L's mind travels back in time easily enough, to when these women were relevant fixture in their lives, but it's a world away, a world removed. It's strange to return to this, even as it's natural, even rather fun. If nothing else, Light is telling him his type in his own words, which could end up useful down the line.

Not a surprise, perhaps. Intelligence has always mattered to Light; he'd fairly broadcasted it from the moment they'd met, making his relationship with Misa even more surprising. She wasn't stupid, the same way Matsuda wasn't stupid... but compared to geniuses, it was like trying to play in a beginners' orchestra with a virtuoso's skillset. Tedious, slow, frustrating.

"Of course they come up," L agrees easily, as if he hasn't kept those urges at arm's length for most of his adolescent and adult life. "And it is boring, isn't it? When you're hungry for the first time in over a decade, I suppose anything being served is worth trying, but once appetite has evolved into taste, the bland options aren't interesting or satisfying to pursue."

He shakes his head, chuffing a breath of curt laughter directed at himself.

"Don't mind the philosophical self-importance of my revelation. There are things I expect most humans have known for far longer, that I've only learned recently, or not at all."