Title: Silent Consonant
By: Dr. Kim-chan
Author's Note: As I promised, here's the next chapter right after Chapter 51. (Heck, by the time you read this I might have Chapter 53 up in the next week.)
I know it might be kind of bad for someone to say they're bored with writing certain parts of a story, but I expect to build up much more steam once we get to the much-awaited Interpol trial of Beyond and the stickier parts of the Yotsuba investigation, because Misa will indeed have a more involved role in this part of the story (and maybe in the future), and what happens after the trial will be rather…interesting, to say the least.
Anyway, enjoy the double-update!
"What do you mean 'more sophisticated'?"
Misa wrinkled her nose as she unraveled her ponytails in front of her vanity mirror. Amid the bottles of perfume and lip balm tubes, her cell phone lay open and set to speaker mode, the best friend she left behind in Osaka on the other end.
"Well, you know how I like to do a lot of Gothic-Lolita fashion, but my agent said I should start thinking about expanding, appealing to more people. This is like the next step up in my career, my chance to be…the 'Yotsuba Girl'."
"But you don't always go for GL, otherwise they wouldn't have picked you for the search."
"And that was the funny thing; one of the scouts there remembered me from 'Blue For Us Only'! He said,—" Then Misa put her hands on her hips and switched to a mock-manly voice "—'I don't know if the rest of my colleagues here have seen you act, but what comes to mind for me is your 2002 film, 'Blue For Us Only'. I know some of your more hardcore fans made a big deal about how it wasn't one of your typical romantic comedies, but that just made me appreciate your performance more. Aoi Mizuno was pretty, but she was fighting for her love, not to mention trying to graduate college. Aoi Mizuno is the girl Yotsuba wants to reach out to and elevate with their products.'"
A derisive snort came over the earpiece. "Sounds like a real fan."
"He wasn't saying I should be all sad and serious, just to be more…realistic. Remember what my first agent always told me?"
Two giggles, and the girls recited the infamous phrase in unison:
"'Be the girl that every other girl wishes they could be!'"
"Except now it's just 'Be every other girl'," Misa continued, wandering over to her bed and picking up two skirts. "I just wish this second round of tryouts hadn't been on such short notice. How am I supposed to get into character when I have to be back at Meguro first thing in the morning?"
"Just do what that scout said: find your inner Aoi Mizuno."
"I guess so…and for starters I'm working on a new image. I bought some new clothes right after I got the call, and I'm gonna wear my hair straight down. I wish I had time to dye it—"
"Speaking of, you never did tell me exactly what happened this afternoon. All you did was call me and start yelling."
"Sorry. I was just so excited," Misa apologized. "Oh, and I never told you I got my Kuro-Cho purse back either!"
"You lost an 8,000-yen purse on a Tokyo subway, and you found it the very next day? First a callback, now this."
"You're not gonna believe how I got it back either. So after the first tryout, I was walking out of the studio, and this guy comes up to me and asks, 'Are you Misa Amane'?"
"Wait, wait, wait. He just walked right up to you and asked who you were? And he knew you were gonna be in Meguro that day? You gotta be more careful, Misa, especially in Tokyo, and after that other time—"
"Okay, okay…but listen, listen! So then he says that he was sitting next to me on the train when I left my purse on the seat, so he hung onto it…but guess who it was?"
"Who?"
"Did you see that thing on television a couple of months ago, about the police trying to find that weirdo detective and his kidnapper?"
"And then all the news channels showed that ransom tape with that police chief's son? Yeah, that was so insane…but what does that have to do with your purse?"
He felt like he was about to sign his own death warrant.
In one of the NPA building's offices, Light and Soichiro carefully read the thin stack of papers that constituted the subpoena agreement. Sitting on the other side of the table was none other than Watari, along with the two attorneys handpicked by Interpol to head the case against Beyond Birthday. To reflect the ocean-crossing array of charges being brought against the wily criminal, one attorney was Japanese, while the other was an American who'd flown in earlier that morning.
Even as they sat in that tiny room, more attendees were steadily streaming in through Narita Airport, right up until the day before the trial actually began.
"We expect this to be a rather straightforward affair," the Japanese attorney said. "Currently Mr. Birthday is facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder in the cases of the SIS-L agents who died during the ambush in Los Angeles as well as FBI agent Raye Penber, possession and use of a firearm in Japan, threatening the SIS-L, obstruction of justice, the kidnapping and false imprisonment of your son, using a false identity, obtaining a vehicle by illegal means, crossing international borders, the attempted murder of the detective L, and his initial escape from prison, which included an assault on a guard."
"As for your concerns, Mr. Yagami…it's been decided that Beyond Birthday will indeed show up in court," Watari added. "With the coverage this trial is set to receive, it's mainly a strategic move on the defense's part. However, you have the assurance of both myself and the rest of the SIS-L that no harm will come to your son. He may have escaped prison, but this only means we're already aware of what he's capable of. Accordingly, we won't take any more chances."
Soichiro nodded slowly. Professionally he accepted the assurance, but as a father there was still a seed of doubt.
Light, on the other hand, had nothing but doubt. He knew perfectly well what Beyond was capable of, and that was no reason to be reassured.
"Following standard procedure, the trial will open with both sides presenting their opening arguments, then the prosecution will analyze the evidence according to the charges, during which the defense has its opportunity to refute it, and then the defense may present its own case," the American said. "In light of the overwhelming evidence, Mr. Birthday has been offered a chance to make a guilty plea, but he has outright refused. We've also made it clear that we may seek the death penalty, but there's been little to no response from the defense."
Light raised an eyebrow, but tried to hide his surprise before anyone else in the room spotted it.
The attorney's last remark chilled him, if for no other reason than the fact that he was reminded of the report on the Wara Ningyo Murders he filched from his dad's computer files, right before that fateful walk to the NPA.
After going through all the trouble of taking the lives of Backyard Bottomslash, Quarter Queen, and Believe Bridesmaid, he meticulously set the stage for his own suicide—a final act that would have clinched the entire case if Naomi Misora hadn't intervened.
And it looked as if he wasn't going to fight for his life this time, either.
And the only thing more frightening than Beyond's ability to escape was the thought that Beyond was right where he believed he should be.
"As for Mr. Yagami," Watari continued, this time addressing Light formally, "there will be no real need to change your lifestyle; as I said before, we'll take care of security, and we'll do our best not to be too intrusive in your personal life. All we ask is that you refrain from divulging any details about the court proceedings to anyone."
"…Right."
Wedy set a palm-sized recording device down on the coffee table, so obviously giddy that her smirk couldn't get any bigger.
"Once again, your instinct never ceases to amaze me," she drawled.
L looked up at her, half curious, half dubious. Sitting with them inside Room 1301 were Bullook, Misora, and Aiber.
"To be honest, I thought I wasn't going to get anything out of Takabe, he'd been staying so tight-lipped, but last night I went out to listen to the taps again, and at around one in the morning he gets this little call."
Ceremoniously, Wedy pushed a button and sat back next to Bullook as the room filled with the audio of a two-sided conversation.
"H-Hello?"
"Takabe. It's Kaneboshi," a gurgling voice drawled.
"Kaneboshi…? What the hell are you doing calling me at home?"
"Moron, I'm callin' you on your company cell, aren't I? What, you got someone listenin' in?"
"No! I mean, well, I don't think none of us can be too careful nowadays—not that it isn't too late already…"
"Maybe if you stopped jumpin' at shadows, nobody would have anything to suspect. It's like I told ya before: just keep your mouth shut and follow directions. Now, far be it from me to be making a social call at this time of night, but my clients wanted to make sure you had your mind set before everybody cashed in on their, uh, 'investments'. They don't want you going to pieces at the party and ruining everybody's good time."
"Party?"
An irritated sigh.
"What, you've been so busy bein' tight-assed you already forgot? They're holdin' a publicity party Monday night after they get done finding their little spokesmodel, aren't they? They're also gonna make the announcement about the merger, so it'd be greatly appreciated if you and Ishibashi were there personally. Y'know, make a toast on our behalf?"
"Right, of course. Well, tell…them…they needn't worry; I'll be all too happy to step down with what little I can get. Maybe then I can rest easy."
"'With what little you can get?' Heh, don't sell yourself short! Not many people get paid nine billion just for one juggling act."
Pause.
"Anyway, once the merger's finalized, everyone'll get their fair share, and you and Ishibashi can retire. I'm still waitin' on certain stocks to rise."
"Fine. I'll start making the final arrangements..."
The audio then cut off abruptly as Wedy leaned over and pressed another button on the recording device. Though the sparse minutes of conversation was worth its weight in seconds, nobody said anything for a while. Even L took a moment to take a sip of cream-saturated tea.
"…So who's Kaneboshi?" Bullook finally asked. She didn't ask about Ishibashi; being the president of Tamai and a suspected co-conspirator, his name had already come up in Twelve's conversations dozens of times.
"Already ahead of you," Wedy said. "I dug around local records, including the NPA database, and he turned up as Ginzo Kaneboshi, known to inner circles as 'Mr. Silver'. Police have him pegged as a big-time loan shark with yakuza connections. He's got a hand in almost everything you can think of: smuggling, prostitution, drugs, racketeering, gambling…"
"And from the sound of it, he's a key link between Tamai, Shoriyado, and Yotsuba," Naomi added. "He didn't name anyone else, but he knows as much about this as we do."
"Including one detail we didn't know. It seems they're finalizing the mergers sooner than we expected," L muttered.
"What was with all the hokey stockbroker terms, though?"
"I believe I can answer that," Aiber piped up, raising his hand as if he were in a high-school classroom. "Granted I haven't really heard of anyone doing it on so big a scale, but…some individuals or criminal organizations pool together a bit of their money and use trusted connections to proliferate that amount by 'investing' it in illegal trades, sometimes with huge interest. Sometimes it's a way for the lender to muscle in on others' rackets, but most of the time the broker's just satisfied with receiving the kickbacks. Some call it sloppy stock trading, others call it sophisticated money laundering."
"Thirty-five billion taken from Shoriyado and the Kansai banks, potentially twenty-two million taken from their own company, then the factory insurance and Tamai, which was worth—"
"Approximately fourteen billion," L answered.
"Right…that comes to seventy-one billion yen!" Naomi exclaimed.
"And with this Kaneboshi guy's interest, it's probably closer to ninety or a hundred billion now," Aiber said. "You'd be surprised at how much gold the yakuza can spin out of thin air in a short amount of time."
"Not to mention being able to hide every last cent," Wedy complained. "But I guess if you're doing something illegal, you have to be a little smart about it."
"Heh, not that it's doing them much good now," Aiber chuckled.
"But Kaneboshi also mentioned 'nine billion for a juggling act'," Bullook said.
"Most likely Takabe's payoff for his role, and if he's stepping down as CEO completely, he may receive a severance pay on top of that," L explained. "No doubt Ishibashi will be paid the same amount."
"So what about the tax returns we found? Did that turn up anything?"
"Unfortunately, they weren't very valuable as evidence. They weren't so much altered to exaggerate or understate Yotsuba's financial situation, but rather certain figures were realistically fabricated to reflect both gains and losses—sensible gains and losses. What's particularly interesting is that they almost perfectly match the data in the CDs Mido and Namikawa provided for us. Obviously there's all the money that can't be accounted for, but no one except us has perceived that amount; by all intents and purposes those amounts don't even exist. Whoever is in charge of the company's tax returns not only did an extremely thorough job, but they have an intimate knowledge of Yotsuba's inner workings. That's a clue in itself."
"Meaning there's a hundred percent chance it's a higher-up now?" Aiber jeered.
"Ninety-seven percent. Nothing can truly be a hundred percent, even if the facts are proven to the contrary," L reprimanded. "I was also alluding to the growing possibility that this might be a long-term scheme rather than something the perpetrators just thought up one day, let alone two or four years ago."
"Either way, I already passed this on to Loud and told him to keep his eyes open," Wedy said. "I'm still trying to find more on Tamai, but we might hit a bigger jackpot if we found a way to infiltrate that party."
"And Loud can't?"
"He just started there, not to mention he's a low-level employee. I don't think we could even sneak him in."
"The publicity party is something to keep in mind, and we'll figure out a solution in the coming days, but there is one last fact we're overlooking."
L took another sip of his tea, but by this time it was almost ice-cold.
"The hidden assets Higuchi supposedly stashed away with the help of Ishibashi, Takabe, and Kaneboshi—that alone is something to think about, but obviously they didn't go through all this trouble simply to hide the money. In fact, they constructed this entire process almost solely to earn even more without too much suspicion. However, as Wedy and Loud discovered, no one has touched it for personal expenses, and we've just now learned that there will be a distribution of funds after Yotsuba's publicity campaign gets underway. Takabe and Ishibashi are set to receive about nine billion, and for argument's sake let's say Kaneboshi agreed to an amount of about four or five billion. That still leaves almost eighty billion yen."
Aiber raised his eyebrow.
"You're saying that's too much, even for two greedy execs?"
"I'm saying this won't stop with Tamai and Shoriyado."
The hotel room fell silent.
"…When we were looking over the data for Yotsuba's history and finances, I noticed the company's current total net worth was estimated to be between 65 and 75 billion yen. Of course, if they suffer a particularly crushing scandal anytime soon, their worth may lower even further. In either case, eighty billion is more than enough to carry out a hostile takeover."
Wedy rolled her eyes.
"A hundred billion yen, and they're still looking for a discount."
(End Chapter 52)
Silent Extra: Some more factual tidbits.
From Chapter 14: One reviewer already caught this, and some others probably did too, but in the scene where Aizawa and Ukita are staking out the hotel for Naomi and Raye, there's a sentence which says, "A couple…but it wasn't the engaged FBI agents they were looking for. A young girl, looked like a teenager…a businessman rushing out to catch a taxi…a ruffled young man in jeans and dirty tennis shoes…" The last sentence was referring to L, showing how in some cases his weird appearance actually lets him blend into the crowd (or at least lowers peoples' expectations that he's L).
From Chapter 16: Beyond sending the videos to the NPA was another nod to the canon plot, as you may remember Misa did the same thing once she decided to become the Second Kira. (And will Demegawa and Sakura TV make a cameo? Maybe, maybe not...)
