L's eyes shifted towards Gin in a movement that told the tale of his relation to Ulquiorra very succinctly. It was L's turn to allow a couple of moments of silence before he turned his attention back to the screen and spoke.

"The number dropped significantly but the practice wasn't curtailed in its entirety," he said, his voice low, and level, "they simply became more adept at hiding it."

Gin was not here for simple conversation, and L couldn't decide if he was genuinely interested in what Shinra had been up to or not.

Could he have found out about the person L was arranging to have brought in, perhaps? It seemed too innocuous, but Gin was good at innocuous, and it was information held by a very tiny and privileged few. It also wasn't going to spread even among the rest of the clan until the individual in question was brought safely and securely into the Palace where he could be better monitored.

L didn't know, and it frustrated him beyond words.