Chapter Text
The ringing of the alarm caused a jolt of shock, making his body shoot up in response. He moved one hand to his face and, without looking, turned his alarm off with his free hand. He rubbed his eyes with one hand and slowly peeled himself off of his bed, his feet landing in his slippers.
He walked downstairs slowly, his body still tired from the unusually early morning. He always took advantage of not having to sleep early during the summer. He would stay up for hours, completely entranced in a true crime podcast, or helping his father with a case if he was given permission. If it wasn’t those things, he probably had his nose deep in manga or a book related to true crime. He never really was one for video games. He sucked at Super Mario growing up, always losing to his younger sister.
“Good morning Light!” his mother said sweetly from the kitchen. He smiled tiredly at her in response. The smell of fresh soup hit his nose as he walked down the steps. He trailed his way into the kitchen slowly, his eyes lighting up a bit as he sees the food. “I made you something a bit more filling for your last first day, sweetheart.” his mother smiled.
A bowl of rice and soup was placed in front of him, along with tamagoyaki and natto. Lights faced scrunched at the smell of the natto. “Mama! I hate natto...” he whines as he pushes it away, “It stinks!”
“Light, it’s good for you, and it’s not gross.” she says softly, but in that firm tone that only mothers possess. Sayu sits next to Light and takes the natto.
“I’ll eat it mama,” she says, pouring it on her bed of rice, then mixing it in with the rice, glancing at Light who rolled his eyes.
“Thank you sweetheart. Are you excited for your first day of high school?” she asks as Sayu takes a bite of her rice natto mix. She nods happily as she chews. Light yawns and takes small bites of his eggs and rice, sipping the soup. “Honey, eat after your brother. It’s polite.”
“I don’t care to be polite to him Mama, he’s annoying,” she says deadpan as she swallows. Light rolls his eyes, finishing his food quickly.
“I’m going to get ready,” he says softly, still tired as he stands up, “Thank you for breakfast ma.” He bows slightly before walking back upstairs to get ready.
𓂃۶ৎ
“I don’t want to wear shoes,” he says with a deadpanned face and tone. L’s foster mother stares down at him, her face twisting into annoyed frustration. He continues, “I don’t like how they feel.”
“L, put the shoes on. We are going to be late,” she says through gritted teeth. L’s jaw shifts but he doesn’t object. He slides the shoes on, tying the laces slowly. His foster mother sighs, “Are you going to walk or do you want me to drive you?” she asks, her tone a bit softer than before.
“I can walk.” he says simply, standing up using just his legs. He moves her hand away from his face and rolls his eyes as he turns away from her. He walks to the door, shutting it behind him.
L walked into his homeroom with his schedule in hand, his head hanged over his shoulder as he pinched the paper, staring at it intensely. The teacher looks at him with a smile. She stands up from her desk and walks over to him. L bows on instinct and the teacher smiles, “Are you L?” she asks sweetly.
“Yes. Yes, ma’am.” he says quietly, his voice emotionless. The teacher turns to the class as kids find seats with their friends, or by themselves.
“Class, attention. I know that it’s the first day, and I know you all know me from last year, so please give me your attention, we have a new student,” she says authoritatively but with a sweetness that makes L’s shoulders loosen in tension. “This is our new student, he’s a former homeschooled student, please treat him with respect and kindness,” she says, then turns to L, “Would you like to introduce yourself?”
L turned to the class, all 25 or so students staring back at him, “I’m L.”
“Anything else?” the teacher said sweetly, “any hobbies?”?”
L paused, looked at the room and twisted his finger in his hair, “I like chocolate.” The class giggled a bit as the teachers face twisted uncomfortably. She forced a smile and held his shoulder.
“Go sit wherever you’d like L,” she says sweetly.
L nods and scans the room. Most people with empty seats give him uncomfortable looks, avoided eye contact or shake their head to jester they want to sit alone. His eyes land on a head of brown hair with a manga covering their face. He notices the manga, ‘Persona 5’. L’s eyes light up and he slowly moves towards the boy. He sits down next to him, staring at him with wide eyes.
He sits there for a while, staring at the boy, trying to build up enough courage to say something. He takes a deep breath and taps his shoulder, “Excuse me?” he says, his wide eyes fixated on him. The boy looks over with a ‘hm?’
“I like that – ” L starts, before he can finish, a boy enters the room, long dark hair and glass that are almost falling off his nose, he pushes them up and grins at the teacher sheepishly.
“Sorry Miss, I had to help an underclassman,” he says, scratching the back of his head with a nervous smile. The teacher sighs as he finishes his sentence.
“Please, sit down Mr. Mikami. We are about to start,” she says sharply. He nods silently, looking down at the floor in embarrassment. He scans the class and lights up at seeing Light. He goes towards him until he stops mid-step, eyes fixated on L. L adjusts in his seat, putting his feet on the edge of the seat and his knees bent near his face.
“Light-! I thought...you were going to save a spot for me,” he says, his voice wary and gritted, despite the forced grin on his face. L tilted his head at him, his wide eyes staring at him for a moment before he looks at the boy he now knows is ‘Light.’
“Sorry Mikami, I wasn’t paying attention, plus... he’s new. I don’t want to be rude,” he says softly, his face apologetic. L looked at the boy named ‘Mikami’ and saw his face go a bit red, his jaw shift, and his eye twitch slightly, all signs pointing to anger in L’s mind.
“It’s... It’s fine. I’ll sit somewhere else,” he says quickly, his head drooping and him walking over to a seat behind them.
“Alright, so, I know it’s the first day, but we are going to do a knowledge check, this will be graded, but there will be a curve. It’s mostly to see where you all are academically for this class, so i am aware of what each of you will need help with throughout the semester,” the teacher says as she stands up, holding a stack of papers. Her heels clack lightly against the floor as she begins handing them out.
“Just try your best, answer the questions you know before the ones you don’t. Make sure to read each question carefully. You will have the whole class period. Any cheating will result in an immediate 0 along with a write-up and no retakes. If you have questions, I will be at my desk,” the teacher continues as she hands out the papers, and as L gets handed his paper he picks it up by the top, only using his thumbs and pointer fingers. He sets it down after a second and writes his name with the wooden pencil on his desk. Light looked at him as he did so.
“What were you going to say?” he asks, his voice a hushed whisper as he leans towards L.
“What?” he replies, his voice higher than it should’ve been. He backs up from Light on instinct.
“Earlier? You started to say something...” he trails off quietly.
“Oh,” he says simply. “I - I like persona too.” he says quieter. Light does a ‘ah’ sound and looks away before he gets in trouble by the teacher who finishes up passing out papers.
“You may begin,” she says as she walks down the desks to the front of the room. LIght and L both lean down to the paper in almost perfect unison.
𓂃۶ৎ
“What do you think you got Onii-san?” Mikami asks Light as he walks with him to their first period that following Friday. “I’m sure you got the best score as usual..” he trails off with a smile, his hands holding Lights shoulders.
“I mean, not to be full of myself... but probably. There’s a lot of slackers in our class,” Light says back lightly. He and Mikami walk into the classroom, seeing everyone already surrounding the bulletin board that posted the scores. Some groans and sighs of relief. Most of them being the former. They walks over together, Light shimming his way through the circle. He glances at the middle of the paper, eyes trailing up for his name. Then he sees it.
FINAL SCORES:
1. Lawliet L - 100%
2. Yagami Light - 98.9%
3. Kimura Yua - 97.2%
4. Ito Emiko - 97.2%
5. MIkami Teru - 92.6%
...
Light’s mind began to race as he stared at the number one name, then to his. 98%? How was that possible? He barely ever got a question wrong. His head turned to the boy with the posture of a shrimp who stared at the list with his finger on his lip. And this new kid he's never met can just beat him like that? He's a homeschooled kid who looks like he doesn't have a proper home and yet he beats one of the biggest names in the city.
‘Who is this guy??’