Hidden Faces – a Death Note fanfic

Chapter Three: A Façade Cloaked in Shadow

Dies irae, dies illa

Matsuda floated above the clouds, watching the sunrise. He blinked; the rays hurt his eyes. He forced himself to stare into the sun, and he no longer needed to blink. He gazed at a sunspot for a moment before turning his face away to the earth below. He noticed a speck on the ground below, and, flapping his wings, he glided down until he could see more details. It was a car, driving back towards the Yellow Box warehouse.

Solvet saeclum in favilla

When it arrived, he landed beside it. Aizawa and Mogi got out and they walked with him into the warehouse. As they walked, a man Matsuda knew was himself got out of the car and followed them, catching up once they reached the door. Once inside, they found the SPK waiting for them with guns drawn, Near hunched over in the center. He also had a gun, but Matsuda knew it was unloaded.

Teste David cum Sibylla!

"We know you're Kira," said Near. "I've outsmarted you."

"No, you haven't," said Matsuda. "I've perfected the Death Note. I am a god now!"

"You're too late," said Near. "I already knew everything. We've been watching you to see what you'd come up with. And now that you've given me what I need, I wrote your name in the notebook."

He raised a page of the note just as he had once shown the room the list of names.

"'Tota Matsuda,'" read Matsuda, "'dies of heart attack 2:35 PM.' But it can't work."

"You have forty seconds to figure it out," said Near.

Quantus tremor est futurus!

Matsuda whipped out his pen and wrote Nate River on the Death Note.

"That's the wrong pen," Near said calmly.

Matsuda, snarling, grabbed another pen and wrote the name. Near smiled. Matsuda grabbed another, and another, and another, and there were only five seconds left. He heard Ryuk laughing and whirled around to face the Shinigami, demand of him why he hadn't been there to help, why he was only watching now. But it was Kira, Light Yagami, flying on a pair of black wings, holding the pen in his outstretched hand. Matsuda reached for it, but he was too far away and his limbs were growing heavy. His wings flapped feebly as he tried to keep himself off the ground, when the other Matsuda cleared his throat.

Quando judex est venturus

"You are not one of us," he heard. "You were never one of us."

The other Matsuda raised his gun.

"It's been forty seconds!" shouted Matsuda, wings losing the strength to stay aloft. "Why hasn't it been forty seconds?"

"Five seconds left," said Near, and Matsuda suddenly saw L behind him, staring through Matsuda. "Still five seconds."

"You will never surpass me," said L, staring at him.

Matsuda turned and tried to take the pen from Light, but it was just out of reach. He turned back to look at the assembled group and the other Matsuda fired. Wings flapping frantically, given energy by shock, Matsuda crawled towards Light. Reaching up for the pen, he saw the wound in Light's hand.

Cuncta stricte discussurus!

"You don't deserve this pen," said Light, still laughing. "You don't deserve that mask."

Matsuda realized with a shock that he was wearing the L mask he had scorned Near for. He feebly tried to tear it off his face, but he was too tired, too tired.

"But . . . I didn't . . . make . . . any . . . mistakes . . . " he managed to say, losing strength as the blood pored endlessly out of his chest, his arms, his hand.

"Wrong," said L. "We knew everything all along."

The other Matsuda reloaded his gun.

"We defeated you," said the other Matsuda, placing his gun under Matsuda's shin. "Remember that."

Matsuda woke, the gunshot still ringing in his ears.

"I'm not going to lose," Matsuda murmured as he dialed a number on his cell phone.

"Hello, you have reached Red Apple Publishers. What can we do for you?" came a voice from the other end.

"May I speak with your manager, please?" he asked.

"Certainly. Please hold."

Matsuda had founded Red Apple Publishers through an anonymous donation using pension money he had gotten from Near. Wammy's estate, which he presumed it must have come from, was massive. L had used his funds to build a skyscraper in the middle of downtown Tokyo, for goodness' sake. If that wasn't a prime example of L trying to get in everyone's face at once, then nothing was.

Near was going to die in the most humiliating way possible. And for Near, that would mean the knowledge that he had not succeeded and that all of his pride was founded on a failure. If he could do all this while in extreme pain, then that was good too. The best way to accomplish this was through Red Apple Publishers.

"Hello?" asked Matsuda's latest pawn. The publishing company had not yet expanded to the point where there were more than one level of management.

"I am about to give you the book. How soon can you make a copy?"

"I'd have to see the book in question. If we can make a master copy, all subsequent copies could be made from that one."

"Excellent. I'm on my way."

Matsuda hung up. Then he winked at Ryuk.

"It starts here," he said.

He walked over the couch and, burying his face in one of the pillows, began to scream for several minutes. After getting up, he coughed experimentally.

"Right," he said, his voice now gravelly and hoarse. He called the police office. Ryuk laughed.

"Hello?" asked the receiver.

"Matsuda here" he said. "I've come down with a bit of a cold. (cough cough) I may need to stay home for a (cough) a few days and recuper–(cough) recuperate."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Matsuda," said the receiver. "Get better soon and come in as soon as possible."

Matsuda went over to the kitchen and filled a glass with ice water, then grabbed a cough drop as an afterthought. Ryuk kept laughing.

"You know what, Ryuk?" Matsuda said. "I think people are stupid."

"But they're so interesting!" said Ryuk, still laughing.

"Yes," said Matsuda, staring out the window. "They are interesting indeed."

Two days later and he had the Death Note back, while Red Apple Publishing now had their master copy. Matsuda had also given them an envelope containing instructions as to quantity and delivery. Now he turned his attention to the beginning of the hunt.

Near would immediately spring for a murder obviously committed by Kira. But he would respond with force, and like as not he would immediately try to incapacitate Matsuda simply because he had been the last to have the Note. The fact that Matsuda had burned it in front of them all would not factor into his suspicions.

It would be best to narrow down the playing field. Matsuda took a die that had been left out from his Yatzee game with Ryuk and rolled it, throwing a list of names together as it came to a halt.

One. That was Ide.

The next day, Matsuda came to work with an extra pen. He tried to be in the same room with Mogi as much as possible. Finally, Ide excused himself to go to the restroom. Matsuda grabbed his pen and followed. He was quite fortunate, for he found when he entered that no one else was there.

He sat in the stall next to Ide and, checking his watch, pulled out the pen. He carefully pulled out a few sheets of toilet paper so as not to let Ide hear.

"Hideki Ide," he wrote. "Slips on the bathroom floor (he checked his watch again) at 10:24 AM, 5/14/11 and crushes voice box on stall door. Damages brain tissue and begins to hemorrhage. Is taken to the hospital and dies of a stroke three days later at 4:38 PM."

That was all. He waited until Ide stood up and opened the door and for one awful moment he thought the pen had failed. Then there was the sound of a shoe slipping on a tiled floor, and Ide fell. He slammed into the edge of the stall door and Matsuda fancied he heard a dull thud as Ide's skull hit the ground. Grinning madly, he flushed the makeshift Death Note and walked slowly over to Ide, who was retching and clutching his throat.

"That was for Kira," Matsuda said. Ide's eye's widened. Matsuda touched him with the tip of the pen and suddenly Ide heard the laughter of Ryuk.

"Hello," said Ryuk, chuckling.

"You all missed it," said Matsuda, the naïve young man gone from his behavior. "Did you think anyone could ever really be as stupid as Tota Matsuda? But you fell for it! But you killed Kira. The world needed Kira, and you took him away for your own pride. So die now, and stay out of my way."

Ide couldn't speak. But somehow his face managed to tell Matsuda you'll never get away with this, you duplicitous scum! Matsuda laughed. Then the mask was back. His face took on a horrified expression and, almost stumbling, he ran for the door. The mask reasserted itself and Kira was forced below the surface. Freedom had been fun while it lasted.

"Ide's hurt himself!" he cried. "Someone help!"

Tota Matsuda cried at the funeral. That was expected of him. The mask would be worn for a while longer. But someone underneath, someone who did not cry, did not pity the deceased, laughed along with the Shinigami at his left hand. Kira laughed behind the mask.

As he was walking home, he decided to approach Mogi about the Kira issue. Mogi, who had taken over the job as Misa's manager. Dependable Mogi. Steadfast Mogi.

One day about five weeks later, as he was coming home from work, Mogi received a call from Matsuda.

"Hello, Matsuda?" he said. "What is it?"

"I am Kira," came the reply.

The world froze.

"Do exactly as I say or you will die," Matsuda continued. "I have the Death Note right here in front of me."

"Matsuda – you tricked us all?" Mogi asked.

"I did. And you killed Kira when we needed him most. So now we're even. Nearly."

But the pun was lost on Mogi.

"There's going to be a bombing at the mall in ten minutes. Hurry there and try to restore order."

"I will do it. But we will need to talk later."

"Of course," said Matsuda. "I'm free for about three hours afterwards. Come and talk."

After the explosion went off, Mogi hurriedly looked around for Matsuda. He saw him, the old grin still on his face. But his eyes! How terrible his eyes had become!

Matsuda waved a piece of paper, still grinning. As he approached Mogi, he touched Mogi with it and suddenly Ryuk was standing there, laughing.

"I lied, Mogi," he said. "You don't get to talk afterwards."

He walked off, calmly, assuredly. The Shinigami laughed and kept on laughing, following the face of Kira. Mogi went for his gun to kill him before he overthrew the world once more. But then a big man knocked him over and, as he struggled to get up, another man stepped on his leg and he heard it snap. People rushed over him, kicking him, bruising him, stepping on him. He reflected, tranquil amidst the pain, that he had been too naïve and that Matsuda had betrayed them all from the beginning. He was going to die.

Matsuda turned to look, just once. And he laughed, the laugh of a Shinigami, and read the piece of paper once more.

"Kanzo Mogi, 6/23/11 – enters mall on the way home at 6:13 PM and is crushed to death by fleeing mob."

And another entry below that, one for a terrorist who blew himself up without achieving a single casualty.

Kira laughed.

"What if Kira returned?" he asked Aizawa after the second funeral. "I shot him. I'm going to be next!"

"It's not Kira," Aizawa tried to reassure him. "He would have killed us all at once. Besides, you destroyed the notebook yourself."

"There were others," said Matsuda, lowering his voice. "More Death Gods brought their notebooks. What if a new Kira came?"

"Then he wouldn't know our names, Matsuda! Think clearly!" Aizawa snapped.

Behind the mask, Kira smirked. He tried a new approach.

"What if Near's trying to kill us? We're the only ones who know about the notes. He could be trying to eliminate the evidence, just like he wanted the notebooks burned."

Aiwaza couldn't find a way to escape from Matsuda's persistence.

"Please, just respect Mogi's memory and don't say stupid things," he said lamely.

Matsuda felt obliged to look cowed again. But this was the last time.

"I'm sorry," he said. Ryuk laughed.

One week later, the old SPK lost two of its former members in a car accident. The Death Note could only kill one person per incident, so Matsuda had Stephen Loud (who went by 'Gevanni') break his neck in the accident and Halle Bullock (who went by 'Lidner') contract a fatal infection from shrapnel. During her hospitalization, she left Near a message in much the same way Light had once taunted L.

Hunched over in his office, playing with his toys, Near had no choice but to return to Japan and hunt down Kira. Again. Matsuda waited, making sure all of his plans were ready to catch the brat. Near couldn't hide behind L's mask any longer.

"I've received a call from Near," Aizawa told him one day. "Ms. Lidner and Mr. Gevanni died last week."

Matsuda looked shocked, then forced himself to feel fear.

"It's Kira!" he said. "We're going to die!"

He was back in L's command center, watching the Shinigami Rem fade through the wall. Would she stop at L's name, or would they all go into the pages of the Death Note, reduced to a name on a list of names, insignificant?

Watari began to pant heavily on the other end of the radio. Rem had killed him first.

"Matsuda?" asked Aizawa. "Hello?"

"S-sorry, I . . . I was remembering something," Matsuda responded, shaking his head.

"We'll be fine. We can go back to using the old badges," Aizawa tried to reassure him. "The fake ones. You remember?"

"Yeah . . . I remember."

The screens blanked out. "All Data Deleted," they proclaimed.

"Watari? Watari!" cried L.

Then he gave a short gasp, so sudden it might have been a hiccup. Matsuda gasped in sympathy.

"Matsuda! Are you okay?" asked Aizawa, bringing Matsuda back to the present.

"I . . . don't feel so well," said Matsuda, somewhat frightened by thee lapses.

Aizawa probably thought it was Kira, but he refrained from saying so to prevent Matsuda any unnecessary stress.

"You've been quiet since you got sick a few months ago," he said at last. "I don't think you fully recovered."

Of course, even L obeyed the laws of physics. Intellectually, Matsuda could say that he fell at exactly the same pace as anyone else. But L did not fall so much a glide, gracefully leaning over in his chair and floating gently to the ground. He did not cry out or moan as he lay amidst the ruin of his snack and his ambition, Light Yagami leaning over him and sobbing. The last thing he saw was the mask of Kira, who had defeated him.

Matsuda jerked himself into reality again.

"The day's about over," he said. "I think I'll go home."

Aizawa looked at him sympathetically but said nothing.

Light knew the rules of the game. They expected him to act as though he cared, pretend to be one of them. As though a human life meant something to him. So he sobbed over the body of his defeated enemy.

"I–" Matsuda said, surfacing once more.

Light screamed. "We're all going to die!"

Matsuda got up unsteadily and began walking home.

Light screamed. "We're all going to die!"

Matsuda struggled up from where he had fallen.

"We're all going to die!" he said, but with his heart elsewhere. L was dead. There were no more obstacles between him and his goal of utopia.

Matsuda looked down on L's face, impassive, noble in defeat, as his eyes closed and his face froze for eternity.

He stumbled through the door and stood at the graveside, watched the others walk away, stared at the stone angels.

He managed to crawl into bed and lie there motionless, but the visions did not come.

"What's the matter, Matsuda?" asked Ryuk. "Things will get boring if you just sleep all day. What about Near?"

"Near can wait," mumbled Matsuda. "I'm feeling kind of–"

The dream, the nightmare of the warehouse assailed him again.

Light never showed these signs of stress, Matsuda told himself later.

He was staring at the sunrise again, Ryuk – silent for once – at his shoulder. The shakiness of yesterday had been banished to memory, but even as a memory it was a sobering fact. His face was tired, melancholic.

"Near should be arriving today," he said, turning to Ryuk.

Ryuk laughed. Some of the mask returned to Matsuda's face and he smiled.

"Finally, some entertainment!" Ryuk said.

"Yes," replied Matsuda thoughtfully. He was not in top form at the moment, but he could be ready to go in another day. Near wouldn't be able to pull anything conclusive in the meantime.

"Yes," he said again, more confident this time. More of the old Matsuda crept back into his face.

He called Aizawa to ask if Near had contacted him yet, was given a negative answer, and got ready for work. It was possibly his last week as a police officer.

As he left the house, a figure rose from behind a bush and began following him. It took out a cell phone as it walked and dialed a number.

"Anything unusually?" asked Near over the phone.

"I'm not sure," replied Lester. "He was staring out the window and I think I saw his mouth move, but I don't see the Shinigami. He's just left for work."

"Keep me informed," said Near.

Matsuda walked onward, oblivious. Ryuk said nothing.

Around lunchtime, Aizawa got a call from Near, ordering him to go to the Yellow Box warehouse. He in turn told Matsuda, and they drove together to the place that still lived in Matsuda's nightmares.

How much did Near know? What machinations did he have in place?

"We're here," said Aizawa, waking Matsuda from his reverie.

They walked towards the warehouse, Matsuda's anxiety growing with each step. When they reached the door, Matsuda hesitated, then forced himself to walk through.

"Hello," said Near. He was standing in the same place as he had one and a half years ago, the fateful day when Kira had gone the way of all of his victims. That could not possibly be coincidence.

"Hi," said Matsuda, very much now a young man of the day, nervous but cordial.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you here," asked Near. "Kira is back. But he is not resuming his judgements, not yet at least. No, he is attempting to take out the ones who knew of the notebook."

"Then he's going to kill us!" exclaimed Matsuda. "I knew it!"

"It depends on whether or not he wants us to know he won," Near condescended. "Light, in his arrogance, was defeated because he declared victory. If this new Kira is anything like Light, then he will also attempt to declare victory. I suspect that is why only about half of the witnesses of Light Yagami's defeat are now dead."

"B-but Ide-san had an accident by himself!" Matsuda objected. "And Ms. Lidner and Mr. Gevanni were together in the car when they crashed! How could Kira let them know he won?"

"It's possible that Kira was only getting them out of the way," said Near. "After all, the group here is composed of the man who defeated Kira, the man who actually shot Kira, the first man to begin doubting in Light, and the top member of the SPK. If any of us die, we will know who Kira is before it happens."

Matsuda and Aizawa looked at each other.

"There is another factor," said Near. "Only the witnesses in the warehouse knew the names of everyone present. Anyone outside the investigation would not."

"Now you suspect us?" cried Aizawa.

"Why would any us of kill our friends?" asked Matsuda, pleading.

"Light sacrificed his own father," answered Near. "However, there are other alternatives. Suppose Light had Mikami, his pair of eyes if you recall, send the names in an email. Or suppose that Shinigami, Ryuk, came back with another notebook and told the new Kira the names of the people who had defeated Light. We cannot be sure."

"Then we're clean?" asked Matsuda.

"No. I'm about 10% sure that one of you is Kira," Near said. "And about 2% certain about you, Lester."

"What about you?" said Matsuda. "You could be Kira. Did you really destroy the pages you took from Mikami's notebook?"

"I did," said Near. "I destroyed them because they were a horrible murder weapon."

"And what about the Shinigami?" asked Matsuda. "He left when we burned the notebook. If one of us were Kira, wouldn't he be here?"

Ryuk laughed.

"Kira could have found a way to make him invisible again," said Near calmly.

Ryuk laughed again, harder.

"I don't believe this," said Matsuda. "I'm leaving."

"Yes," said Aizawa. "If you're going to toss around accusations like this so lightly, then we aren't working with you."

They went back to work. Near watched them leave, saying nothing.

"It's about 30% for Matsuda-san, now," he said to Lester.

"I agree," said Lester. "He's acting strangely."

Things are starting to get interesting, or at least I hope they are. You know you're dedicated to a story when you jump up from the computer, grab a pen, and test how many sheets of toilet paper you need to stack up in order to write (it's five).

Once again, I'm going to have to warn you that, if you don't write me lots of reviews, Matsuda will come for you. That is all.