Scintillation's first objectivity plan was that Bigwiggins not ask Near or Sako anything that he wouldn't be comfortable asking both. He recoiled from that notion at once - because that would involve ceasing to be friendly with Sako, though the point he actually raised was that some information was known only to one of those two - but Scintillation soon brewed up an alternative.
All his communications were to be by email only, so Scintillation could vet them for things like loaded questions. And she pointed out that this was a test on Near, and the conclusion wasn't yet foregone, so Bigwiggins had better actually communicate with him.
And Scintillation wasn't being killed. Maybe, somehow, the conclusion wasn't foregone. But... the lie.
Sako would never lie like that. Not about L.
So, this Kira speech. What's your take? Also: any idea where these "video surveys" could have come from?
That was innocuous enough to pass Scintillation's muster.
...He's suddenly toned down hostilities. But he still won't let me hear his voice. So, chances are he's followed my suggestion and taken on a second pair of eyes. Probably a good sign, but you never know for sure until you've seen the results.
First, the concurrence with Orochi's rhetoric. The new Kira is getting the same ideas as the inner circle.
Second, of course, "the body is dead."
Put them together, and plainly, Kira has resurfaced for a brief moment and gotten out a message. Assuming you've been keeping a weather eye on Sako, which I think is safe, this probably occurred shortly after Lady Phantasme's death, and, of course, it did not happen after Sako's escape plan came to light. If you did come up with this escape plan after the night of the eighth, I suppose I would need to reassess, but for the time being, let's say Kira announced his deaths specifically because Sako intended to fake it. This means two things:
1) This new Kira could theoretically be the same as Kira-2, only with a new set of instructions - but if I were Kira and I'd heard about that missed chance with the NPA, the first thing I'd do is pick someone else. In any case, he can't be one of the idiots who took the video survey, because Kira had no way of knowing about that.
2) We can effectively consider this a second wind on the part of the original Kira. We can therefore expect an assault at least as fierce as occurred on the sixth, and, as your emotional vulnerability has so far proven a reliable exploit, we can expect another assualt on that point. I would advise the second pair of eyes that I infer to be observing to restrain Bigwiggins by any means necessary, if it comes to it.
Re: the video surveys, they appear to originate with a knot of clueless, self-appointed "Kira experts" in a chat room yesterday. Just the type of A-student morons who would think it a very smart idea to appoint themselves to be Kira while they were dreaming about what mavens they were, and vomit it across the whole internet while they were about it. Kira would not have accounted for them in his plans, but that all depends on the versatility of the newcomer.
Note: we have not yet ruled out the possibility that we are in fact chasing two people: the new Kira, and the voice of the new Kira. But the latter seems a more promising starting point to the investigation in any case.
He typed and retyped some lead-in to establish contact with Sugawara, but the fact was that Near simply couldn't yet trust Bigwiggins with that sort of information - even if the trust were at all mutual to begin with.
Eventually, he settled on:
You are probably inclined to inform the public that the death of The Body is highly exaggerated. Please reassess the costs and benefits carefully before you engage in any such course of action.
