Chapter 50, finally! I'm both glad and surprised that we've made it this far. No new fans this time, which is unfortunate but understandable.

Also, I've probably mentioned this before but, the time shown for each POV change is showing the local time for the character, so it isn't always Sydney time.

(Chris' POV, 04:45, September 1)

'Hey kids! Chris, Lauren, Connor, welcome to your execution!'

'Execution? What are you on about?'

'In the month since you three have been detained, the Kira killings have stopped. Therefore, one of you is Kira. And I don't care who, because once you've all been executed, the killings will end once and for all.'

'What about Kallet?'

'She's safe, through thorough investigation I can confirm she's innocent.'

'Bullshit. You said it yourself, the killings went on just as normal!'

'I never said that!'

'Well someone did…'

'…'

'Sorry Luci, when you were in the bathroom he asked and the microphone was right there so-'

'SHUT UP OKADA!'

So the one behind that riot shield is Okada. Good to know.

'Look, Chris, we were just trying to get a confession out of you. That's of no importance to you now. I have promised that your deaths have stopped the killings, and the police and government have agreed. Kira will be eradicated in secret.'

'No way! Wait, Luci! I'm not Kira! We're not Kira!'

'Yeah, what are you thinking? You guys were friends at school!' Lauren adds.

'It's not your choice. It's mine. I control the police, I've solved numerous cases and I've never been wrong. I even promised that if this doesn't stop the killings, I will take responsibility and end my own life.'

'Can you do that first please?'

Luci, what is he thinking? I understand that from the facts we have, this may seem like a reasonable assumption but… this is a mistake. Luci is making a mistake… why would he come to a conclusion like this? Unless…

'Don't die looking like that! You should come to death smiling! I promise you the smile you never had, Chris, please! It'll make this a bit easier for me at least.'

'Lauren, Con, something's wrong here. This isn't like Luci at all. Luci has always solved his cases with hard evidence. This whole thing's a setup. I mean, think about it. If one of us were a Kira, there's no way we'd let him kill us. In fact, one of us would've killed him already.'

'Shut up!'

And now he's holding his gun towards me. I should've learned to keep my mouth shut.

'Chris, we're both murderers. We'll see each other again in hell.'

'Lauren, I-'

*BANG*

…

…

Opening my eyes I see that the three of us are still sitting on the ground unharmed, now in the shadow of a large circular shield. Looking upwards it's easy to recognize the familiar suit and helmet of the world's most wanted superhero, beneath a large hole punched through the ceiling with the earliest sunlight of dawn streaming through.

'Is that…'

'So, you're the one they call L.'

'Kira…?'

'That's right, I am Kira. And what can you do? Kill me right here? I highly-'

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

'…'

'Can you please not be so rude. Unless you have a small artillery cannon lying around you won't have much luck trying to shoot me. Oh also, maybe next time you should wear a mask or something. Don't worry, I won't show the second Kira the footage I've collected. I mean, not unless you plan on killing any of these three innocent kids. I could show her now, but where's the fun in that? The right to choose life or death lies with the victor, and the victor of this battle is me. Anyway, see ya!'

And as fast as he appeared, Kira shoots back up through the hole in the ceiling, pulled up by some kind of rope or cable.

'…Fuck.'

'Okay Luci, you heard what he said, kill us and you die.'

'But… but why…'

Why didn't he kill Luci right then? I have no clue. Maybe he doesn't want Luci to die, or maybe he didn't want the Task Force to see him kill the detective in front of them. Or maybe… what if the Second Kira is… what if the Second Kira is dead and Kira is hiding that fact? Or… what if one of us was the Second Kira?

'Whatever. Even if the target changes, it makes no difference to me.'

From behind one of the other riot shields I hear a feminine voice.

'Luci, I think he's gone now.'

'I can see that, Pearl. But besides the interruption, I see this as an absolute win! Did you see that, guys! I did as you said and I'm still alive!'

'Yes, brilliant acting. In that situation, if any of those three was the second Kira, who can kill with just a person's face as we established in chapter 29, I think we can assume he or she would've killed you before you shot them with those blanks.'

'Correct. And as promised, Nigel, I'll end your daughter's confinement, along with that of Chris and Connor. And also as promised, since we still can't totally rule out the possibility that any of them are completely innocent, we'll put them under surveillance.'

'What?! You still suspect us?!'

'Well, you will get to return to your normal lives. If you're not guilty you can just think of the surveillance as police protection. As for the cameras and sound recorders we'll put in your homes, I can promise you all there at least won't be any in the bathrooms. I may be evil but I'm not a pervert.'

'Professionals have standards, I see.'

'Well, we'll still put them into your clothing so the only times we won't be able to see you is when you're bathing, showering or swimming.'

'I guess we can live with that. Anyway, now that us three are out of this, you and your squad can have fun losing against Kira.'

'Christian Atarashimono, it must have been a sad day when you slithered out of the abortion bucket.'

'At least I'm not you, Luci.'

(Rugo's POV, 07:45, September 1)

'I kill off the criminals that are shown on TV, then I get to use the notebook however I want. That was the condition, right?'

'Ja. So long as the notebook never leaves this room.'

This should save them…

'This is good business, Rugo. For both you and me.'

While he turns his attention away from me I slide through the walls and glide from HG Junior's apartment to the adjacent building alongside the Mississippi river, softly landing in the small hotel room that's acting as a temporary base of operations.

'Alice, how are you doing?'

'Rugo, great news! We've got confirmation that Chris, Lauren and Connor have been freed. We're just starting a group call now.'

She slides her seat at the table aside to give me some room, as the laptop's screen displays both of the other sides of the call, with Katashi at his place in Sydney, and Tom and Dimina at their hotel room in Tokyo. It appears to be nighttime for both groups.

'Okay Tom, now do you understand what Yaoi is?'

'You there?'

'Oh, shit, it's started already!'

'So, Katashi, how did it go?'

'Brilliant! Luci didn't suspect a thing. But the grappling hook built into the suit needs to be improved on. When I got out of there it felt like my spine was being ripped out.'

'Was it?'

'No, it's fine. And I got a couple very small dents in the shield and suit where he shot me. No evidence of a bullet, but there were small traces of some liquid. Once I got back I did my best to collect samples of it before it all dried up.'

'Liquid? What do you mean?' Alice asks.

'Just a tiny amount in each bullet dent. It could just be water, but I don't get why Luci would shoot a tiny pellet of ice rather than, y'know, a bullet.'

'Interesting. I'll run tests on it when I'm back down there. What about the Kiras and Connor?'

'Damn skeletons don't look like they've been fed since they were locked up.'

'Oh god… Connor…'

'What matters is, they're alive. Indy and I will be making sure they recover successfully from that plus whatever other physical or mental trauma they went through.'

'Wait, Katashi, did you see my dad?'

'Nope. He might have been there, but Luci was the only one that wasn't covering their face.'

Nigel's probably scared shitless. Shortly after the Kiras were captured, we released a video from "Kira", stating that after Lauren and Connor were kidnapped, their siblings fled to Kira for protection from L. As far as the Task Force, or indeed the world, knows, Tom and Alice have spent the last month in a hidden Kiran facility somewhere in Sydney, kept safe by the Kiras. The wild goose chase has been rather humorous to watch on TV.

'Now, onto team Tokyo. Tom, Dimina, any progress?'

'Still nothing. The Kanto region of Japan is huge, and even just limiting our search to the area directly beneath the 2013 and 2006 anomalies and the area in which the 2006 incident took place, that's a lot of ground to cover.'

'And the list of people who were in the class where the 2006 incident took place?'

'We've conclusively excluded six of them so far from having a shinigami. The others are going to be harder to locate, but we'll get to them.'

'At this rate it'll take forever to find this Kira.'

'Yeah, I'm worried about that too. Our Monsanto decoy will probably be defeated before we even know who he is, unless…'

'Unless what?'

'…Hold on. Right now I technically own Chris' notebook, and Alice owns Lauren's, however you guys still have a few pages, right Katashi?'

'You think we can use the same trick that Lauren did in her debut?'

'Exactly. For the past month we've been looking for this Kira, but what if there's an easier option? What if we can show him where we are, using a message that only he can detect?'

'Oh, wow, I'm surprised none of us thought of-'

'I did.'

'Oh, hey Indy.'

'I already thought about it. We can't repeat the trick Lauren used. If anyone in the Task Force were to so much as touch a scrap of her Death Note and then look back at a video like that, they'd know the exact location that you and Dimina are staying at, and when you were. From there they could ask the hotel about who booked that room at that point in time, which would eventually lead them back to your anonymous coin account, which would eventually lead them back to you, and the next thing you know every one of us is dead! So what's your plan then, Tom?'

'We don't have to set the meetup location at this hotel. If it's somewhere far away from any regular surveillance footage, they won't know who was there.'

'…Sure, fine. If it works, it works. Also, Tom, can I ask you something?'

'Sure.'

'To make things easier, can you let me access the Kira-related stuff on your main computer at your place?'

'If you promise not to look anywhere you shouldn't.'

'You can trust me.'

I kinda doubt that.

'Alright, the password is 2845. Just hit both shift keys to switch over to QWERTY. And caps lock is control, and spacebar is caps lock. And two-finger scroll moves through time instead of space.'

'Can I adjust those settings?'

'Sure. But to adjust settings, you must add the settings menu to the menus menu, which you can adjust under menu settings which can be found in the settings menu.'

'Alright. Now, Rugo, did you give the target the notebook?'

'Right before the call started, actually. So now you and Tom can stop killing for a while.'

'How did he react?'

'Like a little kid on Christmas. And then like the cold-blooded millionaire he is.'

'Well, y'know what they say, the problem with rich people is that I am not one of them.'

'I doubt you'd ever turn into someone like that.'

'So, anything else happen today?'

'Today a man knocked at my door and asked for a small donation towards the local swimming pool. I gave him a few bottles of water.'

'Katashi, I meant, anything related to this.'

'Oh, no, not really. Anyone have anything they wanna say before we head off?'

After a few seconds, Tom is the first to speak.

'Yes. So, we know that our Kiras and Connor are free from their imprisonments, but what will happen to them now?'

'Well, if I recall correctly, when you get out of jail they make you sign a paper that says you won't commit crimes for at least 6 months.'

'I… highly doubt that, Alice.'

'I just hope I can see Chris again. Never thought I'd miss my annoying brother.'

'You're lucky, Indy. Tom and I won't be able to see our siblings until...'

'Until we get the job done, yeah. But they know you're safe, and you know they're safe, so I wouldn't worry so much if I were you.'

'This whole thing could've been avoided if-'

'Please, stop. None of us can change the things we've done. But we can all change what we do next.'

'Still, I'll be the first to admit I've been losing a ton of sleep worrying about them.'

A few heads silently nod in agreement.

'If it helps, you can just do what I did back in my day.'

'And what was that, Rugo?'

'First of all, in order to fall asleep, you have to pretend to be asleep. Second, if you leave a pillow under your pillow, the pillow fairy might come and exchange it for a pillow…'