"Ryuzaki, are you sure about this?" Aizawa asked before Matsuda and Akemi were let into the room. "We don't know anything about this girl! She could be Kira or she could be working with him to find you!"

"I did consider that but I highly doubt that's the case," the detective known to the world as L replied, his voice soft and calm. Ryuzaki was one of his several aliases. "There's a very small percent chance that she's dangerous. Please let her in so that I may speak with her."

"You're going to let her see you?!" Aizawa couldn't believe it. "It took weeks to get you to trust us enough so we could see your face, now this girl gets to meet you after just showing up here?!"

"Aizawa, if you keep yelling, she might hear you and it will only scare her," L told him, remaining calm. "This is going to be difficult enough for her. And she won't know that I'm L. Now, if you please…"

Aizawa wanted to continue asking why he seemed to trust this stranger more than them but before he could say anything else, Chief Soichiro Yagami stopped him. "It's alright, Aizawa. I'm sure Ryuzaki has his reasons for doing this. But I agree. Perhaps it would be best to take extra precautions just in case she's looking for L and puts two and two together."

"I don't think it's necessary, but if it eases your concerns, have her sit in one of the bedrooms and I'll speak with and monitor her from here," L agreed.

There were no further suggestions or questions and they did exactly as he asked.

When the room's front door opened, Akemi didn't even look up and see who was letting them inside. She just kept her despondent eyes down at her feet as Matsuda walked her through the door and into one of the bedrooms that they had set up surveillance in so L could communicate with her. She sat down on a chair and Matsuda, Aizawa and Mogi stayed with her while L began to question her.

"Miss Yoru," a distorted voice said over a speaker. "If you don't mind, I have some questions I need to ask you."

Akemi kept her gaze lowered. She just wanted to get this over with. "I already told Matsui everything I knew…I just want to go home…Please…"

The voice continued speaking to her. "Have you ever been arrested or done anything illegal in the past?"

"No…"

"What about your family?"

"Not that I know of…"

"Do you have any direct ties to anyone who may have been involved in any criminal activity?"

"God, I don't know…I don't think so…Why?"

"Because we need to know the motive behind the attack on you," L explained. "If someone from your family angered people who don't uphold the law, they could have done this as an act of vengeance."

"Well, I wouldn't know…"

"I have just acquired some information about your father. Kurai Yoru is his name, correct?"

Akemi nodded slightly, still refraining from looking up. "Yes."

"Tell me, where is your father right now?"

"If he isn't home then I don't know…He just told me he was meeting a client and had errands to run. That's all I know…"

"Have you contacted him since? At all?"

"No. I would've called him but it was storming and I didn't want to damage my phone."

"And he hasn't sent you any messages or tried to call you?"

She took her phone out to check just in case. But there was nothing. "No."

"He didn't happen to say who this client was?"

"No. Why are you asking me about my dad?"

L just got right to the point. "It appears that he's somehow involved in embezzling funds from various companies. Do you know anything about that?"

That caused her to finally look up. "What? No, of course not. My dad would never do something like that."

"It seems he has a connection to a wanted criminal who was murdered just a few hours ago. I had officers check on some leads to possible suspects and one of those officers happened to find you. And after digging, I discovered the embezzlement and traced it to your father. And now, you're here. Seems like more than a coincidence, don't you think?"

"Are you implying I had something to do with this?" Akemi asked. "Do you think I'm involved? Are you accusing me?"

"No one is accusing you of anything. I just need to know every detail about what happened today so we can figure out who is after you and pinpoint your father's involvement. There's always a chance he was acting against his will or that he's being blackmailed or framed. I can't overlook a single thing. We must take everything into consideration so we can help you."

Akemi understood and relaxed a little. "Okay…"

"What happened before you were chased and shot at?"

"I went to the mall and a guy from my university showed up and offered me a ride home. But he said he had to take a detour and drove in the opposite direction of my house and so I got out when he stopped at a light and I ran into an alley. Then the car that chased me appeared."

L took all of this information in. "Who offered you a ride? What's his name?"

"Doran Yasai."

"Is he a friend of yours?"

"No. He's interested in me but that's it. I only accepted the ride because of the storm."

"Did he say where he was going to take you?"

"No. All he said was that it was a short detour and it was somewhere in the area."

"Miss Yoru, according to what you know about this person, could he have somehow been involved with any of this?" L wondered. "Do you think maybe he was delivering you to these people?"

"Doran?" Akemi honestly wasn't sure if he was capable of that. "He's kind of a jerk but I don't know if he would have done something like that. He's been hell bent on getting a date with me for years, I doubt he'd take me to people who want to shoot me…"

"Even if he was forced to?" L asked.

"God, I don't know…" Akemi was emotionally exhausted and wished she had answers for him but she just didn't. "Ever since I've known him, he seemed more like an egotistical creep than an actual criminal. And as awful as he is, I can't see him doing something like that. Plus, those people could have been following us since we left the mall, I mean, I have no idea…"

Some more information had been sent to L's computer and he needed a moment to read through it. Once he was finished, he said, "It seems that more people who had been linked to this embezzlement have been murdered and identified. And we still can't verify Mr. Yoru's whereabouts…"

Akemi knew this couldn't be good. Her father was a prime suspect and she feared for his life. The possibility that he could have been killed too but just hadn't been found yet also occurred to her. It scared the life out of her.

"Matsui, contact every news source available and tell them to release Kurai Yoru's information so we may find more leads to his current location," L ordered. "If he's still out there, we need to bring him in as soon as possible." Matsuda hesitated for a moment but then took his phone out to start calling.

"NO!" Akemi cried and stood up so she could dart over to Matsuda and stop him but Aizawa and Mogi reached for her arms and forced her to sit back down. All eyes were on her as she desperately tried to persuade them not to follow through with L's request. "You can't! Please! Don't tell the public he's a criminal and release his name! If he's not dead already, Kira will kill him if you do that! Please, you can't! You even said he might have been framed for this! I'm more than sure he's innocent! How do you know that Kira himself isn't murdering all these people? You can't tell everyone my dad did this because I know he didn't!" Her tear filled gaze dropped and her voice trembled. "Please…There has to be something I can do…I'm begging you…He's all I have in this world…Please…"

Both rooms fell quiet as everyone listened to Akemi's faint sobs while L thought everything over. He knew there was a chance her father was innocent but he also knew they needed to find him whether he was guilty or not. More lives were in danger and he couldn't let himself rest until he solved this.

"I'll stay here and cooperate with you as long as you promise to protect my father and swear that you won't let Kira know his name," Akemi said through her sobs. "I'll do anything I can to help you find the people who were after me, I don't care what I have to do…Just please don't release his name…"

Matsuda didn't know of what to make of this. "Can we even do that?" he wondered.

"It's up to Ryuzaki," Aizawa told him. "You know he doesn't always do things by the book."

L pondered over her proposal. It didn't take him long to come to his decision. "Alright. If you wish to remain here while we investigate this to ensure your cooperation and safety, then you must realize that this means you cannot leave this building without an officer present. Your cell phone will be deactivated but we will transfer your number to one of our untraceable phones in case your father tries to contact you. And all phone calls you make will be archived. Do you understand this?"

"I understand," Akemi sighed. She supposed this was better than letting them give out her father's information to the media. She handed her phone to Matsuda so they could make the changes.

"We'll attempt to find another way to track down your father and as long as you hold up your end of the deal, we'll hold up ours," L promised. "I hope we're clear on that."

"We are."

"Very well." L turned off his microphone so he could address his assistant, Watari, privately. "Please disable the surveillance equipment from Miss Yoru's room for the time being, Watari. And please give her something to eat and dry clothes to change into."

A few minutes had slowly crept by and Akemi was alone in her bedroom now, sitting on the bed, trying her best to stay strong and compose herself. Even though she had professionals looking out for her, she felt more alone than ever. She lifted her head when she heard a knock at her door and then a man's voice say, "May I come inside, Miss Yoru?"

She wasn't sure who it was but didn't have the strength to argue with anyone. "Yeah…"

The door opened and Watari stepped inside the room, wheeling in a cart with a full meal and dessert for her and then he hung up some brand new clothes for her to wear in her closet. "Please let us know if you need anything else, Miss Yoru," Watari insisted with a kind smile before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. Akemi sat in awed silence. She almost couldn't believe how nice these people were treating her especially after being questioned like that. Part of her expected nothing but cold, cheap meals and being treated like she was a suspect under house arrest. But the food she was given looked like expensive room service and the clothes they provided were of high quality. It was a shame she wasn't really in the mood to eat anything and was too drained to even get up and change. But the gesture comforted her a little. Akemi just curled up on her bed, lying awake for hours until her aching, tear stained eyes finally closed and let her sleep.