"So, it looks like you were telling the truth after all, Ryuk." Light spun in his desk chair and smirked as the shinigami handed over Taro's black notebook. It was very similar to the one currently hidden in Light's desk drawer: they both had the words DEATH NOTE on the front cover in Ryuk's untidy scrawl. Opening the notebook, Light was surprised to see that the inside covers were blank.
"You didn't include the instructions," he said, looking up at Ryuk.
"Didn't think of it then," the shinigami explained, shrugging. "He couldn't even read properly anyway. Can I have the apple now?"
Light flicked him an apple, watching as it was deftly caught and swallowed in three bites. "I don't think he has a problem with reading, Ryuk; it's probably just because you wrote in English instead of in Japanese." Light now had the notebook open on his desk and was studying the first page very closely. There were a number of tiny indents covering the top half of the page. They were almost invisible to the naked eye, but had a distinctive texture when Light ran a fingertip across them. "I can't read what it says, but something was definitely written here and then erased later on. I guess it all must have been true, then." Flipping over a few more pages, Light suddenly cracked a grin.
"What is it?"
"Well, this changes everything. Look, this page has just one name on it. And this page over here has the same name, but… well, see for yourself." The page was lined with column after column of increasingly shaky kanji, spelling out Takagi's name dozens of times over.
"He actually used the death note? Huh. I thought he was too scared."
"But it didn't work, Ryuk. You want to know why?" Pushing his chair back from the desk, Light unscrewed the ink cartridge from a pen and opened his desk drawer. Slotting the cartridge into the underside of the drawer, he pushed the false bottom up to reveal his death note.
"I gotta say, you're a lot sharper about hiding your death note than he was," Ryuk remarked.
Leafing through his death note, Light reached a certain page and compared the two notebooks. "It's just as I thought: the same name. Taro must have been trying to kill Takagi for some reason, but I had already found Takagi's name in the police files after I killed the fake L. I wrote that Yamanaka would commit suicide, which was easily believable since he'd just lost his job and was suspected of being insane. But I knew it would seem suspicious if Takagi died at the same time, so I wrote that Takagi would die in twenty days while on holiday overseas. He lost his job because he was a coward who wouldn't work on the Kira investigation, so it would only seem natural for him to skip the country out of shame."
"And then his body would be overseas."
"Exactly," Light said, smirking. "Taro tried to kill Takagi too, but he obviously didn't know much about how to use the death note. He didn't understand why it wasn't working. Since L told him that Takagi is dead, Taro probably thinks that he's the killer. That's why he won't talk to L. It's not just me he's afraid of: he's worried that if he tells L about the notebook, he'll end up getting executed too."
Ryuk was confused. "Didn't L already say that Taro killed those guys?"
"Yeah, but that's just an old trick Ryuzaki's using to try and get Taro to say something. You accuse them of some terrible crime, hoping that they'll tell you what you want to know in order to prove themselves innocent. Ryuzaki thinks he's a step ahead of everyone else, but he's actually too smart for his own good. Do you see the beauty of it, Ryuk?"
Not for the first time, Ryuk thought that Light should have been a shinigami instead of a human.
"Well, what are you gonna do?" he asked, watching Light with his perpetual grin.
Light tossed his head back and stared up at the ceiling. There were a number of possibilities, but his priority was to find Ryuzaki's true name and kill him. It didn't matter how many times Light diverted the investigation away from himself: L would never give up the chase and they would just keep clashing. Killing Ryuzaki was the only way to win.
"I won't kill Taro," Light decided. "I might as well go and introduce myself as Kira to Ryuzaki's face. In fact, I should do whatever I can to keep Taro alive."
"You're the only one who wants him dead anyway," Ryuk pointed out.
"To tell you the truth, I'm worried about the second Kira. If they somehow find out about Taro, they could kill him without thinking and bring the investigation down on us both. Ryuzaki has probably already thought of that. He might try to use Taro as bait to draw the second Kira out into the open; it would be just like him."
Ryuk privately thought that L wouldn't make a bad shinigami either.
"I was thinking of switching the notebooks earlier," Light continued, "but it's not a good plan; I'd have to be desperate. Still, if either of the notebooks had to end up in Ryuzaki's hands, I'd definitely prefer it to be Taro's one since it doesn't have a shinigami attached."
"If any human touches that death note, they'll be able to see me. I'm not attached to it anymore, but I'm still the shinigami who dropped it."
"That's good to know in advance. Thanks, Ryuk." Squaring his shoulders, Light dropped his scheming gaze on the two notebooks in his lap. "My safest option is to convince Taro to give up ownership of his death note. That way I'd have two notebooks, and I'd also eliminate Taro as a threat without killing him. I'd need to find some way to influence him, but that shouldn't be hard considering his position."
"Sounds like you've still got something else up your sleeve," Ryuk said expectantly.
Light grinned. "I'd rather make a move that will put me at an advantage, not just even the standings. I want to get Taro to do the deal for the shinigami eyes."
"Heh, heh, heh. How are you gonna swing that one?"
"You're going to help me, Ryuk. Once Taro has the shinigami eyes, I'll figure out a way to get Ryuzaki's name from him. Ryuzaki doesn't stand a chance, and without him, the investigation team will be useless. I probably won't even need to kill them. Who knows, maybe they'll even come to appreciate the new world."
Ryuk was about to say something non-committal (he was all for prolonging the Kira-vs-L game as much as possible) but cocked his head when he heard the shrill voice of Light's sister downstairs. "Liiiiight! There's a girl here to see you!"
Peering out the window, Ryuk saw the pale, vaguely familiar outline of another shinigami and snickered to himself. He'd never expected to see her with a pet human. Ah well, it was always fun to have another spanner thrown in the works.
It was warm, quiet and comfortable. Taro tried his best to go back to sleep, but his brain wouldn't cooperate. The usual tension came flooding back before he'd even opened his eyes. He automatically turned his face away from the camera: the thought of someone watching him sleep was always disturbing.
The movement seemed strangely easy today. His neck was usually stiff from sleeping on the stupid rubber plank of a bed, but… uh, a pillow? Since when did L let him have a pillow?
Eyes snapped open: Taro sat up too quickly and promptly fell on his back again. He stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling, head swimming from the sudden movement and not having eaten properly in days. At least the bed was comfortable.
By the time he was steady enough to sit up again, he had detected the alluring aroma of food. Looking around, he noticed that he was in what looked like a hotel room. A fancy hotel room, with heavy curtains and a crystal chandelier and a huge television up on the wall. Wow.
Considering all that had happened to him in the past few months, the situation didn't panic him much. Yes, it was strange, but for the moment he was more interested in the tray of food he had spotted over on the coffee table. Climbing out of the bed, he made his way over to the food and stared at it for a moment, wondering what the heck was it and how did you eat it? Oh well, his fingers would do.
He could only stomach two of the foreign, flaky bread-looking things before he was full. Getting to his feet, he parted the curtains and peered out to see the familiar skyline of Tokyo against dull, colourless clouds. He wasn't used to seeing it from this angle, which meant he was far from home.
The hotel room had doors leading to a bright-white bathroom and an empty closet, as well as the main door which refused to open. Apart from the tray of food, there was no sign of anyone else having been here. Taro soon found that neither the telephone nor the television worked: he was obviously still a prisoner. If there were cameras or microphones in here, he couldn't see them. Was L trying to get Taro's guard down? Well, he wouldn't let that happen.
Feeling thirsty after his meal, Taro headed into the bathroom to drink from the tap. He paused to stare at his reflection in the mirror: the boy who stared back at him was vastly different from the one he was used to seeing. His eyes seemed more prominent than usual, and he needed a haircut. He'd definitely get beaten up if he went to school looking this scrawny. If only his worries were that minor.
Returning to the main room, Taro was startled to see someone bent over the tray of food. The person straightened up and turned to reveal a bespectacled old man.
"Ah, there you are, Taro," he said, offering a polite nod of the head. He wore a neat suit and spoke very properly, despite his foreign accent. "I am Watari. I expect you have some questions to ask, but before we begin that, please let me assure you that you are not in any danger."
Taro blinked, uncertain. "Er, thank you, Mr. Watari. Pleased to meet you," he said slowly, bowing. Whatever he'd been expecting, it certainly wasn't this.
The man's thick moustache twitched. Was he smiling?
"I've taken the liberty of fetching you some clothing," Watari said, indicating a neatly folded stack of what Taro recognised as his own clothes. "I expect you will be staying here for some time."
"Thank you," Taro repeated.
"Not at all. It's the least I can do to make up for your recent treatment at the hands of L."
Taro's eyes narrowed slightly. "So you aren't L?"
The moustache twitched again. "No, I am not L. I am simply somebody who makes it their business to see to the interests of children."
"Oh," said Taro. "But if you're not L, then how did I… how did you…?"
"Very carefully and surreptitiously."
"But won't L try to… try to get you?"
The question seemed to amuse Watari. "L is an exceptionally skilled detective, but he has his weaknesses, too. If I were you, I wouldn't concern myself about him."
Taro had to wonder why anyone would bother springing a suspect from the clutches of the world's greatest detective, child or not. There must be a lot more to this old man than met the eye.
"Are you Kira?"
"Certainly not," said Watari, seeming a little less amused. "If I were, you surely would not be alive."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
"I understand: it's natural for you to be concerned about your situation. Speaking of which, I must ask that you remain in this hotel room at all times, and that you do not try to contact anybody until Kira is caught. As long as Kira remains at large, it is very dangerous for anyone to know your location."
Taro nodded silently. It sounded like they must be close to catching Kira.
"I have my own work to do, so you will have to spend most of your time alone. I shall try to see that you do not get bored," Watari continued. "Your education should not be neglected, after all."
Schoolwork? Taro watched as Watari produced a number of books and other colourful objects from a briefcase. They looked more like toys than anything educational.
Closing the briefcase, Watari straightened up and said, "Before I go, I must ask you to keep this belt with you in case of an emergency. Press the buckle twice – like so – and I will receive an alert. It also contains a tracking device. Should the need arise, I will be able to locate you as long as you keep the belt with you. Is there anything else you would like to know?"
"Um, yes. How long do you think I'll have to stay here for?" Taro asked.
"I cannot say for certain, but let's hope it won't be long," Watari replied. "I apologise, but I must be going now. I will return sometime tomorrow morning."
Donning a large coat and hat which almost completely shrouded him, Watari gave an odd, foreign bow and bid Taro good-day.
Staring after him, Taro thought he should have asked what those weird bread things were called.