Being called in by my father to work on the Kira case with them was pretty much what I expected to happen, so I was ready for it.

"Thank you, Light." L said, shaking hands with me.

"Not at all. I want to catch Kira as much as you do, Ryuga." I replied with a smile, slightly irked by the fact he was taller than me even when he was slouched like that. Why couldn't I have gotten the original Light's decent height too? Instead I got the same height as my old life.

"I'll have to ask that you call me Ryuzaki here." He responded.

I nodded, although my thoughts went to the LABB case.

"I'm Matsui." The man I recognized as Matsuda said.

"I'm Aihara." Aizawa said.

"And I'm Asahi." Dad stated.

"Then I guess I'll call myself Light Asahi?" I asked L.

"Yes, please do. To keep things simple from this point on, I'll call you Light." He replied. "Okay, let's get down to work. You can start by looking over all the information we've collected. I'd also like you to examine these videos. They were sent to the T.V. station but were never aired." He lead me over to the chair in front of the T.V. and I didn't sit down as he continued talking. "For security reasons, you're not permitted to take notes and all materials must remain here."

"I understand." I responded, then got into a crouch on the chair. "Shall we begin?"

He stared at me for a second, then started the first video.

Those videos were nauseating and frustrating, but I did my best not to show it as I watched. The others watched me watching the video and it was kind of freaking me out a bit. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm the only chick in this room? Natural instincts are telling me it's dangerous around this many men. Not to mention they're all older than me and I've got to be extra careful about the names now.

"So, what do you make of this, Light? Have you come to any conclusions?" L asked me, thumb to his mouth again.

"Um…" I looked from him back at the screen, then back at him. "Are you guys sure this is the same Kira?" The others looked a little surprised, but L's expression didn't change. "I mean, the profile isn't matching up. There's probably a copycat out there who got the same power as Kira."

"What do you mean, Light?" Dad asked me as I stood up and turned to them.

"It's out of character for him to use these kinds of victims for his killings. Not to mention previous information states Kira needs a name and a face to kill, but this one killed three people right outside the television station, presumably without knowing anything but their faces. Plus, they just wanted L to show his face on T.V. without mention of a name." I shrugged. "But, uh, I can't be certain about it. I just think there's a good chance this isn't the Kira we're familiar with."

"It's the same." Aizawa said in surprise.

"That's…almost exactly how L, I mean, Ryuzaki said it." Matsuda said.

"I think you're exactly right about that." L said, seeming a little impressed. "We also believe that this is the work of a second Kira."

I crossed my arms and smirked at him. "Ah, I see. The fact we both came to the same conclusion without conferring on the matter is more believable than if just you said it, right?"

"As expected, you did not disappoint us." He replied. "You've been a great help. It's decided then. First, we must focus on stopping this copycat. From what we've seen, he sympathizes with the real Kira, but clearly lacks his sophistication. I think he might even be willing to obey the original. If so, we could lure him into a trap by sending our own message from the real Kira."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You literally took the words right out of my mouth." I replied, knowing that I needed to quell her reckless actions and this was the best way.

"Oh, and Light," L said suddenly. "I would like you to play the part of the real Kira."

"H-Huh? Me?"

"Yes. You're the only one I can think of who'd be able to pull something like this off. At any rate, we don't have time to waste. Do you think you could script a message from Kira in time for this evening's national news?"

Ryuk started laughing behind me as I crossed my arms and looked down.

"I…I guess I could. As long as I don't have to read it."

After an hour or two, I had finished the script and called L over. "Ryuzaki, does this look okay? I hope it's believable."

"I think you've done an excellent job of this."

"Feel free to change whatever you want." I stated, leaning back in the chair and feeling mentally exhausted.

"That sounds good." He responded, looking at it some more. "Okay, Aihara, the script is ready. I'll leave it to you."

"Alright."

After all the preparations were made, we sat watching the scripted message on the news. The sparkly gold "Kira" screen almost made me want to laugh. However, I managed to keep a straight face.

"I am Kira. The true Kira. The one who was broadcast on Sakura T.V. several days ago is a pretender. A fake. The purpose of this message is to communicate my will to this impostor. I have chosen to be lenient with him for the time being, only because I believe he wishes to cooperate with me in the creation of a new world. But I want to make it absolutely clear that the taking of innocent lives is against my will. If this person claiming to be me is truly sympathetic to my cause and wishes to be of some help, I ask two things of him. That he refrain from killing aimlessly and that he agree to abide by my basic principals." The scrambled voice said.

I kind of started to tune it out as I wondered how exactly my relationship with her would be. I mean, I didn't swing that way and I sure as hell wasn't going to kiss her like Light did, so what would that be like? Maybe we'll just be best friends or something? I'm kind of worried about that whatever way it turns out.

The laptop beeping and displaying a "W" snapped me out of my thoughts and I listened as Watari started talking.

"Ryuzaki, we have a reply from the second Kira."

"What?"

"Really?"

We all gathered around the laptop.

"I'll be bringing over the envelope and tape that we received, but in the meantime I'm streaming a copy of the video so you can view it on your end."

The "W" was replaced by the "Kira" of the second Kira's earlier tapes.

"Kira, thank you for your reply. Please do not worry. I will follow orders and do as you say."

"Whoa."

"It worked."

I just stared at the screen blankly, doing my best not to look worried.

"I really want to meet you. I don't think you have the eyes."

I took a step back, glancing at the back of L's head and just waiting for that scene to come to pass.

"But you don't have to worry. I would never try to kill you. That's a promise."

"What's this "having the eyes" supposed to mean? Is it a code?" Aizawa asked.

"Yeah." Matsuda responded.

"Please tell me how I can meet you without the police knowing. You'll think of something. And when we meet, we can confirm our identities by showing our shinigami to each other."

"Shinigami?!"

L threw his arms up and started screaming, which caused me to jerk back in surprise. I was expecting it, but hearing him scream is so weird. His chair fell over and a couple of the others rushed over.

"Ryuzaki! You alright?"

L just sat up and stared at the laptop that was now just static. "Sh-Shinigami…Am I supposed to believe that? That shinigami actually exist?"

"That's impossible." Matsuda said.

"Obviously they don't exist." Aizawa said.

"O-Of course shinigami don't exist." I said, although I probably didn't sound as certain as Light had before. Then again, it's kind of difficult when there's one standing behind me.

L looked back at me. "You're probably right, but I remember that Kira had those prisoners write something suggesting the existence of shinigami."

"So based on that fact, perhaps we're dealing with the same person after all. That would definitely explain why we're hearing the same words." Dad said.

"I don't think so. If this were the same person, it's highly unlikely he would've responded to our video in the first place." I replied. "And why would he agree to let L live after going to all the trouble of getting him to appear on T.V.? The real Kira wants him dead, so, it doesn't make sense."

"Then maybe there's some other connection between the real one and this new guy. They could've already met and decided to use the word "shinigami" as a way to confuse us." Aizawa replied.

"No, I'd say that's unlikely." L said, putting his chair back into place and crouching on it again. "It's as Light says. If the two Kira's were connected, I don't think the impostor would be so willing to give up on his plan to kill me. All of this suggests to me that the copycat has his own agenda and is acting independently of the first. I believe his actual motivation is to meet the original."

"I think you're right. He's acting out of an interest in Kira. The word "shinigami" could very well be some reference to their killing power. Saying, "We can confirm our identities by showing our shinigami to each other," probably means that they confirm their identities by somehow demonstrating their ability to kill." I said, crossing my arms.

"Yes, that's it." L responded. "Based on their messages, we can assume that the word "shinigami" must hold some other meaning that only the real Kira and the second Kira are aware of. Now we just need to convince this copycat to tell us what that is."

"So, what? We respond and force him to tell us? But we can't make it too obvious we're asking or he'll realize we're not Kira." I said.

"No, for now on, it's best that we leave it up to the two Kiras." L replied.

"What do you mean?" Aizawa asked.

"I imagine that the second Kira is probably quite satisfied with the current situation now that he's received a televised response. He sent a message to get Kira's attention and as far as he knows, he now has it. Also, there's that word he used. One that only the two of them would understand. We'll arrange to have this reply broadcast today on Sakura six o'clock news. Naturally, this will be of interest to Kira and he'll be following the exchange between the copycat and the one we've invented. Now, if I were Kira himself, my priority would be to prevent this impostor from coming into contact with the police. This is good for us because it means that the real Kira may feel pressured to respond this time."

"Okay, but let's say that he doesn't respond. Then what do we do?" Aizawa asked.

"Yes. I've been thinking about what the second Kira might do if he gets no response. For one, he might reveal more information that he knows Kira once kept secret, to pressure him into a meeting. Of course, that would make Kira nervous. It could be interesting." L smiled just a bit. "And what would be more interesting is if Kira sends a message of his own to prevent this from happening. Ideally, this could provide us with the physical evidence we'll need to build a case against him. In the meantime, let's gather all the information we can on the copycat."

I didn't like where this was going, but it's not like I could do anything about it at this point.