Kaho could hardly sit still at the International conference. She had goosebumps and her toes had gone numb. She could barely hold back a knowing smirk.
L continued his monologue with no reason to doubt whether or not he had everyone's full attention at the conference.
"The difficulty of this case lies within its unprecedented scope, and make no mistake, what we're witnessing is an atrocious act of mass murder, one that is unforgivable."
L's word was law; there would be no more debate on whether or not the deaths were coincidences. It now was fact, like the color of the sky. With just a few sentences, more progress had been made on the case than the entire hour before them. Kaho had to fix her lips when she realized her smirk was leaking. She couldn't help it; this was the first actual scene she had witnessed from the show. It was surreal, like watching a movie she'd already seen. Or a crazy case of déjà vu.
"This case cannot be solved without the full cooperation of the ICPO, that is, all of the police organizations you represent throughout the world. You need to make the decision to fully support the investigation at this meeting," L demanded. "Also, I require additional cooperation from Japan's National Police Agency."
Mr. Yagami rose to his feet in time with Matsuda. But Kaho had forgotten to act surprised that Japan was singled out. She followed suit and stood by her colleagues after a self-reminder to work on her acting skills. She would definitely need them to get past L's keen eye. It had been much too long since she had to interact with her grandfather, so she was out of practice.
"'Why Japan in particular?" Mr. Yagami asked. Kaho could tell he was trying not to sound too wary or uncooperative. L answered his question in stride.
"Whether the party is an individual or group, there's a strong possibility that they're Japanese. And even if they're not, I can be sure they're hiding in Japan."
Kaho glanced at her boss. Even Mr. Yagami could not keep a small thread of offense from his voice. Or maybe it was surprise? And yet, there was some honor in being directly addressed by the great L in a room full of very, very important men. Mr. Yagami asked, "What is all this based on?"
"Why Japan?" L reiterated. "I think I'll be able to provide you with proof of that after I directly confront the culprit."
Mr. Yagami tried to glean more information. "A direct confrontation?" He asked, leaning forward and frowning in confusion.
L dodged him. "At any rate, I would like to set up the investigation headquarters in Japan."
Mr. Yagami hummed in thought. "Yes, alright."
And just like that, with a few more agreements and cooperation rising amongst the men, and a concluding and brief farewell, L's image on the screen blinked off. The room was left in utter chaos, and little more was done afterwards. The conference was adjourned a mere half hour later.
"Let's get home and inform the others," Mr. Yagami suggested. Kaho, exhausted from the sudden lack of adrenaline in her veins, agreed in full. They were loaded on a private plane back to Japan within the day.
Kaho spent the ride practicing the facial expressions she thought she may need.
It was not long before a sleek and highly functional monitor was installed into the station workroom. It was placed at the head of the room and against the front wall, where it would have no blind spots, and was given its own table that formerly belonged to Mr. Yagami. He had graciously given it up without complaint.
"L will use this to regularly communicate with you," Watari explained as he expertly set up the technology. Kaho tried her hardest not to stare at him for an inappropriate amount of time. She didn't want to stand out in his memory. But she couldn't help but wonder what his enigmatic face looked like. She had an idea, of course, but it had been years, and his face hadn't been all too distinctive in her memory. All she could remember was an older, grey haired man with a mustache. He was one of the few people truly older than her, she realized.
Watari went to stand beside the monitor and plugged it into a pair of speakers. It was obvious that L had provided them; they were extremely high-tech.
The screen flickered on, displaying a familiar backdrop.
"Hello, everyone at the NPA,"crackled a digitally altered voice. "To the majority of you who I have not yet had the chance to meet, I am L."
There were many gasps, and then suddenly the station was silent. Kaho turned to the screen expectantly.
L didn't waste time on his introduction. "I look forward to working with you all, and I do appreciate your cooperation." Kaho tried to analyze his voice, but he spoke flawless Japanese; he used all the correct lingo, and not accent. Even his tones were accurate.
"However, I cannot discuss how we will handle this case at the moment. There is some business I have to attend to first."
Kaho noticed some of the officers glance at Mr. Yagami to gauge his reaction. Was he offended he was being ordered around and put on hold? Should they really give their full cooperation to some faceless computer voice? Someone who they didn't know, didn't respect?
Mr. Yagami inclined his head in a bow. "Of course. We also look forward to working with you."
The other officers followed his lead, Kaho included.
"Thank you. But the reason I am contacting you is to warn you. Later today, some highly unusual events will occur. I am requesting that you let it happen. Please, do not get involved."
Mr. Yagami nodded, promising the police would keep to their own business. The monitor turned black.
Watari bowed, and then promptly left the station. Apparently, his presence was needed elsewhere.
Matsuda fidgeted with his tie. "What do you think he meant by 'business'?" No one could answer him, or even theorize—they were all speechless. Kaho tapped her chin and wondered what the harm in telling him a little of the future would be. She decided against it, shrugged, and returned to her desk and her work.
It was just after four-thirty the same day when the monitor blinked on again. It didn't go unnoticed by Kaho that it was just after school ended for the day—she wondered how long ago L had begun to suspect a student, or when he would mention it to the rest of the world.
She nudged Aizawa to get his attention to the front of the room. This time on the screen, instead of a decorative letter L, was an attractive man at a desk. It was a news anchor. He appeared disheveled and confused. He read off a paper in front of him.
"I would like to apologize for interrupting your program. We are now bringing you a live, worldwide broadcast of Interpol's ICPO." The sound died in the room for the hundredth time, it felt.
"This must have been what L was talking about," Ide assumed. "It looks like this is airing live on television."
Kaho knew what would come next, and she couldn't help but marvel at the show. L had installed the monitor so they at the station could see the whole thing, and he warned them in advance so they wouldn't rush to the broadcasting station and demand it be shut down. After all, who could be sure this was truly L's doing?
Lind L. Tailor introduced himself as L.
"But he's never shown his face before," Matsuda pointed out. "Why would he choose to do it now?"
Mr. Yagami hummed. "It must mean L's serious about this case." Not even Mr. Yagami seemed to believe his own words. It was a weak assumption made to offer some semblance of control of the situation.
As Lind L. Tailor continued to condemn Kira's actions in a long-winded and eloquent speech, Kaho became convinced he was reading off a script directly written by L. The mannerisms, where he paused between words, what words he emphasized, they all reminded her of the digitally altered voice from before. She wondered if L had directed a few practice runs before sending this man to his death. She remembered him doing something similar with Misa Amane.
Lind L. Tailor shuddered and convulsed, clutching his chest at a sudden pain. People shouted, both on the TV and in the station. Hands went to move the body.
"Oh, no," Matsuda gasped, looking to Mr. Yagami for some sort of sign that what he was seeing was a joke. Mr. Yagami's face was an ashen grey, and even Aizawa looked pale. Kaho turned away where it would be difficult to read her face.
The screen suddenly changed again. The now familiar L stared back at her, and in a slightly out of character, almost too human way, gasped into his microphone.
"I-I had to test this just in case, but I never thought it would actually work."
Yeah right. With the amount of fanfare and all the assurances that the police would be watching, L must have had a pretty good hunch that his plan would work. Kaho monitored her colleagues' reactions through the corner of her eye. Her close friends were a mixture of shocked, excited, and relieved. Others were quite reasonably angry or offended. A receptionist woman cried, as she had never seen someone die before.
L's voice became more confident than she had ever heard it. "Now, Kira, try to kill me."
The rest was history.
L had confronted Kira, proved he existed, where he lived, and what he was capable of. He had discovered Kira's first kill, and had given the ICPO the proof they had wanted. And he had done so with pizazz. Now, if he hadn't before, L held the entire world's authorities in his hand.
Four days later, Mr. Yagami asked Kaho to make a profile on Kira. He thought that enough information had sprouted up by now, after some down time after L's big performance. She told him she had already made one and handed it to him after she fished it off of her desk.
Kaho didn't have time to see her boss's reaction when he read it, nor could she ask him about his thoughts when he returned it, because she was too preoccupied prepping for a meeting with L. While the Detective called in quite often on his monitor—almost every hour, for twenty-minute sessions—concerning favors and record sifting, he had scheduled a daily meeting at five with every officer at the station so they could share even the most insignificant news. It was important for everyone to be on the same page.
Before L's orders, the meetings had been on a weekly basis, mostly because they required quite a bit of work to prepare for. Spreading the workload over a week lessened the burden. But L had pushed the NPA to give him as much information as possible as often as possible. He was being thorough, and he didn't want to miss anything vital because a less intelligent man deemed something too insignificant to share.
Kaho wouldn't have been surprised if L had used those exact words.
However much a jerk or a slave driver he was, she saw why L was so pushy. He couldn't afford anything less than success. The entire world was looking to him to catch Kira.
Mr. Yagami began the meeting on tipline reports. Watari held a portable laptop in the back of the conference room. Since the offices were not private enough for all of their information to be announced at the same time, everyone shuffled into a room with lockable doors. Regular people walked through the station doors for all sorts of reasons.
Kaho almost whistled at the high number of people claiming to have seen Kira over the phone, and it was even harder not to laugh when it was announced that over twenty people had claimed to be Kira. Each case was taken seriously, and the results were simply that people were crazy.
"Alright, onto the victim reports," Mr. Yagami coughed. The man who had done the reporting sat in his chair while another rose to his feet.
"Upon further investigation, we have confirmed that information of the heart attack victims was publically available in Japan immediately prior to their deaths."
His face darkened, though his voice remained monotonous. "Also, concerning L's request that we investigate the time of death for each victim, we found that all of them occurred between the hours of four PM and two AM on weekdays."
Kaho perked up and leaned forward in her seat. L had already found his first clue, then. He had probably known since even before the confrontation, as she had figured before.
"That information is extremely relevant for us," L piped up. " It suggests that, given the times of death, our suspect could very well be a student." The many turned heads urged him to continue.
"Based on the fact that Kira is only killing criminals, I think it is safe to assume that he is driven by a very idealistic notion of justice."
One that would belong to a little boy, who grew up knowing his father was a hero who put the bad guys behind bars.
"We're dealing with an individual who has a very childish sense of right and wrong."
L had hit the nail on the head, but he very cautiously—almost too cautiously—added, "Of course, this is all still speculation, but I recommend you re-examine any assumptions you've made as to whether or not our suspect could be a student. We must consider every possibility. I believe that is the shortest route to finding and arresting Kira. Please, continue with your report."
Mr. Yagami, still shocked—how could this awful serial killer be around the same age as his own children?—nodded.
"Alright. Matsumoto, the profile, then?"
Kaho nodded and rose to her feet. "Assuming that Kira is only one person," she started, because that little fact had not yet been determined to be for sure.
She stuck to the easy stuff that was common ground between Light and Higuchi.
According to her, Kira was most likely relatively young (though she didn't specify a student) with a privileged upbringing, which would explain his sense of justice.
"Kira is easily offended and short-tempered." Her proof: he had jumped the gun when he killed Lind. L Tailor.
She took some big 'leaps' that she knew were right.
"He's competitive."
She also took a few she knew were wrong.
"He most likely has a very poor relationship with his father, or he had felt wronged by authorities at some point in his life. It's possible he or a loved one was the victim of a crime that went unpunished."
L actually interrupted her at that. "While the idea of revenge being Kira's motivation sounds plausible, I've already ruled out the possibility. Kira is spoiled and stubborn, and is used to getting his way. He thinks of himself as too god-like—too far above a typical person—to feel vengeful."
Kaho nodded and went on with her reading. If L hadn't shot the idea down, she figured, it would have grown into a popular theory. It was fortunate he had intervened.
She finished. Nothing too surprising had been said, but it was as full as she dared to make it. She couldn't scream Kira was Light Yagami, but she also couldn't sabotage the investigation. She needed to be reliable, helpful, but also realistic and factual. And not too good at her job. Not yet.
She sat down.
Mr. Yagami asked if anyone else had more to say.
Matsuda did, about how the crime rates were dropping significantly. He was not well received, and was left standing under heavy glares, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.
Oh, Matsuda.
But he wasn't wrong.
Kaho trudged through her door, her shoulders sore and her head aching. She was almost as exhausted as she was during the Yamazaki case.
She would not get to rest. Ryohei was waiting for her.
He wanted to talk to her, she knew, so she sat beside him on the couch and looked at him expectantly. His lip twitched.
"Kaho," his breath trembled. "Has anything happened today?"
She shook her head no, because she was pretty sure he wasn't asking about L's theory on Kira's age. It was, at that point, highly preemptive information that the public had no access to.
Ryohei looked miserable, she realized. Something must have happened.
He was worried sick about her, ever since he had seen Lind L. Tailor's demise. It meant that Kira would kill more than just criminals, if you got in his way. No investigator in Japan was safe.
In that way, L's big show had backfired. Less people would be willing to get involved. Or maybe, he actually wanted that. Maybe he wanted to trim the fat.
Kaho slipped her hand over Ryohei's on the table.
At the same time, she noticed a brown box strewn on the floor at their feet. It emitted an ominous aura. Ryohei saw her notice it, so he bent over to lift the lid and reveal its contents. He paused half-way through the task, shot her a warning look, and ripped it off like a bandage.
Nestled inside was a dead rat with a bloody hole where its heart used to be. Flies circled its torso like vultures, and a putrid scent hit Kaho's nose. She flinched away into her fiancé's side.
A phrase was written in blood underneath the rat, on the bottom of the box.
"'Turn in your badge'?" Kaho snorted, trying not to shake. Whoever did this would not get the pleasure of scaring her, if they wanted to watch her reaction.
She took photos of the gift and brought it into the station the next day, after making a promise to Ryohei to force Mr. Yagami to get her a day off so the two of them could spend some time together.
He allowed her, though she was sure headquarters would have his head. She didn't like the look in her boss's eye—she could tell he thought she was scared. Maybe she was. She asked Mr. Yagami to keep the threat classified, both for personal reasons and to save face and morale at the station. People were scared enough about Kira, they didn't need to be scared about random cult followers, too. She was sure that, if they planned to attack the other officers too, they'd warn them in a similar fashion as they had warned her. Mr. Yagami would have to tell L about it, though. That was a given. She hoped it wouldn't change the case or distract him at all.
Mr. Yagami offered a safe house for her and Ryohei to stay in for a while. She decided to turn him down. If there was anything she hated about the situation, it was how weak she felt or how little control she had. Leaving the apartment, even briefly, would make her ashamed of herself.
Whatever she felt about it, something had changed. Someone picked her out as a part of the Kira investigation. And they knew where she lived; which was information that was supposed to be completely secret. So she promised she would act if another incident occurred.
Before the gift, Kaho admitted, she had felt untouchable. Because of her knowledge. She thought she was out of the way and untargeted. She was above everyone else because she knew so much. Knew the truth. The future.
But now, instead of being invisible, it felt like there was a giant bullseye on her back.
Kaho didn't feel safe anymore, not really. And if she wasn't safe, then neither was her fiancé.
Mr. Yagami asked her if it was alright if someone else investigated the case of her threat.
"Any evidence found may be unusable if it was discovered by you, since you were the victim."
Kaho agreed fully. She would rather work on the Kira case, anyway. After a rather relaxing day off, she was itching to make up for her lost time. The break had been more for Ryohei.
She helped Ide sift through the victim's information to check what had been released to the public. L had wanted to know if pictures had been included. She was not surprised in the least to discover that they all had pictures, and after the first batch of them, Ide wasn't surprised either. Still, they made a point of checking every known Kira victim. It wouldn't do to assume. One case without them would turn their data into coincidence.
Kaho and Ide shared little banter and spent the majority of their task in silence, but it was refreshing to sit with a close friend. It seemed like she never worked with those that she had become attached to anymore, though she had a feeling that it wouldn't feel that way for very long. Well, more than a feeling. Although, if she remembered right, Ide never joined the task force, did he? No, she was pretty sure she watched him meet L, so he must have.
She had forgotten to mention him in her notes when she was a child.
When she and Ide had wrapped things up and collected their data, they stretched and nodded at one another. Kaho personally delivered their findings to Watari, who thanked her quite professionally. It still fascinated her how fluently and natively he spoke Japanese, and she could barely tell he was English, and that was most likely only because she knew he was. She wondered what ethnicity L was, and if she could figure it out if she got a good look at his face this time around. He was probably a mixture of several races, she guessed. He had even looked a little Japanese to her, though that was probably the art. And it had been many years since she had seen Anime L.
That night's meeting wasn't an exciting one. They went over the information Kaho had spent the entire day staring at, and pretty much everyone expected the results.
Kira needed a name and a face to kill.
After the meeting, Kaho returned to her desk to gather her things so she could go home to Ryohei. She had been, quite wondrously, spending all of her free time with him. Which was understandable, since they were getting married. They pretty much had to postpone any wedding planning, and least with what concerned Kaho, but they made it a point to spend their nights together.
Ukita and Mr. Yagami approached her before she walked out the station's doors, a serious look on both of their faces. Ukita handed her a photograph.
She knew what this was about.
"I managed to get ahold of security footage from the hotel across the street," Ukita said. "They thankfully had a camera aimed toward your apartment door." That was good to know.
Kaho looked at the photograph in her hand.
"Do you recognize this woman? She's the one who left the box. You can see it in her arms."
Kaho nodded, bile in her throat. She could see a small figure at her apartment door. Her face, her eyes, her build—all of it—was quite familiar, even if it was in black and white.
She sighed, and the obvious pain in the action made her wince. She choked down a whimper; she didn't want anyone to see her like that. Not Mr. Yagami, or Ukita. She hated being scared, or sad. It reminded her of her days living with her grandfather.
"Yes, I recognize her. She's my Maid of Honor."
A/N: Thank you for reading, and for all the wonderful feedback!