Chapter Text
The crackle of police radios was the only thing grounding Yagami Light as he watched the scene unfold from behind the windshield of the helicopter. A bright red sports car had driven itself into a wall, now sitting, steaming and crumpled on the side of the road. Inside, the driver – who happened to be a suspect in the Kira case and a wealthy businessman, Kyosuke Higuchi – nodded in and out of consciousness. An army of police cars, including the helicopter piloted by the world’s greatest detective that Light sat in, surrounded the car in a semicircle. Time seemed to stand perfectly still as every officer and detective kept their eyes trained on Higuchi, watching for any sudden movements.
They had finally done it. Even if this was the third Kira they had encountered throughout their everlasting investigation, it was still a gigantic victory. This…this murderer would be executed, silenced forever. It felt like a dream. Light kept waiting for the moment the world would fade around him and he would bolt up in bed, the constant threat of a killer on the loose still weighing in his chest.
Light was pulled back to earth by the voice of his own father, and the Chief detective heading the Kira task force, over the radios. “Ryuzaki, please let me go and make the arrest,” he addressed the man next to Light who was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chin in the pilot’s seat.
The name he used was only an alias, but the detective responded to it as if he had been called ‘Ryuzaki’ his entire life. “I understand, just please remember this is Kira—” Light nearly scoffed at the detective’s words. How could any of them forget? “—you should take any necessary precautions by hiding your face. Watari,” the dark haired man addressed the older man who, as Light understood, was as close to his caretaker as anyone could be. He was hanging out of the helicopter and had a sniper trained directly at Higuchi. “If Higuchi tries anything or if he makes any sudden moves—“
“Understood,” interrupted the grey haired man, “I will shoot to stop him, not to kill.”
Chief Yagami took one of the more reserved members of the task force, Mogi, from the protection of their cars. They headed, not to the suspect, but to a police car the pair seemed to recognize. Upon closer inspection, Light understood why. Through the dark tinted window he caught a glimpse of the afro they all grew to know before this officer left the task force to spend more time with his family.
It figures. Only one person would disobey L’s orders and bring the entire police force in on this. Light couldn’t help but internally applaud the man known as Aizawa for his bravery, but at the same time curse him for his disobedience.
“Aizawa, do you have something to cover your face with?” Light’s father asked through the officer’s now rolled down window.
Light was close to scolding his own father for wasting precious time. Yes, sentimental reunions were nice and Aizawa most certainly deserved to bring Kira to justice along with the current task force members, but to say they were on a tight schedule was an understatement. Higuchi could have one last trick up his sleeve, escape just before he is handcuffed and blindfolded, just about anything could happen within these few valuable seconds. Light was not a superstitious person, but it was clear that the way Kira kills was not of the human world. There was no telling what Higuchi’s last resort could be.
“I do,” Aizawa answered.
“Good, cover me.”
“Yes sir,” Aizawa’s tone was determined as he climbed out of the car, “You can count on me, Chief.”
The trio approached the wreck. The obnoxiously red car steamed at the hood, emitting a hissing sound that could even be heard from inside the helicopter.
You see, science class taught Light many things, but no lesson was more valuable than the many rants his teacher would go on in the middle of class. These tangents taught him more than any planned lecture could, and it just so happened that one of these rants was about car crashes. The way cars crash in movies is scarcely different than how they crash in real life. In theaters you see over the top explosions and whatnot, when in reality it is extremely rare to have a car actually explode on impact. However, even if it is fairly rare for this to occur, cars will catch fire so hard and fast that it resembles an explosion. All it needs is something flammable, such as gasoline vapor, and a spark.
The reason his science class came to mind was that, as his father and teammates approached the wreckage, Light noticed both of the telltale signs that Higuchi’s car was about to catch fire at an alarming rate.
“Higuchi put your hands above your head and step out—“
“Dad! Get everyone out of there! The car’s gonna—“
FWOOM.
Flames enveloped the car faster than Light could speak. Officers dove away from the heat as fast as they could and ducked behind their cars until the initial impact of the eruption died down.
“Aizawa—“
“I know, cover you,” said officer finished. After all that they’d been through Aizawa was more than prepared to dive into a blazing fire with the Chief.
Mogi was already stepping forward, nodding his approval before he was even addressed.
The three men rushed toward the flames.
Light found himself cringing as the flames licked at the bodies of the men he knew so well. His father took the driver’s side, throwing open the door despite the most likely scorching metal. He hauled a hefty body onto the asphalt and called over a couple of standby officers to help Higuchi’s limp body up and into a police car. Once Higuchi was carried away the chief glanced back as Mogi called his name. He hurried to where the man was standing and pointing to something inside the car that Light could not see. The Chief nodded and covered his face with the hem of his jacket, diving straight into the car through the driver’s side door and disappearing momentarily. The few seconds he was gone, Light felt as though his ribs were closing in on his heart and lungs. He had no idea what he would tell his mother if his dad didn’t make it out of there while he just sat there and watched it happen.
Luckily, a few seconds later, Chief Yagami reappeared, only a few tender and ash-covered spots on his skin. He handed a flat, black object to Mogi, having his hands full with the kicking and flailing woman—wait a minute…
“Who the hell is that!?” Light wondered aloud.
Through the radio, the Chief grunted as he tried his best to keep the girl under control. He led her thrashing body to a nearby police car. The look on his face alone was enough to get the owner of said car to rush to his aid, helping the woman into the back as her body writhed in agony. Mogi even tucked the notebook under his arm to keep the girl’s legs from kicking.
The first thing Light noticed about her was her lack of clothing. The bareness of her skin and how her deathly thin form twisted allowed him to get a good look at the sickening, bubbling flesh that covered the majority of her back. Light wondered how she could even move with a burn of such large scale and intensity, unless it was the burn that was causing her to cry and thrash so badly. Without clothing to shield her body from the heat she must have been in pure agony.
Finally, Light’s father was able to answer his question, the woman having been secured into the back of the police car with only a slight amount of difficulty. It was three physically fit men against a girl who looked like a living skeleton. The battle was won before it was even fought. “I…I don’t know. She was in the car along with Higuchi. She was holding onto a notebook for dear life.”
A notebook? Hadn’t Higuchi written down Matsuda’s fake name in that notebook? He acted as if that action alone would kill the task force member. Perhaps there was more to the notebook than they originally believed.
“Whoever she is, we must make sure that she lives. She could give us information about Kira. That is, if she was involved in Higuchi’s plans,” L instructed, seeming to be talking to himself by the end.
“But she wasn’t in the car when we watched Higuchi through the cameras back at headquarters!” Light protested. Could she be the invisible ‘Rem’ that Higuchi was talking to?
“I’ll bring you the notebook now,” the Chief turned, about to head over to the helicopter when he stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at the empty space in front of him, eyes bulging from their sockets. “A-A MONSTER!”
“Chief, What’s the—” Mogi began, rushing to his boss’s side before letting out a scream of his own.
“Mr. Yagami, Mogi, what seems to be the issue?” Ryuzaki asked in a tone much too casual for Light’s liking. His father was hallucinating, for god’s sake!
“Y-you don’t see it? It seems whoever touches the notebook can see it, then…” at this conclusion, the Chief tore his eyes away from the seemingly empty spot in the road to jog up to helicopter window. He practically threw the notebook at Ryuzaki, who caught it in midair and pinched it between his thumbs and forefingers.
“Hmm,” the detective hummed, examining the black leathery cover first, then scanning the road and even the sky for this so called “monster” before declaring that he saw nothing out of the ordinary besides a flaming car. “Ah, that reminds me: Watari, would you notify the fire department?”
“Already done. Also, the hospital has been notified that a burn victim is on her way and must be treated right away.”
“Wonderful.”
Mogi interrupted this little exchange with garbled words of protest, “W-what do you mean you don’t see it!? It- it’s right there!”
“Relax, Mr. Mogi. I am simply saying that perhaps it is not the notebook that triggers such a vision.”
This idea caused a lightbulb to go off in Light’s head. His head spun to look out the window at the police car the mysterious girl had been shoved into. She was no longer violently thrashing as she had been, but was now curled into a tight little ball.
Sure enough, just as Light suspected, the officer who had helped her into his car was not speeding to the hospital as he should have been. Instead, he remained where he was, eyes glued to the same spot Mogi and the Chief had pointed out, a look of horror plastered onto his face. He was seeing the monster as well. That means…
“Ryuzaki, I think you’re right. It’s not the notebook.” The brunet leaned back in his seat to give the detective a clear view out of the passenger’s side window at the third horrified officer.
Ryuzaki’s already insect-like eyes bulged further. He breathed, “It’s the girl.”