Light shuts off the monitor.

"Hey," Matsuda says "What are you doing? That was interesting!"

"No." Light says "It was over." He walks away from the work station toward the window, "And it's a distraction. It has nothing to do with the case." He turns vaguely back toward them. "Can I have some time alone. I need to think about our next move. Father was right. I need to shake a lead loose otherwise we're just coming here ever day in remembrance of Kira's victims. As witnesses to his legacy. Besides. Maybe you can build leads of your own. As Father said, you are all more experienced investigators than I."

Ide, Aizawa, Mogi, and Matsuda pile one by one out of Light's apartment. Once gone Light's head drops, and between gritted teeth he spurts an audible - and highly pitched - grunt.

Ryuk chuckles. "This is interesting."

"I haven't been this humiliated since... since..."

"L?" Ryuk floats just over the couch.

"Right." Light thinks aloud "Ryuzaki, the first time he put Kira on the spot - on TV. Or the first time he told me who he was..."

"You seem to be taking this much better actually."

Light turns all the way around to look at Ryuk "No. I've learned to compose myself better, but this is worse. Ryuzaki thought he was doing what was right, and was intellectually comparable. This is a petty murderer making me out like an idiot to the world."

"Noooo."Ryuk says "You're much too clever to be an idiot." He laughs again "So. What are you going to do. Kill the news anchors who read his letters?"

"No. That's not the best way to send a message. If he accuses Kira of killing innocents, and claims to be guilty, then killing innocent newsman to silence him will just make me look petty and weak. If I send messages through the news stations denying his accusation it lends credence to their credibility by dignifying them with a response. If I discover who he is - in secret - I could kill him, but then the world would be denied their example. Also I have to have the time to catch him without making the task force suspicious of my actions. This means I have to publicly capture a murderer, and then Kira has to kill him out of spite."

"Hey, but wouldn't killing him prove he was actually right all along?"

Light shrugs. "Only to a point. The important thing is for the world to know you cannot defy Kira without consequence. He won't have his trial, so for all anyone else knows Minoru Akagawa murdered his wife and Kira killed him. Then this... criminal, disobeyed Kira and was killed for his insolence."

Ryuk; sunk halfway through the ground now, rests an elbow on a coffee table at room's center, chin in hand, a slightly bored look on his face. "Does it bother you at all that you killed a guy for nothing?"

"Can we stay on topic here?"

"Sure!" Ryuk says with patronizing glee, "How do you plan to catch this murderer so publicly? Now that the task force is apart from the police?"

Two Days Later

Soichiro Yagami enters Light's apartment, where the entire team has already gathered, waiting to hear word from him. He announces: "I'm pushing the NPA to let me head the reopened Michi Akagawa murder case." There's a distinct gasp amongst the four men, excluding Light, naturally.

"But Chief..." Ide reluctantly continues, "Why? Eh... We're not NPA? Right?"

"No, I am not. I have personal reasons for moving ahead with this investigation. I will continue my work with you here on the task force, and I will consult with the police on this homicide in the meantime. Should either investigation require extra attention, I will elect not to sleep until one of the killers is caught! You all should focus your efforts on the Kira case. I'm not asking any of you to throw in with me."

Aizawa appears uncharacteristically opposed to the announcement, "With respect Chief. I don't see what can suddenly be so personal about this case that wasn't two days ago. Or a day before that. If you need to shake loose of the Kira case and work on another for inspiration; that's understandable, but you shouldn't put yourself in a position that could compromises your work on either investigation. Clearing your head is one thing, but killing yourself with overwork is another. I'd much rather see you take time off."

"I'm not taking the Michi Akagawa murder to clear my head... An investigator at the NPA, a friend of mine... more than a friend, if I'm being honest," he looks to Light "before I met Light's mother... was given the case by her superior officer. Erina Noguchi sent me an email requesting that I help her on her first real case. She and her superior Keneko... died.. In a car accident. Yesterday."

'Good.' Light thinks to himself, 'This will be so much easier if father has such a particular emotional attachment to Noguchi. I knew they were friends but this? I could not have had better luck.' He thinks about Noguchi and Keneko's deaths 'By getting both of them in the car at the time of death, even if one of them did have to die of a heart attack, it wouldn't matter, after the wreck kills one, no one would suspect that the other death was unrelated to the accident.'

"So you see," Soichiro continues "It's my duty. She came to me for what little help I could provide. But now... I must fulfill her dying wish. To see this case through. To the very end."

"Father, the Kira case overlaps with Michi's murder, in the sense that this killer seems to be taunting Kira in the media. The connection - it's... tenuous at best, but you said yourself, we're all trying to find new a new direction in the Kira investigation, all of us are clogged up. Maybe a new case is what we all need to get moving again. A temporary hiatus, not from justice, just the hard case, to correct a smaller - no less important - injustice. We catch one murderer, and maybe, somehow, we get closer to Kira in the process. In any case, you would have the support of a trusted and loyal team by your side, and the opportunity to investigate without becoming over encumbered."

Soichiro nods slightly.

"Alright!" Matsuda screams, the energy of the other men is not dissimilar "Let's win this thing!"

Mogi scratches his head "It would be good to do some work on a different case for once. Maybe we're all a little rusty..."

"I regret." The Chief informs. "I'm not sure how I will convince the NPA to let me take over the case."

"Don't worry about that." Light says sitting at the main station, "I've got it all figured out."

The police station is bustling with activity. A young Mr. Nakano is chatting up a cleaning lady collecting trash at the water cooler. "So I tell him, you know, if we have to catch bad guys even though Kira's going to kill them, by the time things go back to normal the legal system won't know how to handle violent multiple murderers right. Like - Hey what would we do if we caught Kira!?" He lets out an amused grunt, shaking his head at the thought.

"Don't you guys work for Kira?" the lady jabs, before walking away.

"Wait what's your name again!? Ah, shit!" he starts talking to himself "Now how am I supposed to get her number."

A murmur spills across the room and a voice comes through the main office "L, L, message from L! Everybody SHUT UP!"

A laptop is placed in the center of the room. A technical type fiddles with it "Hold on, I have to connect it to the intercom system."

Once finished 'L' is instructed to proceed. He does: "NPA. This is L. It is my understanding that the Michi Akagawa murder case has been reopened. I would like to offer my assistance."

One of the police officers speaks out "We can't have you associate with us! You're trying to catch Kira, he'll kill us if we help you!" the other officers nod

"I understand your reservations... I ask that you circumvent them. The killer's bold defiance of Kira fascinates me. It is well known, I take only cases that interest me, and I've hit a dead end in the search for Kira. I will be investigating this murder with or without the police's help for the time being. Since I am unlikely to get any closer to Kira through this case, I see little threat to your safety. In fact, I request that you distance yourselves as much as possible from the investigation and allow my team to have final authority at the crime scenes."

The Chief inspector stiffens up "Why should we do that? Distance ourselves, and let you take over?"

"Because you have made a fool of Kira... If Michi Akagawa was not murdered by her husband, but by a separate murderer who is now taunting Kira on television, Kira will be even more embarrassed, and perhaps even lash out if you prove this new killer's accusations true." Light doesn't know if they'll bite into this particular apple, since he would of course kill the suspect long before any proof could be presented. "Allow our involvement to be an open secret. So that Kira will hear that we are looking for this man. We'll catch this murderer and present him on television as the 'one who defied Kira'. Only. And then he will be executed for his crimes. We ask this both out of my own personal self interest, and one of our investigators'... link to Noguchi, the detective given the case before her untimely death left her destiny in this matter uninitiated."

The NPA chief inspector speaks again "(My head is swimming.) You'll have your final authority, just catch me a killer." the inspector shuts the computer down, looking out across space like maybe he's made a mistake. But lets it go.

"Light?" Soichiro says, "Are we really going to present this killer to Kira like a blood sacrifice?"

"Yes." Light says simply, "It's what 'L' would do." he smiles coyly "When the police, and in this case, us, investigate any murder that is not Kira's, the natural resolution of that process, in a post Kira world, is the death of the murderer. He will die either way. By offering the killer to Kira we satiate his need for justice. By taking his side we may even catch him off guard then - maybe - he begins to believe no one is actively searching for him. That he's won. It could take some time, but after awhile his guard will slip, and we can take advantage of any mistakes he might make in the meantime."

Aizawa sulks "I don't like it. Even if he is going to die, and even if he is a deranged killer. Putting him up there for everyone to see him die. This sends out the wrong message to the world, that Kira is someone to be cooperated with above all else."

"A small price to pay perhaps." Light asserts, "Most of them believe that anyway. And this will give us the opportunity to gain the upper hand."

"How so?" Asks Chief Yagami. "There's no guarantee that Kira will drop his guard. What will this accomplish?"

"Lind L. Tailor." If everyone's attention had been solid. now it's crystallized "I took a look at Ryuzaki's backlog and realized it's been quite a long time since we've pinpointed Kira's general location - since we've had the opportunity to pinpoint it. We have no assurance that Kira has not fled Japan, especially after Ryuzaki's death, he could be anywhere. This will give us the opportunity to take 'L's first step once again. To generate that lead we so desperately need. We'll broadcast this murderer in regions around Japan first, then the world, doing our best to censor internet posts with hackers, decoy stories, and via official means along the way. All the while pretending - in each region - that the broadcast is worldwide. Once our murderer is killed we have our best guess for where Kira is hiding. While it is by no means foolproof, it may just be the push we need to get back in the game!"

Matsuda throws out his arm, pointing at Light like he's hyped for an Olympic tournament "YES! I KNEW you were as good as Ryuzaki! I SAID SO!"

Light's smile is far more sinister on the inside, 'Idiots' he thinks 'They won't find anything. I'll kill him on a random broadcast and they'll be left chasing ghosts. The only result that will come of this is what I have chosen, and the world shall see clearly the fate that befalls those who defy their God. Kira. Me.