The air outside was cold and crisp, the kind that seemed to burn your lungs if you had spent too long indoors.
Kaorin took deep breaths as she drew closer to the hotel. She could not remember the last time she felt so nervous going to meet someone!
She shook her head and reminded herself that she was going to see grown policemen; there was no need to worry at all.
“Mikomi…I need you to tell me which room is theirs, please.” She asked the Shinigami as it occurred to her that she did not know which room the team was using and it was entirely possible that the staff did not know either that the Kira Investigation team was using their rooms as head quarters.
Mikomi nodded and disappeared through the elevator doors. Kaorin took the time to cross the marbled floor to the fountain that stood in the middle of the mezzanine. Running water in a confined space was something that had always held her interest. She skimmed her fingertips across the surface of the water, feeling the tepid water tickle her skin.
“Kaorin; they are in room K-456.” The Shinigami told her, she snapped back to reality from her silent reverie.
A fleeting smile crossed her lips. “Then let us go, Mikomi.”
The elevator seemed to take forever to reach the floor they needed, Kaorin’s heart was pounding against her ribcage, almost threatening to burst forth from within. The lift came to a halt at the destination floor and she stepped out, breathing deeply and grimaced at the Shinigami.
The hall way was dimly lit, shadows loomed in between the tables that held lamps, doors dotted along both sides of the walls.
Kaorin walked slowly up the hallway looking for k-456, she eventually found it after Mikomi had vanished, only to re-appear further up the hall outside the door, her cloak once more swirling in the non existent winds.
“It’s now or never, right?” she asked rhetorically.
She drew her hand up to knock on the door, her heart beating even more furiously now. She knocked smartly on the door three times and drew back to wait.
A minute later, a face appeared at the door; it was old and wizened and smiled quizzically at her from behind a white moustache.
“May I help you miss?” the old man asked her.
“Yes. I have information that could help the Kira Investigation Team.” She said quietly. The man’s eyes widened, obviously he had not expected that anyone knew where they were.
“How on earth did you know where the team was?” he asked incredulously.
Kaorin smiled slightly and shrugged.
“You had best come in.” he told her and ushered her inside the room. “Please leave all communication devices inside this deposit box along with any time pieces you may be wearing.” He advised her. She smiled again and nodded and fished her phone out of the bag along with her watch and placed them inside the box.
“Watari, who is this?” asked a black haired young man who was sitting in an arm chair in the most curious fashion; he was resting on the balls of his feet, sitting rather much like a frog, bare footed with a fork-full of cake half way to his mouth.
His eyes were dark and rimmed with bags from a lack of sleep, she presumed.
“I do not know yet, Ryuzaki; I have yet to ask her name.” Watari said.
I tried not to frown; Ryuzaki was not the name I saw above the dark haired man’s head, and Watari was not the name I saw to belong to the older man. Aliases! She realised.
“I am Manabe Kaorin.” She said, bowing. “I have valuable information pertaining to the Kira Investigation.” She raised her head, eyes locking with Ryuzaki’s, forest green meeting coal black.
He stood up, “Information?”
“Yes, information which I can only tell L…where is he?” she asked him, he smirked slightly.
“Manabe-san, I am L.” he told her. She eyed him suspiciously.
“He tells the truth, Kaorin.” Mikomi informed her. Kaorin nodded.
“Then I must tell you this,” She said, reaching into her bag; note in hand ready to bring out “I know how Kira kills.”
“NO WAY!” a young police officer yelled, the name I could see identifying him as Matsuda
“Matsuda! Quiet!” said an older officer, his name displaying as Yagami Sochiro.
“Yes Matsuda; please be quiet.” L said calmly, all the whilst still locking eyes with Kaorin.
“How does he kill, Manabe-san?” he asked her.
She laughed a little nervously, “This might sound completely incredulous and absurd, but Kira has something called a Death Note.”
“Death Note?” he asked sceptically. Kaorin nodded.
“Yes.” She swallowed and continued, “I know this, because…I have one too.”
His eyes narrowed and he walked towards her, “Show it to me please.”
“Of course.” She replied and pulled it out of the bag. Before she could warn him about touching it, he had taken it out of her hands, he held it in a curious fashion, by only his thumb and finger as if it would bite him if held properly. His eyes widened and he dropped the note as he was able to see Mikomi.
“Manabe-san? What is that apparition in the corner?” he asked calmly and pointed to Mikomi
“Ryuzaki! There’s nothing there!” Matsuda shouted out again.
Kaorin smiled slightly, “That is the Shinigami to whom that note belonged before she gave it to me. Her name is Mikomi.”
“Greetings; human.” Mikomi said to L.
L’s brow furrowed and he picked the note back up.
“How exactly does one kill using this?”
She moved closer to him and took the note out of his hands and opened it to show him the rules.
Death Note
The human whose name is written in this note shall die
If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of e heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
L’s eyes flickered across the page, taking in the rules. He turned to Yagami and the others.
“I think touching it is the key to seeing the Shinigami…that is true, right Manabe-san?”
Kaorin nodded. “Yes, only those who have touched the Death Note will recognize the image and the voice of the Shinigami to whom it belongs.”
“Well then, gentlemen, touch it and we shall be able to continue.” He said, sitting the note on the table. The police eyed it suspiciously.
“Please, sit down Manabe-san.” L said as he clambered back into his own chair and continued eating cake.
Kaorin sat down in the empty chair at the other end of the coffee table and watched as one by one, the police apprehensively touched the note and got a scare when they were able to see Mikomi.
“Manabe-san,” L said, looking directly across the table at her; “Why did you decide to bring this to us? Surely someone with the same power as Kira would want to help him achieve his goal?”
Her eyes narrowed in disgust; How dare you think that?! She thought angrily, her fists clenching into two little balls at either side of her legs.
“Kira is to be stopped at all costs. I thought coming here and telling you about the existence of Death Notes would help you, but obviously not. It seems you now suspect me of being Kira!” she half shouted to him, furious, she stood up and made for the door, however, L had managed to launch himself out of the chair, from his crab-like position and grabbed her by the arm.
“Let go of my arm, Ryuzaki.” She said in a low, dangerous voice.
“Did you use it?” he asked her softly.
She turned her head to him, her green eyes almost glowing with anger, “And what if I did? Are you going to execute me? Put me to death?” she sighed and relaxed.
“I honestly don’t care if that is what you have planned for me. I have nothing and no one to stay alive for after all.”
His eyes probed her face again.
“Okay…yes. I used it only once to kill the man who murdered my entire family before my eyes.” She found herself released from his grip and she fell to the floor in tears.
“Uematsu Taro?” he asked, crouching beside her in his curious frog like manner. Kaorin nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“Convicted of the murder of thirty people in his life time. Found dead in his cell with a suicide note stating a feeling of guilt and a fear of Kira…I had assumed that this was one of Kira’s killings…” he told her, she looked up at him through half closed eyes, ever hopeful that her life would be spared.
“You…want to help us, right?” she sat up straighter, eyes widened with shock.
“You’re letting me live?!” she asked incredulously.
"I do not believe that you are Kira, yes, you have the same power, but you seem to want to use it for true justice. Am I right?” Kaorin dried her eyes and nodded
“There’s one more ‘power’ that I have that I am certain Kira does not have…Shinigami eyes.”