“This is too easy, Penema,” the man said, sitting cross-legged and hunched over his laptop in the dark. He slurped up the remains of his melted frap and then set it down on the floor next to a bag of empty potato chips.

His angel picked up a metallic die with doodles scribbled over the dots. Penema adjusted the die until light bounced off the corner and onto the middle of the golden X over his face. “That’s no fun,” he drawled in a monotone. “Easy games are boring.”

“Winning isn’t boring. Playing isn’t boring.” The man grinned, revealing a crooked front tooth and a chipped molar. “Hacking into the database of the world’s most famous detective and translating his notes isn’t boring.”

Penema let the die fall back onto the floor. At the same time as the die clattered, a wooden beam gave in and smashed an already-broken box TV, the antenna skewering through the wood. Horse flies buzzed tauntingly around a cobweb in front of the basement window. At age 22, the hacker looked like a typical bum out of college and living in his parents’ house. But this hacker was no ordinary bum.

He was a god candidate, one of thirteen—minus the deceased.

In fact, the report began with a list of the deceased, which the printer wheezed and coughed out.

Penema glowered. “That is not from the database of the world’s most famous detective.”

“True, I got it from a correspondent who calls themself V,” the hacker admitted, then he waved the paper proudly and added, “but this came after V spoke with L, so it’s like hacking into L’s database. Besides, the whole alpha-lot of them are using tech from, like, 2003.”

Penema nudged a corner of the hacker’s textbook-thick laptop with his toe. “You are also using technology from 2003,” he noted.

“But I’m not the one who got hacked.” The hacker reached out for more snacks. He popped open a bag of stale Pocky and offered one up to Penema, who held it over the X on his face in wonderment. The hacker leaned back, pressing his beanbag chair against the moldy wall; stuffing popped out from between the seams.

Nov. 24

From the Notebook of Verite, revised after corresponding with the mysterious L

“If it wasn’t for the Kira investigation a while back,” the hacker commented, remembering that grade school gossip as the rich kids in his class shouted for Kira to kill the poor criminals, “I’d take one look at ‘the mysterious L’ and think this dude’s a lunatic.” He barked out a laugh. “Who am I kidding? They call themself Verity.”

Penema was breaking the snack into halves, over and over. The hacker wondered when the halves would turn into crumble. “It’s actually pronounced Verite.”

“What, are they French?”

“Japanese.”

The hacker grinned. “Interesting.” He continued reading.

List of the Diseased Deceased

1. Felipe Amor, Oct. 24, age 36. The first of 13 potential targets to die. Stabbed to death by Neo Kira. The first stabbing victim, as opposed to a heart attack victim, by Neo Kira. Presumably found due to his sudden popularity among female European celebrities. Other targets were alerted by his murder and Neo Kira’s subsequent challenge.

The hacker raised one dark eyebrow. How did Verite know there were 13 “potential targets”?

2. Maria Campbell, Oct. 31, age 10. A foster child adopted by an American family after the Haiti earthquake. Neo Kira snapped her neck and let her fall from several meters above the bridge. Her body was recovered from the river the next day. Witnesses are uncertain as to how she flew like the actors, whose fight also resulted in one of them losing her left arm.

They were no actors, and the hacker was certain that Verite knew that too. As he converted meters to yards for peace of mind, he felt flustered that he hadn’t been able to decode Neo Kira’s cryptic message shared on Twitter the week before Halloween. However, that might be why he was still alive now. God, on his death bed, would know that the hacker wasn’t cut out for a fight against three martial artists.

3. Ulyana Sidorova, Nov. 4, age 14. Sold by her parents to a traveling circus that stopped by Uglich, Russia. Her body was pulled out of a river in Paris, France a few days after her death. Witnesses reported seeing her that day with a young woman known as Venus, making Venus a suspect in young Sidorova’s death.

Curious, the hacker searched up Ulyana Sidorova. What must she have looked like to have been sold to a circus like some drama from a Dickens-era novel?

He winced at first glance, but as he stared at her longer, his shock faded. Large freckles were smattered across her nose and soft cheekbones like chocolate chips. Her thick, cracked lips were peeled back to reveal buck teeth with freckles of their own. He could understand how people like Venus and the other fancy Parisians might have been repulsed, but to him, she just looked like a little girl.

4. Joan Chu, Nov. 9, age 18. Failed the entrance exam due to disqualification. Worked at a small bookshop for a few months afterward. Attempted a double suicide with a colleague and fellow exam taker. There is a 75.8% probability that she was the woman known as Lan-shi who responded to Neo Kira’s challenge and lost her arm in the ensuing fight. Her apartment exploded, killing her and several of her neighbors. The explosion materials were traced back to Uryu Armories, which experienced a breach in security earlier.

Verite was a lazy note taker. The hacker had to do some extra research to find out specific numbers. He said a quick “Hail Mary” for Joan’s neighbors, and promptly cursed when he found out just how fast Joan’s killer had acted—only two days had passed between the security breach and Joan’s murder.

5. Paula Wen, Nov. 14, age 20. Failed the entrance exam for three consecutive years. Worked at the same bookshop as Miss Chu, with whom she attempted a double suicide. There is an 86.3% probability that she was the woman known as Jin-shi who responded to Neo Kira’s challenge and allied herself with Lan-shi. Two weeks after the incident on the bridge, her body was found at a love hotel. Cause of death is suspected drug overdose. She checked into the hotel with a minor who disappeared from the scene.

The hacker licked his lips. Finally, another juicy story. He knew he and Amor weren’t the only god candidates using Red Arrows to make people fall in love with them.

Penema remarked, “What makes you think Miss Wen used a Red Arrow?”

The hacker slapped the paper, crumbs falling from his snack and feeding the roaches. “Love. Hotel. With a minor who left as soon as she died. Duh.”

“You think she played with him.” Penema picked up a cockroach and flipped it onto its back, more out of amusement than trying to help his candidate keep a tidy house—that was a damned mission anyway. “What if he was playing with her?”

“Impossible. He’s a minor; she’s a god candidate. The only way is if he’s…”

6. Kanade Uryu, Nov. 21, age 17. Heir to Uryu Armories, which suffered a security breach two weeks prior. His body was found in the laboratory atrium, where his sister’s body was kept frozen for future resuscitation. Cause of death was determined to be suicide, likely after the machine preserving his sister’s body was broken and her body decayed, though there were trace elements of a bullet that grazed his cheek. However, no bullets were found in the area. There is a 99.5% probability that young Uryu was Neo Kira. Incidentally, one of his gloves has an indent around the middle finger, likely from a ring, though his family’s servants gossiped that young Uryu did not wear the Uryu family ring.

And Verite was back to boring-Dickens-era frivolity. The hacker would bet two packs of Pocky and a family-sized bag of Lays that Verite had a top hat and a cane and spoke with a posh British accent.

“Hopefully you didn’t place much stock on any of those six,” Penema said.

“Aren’t angels the ones betting on us?” the hacker shot back. “Besides, the only ones I knew were Felipe and the Neo Kira kid—not that I knew them personally—and I wouldn’t bet on either of them.”

“Oh? Not even Neo Kira?”

“Ha! Kira lasted a few years without wings, but this punk didn’t even last a few months. He was screwed as soon as those Kung Fu Power Rangers entered the fray. Instead of challenging everyone so publicly, he should have gathered intel from a dingy basement like me.”

The hacker flipped the paper over to read the rest of Verite’s creepy diary entry.

List of the Reminding Remaining

1. “Venus,” late teens, 164 cm. Long orange hair, excessive makeup that distorts her facial features, long white feathery gloves, a white dress with a pearl bodice and a red gradient down the skirt. First appearance in Paris, France. Since then, people with disfigurements have been committing suicide worldwide.

The hacker spat into a milk-crusted mug that hadn’t been washed in months, disturbing the cockroach family inside. So Venus was cacophobic. He hated her even more now.

2. “Morning,” mid-to-late teens, 171 cm. Black hair, hood, and mask, blue shawl with silver dots, neon orange boots. Eyes and accent suggest a Japanese background. First appearance in Paris, France as Venus’s partner, but he seems more distant as the suicide rate skyrocketed.
3. “The Doctor,” early-to-mid 30’s, 181 cm. Crow mask like from the Bubonic Plague. Walks with a slightly hunched back and seems to have difficulty breathing. Accent suggests a German background. First appearance in Paris, France as Venus and Morning’s companion, but he has disappeared from the public recently.

Was he dead? The hacker would bet three packs of Pocky and a family-sized bag of Ruffles that the old man had keeled over from old age—or cancer—and his body was rotting alone somewhere.

4. Abbas Hassan “the Soldier,” age 19, 179 cm. American citizenship. Attempted suicide by aiming an M11 into his mouth on the anniversary of his enrollment in the American army. Officially active in Afghanistan but also makes appearances as “the Soldier” in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran.
5. “The General,” age and height unknown. American citizenship. Not much is known about him except that he directs young Hassan’s actions as the Soldier. Add: Based on recent suicide attempts, recorded IQ, and access to confidential information, the list of possible identities has been narrowed down to Colonel Mike Curtis, age 53, 195 cm; Brigadier Sammy Holsen, age 59, 190 cm; Sergeant Tyson Scott, age 21, 183 cm; and Lieutenant Colonel Zack Royce, age 52, 186 cm.

The hacker gawked at the paper. Verite must have made a typo. But no, the age checked out if Scott was a sergeant. How the hell could this punk who was younger than him be the General who had wiped out dozens of terrorist hideouts?

Penema burst out laughing so hard the basement fan quivered weakly before resuming its usual stuttering.

6. ?

That confirmed it. If Verite wasn’t a god candidate, they’d have two more entries to mark the 13 “potential targets.” But since there was only one more entry—Verite wouldn’t need an entry for themself—it meant Verite was a god candidate too.

The hacker chuckled as he pulled out a Sharpie from his hoodie pocket, crossed out the question mark, and wrote, Tomas Rodriguez.

Then he tossed the paper into the shredder.