Warning: This chapter is probably darker than the others. It contains graphic descriptions of burn wounds, forced cannibalism, and a dysfunctional family.
February 21st, 2032, 12:00 PM
Saturday afternoon, a day where Knight could stalk the KIA Killer at the National Police Agency for hours on end until he was forced to go home. Today was a little different because the KIA Killer had arrived two minutes late and he walked into the Kira Task Force room with a solemn look on his face.
Knight was sitting at a desk next to Hayate and an empty chair and pulled it out for the nameless agent.
The nameless agent took the offered seat and stared off into nothingness.
"What's wrong with you?" Knight asked, studying the nameless agent's blank expression. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."
As if his body had been frozen to slowing down, he slowly looked at Knight with half-open eyelids and licked his lips at him.
Hayate looked up from the paper he was reading and took notice. "What the hell happened to you?"
Aside from his chestnut brown hair being messy and bags under his eyes, there was nothing outwardly wrong with him and it looked like a case of sleep deprivation.
"I've been up all night trying to find leads," he spoke with a slurred speech. He rubs his hands over his eyes and yawns. "Sorry if I seem out of focus today. I'm going to go get some coffee."
"I'll join you," Knight quickly said.
He followed the nameless agent over to the coffee maker and grabbed two mugs.
After pouring the coffee in their cups, the nameless agent picked up a pack of sugar and poured it into his coffee. And then another pack. And another...
Knight rolled his eyes and growled. "Would you like some coffee to go with your sugar?"
The nameless agent laughed before shutting up abruptly. "Why does everyone say that?"
After thirteen packs of sugar later, the nameless agent finally picked up his mug of coffee and sipped.
Hayate sighed pensively and got up from his seat. "I'm going out for a smoke."
"Take your time, Hayate," Knight waved.
Hayate walked out the door and left the two killers alone in the room.
I'll just drink my coffee and talk things with Knight/KIA, both men thought.
"Have you been on social media recently?" the nameless agent asked.
Knight shook his head.
"You should. I've heard some very interesting stories on it in response to the challenges." He sipped from his mug and winced before calming down. "Based on the polls on various social media sites, most people voted for Kira to find the bombs during the bomb challenge." He grinned mischievously at Knight. "I gotta say, I was genuinely surprised that people wanted the bombs to be found. But... the polls for the Samurai Surgeon challenge had a different reaction."
"Most people voted for the Samurai Surgeon to not kill Yamato the Vampire," Knight pieced together as he sipped his mug. "I guess that most people would rather have the Matsuri gang dead than one member dead."
"Suguru and Yamato still died five nights ago," the nameless agent clarified. "Heart attack but they were dead after 9:00. I've been keeping my eye on you for the whole two hours during that time and not once did I see you write any names or instructions down."
"From a logical perspective, I'm innocent."
The KIA Killer shook his head. "When you throw out the concept of guilty and innocent, you'll realize that we're all animals. We're all animals; the only reason we wear clothes on our back, walk upright, have sex behind doors is that we animals created a system for us to follow."
"Are you saying that humans shouldn't be restrained by the system?"
"I'm just giving my observations." He took another sip from his mug. "Knight, you could be a much more dangerous killer if you just let go of the rules and killed whoever you want."
The mug was inches away from pouring black coffee in his mouth when he froze and looked at the KIA Killer with a glare.
"I will never become like you," he sneered as he slowly turned his head towards him. "I will never become like you, Beyond Birthday."
The KIA Killer looked at him with a confused brow. "Eh?"
Knight realized what he said and shook his head. "Nothing."
The KIA Killer narrowed his eyes. "I'm sensing some deeper history behind Knight Yagami than he's letting on. What drove you to become the man that you are? What drove you to be able to kill someone without invoking the slightest of emotions on your facial expressions? How are you able to lie and trick and deceive those around you?"
"You have no idea what I'm capable of."
The KIA Killer chuckled. "You have no idea what I'm capable of." He reached blindly behind him and grabbed a stapler.
"I am a man who likes to get his hands dirty. This stapler in my hands, I can kill you with it if you attack me. I can use it like a knife, a gun, or use it like it was intended to be used and I can kill you with it. A knife, hammer, screwdriver, wrench, ruler, scooper, fork, spoon, cash register, I can kill you with anything." He puts the stapler down between them.
Knight rolled his eyes before taking another sip of his coffee. "Were you always this crazy or made this way?"
"I could say the same thing about you, Knight Yagami."
"Your parents never gave you a name and given that you're at least in your thirties-"
"Thirties?" the KIA Killer laughed. "This may come as a surprise but I'm only twenty-four years old."
Knight's jaw slowly and dramatically dropped.
What? This man with a kill count in the triple digits is only twenty-four?
Knight remembered what he was going to say before he was shocked by the sudden reveal and veered back on course. "In that case, if you were born twenty-four years ago, then you would've been born in 2008-"
"2007, I turn twenty-five on June 8th."
Knight nearly crushed his mug with his bare hands.
"Regardless, you were born during Kira's reign and your parents did not give you a name to protect you from Kira."
"Yes," KIA Killer said slowly. "You are correct."
"How did you manage to go without a name for so long?"
KIA Killer was about to answer absentmindedly until he was blinded with visions from his past. The first vision was of his mother.
KIA Killer smiled warmly.
That smile on my mom's face, she was like an angel.
"My mother was a criminal in Sweden, a small-time one but a criminal nevertheless. She was raised to take over some criminal business inherited from my maternal grandfather and make a name for herself. She started off as a foot soldier in this small-time gang before eventually becoming a nameless hitwoman. She scored twelve kills from her time as an assassin and earned the moniker, 'The Shadow of Rättvik'. Her goal to make a name for herself in the criminal underworld came true and she could finally do what she wanted and not what her father wanted. She killed her entire gang save for the man she fell in love with: My father."
Knight refilled his cup of coffee as he listened to the story, deciding to pour some creamer in.
The KIA Killer continued. "One last hit and my mother was going to be home free. Once she killed off the bankers of her gang, she could steal the money and live a normal life, breaking away from my grandfather's curse." He passed and his expression suddenly dropped. "Then something happened."
"Kira," Knight deduced.
"Kira," he hissed like a snake. "Kira killed off every single member of the gang with the exception of her and my father. When criminals around the world started dropping, she went into hiding, her reputation as the Shadow of Rättvik all but unraveled. She wanted to be feared by other gangs so they would leave her alone and rest in peace but with Kira, she never felt at peace and when she discovered that she was pregnant with me... she told me her exact words were and I quote... 'I spent my life trying to escape the life of my criminal father and not only am I living under a mass murderer's thumb, I have a parasite growing within me'.
"My mother wanted to live the life she wanted. She wanted to lay down on the beach, carefree as the day she was born, and fall asleep in the soft embrace of her lover. Mamma och pappa faked their deaths and went out to live in the woods where they gave birth to me. Since Kira needs a name and a face to kill, they opted not to give me a name so, for the first four years of my life, they isolated me from humanity.
"They isolated themselves from me as well. Mamma och pappa wouldn't kiss me, they wouldn't touch me and they never even gave me a term of endearment. To them, the only name I was worth calling was whatever nickname they came up with that day." He looks at Knight with a glare. "That is how I managed to go without a name for so long."
Knight studied the KIA Killer's body language hard, study every expression and micro-expression he made, from the way his eyes focused intently on Knight like a wolf to the stiffness in his shoulders, Knight knew that the KIA Killer was angry. Under any other circumstances, Knight would've brushed this off but the KIA Killer was an amoral serial killer who operates purely on keeping himself entertained so to see him in such an angry state was not something he could brush off that easily.
So there is a human under the KIA Killer after all, Knight thought.
"The end of Kira's reign," Knight decided to jump in, "what happened when Kira's reign came to an end in 2013?"
"I was five," the KIA Killer answered. "I was five years old when Kira's reign came to an end. Five FUCKING years old."
Knight flinched and nearly spilled his coffee but got a good grip in time.
"As soon as we heard the news that Kira had stopped killing criminals, the first thing my pappa did was punch my mamma in the face. He socked her so hard in the face that he left her with a black eye. She wasn't going to take this laying down so she socked him in the face and they both drew weapons. I remember every word they spat at each other.
I hate you, Eva! I never loved you!
I wish we both died that day, Lars. I wish Kira killed us both!
Mamma, pappa, please don't fight!
"I can't believe this actually happened," KIA Killer exclaimed flabbergasted. "I always believed that they were isolating me from them so they wouldn't get too emotionally attached and give me a name but no, Kira ruined their lives. They could never know the true meaning of peace and when they finally saw an opening and realized that they weren't going to be punished for their crimes anymore, they attacked each other."
He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh well, no use in crying over spilled blood. Focus on what's fun right now; that's my motto."
Knight cringed and wanted to turn away but he refused to show any sign of weakness in front of this killer.
I don't care if you have a tragic backstory; it's not going to change the fact that I'm going to kill you but I can't help but wonder, is the KIA Killer targeting me because he thinks I'm a worthy opponent or is he targeting me for the situation with his parents?
"Enjoy that backstory?" KIA Killer asked, the cheerfulness in his voice returning back to normal. "At least you got some insight into my background. I am sorely tempted to learn about you but you're just a regular human, not a god and I doubt your backstory would be any interesting."
Knight stared him in the eyes.
You have no idea what kind of shit I've been through.
The KIA Killer checked his watch. "Tonight, something big is going to happen."
"Another challenge?"
"Oh yeah, another challenge."
"Let me guess: The Imperial?"
"And from what I stole from your computers, they were involved with Keiri nine months ago."
"Four of them."
"Mitsu and Yan are going to have fun tonight. I would invite you to join them but I already know you're going to opt to stalk me."
Knight grabbed the KIA Killer's shoulders before he could walk away. "Who are your friends?"
The KIA Killer feigned innocence by shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Who burned down the Akane Asylum? It wasn't you directly but someone working on your behalf."
"A couple of amoral human beings such as myself. Don't bother trying to get a look at their faces 'cause they change their faces like a spy changing his shirt."
"Gangsters? Yakuza? Terrorists? Who are these guys helping you out? What are they?"
"They're part of the 'Hey There, Hi There, Ho There' organization.
Knight sneered. "Don't piss me off."
"Watch the news tonight and maybe you'll get a glimpse of their..." he paused. "FACES!" he laughed hysterically. "You'll get that pun later."
"I'm still going to kill you, motherfucker."
The KIA Killer brushed Knight's hand off like it was a fly, his smile never wavering nor leaving his face.
"And I'll kill you in more ways than you can imagine, Knight Yagami."
Later That Night
It's been about five hours since their conversation in the Kira Task Force room and neither one kept the other out of their sight for too long. After a few more cups of coffee, they switched to energy drinks to keep themselves active. When they finished their energy drinks, they switched to sodas with caffeine.
Knight didn't know why he was copying every drink order that the KIA Killer was taking but he didn't want to take any chances and zone off due to boredom.
February 16th, 2032, 11:00 PM
Iris Abernathy's Home
Knight picked himself off the couch and reached down to grab his discarded pants and pulled them on. He looked around for his search and spotted half of it hiding under the couch. When he folded over to pick it up, he couldn't help but side-glance at Iris.
She was laying on her side and watching Knight pick up his shirt, her beautiful form taking Knight's breath away.
Never in my eighteen years alive would I have dreamt of sleeping with Iris. She's a good source of stress relief.
He couldn't stand to look at her anymore. If one more second was spent looking at her, he would give in to his primal urges and pounce her.
"Get dressed," he ordered with a shaky voice. "I won't be able to control myself otherwise."
Iris felt her face redden again and thought that she would explode like a grenade. She picks herself off the couch and retrieves her clothes.
Once Knight pulled his shirt on, he got down to business.
"I've got a plan," Knight began, "Listen carefully because Iris," he paused to look at her with a straight face, "You're going to kill the KIA Killer."
Iris gasped.
"Follow my plan and I promise that you'll succeed."
She nodded.
He told her the plan.
"It's a risk," Iris said, voicing her trepidation, "If something goes wrong like my name is written-"
He grabbed her by the shoulders, "That's why I conducted experiments in the first place. I want you to rule the world with me as my goddess. You sacrificed half of the years remaining in your lifespan just for me. The least I can do is make sure you survive and the KIA Killer is dead."
She closed her eyes with a sigh before going deep into thought, her hair and eyes turning pink.
The Shinigami eyes are useless on the KIA Killer but thanks to Knight's brilliant planning, I now know how I'm going to kill the KIA Killer. All I have to do is wait for the opportune moments.
Her hand subconsciously rests on her stomach.
I won't let you down, Knight.
Knight's hair and eyes turn a dark red color.
With this plan in mind, I can't lose. KIA Killer, as soon as you let your guard down, you will die.
Present Time
Soma springs through the doors with Hayate behind him.
"Knight, check this out!" he exclaimed. "It's another video from the KIA Killer!"
Knight flashed a death glare at the KIA Killer before running out of the room with the rest of the police officers to watch some on the projection.
"It's live footage from Sakura TV," Soma informed. "They warned us that this content might be graphic for some viewers but Chief Kudo already heading down there with a crew."
Knight looked up at the screen to see two people tied to chairs with burlap sacks on their heads sitting in a meat locker.
Is this the challenge? he asked himself before noticing the KIA Killer standing next to him, watching with interest.
The camera filing them was shaking and making cracking sounds but those sounds were muted when the man holding the camera spoke.
"Are you guys finally awake?" a deep voice asked.
"Screw you," one of the burlap figures spat.
The camera shifted focus to a clock on the wall that read 5:05 PM.
"It's been five minutes," the cameraman spoke, "I'm sure Kira is watching by now. No need to stall."
The camera turned towards the person who was holding.
A figure wearing a faceless white mask lacking eyes and mouth faced the camera.
"Hello, Kira," the masked figure said. "I'm not going to bother with introductions but I want to talk about what I've been reading on social media. During the bomb challenge, most people were in favor of sparing the criminals in lieu of killing them but during the Samurai Surgeon challenge, most people would rather have the entire Matsuri gang die than Yamato the Vampire survive. I mean, everybody in the Matsuri gang, including Yamato the Vampire and the Samurai Surgeon is dead, but still. Things are going to start getting more complicated from here on out and I want your undivided attention."
He turned towards the tied-up figure on the left and ripped the burlap sack off of his head.
And revealed the messed-up face of Mitsu Amano and when messed-up is used in this context, his face had been burned like a pizza with pieces of flesh dangling off the edges of his skull, his eyebrows overlapping his eyeballs, the tip of his nose stuck to his upper lip, and earlobes left dangling off his ears.
"This here is Mitsu Amano," Faceless Mask spoke. "He is a member of the Imperial Yakuza that is hell-bent on controlling the corruption in Japan. He does enjoy the thrill of killing because he tried to stab me in the stomach with a knife and a smile on his face but he was overpowered. If there's one thing I like about Mr. Amano here it's that he's got spirit."
He punches Mitsu across the face with a gloved hand.
"I have been interrogating Mr. Amano for hours now and he refuses to give up the location of his comrades. Admirable but stupid in this situation. So here's the challenge."
He set the camera down on what might have been a table that was leveled up to his waist so he had to crouch down. He stepped to the side so the camera would continue to capture footage of Mitsu and this other captured figure.
What's the challenge, Knight wondered.
"Kira, you have until midnight tonight to kill off every single member of the Imperial yakuza with the exception of Mitsu Amano. If you do not kill off every single member of the Imperial Yakuza, I will force-feed Mitsu the flesh of every small-timer I took out, and believe me, we took out every single one of them."
He ran off-camera and returned thirty seconds later with a tray of meat in his hands. He held the tray with one hand and used the other to pick up a fork and turned to Mitsu.
A second man wearing a mask came forward and pried Mitsu's mouth open.
"Bon appetite," the first masked man spoke before shoving a piece of meat down Mitsu's throat while his colleague forced him to swallow.
"Kira," the masked man spoke again. "If you have a conscience and hate to see people suffer then I'll know you'll do the right thing and kill off every single Imperial out there. Do the right thing and we'll make sure this pile of human garbage gets put out of his misery. However, if you even think about killing Mitsu Amano for any reason whatsoever..." he pointed to the other tied-up victim. "My partner and I are going to fuck this one up."
The partner strolled over to the second captured figure and ripped the front of their shirt off. Behind their torn-up shirt was a muscle shirt that showed off the physique of a woman's body.
"Yes," Faceless Mask spoke. "We'll do anything short of raping this girl but that doesn't mean we won't be creative when we torture her."
The partner slaps the girl across the head.
"Remember Kira, you have until midnight tonight to kill the Imperial Yakuza. Every hour that passes by, I'll force-feed Mitsu a piece of a small-timer. Try and kill Mitsu, I'll torture this woman." He points at the camera. "The challenge starts now. I'll see you-"
THUN-THUMP!
The woman in the burlap sack screamed at the top of her lungs and convulsed out of the chair and fell face-first into the ground, spasming before going still.
Both masked men flinched and backed as far away as possible offscreen from the spasming body before they both returned seconds later, looking down at the corpse, studying it like a pack of wolves.
"Yan..." Mitsu moaned. "I'm sorry."
"Holy shit!" Faceless Mask exclaimed and dropped the tray of human meat. "We did! We won! Kira killed off the entire Imperial Yakuza not five minutes after declaring this challenge!"
Knight's eyes widened. What the hell? How did that happen?
Only one name crossed his mind.
Iris.
The masked man turned back to the camera. "I guess you're wanting an explanation as to why this person suddenly fell over and collapsed. Ya see we had a plan for how we were going to determine if Kira was going to kill the Imperial by having a member of the Imperial with us." He turned to the body and yanked the burlap sack off the corpse's face, revealing the identity of the woman to be Yan Ishigami, her face intact and unburnt. "Yan Ishigami is her name and if she is dead then that only means that every other member of the Imperial is dead as well.
Iris, you acted impulsively. You can't afford to act impulsively in the world we're living in.
"We have won," Faceless Mask shouted with a face-splitting grin evident in his voice. He turned to Mitsu, giving the camera a view of his dark brown wavy hair. "You lose, Mitsu."
Faceless Mask picks up a piece of cooked flesh the size of his hand and he has his partner hold Mitsu's mouth open while he shoves it down the teen's throat. He punches Mitsu in the stomach as he swallows the flesh and causes him to cough it up but both men keep his mouth sealed shut so he can't spit it out and whenever he tried to swallow, he'd get punched in the throat again.
Mitsu went limp and the mercenaries let him fall face-first into the floor, spasming until his body went limp.
"And just like that, the cannibal challenge is over before it began," the partner spoke.
Both men looked at each other, their faces hidden by the masks but a silent, nonverbal communication flowed through them.
"And judging by the sounds of the police sirens, we were traced far sooner than I thought," the faceless masked one spoke. "Oh well, it was interesting while it last and getting Kira to kill an entire group of yakuza for us put a lump in my throat." He laughs hysterically. "And the lump in my throat is not a piece of flesh!"
He looked at the camera as if he suddenly remembered its presence, and made a beeline for it. He crouches down and leans forward, making sure the camera only captures his face.
"My time has been outlived." He touches his neck and removed his mask for the whole world to see his equally burnt face.
"With the terminal cancer I'm living with, I'd rather not die a slow and painful death but rather, go out with a bang."
He pulled something out of his pocket before showing it to the camera.
A grenade.
"Tak, dzisiaj umrę!" He pulled the pin.
The camera cut feed before any more graphic content could be shown.
Knight rushed into the nearest bathroom and kicked open the first stall he saw and threw up in the toilet on his hands and knees.
KIA Killer, I'm going to kill you!
The stall door opened behind him and Soma stepped in.
"Are you okay, Knight?" he asked with concern in his voice. "I've never seen you throw up like that."
Knight flushed the toilet before falling on his ass.
"I'm going to kill the KIA Killer," he declared. "I'm going to find him and I'm going to fucking kill him. With my bare fucking hands if I have to."
Soma cringed slightly. "I don't like seeing this side of you, Knight. Honestly, I thought that you would be happy about the KIA Killer helping Kira take out criminals. Did he rub you the wrong way or something?"
"The KIA Killer..." Knight whispered with hate. "I could care less about him killing criminals but it's what he reminds me of."
"What does he remind you of?"
Knight thought back to Toma and Mayu Kamiya and why he ended up in an orphanage in the first place. His expression darkened.
"It's an incident that happened when I was four..."
AN: It's been a fun run and I'm going to miss this but all things must come to an end… and this fic isn't over until the fat lady sings and she hasn't come on stage yet! After this chapter, I'm not going to update this fic for a while. It's not dead it's just that I want to take a break from Death Note and focus on other projects that I've been planning for weeks. If you want a date for the next chapter's release, then Chapter 50 and Knight's third origin chapter will be released on his birthday, October 6th. Alpha Gray Wolf out.
Also, I would like to know what you guys think of the KIA Killer now that you know more of his background. I still want feedback to help me as a writer. If you could leave your thoughts behind in a review, it would be muchly appreciated. Until then, I'll see you in October.