C H A P T E R F O U R T E E N
Fate and Chances
L's hypothesis on the plausible link of business were, safe to say, accurate. All of the victims thus so far have been somewhat remotely connected to the business cooperation Yotsuba, also known as one of the current leading establishments in Japan. All of the deaths by far have been somewhat beneficial to the business, thus furthering their ranks in the financial world. As of now, the team is more focusing on what has gotten these people to be killed in the first place.
And in order for them to do that, they would have to gather as much intel on the organisation.
And that means impersonating and infiltrating the base on itself.
Enter Wedy and Aiber, L's two henchmen.
The two walked in seemingly unannounced, startling the group as they realised that neither shared the same ethnicity as them (and the fact that they are new people). The team was under the assumption that L's security was put on maximum level; there is no way two pedestrians could've breached it and just waltzed in into the investigation room— and this is L they're talking about; one of the most paranoid people ever there to exist. For her to leave something unattended would be unimaginable.
"I'm Aiber, a conman", stated the man, smiling warmly along with a simple hand gesture introducing himself— he's about as tall as Mogi, if Light were to guess, and probably a playboy considering of his (poorly) choice of outfit. His golden locks were swept back and a sunglass was put neatly on top of his head, and he wore layers and layers of clothing that Light knew he was sweating under there.
Why on Earth would L surround herself with the likes of him?
"I'm Wedy, a thief at trade", stated the woman, as she inhaled her lit cigarettes before exhaling the smoke, tapping the tobacco out through the bud with gentle manoeuvring. She, too, is a fellow blonde. Light could've been fooled thinking that they might as well be siblings (or partners, considering of those tacky Hollywood he'd sometimes watch)— but mannerism and style considered, there's no way they're actually (even remotely) blood-related; Wedy looks like she has a few self-respects left within her while Aiber straight up looked like a man whore.
"Who are you people?", asked Soichirou, ready for his gun to be drawn out, "And how did you get in here?!".
Light would've condoned of his father's reflex, had it not been the fact that it was almost unnecessary.
"Please put the guns away, gentlemen", requested L calmly, as she held a hand up, "I assure you that neither of them meant any harm. I would've had them terminated already if that's the case".
"Ryuzaki, who are these people?", asked a confused Matsuda, his hand dancing around his belt where his revolver is kept, being subtle yet threatened to draw it out at any given minute if the two in question dares to make any moves none of them liked, "And how did they get in here?".
"These two are one of the most high-profiled criminals in the underworld", explained L, rather nonchalantly despite of the whole curfew, "To put their skills at test, they were able to walk in without setting off a single alarm".
The team, despite the information, let out a sigh of relief.
"Won't they be killed by the first Kira then?", asked Soichirou, pointing loosely at the two as Wedy clicked her tounge in sheer annoyance. Right. She has somehow forgotten that hers and Aiber's tittle as high-profiling criminals aren't so welcome in the world of literal law. Furthermore, she has somehow forgotten the fact that she's using the 'criminal skills' for said law.
Huh, how ironic.
She'd need to remind L to double the pay check this time around if she were to use them for longer periods. She hated these people already.
"Neither of these two has been caught by the law enforcement", explained L, her face remained stoic as she plopped a single strawberry into her mouth, "I caught them red-handed in the action. They are particularly skilled in their field, as stated, so it'll only be beneficial on our part since they'll be assisting us on this".
"Are we that understaffed that we hire literal criminals?", sneered Aizawa disapprovingly, as he eyed both the conman and the thief up and down rather suspiciously, "Honestly. It's a good thing we work under confidential circumstances. I wouldn't know what ought to happen if words got out".
"No need to stress yourself with unnecessary alternatives, Aizawa-san. I assure you that none of your actions, whether it leads to the good or bad, will have ever the slightest of effect on your name", stated L, as she held a hand up, "These two operates in secrets— and the fact that they haven't been caught would guarantees us that they won't be executed by Kira, or whoever that worked against our propaganda".
'That is, unless they have the second Kira's powers...', added L playfully, or rather unhelpfully. She would've eyed at Amane as a sign that she still suspected her of being the entity known as the second Kira, but alas the celebrity is still serving her time in her very own customised solitary confinement (her room). Of course, such input would've been disastrous had she actually said them, so it goes unheard of.
She could only hope that she's not the only one in the room with that thought...
"I understand", claimed Light, clenching his fist, "In a scenario like this, it's best to go with the safer option rather than the hasty one. Given the fact that all of our names, except for Ryuzaki and Watari's, has probably been broadcasted in more ways than one— all it'll take is just one simple internet browsing to eliminate us", he casted a glance, "It's good to meet you two, Aiber, Wedy. I'm... we're... looking forward in working with the both of you".
L narrowed her brows as Light went and shook hands with both of them (well, only with Aiber. Wedy simply nod her head since holding up a certain appearance doesn't benefit her at all, unlike him and probably all other men in the room). For someone who always preach about honor and 'doing the right thing' (ya' know? All of that shenanigans) Light seems eager and acceptance of this one decision.
It made L's stomach churn with anxiety, thinking about it.
Could it be that Light, Kira, has somehow planned of this ahead of time?
For whatever reason, it feels like L is dancing right into his trap.
"Wedy will set up surveillance cameras in order to supervise these individuals in closer view", explained L, as she threw a few folders containing of the current directors of Yotsuba, "In the meantime, Aiber will disguise himself as Deneuve and operate as that hack, claiming that he's working to unearth L's real identity".
"Or more specifically, your name", added Light, the thought of needing only someone's name came in mind.
"Yeah, that".
"But won't the real Deneuve be pissed?", asked a concerned Matsuda, "We're essentially stealing his name and posing as him. Won't that tarnish his reputation?".
"Do you people always assume a great person is a man?", huffed L, pouting slightly, "Well, here's the thing— Deneuve is me. The three greatest detectives of all time, known as L, Eraldo Coil and Deneuve— they're all actually me", she plucked a single strawberry before handing it towards Mogi, "I'll give you this strawberry if you keep it a secret".
Mogi, whom by now is used to L's antic, simply stuffed the fruit into his pocket, which L found it amusing.
"Now then, let's prepare for the ultimatum".
Ryuk loves where this going, but he was also kind of worried with the process of it.
Against all odds, Light has thrusted the most vital component of the game to Misa, of all people.
It wasn't as bizarre as one would think; but Ryuk suspects that, with that woman in command, he is to witness one of the greatness massacres mankind will ever had an encounter with.
Ryuk knew hunger for blood when he sees one— and he knew almost right off the bat that both Kira happens to have an unresolved thirst for violence. He didn't live through the great medieval time for nothing. He watches as empire rise and fall, the start of a new era and the end of the revolution.
And now, he watches as the two most unhinged people grew in power.
Ryuk understands Light. He understands in a way that he could empathise with Light's lack of reaction. He could sympathise with him, at least to some extend. That man was born without a completed brain. He was born and doomed by the Gods (or whatever it is up there) to endure a boring life. Ryuk watch as the man, who had once been a boy, desperately trying to understand what he has done in his past life to deserve this.
(It was pitiful, considering of how Light is).
Ryuk tries to understand Light as the years goes by; watching as the once desperate boy has grown custom to the way things are, and has succumbed to the wicked side of his. Death Note might has awakened Kira, what cause Kira to have a name— but Ryuk knew that Kira has longed existed within Light, even prior before.
But Misa? She was something else.
While Light's violence tendencies have been revolving around the concept of completing the puzzle, Misa's thirst for blood has been revolving around the desire of wanting to know the meaning of death in itself.
The girl has probably been mentally disturbed since the death of her parents, and she would've still carried the trauma as well as the guilt as she grew. The girl's innocent stage of childhood has ended so tragically as she was thrusted into the world of media at such a raw time of life, against her will at that, yet still not understanding why she became an orphan in the first place.
It was the mind-set of, "Why is it got to be me? Why did God pick ME?!", as an unresolved daunting thought in her head, with the idea of KIRA as her sole coping mechanism.
Humans is one delusional creature. Just as Light thought Ryuk had purposely and explicitly had chosen him as the owner of the Death Note, same as Misa who thought the death of her parents was a sign of her to pursue whoever that brings her justice.
Light thought Ryuk went through some heavy listing of candidates and has picked him among the names, whereas Misa thought that the reason she became an orphan was to enforce justice.
It was ironic, to say in the least, but Rem picked the best.
Both humans 'chosen' are either too delusional or confused fate with chances— or both.
Too bad it went against what she wanted.
Ryuk has been briefed by Light regarding of his plan right before he went into confinement— frankly, it was a lot of work, and Ryuk would've killed Light right there and then had it not been the fact that he was promised more entertainment (Ryuk is a lazy Shinigami). Usually, whenever someone who possessed his Death Note became a tad bit demanding, Ryuk would've had them eliminated; but things are not the same when it comes to Light Yagami.
It was strange, really, that he was eager to wait even for 4 months, since Ryuk is known as someone who is impatient.
Oh well. Let's just get this over with.
Sprinting his wings to one of the residents in Japan, Ryuk phased into a wall where he was met with a peculiar man, probably the owner of this shallow apartment. He was serving in his early 20's, and would've led a pretty long and successful life if Ryuk were to leave; doomed to live until the golden age of 83, this man would've gotten married and had two beautiful children, went to daily work doing what he loves, and died of old age.
How boring. How uninteresting.
Well, Ryuk is here to change that.
Tapping the man with a piece of Light's Death Note, he startled the man.
"Hello there".
Same as Light has been, no matter how calculative and expressionless, humans are bound to react whenever they saw a Shinigami; they screamed and scramble but, in the end, couldn't run away.
The man screamed, as one would expect, and stumbled off his chair and fell to the ground, knocking his square sunglasses off his face.
"Woah there!", chuckles Ryuk, as he bends down and picked up the glasses, "I might be ancient, but as far as I'm aware of, these things cost a lot of currency in the human world! You don't want to burden your already low minimum wage with this broken, do you?".
Handing the man his glasses, his eyes were fixed on the letters above, spelling out 'Teru Mikami' in Kanji characters; it was red and crooked, just as expected. As he did, the numbers that's usually situated below (or occasionally, above) the name begun to disperse and disappear, rendering Mikami's fate of death unpredictable even to those with the Shinigami eyes.
If Ryuk didn't personally hand-picked Light, then he got to pride himself in picking this one.
The man is a die-hard Kira supporter. Ryuk knew this while he was trying to scavenge for a trustworthy minion (according to Light's instructions) with a large influence on people, and stumbles upon Mikami who was trying to explain to a fellow co-worker that Kira is the new era of justice and that the human civilisation should just accept the new norm.
He was passionate, Ryuk could tell, even when he was being bluntly told to fuck off by his 'friend' who wanted to get the work done.
While Mikami is an introvert, he had his way with words. The friend's demeanour changed and, although he stopped listening, he never stopped considering.
It was a perfect combination for a right-hand man. Light needed someone with enough influence and power to protect and defend the morally grey idea of justice of his, and Mikami might as well be right guy for that job.
"What... what are you?", asked Mikami as he shakes like a leaf, trying to fit under his small timetable, "Are you... are you here to feed on my soul?".
Well, there goes that.
"What? No", claimed Ryuk, "I'm not a grim reaper! I'm a Shinigami".
"Aren't those two means the same?".
"No! I— ", Ryuk was flabbergasted, but he calmed down nevertheless, "Look, I'm here acting as a messenger. Someone is in need of help, and they tasked me to pick random people to help them in this little propaganda. Would you be so noble and accept this quest?".
"Someone...?", echoed Mikami, unsure, "Who is that someone?".
"Kira".
With one breathe of a word, Mikami is instantly on his knees, eyes widen. He looked like he was in pure disbelief, which makes sense. He even glances at Ryuk for a few times after to make sure he wasn't hallucinating from the work load, and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
"Kami... picked me?", he breathed out, glancing at Ryuk with sheer adoration, who simply scratched his head.
"Er... sure", said Ryuk, despite the fact that it was false. It was him who decided to go with his gut instinct in picking this man. Light don't even know he exist (yet). But if that satisfies the man's ego, and all it took to recruit him was to make him important, then Ryuk is willing to digress.
Just, don't expect anymore of this.
"Kami-sama... picked me...?", repeated Mikami as he bowed down, "He... picked me... of all people...".
"Look, I can always go– ".
"No!", screamed Mikami, before calming down. Standing up, he brushed off his pants from any specs of dust, "I will bear whatever task given by Kami. Please, come inside. I'll make us both tea", can a Shinigami drink? Well, it's best to be polite, even if the person isn't human, "Do you want anything?".
Ryuk grinned.
"Do you have apples?".