The impossible message hung in the air of the hotel suite, a pronouncement of such profound absurdity that for a long moment, no one spoke. The silence was finally broken by the sharp, incredulous voice of Sherlock Holmes.
"A Shinigami?" he demanded, his eyes flashing between L and Connor. "You speak of Japanese folklore. Of death gods and spectres. Are you suggesting we are hunting a ghost?"
Poirot, who had regained his composure, nodded in agreement. "Explain yourselves. This is a leap of logic that would sprain the ankle of a kangaroo."
L slid a fresh sugar cube between his lips, his expression unchanging. "It is a term from mythology," he conceded. "They are described as gods of death, invisible to human eyes, who sustain their own lives by writing human names in supernatural notebooks."
Connor stepped forward, providing the data to support the myth. "The term is the only one that reconciles the current evidence," he stated, his LED glowing a calm blue. "One: a killer who can murder from anywhere, requiring only a name and a face. Two: a murder weapon that leaves no trace. Three: the presence of a non-terrestrial particulate substance at a B.B. crime scene. The 'Shinigami' hypothesis, while seemingly fantastical, is the only one that accommodates all known facts."
Holmes threw his hands up in exasperation. "Facts! You call a fairy tale a fact! We are chasing a flesh-and-blood killer, a man of profound intelligence, not a goblin from a children's story!"
"Indeed," Poirot added, stroking his moustache. "Perhaps this 'Shinigami' is merely the name of a secret society, an affectation this killer B.B. has adopted to inspire fear."
Watson and Hastings exchanged a look, their faces a mixture of confusion and disbelief. It was clear the two great detectives, men who had built their legacies on the foundations of logic and reason, would need more than a few cryptic clues to accept the supernatural. They decided, without a word passing between them, to take this new information with a very large grain of salt.
"Your skepticism is logical," L said, surprisingly accommodating. "But for now, it is irrelevant." He picked up a remote, and the central holographic display flickered to life. A grid of fifteen faces, a gallery of men and women of varying ages, appeared in the air. "While you were at the crime scene, Connor and I were running an analysis. We have identified fifteen individuals who had access, either directly or through a close family member, to the specific NPA servers containing the information about our prisoner-bait. Our leak, and therefore our prime suspect for Kira, is on this list."
The room fell silent again as they absorbed the faces. High-ranking police officials, data analysts, security technicians, and... their families.
And there, in the third row, was a face of placid, handsome brilliance. YAGAMI, Light. Age: 17. Relation: Son of Chief Soichiro Yagami.
The inclusion was so startling that it drew a soft gasp from Hastings.
It was Miss Marple who spoke first, her voice gentle but firm. "Are we not being a little leapy, dears?" she asked, looking at L. "This leap from a confirmed leak to a list of only fifteen seems rather... large. Connections always reveal more connections. A list of fifteen could easily become a list of a hundred."
"We have no choice," Connor answered, his tone leaving no room for debate. "Kira is currently murdering at a rate of over two hundred criminals per day, globally. The world is destabilizing. We do not have the time for a conventional investigation that could take years. We must focus on the highest probability targets immediately." He gestured to the display. "Interpol HQ in Lyon has already begun investigating ten of these individuals, the ones with the most direct access. That leaves the five most complex cases—the ones with indirect access—to us."
The holographic display changed, dismissing ten of the faces and leaving five behind.
Kido, Kiyomi. Age: 42. Deputy Director of the NPA.
Mogami, Touta. Age: 29. Data Security officer, NPA.
Hayashi, Rin. Age: 55. Retired NPA forensics chief, now a consultant.
Takada, Kyosuke. Age: 38. Systems analyst for the company that maintains the NPA servers.
Yagami, Light. Age: 17. Civilian. Son of the Chief of the task force.
The weight of the task settled upon them. These were their devils. One of these five people was quite possibly a god of death, a killer who held the world in the palm of his hand. Their investigation was no longer a theoretical exercise; it had names and faces. This was the true beginning of the hunt.