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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
- 25
- 26
- 27
CHAPTER 26: Scattered
When L returned to headquarters, he immediately set out apples for Ryuk and then turned on the audio connection to communicate with Mikami. L did not question Mikami. Instead, he simply issued one statement through the microphone, "Teru Mikami, you are being watched and videotaped at all times. If you confess everything soon, you will be shown some leniency. Whatever you say will be noted and considered a part of your confession. You can begin speaking at any time."
Mikami reacted to the voice, his head snapping up to listen as he was sitting on his prison cot, but he made no answer at that time. L intended to let him stew, to let him worry. Questioning him would give him clues about how the investigation against him was proceeding, no matter how small those clues were. Ignoring him and giving him no information at all would tend to cause a panic, and in that panic he might make a mistake, let something slip.
L watched Mikami get up and pace in his cell from multiple viewpoints, each monitor showing a different angle. Mikami was not blindfolded or tied in any way. After being in restraints himself for so long, L felt sick at the thought of doing that to another person.
Instead, Mikami's cell was small but comfortable and functional, every part of it without corners or anything hard. Mikami shouldn't be able to commit suicide through any measure less drastic than biting his tongue or deliberately throwing up into his lungs as Light had done. Even the toilet had been specially constructed so that drowning oneself in it should be impossible.
There were no bars in the cell, no way to see out, simply four blank walls and a sturdy ceiling and floor. There was a motorized small opening in one wall that would open several times a day to reveal food or let him exchange dirty clothing for clean. Mikami would never see anyone's face.
Ryuk noticed the silence long enough to stop eating through the gigantic pile of apples L had provided, and said, "I thought you were going to ask him questions."
"I'd rather ask you questions. Are you ready now? I'll wait until you're finished eating if you'd like."
"No, you can ask me questions whenever you want. I can't guarantee I'll answer. I'm not here to help you."
L didn't reply, but let Ryuk continue eating. Whenever Ryuk decided he was done eating, he might be in a good mood. That would be the best time to ask him questions. Ryuk could finish an apple in three bites, but so far there didn't seem to be a limit to how many apples Ryuk could eat. Since L had arrived at headquarters and given him the apples, Ryuk had eaten more than thirty, with only short pauses.
L briefly checked on the progress the police were making, using one computer to access the latest NPA reports while switching some of the video feeds on the other monitors to Mikami's place of work. L had kept track of new developments all through his flight back to Japan, along with giving orders to Deputy-Director Kitamura for how to direct his portion of the operation. Embarrassingly, it had at one point included a question from Kitamura as to why there was so much grunting in the background. L had simply replied with the truth, "I'm hiding with pigs," and Kitamura had immediately dropped the subject.
The person Mikami had called during the time Ide was chasing him was a co-worker named Reina Nakano. She was a lower-ranking lawyer at the same law firm. So far, she was being watched covertly by a number of trained NPA operatives, switching out in shifts. She had not tried to go to Mikami's home, and she had not done anything suspicious. L had access to video feeds from hidden cameras placed everywhere in her workplace, and she'd already had a number of conversations with co-workers where she expressed surprise that Mikami wasn't at work.
Reina seemed genuinely baffled, and had even tried to call Mikami once, but gave up after leaving a short, innocent-sounding message on his answering machine. If she was an accomplice, she wasn't trying to hide her connection to him at all. She rather seemed like someone who had possibly been manipulated into doing something.
If she died, it would be more evidence to build the case against Mikami, but she may have been verbally tricked instead of being controlled by the notebook. In fact, it was very unlikely Mikami had written her name, because then there would be no need to call her in order to get her to do something. Did he have any notebook scraps on his person at the time Ide had chased him? If so, he'd disposed of them before being arrested, and Ide hadn't seen him writing.
L spun his chair around when the sound of apple crunching stopped and didn't resume. Ryuk was floating in the air and slowly drifting in a circle, as if he were in a zero gravity environment rather than using his wings to fly. He was staring at the ceiling and looking very bored.
L said, "Do you feel like talking now?"
I need to work to stay on Ryuk's good side. It wouldn't do to have two gods of death thinking about killing me.
Ryuk said, "Do you have Mario Cart? Mikami doesn't play video games at all."
"Yes. In fact, I can access many video games from here and we can play them on the largest monitor if you want."
"I didn't know you were into video games. Light hardly ever played with me."
Ryuk is a disgusting killer, but he's lonely and bored. It is possible he can be softened, especially over time.
L said, "Soon, another investigator will arrive who loves to play video games. I'm sure he'll have quite a bit of time to play with you. Ryuk, if you want humans to entertain you, all you need to do is ask. The entire Kira scheme isn't necessary."
"Well, killing criminals wasn't my idea to begin with, and besides it's getting old now. This guy Mikami isn't any fun at all. But at least it was fun to see a human last as long as Light did. Usually they just kill a few people and then kill themselves."
"If I keep you fed and entertained, will you tell me everything?"
Ryuk said, "You know, Light wanted to bribe me into helping him, but I wouldn't do it except with very minor chores, and I liked him quite a bit. You don't have any better chance of bribing me than he did."
"I thought so."
With a few keystrokes L had brought up Mario Cart on the largest monitor, while all the other monitors still showed Mikami's cell or his workplace. L hopped out of his chair and rummaged around under the counter until he'd found two controllers and handed one to Ryuk. Ryuk took it, his monstrous hand dwarfing it. It must be difficult for him to use something sized for humans.
L said, "Ryuk, let's play."
For the next two hours, it was almost constant playing, while L simultaneously kept an eye on the other monitors showing Mikami. Watari arrived a number of times with more coffee, tea, and various sweets. On his last trip, he brought asparagus. At L's request, Watari had made the sugary glaze even sweeter than before. This was perhaps the most candy-like asparagus dish ever created.
Wedy was lying low. She was on the premises, but staying mainly to her own room or other floors, and she was keeping her motorcycle helmet on all the time. After the danger posed by Rem, Wedy was nervous about another shinigami seeing her face. She'd already searched Mikami's home before L arrived in Japan. It was a very thorough preliminary search, and it had turned up nothing. Later, once everything could be safely removed from Mikami's home without possibly alerting any accomplice who could be watching, Wedy would do a complete search of each and every item, including cutting things apart to look inside.
L studied Ryuk as he played, looking for any weakness or quirks of personality that might be exploited later. Ryuk wasn't human, so the skill of being able to read the motivations and body language of humans very well wouldn't necessarily carry over to a shinigami. Yet, it was pointless not to try.
Ryuk was odd. Decidedly odd. He didn't display any of the characteristics a human mass-murderer would, which made sense because Ryuk wasn't in the habit killing his own species, but rather a different species. A human mass-murderer would be affected by the killings. Even Light had been affected, though he'd had enough of an iron willpower that it barely showed. Personality-wise, Ryuk seemed like a regular person. Perhaps he was the shinigami equivalent of a normal guy, nothing special about him.
Ryuk was a bit childish, but then beings that lived forever and had essentially no risk, purpose or stress in their lives other than boredom probably would end up being childish. Rem had let a few details about the shinigami realm out during the hospital visits, and it sounded as if the average shinigami was about as bored as Ryuk, leading either to childish hedonism or depression and ennui.
It was a good thing the other shinigami didn't think to entertain themselves by dropping notebooks. Or, perhaps they didn't do so because they had trouble finding second notebooks to drop. Neither Ryuk nor Rem seemed to want to give their primary notebooks to humans. If Mikami's notebook could be obtained, then destroying both of the extra notebooks would be a good way to shut down the possibility of any new Kira ever arising, or the even worse scenario of a government getting a notebook and using it as a tool of war or for political purposes.
If it ever seemed that neither Mikami nor Misa could ever be put on trial, it would be best to destroy both notebooks. L already had plans along those lines for a worst-case scenario. Rem's notebook was not only locked in a very high-security and well-hidden safe, it was a safe that was specially rigged to burn its contents if not opened for two months or if an unauthorized user tried to break into it. Even if Rem slaughtered everyone, or something else went terribly wrong, at least one of the murderer's notebooks would be destroyed.
Right in the middle of a game, Mikami suddenly blurted out, "I want to tell you everything, L. But I must know whether you've captured Kira. If you have, I'll give you my full cooperation."
I was hoping to withhold information from him, and now he wants it. However, he's claiming he'll give a full confession in return, and it's only one small thing.
L turned off the sound on the video game, then pressed the button to talk to Mikami and said, "Yes, there is another Kira in custody, not at this location. I cannot give you any more information about that Kira, however you should know that every moment you don't confess you're taking on a tremendous risk, depending on what the other Kira tells us."
Mikami stopped pacing, clasped his hands behind his back and stared directly into the camera. He said, "I am not a Kira at all. I will tell you what happened. I received a letter from Kira. It contained predictions of criminal deaths which came true. It said Kira had noticed my appearance in the audience of Sakura TV's 'Kira's Kingdom' and Kira liked the questions I asked during the 'talk to the audience' segment."
This much is probably true. Mikami has almost no online presence, but since researching him I had already guessed this is how Misa must have picked him. I was trying too hard to look for him, when the solution was much simpler. That broadcast was at the right time, and Mikami is clearly a strong Kira supporter from what he said then.
Mikami continued, "The letter said that I would soon receive instructions, and that if I didn't follow them I'd be killed. The next day I received a box with many envelopes in it, already sealed and addressed, and a notebook, along with a larger unsealed envelope big enough for the notebook, with an address already on it as well."
I can see where this is going.
Mikami took a deep breath and said, "There were additional instructions, explaining how Kira's power worked and that I was to mail out the sealed letters at the rate of one or two per day, and that I should be ready at all times to be arrested, and I should arrange it so that the notebook itself and all remaining letters should be sent in the mail immediately if I were arrested, so that Kira would spare my life."
"Did you do so?"
"Yes. There is a lawyer who works in the same company, Reina Nakano. I told her I would talk to our boss and make sure she will get a promotion, as long as she would be willing to drop everything the moment I told her to and go to my safety deposit box to mail whatever letters and packages she found there. She has a key. That is everything I know about the situation, and as you can see, I'm not Kira. I am only saying this now because you've captured Kira, so I am probably safe from being killed."
This sounds plausible. There's still no proof of wrongdoing, nothing worse than what the Yotsuba members other than Higuchi were forced into. Right now, a trial for Mikami would probably result in an innocent verdict. I need more than this. I need to catch him in a lie or to obtain additional evidence.
L pressed the microphone button and said, "What did Ryuk tell you?"
"Ryuk appeared two days after I received the notebook. At first I thought he was Kira. He said a lot of strange things I wasn't sure whether to believe or not, but nothing important, nothing about Kira's identity. He did tell me a little about you, and about your investigation methods. You are not afraid to approach Kira in person. You even professed friendship for Kira. Ryuk says you look like a teenager and dress in sloppy clothing that doesn't fit."
"Try to remember everything Ryuk told you, no matter how strange or unbelievable it seems. I will question you extensively about it in a little while. For now, I want to know the names that were on those envelopes."
Mikami said, "I was too frightened to remember the names. I always mailed the letters as quickly as possible, and I wanted to forget about it."
"Surely you at least remember the name that the notebook itself was to be sent to."
"I do not. I think I was almost too scared to know."
He is obviously lying about forgetting, but how do I prove it, and how much else is a lie or the truth? Misa doesn't usually think very far ahead, and at the time she chose Mikami, she was very distracted by Light's death, so her thoughts should not have been in order. There is a high likelihood that Mikami received only the notebook and a letter from Misa, and that he created this scheme of sending out pages. Misa may have threatened him with death if he didn't become the next Kira, but I doubt that Misa created something this elaborate, especially since it seems more closely tailored to Mikami's needs than Misa's needs.
L said, "If there are many people performing these killings, then why do they follow your schedule? Criminals only seem to die while you are not at work."
Mikami said, "I assume that the instructions I mailed out to those now acting as Kira must have included schedules for when to kill. Either that, or it is a coincidence because most of the workers in this city have a very similar schedule to my own. I did nothing illegal. It is true the death note is a weapon, but it is not illegal to own that weapon or to send it through the mail, especially when I would die if I didn't cooperate with the written instructions I received."
"You should have realized that Kira would not rely on you for a plan like this unless Kira could not act. If you thought Kira had been captured, then you should have been brave enough to either turn in all the evidence to the police, or to burn the notebook."
"There was no way to know if Kira had been captured or not. Besides, everyone knows there are two Kiras. Even if one were captured, how do I know the other wouldn't kill me for disobeying, or that Kira didn't have an accomplice with a piece of paper ready to kill me?"
He is talking almost as if he is not a Kira supporter, but I know that he is one.
L said, "Teru Mikami, do you support Kira?"
"I do, but it is not illegal to have such an opinion, and there is no relevance to it because of the death threat I received. Anyone would have acted the same, whether they supported Kira or not."
L said, "However, you did have the killing notebook in your possession for quite some time. I wonder why Kira didn't instruct you to send it through the mail immediately? Did you use it?"
"No."
"But you've already admitted you support Kira, and if it is not wrong for Kira to kill criminals then it is not wrong for you to do the same. Nearly anyone would want to try the notebook once, just to test if it was real."
"That does not mean I would kill for Kira. I never used the death note."
Ryuk laughed.
Mikami said, "I am cooperating and telling you everything I know. I've done nothing wrong. I want to be moved back to a normal jail and be allowed to talk with a lawyer. I don't know where this location is, but I know I'm in your private custody, L. Ryuk already told me there are no other prisoners in this building, and that it is disguised as a warehouse. I am not being given my rights."
"You had access to your lawyer before you were transferred to my custody, and you are a lawyer so you can talk to yourself. I have already received special permission from Interpol to retain Kira suspects as long as I want. If you try to prosecute me for the way I've treated you, you'll find all the normal channels blocked."
Mikami said, "You'll be required to let me out sooner or later."
"That is true, but I can keep you for a long time. If your testimony does not match Kira's testimony, I will pick at the holes in your story until the full truth comes out. If you wish to change your story, you should do so very soon in order that the courts will give you some leniency. Within a day or two I will let the NPA say that you are in custody. What story do you want released? You could be charged with any crime other than being a Kira suspect, or you could be in protective custody as a witness."
"I will be in protective custody as a witness. I do not want any of the Kiras out there to kill me, and if you falsely charge me with a crime they might not wait for a trial."
L said, "If I decide to kill you, it won't be by releasing your name as a criminal suspect. I'll control you into telling me exactly what really happened. Do not test my patience. I can win at any moment if I decide I truly want to."
"You like to make that threat. I wonder if you truly have one of the death notes?"
"If I think you are lying to me, you will find out."
L turned off the audio connection. Mikami continued talking for a little while before he realized there were no replies, but he said nothing useful, just repetitions of the same claims he'd already made.
L felt a bony claw on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his seat.
Ryuk said, "Hey, so are you going to kill him too?"
"No. That was a bluff."
"But you killed Light. It seems like the easy way to solve everything."
L said, "I'm not going to kill Mikami. Does he know Misa's identity?"
Ryuk chuckled and said, "Nope. He almost never reads magazines or pays attention to anything to do with celebrities."
There is a clue here. This must explain what happened in Aoyama. There's so much Light managed to avoid telling me during his confession. If only I'd heard another hour or two of his confession before Misa's attack, I'd probably have been able to get control of the entire situation.
"People with Kira's power can recognize each other on sight?"
Ryuk leaned close and said, "Oh, so Misa never told you? Or Rem? Well, I told Light a lot of little helpful things, so I suppose I owe you a few small answers just to even things out. Humans with shinigami eyes can see the lifespan of every human except those with ownership of a death note. All you'd have to do to find the death note would be to force Mikami to give up ownership so that whoever has physical possession of it automatically becomes the new owner. Then trade me half your lifespan for the eyes, and then if you looked at a photo of whoever has it now, you wouldn't be able to see their lifespan. Oh yeah, and since you don't have Mikami's death note you'd have to take ownership from Misa too since only death note owners can make the trade."
So, Mikami does have shinigami eyes. He would not have paid such a high price for a power if he weren't going to use it. Still, even if I can prove he has shinigami eyes, that alone won't be proof that he has murdered with Kira's power. To convict him, I need more.
"It would be pointless to destroy the memories of suspects I hope to convict. Any helpful information they had would be lost, and it is possible I might not be able to restore their memories. It would be inefficient to search for a notebook owner by simply looking at photographs. Also, if I became a notebook owner myself, I would eventually destroy it and then I would be missing all my most important memories about this case."
Ryuk laughed. "But, it'd be hilarious watching you try to figure out why you'd done all those things! Although I suppose you'd write yourself a letter explaining it all. Yes, that's what you'd do. You're not an idiot."
"If I did force Mikami to give up ownership, could we simply follow you to the new owner?"
"Ah, now you're thinking! Well, once I approach a new owner I'm tethered to them, but I don't have to go to a new owner right away. I could take more than a month if I wanted. I'd probably stop in the shinigami realm for a short break along the way, just to make you work harder. Now that I don't have Light, watching you try to figure things out is the best entertainment I have, so I may as well draw it out. Though, this Kira business is getting kind of old without Light around."
L said, "Does that mean you'll quit if I can convict Misa and Mikami? You won't obtain another spare notebook and give it to yet another human?"
If Ryuk agrees, I could completely stop Kira's killings, with no new Kira ever taking over.
In an uncertain, musing tone, Ryuk said, "Probably not. It isn't the same without Light. Besides, it's a pain to get a spare. I'm already in a lot of trouble for having two. It's against the rules. I'm fortunate the old man doesn't care so much about enforcing that rule."
"Rem mentioned a little about these rules. I would like to know more."
Ryuk said, "Oh, the rules are really boring and there's a lot of them, and they're hard to memorize. I think I'm done answering your questions, but I want to make a deal with you. I'll give you the answer to one question in return for making sure I always have a good supply of apples. I'll be honest with that question and I won't try to trick you, but I won't go into a bunch of detail either. You just get one, simple answer. Choose your question carefully."
"I could withhold apples. Would you answer more questions then?"
"I'll just kill to get apples. I've got my own death note. I can force people to deliver apples to this building, or to other buildings within my range. If you use guards to prevent anyone from approaching, I can just control the guards too."
I believe I know what I should ask, but I need to consider it carefully. Still, it is dangerous to rely too much on what Ryuk says. The shinigami could lie to me anyway.
L said, "I will think about that question."
In the intervening time, L arranged for Reina Nakano to be taken into custody, and once she was situated in her own cell he questioned her through the computer.
"Reina Nakano, I apologize for questioning you this way instead of in person, but this case is too sensitive to let out any of the investigators' identities."
She looked shaken, but said, "They didn't tell me much when they arrested me. What am I a suspect for?"
"You may or may not be a suspect, depending on what you've done. First, I'd like you to describe, in detail, exactly what you did for Teru Mikami after he called you."
Reina launched into a story with so much detail that L only occasionally had to stop her to clarify issues, and everything she said matched perfectly with what Mikami had earlier claimed.
If she is an accomplice, she has been coached to tell this story. However, what she did is such a simple action that it is likely she was merely asked to do it.
At the end of her story, L said, "You said you think it was seven or eight envelopes and one package? Did you notice any of the names or addresses? It is very important that you remember."
Reina thought for a time, her face intense with concentration, and then said, "I'm sorry. I don't remember any of the names. But I'm almost certain the package was addressed to a business instead of a personal name. I don't remember what company it was. I think most of them were to locations within Tokyo, but I remember one was for somewhere in Hokkaido."
"Was that the business name?"
"No, I'm sure it was one of the smaller envelopes."
It is likely that Mikami sent out each of the envelopes with pages taken from his notebook and written instructions, probably including a death threat for any disobedience. I suspect the chosen victims were told to mimic the schedule of killing he's been using so far to make it seem as if he never used the notebook himself. He may have written down their names to be sure they won't tell anyone what happened and will destroy all evidence if cornered. However, I do know that the victims haven't been controlled into killing, only threatened into it. The notebook can't be used to force people to kill others. Even Raye Penber had to be tricked into killing, or otherwise there would be no need for Light to have had any direct contact with him at all.
L questioned the woman for another hour to be sure he hadn't missed anything and that all points of her story stayed stable as she retold it.
When he was finished, he said, "Reina Nakano, we will release you now. If you think of anything else, please contact the NPA and they will put you in touch with an appropriate investigator. I'm sorry, but we are unable to tell you more about this case at the moment. Your cooperation has been highly appreciated, and we hope you will keep this a secret."
She said, "I knew, I just knew at least one of those families were Yakuza. I can't believe there is so much trouble over who owns a gravesite. Have they been threatening the law firm? We did our best, but the law is fairly rigid in such matters."
She paused, and then in a gentler voice said, "Is Teru okay? I suppose he was called in too, but nobody has heard from him. I want to say, I really do worry about him. I wasn't running errands for him in order to get an unfair advantage. It's just that nobody is perfect enough for Teru, so if he told the boss I should be promoted, it would really mean something. It's not really unfair, because women have such a difficult time being taken seriously as professionals. All the men with the same skill level as myself have already been promoted. I'm sorry, and if I inadvertently helped the Yakuza, I meant no harm."
Either this is an act, or she doesn't have the slightest suspicion that this might have anything to do with Kira.
L said, "Teru Mikami is a material witness in protective custody, but I cannot tell you anything else. However, you should be careful. If you are not part of some conspiracy, you are safe, but if you've done something wrong, you could be killed."
L carefully watched her face on the monitor, studying it for any sign that she was Kira's accomplice and knew she might be killed. Instead, he only saw what seemed like the reaction of an innocent person, more puzzlement than fear.
She said, "Should I be in protective custody too? How safe am I?"
"You should be perfectly fine as long as you haven't been knowingly cooperating with any criminal. However, if you feel you need protective custody, we will provide it."
She seemed to be comforted by that, and asked no more questions. L sat for quite some time, playing with his food and going over everything in his mind, trying to be certain of exactly which question he should ask Ryuk as the one that was supposedly guaranteed to get an honest answer. It was fairly obvious, but it was important to be absolutely sure, and to word it in exactly the right way.
L had many fairy tales pop into his mind where a hero worded a question wrong, and a supernatural creature used that wording as an excuse to answer the question in a way that was technically honest, while sidestepping the real issue. It felt weird to be applying fairy-tale logic to an investigation.
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Fifty Days