In the end, the trial was moved to Monday, the 20th of the month. We wanted to give the judge some time so that we don't suddenly go the next day and he says: "You again?! Why don't you just leave?!" The other option, of course, was to go to another court. But since we found the perfect one, why go to another one? Let alone there might have been fights from Kira's fanatical followers. "He is our saviour, he is our god! Don't put him in jail!" and such nonsense. If such a thing happened, then we would have to explain to them our ideology for the hundredth time, which is tedious.

As we took our seats in court, I kept an eye on the judge. He was... Rather stressed. He didn't seem keen to judge, let alone with us as witnesses. Light's lawyer had the same expression. My colleagues weren't too keen either. They looked as if they had been brought by force. However, we had to the obstacle out of the way, so that he didn't end up murdering the whole of Tokyo.

"The conference begins," the judge announced, ringing his small bell. "Swear, so we can have it over..."

"I'll go," Matsuda said but L caught up to him.

"You stay where you are. What you did last week was enough." He then approached the judge.

"How are you called, sir?" the judge asked while taking notes.

"Hiroshi Ryuzaki."

"You may now kiss the book, Mr Ryuzaki."

"I swear to tell the truth, as I do believe I'm the only one who took the case seriously."

"Great..." the judge sighed deeply.

"What made you suspect the young Yagami over here could be the real Kira?"

"It was rather instinctively figured out. However, there was some striking evidence."

"Such as?"

"At the beginning of the case, on my initiative, security cameras were installed in the household of the police chief, who happened to be Kira's father. At that time, the teenager was taking exams, so he studied continuously from seven in the afternoon until ten at night. Sometimes it even exceeded three hours and became four or five. He ate, of course, but only in his room so as not to interrupt his studies. In fact, according to his father, he studied hard, so that his son could join the police force. Thus, I considered he could be the killer and his identity was just covered up because of his good manners. Of course, there weren't enough elements to prove that.

»Later, he joined our team ostensibly to help. He was relatively quiet but polite. In other words, there was never any disagreement with a team member. In the meantime, he also was in a relationship with the actress and model Amane Misa, but as it turned out he had her as a cover to seemingly appear as "a teenager with a bright future". As the cameras showed, once she proposed to him, he didn't know what to say. As if it wasn't scripted, if I may say."

Light on the other hand wasn't talking. He was sulking. As if he had been scolded.

"And that evidence was enough to convince all of you that Light is the murderer." the judge concluded.

"Correct."

"I heard the well-known detective L was in cooperation with you. Is it true?"

L froze at the question. He hesitated a bit at first as if hadn't expected this question.

"Yes. But he preferred not to attend the trial due to some personal obligations."

"Well, it doesn't really matter. I just asked. I suppose he must be quite a busy man. But, did he agree to cameras being in someone else's house? Isn't that an invasion of privacy?" the judge continued the questions.

"If he hadn't agreed, we wouldn't have installed them. We do discuss every decision and every opinion. Therefore, he considered it necessary, even if it violates a law. Everything is allowed by the police."

"Obviously. Did you ever express to L your concerns about the manners Lights is portraying? He's the leader of the team, isn't he?"

"Yes, and he even agreed with my point of view. Of course, I cannot speak for the rest of my colleagues. They'll tell you themselves."

The judge asked the rest of the police officers to come. One by one expressed his impressions of Light. Including me. As I was still a beginner in the police field, I didn't talk much. I said the same things as L told. I noticed the judge looked at us as thoughtful as if he didn't believe our words.

After a while, he asked similar questions, such as how we found the death note, if it works and if he could document it. They didn't mention the topic of the video at all, to reasonably preserve the anonymity of the witness who captured the moment. Thank God!

We agreed and Aizawa carried a suitcase to the platform. The other jurors opened it so carefully you'd thought some precious stone was going to jump out of nowhere. Then, the judge asked a court official to bring a criminal who was destined for execution. The court official held him by the arms. As soon as the criminal fell sprawling on the floor, the audience let out an exclamation of astonishment.

"Oh, come on, y'all shouldn't be that surprised! We've seen that stuff before!" Matsuda commented on their expressions.

Then Light's lawyer spoke. "How can we be certain the video isn't just a set-up?"

"What do you mean?" Matsuda stuttered.

"You could have simply put an actor in, done him the make-up and played the role of Kira, without him any motivation. Just to quickly jump to a conclusion and close the case in a blink of an eye."

Who could have thought I would be alive so that I could hear this nonsense! How could a lawyer ever question the work of a police officer? Unless it wasn't his personal thoughts and was rather some role he performed since his job was to defend the killer!

The police were rightly baffled. "What are you talking about?" Mogi said.

"Would we ever stoop so low to the detriment of the case? That's the kind of impression you have us for?! You insult us!" Aizawa shouted.

"How do we prove that to him now?" Mogi added. "We have no tangible evidence other than the video and the death note."

"I don't think he believes his own words either. He's a high-class lawyer. It's his job to act so." L said.

"So we're going to have a rodeo like last time?" Matsuda asked.

"We've got a deadly notebook! Did you forget all about it?" I shouted.

"We should kill the judge, —the lawyer probably knows his name— so that when he sees his name written on the death note to make the connection," Matsuda suggested.

The judge seemed to be slowly getting irritated and jogged the bell a little more intensely. "I'll lock you up for disrespect if you continue to talk to me like that!"

"I object, dear judge! This lawyer no matter how well he knows his job, can't dispute the evidence just like that! What more does he need? There's the notebook, the video, — which we didn't deal with much— and the defendant himself. What false are we doing?" Matsuda protested.

"I don't know... Deal with it yourselves! The other day things were pretty exhausting with you, to say the least!"

Then he turned to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is interrupted for a ten-minute break until I find my pills. I probably won't relax today either..."

We turned our backs to the audience in a circular shape, as if we wanted to conspire.

"What are gonna do now?"
I whispered.

"I don't know, but this whole situation is starting to get on my nerves," Aizawa said. "If Light won't get to jail within the next half hour, I'm gonna make an appointment with a therapist for the whole team."

"Why didn't the journalists learn about it, though? Such a world-historical event should have made waves on all televisions and newspapers! We're talking about the rarest crime in the world!" I said in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"I heard the jurors didn't want publicity. They wanted to have peace of mind from the paparazzi asking stupid questions. And rightfully so," Matsuda replied. "We're essentially doing the trial in secret"

"Anyway, Ryuzaki, are you sure this lawyer's words are not authentic? If they are indeed, then we'll start having arguments again!"

"Certainly. When I was at John Dahmer's trial two or three lawyers were called to defend him, despite what the evidence conveyed about masochism and paedophilia. It's just the judicial system..."

"We're safe then!" Matsuda exclaimed.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's not beneficial to fight for nonsense reasons like the other day, since the lawyer is faithful to his profession in any case. The best thing to do is to call a TV channel which is interested in the Kira case like Sakura TV, so that the media can be on fire. It'll be such an exhausting experience, to the point the judge will be forced to declare Light guilty. Isn't my plan genius?"

"Yeah... Gave me the goosebumps." Mogi answered sarcastically.

"If we don't give it a try, how can we be sure it'll work? We have reached the point of "now or never". There's no time to think any further!

I had to admit that Matsuda was absolutely right. It was indeed a now-or-never situation. Not a time for last-minute experiments. In the end, we agreed to call Sakura TV, and if they didn't believe it, one of us would go there and find any interested journalists. Fortunately, there was no word of disbelief. In fact, despite the relatively long distance, the crew came as quickly as possible. —About a twenty-minute drive from what we were told—

No one in the audience expected a television crew to be suddenly barged in like this, especially when they had been told the trial would be held in secret. The image which appeared before my eyes can't be described in simple and understandable words. All I can remember is the judge and the lawyer looking wide-eyed, let alone Light. In the meantime, some of the audience had hidden their faces, so that the camera lens wouldn't find them. As if these people were celebrities afraid of being recognized by fans... And while the judge was desperately searching for his pills, the reporters reached on Light to bombard him with questions. Also, the lawyer had covered Light's eyes, so that he couldn't be seen on television. Or maybe... Don't affect him sensibly.

Apparently, if you're a criminal, you aren't deprived of your rights. The right to anonymity for example, or the right to have a lawyer. And if you're fortunate enough, they might send you to a prison that doesn't even look like a prison. I have seen in pictures what modern prisons are like in some countries, in which all criminals, regardless of their felony, have televisions in their rooms, the walls are coloured, and there's even a gym with all the popular sports! I might become a criminal in the future too. My life will change for the better!

"It has been heard you're the real Kira. Is that true?"

"What do you have to say in your defence, young man?"

"What about those who admire and idolize you?"

As if Light could ever answer all of these questions at once! Instead, he showed his indignation.

"Why, God?! What have I done to be punished like this?!'

"Only we ask questions!" a journalist said insolently.

Meanwhile, the judge tried vainly to get the microphones and cameras off him. Some cameras must have already broken, but I'm not sure.

"Mr Yamashita, you as Japan's most well-known judge, what do you have to say about this case? It's beyond imagination, as I suppose it's in your knowledge."

"And besides, why didn't you call us in the first place? I personally hate it when I go somewhere at the last minute, let alone for a shooting!"

"How likely is it such a similar case will be shown again in the future?"

"Talk to us! Why won't you?!"

Even though he had found his pills and swallowed a handful, he didn't seem to calm down, poor little thing... I glanced at my partners. Matsuda smiled contentedly as if he had just solved an impossible math exercise. The others, besides L, looked bewildered at the same time. They reconsider their choices in life. L seemed bored though. As if he had seen this scene before.

"Guys... Why did we even get in trouble?" I wondered.