Slots

"There are open slots on the front. See them?"

- Light Yagami

Slots (穴, Ana) is the ninth chapter of the Death Note manga series.

Plot
Raye Penber's fiancée paces the streets of Tokyo mourning the death of her loved one. Walking across a footbridge over a busy road, she looks down at the passing cars. For one moment she appears tempted to take the ultimate step, but then pulls herself together and walks on.

Meanwhile, in his secret location, L ponders over the deaths of the twelve FBI agents. Kira requires the name and face of the person he wants to kill and can also manipulate people before killing them. He must have manipulated one of the men in order to get a file of the personal details of all the agents and then kill them. Kira had the file sent to all of them in order to cover his tracks, so the question is who got the details first!

Meanwhile, Soichiro Yagami goes home and summons his wife and children for a family meeting. He confirms that he is actually in charge of the Kira Investigation, something he has been vague about up till now. He then tells of the deaths of the FBI agents who were in Japan searching for Kira. As a result many of his own men are quitting the inquiry since it is certain that Kira will kill anyone who is after him! His wife and daughter are horrified and urge him to resign as well, but Soichiro will not bow to crime. Kira is a psychopath and he is determined to capture him! Light sides with his father and announces that, if anything should happen to him, he will see to it that Kira gets the death penalty!

As Light makes his way back to his room, Ryuk compliments him on his acting and the way he killed the FBI agents!

The previous day, Light had gone to Shinjuku Underground Station. He was dressed in a beanie cap and hoodie. In the past few days he had done tests with the Death Note which showed that it was possible to write the cause of death first and then write down the name of the victim. The victim would then die in the manner previously outlined.

Before leaving home, Light also wrote that Raye Penber was to go to a coffee shop at the Shinjuku Underground Station at 1500 carrying his laptop. The moment he saw Penber approach, Light pulled the hood over his head and slipped up behind the American. Light whispered to Penber that he was Kira and told him not to move or look around!

Penber stood still and listened to a voice that sounded familiar! Kira told Penber to look at a man sweeping the floor at the entrance to a coffee shop. Moments later the man collapsed to the ground! Kira told Penber that this was to prove that he was Kira and that his victim was a multiple rapist who had avoided conviction!

To further unnerve Penber, Kira offered to kill other members of the public and also stated that he had taken hostage someone dear to Penber. Penber asked if "she" had been taken hostage and Kira confirmed this. (In fact Light did not even know if Penber had a girlfriend, this was just a bluff!) Kira also warned that he had researched Penber's background and could kill other members of his family as well!

Kira asked if Penber had files on the other FBI agents in Japan. Penber denied this but confirmed that he had a laptop with him. Kira then passed him a large envelope and told him to open it. Inside was a simple radio receiver with which they could communicate while underground and could not be traced. Also in the envelope were five smaller sealed ones.

Kira, who had slipped away, then told Penber to get on board a train of the Yamanote underground line. Most underground metro systems go from one end of a city to another but the Yamanote goes around Tokyo in a circle. Penber was told to take a seat next to a door of the train. If none were available then he was to wait. Kira was in the next carriage, watching Penber through the windows of the communicating doors of the train.

Entering the train, Penber sat down. Through the radio receiver he was instructed to contact another agent with his cellphone. He was to ask him to contact the head of the Bureau, Steve Mason, and request the details of all the FBI agents in Japan working on the Kira case. Penber was to state that it would have to be via a third party since email attachments sent to him by Mason were corrupted due to a computer glitch.

With Kira constantly reminding him that his loved ones were under threat, Penber had no choice but to obey. When the file was emailed to him, Kira told him to take out the five envelopes inside the bigger one. These envelopes were sealed, but each had slots in them through which Penber was told to write the names of the agents on sheets of paper inside the envelopes.

Looking at the names and faces of his colleagues in the file, Penber proceeded to write the names through the slots. He reasoned that with only the names there was not much that Kira could do since he also needed to know the face of his victims.

Having done this, Penber was told to put the radio receiver and envelopes back into the bigger one, to seal it and leave it on the luggage rack above him. He was then to remain seated on the train for half-an-hour.

Penber sat there, trying to remember where he had heard Kira's voice! Eventually, after a half-hour journey, he got off the train on to the platform.

Suddenly he gasped! Clutched his heart and fell to the ground! Rolling over, Penber turned to see the closing doors of the train! There he could see and recognize Light Yagami, standing there, holding the envelope!

Light coldly bid Penber farewell!

Back home, Light opened the smaller envelopes. Before sealing them, he had written on sheets of the Death Note that unnamed persons would receive a file of other agents working on the Kira case and then die of heart attacks at various times between 1500 and 1700 that same day. Penber inadvertently added the names to these details of death.

Returning to the present, based on information received from Mason and the Japanese Task Force, L has a list of the order in which the agents received the file and the order in which they died. He believes that one of the first few agents to get the file was in contact with Kira and this will lead to other clues. Raye Penber was the second to receive the file and the ninth to die.

Meanwhile, Penber's fiancée is traveling through Tokyo on the underground train.

Conception
The title "Slots" refers to the holes in the envelopes featured in this chapter. It also refers to L trying to find weaknesses in Light's plan.

Trivia

 * Raye Penber is the first human besides Light to, without knowing it, use the Death Note to kill people.
 * He is also the first human to discover, too late, that Light is Kira.
 * The FBI agents are the first figures in law-enforcement to be killed by Kira.

Chapter Guide
Aukot