Disclaimer: Same as always. You know it already. I own nothing and no one except original stuffs.
I was gonna take time off this weekend from writing, but I can't stop writing for more than five minutes.
So here's the next chapter.
Katherine left early for Touou University, more than anything to keep on the lookout for Misa. After a review of the forensic evidence pointed straight towards Misa Amane, the rest of the team agreed without a doubt that this teen magazine model was the second Kira. L took Katherine's advice and went to the university himself later at around the lunch break when Misa was most likely to show up. With the forensic evidence to go along with the circumstantial, the team was completely cooperative. They would apprehend her for questioning if the opportunity presented itself. L had also been doing a bit of planning of his own. If she was the second Kira and she came in contact with him and then had to rush away, Light would call her immediately to get the name. If he took her cell phone without anyone noticing and Light called it, he would have at least more conditional evidence for the team.
Katherine was loitering at the most likely spot Misa would enter at lunch time, which was also around where her car was parked. If Misa entered there, she couldn't ignore the fact that Katherine was there with as much as Misa had looked up to her in their last year of high school. Katherine's reasoning was quite accurate, as it wasn't long before someone ran up behind her, giving her a tackling hug with a yell of "Kat!!"
"What're you doing here??"
Misa was as bubbly as Katherine remembered her to be. Standing beside Misa was a much taller, less humanoid looking figure. It looked to be built mostly of spinal chord, even its arms and legs. Its entire body was white, except its lips and a couple other small bits of its face. Its hair didn't look to be separated into strands, but rather into chunks. This figure was Misa's Shinigami – Rem. As Misa had no idea that Katherine could see Rem, she made no mention of this. Rem, however, looked very surprised to see Katherine.
"Just debating on skipping my last few classes," Katherine lied, crossing her arms and leaning against the brick building behind her. "I didn't think you went to college at Toudai, what're you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm not in college, I went right to work when I graduated," she said. "I'm a model now! This is my manager," she added, looking back at the woman on the cell phone. "I'm just cutting through here to go to a photo shoot. I'm hoping I might run into my boyfriend on the way through, since I think it's lunch right now."
"Oh?" Katherine said, walking alongside Misa as Misa started off again. "Anyone I might know?"
"I don't know," she said. "Do you know Light Yagami?"
"Just about everyone here does," Katherine said with a laugh. "He was one of the three freshmen representatives this year."
"Who else?" she asked.
"Umm, Hideki Ryuuga – not the pop star, he just has the same name – and me!"
"Wow!" Misa said excitedly. "I knew you were smart, but you're one of Toudai's representatives? That's amazing!
"Heeeey," Misa added, "you were on television not that long ago durring the Kira broadcast, weren't you? I thought it looked like you."
Katherine laughed a little. "Yeah. The first police officer that got killed was sort of a friend of mine. I kinda snapped when I saw that. I've been wondering why I wasn't killed ever since. I suppose Kira really does need both a name and a face to kill. You know I don't have a real name, I told you about that."
"Yeah," Misa said. "That was supposed to be someone else with Kira's power, though, right?"
"Oh, yeah," she said, "definitely. This person could kill just by seeing a face, that's something Kira can't do. I'm reckoning that Kira and this new Kira have already joined forces, which could be troublesome for L, you know?"
"Are you L?" Misa asked curiously.
"Heavens, no," Katherine said, laughing. "You'd be surprised how many times I get asked that when I go out in public now, after that broadcast. It was all over the newspapers, I was amazed at that."
"I was just wondering," Misa said. "I knew you were really interested in the Kira case, and after that broadcast, I got kind of confused and – Light! There you are!"
They had just come up on Light, who was talking to L. Both of them looked back. Light looked positively shocked to see Misa there. L noticed Rem before he saw Misa or Katherine. Rem was very hard not to notice, after all. Shinigami in general were hard not to notice for those who could actually see them. Katherine kept herself from laughing at the look on his face that clearly said "Misa, you idiot!" Ryuk was standing behind Light. As he was unaware that L could see and hear him – and he probably wouldn't care if he did know – he didn't refrain from laughing at Light's expression of nervousness.
"I came to this area for a photo shoot," she said to Light. "I decided to drop by to see you since it doesn't start until two!" Misa looked at L. "Are you Light's friend? I'm his girlfriend, Misa Amane."
"Hideki Ryuuga," L said.
Katherine glanced over at Light. Though trying to keep his face straight, he had a triumphant gleam in his eyes for a moment. Misa, who had Shinigami eyes, could see L's real name, after all. This was a victory for Kira.
"Eh?" Misa said, her head tilting slightly to the side like a confused puppy. "Ryuuga Hideki…?"
"Yeah," Light said, his triumph suddenly turning to nervousness that Misa was about to blab something she shouldn't know. "He has the same name as that pop idol, isn't that interesting?"
Misa looked at L for a moment.
"Light-kun," L said, "I envy you."
Ryuk laughed at the now confused look on Light's face. "Uh-oh," he said mockingly. Katherine disguised a laugh of her own as a cough.
"I'm a huge fan of Misa's after the March issue of 18!" he said.
Ah, Katherine thought, an attempt at acting. Not a bad idea, but definitely not the best acting in the world…
"Oh, really? That's great –"
She was cut off by a large group of students who had begun to surround them, all of whom apparently recognized Misa. Amidst the hubbub of Misa's fans, L managed to steal her phone, unnoticed by anyone. Katherine managed to back out of the crowd. She didn't much appreciate large crowds anywhere, so getting out of that was quite a relief. Rem, who was standing by behind the crowd, still looked somewhat confused, as she had since she spotted Katherine. Katherine cleared this up quickly as the crowd began to fizzle away. Misa's manager had just arrived.
"I can still see you," she said quietly to Rem.
"I was wondering if you had kept the Note."
"I figured that was it," Katherine said.
Misa's manager began dragging her off by her arm. Rem followed quickly. Katherine walked back over to Light and L.
"Maybe I should go to a lecture once in a while," L said to Light. "We're in the same psychology class next, right?"
"Right," Light said. "I'll be there in a few minutes."
They walked in opposite directions. Katherine followed L.
"Does the team know you're here?" she asked curiously.
"They're standing by to take Misa into custody. Aihara-san did an examination of more forensic evidence, and all of it pointed straight to Amane, so they've all agreed to this."
He took a ringing cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open.
"Hello?" he said. He waited a moment. "Helloo?"
The phone's volume was loud enough so she heard Light on the other end of the line. "Ryuuga," he said, "what're you doing?"
"I found this cell phone on the ground in the middle of the crowd before," he said.
Or you took it from Misa's purse, Katherine thought, refraining from laughing at the pink cell phone with various beads and other charms hanging from its antenna.
"Ah," Light said. "That's Misa's cell phone. I'll return it to her."
"Oh?" L said. "I see."
L took the phone back to where Light was standing and handed it to him. His cell phone rang next. He checked the front before answering.
"Hello? Yes. It's done? I see. Very good."
He shut his phone.
"For Light-kun, this is most likely bad news," L said, putting his phone back in his pocket. "Misa Amane has been arrested under suspicion that she is the second Kira."
"Really?" Light said. "I wouldn't have guessed that."
"She fits the role perfectly," Katherine said with a shrug. "Kira fanatic. As I stated early on, the second Kira was probably a younger female, judging by the way she spoke to Kira in her broadcasts. Looks like I've outdone you as far as profiling goes, eh? Anyway, I need to get back to my car. Don't much feel like going to my last classes."
Dammit… Light thought to himself, watching her walk off. If she would have just stayed for another minute, I could have gotten her to get L's name from Misa, she's sure to get there first in a car like hers. If she's going back to headquarters, they must have Misa somewhere near there, and L would definitely make sure they could contact her. Shit. Now it's almost like he never even showed up! Maybe… it seems L trusts her enough, she might be able to get his real name with a little acting. Then again, I'm still not sure if she's even on my side. I can't trust her to do anything until I know that. It's not like I can threaten to kill her if she doesn't have a name.
As Katherine got in her car, she couldn't help but wonder how L was planning on restraining Misa. If she was the second Kira, it had to be certain that she couldn't move at all. If that was the case, she hoped the rest of the team really did agree one hundred percent that she was the second Kira. If they didn't, then they probably wouldn't agree to Misa being completely restrained.
Even though there was solid proof, Katherine couldn't believe that someone so lively as Misa Amane could be a killer. It was just strange.
"Ugh!"
Katherine put her elbow on the table the evidence was scattered around on in headquarters with a small thump that made the table shake. This small movement knocked different bits of evidence out of their neatly arranged rows and papers out of their orderly stacks. Aizawa glared at her.
"We've been over the evidence a thousand freaking times," she said through gritted teeth. "It's very simple. Who here doesn't understand it?"
"If there is one hole in any of this," Aizawa said just as irritably, "then we're criminals. We had to kidnap Amane to put her in custody. Do you realize we could loose our jobs over something like that, or are you really as stupid as you're acting?"
"Did you just call me stupid?" she said. "I'll have you know that I was the one who figured out that Misa was the second Kira! Ah, I see, that's why you're checking the evidence over and over again, you still don't trust me, eh?"
"Well, seeing as Kira is going to be someone who Misa knows and you are a suspect right now, no, I don't trust you entirely."
"Well you're an ass, and I don't care if asses don't trust me."
"Shouldn't we be… talking about evidence…?" Matsuda suggested.
"It's pretty obvious that there's evidence against her. She's associated with Amane, idiot," Aizawa said.
"Don't talk to my brother in that tone of voice!" Katherine yelled.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Would you quit acting like two year olds for five minutes so we can get some actual work done?" Yagami said.
"Sorry, chief," Aizawa said.
"He started it…" Katherine grumbled.
There was a sound of a lock clicking open. They all looked towards the door as L was walking in. He went straight to the lap top and spoke into the microphone.
"Watari, did she say anything?" he said.
"So far, nothing," an electronically distorted voice replied from the speakers. "She's not even complaining about being held up."
"'Held up'…?" Matsuda repeated uncertainly. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"She must have been instructed not to talk," L said. "Send the image here."
"Is that a good idea?"
"It should be fine. Just do it."
The team moved around by the computer. "The image" came up on the screen. Misa was belted so she couldn't move, her legs also restrained. Her eyes were also covered. She was wearing what looked like a long straight jacket. Rem, who was standing behind her, looked to be positively fuming with anger.
"What the hell? That can't be legal," Katherine said, shaking her head.
"R… Ryuzaki," Yagami said, "Is this…?"
"This is the only logical way to restrain her," L said. "She's suspected of being the second Kira. Of course, this will have been a terrible idea if she turns out to be innocent –"
"As we'll all be criminals," Katherine said in a sarcastically bright tone of voice.
"But I'm sure it's her."
"Yeah," Aizawa agreed, "it has to be. The evidence doesn't point to anyone else. There was a notebook in her room with the same paper as the diary entry and even a pen with the same ink, and she also has the same stamps as the ones on the envelopes. Also, there was pollen found on the envelopes that came from a flower native to where she lived before moving to Kanto. That flower doesn't exist here."
"She also has the receipts from the train tickets from when she went to Nagano and Tokyo to send the other tapes," Matsuda said. "Since the stations still have security tapes from those days, we could borrow them to check to make sure she's on the footage."
"Yes," L said, "meaning it can't be anyone else."
"All we have left to do is get out of her both how she kills and who else is killing," Katherine said. "If she was told directly by Kira to keep her mouth shut, she may not talk."
"Then we'll have to make her talk," L said. He spoke into the microphone. "Watari. Do everything possible within the limit of keeping her alive to make her talk."
"Yes, sir."
The computer switched back to it's regular screen.
"That doesn't sound legal, either," Katherine said slowly.
"Yagami-san," L said. "I've already restricted access for Light-kun to come here. I may summon him here for questioning in the near future. Please prepare yourself for that."
"Wh… why question him now?"
"Because," Katherine said, "he's been dating Misa since shortly after she moved to Kanto. Her parents were killed by robbers. Those robbers were killed by Kira. She admires Kira quite a bit. From what I know, she didn't meet Light until after he went to Aoyama on the twenty-second."
"If Yagami-kun is Kira, he could kill her just to keep her from talking. However, he hasn't. This could only be because he knows that only a handful of people know she has been arrested and it could draw attention to him."
Or… Katherine thought to herself, remembering Rem's expression on the video, perhaps Rem isn't going to let him kill Misa without a fight…. If she's protecting Misa, then Light would obviously be afraid to act at the cost of his life.
After a while of thinking, then some more thinking, and then even more thinking, Katherine finally arrived to a conclusion late that night: Misa was a complete idiot. Light was using her and she didn't care. She was keeping her mouth shut for his sake. If she said anything, it wasn't like Light could kill her, not with Rem at her side. So she really hadn't gained any intelligence from hanging around smart people. If anything, she was even dumber than Katherine had remembered. This was the stupidest thing that Katherine could have ever though Misa would do.
She sat in a chair at headquarters with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth, grumbling under her breath as she tossed a ball of empty chocolate bar wrappers in the air. She wondered how any structure in the world was still standing with people as stupid as Misa around. There was absolutely no explanation for it. There was also absolutely no excuse for anyone to use their life to save the life of one who didn't deserve to live. It couldn't have been love. How could she possibly love that idiot? Ryuk had really done a number on the world in dropping that Death Note on the ground, particularly on Japan, and all just to cure his own boredom. If he didn't have a Death Note himself, she would have strangled him. As amusing as his sarcastic nature could be, this was basically his fault. Although, if Light had been just a little smarter about things, she wouldn't be sitting in that hotel room, trying to figure out how dumb one had to be to want to save his life.
As she flicked a few ashes off of the cigarette she'd been smoking to keep her from attempting to find Misa and knock some sense in her, the laptop spoke in its electronic voice again.
"Ryuzaki." The sudden voice caused Katherine to miss catching the ball of chocolate wrappers. "Misa has something to say."
"Huh," Katherine said. "Maybe she's finally going to get smart."
L moved quickly over to the computer.
"Stream the video and audio here," he said.
The rest of the team, all of whom had fallen asleep, woke up at the sudden voice. All attention turned to the computer as the image of Misa came back.
"I… can't take it anymore…" she said weakly. "Kill me."
