After successfully solving the kira case Near had begun to become increasingly bored.
Other cases were just too simple and didn't offer quite the same challenge that Near had faced when he took down Light Yagami.
Near was in a constant cycle of being called by the police as the new L and solving their simple cases in a few days. It was on a late Wednesday night however, that Near saw something on tv that piqued his interest.
All over the news, reports showed the death of world famous entrepreneur Kunikazu Okumura. Near was of course familiar with his company Okumura Foods. Okumura foods was most famous for the big bang burger, which Near ate every once in a while. After a couple of days he decided to contact the Japanese police and ask if they needed L's assistance. Within minutes they replied with a resounding yes. Near and the three members of the former SPK then headed on a plane to Tokyo, Japan.
While Near was on the plane he decided to get himself acquainted with the case. He first decided to go through all the former victims of the Thieves. From there he looked into the patterns that the Thieves had created. As the plane touched down and landed early in the morning, Near began to awaken from his trance of recent case notes. "Alright everyone, now that we're here. I say we find a place to get some rest and head to the Tokyo police station later today." They ended up renting out an entire hotel floor since Near didnt enjoy running into other guests or hearing distractions while he was on a case. Near got into his bed and blankly stared at the roof thinking about possible theories on this strange case. After a while Near headed to sleep with one thought on his mind. I will find you soon, Phantom Thieves.
When Near woke, as promised, the first place he and his team headed to was the Tokyo police station. When he walked in every officer stared at him. Near was used to it by now, all about how they didn't know L was so young. The first one to approach Near was a balding man in a black suit with glasses. "Hello L, I'm the SIU director and currently in charge of the investigation against the Phantom Thieves"
"Hello director, nice to meet you. I am L and this is my team. We appreciate you accepting our offer to help you solve this case" Near replied.
"No problem at all! With the help of the great detective L we should be able to wrap this up in no time!" the SIU director continued
"Since you're here, why don't I introduce you to some of the members of our force?"
Near and the rest of his team exchanged hellos to everyone at the station. Near introduced himself along with his 3 man team of members which included Rester, Lidner, and Gevanni.
"Oh and before we finish your introductions I must introduce you to our head prosecutor of this case. L meet Sae Niijima" The SIU director said as he approached a woman in a suit.
"It's an honor to meet the legendary detective L" Sae said
"Nice to meet you as well, prosecutor Niijima." Near looked around.
"I've watched interviews on the Phantom Thieves, and I do believe we're missing someone. Where is the detective prince from the interviews?"
The director let out a nervous sigh and said "Oh, honestly he isn't around as much as everyone else. He'll show up sooner or later."
"How unfortunate, I'd prefer him here when I tell you the current theories I have regarding this case. Regardless, I don't have time to wait so I may as well tell you what my current thoughts are."
As Near finished his sentence a young man in a brown suit walked in.
"I assume you're the detective L?" He said as he opened the door and walked in.
"Correct. You came just in time, Detective Akechi. I was just getting ready to tell everyone my current theories on this case."
"Oh okay, well don't let me interrupt. Do tell us your thoughts." Akechi smiled.
"Well, now that everyone's here. I currently have three theories on the Phantom Thieves. I'll start with the one I think will be the hardest to accept thanks to recent circumstances." Near paused
"First I don't believe the Phantom Thieves are responsible for the recent death of the Okumura Foods CEO Kunikazu Okumura."
When Near said that the entire station went silent.
Akechi was the first to speak up. "Funny, I had the same thoughts. Mind explaining what led you to that theory?"
"No problem, I studied all of the phantom thieves' former targets and a thought occurred to me. Why was Okumura the first person they chose to kill? What would they gain from that when they want to be seen as justice? Not only that but Okumura was the only one of their targets to be chosen through popular vote thanks to their site. Which suggests he wouldn't normally be a target they would have gone after. If anything, it looks like someone tried to frame them to make them look like killers."
Akechi smiled, "My thoughts exactly."
"My next theory is that both the mental shutdowns and the change of hearts are likely related. Just like the death of Okumura however I don't think the phantom thieves are behind the shutdowns. We'll refer to the party doing the shutdowns as party A, since they occurred before the Phantom Thieves made themselves public. And we shall refer to the Phantom Thieves as party B. I believe party A possesses the same power as party B, however party A chose to create mental shutdowns instead of changes of the heart."
Sae spoke up this time "What makes you think party A and B arent the same? How are you sure the Phantom Thieves aren't the cause of the mental shutdowns?"
"Excellent question, Prosecutor Niijima, to that I would ask. If they were behind the mental shutdowns, why did they suddenly decide to start changing hearts? Did they just find out they had the power to change hearts by accident with their first target Kamoshida? If they didnt know whether or not he would die during his change of heart, it's an awfully bad idea to give your group a name and draw publicity to yourself. Not only that, but if you were trying to look like you were invoking justice. It's not wise to kill a big target such as Okumura that the public voted for. So if they didn't kill them, it suggests there's someone else with the same power who did."
"Now that those theories are gone, I'll end with my most obvious theory." Near looked around to gauge everyone's reaction.
"The obvious is that both party A and party B are in Japan, specifically Tokyo. and if that's the case, it suggests they need to be near their target to invoke a change of heart or a mental shutdown."
Akechi replied "How close do you think they have to be?"
"Honestly I have no idea. However I think they have to be fairly close to a target to invoke a change of heart since all targets of both the changes of heart and mental shutdowns have been in Tokyo. This suggests that party A and party B's power have a range limit."
The SIU director stepped up "Brilliant! You've studied the case for a day and have managed to live up to your name."
"It was no problem at all, director, however I just have one simple request before I officially begin my investigation. If I may, I'd like to investigate by myself, I'll contact the department if I have any important information to disclose."
"Why it's no problem at all! Be sure to keep us posted. You have the stations number should you need it"
As Near and his team left the station to head to another hotel room. Rester was the first to speak up.
"So Near, why won't you investigate alongside the Japanese police? By investigating alone we're just updating them."
Near sighed "Good question Rester, remember when I said we're dealing with 2 parties with the same power?"
Rester nodded.
"Well, based on where the Phantom Thieves' first target was, it's safe to assume they're students of Shujin Academy. Party A however could be anywhere and anyone. Including someone in the Tokyo police. And if my theory about them needing to be close to use said power is true… we would essentially be throwing away our lives if we worked near someone who could potentially cause a mental shutdown."
"Good point" Rester sighed as he kept driving. It took them around 12 minutes to reach their hotel.
Once they reached the hotel, Near sat on his bed.
"Now that we're here, I'd like to reestablish the conversation that Commander Rester brought up. If anyone could be Party A, the party that has the power to invoke mental shutdowns. Then I think it's wiser if we meet with Party B first to find out how said power works. And as I said in the car, party B is most likely to be found at Shujin Academy. That's where we start our own private investigation."