All in all, the case didn't exactly end how he'd expected.

Yes, his suspicions had been founded, and for that matter confirmed when shortly after Amane's release the death toll started rising amongst criminals once again. It was a good thing he'd insisted on cameras in the woman's apartment, and quickly had her taken back into custody when she was caught in the act of writing names in a second Death Note.

She refused to give up any information, though, instead keeping her mouth firmly shut; she had probably glared as well, but her eyes were hidden by a blindfold and thus it was impossible to determine if this was fact or fantasy. Still, it increased the likelihood of Yagami Light being the first Kira by fifteen percent, and he turned his investigation back towards the teenager who was still working the case.

What he had never counted on was the shinigami attached to the original Death Note they had obtained from Higuchi. When he accused Light of being Kira once again, the teenager brushed off the words but seemed to give the shinigami a long look. The creature slipped out of the room only to return a moment later, inclining her head to Light.

And that's where everything fell apart. It was then that Light had given a smirk and said, "You're right. I am Kira. But I still win."

He dropped dead ten seconds later, and the shinigami dissolved into sand. Not a minute later, Matsuda burst into the room and announced that Amane had collapsed in her cell, and that Watari believed her to be dead as well.

The deaths had stopped immediately after Amane's arrest, and as they had yet to begin again, the Kira case was considered successfully closed.

So, why was it that L found himself seated in front of his computer at just past four in the morning, his coffee with twelve sugars having long since grown cold, rewatching the video footage that had been shot over the months that the Kiras were confined to the building? There was no reason for it, and he was still alive. Yagami Light had been buried the previous week, and Amane Misa's body had been returned to Kansai for burial; there was really nothing to hold him in Tokyo yet L couldn't leave. He felt like there was still some vital piece to the puzzle that he was missing.

But... watching the footage wasn't easy.

Knowing what he did now, it was easy to see the point when ownership of the notes had passed from each; Amane's cries of kill me he now knew were directed at the shinigami he had met and could clearly see and hear on the monitor, and Light's comment on giving up this foolish pride was likewise some sort of code directed to a different, unknown shinigami. Their attitudes and temperament changed almost instantly, although Yagami-san had noted no real change so far as he could tell in his son. Was it possible that the Light-who-was-not-Kira was how Light would have been had he never used the Death Note? Was the sweet model-slash-actress Amane Misa the real face and not the hard murderess that had been taken into custody not once but twice?

There was something there, he could see, something that wasn't shinigami or amnesia. In all the video footage from the final month of the investigation prior to Higuchi's capture, he noted that apparently the three of them had fallen into a routine without realizing it: Amane hovering in the background demanding attention yet being first to fetch coffee or snacks when anyone would mention a desire for such, Light and himself working in fluid precision to the point where it almost seemed as if they weren't chained together, the three of them silent yet communicating flawlessly their feelings during "dates."

Somehow along the way, L had honestly begun to view the Kiras as his friends. And now they were gone.

A movement in one corner of the screen, video from a room that had cameras but generally went unmonitored, caught his attention suddenly; most likely it drew his gaze because it was Light's room in the few short days before his death, and the shinigami had just crossed into view. L frowned to himself and enlarged the screen, cutting on the sound as he did so.

"He is suspicious of you," the shinigami remarked coolly on the video. "It is risky to let him live any longer."

"You aren't to kill him until I give the word," was the reply, harshly spoken yet there was something in the tone that gave L pause; it didn't sound as if Light wanted him dead.

"You seem inclined to let him live."

"I do."

That threw L, and apparently stunned the shinigami as well. She blinked her visible eye at the teenager before speaking again, voice still cool:

"I have told you before, Yagami Light, that I will kill you if Misa's life is at risk."

Light dropped his head slightly, although L could see the faint smile. "Good."

Another long pause, this one broken by Light himself: "I've already given new instructions to Ryuuk. If Misa is captured again, his signal to act is the phrase 'I still win.' At that point he is to write down her name."

"I cannot kill another shinigami. I will kill you to spare her," the shinigami hissed.

"That's what I want you to do." Light lifted his head and turned to face the shinigami, back to the camera much to L's chagrin. "If L accuses me of being Kira, I want you to kill me. Step out of the room to do it; we don't want him to see."

"I will still die as well."

"Maybe that's the only way to end this, Rem."

Both shinigami and human fell silent; then Rem nodded once and slipped out of the room again. Light moved to walk out as well, but turned and walked toward where the camera was hidden and looked directly into the lens.

"It's better this way," he said clearly before turning and walking out.

And the last piece of the puzzle fell into place with shocking clarity: L and the Kiras could not exist together. Ryuuzaki and Light and Misa were friends. And as a friend, Light had removed the Kiras from the picture once and for all.

In the end, it wasn't the first Kira who had won, nor had L. There was no real winner, and everybody lost.