Chapter 4
I couldn't believe it. I was getting butterflies in my stomach. Great. I was flipping 16 and acting like 6. That sounds like a movie title: 16 going on 6. Like 12 going on 20, or whatever that one movie's called. In complete defiance to my now-acrobatic stomach who was now threatening to unload my delicious lunch of tempura shrimp and vegetables onto the marble tile floor of the elevator, I unwrapped one of those Dum-Dum lollipops (the cream soda kind) and stuck it in my mouth. For some reason, the feel of sugar running through my circulatory system was completely calming to me. I felt fine now, even though my stomach was still being rebellious, not completely appeased by the candy. I always kept a couple of sweets in my pockets and bags. Right now, I had 5 lollipops (including 3 Tootsie pops…mmm), a small bag of Tootsie Rolls, and a bunch of Halloween candy from last year—hey, it's candy, it doesn't have an expiration date. At least, not to me. The wrapper I folded into a simple paper crane as we got into the elevator and rode up to the 15th floor. Matsuda raised his eyebrows, and I lobbed it over to him. He caught it clumsily, and I cracked a grin. "Your hand-eye coordination is worse than usual," I whispered. He rolled his eyes and the elevator pinged as we pulled to the 15th floor. Room 233-15 was at the very end of the hall, one of the two large suites. The white door had the traditional gold numbers 233 on them. A classy hotel, since they weren't chipped. I'd spent more time than you'd think in hotels, and the first thing you look at is the numbers. If they're chipped, pasted on, crooked, or not there at all, it's defiantly not a five-star hotel. The Director knocked on the door, and there stood…someone. He was tall, or would be if he didn't slouch, and skinny. He had a small, sharp nose and large black eyes. His spiky hair seemed to defy gravity, swept to the side. He stared at us, an unfathomable expression in his eyes and on his face. He wore a loose white tee-shirt and baggy jeans. He scratched his leg with one foot. "I am L," he said simply. I was surprised, but I carefully hid under a mask of blankness. This could be a decoy, to see who it was. Or it could really be him, but that wasn't as likely. I couldn't quite place his age—he seemed to be in his late teens, or early twenties, but his eyes were older than they should have been. He was, I'm afraid to say, not what I'd expected when I thought of meeting L. "I'm Director Yagami, Chief of the Police," the Director said, flashing his badge. "I'm Matsuda," Matsuda chimed in after. The rest followed in close order.
"Aizewa"
"Usata"
"Siza"
When it was time for my turn, L looked at me closely. "Call me K," I said on an impulse. L's eyebrow, nearly hidden under his wild hair, raised a quarter of a centimeter. Then he made a gun out of his hand: thumb pointing up, the last three fingers curled in, the index finger pointing at us. "Bang," he said. The other guys jumped and exclaimed. I kept silent, simply staring at him, analyzing his every move. "That's not funny," Matsuda protested. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "If I were Kira, you'd already be dead, Mr. Yagami, Matsuda, Aizewa, Usata, and Siza. However," here he looked at me, "'K' would not." I shook my head, and reluctantly took my lollipop out of my mouth. "Actually, I would probably be dead, too. When I gave Watari the fudge, I have no doubt that he recorded the incident. And even if he did not, I did not bother to conceal my face nor my name from him, so he would most likely have described me to you, and told you what my name was. So yes, I probably would be dead too, because you would simply use the process of elimination to find out my name." He nodded, then said, "As you know, Kira only needs a face and a name to kill. Logically, that is impossible, but he has managed to do it. We can only conclude that Kira is using a supernatural way to kill. It is down to us now to pursue Kira, so please be more careful with your names." Well, that was rather…obvious. I gave into temptation and rolled my eyes when I heard Matsuda say, "I heard that he only needed a face!" I hit the back of his head and told him, "Watch the news once in a while, Matsuda-san. Criminals whose names weren't broadcasted to the public somehow survived the mass murders. Even the ones who had incredibly bad records, which seems to be Kira's way of deciding who dies." He looked sheepishly at me as I popped my lollipop back in my mouth, indicating that the conversation was over. L half-turned back to us. "All right, now, down to business. Please put all communication devices, phones and laptops on the table." Murmurs of how they wished L would trust them flew around, but I was busy. I put my iPod Touch on the table, then Matsuda looked at me questioningly. "It has a special tracker I can turn on, the Skype app, internet, recorder, and bunch of stuff I added." I then opened my laptop bag, debating on whether or not to put the entire bag on the table and risk running out of candy, or just put my laptop on the table. My stomach won, needless to say. Aizewa raised an eyebrow at me, which I deliberately took out a piece of candy corn, waved it in the air, and popped it in my mouth. He shook his head. Poor, sensible Aizewa. He was stuck with dealing with me until the case was over. We walked to the sitting room, where L told us not to write anything down, and to call him Ryuuzaki. I guess I can understand that. I'm beginning to believe that he really is L, but I'm just going to have to see for myself. I couldn't really ask him what his name was. And, of course, everyone else took all the seats. So I sat cross-legged on the floor next to L-Ryuuzaki.
"I will need to speak with each of you in private, to make sure that Kira is not one of us. Director, if you will please follow me?" One by one, he moved through the group, and I was last. Of course. I was usually last. Whether that was a good thing or not, I had no idea. At last, Ryuuzaki stepped out of the room, and motioned me into the room, and I followed. He closed the door, and then sat in his precarious way in the seat opposite me. "Please make yourself comfortable," he said in the monotone voice he'd seemingly adopted for everything. I sat in the plush loveseat, crossing my legs, still sucking on my lollipop. I wondered if I should take it out, but decided not to. I couldn't loose my calm now. "So," he said. "I have a few questions. First of all, what is your real name?"
"Kayla Sorenson."
"Why did you join this investigation?"
"My father, he signed himself up for it, and so naturally I had to come along."
"Why did you continue the investigation despite the fact that your father is not here?" I made a slight face. "My father…he left for the States, because his…girlfriend is pregnant. I stayed back because I really wanted to solve this case, and because…I…am not too fond of his girlfriend." He watched my every move intensely, and I stared right back at him. From here, barely four feet from him, I could just make out a thin, dark gray ring around his large pupils. At last, he asked, "Who do you think Kira is?" I thought. "As you said, I think, first of all, Kira is a student. Second, I believe Kira is a male."
"Please explain."
"It was his objective that convinced me. Making the world better by killing people is a show of dominance. Saying, 'I am greater, more powerful than you, so you must do as I say.'" He nodded. "Anything else?"
"…the way he kills, at first made me wonder if it was really a god. But, I noticed that all the criminals aired on the news network included their picture and their name. The ones who had committed serious crimes died. So that made me about…56% certain that it is a rather childish person, who is playing god. Heart attacks, they are not something that you can exactly induce. And the autopsies never showed any sign of a heart-attack inducing chemical—that leads me to the conclusion that this is the supernatural at work. Perhaps this person has borrowed a power from a god of death…say, a shinigami. It seems that the power this person has can work long distances. And one other thing—this person is smart, and he believes deeply in what he does. He won't turn himself in easily, and he will probably be able to evade capture for a while." He nodded, more to himself than me. "On one hand, it's nice to hear someone reinforce my own thoughts. However, you've also increased the chance of you being Kira to 20%. No, more like…"
"L, please don't lie to me. What is the actual percentage of me being Kira?"
"…50%. However, that is partially because I have no other suspect." I nodded. That made sense, even if it did mean that I was the prime suspect. "Is there any way I could possibly convince you that I am not Kira?"
"Not really. I will have to watch you myself. For the meantime, you will still be on the investigation. Just know that I will be watching you," he said before getting out of the chair. I nodded, and followed suit.
