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Fifty Days	By : sashocirrione Category: Death Note > Het-Male/Female > L/Misa Views: 2868 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 24
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- 26
CHAPTER 25: Christmas III
L ignored the winter chill seeping upward from the snow he was crouched on, and turned his back to the biting wind. That was simply the price of fast privacy. All his attention was on his laptop, where his fingers were quickly dancing over the keys and bringing up multiple camera views of the subway station Ide should be in. The cellphone L was holding to his ear only rang a couple of times before Ide answered, but Ide didn't talk to L directly.
No, Ide was in the middle of a narration that he must have started, according to the orders he'd been given, the moment he saw Ryuk. Ide was talking into his cellphone, accessing a recording feature that continuously sent the audio file to a secure location. It was a running commentary on where Ryuk was at any given moment, and it could be accessed even if Ide died right away. Ide's audio recording had an automatic timestamp on it. That way, even though Ryuk didn't show up on video, it would be possible to know where Ryuk was in later viewings by matching the timing of the audio commentary to any particular video.
Rem's limit was about a hundred meters. So, right away, Kira suspects could be narrowed down to people within that radius of Ryuk. All their faces were being caught on camera, and the next time Ryuk was spotted, comparing faces between the two events should allow the number of Kira suspects to be narrowed down to a small number of people, perhaps even just one.
L put eight different camera views on his screen at once, looking for Ide's position and for the empty space where Ide was describing Ryuk to be. In a few moments, he'd picked out Ide and had also determined Ryuk's position. This was bad.
Into the phone, L said, "Ide, you're too close. There's a very high chance Kira uses this commuting route every day. It would be pointless to die. We can probably get enough evidence to determine his identity on his commute tomorrow."
Ide interrupted his ongoing narration of Ryuk's position to say, "It's a little too late for a normal morning commute, and it's Christmas, so he could have the day off. He might never commute on this route for his ordinary workday. I don't want to risk losing him."
L tried to ignore the wind at his back and said, "That was not the plan. If we want to catch Kira in a way that allows for a conviction, we can't risk letting him know we are following him. Just because Ryuk follows someone, it doesn't mean any court will believe that person is Kira. We need more evidence than just Ryuk's presence, and to get more we must surprise Kira."
Ide said, "Ryuk's going on the train. He went right through the train's wall, just behind that newspaper stand next to the guy with the green jacket. If I get on the train, I can see which stop he gets off on. Yes, he looks like he's settling down inside. I can't tell if he's following anyone. There are too many people."
All the subway cars were packed, nearly wall-to-wall bodies. L imagined Ryuk must actually be overlapping with many people to be inside there at all.
L said, "If I cannot convince you to give up following Ryuk, then please stay as far back as you can while still seeing Ryuk. Also, be careful what you say in case you're overheard, and don't look directly at him. Please put the camera I gave you onto your tie and turn it on. It will be the only view of the situation I have."
Ide said, "It's fine, I'm getting on another car."
Then Ide dropped back into his narration of where Ryuk was. Basically, Ryuk was staying in the same place but jumping around a bit, perhaps to entertain himself, and once he even clung to the ceiling of the subway car. The train started moving, and then the high-resolution cameras L had previously installed at all the locations Ide had been due to visit were left behind. Then there was only the mini-camera disguised as a tie pin that Ide was wearing, and it was mostly blocked by the bodies mashed everywhere around him.
Ide doesn't want to obey, but I can understand his frustration. Seeing Ryuk and then just letting him go, not knowing if he'll come back the same way or not, it would be difficult. I really have no authority other than what the police allow me. I could get Deputy-Director Kitamura to reprimand Ide for disobeying, but that would probably serve no purpose now and would only cause Ide to distrust me further. Besides, Ide is skilled at trailing. There is a good chance he won't get caught, and will instead bring clues in faster.
Ide's narration of where Ryuk was became intermittent, seldom speaking since Ryuk was mostly staying in the same place. L's only view of things rarely showed anything other than the shoulders of those standing close to Ide. L used the time to comb back through the footage that must have caught Kira's face, looking at the specific places where Ryuk was said to be and trying to determine if any nearby humans looked as if they were talking to an invisible presence. Nobody stood out as looking suspicious, and there were so many people crammed together that their sheer numbers would obscure any Kira among them.
It was a long twenty minutes until the subway train stopped. L had to move his laptop several times, as its warmth tended to melt the snow underneath it. His shoes and crouched posture protected his butt from the same fate, but his fingers, ear tips and lips were becoming numb and he had to rub them to keep the circulation going. The lack of a coat was a problem as well, but putting his back to the wind and using the partial shelter of a snowdrift helped. L looked around every few minutes to be sure nobody was approaching, but all was quiet, nothing moving.
When the train stopped, Ide said, "I'll let him get as far ahead as possible. He's big and easy to spot, so it shouldn't be a problem."
Ide waited on the train until most of those leaving had left, and then he exited, still narrating. Ide had actually lost sight of Ryuk, but it was a small subway station, and when he ascended to street level he saw Ryuk some distance away. L had Ide adjust the tie-pin camera's angle so it pointed more at face level. The street wasn't very crowded, so there was a good chance of being able to narrow Kira down quite a bit, but Ryuk was at a distance, so none of those people were being caught with much clarity, and mostly they were being caught from the back.
Ide said, "It appears that Ryuk is staying close to that knot of five people. See, they just passed the streetlamp in front of that bakery?"
L said, "I see."
"I'm going to go onto a side street and try to work around in front of them, then pass them from the other direction. That way, I should get their faces on video."
"What you are suggesting is extremely dangerous. To get that close, you will need to stop talking about Ryuk's position and make absolutely no sign you've seen him. Also, if Kira has a good memory he might remember you if you try to trail him another day, and then attack. It may become unsafe to use you for any more work after once letting Kira see your face. Many men under my command have already died. I would feel terrible if you did as well."
Ide launched into the script of innocuous topics that L had previously given him, to use if he was possibly getting too close to Kira. Instead of talking about the position of Ryuk, Ide was now talking about a fictional night on the town with drinking buddies. He worked his way over to a side street, stopped speaking long enough to run quite a distance ahead, and then returned to the script as he cut over and back to the same street Ryuk had been traveling down.
L immediately recognized the loosely-associated knot of people, except that one had left in the meantime. Were the four remaining people together, or merely traveling the same direction at roughly the same speed? Their body language didn't look as if they were acknowledging each other's presence. Probably just a coincidence.
L said, "When you pass the closest to Ryuk, start the portion about karaoke."
The people were getting close enough that their faces were now recognizable. L went over the previous footage showing everyone who had been within range of Ryuk in the time before Ide rode the subway train, having twelve video clips open at once and desperately combing through them, looking for any of the four faces. He quickly found a match. It was someone who had been close to Ryuk's position before and was one of those Ide was now approaching. Coincidence? The only way to be sure would be to exhaustively search the videos for the other three faces, and that would take hours.
Right as Ide passed them, he mentioned karaoke. So, Ryuk was still with this bunch. He hadn't wandered to the other side of the street or fallen behind or gone forward. Unless Ryuk was trying to make some other person seem like Kira, then Kira almost certainly had to be in that group.
L quickly created an image file that showed his main Kira suspect's face straight-on, and began running a program to search through all Tokyo-area Japanese driver's license photos and use facial recognition software to find a match. Just a few years ago, this type of database query generally took all day to search through millions of faces and perform facial-recognition calculations for each one, but the time involved had improved considerably. Before too long, there would be a name to attach to that face, even if Kira himself slipped away entirely.
As Ide left them behind, his voice developed a strained quality, and he ducked into a soba restaurant shortly afterward, then stopped talking altogether, breathing heavily. Ide quickly slipped into a booth and held a menu up in front of himself, waving the attendant away.
L said, "Ide, what's wrong? I believe Kira was the man with the black shirt and gray tie. I do not think you were noticed or followed."
In a choked whisper, Ide said, "Ryuk is here. He's talking to me."
L said, "Quickly, bribe him with apples to go away and not mention you to Kira."
Ide said, "If I give you this, will you leave and never talk about me?"
From the tie-pin camera, L could see Ide's hand enter the frame, holding one of the apples Ide had been instructed to have on his person at all times. He moved the menu to cover it from the other customers, but L could still see part of the apple, and it disappeared into the air with crunching sounds.
Ide suddenly gasped, and then slipped under the table. He said, "He's here. The guy in the black shirt and gray tie."
This is bad. This Kira has been only rarely missing criminals with misspelled names. Ide could die.
L said, "He's seen your face and is suspicious of you. There is only one way to ensure you won't be killed; if he knows he'll be proven as Kira if you die. Go to him quickly, and let me talk to him. Otherwise, he'll try to control you into revealing what you know. If he runs or doesn't cooperate or even puts his hands out of sight, arrest him immediately."
Ide hesitated, then quickly slipped out from under the table and approached the man.
L saw Ide's hand holding out the phone, and Ide said, "There's someone who wants to talk with you."
The man looked surprised, then slowly took the phone and said, "Yes, who is this?"
L said, "This is L. I suspect you are Kira. If you kill the man who gave you the phone, your guilt will be proven and you will be executed."
The look of surprised deepened for a moment, and then the man said, "Ryuk told me this might happen."
"So you do admit it. You are Kira."
"I'm nothing of the sort. I don't do anything."
The man's voice was filled with intense emotion. There was a kind of snide, righteous tone to it. Was it the tone of a fanatic?
The element of surprise has been lost. Should I assume that the notebook will be easy to find, and that it will have criminals' names in his handwriting in it? If this Kira is let out of sight, he might try to kill Ide regardless of the danger to himself.
L said, "I'd like you to explain why a shinigami follows you."
L stared at his computer screen, watching the progress of the facial recognition software. If luck were with him, it would give him Kira's name right away. With that known, more plans could be made. But, if the name wasn't found until near the end of the entire database...
In a testy, impatient tone, the man said, "I have no idea. Perhaps you can explain it to me. Or maybe this is an elaborate joke the two of you are playing. I have no reason to believe you are who you claim to be."
This one isn't very intelligent. I might be able to bluff him into giving up and confessing.
L said, "You just contradicted yourself. If you were already suspecting L would track you down, then you have no particular reason to think I'm a fake L. I already have your photo. The undercover police officer who gave you the phone has a hidden camera on his tie-"
"The police would have shown me a badge right away. I can only conclude that this is some silly prank. I'm calling the real police."
Through Ide's camera tie, L saw the man pulling his own cellphone from a pocket, and at the same time, the man's other hand suddenly darted exactly to the camera lens, seeming to become huge from perspective, and then everything went black.
L heard Ide's voice in the background, saying, "He's out! He's out!"
There were yells, probably from bystanders, and then a number of indistinct sounds, some perhaps being the rustling and clicking of the wooden curtain at the entrance to the restaurant. The signal from the tie-pin camera was entirely lost; it must have been crushed. Only the cellphone audio was still occurring, but all sounds heard through it seemed like background noise, except for breathing that was steadily getting louder.
L said, "Are you still there?"
Nobody answered.
Now is the time to bluff him, before he drops the phone.
L said, "Kira, I have your photo and I already have another Kira in custody who has the eyes. If you do not immediately turn yourself in, I will assume you are trying to kill my agents. In that case I will not hesitate to control you and kill you as soon as I find your name. It does not matter where you run. If you cooperate the courts will give you a far kinder sentence than you would get from me if you persist in escaping."
The panting stopped for a moment, and Ide's voice said, "It's me. He's running but he's still in sight. There are too many people in the way to shoot him."
"I'll call back-up."
L quickly connected his computer to Deputy-Director Kitamura's cellphone, sending him a photo of the Kira suspect and the location, and having him give orders to police in the area to arrest that man.
In three minutes, police wearing face-protecting helmets had surrounded the new Kira. The new Kira gave up almost instantly, though he didn't admit any guilt. He was still pretending that hadn't really been trying to flee arrest, but had simply thought that a prankster was targeting him. He said nothing about L or Ryuk.
As soon as L knew the man was cuffed and blindfolded, L said to Ide, "I've already sent special instructions to Deputy-Director Kitamura for how the Kira suspect's confinement should be arranged, to minimize contact with others. One of my agents should arrive to take custody tomorrow. Did Kira do anything while he ran from you?"
"He talked to someone on his cellphone."
Does this Kira have an accomplice? Is Ide now controlled?
"Ide, it is possible Kira may have scheduled your death, and that you might be controlled into doing some task for him in the meantime, perhaps something that will help him escape. I would like to have Deputy-Director Kitamura take you off the case and put you under protective custody for twenty-three days to see whether this is so."
"I don't trust you. Now that we've caught him, the NPA should handle the case from now on, and you should come clean about the secrets you've been hiding. I don't see why we should just hand him over to your custody. In case you've forgotten, I heard what you threatened to do to him."
"That was a bluff designed to save your life."
Ide dropped his voice and said, "Regardless, you admitted to having Kira's power yourself. How do I know you aren't just trying to eliminate all the competition, so that you'll be the only one in the world with this kind of power?"
"As before, the only assurance I can offer you is that you're still alive after asking questions like that."
"That makes sense, but there's too much else that doesn't."
"We still haven't truly caught Kira, since we're lacking proof. If we can get the proof, you will probably testify at his trial and at that time you'll be briefed on everything. You understand why I can't tell you any more now? You could be Kira's agent, unknown even to yourself. Do you consent to protective custody?"
Ide let out a disgusted sigh, and then said, "Yes."
"Thank you. I will arrange it to be as comfortable as possible. May I talk with one of the other officers?"
When Ide had handed his cellphone over and the other officer answered, L said, "This is L. Please search the prisoner immediately. Put him into different clothing and place all items into evidence bags. If he has identification on him, please tell me his name immediately."
As the officers searched, L sent more information through his laptop to Kitamura, detailing how Ide's protective custody should be arranged. In less than a minute, he had the prisoner's name. Teru Mikami. Through Kitamura, L immediately ordered more NPA officers to set up around-the-clock surveillance on Mikami's home and workplace, filming all persons who tried to enter or leave either place and arresting anyone who entered Mikami's home the second they left.
L also arranged for the NPA to find out whom Mikami had called at the last moment, and to put that person under similar surveillance, and to arrest them at the slightest sign of suspicious activity. Mikami had erased his call records from his cellphone, but the phone company would still have that data. L made sure the NPA officers had orders to not search or enter any of those places. If there were a notebook in an obvious place, it would be best to keep it from getting discovered by NPA personnel.
Still, this Kira gave up too easily. The notebook must be well hidden.
As L finished up the last bit of conversation with Kitamura, making sure Mikami wouldn't be spoiled with questions before L's agent arrived to take over custody, he started truly feeling the cold. The wind had died down so the air was nearly still, and the large snowdrift had performed a protective function to divert some of the wind, but being outside without a coat, hat or gloves for so long was still a bad idea. L rubbed his hands and ear tips vigorously, then turned off his laptop, picked it up, and stood with a creaking sensation in his bones. Blood was starting to rush into areas that had been partly numb, and they all prickled fiercely.
When L turned around, he saw a pale little form detach itself from the landscape, rising from a very low crouch into a slightly higher one. By having his back face one direction for so long, Near had snuck up on him. His hair, pajamas and even the slippers he wore matched the snow almost perfectly.
Near said, "You are L."
It was not a question but a simple statement, and it was too calm, even considering that this was Near, who had "calm" down to an art form. It wasn't a new discovery, not by any means.
L said, "How long have you known?"
Near said, "I've known almost the entire time I've lived here. It's because you're too unsuspicious. You act the least like L should act."
That's one of the reasons I suspected Light so much. Highly unusual things often happened in order to make him appear unsuspicious. It was too convenient.
Near continued, "But there was more confirmation from Mello's recent behavior. It's easy to guess that he met L in person a little more than a year ago. And, now that you visit in person, he is suddenly ignoring you completely."
L began walking toward the main building of the orphanage and said, "I should have a private meeting with you as soon as possible, but I must return to Japan immediately. I'm sure you understand."
Near fell in step behind L. L could hear the steady crunching of Near's footsteps in the snow.
Near said, "Yes. I have a question. It sounds as if you might die soon. Have you chosen a successor yet?"
"When I think about it, I have trouble deciding. If you had an interest in learning real-life skills and the ability to take action in uncertain situations, it would certainly be you. If Mello could hold himself back from impulsive, violent reactions, it would certainly be him. I'm hoping that one of you will overcome those obstacles with more time."
Near said, "I see."
L stopped and turned toward Near. "My fingers are numb and your face is bright red. We need to go inside, and we should not be talking about these things too close to the building."
Near twined a finger in his hair, circling one curl over and over again. "No. You'll just ignore me again. Being cold is worth it, to get some answers. Who would you choose if you had to right now?"
"I think you two should consider being a team. Many law enforcement agencies already think L is probably two or more people."
"I would do that. Mello won't. Why don't you just tell him to do it?"
"Because he idolizes me so much that telling him to do it would be the same as forcing him to do it. Mello needs to make his own decisions."
Near said, "Were you raised in one of Mr. Wammy's orphanages? Perhaps even this one?"
L replied, "That is classified information, and the records have all been destroyed."
L took a slight detour that would bring them around to the front entrance instead, a slightly longer route for talking.
Near said, "I heard what you said on the phone. You just want power?"
"No. That was a bluff. Kira's power is a little bit contagious. You'll understand how it actually works if I die and you inherit my files. I have Kira's power. I only used it twice and the results have been unimaginably horrible. I hope to destroy the power and never use it again."
Near said, "You know their names, don't you? You could just kill all the Kiras, control them to confess and solve the case. That would be efficient."
"It would be incredibly immoral and a lazy way to solve the case. I would also die if I did that."
As they approached the entrance, Near fell quiet, looking thoughtful, his finger twirling endlessly around a single curl. When they went through the coatroom and came out into the main hallway, snow melting in their hair, the several children who were running races there with remote-controlled vehicles began yelling in surprise.
Linda poked her head around a corner and said, "Near went outside? In this snow? He doesn't even go outside in the summer."
Near said, "I have to put on too much sunscreen to go outside in the summer. At night there isn't any need."
Mello popped out of a doorway and watched the proceedings with narrowed eyes and his arms crossed.
I don't have time to deal with their rivalry.
L sought out Watari, and 21 hours later they were both at headquarters along with Wedy, while Teru Mikami was imprisoned on the premises in a special cell built just for someone with Kira's power. Matt was scheduled to arrive a couple days later, to keep suspicion at Wammy's House low.
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Fifty Days