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Chapter Six: Games

A/N: Can you believe it has already been more than a year since I started this story? Yeah, I didn’t remember either. Pffhaha.

I--I

Tanaka Yoshimi began attending university in northern Japan the moment she had turned eighteen, using her high marks to acquire permissions for spare credit and extra courses, and subsequently graduating nearly a year and a half earlier than the rest of her forensics class. Six months before the end of her education, she applied for an internship within the forensic division of Japan’s National Police Agency; it was the job waiting for her as soon as she stepped foot out of school.

Ryuuzaki tossed another sugar cube into his mouth, visually wading through the profile splayed across the monitor before him as Watari carried over a large tea tray.

“Tanaka-san is the youngest of three children.”, Ryuuzaki thought aloud. “One of her older brothers died of an undiagnosed medical condition when he was thirteen, the other died of a heart attack while in prison as a victim of Kira. Her father was a prominent investor from Montreal; he divorced his wife six years ago and died four years later, in a car accident while driving under the influence.”

“Most unfortunate luck.”, Watari said shortly.

“Tanaka-san has had negative experiences with the male figures in her life. I wonder if this was the reason for her career choice; perhaps she was filling some kind of void, assuming a non-traditional gender role...”

The older man set out a few small plates of pastries in front of the detective. “May I point out that you did not assess the current members’ personal lives so critically?”

“These factors are more important when it comes to the female psyche.”, he defended. “I’m performing an analysis to decipher if said factors could potentially interfere with the current investigation.”

“You have only delved this deeply into the personal life of an associate on one previous occasion, Ryuuzaki.”, Watari observed, pressing a cloth against the bottom of the teapot and refilling the empty cup sitting on the desk. “Perhaps this is not an analysis, but a comparison to another female colleague you’ve worked with in the past?”

Ryuuzaki paused. He closed the profile screen in silence, returning to multiple windows filled with statistical correlations and bar graphs related to Kira. “This was not my intention.”

Watari swept up the tray and bowed before taking his leave. “Of course not, Ryuuzaki.”

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The objects were traditionally called Wara Ningyo, Japanese voodoo dolls made of straw.

A little more time and research would reveal they had been pinned to the walls of Californian murder victims’ apartments on several previous occasions. Aptly christened The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, police reports filed within the case folder revealed that Wara Ningyo had been involved in every crime scene tied to the serial killer, listed on-screen as Beyond Birthday.

Light reached for his Death Note, flipping through the earlier pages only to find the name Beyond Birthday written in plain ink of January’s pages. Although the man’s face was accessible from the internet, Light had a feeling the name on file wasn’t real, realizing the murderer was more than likely some kind of demented sociopath who abandoned and / or destroyed all traces of his previous identity in order to assume a new, more ideal profile.

Even so, this didn’t explain why Light chosen to look through the plethora of documents and photographs contained within the package, as if the murderer himself had sent them. There was no word that Beyond Birthday had escaped from prison. Why was he being singled out by a detailed copycat? More importantly, why would L go through all this unnecessary trouble to provoke action from him?

Light managed to hack his way through the database undetected, and while under the identity of his father, scanned through the endless pages of investigation details about Beyond, all written in English. Beyond enjoyed playing games and toying with the people on his trail: fabricating elaborate puzzles involving shapes and numbers, involving things that should have been there, but weren’t.

Matching first letters. Anagrams. Locked doors.

Naomi Misora.

Was there a possibility this new case was as perfectly emulated?

The person who sent him these files may have suspected Light had some kind of association with Misora Naomi, and therefore constructed this setup to raise some kind of unwarranted reaction. Misora Naomi...no, this was in Japanese honorary order. If she had moved to the United States, her name would have taken the American order as it did on the case file, Naomi Misora.

Nancy Petrovski. N.P. Naomi Penber.

What Misora’s name would have been if she carried through with the wedding.

Light immediately switched back on a side tab to view the date of the recent L.A. murder, comparing it to the personal details of the ex-F.B.I agent. The murder had taken place on May 25th.

Misora Naomi’s wedding day.

If the murderer was anyone but Beyond, Light may have considered the cross a coincidence; yet, nothing related to Beyond could be credited to pure chance. This may have been an complicated ruse to frame him, but considering the worst-case scenario...

Beyond Birthday knew Light killed Naomi.

Light shivered inwardly at the conclusion. There was no logical reason for a copycat (even L) to perpetuate such an intricate, needless game to trifle with his mind and elicit some vague emotional slip-up; even so, all Light had to do was to bring this envelope to L’s attention and he would immediately be cleared of all possible suspicion. Just to be on the safe side.

For good measure, Light reviewed any documents related to Beyond’s case and state of mind, ensuring he had no purpose in pursuing this endeavor any further.

And there, in two lines of Beyond’s fourth official psychological evaluation, was Light’s newfound reason.

Expresses claims of recurrent hallucinations; glowing numbers, a foreign dating system hovering over the heads of all human beings. Frequently mentions the phrase ‘death equation’ during interviews.

Beyond had the Shinigami eyes. It means he must have had a Death Note and a Shinigami himself. It means taking this to L would only end up further incriminating himself. Yet, why would he go through the obvious risk of contacting Light if he already knew who Kira was and could have just killed him? Would he really go this far for the sake of a game?

Light deleted all traces of his hacking.

Beyond Birthday was a step ahead of him.

He needed to find out how, and more importantly, why.

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