Ori watched as L typed away on the computer. She slowly walked closer until she was directly behind him. The tapping sound of his fingers against the keyboard stilled and he turned to face her.
"I'm surprised you came." He said in his usual flat tone. Ori just scoffed and took a slumped seat in the chair next to him.
"Not like Watari gave me much of a choice. Dude left without letting me say anything."
"You could have easily shut the door and ignore me." His eyes followed her as she moved, and Ori fought the urge to hide under the table.
"I think we need to talk, too." She was winding and twisting her fingers together, making them crack and pop.
"Good. I'd like to go first if that's all right with you." His dark eyes bore into her. The want to crawl under a blanket itched at her skin.
"Um- y-yeah... go ahead." She tucked her knees into her chest and hugged herself.
"Regarding what I said to you before. I'd like to discuss it one last time."
"OK. Yeah, go for it." L didn't hesitate to speak again. He opened his mouth and the words came out in a rush.
"I did some research and found that I am not; in fact, in love with you." He almost seemed as normal and apathetic as usual, but his curled fists gave him away. Ori didn't really know how to feel. She was relieved that she didn't have to feel like things were going to be awkward between them, but she was also confused. Why did L think he was in love with her to begin with? Did Watari say something?
"I've never really had any friends before, and I never understood the different between romantic and platonic relationships when it came to males and females. I apologize that I made things hard for you."
Well. That certainly cleared things up.
"That makes sense." Ori set her feet back on the ground, leaning back a little bit. "I'm glad that you think of me as a friend, though. That's pretty cool." It felt more than cool. L, Ori's idol, thought of her as a friend. It was taking everything Ori had to not jump up and down on her bed. Mostly because she wasn't even in her room.
"I'm glad we got that cleared up. Now, if you wouldn't mind helping me find Kira 2, that would be much appreciated."
"Yeah, no problem. Just let me watch the tapes."
Watching the tapes available, then having L tell her what went on after, made Ori really appreciate how much she missed for the first time.
"If Kira 2 decided to start killing, then it's safe to say that they either look up to the original Kira, or they want to do things differently. You know, like get all obstacles out of their way?" Ori set the last tape down in the small pile. It was clear that they didn't have all the tapes, but they could only work with what they had.
"We came to the conclusion that Kira 2 sees Kira as a sort of... teacher. In a sense. We suspect that Kira 2 wants Kira to be proud of him." Things were still a little tense, and it felt weird without Matsuda, Aizawa, and Raito, but they were able to to discuss things without wanting to run away, so Ori called it a win.
"I'm guessing that Kira did something for Kira 2, indirectly or otherwise. Something that made Kira 2 believe in Kira's ideals. Though that seems obvious."
"I wouldn't say so. I didn't think of that before."
"That's because you might as well be an AI."
For the next few hours, they traded theories, went over the tapes again, then discussed what the next tapes might hold. All the tension was gone now, replaced with a business feel. It made Ori's chest feel warm at the thought of things going back to how they were before.
"You're a lot different now." L said after ten minutes of mutual silence.
"Different how?" Ori leaned back in her chair once again, tapping her pen on her thigh. Ori didn't feel different, but she also didn't feel the same. Maybe grief did that to a person.
"You're a lot more serious about finding Kira. More mature, I guess you could say."
I'm mature? Doesn't feel like it. Ori knew she was a lot of things. She was selfish, she was too energetic for people to handle at times, and she had a bad habit of trying to guess what people were thinking, but Ori wasn't mature. Sure, she had her moments of seriousness, but they never lasted. But, who was she to deny something L had already observed.
"It might be because I now know, firsthand, what kind of power Kira has. Mom never would've done something like that of her own free will."
"I know. She was a kind woman." Ori put the tapes into a small stack before crossing her arms over the desk and resting her head.
"Before I moved to Daikoku, there were kids in my class who would tease me for not being 'Japanese enough' for them.They even called me Half-Breed for a while. It didn't bother me, because I knew that, in a sense, they were right. I wasn't fully Japanese. I wasn't put off by it, though. I was proud of my heritage. Especially when it made me smarter than them. I could speak two languages fluidly, and they barely knew the difference between there, their, and they're." She let out a bitter chuckle. "It wasn't until they started going after Mom, did I start to say something. First, I told them to mind their own business, then, I challenged their intelligence. Finally, I beat up one of the boys when he said that Mom wasn't good enough to be here." L had raised an eyebrow at her, but stayed silent.
"It was nothing serious, just a black eye and a bloody nose, but kids never said anything ever again. The headmaster had me suspended, and demanded Mom reprimand me. She never did, though. She told me that I was brave for holding it off for as long as I did. She was proud of me for not resorting to violence right away. And that was it. I moved to a new school, met Raito and that was that." L was silent for a little while longer. It was as if he was considering her story. Why? Ori didn't know. When he spoke again, his tone was even quieter than normal, almost... gentle.
"That wasn't on your record. All it said was that you get along well with people."
"I'm not completely sure why it wouldn't be on my official school record, but as for me getting along with people. That's true. It's just that they don't always get along with me. That's just how people are. There are some who we can talk to, and some we can't. There's nothing wrong with that."
"I never understood the need to try to be friends with everybody anyway." Ori flashed him an easy smile, glad that Matsuda wasn't there to tease her.
"For what it's worth, I'm glad we're friends." God, she was so cheesy sometimes.