22nd April 2007:
"I can only say it's a shame that your answer is no. It's clear that the police wish to oppose me. This will not go unpunished, so I'll start by taking the life of either the Director-General of the NPA or the Detective known as L who is currently leading the investigation against me.
The Director-General or L, who will pay the price for your refusal to cooperate in the creation of a peaceful world? You have four days to decide."
24th April 2007:
"Ryuzaki, I'm afraid it's as you thought," Soichiro said as he walked into the new HQ of the Kira task force. L was sitting in a single chair at the head of the coffee table, a couch to his right which sat Matsuda and Aizawa, a second lone chair placed oh his left for Soichiro to sit in, and a third lone chair, right opposite L on which Kiyo sat facing him.
"Several of our member countries have weighed in, and it seems they are in favor of having the real L appear on T.V."
L sat calmly on his seat in his usual position, a pure white teacup delicately held in his hand as he takes a slow sip out of it, "I think that is the most appropriate choice given the options. Well, we still have three days before that happens.. maybe we can find some countermeasure. After all this, it would really annoy me," He says before scooping up and taking a bite of the strawberry shortcake placed in front of him, "If I'm killed by the first person to jump on the Kira bandwagon."
Gasps of the three other men in the room were heard as slight panic arose in their stomachs. "Ryuzaki, what do you mean by that?" Soichiro asked immediately.
"That there's a strong possibility that this Kira's a fake. No.. we should think of him more as a second Kira."
"A second Kira?!"
"I- I don't understand, why do you think there's a copycat?" Aizawa stuttered out, "How did you come to that conclusion?"
"I looked at the victims he used for his predictions on tape number 1. Their purpose was to prove to Sakura TV staff that he is Kira. Both their names were only reported in tabloids and daytime talk shows, so they weren't exactly hardened criminals. The real Kira has no need to prove himself using such insignificant criminals but from the perspective of the second Kira, he'd want to make absolutely certain that he didn't predict the death of a criminal that could be killed by the real Kira first."
Soichiro hummed thoughtfully at L's words before speaking, "Ryuzaki, if you had to put a number on it, what's the probability of a second Kira?"
"This time I'd say it's more than seventy percent," L replied, getting loud gasps from everyone as a reaction, "I really don't like the way he operates, it's not like Kira."
'Bla Bla Bla.. Boring!' Kiyo thought to herself while mentally making flappy hand signs, 'I've already heard this before!'
Kiyo zoned out, going back into the comfort of her mind, the musical comfort of her mind.
'It's been a long, long time...' She sang in her head, unknowingly straining her neck and moving her head around to the notes absently echoing within her.
For the first time since he had known her, Kiyo had done something unintentionally, and even though he didn't understand or realize it, it was beautiful in the dark eyes of the ravenette sitting across her.
However, sitting across her were not just one, but two ravenettes.
A young, rookie investigator, and a young, mature detective, both attempting a discreet and rather constant instead of a fleeting glance in her direction to the best of their abilities, and both for quite similar yet different reasons.
Matsuda just appreciated the simplicity Kiyo exuded at that moment. She truly looked as though she had her guard down, she truly looked as though she was enjoying whatever tune played in her mind as she gently swayed along with it, almost too gently for him to have noticed if he had not been looking for it.
L, on the other hand, couldn't take his eyes off the girl who all of a sudden seemed so different, so strange, so simple. She seemed so absent, so lost in her own world, her face devoid of its ever-present maturity. Usually, if someone would zone out on him explaining an important part of a case, his pride wouldn't have been able to take the blow, but right now he honestly didn't mind it that much. Going out of character like this, however, especially in front of Watari, was not something he wanted to do. God knows he would never hear the end of it.
"Is there something you would like to add?" L asked Kiyo, jolting her out of her daydream.
Clearing her throat she sat up straighter, snapping back to the conversation going on at the table she sat. She glanced at everyone's face to guess exactly what she had missed out on and arrived at the conclusion that L had finished talking and was asking for her opinion judging from the expectant looks she was receiving.
"There is actually," She began quietly, "You know, usually, when we want to disguise ourselves so that we're not recognized, we tend to go as far away as we can from who we actually are."
That earned her a few raised eyebrows and an intrigued look from L.
"I mean youngsters would disguise themselves as old people with wrinkles and white hair, men would disguise as women, women would disguise as men, a thin person would wear a bodysuit to look fat, someone with a small nose would put on a fake nose or something. It's just that in the fear of wanting to not get caught, we try to conceal ourselves in the best possible way by doing exactly the opposite of who we are. An example of this would be Ryuzaki himself."
A slightly surprised look came across L's face, "Could you please elaborate?"
"Your only disguise is your voice, the voice we all heard when Lind L. Tailor happened. The voice distortion you use goes at a higher pitch which contrasts your true deep voice. Similarly, with the second Kira, I'd say she distorted her voice into a lower pitch to contrast her high-pitched voice. So either your suspect is a man with a high-pitched voice, or you're looking for a woman.
I also have a feeling we're dealing with a naive and young person here, probably a teenager, someone with a simple mind,"
"What makes you think that?" Matsuda questioned with a raised eyebrow, although there was no hint of surprise in his voice. There was, however, an almost unnoticeable underlying tone of pride and boredom. Boredom, since he knew that the girl could deduct the craziest of things from the tiniest details, and pride.. well for the same.
"Just listen to the words she uses," Kiyo said before picking up a sheet of paper from the coffee table, "The words used in the tape are so basic, so simple for someone who wants to play God. I mean look at this 'Now that you have seen proof of my powers, you should have no trouble believing that I am Kira', 'I hate evil and love justice', 'If you agree to join me in my mission, I know we can make it happen', 'Even if you don't agree with me, all I ask is that you do not publicize your views in the media'
It just makes me feel that whatever the second Kira's message may be, it isn't her purpose. Not only the words but also the font used to write Kira, it's all just so crude, so unrefined, so unpolished, so mediocre, it's almost disappointing."
"Disappointing?"
"Yes. I believe the second Kira's true purpose is to bring to the attention of the real one her existence and the extent of her power. All while making it seem like it was the real Kira that made all this happen to conceal herself from the world and the police. However, it doesn't even seem like she tried hard enough to replicate or so much as make her speech similar to something the original might say, hence I'd she is too ignorant and naive to pick up on such traits.
She is weak and meek behind what I believe would be a boisterous facade, and she wants to follow the first Kira. She wants the original to guide her and use her in return for a more direct relationship."
L hummed in his seat, brushing his thumb over his lips, thinking deeply about the newest piece of information he had received and whether or not it was useful enough, true enough to be incorporated into his search.
And unsurprisingly, it was quite a logical conclusion.
'So what do you suggest we do next?' was a question L was going to ask, but someone beat him to it.
Someone named Kiyo.
To his, and pretty much everyone's surprise, Kiyo had asked L, "So what are we going to do now?" As though she had no idea of what their next step should be. It flattered L, to say the least, but surely she must have done this on purpose. Her expression was still quite clueless, which made him doubt whether this was an act or not, and that, despite his unawareness regarding her true intention, made him happy. Only just slightly, but it did nevertheless.
"Very well then. Mr. Yagami, I'd like your permission to ask your son to cooperate with us on this investigation."
"If you want my son to join the task force, does this mean you no longer suspect him?"
"Well, I can't say that he's been completely cleared, but his deductive abilities would be invaluable to us right now."
"If my son wants to cooperate with you then I have no reason to prevent it."
"I appreciate that. However.. please don't tell him that we think this latest Kira might be a fake. I don't want him to know that yet. We want to make it appear to him that we're still chasing the same Kira."
The task force huffed out sighs, unable to understand where L was going with all this. What did he have against Light? Why was he targeting him like this? Why was he so suspicious of a teenager who was the Chief's son no less?
But L didn't care. None of this mattered to him.
What mattered was the satisfied look in the eyes of the girl sitting across him as she sat comfortably, resting her cheek in the palm of her hand that stood straight on the armrest. What mattered was the 'good job' she had wordlessly said, the praise he was receiving without doing anything out of what was ordinary for him..
And the tiny smirk that graced her lips which assured him of just how much more enjoyable and exciting they were going to make his life, together.