Outside

Outside is the sixth chapter of volume eleven and the ninety-fourth chapter of the Death Note manga series.



Plot
In order to make sure that Mikami has no Shinigami following him, Near instructs Gevanni to touch Mikami's notebook.

Once again, Aizawa is suspicious of Light's so-called investigative "meetings" with Takada. As he is setting up the audio devices, he is still bothered by the fact that they cannot install surveillance cameras because of fear of what Kira will do to Light if he ever found out. However, if Light really was Kira, then wouldn't it be the perfect opportunity to secretly communicate with Takada by writing notes? Aizawa decides to test this out by making a slight nail mark at the second to last page on each of the four notepads.

After the hotel meeting, Light leaves, and Aizawa sneaks into the hotel room in order to uninstall the audio devices. He checks the notepads and notices that in two out of four of the notepads, the nail marks he had made were completely gone. He is now convinced that Light threw away two of the notepads and replaced them with two new notepads because he was using them to write messages to Takada.

Promptly, Aizawa calls Near and tells him of his discovery. However, Near tells him that he already knew all of that. Aizawa offers to try and collect the notes as evidence, but Near tells him not to do any "needless meddling" that will put him and the Task Force in danger. Near comments that even if Light was revealed as Kira, the world has now changed and many will proclaim him as hero. Near reveals that he has a plan to defeat Kira and that he shouldn't interfere.

Conception
Ohba said that the chapter title "Outside" refers to Near's statement to Aizawa saying that Aizawa is not a part of the battle, but instead looking from the outside. Ohba added that the statement is relayed over a public telephone, which is on the outside.