"Who shall we kill next?"
It came out and filled the room clear as day, causing a noticeable change in room temperature and goosebumps down my spine. A quick flipping through the case file laying beside me told me the bald man with dark glasses speaking was Takeshi Ooi.
"No, before that, concerning Hatori's death…"
Another flick or two through copies of employees' ID cards and I find out the man in question was Arayoshi Hatori, vice president of marketing. I tapped my finger on the picture to get L's attention. Pulling away when I got a "Hmm, yes, thank you."
"Frankly, it's a relived that Kira took care of this little problem,"
A little looking told me that it was Reiji Namikawa, who I barely remembered at the party the other night.
A few beeps from my screen in front of me brought my attention back to the feed from the placed bugs in their conference room. Their signal strengths were holding steady, even the one I was having trouble with yesterday.
"Enough about that, it's the report from Eraldo Coil we should be discussing."
Ooi cleared his throat, shuffling through his paperwork until he found what he was looking for.
That damn name again drew my eyes and ears to the largest screen in the room.
The report went on to say that "Coil" found out about the Japanese police force withdrawing from the Kira case and as of now only a small number of higher-ups were aware of it. Nonetheless, it was believed by "Coil" that L is now working alone, but has an elderly man called Watari who shows up in his place when necessary.
I swallowed a slip of cold coffee, understanding what L was going for by giving out such basic information to Yotsuba, earning their trust, and playing the role of Coil, but it chilled my bones to give them anything of the sort.
It just didn't sit right with me.
"This is what cost us five million? Coil already knew all of this about L, it feels like we're being jerked around."
I noted that it was Kyosuke Higuchi speaking as I tapped along on my keyboard, impressed at what he was saying. The others were merely excited to learn such a shiver of information when I was sure a little digging and a little yen spent another way could have gotten them the same stuff sooner.
"Hold on, Coil ends his report by stating we shouldn't treat L's existence too lightly as he's bound to, if not already notice the killing benefiting Yotsuba tend to happen on Fridays and Saturdays."
"It'll be fine,"
Higuchi answered Ooi without doing too much to hide the boredom on his face.
"Besides, L doesn't know that Kira can kill by other means."
Out of the corner of my eye, L put his thumb to the softness of his lower lip, remembering what Light had connected on just a few weeks ago.
"It is a little eerie how they just talk about Kira and killing like nothing."
The older Yagami noted, clearing his throat.
"Yes, well, humans are extraordinarily problematic when comfortable."
I could only nod my head slightly and chew on L's words later before bed.
"Couldn't Kira just tell us who they were?"
Sugru Shimura cleared his throat, trying not to choke on his words.
"I mean, some of these rules are hard to follow and I doubt anyone would betray Kira now after Hatori's death…"
I heard the task force behind me collectively hold their breath like they were going to share that kind of information.
"I would rather Kira stay hidden, once we found out who he was our little democracy would change into a dictatorship."
"I have to agree with Mido on this, killing one of us for a moment of weakness proves it."
Ooi pointed out and just like that the subject of exposing Kira came to an end.
"Back to the topic, knowing what Coil has noted, should we change our pace of killings?"
It went on like that for the next forty-five minutes, bouncing back from changing their weekly Kira meetings to bi-monthly, to deciding to limit the kills to two to three a month instead of killing as needed. After all of that, the meeting room felt a bit heavier, but only for a second as Ooi parted his lips to speak. I wondered to myself if anyone else caught the hesitation.
"Who do we kill?"
They began talking about an insurance company named E.L.F and with a quick search on the internet pulled up a website. One of the main articles was about the companies' expansion to the Kanto reign and at the bottom of the page was a photograph of the CEO and president. I wrote their names down in the file in front of me as I got L's attention.
"Thank you, Miss. Petrillo, if these people die just like they said then we'll have indisputable evidence that Kira is one of those seven."
I went to take a small victory slip from my drink, almost pouring it onto myself when both Yagami men shouted about how his previous statement. Annoyance colored my face from their outburst and almost having to go up and change.
"There's no need to wait, Ryuzaki, this tape and Matsuda's testimony are more than enough."
"I'm not quite sure we can arrest with just those things without someone dying, Mr. Yagami."
With a brief interruption, the Yotsuba group finally decide to kill a Zenzai who has to threaten an environmental lawsuit will be taken care of with a stoke sometime this week, while the E.L.F group will be handled three weeks on to be determined days.
"They plan to use Kira tonight or tomorrow? That's not a lot of time." I noted.
Light asked if we had any of their phone numbers, and with the help of Watari, we had all seven. The plan between father and son was to call and record the conversation using the police system.
"That won't work," I said, typing away.
"You can't trust the police, there are being controlled by the politicians Kira has paid for."
"Everyone please, wait."
L interjected, piercing his slice of black forest cake for a piece, drawing my attention with the way he held the fork, between the pads of his thumb and pointer finger. Like the way, someone might hold something disgusting to throw away.
"They might grow suspicious of Aiber when he contacts them in three days, or worst we might have to start over."
I could hear the throb from the eldest Yagami's forehead, thinking that if he didn't calm down he'd have another heart attack.
"These are human lives, Ryuzaki, we don't even know for sure if Kira is among this group or if it's his representative."
"I understand Mr. Yagami, and I think about it quite tiresomely, but if it's just a representative there's still an opportunity to find hard evidence."
The conversation halted with the same ideal running through everyone else's mind, how did L know there was any evidence to collect? We've been going around for months with these little battles with Kira with not too much to show for it. If it was any other case, we would have had something to show for our hard work.
I turned my chair around to stare at the left side of L's face, crossing my legs and laying my hands on the roundness of my knee bone.
"Of course there's evidence, why would Kira kill the FBI agents if there was no threat?"
Amid calm from my reassuring statement, Light formed a plan. I saw the look in his eyes as he asked L which out of the seven did he think wasn't Kira but had a great influence, both agreeing on Reiji Namikawa.
He called the number I handed him with the phone sitting by L, using the Monkier to greet the man on the other line.
I felt immediately intrigued and turned to watch the screen, listening to Light admit to the bugs and cameras in their meeting room. The almost cocky attitude from before quickly turned to silence panic across his eyes and mouth, it was surprising no one said anything if they noticed at all.
Then, Light offered up a deal. That if he wasn't Kira or someone who could get into contact with Kira and can get the E.L.F/Zenzai killing to be delayed by one month and everyone forced to join these meetings with Kira will be pardoned. An offer that only a fool could turn down.
With a little convincing and lying, Namikawa got the others to go along with waiting for a month for L's face and name via Coil. I couldn't help but notice the atmosphere change, the right side of my body pricked with goosebumps and drawing my hearing to the men beside me.
"If I were to die, you could become my successor to the L title, Light."
"What are you going on about, Ryuzaki?"
"I'm merely saying that you might do better than I since you were the one to notice Yotsuba first."
My eyes fell onto the detective, chewing on the inside of my cheek. I too was extremely curious about L's meaning, since I understood enough to know he said it to get reactions out of people.
I made sure to keep everything off my face.
"Hmm…"
I leaned forward in my chair, making noise from my movement.
"You know, Ryuzaki, I'm going to have to tell everyone what you're thinking. You think if I'm Kira I am doing one of two things; either I'm pretending I am not Kira to get closer to you or Kira's powers have been passed onto someone else and I have no memories."
"Excellent, Light, you do understand." L said, digging into a slice of angel food cake Watari had just placed in front of him.
"These handcuffs are never coming off are they?"
L said nothing as he chewed.
"I'll never be able to convince you that I don't want the L title, will I?"
"I'm usually right about these things."
Instinctively, I stood up and knocked the chair I was just sitting on to the floor. I saw the flash out of the corner of L's eye, the onyx color clouded into a dull dark grey. I reached for the lower hanging part of the chain, aiming to yank the idea out of both their heads. Unfortunately, I just wasn't quick enough against both men, as soon as I wrapped my fingers around the chain links I felt the vibrations climb up my arm from their hateful collision.
L's barefoot smashed into Light's cheek.
Light's balled-up fist sitting on top of L's nose.
Weaker men might have cried out or had their eyes watered, not these two who stood like stone.
The others tried to break them up with words, to no avail. Giving the chain in my hand a good hard yank seemed to do the trick as they broke their glazes from each other onto me.
"Enough. Either kill each other or no more fighting."
My words seemed unconventional to the task force behind me, but they did their job to break apart the two.
I glance over at L's face, noticing the drip of blood threatening to leak from his left nostril, I wanted to nurse him better just like I had done before. Shamefully, it told me a lot more control than it ever should to take my seat and go back to work.
The pang of guilt soaked through my heart, bleeding onto my cheeks until the heat burnt my skin.
"We are getting nowhere like this," L turned to face Mr. Yagami.
"I believe going after the seven of them together is wrong, so we must part from here."
L explained that even though Light agrees with his father, he must come along as they are stuck together for now.
"Ryuzaki, we shouldn't be apart. There has to be a middle ground we can agree on."
I offered up, watching both men who five minutes ago had laid their hands on each other start up the stairs.
"Miss. Petrillo, are you coming?"
My lips fell into a flat line, knowing he wasn't asking. I stood up and excused myself to the others, but still offered up my computer skills if they needed them.