Naturally, X examined everyone else that stepped into the room. The next person to follow X inside was a tall blonde man. He also didn’t look Japanese. The UN must have invited the best detectives from all over the world. X wondered just how many others there would be. He was going to try and converse with the new arrival, when the man pulled out a notebook and began writing in it. X frowned. Obviously this guy wasn’t very social.

The next person to enter the room came as a surprise. She was a little girl no older than ten or eleven. At first X assumed she was the daughter of some other detective, but that didn’t make sense either. This was a closed meeting, so outsiders were not allowed. Plus, what parent would take a child to a conference about a serial killer?

The girl began chattering in a childish manner –well, she [i]was[/i] a child, after all– in English. X didn’t understand all of it, but he got the impression from what he was able to translate that it was something about their timing to the meeting. The girl seemed to realize her mistake and switched to Japanese, greeting everyone. X was impressed that she was bilingual at such a young age.

Just then, another man came stumbling in after her. He appeared to be her caretaker. He put an ID around her neck, which meant the girl was a detective. Interesting. X offered her a friendly smile and dipped his head.

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Great Detective,” X said politely. He figured he might as well make some friends while he was here, so he humored her. “Since we’re all keeping our names a secret, I suppose you can call me X. Glad to be working with such a renowned detective such as yourself.”

There were a few more people to enter after the little girl. There was a young man with his nose in a book, another man who X thought was quite overdressed, and a young woman who seemed a bit nervous. Then there was a loud, angry Italian man. X made a mental note to steer clear of him. The conference room was getting pretty full by this point. He wondered again just how many people were assigned to this case.

X’s question was answered with the arrival of three more detectives. Two of them were only teenagers. While he was young, himself, X was a bit surprised by the ages of the other detectives. He had expected to be one of the youngest ones here. Apparently this was not the case.

---

M didn’t pay much attention to the other detectives, only making the most basic of analyses. He hadn’t brought any reading material, so he simply crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on top. He closed his eyes as if to sleep, but was really just listening to the other detectives’ conversations.

He looked up again when the door opened again, admitting an older man. It was the Tokyo police chief. M straightened in his chair and fixed his shirt collar as the man walked by. The chief stopped by that other detective (what was his alias… X?) and swatted his feet off the table.

“This is a professional meeting,” he said in a no-nonsense manner. He moved past X, who was rolling his eyes, and stood at the head of the table. His eyes swept over each detective in turn, brow furrowed in scrutiny. After a moment, he sighed and shook his head. M took the gesture to mean that the chief was expecting a different crowd. The man cleared his throat loudly to get everyone’s attention, which M thought was completely unnecessary since the room was already quiet.

“I assume you already know why you’re here,” the chief said. “You have all been selected as the top detectives in the world to capture the notorious mass-murderer, Kira. As you may know, there was an almost identical killer ten years ago by the name of Light Yagami. Unfortunately, we have lost all information on him and the only things we have left are the rumors.

“If you will, please open your briefcases and take out the files you were provided with.” He paused, waiting for them to comply. “Now, turn to the page listing what we believe are Kira’s current victims.”

M skimmed the list.

[center][i]Christopher Brown – accused of several crimes, but was never convicted of any of the many felonies he committed. Died of a heart attack. May 25.[/i]

[i]Imad Ajam, Maalik Alfarsi, Adel Karim, Iman Samara, and Qadir Saab – committed multiple acts of terrorism. Died of heart attacks. May 25.[/i]

[i]Eric Boyle – known sexual predator. Died of asphyxiation when choking on a pen cap. May 27.[/i]

[i]Haul Perkins – governor who took bribes, but was never convicted. Died of a stroke during a speech. May 30.[/i][/center]

Those were but a few of the dozens of names on the list. M looked up again as the chief continued speaking.

“Now, many of those deaths may seem too abstract to be murders, but we are fairly certain that Kira was behind them. We are not sure how he does it, but the most recent victim left a note confirming our suspicions. Ruthless dictator, Yeong Rhee, committed suicide yesterday. Normally we wouldn’t look into it, but he left a peculiar note. It said “Divine judgment has been cast upon me.” Our senior officers remember that the former Kira wanted to be thought of as a god. If so, this pattern applies to our Kira now.

“So, what are your thoughts, detectives?”