January 30th, 2023--Between 5-6:00 pm
--Tokyo, Japan
After Dante had left the cafe, I finished my meal and headed straight back to the building. Our new headquarters. There was a lot of work to get to, and I doubted that "brother of mine" would be the one to start it. I had no desire to "hook up with old friends" or do anything of the sort. I wasn't here for friendly reunions, or vacation. I was going to catch this KIRA imposter, even if I died trying. I'd finally been given a decent challenge, no way would I pass it up.
I looked at the mess left behind. Dust and cobwebs everywhere, things in disrepair here and there. And yet, I suppose I wasn't so down about it. Just one more challenge. Changing out of my suit, I got to work. Focusing on the main room we would be using, I finished it quickly enough. For the rest of the building I would just hire some help. No, my main concern was the computer unit. While it pained me to admit it however, Dante was the one who managed to crack heavily encoded materials. I didn't have any particular love for computers. I knew my way around one, and could function well enough on my own, but Dante just had a gift for electronics. A gift he'd used in the past to get him into quite a bit of trouble. Big Surprise.
Glancing at the clock, I grew impatient. "You can have your Reunions on your own time Dante. You're on my clock now." I spoke grabbing my phone and typing in quite a vicious text. Hitting the send button, I sat in brief satisfaction that it would bring quick results. After all, he knew that I would most certainly turn him seven different shades of blue if he ignored me for too long. I hadn't forgotten Kiamari's last place of residence. Even if he had moved, I could track him quickly enough and drag Dante back by his toes if I had to.
After five excruciating minutes, I took out a notebook and started to make the necessary business calls since my return. I couldn't just sit here doing nothing...that was irritating.
I heard the door to the room open. Spinning around in the office chair, I saw Dante wearing a nervous grin. "....yes. No Thank You Sir. Yes...I will do my very best. Good Bye." Concluding my call then hanging up my phone, I stared at him, completely silent.
"I...wasn't really gone all that long you know..." He started to explain, rubbing the back of his head. "Besides, you really don't have to send me--no--you shouldn't send anyone a text like that. That's just, well, borderline insane. Oh, but then again I forget just how sadistic you are."
"Keep talking Dante." I spoke calmly. He got quiet. "No really, keep talking. I don't mind that you're wasting valuable time we should be spending working on our case. Or that you're having a good time on your holiday. After all, this is a vacation, isn't it?"
Rolling his eyes, he walked over to the computer console. "Yeah Yeah." Taking off his jacket, he slid under the desk. "Spotless Bro, though I expect no less from a tight ass like you. Did you at least bring my tools up here?"
"Dante, do you think me a-"
"I see them now. Just shut up, enough of your sarcasm I get the point." He stated, getting straight to work.
I stood up and prepared to leave. "I'm going to take care of getting our rooms decent for the night."
I left Dante to his tinkering, smirking slightly as I headed up the elevator. I knew he would be serious now, working on something he enjoyed. We'd be looking at the old files shortly.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So, it's gotten quiet and I realized people are probably waiting for me...I feel like Shikamaru sometimes. Oh well, I hope you liked my post...I will try to post more often. Maybe it'll be easier now that things are kind of picking up in the storyline.
As usual, whenever I had a hunch about something happening in my area of operation--something more than likely about to fall down around my ears, I turned to Google for my primary source of information. I logged into my G-mail account ([email protected], of course) and scrolled through my news area. Nothing seemed unusual. Then, I checked my various spam, advertisements, and junk mail before closing down and logging off my account. Then, I used an old, cliched, and very effective trick I had learned years before. I went to Google's home page and clicked on the search bar. I typed in the date as well as Tokyo, Japan. Immediately, everything from newspapers to major magazine publications popped up an excessive amount of news pouring in from Japan, even by metropolitan standards. Something smelled fishy in Denmark, all right. Of that much, I was sure. After finding nothing but an unusual amount of murders and suicides that had occurred just today (and it wasn't even rush hour yet), I decided to use another, less reliable venue. Tabloids. Hey, it works...don't knock it.
Immediately, articles about the alleged return of Kira started popping up left and right. Kira??
But Kira is dead--right??
Immediately, my investigative instincts started kicking in. I pulled up the FBI's report on the Kira Crimes via a proxy site and compared Kira's assorted M.O. with the Second Kira's and then with the crimes being reported now.
Interesting...the M.O. was the same, but there was something different about this Kira versus the Kiras previous....allegedly one Light Yagami and one Misa Amane, according to the dossiers....intriguing....
This demanded some looking into. After all, Kira was worth it.
I had been off the beat for a while now. It was due to a case involving the Mafiosa in my relatives' stomping grounds in Chicago. It was a delicate mission, one that needed my particular and slightly disturbing skill set...and my contacts. After getting half of your ribs broken by a bouncer wielding a billy stick and your humerus by a thug with a careful if not elementary understanding of the simple lever--a.k.a. lead piping--while on a case (and still having to finish the work), you tend to stay away from any kind of mission for a while. I don't remember several months from the time I entered Chicago until the time I fled to Tokyo for a much-needed reprieve. All I was hoping for was some down time...(and the chance to tour numerous anime, video game, and manga studios situated throughout the metropolis...)
My dad had been to Tokyo briefly in his career. He said that half of the city was off-limits if you wanted to keep your head in place and that the other half was full of whore houses and the homes of drug cartels. Apparently, over the last few decades, things had changed. Drastically.
The city was a shining metropolis at first glance, but it held deep shadows with even darker secrets. Just like New York City, just like Chicago, just like Los Angeles, just like Mexico City, and just like Madrid. Not like London, though. Of course, with all the rain and fog, that city is nothing but fog, doom, and gloom anyway. This was different, though. The air itself spoke of possibility. I could hear it, feel it in my bones. Something big was going down. And I wanted in on it.
Sighing, I followed my thoughts to the logical conclusion: my vacation was over. I pulled out my netbook and started to work.
Then...things got interesting.
I looked at SK with a somewhat composed expression...downright eerie perhaps as tension seemed to flow into the room. He had made a valid argument...it was completely correct to assume he had no proof of my identity. And he had cornered me with the Shinigami quote. Though...I wasn't sure if I should ever confide in any of my truth. To do so...would admit my guilt. He continued to stare at me, he seemed so confident...as though he'd managed to catch me in some silent trap. Some play on words. I smiled.
"You are correct SK...you have never seen my Death Note." I stated coming close to him. "And...you never will."
It was hard to read just what he was thinking, but I didn't allow him to comment before I continued.
"The reason for this is simple. In it's current place, it is safe. I will not endanger that safety for any reason. Not even to prove something so simple as who I am to you...my dear SK." I spoke. "But...that's not needed. And no...I'm not asking you to trust me on mere 'faith' either. I will give you what you want. This so called proof...and I don't need my Death Note to do it."
"So how do you intend to prove yourself...WITHOUT the note?" He ventured.
"Why...I will show you the list of criminals I've set to be punished this week...of course that means it'll take awhile for my identity to truly be proven to you...or perhaps not..." I smirked. My eyes followed Ryuk as he wandered across the room. After recovering the single page from my purse, I approached him. The page was completely filled with names...not a bit of the paper went to waste. Slowly, I extended it to him. Before he took it, I pulled it back for a moment. "SK...a moment ago...you were telling the truth when you say you don't believe in Shinigami...right?"
"Of course...but I said I would be open to them..." He recounted.
I nodded. "Well...prepare for me to make the unbelievable, believable."
He gave me a puzzled look as he took the page and looked it over. "This is incredible...you've scheduled them all so..." He admired more to himself. "And like you said...there are a good chunk of criminals on this page that still live."
"That's because it's in constant motion. I do not waste a single day...much like the space on that paper...none of this shall go to waste. I will not squander the chance I was given." I spoke ardently.
Ryuk laughed. "WASTE...like you wasted MY APPLES!!"
SK's head shot up quickly. "Who's there?!" He shouted standing up.
"Heh Heh Heh..." He laughed from the darkness of the corner in which he stood. "So you gave the kid a sheet of the Death Note..." He spoke in his quiet, yet harsh tone. "Look....OVER HERE!" In a second he was behind SK, and as SK turned around he was in his face. "BOO."
SK's eye's went wide and he fell back into his seat. I watched quietly, waiting to see his reaction. He was quiet for awhile, but then began to laugh. "A Shinigami...a REAL Shinigami..." He acknowledged. "I must say Miss Kaori...you certainly do wait for the most interesting of moments to pull out your aces."
"Well of course...you can't be careless in this game SK...I will NOT die...not until I see justice brought to this world." I smiled. "Please, give me the page back. And tell me...do you have a metal container...something I could burn it in?"
"Burn it?" He spoke curiously.
I smiled more. "Yes...Burn it. As you must know...rule XI states...once a person's name is written in the note...their death cannot be avoided. Not even burning a page can stop it. Yet...if I BURN the pages once they are full...all it does is eliminate any and all physical proof that the police could ever hope to retrieve. Without THIS...I can be linked to NOTHING."
SK smiled and brought a metal container. Taking a lighter from my purse, I lit the page and watched it burn. Soon it was naught but ash. Ryuk laughed in the background...took an apple and gobbled it down.
"Mmm....even BRUISED apples are better than Shinigami Apples..." He commented. "They're still....juicy."
Kaori
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Alright...I had a couple of different ways I wanted to play this...so it took me a VERY LONG time to decide! *bows* I am so sorry...I hope the end result was worth the wait. ROFL
THANK YOU Madi-chan for reminding me. I had totally forgotten I was still in the middle of this! Also, thanks so much again Quiet-chan....you're world is amazing! I'm going to make it a partner world to this one....that is if you don't mind. I find it so fascinating and helpful! :)
It's all yours Snatcher-chan! I left it here so SK can analyze Ryuk if you want. ROFL!!! I hope you liked his reaction. >XD
January 30th, 2023 – Noon
A small restaurant in Tokyo
Again I resort to the most used key on my laptop: the backspace.
This is not good. It’s all I can think while several drafts appear on my screen and are immediately deleted. That damn essay on the Japanese people’s view on Kira’s return was a bad idea. Who wants to know the opinion of an old lady, randomly interviewed on the streets? The public demands facts. They want to know who is being killed, what is the police doing about it and, most of all, who is Kira?
I finally give up and close the computer, returning my attention to the coffee right in front of me. A cigarette would help too, but I can’t smoke in here. Screw the essay, I’m going right to the point: the police. I finish my coffee while the waitress brings back my credit card. Another meal on the company. I better start working for real before the boss starts the angry phone calls.
A quick look at the map tells me which train I must take to the police central station. Perfect, just one stop from here. There, I hope to find concrete information. The train arrives just as expected from a Japanese train: punctual and crowded. I squeeze myself between those damn Japanese midgets and find a reasonably comfortable place to stand still, and the process takes all the time until the next station. Only there I realize that I took the right train, but in the wrong direction. Goddamn confusing Japanese city!
I arrive at the police central station half hour later, and I feel some tension in the air. I actually have no hope to get an interview with the chief of police; why would he spare time to a gaijin if he denied information even to the local press? I do have a plan, however.
You’d be surprised with what people talk about around you when they think you don’t understand what they’re saying. As I expected, there are no local journalists in the station at the moment, so the cops are quite comfortable talking around while they come and go of lunch time. I fake a terrible English while speaking with the two cops on duty at the reception, asking for a meeting with the chief and pretending I don’t understand their answers. Luckily, only one of them speaks English, as bad as my acting.
While they struggle to communicate with me, my attention is caught by a conversation taking place next to the entrance. Three officers speak about Kira, and someone says something about an investigation team being assembled. One of them comments on a rumor that a guy named Matsuda was being appointed to lead the case.
“What?! Matsuda?! He’s too dumb to lead the case! I don’t even know how did he at least manage to become a cop!” one of them complains.
The discussion heats up, but the three calm down when a beautiful officer joins the talk with news as hot as her body.
“Did you hear? It seems the chief is trying to bring back Aizawa from his retirement to help in the case!”
“Finally, some good news!” the angry one comments, and all around him seem to agree with the idea. Whoever is this retired officer, he sure is respected around here.
The two cops in front of me finally give up on their attempt of speaking in English, and one of them escorts me to the door out, politely saying in Japanese that the chief will not give any interviews. Pretending I didn’t catch a word, I thank him anyway and get out.
Matsuda and Aizawa. It seems reasonable to assume that they are former members of the first Kira investigation team. For what other reason would the chief of police want them on the case? Anyway, it’s clear that the police is not standing still. Finally, I have facts. I find a table at the closest coffee shop, turn on the laptop and start typing:
“JAPANESE POLICE FORCE PREPARES TO FACE THE NEW KIRA”
“Chief of Police resorts to veteran officers to investigate the case”
Now that is first page news!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Finally, Marco is on the move! And already collecting hot information! Seems like he’ll be working alone for a while… Unless someone stumbles on him in that coffee shop, LOL.
