(250 Power Stone Bonus)
Chapter 9: The Death List
A short while ago, after Nakiri Erina had left carrying the sliced pieces of Sea King meat, Nakiri Senzaemon offered his gratitude to Kazuma Yumesaki once more, initially intending to take his leave as well.
But right at that moment, Kazuma Yumesaki called out to him and asked a single question.
"Within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, is there a police officer named Soichiro Yagami?"
Whether or not the Death Note had merged into this world depended entirely on the existence of this man, Soichiro Yagami.
He was the father of Light Yagami, the main protagonist of the Death Note story.
However, Light Yagami possessed at most a small amount of popularity within his school environment, placing him in a completely different world from someone like Nakiri Senzaemon.
It was impossible for Nakiri Senzaemon to know who Light Yagami was.
But when it came to Soichiro Yagami, that wasn't necessarily the case.
In the original storyline, Soichiro Yagami was not just a mere officer within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department; he held a fairly high rank.
There was a chance Nakiri Senzaemon might recognize the name.
Faced with Yumesaki's question, Nakiri Senzaemon shook his head and said, "I do not know anyone by the name of Soichiro Yagami, nor do I know if the Metropolitan Police Department employs such an individual, but I can attempt to look into it through some of my associates."
Yumesaki murmured softly in acknowledgment, making no move to stop him.
Nakiri Senzaemon pulled out his phone, placed a few calls, and inquired among a number of his well-connected acquaintances.
One of his contacts quickly provided a definitive answer.
After hanging up the phone, Nakiri Senzaemon said, "There is indeed an officer named Soichiro Yagami within the Metropolitan Police Department. May I ask what sort of connection you have with this Soichiro Yagami, Mr. Yumesaki?"
Yumesaki shook his head and replied, "No connection at all. The only reason I asked was to confirm a certain matter."
Since Soichiro Yagami existed, it meant Light Yagami existed as well.
That notebook really did exist in this Crossover World.
If that was the case, the cause behind the deaths of Asuna and Nakiri Erina was highly likely to be that very notebook.
Yumesaki's eyes flashed with a sharp light. While Nakiri Erina and Dojima Gin were busy preparing the Sea King meat, he spoke to the Cursed Homies perched upon his shoulder, "Take me to find your original body."
The Cursed Homies pointed toward the forest stretching out beyond the window and said, "Right away, Master. Please, follow this way."
Yumesaki turned to Cossette and Nero, saying, "Go ahead and eat first. I will step out for a moment and return shortly."
In the very next fraction of a second, he vanished completely from the spot where he stood.
The Warp-Warp Fruit was put into motion.
After swapping his active power from the Copy-Copy Fruit to the Warp-Warp Fruit, Yumesaki propelled himself rapidly across the distance under the guidance of the Cursed Homies.
With successive rushes of wind, he leaped through space.
After executing over a dozen consecutive warps, he materialized in Ginza, Tokyo, standing atop the roof of a towering high-rise building.
The Cursed Homies spoke up, "My original body is inside the office located on the topmost floor of this very building."
Yumesaki offered a low grunt of assent, switching his active ability from the Warp-Warp Fruit to the Through-Through Fruit.
His body phased smoothly through the rooftop structure, descending directly into the interior of the building.
Guided by the Cursed Homies, he stepped into the office without encountering the slightest bit of trouble.
The office was designed with grand opulence, occupying an entire half of the floor, featuring exceptionally high ceilings that evoked the spacious atmosphere of a vast hall.
The floor was finished with Statuario marble imported directly from Italy, its delicate veins flowing quietly beneath one's feet.
The wall directly opposite the main entrance was not a solid barrier, but rather a massive sheet of frameless, ultra-clear glass, offering a completely unobstructed view of the outside world.
At this current moment, the office stood entirely vacant.
The Cursed Homies hopped down from Yumesaki's shoulder, scrambled onto a large desk crafted from premium Black Walnut wood, and pointed underneath it.
"It is right down here, Master."
Yumesaki walked over and discovered a beautifully crafted safe tucked away beneath the desk.
Yet, a barrier of this nature posed no obstacle to him.
His right hand passed cleanly through the solid metal structure of the safe, allowing him to manipulate and release the lock mechanism from the inside.
Inside the safe lay a substantial hoard of gold bullion and a large stack of documents.
None of those things, however, were what Yumesaki was searching for.
What Yumesaki sought was a notebook, but the black-covered notebook he expected to see was nowhere to be found inside the compartment.
Right then, the Cursed Homies pried open one of the document folders and carefully pulled a single sheet of paper out from within.
"It is right here, Master." It held the paper out, presenting it to Yumesaki.
Yumesaki took the paper into his hands and discovered a few names written across its surface.
Occupying the third slot on the list was the name Nakiri Erina, and recorded directly behind it was her specific cause of death... death by drowning.
Without a shadow of a doubt, this had to be a page torn straight out of the notebook.
Even though it had been separated from the notebook itself, the supernatural rules governing it remained unchanged. Even after being detached, the power of the curse retained every bit of its potency.
It could still end a human life.
However, what caught Yumesaki off guard was the fact that he did not see Asuna's name anywhere on this particular sheet of paper.
What could that imply?
It suggested that the person who killed Asuna and the person targeting Nakiri Erina were highly unlikely to be the same individual.
More importantly, besides Nakiri Erina, Yumesaki spotted several other familiar names written down upon the paper.
Kaguya Shinomiya... death by electrocution.
Chika Fujiwara... death by automobile accident.
Raku Ichijo... death by falling from a building.
Ryo Saeba... death by gunshot wound.
As his eyes swept across these names, Yumesaki's brow twitched. This was truly remarkable... the sheer weight carried by this specific list was staggering.
If they weren't male protagonists, they were female protagonists.
Kaguya Shinomiya was the main female protagonist of Kaguya-sama.
Chika Fujiwara fell into a similar bracket; while she wasn't the primary female lead, she could easily be considered the secondary heroine, possessing a level of popularity that rivaled the main protagonist herself.
Raku Ichijo, as Yumesaki recalled, seemed to be the central male protagonist of Nisekoi.
As for Ryo Saeba, there was absolutely no question about him—the definitive male protagonist of City Hunter.
As a consequence of this list, an entire group of key figures had been recorded onto the notebook's page, and by now, were they already completely dead?
Well, this was certainly something...
For a brief moment, Yumesaki found himself entirely at a loss for words.
Who exactly was the current holder of this paper, what sort of deep-seated grudge or hatred did they harbor against this specific group of individuals, and why go to such lengths to eliminate them?
Furthermore, given that every single target was a central protagonist, could this be dismissed as a pure coincidence, or...
Yumesaki instinctively sensed that this entire situation was far from simple.
Perhaps it would be best for him to seek out the holder of this paper and have a brief conversation.
Yumesaki's gaze shifted across the surface of the desk, eventually settling on a beautiful picture frame resting on one of the corners.
Secured inside the frame was a photograph depicting a middle-aged man dressed in a sharp business suit, his countenance radiating a sense of intense ambition.
He picked up the picture frame and activated Blueno's Air Door.
Stepping through the dimensional threshold, he returned to the private room within the Totsuki Resort.
Nakiri Senzaemon was still waiting inside. Upon witnessing the sudden manifestation of the Air Door and Yumesaki stepping out from within it, a wave of profound shock washed over him.
"Mr. Yumesaki, you are..."
Yumesaki held up the picture frame, turning the photograph inside toward Nakiri Senzaemon to show it to him clearly.
"Do you recognize this man?"
Nakiri Senzaemon instantly identified the man captured in the photo. His expression darkened considerably as he spoke, "That man is the President of Asahi Heavy Industries, Asahi Tanaka. Mr. Yumesaki, could it be that Erina's plight is truly tied to him?"
Yumesaki gave a quiet murmur of confirmation, casually tossing the picture frame onto a nearby table. He walked over while carrying the sheet of paper containing the list, closing the Air Door behind him as he did so.
"The cursed item used to target Erina has been located. It is this."
Yumesaki placed the piece of paper down onto the desk, "This is a single page taken from a notebook. Someone tore it out and delivered it into the hands of Asahi Tanaka."
Nakiri Senzaemon glanced down at the list of names recorded on the paper, and his heart instantly skipped a beat.
"Has this Asahi Tanaka completely lost his mind? How could he dare to do this?"
While there were many names on the list that he failed to recognize, the two surnames of Shinomiya and Fujiwara were ones he knew all too well.
The former represented a monolithic Zaibatsu.
Compared to an entity of that scale, the Nakiri family didn't even operate on the same playing field.
The latter was a family of Prime Ministers, wielding immense influence within the political sphere.
Asahi Tanaka had actually possessed the audacity to write both of those names down on this sheet... if this ever came to light, not even ten iterations of Asahi Heavy Industries could hope to withstand the furious, destructive retaliation launched by those two forces.
Yet looking at it from another perspective, if it hadn't been for Mr. Yumesaki, who could have ever guessed that their deaths were linked to Asahi Heavy Industries?
After all, the demises of those two individuals could easily be dismissed as nothing more than tragic accidents.
"Do you happen to know where this Asahi Tanaka is located right now?" Yumesaki inquired, feeling a strong inclination to have a word with the man.
Nakiri Senzaemon shook his head, completely in the dark regarding Asahi Tanaka's current whereabouts.
"Do you have a phone number for Asahi Tanaka? Please provide it to me."
Nakiri Senzaemon did indeed possess the man's contact information. Though he held little affection for this aggressive parvenu, he hadn't gone so far as to cut ties completely in an open fashion; he had accepted a business card in the past and recorded the number.
Yumesaki took the phone number from Nakiri Senzaemon and initiated a call to the opposite party.
Before long, the line connected.
From the speaker came an incredibly enthusiastic voice, "Ah, Mr. Nakiri! I must say, I am quite surprised by your sudden call. Could it be that you have experienced a change of heart and wish to..."
"I am not Nakiri Senzaemon."
Without waiting for the man to finish his sentence, Yumesaki cut him off entirely.
The enthusiastic tone on the other end died instantly.
A few seconds of silence dragged by before the voice returned, its tone significantly more guarded. "Who are you?"
"You could consider me the one who has come to claim your life."
"Haha, are you playing some kind of joke on me?" Asahi Tanaka's voice dropped several octaves lower.
"It matters little what you think. The single sheet of paper kept inside the safe within your private office has already been taken by me."
"Paper? What paper?" Tanaka's breathing grew noticeably heavier, yet he desperately attempted to play dumb.
"Kaguya Shinomiya, Chika Fujiwara, Raku Ichijo, Ryo Saeba... do I need to continue reading the rest?"
This time, the voice on the other end vanished completely.
Even the sound of his breathing seemed to die away.
Yumesaki remained perfectly composed, waiting patiently. The person who needed to panic right now wasn't him.
It was the man on the other end of the line.
After a protracted silence, Asahi Tanaka's voice finally filtered through the phone once more.
"Who exactly are you?"
"I already told you. The one who has come to claim your life."
"Stop joking around with me!" Tanaka screamed over the line, his mounting rage undercut by a distinct tremor of pure terror.
"You are afraid," Yumesaki noted calmly.
Tanaka shouted back, "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about!"
"You know exactly what I mean. You are terrified that I might write your name down upon that piece of paper. And let me tell you, I have already seen your photograph. I know exactly what you look like. As long as I desire it, I can pen your name down at any given moment."
"Don't do it!" Tanaka blurted out instinctively, his voice shaking violently.
Yumesaki let out a soft chuckle, "It seems you truly are terrified."
Tanaka pleaded frantically, "I will pay you. I will give you money! Just tell me how much you want, and I can provide it all to you. As long as you return that piece of paper to me, I can give you anything your heart desires."
Yumesaki shook his head, "I hold no interest in money. The only thing I wish to know is this: who was the person who placed that sheet of paper into your hands?"
Asahi Tanaka fell utterly silent.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
50 Power Stone = 1 Bonus Chapter (Up to 5 bonus chapters per week).
Join my Patreon to get access to more chapters from Webnovel here:
patreon.com/FaaanzKun