"Okay, we're all set!" Matt chirped as he adjusted the small camera on Rester's tie. The man had pointed out that every eye would be on Near and it was more likely for someone to notice the small device on the younger man than if it was on those behind him. Mello had not been happy with the assessment and had threated Rester that he had better stay at Near's side throughout the entire upcoming confrontation.
"Fucking ridiculous," Mello muttered from Near's side, crossing his arms over his chest as he sent his friend a glare
Matt ignored him. Near supposed he had a lot of practice in doing so. "Mells and I will watch everything from down the street and I'll send you a message when we see Mikami. Phone is on vibrate, right? Remember, one message and everything is to plan. Two messages in a row and something is wrong."
"And you get the fuck out of there," Mello growled.
"I will extract Near as quickly as possible," Rester acknowledged.
Near rolled his eyes. Nothing was going to go wrong. Not with Mello and himself going over the plan for any flaws. There was a reason Roger had wanted them to work together. A reason L had never chosen one of them to be his successor.
They had always been better together.
"It is time to depart," Near cut in before Mello could come up with any more demands or insist that he accompany them inside the warehouse. "Mello and Matt, please get set in your location. The rest of us will take our positions within the warehouse."
"Yes, sir," Rester agreed, checking his gun and motioning for Lidner and Gevanni to follow him. Near began to follow after them but Mello's hand snapped out, grasping onto his wrist and preventing him from following. Near blinked at the hand before peering up at Mello in confusion. Mello stared down at him, his eyes blazing with emotion that Near couldn't place.
"I'm just…uh, I'll wait in the car," Matt muttered. Near turned his head in surprise, having forgotten that the other man was there. Matt shot him a wink before slipping out the door after Rester and the others.
"Don't do anything stupid," Mello ordered lowly. His grip fell from Near's wrist and both of his hands landed on Nears narrow shoulders.
"I do not think those words should be directed at me," Near responded, lips twitching when Mello's eyes narrowed in response. "There is no need to worry, we have everything settled. It is time for this to end. For L."
Mello's eyes blazed. "Let's end this son of a bitch."
An hour later found Near sitting in the warehouse, a mask resembling L perched on his face. He purposely crouched down, mocking the way his predecessor usually sat. He wanted Kira to regret what he had done. He wanted Kira to realize that killing L was the worst thing he could have possibly done. Killing L had brought his successors into the battle. Killing L had set off Kira's downfall.
Near wanted to make sure that he realized that.
The door opened and the Japanese Taskforce walked into the warehouse. In the lead was Light Yagami. Kira. He saw the young man pause for a moment, surprise flashing in his eyes as he looked at Near for the first time.
"L, those four are the SPK…and the one with the mask is Near. I'm sure of it," Aizawa commented from his place behind Yagami. Near was thankful for the mask. It was able to disguise his eyeroll.
Kira knew who he was.
This wouldn't have been nearly as fun if he didn't.
"Yes," Mogi confirmed. "I was with Near even before he put on the mask. So, I assure you, it's him."
Yagami's eyes rested on Near's covered face. "Aizawa, Mogi, whether this is the real Near or not is of no interest to me."
"Wait a minute!" One of the men behind Kira yelled. Matsuda, if Near remembered correctly. He had been of no interest to Near but he was positive that was his name. "I don't care who he accuses of being Kira – but that mask proves that he's trying to protect only himself!"
Idiot. That is not the point of this. Near could almost hear Mello's commentary from where he and Matt were waiting. It was a very good thing that he was not in the warehouse. There was no possible way the Taskforce would be unaware of him.
"Matsuda," Yagami started, his voice smooth and calm. Near's eyes narrowed. He wanted to make that clear tone break. He wanted the man to lose that control and show everyone who he really was. "Near thinks I'm Kira so it can't be helped."
"But he was talking so much about seeing you face to face! It doesn't seem fair!"
Fair? Kira is not the person to complain about something not being fair. You will understand that soon enough.
"I'm telling you, Near has his own ideas about what's going on here, so it's not going to help if we complain about it. Let's just get on with this."
"This mask is just insurance," Near said, mostly so they could move onto other matters and he could finish this as quickly as possible. The longer this took, the longer the chance of Mello storming into the warehouse and throwing all of their plans away. He was never a patient person.
"Insurance?"
"I am confident that both Kira and the person being ordered to do the killing, X-Kira, do not know my face," Near explained, giving the idiot the same reason for the mask as he had given the SPK. Matt and Mello had both sent him knowing looks when they saw it. They had both known the true reason, though never had mentioned it. Near was content with that. It was between the three of them. No one else needed to know. "But there is a possibility that everybody else's face is known to these individuals in question. Of course, this is all assuming that L is Kira…so, since the place and time for our meeting was decided upon three days ago…there is a chance that everyone else's name, excluding mine, may already be written in the notebook to be killed." He tilted his head slightly, keeping his eyes fixated on the fake L. The person that was responsible for his death. L's soulmate. "If that were to happen, only Kira and I would be left and all Kira would have to do is write my name in the notebook that Mr. Aizawa has with him right now. Though it is my hypothesis that the Kira here does not have the ability to kill just from looking at our faces. So please, give me an hour – no, thirty minutes – to be sure that no one here is already marked to die by the notebook."
"Wh-what?! So you're waiting to see if we die?!" Matsuda sputtered.
But Yagami cut in, looking downtrodden and resigned. He was manipulating the situation, which did not surprise Near in the slightest. It was the same thing other children at the orphanage tried to do. But, unlike the orphanage, the people in the warehouse seemed to fall for it. Near guessed that was a privilege of growing up with other geniuses – at least most of them were able to see through the games people like Yagami tried to play. They had to be to survive in the environment they grew up in.
"That's okay," Yagami sighed, "We'll let Near do as he likes. If not, we won't be able to clear things up. Near, I believe that you are in fact, the real Near and I care little about the face behind the mask. What I would like to see is what you were going to show me pertaining to the Kira case." Yes, it was a really good thing that Mello was not inside the warehouse.
"That can only be revealed to you after I take my mask off," Near replied stoically.
"You can't show the evidence to us unless you take the mask off but you're not going to take it off? Aren't you contradicting yourself?" Matsuda demanded.
…how did L work with this simpleton?
"He means that he's going to take it off once he makes sure that everybody remains alive," Yagami explained tiredly. Near almost, almost, felt bad for the man. It would be difficult to deal with this every day.
"Yes," he agreed.
There was silence after that. Near stared at Yagami as the Japanese taskforce members shifted and glared in his direction. It would have been amusing if it had not been such a dangerous situation. But Near was confident in his plan.
Nothing was going to go wrong.
Finally, Matsuda could not stand the wait any longer. "Near, it's been more than thirty minutes now and nothing has happened!"
"Of course," Yagami commented. "Because Kira isn't here."
Near allowed himself to smirk behind the mask. Yes, this was going just as planned. "Very well," he said as he began to take the mask off. "It seems that you are all safe. I'll go ahead and take the mask off then." He dropped the mask to the ground and looked up, meeting Yagami's eyes with his own.
Then he grinned.
It wasn't his grin. No, it was a grin he had practiced in front of the mirror. A grin that matched that of his predecessor.
It was L's grin.
Mello had told him it was "creepy as fuck" and Matt had actually cringed away from him when he used it.
It was the reaction he hoped to get from Yagami.
Instead, Yagami's eyes narrowed even further and his fists clenched at his sides. But his eyes didn't waver. He just stared back at Near, playing the game that had been started so long ago.
"Okay, so now that you've taken the mask off, what are you going to show us?" The impatient man demanded.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait again."
"Wait again?! What are we waiting for?"
"For the one who'll solve everything to arrive," Near commented, that grin twisting into an amused smirk. His eyes shifted toward the closed door. "I assure you that this person will come, so we must wait. This building is completely sealed. The only way to look inside is to open that door right there. Therefore, this very important person will come through that door or at least try to peak through it."
"Who's going to come?!"
"This meeting was kept a secret from everybody except those who are here right now," Near continued, reaching down to pick up a particular finger puppet. "That's right. So, the person coming is X-Kira. Kira's loyal follower who learned about our location from none other than Kira himself." The Japanese taskforce members all looked at the door in hesitation and Near's eyes landed on one member in particular. "Mr. Aizawa. You kept an eye on L even after Takada died, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then X-Kira will come. Kira used Takada to contact X-Kira. The night we decided where and when to meet, L met Takada and Takada relayed the information to X-Kira. I am completely sure of this. But Mello's," Near had to force the name through his lips as something in his chest seemed to sting, "kidnapping of Takada was a surprise for both L and myself. With Takada dead, L could no longer contact X-Kira and was unable to call his plan off. Hmm…no, it would be meaningless for him to call everything off. The thought would have never crossed his mind because he did not want to interfere with his plan or mine."
"Why do you assume that L is Kira?!"
"Yeah, if a third party is really going to show up here, isn't it more likely that you're the one behind it all?"
"No," Near responded. How had L and the fake L been able to deal with these people? Near did not like having to constantly explain his train of thought. At least his people took his word for things and tried to put the pieces together themselves. "Because the person we're waiting for is the person currently in charge of carrying out Kira's judgement. So, obviously, this person is coming under Kira's orders."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Matsuda yelled. "If this person is the one doing the killings, do you mean to say they're going to bring the notebook?!"
"Yes," Near responded as he placed his own finger puppet on his other hand. "This person will bring the notebook for sure…and then, looking at my face, will write down my name." Near wondered if he should be flattered by the gasps of horror the taskforce let out.
"So, you're going to prove that this person is Kira's henchman by being killed?"
"No, rather by having him try to kill me," Near responded. Honestly, why would he go through all of this just to die in the end? Just to lose?
"Wait a minute, Near."
Near sighed inwardly and glanced up. "Yes?"
"If X-Kira is going to kill you, then he or she would need to kill everybody here since we know about the notebook."
Well, at least one of them had a brain. "That's right. It would be the perfect victory for Kira, not to mention the sole reason Kira agreed to this meeting in the first place."
The protests started immediately.
"I – I don't get it. What are you talking about?! That third party is going to bring the notebook here to kill us?"
"And you're asking us to just stand here and watch?!"
"That's right," Near responded.
"That's ridiculous! Then you'll be playing right into Kira's hands! We're going to lose no matter what we do!"
"No," Near answered. "We will win. If you do as I say, we will win without a doubt." He glanced toward the door once more and Rester shifted just slightly from the corner of his eye. Oh, it appears he received the message. Good. "If X-Kira enters through that door, I want you all to let him in. And if that door opens, however slightly, I want you all to pretend not to notice it."
"This is ridiculous!"
"Near, you're making it sound as if you're actually Kira. You're the one who proposed the idea that we all meet here. And now, you're asking everybody to have their names written down in the notebook. It's only natural for us to think that." The man took a deep breath. "But, I'll do what you say."
"Hey! Aizawa, what do you mean? I don't get it!"
"I'm with Aizawa."
"…Mogi…"
Near tilted his head and let his eyes drift toward the slightly open door once more. "He's already here."
Every eye turned toward the door and Near's expression morphed into a small grin when he saw the flash of triumph in the fake L's eyes.
Oh, so he thought he won, did he?
How interesting.
"I can't just watch! If this person is really writing our names down then-" Matsuda moved toward the door and Gevanni quickly pulled his gun toward the man.
"Don't move."
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Don't worry, you won't die. Please just be still," Near said to the panicking man. Just watching him was making Near tired. "Even if our names are written down, we won't die. And Kira's identity will finally be revealed."
"H-how can you be sure that we won't die, Near?" Aizawa asked worriedly, his entire body tense. Near had no doubt the man was holding himself back from running toward the door.
"I've tampered with the notebook," Near responded, pleased to see the widening of the taskforce's eyes. Well, most of them. "We managed to get it into our possession and replaced the pages. The person behind the door…the one in charge of the actual killings, has been filling up one page every day, so I just calculated which page would correspond with today's date and replaced all the subsequent pages."
"Replaced!"
"You got ahold of it? You actually did that?!"
"The person writing the names down outside will eventually look inside to see if we have all died," Near explained, his eyes now focused on the door. "At which point, we'll seize him and the individual whose name is not written down in the notebook will inevitably be Kira."
"b-but…"
"Y-you're right. The person whose name isn't written down would be Kira," Aizawa agreed.
"To the one outside," Yagami started, the first thing he had said since the conversation began. "Did you write the names down in the notebook?"
Near's eyes narrowed. No one would answer a question such as that. At least, not unless they felt as if they could safely do so. "Yes, I did," the reply came.
Near bowed his head as a smirk crossed his face. Best to not let Kira see his satisfaction. Not yet. "That's strange," he started, getting his expression under control and looking back toward Yagami once more. "Why would he reply in earnest when you asked him if he wrote the names down?"
"Who knows?" Yagami responded coolly. "Maybe he's honest or is confident for some reason? It may even be that he knows your plan."
Near's eyebrows rose at the answer. Well, he certainly was good, wasn't he? "Teru Mikami, why don't you come in here?"
There was no response. The door did not open. As expected.
"Teru Mikami? That's right. Stop hiding and come inside," Yagami called.
"Teru Mikami, I know that you're in charge of carrying out Kira's killings right now. You've already written the names down, so there's nothing to be afraid of. Please come in or did Kira order you not to do so?" Near goaded. The door slid open loudly only seconds later and Near fixed his eyes on the prosecutor.
"Your wish is my command, God," the man said.
"How many seconds has it been since you wrote the first name down?" Yagami questioned.
The man looked down at his watch. "thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thi-"
Near met Yagami's eyes and the man's lips twisted into a smirk. "I win, Near."
Near smiled.
"Forty!"
Nothing happened.
Every person in the warehouse seemed to be shock. Near wanted to roll his eyes. He told them they weren't going to die. "We-" Matsuda gasped.
"We're not dead! It's already been about a minute and we're not dead!"
"I've been telling you that nobody would die," Near sighed, hating that he had to repeat himself.
"Why?!" Mikami roared, staring down at the notebook. "Why won't they die?" The man's eyes shifted up and he stared at Yagami imploringly. "G-God! I did what you told me…"
Checkmate.
"Rester, Gevanni, get Mikami," Near ordered and the two men moved quickly to apprehend the man. "Gevanni, the notebook!" Gevanni picked the notebook up as Rester kept Mikami in his grasp. The young man walked toward him and passed the notebook over. "See for yourselves," Near said, turning the notebook to the last page and holding it up for everyone to see. "The first for names are unmistakably the real names of the SPK members and the only name that is missing from this list is Light Yagami. Mikami called you 'God' and said he did as you told him. This proves it."
Yagami stared at Near with wild eyes for a moment before he exploded. "A trap! This is a trap! Near set this whole thing up to frame me! It's impossible that nobody's dead even after their names are written in the notebook! That proves that this is a trap."
…dull…
"But I told you that nobody would die because I replaced the pages."
"W-well, you… it can't be… it's impossible…" Yagami stammered, his eyes wide and panicked. "This is a setup! I don't know this man!"
…so very dull…
Aizawa stepped forward and placed a hand on Yagami's shoulder. "Light," the man said softly. "It's too late. Near wins. A second ago, you said 'I win'. That's as good a confession as any."
Near watched with interest as the Japanese taskforce stared at Yagami in shock and disappointment. Mogi moved forward, a pair of handcuffs in hand, and Yagami lashed out, knocking them from the man's hand. He began to run but tripped over his own feet, landing hard on the ground. He looked over his shoulder at the men still standing over him.
This is pathetic.
"Light Yagami, L, Kira…you lose," Near murmured. Yagami snarled in his direction. "You claimed your victory a moment ago and to tell you the truth…you might have actually won. And I might have lost." Yagami snarled again but Near couldn't stop. Not now. He needed Yagami to know. He wanted him to remember. "You had Mikami use a fake notebook and had him carry it around in front of us so we believed that it was the real thing. You even went so far as to suspect that I would replace the pages in the fake notebook, so that I wouldn't die even if my name was written in it. Things turned out exactly as you had expected and we replaced the pages in the fake notebook." Near's head tilted as Yagami continued to stare at him, completely enraptured. Near supposed he would be the same if he had lost the game. He would want to know how. "That was indeed the plan I had as well. I replaced the pages of the notebook that happened to be a fake and you had Mikami bring the real notebook out for the first time to kill all of us. That was your plan. But when I said, 'I replaced the pages in the notebook', I meant in the real one as well. Meaning that I tampered with both the fake and the real notebooks. I replaced only a part of the fake notebook and replaced the pages of the real notebook completely." Near reached into his loose top and pulled out the notebook that had been pressing against his chest. "This is the real notebook."
Near had the pleasure of watching Yagami's eyes widen in shock before he continued. "Gevanni did it overnight. Whether he was able to replace all of it or not was the key to this plan. He did replace a part of the fake notebook with ease, but it was quite difficult to make a forged copy of the real entire one. Gevanni promised me, however, that it could be done. He used the same pen that Mikami used, copied Mikami's handwriting to perfection, and even made a perfect copy of the cover in addition to the interior pages. Since I had already touched the notebook beforehand, I could see the Shinigami from the moment you entered this warehouse. Mr. Shinigami, nice to meet you. I'm Near," he said, finally looking the Shinigami in the eye as he had been wanting to do since the taskforce stepped in.
"Hyuk, hyuk, nice to meet you. I'm Ryuk."
Near's lips twisted up at the introduction. "Ryuk, until today, I always believed that Shinigami had skulls for faces and carried sickles," he said conversationally.
"Hyuk, well, there are ones like that too."
Near nodded. Interesting. "I looked through this notebook and found some pages that were clipped out. Can it be that people die even if you write names on pages that have been cut out?"
"Yeah, they'll die."
"Even pieces are effective," Near said slowly. "I'm sure there must have been many uses for that. I can't even begin to think of how many people were killed and deceived because of that." Near looked up once more and pointed toward the man still lying on the floor. "Light Yagami, you are Kira." Near could see Yagami's mind working frantically, trying to figure out just how Near had been able to work all of this out. He probably thought someone had betrayed him.
"You're wrong. I owe this to Mello," Near gently lifted the Mello puppet. He wondered if the man was happy that he was giving him credit or if he was cursing at Near and planning his revenge. "I'm sure you understand what I mean by that." He lifted the notebook once more. "Look at the page before and the page I just turned to. This is the fake notebook we created. But it is exactly the same as the real one. The first line of the page on the left…"
Yagami looked at the words and furiously turned toward Mikami. "I-if Takada is in a situation like that, then it's my job to…" the man tried to defend. Kira snarled.
"That's right. When Mello kidnapped Takada, Mikami took out the real notebook," Near revealed. "The one he had hidden in a safe deposit box at the bank and wrote Takada's name down. After Takada's kidnapping was announced on the news, Mikami headed for the bank. October 25th was a Sunday so he went on the 26th, but my research shows that in August, September, November, and December, he went to the bank on the 25th. Mikami lives a completely fixed life but just as Takada was kidnapped, he suddenly went to the bank two days in a row. TO be honest, I only thought about the possibility of the notebook being fake after Gevanni told me about this. Come to think of it, we should have suspected when Mikami used the notebook in public and talked to himself about 'not having a Shinigami'. The fact that we found out about Mikami so quickly actually worked against us. Until then, we were completely tricked by you, Takada, and Mikami and had replaced the pages in the fake notebook. So, we actually would have lost if I hadn't found out."
Near swallowed hard and continued the next part of the story, forcing himself not to think about the possible outcomes of that day. Of what he thought had happened. Of the hopelessness and anguish he felt when he thought Mello had been killed. "When Mikami kidnapped Takada, you were no longer able to get in contact with Mikami. But Mikami still made his move for you, to perfection, in his role as Kira's stand-in. His overt adoration sense of responsibility and perfect and his intelligence worked against him this time. It wasn't difficult for us to sneak into the safe deposit room and crack it. It was an old fashioned safe at a local bank. Also, since you allowed us to look through Mikami's bag when he was at the gym, we already had made copies of all his keys and cards."
"That's right" Gevanni cut in, "It was an easy task to open that safe. Inside was a notebook and Takada's name was written in it."
Near looked at Gevanni over his shoulder, "Even an idiot would figure out everything from there. This is very interesting…in the fake notebook, the one we replaced the pages of first, one page was filled in with names every day. But the real one jumps from November 25th to January 26th, when Takada's name was written down. That means that you had Mikami walk around with the fake notebook starting two months in advance to trick us. Before January 26th, the time of death wasn't specified, same as in the fake notebook. But after Takada's name was written, all the judgements for January 26th were set to the early house of the 27thand the Judgments for the 27th were set to the early hours of the 28th. In the fake notebook that Mikami made, Takada's name is probably written down exactly like this, but the rest of the page is only names, with no times written down to set the time of death. This means that when Mikami wrote Takada's name in the real notebook on the 26th, he also wrote the names of those people who were to be brought to justice on the 26th and 27th. Mikami could have killed the people using the scraps from the notebook. But if he wrote on them in his house, assuming we had installed a camera, we might have found out about the fake notebook and the fact that you can kill people even with just a piece of the notebook. In order to make Mikami's fake notebook look real, you probably cut the pages out of the real one and hanged them to Takada and had her actually do all the killings. All Mikami had to do was to send a list of people to be killed via cellphone or computer and then delete the data. For the deaths on the 26th and 27th, you might have had him send a list of people to Takada after she was kidnaped, but just in case. Mikami wrote those names down too when he wrote Takada's name. As for the 28th, today's killings would be at our leisure, since it would have been after you killed us. So, though it's nothing I would have taken notice of under normal circumstances, if you look closely, there aren't any killings of new criminals on the 26th or 27th and that's because Miami was not allowed to take the notebook out until today. Well, according to your plan, Light Yagami."
Near locked eyes with the older man. "Mikami should have taken the notebook out until today no matter what. And though I don't know who was first, this means that you killed Takada, too. If the scraps of the notebook can be used to kill people, it is hard to believe that you wouldn't have had one on you. Because you killed her too, the announcement of Takada's death was reported on the news quickly. And since Mikami also knew of her death, you wouldn't have assumed that Mikami made a move on his own." Near raised an eyebrow, "Too bad. When Mello kidnapped Takada, Mikami wrote her name down in the real notebook as well." Near's jaw clenched before he continued. Do not think about it. "For both you and me, having Mikami write our names down on the page on the right was the plan. We had to do that, if not, we wouldn't have been able to capture Mikami, get the notebook from him, or take a look at the notebook. Whether the page on the left was filled with names or note, it had to be the page on the right. And you tried to kill us by having us replace the pages of the fake notebook and having Mikami bring the real one here but we went a step ahead of you by having Mikami bring a fake version of the real notebook. It's a lot harder to find out that the notebook has been switched if you replace the whole notebook rather than just a part of it."
Near took a deep breath and ducked his head. From the corner of his eye, he saw Yagami pulling himself to his feet but he knew that his people and the taskforce would be watching him carefully. However, Near couldn't let Kira or any of them see the broken expression on his own face as he said his next explanation. "Of course, this is in large part due to Gevanni and Rester, who duplicated it in one day. But the biggest thanks goes to the one who created this situation. Mello."
"Mello may have known about it," Lidner said. Near turned his head slightly toward the woman, his hands clenching at his sides. Of course she decided to jump in now. "I told Mello that Near was talking about bringing an end to the case with his own hands. At first, I thought he meant 'I'm going to bring the case to an end before Near' but if Mello hadn't made his move, then we would all have…"
"The fact that we replaced the pages in the notebook and that notebook happened to be a fake," Near started, drawing one leg up and pressing his forehead against his knee. "I find it hard to believe that Mello thought that far ahead. But," he said and he could almost hear Mello yelling at him. He slowly reached out and picked up the Mello doll once again. "I am sure that he was always trying to get ahead of me and that's not all…" Near took a deep breath, "Even if he didn't surpass me, even if he didn't… even if he didn't, Mello always said he was going to be number one and that he was going to be better than me and L. But I always knew that I would never be able to surpass L. It could be that I lack the action and he lacked the calm and even though we could surpass the one we admired on our own, together we can stand with L. Together we can surpass L. And now we are facing Kira, whom L could find no proof against, the very Kira whom L was defeated by. Facing Kira with solid evidence before his very eyes." Near lifted his head and met Yagami's eyes. "Let's see you talk your way out of this one."
That was when Light Yagami finally broke.
Maniacal laughter echoed throughout the warehouse as Yagami sank down to his knees. "That's right, I am Kira," the man said, the usually smooth voice harsh and dark. The man slowly pulled himself to his feet and turned toward Near. "So now what?" he sneered. "Are you going to kill me right here? Listen, I'm Kira and the God of the new world."
…oh, I hope Matt is able to hold Mello back. This man declaring himself God is surely making him furious…
"In this world, I am the law…" Near couldn't help but tune out as Yagami began to lecture them about his position in society. He listened with half an ear as Yagami continued, letting the man run out of steam before he responded. He kept an eye on the door, hoping that Mello would not storm inside and take matters into his own hands. It would be best to end this quickly.
"No," he was finally able to say. "You are just a murderer. And the notebook here is the worst murder weapon in the history of mankind. If you had been a normal person and had used this notebook once out of curiosity, you would have been surprised and scared of what had happened. Regretted what you would have done and never used this notebook again. To speak of extremes, I can actually understand those who would use this notebook for their persona l interests and kill a couple of people and even think that they're normal. But you have yielded to the power of the notebook and Shinigami and have confused yourself with a God…You're just a crazy mass murderer. Nothing more and nothing less."
"Near, you're wrong. I'm the icon of justice now."
Near closed his eyes. "You may be right. Nobody can tell what is right and what is wrong. What is righteous and what is even. Even if there is a God and I had his teachings before me, I would think it through and decide if that was right or wrong myself." Near opened his eyes and turned his head. "I'm no different from you. I believe in what I think is right and what I believe to be righteous. You are no God. And I feel that the whole idea of you setting the path for all the people to follow is neither peaceful nor righteous. And anybody who claims to be god and kills people from left to right is definitely evil by my standards. But what do the other people here, besides you and me, feel is righteous?"
There was silence for just a moment and then Yagami spoke. "Near, you first thought this fake notebook made by Mikami was the real one and replaced the pages in it. And Mikami had the fake notebook that you made. In other words, both notebooks turned out to be fakes when both sides believed them to be real. And the mistake made by both sides was that they didn't test the notebook to see if it was real or not. So how can you be sure that the notebooks here are real?"
Near's eyes narrowed. Was it possible that the other notebook was fake as well? Could Yagami have traded the cover of the real notebook for a fake? Did Near need to touch the pages of the real notebook to be able to see the Shinigami or just the cover? Would he and Mello, working together, both have missed the possibility?
"The notebook you have with you right now and the notebook Aizawa brought down from the Japanese investigation headquarters, are they real? You already see Ryuk, so let's just say that the notebook you have is real. But the notebook Aizawa has was kept at headquarters where I had access to it. I could have switched it. And if I switched it, then I'm the only one who knows it's whereabouts." Near's eyes narrowed. Was it possible? Or was this just an attempt for Yagami to buy himself time? A way to guarantee he wouldn't be killed? "That's right, if you really want to defeat Kira, then you should write my name or Miami's name in Aizawa's notebook to see if that notebook is real."
…ah. I see.
So dull.
"Light Yagami, Kira, I have no plans to kill you," Near informed the man. "I really don't care if the notebook is real or note anymore. From the very beginning, my goal was to capture Kira. All I want is for everything to become clear and for Kira to be captured. You're as good as arrested now and I'll confiscate the notebook Mr., Aizawa has. That is enough. For now. And I will not announce Kira's arrest or the existence of the notebook to the public. I believe that everybody here can keep that a secret. I'll take full responsibility for locking you up in a place where nobody will find you until you die."
Things happened quickly after that. Light Yagami made a move toward his watch, opening a secret compartment and revealing a strip of paper. "He's got a note hidden on him!" Rester yelled.
Then there was a gunshot.
Near's head snapped to the side. The idiot. Matsuda had just shot Yagami. "You idiot! Who do you think you're shooting, Matsuda?! Damn you!" Yagami roared, all decorum completely gone. "If you're going to shoot someone, shoot the others! What do you think you're doing?!"
More yelling. Yagami attempting to write a name on the strip of paper in his own blood. Another gunshot. "I have to kill him!" Matsuda yelled as Yagami fell backwards. "This guy has to die!"
"Stop it Matsuda!"
Another gunshot.
More yelling.
And Near was done.
"Since he had that piece carefully hidden in his watch, he probably doesn't have any more," Near said to Aizawa. The man nodded in acknowledgement.
"Mogi, Ide, help me arrest Kira, Light Yagami, the mass murderer."
Yagami was screaming, trying to get those he had used in the past to help him now. But there was no one left to help him.
He was on his own.
He had lost.
The game was over.
"It's finally over," Rester said at Near's side.
"Yes," Near agreed as Yagami crawled toward the door. He knew the man would not last long. Especially not with the Shinigami going after him. Near had no doubt that Light Yagami would be dead within the next hour.
"Shouldn't we go after him?!" the taskforce members questioned, some even making their way toward the door. Near shrugged his shoulders. If they wanted to chase after a man that was already dead, they were free to do so. He no longer cared about what happened to the man that had once been Light Yagami.
There was a loud yell and the taskforce lifted their arms to point their guns toward the door once again as a figure appeared. Near sighed and pushed himself to his feet. He was not surprised that Mello had decided to show himself. He was just glad he had waited until Yagami was taken care of. "By the way," Near called over the gasps and demands. "The second body located in the fire was not Mello. Please let him through."
Mello glowered at the taskforce, his own gun in hand as he stepped fully inside the warehouse. He eyed each taskforce member, waiting for them to avert their eyes before he made his way toward Near. "Yagami is dead," Mello told him, his voice loud enough to carry. "Someone might want to take care of that." He came up to Near's side as questions were shouted at him. His eyebrows rose at the accusations thrown his way. "No, I had nothing to do with it. I'm not the one that shot him." Matsuda ducked his head at the words. Mello smirked and shifted, pressing his side fully against Near as he ducked his head. "He apologized to L before he died," he said lowly, his hand coming up and pressing against Near's soulmark, out of sight from the Taskforce.
Near nodded shortly, twisting into Mello's hold as he wondered just how broken someone had to be to kill their own soulmate.