April 22nd, 2031
The Police Station
"Quite an interesting story," Minato said, replaying the story in his head, looking back to make sure he didn't miss any details, "Raised by Kira worshippers and grew up amongst Kira worshippers. You even follow the tradition of praying every 28th of the month."
"Yeah," Knight smiled under his balaclava.
"Where are your parents?"
Knight suddenly remembered the reason he ended up in the Wammy's House in the first place and his smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a glare.
"They died."
"My condolences." The tone in which he used was neutral at best.
Knight glared at him with dark red eyes.
Liar, he thought, You're happy that Toma and Mayu Kamiya are both dead; you hate Kira worshippers. For insulting my foster parents like that, you will die.
"Thanks." Knight shook his hand.
Minato held his hand up and looked at the time. "Unfortunately, I really do have to get going. Remember, bring Keiri into my courtroom and I will execute him."
Knight's smile returned. "I'll deliver him a platter so shiny you can see your reflection."
Minato tucked his hands in his pockets and started walking away.
Knight kept his eyes on the back of Knight's head and glared. His eyesight shifts to the right where he saw Masi following behind.
Earlier That Morning
On the way to the police station, Knight whispered to his mother the plan.
"Today, Keiri is supposed to show up at the police station at 6:40 PM," Knight said.
"Yeah," Masi agreed, "6:40 translates to Death Note owners as six minutes and forty seconds."
"Murasaki is going to be the one who identifies Keiri and this is the plan: I want you to get into contact with the Mikami Shinigami. The thing I need you to do is to steal a piece of his Death Note then touch me with it. Once I see Keiri's Shinigami, it'll be easier for me to come up with a plan."
"What if he tears off a piece of my notebook?"
Knight smiled. "Already a step ahead."
He made sure he wasn't in view of any cars' dashcams or street cameras before he reached into his backpack and tore out a piece of paper from a journal. "Put this in your personal notebook. Make sure the corner of the paper is sticking out but wait until we get to the police station to do that."
Masi grabbed the piece of paper and examined it. "Was this torn from the Death Note?"
"No, it's a regular piece of paper."
Masi quickly hid it in her personal Death Note between the pages, rendering it invisible to the human world.
"What's the point of the piece of paper?" she asked.
"If Keiri's Shinigami tries to steal a piece of your Death Note, it'll be easier for him to identity me. If we give him a fake piece to tear off then he won't be able to see him."
"Oh," Masi awed, "I get it: Keiri is aware that Kira will be at the police station and if he tells his Shinigami to tear off a piece of my notebook and touch him with it then he'll be able to see me but if he touches a piece of a regular paper then he won't see me."
"Yeah, it's another form of humiliation for him. At the sporting arena, we framed Ibata as Kira and when Keiri tried to control him, it backfired. Here, Keiri will probably try to find my Shinigami and once he realizes that he's been tricked then he'll feel the gut punch when he gets home."
"So smart, Knighty," Masi cheered, "I'm so proud of you!"
Knight stopped suddenly and Masi stopped behind him.
"By the way... did you swallow?"
Masi flew in front of him and opened her mouth at a ninety-degree angle like a snake and angled her head so he can see inside her mouth.
A tape recorder homemade by Iris as requested by Knight himself.
"Perfect."
Present
Knight snicked under his mask.
Minato Natsuki is the Faceless Keiri and Teru Mikami is his Shinigami.
Masi sprang herself forward and faked throwing a punch at Minato, stopping only inches from his face. He didn't blink or flinch an inch.
Just as I thought, he can't see her, Knight thought, This just gets better and better. If Minato ordered his Shinigami to follow Tashi indefinitely then we can work with this. We can use Murasaki to stall Tashi and the Shinigami and keep him as far away from Minato and his accomplice as possible. Meanwhile, the tape recorder in Mom's mouth will record his conversation with his accomplice. This way, we can deduce the identity of the Nameless Keiri.
Knight began walking back towards the observation room where Murasaki waited inside.
Knight imagined himself climbing up an endless set of stairs, his hair and eyes turning a dark red color.
Minato Natsuki, he thought, The Faceless Keiri, you made a fatal mistake coming here.
He looked up the stairs to see Minato standing before him, his hair and eyes purple and faced covered by his infamous balaclava.
Once Masi records your conversation with your accomplice, you'll be defeated. Minato Natsuki, the Faceless Keiri, Teru Mikami the Shinigami, and soon, I'll have the identity of the Nameless Keiri and this all went according to my extremely complicated plan.
Minato began walking up the stairs. Knight cut in front of him and was ahead by five steps.
I've always been several steps ahead of you, Keiri, you were a worthy opponent, smart in trying to defame me but at the end of the day, you lost. You were always short-sighed and your goal had been to defame me. Had you been focusing on trying to kill me then maybe you could've come up with a plan that AT LEAST put up a fight but this was a curb-stomping battle. The first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to bestow upon you the ultimate humiliation and when I'm done, I'm going to kill you.
Knight marched over to Murasaki and made eye contact with a smile on his face.
"Prognosis?"
Murasaki looked away nervously, weighing the options in her head.
"The only thing I know for sure is that there is a Shinigami that is following Tashi."
"Was he making any attempt to hide?"
She shook her head.
Knight tilted his head. "Doesn't that strike you as odd?"
Murasaki nervously bit her lower lip.
"Why?"
"Think about how cautious Keiri has been put to this point: He didn't write down any instructions for you to read off of and when he coerced you on the news, he had his Shinigami talk to you. Don't you find it odd that he's been caught because of an amateur mistake? If he was really cautious, don't you think that he would've told his Shinigami to hide? And when you think about it, this police station was a potential meetup spot for Kira and Keiri and Tashi's Shinigami was just standing behind him."
Murasaki nodded. "Yeah, he wasn't whispering in his ear or anything; why do you think that?"
Knight touched his chin. "Call me crazy but having established Keiri as someone being extremely careful, it is out of character for him to make a rookie mistake. My theory is Tashi is a stand-in for Keiri, someone being framed."
Murasaki's eyes widened and she had to bite her lip to close them.
He hit so close to home, she thought, he deduced that Tashi ISN'T Keiri. If I'm not careful, he'll figure out I'm working with Kira. But then again, I did hear him talking to Natsuki about being a Kira supporter so maybe he'll have sympathy for me.
She mentally shook her head.
No, not possible. He is still working with the police force. If he finds out I'm Kira's accomplice, he could throw me in jail. I might never see my husband or Rei.
She touched her belly.
They might take my daughter away as soon as she is born.
"There's only one way to know for sure," Knight exclaimed.
Knight picked up his phone and dialed Chief Kudo.
"Chief Kudo?"
"What is it?"
"I've been going over things with Murasaki and we both came up with a theory that Tashi was nothing more than a decoy."
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"I'll explain after but there is something that I need you to do."
"What is it?"
"Where is Tashi's current location right now?"
"We have him in the holding cells."
Knight went over to the computer and pulled up footage of the holding cells.
Tashi was sitting in the corner of the cell with a blindfold on and hands tied behind his back. His feet were also cuffed together but Knight doubted it was necessary.
Murasaki looked at the screen and saw Muter sitting directly behind Tashi on the bed.
She took Knight's phone. "I can see the Shinigami."
So can I, Knight thought, Mom, pickpocketing him and touching me with a piece of his notebook is what makes you the MVP for today. But there's still more we have to do.
Knight took the phone back. "Murasaki said she can still see the Shinigami, which is why we have to wait. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to tell you the plan but no matter what you do, do not release Tashi from his cell."
"That goes without saying."
"And, we should get Murasaki some footage of Tashi's cell at all times at least for two more days. By tomorrow, if Murasaki can still see him in the cell then we can activate my plan."
"Knight, what are you planning?"
"Something that will prove if Tashi is Keiri once and for all."
He inwardly smirked.
And more importantly, humiliate Keiri.
April 23rd, 2031
Twenty-Four Hours Later
With Keiri
There was nothing for Minato to say as he stood under the spray of the shower. The water had been switched to a hot temperature for about ten minutes and he could feel the entirety of his back turn red from the spray. He squeezed his eyes shut and muted the sounds of the shower drops splashing against the ground and focused on the beating of his own heart. The more he focused, the louder the beating his heart sounded, and the more it reminded him that he was alive.
And that's why he collapsed to his knees.
Sora used her key to unlock the door and enter. Another day in the journalism career had worn her down as she couldn't wait to hop in the shower. She threw her jacket on the couch before walking into the bedroom to see Minato standing over the bed, looking down like a grieving family member looking down in an open casket, shirtless and wearing nothing but baggy sweatpants.
"What's wrong, Minato?" She didn't get an answer. "What's wrong baby brother?"
Minato regarded her with a somber look on his face.
Very quietly, he whispered: "I think I can hear obasan's voice."
Sora chuckled humorlessly. "What's the supposed to mean?"
"I think I can hear Aunty Kiyomi's voice in my head. I've heard it ever since I came back from the police station and the voice just won't go away."
"I don't know if I should laugh or feel concerned." She didn't miss the way his eyes went down and stared aimlessly at the floor. "Minato?"
"I think I made a fatal mistake."
"Why?"
"It's what obasan's voice keeps telling me: I made a mistake, a fatal one."
"What fatal mistake?"
"I'm not even sure myself." He bit his lower lip and looked back at the bed. "I never should've gone to that station. I never should've played into Kira's hands."
"But it was the only way to find Kira, right?"
He went silent quickly, staring into nothing, his head down and eyes closed.
Sora walked up to him and put a warm hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry."
He said it so quietly that she would've missed it the first time had she not been paying attention.
"For what?"
"For failing to fulfill my duties as a judge and executioner."
"You didn't do anything wrong."
Minato reaches out and wraps Sora in a hug.
"I just had to say it," he whispered softly in her ear, "I didn't want to die with any regrets."
"You have nothing to regret," she said and wrapped her arms around his back, "And you're not going to die yet."
Minato pulled away from her and met her gaze with a warm smile.
"Thank you for taking care of me growing up; you were a great big sister."
Sora stared at him speechlessly.
"It's do or die time," he said, snapping back into his serious persona, "I will not lose."
"You told Muter to follow Tashi until he is in prison."
"Yes, I told the Shinigami to follow him at all times. If I unknowingly came into contact with Kira at the station and his Shinigami spotted mine, he'll know I am Keiri. But I don't need a Shinigami to carry out my mission. I will find Kira myself and once I've exposed his identity, I'll kill him. Maybe I'll out his identity and then I'll kill him when the world sees Kira as nothing more than a murderer."
"Don't go making the fatal mistake of dying on me."
"I promise not to, Sora. For you, for obasan."
Unaware to both of them and oblivious that the piece of paper Muter touched him with came from a regular notebook, Masi was listening in on their conversations. Watching, observing, stalking, and recording.
April 24th, 2031
7:30 AM
The Police Station, Holding Cells
Man, Mutter grumbled internally, I know I'm supposed to stay with Tashi until Minato and Sora give the all-clear but this is boring.
Muter stood up from the bed and he went into the corner of the cells leaned his shoulder against the wall.
Tashi was sitting on the bed, sleeping in an uncomfortable position on his front, handcuffs on, handcuffed legs up to the chest, and blindfold on as a sleep mask. He tossed and turned to get a comfortable feeling but it was impossible with two handcuffs on.
Muter continued to say nothing and crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his leg up and put the ball of his foot against the wall.
If being a Shinigami is boring, this is boring at an all-time rate. At least as a Shinigami, you could move around freely and gamble and watch humans with your Shinigami eyes. Standing in a jail cell, bored to death, I'm glad I committed suicide.
His hair and eyes turn purple.
"Mikami," Light Yagami called out in his memory, "What are you waiting for? Write down their names, write them down! Kill them all!"
Muter remembered what he was thinking that one moment.
How could I write their names down... in a situation like this... and with a fake notebook...
He remembered what he wanted to shout out to him that day.
You're not God! What the hell is this? Look what you've gotten me into. You're not God, you're just scum!
He remembered the last words Light Yagami would ever scream.
"Where are you Misa? Where's Takada?"
Muter remembered his last thought.
I can't believe I worshipped this piece of scum. He is not God. He is not God. HE IS NOT GOD!
He remembered the feeling of the pen stabbing into his chest and spraying the warehouse with blood, screaming his lungs out as his fountain of blood spurted out.
Light Yagami died but someone else picked up his trail. Once I saw the worthless scumbag humans dying in the human world, it awoke my memories of when I was Teru Mikami. I could not let a scumbag like Light Yagami, or even a successor, continue his work. Finding a human that had what it took to challenge the new Kira was a challenge itself but once I found Minato and Sora, life became easier.
He looked at Tashi for a split second.
After that one Shinigami, Grem I believe, died because he had gotten lazy in updating his lifespan, I took his notebook and I flew to the human world to give it to Minato. After that, I implanted my memories within him. He knew the truth about what happened to his aunt and he set out on a quest to burn down Kira like a wildfire.
He walked back over to the bed.
In more ways than one, Minato is similar to me: A civic person serving the people to put away evil, even having the power to sentence them to death, and he's using it on criminals and Kira supporters alike. I do not agree with Kira's supporters and their beliefs on Kira but it's as he said: They are evil in their own way. Besides, the fewer Kira supporters there are, the less support there will be from him in the future should he decide to ignore Keiri as a whole.
He thought back to Masi.
But who is that female Shinigami? 'Masi', is she connected to Kira, or is she the third party?
Muter was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the cell doors open. He spotted Hayate and Yamane from the interrogation room welcome themselves into the cell and they forcefully grab Tashi by his shoulder and forearms and shake him awake. Once he's awake, they drag him out of bed and to his feet and escort him into the hallways.
Muter sprouted his wings and followed.
"What's going on?" Tashi asked, "Did my Keiri Fanclub bail me out?"
"We didn't tell the media you're Keiri," Yamane answered.
"And your rioters aren't your fans, they're just using you as an excuse to justify their crimes," Hayate sneered. "You try to attack Kira, call him a monster, yet you revel in the fact that people are fighting, hurting, people just for their belief in Kira."
"It's their faults," Tashi rebutted.
Arata Tashi, Muter thought, Even with the short frame we worked with, he was able to memorize all the lines he was supposed to speak prior to being put in this boring jail cell. If all goes according to plan and Minato and Sora defeat Kira, then Minato will present evidence that Keiri coerced Tashi as a fall guy and he'll be pardoned and released. His being released due to a technicality, that was all Minato.
Hayate and Yamane took Tashi to an elevator which leads them down to a parking garage. Once they settled in the parking garage, they look around before they spot Kudo and Soma attending a police cruiser. Yamen jogs towards them while Hayate takes his time and shoves Tashi forward.
Soma tosses the keys to Yamane.
"The cruiser is yours," Kudo announced as he opened the back door.
Hayate shoved Tashi in before slamming the door shut.
"What's our destination?" Hayate asked.
Kudo answered, "Kushida Prison."
"With all due respect, why is he sentenced there? He shouldn't be around other people."
"I'm not asking, I'm telling, now get in the car and drive."
Hayate flinched at the chief's sternness before hopping into the passenger seat with Yamane taking the driver's seat.
They drove off.
Muter followed after them, flying just barely behind the car and following aimlessly.
The car ride seemed to go on endlessly, as Muter had already forgotten the feeling of his legs and his vision was tunnel due to staring at a moving object for too long. His body began to feel weightless against the wings and he lowered altitude with his feet nearly touching the ground. He did everything he could to keep up with the car but it was going fast, especially since it was traveling along a road that had a car or two passes by even ten minutes or so. Once he felt the wings starting to weigh down on him like a box underwater, he rubbed his face and forced his eyes open.
Kushida Prison, he thought, Where is that?
He flashbacked to a couple of weeks ago. When he first met Minato and Sora, they updated him on the changes that had recently happened in Japan. In the eighteen years he's been dead, there has been an increase in crimes, especially violent crimes, and prisons had become overcrowded and when the Kira Bubble happened, people working in the courtroom donated a portion of their money to the state to build more prisons to house more criminals. Kushida prison was just a regular prison that was for basic serial killers but in this case, what stood out was its location.
Kushida Prison was located twelve miles away from the Japanese Police Station's Headquarters.
When Muter realized this, he panicked.
As a Shinigami, I have to stay near my owner; I'm allowed to go away from my owner but I must stay within 14km of my owner and 14km is at least eight miles. I'm not allowed to go twelve miles away from my owner; what do I do?
He continued to follow the cruiser until he reached the end of the line (literally).
When he was about five feet away from being fifteen kilometers away from Minato's current position, he halted mid-air and watched the police cruiser trail off in the distance.
I can't follow Tashi anymore, not while I'm like this, crap. What should I do? Should I go back to Minato and Sora or should I just disappear and wait for further instructions? The last time I went off and did my own thing, it cost me my life; I'm not repeating any mistakes.
At the Police Station
"He's not following him," Murasaki exclaimed in the walkie-talkie.
Thirty minutes before Tashi was escorted into the car, Murasaki was set up in the surveillance room and set up in front of a camera was showing live footage of the police cruiser with Tashi inside. There was a dashcam facing outward but a hidden cam in the consoles angled to face Tashi and just outside the window. She had been watching this for almost thirty minutes, keeping her eye on the Shinigami following the cruiser and exclaimed when the Shinigami suddenly stopped following.
"I can't see the Shinigami anymore."
She had a walkie-talkie set up to communicate with the earpiece in Hayate and Yamane's ears.
After hearing this information, Yamane feigned answering a phone call from the police and pulled up to the side of the road to make a U-turn, heading back to the station.
With Knight
"HAHAHAHA!" he laughed loudly in his seat, the sound echoing throughout his bedroom, "I can't believe it worked!"
Gilth and Masi floated into his bedroom from above while Iris walked in through the door and locked it behind her.
"I just got a call from Murasaki," he laughed, "She said that Keiri's Shinigami stopped following them once they were at least seven or eight miles away from the police station. I can now conclude that Minato Natsuki is indeed the Faceless Keiri as the Shinigami stopped following Tashi approximately eight miles from Minato's current location, Arata Tashi is not the owner of a Death Note nor is he the accomplice, and there is only one Death Note in Keiri's possession with the Nameless Keiri being the borrower." He turned to Masi. "Thanks to you, Mom, we now know the identity of the Nameless Keiri."
Masi pulled out the tape recorder from her mouth and replayed the most recent conversation.
"Minato Natsuki's older sister, Sora, is the Nameless Keiri, and they are the niece and nephew of Kiyomi Takada. Based on the conversation, Mikami's Shinigami name is 'Muter'."
"Looks like your extremely complicated step-by-step plan to figure out their identity was a success," Gilth said. "What now?"
"What now? Why father, I'm going to bring upon them the ultimate humiliation. I'm going to kill them and their Mikami Shinigami as well. That is why it is essential that instead of killing both, we only kill one."
Iris averted her gaze. "If Minato Natsuki is the Faceless Keiri, then that means he has the Shinigami eyes."
"Yes, we're going to execute him first and then we'll come up with a plan to kill Sora and Muter later."
"But," Iris hesitated, "How are we going to kill him?"
"What do you mean?"
"He wears a face mask all the time, even when out in public. Not only that but how do we know that their father didn't take their mother's last name. How do we know for sure that their names are Takada?"
"That's true; in Japan, the husband will sometimes take the wife's last name. But then again..." He slapped himself upside the head. "We're veering too far off course. Right now, we need to figure out a plan to kill Minato. We already know his name but we need to know his face."
"You could just pull his mask down."
"Even if I do find out his name, I realized that he could also be using an alias. What if his name isn't Minato Takada? His surname might be Takada but what about his first name? The way I see it, the only way to make sure is to do the deal for the Shinigami eyes."
Iris's eyes widened. "What?"
"Trading half the years remaining in my lifespan to see the names of everyone I see."
"I know but why? Trading your life just to figure out a person's name?"
"Iris, it won't only benefit the current battle but it will help in the long run. I plan to rule this world and purge it of all criminals and in order to do that, to become truly unstoppable, I must trade for the Shinigami eyes."
"No," Iris shouted, "You can't; you'll die sooner!"
"I have to do it, Iris." He put his hands on her shoulders. "You may be my accomplice but this is my responsibility. It is my job to make sure that evil is purged off the face of this earth."
"You can't do it, Knight," she shoved him back, "I won't let you!"
"Sacrifices must be made for the greater good."
"I agree but no, I don't want you to die!" She did a one-eighty and faced Masi in the eyes. "Masi, I want to do the deal for the Shinigami eyes."
"Huh," Masi groaned, "You do?"
"Yes!"
"Iris," Knight stepped forward, "What are you doing?"
"I'm not going to let you half your life, I won't. What if you are destined to die in two days and you trade for the eyes."
"What about you?"
"It was already my destiny to die." She looked at Knight. "Remember the apartment that burned down before I met you, remember how someone trapped me in and I was to be burned to death? Had that man not been killed by the Death Note then I would've died."
"It just means you get a second chance at life."
"No! I'm tired of this, Knight. I've had a crush on you since we were five and every year, I've always tied as the second smartest student in the orphange along with my sister. I'm tired of just being a follower. I'm going to stop being reactive and going to start being proactive. After all, it's the least I can do." She stared down at his watch. "After all, you saved my life."
Knight instinctively pulled the crown on his watch four times to open the secret compartment. There was the slip of the Death Note with Iona's full name and Iris's first name. He remembered the lie he told her, how he saved her from when Roger Ruvie was writing in the Death Note. He remembered how he wrote it the day they reconnected so she wouldn't go crazy and kill him on a whim. He remembers manipulating her into being his accomplice. How did this make Knight feel on the inside?
Iris faced Masi.
"I'm ready to trade for the Shinigami eyes."
Masi cocked her head and looked at Iris's name and lifespan.
Iris Abernathy, 12 77 3 6 55 8
"If you say so." Masi held out her hand and held it over her eyes before pulling them away.
Iris opened her glowing red eyes and gasped.
The eyes, she thought, I have the Shinigami eyes.
Iris Abernathy, 75 36 9 4 23
Gilth, standing silent from earlier, looked and over and saw a familiar, yet unusual expression on Knight's face.
He had a grin on his face, a laughless, humorless grin on his face, with dark red eyes staring at the back of Iris's head.
What's that grin on his face? Gilth thought, Why is he smiling like that? Was he really going to trade for the Shinigami eyes or was he manipulating Iris? Is he grinning because he has the eyes on his side or is he grinning because his plan to kill Minato is about to approach?
April 26th, 2031
The Courthouse
Minato donned his robe and climbed up the steps to his podium. The crowd in the courtroom rose for him, taking seats only when he took a seat again.
He looked in the back of the courtroom and noticed the cameraman adjusting the cameras, which reminded him to adjust his balaclava as this wasn't a bench trial.
The guilty party was Arata Tashi, tried for mass murder (as far as the public knew), and his lawyer was Minori Maki.
"Arata Tashi," Minato sucked his teeth, "Nice to see you back in my courtroom. I see that you're being tried for a crime far worse than your previous crime." He smiled under his mask. "You've been charged with the mass murdering of fourteen people. How do you plead, scumbag?"
"Your honor," Minori spoke, "I can assure you, that my client here, is innocent."
Minato laughed and put his elbows on the podium with his fingers interlocked in front of his face. "Innocent?"
"My client was coerced into mass murder."
"Coerced? This I gotta hear. Serial murderer turned mass murderer, you've piqued my interest if you can convince me that Tashi is innocent."
Minori reached into his duffel bag he planted against his chair and pulled a manilla folder and a cassette and tape recorder.
"This tape recorder and file were sent to us by an anonymous source." Minori went to the jury and handed the manilla folder to the first juror. "I would ask you not to open the folder until I tell you to." He went back to his table and put the cassette in the tape recorder. "Permission to play the tape?"
Minato laughed. "If there is evidence on that tape that proves that Tashi is innocent, then by all means."
Tashi's innocence is being proven a little too early, he thought.
Minori played the tape.
"It's do or die time," a voice spoke from the recorder, echoing throughout the courtroom for all to hear, "I will not lose."
It didn't take Minato two seconds to realize that it was his voice. His eyes narrowed in confusion.
When Minori paused the tape, Minato exclaimed, "What?"
"You don't recognize the voice on the tape?" Minori asked with sarcasm, "I'm surprised, Judge Natsuki. Maybe I should play more of the tape."
He resumed the recording.
"You told Muter to follow Tashi until he is in prison," a male voice spoke.
Minato's heart pounded when he realized that not only was his voice on the tape but Sora's as well but he was briefly relieved when he realized that Sora's voice had been warped to sound unrecognizable but his voice remained and the fact that Minato told something called 'Muter' to follow Tashi until he is in prison...
"Yes," Minato's voice echoed again, "I told the Shinigami to follow him at all times. If I unknowingly came into contact with Kira at the station and his Shinigami spotted mine, he'll know I am Keiri."
Minato gasped in horror.
"But I don't need a Shinigami to carry out my mission. I will find Kira myself and once I've exposed his identity, I'll kill him. Maybe I'll out his identity and then I'll kill him when the world sees Kira as nothing more than a murderer."
Oh my god, he panicked, what the hell is going on?! That's my voice, the conversation I had with Sora had been recorded! But how?! And this court case is live on the news? Kira, he must've figured out who I am and sent his Shinigami to spy on me. This is Kira's doing!
He jumped to his feet and pointed at the device. "Turn that off!" he shouted, "That is inadmissible!"
"But it proves Tashi's innocence," Minori rebutted, "How is this inadmissible!"
"It's Kira, he's trying to frame me as Keiri! This is fake, a false confession! I'm a Kira supporter! This proves that Kira is a scumbag, he is trying to frame me so I will be targeted! I swear to god, I'm not Keiri!"
The crowd gasped at the stoic judge's sudden breakdown and went quiet. They could hear his rapid breathing and trembling voice across the courtroom and practically feel the pounds of his heartbeat.
Minori kept a straight face. "There's only one way to find out if this tape is genuine or not." He turned to the jury. "Juror number one, I want you to open the folder and picked up the piece of paper you find inside."
The juror averted his wide eyes from the panicking judge and opened the manilla folder. There was not a file inside but a single scrap of paper. He picked it up and looked over both sides.
He looked up at the judge saw the horrifying skeletal face of Muter standing behind Muter.
He screamed and dropped the piece of paper at his feet.
"What's going on?" Juror Two asked and picked up the fallen scrap of paper. "Holy shit, what the hell is that thing?!"
Juror Two dropped the scrap of paper and Juror Three picked it up, repeating the process until it got to the last juror.
"It's him!"
"I can see a monster standing behind him!"
"It's Judge Natsuki!"
"He is Keiri!"
"It's a Shinigami!"
The crowd stood up to their feet and started making way for the front doors, some staying behind to watch the chaos unwind.
The cameraman zoomed in on Minato's masked face.
No, Minato sobbed in his head, Kira, he outed me! He outed me as Keiri!
The bailiff reached for his gun.
Minato tore out a piece of paper from inside his robe and a pen laid out for him on the podium and wrote the guard's name down out of the camera's view and under the desk, making him commit suicide in less than ninety seconds.
The security guard pointed the gun at his head and-
BANG!
The crowd screamed and ran out of the room.
Minori scrambled to hide amongst the crowd and left his client, Tashi, behind, but only after he retrieved the slip of paper.
Minato grabbed the dead guard's gun and ran out the backdoor he usually enters through and ran out in the hallway.
Kira, he sobbed internally, You bastard! You bast-
He sobbed as he shredded his robe off and let it fall to the floor behind him.
I lost, he sobbed, I fucking lost. Goddamn you, Kira!
He reached the end of the hallway and shoved open the doors leading outside. He was cocked to charged down the stairs but instead, a crowd of Kira worshippers charged into him.
The police station, you stole a piece of Muter's Death Note, you had your Shinigami record my conversation with Sora, and you got Minori Kagami, Murasaki Kagami's husband, to out me. You son of a bitch! You bastard!
The Kira worshippers grabbed at his limbs and yanked in opposite directions, one of them going for his gun but Minato kept an iron grip on the gun.
You corrupted my aunt into becoming a murderer and now you do this?
Minato fought against the crowd of worshippers, pulling his arms back.
If you figured out my identity, then does that mean you figured out Sora's identity?
Across the street from the courthouse, having watched the public outing of Keiri on their phones, stood Knight Yagami and Iris Abernathy.
Iris's reached for her locket and removed the piece of Death Note she had hidden in it.
Murasaki Kagami, the wife of Minori Maki, was in the crowd of attacking Kira worshippers and she lunged out and ripped the mask from Minato, exposing his face to the world.
Iris's eyes glowed red.
She got a good look at his face, memorize the visual details of his facial features and the name floating above his head.
She used Knight's back and a pen provided to her by Knight to write.
Minato Takada - Suicide
Minato tore his hands free from the Kira worshippers and he fires the gun off into the air. He charged down the steps before doing a one-eighty and aiming the gun at the Kira worshippers.
Before he could pull the trigger, he realized he could feel the cool breeze against his mouth and nose and panicked as he knew that his face had been exposed.
THUN-THUMP!
Minato's movements froze, arms out with the gun aiming for Murasaki Kagami before they drop to his side.
I've truly lost.
He put the gun to his head.
Sora, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...
BANG!
His body collapses to the ground, blood sprayed on the pavement beside him.
The Kira worshippers flinched at the gunshot.
Iris averted her gaze and buried her face into Knight's shoulder.
Knight looked at his fallen enemy and smiled.
I've won. Exactly as planned.
His hair and eyes turn a dark red color.
Step 1: Arrange for a trial with Tashi and Natsuki during a live trial.
Step 2: Use Masi's recording of his conversation with his accomplice to out him.
Step 3: To drive the point home, use the slip of paper Masi tore from Muter's notebook to make contact with the jurors and make them see Muter.
Step 4: Make arrangements with Murasaki to appear outside the courtroom with Kira worshippers.
Step 5: Have one of my Kira worshippers unmask Minato.
Step 6: Kill Minato Natuski.
He smiled and clenched his fist.
Minato Natsuki, the Faceless Keiri, is dead. Now there's only one Keiri left out there and with Iris's Shinigami eyes, it'll be easy pickings to find this 'Sora' character. I could easily kill her but the Keiri Shinigami, Muter, is still a problem and I can't continue my reign as Kira until Sora and Muter are both dead. Congratulations, Sora, I'm not going to kill you right now. I'm going to conduct a plan that involves both you and Muter dying.
Once you're both out of the way, I can get back on track to becoming the god of the new world.
Around the corner, Sora appeared behind a camera crew, heart caught up in her throat and hands clutching her microphone so hard it would've popped. Even from this distance, she could see Minato's wide-eye expression, the last expression he'll ever make, as he lies dead against the ground.
The heart that had been caught in her throat dropped to her lower abdomen.
Muter flew out into the air, realizing he couldn't afford to be seen with Sora as though who touched the piece of paper would realize her connection.
Minato, Sora thought, What happened? What did Kira do to you?
A single tear escaped her eye.
I couldn't protect you; I'm a horrible big sister.
Even if a new victim's name, cause of death, or situation of death is written on top of the originally written name, cause of death, or situation of death, there will be no effect on the original victim's death. The same thing will also apply to erasing what was written with a pencil, or whitening out what was written with a pen, in an attempt to rewrite it.
Once the victim's name, cause of death, and situation of death have been written down in the Death Note, this death will still take place even if that Death Note or the part of the note in which it has been written is destroyed, for example, burned into ashes, before the stated time of death.