Greetings

Greetings (拝啓, Haikei) is the 6th chapter of Volume Nine and 76th chapter overall.

Plot
While watching different television shows, Light Yagami and the Kira Investigation Team see first hand how quickly the public’s perception of Kira has changed. Much of the world now does not view Kira as evil. The other detectives are concerned that the way things are going, they'll have to leave the police or be branded as criminals themselves since they are hunting for Kira.

Matsuda feeds apples to Ryuk in an effort to get him to tell them where Kira is but to no avail, so he snatches the apples back.

Light feels that everything is going his way. Before long, those who oppose Kira will be in a minority. In the meantime, there is still no trace of Mello and Light is anxious to get him before the SPK.

Meanwhile, Near tells Anthony Rester, Stephen Gevanni and Halle Lidner that he is going to dissolve the SPK. He also believes that when most of the SPK members were murdered by the Death Note some of them were spared because Mello expected to need them later. He’s now alone and without resources and needs all the information that he can get if he’s to catch Kira.

Near tells his colleagues that if Mello contacts any of them then they are to tell him of the possibility that the new L might be Kira and that Near is in possession of Mello’s only photograph. They are to place cameras and listening devices in their homes in case he does try to make contact. Lidner is the strongest possibility since, as a woman, she will be easier to overcome in a fight.

Now that the SPK will officially go underground, Near also wants them to find new recruits, people who oppose Kira but are also willing to work for Near without knowing who he is.

US President George Sairas announces the disbanding of the SPK, which is an odd thing to announce given that they never officially existed but were secretly set up by his late predecessor. Light feels that Near is beginning to make his move. He also decides to use the Kira-supporting zealots led by Sakura TV’s director Demegawa to spread Kira’s ideals.

In the evening, Halle Lidner returns home where she finds Mello who has been hiding in her flat for some time now. He has a huge scare on his face as a result of being caught in the explosion of the Mafia hideout. Lidner has a listening device on her coat and informs her colleagues at HQ that she is switching it off in order to take a shower.

In the bathroom, Lidner showers while telling Mello of the latest developments and how Near predicted they'd make contact, unaware that they had already done so. She also tells him that Near thinks the new L is Kira. Mello had been led to believe that Matsuda is L but merely a mouthpiece for the Japanese police. He finds it hard to believe that the current L, who he sees as next to useless, could be Kira, but does consider it a possibility.

Lidner has already told Mello that she is on neither his side nor Near's: she just wants Kira captured. Mello suddenly tells her to return to the SPK HQ and threatens her with a gun when she hesitates.

Moments later, Mello, with his gun pointing at Lidner's head, enters the SPK HQ where he is greeted calmly by Near, while Rester and Gevanni have drawn their own firearms!

Conception
Ohba said that the chapter's title "Greetings" simply just refers to the line Near says when he goes "Welcome, Mello."

Ohba went onto say that he did not remember the development process regarding the line well, however he believed that the line originally was maybe "Welcome Home, Mello."