Author's note: Most countries had spring break over the last week or few weeks; this chapter gives a quick peek at what Smile did during spring break. I would like to thank L Ninja for her work as beta for this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own death note and I do not own the "Acceptance" lyrics.
Another Detective
Chapter 26
There's a funny little thing that happens when everything is right: everything seems to be wrong. Smile had planned every move, so they assumed nothing could go wrong. Rod Ross moved his mafia members towards the location, made a signal, and watched as his men stormed into the building where the police headquarters was stationed. Ross could hear shots being fired, from the heavy pitch and steady fire he could also tell all the shots were coming from his men.
Instructing them not to kill the police officers, Smile had given him the location of the investigation of the mafia. Ross had gone against Smile's instructions and ordered his men to shoot the officers. After arriving, Ross felt ashamed to actually enter the building. Footsteps sounded behind him and Ross grabbed a gun, then he turned to face a single boy.
"That was not very nice, to kill the officers," the boy whispered.
"No, this is not very nice." Ross raised his gun to face the child and the witness of his crime, readying the ammunition to fire. Although he did not want to break an agreement with Smile, Ross had by no means retaliated from violence and began to care.
Seeming thrilled by the weapon breathing death on his neck, the brunette let a fear-provoking laugh escape him. Anyone other than Ross would have staggered backward at such a menacing noise from a child. "Dwhite Godon," continued the undeterred boy as he stared in an amused manner, "why did you refuse to accompany your men on their massacre?"
Ross stopped and lowered his gun. No one knew his name. "Who are you?"
"You can call me Ramilo. I am surprised by you, Godon. As a mafia leader, shouldn't you know never to lower your gun till the enemy is dead?" Ross watched as the boy swung a hidden gun from behind his back and pressed it against his head. "Good night, sleep tight." A click sounded and an enormous pressure slammed into Ross's head.
Ross felt a liquid dripping down the side of his head. Before his eyes completely blurred to black, Ross heard the boy whisper. "I don't like people that break promises, especially ones that would dare to hurt a thirteen year old child in the process." The boy was Smile. Ross collapsed.
Smiling to himself, Raito looked at the man. That man probably thought he was dead, the magic of paintball guns. Raito had known where the pressure point in the man's head was and had hit it with the paintball, causing him to pass out temporarily. Walking away from the scene and over to a park bench across the street, Raito leaned down to pick up a bag under the bench.
Inside of the bag, Raito found the laptop he had left earlier in the day and typed out a short message to the real police. Raito had tricked the mafia leader into thinking Smile was assisting them so he could get their help in the future. Then, Raito gave them the location of a building and set up a series of stuffed clothing in chairs to look like police officers. When every mafia member went in, Raito locked the door.
He had assumed at least one person would stay behind but he did not expect to have to take on Rod Ross. Raito looked at the message he had sent to the police.
'Can the police pick up some stuff at my current location? Track my computer. - :)'
Yawning softly, Raito tried to think of something else to do during spring break.
Raito looked to see who the caller on the phone was. A flashing unidentified number appeared; it was either L or a sales person, in both scenarios he did not feel like answering. Looking up at the questioning gaze of Takada, he handed the phone to her. "Can you answer it?" He watched as Takada pressed the button to answer.
"Raito's phone, Takada speaking." While she paused, Raito tried to listen in on what the other side was saying. "What do you mean 'all he is doing is wasting time'?" Takada's face twisted into a scowl as she heard the other line talk. "I am not a suspect of being Kira; you have no right to accuse me of something like that!" She was definitely talking to L.
Raito extended his hand to ask for the phone but she refused. "Who do you think you are?" Poor Takada, she was likely suffering from fluctuations in emotion because of the traumatic death of her friend. Who knows what strange ideas L was torturing her with. "You think you are better than the great detective Smile? Yeah right! How did you even get this number?" Grinning at this half of the conversation, Raito imagined L right now.
Likely, L sat in one of the chairs at headquarters and the task force had arrived for the day's work. He would be sitting in his signature position and talking on the phone, holding it awkwardly for all to see. All of the task force members, especially Matsuda, were probably straining to hear the conversation. Abruptly interrupting Raito's image, Takada nearly hurled the phone towards him after she gave up at talking to L.
"Good morning, L." Takada's whole countenance smeared into an appearance of disbelief. Possibly, revealing who was on the line could put L at risk. Realistically, there was very little chance Takada would work against L when someone important to her had died by the hands of Kira. Unless, of course, she was lying about her friend. Raito pondered this for a moment and neglected to listen to L speaking.
Considering Takada's speech as being lies made the conversation change significantly. She could have even chosen Raito to call because she knew he had some involvement in the Kira case; because of his late father's position and his disappearance from his usual activities following the Kira case. Raito doubted Takada had enough intelligence to plan something like this for Kira.
However, if she had planned the events to support Kira, Raito's statement of L's identity would still not be endangering to L. To the contrary, such actions might help protect the other detective. Takada could try to use Raito to bring her closer to L, in order to kill him. And, since Raito would be aware of her intentions based on this desire to meet L, Raito could show her whatever 'L' he wanted to.
"Are you there?" Jolting at the sudden sound from the phone, Raito sat in shock. He did not even know L could raise his tranquil, monotonous voice. "Can you hear me?"
"No."
"If you cannot comprehend my statement, how can you respond?"
"It's quite a difficult process but I will explain. I require absolute silence for this explanation, do not interrupt. To respond I," Raito paused for a few minutes and then whispered, "Say no."
"Someone is being exceptionally rude, as was his friend. His friend seems to be an unnecessary distraction from the Kira case."
"What I do now is none of your concern. You didn't expect me to stay around and assist you with finding Kira, did you?"
"Where are you going to live now?"
"Once again, it is none of your concern." Realizing the harsh tone of his statements, Raito nearly apologized. However, showing such a repentant attitude in public would prove to be injurious.
"Smi-"
"I suggest you not use that term," Raito quickly interrupted at the name Smile. Would L really be so foolish to give away Raito's identity so blatantly?
"You called me L, are you not at a position in which no one can hear?"
"I am not."
"How unfortunate," L stated before the phone line on Raito's side went dead. L had hung up.
Glaring at the phone, L felt a surge if anger. How could Smile openly reveal his identity and then protest to him doing the same? If Raito did not trust this 'Takada' he should not have provided her with a direct link to L. L had not been using anything to mask his voice or the location of his call. He trusted Raito, so such precautions would have been unnecessary.
At the moment, a possible Kira supporter or a Kira could have an edge on him. Reclining in the chair he was sitting in, L turned to face the investigators who had gathered in the room. L had been careful not to allow them to hear his conversation but he could tell Ukita and Matsuda were straining to listen.
"Who was on the phone? It seemed to involve Kira," Mogi asked.
"Smile was on the phone. I would like to inform you that I will be leaving for a week to enlist help from individuals who can assist in the efforts to find and stop Kira."
"I thought Smile was already assisting you with the Kira case," Matsuda quickly responded.
Cringing at the assumption that he was having assistance, L formed a calm response. "Smile will no longer be helping my investigation. The help I wish to enlist is from friends of Watari's."
"Where is Kira? I apologize; you are calling him Raito still. Innocent until proven guilty…Where is he?" Mogi questioned, bringing to L's mind the accusations the investigators kept making. It seemed ironic that the group finally agreed Raito was Kira after L had proven he was guiltless.
Recalling his conversation with Raito, the black haired detective smiled. If Raito could give away L's identity, L could do the same to Raito. "Raito is," L paused, not able to complete the sentence in the intended way, "set on accompanying me. He is preparing."
Both Mogi and Ukita's faces showed obvious displeasure with this statement. Quite likely, they had been an anticipating a full out interrogation of Raito when L told them he would be leaving. This would not be possible if Raito went along with him. Looking away from the two plotting investigators and Matsuda, L searched for a flight to Winchester and ran a final check on the Kira killings.
An odd pattern appeared in the check of killings; Kira's location had changed. Since L's discovery of his location in Japan, over fifty percent of the deaths occurred in the local prisons. Now, the pattern was reversed. Most of the deaths were not local and very few occurred in the country. Kira appeared to be a step ahead of L in travel arrangements; maybe Kira had a travel agent?
"Where's Misa?" Matsuda thought aloud as he looked at the camera images in front of L. Peering at the same images, L tilted his head briefly in thought.
"Check the storage compartment where the Death Notes are held to ensure both have not been tampered with, it is on the third floor" L stated and immediately all three investigators began to dash towards the area the notebooks had been transferred to following Raito's use of the one Death Note to save L.
Within minutes, Matsuda returned and breathed in a heavy lungful of air before he spoke. His face was petrified as he relayed the findings, "Both of the Death Notes are gone."
Admin 325600: L is alive.
User 186532 sent a sound clip of an audience cheering.
User 564791: That noise interrupted my building process.
User 807354: Your building toys are too childish anyways.
User 564791: Too childish? I am several years younger than you.
Admin 325600: He is coming here.
User 186532: To Whammy's?
User 807354: Really?!
User 564791: Yes, I am really younger than you. Did something make you believe otherwise?
User 807354: I was talking to Roger, dim-wit!
User 564791 reports User 807354 on the grounds of 'offensive language.'
User 564791 signs off with message 'If you can't beat the game, if you can't solve the puzzle, then you are just a loser.'
"Why did you bring that with you, meanie-san?"
Dragging the model along with him, Beyond did not respond. Such questions did not merit a response and he could not give a reasonable answer without leading Misa to start screeching about the fact that they were going to see Raito.
"Why won't you answer any of Misa's questions? You won't tell me where we're going or why you took the Death Note with you! I hope you are not planning on trying to become a Kira with my help; I refuse-"
Finally, the blond stopped speaking; she had noticed Raito in the distance. In an instant, she pulled free of Beyond's grasp and charged towards Raito as if she thought Beyond was a criminal and Raito was her hero. Which was relatively true, because of Raito's work Misa could live despite her work as a Kira and Beyond was previously a criminal.
As Misa scampered towards Raito like a frantic mouse trying to escape a snake, Beyond followed in calm steps as if he was taking in each moment and memorizing each detail as he stepped forward. The detective they were closing in on walked down the street alongside a black-haired woman whose beauty rivaled that of Misa, in a more mature and proper manner.
Reaching Raito in her attempt to escape Beyond, Misa launched herself towards him and caused him to fall to the ground. "Raito! You would not believe what happened to Misa. Meanie-san took the-"
Raito knew Beyond had taken the note, he had instructed him to do so. He interrupted before Misa let the entire city know Kira's weapon was being held in Beyond's hand. In order to interrupt her, Raito leaned up from his painful position on the ground and embraced the blond in a hug.
In her instant of bliss, Misa forgot what she had been trying to tell Raito and stood to allow him to get up. Misa's attention turned to the women she was not familiar with. Beyond did the same and faced Takada for a moment, before turning to Raito and mouthing something in a language Takada would most likely not know. Seeming to respond to Beyond, Raito glanced at Takada with an appearance of shock.
Often, Raito neglected to check the name and date above individual's heads when he speaks to them. Doing so also made life seem too fragile. He had not checked the date of death on Takada since he began speaking to her and was astonished at the relatively short time she had left. Glancing at the number again, Raito realized she would last for a few more days, but no more than that.
If she really was supporting Kira, Takada could soon report something that would upset the new Kira. Maybe she would change sides or say something that Kira did not want to hear. Either way it was best to leave Takada while Beyond and him investigated the location she had mentioned.
"Is there something on my face? You are staring," Takada suddenly questioned.
"Forgive me; I was wondering if you would assist my friend for a few days while we investigate the location you mentioned?"
"You want me to assist Miss Amane?" Her voice seemed irked, which Raito could understand. The idea of staying with the model for an extended period of time would make anyone upset. "That would be fine, when do you plan on leaving?"
"Now," Raito stated and began to walk towards the headquarters where L was still residing. Waiting for L to leave for the European country Kira may have relocated to, Raito would follow and use the same method of travel.
Taking in the harsh bustle of the airport she had arrived at, Sayu surveyed the area for a television. Ryuk had been complaining he was bored, so Sayu needed to pacify him by killing more criminals. Although the broadcast was in English, Sayu could make out the words 'crime' and 'criminal' from her English classes and she wrote down names based on these.
"Ryuk, where are we?" Sayu asked once her killings were quite numerous.
"An airport in New England. Remember, I told you about their forty varieties of apples."
"If we are in England, why is there an American flag?"
It's never been always
Who's the liar
I'm the coward
The letter read like this...
Of all the sinners I walk before
I can't deny
Somehow you're seeing it
So you're the one who took the fall
and it's bringing us together, together