A/N: Well...it has been a very, very, VERY long time since the last update. I think the last update was sometime in 2016, so..wow I am late on updating this. I have no excuse to give when it comes to why it took so long. I mean, a lot has happened since the last update. There have been other stories, real life stuff, um...I'm rambling let's just get to the chapter. It's been four years, we have no time for this.

Disclaimer: Death Note is not mine. If it were...well I don't think the series would have been that lucrative given how long it's taken me to write a single chapter for this.

Warnings: Can't think of anything worth noting for this. On to the chapter!

Chapter 13

Countdown Part 4

Approximately 13 hours earlier

3:45 a.m.

At this early hour, Tokyo is illuminated not by the moon or the stars in the heavens far above, but by an artificial glow of street lights, neon signs, and plasma screens showing off muted advertisements, or perhaps they emit sound but the noise is lost in the soft hum of traffic, of the few people still out roaming the streets, of drunken conversations, and of muffled screams.

Hinata Miagi listens to the distant sounds of the city with the multi-colored glow of the metropolis shining in her dark brown eyes. From atop one of the many skyscrapers, she can see and hear a little bit of everything, yet is completely unaware of everything except for the pounding in her heart as the wind briefly picks up. The sudden fierceness of the air lifts her mid-length ebony locks behind her in a cold rush that chills her body despite the thick black coat she's wearing.

It's as she shivers that a voice calls to her, beckoning her to shift her gaze away from the city below. The stare she gives to the person intruding on her moment of peace is cold, seemingly indifferent. She's making an attempt to put on a brave face in front of the man standing a few feet behind her, for he is a monster from a not so distant past.

While staring at him, she slowly realizes the futility of her attempts to escape from his malice and from the demon locked away in his heart.

The man starts to speak, though Hinata isn't as interested in the words spoken as she is in the lips speaking them. At one time those lips had commanded her in a multitude of ways that were all too compelling to resist.

However, in the present day she's repulsed by them and quickly diverts her gaze as he continues speaking, commanding her once again. She listens with resigned acceptance for the duty she must fulfill despite the lingering fear and regret swelling in her chest.

Clenching her fists, she tightens her resolve.

"The number of operatives within David Makano's gang has always been small," Hinata tells the man, closing her eyes for a moment to chase away the mesmerizing hazel stare that's narrowing in on her. She can't afford to fall for his good looks and deceitful tricks again. She knows better now. She has to...for the sake of her daughter.

"Because of you that number has dropped significantly," she mutters, opening her eyes again. "You should have no trouble eliminating them. All the traps have been set...just as you demanded."

The man with her lets out a chuckle, turning his back to her as another breeze passes by. Hinata finds herself captivated by the sway of his long, black coat, which she knew was covering the crimson-red suit he wore. That suit was a signature of his. Even if a situation called for being as inconspicuous as possible, he would still wear some form of bright red.

She was the only person alive who knew why he was so obsessed with the color. However, the reason for the game he was playing now, Hinata had no idea. At this point, with her daughter's life hanging in the balance, she hardly cared. Nagisa's survival and happiness was what mattered most to her. She would do anything to protect that, even betray the people who had given her their aid in her time of crisis.

With a quick look towards her, the man was sure to remind Hinata what would happen should she back out of their deal. She assured him she would do as he asked. He responded with a wicked grin, then departed from the rooftop as only someone like him could.

She was alone seconds later, her ears picking up the last traces of his echoing laughter while a violent gust of wind brushed past. The force made Hinata's eyes sting.

"I know better than to believe he'll keep his word," she thought somberly, raising her gaze toward the black sky as the howling wind slowly settled. "However..."

Soon the sun will ascend from the depths of darkness.

Hinata Miagi considers this a blessing now, for her day of judgement is swiftly approaching.

Present
4:45 p.m. ~ Detention

"I thought you would be more upset about getting detention, Light."

Light didn't respond to the Shinigami floating behind him. He couldn't given that he was sitting in a classroom with Mr. Tomoshi asleep at the desk directly in front of him. "Kira" had ended up in this situation because the teacher discovered that he had merely dropped Crystal off at the principal's office rather than going in to face his own punishment a few weeks prior. Plus, Mr. Tomoshi had been on his case ever since he'd defended the troublesome girl in the middle of class. This was mild compared to the outright disdain the man had for Crystal, but it was still irritating to deal with nevertheless, especially now that he was secretly Kira.

But despite all his ranting and raving, the old man was now asleep...snoring even.

And as annoying as the development was, Light took it in stride and was currently reading a novel for one of his other classes rather than writing names in the Death Note. Of course, the notebook was currently tucked away at his home beneath a fake bottom in his desk drawer. Said drawer was also equipped with enough lighter fluid to set the the thing ablaze should anyone happen to actually discover the fake bottom without using the proper key to prop it open, which Light doubted would happen, but it was better to be safe than sorry under these circumstances.

Of course, those precautions, while good for keeping the notebook secret, was not the reason he'd left it behind. The previous evening he'd hacked into his father's files regarding the Kira investigation. He discovered many interesting things, one of them being that about two weeks earlier they had already begun to suspect a student; however...

The pattern of the killings changed unexpectedly, seemingly right after they came to that hypothesis. Had Light seen the information around this time, he would have most certainly changed the pattern of his killings in a similar manner as a means of causing discord between L and the task force.

The only problem was that Light hadn't seen it before the previous evening.

But the killing pattern had still changed.

Granted there was still a lower concentration of killings while he was at school and on the weekends, but the simple truth of the matter is that the rate and location of killings had become extremely sporadic.

The victims had also changed somewhat. While all of the people he had killed himself were accurately accounted for, there were extra victims now...the kind of criminals he wouldn't have known about from broadcasts on TV or the internet. Based on the reports he read, the new criminals were relatively unknown, even to the police up until investigations into these new victims became necessary.

The only connecting factor seemed to be that each of these people were loosely connected to various drug cartels all over the globe. High ranking Yakuza and Mafia leaders were also within the list of victims, some of which the police hadn't had accurate records of prior to their deaths.

With all that information piled together, Light concluded that there had to be a second notebook someone was using to systematically kill off the leaders of various gangs and cartels around the globe, many of which were lesser known to the point that Light would have had a very difficult time killing them himself. This second "Kira" was essentially using the Death Note to either get even with these extremely elusive criminals or eliminating their competition.

Elsewhere, L had come to the same conclusion, sans the killing method. It was obvious from how the newer victims were people who hadn't even been caught yet and probably wouldn't have for a very long time if not for their sudden deaths. On some level, it occurred to L that only an insider into these cartels and their dealings would have this kind of info.

As the detective began to vocalize these thoughts to the task force, Light, stuck in detention, let out a soft sigh.

He'd made the decision to write out some of his killings in advance, to further throw off the investigation if at all possible. This other person using the Death Note was going to be an issue. His motives, whether for vengeance or greed, were too obviously displayed through the data.

Soon there would be information on which gang was benefiting the most from the sudden downfall of all these cartel members.

While getting an extra hour of detention added on to his previous sentence for being late to his afternoon class (once again thanks to a certain troublemaker) was bothersome, it gave him time to think without constant interruptions from Ryuk. Since he couldn't respond, the Shinigami stopped talking five minutes into his detention sentence.

Unfortunately, when Crystal Makano entered the room, he started up again.

"Hey! There's your girlfriend, Light!"

The brunette genius cringed internally but said nothing as Crystal walked past his desk, not even taking notice of his presence as she inhaled half a can of cashews with an audible grunt of satisfaction. Placing her cashews on a desk near the window, she began to rummage through her backpack. In seconds, she withdrew what appeared to be a sketchpad and a pencil.

"Could it be her?" he wondered, watching her as she started drawing. "Ryuk says she has no memory of the notebook, but what if she came into contact with another one? No...even if she did have another notebook somehow, if she had wanted to kill someone she would have done it while she still had the one I picked up. More than likely she isn't involved in any way, but the fact that the notebook affects her physically is strange, especially since there's no clear reason as to why that's happening."

While Light continued to contemplate, Crystal switched from drawing the artificial plant sitting on the sleeping teacher's desk to writing the names she'd memorized.

"I found that document way too easily," she thought, copying the names she saw from memory onto the sketchpad and drawing a couple strokes in between. Even though she'd pretty much ignored his presence, it was obvious Light was watching her from the corner of his eye, analyzing every little movement she made.

"That's to be expected though...if he's the one that has my notebook."

While organizing the permanent records room, there had been several files stuffed haphazardly where they didn't belong. One record she found and put in its proper place was a document containing attendance records for Daikoku Private Academy students who were enlisted in the cram school downtown.

Light Yagami was on that list of students.

But again, it seemed too easy.

Yamamoto's comment about Kira still weighed heavily on her mind. Light definitely fit the personality profile of the type of person she thought Kira would be. He certainly gave off the, "I am a superior being and the rest of you are swine" vibe. On top of that, Light had an extremely strong sense of justice that was almost unsettling. He definitely didn't strike her as genuine or as someone who really cared about anyone. Everything he said and did felt like an act to her, which prompted a general sense of unpleasantness whenever he was around.

Even though it'd hurt, dropping her on the floor was probably the most genuine thing he'd ever done in his life. He wasn't a fan of her any more than she was a fan of him and it showed.

But that didn't necessarily make him Kira.

And again, the way she came across the information had been far too simple. It was as if it'd been meticulously planned for her to find that document. On some level she still suspected Yamamoto even though she knew without a doubt that he didn't pick up her notebook that day.

"One of the two prime suspects on my list is a definite red herring to throw my investigation off," she thought, circling Light's name on the page. "The only problem with this theory though is that I can't be sure of who the red herring actually is. Furthermore...what if it's both of them somehow?"

Crystal knew there were other Death Notes out there in the world. Someone else could very well be using one and using the popularity surrounding the original Kira to hide their own killings.

Unfortunately, there were simply too many variables for her to consider, which meant she couldn't come to a concrete conclusion yet. Like it or not, she was going to have to investigate every possibility while secretly digging up whatever information she could about the state of David's cartel so she could protect her family.

"Hey. Makano-san."

Crystal paused in her drawing and glanced pointedly at the way too handsome brunette. "Make it quick, Light-chan. I'm not in a very good mood right now."

"I can tell," he muttered, his eyes briefly drifting toward Mr. Tomoshi, whose snores had increased in volume a tiny bit. "But this can't wait. I need to ask you something."

Blinking in mild surprise, she turned in her seat a bit to face him. "You have my attention."

"Would you like to go on a date with me sometime?"

Crystal's brain seemed to short-circuit as soon as Light uttered the words.

"Come again?"

"I said would you like to go on a date with me sometime..."

"I heard you, but what prompted this all of a sudden?" Crystal interrupted, her suspicions of him escalating though admittedly for the wrong reasons. "You already know that I don't particularly like you and you said the feeling was mutual. Therefore, this development is outright bizarre." She paused for a moment, wanting to turn him down but also realizing that accepting this ludicrous proposal might be a good way to investigate him, but just like with Yamamoto...

"This is far too convenient to be believed..."

"I definitely don't like you," Light admitted. "But you're interesting and intelligent. Most girls aren't even that."

Crystal groaned pitifully. "My, don't I feel honored. The great Light Yagami has counted me worthy of his attention."

"There's no need for the sarcasm, Makano," Light answered, his false amusement diminishing substantially. "I get it. You're not interested."

With another inward groan, Crystal forced herself to say the words she knew she had to say in order to make progress in her personal investigation.

"I n-never said...I wasn't interested, Light-chan."

Internally she was screaming.

But Light smirked. "Just as I thought. Even Makano, regardless of her intellect, is still a woman. All it takes is a handsome face and some mild charm..."

"But maybe we should actually form some amicable feelings for one another before going on dates," Crystal whispered, bringing her fingertips to the sides of her head in a way that made it clear she felt yet another headache coming on. "And besides that, I'm moving away next weekend."

Light raised an eyebrow at this. "You're moving?"

"Yep," she answered, placing her hands back on the table. "So, since I'm moving, I'll humor you. We can go on a date, discover that we still don't like each other, and then I'll move to a new place where I don't have to think about your stupid face ever again. Sound good, Light-chan?"

Looking visibly irritated, Light released a sigh. "Fine. How about next Friday?"

Crystal merely laid her face down atop her sketchpad. "Sure. Whatever."

"You sure you actually want to do this?" he asked, genuinely perplexed by her behavior.

"I'd...rather not acknowledge the fact..." she trailed off for a moment to collect herself. "That I find you interesting as well." The internal screaming continued.

And Light didn't have to be a genius to see that Crystal was lying through her teeth at this point. She wasn't interested in him romantically at all, but was going along with this in spite of that. Definitely suspicious.

Before either of them could say anything more, Crystal's cell-phone vibrated inside her backpack. Without lifting her head from the sketchpad, Crystal reached into the bag and plucked out the phone. Only after releasing an irritated groan did she lift her head enough to look at the screen.

And what she saw there shook her to the core.

Light immediately saw a shift in Crystal's posture as she stared at the screen, absorbing the words of a message he couldn't see.

"If I ask her what's wrong, will it make her more suspicious of me..."

Knowing that he was still watching her, Crystal clicked off from her text messages and muted the phone before tossing it back into her bag, unintentionally cutting off Light's contemplating. In the next second she was gathering up her things, heedless of the fact that Mr. Tomoshi was starting to stir.

"Light, I'm leaving. Cover for me."

"Wait, what about..."

"It's a family emergency," she stated pointedly. "Since you apparently want to be my boyfriend all of a sudden, do something that a boyfriend would do and cover for me."

Without another word or glance to him, she left the room.

Once out in the courtyard, Crystal quickly opened the message again.

I'm going to kill them all. You can't save them.

~Kira

In his lair underground, David Makano threw his cell phone to the concrete floor, having received the exact same message.

"This is bad," he thought. "What am I going to do?"

Hinata pressed the send button on the disposable phone she'd been given. Then, after glancing about the park to make sure no one was paying attention to her, broke the flimsy phone in half and tossed its remains into her purse. Once that task was complete, she returned her attention to her daughter on the swings a short distance ahead of her. A little boy was pushing her and another little girl on the swings. She could hear all of them giggling and could just barely make out Nagisa's smiling face as she kept screaming, "Higher! Higher!"

It was a sweet sight that almost broke Hinata's heart.

She knew how deeply her daughter loved the Makano family. This loss was going to be hard for them both.

But it had to be done.

Kira wasn't going to let them live otherwise.

A/N: And that is the end of the chapter. Whew! A lot happened in this one, and from here things are probably going to go kinda fast, so prepare for some major action next time. Hopefully I will update a lot faster than I did this last time. Thanks for reading and God bless you all!