Ran was still basking in the excitement of having just defeated the computer when the settlement interface on the screen suddenly changed.
"Has someone joined the challenge?"
"Be careful, Ran. That guy looks really strong," Jodie Starling cautioned, glancing back.
A gangster-looking man grinned mockingly as he stared at them. Hayashi Yoshiki also looked at the man's face, then, as the crowd's attention focused on the game that was about to begin, he smiled faintly and quietly took out a notebook and pen from his pocket.
He had something he wanted to try.
Ran sat tensely in front of the console, facing her new opponent. Despite her combat awareness, she was a novice. Completely overwhelmed, she was soon defeated.
"...Lost..."
"Well, since you lost, move along, little sister," the thug on the adjacent machine sneered. He took off his helmet, pointed at himself with his thumb, and arrogantly declared, "The seat you're sitting on is my golden throne!"
His arrogant demeanor was infuriating.
Sonoko immediately bristled and was about to ask whether he owned the arcade, but the thug suddenly frowned and pointed at Hayashi Yoshiki.
"What's with that look, pretty boy?"
"No... I just figured you didn't want to sit there because a beautiful girl had just been sitting in it, right?"
"Hah!?"
"Sorry, maybe I judged you by your appearance."
Judging someone by their appearance...
Did this guy just imply that because he looked like a thug, he was one?
Kengo Bito was visibly annoyed. He wanted to grab Hayashi Yoshiki by the collar and teach him a lesson, but he held himself back. He recognized him — a well-known writer with connections to the police. Kengo may have been a thug, but he wasn't an idiot.
"You've got a sharp tongue for someone so pretty," Kengo muttered.
As the group moved away from the game console, Judy glanced back at the thug who took the seat, and couldn't help laughing.
"He really does look like the type who'd do that," she said.
Hayashi Yoshiki nodded slightly, his eyes drifting to Ran.
Her cheeks flushed slightly — mostly because she'd just been called a pretty girl.
Sonoko grinned. "That guy was so arrogant just now. Does he really think this is his house?"
Kengo Bito might actually think so.
While they were talking, a staff member came to collect game tokens from the machine Kengo had used. Growing impatient, Kengo kicked the staffer. "Hurry it up! Don't waste my time!"
"You were smart not to get into it with him," an older man beside them suddenly said. "Around here, everyone calls him the 'Caesar of Beika Town.' He wears it like a crown, but in reality, he's just a lazy delinquent. He's caused a lot of trouble — even for us."
"...Do you know his name?" Hayashi Yoshiki asked.
"Yeah. Kengo Bito. Everyone in this neighborhood knows him."
The middle-aged man took a drag from his cigarette as he played the arcade game. Then he looked at Hayashi Yoshiki and asked, "Why do you ask?"
"Just pure curiosity," Hayashi Yoshiki replied with a smile.
Seeing him take out his notebook and pen, Conan narrowed his eyes.
"You're using it for a supporting character's name again, aren't you?"
"That's right," Hayashi Yoshiki replied calmly.
"What's the name of the supporting character?" Judy asked curiously.
Ran and Sonoko quickly explained: that although Hayashi Yoshiki was a mystery novelist, he was terrible at coming up with character names. Jodie clapped her hands in amazement.
"So you're a mystery novelist too? I'll have to read your work sometime."
"Thank you for your support," he said with a soft smile.
By then, he had already written the man's name. Hayashi Yoshiki had jotted down both the time and cause of death — right in front of the arcade machine. Now, with the name confirmed, he added it.
Since he wasn't certain how to write the exact kanji for "Kengo Bito" he wrote down a dozen phonetic variants. That was enough. After all, even if the name wasn't written perfectly in the Death Note, the target would still die.
Hayashi Yoshiki and the others moved on to try other arcade games — racing, basketball, whack-a-mole, shooting...
The girls were having a blast. Even Conan joined in on the fun.
While playing the racing game, Hayashi Yoshiki glanced toward Kengo Bito. The so-called Caesar of Beika Town was about to compete against Lucas from Haido. A crowd had gathered around them.
In the original story, Kengo Bito would have been stabbed with a poison needle laced with pufferfish toxin before the game even began — his lifeless body made to look like he was still playing. But now, Kengo was actively mocking his opponent while playing, completely full of himself.
Takayusu Shimizu — his opponent — looked deeply disturbed by Kengo's constant ridicule.
He should've died already!
Takayusu had come here fully intent on killing Kengo — the man who had nearly blinded his sister and still leeched off her. But when the moment came, he had hesitated.
Something made him stop. For some reason, he wondered if it might be better to talk things out — and he let his only chance slip away.
Now, seeing Kengo's smug face again, Takayusu Shimizu couldn't help but despise his own weakness.
Was he subconsciously influenced to give up his murderous intent? thought Hayashi Yoshiki, watching Shimizu's conflicted expression.
Originally, Takayusu had come to kill Kengo today — but since Hayashi Yoshiki had already written in the Death Note that Kengo would fall to his death in three days, Shimizu's actions had been subconsciously suppressed.
What is written in the Note is absolute.
Hayashi Yoshiki thought again about Gin.
If someone like Gin had intense killing intent, could he be affected the same way? Probably not. If someone that dangerous backed down, it might be due to external interference, not internal hesitation.
This was something Hayashi Yoshiki wanted to test.
Thinking this, he maneuvered the car in the game smoothly and won first place.
"Yoshiki-nii, that was awesome!" Ran cheered. "We thought it was super hard when we tried earlier!"
"That's because I passed my driving test," he replied.
"Oh yeah… Sonoko and I don't have licenses, so maybe that's why we're bad at driving games," Ran said with a sheepish laugh.
"Once you learn how to drive, these games become a lot easier," Hayashi Yoshiki said calmly, a small smile tugging at his lips.