...
I kept the smile, staring directly at the camera. Even as my, err, criminal- Thats the word! I've got standards to keep after all, helpers dutifully followed the instructions to a T.
In that they were currently filling up Higuchi's country home with a station's worth in fuel. I was rather glad the man had decided to leave the safety of the city to embark on his Kira'ing journey.
It felt marginally better knowing I was only burning his home alone. Which given what I have planned may or may not paint me as the tiniest bit hypocritical. But alas, human body, human needs to survive.
And needs must.
"I want everyone to memorise these wonderful servants of society," I remarked towards the camera. Idly shifting one arm onto the table, palm under my chin. My smile however dimmed near the end. A glint filling my eyes as I frowned.
"And of course-" I idly flicked L's photo from the bunch, showcasing it to the camera properly. "Their amoral leader. Ryuzaki." I waited a beat, giving the camera my best deadpan look. "And that's coming from Kira."
The candle flickered in the silence that followed, my smile slowly growing back as I promptly decked the pictures together in one move. "These, wonderful-" I repeated the phrase, finding an oddly sour taste to my mouth. "People are one of the few to disagree with the new world order." My smile disappeared again, my gaze looking down towards the decked set of pictures. Soichiru Yagami's face stared back at me, unflinching.
"Not that I can blame them... What use are police in a crime-free world?" I questioned no one in particular.
Letting out a snort, I shook my head. "For the past few months... They've been nipping at my heels-" I palmed my face, false exasperation showing, the stack of photos falling haphazardly onto the table. "Which, don't get me wrong, is their job."
I took a deep breath, my gaze narrowing the slightest.
"I just want to get one, very small thing clear. While I have everyone's attention. I am by no means clean. In fact, I am as criminal as they come!" I more or less felt Rem's robes brush past me. The shinigami having made her return, taking her place near one of the corners, out of view, even though no one could really see her in the first place.
"Which is exactly why, I am more than willing to play dirty. Not to say they've had any success whatsoever wasting yourhard-earned money... And for what? So you can go back to feeling unsafe? So you can walk the street at night wondering if you're going to make it home?" I briefly closed my eyes.
"Which frankly means little to me. Kira's crusade started out of personal ego. Nothing so grandiose as cleansing the world." I snorted, leaning further on my palm. The bone creaking the slightest, though the pain didn't register. "That was more of a side benefit really," The smile grew back, only for the first time today, it was genuine.
"Anyway!" I clapped my hands, the motion not nearly as fast as I'd hoped, nor was used to. In the slightest. "The reason I am even doing this in the first place is simple," I nodded, the smile slipping away as a passive expression took over.
"I believe in an eye for an eye. You, Ryuzaki-kun have tried time and again to force my hand. And now?" The smile slipped in instinctively, the urge to cackle missing and as weird as it was, missed.
"It's my turn. And though you somehow failed at every turn, quite literally losing the plot. I can assure you, I won't." I let out a chuckle for that one, my head briefly shaking as I locked gazes with the camera again.
"And remember folks. This was only ever meant as a warning. I hope you like the results." And with that I promptly switched off the camera. My gaze slowly going towards the open notebook set to the side. The page one of a hundred of duplicates, though each one had a different name on top. With a few minor changes going through out. Though for all intents and purposes. All of them, had more or less, a single almost basic command in it.
All of them, practically celebrities in Japan's Corporation World.
All of them, literally criminal in near damn every way.
All of them in charge of what amounted to 15% of Japan's economy.
It was only a warning after all.
And all it took was finding a single one of them. The amount of information I'd managed to get out of that rat had been near unbelievable!
And that was coming from me.
Why Light never went for them himself was beyond me, given how easy finding out about them turned out to be for me. Though it might've had something to do with their positions in the business world. Most of which didn't exactly have a boss to answer to but rather more of a mirror of themselves.
All of them directed to transfer every last drop they could manage of their companie/s assets overseas. Each and every one spread out between hundreds of off-shore accounts, a few opened in my own name quite recently, though I kept tabs on the rest. The majority of it, more or less, went to funding the very world L and Pals were trying to save.
The criminal one at that.
...