"Presenting the Silver Jubilee episode of Bullet Rebuttal, the Showdown Between the forces of hope and despair!"
"It ends today, Raito. Your stupid hope, and your STUPID LIFE!"
"You're wrong, John. As long as there's hope, I will never give up, and neither will my friends!"
It looks like this show's nearing its series finale. I can tell as much from the series mastermind being revealed, and the fact that Naomi seems really pumped up. I'm not very familiar with Bullet Rebuttal myself, but it seems like an interesting concept.
A sadistic mastermind seemingly abducted a group of high school students and subjected them to a killing game. Kind of like Saw meets The Hunger Games. It even turns out that these students were living in a dystopia all along, but the mastermind gave them amnesia to make them forget that fact.
It's a complicated plot.
Predictably, though, the episode ends with all the good guys banding together and defeating the mastermind. What wasn't so predictable was the scene wherein the mastermind seemed to enjoy his execution.
And then we see a preview for the series finale, and Naomi switches off the TV.
"So, did you enjoy the show?" she says.
"Yeah, it was interesting." I reply. "Maybe I'll look up the other episodes later on."
Naomi smiles.
"So anyway, I wanted to brainstorm about this Kira situation for a bit. Is that okay with you, Naomi, or are you just done with the case for today?"
"Anna, if there's anybody I'm always eager to discuss the Kira case with, it's you. What do want to talk about?"
"I'm trying to get inside Kira's mind. I wonder what he'll do now."
"Well, if I was Kira, I'd be pretty pissed about the fact that my imposter backed down from his plan to kill L and the investigative team, and thanks to a hoax message at that."
"But the imposter didn't have any way of knowing that the message was a hoax, right? I mean, the murders the tape predicted did actually occur."
"Yeah, they did. Which is why Kira's likely pissed at L too. She knew that he'd kill those criminals after their names were released, and then she used that fact to impersonate him. But of course, if it wasn't for the imposter popping up, Kira would never have had such an issue to begin wih."
"Yeah. That's why I think Kira will try to contact his imposter as soon as possible. He's most definitely not happy about the way things have turned out for him."
"Hmm...but you know, Anna, I think Kira's aware of the possibility that we might intercept his communications, and that they may never reach his imposter."
"I see what you mean. Since we sent our own fake message through Gecko News, it makes sense for Kira to conclude that we're monitoring everything the channel receives. Maybe he'll try to switch to another news channel for his communications."
"He could but that's a risky move. As soon as he does that, we'll be tipped off to the new channel's identity, and L can arrange for someone to intercept the videotapes sent there as well. Maybe Kira will try to bank on his imposter's intelligence, and hope that the imposter too tries using different channels for each message. But even that's risky. I'm not sure if I'd trust the imposter to be able to pull that off."
"Yeah, I don't think I would either." I say. "But if Kira won't try this channel hopping tactic, what other options does he have?"
"Well, there are two things he could do. One, he could stick to sending messages to Gecko News. But in that case, he'll have to make them interesting enough for us to broadcast."
"You mean, by providing L with some sort of clue regarding his true identity?"
"Yeah. Either that, or something that elaborates on the nature of his power to kill. The imposter did say something about a companion, right? If Kira somehow elaborates on that, especially if he manages to convince L that she has a breakthrough on her hands, the message will likely be broadcast. That way, the imposter will also let his guard down, and might end up revealing even more valuable information in his response."
"That is an extremely risky strategy. Of course Kira would want to arrange a meeting with his imposter, but would he really consider giving us information an acceptable trade?"
"That's why we have the upper hand, Anna." Naomi says, her smile once again reminding me of a detective on TV, inches away from cracking the case. "Kira's backed into a corner here. The only other option he has is to wait for his imposter to make the next move, which is also a very risky decision. It's in difficult situations like these that criminals tend to make their biggest mistakes. In fact, this is pretty much how I used to capture fugitives during my days in the FBI. It's only a matter of time before a bad guy snaps under the right circumstances. All we have to do is create and maintain those circumstances."
"I see." I say, smiling back at her. "In that case, I hope you'll let me know when Kira finally falls into our grasp. I want to be there with you when we finally haul him and his imposter in."
"Don't worry, Anna. I'll make sure you're there when L finally takes Kira down. I'd never let you miss out on that, not after everything you've done for me and the investigation."
"Glad to hear it." I say, laying my head on her lap.
"Are you tired?" she says.
"Just a little bit."
"Maybe I should drive you home."
"It's alright, Naomi. I'm okay with staying the night."
"Really, Anna, it's-"
"Naomi, you just divorced your husband. I think you need a friend by your side."
"Are you sure that's the only reason you want to stay?" Naomi says.
"What do you mean?"
"Look, we both know what you tried to do when we first met, Anna. I-"
"It's fine, Naomi!" I say. "Look, you didn't want that kind of relationship, and I accepted that. I'm not trying to rekindle any sort of romance with you, seriously!"
"Anna, just-"
"Look, I'm just trying to be your friend here. Nothing more, and nothing less."
She stays silent for a while, and then says, "Alright. You can sleep over. You don't have college tomorrow, right?"
"No, tomorrow's a weekend." I say, with a chuckle. "Relax, Naomi."
"Alright." she says, and I can see her smile return. "I usually don't turn the lights out for about another hour or two."
"What do you do until then?" I say.
"Well, usually I either review the Kira case or watch some more TV."
"How about we play poker?" I say.
"That's...actually a great idea." she says, and I take my head off her lap as she gets up.
We play five games, and I win all of them. Naomi must be getting rather frustrated, not beating me even once. Maybe I'll lose on purpose sometime, just to appease her.
Weird as it is to admit, she's one of the few people I can lean on at the moment, and brainstorming all the possible courses of action I could take with her confirms to me that I am in a very precarious situation here. My few available options include either leading the investigative team closer to solving the case, or relying on my imposter to take the initiative of getting in touch with me without screwing things up. Maybe the channel hopping approach would be the best way to handle the situation, but then again, that would require a lot of diligence on my imposter's part.
What if I tried to control some journalist with the Death Note, and make him my messenger? No, no, if anything goes wrong with that plan, the journalist will wind up dead, and I might end up incriminating myself. It will also be difficult for me to abuse my position in the investigative team to-
"Anna, come on!" Naomi says.
She leads me to her bedroom. It's a nice looking place. I can smell the faint scent of jasmine in the air.
Naomi herself is dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants. So that's what she sleeps in.
The bed is a spacious double bed. More than enough room for the both of us.
"You can sleep on the right side. That's where Ray used to lie down."
"Are you sure?" I ask her.
"Yeah, it's alright." she says. "But no funny business, alright?"
"Can I at least cuddle?" I say, with a mockingly puppy-dog expression.
She chuckles. "Yeah, you can cuddle. In fact, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep otherwise."
"So how have you been sleeping since the divorce? By cuddling your pillow?"
"Yeah." she says with a laugh.
And then we turn off the lights, and Naomi falls asleep in my arms.
I can't help but smile, looking at her face. She looks so adorable when she's asleep.
And even though I did assure her that I was just trying to be her friend, she is a rather attractive woman. I wouldn't mind getting intimate with her, though I know that's an impractical idea.
It's a real shame that she's so hell-bent on capturing me. Aside from her contempt for Kira, there's nothing else I dislike about her. She's nice, she's smart, she's funny, and I love spending time with her. In that sense, perhaps not losing her yet is a sort of silver lining to my imposter not going through with his plan to kill L and the team. Maybe there's still a way to get rid of L and solidify my reign over the world without sacrificing Naomi as well. Maybe she can still come around and realize that I'm only trying to protect humanity, that she doesn't have to keep opposing me. Maybe we can still be together after I've finished crafting my perfect new world.
But of course, all these possibilities are in all likelihood wishful thinking. Despite seeing for herself how much my actions have uplifted humanity, she just can't let go of her attachment to the rotten world of old. It doesn't upset or enrage me that this is the case. Change is difficult to accept even when it is for the better. It was a major challenge for me to adapt to a new life with the Death Note. But in the end, I did adapt.
If Naomi can adapt, if she can break away from L's poisonous influence, and accept me for the savior that I am, I will welcome her into my world with open arms. I will treat her with the love, kindness, respect and compassion that she deserves. But if she cannot adapt to the new world, if she insists on seeing me as evil and keeps trying to stop me, then I will kill her for the greater good of humanity.
It's up to her.