Title: Silent Consonant
By: Dr. Kim-chan
Author's Note: So I'm at the new house (yay!), but because Murphy's Law is always present, it was two whole weeks before we could get any internet (boo!), and then another MONTH before we figured out why it wouldn't STAY ON (double boo!). Then the battery in my laptop went kaput (boo forever!). So considering everything, plus the fact that I was just plain stuck on which direction to take this story without getting impatient and skipping straight to Beyond's trial, I decided to have two new chapters lined up, with yet another coming very shortly. But apparently the rest of the world is/was similarly busy, as it's been really slow review-wise.
Anyway, here we are firmly in 2012 (the presumed 'end' of the Death Note series, coincidentally), so I just want to say thanks for your support, and I hope everyone had a happy belated holiday!
Oh, and don't forget the 301st review special!
I don't know whether to count myself lucky or not.
Light ruminated over that afternoon's developments as he stepped through the front gate of his house. On the one hand, this little plan of his couldn't have gone better (and he now had a newfound respect for L's seemingly arbitrary percentages). Among nine other hopefuls, Misa was slated to continue on to the next round of Yotsuba's spokesmodel tryouts tomorrow. He didn't catch all of what came out of the excitable blonde's mouth; only that her lucky break had something to do with her potential 'screen presence', but they wanted to be sure she could come across as a little more sophisticated in their banking commercials.
On the other hand, this meant that he had to be true to his own word. He had to follow this lead to the end.
Which meant tolerating Misa for a few more weeks.
Light checked his watch as he closed the door behind him and slipped out of his shoes in the genkan, a little act that had quickly become a force of habit.
7:25 PM. Just before dinner.
No one would raise a stink, and with Beyond Birthday's high-profile trial, his father wouldn't be home for a few more—
"Dad?"
On his way to greet his mother in the kitchen, Light was stopped short by an extremely rare sight: Soichiro, jacket off and tie loosened, hands folded in front of his face, sitting at the dining room table along with a surprisingly demure Sayu.
Before Light could completely get over his shock, Soichiro peered up at him through the rims of his glasses.
"Hello, Light. Your mother said you had a date this evening?"
"Yeah," Light muttered, his brain immediately switching to perfect-excuse-mode. "We didn't take dinner because I wanted to make it back—"
Soichiro waved him off.
"I'm glad to see you're still cautious, but you don't have to report to me. Besides, you'll be more or less on your own tomorrow. Can't expect you to live your life in a bubble…in fact, that's partly why I'm home early. Sachiko, Sayu, I want you to listen too."
Soichiro always maintained a level of somberness, so it was his careful choice of words that brought the family to attention. Sachiko quickly set the table and carried out the food, taking her place across from Sayu.
"I know it seems as if I should be at work what with Beyond Birthday's trial and all, but a lot of the tasks have been delegated in order to streamline this operation. My main task is keeping correspondence with Watari and assisting with the search for the missing US agents, but even that's being temporarily suspended."
"What for?" Light asked.
A suspiciously drawn-out pause.
"…I've…been told that the prosecution wants you and me to act as eyewitnesses against Beyond Birthday, directly related to the kidnapping and what happened at the Tsukiji drop-off. Tomorrow we're supposed to go to NPA headquarters and be formally served with the papers. The trial itself starts Monday."
Sachiko covered her mouth as she gasped out loud, while Sayu's eyes grew large, but either reaction was nothing compared to how Light felt internally.
He would be coming face-to-face with Beyond again, and despite the general assumption that a courtroom was a controlled environment where perfect order reigned, there was no telling what havoc he could wreak.
And if this was all simply a means to a diabolic end, L and Twelve were as good as finished.
"They want Light to testify against that horrible man? In person?" Sachiko protested.
"We still have to determine where the missing agents are, and until the Los Angeles Branch straightens things out, we need to make the rest of the charges stick. But I don't want any of you to worry. The NPA has him under lock and key; Mr. Takimura and Watari guarantee that. They're still trying to determine whether he'll be given the privilege to appear in court in person or whether they'll simply set up a video conference, and even if he does show up in person, there'll be protection everywhere."
When Sachiko still didn't look convinced, Soichiro added, "Besides, I'm sure Light can handle this. There aren't many people twice his age who could cope with what he's gone through, let alone have such an ordeal be the center of international attention."
"I suppose…"
Soichiro shrugged and gave Light a brief sideways glance—a kind of surreal, all-too-knowing glance that Light was almost too frightened to return.
"…Of course, whatever Watari or the attorneys say, in the end it's his decision."
L stared blankly at Matsuda.
"Did you say 'Misa Amane'?"
Matsuda nodded, completely unaware of the hole in which he was about to dig his boss's son.
"I mean, I'm pretty sure it was her; I've seen her in a couple of magazines. They spent about two hours at this café a few blocks down from To-Oh University…you know, where Light attends. Sure looked like a date to me."
Matsuda grinned bashfully.
"Geez, chief's son, top student, and a model for a girlfriend. Light must have it made—"
"Misora, could you pull up the list of the spokesmodel candidates for Yotsuba?" L interrupted.
"The first one or the finalists' list?"
"Either one. What I really want is a picture of Misa Amane."
Noting the subtle but new edge in L's voice, Naomi put down her coffee mug, grabbed the nearest laptop, and after a few passwords and clicks, found what the detective was looking for.
"Was this her, Mr. Matsuda?"
Matsuda squinted at a mugshot of a joyous-looking blonde woman, and it didn't take long for his memory to be jogged.
"Y-yeah! That was her!" he exclaimed, pointing right at the glowing screen. "She was wearing these big dark sunglasses, but I recognized the rest of her face, and she was wearing a pretty wild outfit…"
It wasn't until then that Matsuda finally noticed the stony look on the panda-eyed detective's own face (as well as the bemused look on Naomi's).
"…What?"
"I already know you're going to disagree with me, and I'm not making excuses for him, but it really could be coincidence," Naomi said to L, holding up her hands in a sort of metaphorical defense. "Come on. Out of all twenty-five girls, why would he go after Amane? And how'd he know she'd be one of the ten finalists?"
L didn't counter Naomi's argument immediately; rather he deigned to chew on his thumbnail as he pondered all the possible scenarios.
He had to admit, she was right about Light having such an oddly specific target as Misa. Not even Bullook and Loud, who had the most direct communication with Yotsuba at the moment, would have been told about the decision-making process privy only to the committee President Niiyama handpicked. On top of that, Naomi and Bullook had been doing a little background digging of their own (to make sure the spokesmodels themselves were on the up-and-up), and it turned out that Misa had just moved to Tokyo a couple of days ago. It wasn't entirely impossible that Light ran into her somewhere between the hotel, school, and home.
But Light still took his own reckless initiative, and once Beyond's trial got underway, he'd be more famous than Misa.
As if they weren't taking enough risks already.
"As I said, we've been taking on separate, low-profile cases while we've been keeping tabs on Watari and the SIS-L, mainly to keep up Twelve's image so that we can operate without too much interference," L explained to a confused Matsuda. "Our most recent case has to do with sabotage within a local corporation. They've been looking for a new spokesmodel for a publicity campaign in the past few days, and we've been following that lead."
"Oh…and Miss Amane's one of them?"
"Actually, as of yesterday she's one of the ten finalists," Naomi said. "Tomorrow they're holding individual rehearsals for each girl, and they'll publicly announce their final pick on Monday."
"Monday? That's when Beyond's trial starts…"
"Then you know why we'd be concerned. Until we're ready to confront Watari, the protection of our identities remains our top priority."
"But Light wouldn't give you all away," Matsuda protested.
"It's not about whether Yagami-kun can keep a secret—which I don't doubt that he can," L said. "When someone's slated to be the star witness in a high-profile criminal case, let alone one that's being handled by Interpol, the media tends to throw a particularly bright spotlight on them."
"But couldn't he just…you know, stay away from the hotel and not contact you until the trial's over?"
"That was our plan, but that's where Misa Amane figures into it," Naomi explained. "Granted no one knows about Twelve investigating Yotsuba yet, but once we start collecting all the evidence and turn in those responsible, there'll be a total fallout within the company, and if Amane's chosen as the spokesmodel, that'll bring even more unwanted attention. Besides, we might need to stay in contact; just because Beyond's going to trial doesn't mean he's done with us."
"Oh…"
"Of course, Yagami-kun has access to our investigation files, and by now he should also know about the subpoena, so he probably already figured out what he'll do next. From what I've seen of him so far, Yagami-kun prefers to take a highly rational, step-by-step approach in most situations. Spontaneity doesn't become him."
L paused again, this time for a little bit longer, staring at neither Matsuda nor Naomi as he kept his last thoughts in his head.
Hopefully it won't end up being his undoing at the trial. Beyond is nothing if not spontaneous...
Once out of his reverie, L reached for his coffee mug, suddenly reminded of a recent promise he was supposed to keep.
"Speaking of Yagami-kun, I believe I agreed to tell you about Twelve's operations, as well as everything that led up to it—"
Matsuda nodded earnestly, as if L was getting ready to tell him an exciting bedtime story, but the detective gave him an equally parental stern look.
"—But before I do, I want to ensure that we have a perfectly mutual agreement. Anything we tell you cannot be repeated to your colleagues at the NPA or within the SIS-L, and especially not to Mr. Yagami or Watari."
Matsuda nodded again, but this time a little more halfheartedly. It had begun to sink in that he was one of the few barriers standing between Twelve and the SIS-L, but that part of this whole deal still stung. Even if it wasn't personal, to keep secrets from the one who took the time to mentor and support him felt obscenely dishonest.
Then he took a glance at Naomi…
And remembered Raye.
Along a narrow, semi-dark road in Tokyo's upscale Chuo Ward, Wedy leaned back in the driver's seat of a dark blue car, groping for a pair of headphones attached to a listening device as her mascara-less eyes switched back and forth between an open laptop in the passenger's seat and a deluxe apartment complex.
Somewhere on the seventeenth floor of that complex lived a Mr. Takabe, the president of Shoriyado.
It hadn't been until recently when she was finally able to put a trace on his cell and home phone, but still, she'd expected to pick up some incriminating evidence already. Technically she did, but it was all read-between-the-lines stuff, in a tone that presaged doom and hopelessness. There was no question Mr. Takabe was under a lot of stress, communicating almost non-stop with Shoriyado's other executives as well as some of the company's traders.
Not surprisingly, the subject that came up most often was Yotsuba and its 'generous' buy-out offer.
But nothing yet, and right now, at this late hour, she didn't expect much else.
Wedy sighed and was about to switch off the machines when another call came in to Mr. Takabe's cell phone.
Another personal cell number.
And who the number belonged to made her sit up a little straighter.
(End Chapter 51)
Silent Extra: (From Chapter 13) At the end of the second log in the chapter, describing A's suicide, Watari says, "After making my arrangements here, L and I will be returning to the United States and resume work on the Hutchinson Bank thefts." I assumed this was around the time L encountered Wedy, and I always imagined they'd met while she was knocking over a high-profile, corrupt bank. I may make a side story of it someday.
And now, more chapter titles that didn't make the cut.
-Chapter 6: I only had one other option for this, which was "Theories", but "Elites and Advocates" sounded nicer to me.
-Chapter 7: "City of Angels", "Next Move", "Second Start"
-Chapter 8: "Two Scorpions", "At the Waldorf Astoria", "Champagne and Strawberries", "Cracks in the Walls"
-Chapter 9: Again I only had one other title in mind, which was "Nightmares", but even to this day I'm not entirely satisfied with the current title; I didn't think it completely captured the feeling of Beyond's flashback.
-Chapter 10: This chapter was rare in that "Cache" was the first and only title, and I was completely happy with it, especially since I was trying to succinctly summarize Wedy's and Aiber's undercover act and the fact that the next major clue L received from Beyond involved quite a bit of computer work.
