Author's note: I wrote my exam and I really hope I did good :D So here's the fifth chapter. It can feel ended at not a very good time, but I just really wanted to publish it as soon as possible. So enjoy!
I do not own any characters of Death note. It belongs to Tsugumi Ohba.
Chapter 5. World's greatest detective
"You all have a strong sense of justice. I trust all of you." L said from his computer.
"H-hold on a sec." Aizawa suddenly said. "L says he trust us, but we don't trust him."
Not surprising, huh, L?
"That's right." I said, turning my head at the computer. "We're all risking our lives here fighting in the open while you're always behind a computer in hiding. Seems a bit unfair, don't you think?"
I had a certain goal in mind. I just hoped someone would say it out load and not me.
"We should all know what's it like to put our lives on the line."
"But you just order us without showing your face. We're going to continue to and catch Kira, but without your help!"
"Look L." The chief began. "If you're willing to work with us, why don't you come here, at the department. Then it will be easier to work together and to trust you."
There was a moment of silence.
"I already though about that. Watari." L said and Watari turned the screen at us. There was text written on it.
"What happens next must be kept between the ten of us."
He then wrote he thinks of meeting the eight of us soon and requests us now to go outside the department and decide if we're willing to trust him.
So we did.
"I can't understand why L has decided to seek our help now when there is only eight of us left." One detective said. "I mean, he managed to solve every case on his own, why should this one be any different?"
"Maybe it's not that simple so find a murderer who kills just by knowing the victim's face and name." I said in a sarcastic voice.
He squinted at me.
"And how are we going to be a help to him? If he can't figure this, how will we do it?"
"Well, they say two heads are better than one and in this case ten is definitely better than one." I clapped my tongue.
"But why when there's only this little of us left?" He shook his head.
"Well its kinda obvious, isn't it?" I rolled my eyes.
"L was waiting for this to happen." The chief finally spoke. He wasn't looking at us, he was looking at the street. "There were always some people in the investigation who distrusted L. People were resigning right and left and information was leaked. It's obvious he couldn't trust us at that point."
"He was waiting until there were only people left who will fight evil with even their lives at stake. He was waiting for the people he could trust." Matsuda finished with wide eyes. They finally got it.
One of the detectives (the one who asked why L asks our help now) looked frustrated.
"If we're going to work with that guy, I'm out." He said and turned around to go back into the building. "Don't worry, I'm not going to follow you."
Of course you're not. I'll know.
"Well I think we can trust L." Matsuda said modestly. The other agreed. Only Takashi looked like wanted to follow the other one.
When we decided to trust L and were going back into the department, me with Takashi were in the back so I quietly said to him "You know, you don't have to do this if you don't want to."
"What makes you say that?" He asked, trying to smile.
"It's written all over your face."
"Fine. But I'm not going to look like a coward, because I'm not." He said, clenching his fists.
"Maybe you just don't trust L." I made a conclusion.
"You're right, I don't t trust him. But I see you do and wherever you go, I follow." He said with some fear in his voice. He knew I don't back away from anything, even though I'm known for my cautiousness. But I'm almost never scared. I always try to find a smart solution for any problem. And most of the time I do.
When we told L we chose to trust him, he gave us instructions how to find him.
After an hour we were in front of a hotel room door, where L said he was now in and which he said will be our actual headquarters. We all were pretty nervous. If L isn't going to trick us, behind this door should be a legend. And I'm just interested because of the Kira case and my promise to help Light, I'm also interested as a detective and just a simple human (or shinigami).
We opened the door after the words "come in ".
What we saw wasn't exactly what I had expected.
But for some reason I should have expected this. It just fits him so well, now that I think about it.
"I am L." Said the man. His voice seemed tired and, I think, a little bored. He was wearing simple jeans and a white plain shirt. His black hair was going in all directions. There were dark bags under his eyes, who were almost black and he didn't look strained at all.
The shocked inspectors quickly recovered and one after another held out their badges, saying their names as to confirm they are actually they.
When it was my turn to introduce myself I hesitated. Okay, okay, calm down. I must think about my every word and move. I immediately knew I had to earn this man's trust. And I mean real trust. But in order to do that I must show him I'm intelligent. Maybe even more than the others. And this time intelligence can be seen through caution. That's what I'm gonna do.
They were are looking at me with question in their eyes. I bit my lip and looked directly at L.
"I don't really feel confident in this situation." I slowly began. "I mean, I don't feel safe just showing my name to anyone while I'm on this case. Kira needs a face and a name to kill. How can I know I'm not just gonna drop dead when I reveal my name?"
Everyone, except L, looked surprised and shocked to hear such words. L looked at me fixedly and then weakly smiled.
"She's right." He said. "If I would have been Kira, you all, except this one detective, would be dead by now. Please don't give away your name so easily, if you value your lives that is." He then looked back at me. "I'm pleased to see you were so careful. I, however, know your name. There is only one woman working on the Kira case and I heard you decided to join, Kurosawa Kamiko." Okay, so far so good.
He then pointed with his head at a table. "Please leave all your communication devices on that table and follow me."
Aizawa quietly and slightly angrily said "What, he thinks we're going to use our cellphones to record this meeting?"
"Just do as he says." The chief told him. I had no reason to argue to this L's request.
"It's not like that." L said. "I just hate when cellphones ring while I'm trying to talk."
We came into the main living room. There were two sofas around a table and an armchair. There is where L sat. His sitting position was quite strange: his knees were pulled to his chest. And he was also barefoot.
"Please, sit." He asked. "Let me start by saying no notes will be taken in this meeting. Everything will be committed to memory."
When we were all on the sofas (I took the farthest seat) L poured himself some tea. He tasted it and didn't seem to happy about it. So he added sugar. Eight cubes of sugar. I saw that everyone looked pretty surprised of that amount.
"Um, L? Matsuda started but L quickly interrupted.
"From now on don't call me L. It's Ryuzaki. For safety matters." He said, sipping his tea.
"Okay, Ryuzaki, if Kira can kill by knowing a person's name and a face, couldn't we just stop showing the criminals in the media?" Matsuda said.
"That way we'll only be endangering the general public." He said and explained Kira is childish and he hates to lose. If we cut of the criminals, Kira would just start killing those with minor offences and even innocent people.
"I'm holding the whole world hostage so who's it gonna be? I'm not the evil one here, but those who oppose me by hiding criminals you are truly evil." He sighed. "That's exactly how Kira thinks. But lets think of a different way to draw Kira out. How about something like this... The death of the FBI agents angers the US. Nations agreed to send 1500 investigators to Japan. For Kira this will be way beyond what he can manage. He'll start seeing everyone as a potential threat and that will make him take some drastic actions."
Everyone looked amazed at this. They though this can actually work. I didn't think so. I bit my lip, crossed my arms and just looked at the table. That won't work... Light isn't that stupid.
"What seems to be the matter, Kurosawa?" Ryuzaki suddenly asked me. I could see why he singled me out. I was the only one who looked worried and in convinced.
"Well," I started heavily. "It won't hurt to try. But Kira is intelligent and we can't deny that. In my opinion it's doubtful he'll fall for the same trick twice. He could see some holes in it. But like I said, won't hurt to try."
"Yes, that could happen." Ryuzaki agreed. But he said no more comments on this whatsoever.
"Now, let me tell you the rest of my thoughts on the Kira case."
And so he did. While biting his thumbnail he said that Kira works alone. Then he drew a scheme on the table while telling us details about when Kira figured out about the FBI agents, how he killed 23 criminals who, legally speaking, were innocent, just to cover up who were actually used to get to the FBI. Finally he made a conclusion that Kira must be one of the people investigated between the 14th and the 19th of December. It looked like he talked with some fire in his voice. We were all impressed. Then he handed a bunch of papers from the FBI containing valuable information. The inspectors sprang into action and made plans what we were going to do next.
"There might be only be seven of us, but with this much information we could cover a lot of ground." Said Matsuda enthusiastically.
"So, do you have any questions?" Asked Ryuzaki with his regular voice again.
There was a couple of moments silence. Then the chief said "Yes, I do have a question Ryuzaki. Does showing your face means that you lost? Just by being here are you admitting defeat to Kira?"
"Yes, by sacrificing 12 FBI agents and showing my face to you I have lost the battle." He said. But then his voice suddenly changed. "But I'm not gonna lose the war. We're going to show Kira that we'll do whatever it takes to bring him down." He smiled. "And that justice will prevail no matter what."
"Yeah, that's right!"
"I like the sound of that!"
"We can do it!"
Everyone agreed to him. I weakly and mischievously smiled at the table. Yes, justice will prevail. But the question is: from what perspective?
"Before you leave today I must speak with all of you individually to make sure none of you are Kira." L said. He then got up and walked into the other room.
"What's the deal? He still doesn't trust us?" Aizawa seems a bit angry about L's request.
"Try to look at this from his perspective." The chief said. "There has been confidential information leaking from the start, so there's a good chance Kira could be one of us."
"Besides, being on this case has gave us the opportunity to meet him in person."
"He's risking his life just to be here."
So one by one L spoke with us. It usually took a couple of minutes. No one told what is was they talked about. I was the last one to be questioned.
When I came into the room Ryuzaki was looking at the window. I closed the door behind me and moved closer.
"First I want to tell you I'm glad you decided to trust me ad fight evil at any cost." He said, still not looking at me. He probably said that to all of us.
I remained silent.
"I saw that you're a bit different from the others." He finally looked at me. "Not only because you're a woman, but you also think differently from the rest. I admire that."
I nodded.
"Now I want to ask you a question. If you were L and had a suspect of the Kira case, what would you do to see if that person is guilty or innocent?"
Alright, now I must think about my every word carefully. If I say something good quickly, I might get be suspected. If I answer quickly but bad, I'll be written off as not so good of a thinker. If I answer slow and bad, well... My only option, if I don't want to get suspicious, but to show I can think, is to answer after a while, but good.
"I earlier said that Kira is intelligent and he probably won't fell for the same trick, like he did with that Lind L. Tailor, but I like the whole idea." I began after what felt like a minute. "I would try to provoke him, but maybe not using the media. In person I mean. Do or say or show something that if he would be Kira he would react in some way. Then just closely examine him. That's my answer."
Ryuzaki watched me all this time while biting his thumbnail.
"Not a bad one." He finally said. "I'd even say it's a very good way to determine of that person is in fact Kira. Your answer is better than most of your colleges. That's all I wanted to see."
I let out a tiny smile. Good, I think it went well.
"One more question." He suddenly said when I was about to turn around and leave. "Why cherry red?"
I was a bit taken back and didn't knew at first what he was talking about. But there is only one thing on me this colour.
"You mean my hair?" I asked, unconsciously gripping a bit of it.
"Yes, why did you choose this colour?" He said, tilting his head a bit.
"I didn't." I simply answered, letting go of my hair. "It's my natural colour. I assume you didn't dye your hair black too, did you?"
"Yes, you're right. I've just never seen someone with natural red hair before."
"I have no reason to lie." I shrugged. My hair was this colour because it was the same in shinigami form. Just a bit shorter.
Author's note: In the anime and in the manga when L was in a café with Light, he said he gave a question to some investigators and they took minutes to come up with an answer. So I figured that this must have been the question asked to determine as can the person be Kira, since L didn't really met any other investigators.
This whole chapter felt like I was rewriting the episode, but I did as much as I can to include Kamiko. There was simply no other way.
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