𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄

二十四 | 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐘

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑
𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐘

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What the...?

A hundred people?

I've never killed so many people on such a large scale... does that mean there's more than one holder of the Death Note?

Trying to keep up a mask of neutrality after Gevanni's stunning announcement, (Y/N) wondered why exactly this new 'Kira' decided to pull such a reckless and extravagant stunt. Biting the nail of her thumb, her mind whirred with different possibilities.

Were they trying to gain my attention?

Or L's?

Why even kill so many people if it was just going to draw the investigation towards themselves?

Or...

Is that what they want?

"Hm..." Near hummed, pulling the report from Gevanni's hand and pinching it between his fingers, his dark eyes scanning the information presented. "So... they were all criminals with varying degrees of hostile crimes. Kira-S wanted these deaths to be found immediately... why though? What do they gain from this? Unless..."

Flicking his eyes up, he met (Y/N)'s gaze.

"Don't look at me," she raised her hands in defense as she pulled a tight-lipped smirk. "I'm the normal murderer, remember?"

"You're still suspected of being Kira-S, regardless of your tactics for killing someone," he pointed out, handing the sheet back to Gevanni who in turn pawned it off to Commander Rester so that he too could look over the information. "But... the Kira-S I know wouldn't enact something so large scale like this, so... we may be dealing with another copycat possibility that you dealt with during the original Kira case."

At that, both Matsuda and Aizawa coughed.

"A-Another copycat!" Matsuda spluttered out, raking his hands through his hair as both worry and fear flashed across his expression. "I-It can't be..."

"Great," Aizawa muttered under his breath, crossing his arms over his chest.

"L, now this is where I think your thinking is wrong," (Y/N) laughed lightly, sitting down cross-legged just opposite him and surprising many on the Task Force, their muscles tensing as they readied themselves to restrain her if she tried something, something she noticed and smiled at. "Relax. He already took away my knife, and that was my only weapon. Besides..." She then turned her attention to him, leaning even closer and closing her eyes to utter, "Why would I want to kill such an entertaining person?"

Her words didn't make them feel better.

"It doesn't matter if you attack me or not," Near said, thoroughly unfazed by her lack of personal space. "You'd be dead within seconds."

"How scary."

"Now..." he mused, his hands that were stacking legos stopping to then retract and reveal a finished building. "Why exactly have you deemed my hypothesis wrong? How do you know for a fact that there aren't two Kira-S's?"

"No... I know that there are two Kira-S's, but this one that we've witnessed isn't trying to copy Kira's first Successor at all," she shook her head, raising a finger and wagging it in front of his face. "Why would they then do something like this? Kira's original Successor would never do something this outrageous just to draw attention... no, no, no. This Successor is much more... bold. They want conflict and they want you to try and find them."

"You say this like you know Kira's first Successor so well..." Near hummed.

"Hm, well, you're also the one to say that there were two Successor's in the first place, so... not much to do but lead on from there," she smiled victoriously, the mischief and amusement shining in her eyes as clear as day.

"...You're right," he finally spoke as he turned away from her. "My apologies."

"Why are you apologizing?" She tilted her head, her eyes wide in an almost innocent manner. "Don't tell me... you were insinuating that I was Kira's Successor again, weren't you?"

"It doesn't matter what I was insinuating by apologizing," he too shook his head, feeling a throbbing headache form in the base of his skull from having to play (Y/N)'s mind games for so long. "What matters is the definitive proof in front of us that there are two Successor's, and we need to find both of them."

Silence stretched thin after his announcement, (Y/N)'s light-humored expression dissipating by the second.

Catch me?

Hah!

Don't make me laugh.

The day you catch me is also the day when you and everyone else here will die. So, don't feel too saddened by this fact, dear L.

"You seem confident," Edo chuckled from above her, having been by her side the whole time and not having once distracted her from her conversation with Near. "If it were me, I'd be quite concerned since he had already caught the original Successor... aren't you?"

She subtly gave him a glare.

Laughing, he continued, "If looks could kill, then you'd have no problem at all."

Shut up, Edo.

I asked you to make sure there was nothing suspicious around me, and that counts technology! I blame you for putting me in this mess in the first place, damn Shinigami.

But, anyways...

This Second Successor could either be really beneficial to me, or completely screw me over.

I'll have to be careful.

"You look conflicted, (Y/N)," Near observed, watching as she bristled from his lack of formalities. "What's the matter?"

"If you're wondering if I'm thinking of killing you, then yes, yes I am," she rolled her eyes, flashing him a grin. But that's not what's concerning me since I could do that quite easily without a knife."

At that comment, everyone was on edge.

Most Task Force's members' hands all shot to the guns strapped to their sides while others stood by with clenched fists, ready to stop (Y/N) once more. Seeing their reactions, (Y/N)'s head flew back as she laughed, tears even pricking at her eyes whilst she tried to contain her enthusiasm.

"Now that was funny," she sighed, placing a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. "And I won't apologize for doing this. After all, you deserve that much after you all basically kidnapped me."

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To be continued...