AN: This first scene is taken from the anime, as I'm sure you'll all recognize. I took it because I liked it. All other events are still based entirely on the manga, though.

I do stray from canon a little bit in this chapter, though - not in terms of events, but in terms of Mello and Near's thoughts about what's going on. You'll see. Explanations for why I did this are included in the author notes (Chapter 6)


L's heir


The rain was pouring down, trickling cold and wet down L's skin, plastering his clothes to his body and sticking his hair to his face.

Light Yagami had walked out into the rain to speak with him.

"What are you doing, Ryuzaki?"

I figured you'd find me, Kira… it's rather loud out here, don't you think?

The sky was dark and gray, the surface of the roof rippling with raindrops and puddles. "Well, I'm not doing anything in particular, but…" In the distance he could hear the eerie ambience of bells, barely audible over the cacophony of rain. It was distracting. "The sound of the bells…"

"Bells?" There was honest confusion in Kira's voice.

"Yes." The rain was cold and wet, the raindrops tapping out a chilling sonata on his skin. "The bells have been really noisy throughout the day…"

Kira was quiet for several moments, and then said guilelessly: "I don't hear anything."

"Really?" L looked over at him. "They've been ringing all day, and… I can't help but feel curious…"

Kira looked uncharacteristically disheveled in the rain, soggy and dripping, a hand raised in a vain attempt to keep the water out of his eyes, his clothes and hair already limp and saturated, sticking to his skin.

L looked away again, staring into the gray distance. "Do you suppose it's a church…? A wedding? Or perhaps…"

"What are you talking about, Ryuzaki?" Kira cut him off before he could suggest that it was a funeral. "Don't say such silly things. Let's go back."

"I'm sorry." L knew the chiming was all in his head; there were no such Gothic bells in Tokyo.

He looked down at the silver ripples at his feet, hunching his shoulders, raindrops streaming down his face, dripping from his hair, his nose, his chin. "Everything I say is complete nonsense, so… please, don't believe any of it."

"…Huh?"

L could feel Kira staring at him, studying him.

Then Kira chuckled, his voice becoming contrived and self-satisfied: "That's right, Ryuzaki. Most of what you say is nonsense. There would be no end if I took you seriously all the time." His words and meaning were mocking, but he concealed them with a tone of amusement. "I know that the best."

"Yes, that's right, Light-kun." The rain was falling in sheets. "But…." You would know the best, because: "It's true for both of us."

"What do you mean?" Kira's voice was careful.

L looked over at him, smiling knowingly. "Have you ever told the truth at any point since you were born?"

Kira's eyes widened ever so slightly.

L stared at him, nothing but a silver sheet of rain between them. Look, I know you know I know you're Kira. So why are you still hiding it?

You could tell me that you're Kira, right here, and it wouldn't be proof that I could pin you with. It wouldn't mean anything; just a statement of the obvious, drowned in the rain. Nobody else would ever know a thing.

So why do you still lie?

Kira's eyelids lowered ever so slightly. "What are you talking about, Ryuzaki? It's true, I lie once in a while. But how many people live their entire lives only telling the truth? Humans aren't made perfectly. Everyone lies. Even so, I've been careful not to tell lies that hurt others." Because I have to, L. I know you know that. "That's my answer."

It was a perfect answer, carefully crafted for a nonexistent audience.

L looked down at the endless, repeating ripples on the surface of the puddle at his feet, distorting his reflection. "I thought you'd say that…"

It was as good of an admission as he'd get, L supposed.

Even when they were alone they were both acting—they had to.

L, Kira—their names, their roles, were so much bigger than themselves. Kira had masses living in worship and fear of him, believing him to be some kind of vengeful god, while L had all the police forces of the world at his beck and call, and two successors waiting to replace him, like he was some kind of king, so he wouldn't die even when he was dead.

Neither of them could afford to be human.

(And yet they were both cold and drenched by the time they finally went back inside; shivering, pathetic, and painfully mortal.)


It was utter chaos outside when Mello left.

The riot squad and the rioters were embroiled in conflict, people were shouting in anger and screaming in pain, a motorcycle had been caught on fire and was creating a pillar of flames and smoke, and it was the perfect opportunity for Mello to leave.

Even if L had had other members of the Japanese Task Force tail Mogi to try to find him, there was no way they'd spot him amongst the hoard of people outside. And if they were looking for anyone, they'd be looking for Near, not him.

He figured, also, that he might as well grab all the cash he could while he was at it, since he was running low.

The idea of going out there and grabbing money from the ground like all the greedy fools out there bothered him, but since it was L's inheritance, he figured that some of it rightfully belonged to him, anyway.

So he slipped outside, stuffed his shoulder bag with cash, and then hightailed it out of there before he could get mixed up with either the rioters or the enforcers, planning his next steps as he went.

He would still be able to get information about what Near was up to from Hal, but if Kira had enough power to control mobs of people then there was no way Mello would be able to catch Kira himself.

He needed help. But he couldn't work with Near, and the mafia was gone, and he hadn't kept in contact with anyone from Wammy's House, and even if he had, the only one who might help him was…

Damn it. I have no choice…

He had to find Matt.

Even though Matt had never wanted to be L, and probably didn't care at all about catching Kira, he was probably bored enough by life that he'd do anything that promised a bit of excitement.

And if nothing else, Mello now had money to pay him with.

Part of L's inheritance probably rightfully belonged to Matt as well, anyway.


Since Mogi still wouldn't talk, Near had to get one of the other Japanese Task Force members onto his side (which of course was only possible because he already had Mogi with him, thanks to Mello).

It went even better than he'd expected, though, and the man—Aizawa—gave him some very useful information.

The part about the Shinigami, and the Shinigami Eye that the holder of the notebook can get by paying half of their remaining lifespan, for one. It was the first time he'd heard about it, and it was very useful, since it solved the problem of why the Second Kira and Higuchi had been able to kill just by seeing someone's face when Kira couldn't.

The fact that Kira hadn't made the Eye Deal suggested that he wasn't the kind of person to halve his lifespan like that—he had a long term goal. That, and he was intelligent enough that he doesn't need to, since he could figure out other ways or get someone else to make the deal for him. It also meant that Near didn't have to worry about the other Task Force members having the Shinigami Eye, since only the holder of the notebook could make the deal.

And also, even more valuable, Aizawa had let it slip that the person the original L had suspected of being Kira was related to Soichiro Yagami, and from there it wasn't difficult to figure out that the present L was Light Yagami, and therefore Kira was Light Yagami. So he'd sent Commander Rester to Japan to investigate him.

And Light Yagami—Kira—really was something else. The way he'd foreseen his detainment and created the fake rule to 'prove' his innocence…

Kira was crafty, but Near had a better idea of how his mind worked, now.

His talent for complex, long-term plans, combined with an intense desire to be the best that rivaled Mello's, and caused him to go to similarly extreme measures…

Near could have smiled.

Kira, it'll be easy to figure out how you're going to move from here on out.


Mail Jeevas had always been easily bored.

He'd been bored at home with his parents who were always too busy working to pay much attention to him, he'd been bored in class with the teachers who'd repeated themselves and went over stuff he already knew, he'd been bored by the easy homework he completed in minutes, he'd been bored by the other kids his age who got upset over silly things and didn't seem to understand half of what he said.

He'd quickly taken to playing games in order to quell the boredom, since games were the only things that made life interesting.

When he'd been home he'd played video games, when he'd been in class he'd played a Game Boy sneakily beneath his desk, when interacting with his peers he'd played scientist and tried to observe and predict their behaviors.

And when there hadn't been any games to play—when there was nobody around, or his Game Boy was confiscated or the batteries died—he'd memorize things. He'd memorize the multiplication tables in class, or digits of pi, or the capital cities of all the countries in Europe, or the eye chart at the doctor's when they left him alone in the examination room for twenty minutes.

They hadn't been amused when he'd tried to take the vision test with his eyes closed, but he'd thought it was hilarious, and well worth the subsequent lecture about respecting authority and other total bullshit.

Even at Wammy's House he'd been bored. The class material was more challenging, admittedly, but it was also super boring. The only things that had been interesting there were the video games, the stories about L, and watching Mello and Near duke their shit out.

(Well, one of the nice things about Wammy's House was that he'd gotten to change his name; he'd always hated the name Mail—seriously, what the fuck had his parents been thinking? Matt was a way cooler name.)

So even though Wammy's House was supposed to be a stimulating environment for geniuses, or whatever, Matt had been bored there (Matt had never really understood what he was doing there, anyway—he'd never thought of himself as being particularly smart. It was just that most other people happened to be worse than him at most things). So he really should have known that if he'd been bored there, it wouldn't be any less boring anywhere else.

Somehow, though, he'd thought that once he left Wammy's House and all the crazy L obsession crap, life would get more interesting.

He'd been wrong. It turned out that life outside of the orphanage was even worse—seriously, he had to do even more boring tasks than take classes, such as shopping, and working a job, and paying taxes, and a bunch of other shit like that.

He'd tried moving to a large city, because he thought it would be more interesting—New York was supposed to be an interesting place, he'd thought—but if you didn't like going to museums, or partying, or shopping, or eating at restaurants, or going to tourist sites, or shit like that, then there really wasn't much to do. Aside from, like, work a job, and other similarly sucky stuff.

He had a lot of skills from Wammy's House, thought, not least among them a knack with computers, and it wasn't hard to get some pretty well-paying jobs—the hard part was keeping them.

He'd get bored of each job after only a few months, and move on to the next one, doing everything from hight-tech computer programming (advantages: it paid well, and sometimes it involved some problem-solving that was actually kind of interesting; disadvantages: there were no cute girls, and when it wasn't interesting it was boring as fuck) to working as a barista in the interim (advantages: he got to flirt with cute girls; disadvantages: it didn't pay very well, and it was boring as fuck).

In his spare time he'd been playing video games, videotaping it, and uploading walk-throughs and such onto the internet, and when his channel became popular enough that he was making a descent amount of money from it he stopped trying to work other jobs. Since, hey, why work a job when you can make money playing video games?

(He stayed away from video game competitions, though—he was sick and tired of competitive environments in general, sick and tired of any kind of pressure to prove himself to anyone.)

Beneath the boredom-alleviating enjoyment of video-gaming, though, there was still a constant hollow feeling of dissatisfaction. Like there was something out there that he was missing—something out there that he needed, or that he was meant to do, or something like that—but he had no idea what it was, and he was too lazy to try looking for it.

There was the whole Kira thing going on, of course, but he didn't really pay attention to it. It didn't affect him at all—he wasn't a criminal or anything. And he didn't give a fuck if criminals around the world were dying, or about whether or not that was justice, or what that meant for society or whatever. It didn't have any effect on his life; he spent most of his time in his apartment away from the rest of the boring world, anyway.

As far as he was concerned, the only way any of it concerned him was that it meant he probably didn't have to be too worried about getting mugged, and that Mello and Near were probably still obsessing over it, the latter of which was sometimes an amusing train of thought.

He considered trying to contact Wammy's House to see how they were doing, a few times—well, mostly how Mello was doing, since Mello was the one he'd kind of considered a friend, but how Mello was doing was usually tied to how he was doing against Near, so it was also tied to how Near was doing, which meant that it was basically impossible to inquire after Mello without also inquiring after Near—but by that time he'd been gone a few years, and he didn't even know if they were still there. Mello was only a year younger than him, Near only two years younger, so they'd probably left already.

So Matt continued to spend his life, for the most part, mind-numbingly bored.

And then after a while Mello had showed up, with a wicked-looking scar on his face and the solemn air of a seasoned soldier, and asked him to help him hunt down Kira—apparently L had been killed, which Matt hadn't actually known, though he supposed he should have guessed given how strange it was that L hadn't caught Kira yet, even after like five years, but Matt had just never given it much thought—and Matt agreed, because there was no reason not to.

He was bored, Mello was offering to pay him, and hey—maybe working to catch Kira would be kind of exciting, or something.


Matt agreed to help, just like Mello had known he would.

And with the information Hal provided him with—well, actually, 'the information Near had told Hal to provide him with' would probably be more accurate, since he couldn't imagine that Near didn't know Hal was giving him the information, so it was probably Near's way of thanking him for sending Mogi over to the SPK headquarters—he and Matt were able to tail Aizawa and Mogi, which led them both to the headquarters of the Japanese Task Force as well as to the woman who'd been the Second Kira, Misa Amane.

It would have been difficult, if not impossible, to keep an eye on both places himself, but with Matt's help it was easy.

Though, originally, he'd been tailing Aizawa and watching the location that seemed to be the Japanese Task Force headquarters while Matt tailed Mogi and whoever was living in the apartment. But when it turned out that person was a young Japanese pop idol, Mello had them switch places because he knew that Matt would get distracted and wouldn't pay attention to the right things.

("If you'll pardon my expression, she's an awfully cute Japanese girl." "Are you serious, Matt?" "Yeah, very serious.")

Which meant that it was Matt's job to keep an eye on the probable Task Force headquarters while Mello tailed the girl and Mogi, bugged her apartment, and listened in on their conversations.

("How's it going for you, Matt?" "It's so boring watching something that never changes…" "Come on, I'm doing the same thing. And if L is there, then they may think that the SPK trailed Aizawa and discovered their location, so they might decide to move. If you're not careful, they could get away." "Then why don't you trade places with me? At least you get to eavesdrop on a cute girl.")

Damn, though, the girl—Misa Amane—really was stupid. It was hard to believe that Kira would have used someone like her.

Though Mello supposed that if she had the Eyes, that might be enough to make her worth something to Kira…

It was clear, though, that even if she'd been the Second Kira in the past, she was not currently executing the killings. She wasn't very bright, and she was clearly harmless. Even if she did have the Eyes, as long as he didn't let himself be seen, it wouldn't be a problem.

And if what Hal had told him was true, there would be no point in threatening her for information if she'd gone without eating or drinking for several days and had even asked to be killed rather than telling anything.

From all her talk about the probable boyfriend named "Light," though—which had also been the name of Soichiro Yagami's son, and it was an unusual name, so it could only be him—Light Yagami was probably the current L. Near, Mogi, and Aizawa's movements seemed to corroborate that, as well, and since he was Soichiro Yagami's son it would have been easy for him to get involved with the investigation.

If Mello was going to make a move, he should make it against Kira—L—Light Yagami. Not the girl.

If he was going to make a move, then… he figured he should wait a bit, though.

Near didn't seem to be making any moves, either, so Mello could only assume that Near was expecting him to go directly to Amane or Aizawa to try to take the notebook again.

And maybe that's what he would have done, in the past, when he'd had the mafia on his side (and when he hadn't had a burn scar stretching from his navel to his eye to remind him constantly of the high cost of failure, to remind him constantly of what Kira had made him do, to remind him constantly of the pain).

(There was a darkness in him, and it twisted and writhed, both darker and quieter than it had ever been. He no longer felt like he could lose his balance at any moment and fall into insanity, no longer felt it simmering beneath his skin, no longer felt in danger sparks that would light the gasoline and consume him—it was a quiet, lurking darkness now, wounded and dangerous but patient and predatory, coiling and biding its time as it soothed itself on the flavor of chocolate.)

He would kill Kira one day, he knew. It was not a question of 'if' but of 'when,' and he could wait for the right opportunity. Let Near make some of the catalyst moves first for once—it was about high time Near grew some balls and took action, rather than waiting for everything to fall into his lap (everything had always been so easy for Near).

Mello could wait. And if Kira was going back to Japan—Damn it, Matt, you were supposed to be keeping an eye on them—then Mello would follow him, and wait for Near to catch up.


Near had sent Commander Rester to Japan to investigate Light Yagami, and everything he'd discovered had only confirmed the fact that Light Yagami had to be Kira.

All Near needed was proof.

Mogi was keeping an eye on Amane, and Aizawa was keeping an eye on Light, and they'd let him know if they found anything—judging from the fact that they hadn't, yet the killings were still continuing, he determined that somebody else had to have the notebook.

And then Demegawa was killed, and a week later Kiyomi Takada, a news anchor from NHN, was chosen as Kira's new spokesperson.

Judging from that, and from the fact that most of the killings were taking place in Japan, it was highly likely that the person with the notebook was in Japan. (The Japanese Task Force, too, had returned to Japan, and Mello had probably followed them there.)

So Near sent Lidner and Gevanni to Japan, as well, so they could try to get close to Takada, since Commander Rester wasn't making any headway on his own.

And then Takada, who had originally been giving a neutral account of Kira's values, began openly voicing her opinion after, by Commander Rester's report, meeting a mysterious visitor in a hotel room. Which suggested that she either was in contact with Kira, the person with the notebook, or both, and was therefore assured of her safety; otherwise she wouldn't be stating her opinions so boldly.

Which meant that Kira had made his moves and all the pieces were set, and it was time for Near to go to Japan well.

They would settle the case in Land of the Rising Sun.

(He had to ask Commander Rester to come back to New York first, though, to escort him to Japan, because he had never made travel arrangements himself before, so he didn't know how it even worked, and he knew he wouldn't be able to figure it out on his own—not in completely new environments with no idea what to do and overwhelmed by all the sounds and movement and people that would make him panic, his ears ringing and unable to distinguish sounds and his eyes darting and unable to read even clearly-printed signs and his heart pounding in his chest and his breath coming short and he wouldn't be able to even think—).

(It wasn't lost on him that he, now seventeen, couldn't even make his way to Japan by himself, while Mello had left the orphanage on his own before he was even fifteen and had somehow made his way to the top of the world's most powerful mafia.)

(Everything had always seemed to be so easy for Mello…)


Matt still didn't understand Mello and Near at all.

Seriously—Mello claimed they were both trying to catch Kira no matter what it took, but if that were the case then why weren't they working together? If they really wanted to catch Kira by whatever means necessary, then they would work together, even if they weren't happy about it.

Actually, scratch that—Matt still totally understood them, just like he always had. Because for Mello, everything had always been about beating Near, while for Near, everything had always been about being L.

(Half the time Matt envied Mello and Near their passion and the way it motivated them, and the other half of the time he pitied them for the way it consumed them.)

So, from what Matt figured, no matter what Mello said about wanting to kill Kira, Mello's main goal was to beat Near, and he saw Near as his main opponent; but for Near, because his main goal was to be L, saw Kira as his main opponent, because Kira had killed L.

And who knew what Kira thought about the whole thing, but from what Mello said, Kira's focus seemed to be on Near, not Mello, which meant that Near and Kira were fighting one war, like two kings or generals or whatever on the frontlines, and then Mello was a rebel on the sidelines trying to undermine one government and overthrow the other, or some other mixed up metaphor like that.

At first, when Matt had seen Mello with that scar and a somber and war-torn look about him—as a kid Mello had always been a cocky and lively type of guy—Matt had thought that Mello had changed a great deal in the few years since he'd last seen him, and that the way he was taking his time observing and tailing people meant that he'd become wiser, or something.

But then, after hanging around him again, he'd realized that, no, Mello was still as intensely obsessive as ever—he was just better at hiding it.

Also, Mello still had his chocolate fetish thing going on, and that was a pretty large giveaway that he hadn't changed, too. (Matt liked chocolate as much as the next person, but he'd never understood how Mello could eat so much of it without fucking vomiting from sugar inundation.)

And Matt figured that Near probably hadn't changed any, either, judging by all the things Mello liked to mumble about the guy—apparently they'd actually met each other face-to-face and talked at some point, or something, and had agreed on the fact that Kira needed to die no matter what and also apparently on the fact that "no matter what" apparently included everything except for swallowing their pride and working together—so Near was probably still walking around in pajamas playing with toys and correcting everybody on stuff.

But, oh well, Matt figured—it was kinda nostalgic, a little bit. He hadn't realized how relatively not-boring Wammy's House had been in comparison to the rest of the world until he'd, well, actually been out in the rest of the world enough to make that realization.

Didn't realize what he'd had till it was gone, he guessed.

It was kinda nice having Mello around again, though—he was more of a killjoy now than he had been, but he was still a cool guy, and his angry mutterings about Near were still amusing. And helping Mello out trying to catch Kira was probably the least-bored Matt had been in, like, at least a year, if not longer. The whole thing with sneaking around trying to find a way to kill the boss monster was kinda like playing a real-life video game (if a bit more tedious—especially now that they were tailing Kiyomi Takada, who wasn't as cute as Misa Amane).

The world was practically in Kira's hands, at that point—he was basically at Ganondorf in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princes level of diabolical world-conquering boss monster—but if anybody was going to defeat the guy, then it was going to be Mello and Near.

And Matt couldn't help but think that it was going to be a hell of an exciting final boss battle.

He couldn't wait to watch it.


Light was high on the taste of victory, drunk on shots of power, euphoric at the sensation of the world lowering to its knees and bowing before him—kissing his feet and begging his mercy, praying for his justice, fearing his strength and worshiping his divinity.

He was going to win. He was so close to beating L's heir—to beating L once and for all.

He was so close. His perfect world—he almost had it. A peaceful world where only kind people lived; a peaceful world with him as its God.

When Near had called him to set up the meeting, Light had felt the world fall into his hands, and it was all he could do not to start laughing.

He'd set all the pieces, and Near was checkmated. Mikami, Takada, the fake notebook—Near had fallen for his trap hook, line, and sinker.

Just like L had.

L's successor, huh?

The exultant laugher was a simmer in his chest, but it was held carefully behind his perfectly unsmiling lips, and nobody would know a thing about it until they collapsed in death-throws at his feet.

The triumphant laughter of a God would be the last thing they'd ever hear—just like his triumphant smirk had been the last thing L had ever seen.

That's right; I am Kira.


Figuring out that Teru Mikami had the notebook was too easy, and it submersed Near in disquietude.

There was no way that Light Yagami could have killed Demegawa and then chosen a new spokesperson with the Task Force watching him, and it was odd that there was a week-long gap between the two events. And if Light Yagami—L-Kira—had chosen a spokesperson, he surely wouldn't have chosen Takada, whom he'd had relations with during college; he wouldn't have chosen someone with any connection to him.

And the fact that Takada had only started making pro-Kira comments after meeting that mysterious person at the hotel, which L had admitted was himself, suggested they hadn't been in contact before that, and therefore L-Kira had not chosen her—it just so happened to coincidentally (serendipitously, for Yagami) work out that he knew her.

Which meant that whoever had the notebook—X-Kira—had chosen Takada himself.

And the only reason why he'd choose someone Takada, out of all the available potential spokespersons, was that he knew she was a Kira worshiper, since it only made sense to choose a spokesperson for Kira who agreed with Kira's ideals.

Which meant either that X-Kira was related to Takada—a close friend or possibly even family member—or that they'd had some kind of prior contact.

So while he had Commander Rester and Gevanni investigate the people close to Takada, he'd watched all the programs that Takada had appeared on, starting with the most recent ones, to see who she'd come into contact with.

It was during those many hours of watching news footage that Near had seen Teru Mikami, whom he'd previously noticed from his appearances on Sakura TV's Kira's Kingdom as somebody who agreed completely with Kira's ideals. And Near was able to confirm that out of all of Takada's programs Teru Mikami had appeared on two of them—which would have been enough for him to get to know her.

And when Near rewatched the Kira's Kingdom footage of Teru Mikami, he found that Mikami had made a statement asking to hear Kira's voice—a statement he'd given four days after Demegawa had died and four days before Takada was chosen as the next spokesperson.

It was also after Near had confronted L about the 13 Day Rule and spoken with Aizawa, who then promised to keep on eye on L, which meant that it was after L-Kira would have been pressured to move the notebook from Misa Amane to someone else—Teru Mikami, whom he must have noticed on Kira's Kingdom—and during a time when L-Kira could not make any moves, and therefore could not contact Mikami again after giving him the notebook.

So it had been Teru Mikami who had killed Demegawa, and then, when he still didn't get any orders from Kira, had chosen Kiyomi Takada as the next spokesperson, whom he'd known was on Kira's side.

All the pieces fit.

What disquieted Near, though, was how easy it had been to confirm that Mikami had the Death Note—he wasn't doing anything to hide it, or keep it safe, which was what one would certainly normally do with a killer notebook. But no, Mikami was carrying it with him, unprotected in his bag, and he even used it out in the open to kill people.

There was, of course, the possibility that Mikami didn't bother to try to hide the notebook because he had a Shinigami with him, as a Shinigami who couldn't be seen by anyone else could protect the notebook and tell him if he was being followed, and then he could kill whoever it was, just like Mello had used the Shinigami Sidoh.

But then Gevanni was able to film Mikami talking to himself about how the Shinigami had given him the notebook and then hadn't appeared since, which wasn't the kind of thing one would normally say out loud in such a situation, and Mikami's trips to the gym gave Gevanni the perfect opportunity to access the notebook from Mikami's gym locker and confirm that there was indeed no Shinigami.

Near waited 23 days, of course, to make sure that Gevanni wasn't being controlled to say that. But when the 23 days had passed and it was confirmed that he wasn't…

The way Mikami was killing in plain sight, the way he gave away that he didn't have a Shinigami, the way he left the notebook in a place that would be easy for someone else to get access to it—it was too obvious, was all happening too perfectly.

It was even more suspicious because it was obvious that Light Yagami was contacting Mikami through Takada during his meetings with her that he claimed were for the benefit of solving the Kira Case, which were wired but not videotaped, which meant that it would be easy for them to pass notes, and therefore Yagami was in a position to give Mikami orders.

And there was absolutely no way that Yagami, if he didn't want Near to find out that Mikami had the notebook, wouldn't have given Mikami orders to do everything he could to hide the fact, or to pretend to be talking to a Shinigami so they'd have to be more wary and might be too afraid to make an attempt at getting the notebook. And there was no way that Mikami wouldn't have followed such orders, or even that he wouldn't have thought of such things himself.

He had a supernatural murder notebook, for god's sake. That was not the kind of thing even an absolute idiot treated so carelessly. And Mikami was clearly intelligent.

Which could only mean that Yagami had given Mikami orders not to hide the fact that he had the notebook—in fact, it could only have been the case that Yagami had told Mikami to be obvious about it, to leave a chance for them to get control of the notebook, and to let it slip that he didn't have a Shinigami.

Yagami was having Mikami use the notebook as bait—it was the exact same strategy that Near had used when he'd told Yagami that he was in Japan with the SPK, and there were only four members including himself. He'd been baiting Kira to try to kill him—and now Kira was baiting him to try to tamper with the notebook.

They both knew that the only way Kira would be caught was with hard, solid proof—Near would never kill Light Yagami and Teru Mikami and then ex post facto say "the killings stopped, which is proof that I was right," because that wasn't the way that he and L did things, and Yagami knew that—and the only way to get proof would be to catch Mikami writing names in the notebook in such a way that it proved that Light Yagami was Kira.

And the only way to do that would be to create a situation where both the Japanese Task Force and the SPK were together in a place where Mikami could come and write all of their names in the notebook, except for Light Yagami's, which would then prove that Yagami was Kira.

But the only way for that to work as a way of catching Yagami would be if they didn't actually die when their names were written down, and the only way to do that would be to replace the pages of the notebook.

Which would be ridiculously easy to do, since Mikami filled exactly one page full of names each day, so it would be easy to set a date for the meeting and then replace the page for that day and all subsequent days, in such a way that Mikami theoretically wouldn't notice because all the previous pages would have worked.

If Mikami wrote all their names except for Light Yagami's and they didn't die, it would prove that Yagami was Kira and Mikami had been carrying out the killings, and then they could rub their faces in defeat and arrest them.

That was the only way to catch Kira.

But Kira had to know that—which meant that he would take action against that happening. But he wouldn't just try to avoid having the SPK find the notebook, because he wanted to kill Near, whom he had no way of getting the name of except with Mikami's eyes, which would mean that he would want Near to put himself in a position to be seen, which he would only do if he thought that he wouldn't be killed, and then Yagami would have something up his sleeve so that Near and everyone else really would be killed.

Which meant that the real killer notebook was probably hidden away in safekeeping so that they wouldn't be able to find it, and Mikami would be able to pull it out only right before going to the location to kill them. Which meant that the notebook Mikami was using was probably a fake—which, since Yagami and Mikami were letting them have opportunity to access the notebook, they would easily be able to test.

But if Yagami thought that they would actually test the notebook, then he wouldn't let them have access to it, since then the plan wouldn't work.

L would definitely have tested the notebook, but Near had made a point of trying to stress that he wasn't L—L had been ready and willing to torture Misa Amane for information, but Yagami had no doubt been listening to Mogi's interrogation and had heard Near stressing that they would never lower themselves to that level.

Near had suggested they test the notebook by letting him write Mello's name, but it appeared that Yagami had figured out that it had been a bluff on Near's part—Near had essentially told him it was a bluff when he'd admitted that he'd expected them to turn down the offer, because he'd wanted L to know that he suspected him, and to think that getting the other Japanese Task Force members was the entire goal of that conversation so that they wouldn't realize he'd been trying to discover whether or not they'd discovered Mello's name.

But Yagami would just have thought that he was the kind of person who would try to solve the case without killing anyone, or risking killing anyone.

Because Yagami clearly thought that they wouldn't test the notebook, even if they had access to it. Which would mean that he wouldn't suspect Near to suspect that the notebook Mikami was using was fake.

And of course, the killings were still happening, and Near had had Gevanni take photos of Mikami's notebook, and they'd confirmed that the names all matched.

But Gevanni had also admitted, after a little questioning, that before Mikami used the notebook in public, he fiddled with his phone first—which mean that he could take pictures of the people he wanted to kill and then send the photos, along with the names, to somebody else who would actually carry out the killings.

Given that Mikami was already in contact with Takada, and Yagami was also in contact with Takada, it was likely that Takada was the one actually carrying out the killings—Yagami wouldn't put the killings in the hands of somebody he didn't have contact with and couldn't control.

So there was the possibility that Takada actually had the real notebook. But Lidner had successfully become one of Takada's most trusted bodyguards, and she hadn't seen anything. And they hadn't bothered to hide Lidner, so Yagami had to know, which would mean that he wouldn't let Takada keep something as obvious as the Death Note on her.

And Takada, since she was constantly guarded, would never be able to move freely enough to get somewhere where she could kill the SPK and Japanese Task Force, so it would have to be Mikami. Which meant that Mikami would have to have relatively easy access to the hidden notebook.

So then, how Takada was carrying out the killings… if pages of the Death Note worked even when they were removed from the notebook, it would be possible. It would also explain some other otherwise unexplainable circumstances, like how it was Higuchi had died of a heart attack after being captured by L, because if Yagami had confirmed that killing with pieces of the notebook paper was possible then he'd definitely have some hidden on him.

But that was all nothing but conjecture, unless they were able to prove that the notebook wasn't real by testing it.

Near's suspicions were further confirmed, though, when Yagami agreed to the meeting he suggested. Because he'd made it obvious with the location, time, and other conditions he'd set that he was taking into account Light's plan for Mikami to come and kill them, as it was a plan that Yagami would never have agreed to unless he thought that he really could kill Near and everyone else. And there was absolutely no reason why Near would have asked for such a meeting that could very likely get him killed unless he believed that he wouldn't actually be killed, so even the very fact that he suggested the meeting at all would have told Yagami that he was planning on switching the pages of the notebook.

He'd never have asked for the meeting if that wasn't his plan, and Yagami would never have agreed to it unless he knew Near's plan and had his own counter-plan.

Why Yagami hadn't considered the fact that Near would suspect that Mikami was using a fake notebook—given that if Near thought that Yagami didn't know that he was planning to switch out the pages of the notebook then he would never have suggested the meeting, because doing so would have tipped Yagami off that something was wrong since he had to know that Near wasn't stupid enough to put himself in a situation where he could be killed so easily unless he thought he had a trick up his own sleeve, and therefore Yagami would have been suspicious of his motives and would either have figured out his plan and developed countermeasures or else not agreed to the meeting at all, and Near would have known that and therefore couldn't possibly have expected the meeting to work, so therefore he had to have suggested the meeting knowing that Yagami thought he knew what his plan was and had counter-plan, and therefore Near would never have suggested the meeting unless he thought he knew what Yagami's counter-plan was and had his own counter-plan to that counter-plan—Near didn't know.

But he supposed that Yagami was simply so desperate to kill him that he hadn't considered it. Or else Yagami really was underestimating him.

So when Yagami agreed to the meeting and Gevanni switched out the pages of the notebook, without telling Gevanni or Lidner, Near had Commander Rester first analyze the material of pages Gevanni had taken from the notebook (he'd been informed by Aizawa that the material the Death Note was made of couldn't be found on Earth), and, when they found that the paper was completely normal notebook paper, they'd written a name (the name of a criminal even X-Kira couldn't know about and whom they could ascertain the death of immediately) just to make sure.

And, just as they'd thought, that person didn't die. Which meant that the notebook they'd replaced the pages in was fake.

Which meant that when in three days, when they had their meeting on the 28th, Near was going to die.

That was okay, though, because Near would be the only one to die, and Yagami and Mikami would still be caught. Because while Mikami had no doubt been ordered to write everybody's names there except Yagami's, he'd also no doubt been ordered to write Near's name first, and if he was prevented from writing anymore names after writing Near's, Near's death would still be the proof they needed—because, knowing Kira, he'd declare his win right before the first death (Near's) was supposed to be, because he'd definitely want to rub Near's face in his defeat before he died.

But nobody else would die, because Mikami would be prevented from writing anymore names—because Mello would be there to prevent him from doing so.

Near had let Lidner tell Mello about everything except Mikami (if Mello thought Mikami had the notebook, he would have taken it, which would have disrupted everything), knowing that Mello, after hearing what Lidner knew of his plan, would no doubt figure everything else out—like the fact that the notebook they'd replaced the pages of had to be a fake.

So Mello would definitely be there at the Yellow Box Warehouse to catch Kira. Near's death would be the proof they needed, and Mello would be able to defeat Kira, just like he wanted.

The real notebook needed to be flushed out somehow, after all. And Near didn't mind dying if his death would close the case by proving that Teru Mikami was X-Kira and Light Yagami was Kira.

There was also a possibility, however, that after hearing about his plan, Mello would take some kind of action before the 28th in order to try to get the real notebook before the meeting, and then try to use it to capture Kira entirely by himself.

Waiting for Near to make his move would be the easiest way for Mello to capture Kira, but his pride might not let him rely on Near that much.

Also, there was a possibility that if Mello tried to make a move, he'd end up being killed, since his name was already known, though depending on what he did the chance of his death might not be as certain as Near's was, depending on who he made the move against and how. But the chance was still high, and Near didn't think Mello would want to risk it.

In essence, it was very likely that one of them would have to die in order for the other to catch Kira… And Near didn't think Mello would mind letting him be the one to force Kira's hand for once.

(He couldn't help but remember the bitter way Mello had said "Near, I'm not a tool for you to use to solve the puzzle." So even though Near could have waited for Mello to inevitably do something to force Kira's hand, and then take advantage of that, he hadn't.)

(Near wanted to prove that he could do some things himself—he wanted to prove that he was worthy to be L's successor. L had risked his life—had given his life—to solve the Kira Case, and Mello had also risked his life to do so. Near would not be a worthy successor to L if he were not willing to do the same.)

(He wanted to prove that, just like L and Mello, he was willing to do whatever it took to solve the case.)

(Because maybe, if he did that, he'd be able to prove, both to himself and to everyone else, that he wasn't the horrible person he'd always seemed to be no matter how much he tried to do the right thing—)

(And unlike Mello, he didn't care about being the best—he just wanted to prove that he was right, and that Light Yagami was wrong. So he didn't mind dying if that was the only way to do that.)

(And also, he didn't… he didn't want Mello to think he was using him like a tool. He'd never thought of Mello that way, and he didn't want Mello to hate him any more than he already did…)

Ultimately, though, the choice of who took the risk and who profited from it to catch Kira was Mello's.

(So it turned out that even when Near tried to take action, the deciding move was still all up to Mello, anyway.)


When Hal told him Near's plan, Mello felt himself go cold.

"By having his name written in the notebook…?" he repeated, hoping to god his voice didn't sound as strangled as it felt.

"Yes…"

Mello stared down at the black and white tiled floor beneath his feet.

What the hell was Near doing? There was absolutely no way that Kira didn't know that Near was planning on switching out the pages—the guy had to be up to something. There was absolutely no way Kira would let Near switch out the pages of the real notebook. The entire situation had 'suspicious as fuck' written all over it.

If Mello were Kira, he would have switched the real notebook with a fake one. Surely Near could figure that out—it was Near, after all. He had to know. So why was he going through with this? And why was he letting Lidner let him know? If Near had plans he thought would work, he wouldn't risk the possibility of letting him throw a wrench in them—

Mello's fingers tightened around the phone.

Of course.

Near was still using him. Near wanted him to know the details of his plan, because he knew that Mello would take action, and would—

What was he expecting Mello to do? Mello didn't know where the real notebook would be or who had it, so he couldn't try to attain it before the Near's meeting with Kira—and even if he did, it wouldn't be what Near would want, since Near wanted to prove that Light Yagami was Kira, so he needed his name to be written down so that there'd be proof.

It's just like Near to think that way…

But if Near's name was written down, he'd die, and everyone else's names would be written down as well, which meant that—

Oh. Fuck.

Mello stopped breathing for a moment. Carefully, deliberately, he forced his lungs to move again.

Damn it, Near—risking your life and doing something that will definitely get you killed are two entirely different things! You fucking idiot.

Near had had Hal tell him where and when the meeting would be so that he'd be there—and then, after Near's name was written so that there'd be proof, Mello could prevent anyone else from being killed and catch Kira.

But Near would still die.

It would be just like Near to think that the Kira Case was worth dying for. (He always had wanted to be just like L..)

Mello grit his teeth.

Do you really think I'd be okay with that, Near?! Letting you get yourself killed in order to solve the case won't make me Number One, damn it.

You're not allowed to die until I've proved that I'm better than you, Near. Until I've proved that I'm better than both you and L…

Mello felt the darkness inside him coil tighter.

"Then I guess I'm going to have to do it." I have no choice.

He hung up on Hal and stared back down at the dirty tiles, checkered black and white like a chessboard.

Looks like it's time for me to make my move.

But, Near—I'm not going to do what you want me to.

He speed-dialed Matt on his phone and rose from the leather chair.

Matt picked up on the first ring. "'Sup?"

"Get out of there and meet me at the car," Mello said, kicking a broken mannequin out of the way as he strode across the black and white floor. "We're kidnapping Kiyomi Takada."

Hal had told him that the current L couldn't make any moves with the Japanese Task Force watching him and that the killings were being carried out by someone else, but she wouldn't tell him who that person was—probably because Near had forbade her to, figuring that Mello would find a way to get the notebook from that person—so Mello had no choice but to kidnap Takada, whom he knew was connected to Kira.

She was Kira's spokesperson, so she had to know who was carrying out the killings. So Plan A was that he kidnapped her and questioned her about who this person was, and then went from there and got ahold of the real notebook himself.

However, her kidnapping would be highly publicized, so the person doing the killings—who he'd been informed had a tendency to make his own moves in Kira's interest but independent from Kira's orders—would probably figure, if he had any intelligence at all, that Mello would question Takada for his identity. And, since he wouldn't have Mello's name and face, would kill Takada instead, just like Kira had killed the NPA director.

So in that case, Plan B was that the kidnapping forced whoever was doing the killings to kill Takada, which he would need the real notebook in order to do, and thus would expose the location of the real notebook to whichever SPK member Near no doubt had tailing the guy.

And then Near could replace the real notebook with a fake, or something like that, and then he could let his name be written in the notebook as proof but wouldn't die, and Kira would be caught.

Mello figured that would be okay, since he would essentially have saved Near, so Near would only have succeeded because of him—so even though he wouldn't have beaten Near, Near wouldn't have beaten him, either.

He could always prove he was Number One on some other case in the future—as long as they caught Kira before either of them were killed, there would be time for him to beat Near.

But with the way the world was going, they needed to catch Kira as soon as possible, or else they'd both end up being killed once the world was entirely under Kira's control—and then it would be Kira who'd be Number One.

And Mello was not about to let that happen.

Better that Near won than that Kira won.


When Mello had explained his plan to kidnap Takada, Matt had been excited about it.

He'd always wanted to play real-life Grand Theft Auto.

He hadn't expected the cars to be able to get ahead of him, though, or for them to have such big guns, or for them to actually shoot him, or that getting shot wold hurt so much, or that it would kill him.

He saw the words Game Over flash in front of his eyes, and then the screen went black.


Mello glanced at the mini TV he'd set on the dashboard.

The news was showing footage of Matt's car, the door riddled with bulletholes, Matt's dead body slumped against it.

"The man who was shot down has yet to be identified—"

Mello's mouth was dry, his stomach hollowed out and filled with darkness.

Matt… I never thought you'd be killed… forgive me…

His hands tightened around the steering wheel and he kept driving.


Near watched the news footage with panic building like a firestorm in his chest.

Mello, you…

Beep.

Lidner's face appeared in profile on the screen, tight and unreadable, a seatbelt strapped across her chest and the roar of wheels on pavement rumbling in the background. "Near, Mello kidnapped Takada…"

I knew there was a chance you'd try something, Mello… but I didn't think you'd really…

It was all Near could do just to breathe. "Lidner."

"Yes?"

"Have you been leaking information about our investigation to Mello?" He already knew the answer—he'd been tacitly letting her, after all. "Well?" Just how much did you tell him, though?

"Yes… but I haven't told him about Mikami. I swear."

That means that he probably hasn't figured out that Takada was the one carrying out the killings… which means that he could die… if she has a scrap of the notebook on her, then…

It was all Near could do just to breathe.

Lidner doesn't know that the notebook Mikami's been using is a fake… I can't tell her that now, not when Mello's actions may flush the real notebook out of hiding… if Takada is killed then our problem is solved… but if Takada gets the chance to kill Mello first… but letting Lidner know what the real situation is at this point could only be detrimental, since it would no doubt be debilitatingly upsetting…

"Fine," he said. "If that's the case, we should still be okay. But if Mello finds out about Mikami from Takada, and seeks him out… this will all be a waste." Which is true, if it happens, but the way things are at the moment it's unlikely that either Takada or Mello will live that long. If possible, I'd like to get to them before that happens. So: "I want you to find Takada…"

Near coiled his hair tightly around his fingers. "No, I want you to stop Mello at all costs."

"But—"

"Do it," Near cut her off. His gaze was on the news, the footage of the bullet-riddled corpse slumped against the black car that had been instrumental in Takada's kidnapping, the familiar striped shirt and clunky goggles. Of course it would be Matt that Mello would go to for help…

"All right…" Lidner said finally.

It was all Near could do just to breathe.

L's already died because of this case, and now Matt… if Mello dies too, then I…

No, I can't think about that… I need to…

His fingers tingled where they were tangled up in his hair.

I need to think… I need to… need to make sure we can still defeat Kira… I have to…

His other hand reached for the button on his headset that would contact L-Kira.

Beep.

"L," he said, "I am not the one who kidnapped Takada."

I can't think about the possibility of Mello dying right now. It doesn't matter. I just need to make sure that Mello's actions will mean something. Which means that L-Kira has to come to the meeting, no matter what.

/I see. Then that means… Mello./

"Yes." I need him to believe completely that I had nothing to do with this. "I'll be honest with you: the individual I have guarding Takada has told me that it was definitely Mello."

L-Kira knows your name but he doesn't know your face, Mello, and even if he did he couldn't kill you with the rest of the Japanese Task Force watching, so telling him that it's you shouldn't put you in any more danger than you're already in.

I need him to know that it was you, not me.

/Near, don't you have means of contacting him?/

Do you really think I didn't think of that already? "It's no use. I can try to contact Mello, but he'll never respond to me."

I need you not to guess that Mello might be to find X-Kira and the real notebook, so I need to mislead you with something else…. Maybe: "He must plan on capturing Kira by himself, using Takada as bait."

I don't think Mello would possibly think that Kira cared enough about Takada to try to save her, but since he's used that kind of strategy before, it should be a relatively believable story to someone else.

But the most important thing here is that: "Frankly, I didn't want him interfering for the next three days, and I really do mean that…"

/Very well, I trust your words, and I believe that you're not collaborating with Mello./

He probably really does believe me—he knows my plan about switching the pages, and if he thinks I think that notebook is real then he should know that I would want the meeting to happen on that date at any cost.

"L," he said, fingers trussed up in his hair, almost completely numb, "I'm going to track them down with everything I've got." Which is true, just not for the reasons you think—but that doesn't matter.

/I'll do the same./

Good. This should also keep your attention away from Mikami…

Near pressed the button to disconnect the call.

Beep.

"Near." That was Commander Rester.

It was all Near could do just to breathe. "Yes?" He began carefully extricating his fingers from his hair.

"Are you sure about this?"

No. "Yes. Just make sure that Gevanni keeps an especially close eye on Mikami…"

But if Mikami kills Takada, and Yagami realizes that, then he'll guess that we might have found the location of the real notebook, which would mean…

No, I can't think about that right now…

It was all Near could do just to breathe.

Mello, you…


Mello had barely finished parking the truck in the dilapidated church when he felt his heart seize.

They got me, he thought distantly as he gasped and choked in agony, clutching his chest. How did they…?!

(Maybe he should've guessed that Takada would have paper from the notebook on her. Maybe he should've made her strip completely naked without giving her the blanket until he was sure she couldn't possibly have anything on her. Maybe he should've been thinking about more than just getting rid of the tracer and getting away as quickly as possible. Maybe he should've—but it was too late for any of that.)

I've lost…

The realization was even more painful than the heart attack, and left him feeling twice as desperate and four times as cold.

Near… you'd better…

And then his heart gave out, his brain asphyxiated, and his body slumped limply against the steering wheel, his lightless eyes staring wide-open into nothingness.

(Near had better fulfill his promise to catch Kira—and he'd better fucking do it without getting himself killed.)


Near traced over the real killer notebook with imperceptibly trembling fingers.

In the fake notebook, the one they'd replaced the pages of first, one page was filled with names every day—but the real one jumped from November 25th to January 26th, when Takada's name was written down.

Which meant that Light Yagami had Mikami walk around with the fake notebook starting two months in advance to trick him—Light Yagami had foreseen that Near would replace the pages in the notebook even before Near had come up with the plan himself.

It was the exact same kind of careful, months-ahead plotting—predicting the enemy's moves before they even made them—that Light Yagami had used to kill L.

Near had figured Light Yagami would have Mikami use a fake notebook and that he would die when his name was written in the real one, but he hadn't realized that Light Yagami had been having Mikami use the fake notebook so far ahead of time…

(Even though Near did figure out the notebook was fake—even though he'd been right—and Light Yagami didn't figure out that Near had figured it out, Near still felt like he'd been bested, somehow.)

(Was that the way L had felt, when he was forced to let Light Yagami free after discovering the 13 Day Rule, even though he knew that Light Yagami had to be Kira?)

Near traced his finger over the words 'Kiyomi Takada Suicide Burns to death by setting fire to everything around her including what she wrote January 26th 2:33 PM.' No name was written on the same page that could be Mello's.

Which means that Takada must have been the one to kill him…

Mello had taken the fall for him, and so Near would be the one to close the case and catch Kira.

Near twirled his hair slowly around his fingers.

Mello was dead, but he did not feel grief.

Gevanni had found the real notebook, but he did not feel triumph.

All he felt was numb.

It was the same feeling he'd had when L had died—a distant sense of unreality, a wrongness, a disbelief, like it couldn't possibly have happened. Couldn't possibly be happening.

L was dead. Matt was dead. Mello was dead. Near was still alive. Gevanni had found the real notebook and was confident he could create a perfect copy in time for the meeting with Kira. Kira would be defeated. Near wouldn't die.

Mello was gone, just like L, and Near was alone. He was the only one who would see Kira brought to justice.

When you kidnapped Takada, did you know that it would kill you, Mello?

(Years ago he'd wondered: When you started working on the Kira Case, did you know that it would kill you, L?)

He thought to himself that old rule: If you can't beat the game, if you can't solve the puzzle, you're nothing but a loser.

Then he thought to himself: No, I already know that as long as I catch Kira, L hasn't lost—which means that as long as I catch Kira, Mello hasn't lost, either.

And he thought of the old Latin quote: nanos gigantum humeris insidentes, and Isaac Newton's English translation: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." And he knew that his inevitable victory was only due to the actions, the deaths, of L and Mello.

It was the way the world worked. Logically, there was no reason to be upset about any of it—he'd never known L; Mello had always hated him.; he'd barely known Matt; countless other people whom he felt nothing for had also been killed by Kira. But he was going to capture Kira with hard proof.

Those were the facts.

He just didn't know what he was supposed to feel about any of it.

Was he supposed to feel sad because of all the deaths? Did it mean he was a horrible person if he didn't feel sad? Would it make him a horrible person if he was feeling sad when he was about to beat Kira, which was a good thing? Was he supposed to feel happy he was going to win and keep Kira from getting total control of the world? Would it make him a horrible person if he felt happy about winning when so many people had died?

Or was he supposed to feel angry about everything Kira had done? And if he was, then what, exactly, was he supposed to be angry about? Could he really be angry at Kira for killing people he hadn't really cared about? Could he really be angry at Kira for killing the people he'd cared about when he wasn't even sure he felt sad due to their deaths? How could one tell if one felt sad over someone's death or not?

What did sadness feel like, anyway?

But he decided that, ultimately, it didn't really matter what he felt, or what he didn't feel. His feelings wouldn't change anything. They didn't mean anything. They wouldn't change reality.

And the reality was that Mello had died, but his actions had revealed the location of the real Death Note, and L-Kira had agreed to keep the meeting as they'd scheduled, so the problem of how to get proof that Light Yagami was Kira without dying was solved.

Near twirled his hair numbly around his fingers.

Kira's reign would be brought to an end—that was all that mattered.

He pushed away all the thoughts that weren't directly related to what he was about to do—they wouldn't accomplish anything, so he was much better off not dwelling on them—and looked back down at Mikami's careful handwriting before flipping through the pages again. It was evident that some of the pages in the notebook had been clipped out.

Light Yagami still agreed to go through with the meeting when I called him, which means that he doesn't know that Mikami killed Takada. Which means that Light Yagami must have killed her in the same way at around the same time. And in order to do that… if he had a piece of the notebook on him, it would be possible—I thought it might be, but I didn't know for sure… but with this, and with the fact that Mello died even though his name isn't written in this notebook, it has to be true that clippings taken out of the notebook still work…

He could try testing it, but he didn't need to. It had to be true.

Though I can just ask the Shinigami later to make sure, anyway.

In regards to the Shinigami, though, now I've touched the notebook, so I'll be able to see it… no matter what the Shinigami looks like, I can't show any kind of reaction… that might be hard, though…

Maybe I should wear a mask… I'll just need to come up with a good excuse for wearing it.

And if I use a mask that fits with what Commander Rester heard about the appearance of Light Yagami's friend Hideki Ryuga from To-Oh University, then…

Near's hair curled softly around his fingers.

It's only right that L's memory should be there in some way to witness Kira's demise, anyway.


Light could feel the world shattering around him, and it filled him with terror.

The world was ending and Near's pitch-dark eyes were L's, his ghoulish smile of triumph was L's, his even and inflectionless voice was L's, it was all L, L, L—

The only difference was his platinum-pale hair, the exact opposite of L's midnight-black, but all that difference accomplished was to make him look like L's ghost—a risen, vengeful corpse.

"Together Mello and I can stand with L. Together we can surpass L."

But through the firecracker haze of panic and agony and the taste of blood and the rending sound of his own screams (I DON'T WANT TO DIE I DON'T WANT TO DIE I DON'T WANT TO DIE I DON'T WANT TO DIE IDON'TWANTTODIE—) the only other thing he could think was Near you damned liar you are L.

Those familiar pitch-dark eyes were watching him die and Light couldn't stop screaming.


TBC.


AN: For further elaboration on why I had Near and Mello figure out that Light would have switched the notebook with a fake, when they didn't appear to do so in canon - at least, not by Near's account of what happened, and not from what we see of Near's thoughts, either - then please refer to the author notes in Chapter 6.