"Ryuzaki," Watari's voice chimed as the laptop screen blinked to life, capturing the attention of all the occupants of the room, "we have a reply from the second Kira."

That was fast, (Y/n) thought, shifting to look at the screen as they all turned to hear what Watari had to say.

"What?" Her father furrowed his eyebrows, turning his back to the conversation he'd previously been having with L and Light.

"I'll be bringing over the envelope and tape that we received, but in the meantime, I'm streaming a copy of the video so you can view it on your end," the elderly male's voice continued as the team gathered around the device whose screen shifted to display 'Kira' written in the same font as preferred by the second Unsub.

There was a beat of silence before the modified voice filtered through. "Kira, thank you for the reply. Please do not worry. I will follow orders and do as you say."

"It actually worked," Soichiro remarked as though he hadn't expected it to. Not that it was surprising since the NPA chose to do things more traditionally when compared to L's...eccentric methods.

Meanwhile, Light looked quite put out at the prospect of being lumped with someone so utterly submissive and dependent. His demeanor immediately shifted, however, when the audio continued.

"I really want to meet you," the second Kira carried on. "I don't think you have the eyes, but you don't have to worry. I would never target you-- that's a promise."

(Y/n) watched as her brother shot her a wide-eyed look after making sure nobody had picked up on his reaction. Out of instinct, he reached out and gripped her hand tightly, leaving her to squeeze it in reassurance that the message didn't necessarily give away vital information. It would most probably be mistaken for a code of some sort.

Still, this second Kira was a bigger idiot than (Y/n) had previously anticipated. If this Unsub only wanted to remain as Light's lackey, then she'd be a liability due to her own mindlessness.

"What's this having the eyes supposed to mean?" Aizawa frowned. "Is it a code?"

(Y/n) gave props to herself for having a spot-on prediction. It was always a pleasure to be right.

Her little moment was cut through by her ears picking up on L's increasingly irregular breathing. While everyone else was distracted by the second Kira's request to meet up somehow, without the police knowing, she frowned at the detective, stepping forward slightly out of concern as a colleague.

And then, 'Shinigami' was mentioned.

The reactions were instant. "Shinigami?" Matsuda and Aizawa echoed in loud skepticism while her father stood dumbfounded, looking as though he were afraid he might get another heart attack from the shock of it.

Before anyone could make a move, a scream of terror ripped through the air, originating from L's throat as he threw his arms up as well. Seeing such a violent response from someone so reputedly unshakable was surprising to say the least, and consequently, (Y/n)'s eyebrows shot up as the detective, along with his cushioned chair, tipped sideways and came crashing to the floor.

While Light watched this happen with a more or less unfazed look on his face, her next instinctive reaction was to move towards the fallen detective to help as had become an ingrained response due to working as an FBI agent and with a team as close knit as hers. She was prevented by following through with this urge, however, by the tightening of Light's grip on her hand, prompting her to turn and purse her lips at their linked fingers.

It was a move to control her, and she recognized it, resulting in her slowly letting go of his hand. Despite this movement, though, she didn't crouch beside L as Matsuda and Aizawa had done, and it seemed that this course of action was enough to momentarily placate Light.

"Sh-Shinigami?" L stuttered in horror. "Am I supposed to believe that? That Shinigami actually exist?"

Well, they did exist, but (Y/n) could feel some sympathy for the man since she had been in his shoes when Light had first introduced her to Ryuk. Of course, her reaction hadn't been nearly as dramatic, but she had felt that sense of unbalance and suppressed terror until she had realized that she could literally die every time she went out to her job and that being afraid was pointless.

The thought of her firm belief in science being so suddenly uprooted had, naturally, been rather disconcerting, but to her credit, she had taken it all in her stride fairly quickly. She'd been forced to since she literally had to live with the damn Shinigami.

Matsuda exhaled slowly. "That's impossible."

"Of course they don't exist," Aizawa further asserted, completely unaware of the fact that a Shinigami was looming right over his shoulder, and (Y/n) couldn't help sharing a fleeting glance of amusement with Ryuk who grinned at the irony of the situation. She was sure that he must be nowhere near bored with the happenings of the room.

Light nodded once, not to be left out. "Yes," he agreed, "Ryuzaki, listen to yourself. Of course Shinigami don't exist."

She really wondered how her brother managed to say that with a straight face while Ryuk was floating around the room, coming to a stop to peer right over his head.

Shakily, L turned to glance back at them. "You're probably right, but I remember that the first Kira said something that also suggested the existence of Shinigami," he defended weakly.

L, do you know that Gods of death love apples?

(Y/n) remembered that, and it seemed that now, L was feeling disinclined to believe that it was only a prank-- nothing more than a move on Kira's part to toy with his greatest adversary.

"So, based on that fact," Soichiro swallowed, "perhaps we're dealing with the same person after all. It would definitely explain why we're hearing the use of the same words."

Deciding to cut in, she clicked her tongue. "I'd have to disagree with you on that one, Dad." She shook her head. "It's more likely that our two Unsubs belong to the same cult, perhaps. It might just be a code word for them. Many people still have faith in and revere the supernatural, too. Besides, if this was the same person, it's highly unlikely he'd bother responding to our video in the first place."

Nodding to show his agreement with her, Light added, "And why would he agree to let L live after going through all the trouble to get him to appear on TV? The real Kira wants him dead, so it doesn't make sense."

"Maybe there's some other connection between that Kira and this new guy," Aizawa suggested. "They could've already met and decided to use the word 'Shinigami' as a code to confuse us."

"Or our Unsub has somehow managed to suddenly develop Dissociative Identity Disorder," (Y/n) muttered under her breath, absentmindedly pushing L's hand away from where he had been vigorously massaging the bridge of his nose. The movement had been distracting since he'd started doing it, and it wasn't likely to help the headache the detective had no doubt become aware of. Choosing to ignore his inquisitive gaze, she instead returned the upturned chair to its correct position.

The gray-eyed man stared at her for a moment longer before turning to respond to Aizawa's theory. "No, I'd say that's unlikely," he addressed, climbing onto the chair before crouching down in his usual stance. "It's as Light says: If the two Kiras were connected, I don't think the impostor would be so willing to give up on her plan to kill me. All of this suggests to me that the copycat has her own agenda and is acting independently of the first. As (Y/n) profiled previously, I believe her actual motivation is to meet the original."

"I think that you two are right," Light chimed in, crossing his arms. "She's acting out of an interest in Kira. The word 'Shinigami' could very well be a reference to their killing power. Saying 'we can confirm our identities by showing our Shinigami to each other' probably means that they confirm their identities by somehow demonstrating their power to kill."

Throwing out a theory so close to the truth was a risky gamble on Light's part, and her lingering stare conveyed as much to her brother who returned her gaze with an unwavering one of his own.

"Yes," L breathed. "Based on their messages, we can assume that the word 'Shinigami' must hold some other meaning that only the real Kira and the second Kira are aware of. Now, we just need to convince this copycat to tell us what that is."

"You're planning to wait till this copycat runs her mouth and slips up?" (Y/n) confirmed.

L nodded. "It's a pretty good bet."

Her eyes narrowed at the obvious reference to their previous conversation when she had said something almost exactly the same. Was it a reveal of his plans regarding her or was she simply reading too far into this?

"So, will you respond and force her to be more specific?" Light questioned. "We have to be careful with how we handle this. We can't make it too obvious that we're asking, otherwise she'll realize that we're not Kira."

What are you hoping will happen, dear Otouto?

"No," L answered thoughtfully. "I think it's best that from now on we just leave it up to the two Kiras."

His words were met with shock from the Task Force.

"What do you mean?" Soichiro frowned.

Tapping his fingers on his knees, L replied, "I imagine that the second Kira is quite satisfied now that she's received a televised response. She sent a message to get Kira's attention, and as far as she knows, she now has it. Also, there's that word she used-- one that only the two of them would understand. We'll arrange for this response to be televised on Sakura TV's 6 o' clock news. Naturally, this will be of interest to Kira as he'll be following this exchange between the copycat and the one we've invented. Now, if I were Kira himself, my priority would be preventing this copycat from coming into contact with the police. This will good for us because it means that the real Kira would feel pressure to respond this time."

Leaning forward, Aizawa frowned. "Okay, but let's say that he doesn't respond. Then what are we going to do?"

"Yes, I've been thinking about what the second Kira will do if she receives no response. For one, she may reveal more information that she knows Kira wants to be kept secret to pressure him into a meeting. Of course, that would make Kira nervous." Looking up at them, L smiled slowly. "That could be interesting. What would be even more interesting is if Kira sends out a message of his own to prevent this from happening. Ideally, this could provide us with the physical evidence we need to build a case against him. In the meantime, let's gather all the information we can on this copycat."

The team gave their reluctant agreements, slowly dispersing to their individual workstations and begin on the new task. Since there wasn't all that much to dig up if they weren't targeting with a profile, (Y/n) doubted it would take long. Nevertheless, she turned as well to go see to some work when L asked her to wait.

Curiously, she faced him, waiting for he had to say.

"I would like for you to work with your profile in mind," he requested.

She tilted her head at his words. "You want a list of possible suspects?" the profiler confirmed, pursing her lips upon receiving a nod. "Would it be alright if I got some...outside assistance? I mean, I could get the information on my own, but it would be faster if I had a little help."

L didn't look particularly convinced. She couldn't really guess from the lack of facial expression. "I'm not inclined to trusting anyone outside the Task Force," he answered at last.

"You don't trust everyone on the Task Force either," (Y/n) pointed out brazenly, not even batting an eye.

He didn't deny it, only shrugging minutely. "Occupational hazard."

Nodding slowly with one eyebrow quirked, she pursed her lips. "I'll get to that list then," she sighed, already feeling tired at the prospect of having to go through all the effort of accessing a load of files that she technically wasn't supposed to access.

As soon as the detective was gone, however, (Y/n) whipped out her phone and quickly sent an encrypted message to Penelope Garcia-- her team's tech analyst back at the BAU. It wouldn't take Garcia long to decode the message, and soon enough, she had an affirmative reply.

Not many people knew of Garcia's shady history as an anonymous hacker whose specialty lay in getting her hands on files authorities didn't want her anywhere near. As such, the woman didn't need any express permission from the Japanese government to get into their records undetected and covertly send them to (Y/n), all in the span of an hour while the profiler herself listed down what she knew about the second Kira, and then created a program to help her narrow down the list of suspects.

Garcia, you are a life saver, the (h/c)-haired young woman thought with a rare smile when the files reached her laptop.

It took her an hour longer to finish the coding on her program, but after that, it was all a cakewalk. The computer did all the work for her, sorting through the long list of names and significantly shortening it by the given criterion.

The program searched for well-to-do females from ages 17-25 who had recently lost someone close to them at the hands of a criminal that Kira had done away with. Understandably, the list wasn't exactly short, and would need further narrowing down that she would have to do by herself.

(Y/n) cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders in physical preparation for the IP address tracing that was to follow, mentally coming to the conclusion that she would most likely develop a whole bunch of nasty spinal problems given how much time she spent on her laptop, just slaving away at hours of footage, endless typing, and a whole load of hacking through secure servers. It was honestly bothersome to break through all the firewalls that a lot of the Kira supporter sites had to make sure they weren't easily shut down by the police.

It was funny how Light's ultimate aim was to rid the world of criminals and in the process, he had been declared a fugitive of law himself.

The skies outside had long since darkened, but nobody made any move to leave or drop what they were doing. (Y/n) didn't know what each of their individual assignments entailed or just how urgent they were. What she did know was that these men were admirable in the sense that they chose to do their duty in the face of sacrificing time from their personal lives and putting their own survival at risk. The only thing really keeping them alive was Light's want to not have his alter ego be connected to the Task Force anymore than L suspected it was.

Soichiro was already aging, and even had a wife and three children to live for. His heart had briefly given up once already, but he had been incredibly persistent in getting back to work, and even though it was his own son who had been blatantly (and rightfully) accused of being the worst mass murderer in recorded history, he still did his part in the investigation.

Aizawa had a little girl and a young wife who barely got to see him to begin with, and even less now. Never did the man think of being selfish for their sake, instead willingly risking his life when the situation called for it. (Y/n) had always held a deep sense of respect for him, even though he was usually quite blunt and irritable. She didn't know why exactly, but Aizawa had always been one of her favorites out of her father's colleagues despite the man having made no particular move to attain the hard earned respect from the oldest Yagami child.

And then, lastly, there was Matsuda. He wasn't far off from her own age, being quite young himself and having graduated from the police academy only a few years ago. The man was usually taken to be a fool always stating the obvious and generally being naive and clumsy, but (Y/n) knew from her father that he was really quite brave in the face of danger and when it called for it, Matsuda could really come through. Besides, if he was there, actively working against Kira when his whole life waited ahead of him, then (Y/n) could acknowledge that he deserved to be there just as much as any of them.

The three men of the NPA had put everything on hold from their own lives for the sake of bringing Kira to justice, and most of their efforts never got recognized. It must be awfully frustrating, she mentally remarked, her gaze sweeping over them as she briefly looked up from her screen.

Blinking at the change in brightness, she rubbed at her eyes, trying to ease away the burning with her cold fingertips. This movement was stalled by the appearance of the Styrofoam cup of coffee being held out to her, and she gazed up at the owner of the hand to find Light staring down at her.

"Thanks," (Y/n) muttered, extracting the beverage from his grip and placing it on the coffee table in front of her.

Light sat down next to her, nodding his head to acknowledge her response of gratitude. "What are you working on?" he questioned, eyes searching the screen of her laptop for the answer to his question.

"Looking for who could possibly be your new best friend," she replied quietly, loud enough for just the two of them to be able to hear.

He shot her an unimpressed look before returning his gaze back to the screen as she resumed tracing the IP of one Misa Amane to some Kira support site where she had posted quite the expressive 'thank you'. The model-- as (Y/n) had a vague recollection of seeing her on some magazine cover-- had stated how much she wanted to meet Kira in person, and the profiler rolled her eyes.

"You've even got celebrities pining after you," she commented coolly, taking a sip of her coffee, relief flooding her upon finding that the drink was to her preference.

"She's not my type," Light said immediately, crossing his arms. "Besides, it hardly matters, don't you think? She isn't worth my time."

Choosing not to say anything in response to that, (Y/n) jotted down the model/actress's name before moving to the next young woman and continuing down the list. "I thought you said you'd head home," she said instead.

"I went to a cafe on my way there, and thought you could use some sustenance. We can go home together," he explained, leaning back into the sofa and placing his arms behind his head in a leisurely manner.

"So, I take it you've