The room was unusually quiet. Everyone had gathered around the table in the center of the penthouse, though the air was anything but relaxed.
On one end sat Rudeus Greyrat, arms crossed, eyes constantly flicking to his right. At the exact opposite end—furthest possible from him—was Suguru Geto, stone-faced and unmoving.
Saiki stood near the back wall, silent as always. A faint sigh escaped him.
The TV turned on.
On the screen, Kusuke's grinning face appeared, wearing the same smug expression he always wore when he was five seconds away from ruining someone's day.
"You really don't like me, little brother?" Kusuke said with a cheerful, cherry-tinted voice.
Saiki stared back, expression unchanging. "This is serious."
Kusuke's eyes twinkled as he spoke. "Of course it is. Memory collapse. Time distortions. Kira Yoshikage. Gojo Satoru. Suguru Geto. Shadow. Yeah, yeah, the usual." He waved his hand dismissively, then clapped once.
Suddenly, the table hissed and split open in the middle. A rising platform lifted upward, revealing a tiered tray of assorted desserts—cakes, cookies, puddings, and in the center, a shining stack of coffee jelly.
Kazuma leaned forward dramatically. "See? We're not crazy! Even your creepy brother agrees with us!"
Kusuke chuckled. "Oh no, I thought you were crazy. Until I got curious and explored every single inch of data you gave me."
He turned to Senku. "Can you pull up the GoPro footage from when we scanned the rift?"
Senku pressed a few buttons on his laptop and projected the video onto the TV. Kusuke fast-forwarded. Then paused. A frame flickered with static, but the screen cleared enough to show two silhouettes falling.
"Look here," Kusuke said. "Hard to see, but when enhanced…" He typed in a few commands. The image sharpened using AI filters. "Approx. 175 cm tall, blond hair, long, creepy nails… and is that a skull-shaped tie?"
Javier frowned. "How can he laugh during this?"
Lloyd beside him smiled slightly. "Interesting."
"Right," Javier muttered.
Kusuke continued, "What's odd is that some of you—Kazuma, Subaru—seem to have memories of people that shouldn't exist. Meanwhile, others like Kusuo? Nothing."
He adjusted his glasses, voice lowering. "I dug into my archives. Most were wiped clean. Except one: the Antares fight."
He played a video on-screen—Saitama punching Antares. But slowed down, odd anomalies began to show.
"Why did Antares freeze for five seconds?" Kusuke asked.
"Because Gojo had him in his domain," Rudeus cut in confidently.
"And this," Kusuke said, forwarding to Megumin's explosion. "Why did her spell pulse purple?"
Suguru suddenly slammed the table and stood. All eyes turned to him.
"Because of Aqua's buff," he said coolly. "Support-type skills have strange effects on high-level magic."
He sat back down. But Light and Rudeus were already narrowing their eyes.
Kusuke stretched and yawned. "I'll be back in five. Meeting resumes tomorrow. Until then, don't use your real names. Use a pen name." He smiled and vanished from the screen.
Senku scoffed. "Is this guy serious?"
Saiki muttered, "He never is… unless he feels threatened."
Makima calmly flipped through a clipboard, silently reviewing the surveys taken earlier. Light smiled faintly to himself.
Kusuke's voice returned briefly. "Oh, and one more thing. Don't worry about the penthouse. I've made… adjustments."
Then the screen flickered off.
Saiki stood in silence, thinking. He's up to something.
From the side, Reinhard muttered, "It's Lye Batenkaitos."
Subaru nodded. "Agreed."
---
Late that night…
Suguru smiled as he tiptoed downstairs. On the couch was Kazuma, snoring loudly, hugging a cushion like a security blanket. Suguru crept forward, eyes narrowing. He reached for Kazuma's head.
The refrigerator door slammed shut behind him.
"Oh hey, Suguru," said Yuji, casually sipping a glass of milk. "Don't stay up too late."
Suguru froze. Yuji yawned and walked off. Suguru turned pale and sighed.
On the counter lay a familiar-looking sheet of paper.
The piece of the Death Note.
He reached for it—but he stopped.
"Antares," was written there.
Suguru turned the paper over and wrote on the free space it had left. "Satoru Gojo." Planning to frame Light.
So… you do remember him, Rudues said.
Behind him, the floor became thick and heavy. Mud pooled under his feet—Rudeus had cast Quagmire.
But Suguru didn't get stuck.
The mud recoiled from his body like oil and water.
Saiki appeared in front of him. "Can't believe he has contingency plans," he muttered.
Kusuke appeared again on every screen, giggling. "Penthouse lockdown!"
Immediately, steel-like walls slammed down, encasing the entire penthouse in tungsten alloy gates.
"WOAH WOAH!" Kazuma screamed, waking up. "WHAT'S GOING ON? DID WE ALWAYS HAVE A WALL THERE?!"
Denji revved his engine, half-awake. "Was that always there?"
Suguru ran. Denji transformed into Chainsaw Man. Rudeus launched Stone Cannon after Stone Cannon.
Suguru dodged, but not unscathed—his face was slashed and pelted with debris. He ducked into a room, panting.
His face distorted, then reshaped—now clearly not Suguru anymore.
Lye Batenkaitos.
He looked around. "Everyone in this place is absolutely insane."
A laptop blinked on nearby. Makima's room.
Lye grinned. "Let's see what this devil woman's been tracking…"
He clicked a folder marked [NAMES DATABASE].
An alarm blared.
Yuji returned. "Makima's room? Really?"
Lye popped out from behind the door—half Suguru, half Lye. His face was melting like wax.
"Who are you really?" Yuji asked, fists up.
Lye laughed. "Great! Excellent! Let's dance!"
Yuji launched a punch. Lye deflected. Lye tried to slice. Yuji ducked.
"I've got the upper hand," Lye said. "All you can do is punch."
Then—
Black Flash.
Yuji's fist landed on Lye's jaw.
Second strike—Black Flash.
Right to the kidney.
Third—
The room exploded in light as Saiki and the others arrived. They saw Yuji deliver a final, perfectly placed strike.
Two bodies fell.
Suguru and Lye, separated. Unconscious.
---
Flashback – earlier that day
While the others waited, Kusuke had called Rudeus and Light privately.
"Here's the contingency plan. If Suguru slips, we catch Lye. Saiki will hold back so the penthouse doesn't get obliterated. But if anything goes wrong—Yuji, you strike. You're the only one who can split his soul."
---
Back to present
Lye stirred. "How…?"
Kusuke appeared on a nearby monitor, grinning. "Let me show you something."
Kazuma raised an eyebrow. "Does every room have a TV?!"
Kusuke played clips from public surveillance.
A crowd. Odd glances toward an empty alley.
Then—someone yelling:
"KIRA YOSHIKAGE!"
Rudeus leaned forward. "That's… Gojo's voice."
The last clip: Lye appeqring and Suguru getting blown up.
Lye, now restrained, sneered.
Saiki stepped forward and used psychometry and mind-reading.
Memories flowed in—a woman typing at work, a homeless man scratching his neck, a businessman checking his phone.
Then—
Gojo.
Lye had stabbed him.
"I see," Saiki muttered.
Lye had eaten Kira's name and memory. Then Gojo's. Then Suguru's.
By taking Gojo's memory—so deeply rooted to his identity—Lye inadvertently inherited some of Gojo's cursed techniques.
He used RCT to change his appearance, and Suguru's memory to hide in plain sight.
Lye laughed. "If my brother and sister were here, they'd be proud."
Light folded his arms. "You were going to frame me? I learned from my past mistake." Light pointed at the TV.
The real Death Note is in high security.
Lloyd chuckled. "He's not very good at it."
Kusuke grinned. "We're going to run experiments on you. Not normal ones. We're talking limit-pushing, multiversal-tier experiments."
Lloyd added, "You're going to be enslaved."
Lye snarled. Then—he bit his own finger. Blood spattered across the ground.
He had written his own name into his flesh.
Suddenly, he disappeared.
Kusuke blinked. "Huh. How disappointing."
All that remained was a husk of a body.
As Kusuke turned to leave, the body twitched.
The restraints broke.
Two bodies dropped to the ground.
One—Gojo.
Two—Shadow.
Gasps echoed.
Memories came rushing back to everyone. The missing pieces. The forgotten names.
Gojo. Shadow. Kira.
---
Medical room
Shoko exhaled deeply. "Can I charge you guys for this?"
Gojo groaned. "Put it on my tab."
Suguru rolled his eyes.
Shadow sat up wordlessly.
Alpha hugged him deeply.
Shadow screamed. "Why?"
"It's all going to be all right." Alpha responded.
Shadow's face changed from emotionless, to sad, and frighteningly angry.
"Why are my parcels DELAYED!?"
"Yep, that's Shadow alright." Kazuma with a blank but relieved face.
Saiki leaned against the wall, frowning.
Yuji patted his back. "Hey. Don't beat yourself up."
Saiki didn't look at him.
"I just punch things," Yuji said. "But that guy… he deserved it."
Saiki muttered, "If I had punched him… he'd be gone. Along with the entire building. And maybe the people he absorbed."
Yuji nodded. "Yeah. But you didn't. So they're back."
Kazuma cheered. "See?! Happy ending!"
Subaru stared at the floor.
"No," he said. "Not yet."
Everyone turned to him.
"The body," Subaru whispered. "Kira's body… is still missing."
Saiki closed his eyes.
"This isn't over."
---
End.