XVII

The Fallen Notebook

Es stood up with a jolt.

He felt an uncanny chill along his spine.

Although the feeling was unfamiliar, instinct told him it was related to the killing notebooks. Oddly specific, yet he did not doubt it. Shinobi always trusted their instincts. There was no rational argument for why killing notebooks were concerned. It would be nonsense to anyone with any semblance of sanity -- they often say the most brilliant minds were mired by insanity and every genius was crazy -- but he never disregarded his instinct.

He defined the keywords clearly: killing notebooks on the human plane.

A few mirrors appeared around him, each one showing a different angle of a black notebook. A notebook labelled as the Death Note. A notebook just deposited by one of the creatures with the eyes to see names and lifespans.

Then he noticed another mirror.

One of the hideous creatures was displayed on it. The being must have had another besides the one on the ground in front of a school. The being left without a backward glance, leaving the notebook lying innocently on the grass just waiting for someone to notice it.

Noel opened his golden eyes and yawned while staring curiously up at the mirrors. He batted at the one with the scarlet-eyed creature and hid behind Es' back where he peered at it with wide eyes. The cat then blinked up at Es, playing innocent, but the blond only laughed.

Es beckoned the cat forward -- Noel usually slept but was frolicsome when awake -- and Noel padded over, making himself comfortable on the blond's lap before staring unblinkingly at the mirrors.

Es zoomed out of the images of the notebook he now knew as the death note. He noticed Japanese on signages and was soon able to figure out the location -- Daikoku Private Academy (an abrupt reminder of his chūnin instructor from shinobi academy) in Kanto, Japan. This was why people thought S saw everything. Though he certainly could not see everything, Es can see anything. As long as he saw whatever that he needed to see, the illusion that nothing escaped his gaze was produced. He could see through another's eyes if he set his mind to it -- they required effort to pinpoint, but reflections formed on the surfaces of eyeballs too.

"Death note, huh?" Es mused aloud as a black notebook seemed to materialise in a free hand.

He had left his notebook in a distant corner of his mirror realm for all this time and did not think about it since. They were no longer unintelligible scribbles. He recognised the cursive script as French. He could read, Carnet de Mort. In other words, the Notebook of Death. He wondered if there was also a Notebook of Life. How strange it was, a book that dictated how one died. If such a book existed, what was the liberty people of this world preached? Was it the freedom to live what was left of their lifespans as they pleased? Es has found himself debating philosophical questions more and more as he lived in this world so different yet so similar to the world where he was born.

Perhaps the right of choice that they referred to was an illusion.

When he wrote in the death note, all specifications of the events leading to the person's death can be included. For instance, Es could devote an entire page to writing out events worth twenty years of life which led to how a person died at a specific day and time. He could rob the person of their freedom and liberty without them even realising it. They would live with the illusion of freedom, never realising that they were already dead. That they were like a marionette as they followed the commands of another without self-awareness.

"Say, Noel, which pitiful fool do you think will become enslaved to the power to dictate how others die?" Es asked the Maine Coon that seemed more his companion than Cairn with a laugh, equally disdainful and humoured.

He recognised the utility of these notebooks.

However, that did not mean that he liked them. He did not despise them as Cairn did -- though he knew the kitsune was tempted to write more names to empower himself to the level of the Jūbi. He just detested that possessing such an ability can warp and twist the human mind. As a Doctor of Psychology, he certainly knew the effect of power on humans. Es was unaffected by the allure of the ability to control life and death but that was because he hardly constituted as a human.

Noel mewed and pawed at a mirror.

A window, behind which a student who stared into the distance was seated.

Es hummed and summoned the mirror which represented the window which the student sat next to and took a closer look. Noel's instincts were sometimes stronger than his own and he knew that the intelligent feline understood his question. He would have found it uncanny, but he was abnormal himself. Es was unsurprised that Noel was smarter than most humans.

"Yagami Tsuki?" he read the scarlet name aloud, head tilted to the side in curiosity.

Strange.

Tsuki was more often a girl's name than a boy's.

Es knew there must have been another pronunciation for the kanji "月".

Too lazy to get up, he summoned his laptop and accessed the Japanese government's database where he searched for the name of the student Noel pointed at.

He easily found the file.

A brilliant honour student with a high appraisal by family, friends and teachers alike. His father was a police investigation bureau chief, characterised as kind with a strong sense of justice. The man placed work above family and spent little time at home. Es was reminded of Namikaze Minato, whose personality was similar. However, the Hokage put his village before family, justice and morals. The man was not bad compared to Namikaze.

His name was Yagami Light and he was eighteen.

Es was suddenly struck by this. 

Light was only slightly younger than him.

He considered himself twenty-four mentally and acted as such, yet Light was merely six years his junior. L was eighteen when he debuted as a detective. S started two years later after obtaining his PhDs as Simeon Noir. Light was attending high school at this age. It was jarring. L and himself were so detached from society that he forgot that no matter how intelligent, it was rare for geniuses to progress so quickly in this world. It was unlike the shinobi world where prodigies like Hatake Kakashi became genin at age five and chūnin at six. In this world, age mattered. For an eighteen-year-old to be in high school was normal.

Namikaze Minato had become the leader in one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries at twenty-two but, had he been born here, he would probably be attending university at that age. Even Es and L only rose so quickly because of their connections. Watari for L, Vince Ebon for Es. Es never anticipated that his hypothesis that connections mattered here would be an understatement.

After Es fed Noel, he returned his attention to the mirror which displayed Yagami Light -- it was probably illegal... Es was stalking a minor, but what the world did not know could not hurt them. The students were packing up to leave, so Es supposed the dismissal bell rang. He knew that Yagami Light had no extra-curricular activities for the day. Once again, stalking on this level was definitely less than legal.

Light hurried out of the classroom, discreetly reaching down to pick up the notebook which mysteriously dropped onto the field next to the path. He stared at the cover curiously before flipping to the first page. Shockingly, the rules of the death note were on the back of the cover. Es felt miffed. The notebooks that appeared before Cairn and Es did not include instructions.

"This is a Shinigami notebook," Light read aloud while walking home and laughed in disbelief, causing Es to quirk an eyebrow.

Shinigami? So those strange creatures were shinigami. The creatures that forcibly extracted the souls of its summoner and their target, cut both free with its tantō and sealed them in its belly? Es doubted the being depicted in the Uzumaki records was the same as the creatures that took lives using notebooks. Perhaps they gained their iconic ability when they crossed over? It made sense. He had limitations on what he could do without chakra. Perhaps the souls "sealed within its stomach" were retained in that mask.

That was when Es realised what brought him here in the first place.

What dragged him to this world where shinigami ran rampant was none other than the Shinigami Mask.

He really should have guessed this sooner, but he never knew what the Shinigami Mask looked like. Moreover, this was the first time he heard the word "shinigami" beyond Japanese folklore. There was no way he could have made a connection between those hideous creatures and the Shinigami that he knew of.

"How to use..." Light said before muttering, "it's in English. What a pain..."

"The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die," Light read with a laugh.

He had dismissed the book as a prank. Es was not put off. He knew the boy was inquisitive enough to try writing a name, even if only to check if it was genuine. It did him no harm even in failure, so there was no way the teenager could resist. Out of curiosity, if nothing else.

Yagami Light read the rest of the rules at his study table and closed the book with an amused smile. Thinking himself better than whoever left the book in the middle of nowhere, he had an air of superiority. He believed himself smarter than the "fool" who dropped the notebook for someone to pick up.

"Impressive that someone would put so much effort into a prank like this..." Light mused as he loosened his tie and lied down in bed.

In Japan, English was a second language. For one to write such a thing in English, which most struggled with, was so unbelievable that Light might dismiss the idea had he not read the rules written on the notebook. Something so easily disproved would never be left as a prank anyway.

Es made a shadow clone work on cases while he simply watched Yagami Light. He knew that this teenager will drag himself down with this vanity. His accomplishments in studies and sports in his corner of the world won him praise from those around him. The psychologist in Es knew how it would go. This bright young man would become a criminal and he could only watch it happen before his eyes. Es just knew Light would start self-deluding into judging himself omnipotent. The chosen one or perhaps even God.

Not even Es considered himself a god, no matter what others thought.

Light thought it over before sitting up. He returned to his desk where he picked up a pen, hesitating when the thought of what name he should write crossed his mind. He did not believe in the power of the death note, but he still thought of the possible consequences.

"Hold on..." Light muttered, "if it works, will I be a murderer?"

Es rolled his eyes, replying dryly, "Of course. We might even have to get on your case."

Of course, Yagami Light did not hear those words. He would not have believed it even if he heard them. After all, it was more likely his imagination than someone invisible lurking in his room.

"Someone whose death doesn't matter..." Light thought aloud, "it should be someone unrelated to me..."

Es' lips quirked upwards.

He had a similar train of thought while testing the effects of the death note at the time when he just discovered that he had copied it from the creatures he now knew were shinigami. The only difference was that he could not be convicted. He did not exist then and their deaths were never publicised. Instead, his victims became missing persons whose bodies were never found. He had pulled the corpses into his mirror realm and obliterated them. Most were unreported criminals.

"Also, I need to know if they immediately died..." Light mumbled thoughtfully.

When Light switched on the small television beside his table, a suitable victim appeared. Kurō Otoharada, the Shinjuku Killer. He killed and wounded six people, taking the students and staff hostage at a preschool. The event was reported on Japanese television alongside his name and photo. Believing this man deserved death anyway, Light penned his name on the page without a second thought.

"Heart attack in forty seconds, right?" Light spoke to himself while watching the face of the digital clock.

Forty seconds later, Light returned his attention to the television screen and tried not to show outward disappointment when he saw no change.

He looked away from the TV but, just then, the reporter exclaimed, "Oh! The hostages are coming out!"

Indeed, the people captured by the criminal now rushed out of the building and toward the people that they knew.

"Seems like everyone is fine," the reporter stated. "Now, the police storm the school. Have they made the arrest?"

There was a lot of muffled background noise before the police in full gear returned, empty-handed.

"Oh! They're coming back out," the reporter announced, beginning to sound confused. "I don't see the suspect. What's going on?"

There was some muffled discussion in the background and the reporter then turned around to shout, "We just got word that the suspect has died! They're saying that the suspect is dead!"

Light's eyes went wide.

"The police are saying they did not fire any shots! Could it be a suicide? According to the hostages, the suspect just collapsed," the reporter spoke tensely.

Yagami Light was no longer listening.

His mind was whirring.

His head suddenly felt too loud.

Es sighed at the sight.

"He's hooked," the blond said, pityingly.

Noel merely batted at the mirror which showed the brunet with a mewl.

"Right," Es agreed with a nod, "one time isn't enough."

It would never be enough.

He would find excuses to kill more, perhaps telling himself that it was righteous. Es recognised this pattern. He would tell himself that his acts of murder were justified. Perhaps he would even sacrifice innocents "for the greater good".

Es did not think it was possible to save everyone, but neither did he condone senseless killing.

It was different in the shinobi world where right and wrong were flexible. There, all shinobi were military forces. Death was a part of everyday life. It was a risk that came with the job, which was why grudges were not often held unless it was personal. At times, events like Namikaze Minato's cold-blooded massacre of one thousand Iwa-nin could not be accepted by the suffering country and hate will be directed toward them. However, those were rare and those with power accepted their fate. Killing others was not wrong there.

However, murdering civilians was forbidden.

This was similar. In this world, there was no chakra. Thus, everyone was equal and stood at the same level. Besides in self-defence, it was wrong to harm others here. In a sense, everyone was a civilian that should not be maltreated. Criminals were merely civilians who ran amok. Capital punishment could only be decided by a full-court.

"It could be a coincidence..." Light said shakily, as Es' predicted, "one person isn't enough..."

"Light!" his mother called.

Light snapped the notebook shut.

He hurried to open the door, poking his head out.

"It's six twenty-five, time for cram school," Light's mother reminded with a warm smile.

"Yeah, I'm getting ready," the lie slipped from Light's lips with ease.

"Someone..." Light muttered with an almost-obsessive glint in his eyes, "someone who doesn't matter... No, someone who deserves to die."

Es watched Light as he made his way to his cram school with a death note stuffed into his bag.

Telepathy or not, Es knew what the teenager was thinking as he looked upon his peers with disdain.

He did not want to kill someone too famous due to the possibility that it might not be covered on the news immediately. He wanted to see immediate results, which was why he would target someone right before him. He considered low-lives and bullies -- which Es found ludicrous since an alarmingly large fraction of humanity would be wiped out if such people died overnight.

He even spaced out for the first time during his lessons in cram school and got admonished for it.

Es could tell that Light was beginning to think on a dangerous tangent.

Humans were flawed beings.

The world, if examined too closely, was ugly.

Yagami Light was starting to think the world might be better without any of them.

Es noticed a biker gang harassing a woman.

They were starting to get a little too... touchy.

If a cop was nearby, Es thought wryly, the guy would be arrested, just as L almost was.

Naturally, Light noticed this too and walked into a convenience shop where he picked up a random manga and flipped it open. He slipped the death note into it and retrieved a pen from his bag. The leader of the biker gang was rather infamous in these parts. Light knew his name.

The girl ran away, the male with bleached hair -- Takuo Shibuimaru -- chasing after her on his motorcycle. However, in a stroke of bad luck or something else -- in this scenario the latter, a truck came rushing in and crashed into him. The man died before he could scream.

It was after watching this that reality kicked in.

Yagami Light realised what power he held in his hands.

Cold sweat trickled from his brow as bile rose in his throat with the realisation that he was a murderer, that he had killed people.

"I killed... two people..." Light mumbled. "I did..."

He stared down at his hands, expecting to see blood staining them.

"What should I do...?" Light fretted, clutching the bag which held the death note closer. "A terrifying notebook like this..."

Yagami Light fell into a contemplative silence.

Es could only sigh. The inevitable was about to occur. Yagami Light was about to fall down the deep end.

"No..." Light told himself, "who cares if he died...?"

He was thinking about the murderer, who would have received capital punishment after being arrested and sentenced anyway.

"But... what about the second one...? He didn't deserve death..." Light found himself saying.

Then the guilt was wiped from Yagami Light's conscience.

"No... it's what I'm always thinking," Light murmured. "This world is rotten."

Es raised an eyebrow.

"...and the rotten should die?" he finished the sentence, unimpressed.

A fool.

So short a time and he had already been caught in the thrall of power.

"Ah... you could have been brilliant, Yagami Light," Es murmured in disappointment.

If Watari had noticed this young genius in Japan, he might have been worth raising.

A shame. It was already too late.

He had already started brainwashing himself and would not listen to anyone else at this point.

Es dismissed the mirrors.

There was no longer anything to see.

"Noel dear, please get me my phone," Es sighed, slumping into his pile of pillows.

With a meow and an adorable salute with his paw, Noel jumped off Es' lap and bounded across the room.

He returned with a flip phone, holding it by its strap in his mouth.

With a chuckle, Es allowed the cat to place it in his hand and dialled a familiar number.

"L, where are you now?"

"Es... is something wrong?" L asked in concern as he paused in his typing.

Es spoke firmly, "Answer the question."

L replied, continuing to type, "If you must know, I am in Surabaya."

"Indonesia? I'll be there in five hours," Es said immediately.

"...What? You are in Germany, aren't you? It's a fourteen-hour flight!" L exclaimed in bewilderment, work forgotten.

"I'm teleporting over," Es stated, only half-joking.

L was stunned into silence.

"Meet me at Juanda International Airport," Es announced. "I'll help to settle whatever cases you're working on now."

"Another of your prophetic moments?" L sighed.

Es could hear L speak with Watari, but it was too far from the receiver for him to catch.

Finally, L stated, "Fine."

Now it was time for S to make a world record for the fastest case solved to complete the cases streaming in before putting the rest on hold.

He could not reasonably take Yagami Light's case before it appeared on the international news, after all.

It was not like he was personally involved in the matter, so he did not even have any excuses.

This was the first time S travelled without Kai.

As for whether it was legal to fly a jet at such speeds, probably not.

Well, it would be fine as long as he was not caught.

Then again, he took a shortcut using mirrors to shorten the distance, so he should be fine since it did not cause an international airspace issue.

💣

"Es," L uttered this single word into the heavy silence hanging in the room.

"Yes?" the young man in question responded, unruffled.

"Did you foresee this four days ago?" L questioned with a vague wave of a hand towards the screen of his laptop.

Es simply chuckled, "Maybe I have prophetic visions."

L sighed, raking his fingers through his hair, "This is a troublesome case. I might even have to give up my life to solve it."

Es frowned at that statement.

He disliked the sound of that.

"However," L continued as the corners of his lips tugged upwards in a half-smile, "with my best friend working on it with me, there's no way we'll lose to a nameless mass murderer."

After Es had arrived in Surabaya, he helped to tie things up in Indonesia. He somehow solved all the cases that L had already taken in three days, then returned to England to make their final preparations. Even if L did not know what was going on at that point, he cooperated without asking any questions -- that was how much he trusted Es. Thereafter, clues started appearing.

Criminals across the world dropped dead one after another.

The cause of death was always the same.

A heart attack.

Medical history mattered not. Perfectly healthy individuals started getting heart attacks one after another. There were suspicions of poisoning, but nothing showed up in autopsies and even Dr Simeon Noir attested that the heart attacks were natural.

It seemed unusual to pursue the issue with this being the case. Some believed it the work of nature or God, punishing wrongdoers. However, it was clear that criminals were targeted. Other than criminals dropping dead like flies to heart attacks, normal deaths from cardiovascular diseases did not increase.

For some reason or another, their culprit only targeted criminals.

The question was how.

"Many even tried to contact the unreachable S," L said gravely.

Es rolled his eyes at L's dramatics.

Just because he was hard to speak with did not mean news did not reach him. Connecting to any link in his communication system was equivalent to contacting him. Whatever the case, no matter how insignificant, reached him immediately. They were speaking with copies of S, so no one could complain if they knew.

"Interpol will act. Let's take the initiative this time. We'll work with the police," L asserted.

"Watari..." Es spoke with a cheeky grin as he dropped Noel on L and stood, "we are counting on you."

Watari inclined his head.

"Indeed. However, are you sure you want to expose your connection? You should send Kai," Watari queried.

Es frowned slightly.

"He is on vacation," he responded curtly.

"The stress must be getting to him," L commented.

"I recall he got into a fight with Noel last time," Watari agreed with a chuckle.

Es sighed melodramatically, "The slacker. What would I do to trade for you instead, I wonder?"

Cairn who was in the room, albeit invisible to mortal eyes, whined, "Can you not insult me behind my back?"

Es ignored him, crossing the room to grab a kitty treat.

Noel instantly leapt off L's lap and onto Es' shoulder, nuzzling his face with a purr.

"Glutton," Es chided with a playful glare.

L, too, was suddenly at Es' shoulder.

"You must've gotten something from Germany," he decided.

Es rolled his eyes.

"Sometimes I think you two are only in it for food," he grumbled, flicking Noel's nose and L's forehead.

Despite his words, he handed over the bag of German chocolates and gave Noel his treat -- he deserved it for being so cooperative during the flight.

L gave him a quick hug -- it seemed he overcame his reluctance for physical contact since Misora Naomi -- and opened the bag.

L picked a Milka bar and unwrapped it. 

He surrendered half to Es, who accepted in bemusement.

L always shared his sweets with Es.

He took a large bite out of the chocolate, closing his eyes to relish in the taste before returning to his laptop on the pine floorboards.

"Had you not uncovered the first case in Japan, I would've spent several days digging for such a small incident," L grudgingly admitted.

"I wonder when they'll finally decide to convene," Es mused, sitting down behind L and leaning against the other.

"Soon," L assured.

Es sighed again.

"I'm usually so busy that idleness feels oppressive," Es muttered.

Watari shook his head.

"Just take a break," Watari chided. 

💣

Within a conference room, the International Crime Police Organisation congregated.

"Fifty-two dead this week. All by heart attacks," one said, gravely. "All were either the suspect of a vicious crime or in prison for one. Chances are we've barely found half of them. The true death toll is approximately one hundred."

"Well, they should have died anyway!" a delegate shouted.

"Who said that?" thundered another.

A representative chimed in, "That's right! Even if they are criminals on death row, murder is a crime!"

"You can't be sure that it's murder, right?" one representative spoke unsurely.

"What else could it be?" another shouted, outraged. "There's no way over a hundred people coincidentally died from a sudden heart attack!"

"It's impossible to organise a mass murder of this scale and frequency!" an Italian delegate argued.

"We think a large syndicate is responsible for these killings," announced a USA representative.

"It must be the FBI or the CIA," laughed another.

The hall broke into dissonance.

All was chaos until they were silenced by a single declaration.

"That settles it. We'll have to call S or L."

A Japanese representative frowned in confusion.

"Chief," he whispered, "who are those?"

"Oh, right, this is your first meeting," the chief of the Japanese bureau muttered.

He had neglected that some did not know about the greatest detectives in the world.

"S and L are... people whose names, faces and whereabouts are a mystery. It is said that they can solve any case. You can call them private investigators, but there were instances where they worked together. We have no clue who they are. They shroud themselves in the deepest secrecy, solving impossible cases all over the world... They're our last resort," he explained.

"But L is kind of stubborn... he only takes on the cases that interest him..." one representative pointed out.

"Stubbornness aside, how can we even contact them?" another shot back in a hiss.

"Even worse, even if we figured out how to contact S there's no guarantee he'd listen. Our authority is nothing to S!" a delegate shouted in frustration.

That was when a tall man in a trench coat and broad-rimmed hat stepped in.

"Gentlemen, they are already on it," the unknown man declared evenly.

"Watari!" several representatives exclaimed in surprise.

"Huh? Watari...?" the green Japanese representative from before whispered to Yagami Sōichirō. "Another Japanese delegate?"

"No," Sōichirō replied tersely. "He's the only contact we have with L. For S, there's Kai. Even so, neither Watari nor Kai knows who L and S are..."

Watari stepped onto the podium.

"Silence, please," he stated, terming it as a request. "I give you the voices of S and L."

Everyone in the room was shocked by the words that they just heard.

Despite this, no one dared to speak.

The Japanese representative from before looked at his superior with a questioning look, to which he responded with a helpless shrug.

Although there were rumours that S and L knew each other personally, few thought this theory held water. Even those closest to them, Kai and Watari, did not know their identities. It seemed impossible for the secretive men who so secluded themselves to meet. The two even debuted at different times. Many understood that they teamed up for tough cases, but that did not mean they met.

It made no sense that two such paranoid people would make contact.

Watari finished setting up the laptops, speakers and microphones.

Then the synthetic voice that was recognised as L's trademark rang through the hall, "Greetings to everyone at the ICPO. This is L."

"Greetings, everyone at the ICPO. I am S. As you assume, L and I will take this case jointly. It will be our toughest case yet," the less-known voice of S announced.

"An atrocious and unforgivable mass murder!" L declared.

"To solve this case, we do seek the complete and total cooperation of the ICPO," S beseeched, though it rather sounded like a command.

Several delegates who have yet to work with either of these detectives winced at S's tone.

Thus the hall erupted into another flurry of discussion.

💣

"Hmm..." Es hummed, staring at a webpage on his laptop identical to the one Yagami Light was reading at this moment.

L peered over his shoulder.

"The legend of the saviour Kira," L read the Japanese text aloud fluently. "Criminals worldwide are dying one after another because Kira is among us again. He is the one who will tolerate no wickedness, our messenger from hell. Only those who believe in his existence may enter this site."

L snorted at the words.

"Really?" he asked, unimpressed by the fanatics scrambling towards such cultish websites.

"Again? Was there another incidence of criminals dying from heart attacks?" Es wondered aloud.

L shook his head with a sigh, "No. However, it's said that twenty years ago, criminals began to vanish one after another. It was a rumour at the time that a God, displeased with their sins, had chosen to remove them from this world. Those died down quickly and people wondered if the unsavoury individuals were gathering instead. It started and ended just as abruptly and ended up as folklore. Many criminal organisations of the day were uprooted as a result but there never was a conclusion to that event."

Es almost winced. He knew of it -- he was culpable. Even so, hearing this from L made it tangible. He never thought much of the experimentation he did. Killing with the notebook felt unreal. The lack of repercussions meant that he never reconsidered it. No misplaced sense of righteousness led him to kill criminals. He killed to experiment with the notebooks he had obtained by copying the abilities of the shinigami. He selected people that would not be missed as he knew inquiry would not be made to uncover the truth.

Had he known that they would have left an urban legend about him and passed down that cheesy nickname "Kira", he might have curbed his curiosity until he saw the rules in the death note left by Shinigami Ryuk. There was no point in all of that trial-and-error, considering how an instruction manual was written for a human's perusal. After he went to great lengths for it, Ryuk delivered it to another on a silver platter.

He was more amazed that Yagami Light liked his nickname.

"Ridiculous. They call their so-called saviour a killer," Es pointed out, his head tilted to the side.

"It suits him. He's just a murderer," L inputted snidely.

Es just chuckled and ruffled L's hair.

"Enough of that. It's time for your appearance on world broadcast," he stated, amused.

L grinned back. "Indeed."

Right then, all televisions in the Kanto region simultaneously switched to the same image.

"We interrupt your programming to bring you an important message from the ICPO," a man with slicked-back shoulder-length black hair announced. "This is being broadcasted across the globe. Japanese voiceover is provided by Yoshio Anderson."

"My name is Lind L. Tailor, widely known as 'L'," the man spoke with a piercing gaze.

Es would have chortled if he were alone.

It was delightful, Light's disbelieving look.

The new Special Investigative Force was abuzz with chatter as they talked about L, who had 'revealed' himself.

💣

When the ICPO approved to give S and L all aid within their means, L requested the assistance of the Japanese police.

That had stunned the gathering of representatives.

They could not fathom the reasoning behind that decision.

"Regardless of whether the suspect is an individual or an organisation, he is almost certainly Japanese. Even if he is not Japanese, he is likely based in Japan," S explained patiently.

"Why?" the Japanese representatives had exclaimed in unison. "Where is the evidence?"

"We believe he is in Japan because..." L spoke slowly, raising the tension, only to finish flatly, "of something I'll reveal in our showdown."

"In any case," S took over, "we hope the force would be moved to Japan."

The ICPO was left speechless.

💣

"Does this mean the showdown has already started?" the clueless representative from the meeting asked his superior.

Many people were expressing their incredulity toward this situation.

All the chief could say was, "Let's wait and see."

To be honest, he only worked with L once.

💣

Noel woke up to see the face of the man who claimed to be L on-screen, meowing at the detective in question.

L nodded seriously. "He's my public face for now."

Had anyone, besides Es, been in the room, he might have received a ludicrous look for speaking so sincerely to a cat.

"I have a message to the perpetrator of these serial murders," Lind L. Tailor said severely. "You have committed the most abominable act in history. I will personally catch the one behind it, 'Kira', at any cost."

"He portrays you quite well," Es commented.

L raised an eyebrow.

"He's never met you but he got your foolhardiness down pat," Es explained as Noel returned to his embrace.

L's eye twitched and he swatted at the blond who ducked out of the way, snickering.

At this very moment, Yagami Light was shrilly confessing his sins to his television set.

He never guessed that his words would be recorded by a dutiful shadow clone of Es'.

"Kira, I have a pretty good idea of what you're doing and why you're doing it. However, what you are doing is... evil!" Lind L. Tailor spoke.

Es closed his eyes when he saw Light allowing himself to be provoked by the man's taunts. It was hopeless. Light had become arrogant with a mere death note. Thinking himself infallible, he recklessly did something without thinking, giving himself away.

Though he was foolish, Es pitied Light.

Kira killed Lind L. Tailor.

"Stupid," was all Es could say as L broke into breathless laughter beside him.

"Unbelievable..." L murmured into the mic as the synthetic voice boomed through speakers all over the Kanto region.

Es, seeing Light's expression of bewilderment, smiled.

"We did this on the off-chance that you would kill me," L stated factually.

"So, Kira, it was true. You can kill people without being nearby," L mused, almost thoughtful. "If I did not see it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it."

A blatant lie.

L had long accepted it when Es noticed it.

L only wanted to prove it to everyone else.

"This was the only way you could have killed them, was it not?" L asked, rhetorically.

Es saw Light's panic.

"Listen to me, Kira. The person you just killed was a criminal sentenced to be executed at this time today, not me," L explained patiently.

The shinigami next to Light cackled.

"But I, L, am real!" L shouted.

The image of an "L" in Cloister Black font appeared on the screen.

Es could only sigh at L's antics.

"Childish..." he muttered, but the detective in question ignored him.

"Why don't you kill me?" L taunted. "Come on, kill me! What's wrong? Can't do it?"

"If I were Kira and wanted to kill you, you'd be dead now," Es grumbled at the blatant risk his friend was taking.

"You hypothesised that he needed a face and a name to kill," L responded, unperturbed.

"Your blind trust is burdensome," huffed Es.

"Anyway, if you wished to kill me, I'd allow it," L said seriously.

Es frowned, prompting Noel to dig his claws into L's thigh.

This elicited a hiss and a glare as L jumped back in pain and surprise.

"Don't even joke about it," Es spoke in a clipped manner.

Then he hijacked the equipment.

"So you can't kill me after all," Es said through L's microphone.

People must have thought L was bipolar.

"There are people you cannot kill," Es said with a smirk. "Thanks for the hint."

"Why pretend to be me?" L asked in confusion, jabbing at Noel.

"He thinks you are his only enemy. If I appeared, he might run away," Es explained simply.

L went quiet.

That made sense.

"I have said that this was a worldwide live broadcast, but it is only being shown in the Kanto region of Japan. I planned to repeat this at the other prefectures but that is unnecessary now. I know you are in the Kanto area," Es articulated clearly. "The police might have missed this, but I know that your first victim was a murderer in Shinjuku. Compared to other criminals who died of similar causes, this fellow seems insignificant. Moreover, only the Japanese media reported this incident. That was the only clue that I needed."

Es returned the microphone to L.

L reacted immediately and announced, "I knew that you were in Japan, Kira, and that man was just a test for your killings! I got lucky, casting my net on the most populated area of Japan. I did not expect my plan to go so well. Kira, it is not far from the day you die."

A complete and utter lie. Es had advised him to do so. Naturally, the reason he stated was why he would do so normally. However, it was the fact that Es had stated plainly that Kira was in Kanto that gave him assurance. If not for this, he would have simultaneously held this broadcast in all eight regions of Japan with a different person as L in each one. Depending on which ones and how many died, he would have found the members and bases of the people involved who share the identity of Kira. It was Es' surety that Kira was an individual that prevented him from doing so.

"Kira, I'm extremely interested in your killing method. I'll figure it out when I catch you," L spoke excitedly.

All the incriminating evidence Es needed -- though the illegal method in which it was obtained restricted him from using it -- fell into his lap just like that.

"So... you think you can send me to the executioner?" Yagami Light had asked after taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down.

"Kira, I will hunt you down and destroy you!" L declared. 

"I am... justice!"

"I am justice!" Yagami Light hurled those words back at L, but only Es heard them.

L would have been delighted to know just how much he had gotten under Kira's skin. After all, L used the term justice because he knew what the culprit thought of his crimes. L's intelligence was such that he inferred this without input from Es.

Es accepted the mic once more.

"See you, Kira," he bade, disconnecting.

"We're returning to our sleepless nights, Noel," Es told the cat lounging on his lap.

L chuckled as he reached over, dishevelling the cat's fur, "He sleeps through most of the day anyhow."

Noel hissed, narrowing his eyes at the vengeful black-haired detective, but merely groomed himself discontentedly.

💣

Stepping out of the room, Es stated, "Shinigami are visible to those who touch their notebook."

Noel's curious gaze turned to the redhead floating behind them as he mewled in question.

Es nodded in agreement.

"I believe our Cairn constitutes as a shinigami in this world."

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top