Scroll 14 { Justice And Mercy }

I rested my head on my hand as I stared blankly at the laptop screen in front of me. The only people occupying the room were myself, Feather, and of course, L. Watari was currently at the police headquarters, replacing L as his substitution with that well-known laptop trick.

From the the screen, I could tell that Watari was standing somewhere over at the back of the room. The only thing I could see were rows of the back of heads, although everyone's voices could be heard clearly.

"Let's begin with the public intelligence report."

"Yes, sir." A man in a brown suite stood up and started reading off from a paper in his hands.

I bit my pinky finger in boredom whilst L, on the other hand, scrunched up to himself, listening attentively. Feather- that bubbly blond assistant of mine- had disappeared somewhere else, seeing as she most likely won't be able to hold through the whole meeting.

"The total reports from the public, including phone calls, currently stands at 3029." He took a small hesitant pause before saying in disappointment, "Unfortunately, a large majority of them seem to be prank calls."

I continued to stare boredly at the screen. A large majority? I would like to think that all of them are.

"There have been 14 reported incidents of people who either know or seen Kira. We have investigated thoroughly, one by one, and I believe that - just as reported - it would be safe to say that none of them have any credibility."

Damned interference. The idiotic things people would do just to gain a little attention from the police. Was it really that thrilling to impersonate a serial killer who had a heavy death sentence on their head?

"Also, recently, there are also 21 new reports of people claiming to be Kira. Each of those reports have been followed up and will remain on file."

Oh, yes. Because Kira would just love to call up on the police to have a lovely afternoon chat with them, and perhaps maybe meet up for tea and donuts later on in the evening.

That makes 'perfect' sense.

I scowled a bit. Don't these imbeciles know that by making these useless phone calls, they waste more of our time? These public reports were more or less useless. It's an extremely low possibility - almost close to none - that Kira would call us up so carefreely. I highly doubt that he didn't know that phone calls could be easily traced nowadays.

No. Not for someone like Kira.

"Moving on to the victims..."

"Yes."

The man who read out the public reports sat down and another one stood up.

"We can confirm that the information of all of the known victims who died of heart attacks were publicly available in Japan. In addition, we have followed up to L's specific request. Result indicate that 68% of all deaths occurred during weekdays between four in the afternoon and midnight, Japanese time. The number of deaths peeked over the weekend, where they can occur at anytime between eleven in the morning til' late at night."

When I heard the information, my eyes lit up in interest for the first time that day. My teeth closed down onto my finger a little harder as I stored the data in my head.

Hmm. Now this is interesting. Judging from the times of how most of the victims died, it matches very well to the school hours of a teenage student in Japan. Since students do not have school during the weekend, the numbers of deaths are much more higher and happen at various timings.

Could this possibly mean... Kira might be a student of some sort?

"This is all extremely interesting information."

My attention slid over slowly to L at the sound of his never changing monotonous voice that I've grown quite used to hearing recently.

"It suggests that given the assured times of death, there is a possibility that our culprit may be a student."

Ah.

The people on the screen were no longer facing forward, but were now all peering back at us with bewildered expressions on their faces.

Yes, on the inside, I shared their bewilderment too. Although, not for the same purpose.

For once, we happened to come to the same conclusion. Personally, I'm amazed. I didn't think that such a thing was humanly possible.

"I do have further grounds to support this." The pale detective begun to explain. "Giving that they appear to only be targeting criminals, seems to be motivated by a sense of 'justice' It's conceivable that they might even plan to be some kind of 'God'. This means that we may be dealing with an extremely hollow psychology."

"But..."

"No way...."

"However, this is only mere speculation. Nonetheless, I would like everyone to rid themselves of any preconceptions you might have that our culprit cannot be a student. To consider every consider every possibility; that is most likely the shortest road to apprehending Kira."

There we have it, a couple of wise words from everyone's favorite detective....

I drawled in my mind, wondering if he had his own motivational posters, too.

"Please continue with the investigation report." he said, his thumb now risen to his lips.

"Ah... yes... are there any other observations?" The man who seemed to be in charge of the whole meeting asked. He has neatly combed back hair and a pair of large glasses along with a mustache. A man in his mid-forties. The chief of the police department, perhaps?

"H-hai! (y-yes!)" A single brave soul hesitantly spoke up. He rose his hand as he stood up.

"Erm.. I don't mean to support Kira in anyway by saying this, but... " He looked down over at his desk reluctantly and finished his sentence. "Over the last few days throughout the world, especially in Japan, the number crimes have dramatically decreases..."

He looked back up nervously.

Nearly everyone else in the room had cast their eyes as far away from the man as possible, feigning oblivion to his words. The man shuffled uncomfortably at his college's reactions and sat down.

I frowned.

Upon hearing the man labeling Kira as some sort of 'hero', I felt quite disturbed.

Kira? Hero? Ha. Rather, a criminal disguised as a hero.

On the other hand, I didn't quite like the reaction he got, either, though, I understood where they were coming from. It didn't seem right to shun away that opinion.

'Hiding from the truth again?' I asked in my head, taking my finger out of my mouth. People were just so typical.

The man who I suspected was the chief laced his fingers together. "I guess that kind of phenomenon is to be expected..." he muttered seriously. "Anything else?"


No one responded.


"Right.. well, that concludes today's investigation report. L?"

"Good work. I feel that we're one step close to finding the culprit. Before I leave, I have another order to trouble you with. I need the teams investigating victims, information and internet to double check what information , regarding each victim, was previously releases in Japan. More specifically, whether or not footage or photographs of the victims have been released. Thank you."

With that, the screen flickered and went blank.

I let out an exasperated sigh as slammed my back lightly onto the back of the chair I was sitting on.

"What a long meeting." I mumbled, letting my shoulders sag with fatigue. A whole hour of paying attention and trying not to make unnecessary noises; I believed it was so boring that I had to fight back the countless yawns that threatened to escape from my mouth.

"But... well, it wasn't as useless as it started out to be." I added the last part thoughtfully in a low tone as I flipped over to one side to get in a more relaxed position.

"Yes, and I would like to hear your insight about this meeting, if you don't mind." I heard the voice of L speak from behind my back.

"You want my opinion? I'm flattered." I responded flatly, studying the silky material they used to fabricate the chair I was sitting on. Red. Soft just like cotton. Yet, a much higher quality.

"I agree that it's an extremely high possibility that Kira might be a student." I started off in the same monotonous voice, sounding a little bit more serious.

I flipped back to my original sitting position to take a look at L, who happened to be staring inventively at my back, listening carefully to what I had to say.

"Since the timing seems to be quite accurately close to that of what a student has out of school, or in other words, the leisure time of a student.The possibility of Kira being a student opposed to an adult with the work timing of a scholar is higher, since most jobs do not match the timing of the deaths, anyway. For now, It's quite safe to say that Kira might be a student more than anything else."

I sighed again. "Although...The thought of this culprit being driven by a passion that he claims to be 'justice', or a desire to become a 'God', especially... is quite.... disturbing." I said the last part under my breath, disgust seeping out of my words.

L blinked at my statement with curiosity.

"You find such a goal to be disturbing? Why?" He asked, crooking his neck to the side slightly.

"Hmph." I placed my hands behind my head and glared up at the ceiling.

"People like that are the ultimate idiots."

"To want to be in a status that can actually rival God's... No.. to actually want to be God himself..." I sneered darkly as the words came hissing out of my mouth. "Such foolish desire and insolence. Rubbish! I don't know if I should laugh or feel disgusted. How can one even think of challenging God's name? He who created this world we live in, he who we hold a debt to for our very existence? How dare they be so ungrateful? People like that.. people like Kira... are nothing but complete and utter numskulls."

I didn't care about what L - or anyone for that matter - thought of what kind of person I am for my seriousness on this topic.

People stared. Judged. I know what goes on in their mind; all those unspoken thoughts behind their feign politeness, pretending to listen, pretending to understand when they don't. Their glances betrayed them either way, and their true thoughts are displayed clearly. The things they would call me no longer affect me. Weird, strange, over-exaggerated or perhaps even foolish - I don't care.

I never did. And I don't think I ever will.

Why? Because there is only a certain extent to how much one can conceal the truth.



"No one should force their own beliefs on others. We were born with a brain, weren't we? We're given the ability to make choices... and no one should take that away from us. It's just that, people like Kira make the wrong choices."

"Hope-san...." L mumbled through the thumbnail he was chewing on. "Are you by any chance... a Catholic?"

My glare diffused into a rather skeptical stare and I anticipated the question in a pondering silence.

Frankly, this was new and unexpected.

Most people would first question about my thinking of God, rather than to question what I am from thinking about it.

Well, L wasn't like most people.

Nonetheless, I still answered with a short, straight-to-the-point, "Yes."

"Forgive me if that was a rather blunt and rude question, but I can't help but get a little curious. From what you are saying, it is clear that your faith in God is extremely high." The boy explained, removing his thumb and picking at a piece of cake that was placed near him with a fork.

"Hm."

I ceased my staring and looked down as he cut the cake into smaller pieces with the metal fork.

"To be truthful, I find that dedication to be quite admirable to some degree." He said softly, but I still caught his words clearly with my ears.

My eyes darted back to the boy as he placed the piece of yellow sponge cake into his mouth. I eyed him warily, wondering if he was being sarcastic or not. He had a look of indifference masking his face as he chewed his dessert in content.

The indifference in his eyes bugged me. Was he being sincere? Or was he holding a totally different meaning? I couldn't tell.

And I wasn't sure about this.

First he says he dislikes me, and now he's saying he admires me?

He looked over from his cake to me and caught the suspicious peer I had on.

"I wasn't being sarcastic, Hope-san." He said knowingly, as if he could read the question right off my face.

"Hm."


Well, whatever.


I turned away once again just as the sound of footsteps coming from the kitchen came clambering forward.

Feather reappeared shortly after, humming an old tune that she had memorized from the radio.

"Ah, here's some coffee for the both of you!" rang her cheery voice as she laid a steel tray gingerly onto the desk. The tray consisted of two porcelain cups , filled almost to the brim with fresh hot coffee. She picked up one of the cups on the tray with both hands and passed it to me with a bright smile before handing a second cup to L.

"I thought you two could use a break." She chirped. "Go ahead and drink up!"

I stared for awhile at the steaming brown liquid, debating mentally if it was safe to consume or not.


Then I took a sip.


".........."


Upon tasting it with my tongue, I stood up calmly, walked over to the kitchen and spat the coffee out into the sink wordlessly.

"Eh???" Feather cried and drew back, stunned - and absolutely horrified - by my actions.

L lifted his own cup to his lips and took a tiny sip. He immediately tore the cup away from his mouth and held it away as far as possible, making a face that looked as if he had just tasted the most revolting thing in the world.

"Feather-san, this coffee is very bitter." He said, putting his fingers to his lips and cringing a bit.

"Eh?! Really?? But I put in lots of sugar cubes, just how you liked them!" The blond woman exclaimed, confusion washing all over her face. "Did I do something wrong?"

She knitted her eyebrows together and picked my cup up and inspected the drink in wonder.

Then, she tested a gulp.

....


...and hurriedly spat it out.


"GAH! IT'S SO SWEET!" the ditsy blond gagged with her hand to her throat. She stuck out her tongue, almost dropping the cup in the midst of her exaggerated dramatic movement.

L poked a finger into my cup of coffee and put it into his mouth.

"It seems that you had passed Hope-san the cup of coffee that was originally meant for me by mistake, Feather-san." L proclaimed as a tiny grin rose to his face, sounding amused. "This is a very entertaining event indeed."

"So it seems." I grumbled, returning from the kitchen.

I, on the other hand, wasn't quite as amused.

"How many sugar cubes do you put in your coffee, half a packet?" I asked sarcastically.

I could still feel the sweetness of the foul liquid lingering on my taste buds. I felt like I had practically just taken a sip of deluded sugar. The liquid was so sweet to the extent that it hardly even tasted like coffee anymore.

"Oh, no. That's definitely not enough." L nodded, as if confirming with himself.

"You're so weird..." I muttered, an impassive look on my face.

I fear that I'll fail to ever understand you and your uncanny ways, L.

"Hope-san, I'm so sorry!" Feather apologized, gripping onto my sleeve with both hands in distress. Her sapphire eyes stared at me pleading and I sighed, pushing her away with one hand.

"It's fine."

She still looked dejected.

"It's alright, Feather-san. I understand how you feel. Hope-san can be really cold at times." L commented, patting Feather lightly on her shoulder to offer some comfort, as she plopped down lifelessly onto the sofa.

"I have ears, you know." I reminded him calmly, never turning my head away from my laptop which was now placed on my lap.

I pulled down the top cover of my laptop and stood up.

"I suppose that's about all for today. I'll be taking my leave now. I'll return back here the moment Kira decides to make his next move."

I left the hotel room with Feather, who somehow miraculously recovered from her temporary state of depression, Kira occupying my mind. I thought about what stunt he was going to pull off next.

'I suppose it'll be a while before he does anything drastic again.'


...Little did I know, I was deeply wrong.


xXx


Three days later, I found myself eating my words.

"This is strangely ironic." I muttered to myself, looking at the fresh new list of criminals that had fallen victim under the hands of Kira.

"Did you say something, Hope-san?"

"It's nothing."

I thought that the recent confrontation L had with Kira would be enough to put him into shock for a little while. However, it seems that I have been proven wrong. Kira was already up on his feet and at it again the very next day, going on a killing spree that went on for two days straight.

'This Kira seems to be a little more childish than I thought.'

"He's moving faster than I thought. 46 criminals all in three days." I said, laying down the paper onto the desk. "And that's not all, too. He did it in a very particular way, too. In a disturbingly obvious pattern. L, I think he might be sending you a message of some sort."

"Precisely." L said quietly, nibbling on his nail.

"The meeting will commence now. I presume that you know what to do, Hope-san?"

"Hai, Hai." I waved my hand sheepishly. "Keep my mouth shut and listen carefully." I said dully, taking my place on an easy chair.

Joy, another boring meeting.

I slumped backwards as I watched the police make a fuss of Kira's doings. L took his place in front of the laptop that was placed on the floor this time.

"What?! A-another 23 victims yesterday?!" the man, whom L had informed me earlier was Chief Yagami, babbled.

"Y-yes!"

"There were another 23 victims the day before that, too.... All spaced out evenly, one every hour."

The whole room fell into discussion.

"The fact that this continued over two weekdays must mean..."

"The theory of the culprit being a student has weakened."

"But anyone could potentially skip two days of school..."

"That's not it!" L interrupted, rather loudly. Everyone turned around at his outburst and listened to what he had to say.

"It's true that the likelihood of Kira being a student has gone down..." He continued, lowering his volume. "but this is not what Kira is trying to say here. "Why has he spaced the killings at exactly one hour intervals? Why are all the victims all prisoners that could be found quickly after their deaths? Kira is trying to tell us... that he can control the time of death at will."

I watched the policemen all gape in surprise as they listened to L's theory.

"But something strange is going on. As soon as the possibility of Kira being a student was put forward, the timing of the murders change to indicate that this was not the case. A coincidence...? No, the timing is too convenient."

'That's because Kira...' I trailed off in my head.

"Kira has access to police information." L finished off my trail of thought.

"This is clearly.. a direct challenge to me."

Hm, I wonder what would've happened if the fact of Kira possibly being a student hadn't been stored? Would Kira still have made a move?

"Kira has access to police information. This fact can no longer be ignored." L mused to himself.

He slowly stood up and I turned my head from the screen slightly to look at him.

"What is Kira's final objective? What is he trying to do?" He continued to muse softly, biting his lower lip.

I stared at him emotionlessly, pondering if I should say something, but decided against it since I was suppose to keep quiet during the meeting in case anyone detected my voice from the microphone.

Indeed... what is Kira trying to do? What is he planning by giving us these hints? It's clear that he's challenging L, testing him... but... I'm sure there has to be more to that.

I twisted a strand of hair in between my fingers as I contemplated the possibilities.

"What the hell is this?!" the voice of Cheif Yagami exclaimed and I turned my head back calmly to the screen to watch again.

"As you can see, these are letters of resignation." Three men were standing in front of Cheif Yagami with grave looks on their faces.

Oh?

"Unless we're moved to a different case, we're leaving the task force!" One of the three threatened.

Those words kicked up quite a stir and all eyes were focus on the three men.

"B-But... why?" Cheif Yagami shuttered.

"Why? Because we value our lives!" The tall one proclaimed. "L's theory is that Kira has some ESP-like power that allows him to kill without him having to be there, right? Well, if I was Kira, I would try to kill those who are trying to catch me."

Ah. Come to think of this, an event of this nature would have bound to happen sooner or later, too... I suppose it's natural to be scared of someone so dangerous.

"Think about it. If Kira, whoever he is, gets caught, he'll be killed."

"We know Kira's powers are real. We've already seen this from that incident on the TV, when Kira killed the fake L after being provoked. But L hasn't even revealed his name, let alone his face! That order we received from L earlier about checking the information released about victims prior to their deaths, and whether or not footage or photos of their faces had been released...." The man bent forward and put his hands on the desk.

"That turned out to be true! Every single one of them had their photo published in Japan! Unlike someone we all know; we've had to investigate using our police IDs with our photos all attached! Without hiding our faces! We could be killed by Kira at any time!!"

"That's why we're asking to be re-assigned." The second man spoke in a grave voice.

"Please excuse us."

There three of them bowed and walked away.

"H-hey! B-but! Wait!"

I looked on as the three men walked away, despite the cries of their Chief. Then, I looked over to L to observe his reaction. He seemed pretty calm about having three of the policemen just walking away, refusing to help.

I sighed softly.

L squatted down next to me and announced that the meeting was adjourned.

I shifted over, back facing him as he proceeded to having a conversation with Watari.

'To be abandoned... doesn't he care at all?' I pondered with half-closed eyes.

"We had the FBI arrive in Japan four days ago. They've begun their investigation of the Japanese Police force."

'..Well, there's also that fact...' I thought, glumly casting the possibility aside. 'No. He probably doesn't care. In fact, he probably expected something like this to happen, too. If not, he may even have a deeper motive.'

"These are the people on the list?"

"Affirmative."

I listened to the voices of the two men as they conversed, my eyes following a random shadow floating across in front of me, watching it calmly. It lingered in the room for a few more seconds before walking through the walls and disappearing.

"There are 41 people within the police, who have access to information regarding Kira. But within the 141 people, or the people close to them..."

I heard the sound of paper rustling on the floor and turned back.

"Kira will definitely be amongst them."

"What an amusing theory." I scooped up the papers that he had thrown onto the floor and flipped through them, scanning through the content. "And the best part is, it makes perfect sense."

Chief Yagami's profile caught my eye and I separated it out from the other profiles, leaving them on the floor where they once were. "Hmm? So the chief's a married man?" I introspected. A small glint of amusment entered my eyes. "No... a married man with two children." I corrected myself, shaking my head slightly.

"What part of him amuses you?" L questioned. He had walked right next to me and stood in his usual bad posture, hands placed behind his back, staring down my shoulder.

"The part where he has a family and is still willing to stay even if it means putting them or himself in danger." I answered. "Seems like he's very dedicated to his job."

"Yes, I can agree with that possibility..." L agreed.

"And I suppose the family won't be overlooked in the man-hunt for Kira, am I right?"

"Of course." He agreed once again, without hesitation. He was so sure of himself, it was almost reassuring. "To attain justice, one must always attack without mercy."

I smirked and put the files down. That's exactly what I like to hear.

Scroll 13 { Hot N' Cold }

"The guy's probably a lunatic."

"I find that hard to believe. If Kira was really a 'lunatic', as you call him, he would have been caught by now. On the contrary, I think he would most likely be a genius of some sort."

"Even so, to handle such a heavy burden of having majority of the world hunting him down, trying to bring him to the death sentence? Genius or not, he's still human and would probably be losing half of his mind right now."

"There are many types of people in this world, maybe far more than you can imagine."

"Are you implying that I'm narrow-minded?"

"I didn't say that."

"Well, it sounded like you were."

"Please, Hope-san. It would be better if you don't come to such rash decisions all the time."

"I don't make rash decisions!" I growled slightly, shooting a heated glare at the detective beside me. "If anything, you're the rash idiot."

This time, it was his turn to narrow his eyebrows, looking somewhat offended.

"I refused to be referred to as an idiot." he pouted, irritation rising in his normally calm voice. It was almost childish-sounding.

"What's wrong? Did I hit a weak spot?" I taunted, darkly amused. An uncharacteristically sadistic sneer appeared on my face. I couldn't stop myself from spitting out the words.

"L, BA-KA." I strained each syllable, trying to sound as insulting as I could.


WHAM.


He suddenly swung his leg and it immediately came into contact with my arm as I blocked the blow from my face.

"What the hell was that for!" I snarled, infuriated. I had lost the last of my cool. I didn't wait for an answer as I twisted his leg, flinging the boy over my shoulder. He fell onto the ground with a painful thud. I was about to turn around when he grabbed hold of my left ankle and dragged me to the ground, causing me to trip forward, landing onto my stomach.

Before we knew it, we were both launched into a physical battle, each trying to cause the other as much pain as possible.

In the midst of all of the flying kicks and frantic punches, the door swung open and two bewildered assistants scrambled in hastily.

"L/LADY HOPE!"

The voices blared loudly and we both paused. I had a hand clenched onto the collar of L's white shirt and another holding on tightly onto his wrist, while he had me pinned onto the hotel floor, a hand just beside my head, supporting most of his body weight as he tried to free his other hand out of my vice grip. We both glared, the same spiteful look scorning at each other.

Watari went over to our intertwined bodies - well, stormed over - and hauled L off of me. I pushed and sat myself up slowly, the scowl still attached to my face.

"We leave you two alone for a few minutes and here you are, getting at each other's necks!" the man in black scolded harshly. "It's already been five days, why can't you two just get along?"

"Me? Get along with that thing?" I hissed hatefully, giving L a look of complete menace. "Maybe when hell freezes over."

"My feelings are similar." L glared daggers at me. "Getting along with such a difficult person is proven to be impossible."

Watari sighed heavily and slapped a hand to his masked forehead.

"What made you two fight, anyway?" Feather piped up curiously.

"I was just stating my opinion on what kind of person Kira was when he accused me of being rash!"

"You accused me of being an idiot. Besides, you do tend to be rash from time to time."

"Well, you tend to be an idiot from time to time too!"

The mindless quarrel was revived again and soon more insults were thrown here and there, the two other presences in the room soon forgotten.

".... Gee, I'm sorry I asked." Feather mumbled regretfully to herself.

Watari twitched impatiently behind his mask.

"Alright you two! STOP!" He suddenly boomed.

We both hushed down at his sudden outburst.

"Honestly, I will not stand for you two to have such petty arguments any longer! You're acting like little children! I expected better from two perfectly well-mannered adults!" The masked man reprimanded like an angry mother. He had to be truly fed-up to lose his temper like that.

"You two have to get along one way or another! No, you two will get along somehow!" he declared. He slumped his shoulders and rubbed the side of his head to calm himself down.

"Now. Apologize."

L was now sitting on the floor, his legs pulled up in his unusual sitting position. He put his thumb to his lips in a thoughtful manner and his expression was clearly agitated from getting lectured.

"Fine," he begun hesitantly. "I will try harder to get along with Hope-san. I apologize for my rude behavior, Hope-san." he said sincerely.

I made a wry face and stood up.

"I don't want to accept an apology from an idio--"

Feather probed my side with her elbow, stopping me from completing my sentence. I rolled my eyes and slipped my emotionless expression back on.

"Fine. I accept your apology, L-san. And I suppose I'm sorry too."

'Sorry for ever thinking that working with you was ever a good idea.' I thought distastefully on the inside.

"That's better." Watari nodded in satisfaction.

Feather smiled weakly at us. "Lady Hope and L-san are so fussy, always getting into fights. Just like a cat and a dog." she commented with a soft giggle.

I looked at her, not entertained. "I do not appreciate being compared with an animal, Feather."

"You're right. I'm sorry." She apologized, but with a silly grin on her face.

I switched my attention over to the unusually quiet detective. He seemed to already get over everything that had just happened before and was busily typing away on his laptop.

"It's almost time." He said in a low voice. He looked over to Watari and said, "Can you fetch the TV, please?"

Watari came back a few seconds later, a small TV in his hands. He placed it next to his laptop and handed him a remote.

My interest peeked slightly and I went over to sit next to L. As much as I disliked being anywhere near him at the moment, I was interested in as to what was going to happen and wanted to get a clear view.

The screen lit up just as a news reporting on TV was speaking.

"Sorry to interrupt our normal programming. A live international broadcast from the ICPO, interpol, will now begin. So, here it is."

The convict known as Lind L. Tailor appeared on screen and my interest rose even more.

"I am the one person who controls the entire planet's police force; Lind L. Tailor." He started off. Then, closed his eyes and bowed his head in a serious manner. "Alias, L."

"Hm." I made an amused sound, propping my chin onto the back of my hand.

I gazed at the man on the screen, the name plate on his desk reflected clearly in my eyes.

He looked back up at the camera and went back to speaking. "To the murderer who's targeting criminal after criminal: This is unforgivable. The worst crime in history. Consequently, I will catch the ringleader of these crimes, referred to vulgarly as 'Kira'."

"Kira. I can imagine what you're thinking, to do something like this. But what you're doing is.... EVIL."

Lind-san smiled in a twisted manner that somehow brought a smirk to my face.

'Interesting... very interesting.' I cackled softly in my mind.

It was written well.

If this script was written to provoke a individual who had the intention of being a 'savior', someone who purely thinks that he is doing good through his actions, like Kira, it was definitely going to work.

Then, something happened to make me widen my eyes in surprise.

...What?

The man on the TV suddenly begun to groan in immense pain, clutching onto the place where his heart was. He slumped forward, and fell over onto the desk, remaining motionless. Dead.

Was this... was this really happening?

Lind L. Tailor had just died right in front of our eyes from a heart attack.

I jerked my head to look at L. He had his eyes widened in surprise too, taking in what had just happened.

All the doubts... All possibility of this... disaster being a mere 'coincidence' had once and for all been dismissed.


Kira was real. And he had just murdered Lind L. Tailor.


Two men dragged the dead body away from the chair just as L tapped a button on his keyboard.

The letter 'L' I had seen before during the meeting appeared on TV and I stared at it blankly.

"I don't believe it." L spoke into his microphone, fighting to sound calm. His voice echoed from the TV in a morbid, distorted form.

This was it. The start of the 'direct confrontation'.

"I thought it might be so, so I tested it but..." He stopped.

"Kira. You can kill people without ever laying a finger on them? ... I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.... Listen, Kira. If you're really responsible for the death of Lind L. Tailor on TV, know that he was actually a man who was scheduled to be executed at this time today. He was not me. A criminal chose capture was top secret and was not reported on the television or the internet. It seems like even you don't have information about criminals like that one."

"But I, L, definitely exist."

My eyes were no longer on the television screen. They were now reverted onto L, the light of his computer eerily glowing onto his already pale complexion. I watched him quietly without uttering a word.

"Well, then. Try killing me."

My jaw tightened as he said those words.

What was wrong with him? Was he crazy? Did he have a death wish?

"Well, what's wrong?" L spoke, his tone getting louder. I could detect the twisted excitement rising in his voice. "Hurry up and try it!! Hurry up and try to kill me!"

I crossed my arms and unconsciously dug my nails into my skin. The sounds of the Shadows in the room, dancing about eagerly seemed to be ten times louder than ever, buzzing nosily in my ear. They shared his feelings of anxiety.

I stared at his face, engrossed.

Why was he so excited?

"Kill me! Kill me!" He coaxed, mockingly. "Try to kill me!"

Amidst the sound of the Shadows, my heartbeat pounded like a drum as I waited for something to happen, eyes never wavering away from L. I didn't blink once. The adrenaline flowing through my veins was almost heart-stopping.

This was insanity. What if Kira really did have that kind of power?

But.. for the same, unknown, twisted reason...


I was excited too.


"What's wrong? Can't you?" L asked in a teasing tone. A mischievous glint sparked in his deep black eyes as he stared, full of thrill, at his laptop.

We all waited with bated breath. Nothing happened.

He started to calm down and I did so too, soon after.

"It would seem that for some reason, he can't kill me. So there are people who can't be killed."

He confirmed, sounding accomplished.

"Thanks for the hint. In exchange, I'll tell you this. I had them announced that this was being broadcast worldwide, but this was only broadcast in Kantou, Japan. I was planning on going region by region, showing this at different times, but there is no longer any need for that. You are currently in Kantou. It was a small case, so the police missed it, but the first victim in the string of crimes was Shinjuku the street slasher. Among the felons who have been dying of heart attacks, the street slasher's crime was incongruously light. Plus, the crime was only reported in Japan. That's all I needed to figure out that you're in Japan and that the first victim was a test of your power."

He grabbed the microphone and brought it closer to his lips to sound even clearer than before.

"I concentrated on Kantou which was the highest population. And lucky me, you were there. I didn't honestly think my speculations would be true this far. Kira, it might not be long until I send you to your execution. Kira, I am very interested in knowing by means you are committing these murders But I'll know that once I catch you. Until we meet again, Kira."

L tapped the same button on his laptop once more and the 'L' on the TV went blank, replaced with a fuzzed-out screen.

He let go of the microphone and I finally broke out of my trance. He leaned back slightly and I smirked.

"Kira. No matter what, I will find you and do away with you!" He announced, still looking at his laptop screen. He was serious.

He closed his eyelids slowly.

"For I am... Justice."

Justice.

Is that what he thought of himself..?

This man...

for the first time, I realized there was a whole other side of him. What a strong sense of justice and commitment he has, hidden within. This was definitely interesting.

I curled the fingers under my chin in intent.

I stared at L from the corner of my eye and couldn't help but wonder how he'll fair under God's Judgment. Because in reality... only God has the final say in what is true justice.

And I will aid in delivering God's message to the world.

I will be Justice.


xXx


As war has been declared from three separate individuals with three completely different views of true justice, the battle between right and wrong will finally begin.

The one question has been raised.

The one answer will be written.

The final judgment awaits it's verdict.

Who is the true justice?

Scroll 12 { Make Some Noise }

It's been five days since L decided to let me work together with him on the Kira case. Apart from squabbling around from time to time when we came to a disagreement, things were going much smoother than expected. That is, Of course, with Watari or perhaps Feather, stepping in to break our endless bickering. It was going just fine. Though, I still didn't understand some of his bizarre habits and strange perceptions, instead of questioning him, I just kept my opinions to myself, knowing that we would just engage in yet another argument once again.

My overall conclusion?

..I simply just disliked him.

..Putting that aside...

Currently, I was at his newest hotel room, searching for any loopholes Kira might have left behind in his killing spree of criminals.

There was so much information for me to digest. But I was far from absorbing any of it properly.

As uncharacteristic as it may be, truth to be told, that incident kept bubbling back up in my mind.
A small misunderstanding. A mere mistake.

Embarrassing.

I jumped into conclusions and threw a fit. Not a wise thing to do. I shouldn't care. But I did.

As much as I disliked him, I couldn't help but wonder if I was being much too informal towards him. This was, after all, supposed to be be a professional case.

'Fine. If you're not happy with my 'fooling' around, then I'll do the honors of walking out the door.'

The same immature sentence echoed in my mind hauntingly. Disgust bottled up in my stomach.

I glanced away from the computer screen to the boy who was seated a few meters away from me, never taking his eyes away from his own. His fingers never stopped moving, as if he was attempting to try to type out all the words in a whole dictionary. It didn't seem to affect him at all.

"Is something wrong, Hope-san?" He asked suddenly. "You suddenly stopped typing."

I mentally cursed him for being so observant.

"I'm tired." I answered almost too quickly, sounding straight to the point. He didn't need to know that I wasn't telling him the real reason.

"You should take a rest, then." He replied, stopping his typing also.

"I'll take a short one too."

He moved a bit, sticking his hand in one of the pockets of his baggy jeans, searching for something. Probably some sort of sweet.

I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to do something about my behavior from before. I hated it when I do things that make me seem silly and rash. I just had to do something about it.

I chewed on my index finger in wonder.

Should I apologize?

The thought was deathly unappealing to me. Apologize? To him?

I cringed mentally just thinking about it. My inner voice discriminated against the idea. There was already a dent in my pride, why should I make it bigger?

'Don't misunderstand me, Hope. When I said you shouldn't fool around, I meant that I want you to give your 100% when you're working with me. I'm afraid that both of us would need it.'

100%? Ha. What a joke. I won't even be able to concentrate if I keep threading on small, insignificant things that happened five days ago, much less give it my 100%.

I could hear my inner voice groan loudly as my conscience started to speak up.

...At least, I won't feel so disturbed if I apologize.

I think.

I took a deep breath.

"Hey, L..." I began in a barely audible mutter.

Just as the words came out of my mouth, L had managed to fish what he wanted to find out from his pocket.

"Ah. Found it." He said in triumph. I stared at the familiar item in his hands.

I felt myself twitch.

That chocolate bar. The very one he stole from me the other day.

My chocolate bar.

He started to unwrap it and I started to feel any intention of apologizing slip away in a flash and being replaced with raging annoyance.

He put it into his mouth and took a huge bite, a look of total oblivion on his face.


CHOMP.


I twitched painfully with every single bite he took, as if he was doing something outrageously offending right in front of my eyes.


CHOMP. CHOMP.


I gritted my teeth.

"Is something wrong?" He asks, nibbling on the strawberry-filled candy.

Bloody baka (idiot)! Is he doing this on purpose? I'm going to strangl--

Before I could even finish my murderous trail of thought, the ringing of a cellphone sounded and distracted my rage. For awhile.

"Hello?" L answered his phone. "Ah. Watari. You're ready? Alright. I'll send her down right away." He put down his phone and turned to me, chocolate in mouth.

"Hope-san. I need to attend a meeting that is taking place in one hour. It concerns the various police forces from around the world acting on the Kira case. Watari will be accompanying you there."

I glared at him. "Why can't you go?" I asked in an annoyed voice.

"I cannot afford to have my identity revealed to anyone just yet." He said simply.

"Hmm." I scoffed at his excuse and crossed my arms.

Of course. How could I forget?

My eyes slid to the remaining chocolate in his left hand as he used his right hand to type something down on the computer. An idea popped up.

"Alright, I'll go," I agreed, my voice becoming calmer.

I grabbed my coat that was hanging off one of the elegant arm chairs that adorned the room and slipped it on.

"But I'll be taking this as payment." I added slyly, snatching the half-eaten chocolate bar out of his hand while slipping another arm into the sleeve hole of my coat.

Then, I took this chance to make my escape out of the door, never looking back at L, who was frowning at me from the behind, his hand still in mid-air, as if he still had the chocolate bar in his grasp.

"That was a dirty trick, Hope-san." I could hear the unhappy detective say in protest before I shut the door behind me, holding sweet strawberry-filled New Zealand chocolate in my mouth in triumph.

"It's an eye for an eye, L." I hummed to myself softly in mild satisfaction, keeping my face emotionless as I made my way down the lift.


xXx


Watari and I soon arrived at the destination, in a white, plush limo.

"What is the purpose of showing up at this meeting, anyway?" I asked, looking at my companion beside me. He was wearing the same black disguise he always wore; a black face mask, black hat, over sized black coat, and black polished shoes. That brought me to the thought of whether the man owned any other article of clothing that wasn't a shade of midnight black.

"This is the first major meeting that's being held for the Kira case. All of the police forces from around the world will be in it."

"Ah... so this is where L makes his rare 'appearance', isn't it?" I mused, rubbing my chin.

Watari chuckled quietly. "You could say that."

"Hm. Well, it's time to put those poor, confused souls at ease." I uttered, pulling up my high collar which covered half of my face, up to the nose level.

We entered the big building and was finding our way to the meeting room.

Watari suddenly paused mid-way and I stopped in my tracks too.

"Hope-san, please make your way through this hallway and enter the first door you see. That would be the meeting room." I could hear him speak behind my back. "I'll be making my appearance at the backdoor."

"Understood." I replied calmly without any hesitation, stuffing my hands into my pockets before starting to walk again.

Mmm.

Looks like I'd be watching along with the audience.

Good. I didn't like being the center of attention, anyway.



xXx



"Ugh. Cheif Yagami still hasn't arrived yet. Where could he be?" Matsuda thought, feeling too uptight for his own good. What happened if the meeting started without him? This was his first time being in such a big meeting and he could feel the goose bumps running up and down his skin.

"I know... I'll go to the washroom to wash my face and calm myself down." He took a deep breath and started to stride towards the bathroom, eyes on the ground, trying not to let his light-headedness get the better of him.

"Gah. It would be disastrous if the Chief was caught in an accident or a traffic jam or something! Oh no... should I call him? Or should I wait for a few more minutes? God, I'm so worr-- Ow!"

Matsuda let out a gasp of surprise as he fell backwards onto the floor, landing on his butt.

"Oh yeah, way to go, Matsuda. Bumping into walls would really calm you down." he scolded himself, rubbing his sore sides.

That's when he noticed the shadow that was downcast on him.

This... wasn't... a wall...

Slowly, he looked up to see someone in a buttoned-up trench coat, hands hidden in pockets, looking completely undaunted. The person was glaring down at him.

Matsuda scurried up onto his feet and started to apologize, bowing frantically.

"Oh no, I'm such a klutz!" he scolded, bowing once more. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

He looked at the person and found that the person was still glaring back coldly at him. She was a young female, from the looks of it, and about a head shorter than him too. Her face was mostly covered up by the collar of her coat and only her eyes were viable. Her coal-black eyes bore into him threateningly and made him shiver in fright. He gulped.

Then, with a single, "Hmph.", she continued on her way, leaving an awkward air around Matsuda.

He turned to see the silent stranger go, feeling very strange.

"W-what was that?" Matsuda thought, blinking in confusion.

Reality then gave him a hard slap to the face.

"O-oh, no! The meeting! I've got to get back, quickly! Gah, godddamit!" He cursed and started to sprint back to the meeting room, almost tripping again.

Fortunately, he got back just in time and plopped back onto his seat, panting.

"God, that was close." He sighed.

He sat up upright and listened attentively as the others started to state their opinions on the case.

"52 people just as we know about, all had heart attacks. All were criminals who were captured by the police, or were on the run. There are also criminals whose deaths are not yet confirmed."

"So, then, a conservative estimation would be about over 100 people?" one of them inputted.

The whole room burst into murmurs.

A second person joined Matsuda and sat next to him.

"They've already started, Cheif!" Matsuda told him in a hushed voice.

"Yeah. I got a call from the headquarters. I'm sorry about being late." Chief Yagami apologized in an equally quiet voice.

They turned their attention back as someone else started to speak again.

"But these were all criminals who were going to be executed eventually, anyhow. I don't really think it would matte--"

"Idiot!" another one bursts out, slamming his fist onto the table. "Even if they were felons or prisoners on death row, if you kill them, it's still murder!"

"But it hasn't even been confirmed that it was murder!" the one before said, shrugging.

"There is no way that over 100 criminals all dead because of heart attacks can be a coincidence!" the man roared angrily, losing his temper. "Of course they've been murdered!"

"But how can someone kill such a wide range of criminals, practically all at the same time?" he retorted, making a hand gesture.

"We think this may be a elaborately planned murder plot by some large organization." another one said.

"Psh. If it's such a large organization, I can't help but think that the FBI or the CIA may be involved somehow."

"I dare you to say that again!"

"Okay, alright! Please refrain from jokes!" A plump, old man broke the heated argument, waving his hands about. "First, we have to decide if this was murder or just a mere coincidence."

"But according to the autopsy reports, they all died from cardiac arrest; case unknown, right?"

"A death like 'cardiac arrest' leaves us without any clues."

"If they had been stabbed or something, it'd be different."

"In cases like this..." A man suddenly spoke in a serious tone, "the only thing we can do is ask L!"

The whole room instantly fell into a graveyard-like standstill.



xXx



"The only thing we can do is ask L!"

I stood at the very back of the room, hiding in the shadows away from everyone's sight. I was leaning against the wall, observing everything from where I was standing.

They trusted L that much, huh? So when everything else fails, all they can do is to crawl to him and beg him to save them.

I snorted to myself. So predictable.

The whole room was dead quiet now, everyone scooting over to discuss about L.

Finally, someone came to a conclusion.

"But doesn't L only take on cases that interest him?!"

"Exactly!" Another man agrees, bending over to shove in his opinion. "Plus, we have no way of contacting him!"

"L is already moving." A voice suddenly echoed through the room.

My ears perked up at the sound. Watari.

Everyone, including me, turned their heads towards the echoing sound of foot steps coming from up stage.

I spotted the black figure slowly making his way to the middle of the stage.

"L has already begun investigating on this case." He announced, looking at the crowd face to face.

"Oh? Watari?" I heard someone gasp from the sea of policemen.

"Silence please." Watari silenced everyone. "L will now speak."

He placed a white laptop onto the table and lifted the top, revealing a big letter 'L' that was in an old medieval font. The screen behind him also lit, up, and the L appeared there too.

I watched on in moderate interest, shifting my weight all onto one foot as I gazed up at the screen.

"Everyone in ICPO." A completely distorted computerized voice spoke.

"I am, L."

A small smirk tugged at one edge of my lips. There was no possible way that anyone could tell who he was no matter what they tried to do.

He was really going to do whatever it takes to conceal his real identity, wasn't he?

Mmm. I never knew such a careful person existed.


L, you are indeed interesting.


I listened to the distorted voice.

"This case is of unprecedented scope and difficulty. It is an atrocious crime of mass homicide that must be stopped! To solve this case, I would like to confirm the total cooperation of the ICPO at this meeting."

He stopped for a brief moment and rephrased himself.

"No... of all the investigative agencies of the world."

I huffed inwardly when I heard that. He made me go through a whole murder trail in order to just accept that he would have to work with me, and right now he's personally asking the world-wide investigative agencies to cooperate with him without expecting any difficulty?

Really. I just don't understand the kind of perspective you're holding onto, L. What a troublesome person.

"I especially request the cooperation of the Japanese police department."

Two men shot right up from their seats and I eyed the back of their heads warily.

"E-eh?" they exclaimed, surprised that L had hand-picked them out directly.

"W-why Japan?" they questioned.

"Whether the culprit if a group of people, or only a single person, the likelihood that he is Japanese is extremely high. If not Japanese, then at least he is hiding in Japan." the distorted voice explained.

"What grounds do you have for this conclusion?" one of the two men from the Japanese Police department asked, a slight tinge of nervousness in his voice. If Kira was in Japan, that meant that the people living there would be in more danger compared to people who lived outside of Japan.

"Why Japan? I believe I can show you with a direct confrontation with the culprit."

Liar.

Even if he was planning something - shrugging off the fact that he didn't even bother to inform me what it was - it was a very small chance that L would even show his face in public. He didn't even trust the ICPO with his true face. If he was truly okay with it, Watari and I wouldn't even need to be here.

Besides... revealing your identity to someone with a surreal power to murder as he wishes isn't exactly what I call bright. Especially when you're the one in his way. It's as good as offering him a knife and inviting him over personally to get it done with.

No, L was definitely lying about this... 'direct confrontation'.

"At any rate, I would like to locate the headquarters for the manhunt in Japan."

There were no disagreements even though some of the people were still unsure about L's motive. However, they all knew it was better to listen to him rather than sit around like a lost child.

With that, the meeting was adjourned.


xXx


When I returned to the hotel room, there was barely any light in the room apart from the soft glow emitting from the laptop placed in front of him.

I walked up to him slowly and dragged out a chair and seated myself.

I rested my eyes and narrowed my eyebrows a bit.

"Are you going to tell me what exactly you're really planning?" I asked out loud, feeling the carpeted floor under my toes. "Don't tell me you're really going to show your face to Kira."

"Of course not." was the simple reply I received.

I lazily reopened my eyes and gazed deadly at him. "So.. am I suppose to wait until Christmas Eve for you to tell me about your plan?" I droned sarcastically.

Instead of replying, he tapped his keyboard a few times and a window popped up on the wide glass screen.

It was a picture of a man with shoulder-length black hair.

"Meet Lind 'L' Tailor." he declared in an indifferent voice.

"Mmm." I crossed my legs and studied the picture. His plan immediately made itself clear to me in less than a second.

"So. You're going to have Lind-san pretend to be you when you supposedly have your 'direct confrontation' with Kira, am I right?"

L nodded once, clicking his mouse a few times to close a few unnecessary files. He reached out for his fork and jabbed a piece of sponge cake and inserted it into his mouth.

"This way, it'll be safer in case Kira decides to make a move and kill you. And since Lind-san is taking your place, it would be him that takes the blow instead of you. Not bad of a plan." I mused thoughtfully.

"Did he volunteer to be your 'stuntman'?"

"No. He's a convict on death row." L replied, the fork still in his mouth.

"..I see." My eyes hovered over to him. "... There's more to this plan than to prove that he's lurking somewhere in Japan, isn't there?"

The sound of typing stopped momentarily. Then, it started again.

"That is correct. If my suspicions are proven right after Lind makes his appearance, we may be able to unravel a little more of the mystery behind Kira's killing method."

I turned my chair towards the table where my laptop was and jerked the mouse to release it out of screen saver mode.

"Over 100 people dead in such a short time.." I mumbled to myself, zooming on a newspaper article. The words on the screen reflected on my unblinking black eyes as I scanned through a few more articles. "What kind of person, is Kira, really?"

I felt L's gaze on me as I imposed the question to myself.

"That's what I would like to know, too." I heard him say in a low voice.

A dark and gloomy atmosphere hovered in the air, keeping us silent for a few moments.

....That is, a few moments before we found ourselves wandering into an argument about Kira's possible personality.

Scroll 11 { Stuck With Each Other }

"Tada! Finally! The 40th case you have solved this year!" Feather gushed happily, returning to my side with a video recorder.

I eyed it closely as she checked the tape carefully, grinning to herself.

"Is it really necessary for you to tape every single one of our lawsuits?" I asked, almost sighing.

Wasn't she going a bit overboard?

"Of course it is!" she insisted, looking at me in shock as if I had just I asked something outrageous. She pressed the video camera to her cheek lovingly and smiled. "Because every accomplishment Lady Hope has achieved is like a precious treasure to me!"

".... now you're just sounding like that creepy stalker." I muttered, feeling uncomfortably disturbed.

Taking it as I was joking, Feather giggled and turned her attention back to her 'precious treasure'.

I shook my head at her infatuated state before a thought hit me. My eyes moved around the court room which was only left with a few lingering people.

Hmm. I didn't even realize that Watari had already left. He must've went back to the hotel.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

"Mmm?" I turned and found Mari-san behind me, looking down at her feet. She raised her head and looked up at me, rubbing her shoulder in a jittery manner.

"Erm..." she said softly, not even daring to look at my eyes. "Hope-san..."

"Do you need something?" I asked bluntly in my usual emotionless tone.

"I just wanted to..." she trailed off, her voice getting even softer.

I stared at her questionably.

Then, she quickly bent down forward as far as she could. "Arigatou Gozaimasu! (thank you very much!)"

"If it wasn't for Hope-san..." she continued, still in a bowing position with her face downcast to the ground, her thin hair dangling all over her face. "I... I don't know what would've happened to me!"

Wordlessly, I just looked at the bowing woman in silence. She looked back up after a few seconds, wondering why I wasn't saying anything. By that time, I was already looking away, concentrating back on packing the last of my things. I gathered the rest of the scattered papers that were messily spewed out all over the desk and placed them into a file before fitting that into the suitcase too.

Mari looked on, still expecting me to say something.

I shut my bulky suitcase with a loud clicking sound and secured the lock before grabbing the handle and dragging it off the table. All the while, the ignored individual still standing awkwardly by my side.

"... you shouldn't have to thank me." I finally replied, taking a few steps forward. "After all, Mari-san, I only did this case purely out of my own benefit. If anything, I should be the one thanking you, for giving me a chance to prove myself. Arigatou. Please take care."

I left the woman there, staring at my retreating form as I headed towards the exit.

Her face was full of confusion, surprise and a tiny bit of gratitude.


xXx


"Lady Hope... what did you mean when you said 'you did this case out of your own benefit'?" My assistant joined my side a few seconds later, skipping slightly to catch up with my brisk pace.

"Exactly what I said. I took up this case not because I wanted to help her, no. I took it up because I needed to. Besides, I wasn't really thinking of her at all throughout the whole ordeal. Basically.. I had no intention of saving her, whatsoever. So by right, I don't deserve her thanks."

"..."

I looked at her sideways for a brief moment before looking away again.

"Why are you smiling to yourself?" I inquired.

"You know, Lady Hope... that actually sounded very modest... in a way."

I scoffed mentally and looked away.

Modest?

...How boring.


xXx

A whole stack of newspaper clippings were untidily spread out on a coffee table, next to a steaming hot cup of coffee and multiple sugar cubes that were expertly stacked up onto each other.

L shifted in his seat to get into a more comfortable position. Not that anyone in his position would feel comfortable... except for himself, that is. He was currently seated on the hotel room's high-class velvety violet sofa, his legs pulled close to his chest in his unusual sitting posture, like always.

He held up the edges of one of the many newspaper articles with the ends of his finger tips and studied it skeptically. Apparently, the article wasn't from Japan. Instead, it was an article from the U.S.

Headlines splashed all over the pieces of dull, gray-papers, all in bold wording.

'DETECTIVE HOPE SOLVES CASE THAT WAS GOING ON FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS'

'RUMORS OF A YOUNG BUDDING PRODIGY DETECTIVE; COULD THIS BE TRUE?'

'MYSTERIOUS FEMALE DETECTIVE BY THE NAME OF HOPE SOLVES BIG CASE ONCE AGAIN'

Squinting a bit at the dark English wording that was staring back at him, L took a sip from his cup of beverage.

It was no wonder he hadn't heard of Hope before. It so happened that she had only been famous in America and only appeared in Japan just last week.

Young Prodigy, hm?

Come to think of it, the girl did seem quite young. Around the age of 17 or 18, or maybe 19 at the most? She couldn't have been more than 20.

Another thought to thread on.

Maybe she was too young.

L sighed and put his cup down gingerly.

No, no. That was a silly excuse. Who was he to talk, after all? He himself was only 23. Age didn't stop him.

This was bothering him badly. For some odd reason, part of him refused to acknowledge the fact that she might possibly be quite helpful to him... yet, admittedly, he was interested in working alongside with this strange girl.

Those inky black eyes, he remembered. They were empty, deprived from any signs of emotion at all. Simply blank. Apart from the occasional glare of annoyance, but that was pretty much it. It was hard to tell what she was thinking, what was going on in her head.

And unfortunately, this only intrigued him even more.

Most importantly, could he trust her?

She was a complete stranger. It was already a pain that she was already so distant. What if she betrayed him somewhere along the way? Was it all to risky?

....then again...

Watari does trust her. Normally, he wouldn't make such a move, unless someone really caught his attention. Her intelligence was also a merit. Weren't two heads better than one, after all?


Decisions, decisions.


He lay down the piece of paper onto the coffee table once more and sighed.

He heard the door lock click open just as he was about to contemplate more into the thought. He looked up to see Watari hanging his hat onto the coat stand.

"I've told them to come over soon. Have you made your decision?" he asked, putting his hands behind his back.

L simply shrugged.

"Do you think it would be wise to trust a complete stranger?" he asked casually and continued to work on his sugar cube tower.

"To trust them is up to you, I'm afraid." Watari replies, shaking his head. "But you already know that I do support the idea."

"Hm." L inspected one of the sweet white cubes, turning it around with his long fingers.

"I've always worked alone."

"Maybe it's time for a change?"

"... " He looked up slowly from the piece of sugar.

"...Maybe." he muttered.

Why was it so hard for him to admit that?

Just then, the door opened nosily, causing L's sugar cube tower to topple over in a heap.


xXx


As Feather opened the door in her overwhelming excitement, we heard something falling down.

"Uh-oh!" she gasped, standing at the doorway. "Did I break something?"

I sighed in frustration, wondering if she did. "I told you to knock before opening the door..."

"Gomen! I was so excited! I wasn't thinking!" she fumbled with her apology nervously, looking at me and then at the two people staring at us.

"Please, come in." I heard the calm, familiar voice said.

Heeding his invitation, I gave Feather a gentle shove forward and shut the door behind us.

"I'm sorry, did something break?" I asked, facing the two slowly.

"No, nothing did. The sugar cubes just fell over, that's all." he replied gazing down at the multiple sugar cubes all split onto the table.

"Oh! Gomen! What a mess!" Feather started her fidgety panicking again. "I'll clean it up right away!"

"No, no, it's alright, Miss Feather." Watari assured lightly. "I'll get it clean up in a bit. Please, why don't you two take a seat?"

I sat onto one of the purple arm chairs that were placed behind me without a second thought. Feather followed suit, after seeing that it was okay.

"Miss Feather, I didn't know that you were a lawyer." Watari commented, looking over at the blond. She blinked a few times before being about to read his sudden question.

"O-oh! Yeah, I am." She smiled at him, feeling slightly proud. "I've been a defense attorney for three and a half years now. I studied law when I was younger."

"Interesting." This time L spoke. "We originally thought that Hope would be on the defense seat, not yourself."

"I am a detective, not a lawyer, L." I reminded him, biting my thumbnail in boredom. "I didn't study law and they would not permit someone of my age to graduate so early." I stated plainly, looking straight into his face.

He stared back, unfazed.

His attitude remained the same from the day that I met him. Has nothing changed?

"I see." he said softly.

I glanced downwards at the messy coffee table in front of me. below the sugary pile, were english newspaper articles. With my name on them.

I arched an eyebrow. "Were you researching on me?" I asked, my eyes still on the black and white prints. These papers were from America. I wonder how he got them.

He remained silent and I looked back up at him. He was watching me quietly with his round orbs of pure black.


If he was researching on me... does this mean he might've changed his mind?

The thought struck me. I felt a faint spark of hope rising and I bit my tongue in my mouth to stop it.

Was I honestly hopeful about such a thing?

Why was I so worried over this anyway? So what if he decided to work with me or not? Why should it matter? It didn't. I shouldn't care. I don't care. Earlier on, before all of this, maybe I would have cared, a little. Only because he was such a profound detective. Enough to interest me. But that was before I found out what kind of person L was.


... What kind of person is he, anyway?


Annoying.
Disturbing.
Provoking.

and...

Mysterious.
Emotionless.
A crazy sugar addict.


....Interesting.

I listed out all his personal traits in my head. Yes, I admit. He was interesting. Far more interesting than I expected. No matter how annoying he was.

All I could say was; He was everything and anything but boring.

I knew that much. I wouldn't be interested in anything boring.

Maybe that's why I car- no, maybe that's why I'm thinking too much.

Still.

He was just a stranger.
Nothing more.

I refuse to care so much.

Without noticing it, I found myself staring at him in a daze.

"Hope?" he asked softly, noticing my state.

I saw his mouth moving and I forced myself to snap out from my trail of thoughts.

"Yes? I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something." I explained, clearing my throat. I closed my eyes to shield him away from my sight. The darkness helped to knock me back to my senses.

"So, tell me, L... what is your conclusion?"

I heard a small sound of metal against something. He must be stirring his drink with a spoon.

"Your performance was indeed impressive. And your gathering of evidence is indeed very functional, since you only had one day to get everything done, by yourself too, I presume. Feather was indeed the lawyer, but you were the one pulling all the strings from behind. I suppose that's one way to overcome your obstacles. I thought you were heading the wrong direction when you told Feather to bring out all of the other suspects. Why did you do that even though you already knew the true murderer?" He said over the sound of metal.

"A lawsuit that lasted only for 5 minutes would be boring." I replied instantly. "So I decided to have a bit of fun and drag things on a little by eliminating the other suspects."

The case proved to be quite interesting, but still too simple.

"I see."

The sound of metal stopped.

"The Kira Case is a very serious thing. I cannot afford for you to fool around about such things."

My eyelids rose up slowly.

"What are you saying?"

"..."

I gazed at him icily. Then, I stood up.

"Fine. If you're not happy with my 'fooling' around, then I'll do the honors of walking out the door." I almost hissed in a bitter voice.

He was playing with me after all.

I started to walk away briskly, feeling several pairs of eyes on my back. Why shouldn't I save him the trouble of guiding me out?

As I touched the doorknob, I could hear L call out, "When will you be back, then?"

I turned my head and gave him a hard glare. "Why would I be back?" I asked, coldly.

"I expect you to be back if you want to be updated on what I have covered on Kira so far."

My hand dropped from the doorknob.

I turned back fully.

I looked into his black eyes once more. They still didn't have any emotion in them. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

He seemed to read my mind this time and looked back down at his cup of coffee and started stirring again.

"Don't misunderstand me, Hope. When I said you shouldn't fool around, I meant that I want you to give your 100% when you're working with me. I'm afraid that both of us would need it."

He looked up and nodded.

"Welcome to the team. From now on, we're stuck together."

"... Stuck together?" I finally asked.

"Yes. That is, until we solve the case."

I caught a small, almost unnoticeable grin tugging at his lips.

"Now... where shall we begin?"

Scroll 10 { Headstrong }

"Your Honor, the defense would like to call a witness to the stand."

'There was a witness?' Feather thought to herself in confusion.

"Defense calls Bunko Kawaya to the stand."

"Who? Bunko.... Kawaya...?" Feather was getting more and more confused. She wasn't the only one. From the looks of it, the prosecutor looked was at a lost for words too.

'Tock, tock, tock...'

The utters grew as an elderly woman, her gray locks twisted up into a neat bun made her way slowly to the stand with the aid of her wooden walking stick.

'Tock, tock, tock...' her walking stick knocked against the ground loudly.

"I didn't really plan to bring her out at all..." I explained. "Because I was afraid Mr. Crappy Prosecutor might start complaining again. But I guess I'll just have to make the effort to ignore his annoying rants."

"C... Crappy Prosecutor?" the man half-yelled, his left eye twitching in anger.

"Your Honor," I said loudly, facing the old bearded man. "Before I arrived in the court, I was wrapping up investigations when I coincidentally bumped into this woman you see here. This person has claimed that she has seen the murdering take place with her very own eyes. Please allow her to give her testimony on what she saw."

"Please do." The judge pushed on, giving permission.

"Ms Kawaya? This is the part where you tell us about what you saw. Please start anytime." I told the elderly woman.

"O-oh, am I suppose to start? Now? Oh, alright." The old lady muttered as if she was talking to herself. "Hmmm... Now what did I see..... Oh, yes, right! It was about 7-something in the evening and I was sitting down in my trusty old rocking chair watching the news... you know, they were talking about that fella' who went around killing everybody... what was he called? Kila? Kiya? Oh, oh. Right. KIRA!" she snapped her fingers, feeling pleased that she managed to remember.

The judge hammered down onto his table twice, stopping Bunko from talking.

"It would be better if you went straight to the point, Ms Kawaya." the judge said in a firm voice, trying to be patient.

"Yes, yes. I'm getting to it! Whose testimony is it, anyway? It's mine, isn't it? So you should just hush up and listen closely, sonny!" the old lady chided and the judge blinked.

"Sonny...?"

"Now, now... where was I... see what you made me do! I forgot where I left off!"

"Well, I'm Sorr--"

"Oh, yes! I was watching the news, wasn't I? About Kiya.... no, wait... Kila?"

".... Lady Hope..." Feather whispered to me. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea.... she's a bit.... you know... 'off her rocker'." She made a worried face.

"No, this is fine." I told her, waving her off.

"Yeah, But--"

"Hey you!" Bunko suddenly snapped at Feather. She jumped and looked at Bunko who was squinting her eyes at her in a very displeased way. "You young whippersnappers... you should learn some manners and listen to your elders when they talk!"

"S-s-sorry." Feather stammered, bowing her head.

"Please continue, Ms Kawaya." I said.

"Don't mind if I do. Anyway... like I was saying... it was a commercial so I was kind of zoning out, watching for the news to switch back on. That's when I heard yelling. It was coming from right next door my apartment. My curiosity got the better of me, so I went over to the window and peeked outside. I looked closely at the window of my neighbors and saw.... dark figures. The curtain was drawn but I could see them clearly--"

"I OBJECT!"

Oh, good. I was wondering when he was going to open his big mouth again.

"Your honor! This is ridiculous! How can this be a proper eye witness if she only saw FIGURES of everyone! And taking her age into consideration, I strong suggest that this isn't such a good ide--"

"You calling me old, sonny?!" Bunko screamed at the prosecutor. "I'm only 69 and a half!! Still young and as strong as a bull!!"

"Terrifying like one too." I heard Feather utter under her breath and I smirked slightly.

"Your Honor, it's true that Ms Kawaya only did see figures, but she did she something. An eye-witness is an eye-witness even if she didn't see the whole thing in a picture- perfect view. I would like to request permission for her to continue her testimony. Also, regarding Ms Kawaya's eyesight, I have checked with her personal doctor and can safely ensure you that it's perfectly fine."

"Hmmm..." The judge closed his eyes in thought, rubbing his chin. He thought about his decision for a few seconds before replying. "Alright. Objection overruled."

I heard the silver-haired man emit a low growl. He was now glaring at me with his sharp green eyes filled with hatred. I merely ignored his existence and glanced down at my nails unconcernedly.

"Okay, now, nobody stop me this time. I'm getting to the good part." Bunko said, getting more and more impatient. She cleared her throat before speaking. "I saw not two but three figure in the Shiritaka's apartment that night. At first, I thought it was only two, one of them a male and the second one a female. The male was yelling loudly at the female... couldn't catch what he was saying, but he sounded really angry. Then, suddenly, the third figure, another female, but this time she seemed to have the built of a young teenage lass, appeared behind the male and HIT him! Right on the head with some long, thin object! A stick, maybe. I don't know. How am I suppose to know? They all looked like shadows to me."

"You see! She's said it herself! They all looked like shadows!"

He was either getting very desperate.... or is so stubborn to refuse to let go. Hmm. Maybe he is getting desperate. Maybe I should mess around with him a bit.

"Speaking of shadows..." I said in a low, dark voice. I gazed at the prosecutor with hard, stone eyes deprieved of emotion. "There's one lurking behind you. I wonder if you've noticed because it's certainly not yours, Mr Crappy Prosecutor. Then again.... you probably couldn't."

He gave me a freaked-out look and tensed up instantly. He whipped around to look, expecting to really see some form of secondary shadow behind him. However, when he only saw his own, he turned back to glare at me hatefully.

"Don't think I don't know that you're trying to mess around with me!" He hissed.

I smirked weakly, shrugging. "Oh, you can't see it after all. Forget what I said then."

I wasn't really lying. There was a shadow floating behind him. Another wandering spirit that haunts people unknowingly. But of course, without the third eye, he obviously failed to see it. It seemed to cackle in a way, sharing my amusement.

He started to rub the bridge of his nose, trying to regain his calm and confident posture. "Your Honor... the witness claims to have seen three people at the crime scene. How can we be so sure that it's likely?"

I pressed a written note into Feather's hand and sat back onto my chair, leaning backwards and balancing on two legs. I gazed at the clock inventively.

60 seconds...

I watched the clock tick away.

"Your Honor! I would like to say that it's most likely that there might have been three people at the scene in actuality!" Feather said, putting two hands onto the desk. "After all, there were three people living in that apartment! Why would it be surprising? Also, Cho's baseless claim to be at school cannot be proven right. The true colours of this case has now been exposed."

30 seconds...

"Your honor... I...." The enraged prosecutor, as much as he wanted to, couldn't say a word more. Instead, he just stared down at his desk, feeling defeated.

20 seconds...

"Does the prosecution have nothing else to say?" The judge asked, slightly surprised that he didn't finish his statement.

10 seconds...

"..."

"Very well then... It seems to be quite clear what the true ending is now..." He glanced over Cho disapprovingly. He inhaled, ready to announce his verdict.

5 seconds...

"I now declare Mari Shiritaka NOT---"

0 seconds. Time's up.

"I object." the words escaped my smirk-carved mouth.

Like a natural reaction, every single person in the room turned over to stare at me, all probably having the exact same thoughts.

I chuckled. This was admittedly amusing.

"I guess I had enough fun out of this already. Time to get serious. After all, it wouldn't be that impressive if the wrong person got sentenced, would it?" I said, a mischievous glint in my dark eyes.

It's time to get serious now, L. Don't stop watching. The game's not over.... yet.

"What is the meaning of this?" the judge asked, baffled. I ran my fingers through my hair, crossing my legs.

"Cho Shiritaka is not the murderer." I said simply.

This seemed to stir up even more confusion and a little bit of bewilderment.

I smirked wider and played with a strand of my hair. "Mmm. You mean you all really haven't found out? Well... I guess maybe only one person did... but... ah, nevermind." I shook my head. That person should know very well I was talking about him.

"Allow me to clear up the confusion that I've caused. Even though it's likely that Cho Shiritaka is the murderer, I can now say, with 100% confidence, that she is not. Bunko said the murderer had a built like a 'teenage lass'. But did it ever occur to anyone that the person didn't look her age? In fact, the real murderer wasn't even listed on the suspect list. She's sitting right here, right now in this very room, on the edge of her seat, her heart pounding when she finally starts to realize that she's been caught."

I turned my head into the crowd and redirected my glance at the real murderer.


"Isn't that right, Minori-san?"


The girl jerked backwards, as if she had just been slapped across the face. Her eyes were wide and filled with fright and she was clearly trembling as beads of cold sweat rolled down her forehead.

"What is the defense saying? That the young lady sitting over there is the real murderer?" The judge questioned, pointing to the panic-stricken Minori.

"That is correct, Your Honor. And I might want to add that I have every piece of evidence I need to prove that what I'm saying is true."

My eyes were never leaving Minori. "So, would you ever so kindly come up the stand, please?"

At first, she didn't move a muscle. Then, she slowly obliged to my request, dragging herself to the stand, as if she was walking towards her death.

"I will present you with the evidence that I have promised. You will all soon find out that everything makes perfect sense in time to come." I said, putting my suitcase onto Feather's desk. I opened it and flipped open the cover and started to search for the things I needed.

"Truthfully, I was quite surprised when I came to the conclusion myself. In fact, I spent hours making sure that my theory was right. It seemed unlikely that the very person who reported the murder was the culprit herself. But then, as I pondered, why was Minori the one who reported the murder? She couldn't have known unless she had been there herself. That and the fact Mari kept insisting that she was the murderer. The real murderer was probably someone she wanted to defend; someone close to her... Friend? Family? Someone like a sister. I spent time researching more into Minori and found out that she was a working woman. To be certain that it might have been a possibility that Minori was the murderer, I went to her company just before this trial to check her working schedule. She had an evening shift on Sunday that lasted from 6 to 9pm. My suspicion started to lessen then... until... one of her co-workers mentioned that she took a one hour break from 7pm to 8pm. However, this certain co-worker could not make it to court today to pose as a witness, so I got her to write down an affidavit to swear that this was true." I took out the affidavit and passed it to the judge to see.

'So that's why Lady Hope was so late just now...' Feather thought.

"But that's not all the evidence I have." I said, reaching for a small zip-lock bag. I raised it to my eye-level and studied the content inside carefully. "Inside this bag is another piece of evidence that I actually discovered by accident. However, it played a very critical part in hardening my theory. As you can see... inside this bag is an insect that I found on my coat after accidentally leaning against Minori-san's car when she offered to drive me home last night."

Minori stared at me with round, soulful eyes as I carried on talking.

Yes, Minori-san, there was a whole other reason why I made the effort to visit you so late yesterday... and it wasn't just to update you on what was going on. It was to gather more evidence.

"Although rather squashed, the insect could still be identified. I actually got a professor and professional insect collector to identify it myself. Here is his legal report." I slided the single piece of paper onto the table. "It says that this certain insect could only be found at a certain part of Tokyo, near where the Shiritaka residence is. Now, Minori-san lives quite far from there and the insects that can be found near the Shiritaka's cannot be found at her place... so let me ask you, how could the insect possibly gotten stuck onto her car window? Obviously Minori-san had to be some place near the Shiritaka residence... or perhaps too near. And I have been told that the suspect only washed her car 'just before this whole incident'." I quoted her exact words from last night.

"Furthermore... I can still prove that Minori and Seiji had regular contact just about a month before this whole incident. Which solves the question on why she would want to murder him." I started to draw random shapes with my index finger on the desk as I spoke. "Apparently Megumi-san was right about Seiji being a cheater... and he cheated on his wife with his own sister-in-law...."

I stopped drawing a circle halfway to look at Minori's reaction. She looked as if she was going to faint. Then, I glanced over at Mari. She had a mixture of shock, hurt and perplexity on her face. She was trying her best to absorb all the infomation that was just flung over at her.

I closed my eyes. "When I got home, I was starting to do somemore research on my computer when I looked out of the window. I had expected Minori-san to have already driven away... but she didn't. It was a dark night, but I clearly saw her get out of her car and tossed something into the dustbin near the lamp post. After which, only did she drive away. Finding it strange for her to dispose of something only when she dropped me off, I made a quick trip downstairs to check it out. I looked into the dustbin, and guess what I found?"

I took out something and held it against the light.

"Quite a beauty, isn't it?" I commented as I inspected the 8-carat ring in between my fingertips.

"This is what Minori-san threw into the bin last night. I thought it was weird for her to take so long to find her car keys... this was probably what she was finding for in reality. My questioning had probably made her uneasy and she felt that she just had to get rid of this ring to kill her guilt. Why? Because... this ring was given to her by none other than the late Seiji Shiritaka. Though, I doubt you'd give something like a 8-carat ring to a friend, would you?"

I slided the ring across the table with my index finger and thumb. "To support my stand that this ring was from Seiji, I went through the trouble of checking the data of the last few purchases he made with his credit card."

"Now, Minori-san, I think it wasn't your sister you were really worrying about, neh? You were really worried for yourself."

I stopped there, locking eyes with Minori with a satisfied stare.

Suddenly, she stopped trembling and fell onto her knees, tears of fear dripping down her face. My words had pieced through her like daggers and she couldn't take it anymore. She just broke down and started to sob.

"Okay!" she cried, grabbing hold of the both sides of her head. "I can't take it anymore!!! Yes! I admit it! I did it! I killed Seiji Shiritaka!" she wailed in between sobs.


".... I was so heart-broken... We were actually going out together secretly... but he was married to Mari. He gave me money, love and everything else that I could possibly want. Then, he wanted to break off with me. I tried to get him to stay, but he refused. He left me there. Without support from him, my bills started to pile up and I had to make a lot of loans. I was so alone and miserable. And... I wanted revenge. So that night... I took a one-hour break and decided to get it over with. I sneaked into their house to find them in the middle of a fight. I didn't care. I grabbed the nearest thing next to me, a metal broom, and hit him as hard as I could. He fell down and stopped breathing. Mari was shocked and shaken up. I told her that I came to visit her because I didn't have work that day. And that when I saw Seiji lashing out at her, my natural instint kicked in and I had to do something. She believed my lie and told me that it wasn't my fault and that she would take the blame... so.... I called the police to report the body.... I.... " she trailed off, still holding onto her head tightly.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered. "I'm sorry... Mari..."

"... has the Jury came to the final verdict?" the Judge asked at last after a long silence.

"Yes, your honour." a representitive from the Jury stood up. "We hereby announce Mari Shiritaka... NOT GUILTY."

I watched silently as the policemen took her away and the Judge annouced the court to be adjourned.

I packed back all my things into my suitcase, feeling satisfied with how the case went.

Finally.

Game over.