T-H-E-V-A-N-D-A-L
Chief Soichiro Yagami was walking home. It was Saturday, just after six 'o'clock, and he was hoping to eat dinner with his family for a change. The Kira case was demanding and enigmatic, and left him always feeling worn and turned in circles. He had had to run long hours before, but never like this; never for so long. Since the creation of the task force, it was a rare occurrence indeed when he could return home in time to spend time with his family. This was one of those rarities, and he intended to utilize it before it slipped through his fingers.
The air was crisp and oddly fresh for this part of the city, shot through with the clean bite of frost. The foot-traffic was sparse in this primarily residential area, and seldom did he pass by another being. As Yagami drew nearer to his house, he began to discern a faint hissing noise, sporadic and different from the usual city sounds.
The source of the hissing became apparent as Yagami turned the corner onto his street. A short figure in dark, baggy clothes and a black cap held a spray-can and was tracing paint onto a door. Yagami's door.
"Hey! You, there!"
Yagami advanced toward the delinquent, who jumped and dropped the can they were holding. The chief glanced at his door, and felt a slight shock when he saw the characters for "Kira" painted there.
Without turning towards Yagami, the intruder turned and ran down the street away from him. Yagami lengthened his stride and took off in pursuit. He wasn't sure for how long he could give chase, but it was indeed a bold and stupid move to vandalize police property in the middle of the day.
Yagami's chest was tight with strain, and he felt the sharp impact of every step as a spike in his knees. Nevertheless, he gained ground for a short while, and then fell farther back when the two of them rounded a corner. The pedestrian traffic was thicker here, and his quarry had the advantage of small size in being able to slip through the crowd. Yagami himself was a rather large man, and shoved people aside as best he could, all the while yelling;
"Stop! Vandal! Police!"
His quarry rounded another corner, and he lost sight of them for a moment. He made the turn just in time to see a set of glass double-doors swing closed. Panting, Yagami pulled the doors open and found himself faced with a densely-packed lobby full of people. He scanned the crowd, and spotted the delinquent's trail in the form of a clump of disgruntled faces. He set off once more in pursuit, pushing aside a young man in black jeans and leather jacket; his companion, a shabbily-dressed woman with dyed blonde hair, but it was no use. He had lost the chase. Yagami huffed in frustration.
I'm too old for field work.
He stared around, looking for some sign of his quarry; a flushed or guilty face, a hand clutching a stitch in their side. Seeing none, Yagami turned and started back toward the double-doors, bumping into a young woman in a slim coat and high-heeled boots. Muttering an apology, he continued toward the exit. He pushed open the doors, momentarily startling a group of young teenagers who were in discussion over a pair of new, black shoes.
"-just found them in the girl's bathroom."
"They're fine. Why would someone throw them out?"
Yagami stopped a few feet away.
"There was a new shoe-box with them, but it was too big for these. Probably for boots."
High-heeled boots.
"Excuse me," Yagami addressed the girl speaking, who wore pig-tails and a startled expression at being addressed by an older stranger, "Did you say you found those discarded with a new shoe box?"
The pig-tails glanced bemusedly at her friends, "…Yeah…Probably some spoiled rich girl wanted to change into her new pair and was too troubled to carry the old ones." She wrinkled her nose in mild disdain.
"Was there anything else with them? A shirt or pants?"
Pig-tails shrugged, "Not that I saw."
"Could I see those?"
Surprised, the girl handed Yagami the shoes. They were black, light and sturdy- unlikely to last long, but ideal for a quick escape on foot. The price tags were gone, but the sneakers looked new, with no imprint in the soles to hint at their having ever been filled by a foot. He considered taking them in for evidence, but dismissed the thought. There was no way to trace Kira with these. Chances were, the vandal was simply a civilian wanting to gain attention. Even if he did try and track the girl down, he doubted he would get much from these. The traceable labels had all been removed, and the shoes had been handled too much to discern any fingerprints. They were too unused to identify with any one person; Yagami doubted they had ever been worn before this one endeavor.
He returned the shoes, thanked the bemused girl, and started for home, his hands as deep in his pockets as he was in contemplation. It was not until he more-closely examined his vandalized door that he noticed the number 3 painted after "Kira."
キ ラ 3
In an otherwise empty bathroom of a nearby café, a young woman broke the heels off of her boots, and then, with gloved hands, shoved the pieces, along with a black cap, to the very bottom of a garbage can.