?"
"Uh-uh." It’s hardly an answer and Light is clearly expecting them to explain, thinks she catches a twitch in his eyebrow when neither of them bother to even properly look at him. Ryuga keeps staring at her, his lips pushing upwards in something close to a smile and she answers it easily.
"Light-kun was just telling me he couldn’t stay for coffee because he had plans." He says it oddly, his name, but she brushes it off as another one of his eccentricities. "But since it's you, I'm sure we could all have coffee together."
He looks, well, pleased. It’s the same look he usually sends her when she’s done something he did not expect, like he is delighted to be caught off guard.
"Sure. If that's okay with Light." Nao's eyes finally move to Raito and she smiles at the younger boy. For a second, his eyes dart back and forth, before he offers her one of his charming smiles and nods his head.
"Of course, no problem."
It’s how she ends up sandwiched between them in the coffee shop near their university, Light to her left and Ryuga to her right. She’s sure they make an odd trio, if the unsubtle glances sent their way are anything to go by.
"So, how do you two know each other?" The boy she used to baby sit asks and his tone is easy-going, curious. Nao sends a look to Ryuga, knowing she won’t be the one to answer.
"Nao-san returned something I lost." He blinks up at Light, thumb resting at the corner of his mouth. "How do you know Nao-San, Light-kun?"
"She used to babysit my little sister."
"And you, sometimes.” She adds with a grin, when he huffs out exasperated and fond. It’s the same reaction he used to have, when Sayu and her would decide to make pancakes for supper.
"I just happened to be there." She rolls her eyes, delighted, and reaches for the steaming of mug of tea that is calling out her name. It’s warm, which helps since she’s always freezing when she comes out of Chem. lab, most of the substances reacting to heat, the air conditioning on blast to keep them under control.
She grabs one of the many packets of sugar from the pile they brought back to the table, and then another and another, and then deciding on a fourth one and then dumping it all in, stirring with those wooden little sticks and taking a sip.
She’s reaching for a fifth packet when she notices they are both being very quiet and looks up.
“Yes?” They are both just staring at her and she raises an eyebrow. Light grimaces, because while he might already know she likes her sweet drinks, that doesn’t mean he endorses them and Ryuga –
It’s the first time he smiles properly at her, not his usual twitching lip. It makes him look, well, human, and, while she’s not sure exactly why he’s smiling, no, beaming, at, she answers it naturally while dumping more sugar in her cup.
"Nao-san did not ask us how we met.” She continues to smile, because it would be improper to say she mostly does not care, at all.
"I figured you were classmates?” Light studies criminology too, she remembers. They probably met in orientation or share a few classes.
"Yes, but we met during the entrance ceremony. Ryuga-san is the one who tied with me.” Uh, Light doesn’t seem bothered by it, sharing first place. She wonders how many times that happened in his life.
But, if she’s completely honest, Nao had forgotten that there’d been two. There had only been one photo when she saw the university’s newspaper and it’s the only one her mother had focused on when her daughter brought a copy home.
"Yes, Light-kun and I always seem to match each other."
There’s a sudden chill in the air as they both smile at each other, but that’s okay, she has her tea to warm her up.