Judgement from the Heart

A laptop glowed brightly in the middle of a dark, empty room, a man dressed in a plain, white, long-sleeved shirt and jeans crouching in front of it. He used one bare foot to itch the other as his large, bag-lined eyes took in the information on the screen.

“Hmm…” He bit the tip of his thumb, deep in thought. The man was examining information on a case. But not just any case. This was one of the strangest, and possibly most difficult cases he had ever taken on.

A large, intricate “W” suddenly flashed on the screen, followed by a voice. “L, are you ready to be connected with the ICPO?”

The man behind the laptop shook his unruly hair from his eyes. He reached forward and pressed down the button on his microphone delicately. “Yes. Thank you, Watari,” he replied, somewhat tersely.

Once the connection was established, the man known as L spoke once again into his microphone. “Greetings to everyone at the ICPO. I am L.”

It’s time to put this plan of mine into action, he thought, before continuing his address to the ICPO.

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Emi trudged away from the school, her feet hardly leaving the ground due to exhaustion. It was later than the usual time she left school, due to one of her teachers asking her to tutor another student. Why he had chosen her to do it over Light was beyond her, but she accepted all the same, telling Light she would meet him at his house once finished.

The whole walk was fairly uneventful, Emi being too tired and was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to pay much attention to anything anyway. Most of these were of the Death Note. No matter where she was or what she was doing, her mind always seemed to wander back to the slim notebook. It had her both worried and curious all at once. The whole situation concerning the Death Note was exciting and absolutely frightening to her.

Emi shuffled up to the Yagami’s front door and tapped on it three times. Subconsciously, she reached up to swat hair out of her face, only to remember she had put a headband in to hold her disobedient hair from her eyes. She couldn’t help but smile a little to herself at the habit of her embedded in her muscle memory.

The door swung open, revealing a smiling Mrs. Yagami. “There you are Emi. I was wondering if you were coming over today.”

Emi stepped inside as Light’s mother granted her entrance. “I was asked to tutor another student after school,” she answered with a smile, slipping out of her boots and setting them next to the doorway. Emi hoped her exhaustion wasn’t showing too terribly much.

Mrs. Yagami nodded, still beaming sweetly. “Well, Light’s upstairs in his room. Will you be staying for dinner?”

“Um, sure.” Emi moved toward the stairs. “If it’s okay, that is.”

“Of course. It’s a pleasure to have you over as company.”

Emi nodded. “Thank you, Mrs. Yagami.”

With one last smile, Light’s mom headed back to the kitchen, allowing Emi to head up the stairs to join her boyfriend and the shinigami in his room.

Knowing Light, Emi knew he would have his door locked, due to his new secret. She tapped gently on the door, only for it to open seconds later. Without a word, Light grasped her upper arm and pulled her inside the tidy room, quickly closing the door and locking it again.

“Well that wasn’t suspicious at all,” Emi said with a slight smirk. She slipped her messenger bag from her shoulder and let it fall onto the floor next to the bed. With a soft groan, Emi flopped onto the bed and tossed her headband onto the floor with her bag.

Light, deciding it wouldn’t hurt anything to take a small break from the Death Note, sat down next to her. “Was it really that bad?” he asked her, laughing a little. He reached up and swept her black bangs gently from her forehead.

Emi shifted to her side to face Light, scowling slightly. “Yes, it was terrible. I felt like a broken record most of the time because he couldn’t grasp at least 95% of what I was telling him.”

With an amused smile, Light laid down next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He kissed her forehead gently. “I’m sorry to hear that. I could have done it if you would have asked.”

“Pfff, I’m glad she didn’t ask you to then,” Ryuk said from over by the window. He turned to face the bed. “I hate it there. It’s so boring.”

Emi delicately removed Light’s arms from her waist and sat up. “You’re welcome then, Ryuk. Oh, and there’s an apple in my bag if you want it.” Emi smiled at the shinigami as he dove for her bag, digging through the contents until he came across the red piece of fruit.

Slightly annoyed, Light pushed himself up to a sitting position. “I’m glad Ryuk is more interesting than me.” Ryuk shifted his gaze to Light at the mention of his name, his teeth sunk into the flesh of the apple.

“Now Light, green isn’t your best color.” Light crossed his arms with a slight glare. Emi just smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Oh relax. I’m kidding. Now, stop being grumpy.” She moved to his side and slipped her arms around his shoulders.

Light smiled a little, then stood up and strode over to his desk, where he had left the Death Note lying open. Once he had sat down in the chair, he lifted the pen from beside the notebook and scrawled the name of the criminal that had just been announced on the news.

Because she had been leaning against her boyfriend, Emi had nearly toppled off the bed and onto the ground when he had gotten up. Ryuk had observed this while savoring his apple and chuckled at her misfortune. “Oh, hush you,” she growled at the shinigami, only causing him to laugh harder.

Emi moved over to Light and climbed onto his lap. She leaned her head back onto his chest and closed her eyes tiredly.

Light reached up and stroked her hair with his free hand. With a chuckle, he whispered, “Is tutoring someone really that tiring?”

“Yes,” murmured Emi, opening one gray eye. “Stupid people wear me out.”

Laughing lightly again, Light placed two fingers under her chin and gently tilted her head up. Just as he leaned in to place a gentle kiss on her lips, white noise buzzed from the nearby TV, causing both humans and the shinigami to look at the screen.

The white noise was replaced seconds later by a man wearing a suit with fairly long, black hair sitting behind a desk. A name plate perched on the front of the desk read, “Lind L. Tailor.”

His face was serious as he began his announcement. “We interrupt your current programming for a special announcement from the ICPO. This broadcast is being viewed worldwide.”

Emi had straightened up and balanced herself on Light’s knee, her eyes wide with curiosity. Subconsciously, she moved her index finger and rested it lightly on her bottom lip.

“My name is Lind. L. Tailor, also known as L,” the man continued, his serious demeanor never faltering for a second.

Light gripped his pen tighter as Ryuk joined the two to see what the commotion was. “Wh-who is this guy?” he breathed

Emi stood up slowly as if in a trance. “L…”

Light glanced at his girlfriend briefly, then returned his attention back to the screen as Lind L. Tailor began speaking again.

“To the perpetrator of these serial murders, you have committed the most heinous and abominable act in history. I will personally catch the person responsible…Kira, no matter what it takes.”

Light stood up, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. “At any cost, huh?” Emi looked back at her boyfriend as he spoke. “Fool. How can you possibly catch me?” He picked the Death Note up. “It’s all the notebook! If you don’t have this, you’ll never catch me! I expected the law to try something like this.”

Emi bit her lip nervously, a hint of worry in her eyes. She knew Light was probably right: no one would ever suspect a killer notebook unless they could get their hands on one for themselves. But this was L, the L. The greatest detective in the world and one of the few people Emi had ever admired. She knew he had solved some of the toughest cases ever. And, she also knew he had never revealed his face or true identity…so why would he start now?

“Kira, I have a pretty good idea why you’re doing this,” Lind resumed, “but what you’re doing is evil!”

Light’s face darkened, his grasp tightening on the desk until his knuckles turned white. “Me? Evil?” snarled Light quietly. Then, his voice rose in volume again. “I am justice! I am the god placed on this Earth to protect the weak and create a perfect world! The ones who oppose that god are the ones who are truly evil!”

Snapping out of her deep thinking, Emi turned as Light sat down at his desk again. Pen in hand and notebook lying ajar, Light smirked at the man on the screen. “It’s too bad L. If you weren’t so stupid, we could have had fun.” He scribbled the opposing man’s name into the notebook.

Emi returned her attention to the screen again, her heart pounding out the seconds in her chest. Even though she hoped with all her being that this would be the end of L and she wouldn’t have to worry about him catching Light, her rational thoughts prevented her from even considering that as the truth. She briefly closed her eyes, cursing herself for not warning Light that it could be a trap. Now, of course, it was too late.

After exactly forty seconds, Lind L. Tailor screeched in pain and clutched his chest. He then fell forward, head colliding with the desk, and laid still. Two men made their way on to the screen and dragged the dead man off as another, amused but surprised, computer modulated voice began to speak. “Unbelievable…”

Light’s eyes widened as he stood up again, fear that he had fallen into some kind of trap slowly sinking in. Part of his brain was nagging at him, telling him he should have thought that through a little more.

“I did this on the off-chance that you would kill ‘me.’” The person speaking laughed. “I never actually thought it would work, but Kira, you can actually kill without being nearby.”

Emi swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, wanting someone to just punch her in the face with as much force as they could muster. She kept her face expressionless, not wanting Light to see the guilt in her face, and glanced over at her boyfriend. Judging by the grimace on his face and how his skin had gone slightly pale, it was obvious Light was mentally kicking himself as well.

“Kira, listen to me. The man you killed was a criminal sentenced to death today at this time, not me. He was imprisoned without media attention, so naturally, not even you knew about him.”

Ryuk, who had been standing behind Emi and Light during the broadcast, chuckled his inhuman laugh. “Looks like he got you there, Light.”

The picture on the screen suddenly changed, now showing a large, elegant L. “But I, L, am real! So why don‘t you kill me?!” L chided. “C’mon! Kill me!”

“That son of a…” Light’s jaw had dropped open at the detective’s bold challenge. He had never expected anyone to challenge him like this; he especially didn’t expect to be tricked into giving so much about the Death Note away.

This guy…L…I’ve got to find out his true identity…

After a few minutes of egging Light on, L’s voice became calm again. “So, there are people you can’t kill. You’ve given me a useful hint. And now, I’ll tell you something in return. Even though I said this was a worldwide broadcast, it was only being aired in the Kanto region of Japan. I was planning on repeating this process in other areas, but that is unnecessary now; I know that you’re in the Kanto area.”

“This L guy is pretty good,” snickered Ryuk.

Emi chewed her lip nervously and crossed her arms, half wanting to slap Ryuk or something. He definitely wasn’t helping.

“The police may have missed this,” L went on, “but I know that you’re first victim was a murderer in Shinjuku. Since it was only reported in Japan, it was all the evidence I needed to know you were in fact in Japan. It was only luck that I tried the most populated area in Japan first. I didn’t expect it to go so well. But Kira, it’s not far from the day you die.”

Emi’s stomach churned violently, and it was all she could do to keep from throwing up. I really wish I hadn‘t looked into who L was. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel like that death threat was so real.

“I’m interested in your killing method and I will figure it out when I catch you.” The man laughed slightly. “Kira, I am justice, and I will hunt you down and destroy you!”

Light growled softly, his muscles tensing in anger and his blood boiling. “If anyone is going to be destroyed, it’s you, L…”

“See you, Kira.” With that, the screen went dark.

The room was silent enough to hear a pin drop. The whole ordeal had rendered both Light and Emi speechless. The only one amused by it was Ryuk, who had begun chuckling again. “So, you’re both searching for an opponent whose identity is unknown and the first one to be found out will die.”

Light made fists with his hands, his rage beginning to subside slightly. He moved some hair that had fallen into his eyes out of them quickly. “I will win this.” He turned to look at Emi, his confidence returning now.

Emi smiled and nodded at him, even though she wasn’t sure at this point who would win. She did know however, that neither of these two were going to quit until the opposition was annihilated.