I Have the Right to Destroy
Chapter 11: Storm
11:30 PM, Mikami Teru's dorm room, To-Oh University campus.
He sat on his desk, his head slightly bent forward over a microscope. The room was dark, save for the bar of white light from his desk lamp and the small blue lights from Mikami's CD player, which played a jazz song composed by Deodato softly. If one enters the room, it would seem as if he were cramming for a lab report for biology class.
But he's a senior, and he's a Political Sciences major. Isn't that rather suspicious? Well, he may be doing it for his girlfriend then.
However, his girlfriend's a Mass Communications major. But then again, she's a freshman who had to finish some natural sciences units. A microscope in a dorm room is pretty strange and extreme, but if you think of it that way—that Mikami was doing it for his girlfriend—then it would make sense.
It was 11:45 PM when Mikami lifted his eyes from the microscope's eyepiece. Mechanically, he took his cell phone from his desk, pressed a button, and waited for an answer.
"… I have confirmed it."
Matt had rented a room above a café in Shinjuku that week. It wasn't exactly a big space, but he knew that it was an okay place to stay because it wasn't hard to find. And he knew that contact was necessary at this time.
That morning, he went to the kitchen in search of breakfast. He opened a ratty-looking cabinet, got a bag of potato chips, and nonchalantly threw them on the counter. It slid as it should, but the action produced a horrible hard-plastic-against-the-floor kind of sound.
He saw that the potato chip bag was on the floor. He picked it up and found a cell phone underneath.
"Eh?... a Moto RAZR… and it's turned off," he muttered. He fumbled with the power switch. It instantly went to life.
Two seconds later, a polytone version of All Apologies by Nirvana started playing.
Unknown Number. He pressed answer and waited for the other person to speak.
"Matt. You are cordially invited by L to a dialogue. The meeting is of due importance to the progress of the Kira case. Please come by yourself in the Yellow Box Warehouse on the Daikoku Wharf, on this date and time... we will send you photographs of the venue through this phone, for your own purposes."
They've made their move… Matt smiled.
So, L… you're going to show your face to us. Is catching that Kira that hard?
Mello pressed 'Hang Up' on the phone and with just one gloved hand, crushed it. Pieces of the phone fell on the ground. The plate on the SIM card was scratched badly.
A face-to-face contact, with Kira and the rest in one place. L has made his move, and Near is clearly assisting him. Only he could have reached me like this…
His mouth formed into a manic grin.
The next moment, his own phone rang. He took it out, looked at the name warily, and answered it.
"Hey there. How's my favourite blonde?" he said.
He was silent as he listened to the voice on the phone. For a long time, he closed his eyes, as if in deep thought. Suddenly, the excited mania on his face disappeared. There was only solemnity when he opened his eyes again.
"I am the only one who can do it."
Before the person on the other side had time to air out her confusion, he ended the connection.
The scar on his face stung for no reason at all.
On a bench within the To-Oh University campus, Takada Kiyomi sat with her feet up. A thick, paperback Zoology text book was on her lap, and inside it, she wrote down her notes diligently in a plain black college notebook.
"Hi there."
"Oh!... uh, hi," she said, looking a bit flustered. For some reason, a foreign exchange student was seated on her bench. She didn't know how long he was there, but she found it strange that she didn't notice him immediately because he sat in such a peculiar way.
"You're Miss Kiyomi Takada, aren't you?" he asked in English.
"Hai… I mean, yes, I am," she answered.
It was hard to determine any form of emotion from his dead eyes, but he seemed to brighten up when she confirmed it. "Oh, I am honoured, very honoured. I've heard things about you… you're a popular model in Japan, and in this university, don't they call you Miss Todai? Ah, I'm glad that I found you here on campus… you truly are a sight to see," he said.
In an attempt to avoid his gaze, she looked at the space above his head. It was a bit hard to recover from her nervousness. She swallowed and said with an uneasy smile, "Thank you very much. I am honoured that you think of me that way. So, what's your name, sir?"
He made a cat's paw and lightly hit the side of his head. "Oh, how rude of me. I am simply known in Tokyo as Mr. Hideki Ryuga."
"Ah… you're Japanese as well?" she asked.
He laughed. It sounded like a soft wheezing. Kiyomi had guessed that he was an unhealthy man because of his complexion, and at that moment, she was worried that he would cough out some unpleasant things from his mouth. "Actually, no. I'm English, but I have a mother who's part Russian, French, German, Slovene, Polish, and Canadian."
"I… I see."
Ryuga looked from side to side suspiciously. "Between you and I, Takada-san… my name isn't Hideki Ryuga. I just stole it from a Japanese gossip magazine." The way he said Takada-san, it was apparent that he was able in speaking in Japanese.
Nevertheless, Kiyomi wisely chose to stick with English. "Ah, that's a relief. My friend Hideki would be confused if he found out that you share the same name," she said, forcing a joking tone in her voice.
Ryuga nodded. He looked really creepy with that smile on his face. "Yes. Would you be interested in hearing my true name?"
Kiyomi forced a polite smile. "Of course I would be interested, sir!"
"It's… Daniel Radcliffe."
Kiyomi laughed. "Seriously? You're making fun of me again, Mr. Ryuga. I watched Harry Potter, you know."
Ryuga tilted his head to one side. "Ah, I'm sorry. I guess I shouldn't underestimate Miss Todai. Very well, since I want to have a date with her, I will tell her my real name."
Kiyomi tilted her ear towards him as he leaned in closer to whisper, Watashi wa Eru desu
She paused for a while, closed her eyes, and then laughed out loud. "Ryuga-san, to say that in the Kanto region is a bad joke. And you are an outrageous liar, too! You should just show me your school ID so I'd know your name, you know."
Again, he tilted his head, that same creepy smile of his never leaving his face. With two fingers, he pulled out a small card out of his jeans pocket and handed it to Kiyomi.
"Ah… you are… Rue Ryuzaki? Oh, you lied about not being Japanese!" She extended her hand. He shook it.
"So may I go out with Miss Takada?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't have the chance to tell you, but my boyfriend may not like it," she said bashfully.
"Aw…" he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Very well. I am just happy to be introduced formally to you, Miss Takada. I hope to see you in campus." He waved at her and walked away. It was only then that she noticed that he didn't have any shoes on.
"So… I was right."
Later that day, she took out her phone from inside her blazer and checked. Yes, this photo of his ID would do just fine. She then searched for 'Teru' on her phone numbers list, and pressed Call.
"Giovanni… your report, please."
Giovanni's determined face occupied one of the screens in the SPK's headquarters. There were no traces of exhaustion or hesitation on his face as he said, "It's intense, but I can finish this within five hours." He gave a thumbs-up sign for extra assurance.
Near nodded. Around his area on the floor were pieces of wood, a cutter, glue, paint, and finished finger puppets. Currently, he was working on a male finger puppet with brown hair. He was messily circling dark rings outside its eyes with a black Sharpie. "Thank you very much for your hard work."
Picking up a dark-haired finger puppet with the likeness of Rue Ryuzaki, he told everyone in the room: "Everyone. Let's do our best."
That morning, L received an urgent call from Wedy.
"Ryuzaki," she began. It seemed that she was out of breath when she made the call. "I have to see you in person immediately. It's an emergency."
He raised the part of his face where his eyebrows were supposed to be. "What is it, Wedy? What have you been doing?" he asked.
With a slight tremour in her voice, the spy replied, "I… I stole the suspect's wallet."
"… is it with you now?"
"No. I d-don't have my helmet on now. After doing what you told me, I dropped it somewhere on the highway."
"What happened to your motorcycle?"
"I jumped off… it's probably at the bottom of Tokyo Bay right now."
"… I see." L paused to sip a sugary cup of coffee in contemplation. "I can see your location from here. Well then, I will ask Aizawa-san to pick you up wherever you are. Thank you very much for your hard work."
Yellow Box Warehouse, 13:00 hours.
The last person to arrive was Matt. He wore a striped shirt, jeans, and trainers—no attempt at a disguise at all, except perhaps for the goggles over his eyes. Lazily, he walked in with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette in his mouth.
He eyed the so-called 'teams' already there. Noting the serious looks on their faces, he asked, "What's up, people?" with some amount of sarcasm on his face.
He faced the small boy, all clad in white, on the floor. Besides members of the SPK, around him were finger puppets arranged in a weird way. They were clearly meant to be the characters in the so-called rematch between Kira and L. "Dude, what's with that crazy mask?" he asked.
"It's my L mask. Do you like it?" asked Near, also with some amount of sarcasm in his voice.
"Ah. It's not bad, just kind of ugly." Matt took out his cigarette and used it to point to the tall, dark-haired person next to Near. "So I guess it means that this cute guy over here is L, isn't it?"
Ignoring the 'ugly' and 'cute' remark, Near replied, "You are correct."
"Hn. Nice to finally meet you, L. You've no idea how long I've waited for this day. Say, you're much younger than I thought. I imagined you to look more like Dr. House than Morpheus from The Sandman."
L stood in a peculiar way next to Near. One look at this guy, and one would say that he fit the mold of a Whammy's House student. Behind him were members of the Japanese Task Force and a woman who didn't seem to be one of them. Ah, yes, that's the Japanese woman who followed him around from time to time.
With wide eyes, L told Matt, "It's very nice to meet you too. You look very different from the last time I saw all of you in Whammy's House."
Matt grinned at him. "Thanks. I hope you meant it in a good way. Ah, hey there, Mello. Long time no see, buddy. You're awfully quiet over there," he said.
Mello, who sat by a stack of boxes at one of the darker corners of the warehouse, frowned at him. "I'm just waiting for the pleasantries to end, that's all," he said. Like Matt, today he wasn't wearing a disguise. He was wearing what he liked—black leather and silver crosses. There was no make-up to hide the scar on his face.
He shrugged. "Eh, you're PMS-ing as always, but you're right, Mello. Hey, Near, you sent me that phone, right? You said that it's a dialogue with L, really important for the progress of the Kira case. You guys are pretty weird when it comes to contact, so I'm not even gonna ask about the warehouse when we could have just rented a conference room in a hotel or something. So… how do we begin?" asked Matt, as he faced L.
L bit his thumb and said, "… we cannot begin immediately. We have to make sure that Kira is not within the premises."
"Ah," said Matt. He exhaled a cloud of smoke from his nostrils. "I guess it would be bad if we all dropped dead from heart attacks, huh? So that's why Near's got that ugly mask on. Why don't you have one on, L?"
L shrugged. "I'm a bit more confident about this than Near."
"Well, if you say so… How do you propose we eliminate the presence of Kira among us?"
"We wait, of course," said L. "Let's say… thirty minutes. If no-one dies within that time, let's assume that no-one inside Yellow Box is Kira."
Mello made an annoyed grunt and took out a chocolate bar from his trousers pocket. As he unwrapped the chocolate, he said, "I don't know how that would help, but it's your game, L. This is beginning to sound like a big joke."
Thirty minutes of silence passed, but not painlessly. The first five minutes were occupied only by the merciless crinkling of the aluminium foil wrapper of Mello's Hershey bar. The rest of the time, no-one moved. The silence was so intense that the sounds of their breathing and the dripping of sweat from the nervous members of the Japanese task force and the SPK amplified tenfold.
"… R-Ryuzaki, Near, everyone… thirty m-m-minutes has passed," stuttered Matsuda. Apparently, he had been tasked to use the timer.
"Thank you very much," said L.
Mello exhaled noisily and stood up. He went towards the center, where everyone else was bathed under a circle of bright light. "See? Apparently, no-one among us is Kira. So I guess we can start the dialogue now, L. Whatever the hell that means to you."
L shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not enough, because one among us has a mask on," he said. "Near, please take off your mask now."
Near looked at him, shrugged, and took off the mask. "There. Happy?"
"Yes. Let's wait a little bit more…" said L.
Mello quickly snapped, "What for?"
"For the person who would solve this case for us."
Matt groaned. "More waiting? And this time, for some magical mystery chap who has the answers to everything?! This is senseless. Damn, I knew I should have brought my PSP along... I could have trained my generic characters in Final Fantasy Tactics, instead of wasting time like this. Do you know how rude it is to make people wait?"
L widened his eyes unnaturally and stared at Matt. "I apologize if it's rude. However, the outcome of this dialogue is more valuable than etiquette," he replied.
The gamer shrugged, put his hands in his pockets, and looked at everyone in the room. "Ah, at least introduce me to everyone around here. That's a good way to fill in fifteen minutes, right? Aliases would be fine, of course."
L looked at Near, who nodded. "All right then. The three behind Near are the members of SPK: Commander Anthony Lester, and agents Stephen Giovanni and Halle Ridner."
Matt whistled. "Whoa, Near. Where'd you meet these guys? Did you go to America and hire them just to solve the Kira case?"
"Roger introduced them to me before. They are special agents hired by L to assist me after I graduate from Whammy's House. I managed to contact them, and together we formed the Special Provision for Kira," replied Near.
"Eh… I don't have special agents. Do you, Mello?"
"No," replied a sour-faced Mello, but without a trace of his usual fiery emotion. "I don't know if it was L's intention, but these agents were reserved for L's successor. Since Near was number 1 during the time, he had the privilege to meet them ahead of time."
"Ah, L, maybe it's not your fault, but that's really crappy. Outright, shameless favouritism. You should be ashamed of yourself," said Matt with a dull tone.
The older man shrugged.
"So, who are those guys behind you?"
"A few members of the Japanese Task Force, and an independent agent whom I've had the good fortune to work with," replied L.
"Heh… you show your face to those guys, but it took you years before you show your face to your successors…" Matt sighed. He threw the lit cigarette on the floor and allowed it to burn out by itself. After a long silence, he said, "How important are we to you, anyway?"
L didn't answer.
"Nice answer. Watari, at least, had the balls to show himself to us…"
"And look where he is now. Invisible," said Mello.
A silence ensued after that. Whether it was out of solemnity, nervousness, or mockery was questionable.
Matt laughed bitterly. Through his goggles, he seemed to glare at L. "Forget it, L. I'm only here because you asked me nicely, but I give up on you…"
Mello ignored Matt's drama and asked, "How long do we have to wait, Near? You seem to know more than L…"
Near smiled evilly at him and simply said, "He's here."
Silently, everyone turned towards the single entrance to the warehouse. From the small crack of the open door, a single eyeball, glowing red, looked back at them.
(Teru Mikami)
Everything is as God had planned. Now, the fate of the world lies in this worthless disciple's hands… with this notebook, I will smite them and save the world from evil. In the name of Kira.
I looked at their faces. Those worthless worms looked back at me with helpless looks on their faces. They're like cockroaches the moment before you crush them under your boots. They deserved to be eliminated.
But their faces can wait. My eyes focused on the twitching numbers floating underneath their names.
… God spoke…!
Mihael Keehl was the only one without a lifespan.
I needn't restrain my ecstasy now. I cried out in joy as I stared into God's face. After regaining my strength, I opened the notebook and wrote down their names.
At that moment, a storm arrived, perhaps in tribute to Kira's cleansing of the world. It begins again.
(Mello)
The storm was terrible. The noise enveloped their surprise effectively. That chicken-shit Matsui could have screamed, and no-one would have been distracted.
Somehow, Near mustered up enough power from his lungs and shouted, "To the one outside… Are you finished with what you are doing?"
The guy outside didn't answer.
Matt smirked. "That guy's not gonna answer to a guy like you, Near. Here, dude, are you finished with that… whatever it is?"
"… yes," he cried, in an attempt to overpower the sound of the rain.
Near looked up at Matt. "He responded to you," he said.
Matt shrugged. "I'm much cooler than you, I guess."
Near rolled his eyes and turned to the crack in the door again. In Japanese, he said, "Mikami Teru. I know that you're in charge of Kira's killings right now. You have a Death Note, right? You've already written down the names, so there's nothing to be afraid of. Please come in. Or did Kira order you not to come in?"
There was somebody who was supposed to be speaking up at this time. I looked at him. L remained silent as he watched the door. The expression on his face was…
'Afraid.'
"So… Teru Mikami, is it? Stop hiding and come inside. It'd be bad if you got water all over the Death Note."
My words did it. That pathetic fool Mikami stumbled in, with a tremendous grin on his face. Why are you looking at me like that? It's not over yet.
"So… Mikami. How long has it been since you wrote down the first name?" asked Near.
Mikami, with a manic glint in his eyes, looked at his watch.
35… 36… 37… 38… 39…
"Victory is mine, L."
Upon hearing this declaration, Near smiled evilly. L only looked back with nothingness in his eyes.
- Chapter 11 end –
Notes: The random scenes at the beginning do not happen in chronological order.
Some of the conclusion appears in the next chapter, but it seems that the whole ending will happen in chapter 13. Sorry about that! Lots of truths will be explained in the next chapter, though.