Keiko’s POV:

Keiko followed closely behind her boyfriend as he stepped out of the hospital’s elevator. Her stomach was in knots. The night before, after Matsuda had finished taking her home, she had received a phone call from Light, explaining how he heard his father recently had suffered a heart attack. Keiko didn’t have the heart to tell him that she unfortunately witnessed it as it was happening.

Instead, she didn’t say a single word, and just continued listening to Light. He further told her that he had attempted to try and visit him in the hospital, only to be turned down by the nurse who insisted that visiting hours were over, no matter how hard he had tried to persuade her to bend the rules for him.

Light then mentioned that he wanted to try and visit him again that day, and asked if Keiko wanted to tag along with him. That way, he wouldn’t have to go alone, and his father would finally be able to meet his girlfriend, which Light explained he hoped would make his father happy.

Keiko also didn’t have the heart to explain to her boyfriend that she had already met his father a while ago, almost two months ago, to be exact. While she knew that it would be risky to go with Light to visit his father, she couldn’t turn down her boyfriend’s request. She would have felt too guilty had she said no to him, considering that she was secretly spying on him and that she had been there when his father collapsed.

Now, there they were, out of the elevator and heading towards the room where Soichiro Yagami was laying down in his hospital bed. She hoped with all of her might that somehow neither she nor Light’s father would give away the fact that they had already met before. Or the fact that they had been investigating Light together with Ryuzaki and the rest of the Task Force for the past two months.

“Hey, dad,” Light said as the two stepped inside of the hospital room. He took a seat in the chair closest to his father, and Keiko took a seat in the chair right next to his. “I’m really glad to see you’re stable. I was so worried last night, but the nurse insisted I wait until today to visit...so I did...and I hope you don’t mind; I brought a guest with me.”

Keiko watched as Mr. Yagami’s eyes flickered open. His gaze first focused on his son, then drifted over to where she was sitting. There was a blank look on his face which gave away nothing as he stared at her, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Light’s father then coughed a little, and he looked back over at his son. He said, “no, no. That’s fine, Light. Any friend of yours is welcome here. It’s nice that you two came, it was getting rather boring doing nothing here...”

Light chuckled, “I’m sure, but it’s also a good thing that you aren’t doing anything right now, dad. The reason that you’re in here is because you stressed yourself out too hard, hard enough to give yourself a heart attack. You need to take a good break.”

“I suppose that’s true. However, Light, you should know by now, with my line of work, one never gets a break. Crime doesn’t sleep, so neither do I,” Light’s father replied, and focused his attention back onto Keiko, “but I digress. Anyway, who is your friend?”

Light smiled at his father, and Keiko’s heart gave a lurch as he grabbed her hand, interlocking her fingers with his, “actually, dad, she’s more than just a friend of mine…you see, I’ve been meaning to tell you but because you’ve been so busy lately, I never got the chance. This is Keiko Kagami...she’s my girlfriend.”

Keiko watched Mr. Yagami’s carefully, scrutinizing his every move for something that would give away that the two had already been introduced long before. It appeared that Light’s father was quite a good actor so far. Or perhaps he was just too tired to properly show any deep emotion. On second thought, given his father’s personality, she figured it was probably the latter.

Mr. Yagami offered Keiko a half smile, “Keiko-chan, it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you too...I, uh,” she started to say, and almost choked on her next words. She mentally cursed herself for being so dumb and hoped that Light didn’t think she was being suspicious, “um, I heard what happened. How are you feeling?”

“Well, last night wasn’t pretty. However, today I’m feeling much better,” he replied, and turned towards his son, “I’m hoping that they will let me out of here soon.”

“Not too soon, I hope,” Light said, “as I said before, you need to take a good rest.”

Keiko nodded, “yes, Yagami-san, just rest here for a while, and try to clear your head. Your son tells me you work pretty hard, so you deserve it.”

Mr. Yagami looked back over at Keiko, and gave a little sigh, looking defeated. She knew that he wished he could be anywhere else but that hospital. While he was exhausted, he was also clearly restless, but that hospital bed was best place for him at the moment.

The rest of the visit went by pretty fast. Light spent the time telling his father stories about Keiko and him, like how she was over to study with him, how he had officially asked her out, and about how both she and Light had received perfect scores on To-Oh’s entrance exam. All things his father already knew about.

The whole time she sat there, Keiko wished she could just disappear. It was awkward enough working with Light’s father under his nose, but it was even worse sitting there with Light visiting his father and having to pretend she only just met him. She was relieved when the nurse had finally popped in to scold them, saying that visiting hours had been over ten minutes ago.

/timeskip/

Later that evening, Keiko was curled up in her bed, skimming through the different channels on her television, stopping when she heard the word Kira on Sakura T.V.. At the top of the screen she could see there was a banner that read “messages from Kira, in the form of four videos”.

Even though she knew she was supposed to also be taking a break from the investigation, she couldn’t ignore something like this. There was also a chance that it was probably just a hoax but she just couldn’t take that risk.

Keiko decided to keep on watching, grabbing her notebook full of investigation notes and a pen.

“-in other words, all of the reporters and staff here at Sakura T.V. are Kira’s hostages. Aside from that, we have a professional obligation to share this message with you. I assure you that this is not a hoax and that Sakura T.V. is not airing this tape for the purposes of sensationalism,” the news anchor said, and there was a serious look on his face, as well as on the faces of the other news anchors sitting next to him.

He continued on, “a few days ago, our director here at Sakura T.V. received four tapes, and after a thorough examination, there are no doubt that they are from Kira themself. The first tape we received contained a prediction regarding the time of death of two suspected criminals who had recently been arrested. As predicted, at the exact time that Kira had specified, both men died suddenly of heart attacks yesterday morning.”

What? This isn’t like Kira...he’s never pulled a stunt like this before, so why is he doing this now? There’s no way this could be real...could it?

“Kira has instructed us to air this second tape today at exactly 5:59 p.m., and we do intend to comply with his demands. This tape should offer proof of his powers by predicting yet another death. Beyond that, we understand that it contains a message to all the people of the world from Kira….and now, the video.”

There was a shuffling noise heard in the background, but soon, the screen switched over from the news anchors faces’ to a gray background, in the middle of that was the word “Kira” written in gothic letters. As soon as the video started to play, Keiko noticed that it was of pretty poor quality.

“Ah, hem...greetings. I am Kira. If this video is being aired on April 18th at exactly 5:59 p.m. as I requested, then the time now is 5:59… and 47 seconds...48...49...please change the channel to I.O. T.V., news anchor Mr. Kento Tamura will die of a heart attack at exactly 6:00 p.m.”

As soon as the clock near Keiko’s bed turned to 6:00 p.m., she did as “Kira” instructed, and changed channels. She gave a yelp, covering her mouth as, indeed, the news anchor was hunched over in his chair, dead.

Keiko kept on watching. Now that she was sure it wasn’t a hoax, her eyes weren’t going to leave the screen until the broadcast was over. However, once the broadcast was over, she knew exactly where she was headed next, whether she was supposed to be on break or not. She couldn’t rest now, not with this. She quickly changed the channel back, feeling a little sick to her stomach.

On screen, Kira predicted the death of another news anchor, but this time Keiko didn’t change channels. She couldn’t bear to see another news anchor hunched over, and instead waited until he was finished making his predictions.

“Now that you have seen proof of my powers, you should have no trouble believing that I am Kira. People of the world, please listen to me, the last thing I want to do is kill the innocent.”

At this, Keiko couldn’t help but to snort.

“Sure you don’t,” she muttered bitterly. On the inside, her her stomach was churning, and there was a buzzing in her ears. She had to do something about this soon.

“I hate evil and love justice. I have always thought of the police as allies, not enemies. I intend to create a new, perfect world that is free from evil. If you were to join me in my mission, together I know we can make it happen...and as long as no one tries to catch me, the innocent will not be killed. Even if you don’t believe me or my ideals, as long as you do not publicize your views in the media, you will be spared. All you have to do now is be patient. I will create a better world, one that is free from evil, that we can all enjoy. Say goodbye to the world as you know it. Soon we will have a new world, a world only filled with people that are kind and honest....try to imagine it, a world where people can roam the streets, no matter what time, and not have to worry about getting mugged or shot. A world in which no woman will have to worry about being sexually assaulted on the streets after dark. No more robbers, no more murderers...you have to admit, even if you do not support me, this is what an ideal world looks like to you.”

There was a pause, and Keiko gave a sigh. While she could easily say that she would love to live in a world like that, she also knew that such a world could never exist. No matter what, criminals would continue to be born. Also there was the fact that, no matter what, murder was still murder. What Kira was doing was wrong, it didn’t matter how pure he thought his intentions were.

The broadcast wasn’t over yet, but she couldn’t sit for much longer. Especially when she saw that the view switched from the Kira video tape to a video feed taken from a camera outside of the Sakura T.V. building.

“Breaking news!” the news anchor said, “we interrupt the video tapes to bring you news that a police officer that was trying to enter the building has just collapsed, dead on the scene...this is clearly the work of Kira. Is he sending a message to people out there, telling them not to publicly oppose him? Keep watching, and we will continue playing his video soon.”

Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest. In the middle of the screen there was a body lying on the cold, hard pavement in front of Sakura T.V.’s main entrance.

Although she had only known him for almost two months, she still felt the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Hirokazu Ukita, a dedicated and loyal member of the Task Force, was dead. Her heart ached. She bolted from her bed, and headed towards the hallway outside of her bedroom.

“Keiko-chan!” her mother called after her as she dashed out of her room and towards her front door, “you know there’s no running in the house! What on earth has gotten into you?”

Keiko stopped a moment to explain as she slipped on her tennis shoes and a light spring jacket, “sorry, mom, it’s an emergency. I have to go, I’m not sure when I will be back, so please don’t wait up for me.”

Keiko’s mother, Kotoko Kagami, gave her a strange look, “I see, you’ve been leaving me home alone an awful lot lately. I know you’re usually busy but it’s been even worse as of late...is everything okay?”

“No,” Keiko replied, a hard look on her face, “but hopefully one day, it will be...as I said, don’t wait up for me...I love you, mom.”

With that, she sprinted out of her house and onto the sidewalk. Keiko could hear her mother yelling several things after her, but she didn’t listen. She had only one goal in mind: to get to the Task Force as fast as was humanly possible. Luckily enough, the hotel that the Task Force was staying at this week was only a few blocks away from her own neighborhood, so getting there didn’t take her too long.

However, it was only when she arrived at the door to the hotel room that she realized she had left the key card, which would allow her to enter the room, at home. She resorted to banging on the door, her heart thumping like mad in her chest as she did so.

Keiko could feel herself starting to shake, she was so desperate to get inside, and she knew that she was going to burst if she had to wait any longer. All the emotions she had been holding in up until that point were now spilling out all at once. She had lost her cool composure. Her thoughts were racing. It wasn’t just Ukita’s face that was flickering through her mind, it was also that poor news anchor, and those FBI agents...all of the innocent people who had died because of Kira’s evil actions.

“It’s me!” she called out, “p-please, o-open up! I c-can’t just sit here and d-do nothing while more and m-more innocent people are d-dying!”

Fortunately, a few seconds later, she was greeted by Watari opening up the door for her. She sighed heavily in relief. As she stepped into the room she instantly felt the burning gazes of the four active members of the Task Force and the great detective.

“Kagami-san,” L snapped at her, a little too harshly for her taste. Keiko could see the determined look on his face as he walked towards her, and she closed her eyes, bracing for the lecture that she figured was about to come.

Except...it never came.

There was silence for a few seconds instead. Keiko slowly opened to eyes only to realize that she was now face to face with L, who was holding an unreadable expression while studying her face. She was sure he was scrutinizing every inch.

But why? There’s more important matters than how my face looks right now! Kira’s on the loose, probably still broadcasting who knows what to the people of the world and we just lost Ukita to him! We can’t afford to lose anyone else or waste any more time!

She opened her mouth, about to speak, when all of the sudden L tentatively reached a finger out towards her face, causing the words she was about to say to die before they even had a chance to reach her lips.

“You’re crying,” L murmured matter-of-factly, and for a moment, Keiko swore she saw a flash of genuine emotion cross his face. It left almost as quickly as it came and she watched as his finger hesitantly came closer and closer towards her upper cheek. He slowly and gently, as though she were made of porcelain, touched her face, picking up a stray tear that was rolling down her left cheek.

Keiko felt herself freeze up as the detective touched her. He inspected the teardrop, watching as it now rolled down his finger and onto the palm of his hand.

“H-huh?” Keiko stuttered out, trying to wrap her mind around what had just occurred between the two of them. One of her fingers traveled towards her face, and she caught one of her tears herself, closely examining it.

I’m...crying…? I hadn’t even realized...

Aizawa cleared his throat, breaking the sudden silence that was filling the hotel room, “uh, Ryuzaki-san…I hate to break this up...but now really isn’t...uh, we’re wasting precious time.”

“Right,” L looked up from his hand, and gave another quick unreadable glance at Keiko before focusing his attention on the stern looking police officer.

Just like that, he was back to business. The moment was over. Keiko released a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

He walked back over to his desk, “please, I know that this has been an emotional night for all of us, but it would be best if we could all just remain as calm as possible. Initially, I deduced that Kira needed both a name and a face to kill. However, judging from what we’ve just seen, I’d say that it’s not entirely impossible that Kira can kill with only a face. All I know for sure is that Kira is in that T.V. station or he’s somewhere close by, in a place where he can watch everyone who enters the building. Perhaps-”

“If Kira is in the area, then isn’t that why we should get down there?” Aizawa interrupted, heading towards the door near where Keiko was still standing, his hand hovering over the handle.

L sat in his chair in front of the multiple T.V. monitors that had been set up for the investigation, “if we rush down there now, there’s a good possibility that we will all be killed. So sit back down, Aizawa-san, unless you want to become one of Kira’s victims yourself.”

“Wasn’t it you that said we would have to risk our lives to catch Kira?!” Aizawa demanded, his face now turning a deep reddish purple.

“I said what I said, but risking my life to catch Kira and doing something that I know will cost me my life are two entirely different things,” L emotionlessly replied.

“H-he’s right,” Keiko softly spoke up, drying her face with the edge of her jacket. She was no longer crying.

She took a step closer to Aizawa, staring him straight in the eyes as she said, “we already lost Ukita-san, we can’t lose anyone else. If we go down to the T.V. station, I know that we will ultimately share his fate. Instead we should stay here where it’s safe and try to formulate a new course of action.”

Aizawa sighed, taking his hand off of the door handle, and walking back towards his spot on the couch. Keiko followed him towards the couches and took a spot next to Matsuda.

The Kira recording started to play once more on the news station, “I am now awaiting a response from the police. They must decide whether or not they will help me create a better world, one free of crime. Please announce your decision on the 6 o’clock news in four days. I prepared two videos; one is to be aired if the answer is yes, one to be aired if the answer is no.”

With that, the broadcast finally ended.

However, that still wasn’t the end of it. As soon as Kira’s video tape was finished, another news report was being thrown at the viewers, “a vehicle has just driven through the front doors of the station!”

“Well...that’s one way to get into a building without being seen by Kira,” L commented.

“...but who would…do that…?” Aizawa murmured, standing up to get closer to the T.V. screens. The rest of the Task Force, Keiko included, stood up as well, trying to get as close as possible.

“Huh,” the news anchor said, and the image of the station’s broken glass doors filled the screens, “we are still outside of Sakura T.V., as you can see, a police car has just arrived.”

“So we’re not alone,” Matsuda announced, “it appears that there are other police officers out there willing to stand up to Kira.”

“Aizawa-san,” L said, “you know Deputy Director Kitamura’s cell phone number, right? Please give him a call.”

Aizawa looked a little confused, but did as he was told and dialled the number. He was about to put the phone up to his ear when L grabbed it out of his hands, “yes, hello? This is L speaking. There’s something I need you to do for me. Watch the news and you will see the police officers who are fighting hard to bring Kira to justice, or so they think they are. If you don’t take control of them as their superior, we’ll have a tragedy on our hands.”

L paused a moment, probably listening to the deputy director’s response as the anchorman visibly gasped on the news, showing yet again the scene outside of the broadcasting station, “the two police officers who rushed forward to help have suddenly collapsed on the sidewalk. I think we may be in danger ourselves! We are moving away from the scene.”

All of the sudden, there was a ringing noise from the back of the room. Keiko and the rest of the Task Force looked back to see that it was Watari’s cell phone, “it’s from Chief Yagami,” he announced.

L lifted Aizawa’s phone away from his ear and reached his hand out behind him, “please give me the phone immediately.”

Watari handed L his cell phone, and L spoke into the receiver, “Yagami-san, it’s me...so that was you in the police van….yes, but what about your condition, are you alright?...please hold the line for a second.”

He switched back to Aizawa’s phone, “Deputy Director, it was Chief Yagami that just drove into the building. Are your preparations complete?...good.”

With that, L hung up Aizawa’s phone and handed it back to him. Afterwards, he held Watari’s phone up to his ear again, “Yagami-san, please wait five minutes, after exactly five minutes have passed, I want you to walk out of the front entrance...I understand your concern, but please, trust me, you will be in safe hands...yes, see you soon…”

L closed up Watari’s phone as well, placing it on the tray Watari had left near his desk.

“There you have it,” the anchorman announced, “the police have refused to cooperate with Kira. Instead, they have shown that they are ready to fight. And, as much as I fear for my own life in saying so...this is right! And it must be done! Kira has become a threat to our very constitution and as its citizens, we must fight back.”

L swiveled his chair back around so that he now faced Keiko and the rest of the Task Force, a determined look on his face.

“And now, we wait,” he announced.

/timeskip/

“Yagami-san!” Matsuda called, jumping up as Watari helped the worn-down chief into the room, leading him over to the couches.

As he was sitting down Light’s father said, “Ryuzaki-san, I’m sorry for acting out on my own like that. I have to admit, I got a little bit carried away. Here-” he shoved a brown paper bag towards L’s chair, “the tapes and envelopes that Kira sent are all in there.”

“I can’t thank you enough,” L responded, picking up the bag and emptying out its contents.

Mr. Yagami settled into the seat, “ahh, I better rest for a minute.”

“Take all of the time you need, Yagami-san,” Keiko said, offering her boyfriend’s father a smile, “what you did just now was both reckless and brave.”

“The postmark is from Osaka,” L mused as he rifled through the stuff, “hm...interesting...Aizawa-san, could you please take these papers to the crime lab right away? I will review the tapes here with the rest of the group, and we will see if they reveal anything.”

“Yes, of course,” Aizawa said, helping L stuff the envelopes back into the bags, “I still have a couple friends down in the labs, I will make sure that they check, and then double check, everything thoroughly. You have my word.”

When Aizawa left the room, L turned to the rest of the Task Force, “now, let’s get to work. There’s a lot of investigating we have to do…”