"So, we were there both days. In Aoyama on the twenty-second and in Shibuya on the twenty-forth, and we observed nothing of significance on either occasion. That leaves us with only the dome on the thirtieth." Aizawa reported.

The computer beeped and displayed the "W" before Watari's voice came through. "Ryuzaki, apparently Sakura T.V. has just received another message from the second Kira. It was post-marked on the twenty-third."

We all looked at the laptop as it changed to the "Kira" screen.

"I'm happy to say that I have found Kira. To all the people of the television station and police department, I'd like to thank you very much."

"This is a disaster if he found him." Aizawa said.

"Yeah, it most likely means that the two Kiras are now cooperating with each other." Dad said.

"At this point, I don't think we should jump to any conclusions." L said, stirring his tea. "The second Kira is only saying that he found him, nothing more. He may not have made contact yet. Now that it's come to this," L slurped his tea. "We have no choice but to communicate as the police directly with the second Kira."

"You want to send a message?" Matsuda asked.

"Yes. The police need to reach out to the copycat and offer him a deal. We need to negotiate with him to see if we can get Kira's real name."

"That's the last thing you wanted to hear, right?" Ryuk snickered.

However, I didn't bother watching the message. Instead, I sat and played an RPG until the doorbell rang and I hurried to put away the game before I rushed out of my room and spotted Sayu gawking at the blonde standing in the doorway.

"Hello and good evening. My name is Misa Amane. I just came by to give Light an important notebook she left at school earlier today." The blonde gothic-lolita said as I lurked on the stairs.

"U-Um…M-Misa?" I asked, coming down the stairs before Sayu even turned around.

"Oh, Light!" She seemed to light up when she saw me.

I got confused looks from my family as I went out onto the front step with her and closed the door.

"Um, pleased to meet you. I'm Misa Amane." She bowed to me. "I thought you might get worried if you saw that message on T.V." She dug a black notebook out of her bag and held it out to me. "I just couldn't take it anymore so I brought, this notebook."

I stared at it for a second before going and touching it. Looking up, I spotted the skeleton-like shinigami behind her. So, I opened the door and invited her in.

"Please, come in."

"You're sure it's okay? Thanks." She stepped inside and I closed the door behind her.

"Mom, she came all this way to return my notebook. Could you make us some tea?" I asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Mom responded as the two watched me and Misa go upstairs.

I offered her my desk chair. "Have a seat."

"Oh, um, thank you." She accepted and sat down as I went to sit down on the end of my bed.

"So, how did you find me?" I decided I might as well play dumb.

"I knew it! You never made the shinigami eye deal." She said. "When you have the shinigami eyes like I do, you can see most people's name and lifespan just by looking at them. However, you can't see the lifespan of any person who possesses a Death Note."

I just nodded. "Alright, but what if you'd been caught? You were acting pretty recklessly."

"It's alright. Because the police didn't catch me. And if I do as you say from now on, they'll never be able to. So we're safe. After all, don't you need someone to see L's name? If you want, I could be your eyes. So…" She lowered her head.

"Yeah? So what?" I asked, trying not to sound too annoyed.

"Would you please be my friend?"

"Huh?" I blinked. Well, that's better than "girlfriend" at least. I sighed. "I've got something to say first," I narrowed my eyes dangerously at her. "L lives. I don't need your eyes, I already know his name and I'm choosing to keep him alive. You kill him and we're enemies." She stayed silent, so I continued. "And as far as being friends goes, if you and I were seen together after both being caught on tape at Aoyama on that day, they'll be suspicious."

"But look," She pulled out pictures from her purse and showed me a black-haired girl with glasses that looked nothing like her. "These are pictures of me when I went to Aoyama that day."

"Well, I'm sure no one would recognize her from this." Ryuk commented.

"And what about your fingerprints? All those tapes you sent to the T.V. station. They all had the same fingerprints on them." I pushed the issues with us knowing each other.

"Yeah, but those aren't my fingerprints! It's not like I do these things without thinking about them first!" She argued. "Up until recently, I lived in the Kansai region and I had this friend who was into the occult. I suggested that we distribute this fake poltergeist video I had made to a bunch of different T.V. shows. Sort of as a prank. And she agreed to help me with it. I had her take care of all of the dubbing so my fingerprints wouldn't be on the tapes. Then I took them from her, added the Kira graphic, and recorded the message with that voice effect."

"And this friend? Where is she now?"

"Why are you doing this to me?! If you want me to kill her just say so and I'll kill her!" She yelled at me.

"No. That's against what I stand for. No innocents are to die...Anymore." I responded firmly.

"If you really still can't trust me, then, here." She held out her notebook to me. "I'll even let you hold on to my Death Note. But you'd just be holding it, so I'd still be the rightful owner of it and that means I get to keep my shinigami eyes. Isn't that right, Rem?" She looked up at her shinigami.

"Yes, that's right." She responded as I took the notebook.

"Now there's no way I could possibly kill you." Misa continued. "And if I become a burden to you, then you can just kill me, okay?"

I let out a heavy sigh. "What if you took some pages out and are hiding them?"

Her eyes got teary and she stood up. "Why are you so suspicious of me?! I already told you, I don't care even if all you do is use me! Believe me." As I stayed quiet, she deflated until she was sitting on the floor. "Exactly one year ago, my parents were killed in a robbery. I was home with them at the time. It happened right in front of me. I wanted that man to pay for what he did. But the trial dragged on forever. Opinions started surfacing that he was being falsely accused. Then it happened. Kira punished him for what he did to my parents. And that's why Kira means everything. Kira means everything to me. All I…" She lifted her head. "All I wanted was a chance to meet you one day! So I could thank you for what you did." Her head fell back down as she started to cry.

All of the irrational moves she took to meet me. I didn't have the heart to tell her that everything I did was for me to meet my hero as well. I didn't really have a noble goal like cleansing the world of evil. I just figured I would help out a little by killing criminals instead of just random people. However, I can relate to her. I did everything to meet L. It wasn't quite as reckless, but it was still a selfish thing to do. So, I did something a bit out of character for me. I walked up and hugged the girl. She gasped from the shock of it, but I didn't let go.

"I understand. I can try to be your friend, but please don't expect that much from me. I'm not used to having friends who know my secrets, so I can't say I like you." I told her. "The lengths you went to meet me…I can understand that. I've been doing the same thing. Just please, don't sacrifice your life anymore."

"Thank you so much. I'll try my hardest to make you like me. I promise." She hugged me back.

I had to break the hug, due to it being uncomfortable from the start, so I helped her up and told her to sit back down in the chair. I then went to sit on the end of my bed, pulling my knees to my chest and resting my chin on them.

"Alright, I have some ground rules, just in case."

"Ground rules?" She asked.

"L stays alive. In order to make sure that happens, I won't tell you who he is so you don't know who's name you're looking for." I stated. "Second, no more innocents die from this point on. Only the criminals that deserve death." I uncurled to sit normally and gave her a determined look. "Third, I will die after I have achieved my goals and you can make your own choice as to whether or not to follow."

"What?" She looked shocked. "What do you mean?"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I am the worst criminal on the planet right now and you're a close second, but I'm not going to kill you because I want you to decide what to do on your own. I will write my own name at some point, I just haven't decided on when."

"Wow. You must be true justice." She stared at me, wide-eyed, then changed the subject. "Well, now that we talked about that, could you show me your shinigami? I really want to see him."

"Sure. Turn around." I said, getting up and taking out my wallet as she faced away from me in the chair. I took out the piece of paper from the notebook and touched it to her hand before putting it away. "You can turn back now."

"Okay." She turned around and came face to face with Ryuk.

"Hey there, how's it going?" He asked her.

"Oh! Look at that! You're a completely different type of shinigami than Rem, aren't you? I already know your name. It's Ryuk, right?" She lifted a hand and waved. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, same here." Ryuk mirrored her wave.

"Oh, and by the way, Light, do you know how to kill a shinigami?" Misa asked.

"Hm?" I listened to her tell me how to kill a shinigami before asking questions like I didn't already know. "So, if a shinigami has feelings for a human and kills someone else in order to extend that human's life beyond it's natural end the shinigami will die?"

"That's right." Misa replied.

"Good luck trying to find a shinigami who'd volunteer to try and do that." Ryuk laughed.

"Well, I sure can't see you ever doing that." I responded to him. "By the way, where'd you send all those tapes from? The ones that went to the T.V. stations?"

"Let's see…Osaka the first time, then Tokyo, this other one from Nagano. I took the bullet train every time so that way the police couldn't pinpoint my location."

"Alright, one more thing. Do you still have the video tapes and envelopes with your friend's fingerprints on them?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, you'll have to dispose of everything that was used to create those video tapes, understand? But, before you do, I need you to send one last video. And make sure it's from a place you haven't used yet. It should say, "I've decided to stop searching for Kira. And I would like to thank the police department for all of it's advice. However, I still plan to help Kira in his mission and I hope that in time he will come to see me as an ally. I will start by punishing criminals that Kira has yet to judge. Also, I will share my powers with others I feel are worthy and I will encourage them to do the same. Together we'll make this world a better place."."

"Share my power?" She repeated in confusion.

"We need to throw them off. Oh, and be careful to continue referring to Kira as male." I paused, feeling a little bad that I was using her to further the plot. "Can you do it?"

"No need to ask. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it. I don't care what it is 'cause I'd do anything for you."

Okay, the friend thing is more of a she's kind of a creepy admirer I'll have to put up with sometimes.

"There's one more thing that's very important."

"What's that?"

"If you get arrested by the police, or if you're ever brought in for questioning, you can never mention anything about us or the Death Note. As long as they don't get ahold of that notebook, there's no proof that you did anything. Can you promise to say nothing?"

She lifted her hand. "I promise. So, this must mean that we're officially best friends now, aren't we?"

"Uh, sure, I guess?" I said uncertainly.

She lifted a finger. "Then, I'd like to add one condition. You have to hang out with me at least once a week."

I sighed. "Misa, we can't. It's suspicious for us to suddenly be friends and being together that often is dangerous." I said tiredly. "L already suspects that I'm Kira. He doesn't need to suspect you too."

"No way. L is amazing. I mean, everyone's been saying that he's getting no where with the investigation and that he's a complete idiot and stuff, but he already knows that much?" She seemed caught between impressed and disbelieving.

"Anyway, it worked out well for me because it's allowed me to get close to L."

"Huh? You and L are in contact with each other? T-Then that's even more amazing! This is getting so exciting!"

"Even though he suspects I'm Kira, L figures he's safe as long as I don't know his real name, but what he doesn't know is that I have no intention to kill him in the first place."

"But you killed that guy that claimed to be L on T.V. before?" She said in confusion.

"He was a criminal." I replied with a shrug. "It doesn't count to me, but they're assuming I want L dead because of that." I waved a hand dismissively. "Anyway, I'll call you and meet up with you whenever this situation will allow, but really, we can't appear to be too close, okay?"

"I…think I understand." She said slowly, then got agitated. "But, L is trying to catch you. Why can't I kill him?"

I gave her a sharp look. "If L dies, I'm making you go with him, got it?"

"I would never allow that, Light Yagami." Rem stepped in. "If you do anything that results in this girl's death, the first thing I'll do is write your name in my Death Note. I will kill you. I'm sure you realize that I can see her lifespan. If she happens to die before that time, I'll know it was you who killed her."

I surprisingly didn't even flinch, turning my sharp look on the shinigami. "Same goes for you. You die if you write my name because she died, but if you ever write L's name, I will be the one to write hers."

After a tense stare down with the tall shinigami, a knock at my door distracted all of us.

"Light," My mother called through the door.

"Yeah, what is it?" I asked like nothing was wrong.

She opened the door. "It's almost eleven thirty, you know. You really shouldn't have company over this late."

"Oh, of course. I guess we lost track of time." I replied with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry Mrs Yagami." Misa said.

We went out to see her off, Sayu and Mom included.

"I'm really sorry for coming over so late at night." Misa said, then waved at me. "See you later, Light."

"Yeah." I responded, waving back.

"Well, goodnight." She said, then turned and ran off.

"Isn't she cute?" Mom said as we watched her go.

"Yeah, I know. When she got here, I wasn't so sure, but you're right. She's cute, Mom." Sayu agreed. "I like her."

I went back inside and decided to head to bed. Dealing with Misa was also exhausting.