AN:
Hmmm... After reading chapter four again, I realized that I said chapter five would get more interesting... Crap, I'm not sure that was as riveting as I originally thought it might have been... My apologies.

This is non-fic related, but lately I've been amusing myself by studying Japanese... particularly Light's identity and it's meaning. I hate to admit it, but in regards to names, I find Light's much more fascinating than L's... Yagami Raito, spelled with the kanji of night-god moon, meaning yoru-kami tsuki in Japanese and written as 夜神 月... I'm such a geek to have figured that much out, considering I've never spoken or written Japanese before in my life!! But I can't quite figure out how his original name Raito fits in, because from the sheet I've studied it doesn't mean "light" and it has no connection with 月/moon/tsuki either... Ah well, maybe I'll figure it out before I post the next chapter. Or if there's some Japanese guru out there that knows the answer, just send me a heads up or something.
(BTW, I also figured out that you write the name L as エル and pronounce it kind of like "e-ru" because there literally is no "L" sound in Japanese. YAY FOR L!! ...I really am a dork...)

December 2003-October 2004

Within two days, the entire project came together, and Mido was in charge of the whole thing. Not all of the doctors on Yagami's list accepted the offer to come and work, but a ridiculous number seemed willing to help part-time. About twenty actually came in regularly as full-time researchers.

No breakthroughs were made very quickly, of course, but nobody had expected to find a cure right away. Most of them had been prepared to spend many months or even years working towards a solution.

But then, in the blink of an eye, the stakes changed: in October, the NPA officially dropped the Kira case.

Upon hearing this, many people quit. Nearly all of them, really. All but one full time doctor left, and about five of the part-time workers still came in. Mido was so short on people that he got worried that they wouldn't get anywhere. He personally had enough money saved up to last for several years if need be, but he was afraid of what the others would do if their bank accounts ran low.

But then, a rather unexpected miracle occurred: Yagami came through for those loyal enough to stay. He had been forced to resign from the NPA in order to keep working on catching Kira, but he apparently was still determined not to give up. He came to Mido one day, and told him of the situation.

"Mr. Yagami," Mido said when the (former) detective stepped into his office. "What brings you here?"

"A proposition," Yagami replied. Before continuing, he glanced around Mido's office. "So this is where you moved the operation to..."

Mido nodded. None of the doctors were permitted to stay in the NPA headquarters when the Kira case had been dropped; consequently, they'd had to temporarily move to another, much smaller building across the city. "It suits us well enough. So many doctors quit that we no longer require nearly as much space to work."

Yagami nodded rather sadly and sat down in a chair. "True... What about money?"

Mido frowned. "Money?"

"You are no longer paid for doing this, correct?"

"Well, no, but money was never the reason I decided to head this project.."

"But what about the other doctors? Are they as enthusiastic as you are about missing their paychecks?"

Mido thought a moment and shrugged.. "I can't really speak for any of them. I have no idea... But I would like to point out that any doctors that were in it for the money left the instant the NPA took them off the payroll."

Yagami cracked a small smile. "I see. Well, that answers my question. From now on I'll see to it that your doctors get twice their weekly salary."

It took a moment to sunk in, but when it did, Mido's eyes bulged to twice the size of his head. "What?!"

"You heard me: all of you will have paychecks twice as big as before.."

He'd said it so casually!! Mido couldn't think of anything to say. "But...HOW?!"

Another smile twitched at the corner of Yagami's mouth. "L."

Oh.

That name explained so much, yet not nearly enough to satisfy Mido. But he realized it was futile to ask much about L himself... "So that's how you're able to get by with quitting the police force. L is responsible for supporting your family."

Yagami raised his brows in surprise. "...Not much escapes you, does it?"

"I should hope not."

"All the better." Yagami got up to leave. "Thank you for your time, doctor."

Mido wasn't sure what made him say it, but it would have been rude not to express any sort of gratitude. Before the detective left Mido said, "Thank you very much, sir. Take care."

Yagami briefly turned back. "...I will."

November 7, 2004
1:34 AM

Not much changed for Mido and the other doctors over the course of October. Not until the thirty-first, when the police made a move and supposed captured a Kira suspect, creating a frenzy in the department and among those lucky enough to have a connection to the NPA (which Mido did, of course). Nobody was quite sure what rumors about it were true, however, so much of the excitement was wasted.

A shame, Mido thought. Something interesting happens and nobody knows what the hell is really going on.

Another five days passed without incident.

Then came the seventh of November.

Nothing signalled to Mido that it would be a life-changing day for him; not to him or anyone else under his direction, for that matter. He had been staying up very late multitasking by doing some paperwork and studying a criminal's body at the same time. He didn't even notice the clock beep to signal the passing of midnight. Involuntarily, he jumped when his secretary knocked on his door more than an hour later.

None of the other doctors (not even the one full-time worker) had a secretary, but this woman, an American student, had volunteered as an intern. She was surprisingly good, even Mido had to admit as much. But he was in no mood to deal with her at the moment. "Not now," he said after briefly glancing at her.

She ignored him. "Sir? There's someone here to see you."

Mido waved her off.. "Tell them to come back tomorrow."

"He said his name was... um... Yagim-- er, Yagama-- uh..."

Mido turned to her. "Yagami?"

"Yes, that was it! Yagami... What an unusual name, if I might say so..."

Mido sighed. He would have been able to ignore almost any other visitor, but the man who had gotten him this job...? "Tell him I'll be out in a moment."

Not even thirty seconds later, Mido stepped out and immediately got a good look at Yagami, who was sitting in a chair. The first word that popped into Mido's head at the detective's appearance was "terrible." It didn't take a doctor's eye to know that he had lost weight and needed sleep. There was stubble on his chin, his brow was etched in a frown, his eyes were red and seemed watery... the list could go on. "Good God, man, you look like you've been to hell and back!!"

Yagami barely looked up at Mido. "I have.."

Mido couldn't think of much to say. "...What sort of hell?"

Yagami sighed. "The sort of hell where everything unravels so quickly you don't see a God damn thing coming until it's all over." He rubbed an eye. "But then, the event isn't always the worst part. Afterwards... that's sometimes the real hell."

What the devil has this man gone through...?! He's worked himself far too hard!! He needs to take a vacation, or maybe even retire completely before he collapses from exhaustion--

As if defying the doctor's thoughts, Yagami stood up. "I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing here."

Suddenly Mido began to feel rather angry. "Whatever you're here for can wait! You need to relax a bit from this damned Kira case or you're gonna have a heart attack!! You look like hell and you need to rest!"

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Mido wasn't sure how Yagami managed it, but with a completely straight face he questioned, "Doctor's orders?"

Almost involuntarilly, Mido laughed. At least it was a sour laugh, maybe even it a sarcastic one. He'd gotten good at this kind of obvious forced laughing; otherwise nobody would ever have taken him seriously as a doctor. "If that's the way you wish to look at it."

Yagami sighed and sat down again. "Doctor, what I'm here for absolutely cannot wait. Tomorrow I have to make preparations for a funeral, and frankly, I don't have time to waste."

"...Whose?"

Yagami frowned.

"Whose funeral?"

Mido immediately sensed Yagami grow suddenly... sadder? After a long pause, he said softly, "A good friend's."

There was nothing Mido could really say in response.

"He was an investigator for the Kira case," Yagami continued. "From the very beginning, he was clearly one of the brightest men assigned to the case, and he stuck to it until the very end."

"...How was... the end?" Mido asked slowly.

"Hell."

That reply explained everything.

"It was Kira, wasn't it?"

A nod.

"I'm sorry."

"We were all so sure we were going to die... He collapsed before the rest of us could comprehend what was happening, but then all at once, we realized, 'We're next'... Have you ever completely expected to die, doctor?"

"..."

It wasn't hard for the memories to resurface.

Noooooo!! I can't die now!! Please don't let me die!! No no no no...!!

Mido forced himself to think of the present. "...Yes... Once... A very long time ago... I understand what you mean. It is hell, to believe your life will end at any second... Is that what you want from me? Reassurance...?"

"No. I want you to have his body."

It was such an out-of-place remark. Did he just say...? "...Excuse me?!"

"He would have wanted it, I'm sure."

No, a normal person would want to be buried in a graveyard or cremated, not dissected in an attempt to stop a serial killer--

"His body is the last you can expect to receive from me. When you're done, I should like to have it cremated, perhaps..."

"The last??"

Yagami nodded. "Please forget I ever told you this, but Kira's murders will never be stopped through science... I mean no offence to you when I say that, I only mean to tell you the truth. The truth is, Kira can kill anyone in the world as long as he has information about them... and no sort of medicine will ever be able to stop him."

"...You know that for a fact?"

A nod.

Mido thought through what Yagami had said very carefully. "...Would I be wrong to say.... that based on what you just said... that science will never stop them... you mean... that Kira can kill in ways other than heart attacks?"

Yagami stared. "...I have no idea how you came to that conclusion from what I just said... But I won't deny anything. You're exactly right."

Mido rubbed his chin in thought. The last body he would receive... "...Can I have it?"

"The body? Certainly. I will have it delivered to you in a few hours.." He stood up to leave. "Excuse me doctor, but I have to make funeral arrangements."

That was the last time Mido ever saw Soichiro Yagami.

AN: ITS ABOUT TIME!! Jeez, it only took me about two months to write this part from the time Mido said he would explain it. Sadness!! :-(

...Still, I got there! FINALLY!!

(I wonder if anyone got the reference in the time I mentioned for November sixth...? *cough* 134 *cough*)