Eight

Eight (八, Hachi) is the 3rd chapter of Volume five and 37th chapter overall.



Plot
Misa Amane and Light Yagami have been released from custody, but are facing restrictions. In Light's case, not only is he to be a full-time member of the Kira Task Force, but he is also handcuffed permanently to L, who is not fully satisfied that he is not Kira!

Misa finds this kind of arrangement perverted, especially since she and Light will not be allowed any time alone together while L is around. Light, for his part, points out that Misa fell in love and pursued him &mdash; he does not fully consider her his girlfriend &mdash; provoking an angry reaction from Misa, who reminds him of the way in which he once kissed her in his room. Soichiro Yagami bows his head and sighs at this outburst.

L questions Misa over the fact that she fell for Light the first time she saw him in Aoyama. She cannot remember exactly why she went there or what she was wearing. (L had extra security cameras in the area on that day and has probably not been able to locate her in the video recordings since she was in disguise.) She also can't explain how she discovered Light's name just by looking at him.

When he asks how she would feel if Light was Kira, she answers that she will love him all the more since Kira killed her parents' murderer. She'd even do her best to help him. This attitude only confirms to L that Misa really is the Second Kira, which she denies, though it has already been proved beyond a doubt that she sent the Kira tapes.

However, it has also been proven that she no longer has the power to kill from a distance and has claimed that what she sent were occult videos. L has agreed to try and find a solution to this situation but in the meantime Misa also faces restrictions of her own: She will be under constant surveillance, locked in luxury accommodation with bugs and cameras and cannot go out without Matsuda who will be posing as her manager. Misa doesn't want Matsuda as a manager and he, looking aggrieved, asks why not.

At this point Aizawa loses his temper, angrily pointing out that they are supposed to be investigating Kira and not discuss things like love, dates and Misa's career as a model and actress! He then forces her into her room and shuts the door behind her.

Light has already told the others that Misa's crush on him is only one-sided and is not reciprocated. L asks if he could get friendly with her if only to find out any information she knows about Kira. Light refuses to play with a girl's emotions in such a way.

L is surprised by Light's change in personality and wonders if it is an act or if both Light and Misa are being manipulated by Kira. Still, he accepts Light's refusal.

For months now, the Kira Task Force has been switching from one hotel to another in order to avoid being narrowed down by their target. L now announces that he has had a new building constructed which will serve as their permanent HQ: 23 stories high including a 2-level basement, high security, advanced computer systems, a helipad for two helicopters and enough accommodation for up to 60 people.

The other members of the team ask where the money came from, but all that L will say is that it represents his desire to capture Kira whatever the cost. Light agrees with that view: Kira must pay for the way he has messed up their lives &mdash; but he again refuses L's suggestion that he tries to be more friendly with Misa in order to succeed "whatever the cost".

Suddenly optimistic again, Aizawa tells all those present that they will catch Kira, addressing L, Light and Soichiro Yagami by name &mdash; Matsuda notes that his name isn't mentioned.

One evening, eight men gather in a windowless, inner meeting room at the main offices of the Yotsuba Corporation, a major conglomerate. They include some of the company's senior executives: Takeshi Ooi, Shingo Mido, Masahiko Kida, Reiji Namikawa, Arayoshi Hatori, Eiichi Takahashi, Kyosuke Higuchi and Suguru Shimura. Their meeting is top secret and for good reason: They are discussing murder!

The eight men know that one of them is Kira or, at the very least, has a link to Kira. Kira is using his abilities in order to dispose of people who are hampering the company's prosperity. They have little choice but to play along since they themselves could be killed if they refuse to be a part of the arrangement. In an example of a stick-and-carrot treatment, they have received considerable bonuses as well. Some like Mido and Shimura are apprehensive about having to choose people to die but Namikawa twists this by saying that they are just there to discuss if the company can profit from certain deaths, not actually do the killings themselves.

They then discuss who could die. Suggestions range from a senior but very frustrating adviser in the company to drivers of cars built by rival manufacturers. In the latter case, the idea is that, when drivers of other cars suffer fatal accidents, the blame will be put on the makers who will lose business to Yotsuba. This is overruled however since they do not want to attract too much attention especially from the police. The men from Yotsuba are acting on the basis that the police are not aware that Kira can kill by means other than just heart attacks and they want to keep it that way.

They also want to deal with L, who might pose a threat. Kida was assigned this task and has made inquiries that led him to Eraldo Coil, a renowned detective said to be on L's level but whose services can be bought for money. He could find L and get rid of him.

The men then start joking about how most of the world's hitmen have probably already been killed by Kira, but then again Kira is the world's best hitman and it is useful that he is working for them who will profit from his actions. Unseen by most of those present, except for Kira, is the Shinigami Rem, who is disgusted by these humans!

Plot Points
After being told about the new, permament HQ, Aizawa feels renewed optimism and addresses all those present by name, with the exception of Matsuda, who does not fail to notice this. This is the start of a build-up of Matsuda's feelings of inadequacy which are raised in the next few chapters and culminate in his taking drastic steps in chapter 41 "Matsuda".

Conception
The chapter's title "Eight" refers to the eight Yotsuba members. Ohba had said that he worked quite hard to try to find a good chapter title since "Eight" had been printed with color pages in the Weekly Shonen Jump.