Clean-Up

Clean-Up (浄化, Jõka) is the first chapter of volume ten and the eightieth chapter of the Death Note manga series.



Plot
In New York, Kira's supporters are attacking the SPK's headquarters. Flying overhead in a helicopter, Hitoshi Demegawa encourages them, calling on them to drag Kira's enemies out onto the street in front of cameras in order that he can judge them.

As "L", Light urges Near to escape, but now Near simply and openly addresses him as "Kira"!

Near points out that only a handful of people knew that Mogi had arrived at the SPK HQ and could therefore leak the information to Kira's supporters. It's also curious that his group has been singled out when there are plenty of other organizations hunting for Kira. He accuses "L" of orchestrating the riot in order to kill the members of the SPK and, once that is done, will kill the members of the Japanese Task Force. He urges them to think about it.

From a hotel room near the riot, Aizawa listens to Near's speech and feels torn. He cannot believe that Light can be Kira, especially on the basis of claims by Near, a virtual stranger, and Mello, an established enemy. On the other hand, the late L also suspected Light.

As the mob closes in on the building, Near expresses contempt for them, regarding these people as blind followers of Kira or simply yobs spoiling for a fight. Anthony Rester tells him that it is no time for analysis, but Near keeps pursuing this line of thought, leading to his plan for escape.

Moments later, a whole rain of dollar bills come flying out of the building's windows, released by the SPK. This distracts the mob who make a grab for the money, including Demegawa who tells his helicopter pilot to fly to where the money is coming from—to the frustration of Light and Misa who are watching from their computer monitors in L.A. With the cameras now distracted, Misa cannot use her Shinigami Eyes and Death Note in order to identify and kill the SPK members.

Riot police, with face-covering helmets, now clash with the mob. Inside the building Near, Stephen Gevanni and Halle Lidner dress up in similar riot gear. Mogi himself is made to wear a riot suit but is handcuffed to Rester who is wearing a pro-Kira armband—Near assumes that Rester is unknown to the Kira Task Force and this will enable him to keep their prisoner in check as they make their escape.

Desperate, Light calls Ide and Aizawa in New York and tells them to keep an eye on the riot police since he has already guessed the SPK's intentions, but Ide complains that it is impossible for just the two of them to monitor over 100 riot policemen.

The battle continues. By the evening, things have calmed down and money is still being found in the streets. Meanwhile, the SPK set themselves up in a new well-equipped base which includes computers and monitors.

Light is confident that Mogi will not mention him and Misa to the SPK, nor about their confinement by the late L. He considers killing Mogi and the other members of the Kira Task Force, but faces the old dilemma that this will just confirm that he, the sole survivor, is Kira.

Back in New York, Aizawa faces considerable dilemmas of his own. If the "13-day rule" is indeed a fake then Light and Misa's 50-day confinement does not prove their innocence. He considers investigating Light afresh, but is limited in assistance: Mogi is missing, Matsuda never thinks things through and Ide is unaware of the details surrounding Light's imprisonment, having not been part of the team at the time. He decides that he will have to go it alone.

Light then calls Aizawa and Ide in New York. Matsuda is with him in Los Angeles. Light tells them that they ought to investigate Demegawa and hope that he can lead them to Kira. If they expose Kira, along with hard evidence, then the world will turn against him and see him for what he is: a cold-blooded murderer.

After hearing this, Aizawa cannot believe that Light is Kira, in fact he does not WANT to believe that he is because that would mean that Light was responsible for the death of his own father, Soichiro Yagami, an upstanding officer and a man everyone liked and respected.

Mogi is still not talking to the SPK. Near decides instead to try and contact another member of the Kira Task Force who may now believe that the case that "L" is Kira has some basis in fact.

Conception
Tsugumi Ohba said that the chapter's title "Clean-Up" refers to the when the Kira worshipers cleanup the money thrown to them by the SPK, as well as the cleanup of the Kira worshipers themselves.

Chapter Guide
Siivous