"I am Kira."
Katherine stared at the letters on the screen as she listened intently to the broadcast. The voice had been distorted, but in an amateur manner. That definitely wasn't Kira's style. Nonetheless, she knew that this was going to be an important broadcast. It was too suspicious not to be.
"If this tape was aired at exactly 5:59 p.m., then it should be 5:59:38 right now. At exactly six o' clock on Taiyou TV, the news anchor will die of heart failure."
"So proof is the first thing you go for…"
Katherine turned on another of her televisions. She heard L tell someone to change the channel to Taiyou TV through the monitors, and tell Watari to move two more televisions into the room. Katherine changed the channel to Taiyou TV on her other television just as the news anchor was dying. She again listened to the screen with the word "Kira" printed across it.
"That was punishment to him for always speaking out against me on TV."
"Not Kira…" Katherine said, shaking her head. "Kira believes sacrifices are necessary, but not like this…"
"I doubt one person is enough to prove my identity. Another commentator who speaks of me in contemptuous terms on a regular basis on the same channel will also die of heart failure."
Katherine looked back at the other television, just as another anchor was having a heart attack. She heard speech from her monitors of the investigation team's headquarters, so she listened there.
"Kira is directly manipulating the public mind…" L was saying.
"You idiot, you can't possibly believe it's really Kira…" Katherine thought alloud.
"We need to stop this broadcast soon."
"What's the number for Sakura TV?" Matsuda asked, rushing over to the phone.
"Please believe me when I say that I am Kira."
"This is bad…" Katherine thought aloud, biting the side of her fist. "This is really bad…"
"All the lines are busy…" Matsuda said from the monitors.
"Damn it! I'll go down there myself!"
"Usata, you freaking idiot," Katherine said, looking at the monitors as Usata was leaving the hotel room. "Whoever this is might have Shinigami eyes… it can't possibly be the real Kira…"
"I do not mean to kill innocent people."
"Bull shit!" Katherine yelled at the television, slamming her fist on the coffee table next to her.
"I am a defender of justice and the enemy of evil. The police are not my enemy, and I do not have to be their enemy."
"Son of a bitch…" Katherine said under her breath, shaking in anger. "If you do anything else, I'll go to the station myself. I'd like to see you kill someone without a name."
"I wish to create a peaceful world, one with no crime. If we all work together for this utopia, it won't be hard at all to achieve. As long as no one tries to oppose me, no one will have to die. I won't kill you as long as you don't make a stand against me in public, even if you do oppose me. It won't take too long for this world to become a paradise that could never otherwise be attainable. The world will be full of only those with good conscience. Take a moment and imagine a world with no evil. Imagine if the police would work together with the God of the New World to achieve such justice."
"Everyone please remain calm." This was coming from the other television. Katherine switched focus here. "We will soon have more details of the tapes being broadcast at Sakura TV. We are now live at the entrance of Sakura TV. There is someone lying in front of the front door. This is a live feed from in front of the station."
"No!" Katherine yelled. "Damn it…"
The person lying in front of the station was easily recognizable as Usata.
"Aizawa-san, stop," Katherine heard from the monitors. She turned to them. "If you go now, you'll die too."
"What are you talking about? Do you expect me to sit and stare at the TV and do nothing?"
Katherine shut off her monitors and the televisions. If no one else could go, then she was going to.
"I'm telling you to calm down," L said to Aizawa. "I want to stop the broadcast now, too. If we can retrieve those tapes, we could get crucial evidence on the Kira case. However, if Usata-san was killed, then anyone else who goes now will suffer the same fate."
"Does that mean the fake badges you issued us are useless now?" Matsuda asked. "Did our names leak out?"
"If they had, we should all be dead," L said. "That can't be it. I thought Kira needed both a name and a face to kill, but after seeing this, it might be possible that he doesn't…. He might be able to use the face alone. He was able to kill Usata-san, so he could kill any one of us. It is possible that Kira is near that building. He could also have spy cameras set up to keep surveillance of whoever is there."
"Well, if we know he's there, we should go arrest them!" Aizawa said.
"I told you, if we go now, we'll be killed. Please try to understand."
"I can't. Usata died! You said you'd risk your life to arrest Kira."
"Risking my life and throwing it away are two very different things. Yes, Usata is dead. We couldn't afford to loose anyone before that, and now if we loose anyone else –"
"Live from the entrance of Sakura TV! A car has just parked around the side and – it appears someone else is approaching the entrance!"
The three of them looked at the television broadcasting the entrance of Sakura TV as it zoomed in on someone standing in front of the glass front of the building. Usata had already been taken away by the ambulance. The person standing there was Katherine Lynton. Did that mean it was her…?
"Open up, now!" she yelled, slamming her fist on the door. "Now, do you hear me!"
"Why isn't she getting killed?" Matsuda said.
That was strange. This made her a much more likely suspect. If she was Kira, though… shouldn't he, L, be dead by now? It seemed that Kira could kill with only a face now, and she claimed she knew that he was L. So that made her a less likely suspect. She hit the front entrance again, and he suddenly remembered something she'd said. "Luckily for me, I'm practically Kira proof. He can't kill without a name. So he can't kill someone who doesn't have a name." Maybe Kira could see people's names…. That was completely ridiculous, but so was the entire case so far. People dropping dead of heart attacks at every turn…. What murderer, if not one with Godlike powers, could do that? Even bogus theories could be acceptable at the point they had reached in the investigation.
"Let me in, Goddammit! Tell them to stop playing the tapes! Don't you get that innocent lives are at stake here! You idiots! You're just doing this for ratings!"
She hit the glass one last time before turning around to look at the camera that had zoomed in on the entrance where she was. She spoke to the camera loudly.
"If you're watching, we need the police here, now, and make sure you keep your faces covered! And Kira. If you're watching, let it be known – I will be the end of you. You won't get away with killing innocent people. You can't kill me. You need to know someone's name to kill. I don't know what you're doing right now, but apparently you still need the name, or I wouldn't still be standing here. You can't kill someone without a name. You're a coldblooded murderer who will be stopped! I've publicly spoken against you, and I'm still standing here alive. I'll find you, and I will turn you in to be judged and executed like you've done to so many others. I'm not afraid of you. Millions of others may be, but if one person isn't, then you're going to come crashing down. I vow to be your downfall, Kira. I am justice."
Katherine walked away from the front of the station, the camera zooming out as she moved to her car. Aizawa and Matsuda were both gaping at the screen.
"Why the hell isn't she dead?" Aizawa asked L, pointing at the television set. "What the hell is she talking about, everyone has a name, how is she… what the hell!"
"Actually, it's possible she might not," L said. "Take every possibility into consideration. Say she was born outside of a hospital and her name was never put on file. Then she practically wouldn't exist, and wouldn't have a name."
"But if… you said that Kira might not need names!"
"I think," he said slowly, "she has some idea of how Kira kills. Something we don't know about. This move is either a bold one made out of knowledge about Kira, or a very stupid one that turned out lucky."
"How could she know how Kira kills??" Matsuda asked. "Shouldn't we question her?"
"That's impossible as of right now. At least she gave the police orders to cover their faces, that's definitely – what now?"
"It appears there is a truck heading straight for the Sakura TV station!" said the announcer for Channel 24, just as Katherine's car was pulling away from the station. It stopped; she was apparently watching the truck as well. "Is it going to crash through? There it goes!"
"It's an armored truck..." Aizawa said. "From the police station…"
The Kira tape was just finishing. "Police, please give me a response to my request on April 22. I will respond on the same day at 6:10 to your answer. Thank you."
"Is he on our side…?" Matsuda asked uncertainly, watching the truck. It was inside the station.
"I don't know…" Aizawa said. "It is a police vehicle, but…"
"There are police cars showing up, too," Matsuda said. "Only one, though…?"
The police got out of the car and started to approach the building, but collapsed immediately. Their faces were uncovered completely.
"Aizawa-san," L said, watching the screen. "Do you know Vice-Director Kitamura's phone number?"
"Yes."
"Call him and hand me the phone as soon as he answers." L held out his hand without looking away from the television. After a moment, Aizawa handed him the phone. He held it to his ear.
"This is Kitamura. I told you not to call me, Aizawa."
"This is L." There was a silence on the other line. L continued. "I have a request. There is someone on the police force that has acted of their own will. The situation could become dangerous if it isn't handled."
"But… given the situation…" There was another momentary pause. There was a sigh. "Fine. I understand. Please tell me what to do."
"Send police there so that they will not be seen."
"The girl that showed up at the Sakura TV station – is she working with you?"
"No," he said, "but we plan to question her soon."
Watari's cell phone rang. He checked the front screen and spoke to L. "It is Yagami-san," he informed him.
"Please carry that out, vice-director," L said. "Do not hang up, hold on for a moment."
He took the other phone from Watari and flipped it open.
"This is Asahi," Yagami said.
"So you were the one in the armored car?"
"Yes," he said. "I couldn't stand watching the broadcast. I've retrieved the tapes, I'll bring them to you immediately, I only need to know where you are."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. More importantly, how should I leave? The front entrance is dangerous, would it be safe to use the armored car again?"
"Please wait a minute." L switched back to the other phone. "Vice-director, the one who broke into the television station is Director Yagami."
"Yagami? I thought he was in the hospital! … L, tell Yagami it won't be any more than five minutes!"
That line went blank. L handed the phone back to Aizawa and spoke to Yagami again.
"Yagami-san, rest for five minutes and then head out the front entrance."
"The front…?"
They watched on the television screen for any sign of reinforcements from the police. Katherine was still sitting in her car, waiting to see if the police would take her initial warning and send reinforcements in with their faces fully covered. The first car obviously hadn't listened. Whoever was in the armored car definitely knew what was going on. It wasn't more than five minutes later that a barrage of police cars was rushing to the scene, creating a barricade from the cameras. Katherine watched as they also blocked her car in.
"Damn…" she said under her breath. "Wonder how I'm supposed to get out of this mess…"
She heard commands being issued from the police.
"Alright! Do not reveal yourselves! Kira is not inside the TV station, he is watching from the outside!"
She looked over to the side and saw a single police car sitting there. It was Soichiro Yagami who exited from the Sakura TV building. She was fairly sure he was supposed to be in the hospital… that was a little strange. Surely L hadn't sent him? She decided the only way to find out would be to follow. It might not have been the best of choices… but it was the only way she knew she could know.
Katherine pulled out of the lot quickly after Yagami took the police car and left. He looked in his rearview mirror and noticed he was being followed fairly quickly. He swore under his breath and picked up his cell phone to dial Watari's number. L answered after a few rings.
"What is it?"
"I'm being followed."
"By who?"
"I have no idea. Looks like an old American-made car. It was parked around the side of Sakura TV."
"Let it follow," he said.
"If it's Kira, then –"
"It isn't Kira, but it is someone we need to question. I believe she may have information we need. She's most likely following you because she knows you're working on the Kira case."
"I thought you said no one knew!"
"I didn't think anyone knew. By now, she most likely knows all of our names and our aliases."
"Who is it?"
"The second Kira suspect –"
"What?"
"– who has been absolved of all suspicion. I'll explain more when you get here."
"Alright, fine. I'm almost at the hotel."
Yagami pulled into the hotel parking lot, and the other car followed him into the lot. It parked directly in front of the police car he'd taken. Katherine got out of her car with a shoulder strap bag hanging off of her shoulder. She held her arms up as Yagami got out of the car.
"I haven't got any weapons," she said. "I'm not out to hurt anyone or make threats. I'm not Kira. I need to talk to the team."
"The team?"
"The Kira investigation team. I know who you are. I've been investigating the Kira case and I have some important information on what happened at Sakura TV if the team hasn't already figured it out, and I know things about Kira that the team either doesn't know or isn't sure about."
"How?"
"Extensive research. I'm surprised you didn't take a long route here and attempt to loose me along the way here. Were you given orders not to?"
"Y-yes. How'd you –"
"Lucky guess," she said, walking towards the hotel. "Watari is probably waiting, you should hurry up."
How does she know so much about the team? he wondered. And she shouldn't know about Watari unless she has a connection with L or the police…. She couldn't possibly have a connection with L, and I know she doesn't within the police, which means…
"You have spies, don't you?" Yagami asked her, also walking towards the hotel.
"Correct," she said. "With a good bit of acting, I found out you were the head of the Kira case last year from the police station. I had one of my spies tail you for a day, and we discovered Watari, who led us straight to L."
"How many people are you working with?"
"Only three besides myself. They're good friends of mine, the only people I trust and the only people who really know anything about me. I may be forced to give some information of my background by the team if I'm going to be helping out… but to get rid of Kira, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." She walked in the front doors of the hotel. "Watari," she said, nodding her head. "Nice to meet you. Room 316, isn't it?"