James wasn't the kind of person to let anyone down, that's why he managed to find a flight from London to Tokyo in record timing.

We flew there the same day James informed me of my new cases.

When we took the flight, I was feeling like Priscilla.

I stayed like that for all the thirteen hours, only exchanging few words with James regarding the two cases I had to face.

We both agreed that it would be better to begin the research in the Kanto region.

That was L's doing, but she's not going to work harder when someone already undiscovered where Kira was supposedly staying.

It has been easy to find videos about the conversation the two exchanged.

I decided that the first thing I must do once there, is to form alliances.

But how could a woman like me achieve alliances?

Let's say that the 'alliances' part was a 50/50.

James and I would research together, since his abilities with informatics greatly exceeded mine.

That was the only thing he could do better than me.

I never managed to learn appropriately informatics. I knew the basics, but nothing more than that.

And honestly? I was okay with letting James help me.

He was the only figure I learned to trust completely.

He has never been a fatherly figure to me, he didn't really have the sparkle of fatherhood in him.

He had raised me in strange ways, that much I could agree.

But I never found it in me to fault him for that.

I was a two years old who couldn't speak, and I was found in a rather horrible situation.

And he was a young detective with incredible hacking and informatics abilities that was learning how to deal with the kind of life he decided to pursue.

And no, I don't think that the fact he decided willingly to have this kind of life makes it automatically easy.

The path he chose was a difficult one, either he chose it because he wanted to or because he was obligated to.

When he found me he probably didn't have in mind the idea of actually keeping me, but in the end he did.

He never told me why, and I never asked much about it.

I simply wasn't interested in the reason why he would decide to raise me.

I learned how to trust him with time, and now I think he's the only human being that I can trust.

I really can't explain our bond, but the closest I can get is a sort of brotherhood.

It's been almost twenty years since he found me, and soon he'll turn forty.

I, on the other hand, am not sure whether I'm still twenty-one or if I already turned twenty-two.

I never knew my birthdate.

James tried to decide a date for my birthday, but I always told him I didn't want one.

I'm not sure why, but even today I keep feeling uneasy at the idea of creating a date for the beginning of my life.

When we arrived in Japan it was night.

We arrived there completely unprepared, but it wasn't for lack of preparation itself, it was simply the way I usually operated.

I became a detective among misery, when we barely had the money to pay the room we lived in.

Today we still live in that room, but we improved it greatly.

James tried to change house when we started making more money, but I specifically told him that I wanted to maintain a low profile.

And that was why we arrived in Japan like normal people.

We arrived in normal clothes, my hair hid in a hat and sunglasses covering my eyes.

James shared the same attire.

It was better this way.

It's basic psychology, it'll be harder to suspect someone who isn't hiding.

Ironic, but true.

After all, which would be easier to suspect, an elephant hidden behind a tree or an elephant who's simply walking in the savana?

We took a taxi, like normal people, and we arranged to sleep in a 4-star hotel.

Low profile was our specialty.

And acting was among our talents.

This time we were husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Keller.

I couldn't speak Japanese, but luckily James could.

I never asked him how he learned to speak it so fluently.

I actually never asked him how he learned any of the many languages he could speak.

As soon as we closed the door of our room we began to research information about Kira.

We knew it wouldn't have been easy, but we definitely needed to begin somewhere.

It's needless to say that we soon find out that to get any basic information we would need to search among police reports.

That meant that we needed to enter a police officer's computer.

For that, we unfortunately needed at least an email address.

That's how we began our plan.

We simply went to sleep, he on the sofa,

letting me sleep on the bed.

This was one little gestures he would do, and that made understand that he cared about me, to a certain extend.

The morning after we arrived i was feeling somewhat calm.

There were very rare moments where i felt my personalities collaborate.

I never gave a name to the person I was in those moments, but in that exact second I felt the need to name it.

That's why I named it like the person I had to pretend I was: Hilda Keller.

That morning Hilda Keller dressed nicely, she prepared her bag, and she went out to look for a police station.

I wasn't exactly sure about what I'd say once I'd arrive there.

But that was the way I was, I needed to face the problem to have a solution.

Some may call me reckless, and i definitely can't disagree.

I called a taxi and asked the man to bring me to the closest police station.

He spoke some words of english, enough to allow a communication.

When all of this is over, I really should ask James to teach me more languages, I thought as I heard the japanese men saying something that I couldn't understand.

He only taught me Italian and French, while he could basically communicate with half of the world.

What a selfish man.

An idea came to my mind in the exact moment I stepped inside the police station.

A lonely foreign woman, abused by her husband is searching for help.

I'll inform James of the news as soon as I see him.

I began to walk awkwardly, shyly, like I was honestly scared.

Luckily enough my acting was convincing, and a tall man that must have been in his late forty.

He had a serious yet gentle look.

He asked me something in japanese, but switched to english as soon as he realised I couldn't understand him.

"Can I help you?"

He then asked, with a little bit of an accent to his english.

I slowly nodded my head, fearfully, to make him understand I wasn't safe.

"Can we… Can I talk to you… In private?"

I asked with faked hesitation.

The tall man slowly tried to guide him, but I flickered as soon as his hand touched my arm.

He retreated, blathering something that resembled 'sorry'. He brought me to a more private angle, and then stopped to look at me, giving me the time to think about what to say.

What a considerate man.

It's a pity I had to play him like I did.

I lowered my head, looking at the floor before speaking.

"My husband… You see, he's…"

I started to sob as soon as I began to speak.

Tears naturally formed in my eyes.

"Is he in danger?"

Asked the man, coming a little closer to speak at a lower volume.

I made a 'no' with my head, wiping away the tears that were reaching my cheeks.

"He's… He's beating me."

I whispered, keeping my head low.

When I heard his silence, I decided to continue.

"I've… I've read police can help…"

I said in a low tone, my voice trembling.

"You're right ma'am, we can help you. May I ask you if you want to denounce him?"

He asked with a precarious tone.

I faced him, elevating my black eyes on his brown ones, fearfully repeating 'no'.

"There's really no need… I'm on holiday anyway, I-I don't think It-It would be wise to d-denounce in another country…"

The man let out an understanding sigh.

"Is there anything we can do for you?"

He asked, trying to be as much cautious as he could.

It seemed like he was handling a weak piece of glass, ready to pulverise in his hands.

"Oh… I-I'm sorry I interrupted you… I-I'm not even sure why I t-told you this…"

I said, making myself look sorry for taking his time.

"No ma'am, you're not interrupting me, really, I just want to understand how we can help you."

His gentle tone made me almost feel sorry. Almost.

"T-Then, may I ask if you could explain to me what I can do about… Him?"

He smiled at me, a really heartwarming smile.

"Of course. We can go now, if you feel okay about it."

Was it worth it?

No, I definitely need to inform James of the change of plan.

"Oh, I can't… Y-you see, he's waiting for me at the hotel…"

I said sadly, lowering my head again.

"We can meet in the afternoon then. But please, allow me to share with you my number, in case you needed help.

I understand it may be hard to call directly for the police."

He said with understanding over his face.

I nodded slowly, taking a small piece of paper with his number written on it.

The name Yagami Soichiro was neatly written above it.

Before turning around to leave I decided it was only fair and normal for me to introduce myself.

"I'm Hilda Keller, thank you for everything."

I then turned around and left, with the same shy and fearful walk from before.

James woke several hours later, almost at lunchtime.

When he woke up, I rushed to him to tell him the news. And to tease him a bit.

"Good afternoon, we're you planning to sleep all day?"

I asked as he yawned.

"Honestly? Yeah, but you always seem to ruin my plans."

He said, and then he got up to stretch himself.

"You'll be happy to know that while you slept like a baby I actually started to investigate."

I said, and that got his attention.

He sat back on the sofa, and waited for me to tell him the news.

"I went to the police station and put on a show. Just to let you know, you'll have to play the part of the abusive husband."

James smirked a bit, looking kind of proud.

"Well, you're a natural at acting. Considering you've barely ever left your room, you're dealing amazingly out here."

I was proud of what I was doing too.

I studied a lot of psychology, and with that I studied human behaviours as well.

I theoretically knew all I had to know.

And that was by far enough for me.

"Well, I did tell you that studying psychology would have eventually brought up some valuable results."

I said, smiling a bit.

I turned around, facing the window, and looking at the skyline of the city.

"I'm going to meet chief Yagami this afternoon. You'll have to act the part."

I wasn't sure if the man I met was actually the chief, but I assumed so by the various looks of high respect that his colleagues would throw at him.

He even did have the way of acting that would fit a police chief.

Not that I met many, but if I had to imagine one, I'd definitely imagine him.

"What exactly do you want me to do?"

He asked, and I didn't realise he got up until I perceived his presence beside me.

"I'll meet him at 16:30, you'll have to call me at 18:00, and you'll have to order me to come back here. Use an harsh tone, speak lowly of me, assume I'm cheating.

All you can think of that would mentally destroy a woman in such a situation."

I said with a serious face.

"And now, go fetch lunch, will you?"

And as I asked I sat on my bed.

She smirked, and went out to fetch our lunch.

I, in the meantime, was preparing for the meeting.

16:00.

I called Yagami, and he said he would wait for me at a local cafe near my hotel.

I had 10 minutes to prepare, 15 to reach the place and five minutes left to wait for him.

Just as planned, I was out at 16:10, and i arrived precisely at 16:25.

Just as I expected, Soichiro Yagami arrived 3 minutes late.

When he arrived my head was already staring at my feet, and my leg was already trembling with faked anxiety.

"Hilda Keller, do I remember correctly?"

I did a surprised face, like I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't hear him approach.

"Oh, Mr. Yagami, it's a relief seeing you."

I said with a timid smile on my face.

He sat in front of me, and quietly ordered a coffee, and only when the coffee arrived he began to look at her.

"About your husband, I would recommend a divorce as soon as you both get home. I know it can be scary, but there's no getting better in situations like this."

He began to spoke carefully, making sure that his voice didn't sound aggressive, only calm and gentle.

I nodded lightly, in understanding.

"Yes, I had figured that such procedure would be inevitable… But I would have liked to ask about lawyers, how I should denounce him and all that comes after such a thing."

I said with hopefulness filling my eyes.

"But I'd understand if you told me that you really don't have time to explain such things to a foreigner woman."

I added at last, with a graver tone.

He smiled warmly at me.

"You shouldn't worry. We'll talk about all these things. May I offer a coffee?"

One hour and a half is a very short amount of time, i realised.

At 18:00 James phoned me.

I picked up, letting my smile fade away as I heard him screaming one of my names over the phone.

"Hilda! Where the fuck are ya!?"

His voice sounded aggressive, plain evil.

It was simply perfect.

"I-I'm out right now…"

I said in a weak tone, staring at a wall and sometimes at my feet.

I began to anxiously move my legs, one of them trembling.

"Tha fuck are ya doing out!? Ya cheating on me, aren't ya!?"

He began to speak with a more accentuated accent, and I felt incredibly victorious when the man in front of me gave a worried look.

"I-I'm going to head back to t-the hotel right now!"

I said as i got up.

"Ya better"

And as he said this, he ended the call.

The police chief got up and from his chair to wish me a goodbye.

"If you find yourself in need for help, please don't hesitate to call me."

He said politely.

"T-thank you."

I simply said, and walked back to the hotel, with fear in my eyes.

I'm not sure how I manage to actually feel the way I'm pretending to feel.

It happens all the time, but I guess this may just be an advantage for me.

When I got back in the hotel room I found James anxiously waiting for me by the door.

When he heard the sound of the door opening, he jumped out of his chair, almost like he wasn't expecting me so early.

We simply glared at each other for a whole minute, until he broke that strange yet peaceful silence.

"So, did it all go as planned?"

He asked, trying to decipher the answers through my expression.

He always tried to understand my answers by my expression, and although sometimes he actually guessed it, most of the times he would simply look like an idiot, just staring at me.

This time tho I felt like he was understanding as well as he was completely clueless.

"Everything went according to my plan. There is only a last part we must follow to manage to get into the police's files."

I said, finally moving away from the door to sit on my bed.

James stared at me, silently asking me to tell him my plan.

I played a bit with my hair as I began to talk.

"The man seems to be gentle and caring. I am now completely sure that he's the police chief. Now we must only put on a bigger show to appeal at his compassion."

I said simply, looking at James in the eyes as he smiled lightly.

"What do you have in mind?"

He asked as he sat down next to me.

"I think it's time for Stephen Keller to demonstrate all his hatred towards Hilda."

I remember I had to fight an awful lot with James to convince him to go along my plan.

He was being plain stubborn, or maybe he was playing, pretending he was a superhero who stood for justice.

Either way, he gave an hell of a time to convince him.

Really, it took a whole day to make him understand that it was for the best.

A whole day may not look like a lot of time, but this day must be counted differently from the others: this day could be counted as money, money that we were losing with every second of hesitation; as people, people that were dying every second by the hand of a psychopath; we could even measure this day as a countdown. For what, I'm not yet sure.

What matters is that after a whole day I finally convinced him to fight me.

I decided to appeal at Mr. Yagami's compassion by calling him in utter terror, and hoped he would invite me to come over.

Maybe, if I was lucky, he would invite me at his home.

It all depended on how correct my feeling about him was. And normally, my intuitions are never wrong.

James tried to convince me to make fake wounds, but I told him it wouldn't work, that if we want 100% accurate results the wounds must be real, imprinted on my skin.

For all I knew, Kira could even be Mr. Yagami himself.

I couldn't risk it.

Needless to say that James participation was rather blank, but I can't really blame him.

I was indeed asking him to help me hurt myself.

Firstly we needed bruises.

A subcutaneous laceration can be easily achieved with domestic incidents.

We thought long about it, how to achieve the bruises.

We even thought for an awful long time about where to place this bruises.

They had to be systematic, they had to leave a message.

In the end we decided that the best places for bruises would be thighs, neck and abdomen.

Considering the marital status of our two characters, it wouldn't be surprising to find out that Stephen would want intimacy with Hilda, and it wouldn't be surprising to know that Stephen wouldn't respect Hilda's wishes about anything.

That would explain the thighs bruises, a passionate and aggressive grip on a scared wife.

On the neck, because it would make sense for him to go crazy about his wife's refusal for him, and it would make even more sense if he took her by her throat to squeeze life out of her, only stopping before her suffocating.

Abdomen, because Stephen was an utter monster, and he would try to make her his even if she nearly suffocated, leaving her unable to protest.

A punch in the face must follow to this, when she would regain enough conscience ti protest.

Then, the wounds: it doesn't matter which weapon we would use, any of them would do the job perfectly.

And so we began our job.

I would put ice on my thighs, and then both me and James would squeeze them, causing them to turn purple in no time, my insensibility helping the process.

We eventually did the same for my neck and abdomen, and I would help him in the making, to not make him feel at fault.

As soon as he punched me in the face he began to repeat 'sorry' like it was a mantra, and no matter how many times I would tell him it was okay, he would simply keep repeating.

For the wounds, I did it myself with a random knife, helped by James's perspective.

One on the shoulder, one on the calf.

Not too deep to actually cause an infection, but enough to make them bleed.

Now she would only need to sleep on them.

It was natural, Hilda wouldn't have the time to escape after such a night, and maybe she wouldn't even have the strength.

But in the morning, while Stephen was asleep, she would call Mr. Yagami, she would make him pity her, make him feel somewhat at fault, to manage to break into his house.

I would have put my little cameras around, if I ended up without getting to his computer.

Clearly we would need to act later on, to make all his possible suspects about me fade away.

When I woke up that morning, everything ached.

My legs were purple, from the bruises and from the wound, and so was all my body.

When I looked in the mirror I saw a destroyed woman, with nothing left if not hope to get out of the horrible situation she ended up in.

That was simply perfect, so much so that I could perceive Monica's joy over the control I had over reality.

That thought gave me instant peace.

I went in the bathroom and called for Mr. Yagami, watching in the mirror for the whole time.

After 5 rings, he answered.

"Good morning Mrs. Keller."

He said simply, and as I watched my reflection in the mirror, I felt a smile creeping over my face.

I didn't answer at first, I breathed heavily.

Tears easily came to my eyes, and they matched heavenly with the smile over my face.

"Mrs. Keller? I-is there something wrong?"

Asked Soichiro Yagami, speaking at a low volume.

I could hear the sounds over his phone, sounds that spoke of home life.

Someone was snoring, birds were singing short melodies, footsteps could be heard in the background.

He was at home, she was sure of it.

"…I-i'm sorry, Mr. Yagami… I-i shouldn't h-have called…"

I said between sobs.

I could hear him sighing a bit, probably out of pity.

"No, you did the right thing. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

His tone was always careful when he spoke to Hilda, and I felt that when I was speaking to him, I was as weak as he thought Hilda to be.

I really, really didn't like this.

But if I genuinely felt somewhat reassured by him, wouldn't this make my cover even more bulletproof?

Maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

I took a long breath before speaking again.

"M-my husband… He was r-really upset a-about… Y-yesterday."

I kept sobbing while I spoke, even if I didn't like the feeling of tears over my cheeks. It made strangely uncomfortable.

The background sounds of Mr. Yagami's house were peaceful, it sounded like a sweet lullaby.

Was it always like this when people had families?

Was life always this peaceful for others?

"…Did he react… Violently?"

He asked with caution, thinking carefully about every word that left his mouth.

"Oh… W-well yes he did… But I-I was late, H-he said it's my fault… A-and he's right, i-isn't he?"

I read, during my various studies, that when someone has been abused, it's possible for them to be led to believe that the fault it's theirs.

That's why I decided to apply this information to my act.

I thought it would fit the idea that Mr. Yagami created in his mind about Hilda.

And there's no better way to get the affection of someone than to fit the idea they have of us.

Delusion is what destroys affection, because humans are incredibly narcissistic and self-centred, and they get hurt when people around them aren't following the idea they have created of those people.

And even a good man like Mr. Yagami couldn't escape his human nature.

"What did he do to you?"

His tone, just as I thought, turned more condescending, he seems more inclined to listen and provide help.

Just as I said, my intuition is never wrong.

"Oh n-nothing important, really… I-I'm not even sure why I'm c-calling you…"

I was honestly enjoying it.

This may sound psychotic, but I really enjoyed the feeling of control that overtook me when I'd lie successfully.

"Would you mind passing by my house? I can offer you a coffee."

A smile took over my face.

Maybe it would be more appropriate to say that this is the actual beginning?

I guess I'll keep wondering about this for the rest of my life.