Mihua Second Apartment
A high-end single-family apartment located close to the center of Beihua City.
After entering the apartment and changing into indoor slippers, Hayashiki poured himself a glass of water and walked over to the computer desk in the bedroom.
On the desk sat a bulky, old-fashioned computer monitor.
The evolution of technology in Detective Conan was always an interesting contradiction—while there was no clear time setting in the series, its world evolved in sync with the real one. Since the manga began serialization in 1994, only a few months have passed in-story, yet architecture and electronic devices have continued to modernize.
This old computer, Hayashiki figured, could probably be replaced soon.
But that wasn't the focus right now.
Hayashiki opened the drawer of the desk, lifted a wooden panel disguised as part of the drawer, and retrieved a black notebook hidden beneath it.
"DEATH NOTE"
These words were printed in slightly uneven pale lettering across the dark cover.
That was the handwriting of Death.
Literally translated, it meant Death Note—a notebook that causes the death of anyone whose name is written in it. (In chinese, is another word, so here especifically translate the words)
This was a prop from another famous high-IQ mystery manga.
Hayashiki had no idea where it had come from.
But when he first arrived in this world, the Death Note had already been in his possession.
After a series of trials, he confirmed that it was the real deal.
As long as he pictured a person's face and accurately wrote their real name in the notebook, they would die of a heart attack exactly forty seconds later.
Once the name was written, no amount of erasing or correction would save the person. Their death became inevitable.
However, in addition to heart attacks, the user could specify both the cause and time of death—be it illness, accident, or even murder—so long as the cause was physically possible. The time of death, however, had to fall within 23 days of writing the name.
"As long as the cause of death is physically feasible, the Death Note can control any action of the target before their death."
"In other words, if someone is set to die of a heart attack in one hour, any of their actions within that hour can be controlled by the Death Note."
Of course, what's physically feasible must be taken literally: a person currently in Tokyo cannot die in New York in 60 minutes. That defies physics.
In such cases, the Note will default to a heart attack after the specified time, since the condition couldn't be fulfilled.
"Just like I wrote it… Nishikawa Shigehiko's death was reported on the news this afternoon. If I can pull that off, things will become a lot more convenient going forward."
Hayashiki slowly opened the Death Note.
Although the pages never seemed to run out, the notebook itself appeared deceptively thin. Flipping to the most recent entry, he saw the following:
Shigehiko NishikawaAt 20:23:47 on March 16, he was arrested by police and died of a heart attack while trying to escape.
Izumi ItoAt 16:48 on April 1st, he was shot dead by police during the commission of a routine crime.On March 17, before his death, he listened to a press conference broadcast on television in which the Tokyo Metropolitan Police confirmed Shigehiko Nishikawa's death. Then, on March 18 at 14:21:30, he heard the same news on the Tokyo Midday News radio.
That's what Hayashiki had written the night before last.
He had no doubts about the Death Note's lethal ability. What he wanted to test now was the supplemental conditions he had written in Izumi Ito's entry.
The notebook could manipulate a target's actions while alive.
If listening to a news report could count as a pre-death "action," then that could be a powerful tool—especially if such an event could be framed as causally realistic.
And sure enough, just as Hayashiki expected, the news broadcast reporting Nishikawa's death occurred exactly when he had written it would.
Hayashiki didn't know when that news would've aired under normal circumstances, but because he had written that Izumi Ito would hear it at precisely 14:21:30 during the midday broadcast, that's exactly when it aired—just as Hayashiki boarded the taxi.
It played out like a script.
This meant that, to a certain extent, Hayashiki could use the Death Note to subtly "control" the world around him.
But this control had limits.
First, the condition could only succeed if the event in question was something that could reasonably happen. The news about Nishikawa had to be scheduled to air around that time. The Death Note merely refined the timing to match Hayashiki's specifications.
If the news hadn't been slated to appear at all, then the action he scripted for Izumi Ito would have been nullified.
More experiments were necessary.
…
With that thought, Hayashiki powered on the computer.
Over the past year, unless absolutely necessary, he had primarily targeted criminals. Fortunately, he had access to a source of information about such people.
After waiting for the sluggish machine to boot and connecting to the internet, he navigated to a specific website.
He logged in with his account and password.
Then he adjusted the external camera.
The moment the login was successful, the screen flooded with data—like a waterfall of information. In addition to basic listings, there were several categories:
The most notable was the Shopping Section:
Intelligence. Drugs. Firearms. Forged documents…
Aside from the varying prices, obtaining these illegal items through this website was as easy as buying chewing gum online.
There was plenty of illegal content across the site, but Hayashiki's account only had access to the superficial layers.
Also, during the session, the computer's external webcam had to remain pointed at Hayashiki's upper body. He was sure someone on the other side was monitoring his movements closely, watching for any suspicious behavior beyond simple mouse clicks.
Hayashiki knew full well that every click was tracked. So, in addition to gathering information, he randomly browsed unrelated listings to disguise his intent.
Only when the sky outside began to darken and the glow of the screen grew harsh did he finally close the browser. He reached for the camera to cover it back up with black tape.
Buzz—Buzz—Buzz!
His flip phone suddenly vibrated on the desk.
He flipped it open to find an anonymous text message:
"Tonight at 9 p.m. — 'Cocktail' bar, rooftop of the Daikoku Building."
"Cocktail" — an English loanword meaning "cocktail."
Hayashiki's eyes narrowed slightly.
After a few moments...
A faint smile appeared on his face as he whispered to himself:
"The sun's gone down… Guess it's time to turn on the lights."
I didn't expect readers would be interested in the hidden camera on the dark web...Turn the page, and you'll see the protagonist receiving a message from Gin. It's now clear this was sent by the syndicate's inner circle.