nightelf37: Remember, all Author's Notes below belong to Scientist's Thesis. They're not mine.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing here. Death Note Is by Tsugumi Ohba, and this fic belongs to Scienstist's Thesis/Pedro. Here's chapter 4.

A/N: To those who are worried, this is not going to be a rewrite of the original story with a smarter L and Light. But this is only the fourth chapter, the consequences of their differing actions are only starting to show up now.

9:00AM. December 22, 2003. Kira Taskforce Team Gamma Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan.

"Good morning, Team Gamma," L's voice was heard through the laptop speakers. The conversations stopped and the team looked at Watari. They had spent most of the previous day organizing and arranging their new headquarters. Team Gamma, the largest one, kept the old quarters, and the other two were moved to smaller rooms. The layout had changed a little bit, however. Now, there were two desks in evidence, one dedicated to Watari, who no longer sat at the back. "It is time to start our investigations. We will no longer be reading the daily report of Kira's murders; if any new information is obtained, the other two teams will inform us. Now it is time to act. We need to discuss what we know and figure out the best strategy. Klein-san."

The woman stood up. "Based on our profile, it is likely that our killer is a bright young male student. That is our best guess, and we have to start somewhere. 30% of the team should focus on bright High School students, 60% on bright University students, and the remaining 10% will investigate anyone who has brought any attention to themselves because of intellectual prowess in the past five years. Give more attention to the male suspects, but do not ignore the female ones."

"Are we sure this person is intellectually high-achieving?" asked an investigator, the tiny-looking one L had noticed before. She had short mousy hair and black eyes, and everything about her looked incredibly fragile and delicate. She was the kind of person you instinctively felt like protecting, like she could break if the world threw anything at her.

"As Klein-san said, we have to start somewhere," answered L's voice. "The attitude of the killer seems highly self-confident and the fact that he sent us a message implies that he may even be cocky. Coupling that with his strategy of randomness, which is simple but not obvious without hindsight, we should be looking at someone who doesn't think they'll be caught and who trusts their own intellect highly. I do not believe the killer will give us any more significant bits of evidence without our actions, and since we're still collecting data even as we investigate and we don't need too many people to analyze that data, this is the best allocation of resources we could have."

"We are going to start compiling a database," Yagami continued, "within the constraints given by L. We are going to start with a brute-force search: investigate each person from the list, starting at the top, for suspicious activity. We cannot spend too much time on everyone, just enough to have a more limited set for further investigation."

"I am recruiting more international help," L said after it was clear Yagami was done, "including from agencies such as the FBI. They will be contacting you shortly to coordinate and optimize. Let's get started."

Later that day, Yagami looked at a list with the first 300 names of the best High School students in Kanto. Watari, under L's instructions, surreptitiously turned the webcam to the Chief, so L saw the look of dismay that crossed the old man's face.

4:13PM. December 25, 2003. The streets of Tokyo, Japan.

"Light," Ryuk said suddenly.

"I told you not to talk to me in public," Light answered under his breath without looking at the floating clown.

"I know. But there's something I need to tell you about that." Light didn't show any reaction, so Ryuk kept talking. "You know I'm not on your or L's side. I'm sticking with you because it's the rules, and also because you're very interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a human quite like you, and in some ways you're a better shinigami than all I've met." Light suppressed a smile. Tell me something I don't know, he thought. "So to preserve my source of fun it'd be better if you didn't die too soon." Now he hid a frown. What? "Which is why I'm telling you that someone's following you. They've been at it for two days."

They know. They know, they know, they know, Death started moaning.

Shut up. They don't. There is simply no way we left enough evidence for them to pin us down, Common Sense reasoned.

Then how do you explain this?! yelled Death.

Motion to have Death removed, suggested Cautious. He's too dumb to be a part of us. The others were a bit uneasy but ignored Cautious' advice. They're brute-forcing, he concluded. Last week we reasoned that in the worst case scenario they know we're a good High School student. There are at least a few hundred thousand of those in Japan, probably a few million. What would you expect? They're probably going through a list of Japan's top students, and we're at the top of that list.

One has to remember that being a good student doesn't automatically imply being a smart student. We just happen to be both, but we have talked to the other good students and… well… Common Sense explained. Anyway, being smart makes it more likely that you're a good student ceteris paribus, so being a good student is evidence that you're smart. They probably have nowhere to start, so they're starting with grades and other types of academic achievement.

That seemed to calm Death down considerably, but Practical started thinking at top speed. What do we do? What's our plan?

I predict this person will stop following us soon. We're leaving no evidence of our alternate identity. All we have to do is behave normally and this person will move on, Common Sense explained.

Are you sure of that? We have made too many mistakes already. We can't afford to make more, worried Practical.

Well… if Ryuk had told us about this person earlier, we could've been more cautious… Common Sense started.

No. We're not being cautious enough as it is, Cautious warned. We are leaving evidence. Like it or not, we are very methodical, we're always home by 4:30PM, we barely ever go out with anyone—

We're soon taking the university entrance exams, Common Sense carefully explained. It's only natural that we spend a lot of time home now. We are the top student of this country, after all, and if we didn't study it'd be even more suspicious… he drifted.

How sure are you of your observations? Also, that is beyond the point. They are working under the hypothesis that we update our schedule every day between 4 and 5PM. If we manage to show that our schedule was still updated at that time but we weren't home, that is significant evidence against the hypothesis. We need to provide them with that evidence tomorrow, Cautious said. The others, after some more debating, agreed. Tomorrow is a Friday. So, here's what we're going to do…

4:05PM. December 26, 2003. Somewhere in Tokyo, Japan.

Subject seems to be deviating from his pattern, the tiny investigator wrote on a tiny notepad. She had been only collecting data and trying to hold judgment, as L had instructed, so she didn't pay attention to the ideas forming in the back of her mind. Subject is surrounded by friends, seems to be socializing. They are not heading towards subject's house. She followed them, trying to stay inconspicuous.

The group went to a karaoke bar, and the investigator waited ten minutes outside before going in. The group had picked a large table—they were 9 people in total—and no one had mustered up the courage to sing yet. She kept taking notes, and no one seemed to notice her. After a while, Light and a girl who was blushing furiously got up and they sang together, being soon followed by the rest of the group.

They left the bar at around 8:45PM and went each to their respective houses. Light accompanied one of the girls—the same who'd sung the first song with him—to her house, and then returned to his. The investigator wrote down the exact time Light arrived home as 9:07PM. She kept outside until all the lights of the Yagami household had been off for two hours and then returned to the HQ.

9:01AM. December 27, 2003. Kira Taskforce Team Gamma Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan.

"I would like to receive the first batch of reports on the investigated," said Yagami to his group of investigators when they were all settled. They had each spent four days tailing the top 130 suspects. The remaining 32 investigators were continuing to compile the database and integrating the data collected into it.

Yagami received the files with the data thus far collected and quickly scanned the list. His eyes stopped at his son's name, besides which he could find the category "Low to moderate suspicion." He double clicked it and looked at all the notes taken by the investigator in charge.

They described Light's day-to-day routine with a few details that frightened the chief in their precision. Most of the social interest seems feigned. Constantly bored. Methodical in his schedule. At the end were the investigator's impressions. As L had instructed, after collecting the data and not thinking of conclusions, the investigators were supposed to finally say something.

Subject fits the psychological profile of the killer. His strict and detached manner suggest constant high-level reasoning. Research into subject's academic achievements and student life show great range of abilities even when compared to academically similar peers. Nevertheless, a student who spends as much time as subject does studying is less likely to be Kira. Additionally, last day of investigations concluded with strong evidence against being Kira: subject spent a good deal of the night with friends, without access to any means of communication nor apparent tool for murder, and during that time the murders continued as usual, including two of people whose crimes had been announced on that same day. Barring improbable scenarios where subject needs access to no tools whatsoever to realize the murders, the only competitor to the innocence hypothesis is crafty cleverness and having detected the ongoing investigation. The apparently anomalous social gathering with friends at the end of the investigation is medium evidence in favor of such detection; the training and caution of this investigator is weak evidence against it. Subject showed no change in behavior that suggested that, which is further weak evidence against the hypothesis. However, it is the personal opinion of this investigator that this is well within the intellectual capabilities of the subject. Such musings notwithstanding, the prior was very low and the evidence not good enough to raise the posterior to significance. This investigator suggests that priority is to be given to the subject only in the event of the elimination of most other possible suspects.

Yagami read the whole thing twice, frowning with concentration. The rest of the report seemed to be spotless and airtight. He sighed in resignation. Everything the investigator had said was, after all, true, and he knew his son's intellectual abilities enough to agree. But those weren't everything. Light would never do that. He was the son of a police officer, brought up to uphold the law and respect human life. He would never descend to such depths.

Would he?

6:02PM. December 25, 2003. Yagami household, Tokyo, Japan.

"What are you planning to do, Light?" asked the shinigami, who seemed to take joy in watching the wheels turning inside the boy's head.

"I'm going to fool this investigator into thinking I'm not Kira. Isn't that obvious?"

"How?" Ryuk was already used to the occasional contempt Light seemed to show him. It was pretty much how Light treated most people.

"Well, I'm… I'd like to have your help, actually."

"Light, I told you, I'm neutral—"

"Neutral, yes, I know," interrupted the boy. "Which is why you're going to help me. See, the way things are right now, the game isn't really balanced. L has access to the Interpol and agents from all over the world, the best computer surveillance and who knows what else. Me? I'm just a High School student. And I'm not going to ask you much. I just want you to stick by the investigator tomorrow, from the moment I leave school to the moment they stop tailing me, and read their notes. Also, I'm going to bring you three extra apples per day for the next three weeks if you help me," he added his trump card nonchalantly.

"Three… every day?!" Light had the distinct impression that Ryuk's mouth was watering even though he was pretty sure Ryuk didn't have saliva in his mouth. "Okay. I'll do it. But you know, there's something else I can do for you…"

"Oh?" He sat up straighter. New resources were always a good thing.

"Shinigami can see the names and lifespans of humans just by looking at them. We know exactly the date and time of death of anyone we want, because when we kill humans, we add their otherwise remaining lifespan to ours, so it's good to know how much we're adding. And we can make a pact with the human that currently holds a death note." Pact. Not good, Light thought. "You can trade half your remaining lifespan for the eyes of the Shinigami: the ability to see exactly what we see."

Light thought about that for three seconds and asked, "If I do that, will I get the lifespan of the people I kill?"

"No, only Shinigami get that—"

"Then not a chance," Light interrupted.

"Are you—"

"Yes. If I ever feel like a failure has a greater disutility than losing half my life and I can prevent it with your aid I'll get it, but right now that is definitely not the case. No, I'm confident in my plan."

"What is it?"

"It's simple. It won't guarantee a success, but it'll definitely throw them off my scent. I'm going to use the school's computers twice tomorrow - since the investigator can't get into the school, they won't know it, and I'll use two different students' credentials to log into the system pretending I forgot mine - and I'll get information about two murders that I'll execute while I'm with a group of friends somewhere. I have an advantage here in that they don't know how I kill people. Even if they assume it's supernatural in origin, which they likely do, something as simple as writing a name on a piece of paper ought to be forbidden - that's how human beings think, even smart ones. It's what I would think if I were in L's shoes. I think. Anyway, it's all I can do right now. You could've warned me earlier."

"Eh. Sorry, Light." If he'd known Light would offer so many apples he certainly would have warned the boy earlier.

11:11AM. December 27, 2003. Kira Taskforce Team Gamma Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan.

"The FBI has arrived in Japan," Watari announced suddenly. "They have sent 35 agents. We have word from other agencies around the world. They will be here shortly. We should have at least 300 more people arriving by the end of the week. Some of them will help the other two teams, but the majority will help you brute-force our database. There are a few million people to go through. This is not going to be an easy or fast project, but it's by no means impossible. We already have a list of potential suspects based on your work so far."

11:12AM. A dark room with a bright monitor somewhere.

L watched everything, as usual, through his computer, and sighed. They still had much, much work to do. And many people would die in the meantime. Thousands of them.

And was it really that bad? He kept questioning and second-guessing himself, and that wasn't usual. Even for the sake of solving the puzzle and catching him, was Kira truly evil? Not to use this overused word that didn't even reflect a real concept, but what were the consequences of it? If you killed people who didn't repent, vicious criminals. People who aren't good for society, not for anyone but themselves.

He smacked himself on the forehead. No, that sort of thinking was stupid. First, it was ironic, wasn't it, murdering murderers? What made you different? What makes you different, Kira? How do you motivate yourself?

Fundamentally, L thought, Kira was vain. Arrogant. He truly, really thought he knew what was best. That kind of invincibility, of childish thinking, that was characteristic of someone who believed himself right and righteous. Maybe not in those terms, but Kira did believe his brain. That, hopefully, would be his downfall.

Kira was human. That much was obvious. And even if he was a smart human, he was still corruptible - and apparently corrupted. He would slip again. Someone who really trusted his own architecture so much, who really believed his merely human brain was capable of actually measuring the worth of someone's life, that person wasn't a person who could win. For the good of the tribe you shouldn't take power even for the good of the tribe. For the good of the tribe you shouldn't kill someone even for the good of the tribe.

I will catch you, Kira. You will slip up again. They always do.

9:02PM. Just outside the Kira Taskforce Team Gamma Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan.

"Watari," Yagami greeted the cloaked man as he left the HQ.

"Yagami-sama," acknowledged the mysterious figure. "L would like to speak."

"Of course." The chief didn't invite him to follow, he just walked to the lift and was followed. Once he arrived at his old office, he sat, and gestured for Watari to do the same. "Yes?"

"Is anything bothering you, Yagami-sama?" the electronic voice came from Watari's cloak.

Interesting, Yagami noted. So he doesn't need his laptop to be present. "We're hunting an international serial killer. How could it not be bothering me?"

"I mean more specifically," explained L. "You seem troubled by the idea that a High School student could be Kira."

The chief regarded the cloaked man coolly. "You know exactly what I'm feeling, L," he said, sounding somewhat dry.

"Of course. I looked at your son's profile. He seems promising. Wants to become an investigator just like his father, I understand."

Yagami nodded, then imagined there was probably no camera on Watari and said, "Yes, indeed. He's planning on joining the force as soon as possible."

"Are social events such as yesterday's common in Light's life?"

Yagami lowered his eyes and his face got slightly red. "I… do not know for certain," he replied, turning his eyes to the picture of his family he had on his desk. "I work a lot, so I do not have direct contact with most of my family's routine. I think they're not particularly common, especially this close to important exams, but they're common enough that it's not surprising. As in… he doesn't go out every weekend, but once a month, perhaps once every five weeks, sounds like as accurate as I can get."

"He accompanied one of his friends—a female—home. He didn't kiss her goodbye." That was all L said, so Yagami explained.

"He hasn't had many girlfriends—"

"But he certainly goes out with a lot of people," L concluded.

"No, not at all," Yagami said, his eyebrows raising and his tone surprised. "He has many… suitors, male and female. He's very popular in that department. But he doesn't seem to enjoy that nor take advantage of it. The only people he's dated were girls whom he really liked. I suppose that makes it even more likely that he's Kira, doesn't it?" He sighed, making it sound like a statement and not a question.

"No, actually, that's evidence against him being Kira. Serial killers in general tend to be… sexually deviant," L explained, lacking a better term. "Do you believe, not as a father, but as an investigator, that your son is a likely suspect? Indeed, if it weren't for the karaoke night out, I'd put him immediately in the 'further investigation needed' list."

"I… don't know," he answered with sincerity. "I know my son. He's a good person. He wants to be a police officer because he wants to make the world a better place. And he's also incredibly smart. I wouldn't think—as a father—that he'd be capable of that. Even if he was handed such power. As an investigator, I have to agree that he could fit the vague profile we have." They remained in silence, and Watari waited. Yagami wasn't done speaking. "My professional opinion is biased in this case. I hope you understand. I do not know what to think, because whenever I try to think professionally, I fear overcorrecting. And whenever I try to think emotionally, I certainly fall prey to the image a father has of his son. What you saw… the reactions you saw me having, they were the reactions of a father whose son is a possible suspect in a serial killer investigator. That is all."

"I see. Thank you. I appreciate your honesty," the distorted voice said. "I currently agree with investigator Silva. Your son does not warrant—as of right now—further thought. Given the huge list of potential and likely actual psychopaths we're going through, there's probably little to fear."

The chief let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Thank you, L. That is good for a father to hear."

"For an investigator, too. One less suspect means one less person we need to spend resources with." Watari got up and left without waiting for Yagami, correctly guessing that the chief would like some time alone with his thoughts before heading home.

10:37PM. Yagami Household, Tokyo, Japan.

Soichiro walked in and announced his arrival. "We're in the living room!" he heard his wife reply, and he saw the family together watching a movie.

"Hello. How was your day?" asked Light, looking up from his entertainment.

"It was very, very tiring. You'll forgive me if I don't join you? I need a shower and a night of sleep."

"No problem," replied his son, turning back to the TV. Soichiro smiled. Of course his son wasn't Kira. How could he ever have suspected that?

Ryuk watched Soichiro's facial expressions and chuckled his "Kukuku…" as the man climbed up the stairs. Light raised an eyebrow, but obviously didn't comment on the Shinigami's behavior.

11:53PM.

"Okay. What did you find?" Light asked Ryuk.

"Let me remind you that I do not take sides, and I'm not your servant, and…"

"Yes, I know all that," he answered with impatience. "I just want to know what they wrote." So the Shinigami recited to the boy everything investigator Silva had written, and Light's expression got grimmer and more dismayed as he listened, only lighting up a little bit by the end. "Fuck," he spits. "So if it wasn't for my… plan… they'd put me in the list for further investigation. That does not please me. That does not please me at all." Light had been sitting by his desk but now he was pacing, both hands behind his back, a deep frown on his face. "I have bought time, and that's good, but it's not enough. If they've already decided to start checking people directly, I may be running out of it."

Ryuk had stopped paying attention and was eating his prize apples quickly. That had been a good deal he'd made. Light kept pacing and talking to himself.

"They probably won't get back to me too soon, but the fact is that I am Kira and they simply will not find any evidence that anyone else is when they start being thorough. How much time do I have?" The boy looked up to see Ryuk lying on an imaginary hammock eating his apple and sighed in frustration. That good-for-nothing god of death… No, he shouldn't think like that. If it weren't for Ryuk, he'd be in an even worse situation. He needed to salvage what he could somehow.

You do know what we're going to have to do, Death said, sounding smug instead of paranoid for a change.

Out of the question, Cautious said.

But… he kinda does have a point, Practical explained.

Have we all lost our minds? They're innocent people! Cautious sounded outraged.

They are lots of innocent people, too, Common Sense supplied. Not only that but our father is amongst them. Plus, that'd make it pretty obvious that the person who killed them was amongst the small group investigated so far, which would give L tons of evidence to single us out.

But if L doesn't have a team to back him up anymore, he won't be able to investigate us at all. And if all the people investigating us die, what are the odds that anyone else will want to? Death still sounded smug.

You're—

I think the word you're looking for is "right," replied Death.

This is a false dichotomy, said Common Sense. Just because we can't stand idly by and just "not generate evidence" doesn't mean the only alternative is to kill everyone who's after us.

Yes, Cautious seized. Five minutes by the clock generating alternatives.

First alternative, kill everyone who's after us. Second alternative, kill a sizeable fraction of them, Death offered.

This sizeable fraction obviously must not contain the investigator who was after us, added Common Sense. Speaking of which… "Ryuk, you wouldn't tell me the name of the investigator who was after me, would you?"

"Eh?" Ryuk dropped from his thoughts. "Ah… sorry, Light, it's against the rules. After all, what would be the point of the Eye Trade if we could just tell the humans the names they sought?"

Light nodded at that. "How about physical description? Could you tell me that part?"

Ryuk seemed to concentrate and try to remember something, then shrugged. "Sure. She was very, very short even for a human female, brown hair, wore glasses. Eh… that was all I could get. I don't really see many differences between human faces."

"Sure. Thanks," Light said, and thought some more. Ryuk isn't much help, but now we know whom not to kill if it comes to that, somewhat.

We could try to find out who L is and kill them, Cautious suggested.

That is very hard to do, but yes, it's a possible plan, Practical answered. What else?

Incriminate someone else? Common Sense said.

Then how would we explain that the deaths continued even after they were imprisoned? asked Practical.

We could say that the power of death passes on when someone is caught? That would make it look like Kira really is a god of death who's using humans as his tool to cleanse the world or some shit, he explained.

Positive points for style and psychological impact, penalty for complexity. What else?

Is there any aspect of this problem we're not considering? asked Practical.

We're Kira. We're working under the worst-case scenario that the police know we're a bright male high school or young college student. They have started looking for specific people, and they're probably brute-forcing. But they also must have lots of influence and processing power. If we don't stop them, they'll eventually get to us, Death said.

That is, if they want to get to us, Cautious mused.

Oh.

See, we have quite a legion of fans, don't we? Cautious explained. There are websites dedicated to us, there's even a programme dedicated to us on Sakura TV. Kira's Kindgom. How could we use that to our advantage?

nightelf37: See ya on Third!