Chapter 2: Theories
My eyes slid past a blur of people, shops, and cars before I came to a small café I usually hit for breakfast. I shook my head fiercely, trying to rid myself of the images clouding my mind. The dream. Correction nightmare. The death. The decay. The carnage. The notebook. The names. Oh God, the names! What did it all mean? Was my subconscious mind really that disturbed? Or had I just watched one too many horror movies?
I stepped inside the small shop, a light tinkling indicating my arrival. Warm aromas drifted from the room and I immediately felt comforted. The woman manning the counter smiled warmly as I approached.
"Hey there, Hun. What will it be today?" I was a well known regular and was familiar with all their specials, so I got to skip the normal customer spiel. My eyes raked the counters; fudge, chocolate, pastries, cakes, pies, and fruit were on display under the cool glass my hands pressed upon.
"One apple pie and hot chocolate please." I loved apples, and this place had the closest thing to perfection there was when regarding sweets. Another bonus was that they didn't just serve coffee. I couldn't stand the stuff.
"Let me guess, you'll have one piece here, while I box up the rest," she said in a maternal tone. I laughed.
"You know me well," I responded easily, my voice relaxed. This place was like its own kind of therapy for me. The woman winked, before bustling off to get my order.
I sat at one of the back tables. The playful interaction with the clerk had taken the edge off the leftover terror from the dream. Spearing a piece of my pie on my fork, I began to contemplate possible reasons for why my mind had come up with such disturbing images.
It could be the deaths of those major criminals…
They had all died of heart attacks, a pattern I'd noticed after the second day of the deaths. I had begun to look into it and had started my own case file, even though Dad had warned nothing would come of it.
~FLASHBACK: Three days ago~
No way this is coincidence.
I looked over all the names of the criminals who had died in the past two days. It wouldn't be strange if some of the older ones bit the dust, but age wasn't a discriminating factor. They were all well known and declared to be the scum of society. All except one man who was holding a group of hostages captive in a school. This led me to believe he was, in simple terms, an experiment. Never the less, this data was extremely invaluable.
I gotta show this to Dad.
I managed to maneuver myself past the crowded desks and stacks of files to my father's office, my laptop in hand. No way this was going on paper where anyone could see it. The portable device was heavily encrypted, along with several other safeguards to prevent unwanted eyes from stealing information.
I knocked on the door of Dad's office, he looked up and nodded gesturing for me to sit down. I closed the door behind me, making it clear to him that what I wanted to discuss was important. I took the chair in front of his desk and examined his face, he looked tired. Exhausted actually.
"What is it, Rei?" I winced at the tone of his voice. The one that said, 'The grown-ups are busy sweetheart, why don't you go play over there.' Fine. I'd be professional for both of us. Being known for my bluntness I got straight to the point.
"I have reason to suspect that a person or organization is responsible for the heart attacks and deaths of the major criminals who have died in the last forty-eight hours." Unfortunately, Dad had taken a sip of coffee at that very moment and nearly choked. I waited patiently, and somewhat smugly, as he sputtered and tried to regain composure.
"And what would lead you to that conclusion?" he asked eyes wide. Nothing got people's attention like accusations of murder. I opened my laptop, broke through some firewalls and turned it towards him.
"All these people have died in the past two days. They were all criminals and all widely known except for one man who I believe was used as an experiment for the killer." My father stared at me, dumbfounded. "Due to the fact this man's identity was only revealed on the news in the Kanto region, I believe the killer lives in that area of Japan or at least is hiding there." I held back from my guess that a name and face was needed to kill, because I had no proof, and because launching the supernatural part of my investigation on Dad this early on in the game seemed a bit unkind. I waited while Dad read over all the names and details of the deaths, a frown forming on his face.
"While this is impressive," he paused choosing his words carefully, "I don't believe this to be creditable evidence." I nodded. I had expected this much. But, being my father and a fair man, he felt obligated to ask, "Is there any other evidence to lead you to suspect this?" I grinned ruefully.
"Just a gut feeling."
"I see." I looked at him waiting for the verdict, crossing my fingers. He exhaled heavily, "While I can't authorize an official investigation, you do have my permission as a father and the chief, to look into this on your own." I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
"Thanks Dad, but can I get you to promise me something?" His face had a wary expression. "When the world does notice what's going on, I want to be involved. Along with Matsuda, of course."
Here's where the real conflict begins. He can either promise to let me help, and nothing will happen. The coincidental deaths will be dismissed just as that, a coincidence. The second option is the more dangerous possibility, the one that may cause my father to say no. I may be right. If I am and he agrees, he'll be putting me in danger by my very involvement. But as the chief, he can't refuse. Stopping the person who discovered the case from being on the investigation team was unheard of. I could clearly see the dilemma on his face.
"Alright," he agreed his voice admitting defeat.
"Nu-uh," I said, holding my hand up, pinky extended. "You have to pinky promise." A smile twitched at his lips. He wrapped his own pinky around mine.
"I pinky promise."
"Excellent." I stood up ready to leave. "And Dad?" His expression guarded, most likely scared I'd get something else from him. "I predict, in less than a week, the world will acknowledge the deaths as murder." And on that ominous note, I left him.
~End Flashback~
I chewed on my pie thoughtfully; the case was definitely the cause. I'm working on a case where criminals die of heart attacks and then have a dream where I die of a heart attack. Doesn't take a genius to make the connection.
All this stress must be clouding my mind.
It should be any day now, even if the world hasn't officially acknowledged the murderer's presence, the proof was on the internet. Sites had been popping up all over, supporting the maniac. They called him savior and a bringer of justice. They even went so far to give him a name. Kira. Derived from the English word killer. Appropriate to say the least. Also further proof regarding the cause of my dream. The man declared himself Kira.
I pondered this, the moved from the subject of Kira in my dream to who would be designated the task of being Kira's captor.
They may actually put L on this one. Or at least one of his aliases.
Growing up I had been an admirer of L and had gone to sleep hearing about his various cases across the globe from my father. As I grew older I had heavily researched him, finally concluding that L was not only the number one detective in the world, but the second and third as well, Eraldo Coil and Deneuve, along with hundreds of lesser known aliases.
It would be an honor of course for L to lead an investigation I myself had began, but I had little chance of meeting L, once the authority my father had was passed along to someone else.
I pouted, a childish characteristic I still held onto, before finishing my pie and drinking the dregs of the hot chocolate. While changing out of my sneakers and into my flats for work, I caught a glance of my reflection in the glass window to my right. My coloring was normal and the only way to notice the bags under my eyes would require someone putting their face right up to mine. Highly unlikely.
I exited the sanctuary of the shop, bag with the pie in it dangling from my hand. I finally approached the station.
Hooray for monotony.
However the moment I walked inside I realized something was off. People were muttering to themselves and holding conversations in whispers, eyes wide. They were clearly distracted, though trying to remain calm. Were…were they all aware of Kira now? It was the only thing that made sense. I know I had said less than a week, but that was around three days ago. I hadn't expected this fast…
"Rei." I turned around to find my best friend at the station, Matsuda looking at me. Because we had joined around the same time, we bonded over all the easy rookie paper work they had given us. He approached me quickly, his normal carefree face troubled.
"Hey, Matsu. What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure yet. You're dad's holding a meeting in fifteen minutes."
"Thanks for telling me." Relief saturated my voice, quickly followed by panic. If everyone was this worked up now…
"Rei?" I snapped out of my mini panic attack.
"Ye-ah?" I drew out the word, giving it multiple syllables. Matsuda looked nervous. He beckoned for me to come closer. Slightly irritated that he felt like he needed to whisper his next words, I stepped closer. He bent down to murmur softly.
"Your dad said to tell you," he hesitated, his breath hot on my ear, "You were right."
~Author's Note~
Is that a cliffhanger? Kinda? I don't even know and I wrote it.
The main purpose of this chapter (and the next one if I remember right) is to show that Rei thinks like L. There is a reason she reached almost the exact some conclusions that L announced at the ICPO meeting. I need to set her up so she can see through all of L's BS, and kinda put him off guard.
As for L himself, be patient. I gotta prep L for meeting Rei. This means all the canon elements have to be set in place. If Rei seems like a Marysue, I apologize. I AM new at this after all.
This chapter was much shorter than I wanted it to be and it doesn't seem like much happened. Hmmm, now that I think about it, it takes awhile for the real fun to begin.
And the apples thing…yeah I like apples, so Rei likes apples. Its coincidence that Ryuk does, but I can use this to mess with L. Rei will be all, I likey me the apples, and L will be all, OMG KIRA/SHINIGAMI! Yeah…that's totally how it'll go down…
Don't worry next chapter makes up for this one's shortness. I think I'll be updating weekly on Sundays.
I'd like to thank: snowXgem, gnarley-, and my BESTEST WRITER FRIEND EVER, Dragonwriter444, for reviewing. I'm not usually big on asking for reviews, but it's nice to get them.