Chapter Twenty-Six

Light stares at his phone thoughtfully…and then puts it away. If he's not immediately responding to that text, then I have to assume that the message is coded or implying something more. There must be a plan, some sort of move to attack. Instead of deciphering it, I continue to investigate Mikami. Part of me worries for the safety of the Task Force and the SPK; the way things are going, we may wrap this up sooner than we all thought. Then again, we've been waiting long enough. By then, I hope I'm brave enough to execute judgement. Only when the world is free as well. I try to act as natural about it as I can but my blood flows fast. This won't be the first time I've done this. But I've never taken too long to get this close. It's not that either. I have, whether I like it or not, a bond with him. As a result, I feel for him. I should not be afraid of this if that's the case. I was, in the past, though now I see it was grief that pushed me there and not ration. I was taught to accept grief but not to shun the one I sought. Everyone is a victim of their passion and Kira's is world peace. Is there a difference between passion and power? Perhaps. But power is a state that any leader can fall into and any leader can lose their humanity the longer they are praised. I wond if I'd think the same if I'd known Hitler or Stalin in person instead of the infamous historical figures they are. Would I see them the way I see him? Perhaps. I can't know. I guess I'm just lucky enough to know Kira and tell my version of the story one day. Justice doesn't care for degree of relation though. Death is no different. He doesn't understand that. That' why I pity him the most.

Beep, beep.

The large N displays on the screen and Light takes the call.

'L?'

'This is L. What is it, Near?'

'I want to meet you.'

'What?'

'There's something I must show you pertaining to the Kira case.'

'But, don't you suspect me of being Kira? Do you really think it's wise to reveal your face to me?'

'That's true. I cannot show you unless I reveal my face. Furthermore, the very act of showing my face will prove something. And that will bring this case to a close.'

'That's a rough statement, even for him,' I comment quietly.

'Alright, fine,' Light says. 'As far as I'm concerned, the sooner you realise you're wrong about me, the better.'

'I'd like to layout some ground rules for the meeting.'

'We're willing to go along with whatever you want.'

'First, I want to have all investigators from both teams be present. In other words, everyone who is chasing after Kira should be gathered together to take part in the meeting.'

'I understand; not a problem.'

'As I mentioned before, there are a total of four members in the SPK, including myself. All of us will be there. Besides our team we'll also bring along Mr Mogi, who is currently staying with us. As for Misa Amane, she will be released right before we meet. She'll not be told where we're going. You can come and meet us once you confirm that she's been safely released. Is that acceptable?'

'What do we do?' Mr Matsuda whispers.

'Okay, Near,' Light says, 'I understand. I have a team of six investigators including myself and Fejda. Of course, Mogi's with you at the moment. So, aside from me, there'll only be four people.'

'Very well, that's fine. Now, as for our meeting place—Daikoku Wharf.'

A picture of a group of warehouses and barns replaces the white screen.

'There's a warehouse on the outskirts of the southeast side that's been abandoned for some time. It's known as the Yellow Box.'

The next slide is a picture of the interior of the Yellow Box; empty with two floors, it looks more like a cow herding room than a warehouse. The building supports several knives hanging from the ceiling and a fan at the top of the building with a large door that appears to slide by manual labour.

'I've already taken the liberty of purchasing it. If this arrangement is fine with you, then we'll use it.'

'Wow,' I whisper, 'he's really thought this through.'

'One more thing,' he continues, 'this meeting cannot take place unless I have your word that someone will bring the Notebook.'

'Wait, why the Notebook?' Light asks.

'It's quite simple. If your entire team leaves HQ to meet me, there will be no one left behind to guard the Notebook. I can promiste you this—I will make no attempts to steal it. In fact, I won't een try to touch it. As long as Mr Aizawa can confirm that it's the genuine Notebook, I'm willing to place my faith in you and accept his word.'

'Alright,' Mr Aizawa agrees.

'However, I do insist that someone other than L holds onto it. My reasons for making that request should be fairly obvious to you.'

'Right. I understand,' Light agrees. 'But I'll be the one who decides who will hold on to it. Does that sound fair?'

'Yes, of course. Then all that's left is to arrange the time and date.'

Some silence takes place as they figure out the time. If anything, it will depend on the movement of the New Kira because, based on Near's speech, I suspect he's planning on exposing this Hand during the meeting. I'm willing to be wrong, though.

'Say three days from now,' Near says, 'on the 28th, at 1 pm.'

'That's fine by me. The time doesn't really concern us.'

'Well then, one o'clock, three days from now.'

The moment Light shuts off the phone, the room bustles with preparation, including a minor argument about the set up itself. Mr Matsuda and Mr Ide, who both hardly trust Near, voice their concern that Near's gaming tactics may bring more harm than good with the set up of the meeting. While the appointment holds, criminals will continue to die, and innocent people may still be placed in danger amongst all this. Mr Aizawa tries to calm them down by explaining the necessity of waiting these three days. Light stays quiet, letting them figure it out on their own. I focus my energy on trying to find Mikami, who has, by this point, given me no doubts that he is the New Kira. The like-minded thinking he shares with his god is incredible. Every move he makes is almost identical to Light's, though I can't call it perfectly identical. Everything I pull out of his profiles, professional and personal alike, especially within the rise of Kira, gives him the perfect set up. Unlike Demigawa, Mikami remains in the shadows, killing criminals as a servant of Kira as opposed to a corrupt priest using Kira's name for personal gain. His humility and honest desire for justice make him the perfect decoy, and the fact that most of the killings happen after midnight add up to his schedule as a prosecutor. Some surveillance footage also reveals a rather routine-based daily life, controlled by a strict schedule which only changes by external circumstances. His dedication to perfection, his desire to promote youth involvement in politics, it gives him motivation to pursue and worship Kira. Getting the job must have been an icing on a cake. If I were Kira, I couldn't have picked a better servant.

I think back to the time Mr Matsuda admitted he had difficulty to completely hate Kira. The others were quick to judge him, understanding that people only worshipped Kira because they were afraid of losing their own lives. While that may be true, looking at people like Mikami, Takada and Misa, I beg to differ. People have wanted to get rid of evil for as long as the world has existed. I doubt that the older you get, the less you view any form of evil as some inevidable disaster we must face. Humans don't work like that. Mr Aizawa, Mr Ide and Mr Mogi would not be in the Task Force if that's how they thought. But their view of free will wins any form of peace that threatens to shatter choice: the choice to express opinions, thoughts and to do so without necessarily inciting violence. With Kira alone, all he wants to do is stop anyone who gets in his way. I've never seen him target anyone who passively speaks against him. He patiently waits for their love. But once his worshippers got his power, the world became a chessboard. The pawns were forced to be divided against their will, perhaps even outside of Kira's original plan. Lind L Tailor, even if he was posing as L, was the only one Kira killed out of that kind of arrogance. Many more people have called Kira evil since and he's had every opportunity to write down their names, but he didn't. None of this changes the result: Kira must be stopped. In an ironic way, Kira's presence has bread a dangerous violence in his followers' hearts. A childish understanding, an adult understanding, it doesn't matter. When it comes to evil, Death will not take it away. At least, not completely.

'Hey, Frejda?'

'Yes, Light?'

'We're gonna meet Takada tonight, can you prepare the bugs?'

'Sure.'

Finding the box of bugs, I set Light with his wiretap and have Mr Matsuda help me set up the listening devices from HQ. After ten minutes of set up, Light heads home to groom himself which gives me some time to research on Mikami. By the time Light comes back, everything is ready and as a bonus, I get to have a listening device disguised as a mobile phone; with a headset intact, I can listen in on their conversation. Mr Aizawa drives us to the hotel at which Light takes leadership, taking us to the floor and room. As usual we thoroughly check for the possibility of other bugs until Light's satisfied that there are none, aside from the wiretap on him.

'Alright,' Mr Aizawa says, 'I'm heading back to HQ.'

'Thanks, Aizawa,' Light nods.

'I should go to. I really don't want to run into Takada today.'

With a chuckle, Light says, 'It won't be long until she arrives. Besides, what was the point of setting you up with the mobile device?'

'Alright. Fair point.'

'By the way, can I ask you something?'

'Sure.'

'Why does the Shinigami keep staring at you?'

Merde! I can't lie. 'Foreign interest, I guess?'

'Sorry. It's just, I've noticed it for a while, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.'

'A while?'

'The previous one stared at you a lot too. I thought that it was just getting used to a new surrounding. But when this one began to—'

'Right,' I nod. 'Fair. But I mean, it's a Shinigami. Everything it does should be odd to humans.'

'Yeah, I guess.'

'Now let me get out of here before Takada comes in here and accuses you of infidelity again.'

'She won't so long as she believes that "girlfriend" story.'

'Not taking chances.'

I head out to the main lobby, waiting for Takada and Martha to show. The moment they arrive, Takada eyes me with a smile and waves, which I return, before shoving Martha suggestively in my direction. I turn around so I can roll my eyes. 'Okay,' I sigh as soon as Takada is out of reach, 'we need to go to the main lobby.'

'Why?'

��I don't think we've kept our façade well enough. If she finds me anywhere near her boyfriend—'

'All Hell breaks loose.'

'Yeah.'

Once we arrive, we take our place by the window. I treat Martha to coffee while I order my hot chocolate. Seated and comfortable, I turn up the audio, carefully listening in on Light and Takada:

'Kiyomi,' Light begins, 'I'm sorry, but I'm a little busier than usual today.'

'Oh, really?' she replies. 'Does that mean you can't stay until morning?'

'Yeah, I'm sorry. Police are going to have their hands tied for the next two or three days.'

'That's a shame.'

They talk more about mundane topics for the remainder of the time. Kira verbally shows up as a secondary topic at best, but who knows what's being written?

'Martha?'

'Yeah?'

'We need a plan.'

'For what?'

Good thing Light can't hear me with this. 'I know about Mikami.'

Her face remains stoic. 'Gevanni's been following him for a while now. I'm sure you saw what kind of a man he is.'

'Yeah—if we're still talking about Mikami.'

'We are.'

'Okay. Good. But we need to end this quietly. It's hard enough for me to have found Mikami. Getting to him to do what I must—yeah. And then there's Misa Amane.'

'We can't touch her. Not yet. L needs to know that she's safe in order to still meet in three days.'

'Great. Yet another dilemma that hinders the mission,' I groan.

'So, you've already tried. With him.'

'Multiple times,' I admit, 'But I can't do it.'

'Why not?'

'For one, given the time, it'll trace right back to me. Secondly, I—'

The pause is all the hint she needs. 'You know, growing up, she warned that they would not all be monsters. Some, at least, not completely.'

'Believe me, I spent three years trying to accept that. I couldn't do it blinded by grief, it's the primary reason I returned. Since coming back, I haven't felt conflicted about what I must do. But that feeling, that emotion that makes me stop and think without changing my objective—it toys with my mind.'

'You won't be the first to cry over a job like this, Frejda. Believe me. Many of our sisters have gone through this. Don't be afraid to cry for him, if you must when the time comes.'

Behind Martha, the lift doors open, and Takada exits.

Martha looks behind her briefly before standing up. 'May the Saint guide you,' she says.

I pull up and hug her, more for myself than as a parting gesture, and then release her to her job.

Shortly after, Light exits the lifts and nods his head to the door. I quietly follow him to the cab, Light being a gentleman and allowing me to slip in first. The usual silence transpires in the ride back until Light cuts it with a question: 'How's your friend, today?'

'Fine, thanks for asking.'

'She seems to take her job as bodyguard seriously.'

'Yeah, she is… Why do you ask?'

'I'm just intrigued by it, that's all. The way the two of you act around each other. Perhaps I'm a little concerned that you're sharing information as a result of your friendship.'

'Not really. But I do turn to her for advice.'

'Oh?'

'Martha's like my big sister. She's older than I am and much more experienced, and as you are aware, doing the same job. I don't have to give anything away to ask for advice.'

'Fair point.'

'Do you really think I'd rat out anything? I mean, come on. It's pointless to give away any information, save what we all know.'

'I guess. But you two looked heavy in discussion. Like there was some big infor you wanted to tell her.'

'Like I said, all I did was ask for advice on how to proceed. That's all.'

'Why didn't you come to me?'

'You?' I ask, incredulous.

'What's wrong with coming to me for help? Don't tell me I'm not trustworthy.'

Nope, just my target. 'No offence Light, but you are about as experienced as I am, remember. There's only so much wisdom you can offer.'

He opens his mouth in what appears to be objection only to close it seconds later. 'You win,' he sighs.

'Besides, you've already got enough to deal with. Best I keep my worrisome ethics to myself.'

'You pack quite the mystery, you know that?'

'Thank you?'

'In a good way, I promise.'

'Okay.'

We walk into a work-infested atmosphere at HQ though Mr Aizawa takes a break to eye Light suspiciously as he walks to his place. Taking my seat next to Light, I watch the news for a little bit to keep track of Mikami's killings while reviewing everything I have on the guy. From surveillance tapes to profiles and political cases he's worked on, he appears to be quite the upstanding citizen. Why would he throw it all away for power? For the same reasons the boy next to me did the same thing. No matter how many times I dwell on it, it would do me no good nor will it mean escape from what's meant to happen. The reality is that they, all of them, deserve their end. Have they had their chance at mercy? Yes, and still, they refused to take advantage of it. Their choice has sealed any further deal. I think about Martha's advice earlier, that tit would be okay to cry for him when the time comes. My heart sinks as I think about what must be done. When I was first given the assignment, I was dutiful. When I made my promise, I was vengeful. A shadow of the two remains in me as I realise that on their behalf, I feel remorseful.

These last few days, apart from Near's rather odd proposal, things have been quiet. Aside from forcing myself to monitor Kira's attacks, I've also watched out for anything on Takada and Misa, in case anything is amiss. The possibilities of something growing out of proportion or leading to a new territory seem low, but I don't let it disappoint me. that's the atmosphere we need before the big meeting in a couple days, the calm before the storm. I've thus far, taken advantage of them by sleeping a little longer, much to Light's delight, but it's not long enough to hinder me from my duties. I manage to stay close to Light at every waking hour of the day, save for a few choice times here and there, when Mr Aizawa takes over. The news drops mostly of Kira's killings and Tonight's Miss Takada takes on as the primary source of updates from Kira himself. The calm before the storm, though filled with the most stress, is hardly the cause of panic until the TV hits us with unexpected news. Earlier in the evening, Takada was walking into the NHN building, fans and journalists on both sides of her to witness, when a car suddenly pulled up; the driver shot a smoke bomb into the crowd.

In the chaos and panic that ensued, between the crowd rushing to safety and security tailing the car that disrupted the occasion, Kiyomi Takada was kidnapped.

'As of this moment,' the news anchor says, 'both Miss Takada's escort team and the police are hot on the tail of the suspects.'

'Is it Near again?' Mr Ide asks.

'No,' I say, 'this isn't like Near. It's most likely—��

Beep, beep.

'L,' Near says, 'I am not the one who kidnapped Takada.'

'Is that so?' Light asks.

'So, it is Mello,' I nod.

'Yes, that's right. And I have to be honest with you—we had one of our members escorting Takada. Though, you already know that. Anyway, they confirmed it—Mello was the one who abducted her. I apologise for letting this happen while one of us was guarding her.'

'Near, isn't there any way for you to contact Mello?'

'No, I'm afraid that would be impossible. Though I do have a method of getting in touch with him, there's no way he'd respond in the current situation.'

Great.

'Our latest report is that the escort team was forced to shoot one of the perpetrators,' the anchor's voice interrupts. 'They are also still making efforts to track Miss Takada's whereabouts.'

'Were you able to get a hold of her?' Mr Ide asks Light.

'Not yet.'

'Takada's phone's been turned off,' Light says, 'Mellow must have confiscated it.'

'I'll see if I can get in touch with Martha, get a stasus of the progress,' I offer.

'Good thinking,' Mr Matsuda commends.

I get on the phone to call Martha. It rings a couple of times before it heads straight to voicemail.

I try again. Same result.

A third time: nothing.

Zut!

'The police are tracking the remaining suspects and are currently unable to comment,' the anchor continues.

You don't say.

The person that was killed. Something about the wreckage, it's possible—it could have been another one. Another one like Near and Mello. In fact, I have the highest hunch that the kid that died is also from Wammy's House. Mello! What in the name of the Saint were you thinking?

My heart jumps as Light's cell phone rings.

'Hello?' he answers, 'Miss Takada? Listen to me, are you alright? It's alright, calm down, and answer my questions, okay. first your location, do you know where you are? Miss Takada, you are Kira's spokesperson. Do you remember the conversation we had when I told you that there might be people who might try to hurt you because of that?'

Where's he going with this?

'We talked about what you should do if a situation like this ever arose. Do you remember that?'

Going back to that conversation won't do me any good. He must have used the Notepads to instruct her.

'Miss Takada, you remember what I told you to do after that, don't you? Can you do it?'

After a pause, Light disconnects the phone. There may not have been much to gather from that conversation save for one subtle detail: Mello is dead.

'Frejda, Aizawa, let's get going. Matsuda and Ide, stay here and take care of headquarters.'

'You got it,' Mr Matsuda says.

Grabbing our coats, the rest of us head to Mr Aizawa's car. I let Light take the passenger seat while I take the back. Having brought my laptop, I take Light's phone and track Takada's location with the GPS encrypted into it and announce: 'I have her. We need to go to a—Karu-iza-wa, I think, using the freeway.'

'Karuizawa, huh?' Light mutters.

'Damn! It'll take at least thirty minutes to get there!'

'Well, hurry!' Light snaps. 'This is Mello we're talking about, who knows what he'll do.'

I shut down my laptop, sitting in the backseat helplessly waiting until we get to our destination. The closer we get, the thicker the tension grows. Density. The trees in the appear physically distant but crowd around us with attention-seeking heights, dense clouds looming over us, teasing the rain that may or may not come, pure density.

Even if I'm sitting in the back seat, my focus should be on Light, but my attention drifts to mourn Mello and the other Wammy's House boy in the car. Mello was a psycho brat, I've not changed my mind about that, but he was also human, determined to free the world of Kira's reign. His methods were questionable, and at times, destructive. I've yet to forgive him for being the cause of Chief Yagami's death, but the fact that I feel nothing but hurt at Mello's death shows I understood his humanity and that his goal was the same as mine. This is no longer a safe game, it's a fight to the death. It started being that way the moment we lost Chief Yagami. Bile rises in my throat, my fists clench in anger and I let the emotion sit as we drive. Four words: he has to die, he has to die, he has to die, he has to die…

My heart clenches and relaxes with each thump; my breathing becomes jagged and shaky. I don't have to look at him to fuel my hatred for Kira. In fact, it's best I don't look at him. I can't kill Kira without hating Light, and I can't look at Kira without recognising Light and hurting for him. Finally, we make it to Karuizawa, the exact location where Takada's phone led us to. Flames ignite the dark sky with wild life, engulfing an abandoned church.

'What the Hell is this?' Mr Aizawa demands.

Mello is really dead. There's no denying that now.

And so is Kiyomi Takada.