Thank you, Violet Masen-Clearwater, Scarlet-Red-Wings, Aki.X596, sublina, mrsLlawliet162, XxMichyBabyxX and, last but not least, candy-is-epic (hah, added you just in time!) for their support and lovely, long reviews! Enjoy the ninth chapter and await the tenth, which is the final chapter of this story!
Note: According to my research, the East 21 Hotel is 21-storey high and there are a Japanese Restaurant and Sushi bar and a Cocktail Lounge at the top floor. However, I must ask you to ignore this fact and pretend that above all that, there is a flat roof. Thank you.
9
Showdown
"I am forced to ask a favor from you."
"A… favor?"
She told him.
"B-but, Kaosu," Ichigawa couldn't help but utter after she briefly described that 'favor'. "Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'?" she giggled, much like a schoolgirl… much like his oldest daughter. "Think beyond that little act of yours and imagine what impact will it have on this whole play of mine!" she giggled again, this time a bit more maniacally. "It's going to be quite crushing."
This time, she gave him more details. The whole scene was so surreal, he couldn't take it any more.
"You… You're mad! You're crazy! What you're asking me to do is… No! I would never-"
But Ichigawa was not the type of cop that puts his job before everything else, like the policemen you see in movies or read about in books. He was passionate about justice and determined to put criminals before it. However, there was something that he would pick over his job any time, and that was his family. He would do everything for them. Everything.
After the call from L and arranging the chase towards the location pointed by the detective, Ichigawa walked out of the bedroom and into the hall. There, on the bureau right next to the phone, stood a light green, decorated with a leave-pattern vase. In it, there was a bouquet of blood red roses.
-
The woman known as Hannah Delaware, a young businesswoman on a journey through Japan, threw herself on the single bed at the hotel she was currently staying at. She knew it was stupid to use the same documents everywhere, leaving the name behind her, but she couldn't help herself. After all, she wanted them to catch her. She wanted him to catch her.
Kaosu laid on the bed for a short while before she rolled over and hopped off. It was her last and final stop. If L failed to catch her, no one ever will.
It was the world's last chance.
She felt restless. Pacing around the available space worked up to some point, but after growing tired of it, she fished a notebook from her bag and flipped it open. It was the very same thing she had taken out of Detective Anders' suitcase so many days ago and rearranged the contents to her liking, adding and removing things, ripping pages and gluing photos. She wanted it to look nice; it was a present, after all. After finishing up, she hid it somewhere in the room, just as planned. There was only one person, who could find it. Only one person, who could then pass it to another person, a very famous yet mysterious person.
She grinned as she hid the notebook. She wished she'd be able to see L's face when he would get it. She wished she would see his face at all.
She threw herself on the bed and within the next 30 seconds was fast asleep.
Kaosu woke up abruptly. Her eyes snapped open and she shot up, alarmed. Something was not right, she could sense it. The woman got off the bed and ran over to the window.
Her eyes widened as she gazed down at the bright, blinking lights. At least four police cars were pulling to a stop in front of the hotel entrance, two more passing by to circle the building.
'He did it.' she thought fervently, a wide grin stretching her red lips. 'He fucking did it, that bastard.'
Heart hammering in her chest, Kaosu twirled around and skipped to her laptop which was on the table. She waited a few seconds for it to load and typed in a code before snapping it shut. She grabbed the laptop and threw it against the wall with so much force it shattered into pieces, beyond repair. Then, she reached for the light switcher and flickered it once before taking her shoes and running out of the room, not caring to lock the door.
-
The cars circled the hotel in no time, armed policemen were at every entrance, waiting. Three other officers were inside the helicopter, which was hovering over the roof of East 21. The helicopter was requested by Inspector Ichigawa exclusively, his reason being 'the murderer is not sane' and 'ready for everything'. The leader of the team glanced out at the empty roof, his rifle ready at his side. Then, he spotted something.
"To the left!" he shouted to the pilot. "Left!"
-
Inspector Ichigawa was sitting in his car, waiting. He finished his semi-warm coffee and glanced at the watch. 6:47 PM. He looked up again, just in time to see the light in one of the rooms go off and on quickly. He threw the empty paper cup on the back seat and started the engine. He thought of nothing.
-
Seconds ticked by, but L's cell phone was dead quiet. No message from Inspector Ichigawa, not since the detective had called to give him Kaosu's location. L found himself glancing at the list of the other hotels she'd visited, still feeling a bit impressed. Just as he'd thought, the places were not picked accidentally. No, at that point, Kaosu could not rely solely on luck any more, could she?
Mercure
Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel
Lutherian
East Hotel
Tower Annex
Holiday Inn
Aravert
Alpha
Park Lane
Ginza Nikko
It had looked very random, until L looked at the first letters of the hotels' names.
MYLETHAAPG
After rearranging them a little, the mocking message made L's eyebrows ride up.
PLAYTHEGAM
PLAY THE GAM
The missing letter was E. And there was only one hotel in Tokyo which name started with that letter.
East 21.
It was then L had called the Inspector and told him where to position his men so that Kaosu would be caught off guard, with nowhere to run.
The screen of his laptop blinked, bringing L's attention at the monitor. The website 'playthegame' was completely blank, but all of a sudden, a window popped out. His eyes widened ever so slightly as his teeth squeezed on his thumbnail.
Kaosu was smiling at L from the other side of the Internet, her eyes twinkling mischievously.
-
"You have a lovely house, Chiyo-chan," she said smiling down at the girl as the two of them walked from a nearby primary school to the Ichigawa household.
"Thank you!" the girl beamed and bowed politely, not even thinking about how did that woman know such things.
"However…" the woman continued, her gentle smile slowly transforming into a smirk that she tried to hide. "The hall… It looks a little, you know…"
"Huh?"
"Unadorned. Yes, that's it. It's unadorned, Chiyo-chan."
"Unadorned?" the girl blinked. "What does that mean, Su-chan?"
Kaosu knelt down in front of the confused Chiyo and could not contain the smirk any more. "It means," she ruffled her hair a little. "That it needs some flowers."
.
"Mommy?"
"Yes, dear?" Mrs. Ichigawa glanced through her shoulder at her youngest daughter as she put aside another cleaned plate.
"Don't you think our hall is a little too… unadorned?"
"Un… Unadorned?" the woman chuckled. "Where did you learn that word, honey?"
Chiyo simply grinned. "A secret."
"A secret, huh? Well then, can you at least tell me why do you think so?"
The girl shrugged. "I think it needs some flowers. Then it would look pretty."
Mrs. Ichigawa shook her head with a smile as she was done with the dishes. The doorbell rang just as she was wiping her hands. Wondering who could that be, the woman made her way to the door and opened it, her curious eyes meeting a pair of gleaming green ones above about a dozen of red roses.
"Good afternoon! Would you like to buy this beautiful bouquet?"
.
She was slightly out of breath by the time she reached the roof. She stood in plain sight, staring up at the helicopter. It was causing noise, too much noise, and she had to force herself to not cover her ears. Instead, she stood straight, watching the machine, her loose hair dancing in the wind.
Five police cars were at the main entrance, on the south. Two more were on the west, and the last one was near the emergency exit. No sign of the police at the back. She was facing south. Ripping her eyes away from the helicopter which was hovering almost exactly in front of her, she glanced down. 'Audience,' she thought with a small smirk as she noticed the amount of people, who were staring back at her.
The smirk never leaving her face, Kaosu took a step back, then another. She kept backing off, her green eyes set on the helicopter. She saw the police officers inside the flying machine ready their weapons and point them at her. The ones from the ground began to talk, demanding her to surrender. She understood him perfectly.
Her smirk widened as she could almost hear the terrified people down there, watching the edge of the roof and waiting, thinking and screaming,
"She's going to jump!"
-
"Greetings, great Detective L," Kaosu grinned, doing a mock-salute. "No, no, please. Don't say 'hi' back. Unfortunately, this is only a recording. So, if you're watching this, that means my laptop is in pieces somewhere, which means I will not use it again, which means we won't get to talk anymore." She leaned back slightly, frowning. "Which is quite saddening. I really liked our conversations. Well, anyway," she smiled again. "Congratulations. This is an emergency video I thought I would never use, but I did. I ran as fast as I could, but you caught on and left me behind."
After a short pause, she continued. "However, I made a promise. Remember? I promised to have fun, which I had. Lots of it, actually. And it's all thanks to you." She blew a kiss towards the camera. "But I also promised something else. That I will not get caught by the police."
L watched the screen intently.
A bright smile appeared on her pretty face. "Hey, remember Detective Anders? He was awfully close. So close that he'd burnt himself, quite fatally. He had gotten to know me, the old me, I mean. I couldn't let someone who had my whole background in his hands run around, could I? No, no. So I killed him. But before that, remember what I've said? What I've made him say?"
He was pretty sure he'd never forget any of her messages. Not because they were horrifying or cruel. No, they were also interesting.
"Good times." Her eyes found his again and she grew serous. "You truly are Number One, Detective. I'm glad our paths crossed. If I could, I'd thank Detective Anders for leading me to you. I regret only one thing; that we did not meet face to face. But perhaps we will?"
A soft sigh, then back to being cheerful. "You have played my game and won. If we'd stick to the rules - any rules, really - I would be forced to surrender and let myself get caught. Now, a silly thought might pass your head, 'but you're already caught, Kaosu!'. Oh no, my dear Detective. Didn't I teach you anything?"
Kaosu leaned in, her green eyes staring intently straight into his wide, black ones, the fire behind them burning with passion as she spoke in a clear, quiet voice. "You don't control Chaos."
A pause.
"Chaos… controls… you."
-
The helicopter was a few feet above the roof, but the three armed men jumped out of it, landing heavily right in front of Kaosu. She watched them like a hawk, continuing to walk backwards.
"Stop!" one of them called out, trying to break through the noise of the wind. She sent him a smirk in response and continued to back away from them and the helicopter, as calmly and steadily as before.
"Stop or we'll fire!" the other man shouted.
She finally stopped, right at the edge of the building. Her heels were no longer connected to the solid ground of the rooftop.
"Don't move!" the third one ordered. They started walking towards her slowly, waiting for the slightest sign of aggression. She did not move. They were only a few feet away when the woman opened her mouth and spoke in Japanese, loud and clear despite the deafening sound of the helicopter above their heads.
"I will not," she said slowly and clearly, her eyes shifting from one man to another "Get caught."
The men didn't have the time to blink as her body toppled over backwards. The serial killer Kaosu, also known as the Nameless Girl, took a fast trip down, passing 21 storeys of East 21 Hotel on her way.
The blood red, trademark smirk never left her face as she gazed at the men, who were leaning over the edge, staring at her with astonishment.
Exactly five seconds later, a hidden bomb exploded on the rooftop, destroying the helicopter and killing five men; the three that jumped off and the duo that remained inside the machine.
-
The policemen that staid on the ground gathered at the back of the hotel. The bodies of three men, who were pushed off by the impact of the explosion, were found immediately.
The body of Kaosu was missing.