L02-2 Deception

When L returned to the pier, Suruga was waiting for him inside the red takoyaki truck.

"What happened to Maki?" Suruga asked. But he took one look at L's arm and realized what had happened. "She wasn't—"

"Regrettably yes." Seeing L quietly enduring the pain, Suruga couldn't bear to press him further. After a minute, L finally turned his attention to the familiar figure standing there, unable to join in the conversation. "And what might you be doing here?'' L asked.

"That hurts, especially since you're the one who called me here." Matsuda of the Metropolitan Police stuck out his lips sullenly.

"Me? Art you saying that I called you here?"

"Huh? I mean, the X' appeared on my computer and instructed me to deliver the transmitted data to his location in Osaka so..." Matsuda held out a printout of a report.

"The other L?" Suruga asked, rubbing the stubble on his face. Matsuda looked alternately at L and Suruga, confused. But L did not offer an answer as he began to riffle through the pages of the report. Then he looked up and smiled. "It seems the puzzle has been solved."

Looking down at his watch, Suruga reported, "Ryuzaki, we received a message from someone with Blue Ship named Yoshizawa while you were gone. He wants both of us to go to the thirtieth floor of the Umeda New Sky Building at six o'clock tonight."

"The thirtieth floor...at six?"

"Yeah, plus he gave us two conditions: bring the Death Note and keep the FBI out of it. Now that they have Maki as a hostage, suddenly they're playing hardball."

"May I have a moment to think about this?" L squatted down and began to bite his nails. He mumbled repeatedly, "Thirtieth floor... six o'clock...Death Note..." Finally he stood up and declared, "We should go. Will you assist us, Mr. Matsuda?"

"What, me too?" Matsuda was wary of being embroiled in circumstances he knew little about.

"Yes. There is a job only you can do for us."

"Oh. Got it!" The ever-naive Matsuda seemed enthused by the fact that his skills were needed.

"Mr. Suruga, I'd like you to grab one of the FBI agents watching over us. They will have a part in this as well."

"But Blue Ship warned us not to get the FBI involved."

"They just can't show themselves, that's all. You're welcome to scare them a little if you'd like."

"All right."

The preparations were complete. As L, Suruga, and Matsuda were getting ready to climb into the takoyaki truck, Takahashi handed L a small case.

"It's a sample of the antidote. There's only enough there for one person. It hasn't been tested, so I don't know if it's effective."

"Thank you, Professor Takahashi. Please continue to work on the antidote. We will soon require large quantities of it. I will be sure to send someone for it when the time comes."

"All right. But send someone for it...what are you—" L answered with a shake of his head.

"Ryuzaki, Suruga, get our Maki back!" Takahashi shouted as the truck sped off. L thrust his arm out the window and gave a thumbs-up.

"The thirtieth of floor of the Umeda New Sky Building. What do you think is waiting for us there, Ryuzaki?"

"That they designated a high rise in the middle of Osaka as the meeting place must mean Blue Ship is executing their plan to wipe out Japan. In all likelihood, they have replicated the virus in an aerosolized form and intend to spray it from the thirtieth floor of the building. The time of six p.m. is so the virus weapon can cause the greatest damage without being hampered by the sunlight. The building is located between Osaka and Umeda Stations, which ensures heavy foot traffic. By the time of the onset of the virus two weeks from now, the people who have become carriers will have dispersed all across the country. Japan will literally be wiped out."

"But is aerial dispersion really all that effective? Sure, the virus is likely to enter the lungs of passersby outside. But every air-conditioned building has its windows closed during the summer. Maybe the virus won't spread as much as we think," Suruga said.

L shook his head. "Mr. Suruga, there are hundreds of millions of virus cells in a single drop of blood. Even in a sealed building, a relative handful of virus cells entering the air-conditioning system would be enough to infect everyone in the building." L took out a crumpled picture of Watari from his jeans pocket. "Watari. Perhaps my death won't be as 'quiet' as I had hoped."

Observing L from the backseat, Matsuda asked, "But isn't your fate already decided by what was written in the Death Note?"

"No, it only means that what was written in the Death Note cannot be overturned by another entry If someone were to shoot me right now, I would probably die."

"Oh—"

"It's all right. With your assistance, I will be able to die a peaceful death as written." L turned around and directed a sad smile at Matsuda, who was worried for him. "At any rate, Matoba said something odd back at the cliff. That he had the antidote in his possession. It seems Dr. Kujo has tricked the Blue Ship members into believing that she obtained the antidote from Maki."

"What's going on? Is Kujo betraying the group? For what purpose?" Behind the wheel, Suruga frowned as he stroked his chin.

"I don t know. But she appears to have a different agenda than that of Matoba." L pulled out the report that Matsuda had brought him. "Mr. Suruga, do you recall the incident about nine months ago—270 days ago, to be exact, with Robert Fairman, the FBI infiltrator?"

"Fairman? Yeah, that was some ordeal. But how do you know about that?"

"I was at the scene."

"At the scene? Hey, come to think of it, that Bear's Crepe truck—"

"The confidential files that Fairman attempted to steal pertained to a mysterious explosion at an infectious disease lab in 1980. The files contained evidence to prove that the research lab was destroyed to conceal its development of virus weapons." L continued, "It would have caused quite a scandal for the United States, which has openly declared that it would not develop virus weapons."

"What does that have to do with what's going on now?"

"Dr. Kujo's parents were working at the infectious disease lab. Although they weren't involved with the research of virus weapons, somehow they became entangled in the incident."

"Which means Kujo has a vendetta against the United States, is that it?"

"The identity of whoever was pulling Fairman's strings and issued fake orders from the secretary of state has yet to be found. But one fact has been revealed."

"What is it?"

"We received word that Fairman left the U.S. several days ago and entered Japan under the alias Gilbert Vine. Perhaps there is a connection."

"Tell me, Ryuzaki, who is the report from?"

L looked down at the report and smiled as if he were remembering its author. "From someone who likes to solve puzzles."

Osaka Station and the north side of the shopping district were visible from the thirtieth-floor window of the Umeda New Sky Building. Yoshizawa and Hatsune greeted L and Suruga inside the vacant office at gunpoint, oozing with superiority.

"So let's have the Death Note. If you hesitate here, I'll have the girl killed," Yoshizawa said.

"I understand. I'll give you the notebook." L obediently held out a bag of potato chips. Suruga rolled his eyes over L's unconventional storage methods, and apparently Yoshizawa felt similarly as he took the bag suspiciously and pulled out the notebook.

"Now Detective, there are supposed to be two Death Notes according to you. Where is the other one?"

"That was a bluff. I burned the other Death Note."

Yoshizawa and even Suruga directed a doubtful eye at L's aloof face. "I don't trust you. In the first place, if you destroy the Death Note by burning, everyone who's ever touched it will die."

"The thirteen-day rule and the rule that anyone who touches the notebook will die if it were burned are dummy rules created by Kira to throw off the investigation. I can burn that one too if you'd like."

Yoshizawa pulled the Death Note away from L, who looked like he might pull out a lighter any moment. "No, you've burned us enough times already. Never mind that, we'll prove whether this notebook is genuine or not right now."

"Right now? You're not thinking of—"

"Good guess, FBI," said Hatsune, opening the notebook. "That's right, you two are going to write your own names in the Death Note."

Suruga looked to L for help. Perhaps sensing Suruga's expectation of a brilliant maneuver, L began rather proudly, "Think about it from their perspective, Mr. Suruga. If they allow us to live, we might try to stop their plan, and they need to confirm whether the Death Note is genuine or not anyhow Forcing us to write our own names is the most practical way to accomplish both."

"Oh, right...guess so." Suruga's shoulders sank. Yoshizawa and Hatsune exchanged a glance, suspicious that the notebook might be fake judging from how cheerful L seemed to be.

"Well then, Detective, you first." Yoshizawa handed the notebook and pen to L.

After looking up in thought, L faced Yoshizawa and said, "If you write the cause of death, you will die as written; otherwise, you will die by heart attack. Heart attack is such a painful way to die. May I write another cause of death?"

Before Yoshizawa could answer otherwise, L had written his name and cause of death, holding the pen unsteadily by its end.

"H-hey, Ryuzaki. Did you really write in the notebook? What, death by falling?" After peering over L's shoulder at the Death Note, Suruga shook L by the shoulder.

"Mr. Suruga, I am the world's top detective. If there is no hope of achieving victory, I must accept defeat. Goodbye, Mr. Suru—gah!" Forty seconds had elapsed mid-sentence. L darted to the window and jumped like it was a walk in the park.

"Did he really jump?" Yoshizawa looked down from the veranda and saw L sprawled on the asphalt of the parking lot below. He looked like a frog that had been flattened by a car. The body did not move an inch. "He's dead...The notebook is real."

"Well, that was manly of him. Now it's your turn, FBI." Hatsune smiled and held out the Death Note in Suruga's direction. After appearing to accept his fate, Suruga began to write down his name.

Yoshizawa, who'd been looking over Suruga's shoulder, pointed the gun at Suruga. "Now, FBI. Kujo already found out that your real name is Hideaki Sugita. Stop stalling and write it down already.Otherwise, I'll just have to shoot you dead myself."

"I have a request to make. Will you give me a little time?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"The Death Note allows you to designate the exact cause and time of death. I could die in my sleep and have a little more time to think back on my life first."

Yoshizawa shook his head wearily. "Nice try. Unfortunately, we have to be on our way to the airport to leave the country. Not to mention, the way L died just now, the police will soon be here. We can't rest easy until we watch you die."

"That's right. You're liable to call the police or disable the virus dispersion device before you die."

Suruga said, "Think about it. L just jumped to his death in what looks like a suicide. When the police get here, they're bound to investigate the upper floors from where he might have jumped. It would look suspicious if they found my body in this room at the same time. And if you're not careful, they might find your dispersion device and disable it." Yoshizawa and Hatsune exchanged leery glances. Suruga appeared to have a point. Suruga opened the notebook to the rules page. "Look, it says here that you can manipulate the circumstances leading up to the death. I can write that I won't try to contact anyone once you leave and that I won't open the door when the police get here. And I'll write that I won't touch your device. Listen to a dying man's wish. I'm not prepared to die like L did. I'm begging you!" Suruga dropped down and threw himself at Yoshizawa's feet.

Yoshizawa eyed his watch. "All right. You have two hours. I don't want the trouble of the police investigating this room. But write this down in the notebook: Hideaki Sugita will die quietly on July 28th, 20:30 without contacting anyone, leaving this room, or tampering with the virus dispersion device."

"A-all right." Suruga tried to still his trembling hand as he wrote in the notebook. Then he looked around in a daze, as if he could not recognize the imminence of his irreversible fate.

Hatsune flopped down in front of him and peered into his face. "Goodbye, FBI. It was fun while it lasted."

"Your underwear's showing again."

"My parting gift to you," she said, with a wink and smile.

"Rest in peace, FBI. The virus dispersion device is set to activate twenty minutes after your death. Then you and L will be the ones blamed for perpetrating a terrorist attack. Lucky for you to go out with a bang."

Yoshizawa and Hatsune left the room, leaving Suruga sitting slumped on the floor. Alone now, he went to the window and looked down at the city, painted orange by the setting sun. The siren of an ambulance that likely carried L faded into the distance and was drowned out by the bustle of the city.

"Dang, I don't ever want to get stuck with this role again. Stupid Ryuzaki!" Matsuda, disguised in a white long-sleeve shirt and jeans, tore off the wig and threw it down as soon as he entered the room.

"You were a great help. And you played an excellent corpse." Having just returned from the twenty-ninth floor, L cocked his head at Matsuda, who was dressed just like him. Even Suruga could not keep from laughing out loud.

"I bet they couldn't imagine that we'd try to give them a fake Death Note now," Suruga said.

"Mr. Suruga, please give the FBI my thanks. From the agents who caught my fall with a mattress on the 29th floor, to the men who put Mr. Matsuda in the ambulance, I'm grateful. And please inform them that they no longer need to watch us on the president's orders. And that I won't be writing the president's name in the Death Note no matter what happens in the next two days."

"Sure, I'll go tell them."

After Suruga left the room, Matsuda let out an exaggerated sigh. "It was a nice trap, Ryuzaki, but was it necessary to go through such an elaborate ruse?"

"It was the only way to get close to the virus dispersion device without bringing harm to Maki. My death was the only way to get them to believe the Death Note was real and to get them to leave without actually witnessing Suruga die."

L walked out onto the veranda to examine the virus dispersion device. "It appears to be a rudimentary contraption made from a virus replication tank, pump, motor, and an electric fan. The timer set on the motor allows the terrorists ample time to make their getaway."

"Such a simple-looking device." Matsuda reached out a hand, which L swatted away with all his might. "Ow!"

"You mustn't be so careless with it. Contained in this device is enough of the virus to kill the entire population of Japan."

"With this thing?" Matsuda said, amazed. It was the same tone of voice he'd had when in the same room with the Death Note for the first time.

"That's right. With this thing." L was suddenly grave. "There is nothing acceptable about being able to take human life so easily." L ripped out the cord from the motor. "We'll close off access to this room and call in the Osaka Police's NBC Terrorism Task Force. We must go to the airport. We might be able to use your sharpshooting skills, Mr. Matsuda."

"Leave it to me. Let's go!"

"But how does Kujo plan to get Maki on a plane? Everyone in the country knows she's been infected with the virus, and the airport is bound to be on high alert as well. Not to mention that Matoba and the others are internationally wanted terrorists/' Suruga said as he started the takoyaki truck.

"I'm accessing the internal network at Kansai International Airport." L, in the passenger seat, typed away on the computer, hacked into the airport system, and began to take in the information that came up onscreen. "Here it is. There is a request for an emergency transport of a patient on UA Flight 718 departing for Los Aaigeles at 20:50."

"Emergency transport?"

"Dr. Kujo plans to take Maki to the States by disguising her as a patient in need of an emergency operation. Matoba and the others will likely board the same flight posing as doctors and nurses. Smuggling weapons and bombs inside the medical equipment should be easy enough. They also have the added advantage of being able to use the plane as a bioweapon were Maki or Dr. Kujo to exhibit symptoms during the flight."

"If the plane were to explode over American airspace, the virus would rain down from the sky. In which case Kujo and Matoba as well as the Blue Ship members will all go up in flames."

"Dr. Kujo may well be prepared for that eventuality. While the Blue Ship members intend to escape the threat of the virus, Dr. Kujo may be planning to annihilate the United States by using the members themselves as viral weapons."

"A suicide attack to exact vengeance on the United States for killing her parents."

"But Ryuzaki, wasn't this Kujo woman infiltrating Nikaido's lab?" Matsuda asked from the back seat. "She should have had plenty of opportunity to steal the virus without Blue Ship's help. Why would she have to smuggle the virus into the U.S. in such a roundabout way?"

"Perhaps the U.S. is not Kujo's target of revenge."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"We should have an answer to the entire puzzle at the airport."

"A 20:50 departure. It'll take us a while to get there from here," Suruga said, rubbing the stubble on his chin.

"We have no other choice. Let's go, Mr. Suruga, Mr. Matsuda!"

Suruga, who was used to driving the truck by now, wove though the shopping district according to the female voice of the GPS.

—Go straight at right-turn lane ahead, turn left simultaneously with red light, drive down sidewalk at second utility pole, turn 90 feet ahead, drive over 40mph against traffic down one-way street .—

"Damn, if she isn't getting demanding!" Suruga cursed, managing to maneuver the truck as instructed nevertheless.

"Don't rock the truck, you're spilling the sauce." L popped another takoyaki drowned in chocolate sauce into his mouth. Suruga scowled, but L had on a stern look that Suruga had never seen before. In his own way, snacking was L's method of preparing for action.

After committing about 120 points worth of traffic violations, Suruga spied the red flashing lights of a police car in the rearview mirror. "Ryuzaki, they're coming!"

"They would be pretty incompetent if they didn't pursue a reckless takoyaki truck."

"Don't sound so calm!"

"We'll try to throw them off. Go into that shopping arcade over there."

"Go into—that's..." It was the arcade inside Shinsaibashi, the busiest street in Osaka. With just a glance at the red lights closing in on the truck in the rearview mirror, Suruga pointed the truck at the arcade and honked the horn.

The shopping arcade was bustling with activity on a summer night. While the relatively small truck managed to thread its way through the throngs of people, the police car with its sirens blaring closed the gap as the people moved aside.

"They're gaining on us, Ryuzaki. What should we do?"

L took out a bag that he had brought with him. "These items might come in handy. Slow down, Mr. Suruga."

"Slow down? If I do that—"

"It's all right." With a few taps on the computer, L connected to the truck's controls, launched an audio file, and turned on the external sound system. Suddenly "The Wind of Mount Rokko," the Hanshin Tigers' team anthem, blasted out of the speakers at full volume. The Osakans, for whom rooting for the Tigers was a part of their genetic makeup, began to look curiously at the careening truck.

Grabbing the microphone, L began to speak in a faux Osaka dialect. "Gather around folks! A special gift for all of you Tigers fans out there. Collectible items autographed by the Tigers players, only while supplies last!" L snatched the autographed bats, gloves, and uniforms out of the bag and tossed them into the crowd.

In an instant, rabid fans thronged around the truck, the area erupting into a scene like the one at Dotonbori when the Tigers won a championship. The police siren was drowned out amid the Tigers' anthem and the clamor of the crowd, and the police car could no longer move in any direction.

"Where did you get that stuff, Ryuzaki?" Suruga asked.

"I bought it at an Internet auction. I planned to give it to Maki as a gift but..." L looked at the autographed ball Maki had wanted and tossed it into the crowd. "We should go, Mr. Suruga."

"R-right." The takoyaki truck sped off again, stranding the police car behind them.

"Smooth sailing, Ryuzaki!"

"Mr. Suruga, this may not be the appropriate time, but may I make a confession?"

"What is it all of a sudden?"

"I regret to tell you that no real Death Note exists. I burned both of them after Kira's death."

Suruga gave L a long confused look. The truck nearly veered off the sidewalk, and he hastily put his eyes back on the road. "There's no real Death Note? Then why did you hide it like it was so valuable? And why did I go through all the trouble of recovering it?"

"I don't ever recall saying that the Death Note in my possession was real," said L innocently. Indeed he had not once said that he had the genuine Death Note; neither had he once said that he didn't. Suruga's heart sank. His infiltration of the Kira Investigation Headquarters, the performance with Kujo back at the Yellow Box warehouse, and the dangerous mission to recover the Death Note from Blue Ship had all been for naught.

"Hold on. You wrote down the name of a criminal in the Death Note in order to threaten the president and he died. What kind of trick was that?"

"After Misa Amane, who was the second Kira, was released from confinement, she resumed the killings as Kira—with the real Death Note on the first day, but with a fake book starting the second day after Watari had made the switch."

"Yeah, that much I read about in your report to the FBI. Which was why the only deaths following Amane's release happened on that first day."

"Among those whose names were written on that first day was one criminal who had not yet died. I omitted this detail from the report."

"Written in the Death Note, but not dead—how is that possible?" Suruga did not bother to hide his irritation.

"It was simply a case of Misa Amane writing in the wrong date. The date she had mistakenly written was July 23."

"The exact date and time you told the president."

"What was already written in the Death Note could not be altered. I knew that the U.S. government and the FBI were wary of my connection with the Death Note. I withheld this information about the mistaken date from my report so I might use it in an emergency. Also, that threat to force the president to launch nuclear weapons isn't possible either. The Death Note cannot be used to kill in a way that involves killing others. I neglected to include that detail in the report as well..."

Though the trick was now clear, Suruga was not yet entirely satisfied. "Then why didn't you say as much to the president? That both Death Notes had been destroyed and that the person threatening the president was a fake L. It was hardly necessary to go along with the impostor's methods. We were nearly killed because of it."

L did not offer an answer as he trained his sights on the road ahead. To Suruga, L seemed to be studying a chessboard and looking hundreds of moves ahead.