Disclaimer: I do not own death note and I do not own the 'Skillet' Lyrics at the end. Enjoy!
Another Detective
Chapter 5
A decision was made as L watched Yagami Raito; whether or not he was Kira he was definitely hiding something. L was relatively sure that the hidden part of Yagami involved Kira somehow; it probably entailed Raito killing thousands of criminals without a change of emotion on the cameras.
Recalling the picture of Raito smiling, L felt worried. If the cunning smile possessed in that picture belonged to Kira and he was able to pull off the façade of innocence his parents saw then there was a high probability that L might actually fail at this case.
L felt his phone give off a cheery vibration, so he glanced down at the screen.
Message sent 11:01p.m. Number unknown.
'How's your investigating going L?'
L smiled. He knew that there was no way he would fail this case, with Smile on his side. All L needed to do now was force Yagami Raito to admit that he was Kira. This would not be an easy task and, L decided, it was a task that he needed to do in person.
Raito left his home for the To-Oh entrance exam; his mother and sister wished him good luck as he went off. He had meant to be there three minutes before the test started but he knew that he would arrive early, based on his calculations of his walking speed, bus time and the distances between the test taking location and his home.
On the way Raito stood at the side of the side walk and pulled out his phone to text L again, he had not received a response to his last text. Silently wondering who L thought was Kira, Raito accidentally lost focus on the direction he was walking.
A street sign a few feet ahead of him had become right in front of his face as he walked. Smashing his face unintentionally in the sign, Raito was forced to fall into the road.
An expensive black car that appeared to be a limousine of some sort swerved to the side to avoid him.
Raito walked over to make sure everyone in the car was safe, after all it was his fault it swerved. The front window had been automatically forced down to reveal an aging man that Raito recognized from various camera images. This man was Watari, L's proxy!
Raito wondered for a moment if L might be in the car but quickly dismissed the idea, L was far too busy.
"I am so sorry sir" Ratio said in English to Quillsh Wammy, as the displayed name read. The man seemed to blink at the language usage but did not comment and replied in like manner.
"No problem, I am just glad no one was hurt" Watari smiled reassuringly at the boy before he recognized something. This young man was L's suspect! Watari wondered if he should offer a ride since they were headed to the same location. "You're a student? Are you headed to the To-Oh Entrance Exam?"
Raito smiled for a moment and then nodded. "Yes Sir and I must get going or I will be late".
"Would you like a ride?"
"Sorry sir but in Japan that is considered pedophile and is illegal."
Watari blinked and then let out a hearty laugh. "I am sorry Yagami-san, I should have introduced myself. I am not a pervert. I am familiar with your father. My name is Watari."
"How can I be sure of that?"
This time a voice from the backseat answered. "Yagami Ratio…you are son of Yagami Soichiro, superintendant of the NPA. You have a sense of justice that rivals that of your respect for your father. You also aim to become a police official and have helped the police solve several cases in the past. You show great interest in the Kira case."
One of the back doors on the care swung open by being pushed open from the inside and Raito got in. He looked at the man in the backseat for a moment and their eyes meet.
L felt like his heart stopped beating. The aura of intelligence, the flicker of deceit in those brown eyes, and the cunning smile all mixed together with the ideally perfect looking teenaged young man. He readjusted his posture and lifted his thumb up to his mouth before biting softly.
"It is a pleasure to meet you L. Thank you for the ride" Raito said after looking at the name above the head of the man next to him. Silently in his head Raito said, 'and I have yet another ace'. L seemed disturbed, an annoyed anger flashed through the black globes that filled most of his face.
"You're welcome Kira" L said and watched as the uneasy and cunning expression on Raito's face turned into a very amused one. L had made the statement in order to get the same reaction he had given Raito. A look of surprise at the knowledge was all L wanted to see on the boy's face but it did not seem to have worked. It looked as if Raito found this information funny.
"I am your suspect?" Raito's voice poorly concealed the fact that he was about to laugh.
"I do not understand why that is so humorous in your opinion."
"For a moment I thought you actually had found out something."
"Are you insinuating that you have done something wrong Kira?"
"Stop calling me that, it makes me want to burst out in laughter when you say that I'm Kira."
"Murder is not funny."
"Neither are L's."
"You are far more disrespectful then I assumed you would be."
"Does the fact that I am acting out of character raise your suspicions?"
"Yes."
"Good" Raito almost purred the last word as he said it, making L bit his thumb harder. This was not what he had expected when he came to talk to Kira. It was almost like he was losing. L recalled his conversations with Smile; he was the only one that could so easily make him feel challenged.
Watari informed them that they would be arriving soon, so Raito and L finished their 'friendly' conversation in order to head in to take the entrance test.
Raito took the test and got a flawless score but the only thing he thought of was L. At first thought, Raito was sure L had discovered his alias but L had far too incorrect assumptions. In the process of speaking with L, Raito had also discovered L's appearance, name and his Kira suspect.
Considering L's appearance was an odd thing, he looked strange but not in a bad way. The abnormalities seemed so puzzling and detached from how normal people generally are. It made L interesting and far from the 'ugly' that he had described to Smile.
"You there, number 162, sit in your seat properly".
Raito turned and smiled when he saw L sitting in the abnormal way.
L and Raito exchanged a stare. L noticed something. Raito had many smiles; one was happy, one was devious, one was fake, one was cunning, one was evil, one was sympathetic and there were probably many more that L had not yet seen.
Smiles…Smile…and instantly L realized he had met someone that had the intelligence and appearance that would correctly fit Smile. It was not that L actually thought this seventeen year old was Smile, actually the boy was probably Kira but he was the closest physical match to his texting and deducting companion.
Before L realized it, the test was over and Smile, Kira, Raito was gone.
Smiling in an amused way Raito walked home. His little sister greeted him and he joined her in front of the television. The channel was Sakura TV and the news of April 8 was about to begin.
"L take a look at Sakura TV, something terrible has happened" Watari said as he entered the room that contained L and various police officers on the Kira Task Force.
The news station was announcing something regarding Kira, who had apparently sent them a serious of tapes. The news anchor informed the public that Kira was holding them hostage on the terms that they aired the tapes.
'I am Kira, if this video was aired on April 8 at exactly 5:59p.m. Then change the channel to Taiyo. The news anchor will die at 6'o clock from a heart attack.'
L demanded that another television monitor be brought in. Following this request, he watched as another victim who had condemned Kira died on the NHN station.
"Kira wants to send a message…something terrible will happen if we don't stop the broadcast." L said and the Task Force quickly went to work at trying to alleviate the problem.
'I don't want to kill innocent, I hate evil and love innocent. I consider the police not as an enemy, but an ally.'
The broadcast suddenly stopped. A anime character of a girl with flaming red curly hair and a dark trench coat appeared on the screen and then gave a over exaggerated wave and smile.
'Hello Japan! You might have heard of the infamous L but I introduce to you the one and only…drum roll please. Smile!' The girl's background faded to a curtain that she pulled open to reveal a large blue smiley face.
'Sorry for my delay in suspending the Kira broadcast, it takes a while to edit a preeminence production like this one. L wouldn't know all he does is affix a little L on all of your screens! Anyways this message is a shout out to Kira. I am going to catch you and not only am I going to catch you but I will do it before L gets anywhere close! Well that concludes my interruption of your broadcasts. Bye! Good night! I will be here all week.'
The curtain fell and an animated voice of a guy that sounded unnaturally bloated said 'this has been a Smile production'.
"He is so amazing…" Matsuda said with a voice off awe.
"He just challenged me" L replied angrily. It seemed like L had something else to say when Matsuda grabbed a phone and begin to listen to a message from the caller.
"Ryuuzaki we have received a report that Ukita secured the tapes. He entered the building where the broadcast was taking place while Smile had just begun the broadcast of his own, so all eyes including Kira's were turned away."
"That is commendable; having the right timing might have saved his life. This Kira can most likely kill with only a face."
"What do you mean Ryuuzaki? That means our fake identification cards serve no purpose and you said 'this' Kira are you implying that there are more than one?"
"You're…"
"Smile."
"One of the world's greatest detectives."
"Yes."
"And you used my anime design on that broadcast?"
"Yes."
"That is so amazing!"
"Thanks Sayu, please don't tell our parents or anyone else. Especially don't tell any strange looking people with awkward sitting habits and scary black eyes."
"Are they Kira?"
"No but your close."
"Brother, why are your cheeks turning red? You don't like that person right? Who are they?!"
Raito did not respond instead he lowered his head and held up his fingers in an L shape. He heard his little sister gasp. "And he thinks I am Kira…"
"What! Why? Who, Smile or yourself?"
"Yagami Raito. Because he noticed that I am hiding something."
"Why don't you tell him you are Smile?"
"That would be like…defeat."
Hearing his phone make a noise, Raito quickly grabbed it to see L's newest text.
Message sent 7:07p.m. Number unknown.
'How did you stop the broadcast?'
Message sent 7:14p.m. Number unknown.
'I hacked the station's satellite signal.'
Message sent 7:22p.m. Number unknown.
'That is brilliant.'
Message sent 7:31p.m. Number unknown.
'That means a lot coming from you. So L, do anything interesting today?'
Message sent 7:41p.m. Number unknown.
'I meet my main Kira suspect and he already knew who I was, it was unnerving.'
Message sent 7:52p.m. Number unknown.
'Well you tell the public who you are already; all he had to deduce was the law part."
Message sent 8:00p.m. Number Unknown
'How did Smile learn my real name?'
Message sent 8:08 p.m. Number Unknown
'I might tell you if we ever meet.'
Message sent 8:30p.m. Number Unknown.
'Hi! I am Smile's sibling, I stole his phone. Are you really L?"
You try to answer slow
You put your head down low
C'mon take your time
Try to choose the most believable lie
You try to walk away
And tell me everything's okay
You think you're are saved by words
But you're drowning in the absurd