God

"This Shinigami may not be on my side, but it looks like another god is."

- Light Yagami

God (神, Kami) is the twelfth chapter of the Death Note manga series.

Plot
Sachiko Yagami has prepared some fresh clothes for her husband, and Light Yagami offers to take them to his office at the NPA. While fetching his coat from his room, Light also takes a piece of the Death Note as a precaution.

Accompanied by Ryuk, Light takes the clothes and travels by subway to the NPA HQ. Before entering the building, he tries to call his father on his cell phone but just gets the voice mail and assumes that Soichiro is in a meeting. At the front desk in the lobby, he sees a young woman arguing with a receptionist. The woman wants to talk to someone in the Japanese Task Force but the receptionist insists that none of them are in the building. Light is intrigued by this.

Another receptionist recognizes Light who once made insights that were useful in a previous criminal investigation. The receptionist even asks for his views on the Kira case and Light brags that if his guesses are correct then he has probably even outsmarted L. The young woman is surprised by this boast.

Leaving the clothes at the reception, Light tells the young woman that he is the son of the head of the Task Force and offers to pass on a message once his father starts answering his cell phone. He explains that there is a lot of tension within the Task Force due to the deaths of the FBI agents. He then flatters the woman by saying that she looks trustworthy and will even let her talk to his father by using his own cell phone. She is grateful for this and they sit down and wait.

Light wonders if the woman actually knows something crucial about Kira. If she does then he has to find out what it is, but he is uneasy about all the security cameras in the lobby.

After a while, Light strikes up a conversation by telling the woman that he suspects that Kira has some kind of supernatural power. She agrees and states that that is why she has come to see the Task Force. Light tells her that it is not safe to talk openly and that they should go outside.

Walking outside the building, Light introduces himself and the woman tells him that her name is Maki Shoko. Ryuk chuckles.

Light states that he believes that Kira can manipulate his victims. Maki concurs and says that she also believes that he can kill by means other than heart attacks. While appearing to be calm, Light is actually bothered by this.

Most of Kira's criminal victims have died of heart attacks and even L and the police believe that this is the only way that he can kill from a distance. In fact, Light can use the Death Note in order to make people die by either accident or disease. He has had people die by accident when he did not want them to be linked to the Kira killings – Kiichiro Osoreda the bus hijacker being a good example – and is anxious to keep it that way. He told Ryuk this when they first met.

Maki also tells Light that her fiancé may have met Kira. She goes on to explain that he was one of the FBI agents who were killed by Kira and that he was involved in a bus hijacking. Light realizes that she is talking about Raye Penber.

Opening up to Light, Maki further explains that Osoreda died when hit by a car the day after Matsushiro Nakaokaji was stabbed to death while robbing a store. Other minor criminals in the city have also been killed in the past few weeks and Maki believes that it was all part of an elaborate plan: Nakaokaji and Osoreda were used by Kira in order to obtain information that led to the deaths of the FBI agents – Penber having shown his FBI badge to a fellow passenger during the bus hijack.

Light admits that her deductions are valid and could be a great help to the investigation even if they are not based on solid evidence. All that the police will have to do is find out who it was Penber showed his ID to.

Secretly, Light is thankful that he met this woman before she actually talked to the police! Ryuk has made it clear that he is will not actually help Light in his plans but this chance meeting makes it look like another God of Death or Shinigami is on his side!

Conception
In the chapter Light thanks his luck for the way in which he and the woman meet. Ohba had considered the title "Luck" but decided that "I was lucky" was "such a boring phrase" and that something like another "god is on my side" was "much more fitting". He therefore chose "God" as the title.

Chapter Guide
Jumala