September 13th, 2048
ICPO Headquarters
After the meeting had been called to an end earlier than intended, Knight quickly gathered his things and patiently waited for Iris as they walked towards the exit. However, as ordered, Iris kept her eyes on the masked detective still in the room and she tapped Knight on the shoulder when she suddenly made her way toward them.
"Lovely to meet you," Agatha suddenly said as she approached Knight and Iris. Her posture seemed laid-back and loose, almost like there was nothing in the world she couldn't do. "If memory serves correctly, you are Detectives Kip and Ice, right?"
Knight turned towards Agatha. "Yes. And you are-"
"Agatha Siegel," she introduced. "German intelligence, at your service." She tilted her head. "You speak pretty good English."
"I could say the same for you," Knight replied. "English, the most popular language in the world."
"Everybody loves English." Agatha smiled behind her mask. "I was wondering if you could answer some questions I have about Kira."
"And why is that? Personal or professional?"
"Personal. You see, I've always been a big fan of Kira and I've always had some questions and I figured, 'Well if the number one detective from Japan is here then I can ask him questions about Kira'."
Is she trying to size me up? Or… is she trying to trick me and reveal my identity as Kira? Then again, I HIGHLY doubt she knows anything about me. More than likely, she is a fan. How can I resist answering Kira-related questions for a fan?
"Well, there is a lunch room and we'd be happy to invite you if you want to ask questions."
I've already searched up things that are publicly available on Kira so as long as I tread lightly, she won't be able to do anything to me.
Agatha looked at Iris. Why is she staring at me like that and why does she keep looking above my head? She looks over Knight's shoulder at the waist of the Shinigami standing behind him. Whatever you do, do NOT look the Shinigami in the eyes.
After walking over to the lunchroom where trays of sandwiches, buttered bread, and coffee were being served, Knight, Iris, and Agatha sat at the table in the farthest corner of the room away from everyone else.
Knight and Iris sat together while Agatha sat across from them.
"What's with that mask?" Knight asked. "Covid-19 is over ya know?"
"Horrible accident left me permanently scarred… with a mask stuck to my face." She strokes her mask. "But I cut holes for my nostrils and mouth so I can breathe and eat. But I'm afraid I can never wear a swimsuit at the beach for the fear I induce in children." She strokes her hair and rolls it back. "But my mask is not a weakness; it is a strength."
"Yeah, you'll never have to buy another mask for Halloween ever again."
"Yeah, every day is Halloween for me." She laced her fingers together. "If only I could get free candy."
Knight chuckled. "What is it with people obsessed with candy nowadays? It's unhealthy; must be why there are a lot of fat people in America." He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, that was politically incorrect to say. The politically correct thing to say is obese."
"Hey, maybe that's what Kira should do," Agatha suddenly spoke up. "Maybe he should kill obese people now. After all, wasn't he going to kill lazy people at one point in time?"
"That was the old Kira."
"Yeah. And obese and lazy go hand-in-hand."
"Let's stop talking about fa… obese people. What questions did you have for me about Kira?"
"Yeah. I was wondering if anyone has ever done an investigation on him in the last few years. It's been almost eighteen years since his return and whoever this new Kira surpasses all previous Kiras." She took a knife and fork and used them to cut her sandwich into a small square before she used the fork to put the sandwich in her mouth.
"It's against the law in our country to investigate Kira," Iris answered. "Kira is our lord and savior and without him, crime rates would skyrocket."
"I'm aware of that; I was born around the time the first Kira started his crime spree." She used a straw to drink her coffee. "But there is one thing I'm keenly interested in." She looks Knight intently in the eyes. "What are your opinions on Shinigami?"
Knight's face remained blank. "Shinigami, well… Some believe they're still myths and everything but Shinigamis are often associated with Kira or people with Kira's powers. In one case over a decade ago, some juror people said they saw some kind of monster standing behind the person suspected to be Keiri."
Agatha mentally smiled. Yeah, I remember that; I saw everything on that news report, even the Shinigami. I've seen ALL Shinigamis shown up in news reports, even that one Shinigami during the A-Kira incident.
"So Shinigami are real?"
"I have not seen one myself but I believe they are real."
Agatha clicked her tongue and looked over Knight's shoulder, her eyes lining up with the Shinigami's stomach and not going above.
"Man, I can't believe it. If Shinigami are real then it begs the question: where do Shinigami come from?"
"They're gods of death; they probably come from Purgatory."
"You believe in Purgatory? I never pegged you for a religious person."
"You don't know anything about me, Siegel."
Oh, don't I? "Please, call me Agatha. Only people who have served me and won are able to call me Siegel."
"Why?"
"I thought I was the one asking questions." She clenched her fists. "So, as a detective, I have a question. Let's say that Shinigami are real and they're somehow tied to Kira. If we can prove that Shinigami and they're somehow tied to Kira's power, does that mean we can prove someone's guilt if they have a Shinigami standing behind them?"
"I don't know?" Knight shrugged. "First of all, you would have to prove the existence of Shinigami and that the Shinigami is tied to Kira. If you can prove that then whoever has a Shinigami attached to them is more than likely Kira."
Agatha clicked her tongue. "Well then, so long as Kira doesn't have his Shinigami exposed then everything's a-OK." She laughed. "I'm sorry for these types of questions; I've always been fascinated by the idea of Shinigami. It's just that gods of deaths are constantly referenced whenever Kira is involved so to find out that one person is Kira then that means… they would have to be caught red-handed with a Shinigami attached to them."
Agatha nodded before chuckling. She nods her head vigorously suddenly before standing up and leaning on the table with her hands steadying her. "I couldn't help but notice that all three of us have at least one thing in common."
"And what would that be?"
Agatha points to her hair. "All three of us have red hair of some kind." She points to her eyes. Her right eye was blue and her left eye was green. "And our eyes. It's like we're all one and the same."
Agatha sits down just as suddenly and she finishes her sandwich squares. After she finishes her squares and coffee, she picks herself up and turns to face her right. "I sincerely hope that we meet again, Kip, for I am very interested in working with you. You and your wife."
"That's sudden and out of nowhere," Knight commented. "But, sure. Whatever, I guess."
Agatha casts them a side glance that makes them feel uncomfortable. They squirmed in their seats slightly before Agatha left, allowing the two to finally take a chance to breathe.
"What was that all about?" Iris asked.
"No clue," Knight answered.
Gilth was laughing. "Well, she's certainly something, Knight."
"Yeah, she is."
Unknown to them, Agatha had taken out her camera and used it as a mirror to catch Knight chatting with the Shinigami.
This confirms it. She pockets her phone. The Shinigami following and talking to Kip, Kip is most certainly Kira. Well then, it's time to get to business.
One Day Later
September 14th, 2048
Tokyo, Japan
The Yagami Household
One day down, only twenty left, Knight noted as he walked through the front door of his home. His three children were entertaining themselves in the living room with Rain reading on the couch and the twins playing some kind of multiplayer game. 'Overwatch' the game was called.
Kuroki and Iris followed Knight into his home and once everyone was accounted for, Knight locked the doors and closed the curtains to every window.
Archer and Angel exit their game session and join their father at the kitchen table where everyone else sat.
"I have identified our target," Knight said proudly. "We have met up with her at the ICPO headquarters in France. She works for BND, or 'Federal Intelligence Service', which is the German equivalent of the CIA. Her name is Agatha Siegel."
"She's a bit peculiar," Iris inputted. "It may be because of her mask being burned to her face but she always divides her food into squares. When your enemy is a quirky bastard, you know he's going to put up a fight."
"Did you use your eyes on her?" Angel asked.
Iris sighed regretfully. "I used my eyes on her but because a mask was burned to her face, her real name and lifespan are unknown to me."
"I did some digging," Kuroki chimed in. "I was wondering if Agatha Siegel was an alias of some kind so I did some digging on people working in BND who were using aliases."
"What did you find?" Archer asked eagerly.
"Well, like all law agencies across the world, they are required to use their real names and only use aliases in undercover sting operations or if their assignments involve Kira. With someone with a mask burned to their face, that is going to warrant an investigation by any employer considering hiring her.
"With a couple of sly hands, I was able to get several BND officers to hand me over information. Agatha Siegel checks out; it's her real name."
"We've won half the battle already," Rain told. "Now the real challenge starts."
"The challenge the Shinigami king imposed on me is for me to find a picture of her face before her mask was stuck to her face."
"If she lives in Germany, does that mean we're going to javelin to go out of the country again?" Angel nearly complained.
"It makes sense," Archer figured.
"Don't worry, we're not going out of the country once more," Knight reassured.
"Good," Angel sighed. "The last time we went out of the country, things got a little dicey."
"I killed Alpha-Beta," Knight declared. "I swear, I killed her."
"And pray tell, how do we take out Agatha?" Rain asked.
"I'll have the Germans do the digging for us." Knight rubbed his chin. "If we head to Germany without any justification, then we'll look suspicious. But at the same time, we'll have to figure out a reason to have the BND turn against one of their own. I propose the following plan:
"We plant evidence in Agatha Siegel's house. That will warrant evidence against Agatha. And after that, the BND will investigate her for us and in doing the ingredients so, will hopefully find a picture of her during her pre-mask days, and when they do, they submit that to Kira through Sakura TV and then we show the picture to the Shinigami king from above."
"That leaves a few problems," Iris pointed out.
"If the BND is like the CIA, then they would never tarnish their reputation by having Agatha killed by Kira," Rain said.
"Even so, I doubt their first response would be to hand over her identity to Kira," Iris added.
Knight nodded. "True, true, I guess. After all, the BND helps the German police force from time to time and they arrest criminals and sometimes, censor their names and faces from the public."
"That means they'll just arrest her in secret," Kuroki sighed. "If we want the BND to investigate Siegel for us, we are going to have to hit them hard."
"We must give the BND some kind of incentive to give us a picture of pre-mask Agatha," Iris clicked her tongue.
"We could threaten to kill their families," Archer suggested.
Angel shot down and said, "If we threatened to kill their families, then the BND will be cooperating with the ICPO and they'll be working together to try and fight back against Kira."
"But somebody will crack eventually," Archer insisted.
Rain shook her head. "If Kira starts threatening the families of the BND to investigate Agatha, more than likely, they'll start scrutinizing everyone Agatha came into contact with, and since Kira is Japanese, they'll look into people of Japanese origin."
"The list will be narrowed down significantly to us," Knight sneers. "Chances are that they'll interview her and everyone she talks to on that day. She'll explain how she talked to us during lunch, the BND is going to suspect us."
"But even if they suspect us, they can't do anything, right?" Kuroki looked concerned.
"Germany is one of the very few countries to not sign the Kira Pact. But even so, they're prohibited from investigating Kira in Japan."
"So, how are we going to find Agatha's picture?"
Knight rested his chin on his knuckles. "We turn the entire world against the BND." He smiled. "If we turn the Japanese against the BND, then they'll have every reason to investigate every BND member and that's when we'll have Agatha's picture in our hand."
"We run the risk of disbanding the BND," Kuroki warned. "Is that something you really want to do: disband a secret intelligence service disbanded?"
"They're becoming obsolete either way," he scoffed. "With the state the world is in, we won't need any intelligent government agencies. Kira is the only intelligence needed on this planet." He smiled proudly.
"You better be careful, Knight," Iris warned. "You may have outsmarted every police and intelligence agency out there but if you pit yourself against the world, you're going to lose. You can't take on the world all by yourself and now you're adding the Shinigami realm to your opponent list." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Knight, you are playing with fire way hotter than anything you've ever done before."
"What do you want, Iris?"
"Don't make the world your enemy, especially after you made the Shinigami realm your enemy. Please, be careful because odds like those are impossible."
Knight gave her a closed smile. "Iris, I-"
"And don't say you've survived worse because nothing is worse than having the Shinigami king declare you a target."
"No, I wasn't going to say that. I was actually going to say that I will win. I always win, no matter the odds."
Hamburg, Germany
Agatha Siegel's Place
"Honey, I'm going to have to work a little late tonight so can you keep the kids busy?" No response. "Are the kids already asleep?" Silence. "Oh. I forgot."
Agatha rotated in her chair and spun around until her world was spinning. She stopped before she pulled out her phone and uploaded a photo to her laptop.
Agatha managed to sneak a photo at Kip and Ice along with the Shinigami. She smiled and uploaded the photo to her computer for further examination.
She pulled up old footage from a court case involving the Keiri suspect, Minato Natsuki. Apparently, after someone in court had touched something that looked to be a piece of paper. Two people touched the scrap of paper and they both said they saw a Shinigami.
So, it appears if you touch some kind of piece of paper, you can see a Shinigami.
"That's right," Agatha confirmed.
But I couldn't help but notice the Shinigami in the Keiri footage is different from Kip's Shinigami.
"Well, Kira and Keiri were competing against each other so obviously, they would be two very different Shinigami."
Obviously. But as for the scrap of paper, I have no idea how to find this scrap of paper."
"More than likely, Kira used this paper to out Keiri and after it fulfilled its use, it was destroyed."
But the advantage is on my side cause I can see the Shinigami without needing to touch some magic paper.
"Yeah."
Agatha gets out of her chair, ready to go cook dinner when she says, "Honey, what do you want for dinner?"
No response.
"Oh, I forgot."
She decided to make herself some steak and fries. After preparing all the necessary ingredients, she let her steaks and fries sizzle in the pans and cookers before she headed into her room to charge up her phone.
Looking above her computer, she saw various accolades hanging on the wall and a picture frame of her in a group photo with her fellow BND teammates.
She turned to the mirror in her room and took off her clothing, leaving herself covered in only a tank top and black panties.
She sized her body up and moved her hands from her belly up to the valley of her breast, then traveled further up to her neck before her fingers find their final destination at her mask.
Imperfection, that's what you are.
"I don't know what you're talking about; I'm perfect."
Tell your husband that.
"I don't need a man."
You do, man just doesn't want YOU.
Her hands travel around her mask and she carefully feels for the roughness of the mask.
"Every part of me is perfect. My skin is smooth, my hair is soft, and my eyes are beautiful."
99% perfect, honey. You and I both know the single percentage that makes you imperfect.
The mask, that black and ugly rubber mask was always there, always reminding her of what happened to her and what will continue to happen to her. It also serves to remind her of what she will never have. A husband, a couple of children, and a nice home for all of them to live in. The last, she could get but what was the point of having a nice house if you didn't have anyone to share it with?
The mask, if only she could just rip it from her face… but no. She couldn't, she couldn't risk it because Kira killed people like her just for looking in his direction.
By having no face, she had spared herself from Kira's wrath but the cost was too great. For far too long, she wanted to be a homemaker, a loving mother, and a supportive wife to her husband. But Kira…
She heard the sizzling of the pan in the kitchen and was tempted to let the place burn down with her in it but she quickly rushes to take to turn off the stove.
She saw her reflection in the microwaves and her mouth trembled and her eyes stared daggers into her reflection.
"Kira, you son of a bitch!"
Kira, you've been a tyrant for far too long.
"It's time for me to stop surviving and start living."
September 15th, 2048
Tokyo, Japan
Basketball Court
Despite getting a good night's sleep, Knight was still trying to come up with a concrete plan to use against Agatha. With less than twenty days left on his deadline, he knew he had to do something fast or else it would spell death for him. He always found himself thinking more clearly when he was on the basketball court shooting some hoops and fouling players by forcing them to travel.
Knight was playing with Officers Tezuka and Murata on his team and three others on an opposing team. So far, Knight's team was winning by ten points but the opposing team sure put up a fight.
After ducking and dodging a few times around his current enemy, he sinks the ball in an all-netter behind the last white line and wins three more points for his teammates and that's when the score was settled now.
Thirty points to fourteen.
After the game was over, Knight shook hands with his opponents, congratulating them on their victory before he looked over to his teammates.
"Always a pleasure working with you, Knight," Tezuka declared.
"Glad you're on our team, man," Murata added.
Knight high-fived them. "Thanks, guys." He panted and went to the bench to hydrate himself with water. "As much fun as this game was, we better get back to work."
After changing in the bathroom into their work clothes, Knight went back to his desk and began looking over files left behind for him to investigate.
With all this paperwork for him to do, there wasn't much time for him to come up with a plan. He wanted to sleep and come up with a plan to get the BND to investigate Agatha Siegel for him but with how overwhelmed he was with work, he could only come up with a plan when work was over. He thought a quick game of basketball would do the trick. In a way, it did.
After all, he played basketball to clear up his mind but in doing so, had completely forgotten to come up with a plan.
As Knight was about to throw in the towel and go on lunch break, Kuroki came to his desk.
"Pray tell what you have for me on this very boring day, Kuroki."
Kuroki dropped a manilla folder on his desk. Knight emptied the contents on his desk. A newspaper article posted this morning coming all the way from Germany. The headline.
'The Knight of Kira'.
Knight sat up in his chair and read over the article.
'Man…. stumbling naked across the beach… muttering incoherent sentences…says he knows who Kira really is…. No name was given…. The unidentified man simply refers to Kira as the Knight of Justice. Man is currently being questioned by the authorities.'
Knight put the newspaper down. "It could very well be nothing,"
Kuroki grabbed the newspaper and pointed to the first three paragraphs. "Look at the first letter of the first and second sentence of the first three paragraphs."
Knight heeded her instructions and looked down at the newspaper.
Y. A. G. A. M. I.
No shitting around, Knight felt his heart pump inside his chest. His first name and last name were on a newspaper article, there was no denying it.
Someone out there knows about him. 'Knight' and 'Yagami' being on the same newspaper detailing Kira was way too much of a coincidence. He was officially high on the adrenaline rush he most certainly did not like.
Someone out there knows my identity.
He rested his elbows on his desk and looked down at the floor, his thumb running over the back of his left hand a few times as he composed himself.
Gilth materialized behind him and laughed. "Looks like you're in some deep shit, Knight."
"Shit," Knight mumbled.
Someone out there knows my identity. But I have nothing to worry about; these guys don't have any Death Notes on them nor anything to use against me. Even if they planned on outing me, they won't be able to convict me.
He sighed heavily.
As long as no one finds the Death Note then there's no evidence against me. I'm going to be fine.
He leans back in his chair. Well, ain't this fucking perfect. On top of trying to find Agatha Siegel's real face, I'm faced with someone who somehow figured out my identity. Shit, two challenges at the same time.
"What are you doing here?" an officer asked aloud.
Knight looked up and stood to his full height when he saw two men in black suits walking into the precinct.
Knight moved to block their path. "What's going on here?"
The frontman of the trio held out his badge. "Lovely police department you have here," the agent said smugly. "Clean."
Knight read his badge. "What business do you have here, BND Agent Reiner Klaber." Wait a second, I've seen him before; he was the second German representative at the ICPO meeting the other day.
The frontman was a tall man with dark hair with a chiseled jaw and a flat nose that looked to have been punched in a few times. He wore a suit and tie that showed off his muscular figure and had a set of white dentures that made him look like a kid playing dress-up with fake teeth. In contrast, the photo on his ID looked professional and stern, almost like he was another person entirely.
Klaber pocketed his badge. "Oh, what business we have here is none of your business."
Knight saw a swastika tattoo on the agent's left ring finger. Is he a Neo-Nazi? Huh, it's been a while since I killed radical supremacy groups.
Klaber laughed. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. Please forgive me."
"Your Japanese is good," Knight complimented. "Now tell me your business here."
"We received an anonymous tip that there may be a possible leak on Kira's true identity."
Knight kept his face blank. "Elaborate."
"That's need-to-know and regretfully, none of you need to know." Klaber looked over his shoulder. "It is not just my men that are here today."
Several more people poured in from the front. Twelve visitors total were now in the Japanese police headquarters and none of them were German. Knight recognized them as agents from Spain, Italy, and France.
Knight backed away slightly. "What's going on?"
"On behalf of the ICPO, the entire Japanese Police Force is under investigation." Klaber turned to the crowd. "You will be allowed to continue to do your police work - we will not interfere in any way, shape, or form - but we will be doing our own investigation." He reached up and loosened his tie. "Just to be clear, we are not looking at you as enemies. In fact, we can pull our resources to help each other out, but we are investigating Kira."
"How the hell did this happen?"
Agatha Siegel stepped in from the crowd behind Klaber. "An anonymous tip who claimed to know Kira's true identity was left for everyone in the ICPO, barring the Japanese for obvious reasons."
Knight's blank facial expression morphed into one of shock. You have got to be kidding me.
The Shinigami Realm
The Shinigami King couldn't hold back a crack of a laugh. "And so it begins."
February 14th, 2033
Church X of Kira
"I'm ready," Knight told himself as he tugged on his suit and began tying his tie. He's tied dozens of ties before in his lifetime but for some reason, this tie just wouldn't cooperate with him. When he wrapped the tie around itself, it refused to go through the loops he made and Knight began fumbling with his fingers.
Gilth materialized behind him and put his hands on Knight's shoulders. "Having a little trouble there." He grabs his son's tie. "Near jumps over the car." He brought the lower part of the tie over the large part. "Near crawls under the car. Then he sees Mello and jumps over the car one more time to outrun Mello. Near climbs into his car and L drives him and Near off." He finishes tying Knight's tie. "Only for Kira to kill all three of them on sight."
Knight tugged on his newly tied tie. "Thank you." He turned and stared Gilth in the eyes. "Walk me down the aisle, Dad." He held his hand out.
"Whatever you want, son."
Knight approached the wedding aisle and was already at the altar when the music started playing. Gilth patted Knight on the shoulder as he watched Masi escort Iris down the aisle in a beautiful white wedding dress.
Iris removes her wedding veil after meeting Knight face-to-face.
For the next couple of minutes, the Kira worshipping priest marrying them recited words and wedding vows but Knight and Iris blocked the words out. They blocked them out until they heard the final words.
"You may now kiss the bride."
Knight didn't bother to wait and he initiated the kiss before Iris could comprehend it. Her face lit up red and she smiled, the warmth in her heart matching the temperature on her face.
The Kira worshippers present in the church clapped their hands and music began playing as the newlywed began walking down the aisle.
"Oh my god," Masi sobbed into Gilth's shoulder. "Our little baby is married. We have a daughter." Tears streamed down her skeleton face like a waterfall and she used Gilth's jacket as a napkin. "We're going to be grandparents in a couple of months."
"So we are," Gilth deadpanned.
When the wedding reached its climax, Knight whispered to Iris his plans for their wedding night. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a whole lot of slaughtering over two hundred criminals with heart attacks in the name of the sixth and seventh Kira officially becoming wedded.
Later that night...
"I've won. Exactly as planned."
Knight laid down in his bed, looking up at the ceiling with the back of his hand resting on his forehead as a smile graced his face.
"I've made the world a better place. I have surpassed all Kira before me."
Iris rolled over in bed and put a hand on Knight's chest.
"Go to bed, Knight."
Knight grabbed her hand and stroked the ring on her finger.
"Sure thing."
He places his hand on her stomach and taps it softly.
"Anything you want, baby."
He kisses her bump. "I'm going to show you the new world, my beloved child. You will know power like you've never dreamed of." He tapped her bump once more. "Good night, sleep tight, and I'll make sure the bed bugs don't bite."