I let myself into my shared suite, which was a red flag waving around in my face. As part of the rules, only Watari is allowed to carry and eventually return the hotel keys for security reasons. So this morning when Wartari handed me a copy before leaving sparked my interest and having to use it reminded me so.

The second red flag was that there was no one welcoming me home, no task force sitting throughout the living room doing miscellaneous errands. The picture of stillness made my skin crawl as I slipped off my shoes by the doorway and my way to the kitchen.

I hadn't been in this kitchen before, so that tiny flicker of the excitement of something new buzzed around in my chest. Mixing in with the chemicals that kept me alert to my changing surroundings. I became lost in thought, and the beginning chords of an old favorite of mine played themselves out. The intense feeling to sing along burned along my lips, a habit I had when I was in my own house to make the chores go by faster, but I wasn't home and knew better than thinking I was alone.

The stillness in the air stirred behind me, causing me to turn around to see L on the other side of the kitchen island standing with a slouch. I asked how the day went, expecting to hear about the same old stuff. The only response I got was a sheet of paper slid across the counter like we were note passing. I studied over it quickly, noting it was a list of past and upcoming dates with little descriptions beside them.

"The second Kira sent this to Sakura TV, we got it just this afternoon."

"Why didn't you page me? I had my belt and cellphone on me."

I handed the entry back to him, as I continued to put things up.

"Simple, I needed to work everything out before I involved you."

His words piqued my interest and he knew it.

I listened to his explanation of group trips to Aoyama on the 22nd, Shibuya on the 24th, and the Giants game at the Tokyo Dome on the 30th. It made sense to send someone like the elder Yagami and Aizawa to the Giants game as they would blend in the crowd without much trouble, but no one but Light and Matsuda could go to the other two as both were shopping districts aimed at the younger generation.

"Okay, but two's plenty and three's a crowd. What are you really up to?"

"I want to add a little more pressure, that is all"

I looked straight at L, leaning with my elbows on the kitchen island.

"Do I get free rein on my methods or what?"

"Fine, just use caution. I'm more worried about Matsuda messing things up."

The morning of the 22nd came quickly, and I spent the first hour of my day playing dress-up till I felt it was good enough to pass as normal and not a twenty-eight-year-old government agent pretending.

I stuck my head out of the bedroom, seeing L fast asleep in his chair with a fork holding onto a bright red segment of seedless watermelon. My eyes caught a glimpse of Watari, who was at his laptop setup probably checking the connections of the outdoor security cameras they'd be bouncing back and forth on today. I made my way towards him, softly speaking my normal morning greeting.

"Good morning, Miss. Petrillo." He returned the same volume, looking at me only for the split second it took to smile at me.

"It's not his usual day for sleeping, is he sick?" I asked moving my head towards the sleeping detective.

"Believe it or not, he's got a lot on his mind. Especially today."

I could believe it, but it was hard to swallow.

"Let's keep that between us, L hates when he shows his humanity"

I smiled into a subject change, collecting my subway tickets for the day. Heat colored my lightly blushed cover cheeks, as I asked if I looked okay. While I had my own handler when I was younger, it always did feel like Watari was a good temporary fix when I needed one. My question, I believe came as a surprise, but he met me with a small smile.

"Wonderful, Miss. Petrillo. You'll be fine."

I thanked him farewell, as I needed to get going.

Luckily enough, morning traffic wasn't too heavy and the taxi I took to Shinjuku Station left me with a little time to spare. The whole area wasn't too busy and it didn't take me long to spot Matsuda standing by himself. I knew the two of us would be meeting up with Light and the other small group of college students at Aoyama, at some sort of club called Note Blue. He looked surprised to see me, and during our commute, I told him about the plan I wanted his help on.

After the forty-five-minute ride, we jogged our way up to the street, which was alive with overflowing groups of people. Still, it was pretty easy to spot our group waiting on us across the street.

Matsuda went ahead of me, to unwittingly make sure I could keep the element of surprise on my side just a little longer. I gave it to the count of five, then rushed over like I was out of breath.

"Taro!" I yelled, coming up from Matsuda's right side to push myself in between him and Light.

"I tried calling," I panted like I'd been running. "But, no signal."

I turned to Light, holding out my hand, unable to get a read on him.

"You must be Taro's cousin Light. It's so nice to meet you. I'm his girlfriend, Elizabeth."

As he took my hand, I couldn't feel any sort of reaction. No muscles tightened nor did anything in his face twitched. At first, it was a little off-putting, but I reminded myself he couldn't be the main suspect for the first Kira if a white lie and an unannounced person could shake him.

It just meant today might turn out better than I'd hope for.

While walking, I held "Taro's" hand and talked my head off, most of it I'd already had worked out from the night before, some I improvised. My goal was to keep Light from being able to think too hard with all my endless, girly chatter until we decided which store to step in. If the second and first Kiras were going to meet today, he was going to have to think on his feet with two officers beside him.

By anonymous decision, we stepped in into a clothing store having its grand opening. The place was bright, colorful, and busy, the perfect environment to get started.

The group decided to split up and meet back outside after looking around. I took this chance to send Matsuda with Light and the other boys in the group while I went dress shopping with the girls in the hope to pump information out of one of them. Hana, Emiko, and Aimi were the names of the ones who followed me over to the changing rooms to feed me clothes to try on.

As I slipped into some sort of breezy sundress, I asked them about Light Yagami during school.

"I have law class with him and he's always top. It's kinda scary how he just knows everything."

I peeked over the stall door, taking mental notes of who said what.

Emiko was shaking her head, her black bob bouncing along to what Aimi was saying.

"Yeah, but it's part of the package. It makes him so interesting."

I stepped out in a minty halter dress, waiting for approval.

"Besides, Hana knows Light way better than me and Emiko."

"Hey, we only went to the same junior high and had a class together."

Getting two thumbs up and matching shoes and white leggings were thrown at me, I slipped back into the dressing room to change back into my own clothes.

"So, you guys aren't really close friends then."

I started coming out with my purse and future purchases in hand so someone else could go in.

"Er, no, not really, but it's still great he invited us out."

I didn't care who was answering as I started to daze off. Why would he just invite anyone to this? I got the feeling these girls were just happy to be in Light's presents outside of a school setting.

Shopping killed a few hours, but we still had a bit till lunch. With a little convicting, I was able to get the others to agree to an extra stop at a book store up the street from where we were standing.

The inside was cool and silent, a nice welcoming sight from the outside world. I wondered around looking at few English classics translated into Japanese and magazines when I reached the small section in the back. It carried the college-level books on different subjects throughout, and Light was already there scanning through pages of a book.

I took a deep silent breath before speaking.

"Excuse me,"

Light's eyes moved from his book to me, backing up so I could reach over him to grab a book from the small mythology section.

"Are you interested in Japanese mythology?" he asked still looking down.

"Only about the shinigami. I want to do a little more research on it."

I watched the side of his face for a twitch or some kind of facial movement, getting nothing. Either Light Yagami really was innocent or completely insane with criminal intent.

"Do you believe in God, Light?"

I saw the dimming shine in his eyes flicker for a few seconds as he tried to figure out where I was going with it.

"Moreso, I mean the representation. A figure with the knowledge of everything that has come and will come. To smite as indiscriminately or systematically as one wishes."

"It sounds more like you're asking me what I think of God instead of beliefs."

"Some might say it's the same."

"My answer then is yes, but who really thinks about those things at our ages?"

I didn't want to get started on what I was thinking when I was his age.

"My only point is that maybe Kira is trying to act like God. We all agreed that the first Kira had a God complex to themselves, but what if they have a Literal God complex?"

"I think I see what you are getting at."

His face was hard as stone, normal for him. I was just hoping my empty words were burning a hole inside him enough to make a mistake.

I thanked him for the book, bumping into Taro telling me everyone was ready to go to get lunch.