Chapter Twenty-One:
"Dress For Success"

After a brief tour, which yielded important information for Light to determine his approximate whereabouts, the archipelago islands of the South China Seas—latitude and longitude was yet to be determined—he was impressed by the Evangelist's sophisticated base of operations. Thanks to Sappho, Light now had a mental map of certain parts of his private island.

It was one-third the size of Taipang Island, the largest of the naturally occurring islands in the area, and had had some extension to its outer shore built to accommodate certain essential needs, including underwater observatories and other amenities. The island also had a small port for ships to dock to deliver supplies and a boating house.

Sappho believed that her brother was a good man. It was still unexplained how Light got to the island, but he figured it had something to do with a Shinigami portal which had the ability to instantly transport anyone from any place, anywhere. Ryuk told him about them. He had not experienced the sensation in being in one before, but since it was his first time no doubt it caused him some disorientation, even to faint. It would fit the criteria of how he suddenly got here.

But where is Epiphany?

Gravitti said the Evangelist wanted him, so the Astral God should have already arrived. Being a god, he could do anything, supposedly. Therefore, Light determined, there was something else at play that he did not understand. He needed to gather more information. Additionally, he wanted to find Riki. He was not going to leave this place without him.

When it came to the time difference, China was one hour behind Japan. When he first attended Dragoon's condo with Raito, it was early afternoon. During the tour, the sunlight began to dim and early afternoon turned to dusk. Now they were back inside and within the Evangelist's personal living quarters.

It was a bi-level, luxurious, spacious apartment with an Anglo-Saxon feel, incorporating both comfort and style according to personal preference. The Evangelist's abode had both a spiral staircase and an elevator.

The second floor was surrounded with a banister balcony.

While spacious, with an open concept, including a personal library, a separate sitting space, a gas operated fireplace, and other rich amenities one would expect for such an important ministerial leader, the one thing Light saw that was lacking was any multi-media outlets. Light did not see one computer or television anywhere. He supposed whatever Sappho's brother used he took with him or it was hidden away.

At present, he stood in the exceptional bedroom of his absent host and it was decorated to the liking of a man who enjoyed the finer things in life. There was a large bed near the back wall with a headrest made of dark oak. On the floor was a rectangular, blue Persian rug with a blue star at its centre within a half moon gold leaflet motif. Mostly everything within the room was gold or gold plated, very regal and posh. Everything appeared to have a proper place, but there were no personal photos. Light still did not know what Sappho's brother looked like and he was hesitate to ask.

He noticed there was a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte on one wall in a gold, spiral motif frame. Other paintings on the wall of a nondescript value. As it went for the Napoleon Bonaparte painting, the man was a French depot general who wanted the world and would stand for nothing else. He would have gotten it, too, if he wasn't so overzealous.

This told Light something important about the Evangelist.

Did the Evangelist believe he was on the same level as past depots like Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan? A religious zealot who joined the League of Darkness to bring about a reconfirmation of idealistic servitude? He would fit in perfectly with the LOD and their way of thinking. Religion was often the bases of relented, brainwashed servitude. In a way, the League of Darkness believed their way was the only, a dark religion with Shinigami as their gods.

He would have to think about all that later. His main focus right now was to sway Sappho. He figured he could use some of his unfettered charm, like he had with girls in high school, and with Asumi Satou, his Yukaza torturer, to allow him an opportunity to get an upper hand with his situation. And if he had to, like Asumi, give his whole body over to get what he wanted.

At present, Sappho was inside a large walk-in closet. She was surrounded with hangers of shirts and jackets, shelves of pants and shoes, and a whole rack for belts, with other paraphernalia. She was picking out some clothes for him that belonged to her brother, while talking to Light at the same time.

He wanted to ask her about his watch, if she knew where it was. But at a more opportune time.

Sappho then said something that struck him as bizarre.

"What do you mean, the power of suggestion?"

"Gravitti uses it to trick people," she explained. "He has a special gift, in a way, an unnatural one. It apparently runs in his family. His younger brother has a special gift, too. His younger brother has the power to enter a person's mind and feel their emotions. With Grattivi's gift, however, with a certain frequency or tone of his voice, he can trigger a chemical reaction within the brain to make a person believe what they are seeing is real. Like the trick he used on you with the paintings."

Light nodded. He has told Sappho about the paintings while on the tour.

If what Sappho was saying was possible, then Gravitti was able to use audio-sensory perception to trigger a Phosphene chemical reaction that stimulated involuntary brain visual activity. It was similar to putting someone into a trance with a trigger word making them act or do anything with a conditioned response similar to a magicians trick.

"When Gravitti was a Priest, he was able to manipulate people into giving him a vast amount of money. In one case, a woman's entire savings under the guise of a religious offering. When he was found out, he was excommunicated from the priesthood. When my brother learned of his gift, Gravitti was brought into the fold and later he became my brother's most trusted advisor."

Light had not noticed anything odd about Gravitti's voice, but that was obviously the point. No one would notice they were being manipulated until it was too late. Light only broke the spell after focusing on what Riki had told him and noticing certain repeat patterns. So, there was a trick to unravelling the trick.

Sappho came to the door of he closest and held up a black Armani shirt to him. She eyed him and smiled. "Yes, most becoming," she said. "Black is definitely your colour, Light. Not many people can pull off dark colours, but you can. You have mysterious eyes that complements dark colours. I bet this will look good on you."

She handed him the shirt, then turned back to the closest. He opened it up fully and looked at it. It was silk and smooth. He had a few Armani shirts of his own back home pretending that he had purchased them second hand on a policeman's salary.

"I think my brother has some matching pants and shoes to complete the ensemble," she said, looking for them.

Light rolled his eyes. For a moment, he got a flashback to when he was a kid and his mother dressed him for special occasions, or when someone from his father's work was coming over for dinner, or when they had a special function to attend that involved his father's job. She always said dress for success and make the best impression.

When his father was head of the NPA, he had a lot of functions to attend, so it was always important for the whole family to go to make a good impression.

And his mother was right. He got a lot of compliments from the way he dressed.

From that point on, Light prided himself on the way he dressed. And often consulted male fashion magazines and websites for what to where for what occasion. Wearing the wrong thing had a way of haunting a person for the rest of their life. Clothes could make or brake a person's popularity in both school, work, and social circles.

He had a closest full of the best suits back home and a collection of designer watches. But he mainly wore the watch his father gave him after he graduated high school. The rest of them were just because he wanted them. And Epiphany/Raito was right. He had been siphoning off a little money directed for the Kira Task Force for his own gain. He needed the capital for his brand new world later on. In the meantime, he needed to look like a god.

Hopefully the clothes Sappho was picking out for him continued on that vein. The black silk Armani shirt was a start.

Slung over her left arm and held with two fingers in her left hand were a matching pair of black pants and black dress shoes. She gave them to Light, they were his size.

Then a Eureka moment startled him when Sappho returned to the closest for something else. She brought out a black belt with a silver buckle in a figure-eight, or a butterfly, depending on how one viewed it.

Light once had a belt just like it, but when he moved into his apartment he couldn't take everything, so he threw it away. And for good reason. During an Autumn Fair festival in Japan a few years back that he and Demetre attended, his friend decided to buy him a gift out of the blue. It was belt with a similar buckle, but obviously a much cheaper version.

But when the friendship crumbled after their encounter on the roof of the Kira Task Force building, Light decided to throw much of everything that reminded him of Demetre away. They were enemies now.

Light smiled appreciative, then said, "Um, maybe you can put aside dressing me for the moment and answer a few questions for me. I would like to know more about your brother. You told me a little about him on the tour, but I don't know what he looks like. Sorry for being so bold, but he did kidnap me, after all—and I'm not entirely sure how."

Sappho signed. "I have a confession to make, I know everything about what my brother is involved with. And this may come to a shock to you, but I also know about gods of death and the Death Note. And I know you know exactly what I'm talking about."

Light gasped surprised. Then frowned. "How long have you known?" For the moment, forgetting his question poised to her about providing a physical description of her brother.

"That you are Kira? For a couple of years now," she revealed, facing him. "But my brother doesn't know that I know. Before I came to live on the island with him, I lived on the mainland of China and practiced martial arts and meditation. So, I know a lot about mental discipline. So, even Gravitti is unaware that I know. I have managed to trick him, so far."

"And your thoughts?"

"About my brother? He's a member of an elitist cult that associates itself with supernatural creatures from another world. I'm powerless against them, so I fake ignorance. But truthfully, I've noticed a considerable difference in him since he became an owner of a Death Note. He is a self-proclaimed Evangelical Minister, but the moment he picked up that book something inside him changed, and he became a different person. And when the League of Darkness sought him out, he quickly became one of the most powerful ranked people. I have never seen his Shinigami, but apparently it has the power to absorb energy from others. I can only fathom that's how you were brought here, through a Shinigami portal. It's a dimensional aperture that works like poking a hole through time and space. It sounds like something from out of science fiction, but I can tell you it is real."

"That's what I figured," Light said. "I never experienced one before, but I did see one once. It's more like a tear in the space-time continuum and something that Albert Einstein and scientists like him have theorized about. Only supernatural creatures like Shinigami could wield such power to my knowledge. When did you learn of Shinigami and the Death Note?"

"When my brother and others we're conversing one day in the Judgment Hall about you," she said. "I wasn't spying on them, I overheard them when I was walking nearby. I was shocked to learn that such creatures existed and there was a notebook of death out there that someone can write down a person's name and kill them with a heart attack. It seemed surreal, but when I saw a Shinigami, I became a believer. The rules say you have to touch the notebook of a god of death to see them, but I don't believe I have ever touched one? Unless one of the Shinigami at that gathering touched me with their Death Note? Maybe so? The Shinigami I saw was grotesque looking. It looked like something dug up from World War One. It was large skeletal, bulky thing, still wearing all its fatigues including a pith helmet. It also had a strange-looking, mechanical left arm, with a claw."

Light's eyes narrowed. "I believe I've encountered that particular Shinigami once before. His name is Rage. And he is not to be trifled with. He shares his body with a cosmic being of unknown origin; they have some kind of symbiotic relationship. I don't know the full details. Did you see anything else?"

Sappho mused. "Yes, in fact, I did. Come to think of it, I noticed a young man with them. He possessed a Death Note. He was about your height, with dark black hair, a thin, but muscular frame, and he wore all leather. To tell you the truth, I believe Rage belonged to him. They called him Rapture, but I don't believe that was his real name. Because of Kira, no one uses their real names anymore, including myself."

Light nodded. He could understand the lengths people were now going to preventing Kira from killing criminals. Alternative names was a major drawback to his plans to rid the world of these people. And he thought about making the Shinigami Eye deal with Ryuk on more than a few occasions. However, he didn't want to cut his lifespan in half for it.

She handed him the belt.

He tossed everything onto the bed behind him and then began to pace back and forth, thinking. He cupped his chin. A multitude of things ran through his mind and every one of them made him irksome.

"Light, what's the matter? You look upset."

He stopped and look at her. "I am angry, but not at you. The Death Note is a tool I use to create a better world and to clean up this rotten world. I know that may sound arrogant and self-righteous, but I see all the criminals as garbage that need to be taken out to the curb. Only Kira can do this. But if others have my power, then that diminishes my influence—it even tarnishes it. You may say I'm preaching to the converted, but much like the biblical Great Flood, and the many other traditions around the world similar in telling, your brother and the League of Darkness is detrimental to my cause. And they must not be allowed to flourish. The horde of Shinigami they possess, from what I have been told by others, will allow them to wreak havoc upon the world killing innocent people. My cause is just! I use the Death Note to help the innocent. Some people have tried to stop me, but they have all failed. The LOD could reverse everything I have done if they are not stopped. Everything that I have already fit into place could be destroyed. And my Grand Agenda will not come to pass."

"Grand Agenda?"

Light nodded. "It's what I'm calling my plan to rid the world of evil. I have come to understand that I need to expand my horizons." He had planned to use some information gathered from a secret source to help him, financial information that was on a laptop stored in a lockbox in a Switzerland bank, but it had mysteriously disappeared. He still needed to contact Valtros and ask,—even demand—why she took it and had not given it to him yet. "But I must bide my time and not over-reach, or much like Napoleon Bonaparte…" He pointed is the painting on the wall of the French general. "I will meet my Waterloo."

Just then, something was heard like the sound of a heavy knocking on a door. They were upstairs in the bedroom with the door closed, but the noise could still be heard with a sudden quietude.

Sappho's brow folded. "I'll go see who it is," she said. "My brother shouldn't be expecting any visitors. Gravitti knows not to disturb us and he would inform anyone that my brother is not on the island to see them. Whoever it is, I'll tell them to deliver their message quickly. Perhaps it is Riki, the boy, bringing me a message from Gravitti? Sorry, but because of his short statue, I continue to think of him as a child of thirteen or fourteen, but he is an adult."

"I believe he suffers from something called Adult Child Syndrome," Light said. "He's an adult, but he only stands just under five feet tall."

Sappho nodded. "We had a doctor look into it. He'll always be this way. He's fully grown now. He's a good person, but he seems lost, Light. And because he'll always look like a young kid, life will be difficult for him. He needs a purpose. My brother brought him here because he was living on the street. His grandparents, his only living relatives—staunch Christians with no understanding for compassion—kicked him out of their house because of his past, but it was not his fault. He was kidnapped by the Yukaza at ten years old and forced into the sex trade. What sort of sick people do that to a kid? Beyond comprehensible!"

Light agreed. "I know, and I would like to help him, somehow. I agree, he needs guidance and a stable home. After what he's gone through, I wager he is suffering from an undiagnosed form of PTSD. His grandparents throwing him out was completely wrong. If I could, I would offer him a place with me. But he doesn't know anything about Shinigami or the Death Note, so it would be difficult. And I also head up the Kira Task Force, so there is an issue with that as well."

Another heavy knock came.

Sappho left to answer the door.

Light watched her leave and shut the bedroom door behind her. And the moment she did, he began to undress to redress.

Despite the variety of unknowns for him, this was a perfect opportunity to get more information about the League of Darkness and their Anti-Kira agenda. And if he had to challenge the Evangelist head-on, then he would welcome the challenge.

There can only be one god of the new world!

To be continued...