encaixarse | Private Message from user: seasnake15, Subject: Kira Poll (op: letty)

Hello,

Thank you for your response. My reasons to suspect them are clear, if you had done the research that I have. Why do you think that Kira is not one of them? What are your suggestions?

Do you mind pointing me in the right direction, then? Research is kind of a hobby of mine, but I've hit some dead ends.

I don't think Kira is one of them because I think he's more likely to be an everyman. They're all a little more public than the most famous serial killer in the world would want to be. Hiding in plain sight is a valid strategy, but wouldn't it be smarter to be not in the spotlight on two fronts all the time? Sooner or later, he'd slip up.

It would be easier to hide as a secretary or right hand man to someone well-known.

Have you looked into L, then? He is public, yes, but he hides his identity thoroughly. This casts suspicion on him as we do not know why he hides it. I did not reach a dead end because my father is a cop and so I quizzed him on details of the case.

That's a good idea, but how would an everyman have access to the information Kira needs?

One of my classmates has parents in the police force, maybe I could ask them, then...

L hides his identity, but I think he'd be the person Kira would most want to kill. It would be a good ruse, to play both sides at once, but it's hard to maintain something like that. They're probably similar kinds of people, but I doubt they're the same. It's like how when an athlete who's really good appears, everyone capable wants to challenge him, so rivals naturally appear.

Even an everyman could have connections. In particular if they were something like a secretary to someone in a high position - someone who has that kind of access, but is unimportant enough to move around freely. And there's no accounting for friends at a bar who talk a little too much, either.

Of course, the police haven't solved the case either, so maybe they're not the smartest...

Hard to maintain something like that, yes, but I believe he's smart enough to do it. After all, look at how many cases he's solved! It's likely that he has snapped somewhere along the way and can't keep it up anymore. I know that I would think humans were vile if I had to encounter that much.

I suppose that's true. Of course, the question is: are they an everyman in Japan or another country?

The police are also restricted more heavily than a private investigator such as L. They have to go by the book.

Smart enough, but it's not a question of smarts. It's a question of mindset. If Kira is L, then I think it's more likely he isn't fully aware of it himself. The stress of his position could be getting to him enough to drive him to split his identity deeper than just acting.

Kira and L do have something in common: a fairly strong sense of justice. They could have been in one another's places easily, but I don't think either of them would swap sides now. If they could, neither of them would be the kind of people we think they are.

I can't be sure, but I think Kira is in Japan. I went back as far as I could, and the first death matching Kira's MO was a fairly obscure Japanese criminal. If he is in Japan, it's statistically most likely he's somewhere in Tokyo.

The book needs to be changed, then, if it prevents the police from doing what is truly necessary.

One has to wonder, then, how L can be so wrong about his sense of justice. It's a little fucked up that he's seen so much and yet can't catch on to Kira's way, isn't it? That's why I like to believe they're the same person. It doesn't shake my faith in humanity.

What was the identity of the criminal? I'd tracked it back to a criminal who held a hostage situation.

I'm not sure about that. There are reasons the rules exist.

There's an old saying that "he who fights monsters becomes a monster himself". L hasn't resorted to killing his targets, while Kira has... The conflict between them is about the morality of killing. Is it really alright to kill, even if the victim was a killer themself? It probably depends on what's going through Kira's head when he kills, which we probably won't ever know for sure.

The criminal was Sakota Hifumi.

But how do we know they're the right rules?

I bet you can hazard a guess as to why he kills, if you're already so smart as to have guessed the small time criminal. What makes you think he killed that man first? As far as I was aware, he died of an accident.

That's a good debate topic... I don't really know about that kind of thing.

There are a lot of possible reasons. The obvious one is a sense of justice. Ruling through fear, he discourages crime by acting as an executioner. He could also be doing it out of some kind of godhood complex, or maybe he just likes killing but has enough of a guilty conscience that he only targets criminals. Maybe he does it just because he can. A lot depends on his methods, though...

He did get into an accident, but he was already dead when the train hit his bike. It was a heart attack - just like Kira's MO.

It's easy to know about that sort of thing. You just need to think about it. I'm sure you're smart enough to debate ethics. You already guessed the heart attack.

I believe that Kira is trying out of the good of his heart. I just have a feeling about this.

Ethics aren't really my specialty, though... I haven't studied much about that. And I didn't guess; I know. The autopsy discovered it killed him just moments before the accident.

A feeling? That's a little bit strange, coming from you.

Did you obtain this autopsy through your friend's connections? I wonder how I hadn't discovered it through my own. Perhaps my father is hiding something from me...

Ethics are easy to start studying, though hard to keep up with. They are, howveer, worth it.

Is it? What do you know about me?

Yeah. A friend found it. It could be your father doesn't have any particular access to that case... And you didn't trace it back that far, right? So you had no reason to ask about Sakota's death.

It's a little bit advanced for me... I'm not a genius or anything. Maybe in a couple of years, I'll start focusing on that.

I know you've worked in research and facts, mostly. But instincts are often right, so it's not a bad thing to have a gut feeling!

That's true. I had no reason to go back that far. But how can we be sure there were no heart attacks before that?

I'm no genius either.

I'm mostly wondering if you've done research on me as well. Of course, that would be a little hard outside of my online identity.

My friend is very thorough. Nothing before that matches Kira's MO - they're either people who were already at risk, or not criminals, or both. Nothing out of the blue before Sakota. It isn't totally sure, of course, but it's extremely likely.

No, I haven't. I could, but wouldn't that be a little bit creepy?

So now that we have identified the first kill, what do we do with this information? Can we extrapolate a timeline?

Maaybe. I am tempted to give you permission, just to see how far you can go. But I haven't decided yet.

We can. There's a lot we can do with this. We can find out everything about his victims, search broadcasts, find patterns. If we give enough time and effort to this project, we could probably find Kira.

...Would I be allowed to ask my friend's help, if you did?

I'm interested in this project. You can see that I am already interested in who he may be from that poll. If you find enough information about me, you may discover what I normally do to try to find him.

Alright. But am I trying to find out about you as well?

Between the three of us, I'm sure we'll find him. What do you plan to do if we do find him? Would you go meet him?

If you want. I'd be interested to know just how much of a presence I have.

Yes. Then I'd ask him why he's doing what he is doing. I really want to know if his values are in line with mine, or if I shouldn't be supporting his ideas after all.

Then this experiment will commence. When will we share what we've found?

I'm not sure if I'd go meet him or not... I didn't really plan that far ahead. I can't really give it to the cops.

Does a week from now sound fair?

We should figure out how we can both respect him and find out what we're curious about.

Very fair. Do you want to message here, or outside the forum?

I just thought trying to find out who he is would be a good project. If I discover him, that's reward enough. I'm not sure I'll do anything with that information.

I don't have a preference. I don't know if trying to find one another offline would be practical, if that's what you meant.

That's good to know. For Kira's safety, I mean.

No, I meant more of a video chat perhaps.

I can do a video chat. It'll have to be pretty late, though, I have homework to do first. I'll look forward to it.

Then in one week, at... say, 10 pm?

That's fine with me. Good luck.

Light settles himself in front of his computer, idly wondering why he is doing this. Though the other person behind the screen had said he was trying to find out information, Light hadn't had to make that challenge - but the person named Seasnake'd guessed so many things and got them correct that it scared him a little.

That made it stupid to challenge him, but this had also exhilarated him - the challenge was a way of snatching up a feeling that he hadn't had since L died. Near certainly never inspired it, though he had played a part in the research this time around.

Too much thinking and not enough doing. He'd recently added Seasnake to his buddy list and he presses the button to request a video chat.

Here goes nothing. Nagisa hadn't been entirely sure what to make of the challenge, but it wasn't hard. Ritsu had kickstarted it. It felt unfair to have her help, so mostly he'd just relied on her to bring him a mass of information and he picked through it himself. He's got a pretty solid body of information now, though.

Kiraluver15 is calling. Time for the reveal. He answers.

And the video shows a face that could be a boy's or a girl's, absolutely no older than sixteen. Very possibly younger.

"...Hi."

Oy vey. Light had not expected this, but he manages to keep it from reflecting on his face. Inwardly, he thinks bitterly that children are getting smarter these days, and he's met another Near. Outwardly, he smiles.

"Hi."

His voice is steady and welcoming, only his eyes reflect his inner thoughts.

That's an obvious enough tell and Nagisa cringes just slightly.

"Younger than you were expecting, huh?"

He's not totally sure that's the cause, of course, but...it's the most likely thing. Nagisa is small for his age, and he's young to begin with.

"Did you want to go first, or...?"

"I'm just wondering how I didn't discover your age," Light says. "I found out a lot, but the friend helping me told me he'd keep something secret as a surprise. Now I know what it is."

He finally laughs, the bitter look going away from his eyes. Near is a funny little asshole, and Light has to give him a little credit for this one.

"How about you go first? Get all the surprises out at once."

Didn't find his age... Well, Kunugigaoka does have a high school division. There's room for confusion. He takes a deep breath and grabs his notepad. It's usually reserved for his target's weaknesses, but well. This isn't that much different.

"Alright...Yagami Light-san. An employee of Pub Yonosuke. You're a pretty big fan of Misa-misa, aren't you? You're a big fan of Kira, too, but it's pretty interesting that you frequent a lot of anti-Kira forums....and hold a completely different view on them. You've done a lot of research on criminals, too, particularly those Kira has killed. You've also done a bit of research on acting and theater techniques.

"Sakota Hifumi-san stole your phone, the police returned it to you. He had it on him when he died. No wonder you didn't think of him, then, people often don't think to check what's right in front of them...he was stealing from a friend of yours. You have impeccable grades. Your father was the sole provider for your family because your mother died when you were young, and you have a little sister.

"Kunugigaoka, the private school, offered you a position, but you rejected it. This wasn't long after your mother's death. That's a pretty unusual decision, but...losing a parent is hard. You stopped winning so many awards around then, too.

"....Did I miss anything?"

Light is surprised by how much has been dug up. When he issued the challenge he hadn't exactly expected it to go anywhere, it'd just been a fun distraction to practice his newly found detective skills on. But now this is dangerous, because the boy has found out so much, and is so close to a guess about Kira, if only he'd process a little differently.

"No," he says, and clears his throat. "No, you didn't."

Nagisa watches the other's eyes move as he reads off his discoveries. Interest, fascination, surprise, nervousness - maybe even fear? No, he's probably reading into it too much. They'd both agreed to this challenge, there's no need to call it fear. It's not like Nagisa's after anything more than information.

"...Sorry. I didn't mean to make you nervous."

"...no, you didn't." Light is a total liar but he usually pulls it off real well. He's starting to get a feeling that it might not work here, but he has no idea where that's coming from - instinct, maybe? But he's going to press on and hope that he is wrong.

"I just didn't expect you to find so much. I need to cover my tracks better."

Nagisa's brows furrow just slightly. That was a lie. He did make the other nervous. Why's he lying?

"You're about average, really...but it would be a good idea. Someone might get suspicious if they see all that research on criminals."

"I want to be a cop again," Light says. He's... partially telling the truth with this one. If it's a way he can get connected to more information, he'll do it, even if he hates the rules they have to abide by. "That's the reason for that sort of behavior."

He pauses.

"You go to the school I almost went to, don't you?"

Hmmm... Okay. Nagisa accepts that answer. It's still a little weird, but that's as good a reason as any he could think of. Light is lucky Nagisa didn't think to note the timestamps on his browsing history.

"Yeah. Kunugigaoka Junior High. ...It's a good school."

His mother chose it.

"Is it really?" Light smirks a bit. He probably ought not to, but he likes the idea that he has something to shoot back in return, especially after some of the things that the other discovered. "Because I've discovered a few facts that might suggest otherwise. The state of your class, for example?"

His first instinct is to grimace, but...that's interesting. Nagisa had read off all of his discoveries in one go. Light seems to prefer suggesting one small piece at a time. Could be he just likes playing with people. Or it could be that he didn't actually learn as much as he wants Nagisa to believe, and is trying to make Nagisa confirm things before proving what he found.

We can play it that way.

He keeps his expression neutral, then.

"The school has its reputation for a reason. What did you find about my class?"

It's a mix of both, really. Light plays games when he talks to people, he's got that bad habit - and part of those games is making others admit things for him. It's the way he's learned to research despite the fact he's not a genius, stuck in a world meant for them.

"Full of delinquents. Should I be careful around you?"

"Only a few of us are that interested in fighting..."

Once Light has confirmed he has the information, Nagisa will admit to the truth. He just doesn't plan on giving Light any freebies. He's also not especially interested in revealing the extend of the class's secrets. It's the truth, anyway. Only Terasaka and Karma actually pick fights much.

"It's not like there's a lot I could do across the internet." Nagisa is basically harmless, by any surface-level analysis. Observant, maybe, but not that much of a threat.

"I wouldn't say that," Light says. He smiles his bright smile, feeling smug despite the fact Near found all this information. It counts because he was merely using his resources. "Your class has government connections, and who knows what you could do with that?"

That catches Nagisa off-guard. Light really is good, if he noticed the school's association with the government. Even better if he was able to trace the connection to Class 3-E. But Nagisa is a skilled actor and can easily play off his surprise.

"We do? ...Um, I know Kanzaki-san's family is pretty important... Maybe Asano-san is looking into alternative programs for us?"

Private Message from user: seasnake15, Subject: Kira Poll (op: letty)

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One Week Later

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