Your blood froze cold. "W-what do you mean? You're only joking, right? Grandma? Please say you're joking…"
Your voice was shaking; you couldn't believe that she had fooled you again. Made you trust her, before once again betraying you and leaving you alone. As soon as the words left your mouth, L was at your side, putting his head against yours to listen to the conversation.
"Ahiru. You have been instructed to investigate the identity of Matsui Tarou, the former manager of Amane Misa. Matsui Tarou is a false name. You must find out the real name of this man. If you fail or if you attempt to contact the police, you will be killed by Kira."
Trembling, you didn't answer. Your mouth was opening and closing, but you couldn't find any words. The task was impossible, you knew. There was no way that you would tell her about Matsui's real identity. "I…understand."
In desperation, you looked at L with pleading eyes. 'Help me, L-kun…'
He gestured for you to muffle the phone, and moved closer to whisper in your ear. If this hadn't been such a tense situation, you would have enjoyed his proximity. "Ahiru-chan, you must stall. I very much doubt that they will kill you unless you give them a good enough reason. Let them think that you are following their instructions, and wait until their patience wears thin. They will then demand an answer, and you must reply that you haven't found any information. They will get back into the car and try and find the answer through another route. By my logic, they will leave you alive as a backup."
You nodded once and closed your eyes, strengthening yourself. All of the emotions raging within you - anger, betrayal, and loneliness – you tried to keep inside and hide. You didn't want them to see you break down, especially the detective at your side. Slowly exhaling, you began to describe the false investigation. After nearly 5 minutes of rambling about firewalls and blocks on access, you heard someone shout in the background. The phone was fumbled around and an angry male voice invaded your ear. "Why haven't you found anything? Are you even looking?! If you don't find the answer in the next 30 seconds, I'll kill you."
Your eyes snapped around to meet L's, your heart rate jumping up to pound around your head. He nodded, acknowledging that he had heard the threat. "Continue, it's an empty threat. He won't dare to kill one of his chances of escaping the situation."
The confidence in his eyes kept you strong, the belief in them stopping you from flinging the phone and running away to escape the inherent danger. Moving your hand, you grasped his arm tightly. "You have an answer, girl?!" the voice demanded, making you feel as though you'd been physically hit.
"I'm sorry…it's classified information so it's hard to get through their security," you replied, your hand sliding a little further down L's arm.
"Damn! You've given me no choice, girl!"
The beeping pierced your eardrum as you realised he had hung up on you. The phone dropped from your fingers as you felt a tightening around your heart. Clattering loudly on the floor, you soon went with it. Falling to your knees, you clutched your chest with one hand as the other remained tightly in L's grasp. "Ahiru-chan!"
Your vision was fading around the edges and you felt nauseous. 'I guess this is it…well it's not as if anyone relies on me anymore…Grandma…never loved me. At least I'm going to die with the one I love next to me…'
Breathing shallowly and erratically, you felt L drop down to your side. He raised your chin and looked into your face. "Ahiru…I'm sorry…I didn't think…"
His own face dropped and his dark bangs covered his eyes.
"No…don't apologise-"
"I should have believed in his threat…I thought he wouldn't carry it through…"
Slowly, you began to realise something. As soon as you had accepted your fate and controlled your breathing, you felt less constricted.
"No, Ryuuzaki-san-"
"It's my fault…Ahiru-chan, I "
"No, Ryuuzaki-san, listen to me!" you practically shouted, bringing L out of his murmuring daze.
"I'm alright. I just had something like a panic attack when I thought he was going to kill me…but I'm okay now…" you said, taking another deep breath.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his eyes wide.
"Yeah…I'm sorry for worrying you, Ryu-kun."
With an enormous effort, you straightened up, slightly unsteady on your feet. Suddenly you felt arms wrap around you from behind. "No, I'm sorry for letting you get that worried, Ahiru-chan," L's voice whispered, his grasp momentarily tightening before releasing you completely.
You stumbled forward a few steps, not wanting him to let you go. You felt a hand on your arm and you turned to a concerned Light. "It was a panic attack? Not Kira?" he asked, his dark eyes searching yours.
You nodded, feeling overwhelmed by his caring nature. "Ahiru-chan!!" a high-pitched voice cried, and you turned in time to get completely bowled over by a teary blonde.
"You had Misa scared! Misa thought you were going to die!" the model bawled, her arms surrounding your neck.
"It's okay, Misa…I guess Kira felt merciful tonight," you mused, propping yourself up on your elbows.
You looked over to see a contemplative L, already sitting in his usual position on his chair in front of the computer. 'I wonder if he's thinking the same thing as me…'
After Misa had settled down, you all moved back in front of the computer, watching as Higuchi and your grandma sat in his red Porsche and sped down the highway. You felt a lump in your throat as you watched your grandmother's stoic expression. 'Grandma, you betrayed me twice now, don't you feel anything? Even the tiniest bit guilty that you've hurt me so much?'
Watching in silence, you wondered why the suspected Kira was calling your grandmother 'Rem'. You deduced the man must be hallucinating, he was having a conversation with your silent grandmother and everything he said seem to carry on from an unheard response. Finally, Higuchi pulled over at Yoshida Productions and locked your grandmother inside before heading into the building. Not having time to focus on your grandma, you waited impatiently for Kira to betray his secret. Higuchi flipped through the files, attempting to locate the one he was so desperately searching for. Taking note of the name in a notebook he then exited the building and reentered the car, smirking heavily. An icy cold finger of recognition drew up your spine. "It's no use! All he's done is made a note of the name and now he's leaving! He's not going to kill him here?" Light burst out, also impatient to learn the secret.
"Shit, he won't die!!" Higuchi suddenly shouted, infuriated.
"What does he mean by that?! 'He won't die'?" Light said, his voice rising in confusion.
"He's already attempted to kill him? Could writing down their name be how he kills?" L wondered aloud.
Light turned to L for advice, "What should we do? Wait and see what he does? I can only assume it means he can kill someone merely by knowing their name and willing them to die."
Theories surged through your mind, awaiting confirmation through further information. Higuchi's expression, although shadowed, was obviously one of fear and strain. Suddenly, he slumped and said, "Rem, it's time to do the deal."
'What? Deal with who? He can only mean my grandma…but what type of deal?'
Higuchi's eyes flashed red and his grin stretched from ear to ear. To you, he truly looked like a madman. Revving the engine, he took off down the road at high speed. Hearing a police siren in the background, you prayed that Higuchi wasn't being pulled over for speeding. Unfortunately, a young man's helmeted head appeared in Higuchi's window and demanded to see his license. '"Ah, alright then," Higuchi sighed, looking through his bag.
"Don't," you heard your grandmother's voice, "Just pay the fine and go."
Higuchi suddenly put the car into drive and sped off, leaving the policeman behind. The motorcycle policeman jumped on his bike and raced after him, his sirens blaring. You heard a crash in the background, and Mogi's voice through the earpiece, "T-The bike's collided with a truck! It's a complete wreck!"
"A wreck?! An accidental death?" Light said, his eyes widening at the news.
"This is bad…" L murmured, frowning.
'What? How could he kill just by seeing his face? Why does he look so familiar? What is going on?' you thought, your mind unable to keep up with the unfolding events.
"Everyone! I believe that it'll be too dangerous to allow Higuchi to act any further! We're going ahead with his capture. However, Higuchi's now able to kill just by looking at someone's face, similar to the second Kira. We'll be making the arrest under that assumption!
'Brown hair…tall…average weight…wears a suit…scary, mad eyes…wait…haven't I seen eyes like that before?'
"Ryu-kun, what's that man's full name?" you asked, already anticipating the answer.
"Kyosuke Higuchi. Why?"
You closed your eyes as everything seemingly pieced itself together. 'I thought it was strange that Higuchi would go to my grandmother…I can't believe I didn't make the connection before…I just thought he was just another brown-haired man living in Tokyo…no one special…'
"Ryu-kun, Light-kun. That man, Higuchi, was working with my grandmother, who was blackmailing me for the information to kill L. On the night I infiltrated Korma Corp, she told him to kill me…and he pulled out a black notebook. He said that he didn't know what I looked like and she took the notebook from him and began to write my name…" you said, taking a deep breath before continuing, "I never thought of it before, but I think that black notebook is how Kira kills."