Chapter 36:
"Strawberry"
Light ran out of the building and got into the back of a black unmarked car on the street, after hIs father got into the same car. Matsuda quickly climbed into the passengers seat. Aizawa got into another unmarked car with Mogi and Ide, who had also come. Uniformed officers scrambled to their cruisers.
The vehicles raced from the scene just as a series of explosions sounded and flames burst out from the structure, as the building came crashing down with further concussive explosions sending debris flying in multiple directions. The scene looked like something from a terrorist movie.
The six officers who were the first wave hadn't made it and his father felt sympathy for their families, Light knew. They would received commendations. And the cause of death would be terrorist related.
Light let out a deep sigh of relief. He was finally free of Alex's gauntlet, but the effort had taxed him to his limit. He felt he could sleep for a week. There were times he thought he was never going to get out alive. But he had to give credit to Beyond Birthday. Without his knowledge of certain things, Light would still be trapped in there without hope of survival. Alex was completely insane. So was Beyond Birthday. And sometimes it took a person with similar traits to outsmart another.
Did that mean if Light didn't have similar traits his efforts as Kira were justified and sane?
Matsuda pointed out the window at a helicopter flying above the area, a white substance dripped down from within its cockpit. It seemed to be flying erratically as if the pilot was drunk. And Light wondered if Beyond Birthday had made it out. The last thing he knew of BB was the man had run up to the roof to confront Alex and there was a helicopter. But what was all that white foam? Fire retardant?
All of suddenly, the cockpit of the helicopter exploded in a fiery explosion, completely destroying the front bubble of the aircraft, sending the helicopter into a horrible tailspin. It crashed into an empty vacant lot near by, exploding further, cascading shards of white hot metal in every direction.
The cars stopped and its occupants took in the devastation.
"Do you think that was Beyond Birthday? Or, even 'A'? Maybe they were both inside?" His father expressed. He looked back. "Light, you were the last to see Beyond Birthday…"
Light shook his head, he didn't know. But as his father looked back at the fiery destruction, Light suppressed a smile, as the flames licked the ground, and glowered the area, sending plumes of smoke into the air. His father and Matsuda got out and looked on with awe.
Beyond Birthday and Alexandre Monet had destroyed themselves, Light concluded. He could feel laughter well up inside him. It took all his willpower to suppress it. Beyond Birthday, Alexandre Monet—entangled themselves in their own web, challenged each other, to usurp the other on an intellectual level, and all it did was end of killing themselves. It was poetic in its simplistically.
I came, I saw, I conquered, he quoted Julius Caesar. And to challenge Kira was stupid.
This had been the real final solution all along. This was Kira's endgame, Light thought. He had won this game with sheer wit and intelligence, biding his time. Just like defeating L at his own game. He was once again the winner to a cat and mouse tate-ta-tate and he now had a clear mandate to return to acting as envoy to the world as both L and as Kira in the shadows without hinderance.
However, the Evangelist would be a problem. But it wasn't anything Light couldn't deal with, he knew. The Evangelist was out there and now Kira had an open invitation to see him.
Kira would not disappoint. Light would accept the religious cultist's most gracious offer, and punish him with impunity for his impertinence. But unlike before, this time, it would be on Light's terms.
Light stepped out of the car, taking in the crash. His father's jacket preserving his dignity.
"Officially, Beyond Birthday died of a heart attack in prison," Soichiro said. "None of what happened here can ever be released to the public, none of it." He emphasized the last three words.
They all agreed.
"When the flames die down, we'll retrieve the bodies, and check the identities with dental records," Matsuda added, and they all agreed again.
But Light wondered with such a hot mess if there would be anything left to identify.
Suddenly, Light turned his head to a commotion that was taking place near by. He observed Raven, Beyond Birthday's right hand woman, struggling with police officers, three cars down. The last time he had seen her, Light had left her locked in the electrified cage, whereas Beyond Birthday had held him prison for almost a week.
He figured his father must have tracked her down, and then Raven lead them here, in the hopes of arresting BB again. She fought to escape, still handcuffed—the door to the cruiser kicked open.
Her skills would win out again the uniformed officers, if she were free. Four officers surrounded her.
Just then, gunfire sounded, and a black SUV raced towards them, with a masked individual shooting a semi-automatic rifle partially stretched out from the passenger window.
Everyone ducked, as Raven ran and got into the rear passenger door, after it skidded to a stop. The SUV then sped off, kicking up dirt, with gunfire trailing behind making their escape. Uniformed officers returned fire, but it was too late. The SUV was quickly out of range.
They must have been Beyond Birthday's friends who hacked Alexandre Monet's systems, Light thought.
Light gasped. It was then he thought back to the entire affair with Beyond Birthday and how many times the criminal had escaped the most closely knit situations. Beyond Birthday had faked his death to come after Kira after L died and had a stand-in pose as him in prison after he was caught a second time.
Light looked at the fiery crash of the helicopter and recalled how the aircraft had been flying erratically. After what he witnessed with Beyond Birthday in the flight simulator, there was no way he would have been flying the helicopter like an amateur even with the white foam as a deterrent. BB knew how to fly.
Then he thought back to the second headset. Had it been the trigger to set off the explosion? Who had been wearing it? Who had been piloting the helicopter? It had been difficult to see with all that mysterious white foam. And with the body now incinerated in the helicopter crash, would anyone ever know?
Had Beyond Birthday somehow escaped? Again?
Did it matter?
Light smiled thinly, as he got to his feet standing behind the open car door. He had Beyond Birthday's real name now. He'd just write his name down in the Death Note when he got home and the man who was the "second greatest detective in the world" would be dead at the hands of Kira just likes his predecessor.
Light stifled a chuckle.
No one escaped Kira. No one!
Ryuk came to stand next to Light. Only Light could see the Shinigami here. "So, it's finally over," the god of death expressed.
"Yes," Light mouthed quietly.
"It was a hoot, I was thoroughly entertained," Ryuk said. "And everyone had a bit of fun."
Light scowled. "I wouldn't say that," he replied. "But when I get home, I'll have the last laugh."
Ryuk expressed surprise. "Really? Let me guess, now that you know Beyond Birthday's name, you're going to write it down and kill him in the Death Note. Well, I think the jokes on you there. That Crusade guy is a real trickster and he told me everything after you guys went your separate ways. He not only tricked BB's Shinigami's Eyes, making him think Alex was a real person by giving him a fake lifespan, but he also tricked you with Beyond Birthday's name. In fact, the joke was really on everyone."
Light's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" His voice low.
"I've told you, the Death Note can only kill a person with a birth name, not an adopted persona. 'Rue Ryuzaki' was the name given to him at Wammy House orphanage, because he arrived there as a mute, after a tragic event. Something he saw with his Shinigami Eyes traumatized him and he became withdrawn. The old man, Watari, gave him the name because they needed to call him something—so even Monet thought that was his real name. What happened after that, who knows. No one really knows his real name, except for me, of course. And there's no way I'm going to tell you." Ryuk chuckled. "It's more fun that way. You'll have to learn it on your own."
Light's heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest with trepidation and anxiety.
"You'll have to learn it on your own," Light repeated in his mind. Ryuk used present tense, rather than past tense. That means he alive!
Beyond Birthday meant it when he said, "We'll meet again." He knew that no one knew his real name.
Light slammed a fist to the hood of the car. This caught the attention of his father and Matsuda.
"Son?" Soichiro asked. "Are you okay?"
Light sighed heavily. "Just frustrated, Dad. Raven escaped! She's like some sort of escape artist! But she needs to be caught and brought to justice to pay for her crimes in killing those dozen people." And I don't even know her name.
"She will," his father assured him. "We'll trace the license plate of that SUV."
Light knew that would be useless. No doubt, they would ditch the vehicle at the soonest opportunity.
Light then noticed something on the ground when his father turned back to talk with Matsuda. It had been crushed, stomped on unsuspectedly—but Light looked down at it closely without bringing attention to himself—and it was the remains of a strawberry. Considering how fresh it was, it must have been thrown out of the SUV before Raven was picked-up. Out the other side of the passenger side window when no one was looking, near where Light was so he would noticed it.
Beyond Birthday loved strawberry, Light remembered. He now knew it was a direct message to him and confirmed Beyond Birthday was still alive. He must have escaped the helicopter without anyone noticing, his friends picking him up as the building blew up. And Alexandre Monet had been flying the helicopter—the inside white foam covering the identity of the pilot, blind, wearing the headset—until the explosion. If Alexandre had tried to take it off, that would do it.
But Light knew he would never know the full truth of it all.
He got back into the car, folded his arms, and brooded, but began to plot for the future. He had to get back to killing criminals. He looked out the window at his father and Matsuda and saw they had moved away from the vehicle and were talking with the other task force members now.
He looked at his watch, at least he was able to get it back.
Light noticed a red substance suddenly dripping from the undercarriage of his watch. He pulled the turn key of his watch three times quickly and the secret compartment popped out.
Where there would've been a piece of the Death Note—whereas Beyond Birthday had taken it—a red substance oozed from inside. It had the look of blood. With a closer look, it had mini fruit fibres. Light hesitated, but then dabbed a finger to it and licked it, and frowned. It was strawberry.
Light clenched a fist. "Damn you, Beyond Birthday! Mark my words, you're a dead man!"
And he shut his watch.
END
