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Light Yagami, age 32, was a police detective at the top of his game, and he was so, so bored. He looked down at the paperwork he had dutifully handling, and let out a sigh.
This world is a rotten mess. It really needs to be cleaned up, and there's only so much one detective can do to change it.
“Something wrong, Light? It’s not like you to look so glum.”
Light looked up to see Touta Matusda coming over to his desk. It wasn’t just the usual ennui that had plagued Light in the years since he graduated college and joined the police as a detective. In fact, almost nothing had challenged him in life other than that one case. He had hoped this case would be a repeat, but it wasn’t measuring up.
“Hey Matsuda,” said Light in acknowledgement. “Nothing much, it’s just—it seems like this case is different, doesn’t it? And not in the way things were the last time we worked with L.”
Light gestured at the paperwork in front of him. Publicly available health information on politicians and business leaders in Japan, doctor’s reports, death rates, the background prevalence of heart disease and accidental death by age, and even public health information and actuarial tables had all gone into making these reports. Five years ago, when Light, Matsuda, and the others had helped L in the case of the Purple Tape Killer, it had been quite a different situation. A large group, with dozens of investigators, collaborated with L, though none had a chance to meet him.
At the time, Light speculated that L had never even been in Japan, and even suggested that L might not be a single person, but was an organization of detectives. Light had solid evidence Eraldo Coil was an identity put together by several people working as a team, and some evidence that Deneuve was also an organization rather than a single person. But now, L had hijacked this latest investigation and pulled aside this subset of the task force for strange tasks with the zeal of obsession—the kind of obsession that could only come from a single man’s mind.
Matsuda frowned thoughtfully. “Last time, when we caught the Purple Tape Killer, he had us investigate seemingly irrelevant leads as well. Most of those turned up negative, but one of them led us to catch the man. This is the same, isn’t it?”
Light scowled.
“It’s not the same,” he said after a moment. “Cross-referencing the construction site closures with the missing persons cases was a long-shot, but I could see, from the beginning, that there was at least a chance it could have given us a lead. But this? This is nonsense. We’re supposedly investigating the death via assassination of a prominent politician, aren’t we?”
Matsuda grinned uneasily, and scratched his head. “Yes,” he admitted, “I don’t know why we’re looking through the all these accidental deaths in the last two years, and collecting all this data, but I’m sure it’ll come out in the end. L is a genius, you know.”
Light scowled again.
“There’s another thing,” said Light. “Isn’t it a bit strange that only a handful of us are on this task? There’s an entire NPA task force devoted to catching this assassin, but L takes us aside, just us who have worked with him before, to do this number-crunching in secret.”
By now, the conversation had drawn the attention of the other members of their small group. Dad, Aizawa, Mogi, and Ukita had gathered around Light and Matsuda.
“Of everyone on the assassination task force, we should be the most trusted,” said Light. “And here we are, copying tables of figures into spreadsheets and reading reports that we’d normally pass off to rookies. Nobody here has been on the police force for less then a decade, so what’s the story?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Light saw the laptop that Watari had left turn on. Good.
The laptop lit up, revealing a the black, stylized “L” icon, stark against the white background of the screen. L’s voice came through the speaker, distorted and anonymized as it always was.
“I supposed it was only a matter of time until you picked up on it, Light.”
The others jumped in surprise at L’s entry into the conversation. Light turned slowly to look at the laptop.
“L,” said Light, and he smiled. “I see you’ve finally decided to grace us with your presence.”
“Of course not,” said L. “I’ve been here the whole time, though far too busy thinking to take part in any banter. If I haven’t seen fit to comment much, it has been because you six have done such excellent work. As for why this whole affair has been done secretly, it’s because secrecy is an absolute necessity to catch the criminal we’re investigating. To tell anyone other than those who are beyond suspicion would jeopardize the investigation.”
Dad leaned forward. “The rest of the assassination task force is full of veteran detectives, L. They can be trusted, and this would go much faster if we had dozens of men instead of just the few of us.”
A moment of silence passed, as L seemed to consider Dad’s comment. “Soichiro, the six of you worked with me before, and I know your measure. Watari has also investigated into your private lives, and none of you had significant changes beginning two years ago. In truth, I would have preferred to gather this force sooner, but we have to move in secret, and needed a pretext to assemble us here. This case provided that.”
“What’s this really about?” asked Light. For the first time in a long time, he felt the stirring of excitement in his heart. This was the true mystery, the reason behind the facts and figures.
“What I’m about to tell you can’t leave this room,” said L. “Any one of you who values his life can take this opportunity to step away, because the last time I dealt with something like this, half of the investigating force was killed. But anyone who wants to catch a serial killer, and bring him to justice, at the risk of his own life, should remain.”
The six policemen exchanged glances, and each saw determination on the faces of the others. They all remained. A moment of theatrics, in Light’s opinion—L already knew and trusted the six of them, but by phrasing it as a decision in this way, he would secure their loyalty and commitment.
After a moment, L continued. “A dangerous weapon has appeared. This weapon has appeared once before, in Europe, and I was able to dispose of it and its master, because he was careless and stupid. This time, the weapon has appeared in Japan, and its master is acting with utmost caution. I didn’t even realize it was being used until a year ago. Someone is trying to change the shape of the world, and is clever enough to try to hide while doing it. Still, to change the world is to reveal yourself, and to shape the world is to communicate.”
L told them the truth of the world, about the Death Note, and as their talk stretched on through the afternoon, Light texted Kiyomi that he’d be home late.
Finally, something interesting was happening.