Impatience

Near proposes that he and Light join forces over Sayu's abduction and urges the Japanese investigators, rather than his own unit, to manage the ransom. As Soichiro's team flies toward Los Angeles, the father admits he may not survive; Light orders him to fight for both his own life and his daughter's, and quietly tells Misa to come along in case her eyes are needed. He also turns over the grim possibility that his sister might have to die.

Mello's people force Soichiro onto an unscheduled flight, stripping the watchers of their coverage, then commandeer the aircraft and deposit him alone in open desert. Satellite feeds track him until a concealed ramp swallows him underground, beyond any lens. When a masked courier bolts for a helicopter and a missile erupts from the sand, both command rooms lose the thread entirely, and the notebook slips away with it.

Defeated, the two sides absorb the cost. Near collapses a tower of dice on his desk just as most of his agents drop from sudden heart failure, with the director and one operative suffering cardiac arrest and another taking his own life. Near then drops his voice filter and reaches out to Light directly, framing their rivalry as a race to corner Kira first. He names the orphan called Mello as the culprit behind the carnage and traces him to Wammy's House, a detail Light recognizes as one of Watari's institutions.

The chapter closes in the shinigami realm, where Sidoh approaches Armonia Justin Beyondormason after learning from the Shinigami King that the notebook he lost is the very one Ryuk let drop into the human world. Armonia advises him to descend and pressure Ryuk into giving it back, and Sidoh agrees to make the trip.