AN Herro! I'm back! Sorry for the long wait! Also, a lot of stuff from episode 11 happens exactly the same in this chapter and the past one, I just don't want to copy it and bore you all to death, so if you want to brush-up on what's going on, I'd recommend rewatching that episode. The reason I say this is because that episode goes over everything that happens between this chapter and last chapter.
Maou POV
"Maou, may I speak with you for a moment?" Light asks me.
I jog over to him, "Sure, what's up?" I ask.
Light takes the slightest glance around us, "Is it okay if we go somewhere a bit more private?" I nod, the flow of students out of the building is a bit distracting, plus, Light somehow has gotten himself a small group of female followers who seem to think they're being discreet.
It only takes us a minute to get to a more quiet place on campus, Light's fans having not wanted to blow their 'cover'. I lean against a tree, I couldn't help but notice that the combination of school, work, and being suspected of being Kira had changed the way I act quite a bit.
"So what'd you want to talk about?" I ask, looking directly at Light.
"I got a call from my father, apparently Ryuzaki thinks both us should join the investigation," Light informed me.
"Really!" I exclaim, hopping forward so that my back is no longer touching the tree, grinning ear to ear, "Great! I can't wait to join, and I especially can't wait to see the look on the Hero's face when I prove her wrong!" I say, twirling happily in a circle.
"The Hero?" Light asks.
I freeze. "Ah, you see, me and Emilia call each other by nicknames, she's the Hero and I'm the… villain," I cover up, smiling.
Light POV
Should I mention the fact that Maou clearly cares more about proving someone wrong than caring if I get caught or not? No, I'd better not.
"Say," Maou speaks again, "You seemed kind of reluctant to join the other day, so are you coming along?" He asks.
"Yes," I respond immediately.
"Why the change of heart?"
I think for a fraction of a second, "I suppose it's because of my father. Seeing him injured like that made me realize that I don't want anything to happen to him," I explained, the truth was, I saw this as a good opportunity to get closer to L and get a better chance of managing my copycat. "We should get going, my father said we should meet up with him as soon as possible," I inform Maou.
"Let's get going then!" Maou exclaims happily.
-Timeskip to when they arrive-
"So I see that both of you decided to come," Ryuuga stated after we arrived.
"Yup! Can't back down to a chance to prove that Emilia isn't as angelic as she thinks she is!" Maou exclaimed, to use the word angelic seemed to stress how arrogant Maou thought is friend/enemy was.
"Are you saying the only reason you want to help on the investigation is because you want to prove someone wrong?" Matsuda asked in shock.
Maou just smirked, surprisingly, the smirk seemed to fit him incredibly well, "Well, what do we do?" he asked.
Ryuuga pointed to the TV, "I would like you to watch these tapes," he told us, my eyes focused on a few tapes beside the TV.
"'Kay boss," Maou responded enthusiastically, he seemed extremely pumped to be on this team, he then quite literally flopped down onto a couch in front of the TV.
I calmly sat down beside him, then a tape was put in.
Maou POV
After the tape starts to play, I realize it's more of that stuff from grumpy Kira, I pay unwavering attention up until I realize that I'm getting a steady flow of magic from Light, who must be experiencing some sort of negative human emotion. I can't figure out what kind of emotion it is, but I'm guessing it's directed at Kira. It's astonishingly strong, maybe this was the flow of power Lucifer felt when he abducted Chiho, though that absolutely does not mean that I thought what he did was okay.
I ended up focusing way too much on absorbing Light's emotion properly without transforming or anything to the extent of not paying attention to the tape or my surroundings until it finished. When L spoke, I was caught off guard, "So, Sadao, what do you make of this video?" He asked.
I quickly decide to base my conclusion off of the broadcasted video I saw on TV, "Well, Kira seems to be acting extremely out of character and I can't figure out why Kira would kill such petty criminals, maybe he/she is going through some sort of trauma?" I ask.
L hummed, "I suppose that's a definite possibility," He said in his monotone voice, but I got the feeling that wasn't the answer that he was looking for. The detectives still looked rather impressed though. "What do you think Light?" He asked, turning towards the boy.
"I think this was not the Kira we are familiar with," Light said, I immediately facepalm to myself, for an all-powerful demon lord from another world, I should have been able to come to that conclusion. "Like Sadao said, he was acting extremely out of character by using these kinds of victims for his killings, plus, he needs a name and face to kill, yet somehow he was able to kill those two officers and detective with only their faces," he explained, the three detectives I had started to think of as L's helpers looked at Light in shock.
"It, it's the same," Nameless helper #1 stated in shock.
"That's almost exactly the same way L, I mean Ryuzaki, said it!" Helper #2 added.
Helper #3, who I actually do know, Light's father, had a creepy smile on his face that I would've been proud to see on the face of one of the demons who base themselves around fearsome or scary appearances.
"I think you're exactly right about that," L told Light, "We also believe that this is the work of a second Kira."
I pout off to the side, "That is not to say that your conclusion was not good Sadao, you picked up on most of the important points, which is excellent, you just failed to piece them together properly. I think that if you improve on that ability, you'll make an excellent detective someday," L assured me, causing me to brighten up once again.
"So this was just a test?" Light asked after L finished speaking.
"It wasn't my intention to test you, the truth is, if I was the only one who thought there was a second Kira it wouldn't be too convincing. The fact that be both came to the same conclusion makes the theory that much more believable. As expected, you did not disappoint us, neither of you," L responded. "You've been a great help."
"Yeah! Even if you didn't get the same conclusion as Ryuzaki and Light, you still did better than any of us could have," Helper #2 told me, making me practically burst with pride.
"It's decided then," L continues, "First we must focus on stopping this copycat from what we've seen, he sympathizes with the real Kira but clearly lacks his sophistication. I think he might even be willing to obey the original."
"So we'll pretend to be the real Kira?" I ask.
"Yes, that is what I intended to say before you interrupted," L stated, I cringe and hide behind Light, taking a peek at L a second later, was he angry at me for interrupting. "We will send our own message as the real Kira. Oh, and Light? I would like you to play the part of the real Kira, and perhaps have Sadao help you."
"Huh? Me as Kira," Light asked.
I sigh, "Well since L suspects you of being Kira I'd think that means you fit whatever character Kira seems to have, which makes you the obvious choice," I point out.
"Yes, you're the only one I can think of who'd be able to pull something like this off," L stated.
"What? If it's based off of the fact you suspect me of being Kira, then wouldn't Maou be a perfectly good choice too?" Light asked.
"No, at any rate, we don't have time to waste do you think you could script a message from Kira in time for it to be aired on this evening's national news?" L asked.
Light paused for a moment, "Okay, I'll do it," he agreed.
"Horray! C'mon Light, let's go get started, I'll let you write and I'll suggest changes!" I tell Light.
Light shrugged, "Okay, that's good with me," he said.
-A few hours later-
Light POV
"I think you should say that Kira wants Kira2 to kill everyone on the task force for their putting Kira at risk," Maou suggested.
"Isn't that a bit harsh?" I ask, this was actually one of Maou's less evil suggestions, I'd been surprised at some of the things he recommended.
Maou pouted, "Are you saying Kira isn't harsh?" he asks.
I almost defend myself, but then realize that it might increase my chance of being Kira in Maou's eyes, "No, but we don't want more people at risk," I explain.
"Oh, right," Maou actually seemed a bit disappointed, I completely understood why L thought he might be Kira now.
"Want to bring this to Ryuzaki and see what he thinks?" I ask.
"Yes! I'm sure he'll love it," Maou exclaims, his cheery attitude is creepy considering what he said a few moments earlier.
I left Maou in the room with a printed copy of the script on it, watching him pull out a pencil as I exited the room, I can only hope he doesn't make any gruesome edits.
I find Ryuga easily enough and bring him back to the room within a few minutes. As we walk in, Maou puts his pencil back into his jacket. I quickly walk over to the paper, but I don't see a single edit. Ryuga stands opposite of me and leans down, picking the paper up with his pointer finger and thumb on both sides. As he lifts it up I come face to face with a rather fearsome drawing of a winged man with horns and a cape standing on top of a mound of bodies. I carefully try to not react as I am forced to stare at the picture. It's in black and white, but I can tell that the winged man is smirking and one of his feet is firmly set on top of Ryuga's decapitated head. At the bottom of the mound, I locate what looks to be his body. Most of the corpses are mangled beyond recognition, but I am able to find everyone in the Kira task force.
Finally, I can't stand looking at the picture any more and turn to Maou, "Did you draw that?" I ask semi-quietly. Sadly, Ryuga hears and flips the page to look at the other side.
Ryuga actually flinches a bit at seeing the picture, "You drew this Sadao?" he asked.
"Yeah," Maou replied, "I enjoy doodling and used pencil so it wouldn't bleed through the paper," he explained, as if the drawing was completely normal.
His comment about doodling made me realize something, "How did you draw this in the short time I was fetching Ryuzaki?" I ask.
Maou shrugged, smirking a smirk that had terrifying similarity to the winged man in the picture, "What can I say?" Maou asked, "I have many talents."
"6%" Ryuga said, I immediately understood what he said, and laughed.
Maou looked confused, "What?" He asked.
"I'm increasing your chance of being Kira to 6%," he stated, "A sane human being shouldn't be able to create such a terrifying picture. I must ask though, what inspired this piece of art?" he asked.
"Well, when you shared that message about death gods with me, I decided to draw what I looked like as a death god, plus, since they are gods of death, it's only logical to have a dead person," Maou explained as if it was perfectly logical.
Maou POV
It appears I made an error, it is clear that many of my actions are not those of a normal human being, and while such a picture would inspire awe among demons, it clearly holds a different meaning to humans.
"Anyways, Ryuzaki, does our script look okay?" Light asks L, pulling me out of my thought. "I think I managed to make it believable without adding any risk of more people dying," Light said, giving me a slight glance, causing me to cringe.
"I think you've done an excellent job with this. However, if we don't omit the part that says 'you're free to kill L', then I'm gonna end up dead," L stated, giving Light a look.
Light laughed awkwardly, "Uh, sorry, I guess I got carried away playing the part. I figured if I was him I would probably demand you be killed. I was improvising, feel free to change it to whatever you like," Light told L.
"Sounds good," L agreed, walking off with the paper.
Light turns to me, "I think I'm starting to get why Ryuzaki suspects you of being Kira. You certainly don't lack the evil character."
AN Okay, sorry, but this AN may be a bit long, there's a lot of things I'd like to address and I'll try to summarize, but that's unlikely to actually happen.
First things first, I'm wondering how much people want Chiho and other characters from Hataraku Maou-sama in this, Lucifer and Maou are guaranteed, but everyone else is up to you. Olba will show up in the next chapter or the one after that, but he won't have a major role.
Secondly, I was wondering how many of you would read if I made a sequel to this where Maou meets people from other anime/fandoms as a long string of a series, I'm saying this because I have a bit of a sequel in mind, but I won't give anything away.
Thirdly, updating, honestly I'm horrible about updating consistently, just know that it takes a while for me to completely give up on a story, I'm still thinking about finishing a different story I have that's on hold despite the fact the last update was in 2014.
Lastly, since I don't have much idea where this story is going, I'll take suggestions. However, I'd prefer if they were broad, such as how much this story should follow cannon, and if I should still have L die like in the series. Also, what are all of your thoughts on Maou keeping his identity secret and how his identity has so far remained a secret?
For the feedback I'm hoping to receive, know that just because a large number of people want some doesn't necessarily mean I'll do it. Okay, I'm done.
Cya soon (Hopefully!)
-Frost