A new investigator steps forward-Near, a central figure in the SPK, an organization that is trying to catch Kira without relying on L. Near is aware of the existence of the Death Notes and wants to get his hands on one.

Light, acting as L, reveals to Near that his sister Sayu has been kidnapped by someone wanting to trade her for the Death Note. Near finds out that the trade will happen in Los Angeles and promises to help, while secretly planning to steal the Death Note and capture Kira.

Mortified over allowing the Death Note to fall into Mello's hands in order to save his daughter, Soichiro puts himself into harm's way in order to get it back.

Mello busts into SPK headquarters to retrieve a photograph of himself to make sure he won't be killed by Kira. In exchange for Near giving him the picture, Mello drops an important hint about the Death Notes: some of the rules are fake.

Near contacts the Japanese task force and determines that Kira is among their members. He asks for insider information, and Aizawa, beginning to doubt Light, responds. Near suspects that the new L is really Light Yagami and that Light is Kira.

Star newscaster Kiyomi Takada becomes Kira's spokesperson to the world, after Demegawa is deleted by Mikami, and she just so happens to have been Light's girlfriend in college. Aizawa's suspicions about Light grow.

Near goes to Japan, allegedly as bait for Kira. Following Light's instructions, Takada asks Mikami to send her five pages of the Death Note. She tells him that he will continue his work in a fake book made to look like the real one.

Aizawa figures out what's going on and tells Near, who already knows about the notes. Near instructs Aizawa to continue watching Light, and then puts in motion a plan to separate Misa from Light.

Light and Near agree upon a meeting place for the final confrontation. A key player is kidnapped and the end results are shocking.

The Japanese Task Force and the SPK finally meet at YellowBox Warehouse on January 28th. However, a third party has come to the warehouse as well, on Kira's orders to kill everyone else there.

Though Mikami has written all the investigators' names in the Death Note, a minute passes and everyone is still alive. Near seizes Mikami's Death Note, and all is at last revealed.