Berlin, Mitte District.
In the basement of an unremarkable prewar building, the roar of server fans was deafening.
Hans sat before six curved monitors.
A former cybersecurity expert for the German Federal Intelligence Service, he now had a secret identity: Kira's personally appointed "European Zone Agent."
On-screen, a line graph of worldwide deaths from cardiac paralysis updated in real time.
Hans kept his eyes fixed on the line for Tokyo.
Over the past few days, Tokyo's curve had shot upward like crazy.
Bicycle thieves, street brawlers, even fare dodgers had all suffered sudden heart attacks in the streets.
Looking at the data then, Hans had thought his Japanese counterpart was a brainless idiot.
An agent's job was to handle the serious criminals on the Dark Web's red list, not patrol the streets like a beat cop.
But three hours ago, Tokyo's curve had plunged.
It had gone completely flat.
Hans stubbed out his cigarette. His hands flew over his mechanical keyboard as he hacked his way into the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's internal database.
A top-secret field report created only a few dozen minutes earlier popped up.
An unidentified male body had been discovered in an abandoned sewer in Shinjuku.
Severe burns on both hands. Cause of death: acute myocardial infarction.
Evidence left at the scene: a small pile of ash containing traces of an unidentified type of paper.
Every hair on Hans's body stood on end.
It felt as though all the air around him had been sucked away.
Others might not know what that pile of ash was, but he knew all too well.
Those were the remains of a burned page from a partial Death Note!
Kira had made his move.
That Japanese agent had crossed the line, and Kira had not even given him a warning.