Buzz buzz buzz—
The phone vibrated again with a new message.
[Ryōgi Shiki: Don't come looking for me during this period. Until I contact you actively.]
[Yagami: ...]
No, wait, it was supposed to be mutual surveillance, so how did it turn into a one-sided command of looking for me?
This is a serious surveillance operation, not some ambiguous date between a man and a woman!
Ryōgi Shiki seems to be hiding something from me.
Yagami stroked his chin, recalling when Ryōgi Shiki was hospitalized in junior high.
During that time, a woman named Aozaki Tōko often visited her at the hospital. After Ryōgi Shiki awakened, her eyes seemed to have lost their sight, which made her depressed for a long time. It wasn't until her eyesight returned that she gradually emerged from the gloom. After that, Ryōgi Shiki seemed to have a secret.
"Sooner or later, I'll dig out your secret."
Yagami had always been a man with a strong desire for control. In this regard, he was remarkably similar to Makima.
Secrets make God even more Profound.
At the same time, at the Metropolitan Police Department.
Himeno slammed her fist heavily on the office desk, glaring around fiercely, yet no one dared to meet her gaze.
Facing this enraged tigress, the grassroots police officers lowered their heads one after another.
"Who leaked the information?" When she said this, Himeno was practically grinding her teeth.
Of course, she had been following the comments online. Being called tax thieves and good-for-nothings was nothing out of the ordinary. Just look!
Besides Hayakawa Aki, among those sitting in the same office, was there anyone truly trustworthy?
Every major case, there would always be confidential inside information leaked. A team like this, completely lacking discipline, how could they maintain the precarious crime rate?
Himeno slumped powerlessly into her office chair, rubbing her temples with a headache, utterly disappointed. At this moment, her desire to leave the Criminal Department and join the Public Safety Devil Extermination Special Division 4 reached its peak.
She and Makima had met during a special incident.
Makima, that woman, had a very high security clearance for her identity; ordinary people couldn't even look it up. Yet, she would occasionally whimsically reveal her identity, and Himeno couldn't understand why.
"Public Safety Devil Extermination Special Division 4 ah..." Himeno looked melancholic. This mysterious division was known for its high mortality rate. She once had a capable subordinate transferred to this department, and when she saw her again, it was in a memorial photo frame.
She pulled open her drawer, on which a phone number was printed. Makima had personally given it to her, instructing her: "If one day you're ready, call this number."
"It's about time." The melancholy in Himeno's eyes gradually turned into determination. In this already rotten Criminal Department, it was impossible to realize her ambitions.
To uphold justice and to stop that Kira, Himenob decided to try to make a change. Joining the Special Division 4 was her first step.
She took out her phone and dialed the number.
Beep beep—
"Hmm?" Makima's languid female voice came through the phone into Himeno's ear. Even as a woman, she felt a tingling sensation all over.
Makima's charm was appealing to both men and women.
Himeno took a deep breath to steady herself and reported: "I'm sorry, Makima-san. Yesterday's request to keep the scene confidential was still leaked by a subordinate officer. It was leaked just now during the Chiba TV live broadcast, and the news is spreading fast; it can no longer be contained."
"Is that all it is?"
Makima mumbled drowsily, her sleepy face showing no change.
"What do you mean, 'that all it is'? The news was leaked, Kira's plan succeeded, isn't that serious enough?" Himeno felt speechless and a new wave of uncertainty about her future. Could such a superior truly help her achieve her ambitions?
"Putting that aside for a moment. Himeno, did you find any leads on the criminals who died of cardiac arrest recently?"
"Yes."
Himeno clutched the report in her hand, her expression serious: "I only collected data from the last month. A total of 47 criminals sentenced to death died in prison, 7 criminals died during live television broadcasts, and another 11 died during our police investigation and evidence collection. In total, 65 people, and the cause of death for all of them was... cardiac arrest."
Truthfully, when Himeno first saw this number, she found it shocking. Although 65 people were negligible compared to the vast number of criminals in Tōyō, how terrifying would it be if all these people died at the hands of Kira?
Calling him Tōyō's number one serial killer would be no exaggeration.
If it weren't for Kira's self-exposure yesterday, how long could he have continued killing criminals without trial, and how many people could he have killed? How long would it take these good-for-nothings and tax thieves in the Criminal Department to notice this coincidence? Why had no one, including herself, noticed so many criminals dying of cardiac arrest until now?
"Still too lax..." Himeno blamed herself, and at the same time, her resolve to capture Kira grew even stronger. She could not allow such a lunatic, who enjoyed killing criminals, wantonly trampled on the law, and disrespected life, to remain at large.
—
Ah, yes, the hero's journey.
Day one, our valiant "righteous agent" is busy sweeping up all that pesky evil, presumably with a flourish and a self-satisfied smirk. Because, naturally, all evil is just waiting to be neatly packaged and sent off to justice. How terribly convenient for everyone involved.
By day two, the cape is still flapping, the "original intention" remains pristine, and we're all meant to applaud this paragon of virtue as the "true hero." One almost expects a montage set to inspiring music, showcasing continued unwavering dedication to what surely must be a simple, black-and-white concept of justice.
But then, the grand reveal of day three. Suddenly, the hero's principles are as solid as a house of cards in a hurricane, and the once-clear lines between right and wrong blur into a culinary preference. "Come, everyone, let's eat!" they proclaim, only to then discover a rather peculiar dietary restriction. Because, apparently, when you've arbitrarily wielded power for a couple of days, the sanctity of life becomes less about universal ethics and more about what's on the menu. Who knew the path to righteousness had such a selective palate?
—
When a person gains the ability to arbitrarily take away the lives of others, all moral and ethical concepts will inevitably twist with the passage of time. Even if he is safe now.
Makima on the other end after hearing the report finally seemed to get serious: "So, on average, Kira punishes two criminals per day."
"Yes. Because a lot of time has passed, and data from outside of Tōkyōto is hard to compile, the number of people Kira has killed might exceed this figure."
"Let's make a hypothesis then~"
"Kira can kill at most ten criminals per day, causing them to die from causes including but not limited to cardiac arrest, spontaneous human combustion... Furthermore, Kira's area of operation is concentrated in the Tōkyō region, so we can assume they live in Tōkyō and have access to internal police information."
"Are there any problems with the above?"
Himeno listened to Makima's summary and nodded in agreement, these were exactly the words she was going to say: "None."
"Then, we'll start screening personnel based on the above clues," Makima ordered. "Also, the fact that sixty-five criminals died at Kira's hands in the past month must be kept confidential."
"If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now."
---
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