"L, why did you do that?" yelled Soichiro Yagami at the laptop; he was angry. He wished L was in the same room as him so that he could shake some sense into the bastard. "You goaded Kira into killing a man he thought was you! You are crossing some very dangerous lines!"

"You act as though the world is black and white," replied L, calmly; though it was hard to tell due to the voice filter. "You refuse to acknowledge the shades of grey that humans simply are."

"What did you're gambit accomplish?" asked Soichiro, trying to cool down and think rationally.

"I determined that he was unable to kill me due to not knowing my name and/or face," stated L, while Soichiro and the rest of his team looked at each other, perplexed. "Actually, I am almost positive that Kira needs at least a name to kill. And he doesn't know my real name."

"Was getting that clue worth being responsible for a man's murder?" asked Soichiro, finding means of investigation to be overly calloused; he planned to call him out on this behavior before it went too far.

"That man was going to be executed by the state. He was living on borrowed time," argued L. "Therefore I am not responsible for taking a life, I only allowed his death to serve a purpose."

"Well, then," began Soichiro as he straightened his shoulders. "Couldn't Kira make the same argument for himself. He murders criminals that he deems deserving it and frightens off any potential criminals by putting the fear of death in them."

"Well, for starters Tailor had his trial and was sentenced accordingly. Then there are the criminals that Kira kills. They range anywhere from murderers to petty thieves. His perspective is almost draconian in nature; that all crimes are equal and deserving of death," explained L. "He also kills those that are undeserving of death by his own standards; the missing chunk of your police force can attest to that. He then goes so far as to taunt the NPA about it; Kira thinks he's God and doesn't have to face the consequences of his actions."

"L, I am not saying that you are wrong for wanting to catch Kira as swiftly as possible," conceded Soichiro, pinching the bridge of his nose; he could feel a headache was fast approaching. "I am just asking you not to blur the lines between good and evil more than necessary."

"I won't go further than necessary," agreed L, placating the police chief before changing subject. "The NPA Headquarters is too well-known and distinctive for our more clandestine operations."

"What do you want us to do about that then?" asked Matsuda, crossing his arms as he grew more irritated by the new guy's antics.

"I've already taken this into consideration, and have established a place for us to meet," explain L. "I am sending you directions via e-mail. We'll see each other there at 5am tomorrow."

"We'll see you then," agreed Soichiro as he turned off the video transmission and opened his e-mail.

At 5am the following day, Soichiro and his team stood outside what appeared to be some average studio apartment building in an urban neighborhood. Buzzing to be let in they immediately headed to unit four as detailed in the e-mail and confirmed at the door.

They were greeted by an elderly man, who introduced himself as Watari. He politely escorted into the main room of the apartment where an abundance of technical equipment had been set-up. And sitting amongst it all was a man they could only assume was L.

L wasn't at all what they'd expected. He was a young man, of about twenty-five; he had pale skin, messy black hair and dark shadows under his even darker coloured eyes. He vaguely resembled a creature from a horror flick; beautiful, but undeniably eerie.

He was also barefoot, wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, with faded blue jeans. Soichiro tilted his head as he observed L's peculiar sitting position; he almost in a crouching position with his feet on the seat and his knees almost level with his chest.

"I am L," said the young man, introducing himself.

"This L guy is quite... different than I imagined," said Matsuda, rudely voicing everyone's thoughts. Mogi fought the urge to slap him upside the head.

Soichiro decided he better get on with the introduction so that they could start working on finally solving this case. He pulled out his ID.

"Yagami, chief of the NPA," greeted Soichiro as the others all displaced their IDs as well.

"Touta Matsuda," said Matsuda, following the Chief's lead. The rest of task force followed suit as well.

"Shuichi Aizawa."

"Kanzo Mogi."

"Hirokazu Ukita."

"Hideki Ide."

"You know if I was Kira, you'd all be dead now," said L, positioning his hand into the shape of a gun and pretended to shoot them with a 'bang'. "All thanks to Yagami there. If I were you, I wouldn't be so incline to disclose my identity in future."

"Oh," muttered Soichiro, awkwardly putting his ID away; the other officers had done the same. "So, L, wha-"

"While you're here, working with me you may call me Ryuzaki," interrupted L, as he poured himself some tea.

"Alright, Ryuzaki," agreed Soichiro, before getting back to his previously interrupted questions. "What do you plan for us to do to avoid being Kira's next victims? And why do you think Kira needs a name and perhaps a face to kill?"

"Because when Lind L. Tailor was on TV, his full name was on-screen, and Kira killed him," answered L, pausing briefly to sip his tea. "But when I challenged him to kill me, he didn't. I believe he couldn't due to not knowing my name or face like he did Tailor's."

"I think you're jumping to some pretty far-fetched conclusions," snorted Aizawa in disbelief.

"I actually think it's the only thing that could make sense," commented Matsuda, in complete contrast to Aizawa's thoughts. "The only criminals that are dying had both their name and face disclosed to the public. News programs where the criminal was not yet identified or only had their names disclosed to the public have not been killed."

"Regardless, we're taking precautions based off of my theory until it is either proven to be false or no longer necessary," explained L, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the two officers that were now arguing. He then turned his attentions back to Soichiro. "As to your first question, we will all be using fake IDs and aliases."

Watari had then entered the room with a briefcase arm one arm. Opening he had then proceeded to hand them out. Soichiro looked at his ID; the name on it was Yonjuro Asahi. He took at a curious glimpse of the other task force members' badges; Matsuda's was Matsui, Aizawa's was Aihara, Mogi's was Moji, Ukita's was Okita, and Ide's was Ode. It seemed as though a majority of these names were phonetically similar to their actual names; Soichiro guessed it made it easier to remember.

"Fake IDs?" asked Matsuda, surprised. "But isn't that illegal?"

"I'm aware of that, but we do not have much of a choice," replied L, placing his thumb on the top his lip. "Kira most likely kills using a person's name and face. So our options are limited; it's you decision whether to follow my recommendations, or die."

"Alright," agreed Soichiro. "We'll do you ask."

"Well, now that we're all in agreement," said L, as quickly finished his cup of tea. "Shall we get to work?"

Light did not see his father when he got home from school. It had only been a day, but as time passed Light began to grow worried. He now knew that Kira had a strange and deadly power that allowed him to strike a person dead if he wills it so. Light had determined that the killer only needed the victim's face; the main difference between the L's screen-time and Lind L. Tailor's was that only one of them to die had his face showing.

In the late afternoon, as Light helped Sayu with her homework, he hoped that father would allow him back on the case. This constant worrying and being unable to do anything about it was driving him insane.

Actually, insanity may be a legit concern. Since the L broadcast he had gotten this strange feeling that someone was following him, watching him. It was a feeling that filled him with dread and foreboding. And the apple cores discarded all throughout his room was beginning to make him question his own actions; he couldn't remember any eating apples, he didn't even like them that much, for that matter.

Still he just decided to shrug it before heading for bed. As he cleaned up the mess, a monstrous-looking creature continued to observe him with bright red eyes.