Confluence (chapter)



Confluence (合流, Gōryū) is the third chapter of volume two and tenth chapter overall.

Plot
Raye Penber's fiancée is running her own investigation into his death. She questions the driver of the hijacked bus who confirms that Penber was on board at the time. She believes that Kira was among the other passengers.

Meanwhile, Soichiro Yagami summons all the members of the Kira Task Force. The deaths of the FBI agents has started a whole new ball game. It is now certain that Kira will kill those who are after him, not just criminals. Those hunting for him must consider their own lives and those of their families and loved ones. He therefore tells his men to decide whether or not they want to continue with the case. Those who quit will be assigned to other cases and it will not be held against them, but he will only accept those who are willing to put their lives on the line to capture Kira. He then leaves for a meeting in order to give them time to consider.

When Soichiro returns there are only six men left: Touta Matsuda, Shuichi Aizawa, Hirokazu Ukita, Kanzo Mogi and Hideki Ide &mdash; as well as Watari with his laptop through which L communicates.

Through the laptop audio communicator, L announces that these men, with their determination, are the only ones he trusts. However, Aizawa, Ukita and Ide counter this by saying that they do not trust L! They are risking their lives while he is just giving orders from behind a computer screen. They blame him for the deaths of the FBI agents and even suggest that he, who knew who the agents were, set them up. Could L be Kira? Soichiro himself sides with his men and tells L to come to headquarters and work with them face-to-face.

L tells Watari to turn the laptop screen to face the officers. On it is a text editor with a message: L announces that he wants to meet them but that the meeting and the results from it must remain a secret even from their families and police colleagues. He wants them to discuss whether or not to trust and work with him directly.

The officers go outside in order to talk it over. Ide is against working with L at all, pointing out that they may just end up meeting a fake L like Lind L. Tailor, but Matsuda thinks that they need his help in the enquiry. Soichiro decides that L has actually been waiting for this moment: he's always been known for solving cases on his own but since the Kira affair itself began he said he needed the assistance of the Japanese police. There are many in the force who don't trust him, there have been resignations and leaks of information and so L has narrowed it down to a small unit who will trust him and risk their lives to solve the case.

Ide refuses to work with L period and leaves. Soichiro, Matsuda, Aizawa, Ukita and Mogi return to Watari. On the laptop, another text message is being typed out: L will meet them at a local hotel; he will be moving regularly between hotels and these will be the unofficial headquarters of the investigation. Watari will tell them where to meet him and they are to split into groups and meet there just before midnight and the start of the New Year, 2004.

In his hotel room, L is lost in thought. The deaths of the agents has given him a crucial clue and he thinks that he is closer than ever to Kira. It's the first time that he is allowing others to know that he is L and there is a chance that Kira will soon find him as well &mdash; but so long as he does not know his real name then he cannot kill him. On the other hand, L will need to find hard evidence in order to arrest Kira. Kira must be feeling under pressure right now.

At home, Light Yagami is getting nervous. He knows from his father that the Kira Task Force is shrinking in numbers and it's therefore getting dangerous to access information known only to them. On the other hand, he also wonders if L deliberately sent just a token number of FBI agents in order to narrow it down even further! As Kira, he has been very active of late, especially where Raye Penber was concerned, and wonders if he left any crucial clues behind. On the other hand, L will need the Death Note itself in order to prove a case against Light. This is where the real battle begins!

Meanwhile, the police detectives arrive at a luxury hotel where they knock at the door of a room and are asked to enter. They are about to meet L!

Conception
Ohba said that the chapter's title "Confluence" refers to the Japanese investigators and L joining forces for the first time.