You Don't Know Jack

by RedLightsRedFights

There is another detective that is well-known in the world besides L: Jack, the faceless Cyber Detective that uses technology and immaculate hacking skills to undo criminals and expose them to the police. Though outwardly sarcastic and humorous, Jack carries a dark past that haunts her almost as much as the Shinigami, Nox. (WARNING: This story touches on sensitive subjects. LxOC)

4. Bang

Jack

I woke, blinking eyes bleary with sleep. This bed was much more cozy than the one I had when I was at the apartment. The gentle music I slept to was still playing in my right ear. My left ear bud must have fallen out while I slept. I had to use these rather than the big headphones at night. It wasn't exactly comfortable to snooze with those on. I rolled over on my side and sighed contently, fully planning on going back to sleep, but then a voice spoke out.

"You left your meds on the bedside table."

I sat up and turned to see Nox leaning on the wall by the door munching on an apple.

"Where did you get that?" I asked with a sigh of irritation.

To anyone else, they'd see an apple floating in the air, disappearing bite by bite. Which meant if he went to get it, L or Watari could have seen an apple just float from the kitchen back to my room. Given Kira's latest note to L about gods of death loving apples, I didn't think that would bode well for me. And besides, wasn't Nox dead set against anyone finding out about him?

"I'm more careful than you give me credit for," he scoffed. He gestured to the bedside table. "Unlike you."

I looked over to see a bottle of pills sitting there, the lid off. I was so used to bunking on my own, I hadn't thought of putting them out of sight. I reached over and replaced the cap, then put the bottle under my pillow. Not exactly an original hiding spot, but I doubted that L would look through my room unless I gave him cause to. I didn't plan on doing that.

"Then again," Nox mused as I stretched and got out of bed. "I don't really see an issue of him seeing them."

"It's none of his business, for one," I said. "Stay out here while I change."

"Sheesh, you don't have to tell me every time," Nox grumbled.

"The one time I don't, you'll watch and say I didn't tell you not to," I retorted. "Don't act like I don't know you, Nox."

"You don't."

"I know enough."

I grabbed some clothes for the day and went into my bathroom, closing the door behind me. I changed into some gray sweats and a long-sleeve shirt. It too was gray but with horizontal white stripes along it. It bore a wide neck hole, exposing my collar bone. I managed to find some socks, one bright pink, the other black. They were similar in style, close enough to matching in my opinion. I wasn't a big fan of shoes, but unlike L, I didn't like leaving my feet bare. Socks were my favorite article of clothing.

Once I was changed, I brushed my teeth and combed out my short hair to look a little less bedraggled. It sort of worked, but my short bangs still stuck up and refused to lie flat. I could wet them, but that seemed like too much work. It wasn't like I was going out anywhere. L could deal with the bedhead. And the lack of makeup, not that I really partook in the latter in the first place.

Finally, I switched out my iPod and headphones. I had two iPod Nanos, one blue, one pink. The blue one was for night, and while I used that one, the pink one charged. In the morning I swapped them out, along with switching to my larger headphones. I considered for a moment of sticking with the ear buds for the day since I would probably be speaking with L for most of it. That thought alone made my stomach tighten up a bit. But I elected to stick with the larger pair. I was used to the weight on my head by now.

The switch was swift and efficient. I tried my best not to notice the silence as I swapped out. I even put on the bathroom fan before doing it. Once that was done, I plugged in the blue iPod and headed out of the bathroom.

"Nice hair," Nox noted.

"Nice sass," I shot back. "Put that apple core in the bathroom trash. And try not to eat anymore in here. If you need to have some, go out on the town. I don't need to have a collection of apple cores in my trash. L will probably think something is up with that."

Nox stuck his tongue out at me. It was blue.

"Try to behave," I said with a grin. "Show time."

With that I opened the door.

The scent of waffles greeted me. I inhaled the sweet smell with a wide smile. My stomach was already rumbling with approval.

"Looks good!" I noted as I approached the table in the living room.

L appeared to have already finished eating. I saw a plate with crumbs and syrup left on the table not far from him. Directly before him was an open laptop. He had one hand on the mouse pad, the other was near his mouth, thumb nail between his teeth.

"If you keep doing that, it'll make your fingers bleed," I told him as I sat down and started to pile some waffles onto a ready plate.

"All the FBI agents are dead."

L said it so suddenly and calmly, I didn't fully take in his words at first. I was pouring syrup on my waffles and bobbing my head to the beat of the song that was playing in my right ear. Then it hit me. My head snapped up and I stared at the detective, syrup still lethargically seeping down onto my waffles.

"What?"

L nodded, eyes still on the screen of his laptop.

"Heart attacks," he said. "All twelve of them."

"But..." I shook my head. "H-how? I... their names, you said..."

"I know what I said," L replied.

I blinked rapidly. Could it be that Kira got the Shinigami Eyes from his own Shinigami? But even then, Nox said that most of the face needs to be visible in order to see their name. The likelihood of Kira somehow managing to see all twelve FBI agents and know that they were with the FBI to begin with... No. No, Kira was not the type to trade half his lifespan for the Shinigami Eyes; he carried too much arrogance, too much pride in himself. He wanted to live as long as possible to see the world he could create.

"He must have gained access to the names somehow," I breathed.

L finally looked up at me. "You're making a mess with that syrup."

I looked down to see I was still pouring the maple goodness onto my waffles, and they were so drowned in the stuff that it was seeping over the sides of the plate onto the table.

"Ah, shit, sorry," I grumbled, setting down the syrup and grabbing some napkins.

As I cleaned, L turned his attention back to the laptop. "They died within close succession of one another—a statement in itself. One of them died in the subway, just off the Yamanote line."

"There could be footage of that," I noted.

L nodded. I heard him release a long exhale through his nose. I glanced at him as I picked up my plate. His eyes were troubled to say the least; I could see the tension in his shoulders. This was a loss, I realized, and L did not enjoy losing. He bit his thumbnail again.

Figuring he would speak to me when he was ready, I took my plate to the kitchen to toss the waffles. They were inedible to me being so saturated in syrup, and with the news of the FBI agents, my appetite was gone anyway. As I headed out of the kitchen, L abruptly got to his feet and began heading toward the room across the living room—his own room, I guessed. For the brief moment the door was open, I spotted a desktop computer inside on desk, then the door was closed.

I went back to the couch by the table and stretched out, waiting for L to come back. I wasn't sure what he was doing, but after a moment, I heard the muffle of his voice speaking. I couldn't make out any of his words, it was just a dull thrum. I glanced toward my own room and wondered if L could hear me talking to Nox. I made a note to myself to keep my voice down next time.

I hopped off of the couch and laid on the floor instead. Working out always helped me think, and it was important I kept in shape. Though I hadn't spoken to Austin in almost a year, I could still imagine him badgering me. I began to do some basic crunches. My core was quite used to them and my torso lifted with ease. I clasped my left headphone over my ear and let the music surround me, trying to figure out our next steps.

This situation was bad, but at the same time, it might be good. The police did not know the FBI agents were in Japan. Only L and Watari knew of their presence—and the US, I supposed, since they were the ones to send them. So that meant one of them was caught when they were tailing Kira. It narrowed our suspect list down, which was exactly what we needed.

Ideally, I wanted to see if there was footage of the FBI agent that died in the subway. It could hold a key, something we could use. If it didn't... well...

There was a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see L was back and I freed one of my ears again, sitting up.

"What's up, Sherlock?" I asked him.

L's mouth twitched at the nickname. "Exercise?"

"You'd be surprised how often I need to run away from people."

L gave a small grunt, shaking his head. "Yes, well. We will have visitors this evening. Midnight to be specific."

I blinked as I got back onto the couch. "Visitors?"

"Some of the Japanese police force that I trust. Well, I trust them about as much as I can in this case," L said. "I have invited them to come meet face to face. Speaking over video chat will not do. You of all people know the vulnerabilities of technology when it comes to exchanging information. From now on, we will have a task force set up for defeating Kira."

"You're showing your face to more people?" I asked, brows raised. "And here I thought I was special."

L shrugged and went to perch on his chair again. "This case is... complicated to say the least. I need to take some risks."

"Well, I'll take them with you, L," I said.

L met my eyes. He seemed surprised, his mouth slightly agape. "Listen: your assistance is of course welcome. But you do not have to dive as deeply as I am. You don't need to—"

"L, if you're comfortable with showing your face to these people, I will too," I said. "This case is going to take everything we have, even more than BB."

L nodded, but the movement was slow and jerky. "I appreciate the sentiment."

I couldn't tell if he truly meant those words or if he was just speaking them out of formality. Either way, I smiled at him.

"Can I have the codename Butt Nugget?" I asked.

L let out a grunt; it was either out of disgust or amusement. "You are Nina Forner, remember?"

"That's an alias, sure, but Butt Nugget is probably the best codename ever," I told him. "Let the name grow with renown, let it strike fear in Kira's heart!"

L looked over at me with a frown, but his eyes were glinting a bit. "Tonight, I will ensure none of the officers are Kira," he said, electing to completely ignore my comment. "I will still introduce myself as L, and you as Jack, but tell them to refer to us as our aliases. That way they get comfortable with it. Can't have any slip ups should, for any reason, either of us have to go out into public with them."

I shrugged. "I doubt Kira would know who I am, even if they use the name Jack."

"Best not to take any chances," L replied. "Do you require any means to stay up until midnight? I can make more royal milk tea."

"Do that. I don't need it, but still do it," I said with a laugh.

The rest of our day was one of comparing notes and ideas as well as lounging and TV. L and I both came to agreement that getting footage of the FBI agent that died in the subway would be their next step after speaking to the agents. There came to be a time when we finally had spoken about everything we could with the case, so I put on my headphones and doused myself in my music for a few hours.

Finally, midnight came, and I sat up, releasing one of my ears from my headphone. L had made some royal milk tea and was just setting it down on the table.

"Many thanks," I told him with a cheeky grin. "You'll have to show me how you make it. This is probably the best I've had."

"It's mainly about timing," L said, perching in his chair. "With the steeping, I mean."

He observed me for a moment. I started feeling self conscious.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you always have to listen to music?" he asked.

"Do you always have to sit like a nervous bird?" I countered.

There was a knock on the door before the detective could reply. L was on his feet and loping across the room within a heartbeat. He moved with a strange grace, despite his poor posture. I craned my head to peek out into the entrance room to watch. He opened the door and took a step back.

"Glad you could make it," he greeted who was there in Japanese. "Come in."

He turned and stepped back toward the living room of his suite. Behind him came six men, all in suits and looking bewildered. I recognized two of them, Soichiro Yagami and Touta Matsuda, the ones that took my card for L. The others I knew only from the files I managed to see while in their systems.

There was Shuichi Aizawa, a man with a stern face and a thick afro of dark hair. Hirokazu Ukita, the smallest of the group, with short black hair and petite features. The largest of the group was Kanzo Mogi. Oddly, his face seemed somewhat gentle, and he kept his hair short and neat.

When the door closed behind them, L rubbed the back of his neck.

"I am L," he said. He seemed more shy and awkward introducing himself to them as he had with me.

"Ah, Soichiro Yagami," Yagami said, taking out his badge and offering it. All the other officers did the same, introducing themselves one by one.

L slowly held up a hand, holding it like a gun. "Bang," he said.

"I don't understand," Matsuda said, his brow furrowing.

"If I were Kira, you'd all be dead," L explained. "Kira needs a face and a name to kill. Perhaps you shouldn't give out your identities so freely. Let's value out lives." He turned, walking back toward the living room.

I was pleased that L had pointed out their stupidity. Names were key in this game, and if they just gave out their identities so easily, Kira would kill them before they could do anything. To their credit, all of the officers looked incredibly sheepish. I heard Nox laughing.

"Please turn off all cell phones, pagers, and other communication devices and leave them on the table," L instructed, gesturing at a small table near the coat rack.

"What, you think we're going to leak information to Kira?" Aizawa demanded.

"It's okay," Yagami said. "Do as he says."

"I know he's meeting with us, but I can't tell if he actually trusts us," Matsuda muttered.

"It's not so much that," L explained. "I just find the noise distracting. I can't stand it when someone's cell phone rings while I'm trying to talk."

He then came back toward me at that point. I realized I was still stretched out across the couch when the detective gave me a pointed look.

"Oh, right," I said and shifted to where I was sitting upright, careful not to spill my royal milk tea. I got to my feet, not wanting to get crammed on the couch with any of the officers.

They all stopped dead when they came into the room and spotted me.

"It's you! Jack's messenger!" Matsuda recognized me first. "Wh-what are you doing here? Are you representing Jack?"

Nox let out another laugh. He was leaning on the wall near the kitchen. "He's a slow one," the Shinigami noted.

I kept my eyes on Matsuda. "Oh, hon. That's so sweet that you think that."

Matsuda's cheeks and ears reddened. "I- I mean... I thought you were to Jack like Watari is to L..."

I bowed deeply. "Well let me put it all to rest. Hello, I am Jack. A pleasure." When I straightened up again I winked.

Aizawa stepped forward, brow furrowed. "And how exactly do we know we can trust you?"

"Jack has worked with me before," L said. "She is not Kira, and will be a valuable asset on this case. Her hacking skills with computers and other knowledge of tech is unparalleled with anyone I've ever met."

Hearing him say that made me swell with pride.

"And how exactly do you know she isn't Kira, or working for him?" Ukita asked. His gaze was so sharp I was certain my throat was going to spontaneously slit.

"She is not Kira," L repeated. "I trust her... with my life, even."

I blinked at that. I suppose he did, considering what I knew. I felt a bit warm inside about his words nonetheless.

"Let me start by saying there will be no note taking," L said as he went to his seat. "We will be relying on memory alone. I don't want there to be any chance of what we discuss to get into the hands of Kira, you understand." He perched back in his chair, gripping his cup of royal milk tea. "Please make yourself comfortable."

The officers came further into the room at that point. I went to L's chair and sat myself on one of the armrests. He cast me a glance that told me he wasn't entirely comfortable with my closeness. To be honest, I wasn't too entirely cool with it either, but if it was sitting by him or being squashed on the couch with the officers that clearly did not appreciate my presence, I was going to pick him.

L drained his tea, so he poured himself another cup. He offered to refill my own cup and I allowed him to top it off, despite it only being half empty. The scent of it wafted upwards, steam coiling from the spout as he poured. He gently sat down the pot and sipped his cup. His nose scrunched up and he reached for the sugar cup, tossing in seven cubes. Seven. I raised my brows at him, but he ignored me.

The officers had seated themselves. Yagami was on the couch where I had been earlier, in the middle was Matsuda, then there was Mogi on the other end. In the chair where Nox had been sitting when I had my first conversation with L was Ukita. Aizawa was in the chair across the coffee table from the couch. He kept shooting me agitated glares. I met them with smiles.

"Excuse me, L?" Matsuda began, his voice delicate.

"Mm, I must ask that you do not refer to me as L from now on," L said. "It's Ryuzaki now, just to be safe."

"Okay, Ryuzaki..." Matsuda said slowly, as if tasting the name. "If Kira truly does need a face and a name to kill, why don't we limit what we broadcast on the news when criminals are caught? It would limit the killing."

Not a bad idea, to be honest. But I could tell by the lackluster reaction L gave that he'd already considered it. He was stirring the absurd amount of sugar into his tea.

"If we do that, we will only be putting the general public at risk," he said.

I furrowed my brow, trying to understand what made L think that. The officers were confused as well.

"The general public?" Ukita echoed.

"What makes you say that?" Aizawa asked.

It clicked for me. In my mind's eye, I saw the broadcast he put out to narrow down Kira's location to the Kanto region in Japan. Lind L. Tailor hadn't died until after he accused Kira to be evil.

"Kira is childish and hates to lose," L explained nonchalantly.

"But how do you...?" Matsuda began.

"What are you getting at, Ryuzaki?" Yagami demanded.

"He's saying Kira would throw a temper tantrum," I said, leaning back and grinning lightly. "You take away his toys, he'll find the crayons and start drawing on the walls to show you just what he'll do until you give them back."

The officers didn't seem to get my metaphor.

"What Jack means to say is that Kira would start killing innocents to punish us until we start displaying criminal information again," L said. "Which I believe is exactly what he would do. As to how I know that's how he is... it's simple, really. I am also childish and hate to lose."

I raised my brows at him again. That sure was something to admit just offhandedly. He sipped his cup, not meeting anyone's gaze.

"Ryuzaki, would you mind being a bit more specific for us?" Yagami asked.

"Well... I tried to provoke Kira when I narrowed his location down to the Kanto region," L explained. "Previously, we had thought Kira would only kill criminals, but he didn't hesitate to kill my stand-in."

"Well, he kind of did," I said before I could stop myself.

All eyes went to me and I shrugged.

"I mean, he didn't kill you... or rather, Lind L. Tailor... until after you called him evil," I pointed out. "Think about it. He only targeted criminals up to that point. It really seems like someone is trying to play god. If you ask me, it would be kind of weird if Kira turned out to be older. He really seems to have the mindset of a young adult, if not a teenager. He wants to be the hero, and when you accused him of being the villain, it made him mad and... well, draw on the wall with his crayons."

"You have interesting metaphors for death," Matsuda noted.

I shrugged. "It's a talent."

"Getting back to the point..." L's tone was slightly annoyed. "After that, Kira's next few victims were from within Japan, as if to say, 'what are you going to do about it?'" The detective took a long drink from his cup. "He has met each of my challenges head on and always makes sure to return the favor. Now tell me, how do you think putting media restrictions up will do against someone like that?"

Matsuda's shoulders sank. "I guess..." he trailed off, hanging his head.

"You hide the most dangerous criminals from me, and I'll kill petty criminals or the innocent," L said. "I'll hold the whole world hostage. I'm not evil, but those who try to hide criminals from me, those are the ones who are truly evil."

I could hear the tinge of anger in L's voice. He rubbed his bare feet over each other. He was right, he was similar to Kira. Someone daring to call him evil made him very uncomfortable. I drank my royal milk tea and tried to think. Per the notes I managed to snag from the police station, L had told the police that he believed Kira might be a student because of his killing schedule and childish nature. The killing times changed after that, so that's what led L to believe Kira had eyes inside the police.

I glanced over the officers in the room. No... I didn't think any of them could be Kira. But it was possible Kira was related to them. Nox's offer for the Shinigami Eyes suddenly seemed tantalizing. A part of me had worried Kira might make the deal for the Eyes with his own Shinigami... but judging by the way the kills were still happening, it appeared he hadn't done it. And as I had thought about before, I doubted Kira would take the deal. He was too proud. Too childish, as L said. He wouldn't take those Eyes unless he was desperate.

"However, I do believe we could still make use of the media," L went on. "How about something like this... Death of FBI agents infuriates US, the national police enraged agree to send 1500 investigators to Japan."

"That seems a little extreme," I noted.

L shrugged. "Extreme is what catches Kira's attention. This will be way beyond what he faced with the FBI. He'll see everyone as a potential threat. Psychologically, he'll start to feel cornered, and it will cause him to take some kind of drastic action."

I frowned at him. Surely, he realized that this extreme was laughably unrealistic. Someone as clever as Kira would see through it. But perhaps that was his ploy.

The officers in the room, however, all seemed to swell with hope, smiles blooming across their lips.

"That just might work!" Ukita said.

"He'll think there's over a hundred of us when it's just us eight," Aizawa said. "And he'll be trying to figure out how to kill people that don't even exist!"

"Well, before we celebrate, I'll tell you the rest of my thoughts on the Kira case," L said. "Kira works alone. He had access to all our files on the Kira case."

"Doesn't Jack work alone?" Aizawa asked, shooting me a glare.

I rolled my eyes. "If I was Kira, you'd all already be dead," I told him.

"I'm just saying, your sudden appearance is odd," Aizawa snapped.

"I worked a case with L before. I saw he had this one and figured he'd need my help," I defended. "Is that so bad? Or would you prefer I just sit back and do nothing?"

"If we can get back to the task at hand," L said. There was the strain of impatience in his tone. "We know Kira needs a face and a name to kill. And to some extent he can control the victims time of death and their actions before they die."

The detective pulled out a black marker from his pocket and popped off the cap. He eyed each of the officers one at a time.

"Now, keep that in mind, and listening closely to what I have to say next," he said. He began to write on the table with his marker. I raised a brow at this blatant disrespect for hotel property and leaned forward to observe. "On December 14th, twelve FBI agents enter Japan. Here we are on December 19th. Kira conducts experiments, manipulating his victims actions before they die. Obviously in the span of these five days, Kira became aware of the FBI's presence and felt threatened." L drew a line between the two sentences of Katakana, running the marker back and forth to make it darken with each stroke. "Because he didn't know any of their names or faces, he was at a disadvantage."

I felt my lips dip into a thoughtful frown. "You think he wanted to test his limits of what he could do before tackling the agents," I stated rather than asked.

L glanced at me. I couldn't tell if he was impressed or not. His dark eyes were a void. "Precisely," he said, turning back to the table. "And as we all know, on December 27th..."

"He iced all your FBI agents," I finished.

L nodded. He added that to the table, drawing more lines. "We know that there were at least 23 deaths during this period, all of which were heart attacks," he went on, drawing the number between 12/19 and 12/27. "But these victims were different from Kira's previous targets. They were all criminals from ongoing investigations, so legally speaking, they were innocent."

"That's true," Yagami admitted.

"What this indicates is that Kira had to manipulate these lesser criminals to expose the FBI agents," L explained. "He killed so many people so that we couldn't tell the decoys from those he actually used. In truth, he probably only needed a few. He waited eight days so that the FBI could investigate other suspects, which meant there would be no timeline linking him to their deaths."

I slipped off the armrest of the chair and took a closer look at L's scribbles on the table. He raised his head, perking a brow at me. I pointed down at the line he'd drawn between 12/14, when the FBI agents first arrived, and 12/19, when Kira conducted his experimental murders.

"It had to happen in this time period," I said.

"What had to have happened?" Mogi asked.

I turned toward the officers. "Kira was being investigated somewhere between the 14th and the 19th. What else would have spooked him to start experimenting?"

I had asked Nox questions about the Death Note. He already made it clear he wasn't going to outright give me information, but every time I grilled him for it, he gave it freely. If a name is written in the notebook and it is the correct name and matches the face of who one thinks about, the person will die in 40 seconds from a heart attack. It was why Lind L. Tailor died about 44 seconds after he accused Kira of being evil, just enough time for Kira to write down the name and the 40 seconds to tick down to his death.

But if someone wrote the cause of death within 40 seconds of placing down the name, they had six minutes and 40 seconds to write out the their actions before their death. This meant the cause of death did not have to be a heart attack. Kira was clever. He stuck mainly to heart attacks because he was only using the other types of deaths for his own purposes- to keep himself hidden and to oppose those who wished to stop him. But I had a feeling that 12/19 is when he wanted to see just to what extent he could manipulate someone before their death. It was like L said, he wanted to test his abilities before taking on the FBI.

For him to conduct so many experiments in one day implied something really freaked him out. He wanted to learn, and he wanted to learn fast.

"I agree," L said. "In fact, I have no doubt about that." He reached down and drew up some papers from under the coffee table. "These are some files from the FBI. You may find their information useful. For obvious reasons, they are not allowed outside this room, but..." He handed them out, and the officers began to split them up.

"This is amazing!" Matsuda said, beaming at the papers. "There may only be five of us, but we can cover a lot of ground with these!"

"We'll split into two teams," Aizawa said. "One investigates the FBI deaths, the other the heart attack victims."

"There weren't that many people that had access to our information back at headquarters," Matsuda noted, looking through his papers. "And out of those, there was only a small handful being investigated within the first five days."

"Does anyone have any questions?" L asked, leaning back from the table and gripping his knees. Honestly, he looked bored to me.

"Actually Ryuzaki, I do have a question," Yagami said. "It pertains to what you said earlier, about how you hate to lose. Is you revealing yourself to us, you being here now, mean that you've lost? Are you admitting defeat to Kira?"

I turned my gaze to the detective, finding myself interested in his response.

L was still, his posture like stone. His dark gaze was locked onto Yagami, and when he finally spoke, his voice was soft. "That's right," he said. "By revealing myself to you all now, by sacrificing 12 FBI agents, even by involving Nina..." He glanced at me which I returned with a smile. "I have lost the battle." His eyes narrowed and his voice grew serious, full of promise. "But I'm not going to lose the war."

Nox let out a low laugh. "He's awfully confident, despite the odds."

I glanced toward the Shinigami to see him smiling wickedly from the edge of the room. It was truly disturbing how such a human-looking face could have a grin that literally reached the ears.

"This is the first time I've ever put my life on the line," L admitted. "Jack's too." He shot me a glance. "But I want to show Kira that we're willing to risk our lives if that's what it's going to take. We will stop him." He smiled then, the first time I'd ever seen it. It was oddly adorable. "And justice will prevail."

The officers seem to blossom with hope at his words.

"That's right!" Mogi said.

"We can do this," Matsuda vowed.

"Just one last thing before we move on," L said. "I need to ensure none of you are Kira, so I would like to speak with each of you before you leave privately."

"Sheesh, what's the deal, he still doesn't trust us?" Aizawa grumbled.

"No, it's fine," Yagami said. "We can certainly speak with you, Ryuzaki."

L nodded curtly and got to his feet. I rose with him and walked with him toward the large windows on the far side of the room.

"You think you'll be able to determine none of them are Kira just with a few words?" I asked him, keeping my voice low.

He looked at me from the corner of his dark eyes. "Of course. I know Kira has eyes inside the police, but I do not think any of these men are him or are willingly providing him information. But I only need a few moments with each of them to make certain."

I shrugged. "This is your area of expertise, I suppose. Let me know if you want me to hack into any of their home computers."

L brought his nail up to his teeth again, but I reached out and gave his hand a small smack. He slowly turned to look at me as if I had affronted his deepest most sacred beliefs.

"What was that for?" he asked.

I was surprised that I caught him off guard to be honest.

"You shouldn't bite your nails," I told him. "You'll make them bleed if you go too deep."

"I hardly need you to parent me, Nina," L said.

I leaned close to him. "When you call me by my real name, maybe I'll consider cutting you some slack."

L let out a breath through his nose, only staring at me for a moment longer before turning his head and looking behind us toward the officers. "Chief Yagami, if you would join me."

Taking that as my dismissal, I headed for the kitchen, eager to get some more royal milk tea, not that I needed the caffeine to keep me up. Nox was still leaning by the doorway and he smiled at me as I passed him.

"Interesting group. Seems you made some new fans. How tactful," he said.

"Everybody loves me," I sang to him in English, which happened to be the lyrics that were playing in my ears as I replaced the left headphone back in place.