I Know, You Know -CHAP.15--DN-

  When I called Shen, he confirmed exactly what I’d suspected. Sunae Michishio’s ID had most definitely been used at a small convenience store in the Kanan area of the Minamikawachi district in Osaka.

  It was unlikely that the identity thief would still continue to frequent the same store, but it was still a lead and it was definitely worth checking out. And it proved our theory of there being another person involved in this case. So a trip to Osaka was definitely imminent and I had a way to make things a little easier...

  “My family live in the Taishi area,” I explained to L, after I’d recounted everything that Shen had told me. We’d been sat back at the kitchen table discussing this for at least half an hour now. “If it’s the same store I’m thinking of in Kanan, then it’s really not that far to get to. I can stay at my mom’s under the pretence of visiting and use it as a cover to investigate further.”

  I’d already decided that my family couldn’t know anything about the Kasagi killer case. It was a general rule when you had to deal with the bad guys – the less people knew, the safer they were. The possibility of my family ever being in danger due to this case was a very small percentage, but hey, this was me. I always preferred to be safe rather than sorry.

  “You’re doing it again,” said L.

  “Doing what?” I asked, feeling confused.

  “Acting like you’re going to be doing this alone,” L pointed out.

  I felt that same stab of annoyance that he could so often provoke in me. “It’s not like you can really stay with me at my family’s house – how the hell would I explain that one? What are you gonna do; stay in a hotel on your own?”

  “No, I think it’s imperative that we stick together for the time being,” replied L. “It’s been made obvious one too many times already how dangerous this case is. You’re not going on your own.”

  “I don’t need you to protect me,” I said irritably. Why did everybody always feel the need to mollycoddle me? “I can look after myself just fine.”

  “Hmm, let’s see... The last two times you haven’t needed anyone to protect you, you got locked in a building that was then set on fire and you also got yourself cornered by the very killer we’d been chasing.” Was that actually sarcasm I detected? Of course, that only annoyed me further.

  “And I apprehended him,” I pointed out.

  “It was a very close call,” reminded L.

  He had a point, but no way in hell was I admitting that. “Look, you just can’t come with me. If you want to stay in a hotel somewhere in Osaka, then that’s fine, whatever. But you can’t stay at my family’s place.”

  “I fail to see what the problem is here,” said L, annoyingly monotonous as always.

  I sighed in frustration. “I already said that I don’t want my family to know about this case. I don’t want them to know that I’m there to work – only to visit. I can’t take you with me as a colleague and even taking you with me as a friend would look suspicious. I’m too old now to have ‘sleepovers’. If I try it, I’m certain that at least one member of my family will know that something’s going on.”

  There was only one possible way that I could think of working it without arousing any suspicions, but I was determined that hell would freeze over before I suggested it. There’s just one problem with working alongside other detectives though – they can get inside your head.

  “You actually have an idea, don’t you?” said L, as if he could see the cogs turning in my head. “And you’re not going to share it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, trying to sound casual.

  “You’re not a very good liar, Gee. I know you’ve thought of something,” insisted L.

  “I am a good liar,” I argued.

  “That’s not the issue here. Don’t change the subject.”

  “Oh, now you know what it feels like for a change!”

  I’d blurted it out without quite realising what I was saying. Oops. This was not a road I wanted to go down. L only ever changed the subject if things were starting to get a little too personal. And now I’d pretty much just admitted how much that had always bothered me. Dammit.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  Crap. “Nothing. Forget it,” I said quickly, hoping he’d drop it.

  I wasn’t going to be that lucky. “If you have something to say, then perhaps you should say it,” said L. He seemed impassive as ever, but I was starting to hear the hint of authority in his voice.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I insisted. At least if I could keep this up, he’d hopefully forget why we’d began arguing in the first place.

  But then this was L we were talking about – he knew exactly how my mind worked. Once again, it was like he’d seen that little light bulb appear above my head. “Well, then tell me your idea. I know you thought of something.”

  “No way,” I said stubbornly, knowing there was no point in denying it any longer. But stubborn I could still do. Hell hadn’t frozen over just yet.

  “Gee...” said L in the most warning tone I’d ever heard him use. It kinda made my heart flip. Crap. I think hell had just frozen over.

  And as much as I hated to admit it, I knew then that I would end up telling him my idea. He clearly had enough influence over me to make me do so, damn him. And the longer I refused to tell him, the more embarrassing it would be when I did eventually have to explain... Jesus Christ, why couldn’t my life ever be easy?

  “Okay, okay...” I tried as hard as I could not to let anything show on my face and used the most neutral tone I could manage. “The only way I can think of inviting you to stay with my family without it looking suspicious is if I... passed you off as my boyfriend.”

  Damn, I hadn’t delivered that well at all. I’d paused too long and then said the last part all in a rush. What I’d give to have the same emotional blankness that L always displayed.

  “Your boyfriend?” L repeated. His expression was completely unreadable. As usual, I had no idea what he was thinking.

  “Right,” I said, willing myself not to blush and to try and remain professional. “It’d seem reasonable. And I could actually use that as the reason for the visit – the whole meeting my family and seeing my hometown kinda thing.”

  It was definitely reasonable. I knew because I’d actually done it before, though that time had been a real boyfriend, not a fake one. But I kept that part to myself. That certain someone from my past seemed to keep cropping up lately and it was starting to get on my nerves. There were only so many things I could keep bottled up.

  L had been silent for a while, so I took the chance to try and talk him out of it. “But if you want, we can just forget the whole thing,” I suggested innocently. “Maybe we can find you a hotel that’s...”

  “No, let’s do that,” L interrupted.

  “Say what?”

  “The... boyfriend thing.”

  Oh, hell, even he sounded hesitant about it. I certainly hadn’t expected him to agree to it. I’d actually been hoping that the whole idea would throw him off guard and make him change his mind entirely.

  I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to lie to my family if I could get away with it – even though it was the safer option for their benefit. And I really didn’t want to have to start pretending things with L. This was only sure to just cause more embarrassment. And it would likely be me getting the brunt of it. It always was.

  “Are you sure?” I asked weakly. “I mean, you don’t have to feel like...”

  “No, it’s fine,” L cut me off swiftly again. “If this’ll be the best way to work it, then so be it.”

  Damn. Why did he always have to be so proficient? “Fine then,” I sighed, reaching for my phone again. This was not going to be a fun conversation.

                                                    *

  I was right. And the conversation was made even more awkward by L insisting on listening in. He clearly didn’t trust me not to still try and cut him out of the plan altogether. Needless to say, my mom was surprised to hear the news about my ‘boyfriend’ – she hadn’t even known I was in a serious relationship. Funnily enough, neither had I.

  But she was more than happy for the two of us to stay. I cringed from a mix of guilt and dread when she stipulated how excited she was to meet L – though of course, in this instance, it was Ryuzaki once more. Damn, I was gonna have to remember to stick to that myself this time.

  We continued to review case details afterwards, though it was only for a short time before L decided that we should call it quits for the day. It seemed quite clear that I wasn’t the only one who felt awkward about this whole idea. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  We were to leave for Osaka tomorrow. I was driving, obviously. Before L left, we arranged a ballpark time so that we’d have more time to plan and prepare if we needed. I resisted the urge to ask where he was staying until then. I was only curious. Honest.

  The rest of my day after L had gone passed by in an obscure muddle, caused mostly by my scattered thoughts. Why was this happening? I couldn’t believe I had to do this. It seemed that every time something good happened, I then had something awkward tagged onto it. The ‘something awkward’ usually being L related.

  After I’d tidied away my presents and the remnants of wrapping paper, received well wishes phone calls from Johnny, both of the twins and Gibson – that had certainly been a tense conversation as I desperately tried to conceal any indication that there was some serious vigilante plotting going on – eaten even more cake and also started on Sophia’s biscuits (they were to die for, just as I’d imagined), I was surprised to find just how much the day had ran away with me. It was almost nine o’clock.

  There were still things I needed to do before tomorrow. I still had to shower, pack and there was one phone call I wanted to make myself.

  I decided to start with packing. I preferred to pack earlier rather than later, giving my mind time to catch up and realise early enough if I was forgetting anything. I threw in several outfits – I had no idea how long we’d be staying in Osaka, but if the worst came to it, I could always hedge some clothes off my mom or Auntie Maggie – along with a proper pair of pyjamas that I’d finally consented to buying.

  I was guessing that L would be staying in my room. He may have been an insomniac, but I’d still need him to keep up the pretence to some extent for my family’s sake. The thought alone was nerve-wracking enough. Thank god Auntie Maggie had had the sense to invest in a sleeping bag when I was younger.

  My overnight bag of toiletries followed the clothes into my suitcase, including one of my many spare toothbrushes. Hey, hygiene was important. I wrapped my everyday perfume up amongst the clothes so that it wouldn’t get damaged – a cheap convenience store brand called Secret Fantasy. I deliberated for a while before also packing my new refill of my Sarah Jessica Parker NYC perfume, all the while telling myself that it wasn’t just because it was the one that had made L tell me I smelt like sweets.

  Upon further consideration, I also ended up packing the new Super G one that Johnny had gotten me. That one smelt extremely sweet as well – I wondered if L would like that one too... I momentarily chastised myself for that thought, but it still wasn’t enough to make me unpack it.

  Underwear and other essentials were packed next – a couple of my Georgina Kincaid books coming under ‘essentials’. I couldn’t really see myself having much time for reading since we were going to be investigating, but that was just another part of the pretence. I took books everywhere. Everyone knew that. And I’d already figured out that my excuse for not spending much time at my family’s house was going to be because I was showing L around where I’d grew up in Osaka. Foolproof plan.

  And in regards to reading, I didn’t feel much like continuing the series right now anyway. I only had two books left. Georgina and Seth’s relationship had somehow turned stale and now Seth was engaged to someone else. What was up with that? I empathised with her character so much that I felt like it hurt me almost as much as it did her.

  Maybe I just needed to stop getting to invested in my books. I wasn’t Georgina. And the last thing I’d have to worry about with L was him running off with somebody else.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling annoyed with myself. Even whilst doing something as simple as packing, I still couldn’t stop thinking about him. I really needed to get a grip. No... What I needed was a real distraction. Time to make that phone call.

  I got an answer on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Em, it’s Gee.”

  “Oh, Gee! Happy birthday!”

  Emiiya’s originally from Bulgaria, but she’s done a lot of travelling and is multilingual like me – between most of my friends, we have quite a diverse group. Despite being fluent in both Japanese and English, Emiiya’s accent is still as pronounced as it ever was. It sounds totally cute when she gets excited.

  We chatted for a little while and had a brief catch-up. I thanked her for my present too – I couldn’t wait for an opportunity to wear my new pineapple dress. But I eventually got round to what I’d called for in the first place. “Do you reckon you can do me a huge favour tomorrow if you’re not busy?”

  “Hmm...” Emiiya made a teasing show of deliberating, like she so often did. “Since it’s you – and I like you – I may think about it... What do you need?”

  I knew I could count on her, no matter how little notice I often had to give her. She was a nail technician by trade, but was also skilled with makeup and hair styling. And she was always happy to do random little jobs for me if I ever needed anything for a case.

  “Nothing too extreme. I’m gonna be staying with my family and I don’t want them to know I’m on a case,” I explained. “But obviously enough to make a difference.”

  Emiiya pondered in silence for a bit. “I think I have a few tricks in mind... You okay with dye again? Something semi-permanent? Nothing overly dramatic. I’ll bring a selection with me.”

  “Yeah, that’d be great!” I enthused. I trusted her judgement on it. She understood the kind of thing that I normally needed.

  “Okay then! What time would you like to be blessed with my presence?”

  We agreed on a time that was about an hour before the ballpark time L and I had decided on to leave for Osaka. I figured that that would be plenty of time for a quick dye job and any other alterations that Emiiya might suggest.

  I thanked her several times before we said our goodbyes. She really was too good to me, doing this at such short notice yet again. The worst part was that she always refused to charge me for any of it. I was going to have to find a way to treat her to a meal out or something that she couldn’t get out of.

  Well, that was another thing sorted from my list at least. Next was showering. That was crossed off in quick succession too. After everything was done, I ended up curled up in bed amongst my wolves watching Psych. Hey, I wasn’t going to get to watch any whilst we were in Osaka – I wanted to make the most of it whilst I could.

  Not to mention I needed something else to keep my mind occupied now that I’d ran out of things to do. My own company was often my worst enemy. My heart ached at the reminder that I didn’t even have Kyo to rely on anymore. I definitely needed a time consumer right now. If I had a problem, then this was always the sort of time when I started to over think things. And boy, did I have a problem...

  So Psych it was. It was frequently a good distraction for me and a cure for most of my moods. And I definitely needed something of high standard to distract me with the whole L/family/case issue weighing down on my mind... Which is why I ended up watching several more episodes literally right up until I fell asleep.

                                                             *

  L arrived before Emiiya did, whilst I was in the midst of packing the last few things I’d thought of since waking up, so I was able to fill him in on the plan.

  “We’ve been friends since university. She’s helped me out with minor disguises on quite a few cases – she’s experienced with lots of various cosmetics, hair styling, you name it,” I explained. “She’s gonna just give me a semi-permanent dye job and maybe a new style. Nothing that’ll make my family suspicious, but enough so that I shouldn’t be as recognisable to strangers.”

  “It’s a reasonable plan,” L agreed. “We know that at least one of the people involved with the murders already knows both your face and name. A disguise, however subtle, should hopefully make it a little easier for us to investigate without being recognised.”

  “Exactly. And Emiiya said she’s bringing some extra stuff with her so we could ask her to do the same for you,” I suggested. Personally, I couldn’t imagine L with a different hair colour, but hey, there were some things you just had to give up for this line of work.

  “No. Thank you,” replied L shortly.

  “Err, okay...” I was a little thrown by his bluntness. I was only suggesting it for his benefit.

  He seemed to notice I was taken aback though and proceeded to explain. “Whereas I appreciate the gesture, I’d actually prefer not to meet your friend at all. I think you forget, but I’ve always worked from the shadows. Remember that this is the first time I’ve agreed to work with people where I’ve actually allowed them to see my face.”

  Of course. When he put it like that, I actually felt like a bit of an idiot. I was the one who’d forced him to change his ways and goaded him into working with our team in person. Then he’d been subjected to Sophia yesterday too, who wasn’t even part of the case. Another unnecessary person to know his face. And it was going to be the same with my family when we got to Osaka too.

  “Ah, man, I didn’t even think about that. With Sophia yesterday too... I’m sorry; I guess I did forget that you’re not...” Not what? Not normal is probably what I was thinking.

  “It’s quite alright,” L reassured, saving me from having to finish my sentence. “Your charming neighbour was merely that. I highly doubt she even suspected me of being a detective – she seemed to believe that you referring to me as a colleague was just an excuse you were using to save yourself embarrassment over the implications of us being in a romantic relationship.”

  Oh, wow. Did he have to put it like that? Socially inept as he may have been, he still always managed to pick up on the things that I didn’t want him to notice.

  “But I believe your friend from university may draw a different conclusion,” L continued. “She obviously understands more about your life as a detective and could be more likely to associate me directly with the case.”

  Yet again, he was right. Obviously, I knew that Emiiya was completely trustworthy – that was why I always turned to her for this kind of work. But I couldn’t ask L to trust someone who was yet another stranger to him on top of everything else I’d asked him to do. Especially when he generally had a much stronger distrust of others than most people did.

  “I understand,” I said genuinely. “I’m sorry I didn’t think about this properly. I’ll give Emiiya a call and see if maybe we can...”

  I was interrupted by the doorbell ringing downstairs. Ah, hell. It was clearly too late to try and change the plan now. Emiiya was already here. But now what was I supposed to do with L?

  “Damn, that’s gonna be her,” I cursed. I racked my brain but couldn’t really come up with a better option than... “Um, I think you’ll have to hide out in my bedroom until she’s gone.”

  L didn’t seem at all bothered by that idea like I was. “That’s fine.” He climbed down from the chair he’d been perched on. Geez, how was I gonna explain that one to my family? “I assume you’ll be able to keep her busy.”

  “Right.”

  I hurried downstairs to let Emiiya in, whilst L disappeared into the bedroom. I tried to remember if I had anything incriminating or embarrassing in there, but I didn’t think there was anything. Still... I wasn’t exactly happy about L staying in there on his own for however long Emiiya would be here for.

  She was carrying a big case of goodies and gave me a wide smile when I opened the door. She was another one like Masami who made me feel like a scruff ball, since her makeup and long brown hair were always immaculate. Today was no exception. Though her quirky fashion sense was at least as alternative as mine, unlike Masami’s designer labels.

  “Are you ready for your close up, Mr. Bond?” she said in way of greeting, waving the case at me.

  I laughed. “How can I say no to that?”

  She accepted my offer of a drink once we were upstairs, so I set about making coffee whilst she unpacked her cosmetic selection. All the while, I was worrying about L in the next room. The last time I’d had to conceal a guy in my apartment had been when I’d tried to hide Johnny from L himself. Of course, he’d figured it out straightaway. Though I bet he’d never have guessed that he’d be the one hiding in my apartment the next time round.

  I shook the thoughts clear from my head and made myself concentrate on what Emiiya was saying. Once I’d made the coffee – well, coffee for her and an energy drink for me – we got started. She put some plastic covers on the floor and over the chair I was sitting on so that the dye didn’t get everywhere.

  We chatted about various things whilst she worked. Movies, work, people from our university courses... She had minor gossip about a girl I’d been good friends with called Rosanne, until my boyfriend at the time had cheated on me with her. Yeah. To cut a long story short; let’s just say I really have the worst luck with men.

  And according to Emiiya, Rosanne was now unemployed and having to sponge off her parents at the age of twenty-three. Karma’s a glorious bitch.

  “So what about you?” Emiiya asked as she worked the dye through to my scalp. “No men on the scene for you?”

  Why did everyone keep asking me that? “Oh, that part of my life’s complicated as always,” I said offhandedly. It wasn’t exactly easy to go into detail when said guy you were thinking about was actually in the room next door and could probably hear everything. “You know me.”

  Emiiya must have noticed something in my voice. “Is everything okay? You seem really tense today.”

  That was an understatement. I clearly wasn’t as good as hiding it as I thought. “Yeah, just thinking about case stuff,” I said. It was partly true – L was involved in the case after all.

  Emiiya wasn’t buying it for a second. “Are you sure?” I could practically feel her scrutinising expression burning into the back of my head. “Because I do know you. And you seem to land yourself deep in man troubles more often than work troubles.”

  I couldn’t help laughing at that. It was just too true. “I guess you could say I have a bit of both right now,” I admitted, still unwilling to elaborate when I was sure that L could hear us if he cared to listen.

  Emiiya could sense that too. “Well, you know where I am if you wanna talk about it,” she said sweetly. “Though surely you’ve had your share of frogs already. I mean Suzil, Li, Chet, Dex...”

  “Hey, you don’t have to start listing them all off!” I protested, squirming unpleasantly at the last name. The one I always tried not to think about, but that annoyingly kept coming to light lately. “I don’t really need the reminder.”

  “Sorry,” said Emiiya apologetically. “I just mean that you’ve had enough of the bad ones; I hope you haven’t found another one...” She then added teasingly. “I’m sure you’ll find your fairytale prince soon.”

  We both shared a laugh over that. Fairytale princes most definitely didn’t exist. Even good guys seemed to be a rarity nowadays. Especially if you wanted one who was both single and straight.

  “Right, I think you’re done,” Emiiya announced after a while. “These ones don’t need to stand, since they’re not permanent. I’ve massaged it in enough... It should last about ten washes.”

  “Sounds good to me. That should be long enough,” I said. I was intrigued to see it. She hadn’t even shown me what colour she was using. I’d left the choice up to her – she knew better than I did when it came to anything hair related.

  Emiiya took her plastic gloves off and threw them in the bin. “Now let’s get it washed out first and then I’ll style it a bit for you. Come on...”

  Oh, crap, she was heading for the bathroom... Which you had to go through the bedroom to get to.

  “No, wait!” I blurted out.

  Emiiya looked startled. “What?”

  “Err...” I racked my brains quickly, desperately trying to think of a reasonable excuse to stop her from going into the bedroom. “I mean, um, do you mind if we wash it off in the kitchen sink? I only just had the bathroom redecorated.”

  Emiiya just laughed at me. “Sure, whichever. You don’t have to look so manic about it.”

  I mentally breathed a sigh of relief, commending myself for my quick thinking. That was a close call. How exactly would I have explained having a guy hidden away in my bedroom? For a lot of girls, that probably wouldn’t be that uncommon, but Emiiya knew me better than that.

  She helped me wash all of the dye out of my hair over the kitchen sink, which was a little awkward, but it was better than the alternative. She then gave it a quick blow dry with the travel hairdryer she’d brought with her and insisted on styling it first before letting me see.

  “If you blow dry it after showering rather than letting it dry naturally, it should pretty much fall back into this style,” she told me once she was done. She pulled a mirror out of her case. “Here, you can look now.”

  “Whoa...”

  I always get that initial shock after having my hair dyed – those first few seconds of not quite recognising that person looking back at you in the reflection. It really didn’t help either that I hadn’t had a clue what to expect... But Emiiya had done a great job. My hair was now a brown so deep that it was almost black. Almost as dark as L’s. And she’d styled it so that it curled inwards, rather than sticking out like it normally did, framing my face much more nicely. A lot better than the usual scruffy look I was so used to.

  “Oh, wow, it looks great!” I enthused, trying to examine it from every possible angle that I could manage with one mirror.

  “Of course it does,” Emiiya agreed, looking pleased. “It’s my work of art!”

  I fawned over my new hairstyle some more, before still trying to give Emiiya some payment for it in return. As usual, she abstained, so I mentally swore to find a way to pay her back. But the clock was ticking. L and I would need to be leaving for Osaka soon.

  Luckily, Emiiya has a sixth sense for that kind of thing and could immediately tell my agitation over the time, so she swiftly packed away the rest of her things. “Well, that’s it for me then,” she announced. “Now remember what I told you about blow drying your hair...”

  “I’ll try,” I smiled. She knew that I was usually lazy and just left it to dry naturally. “Seriously, Em, thanks so much for this. If I can ever return the favour...”

  “You’ll be the first to know,” Emiiya returned the smile.

  I accompanied her downstairs to see her out, thanking her several times more and in return, she wished me luck on whatever case it was that I was working on. Only after that, did I feel free to return upstairs and finally allow L out of my room. Yeesh, that made him sound like a pet that I’d had to keep cooped up and out of trouble.

  When I opened the door, I could tell straightaway from looking at the bookcase on the wall opposite that he’d rearranged all of my books. Most likely alphabetically, as opposed to how I’d ordered them by genre. I could practically feel my eye twitching. He’d screwed up my system! But then I could hardly complain when he’d waited so patiently in here for me.

  “You, um, organised my books,” I said.

  “Yes. Sorry, it was bothering me.” The feeling was mutual. He gestured to the bed. “I rearranged your toys too.”

  I bristled at the word ‘toys’. They weren’t toys – they were plushies. It was totally different. But I had to bite back a laugh when I saw how he’d arranged them all in height order, covering the gap that Jerry and Blue had left (who were now in my suitcase). Even I wasn’t that bad. But then L was already such a head case... I should have expected that he’d have some level of OCD too.

  “Your new hair is interesting.”

  “Huh?” The horror of my books being moved around had momentarily caused me to forget about my hair. “Oh... Yeah.” I pulled at one of the strands, trying to see the new colour again. “I think it’ll take some getting used to.”

  “It looks nice, but I think I preferred your old colour,” L commented.

  I automatically flushed at the compliment. “Oh, thanks...” Why did he seem to like everything that I disliked about myself? My hair, my name... Next he’d be commending me on my choices in men. “Well, it’s not permanent anyway.”

  “I’m glad.”

  What the hell? He wasn’t normally this complimentary. Maybe this hair dye was magic as well as semi-permanent... But then when I caught sight of myself in the mirror on the dressing table, I understood what he meant. I hadn’t been able to tell from using Emiiya’s little hand mirror just how different I looked. I didn’t really look like me.

  Not as L knew me anyway. I’d gone through a stage of dyeing my hair quite often when I was younger, so it wouldn’t be anything new to my family. And at least it would be more likely to confuse our identity thief/possible killer, which was the original intention anyway.

  But then that just reminded me how much L was putting himself in danger with this. With a disguise, however minor, I was technically safer than he was. He seemed to think that his unkempt appearance made him indiscreet and unnoticeable, but in actuality, it just made him stick out like a sore thumb. I couldn’t understand how he didn’t see that.

  I knew it was his own decision in choosing not to have a disguise. I could hardly force him into it, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t still worried.

  And it seemed I really was failing at hiding my emotions today if even L was able to notice. I could see him scrutinising my face out of the corner of my eye. “What is it?” he asked.

  “I’m just worried about this whole thing,” I admitted. “We still don’t entirely know what we’re dealing with here. We don’t know how many people could actually be involved in this.”

  “We don’t have to go to Osaka if you don’t want to,” said L. “We can pass on what we’ve found out to Mr. Gibson instead.”

  I bit my lip. It was true – that would have actually been the more logical solution from the start. But that annoying sense of pride was still niggling at me. Gibson had chosen to close the case. Whereas L and I were the ones who had believed there was still more to it. We were the ones who had discovered this new lead. We should be the ones to solve it and say I told you so.

  And that wasn’t really the problem I had right now anyway. I shook my head. “It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s you. You’re the one who’s going to have to go unarmed. You’re the one who’s not even bothering with a disguise.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me,” said L smoothly.

  But I did worry. And it wasn’t just because it was L. If it had been any other civilian I was taking with me, it would have still been the same. That instinct was still in me from my time as a cop. If you were the one carrying a weapon, then you wanted to use it to protect those around you more than you wanted to protect yourself.

  “It’s just...” I wanted to put that notion into words, but somehow, I didn’t think L would be particularly flattered if he knew I was just treating him like any other civilian. “I know you didn’t want to come into contact with Emiiya and that’s fine. But can’t you just let me try and make you look a little different? Or even just wear some other clothes? You always wear the same thing and...”

  “I don’t have anything else to wear,” L interrupted. Urgh, he was kinda focusing on the wrong thing here.

  “I can find you something,” I said impatiently. “Even if it’s just a coat or a hoody. If anybody spotted you that time we broke into Jin Tanaka’s office – or if they saw you coming to and from mine at any point – then they’re gonna be looking for someone pale with messy hair and plain clothes.”

  I was probably being a little insulting, especially after he’d actually been quite nice to me today, but I just wanted to get the idea through his head. It didn’t matter how safe I felt with my disguise – I wouldn’t be happy until I was sure that L would be safe too.

  Thankfully, the message finally seemed to be sinking in. “Alright then,” agreed L. If you have something that you think will fit, then I shall wear it.”

  That was a good point. My first thought was my trench coat, but somehow, I had a feeling that L would just look ridiculous in it. It would make him even more conspicuous than ever. But I was certain I’d have something that would work. “Thank you,” I said gratefully. “Now let me have a look...”

  I proceeded to rifle through my wardrobe. Thank god L was so skinny – that made this a little easier. It was more his height that was likely to be the problem. But at the back of the wardrobe, I did find something suitable. Something I’d completely forgotten that I even still had.

  “What about this?” I held up the grey and black stripy hoody that had always been several sizes too big for me. Well, it was a man’s hoody after all. “Here, try it on.”

  L obliged and took the hoody from my hands. I think a tiny part of me was hoping he’d take his shirt off first and wear the hoody instead... But no, the boring sod just pulled the hoody on over the top. Like I’d guessed, it fit him way better than it had ever fit me. And it was amazing how much one baggy hoody made him look more normal.

  “It suits you,” I smiled approvingly.

  L didn’t look like he cared whether it suited him or not. He pulled at the fabric that was still a little baggy on him. “I’m guessing this wasn’t originally yours? If it’s big on me, then it would certainly be too big for you.”

  The smile disappeared from my face. “You’re right; it wasn’t,” I said shortly. This whole dredging up bad memories thing was just getting ridiculous lately.

  “So did this belong to one of the aforementioned ex-boyfriends that your friend brought up earlier?” asked L unblinkingly. “Since this is clearly a men’s size.”

  I felt my face colour. So he had been listening. “Well, either way, it’s none of your business,” I said hotly. If I hadn’t wanted to talk to Emiiya about it, then I certainly wouldn’t want to talk to L about it. I shut the wardrobe doors harder than I normally would have done. “Now come on, we should really be leaving soon...”

  “Gee?”

  I stopped reluctantly in my tracks. “What?” I asked, a little more harshly than I’d probably meant to.

  It didn’t look like L had taken offence though – his face was as blank as always. “I don’t think this would have suited you anyway,” he said simply, pulling at the hem of the hoody again.

  I just looked at him... Then I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I think he’d somehow been trying to make me feel better, but it had just ended up sounding more like an insult. Lucky for him, I was used to regular abuse from Johnny. I didn’t offend that easily.

  “I’m assuming you meant that in a nice way, so thanks... I guess,” I said, laughing again. “So are you gonna just stop at the hoody or are you gonna let me do something with your hair too?”

  “My hair?” L repeated.

  “Just let me try and tidy it up a bit...”

  “Fine.”

  I was amazed he was even consenting to it, but I certainly wasn’t going to miss the opportunity. I grabbed a brush and kicked out the chair from underneath the dressing table. “Sit.”

  L sat down and I tentatively moved to stand behind him. I wasn’t as confident as I made out – what the hell did I know about hair styling? But something needed to be done about L’s wild mane of hair, even if all I did was attempt to tame it a bit.

  I very gingerly ran the brush through it, expecting it to be so matted that I’d have to rip my way through it. Thankfully, it was a lot softer than it looked and didn’t even seem to be tangled at all. Maybe he took better care of it than I’d thought. Or at least used some seriously awesome shampoo.

  L was silent the whole time and I couldn’t really think of anything to say either, save a few nervous jokes that I decided to keep to myself. The situation suddenly felt quite awkward. Why had I insisted on doing this? I could have just told him to sort his hair out himself instead. I was sure that he wasn’t that out of the loop that he didn’t know how to brush his own hair.

  The atmosphere was made even more uncomfortable when I ran the brush through the hair at the back of L’s neck and he shuddered involuntarily. “What?” I asked, startled.

  “It’s nothing,” he replied monotonously, his composure instantly back in place.

  Thank you. That was very enlightening, I thought to myself sarcastically. It didn’t help either that L was watching me in the mirror the whole time. That made me feel even more nervous about playing hairdresser and I proceeded to tackle the rest of his hair even more tentatively than before.

  Though despite my obvious inexperience – not to mention the fact that I didn’t use a brush that often myself – I didn’t think I’d done too bad a job. It was certainly a lot tidier than before and I was sure that he wouldn’t be anywhere near as noticeable with his hair like this.

  “And the torture’s over – you’re free to go now,” I said jokingly, trying to keep my tone light.

  L obediently got up. When he did, I realised that he’d actually been sitting normally for once. He barely spared a glance at himself as he turned away from the mirror, though that was hardly surprising. It had been clear from the start that his own appearance didn’t interest him in any way.

  I hadn’t quite managed to brush out the spikiness of his hair, but at least now it looked like it had been purposely styled that way, rather than looking like it had just been left to fend for itself. With the hair and the oversized hoody, he almost looked... normal. Just your average, semi-casual young adult.

  Which was exactly why it didn’t suit him. L wasn’t average by any means – he was far more than that. This look just didn’t do the eccentric genius any justice.

  All I wanted to do right now was undo everything I’d just done. I wanted to run my hands through his hair until it was back to its unruly state. I wanted to rip that hoody off him so that he was left in his characteristically boring outfit again. No, not in a sexual way. Well... Maybe a little bit.

  But at least now if we ran into Gibson or the others, we looked different enough that we’d probably have time to get away before they recognised us. Though it would be embarrassing if they did. Chad would most likely make a very male comment about my hair and lord knows what they’d think of L in this get-up... Now we just looked like we were trying to pass ourselves off as an everyday couple. It was so far off the mark that I couldn’t help but giggle.

  “What?” asked L.

  “You actually look normal for once. But it doesn’t really suit you,” I said.

  “This was your idea; not mine,” L reminded me.

  “I know,” I agreed. “And the plan clearly worked...” I took his arm and turned him back to face the mirror, standing beside him. It wasn’t in a ‘trying to look like a couple’ way, I swear. “Neither of us look that much like us anymore...”

  “The perfect disguise,” L agreed, catching my drift.

  “Exactly. I think we’re ready to do this.”