Last night, Raito couldn't sleep much. When L told him "Tomorrow, there's an exam," Raito froze for just a moment. The entrance exam for Toudai University. Mid-February 2004. For Raito, who had no memories, he didn't even know *when* he'd applied. But the documents were all in order. Of course they were — Kira, the version of Raito with memories, had handled all the procedures. (What happens if I, without memories, take this exam?) He was anxious. To be honest, he was very anxious. But every time the handcuff on his wrist clinked, L was there beside him. Hunched over, barefoot, sipping coffee in the middle of the night — that was L. That fact, for some reason, gave him a little bit of calm. --- The bus the next morning was more crowded than expected. Raito and L sat side by side. The chain connecting their wrists — 2.5 meters long — hung between them. The other passengers kept glancing at them. A salaryman across from them looked away. A housewife next to them shifted her seat slightly. A college-aged man looking at his phone did a double-take. Raito maintained a perfect smile and spoke softly into L's ear. "[whispers]Please, just act normal" L kept facing the window, answering without a shred of emotion. "[cold]I am acting normal" "[whispers]Why are you staring out the window like that? This isn't a sightseeing bus" "[cold]I'm analyzing the passing cityscape" "[whispers]Don't analyze it. We have an exam coming up" L took a sip of coffee. His morning cup with three sugar cubes in it — he wasn't letting go of it even on the bus. Raito pressed his forehead. (This guy, seriously...) He cursed inwardly. But when the bus swayed and his body tilted slightly in one direction, he felt the chain pull at his wrist. L was tilting the same way. — Something stirred deep in his chest again. Raito turned to look out the window. --- The exam venue reception was in complete chaos. "Um, ah, are you two... together?" "[cold]We're test-takers" The receptionist froze. She saw the handcuff connecting their wrists and quickly exchanged glances with her colleague. He heard the colleague whisper, "What do we do?" in a small voice. Raito stepped forward. "[gentle]I'm sorry for the trouble. There are circumstances involved" A perfect smile. His tone was perfect too. (It's this guy's fault) He was screaming at full volume inside his head. But not a trace of it showed on his face. This level of acting was like breathing to Raito. L held out his exam ticket. "[cold]We're simply here to take the exam. There should be no issues with the paperwork" The receptionist called for her supervisor. The supervisor came. The supervisor called someone even higher up. In the meantime, L was popping sugar cubes one by one into his mouth from a small bag he'd brought from the sweets wagon, gazing at the bulletin board in the venue. Raito kept bowing and apologizing while waiting for the special accommodations coordinator to be assigned. He could hear the test-takers behind him whispering. "What are those two?" "Handcuffs... police?" "But isn't that guy really handsome?" Raito pretended not to hear. --- When the exam began, the atmosphere in the venue changed. The murmur became silence. Raito picked up his mechanical pencil and looked at the first problem. — Mathematics. He liked it. In the next instant, everything disappeared from Raito's consciousness. The handcuff, L, the stares from the venue — all of it gone. The problem sheet became his entire world. He didn't look to the side. But from the faint sound of the mechanical pencil's speed, he could tell. L was the same. The vague tourist-like expression from before was gone, and the pen moved methodically. Raito faced forward. Solve. That was all. Two hours later, when the exam proctor announced "Time," Raito had just finished writing the last problem. --- The results were posted that same day. While test-takers crowded around the bulletin board, Raito and L watched from a distance. Partly because the chain made it hard to get close to the crowd, but not only that. When the crowd thinned out a bit, Raito looked at the board. First place. Yagami Raito. And right next to it, another one. First place (tied). Ryuzaki. The venue stirred. The two names were side by side on the board. Two people connected by handcuffs had reached the same peak on the exam — this fact rippled through the test-takers like a wave. L, still looking at the board, spoke quietly. "[cold]As expected" "[sarcastic]You..." Raito almost laughed. He held it back. He thought it was impossible to laugh. But — why had he almost laughed? Raito set that question aside. --- The stage at the entrance ceremony was wider than he'd imagined. The two of them stood side by side in front of the microphone. The gazes of current students and parents turned toward them all at once. The sight of two new students connected by handcuffs made the audience stir. Raito spoke first. He delivered the speech he'd composed in his head beforehand in a perfect tone. Gratitude, aspirations, contributions to society — he chose appropriate words and delivered them smoothly. Then L approached the microphone. "[serious]I would like to speak about the importance of sugar. The human brain consumes glucose to function, and particularly in intellectual work requiring concentration" The audience fell silent. Raito gently but firmly jabbed L in the ribs with his elbow. L flinched slightly. "[cold]...I will speak about my aspirations for this university" In that moment, the handcuff chain clinked softly. Their elbows had bumped. Raito looked at L. L looked at Raito. It wasn't anger. It wasn't a wry smile either. Something else — an expression without a proper name — passed between them for just an instant and vanished. Raito faced forward. (It wasn't... bad, I thought) He tried to immediately suppress it. But it was too late. The fact that he'd stood at the same peak as this man was building something inside him. The sensation of "not bad" that Yagami Raito felt — not as Kira, not as a model student, but as himself — existed here. --- The campus after the exam smelled like the end of winter. Beyond the main gate of Toudai University, past the ginkgo tree avenue, there was a cherry blossom avenue. It was still February, so the flowers hadn't bloomed yet. But small buds were visible on the branch tips. Like a promise that spring was coming soon. As Raito and L walked under that avenue, a figure approached from ahead. Raito stopped without thinking. Konoha Miyuki was there. Miyuki's eyes were already glistening. The moment she saw Raito and L connected by the handcuff, her mouth twisted tightly. "[crying]Raito... I've been so worried" Her voice trembled. Raito opened his mouth to say "Miyuki, let me explain—" when it happened. Miyuki stepped past Raito and moved toward L. "[angry]Give Raito back to me!" Her voice echoed through the cherry blossom avenue. "[angry]You're the one making Raito suffer! What did Raito ever do to deserve handcuffs like this!" L looked directly at Miyuki. Expressionless. But — Raito noticed it. L's fingertips were trembling. Just slightly. A voice reached them from somewhere far away. A voice no one else could hear. "[laughing]A love triangle, huh? Humans really are the best" A massive shadow sat among the cherry branches, biting into an apple. Large red eyes gleamed with amusement. Neither Raito, nor L, nor Miyuki could see the death god. --- Miyuki grabbed Raito's left arm with both hands. "[crying]Come with me, Raito. You don't need to be here" The pulling force was strong. Tears had begun to fall. At the same time, on the right side connected by the handcuff, the chain went taut. L was moving. There was probably no conscious thought about the investigation in it. He was simply putting his weight down, resisting. To keep Raito from leaving. Raito was pulled in both directions. On the left, Miyuki's tears. On the right, the weight of the chain. Something spun at high speed in his head. Ryuzaki is the man who confined me. The man who exposed Kira. My enemy. Those words and — pudding after a nightmare. A blanket draped over his shoulders. "I sincerely hope that you are not Kira," spoken in that small, mumbling voice. They mixed together messily. Before he could think, Raito's right hand gripped L's hand back. Firmly. Miyuki's hand fell away without strength. --- Miyuki looked into Raito's eyes for just a moment. She understood that his gaze wasn't directed at her. Raito's eyes — were looking at L's hand. Eyes that had just realized what he'd done, frozen in that realization. Miyuki's legs gave out. Tears fell all at once. Without apologizing, without saying anything, Miyuki turned around and ran. Her back disappeared beyond the cherry blossom avenue. The sound of her footsteps faded away. Raito couldn't move. Still gripping L's hand, he couldn't move. The meaning of what he'd just done spread quietly, seeping through him. His head was white. What did I just— L didn't move either. He looked down at his own hand being held. He tried to process with logic the fact that something was beating fast deep in his chest, and he couldn't. A few seconds felt very long. Neither of them could say anything. The handcuff chain clinked softly. That was all. --- In a place no one could see, Ryuk leaned against a cherry tree trunk. He tossed away the apple core and narrowed his large red eyes. "[laughing]Found something more interesting than the Death Note, Raito" It was a voice no one could hear. One question floated in Raito's mind. — I don't have Kira's memories now. The real me chose this man's hand. But what if my memories come back? When I become Kira again, will I — kill this hand? There was no answer. The cherry branch tips swayed in the wind. The barely-budding flower buds trembled slightly. Ryuk muttered to himself while gazing blankly at the handcuff chain. "[whispers]That's a harder problem than the notebook" No one heard it. Raito had noticed that the silence hanging between them had a different weight than any silence before. He had no way to put it into words. --- When Raito was following Miyuki's retreating back with his gaze, it happened. Miyuki stopped on the road. She picked something up. A notebook with a black cover. Miyuki opened it slightly. For just a moment, her expression changed. Not in surprise, not into blankness. Into something like a decision made. Raito couldn't see the details of that expression from this distance. They were too far apart. He could only see Miyuki put the notebook into her bag and walk away. There was one presence that saw that scene far more clearly than Raito did. "[sarcastic]Aw man. There's another one, you know. Death Note" Ryuk pulled out another apple from nowhere and bit into it. At that moment, L's pocket device vibrated. L checked the screen with one hand. An encrypted communication — from Wammy's House. Wammy's House was an orphanage and genius child development facility in England, and L himself was from there. Displayed on the screen was a notification of the arrival schedule for successor candidates "Near" and "Mello." Time until merger: 72 hours. A different kind of tension, distinct from what L showed toward Raito, ran across his face. Raito leaned over to peek at the device. "[serious]Did something happen" L closed the screen. "[cold]More people will be joining us" It was a simple, matter-of-fact statement. Raito didn't yet understand what it meant. The handcuff chain connected their wrists, and the cherry branch tips continued to sway in the wind. This wasn't a battle of wits between a detective and Kira. This was the beginning of a story — still without a name — of two people who lied while falling in love.