"Okay, Misa. Could you stay there just a while longer?" Light had been going through the expected, practised motions. In a couple of hours, all of his enemies would die after foolishly gathering in the Yellow Box warehouse. Conversely, Near was certain it would be the other way around – Kira would finally be exposed in front of everyone and locked away forever. Whoever was right, the phone call Light was making to Misa could well have been the last. Misa accepted Light's request eagerly, ending the conversation as if it were as ordinary as any other. With that, Light went through the final preparations, before both ended their own confrontational conversation.
"I'll see you all shortly, then" Near was as stoic as ever, despite almost shaking with anticipation.
"I look forward to it" Light replied, watching the monitor displaying Near's symbol fizzle away. Then he was off. Off to his potential death.
January 28th 2010 was truly an important day. Even Misa realised this. Yet it was not in the same way as the others. It was a small highlight, staying in such a classy hotel room. The best thing about it was simply being able to enjoy such a situation so soon after Takada bit the dust. Yet Takada was a small enemy when it came down to things, at least Misa believed so. It was Misa who was Light's destined partner, Takada was no bigger than Mayu or Yuri or even Emi... well, especially Emi.
Still, the conclusion to an epic battle concerning the fate of all of society... Misa had not anticipated that. She also hadn't anticipated getting another phone call while sipping her exceedingly expensive drink.
"Hey, Misa?" it was Nori, Misa's old friend who had helped her out when she was getting a confession out of Higuchi, in order to assist Light. What exactly had Misa done to get Higuchi to confess, anyway...? Oh, it was way too long ago to remember.
"Nori! It's been a while. What's up?"
"Er, nothing much. I was just calling because I heard about Takada. You both worked with NHN, right? Did you know her?
"A little" Misa saw no reason to lie.
"I'm sorry, then."
"Pfft, don't be. Between you and me, she totally deserved it. That's a secret though, so don't tell anyone."
"What, did she try to put hands on your fiancé, the cop?"
"Huh, I told you that too, didn't I?"
"Yeah, since when did you trust me so much anyway?"
"Since he never calls or sees me!" Misa brushed some hair away from her brow, feeling shame for telling Nori what were not supposed to be for anyone's ears. Since Takada was dead, Misa would be able to start seeing Light again soon, surely? She no longer had a reason to drop the façade but she had done it yet again.
"Well, he's crazy. When we were swapping clothes, it was hard not to stare at you."
"He's not here now, either..." Misa continued, deciding not to bring up that Nori actually had stared. "It looks like him and this other team are doing something with each other..."
"Huh, I hope they're careful. If there's one thing the Takada incident proved, it was that people can do crazy things now that society's been split in half."
That was true. Light was in a dangerous business, trying to catch Kira. Misa had faith in him and he was exceptional at what he did. She couldn't ask him to quit when it was so right for him. Yet, she never even saw him any more. Light was doing his dangerous job and Misa was doing hers, a mere distraction. That was what the deluxe hotel suite she was in was, too, wasn't it? Just another distraction...
"Look, Nori, I'm kinda busy right now so..."
"Oh, no prob. Talk to you later."
Of course, all Misa was busy with was worrying. Worrying that she was sure would amount to nothing in the end. Misa went to the computer to track the cellphones of the task force members. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone but Light had seen fit to get her to install tracking technology on all of their phones. For their safety, probably. Strangely though, he hadn't got her to do it to his phone or he had forgotten to tell her to. The memories of the event were pretty fuzzy.
The first phone she tried tracking was Matsuda's... but it was at the task force office. If the task force were out of the office, the one most likely to bring their phone was Matsuda, so Misa probably was just worrying and... no, wasn't Matsuda also the one most likely to forget his phone? With falsely rejuvenated confidence, Misa tried Aizawa's phone... it was at the office. So was Ide's. With a sigh of resignation, she tried Mogi's phone, barely even looking at the screen to see the results...
Daikoku Wharf. Mogi's cellphone was at the docks. Why...? It sure was a creepy place to be... then Misa remembered, it was that very morning that she and Mogi had been being driven by that annoying lady from the other team who also served as Takada's bodyguard. Mogi simply hadn't been driven back to the task force office... instead, he had been driven to the docks. Misa then remembered, with a horrifying chill, that woman's co-worker pointing out that if Mogi hadn't been cooperative, he would have pointed a gun to his head. They weren't simply just murderers though, were they? They were an extremely dedicated anti-Kira team. It was doubtful that it was something that needed the cops called... but still...
Inside the Yellow Box warehouse, everything was going in a way that made Light feel comfortable... the same for Near. The two sides, the task force and the SPK (accompanied by Mogi) faced each other. The faces of Light's enemies were exposed, all that was left was for Light's proxy, Mikami, to arrived, peek inside the building and write down their names.
"The truth is, I still have to wait for something. We need to wait for X-Kira, the man who will attempt to kill everyone here on Kira's behalf" it was Near speaking but Light may as well have been talking at the same time as him. Light was barely even bothering to hide his sadistic smiles any more. His only difficulty was keeping himself from laughing in the face of everybody in the building.
"What are you talking about? You're waiting for the guy with the notebook to swing by and kill us all?" Matsuda shouted, finding it hard to stop himself from walking up to Near and wringing his neck.
"Not quite. It will be a failed attempt. I haven't come into this with no plan," but before Near could explain further, Gevanni tapped his shoulder. "Oh, he's here already."
Mikami Teru, the man assigned to act as Kira's hand, was just outside the warehouse, feverishly writing down the names of the people inside, uttering 'delete' as he went. Obviously unsatisfied with Near's incomplete explanation, Matsuda reached for his gun, determined to stop Mikami. However, he was instantly halted by Rester and Gevanni pointing their own guns in his direction.
"Please be still. As I was about to explain, no one will die. The pages of that notebook have been replaced with fakes," Near said, feeling the need to demonstrate by holding up a tiny, plastic notebook. "After ascertaining that X-Kira uses exactly one page a day, all we had to do was remove all the pages he would use from the day of this meeting onwards and then put in normal paper in their place."
"You did that...?" Matsuda put his gun back in his holster, confused but ever the more satisfied.
"If Kira is within this building as I believe, then he will be the one person whose name X-Kira will not write down," Near finished. "Once we seize the notebook and confirm whose name has not been written, the case will come to a close."
'Near, you fool. You walked right into my trap,' Light smirked, completely satisfied. Straight from Near's mouth, the exact words Light had wanted to hear. 'You were so arrogant and narrow-minded that you didn't consider the possibility of me foreseeing this plan of yours. I'm afraid I knew about this long in advance and made sure that Mikami didn't take the notebook out of its hiding place a single time until this day. All you did was replace the pages of the fake notebook he had prepared!'
Near caught a glimpse of the bloodthirsty smile on Light's face. It was truly chilling. Light had seen through his plan and had set every member of the SPK and the Japanese task force on a collision course with death. Indeed, if it hadn't been for Mello's interference two days ago, Near would have never learned about the fake notebook and Mikami would have killed them all. As things were, Mikami wouldn't be able to kill a single person with the notebook he was holding, which he was unaware was yet another fake.
"The person outside is probably done writing the names down by now" Light commented casually, glancing towards the door but not getting a response. That was fine. He knew victory was a few seconds away.
"Yes. Mikami Teru, it is safe to enter now" Near agreed.
"He's correct," Light added. "Come inside, there's no need to hide"
The creaking, rumbling door opened, the visage of the notebook-holding figure blocking out the outside light while their long hair blew in the wind. It took a second to adjust to the light before their face was visible. That was when Light adopted an expression of utter bewilderment. The person in the doorway holding the notebook was not Mikami – it was Misa.
Misa couldn't stand still for long. She started running, Mikami attempting to snatch the notebook from her. Near was just as confused as Light, yet kept his composure. There was no reason to assume the situation was impossible to control.
"Gevanni, get Mikami," he ordered. "Rester, get Amane."
Mikami tried to back away, into the wall, out the door, anywhere that wasn't his current location. Gevanni moved to grab him but Mikami darted to the side. Rester diverted from his course towards Misa and helped in cornering Mikami. Misa was stunned and confused. Dazed, she looked down towards the notebook... her eyes widened in shock.
"L-Light... this is what Kira uses to murder, right? That man over there is Kira, isn't he...?" Misa's hands were shaking. She was dimly aware that Mikami was being handcuffed by Gevanni and that Rester would soon be over to her. Light nodded to Misa. Misa looked at Rester as he came over to her. "I'm sorry... you're one of the foreign names, aren't you? I was only able to stop him from writing Light's name... if I had been faster..."
With Misa's feeble, shaky grip, Rester easily took the notebook from her hands. He found he didn't need to use handcuffs, as she followed him over to Near's group in a trance.
"It's just as she said, Near. Only one name is missing from the latest page," Rester handed the notebook to Near, who turned it towards the task force to demonstrate. "Yagami Light."
"Yes..." Near replied, his voice lacking just a touch of its usual confidence. 'But why is Amane here...? Did Yagami Light plan this, too?'
"I apologise for your time being wasted, Near. I didn't expect Misa to find a way to follow us," Light said, his composure mostly regained, the semblance of a sly smile returning to his lips. "After being interrupted, Mikami was captured right away, so obviously we can't trick him into doing anything that might reveal Kira's identity again. At least, if we go by your ideas of who Kira is."
"That's true. How are we going to get Kira to slip up now...?" Aizawa leant forward, looking at the names in the notebook.
"Don't worry, Light. Nobody with any sense would think you were Kira" Matsuda patted Light on the shoulder. Despite the fact that the investigation seemed to have come to a grinding halt if one considered that Mikami could be used to find out about the original Kira, Matsuda was simply happy that Light was in the clear for the moment, even if he hadn't exactly been proven innocent.
'Misa... how did she get here...? I suppose it's not impossible to think that she could have tracked us, all things considered... I thought I was done with her sticking her nose into everything... but this actually benefits me,' Light took the opportunity to stand behind Matsuda and Aizawa. 'Somehow, that notebook really is fake. Mikami wouldn't betray me... at least, it's doubtful he would, even if he was pushed to the limit... the only other explanation could be... he took out the real notebook of his own volition for some reason...? Either way, now I can...'
'Is Amane here as insurance for if the notebook really was forged? Why didn't Yagami Light use Mikami for that situation, too? Not that he could have... perhaps he considered that... still, what purpose does this serve? It stops me from securing concrete evidence against him for the moment but it also makes him look even more suspicious. Plus, if Amane has no memory of being Kira, it's not as if she can kill-' a single thought emerged over all the others that passed through Near's mind. Misa was not the killing method. She was a distraction. Near noticed Light's hand leaving the cuff of his sleeve as a ruthless look of superiority flashed across his eyes. Near's eyes were not cold or calculating in retaliation – they were wide and scared. "Rester, Gevanni, Lidner, I think this is it! We have no choice, shoot Yagami Light while you still can!"
The three agents understood immediately and raised their guns towards Light. Instinctively, Light was covered by the task force – even Aizawa, overtaken by his disgust towards Near's seemingly hypocritical tactic. While Aizawa and Ide simply stood in front of Light, Matsuda went as far as reaching for his gun – and was shot in the shoulder by Rester. Matsuda almost sunk to his knees as he cried out in pain, giving Rester a clear enough shot. Rester still had a few seconds of life left. His finger tightened around the trigger and a murderer was shot, their blood splattering across the ground.
Their last collective effort finished, the SPK were no more. Near was first, the real notebook spilling from his shirt. Gevanni and Lidner followed straight after. The task force members were marked for death slightly after Rester, yet they couldn't hold on for as long as him and fell, looking to the still form of Light with horror. Rester fell last, with the clearest look at the one whom he had shot – Misa.
Misa was still standing, just about. In putting all her adrenaline-driven strength into diverting Rester's shot, she had carelessly allowed herself to be shot in the side. Light stepped over the corpses of his colleagues and advanced towards her. There wasn't much of a sense of urgency to him, he simply felt it necessary to get to her at some point. Misa stared at him, waiting, yet she could not keep standing. The time it was taking him to reach her felt like an eternity. Finally, she fell to the ground, her hand landing on the real notebook beside Near. Misa screamed, from a combination of three things – her physical pain, being overwhelmed by all the memories and perhaps most of all, the clarity that upon losing possession of the notebook, Misa had also lost what mattered most to her. She couldn't be by Light's side as Kira. Misa had hoped that she could instead be by his side as just a wife. Yet it felt like a lie. More and more so as she feebly looked up at Light, who stopped a few feet shy of her, simply observing her condition with dull interest.
"Mikami, how was your notebook a fake?" Light asked, still looking at Misa... or at least, towards her. His voice was as flat as his stare. "The only way that could have happened was if you had taken the real notebook out without my permission, correct?"
Mikami looked around, at the expansive room that seemed even more hollow with all of its corpses. The situation was still confusing to Mikami but he had grasped something – Yagami Light, his God, had almost been shot to death. It was through the involvement of the girl who had stolen his notebook, Amane Misa, that he had been able to survive. Thus, it was also how he had been able to win. Through all of his careful planning, it was a chaotic event based on emotion that served as the final piece of the puzzle.
"Takada had been kidnapped... I had to kill her before anything happened..." Mikami spoke carefully, his wrists stiff from the handcuffs, his eyes still on the strangely formed corpses. "A-and you never told me whether you would be able to kill her yoursel-"
"Mikami, you idiot! You can't even serve your purpose as my lowly servant!" Light snapped, briskly walking towards Mikami, fury in his eyes. "I made it clear not to take out the notebook! All you had to do was follow orders! Because of your stupidity, Mello almost let Near win!"
"You're no God!" Mikami screamed, thrashing his bound fists against Light's head. Light collapsed to the ground, blood dripping from his forehead. Light put his fingers to his wound in disbelief and looked up at Mikami, disgusted and infuriated. "You're an extraordinary human being, that much is true. But I was misguided. There is no such thing as a God. Any human who thinks they have reached the level of a God has simply allowed their arrogance to take control of them, in a way making themselves even more pathetic. In the end, no matter how intelligent you were, you and Near needed the help of others. You both almost lost because you hadn't realised this."
"Don't... hurt... Light..." Misa quietly breathed, wrenching the gun from Rester's dead fingers. She had only just started to raise it towards Mikami, when Light's hand forced the barrel towards the ground, after he had quickly crawled over from where he had been.
"Oh, Light. When did you get so soft?" Ryuk laughed, bemused at his behaviour.
"I think I already had, simply from trying not to. I was focusing so hard on beating the enemies in front of me: L, Mello, Near... yet I'm still not the God of the new world. I still have to face myself" the gun in Misa's grasp lowered ever more as Light's hand remained on it, the blood flowing from him, then on to and down the barrel. Lastly, the blood of the man who had tried to be God dripped to the cold, derelict floor.