May 13th, 2031

The Yagami Household

Knight woke up early in the morning and stretched out. He followed his usual routine of getting out of bed, making coffee, some eggs on rice, taking a shower, brushing his teeth, and dressed in his casual wear. Today was Tuesday so he had school to attend. As he finished packing up his backpack, he turned on the TV to stay up-to-date with the news.

"All Kira supporters are encouraged to take their photos off the internet."

Knight was halfway done zipping up his bag when he heard that reporter's trembling voice. With his back turned to the television, he looked over his shoulder and gazed upon the screen.

A reporter was standing in front of an ambulance wheeling out several corpses onto a stretcher one by one. There was a sheet over the bodies but one of them climbed down the corpse's neck and Knight could see the corpse was dressed in a white cloak, a traditional Kira worshipper garb.

His eyes widened.

Keiri, he thought, Sora is making a move.

The news reporter continued, moving closer to the ambulance. "We're here on the scene with another massacre involving Kira worshippers. From what I gathered from previous statements, this is not another series of isolated incidents conducted by Keiri. It's been one week since these random isolated incidents started popping up and every day, the death toll seems to be higher. On May 6th, it was three Kira worshippers at a Kira church. Today, it was twenty-three Kira worshippers attending a gathering and like all previous victims of Keiri, the Kira worshippers died by suicide."

Knight let go of his bag and squared up to the TV.

"Holy fucking shit," he cursed, "Keiri is making a fucking move."

Gilth materialized behind him. "The massacres aren't even public, just senseless killings. It seems the Nameless Keiri is straying away from the Faceless Keiri's MO and going their own way."

The reporter continued. "It's already been seventeen days since Minato Natsuki's outing as Keiri and just as things have seemed to be calming down, things have gotten much worse. Earlier in this three-way battle between L, Kira, and Keiri, L mentioned on his broadcast that Keiri is two people and with Minato Natsuki dead, his accomplice is taking over. In my personal opinion, the second Keiri is more dangerous than the first Keiri."

"We have with us a Kira worshipper; for obvious reasons, we won't reveal his name or face." The reporter moved onto a surviving Kira worshipper but kept his face off camera and made it look like she was talking to the thin air beside her. "Kira worshipper, what happened at your gathering?"

She held the microphone up to the offscreen worshipper.

"No comment," the worshipper whispered, "I'm not taking any chances." The worshipper's hand jerked the microphone further offscreen to presumably speak into it. "Kira, find the person who did this and kill him!"

The reporter snatched the microphone back. "Any Kira supporter or worshipper, we encourage you to stay indoors and to take your names and faces off all social media platforms, including but not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Youtube, and any other platform that may display your name and face. We encourage you to stay indoors and keep your head down. We recommend working at school from home via laptop or video chat and go out only when necessary. Your safety is much more important and we can only pray to God that this reign of terror comes to an end soon."

Knight quickly shut off the television and buried his face in his hands.

"Oh my god," he gasped. "Senseless killings, no message for Kira, no challenge, no attempt to draw out Kira." He tore his hands from his eyes. "The Nameless Keiri, Sora, I have to find her and Muter and I have to kill her immediately." He snatches his phone from his pocket and dials Iris.

"Iris, thank god you're alive."

"Knight," Iris's voice trembled, "what is going on out there? There were small, isolated reports of Keiri returning but every day of the week, the kill count increased. Did you see on the news; all those people died and it's not even noon yet."

"Iris, listen to me: I want you to pack all your belongings and get over to my home. No matter what you do, keep your face concealed and double-check to make sure that no one is following you."

"Knight," Iris cried, "It's the second Keiri."

"It is. With Minato dead, it can only be the second Keiri."

Iris, Knight thought, while genuinely scared, is pretending not to be Kira on the phone and choosing her words carefully as phones can be tapped.

"The second Keiri is more dangerous than the first, which is why until this is over, I'm requesting you drop everything and stay with me."

"Knight, I'm scared."

Are you genuinely scared or putting on a facade? Your fear may be real but to be crying over the phone, is it real or an act?

"Iris, now!"

He hung up before she could respond and shoved the phone in his back pocket.

"Damn it!" Knight slams his fist on the coffee table. "It's all-out war! Kira vs Keiri but this is bigger than anything I've seen before. Not even Break, Roach, or Maroon would go this far, even with the Death Note. And it seems that Minato was keeping Sora on a tight leash and with him gone, a mad dog is running the streets and killing everything in its path."

Gilth grunted. "And you know the worst part: Even if you find out Sora's name, you're still unable to kill her as Muter is still a threat."

"Son of a bitch, I already know that! And I still haven't come up with a plan on how to kill either of them." He takes a deep breath and sinks down into his couch after knocking his backpack out the way. "I can't hold anything back now; a conflict this big, I can't afford to hold anything back anymore."

He glared at Gilth.

"It's time to take off the gloves."

He took out his phone and dialed up another number.

"Chief Kudo."

Knight exhaled with relief when he heard the chief's voice.

"Chief Kudo, Knight Yagami here." He slowly rose to his feet and stiffened his back. "There is no arguing in this anymore; I want in, I want all in on the Keiri investigation."

"Knight, after everything that's been going on, you should keep your head down."

"With all due respect, Chief Kudo, this doesn't just involve me, this involves thousands of innocent people. If Keiri is killing Pro-Kira on a daily and upping the kill count exponentially then I must join the task force." He started pacing around the room. "Keiri is pure evil for committing mass murder on this grand scale, ruthless, and more frightening than Kira and I won't sit back while my fellow worshippers are being slaughtered left and right and I'm at home, isolating myself like some lowlife during the Covid-19 pandemic. I want to do everything in my power to bring Keiri to justice and if you refuse, I will solve this investigation on my own."

He stops pacing.

"As my grandfather said, 'I will not sit back and let evil triumph'."

His hair and eyes turned a dark red color.

"I will see to it that Keiri is sentenced to death."

"Listen, Knight-"

"I will be conducting my own investigation and I will meet up with you ASAP."

"Kni-"

He hung up.

"You like hanging up on people," Gilth chuckled, "I wonder how many times they call you back."

"No time for jokes, we gotta get ready for when Iris and Masi get here." He looked at his fallen backpack on the floor. "Looks like I get to stay home from college for a few days. But no time to procrastinate." He ran upstairs to retrieve his Death Notes. When he was halfway down the steps, Knight got a call from his phone. It was from Iris.

"What's up?"

"I'm almost there, can you unlock the door for me?"

"Sure."

He hangs up and unlocks the front door when the doorbell on the front gate rang.

Knight opened the door for her like a gentleman when she knocked and let her in, but there wasn't any time to dwell on his chivalrous act. He double-checked to make sure she wasn't being followed before he locked the door and chained it up. Iris had come charging in wearing a facemask similar to the skin-colored one she made for the visit to the Saitama Sports arena but it wasn't colored and left in its blank black color.

Once Knight shut all blinds to the windows and made the all-clear, Iris removed her mask and sighed, her face as red as her infamous blushing face but her red face was the result of running on foot from her apartment to his.

"I triple-checked to make sure that I wasn't being followed," Iris panted. "The coast is clear. I also had Masi do a sweep of the area and there was no one suspicious with one hundred yards."

"That's good, Iris," Knight said. "We can't afford to talk about triple checking and aerial views, we have planning to do."

"I couldn't agree more."

Knight sat down on the couch and patted the empty seat beside him.

"Sit with me," he ordered like a superior, "promise I won't bite."

Iris's blush was hidden from her energy-drained red face but did not hesitate in accepting his offer.

Knight crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his companion sternly. "Well?"

Iris immediately knew what he was asking. "I found a match: Sora Hajima."

The name sounded familiar until it clicked in his brain.

"I know her; she was the reporter at the Saitama Massacre. She was the one who interviewed me as Kisho Asahi." He sneers. "I can't believe that I had already come into contact with the Nameless Keiri."

"Her real name is Sora Takada. Born May 26th, 2000, attended a journalism school and won a few prizes for her role as an investigative journalist before he went into the news. She was also there at the police station at 6:40 and she left only after Minato left and he was there at the courthouse after Minato was killed; surveillance footage confirmed it."

"The older sibling of Minato Takada." He looks at her. "You didn't kill her, did you?"

She shook her head.

"Good, because we need her in order to kill Muter."

"You told me but you also told me that there is a strong possibility that Muter won't sacrifice himself for her. I have Misa's memories and I know how to kill a Shinigami. I also doubt the way you killed Grudge and Break will work again on Sora and Muter."

"I know." He interlocks his fingers and leans forward, head going limp and elbows resting on his knees. "I've been thinking of a plan nonstop for the past week and I've come up with a few ideas but executing them is going to be the real problem. I have come up with one plan but it is going to be extremely difficult to pull off."

"What is it?" She put a hand on his shoulder. "I may be smart but strategizing is your specialty. If you told me your plan then maybe I can help you pull it off."

He looked at her with a glare, studying her intently.

"What?"

He narrowed his eyes and looked her up and down.

I don't think she'll be able to pull this off.

He looks at Gilth and Masi.

But they might.

"Gilth, Masi," he called out, "how about a little revenge on your reincarnated friend, Teru Mikami."

Both Shinigami tilt their heads.

"What do you mean?" Gilth asked.

"I don't care, as long as I get to kill him," Masi exclaimed.

"This is my plan," Knight began. "We're going to kill two birds with one stone. We are going to get Muter to kill Sora."

"What do you mean?" Gilth asked. "You mean trick him into writing Sora's real name down?"

"No, we're going to trick Muter into killing Sora without the Death Note."

Gilth gasped. "That's right, the rules!"

Knight nodded. "Exactly."

Knight reached for his original notebook and read over a few rules that had been scratched out.

'There are laws in the world of gods of death. If a god of death should break the law, there are 9 levels of severity starting at Level 8 and going up to Level 1 plus the Extreme Level. For severity levels above 3, the god of death will be killed after being punished. For example, killing a human without using the Death Note is considered as the Extreme Level.'

"So we trick Muter into killing Sora without the Death Note. He'll kill Sora and then Muter will be punished and executed."

"Wow," Masi cheered, "that's so smart."

Knight looked at Gilth and Masi with a serious expression. "This means this is a fight between Shinigami. Sora would never kill me without the Death Note and the same goes for Muter as well. This means that killing Muter will depend on all four of us."

"But how will we pull it off?" Masi asked.

Knight contemplated before he spoke.

"We kidnap Sora and wrap her in a bodybag. After that, Dad, you get into a brawl with Muter and when you're fighting, pretend to drop your hammer on accident and allow Muter to pick it up. Once that happens, lead him swinging and bashing your way, and just when he's about to strike, move out the way so he'll cave Sora's head in with the hammer."

Iris cringed. "That's so brutal, Knight." She nervously twirled her hair around her finger. "But does it have to be this way?"

Knight looked at her. "We've already established that Muter will not risk his life to save Sora." He paused. "I also came up with a theory that if Sora were to die, then he would make me the owner of Sora's Death Note, which would allow him to kill me with ease as he would be attached to me."

Iris gasped and looked at the floor. "Sora's head is going to cave in?"

"This is the only way."

The Police Station

With the chaos rioting downtown over fear and panic, the war between the Kira worshippers and Keiri rioters had been all but vanquished. With the new fear of any and all Kira worshippers being targeted, the Keiri rioters decided to no longer throw Molotov cocktails or vandalize Kira gatherings, most likely because they thought that Keiri will wipe out all worshippers for them. The worshippers had gone quiet and stayed out of sight and out of mind.

At the police station, it was no longer a case that involved the Kira Task Force, it involved everyone. Day in and day out there were calls from concerned citizens about the deaths, complaining, crying, but there was only so much the police could do against their ESP foe.

But in the Kira Task Force room, Kudo and his three companions were trying to do something.

"I want our techs to censor all Kira supporters on the internet who are high profile," Kudo said. "I'm talking about news reporters, lawyers, judges…"

Hayate and Yamane were listening and nodding while Soma was looking at the ground behind them.

I can't believe that the first Keiri was a Kira supporter, he thought. You would think that he's someone openly antagonistic against Kira but-

"With all due respect, chief," Yamane began, "it is impossible to censor everything on the internet and we already know that Keiri can designate the time of deaths for his victims so it's possible they are due to die on a certain day."

Kudo snapped, "I don't care." He signed pensively before he addressed the two officers before him. "Also, Hayate, Yamane, I want you two to provide protective detail on Murasaki, Minori, and Rei Kagami as well."

Hayate said, "They played an active role in bringing down Minato Natsuki so it would make sense to target them."

Soma remembered something. "But the Death Note can't kill pregnant women."

Kudo nodded. "True but Keiri is aware of that so that's why he threatened her husband and son when they first used Miss Kagami. I want protective detail on all three of them."

"Why can't I be in charge of that, sir?"

Kudo sighed. "No offense, Soma, but Hayate and Yamane have more experience in leading a squadron of officers than you do."

Soma rubbed the back of his head. "I promise to prove myself, chief."

Before they could say anything more, a young female officer walked in with a young woman with brown bangs behind her.

"Chief Kudo, this woman says she has something important to tell the people leading the Keiri investigation."

"Let her in," Kudo ordered.

The officer moved out the way and shut the door once the woman was inside.

Soma eyed the woman from head to toe before his brain clicked on why this woman was so familiar. "Hey, I know her; she's an investigative journalist. Sora Hajima."

Sora smiled at the officer's recognition.

Kudo kept a straight face. "Miss Hajima, if you don't mind, we're very busy but do you have something to help in the Keiri investigation?

Sora nodded vigorously. "I do, I do." Her smile only grew wider. "I have only one thing to say."

"Let's hear it."

Sora let out a soft chuckle and slowly raised her hands above her head. "I. Sora Hajima. The second Keiri. Surrender."

May 16th, 2031

It had been three days since Sora Hajima's surrender as Keiri. As far as the public knew, Sora Hajima went to the police station as a voluntary witness in the Keiri investigation. Even with her incarceration, the killings had continued, even when she had no access to any information. After being processed, she was put in jail behind bars with a blindfold on and deep underground, watched twenty-four-seven by a camera in her cell covering every angle. Although the killings continued on, even after put behind bars, the fact that Murasaki and Rei Kagami could both see the same Keiri Shinigami standing beside her confirmed her statement that she was indeed the second Keiri. It wasn't like Tashi, who was remaining silent in the presence of the Shinigami, but Sora and the Shinigami were communicating with each other and Muter would leave for various periods to fly off into the city before flying back where he would spill information about the outside world.

They even pulled the same trick they used on Tashi: Driving ten miles away. The only difference is that this Shinigami followed her all the way, not making any stops or turns, confirming that she was indeed the second Keiri.

No time for further confirmation, it was time to interrogate.

Hayate and Yamane took her into the dimly lit interrogation room, cuffed her to a handhold in the middle of the table with a lamp, and blindfolded her. As a precaution, they wore balaclavas that covered their face with the exception of their eyes.

Sora didn't need eyes to know that they were swarming her like a pack of wolves but she could feel the heat of the lamping shining on her smooth skin.

"What is your game, Sora Hajima?" Hayate demanded aggressively, "it's been three days since you surrendered and the killings have continued."

Sora feigned shock by gasping. "I said I surrender, I didn't say I will stop the killings."

"Then what's the point?"

She felt his hand gripped the back of her shoulder hard enough to leave a barely noticeable mark under her shirt and it made her laugh.

"It's Kira. I want to talk to Kira."

Hayate tightened his grip. "Not going to happen. Tell us where the notebook is. When we frisked you, we didn't find any notebooks or scraps of paper. We did the same on Arata Tashi and we thought it was odd until he remembered Keiri is two people, not one. Since you're the second Keiri and your partner is dead, you should have it in your possession."

"Ah, you know about the Death Note. You know how I can designate times of death?"

Hayate gripped the collar of her shirt. "How many names have you written down?"

Yamane, sitting in the chair opposite of Sora, grabbed Hayate's hand. "Hayate, stay calm." He calmly pulled Hayate's hand away before interlocking his fingers on the table. "Sora, please talk to us. What do you mean when you say you want to talk to Kira?"

"I mean it literally," she nearly snapped, "if you can bring me Kira then I'll stop the killings."

"How are we supposed to contact Kira?"

She shrugged. "Not my problem. Bring me Kira so we can chit-chat like old friends. You want the killings to stop, this is my one and only request and it's non-negotiable."

Hayate growled, "You're not going to talk to Kira."

Sra shrugged with one shoulder. "Then I guess you want the killings to continue."

Hayate knocked the lamp off the table and the light bounced around the room before settling.

"You are worse than the first Keiri!" He remembered something. "Speaking of which, what is your relationship to Minato Natsuki?"

Sora's smile dropped from her face and before she could realign it, Hayate was already talking whilst picking up the fallen lamp and setting it back in its original place.

"Why go silent all of a sudden? Is he your boyfriend? Your lover? A relative?"

Yamane raised a hand to silence Hayate. "Miss Hajima, why do you want to meet Kira?"

"That's my business," she growled.

Hayate slammed his hands on the table. "And when innocent people are involved then it becomes our business!"

Sora bared her teeth. "I just want to talk to Kira. If you can comply with my requests, then I'll stop the killings. You have my word."

"And what about the Death Note?"

"I'll see to it that it is burnt."

"How can we trust you?"

Sora took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, going over her thoughts to make sure she makes it clear what she wants.

I want to meet Kira, she thought, that's all I want. I just want to meet my hero.

"I have no cards left to play," she exhaled calmly. "Kira is smarter than me, smarter than every person in this room combined, and I just want to meet him. I want to talk to him. My one and only request. I want to meet him in the flesh and when I meet him, I'll ask him a question only the real Kira would know. I have nothing more to say. Let me talk to Kira and I'll lay down all my aces. Please, this is all I want."

She hated how she had to say 'please'.

Yamane and Hayate look at each other, deciding that they've had enough for leaving the room.

One Hour Later

Knight Yagami walked through the police station with nothing but a balaclava around his face. Considering that he has a valid excuse to hide his face, he believed it was no longer necessary to wear the skin-colored face mask that Iris made. Speaking of which, she was also in tow with him, wearing the same mask from earlier.

He found the door leading to the observation room with the one-way mirror. When he opened it, he saw Kudo and Soma standing at the one-way mirror with Hayate and Yamane standing in the corner of the room with Murasaki and Minori behind them, their son, Rei, sitting on his father's lap. Knight looked down at Murasaki's stomach and noticed that she was beginning to show more.

From what I gathered, he thought, Murasaki and Minori were questioned in their roles in Minato's death. Murasaki and Minori got off based on the premise that Kira blackmailed them into helping them attack Minato and were let off without any charges. I also heard that they were interrogated rather ruthlessly about where they got the paper from the Death Note. Minori insisted an anonymous source provided the paper to them and the police concluded that the anonymous source was Kira so they got off without any consequence as far as I can tell. Good, they're still of use to me.

Knight closed the door after Iris came through and he walked up to meet Kudo and Soma and stared at the suspect through the glass.

"What's going on, Chief Kudo?" he asked after pulling down her mask.

"That woman in the interrogation room," Kudo began, "is the second Keiri."

Knight double-checked the interrogation glass and realized that his suspicions were correct: Sora Hajima was the second Keiri and she was in the interrogation room with a blindfold on and hands cuffed to the bar in the center of the table. He does a side-glance to the now-unmasked Iris and smirks at her.

With Iris's eye power seeing no lifespan above Sora Hajima's head, I can confirm that she IS the Nameless Keiri and this isn't another Arata Tashi trick.

He looked back and saw the figure behind Sora.

And there is Muter.

Muter was looking at the one-way glass as if he could see through and stared absentmindedly.

"Were you able to confirm?" he asked.

"Murasaki and Minori confirmed," Kudo answered. "We even drove out ten miles as we did with Tashi and the Shinigami followed him the entire way. The public, they don't know. As far as they are concerned, Sora Hajima is a voluntary witness and helper."

"Huh," he nodded. "How did you catch her?"

"She showed up here a few days ago, claiming to be Keiri, revealed the way as to how she killed and said she surrendered. But the killings are still happening; she says she'll stop if we meet her demands."

"What would her demands be?"

"She's insisting on speaking to Kira and Kira alone."

Knight widened his eyes. "Interesting." He subconsciously crossed his arm over his chest and his fingers slightly squeezed on his sleeve. "But, we know how Kira and Keiri kill, there's no way she's committing the killings herself."

"She could've designated the times of death."

"No, if she did that and her goal was to meet and talk to the real Kira then it would mean she's breaking her promise. If she came in here, surrendering, then it must mean she has a plan. Someone is killing these people and the way I see it: She designated the times of death, which I find to be unlikely, or she has an accomplice." He uncrosses his arms from his chest. "Is there any possible way for us to contact Kira?"

Kudo shook his head.

"I figured. She's too dangerous to be let out in public and I highly doubt Kira will make himself public."

"We have to do something; her one and only goal's to meet Kira and the only way she'll end this cycle of chaos is if we bring Kira to her."

"We could set up a radio-"

"She wants to meet Kira in the flesh, meaning she wants him here physically talking to her. And she's going to ask a question only Kira would know."

"Damn it."

Knight mentally yelled at himself.

What are you going to do, Knight? Even if I wanted to kill her, I can't, as no one outside the police station knows about Sora being the second Keiri. I still have to take out Muter. I could have Gilth and Masi fight Muter in there but there's a flaw with that plan: Murasaki and Minori. They both touched a piece from Muter's notebook so they can see him and if they see Gilth and Masi fighting Muter right after I followed them here... not only that, but we need Sora alive in order to find her Death Note and the identities of her accomplices.

Knight looks over his shoulder to make sure that Gitlh and Masi were out of sight and out of mind.

Shit, how am I going to talk to Sora without the police knowing I'm Kira?

"Knight?"

He looked at Chief Kudo.

"I think I have an idea. It's risky and I understand if you don't want to do it."

Knight stared at him in the eyes.

"What if you pose as Kira?"

Knight's eyes widened.

Holy hell, all this time I've been trying to think of a plan to talk to Sora and here Kudo is, handing her to me like a Christmas present.

"Why me?"

"Out of all of us, you know the most about the Death Note."

Knight sweated nervously.

"You said that Genre from the Break investigation told you all she knew about the Death Note so you should hopefully be able to answer her question."

YOU ARE MY HERO, CHIEF KUDO!

"I understand if you don't-"

"NO!" Knight snapped. "I'm going to go through with it."

The others looked at him with different expressions on their face.

Knight grabbed his balaclava to make sure it was still around his neck and looked at Kudo in the eyes. "This is a good plan, Kudo. It's risky but I understand. Out of all of us, my knowledge exceeds all of you so I should pose as Kira."

Kudo looked down at the floor as if he was guilty of something. "I wish I could've come up with something sooner but-"

"No, you are the chief of police, it is your job to make sure evil does not triumph. All of us in this room are here because we are ready to risk our lives to bring down Keiri."

Knight pulled the balaclava back up to his face.

Hahahaha, Sora Hajima, you wanted to talk to Kira in the flesh, here I come.

Knight walked to the door to leave. As he put his hand on the doorknob, Iris put a hand on his shoulder.

She leaned in and whispered, "Don't die."

Knight side-eyes her. He grabs the hand on his shoulder, lowers his balaclava down to his chin, and bestows a kiss on the back of her palm.

"Anything for you, Ice."

Iris blushed but didn't look away and stared at Knight in the eyes.

Knight took his arm back and pulled the balaclava up again.

Every step he made to the neighboring door echoed throughout the hallways. He could feel the weight of his steps against the tiles and every step made a faint sound that resembled the sound of his heartbeat. He opened the door and stood in the doorway, staring at his fated opponent in the dimly lit room.

Sora lifts her gaze up from the middle of the table to the eyes of Knight Yagami, half her face illuminated by the lamp.

Knight stared at her, his eyes a dark red color.

He steps through in one fluid motion and slammed the door behind him. He didn't walk to the empty chair in the middle of the room, he took one big step and yanked it out before sinking in it.

He puts his elbows on the table and interlocked his fingers.

"Keiri?" Knight whispered, "nice to meet you. I'm Kira."

In the Death Note, you cannot set the death date longer than the victim's original life span. Even if the victim's death is set in the Death Note beyond his/her original life span, the victim will die before the set time.