Author's Note: Hooray! I'm back to writing on a (semi)regular basis!

Thanks to god of all, -279, and Ichigo0-0Rose for the reviews! I can't wait to hear more from everyone. :)


Chapter 27


October 15, 2004

I've been on three 'dates' with Reiji in three days. For a busy executive he sure does make a lot of time for his personal life. I guess that's a good thing…at least from the investigation's perspective.

I'm going back to work today since he said he had a mandatory meeting to attend. I know it's the Kira meetings…but the look in his eye was so strange when he told me. It only lasted a second, but it was almost like disappointment. Disappointed in himself, maybe? That he needs to resort to such measures to get ahead in the world?

I would believe him if he told me that. He's been so kind to me. How could someone like that be Kira?


Eva sat before the giant monitors in the taskforce headquarters, staring up at the live feed of Yotsuba's Kira meeting.

"What happened to the 8th member?" she asked timidly, pointing to the noticeably empty seat that appeared on the screen.

"They probably killed one of their members." L stated bluntly, earning an uneasy moan from the surrounding team.

"In order to further the growth of the Yotsuba Group and best serve its financial interest, who should we kill next?" one member, Takeshi Ooi, asked.

"They're so explicit about it!" Eva said with a surprised scoff.

"You see?! It's just like I told you last week!" Matsuda exclaimed.

"But before we get to that, there are several topics we need to discuss." Ooi continued. "First, there is the issue of Hatori's death."

"That was unavoidable." Reiji cut in. "To be honest, in a certain sense, I'm relieved that Hatori is dead. Kira has demonstrated that we must be committed to these meetings. We now know what will happen if we try to leave." Eva flinched at his words. She looked down at her phone, at the text message he had sent her earlier this morning. Thinking of you. Hope all is well. He had seen her less than 12 hours prior, and yet still thought to let her know she was on his mind first thing in the morning. It was baffling. It was a different person. Who was this cold man that looked so much like Reiji Namikawa?

"I think we all understand what Hatori's death means for the rest of us. Let's not take it lightly." Ooi concurred. "Now, moving on: the next topic is Eraldo Coil's report."

"One of their members just died and that's all they're going to say?" Soichiro asked, clearly disgusted by the behavior.

"So, did we really pay five million dollars for this report?" Kyousuke Higuchi asked, leafing through the papers in front of him. "I mean, come on, look at this! He hasn't found anything important about L like his name or his face. Is this Coil guy seriously going to be of any use to us?"

"Hold on a second." Ooi interrupted. "There is something very interesting in the last part of this report. Coil's warning us that we can't afford to take L's existence too lightly. In particular, it says the concentration of killings that are beneficial to Yotsuba will likely be noticed by L if they continue on Fridays and Saturdays."

"Sounds like this Eraldo Coil has figured out what we've been up to." Shingo Midou huffed, his glare intensifying. "I admit it's quite impressive. At any rate, I personally think we should stop killing every weekend."

"This is unbelievable!" Matsuda said, leaning into the screen. "It's like they're trying to confess to everything."

"As long as we have this video as evidence, we could probably arrest all seven of them." Soichiro replied.

"Kira hasn't been flexible up to this point, has he?" Higuchi asked, leaning back into his leather chair. "It would be nice if he could spread out his killings over the whole week." He suggested with a shrug.

"The fact that Coil noticed what we were up to makes it too dangerous to keep killing at our usual pace." Midou agreed. "From now on we have to be even more careful to make sure nobody else notices a trend in these deaths."

"Now, onto the main topic: who should we kill?" Ooi asked. A chill went down Eva's spine, and she pushed herself deeper into the cushions of her chair for warmth.

"I think we should focus on ELF Insurance." Midou suggested. "If they expand into the Japanese market, Yotsuba and many other companies will lose valuable clients to them."

"Agreed." Ooi stated. "Any objections to killing these people from ELF Insurance with accidental deaths?"

"No objections." the room answered.

"Is this for real?" Light asked. "How can they do this so easily?" The Yotsuba members continued their planning. More names, more motives, more specific instructions for Kira. "Deaths by accident, by disease, designated times of death—we were right!"

"No, unfortunately, we can only be sure when those people named have died." L replied, stirring sugar into his tea. "We will continue to monitor these meetings and take note of what they say, how they act, and most importantly, whether the people that they name actually die. If we can confirm the connection between their plans and the deaths, then we'll definitely be able to catch Kira."

"Ryuzaki!" Light and Soichiro yelled. L jumped from the sudden increase in volume, his delicately balanced tower of sugar cubes scattering on the desk before him.

"What is it?!" the frazzled detective asked. "There's no need to yell in unison!"
"I can't carry on knowing these people will die!" Light yelled, clearly ignoring L's objections. "That's just immoral! I know you're planning on catching Kira by letting these guys carry out these murders, but we can't let that happen."

"That's right!" Soichiro agreed. "It's obvious that these seven men are behind these killings. With Matsuda's testimony and the footage we recorded, we have all the evidence."

"Do we?" Eva asked.

"Huh?" Light turned to her.

"We have no idea how Kira kills. We have no idea which of these seven men are Kira, or if any of them are. What if one of them just knows Kira?" Eva postulated.

"Are you seriously saying we should let more people die?" Light was visibly disgusted by the mere thought.

"No…of course not. I'm just…I'm just trying to be realistic." Eva answered hesitantly.

"She's right. If we were to take action now, everything we've done will go to waste." L rebutted.

"So, what do you say we take care of ELF in three weeks, and as for Zenzai, we'll ask Kira to kill him this weekend." one member suggested, bringing the task force's attention back to the on-screen meeting.

"No objections." the rest answered in unison.

"If that's what they're going to do then there's not much time left." Soichiro said, turning to his son. "Light, we already know the phone numbers of these board members, don't we?"

"Yea!" Light responded, quickly grabbing a piece of paper with the information and handing it to his father.

"I don't care who we call. I need to reach one of these men and have them stop these murders." Soichiro dug his cellphone out of his pocket and began dialing. Shit….

"Please hold on." L pleaded calmly. "That will cause suspicion. It would mean the investigation caught up with them three days after they were contacted by Aiber. Also, it would make it far more unlikely that we would be able to discover who the real Kira might be. We can't afford such a huge setback seeing how far we've come." L sipped his tea and returned his attention to the screen. "In order to catch Kira, we're going to need some solid proof.

"Ryuzaki…if one of these seven men is in fact Kira, would it be safe to say that if I tried calling one of them, the odds of me calling Kira is going to be one in seven?" Light asked.

"I'm thinking there could be more than one Kira among them." L replied.

"If we're prepared to let them know that the investigation is catching up to them, let's place our bets on these odds. Who is least likely to be Kira, but holds the most influence?" Light leaned forward, carefully examining each member on the screen.

"Reiji Namikawa." Eva answered. So much for my spy work. "I can almost guarantee he's not Kira."

"What? How?" Light asked. Eva smiled sheepishly and let out a nervous laugh.

"Well…remember how I said he was flirting with me and wanted to take me out?"

"You didn't…." Light growled under his breath.

"I recorded all of the conversations!" Eva quickly offered him a USB drive, holding it out like a sacrificial token to an angry god, hoping he would spare her. "I was going to tell you two eventually…when I found something important."

"I…I can't even—" Light struggled to find the words.

"If you're going to make a call, please use this phone. It's set up so it can't be traced or tapped." L grudgingly pointed to a landline, keeping his glare fixed on Eva. She quickly turned her eyes back to the screen and watched Reiji pull out his cellphone and answer the call.

"Is this Reiji Namikawa, head of the Yotsuba Group's marketing department?" Light asked.

"Yes, and who is this?" Reiji questioned.

"Listen carefully, but don't draw attention to yourself. I am L." Light responded. Reiji's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, returning quickly back to his stoic expression. "I've placed cameras and wiretaps around that meeting room. Even as I speak, I'm recording footage of your entire meeting. The first thing you discussed was Hatori's death. Now you're debating who to kill next. Am I correct?" Eva noticed Reiji's lip twitch—perhaps with annoyance, perhaps with anxiety. "If you are not Kira, or if you are not someone who can contact Kira directly, let's make a deal. I need you to delay the deaths of the ELF president and Mr. Zenzai by one month. I doubt it will be difficult for someone with your standing to accomplish that."

"Yes…yes, I see." Reiji finally replied. "Go on."

"He wants impunity." Eva whispered to Light when she noticed him hesitate.

"If you complete your end of the deal and cooperate with our requests from now on, then your crimes—no, not just your crimes, but everyone's crimes, with the exception of Kira—will be pardoned based on the premise that Kira blackmailed you into participating in these meetings."

"I see." A small smirk appeared along Reiji's lips for a moment before vanishing. "Okay."

"If you tell the others about this call, they will panic. It will be of no advantage to you. Everyone would be arrested immediately." Light continued. "But that's not my intention. I'm planning to go one-on-one against Kira. Listen, if I win against Kira, you will be acquitted of all charges. If Kira wins, then you'll be free to carry on with your comfortable life. Just play along with both parties. Staying on the sidelines will be best. You're not in a position to lose anything regardless of who wins in the end. It would only be a loss if I decided to arrest you right here and now. That's all for now." Light hung up the phone.

"Right. I'll see you Monday, then." Reiji replied before doing the same.

"What's going on, Namikawa? Who was that?" Ooi asked.

"One of my men screwed up again." Reiji grumbled. "I'll have to fix it on Monday." He quickly stashed his phone in his pocket and began shuffling through the papers in front of him. "Anyways, sorry for the interruption. Let's get back on topic. Here's what I'm thinking: we'll give Coil one month to reveal L's identity. If he still hasn't uncovered the information we need, then we can go ahead and kill the targets randomly. Then we'll give him another month to investigate and repeat the process. Once we get rid of L permanently, we can go back to killing two or three people a week. In other words: our top priority should be the elimination of L." The other members jumped at the bait, eagerly agreeing with Reiji's plan. Eva shook her head with dismay. None of you could hold a candle to L. It was particularly disappointing to her how easily the words came out of Reiji's mouth. They were so believable, like he had done this a hundred times before. He was talking about murder—about ending another person's life, the most valuable thing they have—and yet, he did it with the same care and thought that someone would give an important looking piece of junk mail: momentary hesitation followed by swift disposal. Eva shivered again. Cold.