Failure (A Death Note/L Love Story)

Chapter 10

 "We now know that Kira doesn't just target criminals. He'll kill anyone who opposes him. It's quite possible that we may all be killed by Kira. Think of your own lives, your families, and all the other's you'd be leaving behind. If anyone wants to leave the investigation, now is the time. You won't be demoted if you chose not to stay. You have my word. But if you are not absolutely sure, then we don't need you. You have to be willing to fight against him, even if that means the ultimate sacrifice. That is all," Chief Yagami said in the Task Force room the day after the agents were killed. He looked down at his desk.

L and I watched the laptop screen as many of the detectives stood up and left. A few lagged, unsure of themselves, but they gave in eventually. My heart dropped. There were only six left in the room, including Chief Yagami. I quickly scanned through the files I had to match the faces to a name. There was Soichiro Yagami, Shuichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, Hirokazu Ukita, Hideki Ide, and Touta Matsuda. I smiled a little when I saw Matsuda. I remembered him from one of the first Task Force meetings, but after that, I hadn't heard him speak much. I figured he was too nervous.

I voiced my disappointment, "I was hoping for more."

L said, "I'd rather have less people who are loyal than more who aren't." Of course, I agreed with him on that.

Yagami opened his eyes and looked at the five men in the room. "Five men, huh? Well, six, including myself. Still, I'm grateful to see there are as many as five of you willing to risk your lives to face evil."

L turned on the mic and said, "The fact you've chosen to stay means you have a strong sense of justice. I trust all of you."

Aizawa said, "H-Hold on a second. L just said he's decided to trust us now; but honestly, what reason do we have to trust him?"

Ide spoke up, "Look, L, all of us have agreed to put our lives at risk to bring Kira to justice, so I hope you understand what this means. We're really stickin' our necks out here."

"But you never have to show your face, do you? You just give the orders. I don't see how you can expect us to work alongside you under those conditions," Aizawa said. I was afraid that would happen.

Yagami requested, "L, if all of us are going to work together on this investigation, and if you truly meant what you said about trusting the six of us, could you come here so we can all meet in person?" My eyes widened. What were we supposed to say to that? If we denied them, they would be upset, but meeting them in person was too dangerous. No one was going to win this battle.

L admitted, "The thought had already crossed my mind. After all, I did say I trusted all of you." He covered my mouth with his hand to keep me from screaming at him, which I would have if he hadn't done that. I had to remind myself that he hadn't really agreed to it, yet. He typed something with only one hand and sent it to Watari. I didn't get to see what it said, but Aizawa gasped. He angled the computer away from me completely and continued typing.

Yagami told him, "I think we all need to talk in private. Please, excuse us."

L allowed, "Of course." I heard the door open and close. L turned off the mic and removed his hand. He turned the screen back so I could see it, but whatever he had written was deleted from the computer.

I demanded, "What did you write?"

He lied, "Nothing of importance."

I called him out, "It was important enough that they needed to discuss the matter where we couldn't here." I turned on the mic. "Watari, what did he say?"

Watari responded, "I do not believe this argument is any of my business."

I whined, "Watari! I need to know this, too!"