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Who killed Watari-san?
In a game of mysteries and lies, this group of geniuses must solve the case of Watari-san’s sudden death. To determine exactly who killed Watari, one must travel back to the beginning of that fateful night when the dinner guests first arrived.
-
L Lawliet, world renown detective, and head of the Kira investigation was the first to arrive at the party. He is a man of impressive intellectual genius and cunning wit. One could describe him as having bad posture and unkempt hair that oddly suited him. Although he was outside in the cool spring weather, the detective did not wear shoes on his feet. Over-sized grey shirt and baggy jeans indicated he was just short of homeless, rather than the rich genius that he is. He walked up to the mansion and rapped his knuckles twice on the impressive wooden door. The door opened to reveal Watari, no expression glanced his features but L heard the secret smile in his voice, “Ah, L, I have been expecting you.”
“Naturally, Watari-san, as it was you who invited me to this get-together, I presume.” L shot back with a casual ease of many years of banter. Shaking his head, he stepped back for the younger man to enter.
As the young detective crossed the threshold, Watari replied, “I am pleased to see you have kept your wits about you while away on your latest case.” L huffed, hands shoved into the pockets of his faded jeans and he disappeared into the Lounge. The next guests to arrive were Light Yagami and his girlfriend, international pop-star Misa Amane. The former is a genius with a God complex and the latter is a submissive, copy-cat act of his alter ego, Kira, a self-proclaimed bringer of justice upon those who have committed heinous crimes. They exit the taxi with Misa all but attached to Light’s arm.. Light politely knocked on the door and brushed Misa's hand away pressing the doorbell. A few moments later Watari has invited them into the Lounge for tea and cake.
Light acknowledged the older detective in the armchair who was adding a few more cubes of sugar into his tea. Misa grabbed a plate of cake and dragged Light to one of the many couches to share the dessert and participate in pleasant small-talk. A soft, musical chime rang throughout the mansion and the three guests diverted their gaze to the entrance to the Lounge. Soon a white-haired boy of similar stature and attire as L entered the room.
L gestured to his Lounge companions, “Near, meet Light Yagami and Misa Amane. Light, Misa, meet Near.” The boys mumbled greetings while Misa gushed over Near’s porcelain skin and silky hair. Her rant was cut off by three loud, aggressive bangs on the front door
“I presume Mello and Matt are here.” L muttered into his sugar with a side of tea. His assumptions were proven to be correct when two very different looking boys sauntered into the Lounge. One exuded an aura of confidence, punk, and androgyny. This, Light concluded, must be Mello. He had long hair down past his chin, leather and spikes adorned his body from top to bottom. His tank top showed off his midriff and the beginnings of an elaborate tattoo on his hip. The smaller of the two, Matt, wore more of a steampunk-esque outfit. He wore a striped tee-shirt with a suede vest decorated with a fur trim. He had his goggled face stuck in a portable game console. L quickly went through introductions once more before Watari entered the room with a plate of assorted chocolates, which Mello swooned over, and a new tray of largely sliced, heavily frosted cakes.
Watari cleared his throat. “I welcome you to my party. You are all probably wondering what this is all about but time will certainly tell. I seem to have forgotten to make certain preparations for this get-together. Please, make yourselves comfortable. I should be back soon with an itinerary.” With a collective understanding among the guests, Watari left them in the Lounge.
-
“Misa, I told you. Watari-san will come to us when he is finished with his preparations. Don’t be rude.” Light chastised Misa for the seventh time this hour.
“I know.” Misa sighed, draping herself over his lap, “I just have a bad feeling about this. I mean it has been over four hours!” She gestured to the clock and, although she was only talking to Light, all the guests also confirmed that a concerning amount of time has passed. L finally stood up. He stretched and shoved the last piece of pure frosting into his mouth.
“I propose that we split up and search for Watari-san.” Agreement rang through the Lounge and the guests split up to search for their missing host.
-
Light wound up in the Dining Room. It truly was a magnificent room; full of antique silverware and fine china. Almost everything was perfect in this picturesque Dining Room. Almost. He bent down to find a broken Candlestick under the table. Light collected all the parts he could find and placed them at the head of the table to be fixed later. Light finished his search of the room and left to return back to the Lounge. As he closed the door to the Dining room, he was thrust against the wall by a familiar raven-haired detective.
L’s obsidian eyes locked with his own amber ones with an intense stare Light could not decipher. “Light-kun, if you are Kira and this is your doing. I will do everything in my power to destroy this plan of yours.”
Light took a deep breath, “L-san, please put me down. We need to be looking for Watari-san. I am not Kira, I am your friend.” he reasoned. The raven held his ground, eyes darting over Light's face searching for a hint that he was lying. He slowly released him.
“Then let us head back to the Lounge.” L proposed. Light nodded in confirmation and fell into step behind him.
-
The lights were dim and dis little for L’s vision as he cautiously searched the Kitchen for a sign of his older friend. The detective was not expecting to be in pain and certainly not because he tripped on a Knife. It was not a kitchen knife but a dagger. Taking it in his hands, he frowned when the damp knife dripped water onto his hands. But why was the Knife on the floor if it was just cleaned? He decided to leave it there because it was not his job to clean the house, but he noted its location for future reference.
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Matt stumbled upon the Lead Pipe while searching the Hall. It was tucked behind a curtain assuming it was a piece of the curtain being repaired. He quickly lost interest in the Pipe and returned to his handheld console and head back to the Lounge.
-
Mello crept down the stairs into the Cellar, sweeping cobwebs out of his face and hair. He released a shout when his foot collided with an object that rolled away then started to flicker, a flashlight. He picked it up and continued his search with the flashlight. The cobwebs proving to be a nuisance he made his way toward a shelving unit in the back, searching for an exit. A glimmer of metal catches his eye, a Pistol on the shelf. He quickly ran over to it, pausing only to assure himself that he was the only one in the Cellar. All alone. He grabbed the Pistol and hid it in his waistband, covering it with his jacket. Better to be safe than sorry. He swiftly climbed the stairs to rendezvous with the others.
-
Misa roamed the Library pulling books at random and wishing the wall would swing open to reveal an untold secret of this house. Instead, she pulls a large book out to reveal a Wrench hidden behind the tome. Strange, she thought, why would a Wrench be in the Library? She decided that someone accidentally left it there so she grabbed it before deeming the Library was searched well enough.
-
Near was in the study stacking dice when he heard the screams of Misa Amane. Near entered the Lounge first; Watari was face down on the floor with a rope around his neck. Misa’s wrench was laying beside him where she dropped it upon entering the murder scene. Near crouched down and searched for a pulse on Watari. He shook his head and stood up slowly. Light, L, Matt, and Mello entered the room together; Near explained the situation.
“Apparent strangulation due to the Rope around his neck and faint bruising underneath.”
“Astute observations Light-kun, but there also seems to be a gunshot wound to his abdomen.”
“Good catch L. Lets flip him.”
“A great suggestion, Light-kun.”
“I have three stab wounds in the ribs over here. Very dramatic.”
“Indeed, I have found many bruises on his shoulder and chest.”
“Someone, really wanted him dead. That’s at least four weapons.”
“We only stated three afflictions,” L questions, “What brings you to the conclusion that there were four weapons?”
Light huffed, “The bruising is either small and deep or long and shallow. I was assuming a Wrench and a Pipe or stick respectively.”
“I have come to the same conclusion with the bruising,” L stated, “But I believe five weapons were used.”
“Five? What is the fifth weapon.” Light asks. L smirks and pulls down the collar of Watari’s shirt to show a handle of a Candlestick shoved into his throat above his collar bones. Light’s eyes widened.
“Now,” L stood, “Does anyone know where any of these weapons may be?” His eyes scanned his suspects; Near, Matt, Mello, Misa, and finally, Light at the top of his list.
Light confidently replied, “I found the Candlestick in the Dining Room in pieces, I picked them up and placed them on the table to be fixed later.”
L nodded, “Good, the Knife was in the Kitchen where I was searching.” Would Kira confess the knowledge of the murder weapon? Or was this Kira attempting to trick him into thinking he was working with him on this case? It could also be that Light-kun was innocent and was doing his best to help the situation. Or it could be Kira pretending to be innocent and was attempting to confuse him this way. This was very complicated.
Mello shuffled to hide the Gun a bit with his jacket as Misa picked up the Wrench. “I found this behind some books in the Library and I thought someone had lost it so I brought it back here.”
“Light-kun what do you think was the last affliction done to this body?” He deduced that the stab wounds were the last afflicted but wished for Kira… Light to confirm his suspicions.”
“I’d say the stab wounds as they didn’t bleed as much and may have been administered after death.”
“Just as I thought.” L pushed past Near and jogged to the Kitchen with Light close on his heels. The others followed behind them. The Knife was nowhere to be found. L turned around as the others arrived. “It’s gone…” L started off in the direction of the Dining Room next, “Where did you leave the Candlestick?”
Light stalked over to the head of the table and pointed to the place where it was last. There was no trace that it had ever been there.
The older detective was now furious, “This is all your fault Light-kun, you are pulling a wild goose chase on us. You are Kira. This is proof. You killed Watari-san and you are the reason the only solid piece of evidence is the damn Wrench Misa-san found in the Library.”
“I’m not Kira!” Light retorted. “You are just confused and you don’t know how to deal with confusion just like every other emotion you pin on me.”
L turned away from Light and demanded Misa to give him the Wrench.
Misa turned bright red and sputtered, “I left it in the Lounge.” L growled and everyone ran back to the Lounge. The Lounge was empty and devoid of evidence, just as the other rooms were.
Mello stepped up and pointed at Near, “You’ve been pretty quiet during all of this, Near. You probably snapped just like BB did. This isn’t a game, Near, this is real life.”
Near stared down Mello, “I could say the same to you, Mello, you have also been uncharacteristically quiet as well.”
Just as Mello opened his mouth to retort, Matt placed a calming hand on Mello’s shoulder. “What are we going to do now?” He sighs.
“I might know where the Pipe is.” Matt claimed. They scrambled out of the room, to the Hall where they find the broken Candlestick, the Wrench, and the Knife, along with the aforementioned Lead Pipe. Light and L carefully walked over to crouch down and examine the neatly set pile of evidence. They stood up and turned to their group. L and Light notice immediately that something was off. Misa was missing.
“Misa?” Light said to the boys, who were just now noticing the disappearance of the model. “Misa! Where are you? Mi-” A hand is firmly pressed against his mouth.
“Do you want us to be killed too, Light-kun?” Light shook his head. “Good now be quiet.” L released him and looked to his group of prodigies for ideas.
Near piped up, “We should look for Miss Amane first, then worry about who killed Watari-san. I propose we split up and search in groups. We should not be alone, ever. The rendezvous point will be the Lounge in twenty minutes.”
“Good idea Near, you will be with Mello and Matt and I will stay with Light-kun for I highly suspect him and if I am not at the rendezvous point at the time of our meeting, Light-kun is Kira.” L stated and the successors nodded in confirmation.
-
L and Light were the first to arrive back at the Lounge. Light checked his watch. They were late. "L do you thi-" BANG. BANG. Two gunshots startled them into attention, towards the Hall they ran. Mello stood in the center of the room with his hands held up. Behind him stood a man, arm around the blond's neck and gun pointed at his head. Near and Matt lay dead on the floor with gunshot wounds to the head. The man looked like L in many ways and one might consider them to look closely related. They had the same black hair, plain clothing, and posture. The concerning difference Light could discern was a gleam of violent madness in the man's eyes. Light notices the blatant fear in L’s facial expression at the sight of the man, a wonderful revelation to see such an emotion on the guarded man's face..
“Beyond, put Mello down.” L managed to say, a slight wobble in his voice, “Please, Beyond, put him down. He is innocent.”
The dark man laughed a hollow, dissonant laugh, “Oh, Lawliet,” L grimaced at the use of his real name in the presence of his number one suspect for the Kira case. “I did this for you. I killed Watari-san so we could be together again and I could be your successor. But, of course, to do that I needed to remove the people in my way. Near, Matt, Mello…” He trails off as if lost in thought. “I didn’t mean to kill the girl but she saw me watching you and I needed her to go away for a while.” Mello whimpered. “Shut up, you insufferable brat!.” Beyond sighed. “I can’t believe that you even let this one into the House. Tch. I am so much better. You didn’t even hear the gunshot from the dining room when I killed dear old Watari-san.”
L then chimed in, “But you didn’t kill Watari-san.”
Beyond tightened his grip on the Pistol and Mello, “Of course I did, I shot him.”
“L this is ridiculous, of course, he killed Watari, Near and Matt are dead L. They are dead right there. He killed them." Light reasoned.
L stated simply. “No, Light-kun, it was Kira.”
“What do you mean it was-” Beyond stumbled backward gasping and holding Mello closer. He squeezed the trigger and Mello fell to the ground, Beyond following right after him.
“What the hell?” Light said turning to L who was not by his side anymore, "L whe-" He was roughly bent over the table with his wrists cuffed. “I guess that somehow I am arrested for this?”
“Yes, I suppose you are Kira-kun. Watari’s body didn’t merely disappear, I called for an emergency autopsy with the Kira Investigation Squad in the front lawn where it wouldn’t interfere with my investigation. Very discreet I may add. The results showed the cause of death was a heart attack. I then deduced it was Kira-kun that murdered an innocent man. You see, Kira-kun made the fatal mistake of bringing the Death Note with him to his own crime scene.” Light’s jaw dropped as he shifted and noticed his notebook was no longer in his shirt. “I swiped it off of you while we were searching for Watari-san. I took the time to read some of the more unique entries while in the Kitchen. My favorites were Misori-san’s and Osoreda’s. It truly shows Kira’s true power of manipulating the actions of a target before death.”
“So I guess you have it all figured out, huh?” Light turned to L with a cynical smile.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I know it was Kira-kun with the Death Note in the Headquarters. And I know that Kira-kun is, in fact, the same person as Light Yagami.”
Light sneered at L, “You think that you can detain me? Kira? God of the New World? You don’t even have evidence, you can’t prove that the Death Note is mine. You lose L Lawliet. Give up.” Light countered at L, confident that he is the one that has him pinned now.
L reached into his pocket and pulled out a small microphone, “On the contrary, Light-kun, you just confessed to being Kira yourself and that’s all the evidence I need to bring you to justice.” He spoke into the microphone, “Mogi-san, Matsuda-kun, send Aizawa-san inside to officially put Light Yagami, also known as Kira, into police custody.”