Lies

Lies (嘘, Uso) is the 9th chapter of Volume nine and 79th chapter overall.

Plot
Mello asks Mogi to come visit him in New York right now. He tells him to bring no wires or cameras and to stay on the phone at all times and not hang up until he gets on the airplane. Light sees this as a perfect opportunity to catch Mello. Mogi quietly leaves the building with Aizawa and Ide tailing him with cameras.

When Mogi arrives at St. Nick Station, Mello tells him to enter the building right across from him. Mello, who is watching from another building, then calls Near and tells him that a man named Mogi from the Japanese task force is coming. Mello orders Near to interrogate the man, but let him keep his cell phone on so that he may over hear the conversation from where he is.

Near is impressed by Mello’s tactic, but is unsure whether this might be L/Kira who Mello has sent to kill him. Near quickly calls L, and when he hears Light on the other line, he says he dialed the wrong number and hangs up. Light becomes suspicious. Near is now sure that this man is not L and lets him in. He introduces himself to Mogi as Near.

Light is shocked when he hears this. However, he remembers that he had prepared a counter measure that he could use for moments like these. Misa, on Light’s orders, finds the location of Near’s whereabouts and sends a message to the Kira zealots.

When Mogi realizes that it’s Near, he is determined not to talk. Near fears that he has little time because if Kira is L, then he could be killed at any time. He begins by asking Mogi to join them because their goal is the same: to catch Kira. Near asks him if the former L had ever suspected of someone in their team being Kira. Mogi doesn’t answer. Near tells Mello that Mogi may already be controlled by Kira not to talk. Mello responds by saying that they can assume that Kira is in the Japanese task force if Mogi doesn’t talk because he has no motivation to not want to cooperate. Mello then tells Mogi and Near that he already tested the “13 day” rule, and it was indeed fake. Near then asks Mogi if he does not think that the fake “13 day” rule strikes him a bit odd. Mogi still does not respond.

Two days later, Light responds with his secret back-up plan. Pro-Kira zealots led by Demegawa have all started to storm the building where Near is staying. They are all determined to kill Near.

Conception
Ohba said that the chapter's title "Lies" refers to the first time in the whole storyline when a character acknowledges verbally that Light is in fact lying. Light and Near are both trying to uncover the truth about one another in the conversations they have.