Chapter 21
Katsumi fiddled around with her motorcycle brake. She was entrusting it to the gap between two dumpsters. She made sure eveything was set correctly. She turned on the alarm system and threw the tarp over it. She put on her glasses and entered the back way. A few janitors were outside, smoking and drinking coffee. The elevator was surprisingly full when she went up. She noticed that Oouni was in it along with her. She lightly tapped her back.
"Hm?" She peered over her shoulder. She smirked.
"Hello Okami... how's life?"
"Fine. Do I owe you?" Katsumi muttered. Oouni giggled.
"Of course. You're behind a week." Katsumi nodded. She handed Oouni a large envelope.
"That should cover it. Along with today and tomorrow." Oouni nodded.
"Seems right... I mean... the weight is..." She tucked it into her purse.
"How's Higuchi?"
"Still acting like a playboy. Everytime I arrive somewhere unannounced where he is... he hurries to switch off the computer or change the channel on the television... Also... I've noticed that every night... every day... he locks a drawer in his desk. He takes whatever is in there with him. Where ever he goes."
"Alright... Just keep watching... don't get suspicious."
"No problem." The bell rang. Katsumi weaved her way past the many people and slipped out to her floor. She gave a wink to Oouni on her way out. The doors closed.
When she arrived at the office, Namikawa wasn't there. The lights were off and the computer hummed with life. Katsumi set her things down and quickly began to set the cameras and bugs in place in Namikawa's office while looking like she was working.
"Okami."
"Oh!!" She turned around, Namikawa was in a long black trenchcoat with a hat on his head.
"You're here earlier than I expected. Do you have the report finished?"
"I'm making up the conclusion right now. I was just looking for some extra information... just in case." He waved at her.
"No need for the conclusion. I can handle that." He hung his coat up and sat down at his desk.
"I have an important meeting tonight. The others Vice Presidents along with President Higuchi will not be able to provide refreshments or treats. I will be bringing you along."
The meeting room? Tonight? That must mean those secret meetings that these guys are picky about... why so sudden? He wouldn't just trust a new secretary to something so big... I have to be extra careful... Maybe he saw me slip some of my devices in here earlier...
"Oh! Yes sir! Uh... wh-what should I make?"
"Just coffee and tea."
"Yes sir."
"Now. Please call these people. Tell them the meeting for today for each of them is still the same and fill them in on the information given in that report you made..."
Katsumi came back late that night. The team was hot on the Kira case. They seemed to be very lively. She stretched and set her things down by the door. Her foot nudged something on the floor. It was the empty milk glass she had left a few days ago. She picked it up.
"Oh really now..." She sighed.
"God... men..." She walked it out to the kitchen.
"Oh Katsumi! Where you gone all day? I thought you were in your room..." Matsuda said, passing her in the hallway. Her eyebrow twitched.
"Yes I was gone all day!! Do you think I'm antisocial or something!? Gez!!" She snapped.
"Oh... s... sorry..." Katsumi stormed up the stairs to her room.
"Katsumi?"
"Yes?!" Light cleared his throat.
"Um... I was just wondering... I'm curious... how is it like working under one of Yotsuba's biggest guys?" He asked. Katsumi smirked.
"Ever seen a ballon pop?"
"Yeah."
"Ever had a brain freeze?"
"Sure."
"Combine them. That's what it's like... for me anyways..." She closed her door. L chuckled.
"Oh Katsumi... overexaggerating everything to it's fullest is just your forte, isn't it?" Katsumi opened the door again.
"I DO NOT EXAGGERATE!!" L sighed.
"Katsumi! What did I tell you about evesdropping?"
"Shut up!" The door slammed shut.
10-2-04
Katsumi flipped open her cell phone at the end of her work day and called L. The news she just recieved would mess up the Kira investigation a bit. He answered.
"Yes? What is it Katsumi?"
"I won't be able to come home for a while..."
"Well... why? Something happen?"
"Yotsuba has decided to sponser a field trip for an orphanage to America. I have to go along with a few other workers. I managed to get the idea into their heads to take Wammy's house. Not that they haven't been to America."
"Well... at least it's with people you know... let's just hope they don't blow your cover."
"No worries. Will you be able to find replacements for me? I mean without me, I don't think you'd be able to operate six different robots at the same time... let alone hack into security systems... maybe you can find someone who doesn't work there and has no idea who Yotsuba are!"
"So... someone foreign and someone who isn't afraid of getting caught."
"Sure why not."
"When will you be back?"
"About a week... I promise I'll still try to keep tabs-"
"No... think of it as a vacation. But I wouldn't mind a nice phone call every now and then."
"Alright! I hear ya... I won't stop thinking about you while I'm gone." There was silence, then the sound of someone clearing their throat.
"You know... Light is right here... I sort of can't say that..." He muttered. Katsumi giggled.
"Ok. Love ya, L-y poo. Bye~~!" She hung up. She tucked her phone into her pocket and put her glasses back on.
"Great... now I have to keep this disguise on for a week..." The airport noise around her annoyed her. Her luggage was already loaded onto the plane. The Vice Presidents and Higuchi were all standing in a line in front of a banner. The Wammy's house kids around them. Only one wasn't with them, he was next to Katsumi. He was forced to wear scruffy sneakers; she could tell it was annoying him. He had white hair and looked so close to what L looked like. He tapped her arm.
"So... what did the famous one say to this?"
"He said he loves you, Near. He wants to spend his life with you. What do you think?"
"That's... disturbing... But I was thinking he would say something about keeping an eye on the Yotsuba members..." Katsumi smirked.
"Have you been getting yourself involved in the Kira investigation?"
"Not for real. Just playing it out in my head... that's all..."
"Well it's better than what I would've done..."
"You probably would have broken so many laws by now."
"Correct. Oh crap... I have to act..." She bent down to Near's level and fiddled with his collar.
"Why did I have to wear a collared shirt?"
"Okami." Namikawa said. She stood up.
"Yes sir?" She said.
"Be sure to send back pictures, some brief quotes about the trip from some of the kids... oh and... be sure to try and advertise us in the United States." She nodded.
"Yes sir." Namikawa went away, immediatly surrounded by his colleages and bodyguards.
"You are such a suck up to him that it's sick..."
"Oh shut it, Near. I'm only acting..." She took off her glasses.
"Are you sure that's safe? You'll be with other associates of the Yotsuba group..." They made their way to the plane gate.
"Oi!! Katsumi!!" A blond boy yelled. Near raised a finger and waved it in the air.
"Huh? Don't scowl at me Near! Huh?" He saw Katsumi's face.
"Ohh..." He walked over.
"Sorry... are you supposed to be in low profile?"
"Yes, Mello... I'm supposed to be..." She patted his head.
"You're getting tall..." Near played with a lock of hair.
"It seems that we're boarding now... So, K... do we have the pleasure of sitting by you?"
"If you want to. You only have the ticket to get on. It's not assigned or anything." She lead them into the plane. Mello immediatly grabbed a first class chair.
"Ahh... this is good..." Near followed Katsumi to the back.
"Hey! Where're you going?"
"Everyone sits up front. I'm sitting back here so I can work!" Katsumi answered. Mello sighed.
"How about the back of first class? Eh?" He motioned to a row of seats. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Ok... Near, do you want window or aisle?" Mello claimed aisle.
"He can have the window seat. Unlike him, I talk to people." Near settled himself in the window seat while Katsumi sat between them.
"It's almost disturbing not seeing you in your normal attire, K."
"Yeah. Tell you the truth, the whole business look doesn't seem good for ya." Katsumi snickered.
"Well... it's only for a while... then I'm kicking it to the curb..."
10-8-09
10 a.m. United States
Katsumi's cell phone rang. Near fiddled with a lock of his hair, watching the other kids run around aweing at store windows.
"Hello?"
"Katsumi, how long do you have to talk?" L said.
"Hmm... a few minutes. Why?"
"I'll fill you on the events that happened today... Matsuda decided to be an idiot... He managed to sneak into Yotsuba headquarters and get himself right up to the door of their Friday night meeting place. Unfortunatly, he was caught. But he thought of a cover up. Since he is Misa Misa's new manager, he advertised her. They accepted her with a meeting involved. They all met at Misa Misa's apartment, which is here, and she invited some of her friends to help 'convince' them. Matsuda got into some trouble and jumped off the balcony; but it was fake. Aiber took his place on the street after we caught him with a mattress. Wedy was our screaming lady."
"So what the hell was the point in all that?"
"The percentage of Kira being in Yotsuba has been raised to 47%. That's good enough to execute a thorogh investigation by my standards."
"Huh... well that's just sw- Near!! That's for display!! Don't change it! Sorry, taking care of these guys is hard... especially when the other girls and guys are hitting on the Americans! Disgusting sluts... I don't even see how they imagined they have a chance. We're foreigners who can barely speak english properly."
"Did you just degrade your skills?"
"Hey! No! I so did not!" She yelled. L merely laughed.
"Well... that brightened my day..." He hung up. Katsumi put her cell phone away. Two security guards walked up to her, a few kids in hand.
"M'am, are these yours?" Near, Mello and a few others were in their arms.
"Oh great... what'd they do?"
"Unfortunatly, we don't allow people to take toys out of boxes and build them outside of the store." Near fiddled with a lock of his hair.
"I apologize. We are from Japan. It's much different over there than it is here! Sorry!" She said. They left.
"Tch! Stupid cops! They're so picky about the dumbest things!" Mello said. Katsumi towered over the group. A dark shadow went across her face. She cracked her knuckles and made a creepy grin.
"So... what was that little lecture I had with you all not an hour ago? Huh?" They all shrank under her glare.
"S... sorry..." They muttered.
"Damn straight..." She growled.
10-11-09
Japan
Katsumi took another swing of Red Bull and threw the empty can to the corner.
"Ok ok ok ok ok... I got... Uh... I got a uh... a uh... a plan here... you you you all want... to like... confuse the people at Yotsuba. Right? Right? Riiiight?" Every stared at her. Katsumi on a sugar rush was almost horrifying. Her fingers were typing at a high speed and her eyes were as wide as L's; only with a hint of craziness.
"Well... yeah... I mean we know they're trying to contact Eraldo Coil for a service."
"Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah... soo... what do think that service is, eh???? Obviously to stop L! I mean... L has pretty much caught up with them, with all your help, and their starting to panick. But what they don't know is!" She pointed to L.
"Eraldo Coil is an alias of mine. So technically, they're hiring me to catch me."
"Yes!! So... we can trick them!"
"Trick?" Wedy said. Katsumi nodded.
"I don't know... it seems dangerous..." Matsuda said.
"No! No! It's not dangerous!! We'll have..." She paused.
"Someone has to pose as him... Uhhhhhh.... Aiber! Aiber will pose as Coil and YEAH!! We'll get evidence and stuff! Oh wow this is great! WOOO! Red Bull rocks! Hihahaa!" She laughed loudly.
"So what you're saying is that we'll act like Coil will work for them and that'll be evidence? But why?"
"Money. It's physical evidence to prove Yotsuba is working with Kira," Light said.
"Yes! And..." Katsumi let out a yawn.
"And! If we're lucky, we might have someon slip up and it'll let us narrow down our suspects as of who is Kira," She said, letting out another yawn.
"Wow... that's pretty good!" Matsuda said.
"So when should we- huh?" Aizawa stopped himself. Katsumi had collapsed at her desk.
"I guess she didn't know that energy drinks have major cashes..." Aiber muttered. L took over.
"We should do this in a few days. On the 12th. We'll make up a script that Aiber will read. The question is... who should we contact..?"
"Not Higuchi. He's the president. He wouldn't try to do that sort of thing." Everyone agreed with Soichiro. Katsumi jolted upright.
"Namikawa!" She yelled, then fell back on her desk.
"Uh... ok..." Light said.
"Is she alright, Ryuzaki? Maybe we should take her to her room," Mogi said.
"No, she doesn't like people in her room. She's a very private person. Believe me, if she found out, I think some people would be hospitalized," L explained.
"O... Oh..." Soichiro muttered.
I know Sayu is protective... but Katsumi... she's just... gez... L clicked in a few numbers on the computer.
"Please cover your ears everyone."
"Why?" Aizawa asked.
"This is how you get Katsumi to her room if she's asleep out here." Everyone plugged their ears. L pressed enter. A loud ringing noise erupted from the computer. Katsumi jumped out of her chair and onto the floor.
"Ah!! Stop it! Stop!! My head! L! Quit it! Agh!!" She ran up the stairs, hands over her ears. The door slammed shut. L made it stop.
"There. Now she'll sleep in peace." Everyone could still hear the ringing sound in their heads.
"Oh... Ryuzaki... I never thought... oh... I never thought I'd get a headache quicker than now..." Soichiro sat down, holding his head.
"Oh sorry. I said to cover your ears."