L's Game

Debate Phase (Day 1)

Hours passed by aimlessly inside of the room and not much discussion was made on the first day of the investigation. Light Yagami and Kiyomi Takada were quietly discussing the investigation among themselves before it was time for all of the investigators to debate. Inside of a seemingly empty and private lounge room where they'd be sleeping for the night, Light Yagami made sure to be extremely careful with what he said, well aware that there were security cameras and wiretaps that had been installed inside of the room to handle surveillance for each of the investigators that comprised the investigative team. 

Light Yagami: "Nervous, Kiyomi?" He asked, smiling a bit to try and reassure her of the 'game' that they were playing. Kiyomi was sweating and she seemed very worried at the notion that Kira was among them, but just who exactly was Kira? 

Kiyomi Takada: "I am. If that L is right... If Kira is actually here with us, watching our every move and fixing to kill us... Then..."

Light Yagami: "Don't worry, Kiyomi. I'll make sure that Kira doesn't do anything to us. We'll catch him and bring him to justice." Light said, his smile vanishing as he clenched his fist hard and rocked it back and forth in an exaggerated motion. Surveying this conversation behind the scenes was none other than L, whose eyes were laid on a screen. It was daytime and day was transitioning into the evening after a long discussion time. 

All of the members of the Kira Task Force walked out into the living room to begin their discussion, but couldn't find any momentum to discuss anything at all, for they had no evidence to discuss aside from the fact that Kira's targets had mainly suffered heart attacks. They all sat down in couches opposite from one another. Watari, the assistant for L, came around and passed some papers over to each member in the room. Their eyes went to the paper and each paper was completely blank. Was this some kind of test of L's to prove if they were worthy or a mechanic for the game, perhaps? Only time would tell.

Touta Matsuda: "Hm? What are these for?" 

L: "They're for the game. Each of you have received a paper and now you're going to receive a pencil to write whatever you desire on the paper in a code." L said, his smile dissolved as his black, empty eyes sat on each of their faces to examine their facial expressions. 

Light Yagami: "A code?"

Shuichi Aizawa: "What code?"

L: "A hash function code." Right as he said this, each of the investigators experienced a ringing sound in their electronic devices as the hash function code was sent to their phones. The hash function was arbitrary and random; senseless. None of the investigators could even make sense of it. Soon, they were all sent with a link containing the resource that could be used to decode the hash function of random numbers and letters. The investigators clicked the link and put in the code, and it was decoded down to a message that made sense. It was a test. The words that were encoded in the hash function was 'this is a test'. 

L: "Do you understand now? I embedded a complex, arbitrary hash function into a meaningless text message using this application. Now you can all do the same using the sheets of paper that I gave you. Remember, you have limited space and each sheet of paper will be sent to me at the end of the night. You will be required to send at least one message per session in here."

Touta Matsuda: "But why?"

L: "Because... Kira is here. And using this tactic, I'd hoped that he'd fall victim to this arbitrary method of communication during debate phases to make my job easier." Releasing a yawn, L took a sip of tea and continued to spectate the ongoing discussion, his pupils dilating in anticipation for what the investigators would say next.

Touta Matsuda: "Well... I guess I'll start this discussion by asking the main question that's been on all of our minds recently... How does Kira kill exactly?"

Soichiro Yagami: "Hmm... That's a good question. I'm not exactly sure how he does it, but certainly there must be some rule that he has to abide by in order for the killings to work, right?"

L: "Yes, yes... I've been wondering about that, too. Kira has been killing for a month now. He hasn't exactly been killing for any long amount of time. At least, his killings have reached a point where the ICPO and other intel agencies have noticed his killings as a recurring collapse in the life expectancy of residents in residential areas. And in that time that he has been killing to such an established rate, I've noticed one recurring element in each of his killings; heart attacks." 

Light Yagami: "Yes, that's right. Each killing has the victim die of a heart attack." Light said, nodding his head in agreement with the detective behind the scenes. 

L: "Then can we all agree that one part of how he does his killings is inducing heart attacks? Out of the several autopsy reports conducted for each and every one of his victims, a recurring aspect of oxygen blockage has been made apparent. I don't necessarily think that Kira has to exactly be there to conduct his killings, but he rather has to know the target's name and face in order to kill him. This is the same case that happened with Lind L. Tailor, who Kira thought was the actual L and allowed me to get a heads-up on where the actual Kira is; in the Kanto region of Japan." L slurped tea casually after his long thought process was made clear in the room and the investigators nodded and agreed.

L: "So, we can all come to the conclusion that Kira needs a name and face to kill. Seeing as how all of you have already revealed all forms of identification and vice versa before, if Kira is theoretically with us all in this very room, he could easily kill you all." L said, rubbing his toes against the chair that he sat in. 

Touta Matsuda: "..."

L: "Not to worry, though. By entering this room in this game-like situation, we've all put our lives on the line from a figurative standpoint. If Kira has the guts to actually kill one of us, he's confirming that he's here and he's giving us the reach to accuse him of being Kira in the first place." L's serious expression turned into a smirk as he scanned each of the expressions of the investigators through the cameras in the room before his smirk disappeared and turned into a serious look once again. 

L: "Well, that concludes today's session. Watari will be coming around and passing pencils for you to write information relating to the Kira case at hand." L said, continuing to rub his toes against one another out of anticipation for what would come next. 

Watari came by and passed each member of the group pencils to use to write their communication information down on the paper provided. The investigators began writing in silence; why, it was so silent that if a pencil dropped, one would be able to hear it and tell exactly where it was coming from. When they had finished writing down their encrypted messages, Watari collected their pencils and papers, walking out of the room to hand the papers to L for the night. 

They were soon told to go to their rooms in the giant department. Each investigator had been assigned a room where they'd be monitored without even knowing. In the meanwhile, L sat in his chair in his own private room without cameras to monitor him or watch him while he looked through the papers that he'd been given by each of the investigators that wrote down their hash functions on the paper. L decoded each and every single one of them, reading into them with such meaning that he forgot that he was playing a game. 

It was now time for L's reasoning on the subject matter.