"And now a few words from the freshmen representatives."

Light Yagami was seated amongst a crowd of silent college students. Light waited patiently for his name to be called. As he'd made a perfect score on both his English and Math exams in his senior year of high school before entering college, he was a representative. He'd always heard that there was only supposed to be one representative, but it was apparent that someone else must have scored perfectly on the exams as well.

Next to him, but not seated, was Ryuk. Ryuk wasn't a college student, but a Shinigami – a reaper. His appearance was quite strange. His face was paper white, and his eyes completely round and red. His hair was in tall and stiff black spikes, and his teeth were bright white and pointed, contrasting with his black lips. His attire was all black and looked like a somewhat sinister jester's costume. His shoes were also pointed at the ends. He wore one dangling silver earring in his left ear that was in the shape of a silver heart.

Ryuk was no surprise to anyone at the college. This was attributed to the fact that they couldn't see or hear him; no one except Light could, as far as they both knew. He had gained that ability when he picked up the Death Note of a Shinigami; that Death Note had belonged to Ryuk, who had dropped it on purpose just to see what would happen. He'd gotten bored with a life in the underworld of his kind. So, Ryuk had become almost like a pet dog to Light. Light had to buy him the same food every time it ran out. Ryuk followed him everywhere. He also seemed to find Light quite interesting, as well as all other humans; they were definitely far more interesting than the other Shinigami from his own world.

"Light Yagami."

"Here," Light answered, standing.

"Wow," Ryuk said; Light hadn't told him that. "Nice."

"Hideki Ryuuga."

"Here," said a boy on the same row as Light, also standing.

"And Katherine Lynton."

"Here," said a girl on the same row.

All of the students watched the unlikely trio walk to the stage. Light was dressed as neatly as anyone else – or, at least, almost anyone else – in the stadium. Katherine was dressed neatly as well, but had made some obvious altercations to that neatness. Her skirt was a little bit shorter than the other girls'. She also wore platform leather boots instead of standard black dress shoes; she needed them, however, as it appeared she'd be only a little over five feet tall without them on. She had her black jacket's sleeves folded up to her elbows and her white undershirt's sleeves folded up just below. Her jacket was completely unbuttoned, and her shirt was tighter than most. Even if she'd had a Japanese name, it would have been easy to tell that she was European or American in herritage just by her facial features. This made her a stranger sight to the students of Touou University.

She was a plain and simple sight compared to Hideki. He walked somewhat slumped over. His shirt was simply a slightly loose white one made of t-shirt material. His pants were only blue jeans, and his shoes were untied sneakers. It also appeared he hadn't had much sleep in a while, judging by the dark circles beneath his eyes.

Katherine already knew who the other two really were after some extensive research. Light was the now legendary "Kira," who killed criminals and those who came after him with means that no one knew about. Hideki was the equally legendary "L," a criminal investigator who worked privately with almost no contact to the world outside of wherever he happened to be staying at the time, except through computers and cellular phones. He only had one associate, one partner in his work, an old man that went by the name of Watari. She wouldn't mention that she knew anything… at least, not that she knew anything about Kira.

She had of course discovered that Light was Kira because of his Shinigami. She had spotted it flying down the sidewalk behind him, begging for an apple. It had been a genuine stroke of luck, one that she was quite thankful for. She knew that Light had a Death Note because of that Shinigami, so that was how he was killing people. She had no physical evidence, however. For all she knew, someone else in Japan could have a Shinigami and a Death Note. By having her spies follow him and take notes on his personality and actions throughout the day, she had become sure that Light Yagami had to be Kira. There was no doubt in her mind that he matched the criteria perfectly, and as the Death Note caused heart attacks if the cause of death wasn't specified, it made him fit into the picture perfectly.

Katherine stood at the very end of the table on the stage, so she'd be last to make a small speech. Light was up first. Katherine took her opportunity now to see how she could manipulate the Kira investigation. She knew there was absolutely no evidence on her, but if she was to let it be known that she knew important information, there was bound to be some suspicion. Katherine pulled a small piece of paper out of her pocket, as well as a pen. She wrote on it under the table quickly, pocketed her pen, and put her elbows on the table. She passed the paper over on top of the table, unnoticed by the crowd, as there were already a few papers scattered over the desk. The only person who noticed was "Ryuuga," since it was sitting on the desk in front of him. His eyes widened for a short moment – after all, it was a very surprising sentence, reading quite plainly, "I know you're L."

He glanced over at her. The expression of complete boredom on her face halfway made L wonder if he was only imagining the piece of paper. She definitely didn't look like a person who had just accused him of being a detective that no one knew the true identity of. He looked back down, and it was still there. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. Maybe she was only bluffing. If she was bluffing, though, how could she have known to target him? She didn't seem like much, but if she had gotten into Toudai, then that was saying something, especially seeing as she was a freshman representative. She seemed like the stereotype of a typical European or American anarchist, so what she was doing in a law school was puzzlingly unclear. Perhaps she was tracking him? There was every possibility that she could have been Kira. There was a possibility that anyone could have been Kira. So far, Light Yagami had been the best assumption, but with this… she definitely didn't look like a serial killer, but Light Yagami didn't particularly look like one either. If she was Kira, however, wouldn't her last action been a somewhat obvious giveaway? The Kira that he'd been tracking would have realized that…

It took Katherine a lot of restraint to not laugh at the confused, distant expression on L's face now. She knew he was contemplating on either how she had figured out who he was or whether or not this placed her in the category of possible Kira suspects. Even she was sometimes amazed by the things she found humorous. How could she possibly be amused by the fact that L and Kira were standing barely a foot away from each other and neither of them even knew it? L did have some idea, as was proven by the cameras and mikes she had her spies set up in his hotel rooms every time he switched. Now, she would be able to watch the meeting tonight with the investigation team to see if he decided what place she was in regarding the Kira investigation. It was doubtful that he would just shake it off as a false accusation. With the point they were at in the case (completely stumped with very little hope), they were all probably looking for as many leads as they could get.

Light finished his quick speech and backed up to allow Ryuuga the microphone. Katherine moved over, so Light stood at the end of the table. The reaper sitting in the front row was definitely his, for she had seen it following him the few times she had seen it, and she had also seen Light quietly speaking with it. So, it would be fun to mess with Light's head as well. She had a few more small slips of paper in her pocket, just for the reason that she had a tendency to forget important things if she didn't write them down. However, the paper went to a more important use: to amuse her boredom. She really hadn't wanted to go to college, but she knew that she'd be able to befriend both Kira and L if she tried hard enough, which would help her in her own investigation. She pulled another slip of paper out of her pocket and wrote on it.

"That Shinigami that followed you in the school is pretty awesome. I've got one, too, but mine's always too busy to hang out with me. They make pretty cool pets, but buying all those apples can get to be a pain in the ass, ya know what I mean?"

Katherine passed over the paper in the same manner as before. She put her pen in her pocket, crossed her arms over the table, and left the paper sitting in front of Light. He looked down at it, and she saw a momentary fear in his eyes that quite clearly looked as though it reflected a thought of, "Does she know I'm Kira?" He was obviously going to try to get rid of her. She knew too much, after all. Light looked up and stared at the Shinigami sitting in front of the chairs. It stared back.

"What?" it asked.

Light jerked his head slightly, indicating for it to come up to the stage. I was a small gesture noticed by no one but Katherine and the Shinigami. It did as it was instructed, spreading out a pair of black bat wings on its back to fly up behind Light.

"Need something?"

Light was writing on the back of the slip of paper under the desk with his own pen. He put the pen back in his pocket and held the paper out back behind him for the Shinigami to read. It laughed.

"That's interesting. Wonder how."

Katherine was sure that the note told the Shinigami that she could see it. Light crumpled the paper into a ball and put it in his pocket. The Shinigami remained on stage as Katherine took to the microphone to make her own short speech. She kept it very short, as public speaking made her extremely nervous. That was one of her major flaws, she had to admit. She finished and headed back to her chair out in the audience of college students. Light and Ryuuga walked a little more slowly, obviously discussing something on the way back to their seats. Maybe Ryuuga knew that Light was the son of the chief investigator of the Kira case, Soichiro Yagami, and was asking if his father ever mentioned anything about the Kira case. Maybe he was telling Light that he was L? That might not be too unlikely. It would definitely confuse Light. Maybe he was telling Light that he was now suspicious of Katherine. Did they possibly already know each other? She supposed it was possible that they had attended the same high school, but it was very unlikely that they had ever spoken. Light Yagami was obviously used to popularity, and Ryuuga was obviously not. She shrugged it off, deciding not to worry about it. She'd know everything she needed to later that night.


Katherine sat down on the couch in the surveillance room in her house, peeling the wrapper off of a chocolate bar. She used her main control panel sitting on the corner of the coffee table in front of her to turn on all the televisions at once. L was just sitting down on the chair in front of his own surveillance televisions. It appeared that he had summoned the entire investigation team there. He definitely had something important to say.

"We may have a new lead in the Kira case," he told them, reaching for a small cup on the table in front of him. "Meaning, we may have a new suspect."

"Really?" Soichiro Yagami asked, astounded. After the persistence with which L had insisted that Light was Kira, he had become positive that L would never give up on that suspicion.

"Yes," L said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out the slip of paper that she had handed him earlier and handed it to Yagami. "One of the freshmen representatives of Touou University."

"'One of'?" Touta Matsuda asked. "Really? I thought that Light got perfect scores?"

"As had I and one other freshman. I still am suspicious of Light Yagami, but now there is a new suspect that seems to be more likely than him."

"It's strange that he took this sort of action, though," Yagami said, handing the slip of paper back. "Kira would have known that it would make you suspicious, wouldn't he?"

"I thought about that," L said. "But Kira would also would know that that's exactly the way that I would think by now. If she is Kira and she knows who I am, there's a possibility she could either have spies or cameras planted in this room. That makes it seem less likely, as Kira wouldn't take the risk of spies being caught or cameras being found. Right now, there is about a fifteen percent chance she's Kira and a one percent chance that Light Yagami is. Watari," he added. The old man sitting by a computer at another table looked up. "Prepare cameras and microphones. Once we determine where she is staying, they will be placed there to cover every angle."

Katherine laughed a little. Pulling my own trick on me… she thought to herself. The only thing you'll prove is that I'm one of the biggest anti-Kira fanatics in the world when you find my research. I won't be acting suspicious if I have nothing to hide. I'll even allow you to find my surveillance quarters, why not? I might even befriend you and tell you where I live.

She pulled out her cell phone. She loved playing tricks far too much, but she couldn't help it at a time like this. There was a voice modification chip in that particular phone, so her voice would sound robotic, like with the broadcast L had made to Kira over the news about a year ago. She dialed a number and held the phone to her ear. She watched on the screen as Watari answered the phone.

"Yes?"

"I would like to speak with Ryuzaki," she said. She could hear her altered voice in the background of the phone, so she knew her voice would be completely unidentifiable.

"Who is this?"

"I would like to speak with L, Watari," she said. "Please put him on the phone."

On the cameras, Katherine watched Watari stand and take the phone over to L. She listened to them on the microphones through her television sets.

"Ryuzaki," Watari said, "someone on the phone wishes to speak with you."

"Who?" he asked.

"They won't give their name."

L held out his hand without looking over. Watari handed him the phone. With his eyes fixated on the blank television screens in front of him, he spoke into the phone.

"Who is this?"

"That's not the friendliest of greetings, L."

He paused for a moment, taking in the electronic voice. The voice filter sounded nearly identical to the one he most often used.

"You're using a voice filter. Very smart. If you won't tell me who you are, then tell me how you know who I am."

"Is that really so important? I have ways of finding people. I also have ways of finding their intentions. The girl isn't Kira. She seems suspicious, but she isn't the most likely suspect."

"Then who is?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Then why should I believe you?"

She laughed. "Not very trusting, are we? Fine. Do as you please. Investigate her and let the real Kira live freely while you waste your time chasing someone who is also fighting Kira. I'll also continue to investigate the real Kira on my own. By the way, L." She remembered something from suicide notes that had been written by Kira's victims as what was most likely a part of an experiment. She knew making mention of the hidden message in them would confuse him. "Did you know reapers only eat apples?"

She shut her phone quickly. She laughed at the rather astonished look L was giving the phone he was holding. She didn't have much time to laugh before her other phone rang, however. She took that one out of her pocket, setting her anonymous phone on the sofa next to her. She checked the caller ID, then answered, speaking in English.

"'Ello, Pat," she said. "How's everything going with the current plans?"

"We've gotten the motion sensitive cameras to be placed in Light Yagami's room," he said. "We only need to wait for you to tell us when to act now."

"Very, very good, thank you all very much. Don't act yet, however. Give it a day or two. Hell, surprise me with it. Just make sure you don't get caught. I can't afford to loose you lot. Considering one of you was framed with murder and you three can't use aliases as you're all convicted felons, you'll be in danger if Yagami sees your faces."

"Yeah, we all know that," Pat said. "You're sure this bloke is Kira?"

"Positive," she said. "L is planning to have cameras placed in my house as soon as he figures out where I live, also, I'm watching a meeting of the Kira investigation team."

"Why's 'e doing that?"

"I told him I know that he's L. Wrote it on a piece of paper in the middle of the assembly at the college, so he couldn't even ask." She laughed. "It was pretty funny. Light Yagami also knows that I can see his Shinigami, so he's just as confused, probably.

"I also just got off the phone with L. I used my anonymous phone, so since the voice filter's in that one, he had no idea who I was. He's suspecting me to be Kira now, anyway. More so even than Light Yagami. We agreed on basically every aspect of the case so far – of course, he doesn't know that – so it's strange to come to such a strange snag. Of course, L's the top investigator in the world. Perhaps I am Kira," she said with a laugh.

"You find the strangest shit funny."

"I know," she said. "Yagami Light and Ryuuga Hideki – meaning Kira and L – and myself were the freshmen representatives at Touou University, so we were all onstage at the same time. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing in the middle of all our small speeches. Anyone else who knew probably would've told. I've been watching this all for a year now, and it never fails to give me a laugh, so I'm not saying anything yet. I think I'm going to join L's side, though. I support killing murderers, eye for an eye makes sense, but suppose that about fifteen percent of those he has killed were falsely named murderers? Then, he's killed innocent people. Not to mention, he attacks those who are on L's side such as Raye Penber, and those who know too much such as – to my belief – Naomi Misora. L is fighting to stop Kira from doing such things. While the crime rate of the entire world may have gone down drastically, it doesn't mean Kira is right."

"I couldn't agree more," Pat said. "The three of us are living in fear that we're all going to get killed, so we can barely do anything."

"Yeah," Katherine said, laughing. "This directly affects impulsive criminals such as yourselves, doesn't it?"

"Definitely," Pat said defensively. "And you know you need us to help you in this case since it's hard to act alone and outside of this case since you have no identity of your own, so to speak"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, I'm just messing with you. Now, Kira investigation meeting is getting interesting again, I've got to go. Call back any time you have more updates."

"Alright. See ya."

"Bye."

Katherine shut her phone and listened to the team and L discussing the call he'd gotten.

"Then again…" Yagami was saying to L, "what if the person on the phone was the one you're suspecting?"

"I already thought of that…" he said. "We'll find that out when we wire wherever she happens to be staying. If there's a surveillance room, it should be easy to locate."

She grinned. "It's easy to find, but only because I'm not going to hide it from you."

"If she's watching us, then she knows what we're planning," Shuichi Aizawa said as Katherine watched them. "So she'd check for cameras."

"I doubt she'll get rid of them, in an attempt to make us think she isn't watching us, if she even is, which is about fifteen percent likely. So, we'll still be able to see what she does. If she slips up or acts overly natural, then there's more proof."

"How do you tell the difference between someone actually acting natural and someone pretending to, then?" Matsuda asked curiously.

"There are ways," L said. "It's easy to identify someone who is acting natural just for the sake of avoiding suspicion."