Author's note: I just wanted to clarify that the OC doesn't have anything romantic going on with Matsuda. They don't have a crush on each other. They are just good friends. They are together a lot at work because they are close in age and they get along really well.
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Chapter 1:
"Hey Mizuki! Over here!" Matsuda shouted waving his hands above his head in an attempt to get my attention. I shot him a wave back and quickly made my way over to him.
"Hey Matsuda. Where's the chief at?" I asked. I was normally the last person to show up so it was unusual for us to be waiting for him.
"He was here earlier but he disappeared somewhere to take an important phone call. Do you think we should just save him a seat?" Matsuda asked confused. I fished my phone out of my pocket and flashed the display screen on to check the time.
"Yea, let's head in awhile. The Chiefs probably been to a million of these conferences. I'm sure he'll find us easy enough" I said shoving the phone back in my pocket. I grabbed a headset from one of the baskets near the entrance and we made our way through the door.
I was a little relieved when I saw the layout of the conference room. This was my second time attending one of these conferences. It was set up similar to the last time I was here and it made it a lot easier to navigate through the room. The chairs were lined in a pattern of rows. Each chair had a desk attached with blank sheets of paper, a water bottle, and a glass. At this point almost all of the seats were already claimed.
Matsuda and I silently walked down the isles until we were able to find our designated section. I sat down in one of the chairs and pulled out a pen. Matsuda sat down in the chair next to mine and saved an open seat for Mr. Yagami on his right. The conference was going to be starting soon so I tried to get myself situated.
I awkwardly fumbled around with the headset in my hands, trying to adjust them to a suitable size. I don't know if it was because I was a girl or if I just had an abnormally small head but my headset always seemed to be adjusted twenty sizes too big. After my third attempt to adjust the headset to my head size, I was finally able to get them positioned comfortably. Just in time for them to start the beginning of the meeting.
The random chatter in the room halted instantly and everyone quickly turned their attention to an older man in the front row. I recognized this man from the last conference I attended. I think he might have been the chief of the FBI department. I was pretty bad at remember names though so there was no way I was going remember his. I decided that I would just call him Mr. FBI in case anyone back at the police department asked me about any details.
"There have been 52 deaths that we are aware of and that's just in the past week. Every single one of them involved a heart attack. They were all criminals that were either being held in prison or wanted from police for outstanding crimes. I think it's safe to say there are other criminals who's deaths are unaccounted for. In which case the death count could be well over 100" Mr. FBI's voice announced into our headsets.
There was a short pause in information. I noticed the chief was now slipping into his seat beside Matsuda and I gave him a small wave to acknowledge his arrival.
A man in the front decided to voice his thoughts, "At any rate, these were criminals that were probably facing execution sooner or later perhaps we shouldn't-"
"Why should it matter whether it's a criminal or someone innocent? Last time I checked murder was still murder!" Mr. FBI interrupted, slamming his fists dramatically on his desk.
I smiled at Mr. FBI's response. I didn't know him personally. From the way he spoke you could tell he was passionate about doing what was right though. You could clearly hear the emotions that were laced within his words. He wasn't afraid to let others know when something was unjustified. I admired that about him.
But that was all the attention I was going to give him right now because this was the point where I stopped listening and started thinking. It wasn't worth listening to them bickering back and forth and it's not like I was going to get a chance to talk in this meeting. It was always the important people who did all the talking. Everyone else was suppose to shut up and listen.
I put my pen to my lips. I was sorting through all of the information in my head about the mysterious deaths. I didn't have a lot of information but the information I did have was significant to my area of expertise. I was a criminal psychologist for the Japan police force. If this turned out to be a homocide, the fact that this person or organization was targeting criminals could be a huge lead. This information alone could be one of the key factors in determining the criminal's profile.
"Uh, chief? What's this L they're talking about?" Matsuda asked.
At the mention of L's name my head snapped up and I locked my gaze onto my two co-workers.
"I can't believe you've never heard of L! He's literally the greatest detective in the world!" I exclaimed butting into their conversation.
"The greatest detective in the entire world? Really?" Matsuda asked, turning his attention to me.
"Yea and guess what?" I said leaning forward with a sly smirk, "I also heard a juicy rumor that he's incredibly handsome. With perfect skin, pearly white teeth, and striking blue eyes" I said with a goofy grin stretching across onto my face. I couldn't help it, it's hard to act serious when someone like Matsuda works along side you. But I wasn't lying about the rumor I heard. There has been a lot of talk lately, mainly from the female population, about what the great detective L must really look like.
"Oh, Uhh...really?" Matsuda asked awkwardly scratching the back of his head. Chief Yagami cleared his throat and gave Matsuda a look.
"Ignore Miss Mizuki, she always has an overactive imagination when it comes to L" He said with a sigh, "The truth is we still don't know what L looks like. In fact we don't even know L's real name or whereabouts. However he's managed to solve every case he's taken on and he's tackled some of the greatest mysteries this world has ever known. He hides in the shadows but he's the best of the best. A last resort. Our trump card" He explained.
"But I've heard this L is extremely arrogant and from what I understand he'll only take on cases that he's personally interested in!" A man spoke out through our headset.
"That's right! Besides, we don't even know how to contact him" another guy joined in.
"L is already on the move" a mysterious voice echoed throughout the room. Everyone in the room instantly became silent. We quickly turned our attention to sound of the voice. A man stepped out from the shadows that were lingering in the far right corner of the room. His shoes clattering against the tiles of the floor with each step. I inched closer to the edge of my seat and leaned forward against my desk.
"Gentlemen, L has already begun his investigation into these incidents" The man spoke. That's when I heard someone in the room loudly gasp out the name "Watari" in a startled voice.
I wasn't sure how someone managed to distinguish this particular man as being Watari. The man was wearing a bulky dark trench coat. His matching hat had large edges and it was worn in a way that perfectly concealed his face away from our probing eyes. The outfit completely masking away any clues of his physical appearance
"Huh, who's that?" Matsuda asked.
"That mans the only known person who can contact L. Nobody knows his true identity either" Chief Yagami explained.
"Please be silent, L would now like to address the delegates" Watari announced. He placed a laptop down in front of us and opened the screen. The image on the laptop synced with the large screen behind him. Both screens displaying a white screen with an elaborate symbol of the letter L.
"Greeting to all of you at the ICPO. I am L" His contorted voice flowed through the speakers, "The difficulty in this case lies in its unpresidented scope. We are witnessing an atrocious act of mass murder. One that is unforgivable and cannot be solved without the full cooperation of the ICPO. That is all of the police operations that you represent all throughout the world. You need to make the decision to fully support the investigation at this meeting. Also I require additional cooperation from Japan's National Police Agency" L explained.
"Hey, wait a second! Why did you exclusively mention Japan?" I shouted jumping up from my seat.
"Yes, why Japan in particular?" Yagami called out. His mature tone of voice came out sounding calm and professional. Knowing the Chief there was no doubt in my mind that he was intending to make up for my more juvenile response.
"Whether the guilty party is an individual or a group, there's a strong possibility that they're Japanese. And even if they're not we can be sure their hiding in Japan" L answered.
I stole a glance to my right. Matsuda and the Chief were both standing up next to me.
"What is all this based on?" Chief asked.
"Why Japan you ask? I think I'll be able to provide you with proof of that after I directly confront the company" L stated in a confident tone.
"A direct confrontation? Sweet!" I whispered with an excited grin.
"Mizuki!" Chief warned in a hushed voice.
"Ehem, sorry sir" I whispered shutting my mouth and sitting back into my chair.
"At any rate I would like to set up the investigation at headquarters in Japan" L said officially bringing the conversation to an end.
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"Hello L, my name is Z. I have a doctorate in criminal psychology and I have an uncanny talent for being able to read people like they are an open book." I said as a smirk splayed across my face, "Although I'm sure I don't have to tell you about that. I have built quit the reputation after all." I said confidently flipping a piece of my hair behind my shoulder.
'My dreams that are dreams that no one else can ever see. I sacrificed all the things that I didn't really need'
I let an aggregated sigh escape my lips and flipped open my phone.
"What do you want Matsuda, I was in the middle of something important" I whined as I turned away from my mirror.
"Hey Mizuki! Sorry but Chief wanted me to call you to make sure you are actually on time today" He said in his usual cheerful voice.
"Yea, yeah. I'm getting ready now" I said rolling my eyes, "And just so you know, I really don't appreciate you interrupting my practice introduction!" I said snapping my phone shut and shoving it in my pocket.
I glanced over at the digital clock and sighed. I hated to admit it but if it weren't for Matsuda calling I probably would have been cutting it close again. I also hated that he was able to suck away my nervous energy. His personality always seems to have this effect on me, it's probably one of the reasons why he was deemed my favorite co-worker.
I walked over to my desk and unplugged my laptop. I grabbed my bag and shoved the laptop and charger inside. After taking one more glance at myself in the mirror I hoisted the strap onto my shoulder and made my way outside.
I didn't own a car so today I was walking to work. I'm putting emphasis on the walking part. Normally I'm frantically running down the streets like a crazy person. I guess you can say I'm not the type of person that gets to places early. In fact, no matter how hard I try, I usually find myself getting to places exactly on the dot. That's probably why I know that if I continue to walk at this pace, I should arrive to work exactly three minutes early.
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I looked at my watch and grinned at the time. Just like I thought, I had three minutes before my shift started.
"Hey, you actually managed to get here early today. I should call you in the morning more often" Matsuda called out with a goofy grin.
"Yeah right, like you had anything to do with it" I said with a laugh.
I sat down at the empty desk next to him and started to set up my laptop. I browsed through a couple of different folders until I found the files I was searching for. I clicked them open and turned to look at Matsuda.
"I'm going over the criminal profile with the chief today. Do you want to check it out quick?" I asked him with a grin.
"Really? Yea, let me see it!" He exclaimed, scooting his chair next to mine.
Matsuda was considered the newbie here at the police force and I was assigned as his office buddy. He stuck by my side when the chief was busy with his higher management duties. I couldn't help him out on the field but we were the only ones who worked well together in the office. Apparently his personality was just a little too much for the older force members.
"What do you think?" I asked him.
"Impressive! I didn't realize it was possible to get all these details from the little information we had" he said in a surprised voice.
"Thanks. It isn't complete yet but once we find out more information I'll be able to eliminate some of the possibilities" I explained with a smile, "Human Psychology is really amazing. Just one small action can end up revealing a big piece of a person's personality".
"Are people really that easy to figure out?" He asked with a sheepish smile.
"Well, most people are easy to figure out. You can read them like an open book. Even predict how they will respond to certain situations" I said, "Theres always the exception though. The few people that psychology seems to be pointless against. The rare gems" I explained.
If people weren't so predictable then human psychology wouldn't exist. If psychology didn't work so well, I wouldn't have a job. I haven't met anyone yet that left me completely lost or confused.
So if I somehow found one of those rare gems, I knew that I would try my hardest to hold on to it. They were valuable. They had the ability to change the world. And If I couldn't hold onto it, I would find a way to protect it.