"That's right, I am Kira."
Yagami Light stood up, his back to the window, letting the strong breeze ruffle his school uniform.
"The ten people at Araki Financial Company, I killed them all."
"But what about it, Yukinoshita? Do you want to arrest me? With the voice recorder you're clutching in your pocket? Or that page from the notebook I gave you?"
Yagami Light spread his arms, a smile devoid of warmth on his face, his eyes cold and playful, thoroughly enjoying Yukinoshita's shifting expression.
The afternoon sun streamed into the classroom through the window, light and shadow intertwined, warm and serene.
But such a sun offered Yukinoshita Yukino no warmth at all. Each breath felt like a biting chill, and the world seemed to stand still. Yukinoshita only felt lonely and helpless.
When she confronted Yagami Light, confronted that deep-seated fear, she realized that she didn't seem to be as righteous and fearless as she had hoped.
He found out...
Yukinoshita Yukino's hand, hidden in her pocket, unconsciously relaxed. Her fair, delicate hand dropped to her waist.
Yagami Light shook his head: "Yukinoshita Yukino, do you know what you're doing?"
"The head of the Yukinoshita family is a local councilor, and you have an older sister who works at the Yukinoshita family's construction company. Who gave you the courage to come face me alone?"
"Did you get your family in a wholesale?"
He walked over, uttering humorless jokes. Until he was beside Yukinoshita Yukino, he bent down, and from a very intimate distance, reached into Yukinoshita's pocket to retrieve the voice recorder. Then, right in front of her, he deleted the recorded content with a single touch.
[Master-level Stealth Technique]
Besides detecting cameras, it also has the function of detecting wiretaps. Surprisingly useful.
"That's just too immature. If I were you, no matter what obsession you had, I would probably pretend to know nothing and stay by my side."
"Slowly gain my trust, slowly gather evidence, and deliver a fatal blow when I'm most relaxed."
"Or secretly contact the police to report me and get help, even though no one would believe what you say."
"You're too hasty, Yukinoshita."
Yagami Light wore a disappointed expression, as if lamenting her inability to improve: "Although I knew you might be hostile towards me, I didn't expect you to dislike me so much. So much so that you were this eager, even forgetting to consider your and your family's safety, just to question me with a question you already had the answer to."
"Because of what? Just because I killed ten villains who deserved to die?"
Yagami Light propped one hand on the desk, operating his phone with the other, as if searching for something.
Soon, he presented the search results to Yukinoshita Yukino: "Take a look. These are the related search terms for Kira."
"Even though the news was suppressed so quickly, even though it's just a name similar to an urban legend, people still chose to believe, chose to accuse the criminals in the forums, wanting Kira to bring down divine punishment..."
"They are grateful to me, they have infinite hope for me, they are full of contempt for those ten villains I killed..."
"Yukinoshita Yukino, don't you find it interesting?"
"If I'm not mistaken, that page must have been sealed away by you as evidence, right? Even though all you needed to do was nod and move your finger to enjoy the pleasure of controlling life with the notebook I gave you, you chose to do such a foolish thing?"
"What a pity."
"Enough!"
Yukinoshita Yukino's face was pale, but even in the face of a predicament where her life could be controlled at any moment, the flame of anger still flickered in her eyes.
Yagami Light looked at Yukinoshita with admiration in his eyes.
This is it! A toy that can't be broken is truly interesting!
"What's so fun about it? What's interesting? What do you consider human life? Why don't you understand, why can't you comprehend? Even if they were truly guilty, why not hand them over to the law for judgment? Why resort to lynching?"
"Their crimes polluted the stream, but your lynching polluted the source!"
"You've used your justice to override the justice of the LAW!"
Yukinoshita Yukino clenched her silver teeth, striving to overcome the fear in her heart. Her pure soul, her absolute justice, blossomed with its own light even when facing the threat of death: "That's right, you possess such power, you can toy with others' lives at will, you must be very proud, right?"
"If I still choose to hand the page of the notebook you gave me to the police, what will you do? Kill me, this obstacle, right?"
"You seem to be constantly pursuing your own justice. If an innocent person like me obstructs you, will you kill me? Any obstacle that hinders you can be removed, right?"
"Will you kill me, Yagami Light?"
Will you kill me?
Yukinoshita Yukino's agitated yet suppressed voice echoed in the club room, and also in Yagami Light's heart, stirring ripples.
A strong sense of déjà vu swept through Yagami Light's mind, as if he had once again arrived at a crossroads of fate. It seemed similar to the dilemma faced by him in the dream. If he chose to kill, he would not be absolute justice. If he chose not to kill, he would be punished by the martyr of procedural justice.
She really... knows how to give people a hard time.
Yagami Light chuckled and shook his head, calmly uttering two words: "I won't."
"Hmm?"
"I won't kill you, never. As long as you are innocent, no matter what belief you wish to uphold, I will not harm you," Yagami Light said with a gentle smile. "I can also tell you that I can recall the power of the notebook at any time. Only what I give you is yours; using the notebook as evidence to punish me is impossible."
"And as the son of a former Director of the Criminal Affairs Bureau. As the most outstanding student in Chiba, and even Tokyo. As someone who has given public speeches representing the school multiple times... do you think the police will believe you for slandering me, or will they believe that a student with the aforementioned qualities and a strong sense of justice would be Kira, whose hands are stained with blood?"
"Your methods are useless against someone like me."
"Futility."
"Are you disappointed with this outcome, Yukinoshita?"
Disappointed?
Yukinoshita Yukino lowered her gaze. To say she wasn't disappointed... that was impossible.
If what Yagami Light said was true, if he could retract the notebook's power, there would be no way to prove that Yagami Light was Kira. The difference in their identities and statuses would also determine that people would believe Yagami Light's words more.
Procedural justice seemed to have been completely defeated.
She was helpless.
The chasm between their abilities could not be bridged by mere passion or absolute conviction.
Yukinoshita Yukino's proud and righteous fighting spirit flickered like a candle in the wind.
---
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