Best Laid Plans, Chapter 1
Title: Best Laid Plans
Chapter: Prologue, 1, 2
Rating: R
Summary: On November 5, 2004, L saw the trap Light set with Misa and Rem and narrowly sidestepped it. What followed was a series of plans to expose Light as Kira and turn a key tool against him, though escaping the specter of death would be a difficult proposition.
Characters: L, Light. Rem, Soichiro, Aizawa, Matsuda, Mogi, heavy references to Misa and Higuchi and a references to Watari and the rest of Yotsuba.
Word Count: 5,310
Disclaimer: Death Note and recognizable characters belong to Ohba/Obata.
Author's Note: Remember that cluster you saw last chapter? Well this is where it officially starts. I went through Volume 7 for hours examining and taking notes on all the various plotpoints and motivations that lead up to the canon cluster in Chapter 58 and plotted out ways all that could have been avoided. This might be playing either loose or tight with canon, but in either case this is an AU so come in with a suspension of disbelief. Most of the dialogue was taken directly from Chapter 57, but that was necessary for the transition.
Chapter 1: The Hypothesis (the landmine)
November 5, 2004
7:55 p.m.
Tokyo
L didn’t want to concentrate on the spot floating in front of his eyes. He hoped it was just a reaction from a reflection of fluorescent off the glass coffee table off to the side. Otherwise it was the beginning cycle of a classic visual disturbance indicating a migraine; a flashing kaleidoscope of warning that he was going to get really sick really soon.
The scrolling list of new names on the monitors all around him was only pressing that threat. The sudden shuffling around the room wasn’t helping.
“What’s going on! The criminals are being killed again!”
Chief Yagami obviously just got the news.
“Sixteen just last night. All the people shown on TV since Higuchi’s death.”
L could see Aizawa’s beige suit and curly hair a few centimeters away in his peripheral vision. He and Matsuda were now at the desk rapidly typing in searches and looking for information.
“All at once,” L said.
He remained facing forward. He picked up another panda cookie, but the idea of eating it right now made his stomach clench.
L put the tip of his finger in his mouth staring at the monitors. Something here had to make sense; some pattern had to come to him soon. He just couldn’t pick it apart right away and it was infuriating him.
“Kira, dammit!” Light said.
L’s head snapped up and looked at Light after this sudden outburst. Somehow L felt like it was the beginning of a fine performance.
“So as we suspected, Higuchi wasn’t Kira,” the Chief said.
“No, it’s accurate that Higuchi was killing the criminals up until the time he was caught,” Light said.
“So then another Kira has appeared?” Aizawa said in stressed incredulity.
L managed to tune out Matsuda’s whine in response.
Kira returns. What’s going on.
There was a second notebook. L knew that from the moment he touched the first one, the moment he first saw the Shinigami as Higuchi was arrested. There is another Kira out there; there is another notebook, another Shinigami.
“But this makes is clear that there really is another notebook out there,” Light said. “Right, Rem?”
Impeccable reasoning, Light-kun.
“Must be…a Shingami wouldn’t go out of his way to kill only criminals,” the Shinigami said. L would never get used to hearing that calm, otherworldly tone.
L was surprised they got this much out of the Shinigami. Every other answer had been “who knows,” “I’ve never done that,” “I can’t say.” It was the first pseudo-definitive answer they had received.
L questioned every single word of it. A part of his mind wanted to think it was a staged answer to a staged question. Light would want as much suspicion onto another person as possible.
No…there was no suspicion. The 13-Day Rule took care of that. Light and Misa were both cleared…due to circumstances on Light’s own request. And now Misa…
He finally put the cookie to his teeth and nibbled. It made him feel a little better and the bright spot in front of his eyes was dwindling. A migraine right now would have been rather inconvenient. He had to stay completely focused right now.
“The happens the moment Amane is freed,” L said.
He definitely knew what the response would be.
“Ryuzaki, you’re still saying that?”
So valiant of Light to be the first to come forward and defend Misa. Was this reaction true surprise that he was heading in this direction? The expected reaction would be offense at the insinuation, which would inevitably come back to him.
“This has nothing to do with Misa,” Light barked. “She was already suspected of being the Second Kira. Even if she did have Kira’s powers, she isn’t stupid enough to use is at a time like this.”
This coming from a man who pretty much rolled his eyes whenever Misa was around during the Yotsuba investigation. Apparently now he had formed feelings for her based on mutual circumstances. Light seemed to be a good judge of intellect and his outward reactions said the opposite of what he was stating now. Now apparently he is giving her some benefit of intelligence.
“If you’re talking about timing then say ‘the moment Higuchi died.’”
Nice cover, Light. You know damn well what I’m talking about and where this conversation is going.
His reactions to this line of thought told so much more. L knew he could not stay on this topic too long or else end all conversations in the room with mutual yelling at him. He knew when to give a pseudo-retreat.
L picked up the box of Hello Pandas and rooted around for another cookie.
“That’s true,” he said almost dejectedly.
Though maybe he’s expecting me to assume that…?
Can’t be…
Something wasn’t right.
“Light’s right, Ryuzaki we need to forget about Amane,” Chief Yagami said. “Those who used the notebook die unless they keep writing people’s names. Amane’s innocence has been proven based on that.”
The 13-Day Rule, yes. Thank you for digging that in, Yagami-san. Such a convenient little rule.
“Yes, you’re too obsessed with your theories, Ryuzaki, you keep trying to go back to them,” Aizawa said.
Either Light’s external defense force was piping up again of Aizawa wanted a new opportunity to take shots at him. He rejoined the Taskforce when Higuchi was arrested, though his return was out of loyalty to the case and his fellow officers than a change of heart over the one leading the investigation.
L shook the box and let some of the cookies fall to the desk.
“Yes, I apologize,” he said. He needed to not press the matter now. Too much was happening at once. He picked up two cookies and nibbled a little at each. “Well if there’s another notebook out there that someone’s using…,” he crushed one cookie between his thumb and forefinger to emphasize his point, “I’ll definitely catch that person.”
The light crunch of teeth working away at the foot of a panda was the only sound in the room for a moment.
“But…we’re talking about a notebook that kills a person if their name is written into it,” Light said. “If all this new Kira does is kill criminals, it won’t be as easy to locate him as it was with Higuchi.”
“You’re right,” Matsuda interjected.
Light was speaking the obvious again. It rubbed L the wrong way when Light made statements like this; it was too simple containing no hypothesis other than what everyone else was probably thinking at the time. The “golly gee” act was glaringly fake with Light; Light was much more insightful than this. L had seen it numerous times even if it was behind a curtain of cordial innocence..
“We know how the killing is done now,” L said. “If we find someone suspicious, we apprehend them and thoroughly examine whether or not they have the notebook.”
It was a simplistic answer to a simplistic question. What was Light’s reaction to this going to be?
“But Ryuzaki…this murder notebook…I believe it’s real…but even if we catch the person writing names into it, will we be able to punish them as a serial killer?” Light asked.
Of course you believe it’s real; you never had any doubts before and if you did you never voiced them. You have been vocal about everything else you have viewed in this case, why are you bringing this up now?
…In fact why didn’t you bring up the issue of punishment and proving the killer’s guilt a week ago when the notebook was revealed? Out of everyone here, you would be the first to notice a potential legal issue. You have been here as every method was taken to analyze it…short of…
“Not unless the murder notebook’s effectiveness is proved,” L said, dividing the small, smiling cookies on the table into intricate rows. “But that is meaningless to me. Once the case is solved, I’ll let the court system worry about that.”
Now he was even more curious about everyone’s reaction to this idea. The rest of them thought he was a heartless bastard, he was already rehearsing their protests in his head. The tone of Light’s upcoming dramatic speech would tell him how calm or otherwise he was. Or else expose the skittish curiosity as the act it was.
“Wait, of course you could punish him without testing the notebook.”
L was almost proud of Matsuda for finally coming up with a reasonable answer.
“Matsuda, for that we’d have to produce the notebook as evidence in a court of law,” the Chief said.
It was a predictable answer.
“Well…I mean…I’m not talking about that…” Matsuda sputtered. “The person is writing names down knowing it will kill people! If we don’t want the existence of the notebook revealed to the public, the suspect should be executed in secret.”
Matsuda was either catching on or was more ruthless on his own.
Would Light make some heroic counterstatement to this. He probably would; he was talking enough already.
The question was still rubbing L the wrong way.
“That’s a harsh conclusion, but I bet that’s what our superiors would demand,” Aizawa said.
L stood a few cookies up against the keyboard, seeing how far he could move them together and have them stay standing.
“If he acknowledges the killings he’s done with the notebook, he’ll get the death penalty, or at least life in prison,” L said. “If he doesn’t acknowledge it, then maybe force him to write his name in the notebook.” Yes, I’m speaking to you, Light-kun. What do you have to say to this? “Well, that’s something to worry about once we catch him,” which will be soon. “No point in thinking about it now.”
Are you afraid to be caught. You haven’t been so far…
Or maybe you want to put the threat out there…maybe to dad so he’ll say something and paint you charming and pure again.
But then why hadn’t he asked about this before? Why was he bringing it up now?
None of this made sense.
The silence that followed was almost more telling. Light had to have been sweating.
But Light didn’t sweat; that was the thing. He could go from flustered and argumentative one moment to perfectly ice calm a moment later.
Something was at work here.
The facts remained: Amane is freed and Kira returns. He learned some things from talking to the Shinigami, but still the answer to all the important matters was always “I don’t know.”
Yesterday he asked about killing someone with a scrap of the notebook and the answer to that was “I don’t know.”
If you could kill just by writing the name on a piece…
The implications made his heart pound. Light could have just had a piece anywhere on his person to write on. What about during surveillance? What if there was a piece in a book…or even that bag of chips he was reaching his hand into while studying.
It wouldn’t be impossible…
If that could be done Kira should be able to kill someone at any time…like Higuchi…while sitting across from.
Was the Shinigami covering for him? Did they have a plan worked out? Or maybe the creature could not speak about certain things; but then he couldn’t imagine these things being trustworthy, They transcended the limits of reason, why should they be beholden to reason?
No, there were other complications.
That 13-day-rule: if one does not write a name into that notebook every 13 days they die. Yagami and Misa were still alive.
But writing on a piece…but the 13-Day-Rule…
…how much could these creatures be trusted to go on their word?
If he was in cahoots with the Shinigami, if the Shinigami was more of a servitor…
Religious texts credited to God were written by the hands of man. But then he had never been in the presence of a god to ask if it was the right words.
All of this was supernatural; all if this was completely alien territory, none of this operated on the standards of humanity.
No, this was a case pure and simple. He might not have been familiar with the details, but they were still pieces of evidence. He had to become accustomed to them to solve this case.
This was his defining case, his crowning moment. The “Greatest Detective in the World” would leave here after deciphering the supernatural and putting Kira in a hole or at the end of a noose…after putting Light Yagami at the end of a noose.
Supernatural details here were like scientific theories…
They had to be tested.
They had to test the notebook…they had to test the 13-Day Rule.
L nibbled a bit on another cookie.
How could it be tested? Death row inmates, that was the answer. Do this in secret? No, this had to be done with the full knowledge of the Task Force. He voiced any doubts about Light and Amane’s innocence now, he would get shot down easily. If he could produce proof…no.
Call the little bastard’s bluff in front of everyone right now. See how he sweated to that one; see how he tried to defend himself or tried to argue how inhumane it was. At least two members of the Taskforce had talked about less friendly methods as an option for getting rid of Kira. Yagami wouldn’t like the idea, but if it meant proving his son’s innocence he might be agreeable. Mogi was the wildcard but he was more a lockstep soldier than a soldier of ideals. He would go with the majority.
L wanted to see Light twitch, he was already nervous…or seemed like it.
“I don’t care what country,” he said, adrenaline already going despite his calm demeanor. “There shouldn’t be a problem if we’re up front about it.”
He nibbled a panda and let that hang in the air for a moment. The expected light gasps followed in anticipation of what he was going to say next.
…That Light was waiting for him to say.
…That Light knew he was going to say because he was leading him to this point…and he was falling for it.
No! It was a stupid theory! He had to tell them to test the notebook. He had to say they would have it used in an execution. It was the only way to connect Light and Amane. That would ultimately prove the validity of lack thereof of the 13-Day Rule. If they proved it true Light was free, but if they proved it false this case was solved.
And Light knew this.
L snatched up a handful of cookies from the desk and shoved them in his mouth. The words were itching on the tip of his tongue, he wanted so badly to say them…but they would be premature…
Or worse, they would set off a potential trap.
The pieces were falling in place in his mind.
This was too simple, everything was coming to them too easily as if they were being handed over.
Light was playing the simple act now…as he had the last time Misa came to headquarters. What exactly did they talk about outside…shielding their mouths from the cameras with no microphones around?
Hiding information…like this Shinigami had been doing ever since it got here…
Ever since it suddenly appeared right with the notebook and Higuchi…right before Higuchi died and left the notebook and the Shinigami with them.
The notebook
The Shinigami
Higuchi’s death
The second notebook
Amane and Light freed
More deaths
All suspicion falling on Amane…and Light…but they were cleared by…
A rule that can be very easily challenged…
Kira would not leave any holes…Light would not leave any holes, he was too thorough…
Unless he left a hole open knowing Ryuzaki would…
With a Shinigami looming over him…maybe another…and an accomplice with a notebook and the ability to kill seemingly on a look…
And now he was asking him questions about punishing the user that he suspiciously did not ask before.
This was like a simple game of checkers.
One piece is close to reaching kingship but surrounded on three sides by opposing pieces. Any move and the piece is jumped, but all that piece can see is their end goal and not the immanent danger of being eliminated.
That lowly piece just looked around him and got a different perspective.
Light was planning for this moment, but what was he expecting?
He knew Ryuzaki would keep investigating; L’s suspicion was predictable at this point and Light was using it to his advantage.
He was expecting him to keep investigating and leading him to a point where he would get close…then…then what?
Dammit, what was he expecting to happen!
“What will we do with another country, Ryuzaki?” Matsuda asked almost desperately. Like someone dying to hear the final score of a game or how a soap opera ended.
He had to steer the conversation out of this territory if he wasn’t too deep into it already.
“Once we find Kira, he will be punished,” L said, moving this conversation back into more neutral territory. “We will find a country that will bring the one doing these killings to absolute justice. I have connections in governments all over the world. We will find a government that will have room in their legal system to punish this murderer.”
“Right!” Matsuda said. L could see an arm pump the air from his peripheral vision.
“You are confident we can put a legal end to this?” Soichiro Yagami said. He sounded like he needed reassuring that there would be a fair outcome.
“I can assure you, though that is not a matter for now,” L said. “We need to find Kira first before we can even talk about how the courts will deal with it.”
He picked up the box and rooted through for a few cookies, counting every breath he took and every second his heart was still beating.
Silence lingered for now, no one said anything, they simply let L have the quiet floor. A promising development maybe.
Perhaps there was another clause in the notebook; if one rule was fake how many more of them were, or yet how many more had been omitted for Light’s purposes?
Maybe the Shinigami is supposed to protect the owner of the notebook. Maybe if the owner is threatened the Shinigami has to kill the one threatening.
If Rem killed him the investigation would fold; no one else will work in the presence of a Shinigami who will kill anyone who gets too close to Kira. No…that would put immediate suspicion on Misa, though it was unlikely the Shinigami would comment on that. More probable the Shinigami could say it wasn’t supposed to say why it killed him.
Or maybe this was how Light would guide the investigation; hold the members of the Taskforce hostage. He could still maintain his innocence with them and control them quietly with the Shinigami.
Or perhaps the Shinigami would kill them all, likely leaving Light alive to continue as Kira.
No, according to the rules the Shinigami had to stay with the owner of the notebook. But do they have to stay with them all the time? Maybe this Shinigami was attached to Misa’s notebook and protecting her interests.
…There was another notebook…another Shinigami perhaps. Where is that creature now? If he has not touched the other notebook he cannot see them. One could be floating over his shoulder right now whispering Light and Amane’s guilt in his ear and he never would hear it.
L swatted his hand past his ear, making it look like he was moving aside a few hairs.
That theory could be countered as well. All they needed was one Shinigami to kill him. If L died, Rem would be blamed even if it was done by another Shinigami or if another person with Kira’s power managed to get to him.
An invisible Shinigami would be best for killing him in private, but Light would want him to die out in the open with plenty of witnesses and alibis. Light’s fantasy would probably be for him to die in his arms as he wept and shouted like a sympathetic victim.
That was probably why Light had essentially been following him since Higuchi’s death; he wanted to witness the execution, or at least he wanted to set out a few more pieces of bait for the trap.
“Though it would only state the obvious to say we can’t punish Kira until we catch him,” L said. “The matter at hand is there is clearly another notebook out there. Shinigami are there any others of your kind on earth right now?”
“I couldn’t tell you,” Rem said. “It’s rare enough for one of us to enter the human world.”
“So Shinigami don’t travel in groups,” L said.
“No, we are solitary creatures.”
He knew she would say that, but this part of the conversation was putting up the smokescreen. He had to appear to look in the other direction. Light wouldn’t buy it and he did not know the intelligence level of the Shinigami, but the less obvious he made his conclusions the better; it was better to circle the trap than run for it.
There was one thread that no one had bothered to pick up amid the chaos. Light knew this fact, probably because he propagated it, though this worked in L’s advantage if he worded this right.
“Amid all this chaos of notebooks and Shinigami, Kira has made fools of us,” L said, picking up another cookie and nibbling it. “Higuchi’s death was evidence enough there’s another notebook, though I am sure he wanted us distracted by the situation to not question how his chosen wielder died.”
He needed to be careful where he went with this; it could have lead to implicating Light and Misa again and possibly springing the trap.
“Oh man, that’s right!” Matsuda groaned.
“Kira had been watching Higuchi all along,” L continued, not wanting to look back and see any more reactions. He could smooth those over later. “Power has gone to another of Kira’s chosen. If there was only one notebook, the killings should have stopped when it came into our custody, but Kira was in possession of another notebook whether directly or indirectly.”
L slurped down the rest of his coffee, then set down one cookie and covered it with the cup. He took the small saucer and lined it next to it, picking up an empty foam cup from the other side of the desk and setting it up in a row.
“Either Higuchi tripped up and became a liability, or he was a pea in a morbid shell game,“ L said, shuffling the three around the desk.“ Seen once and seemingly disappears.” He lifted one cup at a time, showing nothing underneath them, “while the real Kira, or perhaps someone with another notebook bestowed by Kira, disappears in someone’s palm and is ready to go back into play.”
L opened his palm and revealed the cookie for a moment before popping it into his mouth.
“But a notebook like this is something Kira would not want to easily lose,“ Light said. “Or do you think Kira intentionally gave up this notebook to play this game with us.”
Light was playing along with Ryuzaki at this point, but that’s all this was. Ryuzaki was either going to go straight for the throat and die quickly or else he was going to circle and dive in, though the end would still be the same.
It looked like he was taking the roundabout approach, but with the same obvious epicenter.
“Kira likely has had to make sacrifices, or rather exchanges to get to this point,” L said. “I believe he has possessed this second notebook from the beginning with the plan to do exactly what we are seeing now. If he only had possession of one, he would not allow it to fall into our hands so easily unless he had a direct plan for getting it back.”
L thought to add the part about taking pages from the notebook, but that would only implicate Light out loud. He practically gritted his teeth to avoid this topic; he was so close…too close and that’s what Light wanted. His hands were tied and it infuriated him, though a few silent breaths and a few more mental reminders calmed his bile; you need to step back and find where the landmines were planted before running forward. This was going to take time.
“Kira is now going through another proxy; another individual writing down names for him, the Second Kira I would say,” L said.
Light successfully kept a serious expression. I hope you’re listening to this Rem.
“However the Second Kira may have outlived his usefulness by now,” L said. “Kira figures the Second Kira would be too easy to track down at this point; we already know his motivations and even if he were to change his patterns completely, he would still be easier to find even by a minor percentage. No, it is likely we are dealing with a Fourth Kira.”
Soft groans and sighs followed this announcement and a fog of discomfort and fear hung over the room. It was the only logical conclusion at this point for the rest of the Taskforce.
To Light, L was clearly using this as a distraction. Of course he suspected Misa; this was just a way to keep the rest of them occupied while he looked at Misa independently.
A nagging thought did cross his mind; does Ryuzaki know Rem is protecting Misa? Or rather has he made some kind of connection between calling out Misa’s guilt openly and the potential for retaliation. Given how quickly he backed off to a fake Fourth Kira, it seemed somehow possible he made a realization.
No, that was impossible.
He was onto both of them, that was for sure, but he was sounding like a broken record. All arrangements between him, Rem, and Ryuk were kept between the three of them. Ryuzaki didn’t even know Ryuk existed. He doubly had no idea of how a Shinigami can die.
Ultimately, Light had the higher ground; he held the cards for the Shinigami, L just had a Shinigami who refused to tell him anything.
Kira was the one who controlled the Shinigami. Kira was god and L would learn that soon enough; he would learn that after his 40 seconds was up.
“It is likely the notebooks were exchanged between the Second Kira and any of the other accomplices, or perhaps the Second Kira is dead and his notebook returned to Kira to pass along to either Higuchi or the Fourth Kira,“ L said. “Kira would want to keep the notebooks circulating, like the aforementioned shell game. However, the more Kira chooses accomplices, the more a pattern develops between all of them. Every single killing by every different Kira has its own motive and reflects the personality of the notebook’s wielder. The motives of Kira and the Second Kira were misleadingly simple, yet they changed. Higuchi was clearly motivated by the spoils of business, motivations that did not change. Higuchi may have been the proverbial red herring; the most obvious person hiding the least obvious.
“We need to find a pattern in the Fourth Kira’s killings. Either the Fourth Kira is more clandestine in his dealings, or he will be another person whose motives are as blatantly obvious as Higuchi’s. Killing criminals is either the true motivation or, like Higuchi, it is a way to turn our attention one way. Regardless, Kira has one notebook left in his control, yet his remaining notebook is with all of us as is the notebook‘s Shinigami”
All eyes subtly turned to Rem, who simply looked back at them expressionless.
“This stage of the game will be exceedingly more dangerous,” L continued. “If my theories are correct, Kira is moving his pieces to check, or even checkmate. We must be vigilant and Shinigami this means we cannot let you out of our sight.”
“I understand,” Rem said. “Though I will be of no use to you in pinpointing Kira or his accomplices. My task is simply to stay with the notebook as dictated in the rules.
“I thought as much.”
“But that would mean we would have to allow the Fourth Kira to keep killing,” Chief Yagami said, understandably, or rather predictably aghast at the suggestion.
“We have no choice,” L said with a small sigh. “There is no Yotsuba right in front of us, there is no obvious cast of characters to manipulate at this stage and no clear finger pointing in one direction, as Kira has likely intended. We have to keep our eyes open for any leads that might present themselves, but until then the killings will continue as long as Kira and the Fourth Kira desire. We have no other options but to stand and observe.”
“But we still have Yotsuba,” Aizawa said. “Some of them may have cooperated with us to catch Higuchi, though in my book all of them are far from off the hook.”
“The rest of Yotsuba might not be our smoking gun, though they are something. Above all I want all of Higuchi’s communications examined with a fine-tooth comb. He had to have come in contact with Kira through some means other than a Shinigami.”
“All of Higuchi’s phone, email, text, and IM records are being carefully examined,” Mogi said.
“Let’s keep up that task,” L said, one finger over the button on his keyboard to call Watari to bring more coffee. “I want the members of Yotsuba scrutinized. Unfortunately, the only option we have for the killings is to try to find a pattern.”
Nods and grunts of varying levels of enthusiasm and reluctance went across the room.
Rem stood silent. It was obvious Misa was doing the killing, though Ryuzaki apparently had no choice but to look in other directions for now. He wouldn’t be looking away too long; he thought like Light Yagami, it would only be a matter of time before his sights were firmly set on Misa. At that time, Rem would have no choice but to end his life.
Light went along with the conversations about what phone record was being looked into, making a desperate effort to appear perfectly calm and not show his frustration.
L was so close, but the bastard backed away. Rem should just have killed him anyway and get it over with before any harm to Misa was even suggested. Though maybe Shinigami did value their existences despite how boring it was according to Ryuk. Then again he could barely be taken at his word.
Light took a few quiet breaths and calmed down. L may not have been dying tonight, but his time was counting down.
Light would prefer Rem killed him sooner rather than later, but this all had to play out organically. He had been a bit too obvious himself, too anxious for Ryuzaki to hang himself. He needed to calm down, silently steer Ryuzaki.
Behind that sickeningly calm demeanor, Ryuzaki was a rabid dog; he was so close to his own victory he could taste it. That would lead him to rush in and make mistakes.
If L was circling, Light had to follow right behind him and make sure he had no other way to go but down. Ryuzaki wasn’t threatening Misa right off and he knew Rem wouldn’t act unless she absolutely had to, but that time would come soon when Ryuzaki couldn’t avoid it any more.
No matter what Ryuzaki did to stall the inevitable, his time would end soon.
Chapter: Prologue, 1, 2
Rating: R
Summary: On November 5, 2004, L saw the trap Light set with Misa and Rem and narrowly sidestepped it. What followed was a series of plans to expose Light as Kira and turn a key tool against him, though escaping the specter of death would be a difficult proposition.
Characters: L, Light. Rem, Soichiro, Aizawa, Matsuda, Mogi, heavy references to Misa and Higuchi and a references to Watari and the rest of Yotsuba.
Word Count: 5,310
Disclaimer: Death Note and recognizable characters belong to Ohba/Obata.
Author's Note: Remember that cluster you saw last chapter? Well this is where it officially starts. I went through Volume 7 for hours examining and taking notes on all the various plotpoints and motivations that lead up to the canon cluster in Chapter 58 and plotted out ways all that could have been avoided. This might be playing either loose or tight with canon, but in either case this is an AU so come in with a suspension of disbelief. Most of the dialogue was taken directly from Chapter 57, but that was necessary for the transition.
Chapter 1: The Hypothesis (the landmine)
November 5, 2004
7:55 p.m.
Tokyo
L didn’t want to concentrate on the spot floating in front of his eyes. He hoped it was just a reaction from a reflection of fluorescent off the glass coffee table off to the side. Otherwise it was the beginning cycle of a classic visual disturbance indicating a migraine; a flashing kaleidoscope of warning that he was going to get really sick really soon.
The scrolling list of new names on the monitors all around him was only pressing that threat. The sudden shuffling around the room wasn’t helping.
“What’s going on! The criminals are being killed again!”
Chief Yagami obviously just got the news.
“Sixteen just last night. All the people shown on TV since Higuchi’s death.”
L could see Aizawa’s beige suit and curly hair a few centimeters away in his peripheral vision. He and Matsuda were now at the desk rapidly typing in searches and looking for information.
“All at once,” L said.
He remained facing forward. He picked up another panda cookie, but the idea of eating it right now made his stomach clench.
L put the tip of his finger in his mouth staring at the monitors. Something here had to make sense; some pattern had to come to him soon. He just couldn’t pick it apart right away and it was infuriating him.
“Kira, dammit!” Light said.
L’s head snapped up and looked at Light after this sudden outburst. Somehow L felt like it was the beginning of a fine performance.
“So as we suspected, Higuchi wasn’t Kira,” the Chief said.
“No, it’s accurate that Higuchi was killing the criminals up until the time he was caught,” Light said.
“So then another Kira has appeared?” Aizawa said in stressed incredulity.
L managed to tune out Matsuda’s whine in response.
Kira returns. What’s going on.
There was a second notebook. L knew that from the moment he touched the first one, the moment he first saw the Shinigami as Higuchi was arrested. There is another Kira out there; there is another notebook, another Shinigami.
“But this makes is clear that there really is another notebook out there,” Light said. “Right, Rem?”
Impeccable reasoning, Light-kun.
“Must be…a Shingami wouldn’t go out of his way to kill only criminals,” the Shinigami said. L would never get used to hearing that calm, otherworldly tone.
L was surprised they got this much out of the Shinigami. Every other answer had been “who knows,” “I’ve never done that,” “I can’t say.” It was the first pseudo-definitive answer they had received.
L questioned every single word of it. A part of his mind wanted to think it was a staged answer to a staged question. Light would want as much suspicion onto another person as possible.
No…there was no suspicion. The 13-Day Rule took care of that. Light and Misa were both cleared…due to circumstances on Light’s own request. And now Misa…
He finally put the cookie to his teeth and nibbled. It made him feel a little better and the bright spot in front of his eyes was dwindling. A migraine right now would have been rather inconvenient. He had to stay completely focused right now.
“The happens the moment Amane is freed,” L said.
He definitely knew what the response would be.
“Ryuzaki, you’re still saying that?”
So valiant of Light to be the first to come forward and defend Misa. Was this reaction true surprise that he was heading in this direction? The expected reaction would be offense at the insinuation, which would inevitably come back to him.
“This has nothing to do with Misa,” Light barked. “She was already suspected of being the Second Kira. Even if she did have Kira’s powers, she isn’t stupid enough to use is at a time like this.”
This coming from a man who pretty much rolled his eyes whenever Misa was around during the Yotsuba investigation. Apparently now he had formed feelings for her based on mutual circumstances. Light seemed to be a good judge of intellect and his outward reactions said the opposite of what he was stating now. Now apparently he is giving her some benefit of intelligence.
“If you’re talking about timing then say ‘the moment Higuchi died.’”
Nice cover, Light. You know damn well what I’m talking about and where this conversation is going.
His reactions to this line of thought told so much more. L knew he could not stay on this topic too long or else end all conversations in the room with mutual yelling at him. He knew when to give a pseudo-retreat.
L picked up the box of Hello Pandas and rooted around for another cookie.
“That’s true,” he said almost dejectedly.
Though maybe he’s expecting me to assume that…?
Can’t be…
Something wasn’t right.
“Light’s right, Ryuzaki we need to forget about Amane,” Chief Yagami said. “Those who used the notebook die unless they keep writing people’s names. Amane’s innocence has been proven based on that.”
The 13-Day Rule, yes. Thank you for digging that in, Yagami-san. Such a convenient little rule.
“Yes, you’re too obsessed with your theories, Ryuzaki, you keep trying to go back to them,” Aizawa said.
Either Light’s external defense force was piping up again of Aizawa wanted a new opportunity to take shots at him. He rejoined the Taskforce when Higuchi was arrested, though his return was out of loyalty to the case and his fellow officers than a change of heart over the one leading the investigation.
L shook the box and let some of the cookies fall to the desk.
“Yes, I apologize,” he said. He needed to not press the matter now. Too much was happening at once. He picked up two cookies and nibbled a little at each. “Well if there’s another notebook out there that someone’s using…,” he crushed one cookie between his thumb and forefinger to emphasize his point, “I’ll definitely catch that person.”
The light crunch of teeth working away at the foot of a panda was the only sound in the room for a moment.
“But…we’re talking about a notebook that kills a person if their name is written into it,” Light said. “If all this new Kira does is kill criminals, it won’t be as easy to locate him as it was with Higuchi.”
“You’re right,” Matsuda interjected.
Light was speaking the obvious again. It rubbed L the wrong way when Light made statements like this; it was too simple containing no hypothesis other than what everyone else was probably thinking at the time. The “golly gee” act was glaringly fake with Light; Light was much more insightful than this. L had seen it numerous times even if it was behind a curtain of cordial innocence..
“We know how the killing is done now,” L said. “If we find someone suspicious, we apprehend them and thoroughly examine whether or not they have the notebook.”
It was a simplistic answer to a simplistic question. What was Light’s reaction to this going to be?
“But Ryuzaki…this murder notebook…I believe it’s real…but even if we catch the person writing names into it, will we be able to punish them as a serial killer?” Light asked.
Of course you believe it’s real; you never had any doubts before and if you did you never voiced them. You have been vocal about everything else you have viewed in this case, why are you bringing this up now?
…In fact why didn’t you bring up the issue of punishment and proving the killer’s guilt a week ago when the notebook was revealed? Out of everyone here, you would be the first to notice a potential legal issue. You have been here as every method was taken to analyze it…short of…
“Not unless the murder notebook’s effectiveness is proved,” L said, dividing the small, smiling cookies on the table into intricate rows. “But that is meaningless to me. Once the case is solved, I’ll let the court system worry about that.”
Now he was even more curious about everyone’s reaction to this idea. The rest of them thought he was a heartless bastard, he was already rehearsing their protests in his head. The tone of Light’s upcoming dramatic speech would tell him how calm or otherwise he was. Or else expose the skittish curiosity as the act it was.
“Wait, of course you could punish him without testing the notebook.”
L was almost proud of Matsuda for finally coming up with a reasonable answer.
“Matsuda, for that we’d have to produce the notebook as evidence in a court of law,” the Chief said.
It was a predictable answer.
“Well…I mean…I’m not talking about that…” Matsuda sputtered. “The person is writing names down knowing it will kill people! If we don’t want the existence of the notebook revealed to the public, the suspect should be executed in secret.”
Matsuda was either catching on or was more ruthless on his own.
Would Light make some heroic counterstatement to this. He probably would; he was talking enough already.
The question was still rubbing L the wrong way.
“That’s a harsh conclusion, but I bet that’s what our superiors would demand,” Aizawa said.
L stood a few cookies up against the keyboard, seeing how far he could move them together and have them stay standing.
“If he acknowledges the killings he’s done with the notebook, he’ll get the death penalty, or at least life in prison,” L said. “If he doesn’t acknowledge it, then maybe force him to write his name in the notebook.” Yes, I’m speaking to you, Light-kun. What do you have to say to this? “Well, that’s something to worry about once we catch him,” which will be soon. “No point in thinking about it now.”
Are you afraid to be caught. You haven’t been so far…
Or maybe you want to put the threat out there…maybe to dad so he’ll say something and paint you charming and pure again.
But then why hadn’t he asked about this before? Why was he bringing it up now?
None of this made sense.
The silence that followed was almost more telling. Light had to have been sweating.
But Light didn’t sweat; that was the thing. He could go from flustered and argumentative one moment to perfectly ice calm a moment later.
Something was at work here.
The facts remained: Amane is freed and Kira returns. He learned some things from talking to the Shinigami, but still the answer to all the important matters was always “I don’t know.”
Yesterday he asked about killing someone with a scrap of the notebook and the answer to that was “I don’t know.”
If you could kill just by writing the name on a piece…
The implications made his heart pound. Light could have just had a piece anywhere on his person to write on. What about during surveillance? What if there was a piece in a book…or even that bag of chips he was reaching his hand into while studying.
It wouldn’t be impossible…
If that could be done Kira should be able to kill someone at any time…like Higuchi…while sitting across from.
Was the Shinigami covering for him? Did they have a plan worked out? Or maybe the creature could not speak about certain things; but then he couldn’t imagine these things being trustworthy, They transcended the limits of reason, why should they be beholden to reason?
No, there were other complications.
That 13-day-rule: if one does not write a name into that notebook every 13 days they die. Yagami and Misa were still alive.
But writing on a piece…but the 13-Day-Rule…
…how much could these creatures be trusted to go on their word?
If he was in cahoots with the Shinigami, if the Shinigami was more of a servitor…
Religious texts credited to God were written by the hands of man. But then he had never been in the presence of a god to ask if it was the right words.
All of this was supernatural; all if this was completely alien territory, none of this operated on the standards of humanity.
No, this was a case pure and simple. He might not have been familiar with the details, but they were still pieces of evidence. He had to become accustomed to them to solve this case.
This was his defining case, his crowning moment. The “Greatest Detective in the World” would leave here after deciphering the supernatural and putting Kira in a hole or at the end of a noose…after putting Light Yagami at the end of a noose.
Supernatural details here were like scientific theories…
They had to be tested.
They had to test the notebook…they had to test the 13-Day Rule.
L nibbled a bit on another cookie.
How could it be tested? Death row inmates, that was the answer. Do this in secret? No, this had to be done with the full knowledge of the Task Force. He voiced any doubts about Light and Amane’s innocence now, he would get shot down easily. If he could produce proof…no.
Call the little bastard’s bluff in front of everyone right now. See how he sweated to that one; see how he tried to defend himself or tried to argue how inhumane it was. At least two members of the Taskforce had talked about less friendly methods as an option for getting rid of Kira. Yagami wouldn’t like the idea, but if it meant proving his son’s innocence he might be agreeable. Mogi was the wildcard but he was more a lockstep soldier than a soldier of ideals. He would go with the majority.
L wanted to see Light twitch, he was already nervous…or seemed like it.
“I don’t care what country,” he said, adrenaline already going despite his calm demeanor. “There shouldn’t be a problem if we’re up front about it.”
He nibbled a panda and let that hang in the air for a moment. The expected light gasps followed in anticipation of what he was going to say next.
…That Light was waiting for him to say.
…That Light knew he was going to say because he was leading him to this point…and he was falling for it.
No! It was a stupid theory! He had to tell them to test the notebook. He had to say they would have it used in an execution. It was the only way to connect Light and Amane. That would ultimately prove the validity of lack thereof of the 13-Day Rule. If they proved it true Light was free, but if they proved it false this case was solved.
And Light knew this.
L snatched up a handful of cookies from the desk and shoved them in his mouth. The words were itching on the tip of his tongue, he wanted so badly to say them…but they would be premature…
Or worse, they would set off a potential trap.
The pieces were falling in place in his mind.
This was too simple, everything was coming to them too easily as if they were being handed over.
Light was playing the simple act now…as he had the last time Misa came to headquarters. What exactly did they talk about outside…shielding their mouths from the cameras with no microphones around?
Hiding information…like this Shinigami had been doing ever since it got here…
Ever since it suddenly appeared right with the notebook and Higuchi…right before Higuchi died and left the notebook and the Shinigami with them.
The notebook
The Shinigami
Higuchi’s death
The second notebook
Amane and Light freed
More deaths
All suspicion falling on Amane…and Light…but they were cleared by…
A rule that can be very easily challenged…
Kira would not leave any holes…Light would not leave any holes, he was too thorough…
Unless he left a hole open knowing Ryuzaki would…
With a Shinigami looming over him…maybe another…and an accomplice with a notebook and the ability to kill seemingly on a look…
And now he was asking him questions about punishing the user that he suspiciously did not ask before.
This was like a simple game of checkers.
One piece is close to reaching kingship but surrounded on three sides by opposing pieces. Any move and the piece is jumped, but all that piece can see is their end goal and not the immanent danger of being eliminated.
That lowly piece just looked around him and got a different perspective.
Light was planning for this moment, but what was he expecting?
He knew Ryuzaki would keep investigating; L’s suspicion was predictable at this point and Light was using it to his advantage.
He was expecting him to keep investigating and leading him to a point where he would get close…then…then what?
Dammit, what was he expecting to happen!
“What will we do with another country, Ryuzaki?” Matsuda asked almost desperately. Like someone dying to hear the final score of a game or how a soap opera ended.
He had to steer the conversation out of this territory if he wasn’t too deep into it already.
“Once we find Kira, he will be punished,” L said, moving this conversation back into more neutral territory. “We will find a country that will bring the one doing these killings to absolute justice. I have connections in governments all over the world. We will find a government that will have room in their legal system to punish this murderer.”
“Right!” Matsuda said. L could see an arm pump the air from his peripheral vision.
“You are confident we can put a legal end to this?” Soichiro Yagami said. He sounded like he needed reassuring that there would be a fair outcome.
“I can assure you, though that is not a matter for now,” L said. “We need to find Kira first before we can even talk about how the courts will deal with it.”
He picked up the box and rooted through for a few cookies, counting every breath he took and every second his heart was still beating.
Silence lingered for now, no one said anything, they simply let L have the quiet floor. A promising development maybe.
Perhaps there was another clause in the notebook; if one rule was fake how many more of them were, or yet how many more had been omitted for Light’s purposes?
Maybe the Shinigami is supposed to protect the owner of the notebook. Maybe if the owner is threatened the Shinigami has to kill the one threatening.
If Rem killed him the investigation would fold; no one else will work in the presence of a Shinigami who will kill anyone who gets too close to Kira. No…that would put immediate suspicion on Misa, though it was unlikely the Shinigami would comment on that. More probable the Shinigami could say it wasn’t supposed to say why it killed him.
Or maybe this was how Light would guide the investigation; hold the members of the Taskforce hostage. He could still maintain his innocence with them and control them quietly with the Shinigami.
Or perhaps the Shinigami would kill them all, likely leaving Light alive to continue as Kira.
No, according to the rules the Shinigami had to stay with the owner of the notebook. But do they have to stay with them all the time? Maybe this Shinigami was attached to Misa’s notebook and protecting her interests.
…There was another notebook…another Shinigami perhaps. Where is that creature now? If he has not touched the other notebook he cannot see them. One could be floating over his shoulder right now whispering Light and Amane’s guilt in his ear and he never would hear it.
L swatted his hand past his ear, making it look like he was moving aside a few hairs.
That theory could be countered as well. All they needed was one Shinigami to kill him. If L died, Rem would be blamed even if it was done by another Shinigami or if another person with Kira’s power managed to get to him.
An invisible Shinigami would be best for killing him in private, but Light would want him to die out in the open with plenty of witnesses and alibis. Light’s fantasy would probably be for him to die in his arms as he wept and shouted like a sympathetic victim.
That was probably why Light had essentially been following him since Higuchi’s death; he wanted to witness the execution, or at least he wanted to set out a few more pieces of bait for the trap.
“Though it would only state the obvious to say we can’t punish Kira until we catch him,” L said. “The matter at hand is there is clearly another notebook out there. Shinigami are there any others of your kind on earth right now?”
“I couldn’t tell you,” Rem said. “It’s rare enough for one of us to enter the human world.”
“So Shinigami don’t travel in groups,” L said.
“No, we are solitary creatures.”
He knew she would say that, but this part of the conversation was putting up the smokescreen. He had to appear to look in the other direction. Light wouldn’t buy it and he did not know the intelligence level of the Shinigami, but the less obvious he made his conclusions the better; it was better to circle the trap than run for it.
There was one thread that no one had bothered to pick up amid the chaos. Light knew this fact, probably because he propagated it, though this worked in L’s advantage if he worded this right.
“Amid all this chaos of notebooks and Shinigami, Kira has made fools of us,” L said, picking up another cookie and nibbling it. “Higuchi’s death was evidence enough there’s another notebook, though I am sure he wanted us distracted by the situation to not question how his chosen wielder died.”
He needed to be careful where he went with this; it could have lead to implicating Light and Misa again and possibly springing the trap.
“Oh man, that’s right!” Matsuda groaned.
“Kira had been watching Higuchi all along,” L continued, not wanting to look back and see any more reactions. He could smooth those over later. “Power has gone to another of Kira’s chosen. If there was only one notebook, the killings should have stopped when it came into our custody, but Kira was in possession of another notebook whether directly or indirectly.”
L slurped down the rest of his coffee, then set down one cookie and covered it with the cup. He took the small saucer and lined it next to it, picking up an empty foam cup from the other side of the desk and setting it up in a row.
“Either Higuchi tripped up and became a liability, or he was a pea in a morbid shell game,“ L said, shuffling the three around the desk.“ Seen once and seemingly disappears.” He lifted one cup at a time, showing nothing underneath them, “while the real Kira, or perhaps someone with another notebook bestowed by Kira, disappears in someone’s palm and is ready to go back into play.”
L opened his palm and revealed the cookie for a moment before popping it into his mouth.
“But a notebook like this is something Kira would not want to easily lose,“ Light said. “Or do you think Kira intentionally gave up this notebook to play this game with us.”
Light was playing along with Ryuzaki at this point, but that’s all this was. Ryuzaki was either going to go straight for the throat and die quickly or else he was going to circle and dive in, though the end would still be the same.
It looked like he was taking the roundabout approach, but with the same obvious epicenter.
“Kira likely has had to make sacrifices, or rather exchanges to get to this point,” L said. “I believe he has possessed this second notebook from the beginning with the plan to do exactly what we are seeing now. If he only had possession of one, he would not allow it to fall into our hands so easily unless he had a direct plan for getting it back.”
L thought to add the part about taking pages from the notebook, but that would only implicate Light out loud. He practically gritted his teeth to avoid this topic; he was so close…too close and that’s what Light wanted. His hands were tied and it infuriated him, though a few silent breaths and a few more mental reminders calmed his bile; you need to step back and find where the landmines were planted before running forward. This was going to take time.
“Kira is now going through another proxy; another individual writing down names for him, the Second Kira I would say,” L said.
Light successfully kept a serious expression. I hope you’re listening to this Rem.
“However the Second Kira may have outlived his usefulness by now,” L said. “Kira figures the Second Kira would be too easy to track down at this point; we already know his motivations and even if he were to change his patterns completely, he would still be easier to find even by a minor percentage. No, it is likely we are dealing with a Fourth Kira.”
Soft groans and sighs followed this announcement and a fog of discomfort and fear hung over the room. It was the only logical conclusion at this point for the rest of the Taskforce.
To Light, L was clearly using this as a distraction. Of course he suspected Misa; this was just a way to keep the rest of them occupied while he looked at Misa independently.
A nagging thought did cross his mind; does Ryuzaki know Rem is protecting Misa? Or rather has he made some kind of connection between calling out Misa’s guilt openly and the potential for retaliation. Given how quickly he backed off to a fake Fourth Kira, it seemed somehow possible he made a realization.
No, that was impossible.
He was onto both of them, that was for sure, but he was sounding like a broken record. All arrangements between him, Rem, and Ryuk were kept between the three of them. Ryuzaki didn’t even know Ryuk existed. He doubly had no idea of how a Shinigami can die.
Ultimately, Light had the higher ground; he held the cards for the Shinigami, L just had a Shinigami who refused to tell him anything.
Kira was the one who controlled the Shinigami. Kira was god and L would learn that soon enough; he would learn that after his 40 seconds was up.
“It is likely the notebooks were exchanged between the Second Kira and any of the other accomplices, or perhaps the Second Kira is dead and his notebook returned to Kira to pass along to either Higuchi or the Fourth Kira,“ L said. “Kira would want to keep the notebooks circulating, like the aforementioned shell game. However, the more Kira chooses accomplices, the more a pattern develops between all of them. Every single killing by every different Kira has its own motive and reflects the personality of the notebook’s wielder. The motives of Kira and the Second Kira were misleadingly simple, yet they changed. Higuchi was clearly motivated by the spoils of business, motivations that did not change. Higuchi may have been the proverbial red herring; the most obvious person hiding the least obvious.
“We need to find a pattern in the Fourth Kira’s killings. Either the Fourth Kira is more clandestine in his dealings, or he will be another person whose motives are as blatantly obvious as Higuchi’s. Killing criminals is either the true motivation or, like Higuchi, it is a way to turn our attention one way. Regardless, Kira has one notebook left in his control, yet his remaining notebook is with all of us as is the notebook‘s Shinigami”
All eyes subtly turned to Rem, who simply looked back at them expressionless.
“This stage of the game will be exceedingly more dangerous,” L continued. “If my theories are correct, Kira is moving his pieces to check, or even checkmate. We must be vigilant and Shinigami this means we cannot let you out of our sight.”
“I understand,” Rem said. “Though I will be of no use to you in pinpointing Kira or his accomplices. My task is simply to stay with the notebook as dictated in the rules.
“I thought as much.”
“But that would mean we would have to allow the Fourth Kira to keep killing,” Chief Yagami said, understandably, or rather predictably aghast at the suggestion.
“We have no choice,” L said with a small sigh. “There is no Yotsuba right in front of us, there is no obvious cast of characters to manipulate at this stage and no clear finger pointing in one direction, as Kira has likely intended. We have to keep our eyes open for any leads that might present themselves, but until then the killings will continue as long as Kira and the Fourth Kira desire. We have no other options but to stand and observe.”
“But we still have Yotsuba,” Aizawa said. “Some of them may have cooperated with us to catch Higuchi, though in my book all of them are far from off the hook.”
“The rest of Yotsuba might not be our smoking gun, though they are something. Above all I want all of Higuchi’s communications examined with a fine-tooth comb. He had to have come in contact with Kira through some means other than a Shinigami.”
“All of Higuchi’s phone, email, text, and IM records are being carefully examined,” Mogi said.
“Let’s keep up that task,” L said, one finger over the button on his keyboard to call Watari to bring more coffee. “I want the members of Yotsuba scrutinized. Unfortunately, the only option we have for the killings is to try to find a pattern.”
Nods and grunts of varying levels of enthusiasm and reluctance went across the room.
Rem stood silent. It was obvious Misa was doing the killing, though Ryuzaki apparently had no choice but to look in other directions for now. He wouldn’t be looking away too long; he thought like Light Yagami, it would only be a matter of time before his sights were firmly set on Misa. At that time, Rem would have no choice but to end his life.
Light went along with the conversations about what phone record was being looked into, making a desperate effort to appear perfectly calm and not show his frustration.
L was so close, but the bastard backed away. Rem should just have killed him anyway and get it over with before any harm to Misa was even suggested. Though maybe Shinigami did value their existences despite how boring it was according to Ryuk. Then again he could barely be taken at his word.
Light took a few quiet breaths and calmed down. L may not have been dying tonight, but his time was counting down.
Light would prefer Rem killed him sooner rather than later, but this all had to play out organically. He had been a bit too obvious himself, too anxious for Ryuzaki to hang himself. He needed to calm down, silently steer Ryuzaki.
Behind that sickeningly calm demeanor, Ryuzaki was a rabid dog; he was so close to his own victory he could taste it. That would lead him to rush in and make mistakes.
If L was circling, Light had to follow right behind him and make sure he had no other way to go but down. Ryuzaki wasn’t threatening Misa right off and he knew Rem wouldn’t act unless she absolutely had to, but that time would come soon when Ryuzaki couldn’t avoid it any more.
No matter what Ryuzaki did to stall the inevitable, his time would end soon.