Chapter Text
“Hey, Ryuzaki, I know you’re not feeling up to it, but take a look at this.” L moved over on his swivel chair and looked at the monitor that Light was pointing to. The chain connecting the two clattered at the movement. On his computer displayed a coffee jelly manufacturing company titled CJS Inc. Light drags a second tab over, displaying a list of competing companies. “A lot of deaths of marketing heads and CEO’s have been happening to competing companies. Although the deaths seem accidental, they have all been for CJS’s benefit.” L’s eyes widened as they looked at the clear evidence. “This would suggest that Kira has only been killing criminals as a front while in reality, he’s backing CJS.” L remarked, looking the list over.
Light nods, scrolling the list downward to show more deaths. “Are you feeling more enthusiastic now?” L ignores the question and moves back over to his own computer, looking up important shareholders, owners, higher-ups, and even frequent customers of the company to see if he could find anything outwardly suspicious. On the company website, they have a list of their current top customers. The first few don’t look suspicious, but one person in particular catches his eye. A high school student named Kusou Saiki. His picture wasn’t present with his name. “Light?”
Light looks up from his monitor toward L at the sound of his name. “What is it?” L taps at his keyboard, trying to do more research on Saiki. “Find me all you can on someone named Saiki Kusou.” Light nodded, typing the name into a search bar. “That goes for you, too, Mr. Yagami,” L remarks, pointing to Light’s father. The man nodded and immediately got to work.
After about an hour, the three found out all they could about Saiki. He was a 17-year-old high school student, currently going to PK Academy. “Everything about him seems average,” Soichiro commented. Light nodded at that assessment. L flipped through papers that Soichiro had handed him. “Yes, everything seems average. To average. Every grade and exam score he has had from middle school and up is exactly in the middle. Exactly average.” L said. Light nodded, noticing the pattern as well. “Right. It’s like he’s purposely trying to fly under the radar.”
L hummed in agreement. Kusou was now officially a suspect. Soichiro stepped up, standing behind L’s chair. “Ryuzaki, how are we going to investigate this man further?” He asked, “Simple. The same way we investigated Light here. We will contact Kusou Saiki’s parents and either convince or trick them into letting us set up cameras and wire taps in their house to begin.” Light nodded. He had already found Kusou’s home address through a folder website. It was technically public information after all. “Would tricking them really be ethical though?” He asked, scrolling through contacts. L nodded. “If it means catching Kira. Ideally, tricking them wouldn’t be necessary, and we can convince them to cooperate, but that might not be possible. It depends on their behavior and how willing they are to trust people. Most parents are rather protective of their children; having strangers watch over them is quite the invasion of privacy.”
Light gets a sense of déjà vu but doesn’t comment on it. He continues typing on his computer, finding a profile of Kusou’s parents. “They seem like normal people overall. They might be intimidated if they met someone like Ryuzaki directly.” L nodded, looking over at Light’s monitor. “Correct. We’ll have Mr. Yagami be the front to soften the blow and introduce us first.” Soichiro glanced over at the mention of his name and nodded. “Will do.” Matsuba chimed in from the other chair. “How can I help?” The man asked enthusiastically. “You really want to be useful?” L responded. Matsuba nodded with a smile. “Then please get me another cup of coffee. Thank you.” Matsuba’s smile faded at the request, but he nodded and left to get L his coffee.
“I found the number of the house.” Light interjects, scrolling up on his mouse. “Should I call to set up a meeting?” Ryuzaki nods. “Yes.” Light punched in the number and picked up the phone, letting it ring.
It only took a few seconds when a woman picked up the phone, answering in a relaxed-sounding voice. “Hello, this is the Saiki residence!” She said. “Who is this?” Light holds the phone away from his ear so the rest of the room can listen in. “Hello, Mrs Saiki. My name is Yukiharu. How are you doing?” Light used an alias just in case. There was a pause on the other line before the woman responded. “Ah, I’m doing just fine! I must say I don’t remember a Yukiharu. My name is Kurumi Saiki. Can I ask why you’re calling?” Light took a second to make up a quick and easy lie. “I’m glad you asked. I work at PK Academy. I was wondering if you and your husband could meet up with one of the deans regarding Kusou’s grades.”
Kurumi’s tone went from relaxed to panicked in a singular phrase. “Oh no! Is something wrong with Ku’s grades? Is he failing any classes?” She sounded like a normal, worried mother. At least she seemed to believe it so far. “No, he’s not failing. I just think there’s something you two might want to see.” Light replied in an attempt to calm her down a bit. “I’ll be happy to meet with you! I’ll bring my husband as well. When is it?”
That was a lot easier than Light thought. He was almost shocked by how quick that was. He gives Kurumi an address to a cafe near the school. The women asked why they were meeting up at PK, but Light just said it was because they were meeting up on the weekend, so the school would be closed. “Then it’s settled! I won’t be late. Thank you for taking the time!” And Kurumi hung up without further question.
“She’s awfully gullible.” L commented now that Kusou’s mother was no longer hearing the conversation. Light nodded in agreement. “They are the perfect parents for someone like Kira.” The insomniac elaborated. “They are trusting and easy to manipulate. Kurumi doesn’t get suspicious easily.” Light hummed, thinking it over. “You make a good point. If Kusou Saiki were Kira, his parents most likely wouldn’t have noticed or suspected a thing.”
The group would be meeting up with Kusou’s parents tomorrow, Saturday, at 10 am, so now all they had to do was wait. Meanwhile, L went upstairs to talk to Misa. Light, who was chained to him, had no choice but to follow suite. They needed to talk with her about cooperating on the Kira case. They also still needed to research the owners and shareholders of CJS Inc., the coffee jelly company. Kusou wasn’t the only new suspect after all.
-
Saiki was just returning home. Thankfully, the majority of his classmates completely left him alone today. He was starting to think this day might finally be quiet, that was until he focused in on his parents' thoughts. Something was off. He could sense it. The teen unlocked his door and stepped inside, only to immediately get cut off by Kurumi, his mother. “Welcome home, Ku! I got a phone call today from PK Academy.” She explained. Kuniharu jumps in front of him as well. “Apparently, it’s something about your grades. Are you hiding something from us, mister?”
According to their thoughts, they’re telling the truth. Mom does seem genuinely worried. Why would they get a call from my school? My grades are completely normal last time I checked. “Say what you want to, I’m going to my room.” Kosou finally spoke out loud. Both of his parents protested, but he ignored them. He would just have to wait until tomorrow to see what the meeting is really about. Plus, he was going to watch some much-needed TV.
-
The next day, everything is set up. Soichiro is sitting in a booth by the corner. Light and L, who are changed together, are in the booth behind him. Soichiro had an open binder in front of him displaying Kosou’s parents’ names and their occupations. More importantly, there was a hidden camera on the spine of it just in case. When Kurumi and Kuniharu enter, they are very enthusiastic and don’t question how empty the restaurant is. They take a seat and bow while introducing themselves.
“My name is Saiki Kuniharu, this is my wife, Saiki Kurumi.” The woman nodded at her husband’s greeting. “It’s a pleasure to meet someone from Ku’s school, even if it is just a dean.” Soichiro had to admit he was a little shocked by how nice they were just from the first impression. “Pleasure to meet you as well, you may call me Mr. Yagami.” He replies. Soichiro doesn’t say his first name just in case, as he was instructed not to.
“I hate to be the one to break this news, but I apologize. You were deceived. The real reason why we needed to meet was because your son is under suspicion by the police.” He began debriefing them, but was being vague on purpose. Almost immediately, Kurumi panics and breaks down in tears, asking, “What? What could my Ku possibly have done?!” Kuniharu raises his voice while comforting his wife at the same time. “There has to be some kind of mistake!” These two sure are dramatic. Soichiro was already getting a headache from this.
“Don’t jump to conclusions now, it’s just a suspicion. Your son is most likely innocent. All we need to do is prove Kosou’s innocence, which hopefully should be easy if you two cooperate.” Both parents nod in agreement, which seemed to console Kurumi as well. They had such quick mood swings. “I would like to introduce you to the head detectives of this case if that is alright with you,” Soichiro explains. “Of course! We would need to meet them anyway, right?” Kumuri asks, already looking relaxed again. Soichiro nodded. L finally stands up from the booth behind them.
He walked over to their booth, dragging Light along with him from the chain. Soichiro gets out of the booth to allow Light and L to sit down across from Kosou’s parents. The room is noticeably silent while they look L up and down. After a few seconds, Kurumi finally spoke up. She didn’t have suspicions of who L was, nor did she ask questions about his appearance. She said something else entirely. “Aw, he’s adorable! What brought you to become a detective, big guy?” She asked, her voice sounded genuine, much to everyone’s surprise. Kuniharu interrupted. “Hey, what about me? You can’t say I’m second place to this guy.” Kurumi shook he head and wrapped her arms around her husbands. “Of course not, honey! He is adorable like a cat, but you are handsome like a model.” God, they were really cheesy. “No detective would come between our love.” And the worst part was she was still being completely genuine.
L was still getting over the shock of being called adorable, so Light had to be the one to interrupt the two. “Excuse me, but I think we should get back to the case.” Thankfully, everyone agrees to that. L nods and finally begins to talk. “I appreciate the compliment; however, I regret to inform you that your son is under suspicion of possibly being linked to Kira.” Both parents immediately went back to being horrified. “What?!” Kurumi asked. “How could you possibly come to such a conclusion! There’s no way my Ku is a murderer!” L’s expression was completely unchanged. “Well, as my colleague previously said, proving Saiki Kosou’s innocence should be easy enough if you cooperate. How would you feel about setting up cameras and wiretaps in your household?” Light was a bit annoyed at how straightforward L was being, but made no comment on it
Surprisingly, both parents nod without further question. “If it means proving Kosou’s innocence!” Kuniharu piped up. L nods. “Thank you for your cooperation. Do you know Kosou’s current location?” Kurumi nodded. “Yes, Ku is out at the mall’s cafe. He has a bit of a sweet tooth.” She said with a smile. L made sure to remember that little detail about Kosou that might come in handy later. “We'd better be fast about installing the cameras then before he gets home.” Light says. Everyone at the table nods in agreement.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us.” L murmured. He stood to leave, bringing Light along with him. “We will keep you updated.” Kurumi nodded. “Oh, our house isn’t far from here; my husband would be happy to drive you.” Kuniharu nodded at that. “That won’t be necessary,” L replied, making his way toward the exit. It was only then that Kurumi noticed the chain connecting the two. “Oh my goodness! Are you two together? That is so cute!” She hummed. L was admittedly surprised by the question, but before he could respond, he was cut off. “Don’t worry, I am in full support!” She said quickly. Her husband nodded beside her.
Light thankfully was quick to deny the accusation. “No, we aren’t together.” That only seemed to make Kurumi confused, so he thought it would be better to drop the topic. Kosou’s parent stayed in the cafe while the three detectives left. Soichiro was driving the car while L and Light were in the back seat. “Well, they’re certainly very supportive and concerned about their son.” Light commented, which L nods at. “Yes. Like I said, the perfect parents for someone like Kira to have.”