I Have the Right to Destroy
Chapter 13: Curtain
(Matt)
I passed the Death Note to Mikami, but I was clear with my instructions: Do the first judgments. Find your own successor after a few days. This person will be doing Kira's judgments, but make sure that it seems to the outsiders like you are the one writing in the Death Note.
From the beginning, it never Mikami who was Kira's successor, but Takada Kiyomi, his girlfriend. I trusted Mikami's judgment on this; he would never trust the judgments to somebody who was stupid enough to be blinded by self-interest, or who was loud and flashy with Kira's power.
Takada was perfect—she was intelligent enough that she understood all of the rules of the Death Note within a short period of time. She and Mikami agreed that he would keep the true notebook in a safe in the bank, give her four sheets of the Death Note every Friday through an anonymous letter, and they would synchronize writing into the pieces of the Death Note and Mikami's fake notebook. To become the most efficient weapon, she also voluntarily made the eyeball deal with Ryuk.
I knew that following Mikami's declaration to Sakura TV, he was being followed by one of Near's goons. I let them take a peek at the Death Note—let them believe that they had the upper hand.
They were most likely plotting to switch notebooks for today's confrontation. A few days before the rematch, the fake notebook was confirmed, they had switched Mikami's fake notebook with another fake one.
Today was supposed to be the only day that Mikami takes out the real notebook from the safe in the bank. By this time, he would have gotten the ownership of the notebook from Takada, and he would have had the shinigami eyes for himself.
"When you get here, watch out for the life spans. At the last moment, I will give up ownership of the notebook. After you confirm it, kill the person called L first, and then the impostor who has the power to kill me, and then the traitor who worked for L all along. After that, kill all of them, even though the others' deaths do not matter. The death of those three will be the victory of Kira."
Just as planned.
I knew that Mello was with Second Kira all along. I knew that after I killed Misa, he would be the legitimate owner of the notebook. Therefore, it wouldn't be enough that Mikami watched out for the only person without the lifespan; he had to watch out for the person whose lifespan appears from thin air. Yes, I saw that far ahead. I had the notebook in a cloth wrapped around my torso, much like a corset, so that I wouldn't lose my memories of the notebook if I gave up ownership.
The plan was perfect. I knew that they knew. I just had to play dumb until the last moment, when they would all drop dead on the ground.
And then… Kira would rule the new world.
So what the fuck was going on here?
I was sure! I was so damned sure!
I glanced at the name list. Mihael Keehl was the first name; definitely not L's. Mikami… did you not follow my instructions? No, it must be a mistake. "L… I definitely don't see anybody that could be L's name in that list! That's it… I was framed by L! He is the one responsible for everything!"
This time, Mikami was the one who screamed. "NO! God! We killed L for you! Takada used her eyes to see his name! It's been days now… L is not here! They're hiding his corpse!"
"What are you talking about…?" Why did I not know about this? I told you not to do anything until today!
No, there was no way for any of us to contact each other… only he and Takada could have discussed this stupidity amongst themselves. Shit. I should have known that they would break the rules like this, if they had the chance. I overestimated their intelligence.
Even Mello, who was stunned into silence upon seeing his own name in the notebook, looked to Near for an explanation.
In response to this mania, Near smiled. "Ah… I thought that you two would have learned it by now. I'm great at lying."
At this point, "L" stood up straight and took off his black wig. Underneath was shorter and more manageable light brown hair.
"Matt, Mello, let me introduce you to one of my subordinates, Light Yagami."
All I could do was stare at him in disbelief. The impostor narrowed his eyes a bit, and already it was obvious that he was faking the wide-eyes. His eye bags were now obviously drawn with black eyeliner. It was apparent now that he was Japanese.
That little bastard, Near, took advantage of the fact that I've never seen L in person before… but why would they lie about this?! Is L that much of a coward to keep on hiding from all of us?
"See?! God, I told you we killed L… so I wrote down the name of the one with the power to kill you first! Just like you said!" cried Mikami. Froth was forming at the sides of his mouth.
Near shook his head. With his usual annoying gaze, he said, "Mikami-san. I'm afraid that you're very mistaken… and that your unguided actions might have cost Kira this battle. It is thanks to L that we have defeated you."
So… that's it… It only took me a few seconds to figure out how I was outsmarted by Near. At that moment, I realized that Mikami wasn't as perfect as I had previously assumed him to be.
They used L as bait to find out where the true Death Note was.
Takada… she had the eyes, but something must have prevented her from writing the name by herself… How did L figure out that she was more than Mikami's girlfriend? Why would she be placed under extreme suspicion?
Damn it. I should have never told them that L was my greatest enemy. I should have never admitted the fact that I was in a position where I couldn't move…
"I KILLED L LAWLIET WITH THE DEATH NOTE!" yelled Mikami. Against the storm, his declaration sounded chilly. Senseless. Stupid. Near's goons put more force to restrain him.
"No… you didn't. You could have, but your timing was way off."
A foreign voice arose from the darkness.
I turned warily to the darkness. A figure, clothed in white, walked slowly towards the circle of light in the middle of the warehouse.
"Matt… Mello… it's been years since I last saw you through that camera in Whammy's House…"
His face was bathed in light. Unruly, dark hair. Deep eye bags. Pale skin. Dead eyes. The tired look of somebody who hasn't slept a wink in decades.
He faced me. A smile that couldn't be described as anything else but proud was on his lips. Was he proud of showing himself in person, or was he proud that he finally saw me without the TV screens? Without the costumes? Without the power of Kira?
Or... could he have been proud of me?
Without frills or distortions, he told me, "Kira. This is the first time we meet. I am L."
(Mello)
Fuck. River is Near's name. Who would have thought? But at that time, I couldn't worry about it too much.
I stared at this new person who called himself L.
Yes… there's no doubt in my mind, like before, with Light Yagami. For once in his life, this person L is not lying. He's escaped death by the Death Note. There is no reason for him to hide.
After introducing himself to Kira, he turned to me. "Ah, here's Mello… alias, Shishiosu. That's how you spelled Theseus in Katakana, right? Though, I am not sure whether you were right in spelling it that way. Haha… it's not important right now, is it? I'm just impressed that you managed to fool us for a period of time… At one point, I thought that you were a greater threat than Kira, because by killing those innocent people in such creative ways, you definitely got more violent than the killer in this story. And extreme violence was never Kira's thing, so to speak."
He tilted his head at me. He looked like he was pondering my expression. What would he have said? I didn't even know what I was feeling at that time. His conclusions were so accurate that my head spun, and a slight nausea rose from the pit of my stomach.
"Funny, isn't it? It was fortunate that I didn't show myself to Amane, or else you would have beaten even Kira," he added.
I couldn't say anything to that.
He turned to Matt and said, "I'm amazed by your performance as well, Matt. You have fooled countries, entire populations, into believing that you are all powerful and all just. You proved to me that you indeed had potential to become my successor."
"Shut the fuck up, L," growled Matt. His mouth was distorted into strange shapes. His eyes were livid and manic, and even then we weren't shown the full intensity behind his goggles. I had never seen him so full of hatred before.
L looked back at him without expression. However, he didn't shut up. Not yet. "I know what you must be thinking, Matt… no-one escapes death from the Death Note. That's rule number one, isn't it? The human whose name is written in this note shall die."
Matt closed his mouth and watched him, with the calmest face he can muster. Go on then, he seemed to say.
I wanted to know what was up, too. Is L going to admit that he's already dead? Or that he's actually a death god?
No. He rummaged through his pockets for a few seconds and produced a scrap of paper the size of an origami paper. He held it out for each and every one of us to read. From my place in the corner of the warehouse, I barely read what was written there:
L Lawliet
Heart Attack
18-02-06. 17:59 PM
"I defeated you by following the rules," he said.
So all he admitted to was being human.
Matt's goggles flashed as he stared at the note. How could L have gotten his hands on a piece of the Death Note? Is this a joke? No, Mikami seemed sure that days before, he wrote L's name into the true notebook.
There's no other explanation, except that L committed suicide to avoid being killed.
"H… how did you find that? It's Takada, isn't it? She… she betrayed me! She betrayed God!" Mikami seemed at the point of dying moments ago, but now he was flailing with full force again.
L shook his head. "Takada-san was actually good at doing her job. On the surface, she seemed to be the most obvious one to become Mikami's right hand, but who would think that a person who acted as simple and straightforward as her would be Kira? She dodged suspicion by acting more… average than she is. No-one would think that she has the capability of being Kira's successor.
"However, something about her innocence threw me off… this, coupled with the fact that Mikami seemed to be letting the SPK spy on him so easily, made me think that the chances of her being involved in the Kira affair were rather high… I think, a little bit less than five percent."
That's not very high. But that's L for you.
"I let Near spy on Mikami, but I never told him of my suspicions and surveillance of Takada. It was hard to determine how she was killing without the notebook, but it was easy to determine the schedules of her killing. It was a hunch on my part that she somehow obtained pieces of the notebook, and that these were as good as the Death Note. So… I asked my spy to steal those last few pieces."
"… her wallet…" mumbled Mikami.
Matt winced upon hearing it. I guessed what he was thinking: I was defeated because somebody stole Takada's wallet.
His face expressionless as ever, L continued: "I let Wedy show her face to Takada just before she got away on her motorcycle. And then, I told her to write down her name immediately into the piece of the note, and write down the same conditions of the death as this." He gestured to his own death note. "This was to ensure that she wouldn't be killed or manipulated by Takada, and that she can also fool her into thinking that she died.
"After ensuring that Wedy didn't die immediately of a heart attack, I took my chances and wrote down my name onto one of the pieces that she gave me. After that, the chances of me being safe from death by Death Note were up by fifty percent. I showed myself to Takada, which gave her a chance to obtain my name and face.
"She couldn't move anymore—she wisely thought at that moment that she was already being watched by L. She knew, however, that Mikami was the one who can move the freest, and so left the killing up to him. That was her mistake.
"That was all we needed, Matt… or should I say, Kira. Your minions' loyalty, and your abnormal desire to have me killed… they would ultimately turn against you."
L's face looked strangely hollow as he recited all of these to Kira. I tried to imagine what went on in L's mind. Could he have been thinking of his own death? Or was he blaming himself for all the gravity—that none of us would have thought of destroying, if only we were raised by Whammy's House differently?
No… this is the first time I've seen L, but I'm sure that it is not like him to think these things. All he was doing was solving the puzzle.
L looked back at the piece of paper in his hand and flipped it over and over with his fingers. "I had my doubts until now whether this piece is genuine, actually. What if Mikami had written in more into the Death Note, and I was merely being manipulated up until today? However… from the moment that you entered the warehouse, Matt, we knew that everything went just as planned."
His eyes widened and he looked to the blank space beside him.
Near nodded. From inside his shirt, he took out the true Death Note and presented it to Matt. "You guessed it right, Kira. We all saw the shinigami flying beside you, from the moment that you went into the warehouse."
A shinigami… That must be Ryuk. I've never touched any of his Death Notes. I wondered whether the shinigami was as surprised as I was.
Matt was silent for a long time. He was at the centre of the circle of light. His head was bowed down, and his face was covered with shadows. It was hard to tell what was going on with him.
Without warning, Matt raised his head. His eyes seemed to flash behind his goggles. He had on his face a manic grin, which he held for what seemed like hours before he broke into depraved laughter.
No-one moved. Everybody watched him in stunned silence. No-one seemed to want to breathe, except for Near and L, who looked strangely comfortable in their places. Hell, that creepy laughter was enough to send shivers down my spine. It was terrifying, looking at him, but we were trapped in his mania.
It was a long time before he stopped; his voice seemed strained when he started gasping for breath.
"Yes… that's right… I am Kira."
He raised his hands, fingers outstretched to capture the light from the ceiling. He could be imitating Christ. All I felt there was pure evil. As I stared at him, his voice got blurrier and blurrier. All I was feeling was the insanity of his declarations.
So now what? Are you going to kill me right here?
Listen:… he said, as if the light on his hands came from within himself. I am Kira. And… the god of the new world.
The world is evil, L. You may think that you're helping just because you're solving cases. But remember what you told me when I asked you why you're taking on those cases? All you told us was you "liked solving puzzles. It is my hobby". How can the world change with that thought process, L?! You're corrupt, as the rest of the world is corrupt.
That's right… you're as evil as the rest of them.
L is evil, and L has to be destroyed.
Only I could have done it… I have the right to destroy everything that needs to be destroyed… with this notebook, he gestured towards the notebook in front of Near. I cleansed society, didn't I? The statistics do not lie, L. Crime rates decreased, and more and more people believed in what I can do. I was doing the world favours that your detective work could never do!
Kira is god, and L is nothing but the final fucking boss. The hero has to kill you at one point, L, or else the world will stay evil. You have to admit it. That's why you can't kill me.
When I heard those words, I zoomed back into reality. Suddenly, I realized that Matt…
Matt, you're just a loser… you're just like L! He's not the 'final fucking boss,' (as an otaku like you would put it)! You are!
I smiled. Now was my time to step into the circle of light.
(Near)
Matt went mad. That's the only explanation for it.
"No… you are just a murderer. And this notebook is the worst murder weapon in the history of mankind."
I didn't care that Matt wasn't talking to me. I took the Kira finger puppet and crushed it between two fingers. He seemed to flinch as I destroyed it.
I then took the notebook in my hands and surfed through the pages. I saw the page that he used to kill Watari, which in turn started this chase. "But Matt. You're just making excuses, with all that talk about 'cleansing the world'. Don't make me laugh! From the beginning, all you wanted was to beat L, Mello and I! Killing so many criminals just to become number one… what, did you think that this was a videogame? The person who comes out alive is the one who wins? I think that's a bit more twisted than killing the criminals out of principle."
Matt laughed again. "What? We talked about it before, Near. L is a trophy, and we're all in a race to grab that title. So don't you go looking down on me, you white-haired freak! You're here right now to win. Don't deny it."
This guy… how annoying. He's the loser in the game, and he still has the gall to talk like that to me.
"So… game over. No more lifes or continues for Kira, hurray hurray. Near, you have the Death Note, right? L, you have that piece with you? Come on… I have my face right here, see? I'll even take off my goggles for you." He pulled his goggles up like a headband. His unremarkable brown eyes exposed themselves for everyone to see. "Hah. See if you have the guts to kill me now, if you think I'm that dangerous!"
Of course I won't do that. It's against my rules to use the Death Note, after all. I'm sure that L feels the same way, even though he ended up using it against himself to help me out in my investigation.
(Besides… even if I wanted to, I didn't know Matt's true name. Damn it.)
"Ha ha ha… so you're just gonna throw me in jail, after all… maybe I'll get the death penalty, huh?" He shrugged and flashed a saner grin towards all of us. It's just like his smile back in Whammy's House, when he and Mello played tricks on me. "That has to suck. I mean, I'm definitely not as straight-laced as this Yagami guy over here. You know I'll find a way to escape from the law. I've been doing it for over a year now!"
The nerve of this guy, announcing that he knew how to escape from jail before a horde of police officers. I stared up at the shinigami, who seemed a little bit more excited upon the prospect of escape. Hm.
"You know who else isn't straight-laced, Matt?"
We all turned to Mello, who held a notebook of his own, for some reason. He was holding it open. He faced one of the pages towards us.
My eyes widened when I saw what was written there:
Mail Jeevas
Heart Attack
12th February 2006, 14:00
He smirked proudly as he faced Matt. "I had counted on this, just in case Mikami got confused as to who the real Kira is, and who the true god of the new world is… well, no matter. You're gonna die anyway, Matt. You have precisely five minutes."
"You… fucker!"
I snapped my head towards Matt. He suddenly had his back turned away from us.
"Somebody, stop him! He's got a piece of the Death Note with him!"
I didn't recognize the person who screamed, but suddenly, all guns were trained towards Matt and started firing.
Fighting for presence of mind, I called out, "Ridner! Capture Mello!"
Ridner rushed to Mello and struggled to cuff his wrists. When she succeeded, the Death Note dropped on the floor.
Matt dodged most of the bullets. Some of them nicked him at the shoulder. Finally, somebody hit his hand, and he dropped his pen and the piece of the note.
Without further delay, Aizawa and Mogi from the Japanese Task Force grabbed Matt from the floor and cuffed his bloody wrists.
All these happened under three seconds. I closed my eyes to quell my confusion and said calmly, but shakily, "Commander… please pick up the piece of the Death Note."
Silently, all of us watched as Lester slowly walked towards where the small piece of the note lay. He picked it up, read the note, and silently handed it to me.
I read the note for myself. For some reason, once the words registered with me, a numbness took over my body and my mind.
Wordlessly, I struggled to face Mello and showed him the note:
Mihael Keehl
Nate R
Mello's face contorted in anger. "The fuck, Matt?!"
Matt laughed maniacally at his reaction. "What, Mello? You honestly think that I lasted this long without extra equips and back-up plans? I have pieces of the notebook in my watch, in my goggles, in a secret compartment in my sneakers…"
Mello was out of sorts. Ridner had a difficult time holding him in place. It was no good saying anything else; he was cornered. "You're fucking insane, Matt, I can't believe that you wrote down my name!"
"Hell, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna take you with me!" Matt was cornered too, but somehow he found no reason to struggle anymore. A maddening glint was in his eyes as he faced me and said, "Hell, even L is coming with me... We're all gonna die eventually, Near! Wanna join in the fucking fun? I can do it for you… it's only four letters away… and I have the entire four minutes remaining in my fucking life to write it all down!"
I looked at him, shook my head, and turned to L. The look on his face was indescribable.
Twenty seconds later, Mello's death began. Five seconds of agonizing screaming and twitching. And then, just like that, he was gone. The usual fire in his eyes was replaced by a layer of impenetrable glass. During the death, all Matt did was laugh. It was such a bitter-sounding laugh that I wondered what exactly he was laughing at.
Some time later, without another word, Matt died from a heart attack.
Seeing the death of his so-called god, Teru Mikami killed himself by stabbing the point of his fountain pen through his lung.
For the rest of us, unbearable silence followed.
My world went dim. I vaguely felt myself hitting the ground, and I never heard anybody from the warehouse call out my name.
(Kira)
So…
This is nothingness.
- Chapter 13 end -
Notes: Well, that's the end of the mystery, but not quite the story! Haha! Congratulations for those who guessed Kira's identity from the beginning, and thank you very much to everyone for reading up to this point.
Please stick around for the epilogue!