Chapter 12

The heart attack killings slowly increased. There were a few jumps every now and then; L watched it all carefully and studied the pattern to it all. Katsumi kept track of everything L told and asked her to. She got a shock one day when he asked her to keep track of the number of death row or life sentence inmates died each day. At first, it was only death row inmates or prisoners with so many life sentences that they weren't getting out for decades. Then a surprising series of killings began. Prisoners who wereonly in for a few years or one life sentence. Just a few days after that, people with past criminal records of major crimes were getting killed. More and more began to occured. L got concerned. The police all over the world were in chaos. Scientists were trying to figure out if it was a disease. Then L noticed a pattern. There was a major pattern in it all. He collected all information on the heart attack killings and tried to analyze it in all angles. What was the pattern here? He knew it was a killer. What was his behavior? Was he childish? Sophisticated? Maybe he was both?

"I'm putting all the information into your computer now, L," Katsumi said, clicking a button on her laptop. L began typing in buttons.

"Let's see if your idea works, Katsu-chan." The information on the pattern of the killings lined up on a grid. He set his hands on his lap, watching it all fall into place.

"Well... you're right..." He whispered. White squares and only a few black ones. It repeated over and over.

"So. What do you think? Disease? Just a thing? Something weird?" Katsumi asked, looking at the screen.

"This is a crime... It's not a disease. It's too orderly. It's not just a 'thing'. All the criminals didn't have major heart issues that would cause problems randomly. Katsumi, what's the world for a death god?"

"Shinigami. Why?" He bit his thumbnail.

"Do you think this is a supernatural thing?" She asked, grinning.

"Quite possibly... Most of these deaths are in Japan."

"So... Japanese?" He nodded.

"I'm probably going to need a lot of your input on this... You're the supernatural expert of us two." She patted his head.

"I'm going to have to get Watari to contact the Japanese police. This is going to take a lot... Katsumi, how much do you know of Shinigami?"

"There are too many stories about how they kill and what they look like to sum it all up. All I know that's to the point is that you can't see them and they kill humans when their time comes."

"Hmm... Have you ever heard of a story where a human gains shinigami powers?" Katsumi thought for a second. She shook her head.

"The closest is an African folklore saying how a man either tricked or gained the trust of the death spirit and worked as a limb for it and killed those who deserved to die early but their time hadn't come yet. That's the closest I've got."

"Any Japanese ones?"

"None I can think of right now." L pressed a button on the keyboard. A large W appeared.

"Yes, Ryuzaki?"

"Can you go to the ICPO and request a meeting between all heads of the Security departments in the countries involved with this 'heart attack' killing spree?"

"Yes. It'll take place in Japan, I assume?"

"Yes, please."

"Of course." The W disappeared.

"Oh... this'll be interesting..." Katsumi rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yea... can you get me some coffee?"

"There's a fresh pot right next to you." She kissed his cheek.

"Nervous much?"

"Not really..." He bit his thumb, his eyes wide. Katsumi heard a beep from her cell phone.

"What's this?" She read the message.

"L!! L!!" She jumped up and down.

"What?"

"The company said ok!"

"Said ok? They're providing you with free materials for you... projects as long as you organize their financial future?" She nodded. L smiled.

"Good for you! But, on this business again... how do you think we set it up?"

"First you have to filter the police officers. See who will work with you and who won't."

"Why?"

"Isn't obvious? The ones he's killed have been broadcasted on the news a bunch. He needs a name, dur. And I think he may need a face. To see who they are. Is that right?" She asked. L thought it over for a few moments. He nodded.

"Yes... and..." He typed a few things into the computer.

"According to this pattern, and the normal scheduale of a Japanese student, it matches."

"Why a student?"

"In the middle of the day, when classes are on, there are few killings. In the morning and at night is when they start up heavy. But for six hours here, they stop." Katsumi nodded.

"That... makes since..." She muttered. She turned her head to the side.

"But... what about that one. Right there?" She pointed to a white square in the line of three a.m. and Wednesday.

"Hmm... five? That kind of throws me off... I think he was experimenting that time." L said. Watari's letter appeared on the screen.

"The meeting is set for tomorrow at ten a.m."

"Good. Make sure you're there with the speakers. I'll send Katsumi along with you-"

"No!!" She whined.

"Nevermind about Katsumi... I'll need to give you a disk with information about these Heart attack murders I've collected." The W disappeared.

The next day, Watari was standing in the corner of the large meeting room with a heavy briefcase. Cheif of police and assistants sat in rows with microphones in front of them and headsets on, arguing over the case. They now called the killer 'Kira'. The host of the meeting finally said that they needed L. The officers and country leaders argued that L only went on cases that he wanted to go on. Watari stepped in and announced that L was already on the case. He set up the laptop and speakers. A large letter L appeared on the screen. The voice was fake.

"Good morning. I am pleased that the ICPO has agreed to this meeting. I have much information on this Kira case and so far I can narrow down which country he is currently in. I will need much of the Japanese police forces' help on this."

"Japan? How can you be sure?" Sochiro Yagami asked.

"Much of the killings are in Japan. I will need your help on this, Mister Yagami. I have also deducted from the killings that the killer is someone who has a high sense of justice. Also, a majority of the killings have been happening between certain hours of the day with a long break in between. Also at night. The only time this pattern breaks is during holidays and weekends. From the information given, the killer is a student. From that, I can easily deducte when his first kill was. His first kill was an experiment. He didn't know what he was doing so he had to test it out. The first murder was aired on the news, the crime wasn't something that lead to a life sentence or death penalty. In fact, the criminal wasn't even in custody. After that, he realized what he was doing. That's where his sense of killing criminals came from. He is doing something good, killing only criminals, but it's morally and ethnically wrong. Even if he is killing criminals on deathrow or on continuious life sentences, what this killer is doing is evil."

"Watari has a disk with him that has all the information I've gathered and analyzed. I wish for you to take it to your department and keep it with you until next week. Please don't look at it yet until that meeting a week from today." The L disappeared. Watari closed the laptop and set the speakers into the briefcase.

L switched off the microphone. He looked out the window. Katsumi knocked on the door.

"Is it an ok?"

"Yes. The time in between the meeting of the police force of next week, I'll have to get the entire Japanese police force to get some supporting evidence on how this guy kills. That'll make it easier to see who will stay and who will chicken out. The police will realize how dangerous this case is. Then I'll meet with the remaining officers and so on and so forth..." He said. Katsumi nodded. She took out a small human shape robot and flipped open the back.

"Hey Ryuzaki, does this sound like a human voice?" She pressed and button in the back. The eyes lite up.

"Voice test. Voice test. Hello. Good evening. Welcome home." He nodded.

"Sounds like a computer simulating a human voice.

"Hmm... I need to tune it up a bit more I guess..." She took out a small screwdriver and pulled out a chip.

"Is that for the new robotic service company?"

"Yeah... it's a small one. It's for small services." Ryuzaki sighed.

"Somewhere out there is a killer... But he has something no one could possibly understand. Something that kills people."

Only a few miles away, Light Yagami switched on the television to watched the news and took out a pen and notebook. To him only to see, a Shinigami named Ryuk sat on his bed, eating an apple. He started writing down names quickly and fluently.