It had been two days since the second broadcast of a message from "Kira." Light Yagami was sitting at the computer desk in his room and reading a newspaper article. It was one of the many about that strange girl, Katherine Lynton, who claimed to have no name. Of course, the newspaper writers had no idea who she was. They claimed that she was L. She had used his most famed line durring her public stand against Kira: "I am justice." Maybe she was only using it for the sake of unnerving Kira. Something needed to be done about her.

There was a possibility that she could be L, even. Maybe "Ryuuga Hideki" was only working for L. If she was L, that would make things all the more difficult. It seemed that even with Shinigami eyes, her name was invisible, which could only mean that she didn't have one. Who in the world didn't have a name? Not including her, of course; she obviously either didn't have a name or she had a way to hide it even from Shinigami.

Even more than that, what did she have to do with Shinigami? If Ryuk didn't know who she was and she could see him, then did that mean she had come into contact with his Death Note at some point in time? That was impossible. He made sure no one could get near it. Befuddled, Light shook his head as he thought about what she'd said at the college. Kira couldn't kill her if she didn't have a name… indeed, that was true… she was untouchable as far as the Death Note was concerned, and killing her in person would leave behind too much evidence. Things would have been so much simpler if he could just make her drop dead of a heart attack like everyone else.

Light heard a crunching noise in his ear as he skimmed through the article for what had to be the hundredth time. He didn't bother looking over, as he knew it was just Ryuk eating an apple.

"How many times are you going to read that newspaper, Light?" he asked

"It's not the newspaper, it's just this article," Light said. "I'm starting to wonder if she can see all Shinigami."

"Is that possible?"

"I was about to ask you that," Light said. "Do I look like I'd know?" he added with a laugh.

"No."

Light closed the newspaper and tossed it back onto his bed. "She's going to end up either getting in the way or joining my side. If I can't kill her, then I'm going to have to talk her over to Kira's side. She can't possibly be lying about having no name if she's still alive after challenging that other Kira to kill her. If she can see all Shinigami, then that means she was either born with the ability or her Death Note is different, I figure. If she has a more powerful note, then I need to talk to her. If she's on the investigation team already, which I don't doubt she is, then I need to get there and – phone…"

Light picked up his phone from the desk when it started ringing. He checked the front screen.

"Dad…" he said. He flipped it open and answered. "Hello?"

"Light," his father's voice said, "Ryuzaki would like to invite you to join the investigation. Please come discretely if you wish to, don't tell your mother or your sister where you're going. We're at the Teito Hotel. Someone will come downstairs to escort you to the headquarters when you arrive."

"Alright, thanks Dad. I'll head down there now."

"That's great," Light said. "Just when I was wondering how to ask. Now I'll know everything that goes on in the investigation first hand."


Light arrived at the hotel in a taxi about fifteen minutes later. He looked around in the lobby for whoever was supposed to take him upstairs. Obviously, they weren't there yet. It seemed like something L would do, hide out in a hotel room, letting in only those he trusted. There was hope that girl would be working in the investigation. If she was, then he'd be in direct contact with her, be able to gain her trust, and start questioning her. If she was even half as ignorant as she acted, then it would be an easy task. However, if it was all just acting, then she was smart enough to use it to her own advantage.

"I wish I lived here…" Ryuk said, looking around.

Light almost answered, but stopped when he saw someone he recognized walking towards him. From where, though…?

"Light-kun, sorry you had to wait."

Ah, this guy, Light remembered. Dad brought him home from work once. Matsuda-something…

"It's this way," he said, walking back towards the hall while pulling out his cell phone. Light followed him. "Ryuzaki," Matsuda said into the phone, "Light is here, we'll be there in a few minutes."


"Ryuzaki, if my son agrees with the possibility of a second Kira, then he is cleared of all suspicion?" Yagami asked.

L dropped a couple sugar cubes in a small cup of coffee.

"Yes," he said. "For the most part."

Yagami, L, Aizawa, and Katherine all looked up when the door opened. Katherine, however, went back to reading the newspaper upon seeing who it was. Because she didn't go over to the door when Light came in, he didn't notice she was there immediately.

"Thank you for coming, Yagami-kun," L said.

"That's unnecessary," Light said. "I want to catch Kira just as much as you do, Ryuuga."

Katherine laughed under her breath. "I'll bet…" she mumbled quietly to herself.

"Call me Ryuzaki here," L said.

"And Aihara," Aizawa said.

"Matsui," Matsuda said.

"Asahi."

"I see," Light said. "So then I'm Light Asahi?"

"Thank you for your cooperation," L said. "I will call you Light-kun."

"There's only four of you?" Light asked.

"A-hem," Katherine said, raising her arm without looking up from the newspaper. "Five."

"There are a few more outside investigators," L said. "Only one of those people outside can contact me directly, though."

So if everyone but one person in here dies, the killer will be revealed… Light thought. I see. I need to find out who else knows what goes on in here.

L instructed Light to look through the papers sent with the tapes to Sakura TV, then to watch the video that hadn't been broadcasted on the news. As he watched that last video, the team was silent. He wasn't sure what L was trying to do, but he didn't much care for it.

This makes me sick… he thought as he watched the tape. Is it because I'm the real Kira? This guy did a lot more than destroy my reputation…. I don't know what's going on here, the team hasn't said a word since I started watching the tape, not like when I was looking through the documents. I should just keep quiet about the tapes. If I don't do anything about it, then L will die.

The tape cut off, and he was already being questioned.

"Did you find anything interesting at all?" Katherine asked tonelessly from a chair, now looking through pages in a filing folder.

Damn it, can she read minds or something? God…

"I think there may be another person with the same abilities as Kira," Light said.

"What do you mean?" his father asked.

"Well, this might not be the Kira we know. For one, Kira doesn't kill such petty criminals. Also, Kira needs both the name and the face of the victims to kill, but this person obviously doesn't, judging by how he killed police officers at Sakura TV."

"Question," Katherine said, standing up and walking over by where the rest of the team was standing. "If this person has the same powers as Kira except he doesn't need a name to kill, then how am I still alive?"

She's trying to make me say something only Kira would know… it's not going to work.

"I don't know," Light said. "Maybe you sent in the tapes."

"Maybe you sent them in, and you're trying to get suspicion off of yourself by saying there's a second Kira."

"Tell me," she said, leaning back against the arm of a chair behind her, "what type of person do you think Kira is?"

I already went through this with Ryuzaki once… either he's put her up to this or I'm practically dealing with two Ls here…

"Probably a rich kid from a perfect family. Most likely in middle school to high school."

"How about this second Kira?"

"About the same, I'd expect, but not quite as smart as the first Kira."

"Well," Katherine said, "then you just proved I didn't send the tapes in. Thanks for that."

"I thought you agreed –" Yagami began.

"That was until I started getting accused," she said, glaring at the floor. "God knows I've gotten enough of that out of you people…

"But good job, anyway," Katherine said. "We suspect a second Kira as well. We just needed confirmation from someone else who had no clues from inside the team that the theory was reliable."

So no matter what I said, they would have told me they suspected a second Kira. Now, my suspicion has decreased… for the rest of the team. She still seems to think… then again, she's the only one that can see Ryuk…

"Our first priority is to stop the second Kira," L said. "We will record a fake tape of the same nature, basically telling this person that we are the real Kira. If this theory is incorrect, then the plan is worthless. However, now that we're fairly sure it's correct, it's definitely worth a try."

"So we're hoping you will help us by pretending to be Kira," Katherine said, looking at Light.

"M… why me?"

"Well," Katherine said, "everyone here has agreed that you're good with profiling. So obviously you could profile Kira. This means you shouldn't have any trouble trying to think like him, right?"

"Right," Light said.

Is this why they wanted me to join…?

"We have to start work soon, as we're already running out of time," L said. "I plan to have this broadcasted on the evening news, so start working on a draft immediately. Matsui-san, please make a video with the word 'Kira' up to par with what Kira himself would most likely do. Aihara-san, do the same for voice distortion. Asahi-san, please make arrangements for ten minutes of air time on all the major news stations for seven o' clock."

"And I will be doing the reading of the script, so that in the event that this Kira is smart and wants to kill the real Kira and manages to unscramble the voice and match it to someone's, it will be matched to a person that he can't kill," Katherine told Light. "But you're writing it. So get to work. And I'll be reading it when you're done and letting you know if it sucks or not."

"I could really start to dislike you…" Light said, shaking his head as he took a piece of blank paper from L and took a pen out of his pocket.


"Aren't you done yet?" Katherine asked, sitting sideways in one of the chairs.

Light rolled his eyes. "It's been two minutes."

"I can write three paragraphs in two minutes."

"You're not the one doing this."

"Aye… someone's in a crabby mood." She maneuvered around and sat forward in the chair. She picked up her bag and began rummaging through it. "Would a soda help?"

"No."

"Bottle of water?"

"No."

"Bag of potato chips?"

He looked back. "Do you have a whole convenient store in that bag or something?"

"Maybe," she said slowly, looking at him suspiciously. "What's it to you?"

He shook his head and went back to the paper. Since the others were working on everything else in connecting rooms, L was back and forth between rooms. Katherine and Light were the only two in that room at the time, which meant she had nothing better to do than torment Light. Since she knew he was Kira and she despised Kira, that made it all the more fun.

"Chocolate bar?"

"Why are you trying to distract me?"

"Because there's nothing better to do…" she said with a sigh. "I kinda wish I had stayed in the shadows, then I could act whenever and however I wanted to. I mean, I've actually seen Kira before."

Light's heart jumped in surprise, but he managed not to show it. How had she seen Kira before? Did that mean she knew it was him?

"You have?" he said, pretending to be intrigued. He looked back.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "Back before I knew I didn't have a name. I wish I had known, then I could have figured out who he was…. This guy was wearing a winter hat and a really big coat, so I couldn't really see him that well, but he had started tailing Raye Penber, so I followed behind at a safe distance. I heard everything they both said. The guy proved he was Kira by killing some dude walking out of a coffee shop who had been connected to a string of rapes the year before. Penber believed him, especially when Kira threatened to take someone important to him as a hostage – I'm guessing his fiancé. I think Kira was after him because he found out he was in the FBI somehow, and he wanted to know who the rest of the FBI agents were to kill them. I even followed them onto the train. It was a great find, I found out a lot with that."

Shit… Light thought to himself. D… dammit, calm down… she still hasn't accused me of being Kira, but she would have seen Ryuk right behind me if she can see him, which means that she could have recognized Ryuk. That's really not good. Just play dumb, that's all you can do…

"Wow," he said with a laugh. "That's probably the closest anyone has come in contact with Kira without getting killed."

"I know," she said thoughtfully. "Lucky I'm Kira-proof. I think he also killed Naomi Misora. She disappeared, to, and I saw her talking to someone once coming out of a police station. Didn't see who it was, but she just randomly up and left in the middle of the conversation. After Penber's death, I decided to tail her, because I knew that she'd want revenge on Kira for killing her fiancé."

"So you're not as dumb as you've been acting?"

"Nope," Katherine said brightly. "I'm actually pretty smart. I'm smart enough to use my natural born acting skills to my advantage. They're better used in a case like this than somewhere like Hollywood. Sure, that would get me more money, but I don't need money. I just want to get rid of Kira. My three best friends are con artists. I don't even know their real names," she added with a laugh. "They've never told me. They're the reason I have a fake identification. I've got a driver's license and enough identity to buy a house, which is more than enough for me. If Kira killed them, I don't know what I'd do…. They've been acting as my spies through the whole thing. I told them it was dangerous, but they insisted they weren't letting me do it alone."

"So," Light said, "that's who was at the college with you?"

"One of them, yeah," she said. "You're pretty sharp. You should probably use that sharpness to continue working on the Kira-speech and quit getting distracted."

"Very funny," Light said sarcastically.

"I know I am."

Even though it wasn't too obvious, Katherine could tell Light was completely unnerved now. After telling him earlier that she could see his Shinigami – who was sitting next to Light at that time – she knew that Light had to know she had seen that Shinigami on the day she had seen Kira. He had acted surprised and intrigued, and he was just as good an actor as she was, but there was no doubt in her mind that he wanted to find a way to kill her, and fast. She would have laughed aloud at that thought if he weren't sitting right there. Since he was, however, she had to keep the laughter to herself. She knew he was also dying to ask how she could see the Shinigami, but he couldn't. If L walked in while Light was talking about that, he would definitely have some major explaining to be doing.

Indeed, Light was unnerved. He needed to think of some way to kill her, and he needed to think of a way fast. He wasn't too far from coming to the solution of just taking someone's gun and shooting her. It seemed like the only way to get her out of the way. However, if he did that, it would definitely raise some questions from the team. It would be kind of hard to get information from her if the team was either around all the time or could walk in at any moment, so that wasn't an option. She was an obstacle that he hadn't ever expected. Maybe the gods weren't on his side as much as he had previously thought they were. He was doing good for the world, and someone like her had to come around, an obstacle that seemed to block him from all sides.

There was no chance that she was the second Kira. There was no way she could act like she was this against him if she really wasn't. No one was that good of an actor. If she was the second Kira and she could see Ryuk, then she would have concluded who he was through that and joined him. She was going to be a huge problem. It seemed there was no way to get rid of her, no matter how he thought it through. If she didn't even know her friends' names, there was no way he could manipulate one of them into killing her. How could he manipulate someone with no connection to her to do it? He'd have to think of something, or it was very possible that she could bring about Kira's downfall.