A Year of Jubilee [The Death Note Fanfic]

Chapter 57

That evening marked the fifth night since Jubilee had written in the Death Note. Eight days until the warehouse meeting.

L was already playing the footage of Takada at Sakura TV station when Jubilee came downstairs.

"So that's Mello, huh," she stated without preamble, coming to his side.

He turned to glance up at her with a lifted eyebrow. "How did you kn—" He stopped himself, then turned back to his computer with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Never mind. Silly question. I don't know why I'm surprised anymore."

She smirked, before sobering. "You probably already know, but I can see knives sticking out of Takada now. My sight's not clear enough to count every single one, but it seems to match up with the number of criminals that were reported dead today. So...let's call the boys ASAP and get this figured out."

"Agreed," said L, handing her a headset.

She slipped it on. In a minute the call connected and an M, an m, and an N popped up side by side on the main monitor.

"As you all may have suspected already," L began without any introduction, "Kiyomi Takada appears to have had an active hand in the Kira killings, as of today. J has confirmed that Takada has definitely committed murder, and the amount of times appears to match up with the number of killings that occurred in the last twenty-four hours."

"Sounds about right," said Mello.

"Have we confirmed whether the deaths match up with the names written in Mikami's notebook?" Near asked, his voice filtered through the usual robotic synthesizer.

"Yes," affirmed Jubilee. "I checked the photos that Wedy took last night, and all the names match with the victims from today."

"And yet," continued Near, "You are saying that the deaths appear to have been at Takada's hand today, instead of Mikami's."

"That's exactly what she said, twerp, keep up," snapped Mello.

"Jules," interrupted Matt, "Did you notice whether Mikami had more killer smog on him today? Like from more killings?"

Her shoulders sagged a bit. "I tried looking, but I couldn't tell. I don't know if it's because—because I was too distracted, or what, but...there's just too many knives in the haze at this point. My brain can only handle seeing so much detail." She sighed defeatedly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," said L smoothly, giving her a quick glance before turning back to address the monitor. "Let's evaluate what we know so far. Mikami wrote a page of names into his Death Note last night—before J had Wedy replace its pages. After that, both he and Takada made a call using public pay phones. We are assuming—but not one hundred percent certain—that the call was between the two of them. Then, today, the individuals whose names were written down the night before were all reported dead. Finally, Takada's spiritual signature today indicates that she has committed numerous murders. We have reason to believe that her victims are those who died today—even though Mikami is the one who wrote down the names."

"How is that possible?" asked Jubilee, her head spinning. She had been struggling to see the entire picture until L clearly spelled out each key point just now. "Does that mean she has a Death Note, too? But even if she does—"

"Ryuzaki," said Near, "You mentioned in your case notes the possibility that a death could be enacted simply by writing on paper from the Death Note, didn't you?"

"That has never been confirmed," said L. "It was simply an idea." He turned to Jubilee. "Based on your descriptions, J, it sounds like the haze that you see over people who have killed does not necessarily guarantee their possession of a Death Note."