Tajiri Hayato
Yoshino Akio
Yasutake Haruto
Kushiro Kanharu
Niosaka Taishi
Uike Aya
The names listed in the documents received by email matched exactly the names on the police's announced death list.
Kevin Yoshino found it hard to believe.
Since the accident on the Bunkyo Ward expressway, when the media repeatedly described the disaster's severity, he hadn't had a good night's sleep for days.
Every time he closed his eyes, the hellish scene haunted his mind.
But he soon confirmed the contents of the documents were true.
Those who died in this disaster were nothing but a bunch of damn scumbags!
Although he couldn't understand how that man managed to so naturally gather this group of scum at the same stretch of road, Kevin Yoshino's emotions found some relief knowing these people truly deserved their fate.
...At least some people would applaud their deaths, right?
...Perhaps, for the few who suffered under these people's hands, their actions were justice?
These thoughts echoed relentlessly in his mind for days, muddling his spirit.
The man who claimed he would call again had yet to contact him.
"..."
Dragging his exhausted body with a weary spirit, Kevin Yoshino returned to his military goods store.
As he pulled up the shutter, a postman stopped beside him on a bicycle:
"Mr. Kevin, you have mail."
"Ah..."
Kevin took it instinctively.
Back inside, opening the envelope, the contents shocked him into silence.
"To my dear friend Kevin,"
"By the time you read this letter, you should have already fulfilled my long-held wish, right?"
"Thank you."
"Thank you so very much."
"Although I already said back in Seattle how much I regretted involving you in this, and you replied that it was a rare chance to repay my kindness... that doesn't change anything, so I'm truly grateful you were willing to sacrifice this for me."
"After I died, the plan changed from what we originally agreed on, right?"
"I regret not telling you about this and even deliberately keeping you in the dark."
"Because a few days before I wrote this letter, a man approached me. After learning our plan, he proposed another one—at first, I didn't believe him, but after he really helped us kill Hitoshi Moriyama, I was convinced."
"According to his plan, not only is there a greater chance to unlock your sniper potential... even if not, it at least gets you completely out of the police's sight."
"That alone makes it worth accepting."
"Of course, I asked him about his motives... although he claimed it was for justice, I find it somewhat suspicious. Anyway, after I die, I will bless you."
"All the best."
"—Timothy Hunter"
The letter also contained a photo.
It was Hunter sitting at a desk when writing the letter... With this photo as proof, Kevin could believe the letter was not a forgery.
Ring ring ring!
The sudden phone ringtone tightened Kevin's aching heart. He picked up, and sure enough, the man's voice came through:
"Good afternoon, Mr. Kevin."
"It's you."
"You must have read Mr. Hunter's letter by now, right?"
"That's right."
"I'm glad you're not as hostile to me as that night you lost your voice." The man's tone was cheerful.
"From your voice, you sound a bit nasal—are you crying?"
"Cut the crap. What do you want?"
Kevin wiped the tears from his cheek.
On the day he personally shot Hunter as requested by Hunter himself, they had no chance for final words...
What Hunter left behind was only a relieved smile, finally welcoming death.
Hunter must have been happy then.
Kevin, who pulled the trigger that day and now bore the blood and hatred of his closest friend, could only think so.
Treating that moment as a final farewell, now seeing that Hunter had written this letter beforehand, Kevin's emotions were hard to contain.
"I want to invite you to help me, Mr. Kevin."
The man's voice grew serious. Kevin remained silent, waiting.
"This world is rotten."
"You should understand—having witnessed a superior accuse a subordinate unjustly out of jealousy, covering their own merits, even attempting to kill witnesses when you requested reinvestigation."
"Yet, the true culprit escaped punishment, honorably retired, and was rewarded by the state."
"Meanwhile, Mr. Hunter, who saved countless comrades on the battlefield and fought hard, ended up broken and living a painful life after losing his family."
"This world cannot go on like this."
"So help me!"
"Mr. Hunter's fate is not unique. In corners you don't know, worse and more disgusting things keep happening! The law may bring fairness to most people, but evil secretly scorns that justice—just like the scumbags I told you about."
"Mr. Kevin."
"Humans should have the right to pursue and obtain happiness, but because of some corrupt people, humanity cannot be happy... The world is falling, and humans are decaying. Harmful people should not exist; they have no right to."
"So help me! Just like that bomb you threw that day."
"There are too many people like Mr. Hunter who need help."
"You, who share honor and disgrace with your close friend, must understand... Trust me, I will try to make this world more just—or rather, only I can do this!"
"Just like that day when I gathered all the scumbags on that lane—can anyone else do such a thing!?"
Even with voice distortion, the man's voice carried an incredible intensity.
His tone was highly provocative.
Though over the phone, Kevin felt his burning gaze piercing right through him.
He instinctively gripped the phone tightly.
Hunter's fate and letter replayed endlessly in his mind...
The nausea of killing his closest friend with his own hands, the sorrow of watching him die with a smile, the thrill and terror of witnessing Jack Walz die in the accident Kevin caused—
All suppressed feelings of guilt over the accident surged back, making his body tremble uncontrollably.
He opened his mouth, throat dry.
Making this world more just...
"Do you know?"
"When those scumbags die, how do the eyes of the oppressed, saved by your actions, look? Go see for yourself!"
No need to look.
No need to look anymore...
Kevin Yoshino could perfectly imagine the scene.
Just like when he killed that unscrupulous reporter Brian Woods in Seattle for Hunter—he still vividly remembered Hunter's tears and joyous smile then.
So what kind of despair must someone fall into to lose the ability to take revenge by themselves and need others to save them?
Just thinking this made Kevin grit his teeth fiercely.
"...What do you need me to do?"
On the other side,
Hearing this reply, Hayashi Yoshiki calmly smiled.
Has he taken the bait?
Using the Death Note to control Timothy Hunter to write and send the letter really worked.