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.
No comments:
Post a Comment