* * * May 10 * * *
The sun was low in the sky by the time Light arrived at the most recent hotel to house the Task Force's headquarters. A frown was evident on the teen's face as he entered the elevator. His father had called him earlier to come and analyze a diary page that the second Kira sent to Sakura TV to be broadcast and all he could do was hope that moron didn't give too much away again.
Upon entering the suite Light saw the group on the far side of the room. L was sitting near the coffee table while Light's father stood next to him. Matsuda and Aizawa were standing on the other side of the table, the former looking like he was hiding something again.
This must be another test, he reasoned.
The brunet's eyes narrowed slightly at the two large screens behind the group. The screen on the left had a white background with the black letter "D" written in the same font that was used for the fake Kira messages. The one on the right had the colors inverted and had "Coil" written on it in a font very similar to the one used by the Robin Hood Hacker.
These must be the other people L said were working on the case, he deduced. "D" must have recorded the message. Coil could be Robin Hood, though it could just be for show as another part of the test.
L smiled at Light as he gestured to the screens. "We will be having two other detectives helping us today, Deneuve and Eraldo Coil. We received a diary page that the second Kira wants to broadcast and I would like your opinions – yours too, Light."
As L picked up a piece of paper, the corners of Light's lips tugged into a frown. The last thing he sent clued L into the existence of shinigami. That dumbass is going to get me caught if he keeps pulling this crap.
L turned to the screens and asked, "Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," Deneuve's mechanical voice answered.
"Yes," replied Coil using an automated voice.
L smiled. "Then we will begin. The second Kira sent a diary page from May of last year. The entry for the first says 'Already told a friend that I don't want to go to the festival in GW High School, but I got an invitation anyways.'
"May 4th: 'Went to the Super Arena with friend to see a concert.'
"May 5th: 'Last day of the break, nothing to do at home.'
"May 7th: 'School started, but I asked friends to take notes for me in class and I rested at home.'
"May 10th: 'Refused friends' invitation to a party. Yokohama is too far.'
"May 13th: 'Friend came to borrow my CD and I lent it to her.'
"May 16th: 'Forgot to do paper, so I copied from a friend.'
"May 19th: 'I haven't read Jump for a while. It's so interesting.'
"May 22nd: 'Met with a friend in Aoyama and looked at each other's notebooks.'
"May 23rd: 'Met with that guy in the school café again. He ate pork curry.'
"May 26th: 'Went shopping with friends in Shibuya and bought summer clothing.'
"May 28th: 'A new Playstation can out! Have to check it out!'
"May 30th: 'Saw shinigami at the Giants game in the Tokyo Dome.' And that is the last entry," he finished.
L must be thinking that he wants to meet up on the 30th at the Tokyo Dome since the word shinigami is mentioned, but he must really want to meet up on the 22nd in Aoyama, Light realized.
After a moment, he spoke up. "Just like his last video, the term 'shinigami' is probably a keyword for Kira's method of killing. I think that he'll try to meet up with the original on the 30th at the Tokyo Dome."
Deneuve jumped in to explain, "There wasn't a game at the Dome last year on the 30th, but there is this year and it looks like tickets are still on sale."
I thought so. That's the same voice scrambler that was used for the fake Kira messages, Light noted. Deneuve must be the person or group who prepared them. I wonder, though, is this the same Deneuve who worked on Beyond Birthday's case or was it really Ryuzaki?
This time Coil chimed in. "I'm pretty sure that broadcasting this list would freak people out. I don't think anyone's gonna go to any of these places on these days."
Coil's voice scrambler sounds like a cross between L's and Robin Hood's, Light noted. Maybe he really is working for L.
Deneuve argued, "Sure some people would freak out, but people are attracted to chaos. I think it'll be really busy at those places on those days."
After a moment Deneuve added, "Not to mention that not everyone keeps up with the news, so there's probably going to be people going on business as usual without knowing – well, except for maybe the game."
So, Deneuve is a group of at least two people, Light determined.
L was silent for a moment before turning to Light. "What do you think?"
I shouldn't say anything careless. Light frowned. "Right now all I can say is that he's an idiot. If we broadcast this, the stadium will have to close."
"Yes, but if we don't broadcast it, he won't make a move," L added.
"But if he gets angry that we cancelled the game, there's no telling what he'll do," Matsuda commented.
"The second Kira practically worships Kira," Deneuve pointed out. "He said to your fake Kira in his last video that he wouldn't kill any more innocents, so I doubt he'd go against his word and risk pissing off Kira."
"Exactly, though I would have worded it differently," L commented. "We'll broadcast the diary page tonight and announce the cancellation of the game. Soichiro and Aizawa will go to the game in search of Kira anyway, but we should also have people go to Aoyama on the 22nd. There's something about that entry that stands out to me."
"I'll go with Matsuda," Light offered. "People my age hang out there anyway, so I'll stand out less."
With everything decided, Deneuve and Coil signed out. On the other side of the city, Bambi shut down her computer and walked out of the room with Near. Matt and Mello emerged from a room down the hall and the four prodigies made their way to the kitchen table.
The brunette leaned back in her seat. "So, who's going to follow Light around when he investigates those places?"
Near chimed in, "Mogi is already following Light everywhere. I'm sure he'll follow him then too."
"That's true, but I meant to help look for anything suspicious that might lead us to the second Kira."
"I don't think it's a big deal," Matt commented. "We'll have Mogi and Matsuda to... Okay, maybe someone should go."
Bambi glanced to Near and immediately ruled him out, knowing he can barely deal with being in public on a normal day let alone for a mission.
"I would love to, but he'll recognize me by my scar even if I wear a wig," Mello groaned.
The hackers of the group stared each other down, neither particularly wanting to take part in this mission.
"Rock, paper, scissors? Loser follows him around," the redhead suggested.
Bambi grinned and raised her hand to play, but the computer geniuses were interrupted.
"Light knows Bambi. If he sees her there it might jeopardize her cover even further," Near brought up.
"Ah, crap. You're right," she grumbled. "Wait, he saw Matt once too, though."
Mello chimed in to suggest, "Just wear a hat and leave your goggles behind this time."
The redhead sighed. "Alright."
"Keep an eye on the women especially," Near added. "The second Kira is most likely one."
"No problem."
* * * May 11 * * *
Bleary-eyed students sat in Psychology 101 that Thursday morning, the majority of them hoping that their group wouldn't be volunteered by the professor to present first. He took a few minutes to set up the projector and his laptop before opening one of the presentations and taking a seat with the students.
"Kai and Riku, you're up first."
The two boys groaned quietly before rising and making their way to the front of the room.
After handing the remote to Riku, the professor addressed the class. "Make sure to pay attention to all the presentations and record your comments on your handout. You should also be given a few minutes to profile each criminal after going over the crimes." He then turned to the presenters. "Whenever you're ready..."
Kai took a deep breath and stood tall as he gestured to the projector screen. "Today we're going to teach you about the Robin Hood Hacker." He clicked to the next slide, which had a faded version of her symbol as the background. "He was really active for about two years and there are too many hacks to cover all of them in the time we're given, so we're just going to give you guys a brief summary of the important stuff."
"We are also going to point out any actions that the hacker took that are notably different from their other hacks," Riku added.
Kai smiled awkwardly and pointed to the list on the screen. "Robin Hood hacked into various well-known companies around the world like the Yotsuba Company – based here in Japan – and Lando Electronics – based in the United States. As you may recall, both of these corporations have bad reputations related to allegations of corruption, worker abuse, and the deaths and disappearances of whistleblowers. In each case, Robin Hood shut down their website and replaced it with his symbol and a list of suspicious activity the company engaged in."
He clicked to the next slide. "This is a screenshot of Yotsuba's website before they changed it back. Oh, he also showed their bank history, proving that there was corruption and that Yotsuba paid people to keep them quiet. He also linked to the local police's website – probably to encourage people to report Yotsuba, though his activity wasn't exactly legal either. Uh... Robin Hood also left a note explaining that a large amount of the Yotsuba CEO's money was wired to charity. And he pretty much did this to every major company that he hacked, though there is evidence that he took money incrementally before outing his targets publically."
He handed the remote to Riku, who went to the next slide, which had L's symbol as the background. "It wasn't until a year had passed and several companies had already been targeted by the Robin Hood Hacker when the famous Detective L – who is currently working on the Kira case – announced his involvement in tracking down the hacker. He used taunting methods similar to those used recently on Kira to track the Robin Hood Hacker down to a specific nation – though the truth of this has been questioned due to recent events. It was later revealed that the Pentagon – the headquarters of the United States' Department of Defense – was hacked by an unknown source. Many speculate that this was the work of the Robin Hood Hacker, though the lack of flamboyance behind the attack says otherwise."
Riku moved to the next slide before monotonously continuing. "From that point on, all major hacks included the aforementioned information as well as some form of taunt aimed at L. The Robin Hood Hacker continued in this manner until roughly two years ago when all activity came to an abrupt end. The hacker wasn't heard from again until last month when he hacked into Sakura TV and challenged the fake Kira. The real Kira tried to calm him in a message shortly after, though the Robin Hood Hacker has yet to make any sort of response."
Kai smiled and clapped his hands together. "So, we're going to give you guys a few minutes to profile Robin Hood before we tell you more."
The room went silent as students looked down at their handouts and began filling in the appropriate space with their profile. Bambi pursed her lips as she looked down at her paper. If I'm going to do this, I might as well do it right and act like I know nothing. She was silent for a few moments before putting her pencil to the paper and writing out her profile.
"The Robin Hood Hacker is probably someone who saw the abuse first-hand, but was unable to do anything about it without losing his job. He most likely worked for the second company that he hacked, because he would be too fearful to hack his own company first and possibly be caught. Due to the timing of his attack on Sakura TV it is likely that he lives in Japan and that he watches the station often. Due to the typical content of the station, it is also likely that the hacker is actually a woman."
After the hacker finished, she put down her pencil and looked up. Light had just finished too and smiled at Bambi before glancing down to her answer in curiosity. The brunette frowned slightly and tried to get a glimpse of his answer. Before she could start reading, the Kira suspect nudged her arm and pointed up to the front of the room. As she redirected her attention, she saw Kai and Riku getting ready to start up again.
"Everybody good? Yes, no, maybe?" Kai asked as he glanced around the room with a smile. "Yes? Okay, good."
He clicked to the next slide, which showed two columns with bullet points. "So, our profiles pretty much matched up with the official ones, so we're going to give them both to you right now. We think that Robin Hood is most likely a middle-aged man who works for one of the first companies he hacked, because we figured that someone witnessing the problems on the inside would be most likely to act. At first, because of the many companies he hacked that were based in the US, the rest of the West, and the fact that he hacked into the Pentagon, we thought that he was American or English at the very least. But, thanks to Robin Hood hacking into Sakura TV with crazy-perfect timing – especially since it wasn't being streamed online – we think that he's actually Japanese."
"Or at least currently residing in Japan," Riku added. "Alternatively, there is also the possibility that Detective L is actually the Robin Hood Hacker. This can be evidenced by the fact that L's supposed investigation into the hacker increased the media coverage of the hacks, which led to greater coverage of the misdeeds of the companies hacked, thus working in the hacker's favor. As we can see by the detective's bold taunts to Kira this past winter, he also possesses the same childish qualities that the Robin Hood Hacker does. This theory is also supported by the Robin Hood Hacker denouncing Kira in public despite the fact that their ideals hold many similarities. This also leads to the theory that L is also Kira and using his detective name to bring media attention to Kira and now using his hacker name to do the same, but that is another debate for another day."
Kai clicked to the next slide, which simply listed their sources. "Questions, comments, concerns?"
Bambi snorted as she raised her hand before commenting, "That was very informative, but I disagree with you on the theory that L is also Robin Hood and Kira. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that a single person could – or even should – hold that much power and be able to get away with it."
Kai nodded his head, "Yeah, I thought it was a bit out there too."
"Ugh, open your eyes," Riku growled as he narrowed his own. "It's obvious that L is really the Robin Hood Hacker and Kira. You're just too naïve and foolish to admit it."
The young woman furrowed her eyebrows in irritation, though refrained from arguing back. Beside her, she could see that Light had tensed somewhat too.
"Fine, whatever," she grumbled before adding, "I have one more question. What makes you so certain that the hacker is male and not female? Or was that just a default decision?"
"Uh, I didn't really think about it," Kai admitted. "I guess it could really be either."
"There's no way a girl would be that good at hacking, it just doesn't happen," Riku butted in.
Bambi's eyebrow twitched. "What are you implying, Uchida? That girls can't be good at something you like?"
He smirked at the hacker. "Girls just don't have the level of intelligence needed to succeed in such a field, but I wouldn't expect you to understand that."
She snorted as she smiled a Cheshire grin at him. "I'm sorry, who has the best grade in programming right now? Oh that's right, I do."
Riku opened his mouth to argue, but he was stopped by the professor. "That's enough. Riku show some respect for your fellow students."
The teen folded his arms and pouted as he stuck his nose in the air.After a short silence, Light raised his hand. "Back to Emily's original question, if you look closely at the wording of the messages that Robin Hood left, it matches to the speech patterns of a typical woman."
Kai smiled and nodded before asking, "Anyone else?"
Light raised his hand again. "Your presentation was well done, but I have to disagree with your profile almost entirely. Yes, it would be the easiest explanation if Robin Hood worked for one of those companies, but don't forget that the corruption and abuse were being covered in the news and social media. It would be easy for someone outside the company to hear about it, and a hacker would find no trouble getting into their systems to find the truth. Not only that, but I think that Robin Hood is actually a young adult, maybe even a teenager, because young people still believe that they can change the world and have less of a sense of consequences. Most middle-aged men would be far too concerned with keeping their jobs to try to dole out vigilante justice."
Bambi frowned at the accuracy of his profile.
Kai shrugged as he scratched his head. "Sure, that sounds like a good theory to me."
"No, it sounds idiotic," Riku huffed as he narrowed his eyes at Light. "Such advanced hacking is far too difficult for a child to learn. The Robin Hood Hacker has to be an adult with many years of experience."
The professor jumped in. "Settle down, we still need to get a few more presentations done today. We can debate about the profiles if we have time in the end of the semester. You did an excellent job, boys."
The class applauded for the pair as they sat down. The next group in line to present took their place soon after.
~o~
That afternoon Bambi found herself back at the house with Near. Matt and Mello were both out working on their respective aspects of the case, but the Coil's were stuck in the house with sifting through heart attack deaths again. The brunette had her laptop opened in front of her to use the program she and Matt had written to narrow down the list before she and Near went through it case by case. It was silent for a while before a voice broke through.
"What is it?" Near asked.
"Huh?" Bambi looked back up to find him pouting slightly.
"I have known you long enough to know when you're distracted," he explained. "And I know that we're not going to get anything done until you're focused again. So, what's wrong?"
She smiled and laughed halfheartedly. "Something's always on my mind, Near, you should know that by now."
"This is different," he mumbled.
The brunette's smile slowly dissipated. "I don't know... Some kids in class did their presentation on me, so I've been thinking of my days as Robin Hood."
Near frowned. "You can't do that anymore unless it's for work. You need to accept that." His eyebrows furrowed somewhat as he warned, "If you don't and continue your work after your contract with L expires, I will catch you. Please don't make that necessary."
She sighed. "I know. I'm working on that." After a moment she added, "They compared me to Kira."
"What you did as Robin Hood and what Kira is doing are very similar. You both broke the law to do what you thought was right – an 'ends justifies the means' mentality," he told her. "Though, you have changed considerably since then."
Bambi chuckled and flashed him a weak smile. "I was afraid you were gonna say that."
* * * May 16 * * *
The class applauded as Kiyomi and her partner sat down.
"And last, but certainly not least, we have Emily and Light," the professor stated as he turned to them.
The pair of students headed to the front of the room and opened their presentation before taking their places on either side of the projector screen. After the class settled down, the professor handed the remote to Light and let him begin.
"Emily and I will be talking about the serial killer, Beyond Birthday," Light began. "He is responsible for the Wara Ningyo murders in Los Angeles a few years ago, and is thought to be responsible for the Encryption murders in Los Angeles over the past year."
He switched to the next slide, which was a small collage of the autopsy reports of Beyond's victims.
"He killed three people in the Wara Ningyo murders," Bambi explained. "In each case, he sent a crossword puzzle to the Los Angeles Police Department which, when solved, contained the identity of his next victim as well as when and where the victim would be killed. The LAPD were unable to solve the puzzles and eventually called in L for help. His victims were each of different ages, sexes, and ethnicities, and they were all killed using different methods. What connected them together was that in each case the crime scenes were wiped perfectly clean of fingerprints, the solved crossword puzzles identified them as victims, wara ningyo dolls – voodoo dolls – were nailed to the walls of the bedroom, and the room locked from the inside."
She took a deep breath upon noticing her trembling fingers and continued. "His first victim had four dolls nailed to the walls of the room. The second had three dolls, and the third had two dolls. His fourth supposed victim was actually himself. He nailed one doll to the wall to identify the killer, locked the door, and attempted to burn his own body. He was arrested just before his suicide and convicted of the three murders. He was spared the death penalty and pleaded insanity."
Light smiled at her before taking over. "He escaped prison last summer, but it was covered up until after the Encryption murders had stopped. Similar to his last set of murders, Birthday's victims were all of different ages, sexes, and ethnicities, the crime scenes were all wiped clean of fingerprints, and his method of killing was different in each case. Rather than sending crossword puzzles ahead of time, he left encrypted messages at the scene of each of his murders. This prompted another famous detective, Deneuve, to work on the case."
He turned to a new slide which listed each of the crimes. "He killed a total of twelve people this time, beginning this past June. He initially killed every three weeks, but he accelerated as the year went on. This pattern kept up until everything changed in December. Then, he killed two people in a single night-"
The pools of blood in the victim's kitchen flashed across her mind's eye. A bloody hammer was placed on the counter next to a sheet of paper with an encoded message printed on it. Bambi felt a strong pit of dread settle in her stomach. She placed a shaky hand against the door frame to stabilize herself, the sheer amount of blood making her feel faint.
Light's voice sounded far away as it broke through her trance.
"-going on to kidnap and torture-"
Bambi's vision shifted again to the dark room that she was once imprisoned in as Beyond dragged her across the room and back to the chains after her escape attempt.
"I tried being nice to you, I really did," he shrieked. "But here you are, rejecting my hospitality. You've hurt my feelings, Amelia, and you will be punished for that."
She could feel her real body tense as the vision of Beyond dragged his blade through her flesh. Searing pain engulfed the teen's senses as he tortured her with his knife and repeated her name over and over. She gritted her teeth as she tried to get a hold of herself, but she kept succumbing to the reality of the flashback.
Her muscles began to relax and the vision began to fade as she felt a warm hand settle on her back. Another hand gently wrapped around hers as her senses fully returned to the classroom. Bambi was greeted with the vision of her classmates writing in their packets. When her attention shifted to the hands on her body again, she turned to face the source.
Light appeared to force a small smile as he released her hand. "You should have told me that you were nervous. We don't have much more to go over, but I'll pick up where you stop if you need me to."
Damn it. Why now? She swallowed hard as she tried to calm herself before smiling nervously at him. "Sorry, I thought I'd be fine."
Upon looking back out at the crowd, Bambi noticed that many of the students were done writing their profiles of Beyond. The presenters returned to their respective spots and waited another few minutes for the class to be ready for their presentation to continue. Light clicked to the next slide which had Beyond's mugshot.
"This is Beyond Birthday," Light began. "He has no known records until his arrest for the Wara Ningyo murders, and no one has come out to claim to know who he really is or where he is from. This has led to many speculations as strange as the theory that he is a demon. Birthday never admitted to a motive for any of his crimes, so our profile is mostly speculation."
Bambi took Light's pause as her cue to continue. "As I pointed out before, his victims had nothing connecting them, making it clear that he didn't care who he killed. Those who spoke with him during his trial and the guards at his prison all agreed that despite his apparent insanity, he was a genius. It is apparent that he had OCD or some sort of obsessive tendencies. This can be shown by the fact that he perfectly cleaned the crime scenes as well as his obsessive behaviors toward L, jam, and puzzles."
Light picked up again. "Birthday's murders were all clearly very impersonal, so that's why the kidnapping and torture incident stands out. He spent three long days giving a single person attention in a very personal crime. This person either meant a lot to him or she represented someone he hated, perhaps an ex-girlfriend or an abusive mother."
I want to keep this topic as far away from me as possible. Bambi added, "He probably started losing what little sanity he had left. This is clear in the fact that his actions get more dramatic and unexpected near the end."
"Any questions?"
The room was silent except for a few coughs. Not surprising since it was mostly just me and Light making comments on all the others. After a few moments, Bambi and Light returned to their seats.
The professor stood to address the class. "Everyone did a great job. I'll get your grades back to you by Friday. Class dismissed."
* * * May 19 * * *
The afternoon sun shined through the windows of the Criminal Justice building as Bambi walked through the long hallways. Her essay on Beyond Birthday was handed back earlier that morning along with a rubric that contained her grades on the essay and presentation, student comments and profiles, and a note from the professor. He wanted her to come to his office later that day to discuss something, though he didn't reveal the topic.
As the brunette rounded the final corner, she noticed someone else making his way to the professor's office and raised an eyebrow.
"Light? What are you doing here?"
He mirrored her expression before smiling. "The professor asked me to stop by today."
"Oh, me too."
The both of them knocked on the door and waited for a moment before it was opened and the professor let them inside."Thank you two for coming today. Please have a seat." He gestured to two chairs in front of his desk before taking his seat behind it.
Bambi and Light sat down and looked up at the professor expectantly as he smiled at them.
"I was impressed by your outstanding work not only on your own assignments but also on your comments and the profiles you wrote for the other presentations," he told the pair. "As you know, I'm the head of the Criminal Justice, Psychology, and Pre-Law Department. Every year I select a few students to enroll in the accelerated program which gets students jobs with the NPA by their third year along with other such opportunities. I have chosen the two of you as my first choices for the positions."
He picked up two manila folders from his desk and handed one to each of the students. At a glance Bambi could tell that it was filled with information about the program and forms should she choose to accept.
The professor's voice redirected her attention to him again. "Think about your decisions and get back to me by the end of the month."
They thanked him for the opportunity before leaving and heading toward the elevator.
"So, what do you think?" Light began. "Are you going to enroll in the program?"
I should probably play it safe. She shrugged. "Maybe? I don't know. I need to think about it."
As they entered the elevator, she asked, "What about you?"
He smiled confidently. "I'm going to go over the details first, but I'll most likely choose to enroll."
Bambi nodded in acknowledgement and everything fell silent as the elevator descended. As the pair made their way to the exit, she noticed him smiling at her as his eyes trailed up and down her body. He opened the door for the young woman before following her outside. She paused for a moment to admire the fountain in the courtyard as Light took his place beside her.
"I really enjoyed spending time with you on the project," he began. "I would like it if we got to know each other better in a less work-oriented setting."
The brunette raised an eyebrow at him.
Light smiled warmly at her. "Would you like to go out with me this weekend? Maybe go to a restaurant and see a movie, or something like that?"
"Oh, uh..." She smiled awkwardly. "I'm actually kinda busy this weekend."
A small frown tugged at the corners of his lips. "Oh, I see." He smiled again. "That's alright. Maybe we can get together some other time."
She rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, maybe next time."
They exchanged goodbyes before heading their separate ways.
~o~
Later that night, Light was in his room finishing Kira's work for the day. He smiled to himself as he paused and leaned back in his chair. Ryuk tilted his head at this strange behavior.
"What's got you so happy?"
"I have finally come to a decision," he explained. "I'm going to recruit 'Emily' to work with me as Kira."
Ryuk laughed. "That's surprising. Didn't you say that you think she's that hacker who works for L?"
"I'm almost certain that that's her true identity. Emily worked with the 'other L's' as Deneuve on Beyond Birthday's case – that much is clear," Light told the shinigami. "I know that she was his victim. He probably found out that L wasn't on the case and took her as compensation for his rage."
There was a short silence before Ryuk commented, "I still don't understand why you would trust her to work with you, but it would only make things more interesting if you were wrong about it."
Light laughed and shook his head. "The Robin Hood Hacker has ideals very similar to Kira. If I remind her of those ideals, I can convince her to work with me. L must have caught her and forced her to work with him as an alternative to exposing her and sending her to prison. It would explain why Robin Hood disappeared and came back only to speak out against the second Kira. Whether she agrees with L or not, she has to work for him. It would only benefit her to be rid of L altogether, and I will be able to do that. If she works with me, she can help me get his name and we can both be rid of him." His grin extended as he added, "I'll be her savior on two occasions, then."
He paused for a moment as he intertwined his fingers. "She would be a good asset for her hacking abilities and as a potential insider to L and his associates. She could also be useful as a potential girlfriend. It would only be fitting to have someone with my ideals, her hacking skills, and her intelligence by my side."
Light looked to the side as he smiled fondly. "Emily acts to aloof and laid back, but she is clearly strong and stubborn. Someone so relaxed would be good working under so much pressure with me to cleanse the world. I would rather have her on my side than against me."
The shinigami cackled. "Such strong words for a girl whose real name you don't even know."
"She'll tell me – it will only be a matter of time. I'll reveal myself after she does," Light explained with a smile as he turned to his computer. "Besides, it won't be an issue for long."
His screen lit up with a notification.
New message from softballginger: "Her name is..."