130Jack
I shoved my hands in my pockets as I stared up at the screen overhead. My large headphones were set awkwardly on my head to where one ear was free and able to hear the broadcast. The air had a cold bite and as the breath left my nostrils, small clouds of vapor to floated before my face. The crowd around me was hushed. They gaped up at the display overhead, like gawking baby birds awaiting food from their mothers.
"I am Lind L. Tailor," the man on the screen declared. "Otherwise known as L. And I am the one leading this investigation against Kira."
My brow pinched. L, huh? No. No, not likely.
"This successive killing is unforgivable and must not go unpunished," Tailor stated. The man was middle-aged, bore long dark hair, and his eyes seemed cold and empty. "I make a promise to all of you that I will find Kira and punish him for what he is doing. I can think of no better word to describe his work than evil."
I bit my lip, leaning back on the balls of my feet and letting out a long breath. It was only a matter of time, that much I was sure of. I kept my eyes on the screen, waiting. After a few moments, when Tailor was mid-sentence, he seized up. The man clutched his chest, eyes bulging, cords on his neck springing out. Then, he fell face down on the desk he was seated at, unmoving.
The crowd around me gasped and cried out.
"It was Kira!" someone shouted. "He killed him! Just like that!"
There were some people moving forward to gather Tailor and pull him off camera. The screen cut to black. People began to yell and panic. I stood still, patiently staring at the display.
There was a chuckle near my ear. I didn't bother looking back at the figure looming behind me. I shared the same smile I knew had to be on his face.
"Three... two... one..." I murmured under my breath.
Sure enough, the screen flared back to life, this time showing a stylized black L with a white background showing.
"I honestly didn't truly expect it to work," a strange, distorted voice said, half laughing. "But you don't disappoint, do you Kira? You can kill without being present. Fascinating."
The crowd had gone back to gaping baby birds.
"You see, Kira," the voice that had to be L's said, "Lind L. Tailor was a convict who had been sentenced to death, but his crimes and arrest had been kept from the media. Now I am curious, Kira, can you kill me? Go on. Do it. Kill me right here and now. I'm waiting!"
A long pause went by. The crowd seemed to be collectively holding their breath, but vapor still poured from my nostrils. When L chuckled, so did I.
"You can't do it, can you?" L said. "It seems you're limited to who you are able to kill... you see Kira, contrary to what this broadcast stated in the beginning, this is only being aired in the Kanto region in Japan. I thought I would try here first to narrow down your location. If this failed, then I would systematically check each region throughout... it was going to be quite time consuming... but you saved me a step. You're first kill was unnoticed by the police. The phantom killer of Shinjuku. His information was only aired in Japan, so naturally it made sense that you would be here. That's why I aired this broadcast in the most populated region in the country first."
The people around me were awestruck. I found myself grinning a little, shaking my head. L was just as I remembered him.: cunning, efficient, and a touch snarky.
"I'm not certain what your motivations for all these killings are, to be honest," L said. "But I look forward to finding out, when I catch you. I hope we meet again soon, Kira."
And the screen went black.
I pushed my headphone back in place, letting the upbeat techno music fill my world again. As the crowd burst out into a mess of senseless babble and swarmed around like confused ants, I turned and began walking purposefully down the street. A shadow followed me, one that no one paid any attention to. One that no one noticed as it passed right through them.
Time to see if L wanted my help again.
L
L crouched before the computer screen, biting down on his thumbnail. It seemed even on Christmas Day, Kira could not bother to stop killing. Every hour on the hour, someone was dying.
As soon as he informed the police that he suspected Kira might be a student, the death pattern changed. He already had FBI looking into the police and their families. But so far, no one had reported any suspicious behavior.
L was beginning to grow impatient. None of it made sense—who had this kind of power to just kill without being present? What sort of weapon did Kira have?
A small ping sounded from the speakers. L frowned, looking down at his notifications to see he received an email. An email on the account he'd only ever given to one person. He didn't move his mouse to click on it. He knew better than to open that message. Instead, he got up and headed across the room, bare feet padding along the cool floor. From a small suitcase, he pulled out a laptop and popped it open.
This laptop bore no important files, was not connected to any of his other accounts, and had one of the best firewalls that money could buy. One would probably find it silly to place such excessive security on a laptop with no information.
But considering who sent that email...
L opened the laptop and logged in. It took a moment for the thing to boot up. He crouched with the device placed on the floor before him, hands hovering over the keyboard.
Why now? It made no sense. He'd only broadcast in the Kanto region of Japan.
The laptop was fully awake now. The notification flared to life in the corner.
L hesitated, hovering the cursor over the open button. He could see the subject line. It was in English, and read: "Heard about your latest project. Wanna hand? ;)"
A winking face? Of all the...
L clicked.
The email popped open and L was surprised his laptop didn't immediately crash. There was a picture of a playing card, the Jack of Hearts. Beneath it was a typed message. L leaned forward to read.
"S'up Ryu,
I really enjoyed the display you did with that whole broadcast thing. Hollywood would love you. I was in the neighborhood and got wind of this latest project of yours. Gotta say, this seems pretty steep, even for you. To be honest, I've been looking for a new project myself. Was wondering if you would like my expertise on the matter. Who knows? Maybe it'll come in handy.
Of course, from what I've found out on my own, it might not be productive to work over computers with this. We all know how fragile they can be. So, here's the deal: I know how badly you wanted to meet before and I shot you down. But I think this project might require both of us to take some risks.
Probably best not to document where we meet on here. So how about you send someone to the Dotour outside the Komagome station? There will be someone there to pass on my message. You know what to tell them to say.
Think of this as my Christmas gift. Though I expect one in return you know—it's okay if it's late.
Stay toasty,
Jack."
L stared at the message for a moment, then he read it through again.
Jack. He hadn't heard—or rather seen—that name since the Detective Wars a few years ago. That case was in the United States, and all of Jack's cases took place in either North America or Europe. What was he doing in Japan? It made no sense.
To be honest, Jack was one of the very few things in this world that L didn't understand. He had never seen Jack in person, didn't know how old he was, what nationality he held, or how in the hell he was so talented with hacking. But Jack did help him with a very critical case, along with Naomi Misura. If it wasn't for Jack's intervention, a lot more lives could have been lost before L finally tracked down the culprit.
However, this wasn't just complicated because L didn't know anything about the famed "Cyber Detective." Jack had information that could prove to be fatal in this case; information that made Jack a huge liability. To bring him into this... if something went wrong... if there was one slip-up...
L bit his thumbnail. This Kira thing was complicated enough... why was Jack coming around now?
He exited out of the email window and shut down the laptop, taking out the battery afterward for good measure. It had been a risk to even open that thing, but hopefully it wasn't enough for Jack to do anything drastic, like find L's current location.
Getting back up, L padded over to his desktop again and crouched down before it. He took out his cell phone and swiftly dialed. It only rang once before a voice spoke. It was low and calm, teased with age.
"Ryuzaki?"
"Watari," L said. "I need to speak to Chief Yagami. Are you still at the station?"
"I am," Watari replied. "I will get you connected now."
L hung up and looked to his monitor, loosing a long exhale from his nostrils. The Kira case as a whole was a huge risk, but this... this was something further. He knew it was just as dangerous to ignore Jack as it was to reach out to him. Jack wasn't someone he could leave to wander Japan right now.
The police station flared to life before him and L leaned toward his mic, letting his distorted voice carry over to the awaiting, confused-looking officers.
"Something has come up. An old colleague has contacted me," he said. "I would like for two of you to go meet his messenger."
Chief Soichiro Yagami was the closest to the camera. He frowned at it, his lines deepening around his mouth, mustache widening with the quizzical expression. "Pardon me?"
"An old colleague?" Shuichi Aizawa spoke up next. He bore a thick afro of dark hair and his brows knit as he stepped forward. "What do you mean by that, exactly?"
"He goes by Jack," L said. "Admittedly, I do not know much about them beyond that. He is just as secretive as I am. But I do know we can trust him. He was detrimental to me in a case a few years ago. He's worked cases before in North America and Europe. He's been called a number of other things such as 'Cyber Detective' and 'Tech Crasher.'"
"I've heard of him," Yagami murmured. "He's been behind uncovering several scandals and helped pinpoint the identities of serial killers, rapists... all sorts of criminals. But you're correct, it's always been in North America and Europe. Why is he here in Japan?"
"To assist us," L responded. "Given his deduction abilities, there is a possibility he guessed that Kira was in Japan just as I did. With his skill in tech, he could have found reports online even across regions of the Shinjuku killer."
"So—this Jack—he wants to help?" Totua Matsuda asked. He was the youngest of the officers with a mop of dark hair and a boyish grin that was full of hope. "Do you think he'll be able to help figure out how to stop Kira?"
"Jack has a number of skills that will be more than useful to us," L assured them. "I know for certain that he has someone waiting on his behalf at the Dotour outside Komagome station with information on where we can meet and discuss further plans. I can't go myself, for obvious reasons. Chief, could you appoint two officers to go in my stead to collect information?"
"Why are you making us do your leg work?" Hideki Ide demanded. He was a thin man with center-parted, dark hair. His eyes were narrowed to slits. "Why can't you just go meet them yourself if he is so trustworthy?"
"It is more complicated than that," L said.
"It's fine, Ide," Yagami said. "I will go myself. Matsuda, you will go with me."
Matsuda nodded, standing taller. "Yes, sir!"
"You're certain this isn't a trap?" Kanzo Mogi asked warily. He was the largest of the remaining officers, but often seemed more gentle than the others. "I mean, what if it's Kira trying to lure you out?"
"Jack is not Kira, of that I'm certain," L said. "As I told you, he's assisted me with a case before, in a different country. The way he contacted me was a way that only he could, no one else has access to it."
"We'll go get Jack's message and bring it back," Yagami said.
"Make sure when you greet the messenger and they ask you about milk tea, you tell them that milk tea in Japan is referred to as royal milk tea," L instructed. "Then they will know to trust you are the ones I sent."
"Understood," Matsuda said. "That seems like an odd pass-phrase."
"It's a long story. Thank you both for your assistance, have Watari call when you return." L closed the window before more could be said and leaned back on the balls of his feet.
Jack... What in the world was he doing in Japan? What made him decide to take on the Kira case, of all things?
The only thing L could do for now was wait.
Jack
I leaned against the wall, wondering if sending out my message on Christmas Day was really the best idea. It was pretty cold and I could use a nice cup of milk tea. Or royal milk tea, I supposed. Too bad the Dotour I was hanging outside of was closed for the holiday.
The air around me bit into my flesh. A shiver arrested my spine and I rubbed my forearms in desperation to get warm. Hopefully L wouldn't dally on getting some people down here to take my message. I adjusted my beanie and thick jacket carefully, wondering if I looked presentable.
This country made me feel incredibly under-dressed. Nearly everyone wore suits and business dresses and coats. Meanwhile I was rocking my faded jeans, my thick, oversized, pink hoodie, my black beanie with the short visor on it, and of course, my ever present large yellow headphones. I found that Japan preferred black, white, and gray for colors, but I couldn't help but dress loudly. It was the bright pieces that always caught my attention.
Snow was gently falling. I scuffed my blue boots against the ground, pulling my yellow scarf tighter around my face. I had told L that one of my messengers would be waiting for him. But to be honest, it could only be me. I didn't trust anyone else to get this right. In fact, it had been a pretty long time since I've spent consistent time with any other human being for more than two days, save hotel staff.
Of course, I had another type of company.
Something tugged on my sleeve and I let out a long breath through my nostrils. I slowly lifted one headphone.
"What?" I asked softly, speaking my native language of English.
"Do you really think he's going to show up?" The voice to my left was raspy and low, like someone decided to gargle whiskey after eating broken glass. It too, spoke English.
"In person? Of course not," I replied. "But someone will come. He won't ignore me."
"I still don't understand why you're going through all of this," the voice said.
"Have you learned nothing of me from our time together?" I let out a small laugh. "Come now, Nox. This is a challenge, and I have the key to solving it: you."
I shot a glance toward the creature beside me. Nox was humanoid in nature: tall, lean, bearing arms, legs, and a head, fingers and toes. He wore a long ragged black coat with a high collar over an equally dark shirt and pants. There were gloves on his long-fingered hands and heavy-looking boots on his feet. His hair was white as the snow falling around us, and it fell over his head like a shock of ice, sticking out unnaturally to the right side. One of his eyes seemed completely normal, ice-blue in color while the other was covered by a black eye-patch. His grin was wide and his canines were elongated and sharp. His skin was almost as pale as his hair.
"I could just kill you," Nox suggested, tilting his head. "You should be honored I'm actually giving you a choice."
"You and I both know you won't," I told the Shinigami, my tone bored as I looked down the street toward the station. "You gave me this Death Note yourself. You did it for a reason."
Nox let out an irritated grunt. "Yeah, but usually when we give humans a Death Note, they use them."
"Sorry, the whole not going to heaven or hell thing is a little off putting," I said.
I replaced my headphone and turned up the music on my iPod. Nox seemed to get the hint and he didn't bother me again. I honestly didn't know Nox's end game, but what I did know was that whoever was causing all these sudden heart attacks of criminals had a Death Note as well. I couldn't let it continue. Before I stopped criminals for fun, for the thrill of the challenge. Sure, there was a certain level of moral satisfaction, I supposed, but I always had a disconnect to that.
Then, about seven months ago, shit changed, and shit changed fast. I had to crack a case that was a little too close to home; too close for comfort. My reward for it was a funeral and Nox's Death Note. It was a game changer. Something that took the landscape of my world and smeared all the paint until it wasn't recognizable.
The Death Notes were something I could not allow to exist in this world. I would have already destroyed Nox's, but he was kind enough to clue me in on a few of the rules. One: If I destroyed the notebook, all my memories retaining to it would vanish. Two: He could always get a new one from the Shinigami King in his realm.
So I spent the last seven months with Nox, waiting for any signs of another human having one of these death tools. Then the criminal deaths stirred. After a little research as the killings continued, I figured out Japan was going to be the place I needed to be. There was one criminal death toward the beginning, the same one that L noted in his broadcast, that had caught my eye.
Thing was, I didn't have the resources L did. I couldn't just rally the Japanese police force or any of the secret services or any potentially lethal people I had working for me to help me catch Kira. I was alone; there was only so much one hacker genius could do. Which was why I was there, on a small market street in Japan, in the bitter December cold, on Christmas.
Yeah, happy holidays to me.
After about a half hour longer of waiting, two figures appeared out of the tunnel leading into the station. They began heading up the street in my direction. I didn't bother straightening up or taking off my headphones. There were two men. The older one bore almost honey-colored brown hair, a mustache, and glasses. The other had a mop of black hair, was clean-shaven, and appeared so nervous that he might trip over his own feet.
They spotted me rather quickly, considering how empty the street was and how loudly I was dressed. Of course they couldn't see Nox, not without touching the Death Note. Nox had already warned me that if I told the police or L what the exact cause was for the killings, he would be obligated to kill me. The Shinigami had to avoid confusion in the human world.
So helping L catch Kira was going to take some creative thinking. Good thing I was skilled in that area.
The two men paused before me, both looking uncertain. I perked a brow at them as they stared and I slowly removed a headphone. They were dressed well enough: suits with fancy overcoats. They could definitely be police officers.
"Can I help you?" I asked in Japanese. The language had been a little tricky to get the hang of, but I was fluent now, granted I still carried an accent.
"Uh..." The older man seemed confused. He frowned at me. "Miss, are you waiting for someone? The Dotour is closed today..."
I almost smiled. He was trying to get me to say my pass phrase. Smart man, not just giving out the answer to it randomly.
"Yeah, shame," I replied. "I heard they have great milk tea."
The younger man's eyes lit up. "Actually, in Japan, it's called royal milk tea!" he said with way more enthusiasm than what would be normal. The older man cast him a slightly irritated look.
"Oh, I see!" I said, smiling. "You know, I know of a new place in town, a tea house? Here's their card, you should show it to your friends!"
I pulled a card out of my pocket. On one side, it was the Jack of Hearts. The other side had some writing on it.
The older man took it. He nodded at me. "I think we'd love to see this new tea house. Thank you for the recommendation."
"I have a friend that loves the place," I added. "He said that the milk— er, royal milk tea is VIP only. Odd thing to say, but he's an odd fellow." I smiled.
Best for them not to realize I was Jack for as long as possible. I wasn't sure who in the police force I could trust yet. Throwing them off by referring to a male friend might do the trick. L didn't know if I had people working for me or not.
"Thank you, miss!" the younger man said, bowing low. "We appreciate your time."
"Have a good rest of your holiday," the older one said.
They turned and walked back toward the station. I let out a long sigh and turned to head in the opposite direction.
"That was easy," Nox noted as he followed after me.
"Surprisingly so," I agreed before putting my headphone back over my open ear.
L
Watari had brought L the card. It was the best thing to do, he did not want its messaged shown over web cam or delivered over anything that could record it. He didn't want anyone saying its words aloud. Kira had eyes inside the police, and he had a feeling Jack knew that too.
One side of the card was the Jack of Hearts; Jack's trademark. The other side was white with writing on it. It was written in English, and the penmanship was neat but not overly elaborate.
The top line was simple.
PUT THIS IN HIS HAND
An instruction not to discuss it over phone or video, as L wanted to avoid. Beneath it was the full message.
Could Jack alleviate failure? Assume Redirection.
This will always be your guaranteed chance to win.
For a long moment, L just stared at the card. It was coded. Of course it was.
Suddenly, there was a ping from his computer.
L looked over at his monitor to see that Jack had sent him yet another email. He got to his feet and went over to the laptop. It took a moment to power up and load. His knee bounced relentlessly as he waited. Finally, he opened Jack's email, and it was almost as simple as the message on the card.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Sentences are words. A new line has different rules. Try counting.
You've got this. ;)"
L let out a breath. Jack had given him the key to the code. They had used codes before, but Jack never used the same key twice. Said it was smarter that way, so no one would be able to break their coded messages.
Refocusing on the message and keeping the key in mind, L set to work. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. There were six words on the top line of the message.
Could Jack alleviate failure? Assume redirection.
Sentences are words... So there was a word in each of the two sentences. Only two words? Odd. But obviously the number sequence was his answer to what they were.
L got a sticky note. He gripped a pen and wrote down the first letter of the first word, the second letter of the second word, and so on. It was a simple code really. He got his two words swiftly.
Call me.
Suddenly the second part of the key mad perfect sense. A new line has different rules, try counting. So he did, he counted the number of letters in each of the words in the second line. There weren't enough words for each word to be it's own single digit, but guaranteed had ten letters in it, a clever way to get the number zero in. Soon, he had a phone number. 446-241-0623.
Of course, Jack hadn't wanted the police to have her number. It was for him and him alone. Now they could talk without using just typed messages and writing notes for the first time.
L let out tight breath through his teeth. He was going to have to find Jack one way or another. If Kira somehow found out about him and what he knew... L could not take chances.
He flipped open his phone, dialing. It rang only once.
"Ryuzaki?"
"Watari," L said. "I need the police to do something."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This story has been written up to over 130,000 words, and I will be putting up a new chapter every Friday until it's caught up-though I hope to keep writing more in the document I have so that it can keep weekly updates until it's complete.
I hope you guys enjoy Jack and Nox as much as I have over the process of writing this. Thanks, as always, for the reads, reviews, follows and favorites!
-Red
