Hayashi Yoshiki reviewed his work as he neatly transferred each draft from plain paper into the black pages of the Death Note. Seven names in total.
Among them, only Naoki Matsuzuka belonged to the Black Organization. The other six—though ordinary civilians in public view—were far from innocent. They included a con artist who had bankrupted dozens of families, a violent schoolyard tyrant, and even murder suspects from infamous unsolved cases that had left an impression on Hayashi Yoshiki.
Seven names. Seven carefully plotted deaths. Not all of them are part of the APTX4869 chain. Some… are mere distractions.
He wasn't just eliminating individuals—he was constructing a diversion-laced relay route to secretly remove, conceal, and circulate the drug codenamed APTX4869 without alerting the Black Organization.
APTX4869 Smuggling Chain
Naoki Matsuzuka→ Steals APTX4869 from the institute at 20:17 on September 30.Delivers the drug to a man called "Rye Whiskey" at Dorobiga Paradise.Dies by gunshot.
Hideki Kumadaira→ Meets "Rye Whiskey" near Dorobiga Paradise at 21:11.Acquires the drug.Travels around Tokyo in circles using taxis, finally leaves it behind in one.Later boards a bullet train to Yokohama.Dies of illness.
Tomoko Komori→ Enters the same taxi at Mihua East General Hospital at 23:27.Finds the drug in the backseat.Deposits it the next morning in locker No. 137 at Beihua Department Store.Dies of food poisoning on October 13.
Takasaki JinNikata EriNijima KotaroYosuke Yoshizu→ Each is slated for unknown roles, with pending instructions.Interference nodes and backups in case the drug resurfaces too early.
With seven people and multiple deaths delayed across time… the real trail of the drug is buried under chaos.
Hayashi Yoshiki had mastered the art of camouflaging true intent. The theft of APTX4869 wouldn't raise alarms until much later. And even then, by the time anyone investigated the original source, the trail would be cold.
No report. No record. No suspicion.
After finalizing the Death Note entries, Hayashi Yoshiki smiled faintly.
A Deadly Test: Plan A vs. Plan B
Recently, his most important research was understanding whether the Death Note could execute conditional branches—Plan A and Plan B—based on unpredictable stimuli.
He tested this using the subject Takeshi Yuda and wrote:
"If the coin lands cherry blossom side up, he dies of a heart attack at Station A.If the coin lands 100-side up, he dies in a car accident after Station B."
But this failed. Why?
Because the Death Note prioritizes the first written condition. As soon as the "cherry blossom side up" entry is penned, that becomes fate. There's no real toss of the coin. The Note decides the result based on writing order.
To override this, Hayashi added an explicit line:
"The coin lands 100-side up."
Suddenly, Plan B was executed. That worked.
The Tsuyoshi Taniguchi Test
This time, Hayashi Yoshiki tried using external dialogue as the determining variable.
Subject: Tsuyoshi TaniguchiIf he hears a man in black say "It's a good day today", he goes fishing and drowns by accident.If the same man says "The weather forecast says it'll rain today", he goes home and dies of alcohol poisoning.
Hayashi Yoshiki personally told him:
"The weather forecast says it's going to rain today."
As scripted, Taniguchi went home and drank himself to death.
This test worked. Dialogue-based conditional triggers are valid… provided they're specific enough.
He felt the pieces coming together.
There's a pattern here. A system. A set of rules that can be gamed—shaped.
The Future of the Experiment
Now, Hayashi Yoshiki stood at the edge of a much greater realization:
"If this works… I could simulate entire outcomes, with contingency failsafes. A decision tree of death."
The drug, the notes, the conditional logic—it was all forming the outline of a Death Network. Hidden caches, false leads, misdirections… All serving one purpose:
As he flipped the page in the Death Note and drew a clean line beneath the last name, he whispered:
"Then... the next stage should be..."