I know what it looks like, but for the record, I'm not Kira

by Trygvasson

In which Light Yagami fits the profile perfectly, but he isn't Kira. No really, he isn't. And so he and L must work together to identify the real killer. The most important question being, if Light isn't Kira, then why does all the evidence still seem to point to him? Very long Oneshot. Rated M for language and because it's Death Note.

"Once there was a tree, and she roved a..."

"Loved, Light-kun. Remember English has both /l/ and /r/ and they are different," Sachiko corrected her little boy lovingly. She always spoke in English when they were studying the difficult but important language together. Just as she always spoke Mandarin when they were studying Mandarin, or Amami when they were studying that rare dialect, or Kyukyu, Kikai, or Miyako. She knew Light would learn better if he immersed himself in each language. One day, she wanted to study Ainu with him, the dying language spoken only in Hokaido, so that every language of Japan would live in her brilliant Light. But she had to learn more about it herself first. Light was only five. He was her bright and shining star, but he could not be expected to learn perfect diction of another language without a more knowledgeable speaker helping him. Not yet, anyway.

Light nodded, accepting the criticism without complaint. "Once there was a tree, and she loved a little boy." Sachiko smiled proudly as he focused on the subtle differences between the two consonants. "And ebryday-"

"Everyday."

"Everyday the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest. He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples."

"Very good, Light-kun..."

---

"Mama's working late because the clinic where she works was hit by ransomware and they have to do everything on paper until it's fixed. She says the company may end up paying a million yen to unlock the system again. And in the meantime, none of their patients can get service."

Light's eyes widened. He wiped sticky mango residue off his fingers and reached for his mother's laptop. "That's awful. How could those criminals endanger sick people like that? Mom, can I use your computer? Which clinic is it, Yamamoto? Maybe we can hack back in from here..."

"Go ahead sweetie," Sachiko said over her shoulder, humming happily as she and Sayu laid out the ingredients and equipment to make rolled sushi for dinner.

Light's best friend goggled at him. "You want to try hacking the hackers?"

"Why not? It's better than the company having to pay out so much money to evil people when they should be using it to help the poor."

"Yeah but... we're ten. We're not even allowed to stay at home by ourselves yet."

Light shrugged and opened the laptop. "Basic hacking is easy. I'll show you."

"Okay... why do you know how to do this? Isn't it illegal?"

"It's illegal to hack someone else's system for nefarious purposes, sure, but that's not what we're doing. There's plenty of hackers who work for security and law enforcement, you know. You have to know how to attack a system in order to best defend it. That's why Mom showed me, so I could create my own security system."

"You can get a real job hacking?" Yamamoto asked, fascinated.

"Sure can. I met one who works with Dad."

"I'm doing that when I grow up," Yamamoto said with the conviction only a preteen could manage.

"Good. I'll help you, and then you can work with me when I'm a detective like Dad!"

"Deal."

---

"Dad, that unsolved insurance fraud case you gave me to review... there's more to it than just fraud."

Soichiro looked up at his fifteen-year-old son in surprise to see Light's usually bright eyes were swimming with unshed tears. He hadn't seen Light cry in over ten years. He got up from the couch immediately and hugged him. "What do you mean? What's wrong?"

Light took a deep breath. "I think... the person responsible is also a murderer."

Soichiro shuddered involuntarily. He had been giving his child cold cases to work on for years. Low-level, white-collar crimes. A harmless hobby to encourage his interest, and something for them to bond over, when Light was so far beyond his father in so many ways. But now, here was a child opening a murder investigation. He hugged Light closer. "It will be alright, Light. Can you show me what you found?"

---

Light Yagami was an unusual teenager for several reasons. He was astoundingly intelligent, in fact ranked first in the national examinations every year since he started taking them. He was polite and genteel to everyone, as his parents had taught him to be. He was strikingly fine-featured, to the delight of his female (and some of the male) classmates. He could have been a teen idol on looks alone if he were so inclined, which he was not.

One would have expected such a privileged youth to take advantage of his own popularity, perhaps by flouting rules or dating multiple girlfriends or manipulating his school's social strata for his own ends, but Light Yagami did none of those things. Rather, he was uncommonly well-adjusted to his precociously elevated status. He got along well with and respected his parents. While many of his classmates admired him or were jealous of him, no one thought to accuse him of being arrogant. He recognized his own gifts, that was all. He also recognized that the chief reason for his popularity at school was his looks, which is why the most popular boy in school could count the people he considered genuine friends on one hand. Daiki Yamamoto, Shiori Akino, Asuka Hisashi, and Haruto Nakasone had gone to the same schools as him since he was five. They befriended him before the age that appearance mattered and before the age that intelligence became particularly coveted and/or intimidating. Their friendship did not stray as the intellectual gulf between them widened, unlike other former friends who gradually stopped inviting him to join their after-school activities over the years, always on the grounds that they "knew he was busy studying." It was true. He was. Yamamoto and the others still included him because they cared about him and thought they knew the truth: Light was bored.

They weren't wrong. His was a hungry mind. Unfed, it might eat itself. His mother had told him that, long ago. It was a lesson he had first accepted with childlike credulity, and only later understood the wisdom of. And so he spent most of his time feeding it. He spent all day at school, teasing nuance from the standardized classes, and he spent all evening studying a wide variety of subjects, from global literature, to languages, to physics, to music theory and composition, to forensic science, helping his father work through cold cases. It was his family - father Soichiro, mother Sachiko, and sister Sayu - that brought fullness and contentment to his life. His mother was the one that tended the fire of his intellect all through his childhood, encouraging his every interest and hobby, always pushing him further. She took him and Sayu to museums and historical sites, expertly splitting her attentions between her two very different children. She was a wonderfully intelligent woman herself with a double degree in computer science and classical cello, although she didn't much use either after marriage. She taught Light how to read and write when he was barely three. She taught him his first computer coding skills when he was six. She made hacking into a game for him when he was eight by hiding secret messages for him behind ever more elaborate security measures on her own computer. When Light became fascinated by Soichiro's work as a police detective and wanted to learn about crime, she allowed him to practice basic self defense and also pick-pocketing with her, all the while reminding him he must never put his skills to use outside the strictures of the law. Criminology was the first of Light's many hobbies Soichiro was also interested in and actively encouraged. He started giving Light cold case files to work through occasionally when he was eleven. They were all nonviolent crimes, so as not to inflame the imaginations of a child. When Light was fifteen, he was the one to make the connection between an unsolved insurance fraud case and a "suicide" that happened around the same time, and so solved his first murder case.

In short, Light was generally content, if occasionally bored due to an inability to challenge himself except through volume of work. Fortunate for him, his senior year in high school was marked by perhaps the most unusual criminal case the world had ever seen: a serial killer targeting other criminals all over the world, seemingly able to kill just with a face and name.

As much as Kira's flouting of the rule of law repulsed Light's ingrained sense of justice, he was fascinated as well. Light spent hours cataloguing the deaths and studying the statistics. Who did Kira choose? When? Where? Why? Most interestingly, how did he kill? His room and computer became filled with maps and spreadsheets and notes.

One might think the killings to be the work of some vast, high-tech secret organization with global assets, but it became very clear early on, at least to Light, that could not be the case: the timing was wrong. Although Kira could somehow arrange for criminals to suffer spontaneous cardiac arrest at all hours of the day, most of the deaths happened between the hours of 16:00 and midnight Japanese time. This would initially suggest 08:00-16:00 office hours somewhere in the Americas, but the weekend schedule was much fuller and landed the killer squarely in Japan. That also tracked with the preponderance of Japanese or other East Asian criminal victims, particularly amongst the live targets, such as the man Light suspected was the first victim. The man in question was an unsophisticated murderer, Kurou Otoharada, who first made headlines when he opened fire with a gun in a shopping mall. A week later he held a daycare hostage after running from police. It was captured on live TV news coverage. He dropped dead without a shot fired during the broadcast. Light could find no evidence of any global news agency picking up the story. No, Kira was based in Japan, and Kira had a day job! That was the reason for the restricted hours. It was honestly a rather funny concept when Light first realized it. An unstoppable killer who still had to pay the bills. From there, it was a simple inference that however Kira was killing his or her victims, it probably wasn't using an elite network of operatives with top-of-the-line equipment.

So, Kira was not a company.

Kira was a person.

A person with a vendetta and the ability to kill anyone, anywhere, so long as a publicly available news organization saw fit to display the intended victim's name and face at some point. Light even hacked into the police database to check if there had been any suspicious deaths amongst inmates whose faces or legal names had never been released to the public. There weren't, at least not for the first two months. A few started cropping up later, mostly ones who were due to be released soon or ones with truly awful sins to their names. The first person killed from the database had been sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping, beating, and ultimately killing five children over the course of several months ten years ago, and his name when the police finally found him was withheld from the public to prevent retribution against his politically influential family members. It seemed more likely Kira figured how to hack the same database Light had accessed than the killer would choose to skip over such a ripe target just because the public had only ever known an alias.

It made no sense for an individual to be Kira, of course, except pure deductive sense using the evidence provided. Which meant Light was using the wrong starting assumptions, one way or another. Perhaps the timing and victim selection was contrived, an effort by Kira to throw Interpol off the scent. The problem with that was, even if Light discarded his initial conclusion and returned to the Kira Organization hypothesis, based anywhere in the world but focusing on Japan for purposes of distraction... he could still come up with no physical way for the mode of death to work. The criminals killed in the act he felt were the most helpful for this question. Circumventing "security" in a prison should be much easier for Kira than accurately predicting criminal activity and activating the kill strategy during the crime. There weren't very many of these, of course, and all except the most recent were damningly in Japan, but after reviewing a dozen cases... Kira's weapon seemed to be everywhere. It couldn't be a physical device, for nothing was ever seen or found on the bodies. It couldn't be a poison, for how could it be delivered to the target, and only the target, both in the middle of a crowd of people or in the middle of nowhere with such rapid effect? The shortest time Light had clocked from onset of live broadcast to time of death was only five minutes. It didn't even seem like it could be a futuristic "ray gun" calibrated to upset the heart's electrical activity or something like that, for exactly the same reason. Either the "gun" should have been seen by now, or there should have been collateral damage as the target moved through a sea of innocent bystanders. It couldn't be part of the built environment either, not with deaths happening all over the world and even on airplanes and boats.

Light concluded his incorrect assumption was that the killing weapon followed the laws of the natural world. He therefore dove into the occult with gusto, a subject he had not bothered with since he was eight. He wasn't sure he would find anything helpful, but my, was it entertaining.

Light was pleased when the famous detective L confronted Kira on live TV and elegantly proved all of Light's firm conclusions to date to be correct. The maximum time necessary for Kira to kill also edged down to two minutes and forty-five seconds. Light was even happier when he realized his father was working with L on the case. Even if Soichiro kept the case confidential, Light would most likely be able to follow along with the developments by hacking the police server as needed. He would have had much more difficulty doing that if L had decided to work the case from another part of the country.

The fight between L and Kira quickly escalated. Light was engrossed. According to the police reports, L proposed Kira could be a student, based on the timing anomaly Light had also identified and a hypothesis that Kira's apparent determination to right all wrongs through lethal means indicated a juvenile sense of justice. Light agreed in part: the timing would fit for a student, but it would also fit for a teacher, or any other kind of business that shared roughly the same hours. Kira's sense of justice may lack nuance, but judging from the support the serial killer was receiving online from all ages, that was not necessarily a trait of the young. Light imagined cynically the killing power was exactly that: a supernatural ability to kill that had no other benefit. The arguably moral uses of such power were vanishingly few, essentially nonexistent given the risk of human error, but it would also be too tempting for most people to decide not to use. Light himself may have fallen into the same trap as Kira if he had come across a supernatural weapon of death. Perhaps the young were more likely to lack personal enemies and be convinced of their own incorruptibility, but the aged were still at risk. The only thing clear from the victim data was that Kira was not a high-ranking politician (the first international victims should have been selected on a biased geopolitical basis), was not involved in organized criminal activity, and was sophisticated enough to hide any personally motivated kills amongst the masses. Light thought it was entirely possible Kira killed criminals as a secondary goal, distracting from the kills made for personal gain. Someone would have to review every sudden cardiac death in the country to be sure that criminals were the only ones dying suspiciously. He assumed L had also considered that and the police report had simplified L's reasoning.

Regardless, Kira obviously read the same report and responded with alacrity, with two days of precisely timed deaths every hour, on the hour. L pointed out the obvious in the next report, and Kira started killing more elaborately, some of the victims demonstrating bizarre and macabre behavior before their deaths.

There was even a hidden message in some of the notes the victims left behind: A killer cleanses/ A detective picks patterns/ Not understanding

And then came the shocking report that Kira had somehow managed within the space of a minute to kill all twelve FBI agents who had been sent to Japan in secret to investigate the agents on the Kira taskforce, and their families. It was incredible, and it was frightening, because it was the first time Kira had definitely killed anyone without some kind of crime to their name. It implied Kira was much closer to the taskforce than Light had previously realized, not just a hacker like him, but someone the FBI agents came into contact with. It meant Light's own general belief in the integrity of the police, and by extension police families like his own, was woefully misguided (not that he had ever excluded the possibility of Kira having direct connections to the police). It meant Light's father and the rest of the taskforce were no longer protected by Kira's principled façade.

He didn't blame the many officers for freaking out and quitting the taskforce.

Light too was not safe, if Kira were to discover how readily he had concluded much the same as L and the taskforce even without full police resources. He decided not to hack the police files any more, just in case Kira was watching for and inclined to punish that kind of behavior. He could continue his hobby, but only with publicly available information. He was already using a VPN during his reviews of global news outlets and death statistics. He should portray himself as only vaguely interested and generally neutral about Kira in public. Except to Yamamoto and the others who already knew his enthusiasm for the case. It would be suspicious to change his behavior there. He just shouldn't voice new conclusions before the media did.

The one point in his favor so far as anonymity went was that although Light had met a number of his father's coworkers over the years, he knew virtually none of their families, because Soichiro didn't usually socialize with them outside of work. The chances he and Kira knew of each other were fairly high, but the chance they knew each other well quite low. If Light was careful, Kira would have no reason to pay attention to him, even though most of the police knew the "Chief's son likes to solve cases." He hacked the police server one last time in order to start a new spreadsheet of officers and their families, drawing from the human resources files, and he erased all traces of his digital presence when he was done.

He was pensive as he took a change of clothes to the station for his father at his mother's request while she went shopping with Sayu. He had rarely been so eager to see his father, who he knew and accepted would often become unavailable whilst working on an important case. He dearly wanted to express some of his fears to his father, even though he was sure L had already drawn the same conclusions as he had and was taking precautions. He was a little surprised when his father didn't answer his cell phone but figured he was probably just busy.

There was a woman at the reception desk when he arrived. "Please, I need to speak directly with someone from the special investigation taskforce. It's urgent."

Light automatically slowed down, listening.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't help you. As I've told you already, there's no one at taskforce headquarters right now," the receptionist answered. Light grew slightly concerned. Why would Soichiro leave headquarters with his cell phone turned off?

The woman sighed. "Can't you contact them somehow? I have information relating to the Kira investigation."

"Look, I'll call headquarters one more time for you. One moment."

Light approached the desk, pasting his usual, pleasant smile on his face. "Hi, I'm Detective Yagami's son. I brought my father a change of clothes, but it doesn't look like he's in. Can I leave them here?" he asked the other receptionist.

"Sure. Hey, I haven't seen you in a while, Light." Light smiled at him and reached for the sign in form. He remembered meeting the receptionist before, when he was helping his father with the insurance fraud-murder investigation a little over a year prior. Chatty man. "So Light," the receptionist continued with a lazy grin, "Are you gonna be helping us with the Kira investigation, too?"

Light snorted. He remembered the man's sense of humor. "Sure, Nakamura-san! If all goes well, maybe I'll find Kira before L does."

The woman looked at him sharply. "Find him before L does?" It was clear from her tone she took the banter completely seriously.

The other receptionist hung up the phone. "As I thought, there's no one at headquarters. You're going to have to trust me on this, ma'am. Just fill out the form. I'll be sure to give them your message as soon as I see them. I promise."

"That's not good enough. I have to tell them in person!"

Light regarded her a moment, uncertainly. He couldn't decide if her behavior was suspicious or not. On the one hand, anyone in their right mind with information on the Kira case should want to get it to L. And if they were smart, they would insist on doing it in person rather than leaving a message, because even without insider information, it was pretty obvious at this point (in Light's opinion) that Kira had connections to the police. On the other hand, the woman could be Kira or an agent thereof, bluffing to get access to L. And the biggest problem, she now had Light's name and face, and because of the receptionists' remarks, reason to suspect he would like to help catch Kira. He weighed the options and decided the potential ploy was so obvious, the likelihood of her being Kira was actually fairly low. Meanwhile the risk to his father's investigation of not learning more about her, whether she was Kira or not, was fairly high. If she did genuinely have sensitive information, Kira might already know that and be after her.

"Excuse me?" he said meekly. Everyone looked at him. "My father is actually in charge of the Kira investigation. If you'd like, I could pass your message onto him. His cellphone is off at the moment, but I should be able to contact him soon. A number of FBI agents were just killed, and a lot of detectives have quit the case because they're afraid of Kira, so he's pretty busy right now."

"Uh, Light, it's probably better if you don't discuss this with..."

Light shrugged. It was far riskier to the Kira investigation to say someone's real name out loud than to discuss deaths that had already happened. "I understand your concern, but it will be common knowledge soon enough. Just with a one-sentence press statement about American agents dying with no other information given, the online forums have probably already figured it out, and the official media outlets will follow. Besides, I feel like I can trust her. You can almost see it in her eyes. She's a wise and careful person." That last comment was to butter her up, in case she was Kira. He turned to the woman. "You heard about what happened, and you must have figured out that the police had a leak of some kind. And that's why you wanted to tell them your information in person. You thought this through. Well, am I right?"

The woman's lips parted in surprise. The receptionists laughed. "And that's why you should be helping the taskforce, Light-kun."

Light shook his head mischievously. "Maybe when I'm out of school. What do you say, ma'am?"

"You are a clever young man. I thank you for the offer."

Light nodded. "I'll try calling him again now and leave a message if he doesn't answer." As expected, Soichiro didn't answer. With no reason to wait around the station, he and the woman walked back out into the street and turned aside to the edge of a nearby park to talk. He stopped where they were still in plain view of the station and all its security cameras but not in the way of foot traffic. "I'm sure my father will call me once he checks his messages. When he does, I'll give you the phone and let you talk to him."

"You're sure that's alright?"

"Oh yeah. You understand why I can't just give you my father's cell phone number, but I have no problem letting you use my phone to talk to him. You'll have to trust my father and I, which I hope won't be too difficult for you." He laughed lightly.

The woman bowed. "Thank you so much."

They stood silently a moment before Light said, "I've gotta say, you must be pretty brave to be getting involved in the Kira case like this."

"Oh, not really. I just came across something I thought might be helpful. What about you? Were those two joking about you assisting the police?"

"I've helped my dad with some cold cases before," Light admitted cautiously, "but he doesn't have me working on Kira or any other case right now. University exams, you know." He waved a hand vaguely.

"Yet you knew there was a leak? Did your father tell you?"

"No, but it's not hard to figure out if you pay attention, not when half those agents died in public places."

"Well, then you demonstrate some excellent deductive reasoning skills, apart from 'seeing my trustworthiness in my eyes,'" she said with a small smile.

"I wasn't flirting," Light said quickly. "That was to reassure the others. Er, and you, to be honest." Light had learned long ago that most people preferred appeals to emotion rather than to logic.

She laughed, and it was bright and genuine. "I had a hunch it might be something like that. So, how much do you trust me?"

"Well... enough to let you use my phone when my dad calls back, not enough to give you his or my number or let you follow me home," he said with a wry grin.

"Enough to give me your name, though," she observed cannily.

"Unavoidable, since the receptionist knows me."

"You could have waited until after I left."

"I could have. But you have not done anything to make me think you are Kira. And I have not done anything that would motivate Kira to kill me."

"Except potentially assist with L's investigation."

"Except that," he agreed. "Is that... related to what you want to tell L?"

She was instantly on guard. "What do you mean?"

Her caution put him back on guard as well, but he couldn't back down very well without making himself look very suspicious, whether she was Kira or not. Damn his own curiosity. "Well, if there's a leak in the taskforce as we already established, and now officers have died, but only the FBI officers who were 'assisting the investigation'... there must be a reason Kira killed them, but not the taskforce."

"They must have been getting close," she finished for him, nodding. "I agree. That was the start of my suspicions." She smiled tightly. "I'm afraid I won't say more, not here. Only to L."

Because she was Kira, or because she really did know something that couldn't just be deduced from the known evidence? A pity Light had resolved not to keep hacking the records, as he would dearly like to know what she had to say. "I understand." He looked around. "How long do you want to wait here? I have no idea when my dad is likely to call back."

"Do you trust me enough to give your father my contact information? I'd be more comfortable leaving a message with the reception desk if I knew I had a backup messenger as well."

Light grinned. "If you trust me enough to share it with me, sure. There's no reason to think Kira kills via phone call. I promise I won't start texting you weird messages or anything."

She laughed again and reached into her purse for a pen and paper. She wrote a few Kanji characters and a number and handed it to him. "Shoko Maki is the alias I'm using. Give your father this and tell him L will understand the significance."

"I will."

She looked back towards the station and frowned slightly. "I think... I'll check back in now, and wait a little longer if there's still no one at the Headquarters. That receptionist seems rather loose with his tongue."

"You are a wise and careful person," Light told her wryly. He bowed slightly. "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Shoko Maki."

Light had an unfortunate walk home. A thief fleeing from a policeman shoved him aside, and he landed in a large fountain, its basin over a foot deep. He was utterly soaked. His phone would not turn back on, and when he scrambled for Shoko Maki's paper, the ink had badly run. At least he had memorized the number. If worse came to worst, the police would be able to identify her using the security footage.

His mother tutted and set his phone in a bag of rice to dry out when he got home, then shooed him upstairs. Light took a warm shower and settled in to study, even though his fingers itched to look into the FBI deaths some more. Soichiro did not come home that night, even though it was the weekend. Light's phone was still dead in the morning. It was not until afternoon that his mother accompanied him to get a replacement cell phone. He called his father as soon as they returned home. This time, Soichiro answered.

"Light?"

"Hello, Dad, did you get my message yesterday?"

"I did, but then I could not get through to you."

"I got pushed into a fountain on the way back home and drowned my phone. Mom just got me a new one. There was a woman at the station yesterday who said she had urgent information for L."

"Yes, we were notified by the reception desk sometime after you had called and were able to identify her from the security footage."

"Oh, good. So you got in touch, then?"

"Unfortunately no."

"She gave me her phone number, and an alias she said L would understand, Shoko Maki. The ink ran on the paper she wrote it on, but I can tell you the number..."

"This isn't the same one we found in the database," his father said after a moment of searching.

Light shrugged. "Maybe she's using a burner phone? She was clearly very aware of the dangers of Kira identifying her when I spoke with her."

A minute later, "There's no answer. Did she give you any hint of what she wanted to say?"

Light hesitated. He could tell from Soichiro's tone they were both thinking the same thing. Soichiro and, implicitly, L did not believe Shoko Make to be Kira. She had been desperate to reach the taskforce, and now she could not be found. Kira had gotten her. He exhaled slowly. "The only thing she mentioned was that she knew there was a leak in the police force and thought the FBI agents were killed because they were getting too close to Kira. But she only admitted that because I had figured it out, too. I got the sense she might have known something else, but I have no idea what. I'm sorry. I should have pressed her harder when we couldn't immediately get in touch with you."

"No, Light, it's not your responsibility."

"Are you coming home anytime soon?"

His father hesitated again, then, "Yes, I'll be home tonight. Tell your mother I'll take us all out to dinner."

Light smiled. He hadn't expected that. "Thanks, Dad."

---

It was wonderful to spend a night out as a family again. In a restaurant setting, no one risked bringing up Kira, and so the conversation meandered through more mundane topics: Sayu's crush at school, the antics of the toddlers at the daycare where Sachiko had been volunteering in the mornings for the past year, Light's study schedule and extracurricular interests. He ended up describing much of what he had read recently regarding the overlap and differences between Chinese Buddhism and Shinto. Sachiko was very interested and encouraged him to take his interest further, maybe sign up for a religious studies elective at To-oh University and use the topic as the basis for a research project. Soichiro pointed out good-naturedly that mythology and religion were very tangential to Light's prospective major in criminology, but Light and Sachiko argued that religion was such a powerful motivator for various peoples across history, surely it was worth a deeper study in order to be prepared for the crimes of religious zealots.

"You know, by that logic, you should really get a girlfriend, Light," Sayu pointed out brightly.

"Oh?"

His little sister grinned at him. "That way you can experience love to better understand crimes of passion."

Light chuckled. "All very professional, then. Good idea, Sayu."

Sachiko shook her head indulgently. "That's not how love works, my darlings."

Dad headed back to work as soon as they got home, kissing each of his family members goodnight. Light's good humor vanished too soon, after he realized something extremely disturbing: someone had been in their house while they were out. Ever since he was ten, he had left three markers at his bedroom door in order to tell if someone (Sayu) had been inside: a scrap of paper shut in the door a foot up, a pencil lead on the hinge, and the door handle shifted just slightly down from its spring position. The paper was in its place. The handle and pencil lead were not.

It was particularly alarming given what had happened with, and presumably to, Shoko Maki. Light immediately imagined an agent of Kira looking through his room, checking to see if he was deserving of death. Or maybe the taskforce was wrong, Shoko Maki was Kira, and she had broken in to search his room and determine whether he really could be a comparable threat to L himself. He shut the door. He went to the computer first and booted it up with shaking hands. He spent three hours that evening checking and rechecking access time stamps and searching for malware. Only once he was satisfied his computer had not been compromised did he move to his book shelf. The handwritten notes and annotated maps he kept inside a hollowed-out atlas were older, from the start of the Kira case. They shouldn't be overly threatening. But looking through them, he realized with despair there was no way to tell if someone had found them and rifled through them. Well, he didn't need them, really. He sorted through and entered some of the notes into his computer as word files. He encrypted all his important files to the best of his ability. He erased most of his Kira-related internet history (not all, that would have been too obvious). He changed the computer login, using a passphrase forty-three characters long. Then he carefully shredded all the physical evidence while watching the news.

"In response to the Kira murders, Interpol has decided to dispatch a force of fifteen hundred investigators to Japan. The investigators were drawn from the law enforcement agencies of its member nations."

Light snorted and shook his head as he watched the text scroll across the bottom of the news channel. If they really were sending all those investigators, Interpol would have to be run by morons to announce the fact. This was the probably a variation on the same ploy L had used to draw Kira out before. He doubted it would work this time. Kira would have to be an idiot to respond, and Kira was not that. He kept shredding papers.

---

Two days later, Light Yagami was arrested on suspicion of being Kira. His mistake was obvious in retrospect. It had not occurred to him that the intruder in his room could be installing cameras on behalf of the Kira taskforce. This was for three reasons. Firstly, because it was such a flagrant violation of Japanese law and standard police procedure. Secondly, because his father was in charge of the taskforce, and Light would never have expected him to sign off on invasive surveillance of his own family. Thirdly, because he knew he wasn't Kira, even if he knew he fit the official profile summarized in the most recent police report he had read. Unfortunately, he was quick to realize his instinct to hide everything he had deduced about Kira would have seemed incredibly damning.

The officers were waiting for him when he left the house to walk to school. They grabbed him just around the corner out of sight of the front door. Their faces were covered. If they hadn't said he was being arrested, he definitely would have assumed he was being kidnapped. They blindfolded him and bound his hands behind his back. The drive was longer than it would have taken to get to the police station, so he had no idea where they took him. They shuffled him up some stairs, through an automatic door, and then into a fast-moving elevator that took them down several stories. Underground. Down a hall, turn right into a room where he was chained to a chair, hands still cuffed behind him. He was very uncomfortable. They did not remove the blindfold. He heard the whine of a fluorescent light overhead and the low hum of the air circulation system, but nothing else. They had left him alone in some kind of interrogation room. There was probably a table in front of him, though he could not reach out to check. He deliberately calmed himself with four-four-four breathing exercises, until he felt ready to speak without a vocal tremor.

"Hello?" There was no answer. After a minute he said, "If anyone is listening to or recording this, I'd like to say, for the record, I'm not Kira."

For a moment nothing happened. Then there was a crackle as a speaker clicked on, and a computerized voice began to talk to him. "On the contrary, all the evidence we have points to you being Kira, Light Yagami."

"It's circumstantial evidence and profiling only," Light countered. "Nothing definitive. Who are you, by the way?"

"L."

Light smiled in relief. It would be alright in the end. He just had to explain himself, show that his suspicious behavior was perfectly rational. "I believe you are L, but I'm afraid you're wrong. I'm not Kira."

"If I am wrong, that would be a first. Kira is young, likely a student, highly intelligent, and connected to the police," L said.

"They probably are," Light agreed pleasantly. "I know I fit your profile. Kira is probably also someone the FBI agents came into contact with before they were murdered, which I know most likely includes me since the FBI agents were sent to investigate the taskforce and their families. And Kira is probably someone Shoko Maki came into contact with as well, who I presume you have yet to reach or you would know my conversation with her was completely innocent. I understand why I came under suspicion. I will of course cooperate with the investigation."

"Light-kun makes astute deductions," L said after a moment. "Tell me about your encounter with Shoko Maki."

"Am I supposed to have a lawyer or a parent present?" he asked, keeping his voice polite.

"No."

...Alright, then. He supposed he shouldn't be that surprised, given the dangers of this case. Arguing would probably lower L's opinion of him. Light was confident he could navigate the interview himself anyway. So he answered the question in detail, leaving nothing out.

"You believed that Shoko Maki could be Kira?" L asked when he was done.

"At the time I was talking to her, yes. I could not rule it out, anyway, since I knew nothing about her. I didn't think it likely for her to be Kira, though. I'm sure she felt the same, since she admitted to using an alias but was otherwise very friendly."

"Why did you shred documents the day after meeting Shoko Maki?"

"When my father told me you were unable to find her, I suspected Kira had killed her. I inferred that Kira could now consider me a loose end to be silenced, if it appeared I knew or guessed too much about them, particularly now that Kira has surrendered any 'moral high ground' with the murder of the FBI agents. When I returned home from dinner at the restaurant and realized someone had been in my room, I viewed that as confirmation of my fears. I decided to destroy or encrypt all the 'evidence' a Kira supporter might use to incite Kira against me."

"Arrogant of you to assume Kira would care, if I am to believe you are not Kira, that is."

"Caution, not arrogance. I have been following the case for months and reached the same conclusions as you, always before the media. If Kira was aware of my conversation with Shoko Maki... it seemed only sensible to curb any attentions, particularly after someone did break into my room, as I said."

"How did you notice the break in?"

"The scrap of paper was still in the door, but I also set a piece of pencil lead on the hinge and slightly depress the door handle when I leave my room."

"Ah. Why so paranoid, Light-kun?"

Light shrugged, as best as he was able in his awkward position. "It's habit, not paranoia. I started doing it years ago, spent months coming up with ways to keep Sayu out of my things. I even used to write all my personal notes and things in a cipher I invented for the purpose." He'd resurrected the cipher for the Kira project, and programmed an invented script for it into his computer.

"You did not find the cameras?"

"I wasn't looking for them. It wouldn't make sense for an agent of Kira to leave something like that behind that could be physical evidence if it were discovered. Even if there were no prints, serial numbers can be tracked."

"Yet you did not tell your father your concerns?"

"Dad had already gone back to work. He hasn't been home since, and every time I tried to call, he never answered. It could have been risky to leave a voicemail."

"You were not surprised when I asked why you had been shredding papers, though," L observed.

Light shook his head and smiled ruefully. "No, I realized when the officers came to arrest me that the intruder must have been your agents installing surveillance."

"You looked amused when the ICPO notice aired while you were so busy squirreling away evidence. Why?"

"Because it was funny to see such a blatant lie on television. Interpol would never announce their plans in that way, not after what happened to the FBI. I thought it was an obvious ploy to draw out Kira, and apt to fail." He offered a self-deprecating laugh. "Of course, it makes more sense in retrospect. You aired that to see my reaction, and that of whoever else you were watching. I hope there are others, anyway, or this is an even more egregious waste of your time than it would be otherwise."

L ignored his unsubtle jab. "Did you notice when you were previously being tailed by an FBI agent?"

"No." He had been so caught up in research before news of the FBI massacre, he'd barely paid attention to his surroundings at all, just enough to get to classes and avoid walking into traffic. After all, the streets were perfectly safe to daydream in with Kira cracking down.

"Did you see the Lind L. Tailor broadcast live?"

"Yes." It might have thrown a wrench in L's narrative if he lied, and it wouldn't be provable either way, but he felt a strategy of perfect candor was best in this scenario. If he were caught lying about anything, L might use that to suppose everything was a lie, which would be a disaster.

"Where were you when it aired?"

"In my room, studying like usual."

"What did you make of the broadcast?"

"Er... that Kira is in the Kanto region, and it takes a maximum of two-and-a-half minutes for the killing method to work."

L waited a moment. "Is that all?"

Light nodded. "I already determined Kira was in Japan and needed only a name and a face to kill, so only the region and time was really new information. Before the broadcast, the record for shortest killing time captured live on camera was five minutes. I do commend you on the set up, though. You needed to test the theory to get regular people to believe it, and you did it perfectly."

"You do not think Kira knew of the broadcast ahead of time?"

"It's possible Kira knew what you were planning, but since the broadcast did not fall on the quarter hour, and interrupted the regular broadcast mid-sentence, I reasoned you most likely called it in to start on your mark rather than on a preplanned schedule. That would have been the most sensible course of action for you, anyway, to get the best information you could."

"That is correct. How did you know Kira was in Japan and needed only a name and face to kill?"

"Timing," Light said simply, knowing L would understand. "Plus, almost all the live TV murders happened in Japan, once I went back to check. That clinched it. As for name and face..." he exhaled slowly. "Mostly the live murders again. Kira's never managed to stop a crime before both the name and face were aired. But I confirmed that theory when I hacked the police database to check for victims only known to the public under an alias. There weren't any, at first. And then there suddenly were. Kira gained access to the database about two weeks after I did. Or at least, they started using their access then."

There was a crackle and a click, as if someone else in the background had tried to talk before the microphone was hastily shut off. Light waited. After a minute, the speaker clicked back on. "My associates disapprove of your hacking their place of work, Light-kun."

"Yeah. Dad, if you're there, I'm sorry. I know it looks bad and it was against the law. I just... I was really curious."

"Anything else you discovered from the police records?"

Light shrugged. "Nothing earth-shattering. I mostly just used it to keep up with the case, to check my own conclusions against yours. I already knew about the leak long before the taskforce documented it, and the profile and conclusions you gave was not significantly different from my own. I stopped accessing it after I read the report about the FBI agents and the detectives leaving the taskforce, except once to download the HR files."

"Why?"

"The stakes went up. Kira was willing to kill investigators, not just criminals. No longer worth the risk just to see what you were doing. But I needed the HR files since I didn't know the names of all the police families, and it was increasingly likely Kira could be one of them."

"You did not think so before?"

"Well... not really. I mean, I hacked the database and got all the information Kira would have needed from it. I didn't need Dad's credentials or anything to do it. Any hacker good enough could have done it, and there's far more qualified hackers unconnected to the police. An actual police officer would have been more likely than just a family member in that sense, though none of the officers I've met before seemed likely candidates."

"Mm... Who do you think was the first victim?"

"Kurou Otoharada," Light answered immediately.

"I agree. Were you watching that news story when it aired?"

"Yes."

"What did you think of it?"

"At the time, not much. I thought it was weird that he suddenly died on the scene, but I figured maybe he was high on something that interferes with the heart rhythm."

"He was not. Toxicology was clean."

"I know. I looked back into it later after Kira's existence became evident and found the autopsy report in the police database."

"What do you think is Kira's killing power?"

"Honestly... I don't know. There's nothing on the live broadcasts that give it away, except the need for name and face. I can only think it is supernatural."

"Hence your interest in the occult for the last few days."

"For the last few months," Light corrected, with a small smile. He emphasized the plural.

A pause. "You believed faster than I did, Light-kun."

Light grinned again. "I'm an impressionable and open-minded youth."

"Perhaps. You are certainly quick-witted. Your story is plausible, but no moreso than my previous conclusion that you are Kira."

Light's grin faded. "What happens now?"

"You will need to give us the password for your computer, and the key to the cipher you mentioned. And tell us what was on the documents you shredded. We are in the process of reconstructing them."

Light nodded. "Of course."

"You will be confined until we have resolved this."

"By 'resolved this,' do you mean until you're finished going through my computer to verify my story, or until you've caught Kira?"

"We will see what happens," L said enigmatically.

Light was suddenly afraid again. L had already broken procedure with the video cameras, tying him up, and questioning him without a lawyer. He dearly hoped indefinite solitary confinement wasn't on the agenda. Who knew how long it would take L to catch the real Kira? Or how long it would take to prove it, since they still had no idea how the killing power worked? "Can I talk to my father?" he asked quietly.

"Not yet."

The speaker clicked off. Light was truly alone again.

---

L was conflicted. He stared at the bound and blindfolded youth on the screen awhile longer before turning around to face Watari and the rest of the taskforce. "What do you think?"

The police officers shifted, glancing uncomfortably at their chief. "I didn't realize quite how clever Light-kun is," Matsuda offered. He was the youngest and dullest member of the taskforce, but he had his uses. Mostly in stating the obvious so others would feel comfortable voicing their own, superior thoughts. "I mean, I met him before, but... he seems to have followed the case just as expertly as you, Ryuzaki, with the resources he had, I mean."

"Or it only seems that way, because he is Kira," Aizawa muttered. He didn't look happy about it. "I feel sorry for him, though. If he's telling the truth, I don't blame him for being scared of Kira after what happened to Miss Misora, and I imagine he'd be terrified now."

"He doesn't look scared," Ukita pointed out.

"That's because he's putting a brave face on it," Matsuda said with unwarranted confidence. "He's trusting us to do the right thing and let him out once he's cleared. After all, his dad is here with us..."

"What about you, Chief Yagami?" L asked.

Soichiro's expression was pained. "I wish I had picked up the phone," he muttered.

L nodded thoughtfully, thumb pressed against his lower lip. "It would have made our task much easier," he agreed. "I myself am not sure. As I told Light-kun, his story is plausible. In fact, I find the least plausible part to be that he did not realize he would be a prime suspect before now. He is intelligent enough, he should have realized it."

"Would you have considered yourself a suspect in his place?" Aizawa asked scathingly.

"Yes. I even understand why some people say I should be a suspect as I am."

"He understands why he was arrested, Ryuzaki," Aizawa said, stubborn as always. "He just didn't anticipate us going so far as to put cameras in his room, which is the only reason we ended up bringing him in so quickly."

"It was the logical next step. Even he said so."

"He probably didn't expect it because he's the Chief's son," Ukita said. "He's only seventeen. There's got to be some sense of naïve entitlement there, no matter how smart and self-aware he seems."

L mulled that over and glanced at Watari. Perhaps. The taskforce had certainly objected vociferously enough. Perhaps Light had merely overestimated his father's protective streak. L was used to being watched at all times, ever since he was young, but he was perfectly aware he needed such minding in order to function. It seemed obvious and natural to him. For all their intellectual similarities, though, Light was different in his clear preference for privacy. The thing with the door. L had given up such childish practices long before he was Light's age. He smiled to himself. Privacy was a pressure point to remember, if the question of Light Yagami's guilt or innocence remained unanswered. He shrugged non-committedly. "Maybe. I was far more certain he was Kira when we were watching him destroy the evidence two days ago. As it stands now, the chance of him being Kira is 50%."

"How can we know, Ryuzaki?" Mogi asked. "He was right when he said all the evidence is circumstantial."

"Let's see what's in his computer first. And if the killings stop, well, then we have our answer."

---

The killings did not stop, but they slowed drastically, only six over the next two days instead of dozens, which was a confusing and unsatisfying result. The contents of Light's computer were impressive. His passphrase was interesting, a scrambled version of the aphorism "man's inclination to injustice makes law necessary." L didn't know what to make of it. Light's catalogue of Kira's victims was eerily perfect up until this past weekend, and his analysis surpassed that of any police entity other than L's own in its sophistication. His notes on the killing method were all over the place, but then so were L's thoughts. Light certainly entertained a wide variety of possibilities, everything from sympathetic magic to telepathy to an invisible, god-like executioner able to cross the world in seconds.

Matsuda and Soichiro instantly believed the notes vindicated Light, but again, L was not sure. They looked convincing, but Kira could easily have laid a false trail. In fact, the real Kira should have laid a false trail like this, to explain his excessive knowledge of the case as mere investigative enthusiasm. If Light was intelligent enough to come up with all of this as part of an amateur investigation, he was certainly intelligent enough to fake it with insider information. It was more circumstantial evidence that came to nothing. The probabilities moved not at all.

"We will have to wait and see what happens," L concluded by the end of the week.

"How long are you going to hold him?" Chief Yagami asked in a strained voice. "He's missing school. He could miss the university entrance exams. I don't think Sachiko believes me that he's come to assist the investigation..."

Unvoiced went the most glaring objection: Light was being imprisoned, against the law, for something he may or may not have done. He was no longer tied to a chair, but he was in a straightjacket instead, still blindfolded, and he was clearly miserable. If he wasn't Kira, L and the rest of the taskforce were being unspeakably cruel to an innocent and promising young man.

"I don't know," L answered honestly. "It depends on what happens with the killings, and whether we get any more leads. Watari, has there been anything suspicious on the surveillance footage at the Yagami or Kitamura households since Light's arrest?" L had prioritized reviewing Light's notes and therefore delegated much of the surveillance to his trusted mentor and adoptive father.

"Nothing."

"And we already had three live murders before we detained him, with nothing... Continue the surveillance. I must talk to Light."

"To Light?" Matsuda asked.

"If he is Kira, I need proof. If he isn't Kira, he would be an excellent collaborator on the investigation." He slouched to the other desk that held the security footage displays and communications link to Light's cell. "Light-kun?"

Light was sitting on the floor in the corner, leaning against the wall with his legs splayed out in front of him. He jerked when L spoke. He cleared his throat. "L? Is something happening? Did you decide anything?"

"I have decided nothing."

Light grimaced, but his polite tone was unchanged when he spoke again. "Did you finish going through my computer?"

"Yes. Your notes and analysis were superb."

"But not convincing."

"Well, Kira's case notes I would also expect to be superb."

"Of course you would," Light said tonelessly. He sighed. "Where does that leave us, then?"

"I do not have enough evidence to be certain that you are Kira, but nor can I let you go."

"Well, what are you planning on doing besides waiting?" Light asked irritably.

"Talk to you."

Light huffed and bent his knees up, making himself smaller, warmer, safer. Just as L often did. Maybe the posture helped Light Yagami to think more clearly as well. Wouldn't that be an odd coincidence? "What made you so sure it was me in the first place? You must have had an eye on me before Shoko Maki for my father to approve your video surveillance scheme."

"Are you so sure he approved?"

"Yes. He came home just to take the rest of us out of the house to a restaurant, then left again. I'd barely seen him for weeks before then."

"He did approve. Do you know who Shoko Maki was, Light-kun?"

"No. I think she must have known or at least interacted with you before, but I really don't know."

"I have worked with her before, yes. Her real name was Naomi Misora." If Light recognized the name, he did not show it. "She used to work for the FBI, and she was engaged to the agent who tailed you, Raye Penber." No reaction to that name either.

Light gave a mirthless laugh. "Heh. No wonder you came after me, then. It must have seemed a hell of a coincidence for me to run into her at the station after the agents were killed."

"Why did you go to the station that day?"

"To drop off clothes for Dad."

"Why then?"

"My mom asked me to. She had errands to run with Sayu."

L thumbed his lip. He wasn't going to trip Light up on inconsistencies in his story. He always gave the same answers. "Knowing who she was, what do you think she wanted to say to me?"

Light sighed and thumped his head back against the wall. "Her fiancée must have talked about the case with her, something she thought might not have made it into his official report. Maybe even something to suggest he was the agent who came the closest to Kira."

L nodded silently. He had surmised the same. "Penber's reports were always meticulous, though. What do you imagine he might have left out that Miss Misora would later deem so important?"

"Since he ended up dead, the most obvious would be if he let his name slip to someone," Light answered readily.

"He would have been using his alias for every verbal interaction. Only his governmental ID would have shown his name, and he had no direct contact with the individuals he was assigned to for them conceivably to see it. He would have had to report that."

"Forget the assumption that Kira was indeed one of the people under surveillance. I've already told you how easy it is to hack the police here. Kira could be a civilian who made their own 'leak.' In which case, Penber's interaction with Kira could have been anyone who got a glimpse of his government ID."

"Kira would hardly risk killing the agents in the first place if they were no threat to him," L pointed out.

"Fine, then let us merely not assume that Kira is necessarily one of the individuals Penber was actively tailing, or perhaps had tailed at all. Rather, suppose Kira is one of the first group that the agents watched. Kira noticed and caught on that you were suspicious of a leak, and so contrived to obtain the name of one of the agents after they knew they were no longer being followed themselves."

L nodded reluctantly. It wasn't as neat a solution as Light Yagami being Kira, but it was a solution. In such a scenario, it still made sense for Penber to be the unlucky agent, because several of his assignments were students walking to school along predictable routes, perfect for Kira to stage an encounter. And police families were more likely to know the Chief had school-aged children than of any other particular officers' children. The Yagami household was the first of Penber's assignments. He had started with Soichiro, but moved on to Sachiko after two days in which Soichiro never left the police station, then the children a week later. And then the week Penber moved on to the Kitamura household was when Kira started sending messages with the murders, which L still felt was probably the clue that Kira was planning his moves against the FBI. Thus, if Light's theory was correct, L would have to pay the highest scrutiny to the first two dozen people the FBI had tailed for the timing to work out. He would review those reports himself this evening and see what information could be gathered on them after surveillance ended. He realized Light could not see him nod and said, "It is a good observation, Light-kun."

He stared at the auburn-haired youth in the cell. So intelligent, so collected, all things considered. He would have high potential as one of L's successors under other circumstances. L could not recall a single FBI report that suggested a better-fitting individual to be Kira. And yet, after five days that Light had been confined, a trickle of deaths continued. What was he missing, besides the mysterious murder method?

"Light-kun, what is your profile of Kira?"

"You've read it in my computer."

"Yes, but since you rearranged and encrypted all your files on Sunday, it is difficult to tell what is most up-to-date in your mind."

The teenager smiled slightly. "I suppose that's true. Very well. Kira is a highly intelligent individual living in the Kanto region of Japan with a strong sense of justice and ties to the police, who likely is a student or works in the school system."

"Age? Gender?"

"Unknown."

"Do you believe Kira to be a student?"

Light shrugged. "By shear weight of numbers when counting all the people connected to the school system, then sure. Students outnumber teachers. But most students would not be able to spar with you so well as Kira has."

"You can."

Light grinned, widely this time. "I'm the exception to the rule, always have been. You must know I'm the top scorer in the country. It's not even a competition, and that's not bragging, just fact. Anyway, as I said, there aren't many students gifted enough to pull this off. I can't speak from experience yet, but I doubt it's significantly different in university compared to high school. Teachers though... age and experience does make up for raw intellect for some things. For instance, if I were a bit more jaded, I would have anticipated you coming after me better."

"Do you really think someone older would try to play god like this, punishing exclusively the wicked?" L asked curiously.

Again, Light shrugged. "Some of Kira's most vocal supporters online are old men just discovering the internet and bewailing the 'softening' and 'feminizing' of modern culture." It was L's turn to grin. The response was so characteristic of a teen. He did enjoy Light's sense of humor, when he chose to display it. Light continued, "I also considered that Kira could be targeting others besides criminals. The 'sense of justice' we have been looking for would therefore be a red herring drawing attention away from murders with more personal ulterior motives. I was never able to adequately test that, though. There was just too much data to go through, even for me, even looking only at cardiac arrests in Japan. Not to mention the string of deaths with bizarre antemortem behaviors almost a month ago. If Kira can control the circumstances of the death inside a prison so completely, there's no reason to suppose they cannot do the same outside. Perhaps other murders are disguised as other causes, such as making the victim imbibe a medication that could fool the toxicology screen, before they die of cardiac arrest for unrelated reasons. There are too many unknowns surrounding the killing method for me to exclude the possibility we're missing deaths that Kira doesn't want us to see."

L reluctantly nodded again. "Premature closure..." he mumbled. He realized with this conversation, Light had successfully talked himself down to a 40% probability of being Kira in L's mind.

"Maybe Kira is a very intelligent day janitor, whose once-bright prospects were diminished after something dreadful like... parents murdered before he could finish university, forcing him drop out to take care of younger siblings," Light mused. He snorted to himself and stretched one leg out again.

The unfortunate thing was, L thought in annoyance, such was not an entirely implausible scenario, except that no such individual was attached to the police force. The angry, genius janitor would have had to have some reason to feel threatened by the FBI... But, he had a starting point to look for new leads, at least. "Thank you for your help, Light-kun."

"Anytime. I've nothing better to do," Light said ironically.

"Do you need anything?"

Light burst out laughing, and did not stop laughing for over a minute. "Do I need anything?" he repeated. "Oh, I don't know, L, maybe a chance to move my arms? My shoulders and elbows are killing me. And perhaps a shower? Wait! I know, permission to wipe my own butt!"

Even L cringed. Light had three meals per day and four bathroom breaks, but he was still restrained the whole time. There was only so much even the most advanced Japanese toilet could do after awhile. Watari was the one who spoon fed him, pulled his pants up and down for him, and had sponged him down a few times. This would be an awful, humiliating experience for a seventeen-year-old boy. "We should be able to arrange for you to stretch your arms now and again," he offered. He wouldn't make promises about the boy's privacy he couldn't keep, and he doubted Light would still want to go for a shower when he would still have to be handcuffed and supervised by three other men, one of whom would wash him.

Light nodded wearily but didn't complain further.

"I'll make sure you have some cake at dinner," L said apologetically.

"I don't actually like sweets much. Thanks for the offer, though."

"How can you not like dessert?" L asked incredulously.

"I don't know. I just don't. I guess Mom didn't serve them all that often."

"Maybe you just don't want cake? I can get whatever you'd like."

The little smile returned momentarily. "I wouldn't say no to Yakatori chicken. And maybe some fresh fruit."

"I'll make sure of it."

"Thanks."

As soon as L muted the microphone again, Chief Yagami announced he wanted to be locked up in a cell, too, in solidarity with his son. This made absolutely no sense to L, since the most likely way such a move might influence the investigation was by slowing it down due to depriving the taskforce of a worker. Soichiro insisted, however. After the others had gone to lock their chief up, Watari explained to L that Soichiro was probably hoping his symbolic protest would help ensure L would be humane in his dealings with Light, if he knew an innocent man would be enduring the same treatment. Again, this made very little sense to L, since surely Soichiro should want to be on hand to talk L out of unsavory decisions before he acted on them, but Watari just smiled and told him parents did not always make rational decisions when it came to protecting their children.

L filed Soichiro's decision under "inexplicable emotional behavior" in his mind and moved to the floor with his two dozen suspect files and a bowl of rice pudding. Might as well start with the two that Penber had tailed: Sachiko and Sayu Yagami. Nothing had jumped out at him the first time he read them, but maybe this time, with all the extra footage...

Nope. Sayu was the prototypical teenaged girl. Average student. A little vapid in her interests. No suspicious changes in behavior. Overly impressed by the false news bulletin about the Interpol agents that interrupted her Hideki Ryuga show. Had technically seen two of the three of the live murders, but appeared to be texting with friends at the time rather than paying attention to the television. The third she missed entirely because she'd gone to her room after carelessly leaving the television on.

Sachiko Yagami... well, to Light's point, she was an adult who happened to share a student's hours, but only because she scheduled all her perfectly ordinary volunteer work, social engagements, and household errands around her children's activities in order to maximize her time with them. She had been an above-average student according to her old test scores, but not to Light's level. She did nothing with her degrees, just settled into the role of housewife and mother. She spent the vast majority of her home time in the kitchen, cleaning, or sitting in the family room writing to-do lists or working on puzzle books while Sayu watched teen romance dramas on television. No visible reaction to the false news bulletin other than surprise at the abrupt shift in volume and an expression of mild interest. She had been in the kitchen writing grocery lists or working on the household budget during the three live murders they had recorded. There was no television in the kitchen, though she could probably hear it from the living room. Really, the only thing odd about her was how little her routine seemed to have changed with the sudden departure of her son from the household. Though of course, Light had spent so much time in his own room, maybe his absence truly wasn't a significant change to the daily activities of the two Yagami women. They were a very traditionally gendered family, for sure.

L sighed and picked up the next set of files.

---

Light had already lost track of how long he'd been confined. It was impossible to tell, since he was deprived of light and his sleep schedule had gone haywire. He had counted meals at first, but then he started dreaming of being woken up to eat. It was all very confusing. At least a week now, he thought. He hated it. He was incredibly bored, increasingly worried since there was no end in sight, and he was tired and achy from being stuck in a tiny, mostly empty room wearing a straightjacket all day. At least L was true to his word. The straightjacket had come unstrapped three times since his last conversation with L. They chained his legs to a chair first and kept hold of his wrists once his arms were free, but it still felt wonderful to extend his elbows and roll his shoulders back. He was suffering enough to revel in small luxuries.

He didn't blame L for keeping him confined. It seemed the detective was in a bit of a pickle so far as the investigation went. He did blame L for not letting him speak to his father. He might have tolerated the whole situation better if Soichiro had been able to provide him some reassurance that they were working to get to the bottom of this.

Or perhaps Soichiro did not want to see him.

No, better to blame L. Soichiro would never have doubted Light if L hadn't put it into his head, so convincingly even Light might have believed the story if he weren't the one living it. Perhaps Soichiro had never doubted Light, had only agreed to the video cameras in order to force L to move on from his pet theory, only for Light's own actions caught on camera to cast the shadow on them.

He just had to keep believing the mess would sort itself out, and he and his father could apologize to one another.

Crackle. Click. Light's head shifted automatically, harkening to the sound of the speaker.

"Light-kun."

"L. Any progress?"

"No promising suspects, but... there has been a development."

"What kind?"

"A sudden and dramatic increase in the killing frequency."

"Huh." Light wasn't sure what to make of that. "It's not a school holiday, is it?"

"It is not."

"I don't know, then."

"It is the second major shift in pattern in the last two weeks."

The second? "Was the other major shift the FBI killings? No... that's got to be more than two weeks ago, now."

"The FBI agents were killed four weeks ago," L confirmed. "I was referring to a major decrease in frequency starting the day you were detained. Only three or four per day for nine days, then two hundred deaths in the last two days. All prisoners."

"Oh. That's... perplexing."

"It is. I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter."

Light shrugged helplessly. His mind felt like it had rusted in place. "I suppose... if I were you, I'd probably be checking up on all the people the FBI tailed, see if any of them have had any major changes in life or routine in the past two weeks."

"I have already checked. You are the only one."

Light gasped in sudden inspiration.

"Light-kun?"

"L... maybe all the circumstantial evidence points to me because I am Kira's connection to the FBI. They could have seen the agent tailing me..."

"Are you suggesting Kira is your stalker?" L asked.

Light scowled. Even though the voice was still a computerized monotone, it still felt like L was laughing at him. "I don't know. Maybe, but someone I know anyway. They could have taken my arrest as a warning that the taskforce was closing in. But now it's been... however long it's been..." L had told him, but his sluggish brain had already forgotten again. "Maybe Kira feels like they're in the clear since nothing's happened since my arrest."

"Hmm. Who do you know then, Light-kun, who is intelligent, perhaps as intelligent as you or I, who keeps a student's hours, and who would be watching you so closely?"

Light leaned his head against the cool wall. He couldn't think. "I don't know," he mumbled. Did he know anyone intelligent enough to be Kira?

"Let us try a different tack. Who are your friends?"

"I..." his mind drew a blank. "I've known Yamamoto the longest," he said eventually. He knew it was a bad answer.

"Light-kun, are you feeling well?"

"No," he said bluntly. "I can't think. I feel like I'm going crazy in here." He bounced the side of his foot against the wall. "That's something that happens with solitary confinement, isn't it? Is it reversible? I can't remember."

"It is reversible," L said, confirming he could very well be going mad simply from being imprisoned. "Light-kun, are you experiencing other symptoms besides brain fog?"

"Uh... I don't know what counts. Pain in the arms. Headache today. My sleep's messed up. I can't keep the days straight at all. Did we pass New Years' yet?"

"We did. Before you were arrested."

"Oh."

"Have you had any hallucinations?"

"I've been seeing colors and weird shapes for days. I think that's normal from being blindfolded. The only thing I've heard is you, and I always answer. If you ever catch me talking to myself, you'll know I'm snapped."

"Anxiety? Depression?"

"Well, yeah. It sucks being here."

"Well... since it appears keeping you so thoroughly restrained has no significant effect on the kill rate after all, I may consider modifying conditions of your confinement..."

Light shuddered, and tears suddenly leaked out of his eyes to absorb in the blindfold. He hadn't realized they were waiting there in the first place. His eyes felt hot all the time from the thick, itchy fabric. "Please," he whispered.

"Light-kun, I need you to help me help you. Try to remember. Who are your friends? You said Yamamoto. Who else?"

"Um... Shiori. Shiori Akino. Asuka Hisashi. Um. Nakasone..."

"Do you not have many friends, Light? Raye Penber said you were popular at school in his report."

"I am, in a way," Light confirmed absently. "Most of the people who come up to me at school I don't really know particularly well, though. People who think I'm handsome and want to ask me out on a date. People who want to be seen talking to or walking with me in public so they can claim me as a friend - weird, I know. I swear I'm not making it up. You can ask Sayu or Yamamoto. Sometimes they just want help with their homework. I don't mind that. Let's see... there's the kids I used to play tennis with, or the boys who used to come over for video games... I usually remember their names, though. I feel so bad I can't right now. Why can't I remember names?"

"Do you remember the name of the woman you met at the police station who had information about the Kira case?"

"Maki... something. Damn, that's awful. I should remember that. I can't remember the phone number either, and I know I memorized it." He shook his head. "Better ask any other questions quick, L, or I won't be able to answer them."

"We will try to keep you from getting to that point. Do you usually walk with anyone else on the way to school, Light?"

"Yamamoto joins me halfway."

"Would Yamamoto be able to hack into the police server as you did?"

Light nodded. "He wants to major in computer science and work for the police as a..." He trailed off. He couldn't remember the right word. How embarrassing. "As a person that helps the police with computer-related crimes? I'm sorry, I can't think of the right title right now."

"A digital forensics-"

"-analyst. Yes. That. He's been working towards that ever since we were ten and I told him it was an option. I don't think he's Kira, though."

"Why not?"

"I..." Light's mind went blank. Now he could only think of the ways Yamamoto sort of fit the profile: student, hacker, interested in justice, and tangentially connectable to the FBI agents through Light. And yet, he also knew it should be obvious why Yamamoto wasn't Kira. If only his brain would work! "He's... not... organized?" True, being around Yamamoto was often a chaotic experience, with papers everywhere, frequent study breaks to talk about something completely unrelated, and snack runs at least hourly. Was that really it? No, his subconscious must have more to go on than that.

"Your opinion is noted. Do you meet anyone else on your way to school?"

"Not usually, no."

"Do you make any stops?"

Light drifted a moment, trying to recall the way. "I... don't always stop, but there's a convenience store near where Yamamoto turns off where we'll sometimes get tea or some other drink, or snacks."

"When is the last time you remember being there?"

"No idea. It all runs together."

"Is there no instance that stands out to you?"

A vision came to him, the convenience store at night. "I almost got into a fight there once."

"Really? When? I've heard nothing of it."

"I think... it was the same week as the Kira killings started."

"What happened?"

"I went out in the evening for snacks. When I got there, I saw a couple toughs with motorcycles coming onto a girl they'd surrounded, down by the corner. It looked like they were just about ready to haul her away to molest her. She was pretty frightened. I went over and pretended she was my girlfriend. Loudly. When enough people were paying attention, the men let us go without any more fuss."

"I don't suppose you remember this girl's name?"

Light laughed at that. "I don't think I ever got it in the first place. Maybe you can find her in the store security footage. We went inside until the men were all gone."

"Try to remember which day it was. Was it before or after the death of Otoharada?"

"I don't know. It's too jumbled, and I'm too tired. My mom might know. I think I told her about it when I got back..." His brow furrowed. L had asked him who Light knew that was smart enough to be Kira. Sachiko was. She was the smartest person Light knew, other than himself. She was certainly connected to the police and believed in justice, had presumably been tailed by the FBI same as him, was sort of connected to the school system in that she volunteered at a daycare in the late morning and early afternoon and then ran errands on her way back so she could be home by the time he and Sayu got home. But... he surely would have noticed if his own mother had turned into a serial killer with supernatural powers. Wouldn't he?

"What are you thinking, Light?"

"Mad thoughts."

"Anything worth sharing?"

He shook his head. "No, just madness." Just madness.

---

Unsurprisingly, Light's four close friends proved to be the other top-ranking members of his class, though none looked to be actual competition for Light. None had any connection to the police, other than indirectly through their friendship with Light. Only Daiki Yamamoto was an obvious Kira supporter, judging from their online activity. The others could be hiding their identities though, since they didn't seem to vocally oppose Kira either.

L decided to approach Yamamoto (Yamamamomo42) in an online Kira-themed chatroom that evening. He picked a bland username, Sakura876 and joined the chat. For the first fifteen minutes he just sat and read the message feed, occasionally offering generic statements of agreement to certain comments. Conveniently, Yamamamomo42 had fewer completely stupid comments than average, and L gradually directed more of his affirmations at his target. He also added in several more dummy accounts, which he used to troll the other people in the chatroom. Their true purpose would be to "victimize" himself, to see what Yamamoto would do about it. About thirty minutes into the chat he decided it was time for him to form his own voice.

Sakura876: Yamamamomo42 makes some very good points, but I think there is still a fundamental question about Kira's justice no one's really answered to my satisfaction: Is this sustainable? Do the ends REALLY justify the means?

Kirakira27: Booooooooooooooooo :P

Pickle666: No more crime? No more war? Hmmmm... yeah, it's worth it, numbskull

AnimeGirl99: To be fair, there's still war right now. And crime, just less of it

Kirakira27: Booooooooooooo

Sakura876: It's a serious question. Yes, we have seen decreases in crime rates since Kira has been active, but how far can Kira realistically take this? There has always been crime, even in historical cultures with broad application of the death penalty. Eventually, Kira's justice will become a new normal, and when that happens, will crime rates merely rebound?

Kirakira27: Booooooooooooooooooo

1234Cat: Kirakira27 STOP IT. You're being annoying. I'll get one of the mods to boot you off if you keep it up

Yamamamomo42: There's a big difference between Kira's justice and a typical death penalty. In historical cultures, the death penalty was commonplace partially because violence was ubiquitous and given too much sanction. Look for instance to feudal cultures where the lord's justice was supreme, and so violence committed by the lord or the lord's soldiers against the commoners went unpunished. Or look at some modern cultures where women are still viewed as their family's property and so spousal abuse short of murder goes unpunished. Kira is different because Kira does not discriminate, and because Kira is everywhere, applying the same law everywhere. You will see. Kira's revolution will come in several stages, and we are only in the first. First comes a drop in crime because of fear amongst those committing violence out of greed (includes warlords). Then will come further declines because of a decrease in necessity as ordinary people no longer fear for their safety or suffer from trauma. Then further declines due to evolution in the structure of society to be more equitable, eliminating class struggle as a motivator for crime.

L had anticipated most of Yamamoto's answer and had his reply ready. Sakura876: Can Kira truly hold authoritarian governments and warlords accountable, or will he cause worse chaos by creating power vacuums and destabilizing already precarious countries? It's one thing to upset the status quo in a stagnant country like Japan or the Western democracies, but quite another in a place that's poor and already teetering on the brink of anarchy.

Kirakira27: WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE IF YOU JUST WANT TO CRITICIZE KIRA?

_Mod_0120: Kirakira27 has been banned

1234Cat: Thankyou! :3

Yamamamomo42: That is a strawman argument :)

Yamamamomo42: Kira has not punished nearly so many criminals in developing countries, nor has Kira yet targeted any heads of state, only regional warmongers and terrorists, because he is aware of the risks.

Pickle666: Just trust in Kira! He's got a plan!

AnimeGirl99: Or SHE

Sakura876: Ah, but if Kira's justice is only fully possible in the developed world, then how can one say it is indeed "just"? The very concept of justice must address the subject of equality. One could argue that by focusing on wealthy countries like Japan and the United States, Kira is in fact worsening injustice in terms of the gap between different regions of the world.

AnimeGirl99: By that logic, Kira can do no right

DevilsAdvocate: Maybe he can't. If Kira's only power is to kill, then maybe there IS no way to use that power morally.

Pickle666: I repeat: no more war + no more crime = worth it.

DevilsAdvocate: IF he gets that far. Even if it's possible for Kira to completely reform the world, he could still get caught by the police in the meantime, and then everything he worked for goes to shit, and like Sakura876 said, big crime rebound

Sakura876: I doubt he's going to get caught anytime soon, but the changes we're talking about are on the order of decades. Kira could die of natural causes by then, and then what?

Pickle666: THAT's assuming Kira's a human, not God

Sakura876: Because Kira IS human, not God. Obviously.

Pickle666: Shun the unbeliever! ;)

Yamamamomo42: I also believe Kira is human. There's good evidence he is. BUT, his power is godlike with its omnipresence, and that is what gives him the ability to change the world, even if it does take decades and doesn't happen the same way everywhere all at once

Sakura876: What, you think he's going to choose a successor? Who knows if the killing power can even be passed down?

Pickle666: Kira does! ;) ;) Kira has a plan

Sakura876: ...I walked into that.

Pickle666: Yeah you did.

Yamamamomo42: LOL. But yeah, I think Kira is smart enough he would have accounted for mortality, since that's kind of his whole gig. Whether he chooses a successor, or the power comes with immortality, I don't know

Sakura876: Would you all trust Kira's successor? Assuming we all were told when the power changed hands, obviously

Yamamamomo42: Another strawman! The public will never know about a successor, because Kira's ultimate victory relies on faith in his impartiality and invulnerability. That's the other reason Kira is different from just aggressive application of the death penalty. Kira is more like a prophet than a judge. This will be a new religion.

Sakura876: theocracies don't have a great track record in terms of incorruptibility and criminal justice either, you know

Yamamamomo42: That is because most religions rely on a faith that isn't backed up by objective evidence of the divine. Unlike Kira

Sakura876: A good point, yes. What happens when someone tries to usurp Kira's cult of personality, do you think?

DevilsAdvocate: Yo, you're stealing my job

Yamamamomo42: What do you mean, Sakura?

Kirakira799: He means "wahwahwah I hate Kira wah"

1234Cat: dear lord, another one

Sakura876: I mean, it's going to happen eventually so long as Kira remains totally anonymous: someone is going to name themselves Kira's spokesperson, probably some money-hungry media outlet grabbing for money, or several, and they're going to make a career out of "spreading Kira's message" whatever the f*** they imagine it to be. What then?

Pickle666: Shun the false redeemer!

Yamamamomo42: I think Sakura876 means what happens in more broad terms? Like, does the false prophet derail Kira's mission?

Sakura876: Or does Kira kill the false prophet? Which would beg the question of what kind of non-violent crimes become punishable by death in Kira's world?

Kirakira799: Booooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kirakira1000: Boooooooooooooooooooooo

Kirakira1234: Booooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kirakira456: Booooooooooooooooooooooo

Kirakira999: Anyone know Sakura876's real name so we can tell Kira about him?

Kirakira799: Kill the unbeliever!

Kirakira999: Kill! Kill! Kill!

_Mod_0120: Chat ended

L grinned and sipped his coffee, watching as the moderator suspended all six of his Kirakira accounts in turn. Pickle was left intact, at least. A notification popped up for a private chat request from Yamamoto. L clicked on it.

Yamamamomo42: that got rather out of hand didn't it? Sorry you had to deal with that

Sakura876: I'm sure it wasn't serious. And if it was, then at least it was all anonymous

Yamamamomo42: I was enjoying our discussion before the trolls came down so hard

Sakura876: I as well

Yamamamomo42: You remind me of someone I used to talk to about Kira a lot

Sakura876: Oh yes? Which room? I might have read some of the discussions.

Yamamamomo42: Lol. No. IRL.

Sakura876: Ah. You're lucky, then. Everyone I know IRL is Pickle at best, Kirakira at worst.

Yamamamomo42: Ouch.

Sakura876: So, what do you think Kira will do when someone inevitably starts grabbing for power/influence in his name?

Yamamamomo42: I actually had this exact same discussion with that friend I mentioned. A month or so ago

L's fingers froze on the keyboard. This could be golden, if Yamamoto was referring to Light, as he must be.

Yamamamomo42: My friend thought there were a couple possibilities. He thought the most likely one was what you proposed: Kira will probably have to kill anyone who tries to speak in his name that doesn't strictly adhere to his vision or else risk it being watered down.

Sakura876: And killing someone for a non-violent crime would NOT be watering it down?

Yamamamomo42: Well... he said yes, I said no. No, because it would be punishment for a crime against Kira himself, rather than a crime against an ordinary individual.

Sakura876: So by your reasoning, what constitutes a crime against Kira? Hopefully not me posing the question ;)

Yamamamomo42: Lol, no I think you'd be fine.

Sakura876: Why? Surely if speaking falsely FOR Kira is a crime, then speaking AGAINST Kira would also be criminal

Yamamamomo42: Slippery slope fallacy!

Sakura876: Slippery slope requires the outcome to be disproportionate and unrealistic to be fallacious. IF Kira goes from killing law enforcement officials that get too close to killing false prophets, then killing political opponents won't be much more of a step down. What did your friend think about the FBI agents?

Yamamamomo42: I haven't talked to him recently. But actually, he said once that the Lind L. Tailor incident was the beginning of the end for Kira

Sakura876: Why? Because L zeroed in on him?

Yamamamomo42: No, because he broke his principles. Most people didn't care about that because Lind L. Tailor turned out to be a death row inmate after all, and they assumed Kira had already figured it out. But my friend didn't think so.

Sakura876: Really? Why?

Yamamamomo42: He said L wouldn't use the man if there was any chance of Kira knowing who he was. He also said Kira wouldn't have taken the chance of letting Lind L. Tailor go on air if he knew, because of the importance of his image. He would have killed him ahead of time if he had the chance

Sakura876: That's probably true. So your friend isn't a Kira supporter, I take it?

Yamamamomo42: Hell no! Like I said, he thought that broadcast was the end for Kira's legitimacy, and I'm sure he's doubly convinced that Kira's lost it with the FBI thing. In his opinion, even if it's theoretically possible for Kira's power to change the world, it won't happen because Kira the individual has already demonstrated that he's too flawed to succeed. He "caved in" to the pressure to kill non-criminals too quickly, and it's going to get harder for Kira before it gets better.

Sakura876: Yet you still believe Kira can succeed?

Yamamamomo42: Yeah, I do. At least, I believe it when I'm not talking to him! He's the smartest person I know, can talk circles around me.

Sakura876: I envy you your peer group. Are you still in school?

Yamamamomo42: Graduating high school this year :D

Sakura876: Nice! Planning on university?

Yamamamomo42: Hopefully. I've got the entrance exam in three days... I'm studying so hard I want to die. This is literally the only break I've taken today, except for bathroom and food and texting my girlfriend.

Sakura876: Ah, yes, such a wonderful time in a young person's life... not!

Yamamamomo42: Guess you've taken it too

Sakura876: A few years ago, yeah. I imagine exam hell is where your oh-so-intelligent friend disappeared off to? Not even the lure of Kira philosophy sufficient to drag him out?

Yamamamomo42: Something like that, I guess. I'm not sure. He stopped coming to cram school, not that he needed it. I'll catch up with him after the exam

Sakura876: Well, have fun studying, and hit me up for another chat when you take your next break

Yamamamomo42: Thanks, I will

L quickly copied the two chat texts into word documents to review. It was a successful first contact with Yamamoto, although not particularly enlightening. Yamamoto seemed too eager to speak reminiscently of Light's intelligence and surprising anti-Kira ideology to be the killer himself. Unless that was a clever bluff, in which case his verbal manipulative skill would surely be sufficient to match Kira's. Regardless, he would be the stepping stone to the rest of the friend group. Whether this line of investigation would actually prove helpful was another question entirely.

Whether it would prove helpful before Light either missed the fast-approaching university entrance exams or went insane was... doubtful. L nibbled his thumbnail. Maybe he could pull some strings to get Light into a make up exam session if he worked quickly and timed things right. He had largely dismissed Soichiro's concerns before, knowing the hunt for Kira to be far more important than one teenager's career prospects, but it was a little different to be reminded of the exam again by an actual teenager, with the likelihood of Light's guilt steadily falling.

---

There were two more days of high-volume Kira kills and two more evening chats with an increasingly stressed Daiki Yamamoto who was convinced he was going to fail everything. L mentioned the exam once to Light, and watched the teen startle immediately upright. He looked more animated than he had since the first two days of confinement. It was almost comical.

"Have I missed it?! Gah! A year as a ronin! Mom's going to be mad..."

"Could you pass the test, Light-kun, despite the lack of studying?" L asked.

Light slumped back, energy flowing back out of him as quickly as it had come. "I don't know. Before you arrested me, I'd have said yes. Perfect score and everything. But now... I don't have the focus, and my brain's a... filter? No, a sieve. I feel like it turns off completely when you're not talking to me. And could I even see the test paper? Don't people go temporarily blind after they've been stuck in caves and things for too long?" He scowled. "I wish I hadn't been arrested until next month..."

L snorted.

Light grinned slightly to hear it. "And saying that, I realize the lack of... perspective. I'm sorry, L." Light was apologizing a lot the last few days, L considered. It probably wasn't important, just an anxious reaction.

"No apology necessary, Light-kun. I am the one who brought it up, after all."

"Yes, an evil bit of psychological torture."

"That was not my intent."

"There is a reason for the phrase 'unintended consequences.' Do you... Is there a chance you could let me out soon?"

"I cannot tell you that, Light-kun. Is there anything you need right now?"

Light sighed. "No."

L pursed his lips and typed up a quick message to Watari. He knew the rules for absenteeism for the Japanese national exams were strict, but money solved a lot of mundane problems. He would be extremely upset with himself if Light turned out to be innocent and yet had to put off university for a year because L had made his first mistake.

The night after that discussion, L privately decided he would relax the security on Light Yagami. Except then the case threw him another curve ball: six hundred sixty-six murders happened all around the world between the hours of eight and nine in the morning Japanese time. It was, perhaps coincidentally, the same time of morning Light was arrested. Every victim had been incarcerated. Every single one of them left some kind of note. And every single note contained parts of the same hidden message, in various languages.

You have arrested the wrong person, L.

Assuming Light Yagami was innocent, the message was probably a taunt. Assuming Light Yagami was guilty, the message was definitely a threat, what with the number of the Beast of Revelations. Was the Christian reference a hint that Kira somehow knew L was ethnically European? Or had Kira simply chosen the sinister number because it was likely to be the most well-known?

Could Light still be Kira? Well... maybe. Although Light was certainly not killing people by any detectable means, that didn't prove anything because they still had no clue how exactly Kira killed! Light's own notes had brought up the possibility of a psychic power, and none of the kills since Light's arrest were live. He could, conceivably, have memorized the names and faces before his arrest to hold them in reserve until now. In which case, his progressive difficulty remembering simple names and searching for words was a feint to throw L off the scent.

As Aizawa and Ukita both glared daggers into his back and Mogi tried to explain the situation to Soichiro in his silly cell, L rolled the problem around in his mind. The communication with Kira was helpful, because anything that could be used to better understand Kira was helpful. L needed to provoke a reaction if he was ever to unravel the case. Since Kira was apparently upset that Light had been arrested, the best way to ensure continued communication was probably to continue to detain Light. It didn't even matter why Kira was upset - because Kira was Light, because Kira knew Light, or because Kira disapproved of unjust imprisonment. Perhaps there would be no more messages, but he would not know until he tested Kira.

The most immediate question then was how long Light would last. This morning, Light reported formed visual hallucinations for the first time, seeing humanoid figures on his periphery, not just amorphous colors and flashes. He also reported a persistent ringing in his ears. He still recognized they were hallucinations from sensory deprivation, but that could always change. If Light was Kira, then the hints of impending madness were an act masking an eidetic memory and psychic ability completely unaffected by solitary confinement. There was no way of knowing how long Light could keep up this killing volume in that case. The global prison population numbered in the millions. Even at a hundred per day, it would be years before they could clear Light merely by "waiting him out." Of course, L did not want to keep Light in his current level of confinement for years as he was rather growing to like the young man, and he was certain the taskforce wouldn't let him anyway. Moreover, if Light was Kira, their current methods of confinement had no real tactical advantage. They were not working to contain him, only to prevent him from learning the names and faces of new victims. Letting him move to a different room and freeing his hands would not change that, so long as he was still denied communications with the outside world. The blindfold could even be removed, if his room remained windowless, and his only contacts were Soichiro and Matsuda whose names and faces he already knew.

If Light was not Kira, then Kira could obviously keep this up indefinitely and eventually would start adding back newer victims that Light had no knowledge of. L frowned, picked up the coffee Watari had brought him several hours ago, and started adding sugar cubes to it. He would first observe Kira's response when he continued to confine Light. And then he would observe the response when he loosened Light's restrictions, which only Light should know about if he wasn't let out of the building. L owned the building, and no one but the taskforce members could enter or leave.

The question was when should he move Light? How long was long enough for Kira to understand and respond to L's answer to the taunt, but not too long as to unfairly damage Light if he proved to be innocent?

He took a sip of cold coffee that was more like gritty syrup with its partially dissolved sugar. He smiled and licked the sweetness from his lips. There might be a way to communicate with Kira faster. He just had to instruct one of the detectives to start updating the police database with full reports again, rather than the daily copy-pasted "Electronic report redacted for security purposes. See paper file." The report would contain nothing of importance, of course. It would say only that the taskforce had received a threat from Kira and was taking appropriate security measures, but would not be complying with the fugitive's demands. Everything else in the report would be filler and phony lines of [redacted text]. It was a good plan, he decided. Far better than spending his time talking to moderately intelligent teenagers online. The chats with Yamamoto made L feel like a creep, far moreso than watching Light on camera did, for some reason. Probably because Yamamoto presented so convincingly as a clueless innocent. The high schooler had even carelessly started referring to Light by his given name in their chats, rather than "my friend." At least that had given L the opening he needed to inquire about Light's peculiar popularity at school. Yamamoto had confirmed what Light had said about it, essentially. Yamamoto failed to come up with anybody else of intelligence near Light's level, unfortunately.

Kira's next message arrived in the same manner two days later. In the world of Kira, people only see threats if they know they have done wrong.

Well.

Shit.

They hadn't told Light about the message. They certainly hadn't told Light about the plan to reply to the message in the police report or the content of their reply. The only way Light could have responded like that if he were Kira would be with an impressive game of double-think. L did not think such a game was necessarily beyond Light, but the likelihood of Light being Kira had now fallen to less than 10%, for the first time since the death of Raye Penber. He would test Kira one more time.

Mogi's next report mentioned that Kira had encoded a message in the latest series of murders. More importantly, his report contained an acrostic for a Torah reference, Deuteronomy 4:29.

Yet again the reply arrived two days later, which was helpful in and of itself since it gave some sense of how long it took Kira to see a report and then act on it. But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. It was correct, and there was no logical way Light could have produced it. Light wasn't Kira.

"Watari. Take Matsuda and free Soichiro Yagami, then accompany them to move Light to the new room you have prepared for him."

"Yes!" Matsuda cried, jumping up like an excited puppy. He followed Watari out eagerly.

"Finally," Aizawa muttered under his breath.

L rolled across the room to Light's surveillance station and tapped the microphone on. Light was lying flat on his back on his narrow bed. "Light-kun? Are you awake?"

After a moment, Light spoke. "I had a strange dream, L."

L's eyes widened, and he leaned forwards. Ukita and Aizawa swore softly and came to hover close beside him. "Really? What was it?"

"I... heard a voice talking over me. It said my mother was very angry."

"...Is that it?" L asked, rather disappointed.

"I don't know why she would be angry, L. She's never angry. The voice, though. It was like the voice of a dead man, speaking with the rattling of bones and... dry... sinew rather than a human larynx." He paused and turned his head, listening. "There it is again. Who is it, L? It's a funny voice. I've never heard something like that before..."

Aizawa's hand on the desk next to him balled up into a white-knuckled fist. For once in his life, L could sympathize with the anger. He had wanted to determine Light's innocence or guilt before he developed a true psychosis.

"What is it saying, Light?"

"Can't you hear it?"

"No, I can't."

"Oh." He sat up slowly. "That's not good, is it?"

"We will be moving you out of there, Light. Your father is on his way already."

Light's head snapped towards the right. "You asked what the voice said. It's laughing now. Damn, what an awful laugh."

"Hang in there, Light-kun."

---

After the creepy voice finally stopped laughing, Light merely sat in his darkness, waiting. It was weird to think it was almost over. He knew in the grand scheme of things it hadn't been that long. A month, tops. But it had felt like he would be here forever. It had felt like he would not be the same person if and when they finally released him. It had felt like he would lose his mind in this room. Like he would get old in this room. Maybe even die in this room.

He didn't have to wait long. The door to his cell opened, and several people rushed in.

"Light!"

That was his father's voice. Soichiro crushed him into a hug, weeping into Light's unwashed hair.

"Hi, Dad," he mumbled.

"I'm so sorry, son. So sorry. I should never have missed your calls. This should never have happened to you."

"It probably just would have happened later," Light said philosophically. "I fit the profile too well."

"Matsu, help me unbuckle this," Soichiro ordered.

"Yes, sir."

"Matsu...?" Light muttered. He knew the name from somewhere. And the voice.

"Hi, Light! Just a moment, and we'll have your arms free."

The two of them undid the straps on the straightjacket, and Light gratefully stretched his arms. When they got the jacket the rest of the way off, and Light's hands were free to the open air... it was the best feeling he could remember for a long time. He grasped for his father's arms and hugged him tight. It had been so long since he had been able to touch another person rather than be forcibly moved about, so long since he had longed for the comfort only a parent could offer. He breathed in the smell of his father: sweat, paper, ink, and worry. It was almost strong enough with his face buried in Soichiro's shirt to drown out the smell of Light's own unwashed body. Almost.

Soichiro held him for a long time, hand gently rubbing Light's back. "Come, son. L's not sending you home quite yet, but let's get you out of here and cleaned up."

"The blindfold?" Light asked.

"We'll take it off when we get there," someone else said. Light thought it was the same man who had been tending to him every day. "Your eyes will be too sensitive for the fluorescent hall lights." He nodded, accepting this as simple fact.

Soichiro half lifted him up with an arm under his armpit and supported him as they walked out of the room. Light did not technically need the support, just a guiding hand while he was still blindfolded, yet he appreciated it nonetheless. They took him back to the elevator and up, and up. Tall building. Then down a hall and to the left. They guided him into a chair.

"I'll leave you, now," the unknown voice said. A door closed.

Shaking hands touched his head and gently removed the blindfold. He thought they were Soichiro's again, judging from the little sounds of contained grief. Light did not open his eyes right away, knowing the other man had been right and they would be sensitive. Just seeing the redness of the back of his lids felt like staring into a bonfire. He reached up to rub two weeks of grit from his eyelashes and winced. The skin was tender when he touched it. He probed the area carefully. The skin felt rougher than usual, sort of swollen, and very sensitive. It seemed not all the pain in his face had been headache-related.

"I'll get a damp cloth," Matsu... Matsuda! said, and hastened away.

"How long has it been?" Light asked.

"Seventeen days," Soichiro answered softly. "I'm so sorry, Light."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not," Soichiro said with feeling. "You should never have had to go through this. I should have stopped it. I should have..." Matsuda's footsteps returned. Soichiro stopped talking. The next thing Light felt was the gentle, soothing touch of a cool, moist washcloth against his swollen eyelids. He held still and just listened to Soichiro's voice. "...just cleaning off the crud, let me know if this hurts. Trying not to pull too hard... oh, my poor boy... are you hungry? We can get you something to eat. Or, you'll probably want to wash first. Do you want a shower or a bath? Probably a shower first, can always do a bath later if you're stiff... A little bit more here... Matsuda, turn off the light in here, just leave the one on in the next room... Do you want to try opening your eyes, Light?"

Light breathed in and held the air in his lungs. He cracked his lids. He was glad the room was dim. If there were windows, they were blacked out. He slowly opened his eyes further, until the light from the other room reflected off Soichiro's glasses started to strain his vision. Everything was blurry. His father's head looked the wrong shape, and bits of it kept...moving. So he was still hallucinating. He wondered how long that would last. He smiled. "Hi, Dad. It's good to see you."

Soichiro hugged him again. "What do you want next, Light?"

"Shower," Light said instantly. He felt disgusting.

"Okay. Let's get you to the bathroom." He started to help Light up, and Light raised his hands.

"I can walk."

He did accept Soichiro's hands again when they got to the bathroom: it was too bright with even just the hall light on, and too easy to trip over things in the unfamiliar environment with the hall light off. His arms and hands were also weakened from disuse, so he accepted his father's help to undress and get into the shower. He just stood under the water for a long time, letting it wash over him. The simple feeling of water running down his skin was amazing. He scrubbed mechanically at his lower torso and groin, wincing as he found several patches of a tender rash from the straitjacket and from his own typical form-fitting pants. When he tried to reach higher, he found his shoulders and elbows were too sore to scrub very effectively. Even though he couldn't see the dirt, he could feel the slimy layer of dead skin. And he really wanted to be clean.

"Dad..."

"Yes?" Soichiro was waiting out in the bathroom.

"Can you help me wash my hair? And my back?"

"Of course."

Once again, Light just held still while his father tended to him. His father's hands were so gentle. They didn't talk. There was more tender skin that stung from the soap, in his armpits and around the base of his neck. He heard Soichiro mutter to Matsuda to go out and find some kind of ointment for the rashes. They shampooed his hair three times before Soichiro was satisfied his scalp was clean. He worked some hair conditioner through as well, fingers worrying at the horrific knots that had formed where the blindfold had rested and rubbed.

He would have stayed under the water forever, except he suddenly realized he had to pee. He got his privacy for that, thank goodness. And then Soichiro was back, applying some kind of cream to his inflamed skin. He had a different cream for the area around Light's eyes, but Light didn't bother to ask the details. He only cared that little by little, the pain that had developed so insidiously over his confinement was easing. He dressed in loose sweatpants and a t-shirt. Soichiro combed his hair. He didn't look in the mirror, not that there was much point of trying with the dim light and his distorted vision.

They returned to the other room.

"Do you want it any brighter, Light?" Matsuda asked anxiously.

"No, not yet," Light said.

"Do you need anything else right now, son? Are you hungry?"

"No. What's happening with the case? I know you can't tell me everything, but..."

Soichiro coughed. "I don't know the details myself, actually. I... took myself off the case a few days in to your confinement. I knew I could not be objective. All I know is L is finally convinced of your innocence."

"I can try to fill you in," Matsuda offered.

"No, it should be L," Soichiro said firmly. "He's still leading the case. He knows what he wants kept confidential and what he's willing to share." He hesitated. "Although, I'll understand if you don't want to talk to him, Light."

Light shrugged stiffly. "I'm not angry with him, not really. I know why he did it. And he is interesting to talk to. I don't mind talking to him again."

"I'll tell him that, then."

Light nodded and peered around the room he was in. It looked like the combined office and sitting room of a fancy hotel suite, from what little he could see of it. "Where are we?"

"It's the new taskforce headquarters."

"Did L commandeer a hotel or something like that?" Light asked curiously.

"Something like that," Soichiro agreed.

"What day is it?"

"January 24th. Friday."

Light laughed bitterly. "I've missed the first round of the university entrance exam then, haven't I?" He didn't remember at the moment when the stupid thing had been scheduled, but he knew it was supposed to be mid-January. Even if he was still in time for the make up session, he definitely wasn't fit to sit for it.

"Yes... last week. I'm sorry, Light."

"It's not important." Solitary confinement changed one's perspective on these things.

Matsuda gasped. Soichiro flinched.

"Are Mom and Sayu okay?"

"They're fine," Soichiro said, voice a little strained. "They think you've been assisting with the Kira taskforce, actually."

Light laughed again, softer this time. "And they're not even wrong. You said L isn't actually letting me go, though. So what's the plan?"

"I'm not sure what all he's thinking, but for now, you will rest and recover in this suite here. You've got three rooms - main room, bedroom, and bathroom. It's on the top floor. We've blacked out all the windows, including the skylight in the main room here, but we can uncover the skylight when you feel ready for it. I'm afraid you won't have liberty of the rest of the building for now, and there's no communication with the outside world except in the secure communications room. You do have a video and audio link to the rest of us in the main room here. And there's books, writing materials, music, and some DVDs for you."

"Don't leave me here," Light said, weirdly unnerved by the list of things to do in solitude.

Soichiro sighed. "No, we won't leave you here. I need to talk to L, but Matsuda can stay with you while I'm away, and then I'll come back. One of us can always be with you."

Light nodded. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I know you still need to work on the case, now that I'm... out of trouble."

Soichiro knelt before him and put his hands on Light's cheeks. "No, Light. There are six other men working on the case. You are more important to me than anything else right now. If you need me here, I will be here."

Light smiled and leaned into his father's touch. "Thanks, but what I want more than anything is for you and L to catch Kira. I'll... be fine. Even if you and Matsuda-san both have to go."

"No way, Light, I am staying right here with you until the Chief gets back," Matsuda said instantly. Light leaned back and turned his head to squint at the young detective.

"Thank you, Matsuda-san."

"Just Matsu is fine, Light."

"Matsu, then. Thank you again."

Soichiro squeezed his hand. "I'll be back soon, Light."

Matsuda quickly replaced Soichiro in the chair across from him. "What do you want to do, Light?" Light shrugged. He'd already done the one thing he'd had on his agenda in the unlikely event of his freedom: wash. "Do you want me to read to you? Or, I know, can you teach me that cipher you invented? I couldn't understand how it worked when we were looking through your Kira notes, and no one else had the time to properly explain it."

Light smiled faintly. "Sure. Why not? Go get the writing materials my father mentioned."

---

"How is Light-kun?" L asked Chief Yagami when he arrived in the team room a few hours after Light was released. He had already asked Watari, of course, who had said Light should recover and left it at that.

Soichiro sighed. "It's going to take days for him to tolerate normal light settings, he needed help to wash and change, and he's got sores all over his body from your damned restraints. I hope they're not infected."

"If they do not improve quickly, tell Watari. He can get an antibiotic. Is he still hallucinating?"

"Hard to say. He was... so quiet."

"The make up session for the entrance examinations is the day after tomorrow. Do you want me to get Light a seat? I can probably still do it."

"I... No, you ghoul! He's in no shape for that. He'll take a year off and sit the exam next year. No university will hold it against him in these circumstances. You can write a letter explaining his absence to the testing administration, though. And you're sticking to the lie you're telling my family, that Light was called in to assist the Kira investigation, not because he was a suspect."

L shrugged. "Okay. Do you think he would be willing to discuss the case?"

Soichiro glared at him. "I'm sure he would be, but as his father, I forbid you to badger him about it."

L raised an eyebrow. "Is that a strict rule?"

"Today it is. You can ask me again tomorrow."

"May I ask why, if he is not opposed?"

"Because... he's not even angry at you! And he should be! You've hurt him and humiliated him and derailed his university plans! He's not well after over two weeks of solitary confinement. He needs to be resettled and reoriented before you start playing your mind games."

"I suppose you may have a point. Certainly, conversing with him has become more...challenging... over the last few days. I am sorry to have caused his suffering. I wish it could have been avoided."

Soichiro nodded. His angry posture slackened slightly. "What is Kira doing, Ryuzaki? Watari only said you had sufficient evidence to clear Light."

"The breakthrough so far as Light was concerned came when Kira started leaving notes again several days ago. They were clearly intended as communication with us, and today Kira even left a message referring directly to communication I left for him. These are real time developments Light could have no possible knowledge of. Ergo, Light is not Kira." As he spoke, he brought up the images of Kira's three messages, as well as the dummy reports he'd had Mogi file containing their responses.

"I see. Do you have a new prime suspect?"

"At the moment, no. There is no one else in Japan who clearly fits the profile as well as Light did, and nothing to raise any one of the other candidates to prominence. And still nothing has come of surveillance of your house or Kitamura's. I therefore asked Watari to remove the bugs today."

Soichiro grunted. "So you no longer suspect the Kitamuras either?"

"I did not say that. I am removing the bugs because they have not been useful. At this point, I believe what is most needed is further direct communication with Kira. That will presumably be easier if Kira is not actively hiding from cameras. It has twice taken Kira two days to respond to my messages. If communication speeds up, that will be...suggestive." Soichiro glowered at him, obviously none too pleased to learn his wife and daughter were not yet cleared. L did not particularly suspect either Yagami woman, but nor did he have sufficient evidence to exclude them. He did not give Soichiro time to protest. "It is for this same reason that I prefer not to release Light-kun. Kira it seems spoke out this time in part because of Light's detainment. I do not want Kira to think the messages have achieved their goal and go silent again."

Soichiro frowned. "You truly think Kira cares about Light's arrest?"

"It is the best explanation of the changes in killing pattern and the messages. I cannot say if Kira merely disapproves of my methods in general, felt insulted that I arrested the wrong person, or was offended because it was Light."

"So Kira could be someone Light knows."

"There is a high probability of that, yes. Light-kun suggested it, in fact. I would appreciate his perspective on the matter. When you permit me to speak with him."

"I understand. Is there any of what you've told me you wish me to conceal from Light? He wants to know what's going on in the case, but I told him I had to talk to you first."

L thumbed his lower lip. "Don't tell him the specifics of the messages. I'd like to discuss that with him and see his initial reaction first hand."

"Why?" Soichiro asked suspiciously. "I thought he was cleared."

"He is. But his deductive skills far exceed yours or any other member of the taskforce excluding myself. I want to see if he reaches the same conclusions I did without biasing him ahead of time."

Soichiro nodded thoughtfully. "I see what you mean. The notes of his we read - so close to your thoughts, except for certain nuances in the details."

"Exactly. Since my initial profile led us astray, I need to revise it. Light will be very helpful to check my reasoning in a case so complex as this."

"Tomorrow, Ryuzaki," Soichiro said firmly. "I'll let you talk to him tomorrow. Assuming he still agrees to it."

"Thank you."

---

L watched Light sitting on the couch next to his father all night through the single monitor in the main room of his suite. Soichiro had at first encouraged him to go to bed, but Light had said he wasn't tired, that it still felt like daytime to him. L knew he wasn't lying. Light's circadian rhythm had stretched to thirty-five hours during his confinement (L had tracked it), and they had woken him up in the middle of his sleep period when they released him late morning yesterday. L considered talking to the younger man solely through the comms link again but decided against it. Light's face was very expressive, and the room remained so dark, he could only see by the inadequate infrared camera. Plus, there was little point to preserving his aloof modus operandi with Light, when Light wasn't Kira and was probably going to be more useful than the rest of the taskforce.

And so as soon as Soichiro gave his parental permission, L took the elevator up to the top floor, accompanied by Watari bearing a tray of coffee, confections, and more traditional Japanese breakfast fare. They knocked on the door. Soichiro answered it. Watari handed the tray to him with a bow and left. L followed Soichiro into the suite. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the low light. It wasn't pitch black. There was a faint light filtering down through the layers of paper over the skylight, and a touch of yellower light coming from the hall connecting to the bathroom. The effect was to render the room in soft, fuzzy grays with very little sense of color. Light was sitting in the darkest corner, unsurprisingly. He turned his head to look at L as he entered the suite, and L was met with the uncanny and rather rare feeling of looking into a distorted mirror.

L and Light did not look alike, normally. But in the dim room, the difference in their coloring was nonexistent. The crispness of Light's youthful features was lost. His previously erect posture was a little slumped, like L's. His eyes were sunken, like L's, and so widely dilated as to match L's infamous, unnerving stare. The subtle difference was that Light's eyes did not stay fixed on their target, but rather jumped, regularly surveying the rest of the room before returning to L's face. Light did not smile or greet him, so L did. "It is good to see you Light-kun. I am L, though you may call me Ryuzaki for the purposes of his case. I am glad you are willing to look past my treatment of you in order to work on the case." Light nodded. That was all the permission L needed to cross the room and climb into and crouch on the chair closest to Light. His toes curled to grip the seat cushion. He tucked his closed laptop computer into the side of the chair next to him and thumped a pile of suspect files onto the table between him and Light. "You can put that tray down and join us, Chief Yagami."

Light watched him curiously. "Do you always sit like that?"

"He does," Soichiro said, peering at the contents of the tray. He lifted a few plates close to his face to identify their contents. He moved bowls of steamed rice and miso soup close to Light, who paid him no heed.

"Why?"

"If I were to sit normally, my deductive skills would immediately be reduced by roughly 40 percent," L answered.

Soichiro jostled the china in surprise. Light actually smiled. "That's a dramatic margin indeed. Is it because of pain in a more upright posture or do you have restless legs that abate in the more active crouching position? Or is it more of an autistic behavioral stereotypy? Or an adult-onset mental compulsion?"

"Interesting question. Usually, no one asks."

"Probably because most people are too shocked by your initial explanation to question further, and too polite."

"Probably. It started out as a stereotypy and didn't affect my thinking nearly as much when I was little, but since no one tried to correct it then, it led to worsening of scoliosis as well. So now it's a combination of habit and pain."

"You're unusually frank about it."

"You're the one who asked."

"Yes, but most people would not have answered."

"I'm not most people."

"No. You're not. That's why I asked. Because I knew you would answer."

"Oh?"

"Yes, because you do not care what other people think of you, and you do not care about personal privacy. If you cared at all about either of those things, you would never have come here to face me after what you did."

"Light..." Soichiro breathed.

L only nodded. "You're right. Is there anything else you want to say before we get down to business?"

"No. I think the air is sufficiently cleared on my end. I just wanted you to know that that I know what you are. Anything you need to say?"

"Do you want me to apologize?"

"Only if you want to. Do you regret what you did to me, Ryuzaki?"

"I do not regret my decisions. They were logical. I regret that you suffered."

Light smiled. "Well, that's alright then, since I was the one making regrettable decisions, albeit internally logical and entirely innocent ones. I think we are in agreement. Now, how can I help you?"

"Fresh eyes. There is no one in Japan who fits my profile anywhere near so well as you. Which means my profile is wrong."

"As we already discussed at one point, it can't be that wrong, if Kira felt the need to eliminate the FBI agents."

"I agree. What do you think was my weakest assumption?"

Light drummed his fingers a moment, considering before answering, "Immature sense of justice and therefore age, since you concluded the latter based on the former. It's the one point my profile did not share with yours. Partly, that was because I was never able to exclude the possibility of additional noncriminal victims because I did not have the time and resources to analyze the national deaths statistics with sufficient rigor. Were you?"

L nodded. "There were no other populations with statistical increases in cardiac arrests or drug overdose, nor any abnormal geographic clustering, nor any clearly connected to anyone connected to the police. Or to anyone connected to you."

Light nodded thoughtfully. "So justice is the primary motivator, warped as it is. I still would say the assumption of younger age is weak, though. If one is granted a mystical ability to deal death at a distance, what can you do with it? The only moral option would be nothing, but for all we know the power comes with a mystical compulsion to kill as well. Killing criminals would seem less bad of the bad options. So really, the only age limit is on the lower end. A five-year-old for example would not be expected to form the plan in the first place, let alone be able to obtain all the necessary information on the victims without assistance."

"And if the hypothetical five-year-old is the weapon with the supernatural killing power, he would still have an older handler," L agreed thoughtfully.

"How young is too young, then?" Light mused. "It has to be somewhere beyond the age of totally self-centered behavior."

"Which is very variable in the gifted population."

"So age just isn't a useful indicator at all," Light concluded. "I assume the deaths of the FBI agents is still the strongest evidence you have pointing to specific individuals?"

"Yes, but there have been some new developments during your incarceration too."

"What kind?"

"More messages." Silently, L passed Light the recent communications with Kira. "These are what finally convinced me of your innocence."

Light accepted the papers and squinted at them. He moved them farther away from his face, then nearer. "I can't read it. Dad, can you turn on another light?"

"Of course."

The teenager flinched when the light of the desk lamp on the other side of the room fell across his face, shattering the illusion that L had been talking to a younger version of himself. Now L could see the red in his hair. He had red, raw and flaking skin around his eyes rather than mere eye-bags. It looked painful. His pupils failed to accommodate to the light, so he squinted to compensate. He shook his head. "Still can't read it."

"I don't think another lamp will help," L said. "I'll just read it to you." It took about a minute to relate the details of Kira's messages and L's responses.

"'You have arrested the wrong person,' and 'in the world of Kira, people only see threats if they know they have done wrong,'" Light repeated. He looked up at L. "Who all knew of my arrest?"

"Only the taskforce. Your family was told a cover story, and we never put the fact that there had been an arrest in any report."

"If Kira was watching, they would have figured it out though. Which they might have been, since they had their eye on Ms. Maki."

"Misora. Naomi Misora was her real name."

"Misora, then. Anyway, obviously Kira knew there was an arrest. So either Kira knows me and figured it out when I disappeared under dubious circumstances, or Kira had an agent watching when Matsuda and the others detained me... there are fewer coincidences to account for if I'm still the common factor, aren't there? If Ms. Misora came to Kira's attention because she encountered me rather than the other way around, if Kira noticed the arrest because it was me, and then sent you the first message because it was me. After all, Kira would have no incentive to risk exposure sending that message if they viewed me as a potential threat, as I had assumed after what happened to Ms. Misora."

L agreed with Light's reasoning, but he still offered, "The incentive could, conceivably, have been outrage over the miscarriage of justice."

Light shook his head instantly. "No, Kira has already demonstrated that their personal safety is higher priority than the cause of justice, when they killed Lind L. Tailor and then the FBI agents and then, presumably, Ms. Misora. Kira is connected to me. Personally. Somehow. I hope it's just a stalker."

"Don't make jokes like that, Light," Soichiro said gruffly.

"It's not a joke."

"In which case, the FBI agents could have been targeted simply because you were under their surveillance," L muttered. The possibility had occurred to him before, but he'd dismissed it.

Light nodded warily. "Possible, but the chances are higher that Kira had independent knowledge of the FBI agents in order to figure out why I was being followed. Plus, surely Agent Penber would have noticed a stalker if the stalker was not aware of him first and already taking precautions. So. Who do you have in your suspect list who knows me well enough to notice when I vanished and was also placed under FBI surveillance before or the same time I was? Can't have been much later or they wouldn't have time to orchestrate the deaths of the agents. Those first elaborate deaths with the first message could have been some kind of experiment in preparation for killing the agents. Forget the rest of the profile for a moment."

L and Soichiro sorted through the document pile while Light straightened up a bit and sipped the miso soup.

They narrowed it down to a half-dozen individuals based on Light's suggestion. None of them were particularly promising when L had looked through them before, but he was being open-minded. "Seventy-three-year-old woman, son is an officer..."

"And I know her because she used to give Sayu piano lessons, yes?"

"Yes."

"It's not her."

"No, I didn't think so either."

"Thirteen-year-old male, father is an officer..."

"Classmate of Sayu's?"

"Yes."

"She says he's a bully and an idiot."

"Agent Marlowe would agree."

"Thirty-six-year-old man, has been living with his brother who works at the station..."

"Brother of Nakamura, the receptionist?"

"Yes."

"He's intellectually impaired, only a consideration if we think Nakamura could be Kira. Which would explain how Kira got to Ms. Misora before you did, I suppose, since he was manning the desk when she was there."

"Kohoku Nakamura... was never able to pass the university entrance exam and was working the evening shift at the desk when Kira first became active."

"Very unlikely, then."

"Deputy Director Kitamura."

"Maybe. He's above-average intelligence, and the work hours he keeps aren't quite as insane as Dad's." Soichiro frowned at him. "But I find it hard to imagine he'd risk exposing himself on my behalf."

"We've had his household under surveillance same as yours."

"Then it's even less likely. Kira wouldn't have missed the cameras, and Kitamura would never endanger his own family. Best one yet, though."

"I'll put it in the 'maybe' pile. Next is a forty-two-year-old woman, husband is an officer."

"Mom?"

..."Yes."

Light looked down. "She's smart enough," he said after a moment.

Soichiro breathed in sharply, and L shot him a look to keep quiet. "Really? Her test scores were above average, but nothing special."

"She doesn't test as well as she should, same as Sayu," Light explained quietly. "Sayu's much smarter than she seems on paper too. I spend a lot of time tutoring her, normally, and it's not because she can't understand her subjects but because she doesn't work through them the way the teachers want her to. Plus, the entrance exam test scores are skewed to favor boys, or at least, they were when Mother took them. She hacked into the database after her own exams and figured it out. Sent her findings anonymously to a newspaper. The only thing to come of it then was tightening of the test administration security."

Well, that was information entirely missing from the files. L had noticed the gender skew in the test scores of course but had attributed it to the increased pressure on boys to study and perform well in Japanese culture and their preferential access to high-end test preparation resources, not an actual conspiracy by the test administrative body. The numbers weren't that different in recent years. "...Is your mother really intelligent enough to be Kira, Light-kun?"

Light's eyes went distant. "Besides you and myself, she's the smartest person I know. She taught me half of what I know, and the other half she learned with me."

"It's not Sachiko," Soichiro burst out, no longer able to contain himself. "It can't be." Light looked at his father and hunched his shoulders.

"It probably isn't," L said reasonably. "We've had her under surveillance this whole time. Not quite so intensive as yours, Light-kun, but enough to know there has been no significant change in her schedule. And we observed three live murders during the surveillance period with no evidence of foul play."

Soichiro sighed in relief. Light also looked reassured. "Let's watch that footage again, of the time of the murders I mean, so we can cross Mom off the list for good. And we can watch the Kitamura footage afterwards."

L nodded, brought out his computer, and retrieved the video. There was Sachiko, standing at the counter near the window, writing on a piece of paper. "Every time, your mother was in the kitchen, while your sister had the television running in the other room." They watched the first clip.

"She never even glanced back to the television," Soichiro pointed out in satisfaction.

"What's she doing?" Light asked. "I can't see very well."

"In this one, she appears to be working on the household budget. She sorts through receipts and the checkbook at one point."

Light nodded. They watched the other two clips, which were virtually the same.

"Also budgeting?"

"In the last one, yes. The second one looked like a grocery list," Soichiro answered.

"What do you think, Light?" L asked.

Light was silent for a moment. When he answered, his voice was a dead monotone. "Mom never uses a shopping list."

"She doesn't?" Soichiro asked, cautiously. It sounded like he could not decide to be angry at Light for impugning his wife, or to continue to be protective and gentle towards Light because of his injury.

"She doesn't need lists. Never did. She can memorize just as readily as I can. She does budget." And yet she had written a to-do list every evening, L thought, as if it was just part of her regular routine.

"Maybe that's all it was."

"She doesn't budget every day. Only once per month. She doesn't need more than one day per month to work on it."

"Then she was working on something else," Soichiro said. "She was just writing."

"Kira needs a face and a name, Light-kun," L said softly, leaning forwards in anticipation.

"She could hear the television from the kitchen, easily."

"And the face?"

"She has two options. If the window is perfectly dark, it will reflect the television screen from where she's standing. If the window is not perfectly dark that time of night, it is because it is illuminated from the neighbors' house. They have a wide-screen television visible from our kitchen window."

L found himself grinning like a fool. He knew it was rather poor taste, sitting in the presence of Sachiko Yagami's husband and son, but he couldn't help it. He'd finally found Kira. "It would absolutely explain why Kira was willing to risk herself to free you."

"Odd that she would go after Misora, though, when that's what pointed you most urgently towards me."

"Yes... that is odd. We will have to ask her."

Light nodded miserably.

Soichiro leaned forwards and dropped his head into his hands. "Light..."

"I'm sorry, Dad."

"It can't be Sachiko. She was just writing. Just writing."

"I know."

"Perhaps she even was just writing a grocery list, yet that would not exclude the possibility, Chief Yagami," L said. "Not until we understand the killing method. Now, how are we to do this?"

"Do...?" Soichiro mumbled.

"How are we to confront her?" L clarified impatiently. "I assume if I send the rest of the taskforce to arrest her, you would like to first make arrangements for Sayu."

"Are you planning to put my mother into the cell you kept me in?" Light asked.

"Unless you have a better plan, then yes."

"I don't want you to torture her for weeks on end like you did to me."

"Well, if the killings stop right away, I won't have to."

"No, you'll just have to execute her, then," Light agreed bitterly. "But the killings continuing didn't stop you from doubting me, did it?"

"No, because you could conceivably have memorized victim identities ahead of time. Or had some other way to schedule kills ahead of time."

"Which is why I am telling you your methods are unacceptable. You can and should arrest her and bring her in for questioning. If she does not confess to you, then let my father and I talk to her. And if she still does not confess, then you should follow the letter of the law this time and release her after forty-eight hours."

"Suspects can be legally detained without charges for up to twenty-three days in Japan," L pointed out.

"If you get a judge to order it based on the evidence presented. You'll have a hard time convincing a judge to go along with it when you have her on camera not committing crimes. And don't try to persuade me you had me legally detained."

"I wasn't going to. But forty-eight hours is really too short a time, Light-kun. It takes that long just for Kira to respond to my messages."

"You can negotiate about it if and when you feel you need to. But I am not going to let you do to her what you did to me, and I can promise you, the rest of the taskforce will go along with me."

L smirked. "You think so? No offense, Light-kun, but none of them seriously tried to stop me when it came to your confinement. They should be less inhibited now, not more."

"They argued with you, though."

"Unsuccessfully."

"This time, I'll be the one arguing with you. You may be above the law, L, but I promise you, I will find a way to hold you to it nonetheless."

L's smirk widened into a grin. "I welcome the challenge, then."

Light's eyes glinted. "It shouldn't be a challenge to follow the law."

"Ha! You're so right, Light-kun. Well, let us hope that particular challenge never arises, then. Chief Yagami, what are your wishes for Sayu's care?"

Soichiro sighed, sounding defeated. Light glanced at him and folded his arms. L thought both he and Light were thinking the same thing: Soichiro was an admirable man of the law, but he was proving terribly weak when it came to standing up for his own family. He hadn't stood up for Light the same way Light was preparing to stand up for Sachiko. His only protests were emotional denial. He took no practical action to defend his own. Light did not volunteer a plan for him, though, so Soichiro had to speak. "Send the officers for her after Sayu is on her way to school. Whether we have an answer after that or not, I will go home and be there for Sayu."

Light nodded. "I agree."

---

The arrest of Sachiko Yagami was uneventful. She resisted not at all as Aizawa secured her blindfold and Mogi secured her hands behind her back. Soon enough, she was sitting in the same interrogation chamber they had first placed Light in. She sat with her ankles demurely crossed, as upright as she could with the placement of the handcuffs.

She flatly refused to talk to L.

"Let me speak to my son, you monster. Let me know that he is okay."

"Why would he not be okay, Mrs. Yagami-san, when he has been assisting with the investigation? Do you think Kira targeted him?"

"My son would not have left so abruptly and remained completely out of contact with me for almost three weeks of his own volition. He would not have missed the university placement examination of his own volition. You did something to him, monster."

"Why should I do anything to him?"

"Because you are a monster who cares nothing for the rights of others so long as your own wants are sated."

"An ironic statement, coming from you. Are you Kira, Mrs. Yagami-san?"

"No. Let me speak to Light."

L continued to question her, and she continued to answer exclusively with insults and demands to speak to her son. Eventually, L had to concede he wasn't getting anywhere with this. He gave permission for Light and Soichiro to go down to the cell. Light was provided with thick sunglasses for the venture. His hands shook a little as he put them on.

Soichiro stopped in the hallway well back of the door and shuddered. Light stopped as well, waiting for him. Soichiro was breathing hard. His hands were balled into fists, and he shook his head. "Light... I don't know if I can do this. Not again. I died inside when it was you we arrested. I know she needs to be questioned, but I can't... go in there and accuse my own wife of twenty years of being a murderess."

"Do you think I find it any easier, Father? She's my mother."

"I know. I know, Light. I am being weak. I- I'll go with you. Just give me a minute."

Light stepped closer and leaned his head against Soichiro's. "I can do it alone, if you prefer."

"No, Light. I should not ask that of you. If anything, I should be offering for you to stay out of it."

Light smiled slightly. "If you were the hero detective in a story, then yes, you probably should. You should be the strong, stalwart father, and I should be the one quivering and protesting. Your detectives probably think I'm being creepy and abnormal right now, because I'm still mostly calm. Do you know why I have the strength to do this, Dad?"

Soichiro flinched and shook his head.

Light lowered his voice further, wary of L's ubiquitous cameras and microphones. "Because if she truly is Kira... she allowed herself to be captured for love of me. She's still Mom. Even if we can't save her from herself, we can save her from L. We owe her that much."

Soichiro made a choked noise of inarticulate grief. He reached up to hold Light's head, tears streaming down his face. Eventually, he nodded. Hand in hand, father and son walked the rest of the way down the hall.

Sachiko turned her head towards the door the moment it opened.

"I'm here, Mom," Light said softly.

Her stiff posture wilted in plain relief. "Oh, Light, honey. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay."

"Did they hurt you?"

"They did, a little, but I'm okay now."

"I knew it... I knew it. I knew it..." She scowled, and the handcuffs clinked as their chain grew taut behind her.

"I'm fine, I promise. Mom... Are you Kira?"

She stilled. "No, of course not."

"I need to ask you again. Are you Kira?"

"What do you want me to say, Light?"

"The truth. Are you Kira?"

"I am not."

He sat down across from her. "You're lying. I can always tell when you're lying to me. You taught me how to lie, and you taught me all your tells."

She smiled suddenly, fondly. "I did, didn't I?"

"Are you Kira?"

"Yes."

Soichiro gasped and fell back against the wall. "No..."

Sachiko's smile vanished. "Soichiro. Get out of this room. You have no right to be here."

"I have no right?" he sputtered.

"You let that monster hurt our son. Your presence offends me, husband. Get out."

"I'm not leaving Light here with Kira!"

She sniffed scornfully. "As if I would harm my own child. Get out."

"It's fine, Dad," Light said softly. "Wait outside for a bit. Please?"

"I... Okay, Light. I'll be here when you need me."

"Thank you." As soon as Soichiro left the room, he turned back to his mother. "Why did you do it?"

Sachiko shrugged. "The means came to me, and I wanted to keep you safe. And your father."

Light's stomach twisted. She wanted to keep him safe, eh? And thus, she implicated him in thousands of deaths. He took a deep breath, in and out. So far, L was watching silently, which meant the detective wanted Light to continue his own questioning as long as he could. Imagining what L might do to Sachiko if she decided not to cooperate and give him the answers he wanted, Light steeled himself. He could do this. He owed his mother that much. "How do you kill?" he asked.

"Take off my left shoe. The key to the killing power is there."

Light raised his eyebrows but obeyed her. He knelt down next to her chair and pulled off her shoe. He couldn't see anything obvious, so he reached into the shoe and found a small piece of paper folded in half. He pulled it out curiously and opened it up. It was... a grocery list. His eyes moved down the page, and he blinked. The list was written in Kanji. Take a few of the pen strokes away from certain characters... and there was the name Hashimoto Amayo, the criminal who had died on television while Sachiko was writing... this list.

"You- you just have to write the name down?" he breathed.

Suddenly, there was a hideous, grating laugh above and a little behind him. "Hah! You were right! Light-o figured it out right away, Sachiko!" Light twisted around towards the horrible voice and overbalanced. He caught himself with his arms and stared up at the huge, skeletal, winged demon that had suddenly appeared in the room with them.

He cowered. "Fuck. Fucking fuck." The demon laughed again. Its fanged mouth barely moved. Was the sound real, or was it all in his mind? All in his mind... Light's eyes widened. "You... it was your voice I heard." The demon grinned wider, splitting its face in half and exposing even more sharp teeth. Light just stared at it, taking in the thin, too-long limbs in their tight, black, leather clothing. Was it clothing, or another kind of skin? It seemed to be joined directly to the paler skin around the creature's neck and hands with... teeth, or maybe staples. The wings were translucent, like a mirage. The lips were black, and so was the inside of the mouth except for the sharp white fangs. The eyes were yellow and lidless. He shuddered.

The microphone crackled. "Light-kun? What are you looking at? Do you need help?"

Light shook his head, heart beating wildly. "There is a demon here. That is the source of the killing power. But it is not hurting me."

Sachiko bent a little towards him. "You do not need to be afraid of Ryuk, Light. He will not harm you."

L again. "A demon? Ryuk? And you heard the voice before?"

"When a human is in delirium or near death or otherwise suffering from psychotic hallucinations, then they grow sensitive to the presence of Shinigami," Ryuk explained, sounding delighted.

"Shinigami," Light repeated. He sat back up. "A Death god. Apparently, when we thought I was hallucinating, that was the Shinigami."

Ryuk shook his head and bounced upside down to hang from the ceiling. "Oh, you were hallucinating, boyo. Half of human hallucinations are intrusions from the spirit realms. You just don't know the difference."

"Whatever." Light turned his attention away from the menacing demon, since it truly didn't seem inclined to hurt him, and back to his mother. "How can you kill just by writing it down?"

Sachiko smiled, the smile she used to use when helping Light tackle a particularly difficult new project. The smile of shared secrets and shared learning. "The same way the Shinigami do. Every Shinigami carries a notebook in which they mark down the names of humans to die. Ryuk happened to drop a notebook in the human world. I found it. If you write a name in it, holding the face of the person in your mind, then that person will die."

Light's heart skipped a beat. "That's... it?"

She nodded. "That's it. The piece of paper you are holding is from the Death Note. You can see Ryuk now because you have touched it."

Light dropped the paper as if it had burned him, even though that was a wholly irrational instinct. Ryuk did not vanish, unfortunately. Whatever contact with the substance of another world had done to Light, it was potentially permanent. That was not encouraging. "When? When did you find it? Who did you first kill with it?"

"Karou Otoharada," Sachiko said, answering the second question first. "I found the notebook that afternoon. I had no intention to use it originally. In fact, I thought it was a joke in rather poor taste. But then I saw the news. That awful man putting all those little children at risk. If the police had stormed in as planned, someone innocent would have died, I'm sure of it. And so I wrote down the name, not really believing it would work. But it did, and all those children were saved. Not a shot fired. Oh, Light, can you imagine the trauma those little boys and girls would have suffered if the police had had a violent confrontation with that man?"

"I see. You wanted to protect the innocent."

She nodded. "I did not decide to take up the mission immediately. I knew it would be dangerous, that I would not be unnoticed for long. But..."

"What?"

"There was a night you came home and told me you had almost been in a fight with a street gang. Do you remember that?"

Light swallowed and nodded.

"I was so proud of you for being so brave and doing the right thing to protect that girl. But I could imagine a different ending, where you had been hurt or even killed. With your ambitions to follow in your father's footsteps, I knew it was inevitable that one of you would be hurt, one day. The streets are too dangerous and the both of you too driven for it not to happen."

"And so you decided to kill as many criminals as you could."

She nodded again.

"Okay... why did you also kill prisoners, not just fugitives? I can sort of understand intervening in the midst of a violent crime, but I don't understand going after those the law has already punished. What's the point?"

"Several reasons. First, that was the easiest way to cover my tracks geographically. Second, when I started looking into it, it's appalling how many murderers and rapists are released from prison every year only to kill or rape again within a few years. And third... I see no value in subjecting criminals to life in prison, living out their lives as pariahs, adding to the pain and burden of others. The death I could give them is more humane."

With that admission, Light knew his mother was lost. He was sure the only reason she had started killing prisoners was to protect her own interests. Her other justifications were just that - justifications. A way to rationalize what she knew but no longer cared was wrong. There was nothing left to do but to collect the rest of the evidence in order to understand her actions and ensure the danger was over.

"I suppose I did not notice because I was spending so much time in my room, studying for the exam and researching Kira. How did you hide your activities from Dad and Sayu?"

"I never used the notebook or went on the computer to hack the police server when Soichiro was home, and that became less and less of a problem. I was careful to conceal pages of the notebook away from Sayu when she was downstairs with me. The notebook itself I hid where neither Sayu nor Soichiro would find it." Not Light, though, he noted. She thought he would find it, if he decided to look. Actually, he had a good idea where it probably was, just based on that.

"And it is possible to kill on a schedule with the notebook, it seems?"

"Yes. I can designate the time of death ahead of time. If I do not, then the death occurs forty seconds after I write the name. I started scheduling the deaths ahead of time when I was alone in the house, but all during the time period I had originally used so L would not immediately notice."

"Until the day you decided to show him that the schedule was by your choice."

"Yes."

"Why break the pattern?"

"Because he had decided based on the schedule that Kira was a student, and I knew, eventually, that erroneous conclusion would lead him to you." She smiled bitterly. "It was my first mistake. He used my reply to double down on his own interpretation."

Light nodded thoughtfully. "And you also control circumstances of death? To send the messages?"

"To a degree. I cannot cause physically impossible things to happen, but I can control certain things, such as stating that the victim will die while writing a letter containing certain words or phrases. And I can choose the cause of death if I want to. Cardiac arrest is merely the default."

Light blinked in surprise. "Really? I am unaware of any Kira-related killings with another cause of death."

"No, I never used that ability, because I saw no advantage. The only practical purpose would be to make it less obvious what I was doing, but really, it was far more beneficial to society for everyone to understand very quickly that violent behavior was no longer acceptable. Even had I used the ability to kill the FBI agents, that would only have let L know I had the ability."

Light nodded in understanding. Sachiko was not a brash and showy person by nature. She would not give up a secret like that for no reason. She was telling them now because she had surrendered. "Why did you rise to L's provocation with Lind L. Tailor? Would it not have been wiser to ignore the broadcast?"

"Yes, it would have been. I suppose that was actually my first mistake. I blame Ryuk. He had found me by then and was standing over me, cackling that L would surely catch me."

The first mistake, the first admission of malign influence. "And why did you kill the FBI agents, when you must have known it would only attract suspicion?"

"Because that man followed you and Sayu! I didn't care about him tailing me or any other adult, and it wasn't at all hard to work around him. But to invade the privacy of children like that... such a thing is unconscionable. It was even worse when I sent Ryuk to check on other police families and learned the FBI was tracking children as young as ten. I knew all the agents had to die, not just Penber, or all the suspicion would surely flow to you, but after I discovered one tailing little Rin-chan to her ballet lessons... I no longer regretted the necessity."

"Okay..." Light was glad Sachiko could not see his face. "How did you identify Agent Penber?"

She smiled. She looked... excited. Like she had always wanted to share this with him. "I waited until after he had moved on from our family to the Kitamuras, to make sure his reports on you and Sayu would remain spotless. On the day Sayu and Ayumi Kitamura went to Spaceland, I waited along Ayumi's route near a bus stop, dressed as a beggar woman. I had noticed Penber occasionally handed out money to the poor, you see, even while he was on assignment. He used it as a means to deflect attention away from himself, just another American ingenue. While Ayumi waited at the bus stop, Penber stopped to talk to me and another beggar woman I had just befriended and convinced to be my accomplice."

"Kira's accomplice?" Light asked, taken aback Sachiko would allow a total stranger to know her secret.

Sachiko laughed. "No, no. She only distracted Penber while I picked his pocket. We had agreed to target the next foreign tourist to pay attention to us and split the money. As planned, I stole both his wallet and his ID with his badge. I only needed a moment to read it while emptying the billfold with my other hand. And then I threw both of them back on the pavement as we ran away. Penber of course didn't chase us, merely scrambled after his badge before anyone else, especially Kitamura, could notice." A simple and elegant solution to the problem of getting his identity, Light thought silently. "From there, it was not difficult to manipulate Penber into a situation where he would have no choice but to follow my instructions or risk death. He wrote down the names of the other FBI agents on a piece of the Death Note I had delivered to him."

Light's skin crawled. She had forced Penber to unknowingly kill all his coworkers. Ryuk laughed. Light jumped. He had almost forgotten the Shinigami clinging to the ceiling. "I told her she should have just made the deal for the Shinigami eyes."

"My way was more fun," Sachiko said with a smile.

"Heheheh! It was, but you might not have had to kill Penber's fiancée if you had taken me up on the offer."

"What does he mean?" Light asked.

Sachiko winced. "My most damning mistake. I hacked into the security feed at the station early on but only monitored it irregularly. I happened to check on it the day you met Ms. Misora after I got home with Sayu. I saw her come up to the reception desk asking if anyone from the taskforce had come back yet."

Light's eyebrows furrowed. "That must have been after I had already spoken with her."

"Yes, I think so. But I did not realize you had come into contact with her, not then. I recognized her as an FBI agent from the files of several American criminals I had already killed. I thought Penber must have missed a name, even though the count was correct. The other possibility was for Penber to have told her either about the pickpocketing, or that he had noticed me tailing him on and off, which would be even worse. I therefore eliminated her before she could tell anyone either way. She fell into the river near the station just before her cardiac arrest. It would have looked like a drowning, if and when her body was found. I did not realize my mistake until we got you a replacement phone and Ryuk overheard part of your conversation. I would not have killed her if I had known she was Penber's fiancée. I wanted to hide the fact that Penber had been the weak point." She sighed. "By then it was too late. L was convinced of your guilt and put cameras all over the house, most of them in your room." She sounded angry again over the invasion of his privacy. Ryuk cackled again, and she frowned up at him. "Ryuk found the cameras for me, but I could do nothing about them and could not warn you. And then they took you, and I have never been so afraid or so furious."

"And everything else that happened afterwards was your attempt to free me," Light concluded.

"Yes. Of course, your father called to say that you were now helping the taskforce, so even though I was skeptical, I wasn't sure what to think at first. I trusted him, foolishly, and thought you might have talked your way out of suspicion, you're such a clever boy. But when you never returned my calls... Ryuk helped me search for you, and when he finally found you and told me what L was doing, I was beside myself."

"And that's when you started sending threats."

"Yes." She smiled ruefully. "I should have just turned myself in when Ryuk told me L had taken you, but there were already a few deaths scheduled, and I thought I might be able to preserve the mission or even extract you myself." Light shuddered, glad she had failed in that goal. They would both be fugitives now. "I should have known that if I convinced L you were innocent, you would figure out it was me almost immediately," she said wistfully. "Can you forgive me, darling? For letting L chain you for so long?" She shook her head. "No, don't answer that, Light. Yes or no, I don't think I want to know." She tilted her head back. "Ryuk?"

He scuttled across the ceiling until he was directly above her. "Sachiko?"

"My family has a history of cerebral aneurysms. I think that would be best, if you can manage it."

For the first time since Light had seen him, the Shinigami looked less than pleased, but he nodded. "As you say, Sachiko."

"Mom? What -"

"Light, there are two more weeks of deaths prepared in the note. I came prepared. I'm sorry."

"Prepared?" Light gasped, and his eyes flew up to the Shinigami, which was now holding a black notebook. "No! Stop!" He stood up and reached out towards the notebook, heedless of the obvious danger. Ryuk met his eyes, shook his head, and drifted upwards through the ceiling, taking the murder weapon with it. "Come back!"

"Light-kun? What's happening in there?" L crackled over the microphone.

Light fell upon his mother, holding her shoulders. "No, Mom. Not like this..."

She shook her head. "It's for the best, darling."

Weeping now, he pulled her blindfold off.

"Stop, Light-kun," L commanded. "Soichiro, go back in. Now. Watari, Aizawa get down there."

Light stared into his mother's eyes. She smiled at him and nodded. "It's going to be okay, Light. I love you. Whatever else you think of me, always remember that. And give Sayu my love." She leaned forwards and kissed his forehead. Wordlessly, he hugged her tight. Soichiro burst into the room and tried to separate them, but Light didn't let go. He didn't let go as Sachiko moaned in sudden pain. He didn't let go as she stiffened against him. He didn't let go as two other men ran into the room either. He was counting seconds. When he got to forty seconds since Ryuk disappeared, Sachiko shuddered, and her body went slack in his arms. He buried his face in her shoulder and cried.

Soichiro must have finally realized what was happening. He stopped tugging and instructed the others to lay off as well. "Light... what happened?"

"The Shinigami killed her," Light said thickly.

"She's... dead?"

Frantic now, Soichiro reached for Sachiko's neck, feeling for a pulse. He swore. "Aizawa, undo the cuffs and help me get her on the ground. We can try CPR."

Light shook his head dully. "It won't work."

"No, it won't," Ryuk's raspy voice came from behind Light. "Her name is in the Death Note. She's gone."

Light jerked his head up, let go of Sachiko, and slowly turned around to face the Shinigami, ignoring the officers around him. "Why are you still here?"

The monstrous creature smiled. "My notebook... the other notebook, that is, is still in the human world. I have the option to stay so long as it is here."

"Did you choose to give that notebook to her?"

"I only dropped it. Anyone could have picked it up. I'm glad it was her, though. She was very entertaining."

Light was filled with cold fury at the creature's callous words. "Your entertainment was my mother."

Ryuk grinned. "And you humans are always very touchy about that kind of thing, I know. But come on, Light-o. I was bored. Messing with humans is the only fun permitted to a Shinigami."

Light glared at him, then reached down and snatched up the scrap of paper he had dropped earlier.

Ryuk's grin widened. "What will you do with that, Light-o?"

Light didn't answer him, only shoved the paper into his pocket. "Ryuzaki? I need to go home and find that notebook."

"Watari will drive us," L answered immediately. Watari silently left the room to fetch a car.

"Dad," Light said softly, touching his father's shoulder. Soichiro looked up at him, his expression one of pure grief for the woman he had loved. "She's gone. You should come along, so you can be there when Sayu gets home, or even go pick her up from school early. Nobody will have to know Mom was Kira."

Detective Aizawa frowned. "This may be an unique case, but..."

"There's apparently two more weeks of deaths scheduled anyway, Detective. We won't be able to announce we've caught Kira until after then, and we shouldn't make it generally known how it all happened. For all the world will know, Sachiko Yagami died of natural causes." His tone brooked no argument from the older man.

Ryuk chuckled. "Shinigami even count as natural causes, to humans." Light did not acknowledge him.

Soichiro exhaled. "Aizawa... can you arrange for her to be taken to the morgue? Say only that she was found down and already dead by the time you arrived. The coroner will make an official determination."

The other officer nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Light... let's go."

---

L stared at Light nonstop during the drive to the Yagamis' house. Light had asked questions of the empty air all through the corridors of the headquarters and down the elevator to the library. What was the Shinigami realm like? What was the 'eye deal'? What did Shinigami do normally? Were there other kinds of spirits? Once they had all climbed into the limousine, though, the teenager had fallen remarkably silent, his face thoughtful beneath its drying streaks of tears.

"Is the Shinigami still here, Light?" L asked, intensely curious and unable to remain silent despite the tension in each of the Yagami males at the death of their matriarch.

Light looked to an empty seat in the limousine and nodded.

"Where is the piece of paper that allowed you to see him?"

"You shouldn't touch it, Ryuzaki," Light said firmly.

L edged closer. "Light-kun, it is my case. Of course I must see the evidence."

"I've already touched it. That's the only reason I'm keeping it. I don't think it's a good idea for anyone else to do so."

"Light-kun is so cautious. And possessive."

Light raised an eyebrow at him. "The Death Note turned my mother into the worst serial killer the world has ever seen. Do you really want to find out what it would do to you?"

L pressed a thumb against his lips and sighed. "A fair point. I suppose I shall have to remain curious for the time being. You could describe the Shinigami to me, Light-kun."

"I'd rather not."

"Or you could translate a conversation for us."

"I'd rather not."

"Your self-restraint is very annoying, Light-kun."

"As is your lack of self-restraint. How did you even survive to adulthood?"

"Watari looks after me."

"Ryuzaki, leave my son alone," Soichiro said.

The rest of the drive was silent. When they reached the Yagami house, Light walked straight through the kitchen and living room and into the old music room. He ignored the obvious places: the piano and instrument cases. Instead, he headed right for the cabinets of sheet music. He tapped the bottom of each shelf. The first cabinet was unremarkable. When he tapped the third shelf in the second cabinet, he nodded. He removed the stack of music. He sent Soichiro to find a flashlight and used it to look around inside. Abruptly, he got up and went to Sachiko's cello case after all, retrieving the block strap. He pressed the circular endpin cradle into a matching notch incised into the back of the shelf, then lifted the shelf out of place. He turned the wooden panel in his hands, and a thin, black notebook slipped out of it. Sachiko had hollowed out the shelf, or used thinner panels to make an identical replacement. Light opened the Death Note and perused the huge list of names. He flipped to the last full page.

"She wasn't lying. The deaths are scheduled for the next two weeks. Ryuk, what would happen if I destroyed these pages with the names of people who have not yet died?"

Light waited for the reply, that L still could not hear, annoyingly. He nodded thoughtfully. He got up and headed out of the room.

"Where are you going, Light?" Soichiro asked, following instantly. L kept pace with him.

"The kitchen," Light answered. Then, "Sure. I'll give you an apple. Why not?"

Soichiro and L glanced at each other. Did Death Gods like apples? Sure enough, as soon as they got to the kitchen, Light opened the refrigerator, reached in, and tossed several apples over his shoulder. Something caught them, and hunks of first one and then the other apple vanished one by one. It was quite the strangest sight L had ever witnessed. It was so distracting, in fact, he completely disregarded Light crossing over to the gas stove. The clicking of the spark drew his attention... and then he watched in horror as Light lowered first the scrap piece of paper and then the precious notebook onto the burner.

"No, Light-kun!" L cried reflexively. He stepped forwards, but Soichiro stopped him.

"Ryuzaki, remember what he asked the Shinigami? He is trying to save lives!"

"Actually, Ryuk said nothing would happen if I destroyed the pages. All those prisoners will still die. Their fates were sealed the moment their names were written in the Death Note."

"Then why destroy the evidence, Light?" L asked, unable to keep the frustration from his voice. He struggled against Soichiro, but the burly detective was much stronger than him, and he was in no position to strike out with Capoeira, unless he was willing to risk setting the house on fire. Which... he might be, but Watari would be mad at him then, not just the Yagamis.

"Because that thing is evil," Light snapped. He rolled his eyes. "I didn't say you were evil, Ryuk. I'm withholding judgment there since you're literally a god, but that notebook in human hands... the only thing it can bring is grief." He prodded some wayward paper into the flame. He grinned suddenly. "No, I would still have burned it even then, Ryuk. I beg you, please don't bring another one down here." He listened for a moment, occasionally nodding or shaking his head. "I understand, really I do. I won't ask you to bend to human emotions. So, what will it take to convince you not to leave another notebook here?" After another moment, he laughed. "That's it? Sure. I'll make sure it's done." The notebook was almost entirely ash, now. "Goodbye, Ryuk."

"Is it... gone?" Soichiro asked.

Light shrugged. "Maybe. I can't see him anymore, now that the notebook is destroyed." He pushed past L and Soichiro and retrieved some more apples from the fridge. He tossed them into the air, and once again, they were snatched up and eaten by an invisible entity. "Nope, still here."

"What did you promise it?" L asked.

"More apples. He can't stay in the human world indefinitely once the notebook is destroyed, but I promised him I'd always leave apples as an offering at a shrine for him to take whenever he does come down." He smiled faintly. "As long as someone leaves the apples for him, he'll confine himself to more normal activities."

"Normal activities?" Soichiro asked.

Light shrugged. "He's a Shinigami. Killing humans is part of his nature, and he can't change it. But it's not vindictive. It's just the way of the world. There's nothing we can do to stop him, and probably no reason we should try in the first place, since the Shinigami are outside our morality."

L frowned. "Light-kun, this is really, really unsatisfying."

Light smiled slightly. "That's what Ryuk said. Do you know why he did it?"

"Why?"

"Because he was bored."

L raised his eyebrows. A shiver passed through him as he pondered the concept. A god of death wreaking havoc across the human world not for justice or for terror or for glory, just for boredom. He realized suddenly why Light had not wanted him to touch the Death Note, and why that had probably been a very good instinct indeed. Light understood the perils of boredom for minds like theirs. A mind like Sachiko's had, apparently, been. "I see. But apples satisfy him?"

"Apparently, apples are the very best thing the human world has to offer. Even better than entertainment," Light answered sardonically.

L snorted. "I can set up an endowment to ensure the shrine is always well-supplied with them, then, even should something happen to you."

"Very generous," Light said. He pulled Soichiro away from L and hugged him. For the first time since L had met the young man, he looked uncertain and so, so young. "What do we do now, Dad?"

Soichiro folded his arms around his son. He sighed. "I don't know, Light, but I suppose no one really knows what to do when something like this happens."

"Something like this?" L said dubiously. "I don't think anything like this has happened ever before. At least, not in recorded history."

Soichiro glared at him over Light's shoulder.

Watari, who had been waiting quietly near the entrance to the house cleared his throat. "Ryuzaki, I believe he was talking about the unexpected loss of a wife and mother. Come. We shall go back to headquarters and fill the others in. Mr. Yagami and Mr. Yagami will join us when they are ready."

---

The funeral for Sachiko Yagami was well attended. She had been a well-respected and much-liked woman of her community. Half the families of the police force attended. All the other employees and volunteers at the daycare where Sachiko had spent so much of her time attended, some commenting sadly how they should have realized something was wrong and encouraged her to see a doctor, she had repeatedly called in and rescheduled so many shifts in her last week of life. Light's four best school friends came to support him, and he awkwardly explained where he had vanished off to for the past month, when they cornered him at the reception. Fortunately, Matsuda rescued him by joining the circle and letting slip Light had been working for the Kira taskforce. His friends were suitably awed. Yamamoto even disavowed his previous respect for Kira in favor of Light's exciting mission. Light thanked them for their support, and accepted the offer Matsuda had not actually made to escort him back to the Kira taskforce headquarters.

In the days after the funeral, Light spent quite a lot of time with L, dutifully answering the detective's questions about Ryuk and Sachiko, as well as engaging in more pleasant academic tangents. He was not impressed with L's passion for sugar and told him he would lose all his teeth by the age of thirty-five and probably develop diabetes too. L laughed and said he didn't care, since the only thing worth nurturing was the mind. Light smiled thinly, and his eyes glinted red as he warned the detective he'd regret his lifestyle if he suffered a stroke and lost much of his cognitive power. L glowered at that, but then mused he could actually be happier if he weren't so intelligent. Light offered him a lobotomy. L declined.

Fifteen days after Sachiko Yagami's death, L announced to the world that Kira had been identified and killed by police whilst resisting arrest. At first, no one seemed to believe it, not the media, not the police. But the killings stopped, right on schedule.

There was the expected backlash. Anti-police riots carried out by Kira supporters, and a wave of burglary and vandalism perpetuated by habitual low-level criminals suddenly spreading their wings again after so long keeping low profiles. A wave of arrests followed, and the action seesawed back and forth until the world gradually returned to its judicial equilibrium.

L went back to England. Light, Sayu, and Soichiro Yagami settled into life without Sachiko, all of them a little sadder and more subdued than they had been before. Soichiro cut back his hours at work in order to be home every night for his children. Light started spending more time with Sayu, both tutoring and just hanging out with her as they experimented in the kitchen, trying to follow some of the recipes Sachiko had cooked so effortlessly all their lives.

Every weekend, Light Yagami paid a visit to a nearby shrine, carrying a bag of apples as an offering. L had given them a large sum of money to donate to the shrine in Sachiko's name, but really, that was just so there was an excuse for them to follow through on Light's promise to Ryuk. Usually, Light just replaced the old apples with new ones and left again after a few minutes. It was two months before he came to the shrine to find all the apples he had left there were gone. Tentatively, Light drew a fresh apple out of his bag and held it up in the air. His smile was bittersweet as the apple levitated out of his hand and disappeared, as if eaten by an invisible creature.

"Hello, Ryuk," Light said softly. He emptied his bag of apples one by one. "If you're bored and have the time to stay awhile, I can tell you a story."

The apples rearranged themselves into a smiley face on the ground.

"L has been writing to me, trying to convince me to apply for a school or at least an internship in another country, rather than just waiting around here to do the university entrance exam next year. I've been putting him off, but he's been sending me some of the cases Interpol refers to him as bait. Would you like to hear about the most recent one he sent me?"

Two of the apples levitated up and danced around in the air, before Ryuk ate one of them. "It has to do with a dead body found on the plinth of a very famous statue in Rome. The local police could not identify the body, nor could they figure out how it ended up on the statue, when the culprit should have been seen on the security footage of at least one of the several local businesses..."

It was funny. Light didn't mind his weekly duty to bring apples to the god that had killed his mother, but he did somewhat resent the overtures of the genius detective who had imprisoned him. Part of him liked the attention, the part of his mind that was as hungry for stimulation as L's was. The other part of him, the part that wanted L to behave like an adult, not like a child or a Shinigami, hated the persistent reminder of what his family had gone through.

"Do you think I should take L up on the offer to work with him for awhile?" Light asked.

The apples formed a question mark, and Ryuk ate the dot.

Light grinned. "Well, it's not like I would have taken your advice anyway, Ryuk. I'll be back with more apples next week. And don't worry. If I do go to England, I'll make sure someone else brings you your treat."

The apples shifted around again. Happy. Sad. Happy.

Light shrugged at the invisible Shinigami. "That's life, Ryuk. Goodbye."

Author's note: watched the Death Note anime for the first time a few months ago. When I was subsequently reading fanfictions about it, I rather enjoyed the premise of the ones where Light is actually totally innocent, but then the follow through was often dissatisfying, mostly because characters had to be so drastically rewritten to make it convincing. And I never found one where Light's mother was actually Kira, even though she seemed like the most opportune character for a rewrite to me. I mean, she's a blank slate! Make her a genius but still leave her trapped as a housewife? She'd go nuts eventually even without a Death Note. Whereas Light could be a much healthier individual if he had been raised around an actual intellectual peer.

Also, far too little attention is paid in Death Note on how horrible L's treatment of Light and especially Misa in custody is. I spent a little time on it here, obviously, but omg Misa was tied up in a standing position for nearly two months in canon! Putting someone in a "stress position" is a recognized torture technique, causing agonizing pain in the immobilized joints as well as problems with the circulatory system. Misa probably wouldn't have been able to walk when they finally let her down. I know L is an intentionally morally ambiguous character, and I won't say it wasn't good story telling to have him torture Misa for information. Realistically though, both Misa and Light should have been in worse shape for their little faux-execution road trip than they were.

Obviously, I didn't keep to quite the same timeline of events in this story, but after all, it's a different Kira! Hope you enjoyed it anyway :)