Circus

Stephan heads to the United States and Mexico in search of death notes; allowing Taro and Lucca to tag along after discovering that they possess one with a shinigami willing to help.

Taro and Lucca meet at a piazza or gathering place in the city to discuss their plans about disposing of the other death note owners. Belphagor has disappeared for the time being and the boys don't know where he went. They haven’t figured out how they will track them down or how they will be able to travel the world without supervision, transportation and the money for it all. Taro decides that it is in their best interest to seek Stephan’s help knowing that he will be on the same mission with orders from L. Lucca is hesitant about seeking their help knowing that they will seize the notebook from Taro as soon as they get the chance. Taro sees no other option if they want to possess all the notebooks.

“I say we do have another option. We need to find a devote group of Kira worshippers who can help us carry out our plans. A small group of them that can provide us with everything we will need.”

“And how do you propose we do that? We can’t just go up to people in public and ask. There are people out there that despise Kira and may reveal our location to the police or even worse to L.”

“If you are going to ask Stephan, then tell him I own the notebook; tell him that if they try to take it from me I will kill him, you, L and his team. Make Stephan keep our presence a secret.” Taro is taken back by not only the seriousness in his voice, but the truth he hears in his threat. He nods his head and agrees though, more out of fear than anything else. “Then it’s settled. Stephan will be our means to an end. When the time comes, will you be able to betray him and the others?"

"Yes, they will all die eventually... I will die eventually. I'd rather kill them before they see a world with no mercy. I'm sure when we are shinigami, we will have no recollection of our human life and may kill them anyways. I can only hope that Belphagor keeps his word and my ideals remain so we can be an eternal Kira-the true Kira that only kills those that need to die."

"Belphagor wants to toy with human life, making the world a more perfect place will never happen, Taro...unless you want to become the shinigami's king. I see you, Taro, you are clever. Two shinigami against one in the end. No restraint on our killing powers, no L to combat us-a world we can shape from the ashes of world war." Lucca has a devilish grin on his face as he stares at the sky with excitement. He opens his backpack and dumps maps onto the steps they are sitting on. Taro catches them as they roll down the stairs. On the maps are circles and notes of recent activity that involves mass murder and suspicious deaths.

“Where should we start, somewhere close or somewhere far? Egypt and North Korea is the closest while Brazil, Mexico and Australia are pretty far.” Taro analyzes.

“I would say somewhere far and work our way back.”

Ring. Ring. Ring. Taro sees that Stephan is calling him and he answers it.

“Ok, I am heading home now. Is it ok if Lucca comes too...Ok thank you, see you in ten.” He hangs up. “Stephan says he is heading to the United States for a ‘vacation’ and he says you and I can go with him. So I guess we will start there.”

“Sounds like a plan then. And so the investigation begins.”

            Taro and Lucca heads to their houses to pack while Stephan contacts L who instruct him to meet up with Halle in Washington D.C. In the evening their flights leaves so they can get to the states in the morning. On the plane, Taro sits between Stephan and Lucca. Lucca falls asleep quickly while Taro tells Stephan that he knows about the death notes appearing around the world and that L wants to track them down, but he wonders how he will stop the shinigami from killing him.

“Since L is in possession of one of the death notes, another shinigami can’t kill him, only the shinigami attached to his death note can who is one our side now surprisingly!”

“But the rest of you are not safe.”

“Well, that just means we have to be extra careful. L announced the other day that he will not interfere with the Kiras and that it is the world governments’ responsibility…of course he is still investigating in secrecy.”

“Since L has one, Lucca and I have one, two of the six countries are lying about having one.” Taro passes his death note to Stephan so he can see Belphagor. Stephan doesn’t open it so he doesn’t see the names they have already written in it.

“We need to find the real ones, have them all in our possession and lock them away so no more can enter the human world. However, even with all that the shinigami can kill us and give them to a new owner. We need to find a way to kill them…much easier said than done. From my understanding, the King of Death will keep the shinigami in the shinigami realm- in the shinigami realm.”

“This King can’t just simply kill them?”

“Even with all the power in the world, the King cannot kill us based on human actions targeted towards other humans but only by the action we take to help humans live. Also, the King cannot kill a death note user since that responsibility lays on the shinigami…a King bound by his own rules.” Belphagor explains.

“Some King.”

“I’m sure we can kill them when the time comes. We just need to strategize. But right now we should get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us.” Stephan hands Taro back his death note and he buries it under the other items in his carry-on. He trusts that Taro didn’t use it since he told him they found it a couple days ago. Turning off the overhead light, they go to sleep while Belphagor sits on top of the plane with his wings out stretched; he is amazed at how much faster a plane travels than his own wings can take him.

            Several hours later, they arrive in D.C. and meet up with Halle at one of the more expensive hotels in the area. The room is only meant for two, but they manage to sneak in the boys and give them a couch to call their bed. Taro fills Lucca in on what he and Stephan talked about on the plane while he and Halle went to the breakfast bar. Lucca, determine that they can still kill criminals and syndicate members makes a fake notebook with some real pages from the real notebook and carries that around with him so he can continue to kill without causing suspicion from Stephan and the others. Taro and Lucca still want to carry out the ideals of the previous Kira, but neither knows what will happen when they have to confront L.

            After they eat breakfast, Stephan lets the boys go site-seeing while he and Halle head to the White House and other major government buildings in search for a Death Note. Sneaking past guards and surveillance cameras, they make it to the oval office and confront the president directly. The secret service is surprised to see a previous member breaking into the White House. They draw their guns on them.

“L sent us, Mrs. President. We have reason to believe that you are in possession of a Death Note.” Halle as she cracks her knuckles. She orders his men to lower their guns and to leave them alone.

            The current president of the United States is the first female president as well as the first Hispanic president. Many Americans feel like it is her who is allowing the illegal immigration to reach an all-time high knowing that her parents were illegal immigrants at one point; the main thing the rival president candidate focused on during the presidential campaigns. Despite his efforts trying to discredit her legal citizenship, she is now president and is trying her best at dealing with illegal immigration, trying to separate the ones who truly want to better their lives thorough education and hard work from the ones who are trying to expand criminal activities.

“I also have reason to believe that L still has the Death Note from seven year ago. Why does he want another one? How do I know that L won’t become Kira? Why should I risk my country’s security because L doesn’t trust...anyone.?”

“He hasn’t used it in those seven years and has no intention of using it ever. He wants to prevent World War III-the end of mankind by mankind. L has dealt with this before and having a neutral person deal with international tensions is best. No one is safe, not with this magnitude of death notes in our word; all seeming to have their own vendetta.” Stephan explains.

“The previous president trusted L, I guess I should as well. Unfortunately, we have not confirmed a death note in my country, but we have confirmed one in Egypt and possibly one in Australia. Both are helping us with threats from Mexico and North Korea. In return they ask that we not interfere with Egypt’s crusade through Africa and Australia just wants protection in return due to their recent findings of oil. I suggest you go after Mexico or North Korea next to lessen the need for the others to retaliate should something pop off.”  The president continues to tell them that Mexico is killing all the border patrol police and immigration officers. A syndicate has the mission to kill anyone who is against the immigration so she has to support it and encourage her citizens to do the same.

            Halle takes out her cellphone and calls Kiara and tells her the confirmed countries to have death notes- Mexico, North Korea, Egypt. This leaves Australia and Brazil who may or may not have one. She informs them that they will meet up with Mogi and Yamamoto in Mexico since the situation is more dangerous than originally thought. Kiara decides to set up a group of L supporters who are against the death notes being used to kill whoever the owner so chooses. Unlike the previous Kira where criminals and those that defied Kira were punished, now anyone who defies any of the Kiras or are part of their targeted area will die…unfortunately it is hard to tell what Egypt, Brazil and Australia are after for they are no more innocent than North Korea or Mexico. Stephan calls Taro and Lucca and tells them to meet them back at the hotel with all their things backed so they can head to Mexico immediately.

            While on the plane, Stephan analyzes the map Lucca made of the patterns of killings. They notice that some of the areas being targeted are those that contain industries that exploit animals to test products on-drugs and make-up, circuses, zoos, labs for social experiments, etc. The trail of killing started in Mexico and spread across the world. They suspect the owner of the death note to be a person who loves animals and may be an animal rights activist. They believe that the immigration may be a distraction for their real goal or part of it in order to find out the names of the people they need to kill.

            Everyone on the internet is now anonymous. Even in photos on the internet the faces are blurred out after names and faces were too easily accessed for the previous Kira to carry out his killings. Now, no one no longer wants to be recognized for anything they do, good or bad, with most people going by aliases when on the news, at work and out in public. Children are generally safe until they reach high school in which most transfer to new school so none will know their true name. Some even go as far as to hide most of their face while out in public. They only people who are at high risk of their identity being revealed are criminals with life sentences and those who don’t hide their face. The world is become a place of distrust and dishonesty. More than ever are citizens in a country are obeying their leaders and are taking sides with the countries that claim they have death notes. Despite all the efforts to keep the general public out of harm’s way, death tolls are skyrocketing to even greater numbers than before. People are ratting out neighbors, co-workers, friends and family who go against “The World Order”. 

            Arriving in Mexico, they meet up with Mogi and Yamamoto who are chilling in Cancun while they had the down time. They also believe that one of the owners is in the area. A major tourist attraction would be the ideal spot to hide out and a beautiful place to relax while one has the world at it mercy. Yamamoto points to a hut with a man and woman inside it-their target. They are not trying to hiding their faces which isn’t that suspicious since they are on vacation in a secluded location of Cancun, but Mogi has seen the man talk to himself on several occasions, the woman obsessing over every animal she sees and most importantly him using the death note. Lucca looks at them with his shinigami eyes to see their names.

“Alejandro Rivera and Selena Sosa, those are their names. Shall we kill them?” Lucca asks Taro. Taro and Lucca are standing ways away from the others.

“We should see if they will surrender first.” Stephan say to the other adults while he catches eyes with the man who tells the woman something before they make a run for it.

“What? They know?” Halle wonders.

“Their shinigami, Kinddara Guivelostain saw me. They don’t know who I am attached to.” Belphagor tells them. They choose not to chase them and instead spread out to keep an eye on them. As Mogi and Yamamoto follow them, they know they are being tailed. The woman pulls out a gun and starts shooting in random directions. One bullet flies by Mogi’s nose; people in the streets scatter to take cover in nearby building. A shot is fired back at them by Halle who runs on the rooftops. The man talks to the shinigami,

“Which one owns their death note?”

“The boy with the green hair.” Pointing at Lucca. Taro had given him ownership for the time being.

“I wonder who set them. Why a child? They really think I wouldn’t kill a child, they are sadly mistaken.” They continue to run and draw their followers to an abandoned circus tent. This was the first circus targeted when the woman and man began their killing spree. Yamamoto, Mogi and Stephan block the entrances and exits while Halle slowly approaches them. A gun in both hands she points it at them. All of them have their faces concealed as a precaution.

“You see this circus, it used to be a major tourist attraction with great performers-animals and humans-but the humans mistreated the animals, neglect and abuse them. When an animal died from malnutrition or being beat to death for not performing up to par, they were quickly tossed out and replace. Killing animals for not being entertaining enough is despicable. The humans that do that deserved to die.”

“We know you have the death note, surrender it to us and we will let you live.” Halle aims the gun at his forehead.

“And why should I already know the names of the two boys traveling with you and the one who owns your death note, so I can kill the one boy right now if you don’t remove your masks. I already wrote the first name.”

“Big mistake.” Yamamoto unloads a round of bullets on them, knocking the death note out of his hand and towards Stephan. The man holds his hand as it bleeds.

“You’re fighting the wrong person! It’s disgusting how humans kill animals for reasons other than survival in dire situations. Animals are being killed for entertainment and recreation; animals are being used to test drugs on that are meant to ensure our survival but not theirs. By putting us in jail only means that you condone this kind of behavior.” Selena shouts at them as she steps in front of Alejandro.

“Don’t take this personally, but we are not for or against it. We have a mission that doesn’t concern you but concerns the shinigami with you.” Lucca and Taro had snuck into the tent. Lucca picks up the death note and sees the shinigami, Kinddara Guivelostain. She is a scary looking one with stiches on her head and sharp teeth. Shinigami rank 12 out of 13 who loves to kill and doesn’t think too much about anything else. Not much is known about how shinigami are ranked, but she is on the lower end.

“A human has business with me?” She laughs sinisterly. “I should kill you all out of sheer stupidity. Maybe I shall start with your friend”

“Go ahead, kill Taro. Doesn’t change the fact that you can’t kill me, but I can kill Alejandro with his death note.” Lucca holds a pen to one of the clean pages.

“I don’t care what happens to this human. If you kill him you get ownership and I can kill you and your friends since Belphagor can’t do anything about it.”

“True, I am willing to take that risk.” He begins to write down a name and as he does Selena charges at Lucca. Kinddara charges at Belphagor knowing that he came to take her back to the shinigami realm. Halle and Mogi shoot at Selena hoping she would back off while Stephan keeps his gun pointed at Alejandro. 30 seconds left. Lucca grabs Taro and they run for an exit. Alejandro shots at Halle with the intent to kill her, but she dodges his bullets and doesn't fire back. 20 seconds left. Kinddara comes at Belphagor with her teeth but he swats her away with his bone staff. He continues to evade her attacks and without thinking of her surroundings she swings her claws. 10 seconds left. Belphagor positions himself behind Selena as she fist fights Mogi and Yamamoto. Kinddara lunges at Belphagor with her hands in the shape of a sharp and long dagger. At the last second Belphagor moves to make Kinddara impale Selena. Time’s up. Selena collapses to the ground as Kinddara removes her hand from her back. Her body freezes as it slowly turns to dust. Such a violent shinigami, she wasn’t able to contain her rage and accidently kills a human without using her death note. This is considered an extreme level violation and death is immediate. Alejandro is still alive after Lucca failed to write down his name or a name of someone he could picture the face of. Mogi quickly handcuffs Alejandro while Stephan closes Selena’s eyes. Lucca couldn’t believe that their plan actually worked. Taro and the rest of them feel bad that she had to be a casualty for their plan to work.

            They allow Alejandro to give Selena a proper burial before Mogi and Yamamoto escort him to their special prison L built for these criminals in Japan. They leave the death note with Stephan, Halle and the boys and give ownership of both to Taro after Lucca gives back ownership of Belphagor’s notebook; their best option is the adults want to keep their cover on future missions. Stephan calls L to get the next order. He instructs them to head to Brazil next to meet up with Sani and Matsuda but orders Halle to go to North Korea to join Aizawa and Ide. L also gives Stephan another order only his ears can hear,

“Stephan, I want you to keep a close eye on both Taro and Lucca. Having one of the active death notes, I have no doubt that they used it. There was a string of criminal killings in Italy weeks ago. I’ve been looking into Lucca’s past after learning from his teacher that he worships Kira which is very concerning. I’ll let you know what I find. In the meantime, suggest to them that they keep killing in the same pattern as Alejandro and Selena did to reduce suspicions. Say that you will go to any measure necessary to defeat Kira again. If they readily accept without hesitation I am certain that they have killed before. I want to know if they want to be Kira after all is said and done.”

“Understood, L.” He hangs up the phone and leaves the bathroom of the hotel room. Sitting on the couch while Taro and Lucca sit on the floor watching TV, he tells them what L wants them to do.Taro tries to convince Stephan that he won’t follow in his father’s footsteps, knowing how hard he and their family fought to bring down Kira. Lucca tells him that he is along for the ride being fascinated with the Death Note, shinigami and Kira. Neither tells Stephan about Belphagor, his plans for the world and Taro and Lucca after they die, that Lucca has a fake death note with real pages he continues to kill criminals with- now he has included lawyers who help the guilty avoid jail- and that Lucca has shinigami eyes. They get some rest before their morning flight to Brazil. Stephan sleeps with a smile on his face feeling that their missions may be easier than he initially thought.

            Belphagor holds onto the death note Kinddara kept on herself while Taro has the death notes he and Alejandro used. A shinigami’s personal death note can never be used by a human so these ones are less threating than the ones Taro possesses. Belphagor knows that the more death notes he possesses of other shinigami, the stronger his power becomes. Having six plus the six Taro and Lucca will obtain for him will rival the King of Death’s power, not in the quantity of death notes possesses but the mass of deaths committed: knowing that the energy will be channeled to him and away from the King. Visibly, Belphagor is growing in size.