(Chris' POV)

'I found another one. It's inside the air conditioner.'

That's thirty-six so far, so there's probably microphones too. Even if this is to track down Kira, which it is, I doubt ANPA would go this far on their own, at least not this early on. So this was L's idea. But then, how far has he narrowed it down? At the very least, it's got to be down to the people Ryan Parson was probing, which is probably very few people. That would mean they placed cameras in the homes of everyone else investigated. Would they do that? I don't see why they wouldn't. In any case, there's little point to guessing how many suspects they have. I need to think and act as if I'm the only one under surveillance right now. I've set things so criminals will keep dying until three weeks from now, but L also probably knows that I can set the time of death. So if I'm going up against L in these circumstances, the key will be-

'Here's another one! This one alone is enough to cover your whole desktop.'

-whether criminals reported in the news now die while I'm under surveillance. And if they do, L will be watching whether I saw those news reports or not. And they have to be the kinds of criminals I'd normally kill. Since L is definitely aware of the world of Death Note by this point, if there are any changes to Kira's killing patterns while I'm under surveillance, that's as good as a fingerprint. Until now, every time a criminal was reported in the news, I eliminated them within a few weeks. So if I turn on the TV or go to one of my news sites or crime databases now, and a criminal is reported… if they die today or tomorrow, L might suspect me. On the other hand, if I never do that and the perpetrators of fresh crimes go unpunished, then that makes me a suspect even more. And I can't take the Light Yagami route since L would know exactly what to look for, and once he finds the mini-TV or whatever I use, I'm as good as dead. And while I've been killing criminals when I'm away from home these last few days, like when I'm going out with friends for example, that strategy won't hold for long. However-

'Kids! It's dinner time!' I hear from downstairs, interrupting my internal monologue.

'Chris, I'll stay here and finish finding all the cameras in your room. I'm at thirty-eight now and I think I'm nearly done.'

As I walk down the stairs, my heart skips a beat as I see Indy watching the news. Luckily it isn't showing anything crime-related right now, so I calm down from my imperceptible panic attack within a second.

'Just ten hours ago the nations of Canada, Japan, Russia and the United States jointly announced that they will be withdrawing their support for the International Space Station next year, effectively handing its ownership to the European Space Agency. It's expected that this move will greatly-'

'Indy, can you please change the channel while we're eating?' Mum requests.

'Fine.'

Luck is on my side a second time as the channel she switches to is not another news channel but merely Last Week Tonight. Although I guess it's still kind of a news channel, but it doesn't focus on ordinary criminal activity so I should be safe.

'Hello, I'm John Oliver and tonight, we'll be talking about Kira, Australia's literal Death Star…'

Mum brings out our plates from the kitchen and asks, 'So honey, how the fuck was your day?'

(Luci's POV)

'Nigel, are the others watching the news right now.'

'None of the Rockley family is, but the Summer's and about half the Vimerica's are, the latter of which includes the girl Ryan was shadowing.'

'That's good enough. Play the message.'

'The message?'

'The message.'

'The message?'

'Yes, the message.'

'LUCI, I THINK WE SHOULD WAIT UNTIL ALL OF-'

'Okada, don't shout so loud! You'll lower the IQ of the whole street! And like I said, this is probably the best chance we'll get.'

(Indy's POV)

'And then he was like "hey, I wonder how many seasons it'll be until they run out of characters and start killing off actual viewers instead?" and I was like-'

'Hey, look, a news bulletin!' My brother interrupts.

Interpol to send over 9000 detectives from various countries to solve Kira case.

'Over 9000 detectives? Wow, looks like Kira's gonna need to be extra careful from now on!' He adds.

It's just like in Death Note. They must already have cameras in this room, and whether or not this news is true, they ran this to test my brother's reaction. It actually isn't too different from the trick they tried the first time. Well, I suppose the least I can do is cover for him by responding before he says something stupid.

'Interpol must be pretty dumb.'

'Huh? How so, Indy?'

'What's the point, if they announce it like this? If they're going to send in all those detectives, they should keep quiet about it and let them work in secret. Those foreign agents were here on a top-secret mission, and look what still happened to them. If Kira knows about these guys, he'll try to do the same thing for sure. That's why I bet it isn't even true. It's likely just a ruse to put pressure on Kira. That being said, I think Kira should still be extremely cautious from now on, just in case.'

As I finish explaining my view on the situation, I hear the recognizable footsteps of our mother, who checks up on the state of our rooms every few days. With a deathly glance she stares into Chris before shouting:

'YOU CALL THAT CLEAN?! GO BACK AND DO IT PROPERLY WHEN YOU'RE DONE EATING!'

(Luci's POV)

The Atarashimono teens seem very intelligent. It's strange, when I looked through what we know of the family, Chris was the only one that stuck out like a sore thumb, his former allegiance with Death Note's Light Yagami starting way before Kira began and continuing until it suddenly did a 180 with the death of his supposed crush. But the way Indy was talking to him, almost sounded like she knew Kira was listening to her. Could they have teamed up? I myself have one brother and sister, so I know what sibling relationships are like, and how they can range from "don't breathe in my direction or I'll kill you" to "I'll help you hide the body". Speaking of which, I should probably-

'Hey, Luci! One of the suspects has snuck out!'

(Chris' POV)

'You know, it's weird how people say "follow your dreams" instead of "follow your ambitions" because once I had a dream where I worked for a place that tried to genetically engineer ducks to speak English, except the ducks only criticized people's fashion sense.'

How the hell did our conversation end up here? In any case, I have to get back to my room. I really, really can't afford to be late for what's about to happen.

'I'm done.'

'Already?'

'Yeah.' I place my plate on the kitchen sink and quietly return to my room, and sure enough, Rugo's sitting on the bed with a satisfactory look on his face.

'Well, after all these days I think it's safe to say I found all the cameras. Didn't think I could get worn out this easily, though. Oh, yeah, that's right, I have to tell you where they are, and where they're pointing. It's pretty complicated, so I'll probably have to say it more than once.'

(Twelve minutes later)

'…So that's it, 40 cameras in total in your room. As requested I've also looked in a few other rooms, and I've found one weak spot: The bathroom. I literally spent hours looking for any sign of a camera in there, and I found absolutely nothing! It's almost as if this L has morals regarding how far he should be able to spy on people.'

From the number of cameras and how they're placed, I'd say L expects to come to a conclusion pretty fast. But now that Rugo has told me where the cameras are, and since I know what to do, I can act like an ordinary teenager, while killing criminals who are on the news right now, without even taking the risk of killing any small-time ones or making any noticeable change to my killing patterns! The plan is pretty simple. I haven't taken off my Apple Watch all day, so it won't seem weird that I keep it on when I go to the bathroom. I'll have to make sure that my timing for bathroom breaks seems normal, and that I'm not spending too long in there, but that shouldn't be too hard. Once in, I'll take out the small folded-up square of Death Note paper which is hidden inside it and use the watch's internet search function to find my days' worth of criminals, who I then write the names of onto the paper making sure to time their deaths in a pattern mimicking what I normally do when I'm not being watched.

For now, though, I'll just read while I wait for her to arrive. Just watch me, L. I'll take a potato chip…

(Luci's POV)

When I was his age I did strange things too.

(Chris' POV)

I'll take a potato chip with my right hand, and I'll take a potato chip with my left. I'll take a potato chip…

AND EAT IT!

AND EAT IT!

AND EAT IT!

(Luci's POV)

'AND EAT IT! AND EAT IT! AND EAT IT! AND EAT IT!'

…

…

'…Holy crap, that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.'

'According to my research, he once tried out for the Junior Olympic Potato-Chip-Eating Team.' Pearl mentions.

'They seriously have that in the Olympics?'

'They used to, before the accident…'

(Chris' POV)

'Psst, you there?'

As I silently peek out the window, I see a familiar face climbing up the drainpipe before jumping sideways and grabbing the bottom of the windowsill, her blood-red eyes reflecting the light from the full moon overhead.

'Yeah, Indy and mum are asleep so we should stay quiet, though.'

'Heh, quiet. Okay then, we can be quiet...'

And this is the other side of my plan. Kallet Vimerica. You see, L's probably done a fair amount of research into me, and probably knows just as much about my activity patterns as I do. The main thing he'd have gotten is my overall vibe of secrecy and isolation, especially how it's developed since Kira appeared. So I'll need a pretty damn good explanation if I don't want him to connect the dots, and this is the best idea I came up with. Now, it has to look like the two of us have been secretly seeing each other for some time now, but luckily I've taken that into account beforehand. I've basically told Kallet the whole situation, except instead of saying anything about Kira or L she thinks I'm under ANPA surveillance as a result of my activities in the mafia two years ago. She seemed convinced, and so she agreed to play along with this fake secret relationship, although I don't know how "fake" she's going to be about it.

There are risks in this, I know, but it's gotten to the point where there are no existing good choices. Even my good choices are bad ones by anyone's standards but mine. Without further ado I reach in and pull her up by the arm, and with all the gracefulness of a demonically possessed doll she falls through the open window and onto the floor. As she gets up I take a mental note of her clothing, or rather, how little of it she has on her. I mean, seriously, how much more revealing can she get?!

'Listen, tomorrow I'll be leaving for my family's holiday home near Yaniban, sooo…'

'Yaniban? Where's that?'

'North-Eastern China. But don't worry, I'll be back by the time school starts again. And tonight, I have you all to myself. You know, when you first rejected me I…'

Well this is good, I'll only have to go through this once, then. Actually, on the other hand, perhaps I can keep this one-sided relationship going. I mean, sure, she's a cold-hearted bitch, but she is very skilled with both a knife and a gun, so perhaps I could trick her into becoming my makeshift bodyguard. I do strongly suspect L is going to make some really aggressive moves in the coming weeks, so perhaps I should keep her around, for protection. In the meantime it'll also give me a chance to try to find out why she's so obsessed with me in the first place.

'…And then there's the time I almost got arrested when I was seven because I was putting that fake snow stuff in ziplock bags and giving them to all my friends, and more and more kids would come to me asking for snow. Then one kid's parents found it and they thought it was cocaine so they called the cops on us and they literally thought that a seven-year-old girl had created an underground drug distribution system. Of course, even then I…'

Oh, shit. I forgot that she never shuts up.

(Luci's POV)

'Well, this certainly explains why he acts so secretive. Then again, according to our research he in a relationship with Viper Scott until her death, so is it natural to move on so quickly?'

'Well, I suppose all very brilliant men are a little bit unusual, Luci.'

'I'm brilliant, Mungalo, and I'm not the least bit unusual.'

'In any case, how about we give the two of them some privacy while they're, you know…'

'Yes, okay, I'm turning it off. Like I said the other day, I may be evil but I'm not a pervert.'

(Chris' POV)

'…And it said that if you look into the bathroom mirror at night and shout "Donald Trump" 3 times, the hair in your shower drain rises up and starts yelling racist slurs. So obviously I was curious so I…'

Well, this is the most boring one-way conversation we've ever had. Or at least, it's in the top five. Or ten. Although she did have a good point about five minutes ago: Why can't every charger for everything that exists be the exact same size and shape? Shit, no, am I losing focus already? I need to concentrate on what happens here, if she makes even the smallest mistake in her endless blabbering, it's game over. Now considering what she thinks the situation is, she probably won't bring up the rumors about her murdering some of the girls her previous boyfriends dumped her for. Then again, they are just rumors, and she probably doesn't even care if some people think that. But if L hears about it he could take it seriously, especially if it comes out of her mouth.

'So anyway, enough about myself, what've you been doing these holidays?'

Oh, fuck, think of an answer!

'…Well, not much. Stressing about eleventh grade, mostly.'

'Heh, same. Although it isn't as bad for me since my family's really rich. Like, even more than yours. You know, it's almost funny how in high school, they don't teach you how to pay bills, buy a house or apply for college, but they do teach you more important stuff like… graphing polynomial functions. Look, if you stay in line and don't reject me again I'll give you all the answers for everything.'

'Hmm, that is a tempting offer. Alright, I'll take it.'

What's the worst that could happen? I mean, it's not like she'll find out I'm Kira or anything. And I will admit, she is really hot. Not that it affects my judgement, which is totally based purely on only strategic reasons alone.

'Good. I mean, since Viper's dead it's not like I'd have any threatening competition or anything. I'd say murdering her is the only good thing this "Kira" has ever done. Yeah, I do owe him one for that. But still, I look forward to the day L executes him in front of the entire world.'

…Well, I think I might have just beaten my fastest all-time record for going from "I think I'm starting to like this girl" to "fuck that bitch". If she's going to be like this, then perhaps I'll start investigating those rumors about her… which will probably turn out to be a bunch of fabricated claims anyway.

'Of course, as much as my hatred for Kira goes, my love for you is far stronger.'

No, realistically my only two options are to either hide my true identity from her, or get her on my side. The former sounds easier, but the latter sounds safer in the long run. What will I-

Before I can think, she grabs the back of my head and pushes my mouth against hers.