Chapter 5 - The Chessboard of Destiny

Meanwhile, L had established contact with the American government. He told them of his conviction that they should not give in to R-Kira's provocations and kill the prisoner, Kurogawa Ryūjin. The stakes were too high, and he feared it would lead to worldwide chaos.

A few hours after R-Kira's announcement, all American TV stations interrupted their programming.

The American president stood up in front of the lectern, with cameras from all over the world staring at him. He took a deep breath before beginning his speech.

"My fellow Americans, my friends in Japan, and all the citizens of the world, I wish to speak to you today on behalf of the United States of America. We have been faced with an exceptional situation, one that transcends borders and cultures. Japan, our valued ally, is facing a serious threat, and as a responsible and supportive nation, we cannot stand idly by."

He paused, looking straight into the camera, before continuing: 

"We have heard the Japanese people's pleas for help, and we are ready to respond. We will lend our support, not just for the sake of Japan, but for the sake of all mankind. We will work hand in hand with our Japanese friends to resolve this crisis and put an end to R-Kira's actions."

The American president concluded his speech with a call for unity and international solidarity. As the leader's words echoed across screens the world over, a sense of hope emerged among the peoples of the globe, as international cooperation took shape to confront this unknown threat.

However, despite the President's speech, a section of the American population felt betrayed and even duped by their own government. In cafés, on social networks, and even within families, discussions were rife.

One man in a local café blurted out: "They made us believe we had Kira's power, and now they're backing down!"

His neighbor replied, looking annoyed: "It's true, it's as if they're afraid to take drastic decisions to protect the country."

But others were more understanding. "Maybe it was the right thing to do," suggested a woman sitting at the bar. "Killing a man, even if he's a criminal, is hard to accept."

Public opinion was divided, revealing a sense of uncertainty and confusion within the nation.

In a melancholy moment, Shōhei and Ryuk found themselves in the silent room of the apartment. Moonlight cast a pale glow through the window, dimly illuminating Ryuk's silhouette.

Shōhei began softly, "So I'm Kira? Am I the author of all this chaos?"

He turned to Ryuk, hoping for answers, but the god of death maintained a heavy silence. Finally, Shōhei resolved to read the rules of the Death Note, desperate for solutions. It was then that he came across a rule that left him speechless: "It is possible to influence one's successor 24 hours after the exchange, provided that the successor has not written any names in the notebook. The influence may not last longer than 26 days."

A glimmer of hope lit up in his eyes. Then he understood the purpose of Kira's announcement.

Shōhei: Are you aware of this law forbidding us to use this book of death?

Ryuk: Yes, I'm aware of it.

Shōhei: Well, I'm going to use it to my advantage!

He decided to face up to the situation. The next day, he presented himself to the authorities and declared that he was in possession of a Death Note, while asserting that he had never used it to cause harm. This declaration caused quite a stir, but in accordance with the rule he had discovered, he was cleared for the time being. Ryuk followed him in silence, wondering if this was all part of a plan Shōhei had hatched all along.

The atmosphere was charged with tension as Shōhei, escorted by SPK agents, passed through the doors of the containment room. Inside, he discovered an assemblage of masked individuals, among whom stood L with his face concealed. The room was divided by a pane of glass, a symbolic barrier between the holder of the Death Note and the guardians of the law.

L, seated on the floor, raised his head slightly. His mask betrayed no emotion, but his piercing gaze was a sufficient indicator of the tension in the room. "Place the Death Note in the breach." he ordered in a calm, almost monotone voice.

Shōhei took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the notebook in his hands, and complied.

Once the breach was closed, L declared impassively, "Now let us examine the pages and see if your claims are true."

The pages of the Death Note in L's capable hands seemed to stretch like an infinite scroll of sealed destinies.

Gevanni, carefully scrutinizing L's reactions, was the first to notice the change in expression on his impassive face. "What did you find?" he asked, a hint of anticipation piercing his voice.

L looked up. "There's one rule I hadn't noticed before. You can influence your successor 24 hours after the exchange, as long as they haven't written any names in the notebook. The influence cannot last longer than 26 days. It's an interesting power, isn't it?"

Ryuk suddenly understood why Shōhei had asked him to invent this particular rule. It was a cunning strategy to divert attention and make it appear that he had deliberately targeted the United States in order to speed up the process. The rule stipulating that a user's influence could only last 26 days after the exchange was an attempt to make sense of R-Kira's abandonment of Death Note a month after his first provocation. This made the scenario more plausible, although it didn't make the task any easier for the investigators.

Gevanni frowned, trying to understand the implication of this new rule. "Are you suggesting that R-Kira could have been manipulated by another Kira?"

"Yes, that could be a possibility," L replied, folding the notebook carefully. "Imagine this: O-Kira, knowing the ephemeral nature of his power over R-Kira, would have used it to unleash chaos on a massive scale. Then, realizing he was running out of time, he published this announcement, trying not to show us this rift."

Shōhei, puzzled, interjected, "Excuse me, but which announcement are you talking about? The last announcement I know of was yours telling us to give the notebook back to the authorities if we found it."

L put on a confused face. "An announcement from me? What on earth are you talking about?"

The room echoed with the timbre of Shōhei's words, a vibrant recital of the words of the announcement broadcast by R-Kira. "Whoever finds Kira's power must declare it to the authorities and will receive a substantial bonus. Something like that."

Shōhei, scanning his phone, revealed the tweet that bore these words. However, to his perplexity, L, Mogi, Aizawa and Mastuda seemed to perceive a discrepancy in the message.

Gevanni, frowning, reread the message aloud. 

"Kira's power will probably pass into the hands of an ordinary person, because whoever is pretending to be Kira will try to get rid of him to eliminate all traces. Surrender him to the authorities for immediate innocence and the $21 203 bounty. Know that respecting this act will be a great help to the country."

L, immersed in confusion, watched Shōhei's posted message carefully. "I don't understand, isn't that what you stated earlier?!" he declared, a shadow of puzzlement crossing his enigmatic face. He then remarked at Gevanni's reading, "I never uttered those words. What does it mean?"

Shōhei, his eyes fixed on the screen of his phone, perceived with growing amazement that the message broadcast by R-Kira had subtly changed. The words deviated from the original version he had observed earlier.

Ryuk, floating nonchalantly by his side, brightened with sudden understanding. It was for this reason that he had asked her to write on his Death Note to spread the message. Shōhei had noticed that Ryuk's notebook followed the same physical laws as the shinigami himself. Consequently, he had cleverly concealed the sign with L's fake announcement beneath the message written in Ryuk's Death Note. This way, only those unable to see the god of death could see the message intended for L.

L: That's why the government called me to ask if I was handling the situation. They thought it was me who had made the announcement. But since I myself was convinced that Kira was going to give her Death Note to an ordinary person, I didn't notice. Kira knew I'd understand the subtlety of his message, and he used it to his advantage.

L, with a look of slight frustration on his face, realized that the chance of finding O-Kira had vanished like a fleeting illusion. However, Matsuda, always quick to seek solutions, suggested that this could be a subterfuge orchestrated by one and only Kira. He evoked the rule of influence, implying that this could be verified.

L, in a thoughtful tone, replied: "Even if we check the 26-day rule, it doesn't guarantee that our mysterious Kira really did pass on his Death Note to another individual. He took care to conceal his statement, probably to avoid our intervention.

L, his face marked by acceptance, finally conceded defeat. "By now, Kira has most likely abandoned all memories. The hunt ends here," he announced in a resigned tone. The SPK members watched silently, absorbing the implacable reality of the situation.

L: That boy in front of us could be R-Kira, and if so, he's innocent because O-Kira passed his notebook on to this young man as a gift.

Matsuda, puzzled, asked L how he could tell that Kira was giving Shōhei the Death Note as a gift.

L: "Ryuk, will the influenced know about this later?"

He answered without thinking. "Nah, he'll never know."

L then explained that, since the beginning of the investigation, Kira had shown a tendency to hand out money. He then put the question to Matsuda: "If you woke up with the Death Note, what would you do?"

Matsuda: I'd hand it over to the authorities right away, especially if there was a rule for getting away with it easily.

That's when Mastuda understood the logic behind the influence rule. Shōhei was cleared, because it meant he hadn't used the Death Note in the 24 hours before being manipulated.

L then explained, "That's why I think that rule is probably true."

The inspector, after a moment's silence, turned to Shōhei, "You have played a crucial role in this matter. I'm authorizing you to return to your duties at the school, and in recognition of your cooperation, you'll receive the $21 203 bonus."

L rose from his seat, a tired look fixed on Ryuk. "It's time for you to go, Ryuk. This Death Note can't cause any more problems," he declared authoritatively.

Halle Lidner squinted slightly, expressing skepticism. "L, even if checking this rule of influence won't change anything. Shōhei isn't completely cleared. He doesn't really deserve the bounty under these conditions."

L replied thoughtfully, "You're right, Halle. But if Shōhei was the one who engineered all this from the start, he played his part to perfection. Because of this false message, I'm obliged to keep my word. The bounty is his, whether we like it or not. In any case, we've seen the last of Kira. Every possible use of this Death Note has already been exploited. I doubt Ryuk would be willing to repeat history with a new Death Note owner. After what he's been through with A-Kira and R-Kira, he won't be embarking on a similar adventure."

L, armed with determination, took the Death Note and brought it to a metal container. "I'm going to burn this assassin's notebook. It's the only way we can be sure it won't cause any more torment," he announced to the assembly. A solemn act that put an end to Kira's obsessive hunt.

Shōhei, freed from the shadow of the investigation, left the room. Ryuk, however, ever the observer, could not contain a mocking laugh. "You really orchestrated the whole thing, didn't you, Shōhei? You surpassed my expectations, kid," he commented, admiring the Machiavellian genius that had guided events to their unexpected conclusion.

Ryuk, floating in the air as he watched the scene, murmured to himself. "He really planned this, didn't he? He's taken the whole Japanese government hostage with this Death Note. The precise sum he chose was calculated to attract the attention of other nations, especially China and the USA. He deliberately relinquished his right to the Death Note more than six times, planning to lose its memories when I returned from America. All to make his rule of influence even more credible. And as a bonus, he made sure he got the reward. This kid is more cunning than I thought." Ryuk couldn't help but smile, admiring the complexity of Shōhei's plan.

The bell announcing the end of classes rang, and Ryuk decided it was time to end this adventure. Materializing in front of Shōhei, he asked, "If you say I did it, Kira... Did my plan work perfectly?"

Ryuk smiled slightly before replying, "Well, I suppose so. You managed to use the notebook without dying."

They looked at each other for a moment, each understanding that their journey together was coming to an end. Ryuk finally spoke. "Farewell, Shōhei. It's been entertaining."

Shōhei sketched a faint smile. "Yeah right, farewell, Ryuk. I'm glad I have no memory of what I did with that assassin's notebook."

As he was about to leave, Ryuk, remaining silent for a moment, finally asked Shōhei, "Are you sure this is really what you wanted, Shōhei? You could have used the Death Note to succeed in your drawing career, to become the best artist in the world."

Shōhei thought for a moment, his thoughts sailing between the choices he'd made and the possibilities that had opened up for him. Then, confidently, he replied, "Ryuk, thanks to this notebook, I've made the lives of millions of people easier. I'm aware that my methods aren't ethical, but if you only knew what people are willing to do for money. Can we really say that what I've done is wrong, when so many lives have been transformed?"

He pauses, a smile forming on his face. "Now that I'm rich too, I'll be able to live off my passion for drawing without worrying about running out of money. It's a chance few people have, and I'm grateful to have been able to seize it."

Ryuk, with a final wry smile, simply nodded. He seemed to understand that, despite Shōhei's controversial choices, he had found his own path to happiness. And with that, Ryuk disappeared into the darkness of the night, leaving Shōhei to face his future, filled with new possibilities.

~ How to Use It XLVI:

There are laws in the world of gods of death. If a god of death should break the law, there are 9 levels of severity starting at Level 8 and going up to Level 1 plus the Extreme Level. For severity levels above 3 the god of death will be killed after being punished.

For example, killing a human without using the Death Note is considered as the Extreme Level.