By the time Kannazuki arrived, L was already there.
He was crouching on the steps beside the vending machine.
"Been waiting long?"
"Eleven minutes." L's answer was precise to the minute.
Kannazuki sat down on the step beside him.
He sat normally, both legs stretched out, hands resting on his knees.
The vending machine's cold light fell over them, one crouching, one sitting, their crooked shadows cast across the tiles.
L took a sip of strawberry milk.
The straw made a gurgling noise.
"Yagami."
"Yeah?"
"I watched the video of your fight today four times."
"...Four times."
"The first time, I watched the whole sequence. The second time, your footwork."
"The third time, I watched the timing of your strikes."
"The fourth time..." L pulled the straw out of his mouth and replaced it with his thumb, biting down on it.
"The fourth time, I counted how often you rose onto the balls of your feet."
Kannazuki said nothing.
You even counted that.
"An occupational hazard." L set the strawberry milk carton on the step. "I'm fairly sensitive to numbers."
"Honestly," L said slowly,
"I didn't expect it."
"Expect what?"
"I didn't expect you to be so good at fighting."
L's tone was very matter-of-fact as he said it.
As matter-of-fact as if he were saying, "The braised pork in the cafeteria was pretty good today."
"Four people with combat training, attacking at the same time."
"You didn't let any of them touch you, apart from taking one punch in the middle."
He paused.
"They ganged up on one guy and still couldn't beat a graduate student from the Law School."
"Pretty embarrassing if word gets out."
The corner of Kannazuki's mouth twitched.
"I got lucky."
"Luck is knocking someone down with one punch."
"You used your rhythm to control