CHAPTER 39:
"Secret Messages"

"Okay, so, if this teenage temper tantrum is over," L said coldly, "I think Light has something to tell us?"

Light growled under his breath, struggled against Matsuda for a moment, but ultimately relented. He settled down, but Matsuda didn't immediately release him. "You okay, Light? Everything cool now?" the detective asked.

Light breathed out heavy. "Yeah, I believe so. And damn right I have something to tell you, Ryuzaki. But they are the kinds of words not meant for mixed company." A moment passed. "You can let me go now, Matsuda. I'm fine now. I'm not going to attack L."

"Good, Light," Matsuda said, "because I do know more forceful ways to subdue someone. I'm a cop, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," Light replied. Matsuda released him and Light straightened his ruffled shirt. He shook himself out of his dark, inner thoughts, and focused back on the Kira Case. He would deal with how he felt about Demetre and Dana later. "Yes, I do," he then said to Ryuzaki's inquiry. He was disgruntled that his feelings were so easily pushed aside by the master detective for his own selfish want. He could never do that. But he forcefully pushed his emotions deep down for now. "I was able to gather information that may be of help to the Kira Case."

Light sat down at his computer station, typed, and transferred something to the large widescreen on the wall for the task force to see.

"This is something I found on the website Kira's Underground. I took a snapshot of it the moment I saw it. A minute later, it mysteriously disappeared. It's from a user with the handle KnightStar. It's a cryptic message, but I believe it's a warning for Kira."

L read it out loud: "SS, the end is nigh; judgement by the League is at hand. Lord K be weary." He mused. "It definitely rings of a warning and it has religious undertones, but it's very…"

"Confusing," Matsuda remarked. "Someone is warning Kira about an event that is about to happen? Any ideas about what SS or League mean?"

Light and L shared a glance.

"Yes," L spoke up. "SS could stand for a cultist group that calls themselves the Savant Society."

Soichiro Yagami mouth opened, "Did you say Savant, Ryuzaki?" Light saw his father's shock. "Savant is the name of one of our ancestors."

Light nodded. He then told everyone that both he and L had discussed Light's ancestor, Joseph Savant, while Light was incarcerated, when they were playing a game of Twenty Questions to pass the time. Everyone else was either sleeping or doing other things. Also, they discussed visiting the Savant Mansion secretly, the home of a cultist group, to infiltrate it in an attempt to learn more.

But now that would have to place that on hold with this warning. Both L and Light agreed on this.

"I have more," Light said. "I've seen mentions of SS pop up in other threads in cryptic messages, but then disappear. I managed to capture two. They were very short messages and only stayed up for a limited time." Light brought them both up on the large screen for the task force to see. "They're written by different Handles, but I think they're written by one person. Yet, I'm unsure."

SS0SS0SS0SS — (by): Chipotlexox
Servant to Savant — (by): Laughing Lloypp

Matsuda pointed to the second one. "Okay, this one looks to me like a more direct-to-the-point message about the Savant Society," he said. "And the person who wrote the message may be a servant to a 'Savant'—which is a higher elevated person."

"Yes," L said, pleased, "excellent deduction, Matsuda." Matsuda immediately smiled and looked happy with himself. L then pointed to the other message. "But I'm more interested in the first message with four sets of SS's and three zeroes. It's almost a riddle within a riddle."

Light paused for a moment. "Let me brainstorm here," he said. "Could four SS's mean a rank of some sort? Say, this person is really high up in the Savant Society? But perhaps the second message corresponds to his servitude, and lower to, say, a higher echelon?"

"Could be," L said, thinking. "But let me add to your theory, Light. The three zeroes may be more significant than we think, separating the SS's. Zero means: nothing, naught, no quantity. Or…" Ryuzaki snorted out a chuckle. "Oh, that's clever…whoever wrote this also wanted my attention. The Handle Laughing Lloypp is an important clue in the second message. Look, three L's. Or, Am I just be seeing things differently?"

Siochiro Yagami mused, "I'm not sure, Ryuzaki," he said. "But you do think more abstract than the rest of us."

"Oh, you sneaky devil!" Light suddenly said, and began to type on his computer feverishly.

"What is it, Light?" His father turned to him quickly.

"Ryuzaki recently revealed to me that Demmy may be involved with the Savant Society," Light began. "Watari has evidence to back it up, video surveillance and a mysterious phone call. I didn't want to believe it, but when Mom revealed that Demmy and Dana were together, I felt a little betrayed. Yet after reading these messages, I think I understand now. Thank you, Demmy!"

"Light, what are you rambling about?"

Light brought up a website from the Dark Web where he could search for IP addresses that were normally hidden from public view. Multiple screens popped up on his computer with script and DOS files. As he typed quickly, he explained.

"Months back, Demmy returned my phone when I accidentally left it in class at To-Oh university," Light said. "I don't know why, but he was fishing for information about the Kira Case during a phone call afterwards. He probably figured I was helping out with the Kira Case, because I had helped the NPA with a few cases in the past and wanted to know some inside information hoping I would tell him. I didn't. The triple L's was the first clue. Then, I saw something else."

Light pointed at the large screen.

"Do you see those two small p's after Laughing Lloypp?" Light said. "Looks like a mistake, doesn't it, even as a Handle? You may think I'm jumping to a conclusion, but I don't think so. Turn the pp upside down and you have dd—Demetre Draycott. Only Demmy could write something so ambiguous as to not to set off alarm bells. He is one of the most cleverest people I know! And I'm embarrassed to admit, but I'm never won a game a chess against him. He either wins, or it ends in a draw."

"Oh my god! Wow!" Matsuda remarked.

"No way," his father said. "Light, you sure? It is a bit of a stretch. Even Ryuzaki's triple L is reaching. I'm not sure…"

"Most detective work is initially theory, Mr. Yagami," L said. "Go on, Light. Dazzle us!"

Light began to get very excited. "It looks like Demmy wrote the first message too: SS0SS0SS0SS. I agree with Ryuzaki that the zeros may be important, as well, the emphases on three. Like the triple L's. Now that I think about it, the SS's may not mean rank—they are more indicative of Western culture. 'S' is the nineteenth letter in the English language alphabet. This tells me Demmy's with people who mainly speak English and English is the most spoken language in the modern world. Two SS's together is 1919. Zero is an unknown viable. And as L said, naught or possibly X. I would bet X, like in multiplication. Therefore, if it stands to reason it is 19 times 19 and since there are four sets of SS's…If you…" Light mouthed silently, his brain surging. Then: "19 times 19 equals 361, times 3(X), then divide that by Pi because of its relation to…which gives you…344.904458598." Light typed in the number, trying varying decimal points in places. "And there! You get an IP address and I just pinged it. It belongs somewhere near the base of Mount Fuji and I'm betting it's somewhere inside the Savant Mansion." He had everyone in awe. "But that's not all! Demmy also uses the Handle 'Chipotlexox' for the first message, which, I'm a little embarrassed to say, was a favourite cartoon of mine when I was younger, when I was eleven years old. It didn't click to me until a moment ago."

"Why be embarrassed, Light?" His father said. "Kids watch cartoons all the time?"

Light swallowed nervously. "It wasn't a child's cartoon, Dad. It was more mature. Chipotlexox was the name of an adult cartoon that Demmy caught me watching one day in my room. I thought it was a kids cartoon, but it turned out to be mislabelled when I bought it from a dealer. He made fun of me and I've never forgotten it. So, I know this handle belongs to him! It's a direct message to me. Sorry, Dad…"

"Okay, so it happened," his father said, although he frowned slightly. "Let's move on. And let me add something to this, if you'd let me. All this talk about Western and English culture…and if Demetre is involved in this cult, the Savant Society, and wrote these cryptic messages, then he may have inside knowledge about our ancestor, Joseph Savant. Savant migrated from Europe to Japan over a hundred or so years ago, born in England. And these messages are written in English, Demetre's first-language. Demetre was born in America and moved to Japan with his father when he was four or five years old. However, this also worries me, because it also sounds like he's reaching out for help, and to you, Light. Look at the post: SS0SS0SS0SS. If you look closely, SOS—which is the universal sign for Help. Or, maybe I'm the one that's reaching this time?"

Light gasped. "Oh my god, Dad! That's…I never saw that. That's amazing! And you may be right!"

"Excellent work, Mr. Yagami," L said. "And I concur. I'm totally impressed with all this. Light, you're a chip off the old block."

Soichiro Yagami smiled modestly. "Thanks, Ryuzaki," he said.

L said, "Huh? Oh, I meant me."

Soichiro Yagami gave him a condescending look.

"So, then, here's the big question," Matsuda chimed in. "What reason would Light's friend send these messages to Kira on the Kira Underground boards? Why warn Kira of an impeding doom? Is it because Demetre knows Light is working on the Kira Case with us and knew Light would see them, looking for clues to catch Kira? Hence not a message to Kira but to Light? Does this also mean the Savant Society may be out to get Kira like some sort of vigilante group? Does Demetre think that we, the Kira Task Force, need to know something important about this group? Furthermore, this word 'League' mentioned in the original message Light found is odd. What do you think Demetre meant by it?"

"That was more than one question, Matsuda," Light said.

"Yeah, I got carried away," Matsuda said, rubbing the back of his neck a little abashed, "sorry."

"Don't apologize, Matsuda," Soichiro said, "and keep posing questions like that. That's why we're here."

Matsuda smiled pleased with himself once again and Light thought it was great that his father was keeping up morale.

L shrugged, "Maybe a league of their own? Like in that American movie about Baseball? Or as in the Biblical story of Legion—for we are many? As I hinted, the very first message having religious undertones. In any case, we will just have to keep digging for information. It could mean almost anything and hypothesizing about it will get us no where. We need facts…"

To be continued...