Chapter Text
Did I hear correctly?
Did it really happen?
Was it simply done by writing down his name?
Killing indirectly
Pen and ink and paper
Writing is the gun, I only have to aim
Could this be the hour?
Unimagined power
Waiting to devour who I say?
(…)
The earth will shake
The sky will scream
Once they feel the power of the hurricane
Death Note the Musical (English version), Hurricane
The week of bedrest moved on quickly. With it, a week of his mother’s pampering, for which Light was unashamed to say he took full advantage of. Even Sayu was a bit more mature in her relationship with her brother, pestering him less for help in homework since Light had to take it very easy ever since his accident with his nightstand. That didn’t mean she was’t afoot when she wasn’t at school or during her club activities. Light was aware that his baby sister greatly admired him, trying to mimic mostly everything he did such as playing tennis and being good in school - despite not having the same level of intellect as Light’s.
Sayu’s personality hadn’t changed much while growing up, the greatest problem Light had was he kept expecting to see a more mature-looking version of Sayu, who would become a great beauty. Maybe Light should start helping learn in self-defence lessons? And get some pepper spray, the ones that could are easily store-bought? No, he was definitely getting some army grade pepper-spray! He really did not want to see his sister get kidnapped again. It has always been a possibility that someone would want revenge on their father so why hadn’t the man thought to make sure that his children knew how to defend themselves ? They didn’t even need to know how to fight.
He’ll wait a couple more weeks and when his reputation as Kira would ascend again, Light would voice the idea to his mother. It would look less suspicious if he had a good reason than asking now as if out of nowhere. If he could get Sayu to join that would be even better, should he start dropping hints? Light was unashamed to say he wasn’t that good with hinting as to what he wanted people to think, he much preferred to be more straightforward, using his speeches to move people. Although, from what he had seen, words weren't always the best way to make sure he wouldn't get hurt. He would have to look into on how to acquire a weapon’s permit for later on. Just as a precaution.
The enforced bedrest also proved one thing to his teenage body: Light had been doing too much and was really stressed out. It wasn’t just the mild concussion that made him very sleepy for the first three days. The last time Light nearly had felt so well-rested was after the university exams and even then, he had been stressed out by meeting L for the first time. L’s reveal, the use of the fake name of Hideki Ryuga, falsely offering an opportunity to join the Kira task force, trying to find the plot within the plot within the mist of lies and half-truths… all of these factors had greatly tired Light out. He had been backed into a corner and looking back, it was obvious that L had done it to force the brunet to make a mistake. Light had been very lucky with Misa coming along to help him out for a small time, it had given him some breathing room to regather his wits and come up with the plan of abandoning the notebook in order for him to … prove his innocence.
Still, after a week’s rest, the teenager was ready to get back into the swing of things. He had never been so happy to go back to school. Light had been very lucky that it was still the beginning of the school year, barely the second week so he was stuck on revisions of the past year for most of his classes. Even six years after graduating high school, he was still the best of his year. It also highlighted one very big aspect of Light’s life: he was lonely. Oh Light did hang out with people and never spent a break alone, always having someone to talk to; but they were just acquaintances, not true friends. He hadn’t been lying to L when he declared that the detective was his friend.
Regardless of the fact that Light had been L’s enemy and executioner, he had greatly admired the older man, with one of the greatest minds that could keep up with Light despite his childish tendencies and his unnatural sweet-tooth. How Light wished they could have a different sort of circumstances that would allow for them to meet, even if he was aware that their paths would have never crossed if it wasn’t for the Death Note. They might have met if Light had continued with his original goal as a bright-eyed detective, striving forward to enforce justice to those that deserved it. He would have been one of those naive thinkers, trusting the system for want of another option to protect the innocent; punishing those that did evil.
Light chased those silly thoughts away and continued to concentrate on the math lesson he was currently attending. Integral calculations were not the hardest thing to learn, you just needed your full attention to solve most of them, especially since there were not for the absentminded.
After the school day was over, Light joked with some of his classmates as they walked to the same cram school. He couldn’t even remember their names as they were so inconsequential. They would follow separate paths when the school year would be over, never to meet again. It was easy, much too easy, talking and laughing about some silly little thin, completely hiding the fact that he couldn’t be bothered to recall who they were. If Light didn’t rationalise that mentally he was older than these children surrounding him, it would have be even more depressing to realise how truly unimportant his classmates were in the grand scheme of things. At least, to him.
Light’s mind continued to be bored, wandering about as he followed the lessons at Gamou Prep Academy–one of the best cram school of the area. It was utterly boring, just like the first time that Light went through the same course in order to prepare for the national exams. He couldn’t wait for the Death Note to come back into his hands, at least then, his life wouldn’t be colourless, repetitive days.
Another two weeks passed by the exact same way. Light eventually got all the names of his classmates at the Daikoku Private Academy. The worst part was that he had spent at least the last ten years of his life with most of them; Daikoku also had an escalator system so a lot of classes moved up together, If To-oh hadn’t been the number one university of Tokyo, Light may have followed the trend of most his schoolmates and not bothered to compete in the national exams, he would have continued on to Daikoku University which had a good reputation, just a bit less than To-Oh. It took at least a couple of days of roll-calls, where Light had mentally divided his class into small squares in order to remember who was who, before he could finally put all the names to the faces sitting around him. For a brief moment, he was amused by his mental challenge.
Finally, the day he most anticipated had arrived. His math teacher was droning on and on about sine and cosine, which Light had already mastered and continued to use these concepts for quite a while, just for the fun of it. He stared out the window, bored out of his mind, knowing that if the teacher ever tried to catch his attention, he would be able to answer the question easily. A flutter appeared from the sky. First a black dot before the object floated down just on the wayside of the courtyard.
The Death Note had descended on Earth, ready to unleash unsuspecting chaos in order to satisfy a supernatural being’s boredom.
Biting his tongue so that he wouldn’t smile in class, Light waited patiently for classes to end. The Shinigami King had already confirmed that the Death Note would come back in his hands, so there was no chance that someone else would accidentally pick it up. Just one final lesson, English, before he would have his weapon back in his hands.
The English teacher never did bother to reign in his class. Why bother when most of his students would not listen to what he was teaching? Since they were in an elevator school, they were already guaranteed a place in university and a lot of them were aiming for jobs where foreign languages was of no use to them. Since English was usually the final lesson of the day, a majority of the students would play games, chatter with each other or do anything than the English lesson at hand.
“Listen for the voice of God then follow it and know that in time you will find your salvation.” Light perked up slightly. Ah, it was that lesson. The one that had helped him decide what to use the Death Note for. Light still looked out the window, knowing that the teacher would call upon him, favouring him as usual. “Yagami-kun, are you still with us? Can you please read the following sentence in English? ”
The last time he had been asked this, Light had been annoyed that Yano-sensei had called him out of his daydream. This time, he sighed because things never changed truly. Standing up, Light read in nearly flawless English “Follow the teachings of God and receive his blessings and so it shall be that the seas will again become bountiful and the raging storms will subside. “
If God even gave out his blessings, it was in the early days when humanity wasn’t a pitiful pit of darkness, where the greedy continued to grow in money and power, trampling those that stood in their way. Light would become a new god, one that would dispense his benevolence to those that deserved it while simultaneously punishing those that sinned. He would be tolerant of those that repented or misguided. He just needed to be cautious until all would bow down before his will.
“Excellent Yagami-kum, as always. With this level of proficiency, the English portion of the National exams will be easy for you.” Yano-sensei thought he was being encouraging, maybe even nice about it. His teacher only painted a target on Light’s back. If the brunet hadn’t been friendly with everyone, proving time and time that he was the best while always helping others, he could easily have been the target of bullies.
There was no use showing his anger, so Light only smiled in thanks, sitting down in his chair while glancing back outside. He still had another … glancing at the clock, one hour and twenty-eight minutes to go before he could access the Death Note. Time couldn’t move any slower as the anticipation started to get higher, slowly as each second passed, Light could feel his nerves shaking. It took everything he had just to not show his emotions, to make it look like a normal day for all to see.
Ultimately, the bell rang. The student of the day asked the class to rise, in preparation of the bow to thank the teacher for their lesson. As soon as it was done, Light had to restrain himself from running, barely steadying his walking pace towards the entrance with the rest of the mass. The Death Note was still in the same place. Picking up something so mundane-looking never felt any better.
Once and for all, he could change the world for a better world. He couldn’t wait to get back home. Light had already searched the internet for big name criminals to be used as his calling call. He also found a way around killing criminals live from around the world. The solution was simpler than anticipated. All he needed was a new phone, slightly high tech than the one he currently had which he bought quickly. He didn’t even needed to sign it under a new name as the teenager had only bought the phone without a plan for calling which meant that it was only a shell; if he had bought a sim card, then he would have had to fill out all the paperwork. He only needed it for its ability to connect to the wifi available in the area and the various news app he had downloaded. He had already found some of the wifi passwords around the neighbourhood –not being that difficult to guess if you knew your neighbours–, traced different routes that did not deviate to much from his usual schedule but that still went very near places with free internet so that he could get an update with his phone whenever it was necessary. He only needed to get the news once a day and it would be perfect for him to use.
L won’t know what hit him.
First though, he needed to get home to end the life of his very first victim in a way that it won’t be connected to him, the motorcycle wannabe-gangster didn’t really count. How could he forget Kurou Otaharada, the very first name he had penned in his Death Note. The man had killed four people, wounded two in a shooting spree in Akihabara. He then fled to a nearby nursery, taken hostage a teacher with eight children aged five years old.
Turning on the light on his desk, Light switched on the news so that as soon as the criminal appears, he would be able to write the name. In the meantime, the brunet decided to reviews the rules of the notebook, just in case he could have missed something that could have been interesting for him to use. The handwriting was in English and just as atrocious and hard to read as before.
- The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
- This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
So far those two rules were informative and easy to apply. The teenager only had to remember if the Death Note didn’t work only meant that he was given a different name. Once the trick about the name and face was revealed, people such as L and Misora would apply it.
- If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated, and the time can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name.
- If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
- After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
The rules in themselves were easy enough to understand and use, despite being so limited in information. Light was perfectly aware that there were more ways to use the Death Note. Taking a spare sheet of paper from his desk, he decided to write down what he had observed during his various tests. Some of them had been over seven years ago (at least for him).
Light started with the simple rules he could remember:
The conditions for death will not be realised unless it is physically possible for the victim or it is reasonably assumed to be carried out by the victim. Even after the individual's name, the time of death, and death condition on the Death Note were filled out, the time and condition of death can be altered as many times as you want, as long as it is changed within 6 minutes and 40 seconds from the time it was filled in. But, of course, this is only possible before the victim dies. To apply the changes, the individual needed to strikethrough with two straight lines the details he wanted erased. However, this does not apply to the victim’s name since their life became forfeit once it was written in the Death Note.
It was possible to write the cause and/or details of death prior to filling in the name of the individual. The name and to be put in front of the written cause of death. Light had so far tested 19 days in advance with SSA Ray Penber and the rest of the FBI agents. If Ryuk’s barely restrained laugh was to be analysed, the brunet had most likely found the very limit of effectiveness and he shouldn’t test further. This also proved the following rule that even if the person did not posses the Death Note, the effect would be same as long as the person in question though of the name and face of the victim while writing in the blank.
Which made Light remember that one page or even a fragment of the page taken from the Death Note was like having the book itself with all the effects. He didn’t need to worry about carrying a pen on him as any medium to write could be applicable as long as it was in legible letters that remained in the Death Note. Some mediums other than ink tested were blood and lipstick. Further analysis was needed to see where the limit was. It would be a fun experiment to try and test.
If you lose the Death Note or have it stolen, you will lose its ownership unless you retrieve it within 490 days. Which meant that the above two rules were especially important as it allowed for Light to hide his Death Note while still being able to us it as long as he had some spare sheets taken from the Death Note. The best part that since the Death Note had an infinite number if pages, he would only run out of space on a page to write something if that ever happened.
Another test he had done much later showed Light that in order to make the Death Note take effect, the victim's name must be written on the same page, but the cause of death and situation around the death can be described in other pages of Death Note. This will work as long as the person that writes in the Death Note keeps the specific victims name in mind when writing the cause and situation of death. The front and back of a page is considered as one page. For example, the Death Note will still take effect if you write the victim's surname on the front page and given name on the back. So he could change his mind of the cause of death if needed, especially since he needed for it to be applicable. He could also write numerous names in front of a cause of death which would make the victims all suffer the same cause at the same time.
Satisfied with what he had so far concerning the use of the note, the brunet put a line to separate his other observations from the general use of the death note. Ryuk had explained to him that by relinquishing the Death Note, the user would loose all memories pertaining to the book. Light had seen the effects when he had used the method when imprisoned by L to give himself an alibi, therefore proving his innocence to every member of the Kira Task Force (sans L of course even if Light had minimised the chances of him being the killer in the detective’s eyes). Thinking back, Light should have realised that the Death Note was somehow enthralling him to be used. His personality had done a complete 180 as he remembered everything except the damn book! No wonder the Shinigami King had hinted very heavily on the fact that the Death Note was like a drug to the user.
However, Light did not have to relinquish ownership of the Death Note when lending it out to another person. Something that was shown when Teru Mikami was given temporary ownership. It also proved with Kiyomi that the Death Note when lent to another person can be submitted again to a different person. The brunet made a note to see how many people a portion of the Death Note can be bestowed upon and where did the power reached its limit before loosing effect. It would create a bit more chaos and could muddy the waters.
He was aware that Ryuk could not officially leave Light’s side as he would be the primary owner. That didn’t meant that it could be used as a workaround to get a bit more privacy by using the Shinigami as a mail courier to give the pieces of paper to different people as well as delivering Kira’s, that is to say Light’s, message as to how they should use the piece of paper. He also wouldn’t be able to manipulate someone else to get the Shinigami eyes as, according to Misa, they needed to be the original owner of a Death Note in order to be able to make a deal. Disappointing perhaps, although Light had Misa at his beck and call. He just needed to make sure that he would temper her more… amorous ambitions.
Another line crossed the page. This time, Light needed to put down his observation about the gods of death. First of all, while difficult, Shinigami can be killed. He could certainly try to manipulate Rem to act as last time so that he can get another Death Note. No, it would be a perfectly good waste of using a nuclear weapon for a more simple solution against L. Light just needed to make sure that he went slow and steady in this deadly game of chess so that he could overpower L and win for sure. He had enough elements to his advantage, smart enough to apply them, so theoretically, it should be child’s play to win.
The special announcement jingle brought Light out if his musing. The first time, he was still outside watching the information on a big screen in the street as he had’t hurried home like he had done so today.
“We interrupt this program with a special update. The same assailant who attacked six people at a busy shopping district in Shinjuku yesterday has struck again. This time, he has taking eight people hostage at this daycare centre.” The camera zoomed to the front of a daycare centre where the name plate Sunnyvale Daycare could be seen, complete with a drawing of a smiling sun shining its rays upon the name. The police had already set up a perimeter and while one man was currently talking urgently in his walkie-talkie. Most likely, he was either the person in charge or the negotiator. “His captives include both children and their teacher. The police have now identified the suspect as 42-year-old Kuro Otaharada, currently unemployed. We expect negotiations to begin immediately. ” On the right corner, the dmv photo of the criminal was put in place. Light needed to get to work.
Taking his time, took one off the numerous ball pens from his cupholder. Opening to the first page of the Death Note, he wrote down the following information after making sure to take a look at the time.
Kuro Otaharada, heart attack
Dies on May 10th around 18:30 from a heart attack after three other names in the Death Note die. He will first release his hostages on May 3rd at 18:24 after expressing remorse for his actions. None of his hostages will be further harmed. When asked why, Otaharada will say that he panicked after killing all those people as he just wanted payback on his good-for-nothing boss that fired him for no reason. The others were collateral and he deeply regrets it. When he took the hostages, he was not thinking straight, the children crying brought him back to his senses.
Looking at the time, Light still had another twenty seconds before the Death Note would take effect. He waited, watching the numbers change little by little as 18:24 inched closed. When the minute changed, he turned his attention back to the TV.
“At the present time, that's all the police are telling us. You can't help but feel concerned for the safety of those hostages. Wait,… something is happening. The negotiator is currently on the phone with Otaharada. He seems much calmer than earlier. The door is opening … the hostages are coming out.” The door had opened fast, the children quickly sprinting as far as possible from the mean man. Their teacher was the last to leave, putting herself between the children as much as possible just in case the attacker changed his mind at the last minute. The camera filmed her loosing strength in her legs after reaching the police barrier. The children surrounding her, crying, their little minds not being able to truly comprehend what had happened. Light breathed a sigh of relief. The twenty seconds delay hadn’t cause any major changes. The journalist continued talking “None of them seemed to be harmed. Look there, Otaharada is also coming out, surrendering to the police. We can only be grateful that no one was hurt in this hostage situation at Sunnyvale daycare.” The police rushed towards the gunman, quickly putting on handcuffed and taking away his weapon. Otaharada let them do this meekly. His face was still arranged in a disdainful grimace but that was the only thing that showed how angry he was at the situation. His eyes only had remorse in them.
The journalist tried to come forward to get a soundbite. “Otaharada-san, Otaharada-san, can you explain why you let the children go?” He thrusted his mic towards the criminal being led away by the police. Curious as well as seeing that he wouldn’t resist, the police let Otaharada speak to the media.
“The children crying. I couldn’t believe that I had become someone that could hurt children.” Light smiled viciously. Let L try to figure out who his first victim was this time!
“I only wanted to kill my boss. That son-of-bitch had the gall to fire me. Me who spent the past twenty-two years working hard in the company. He had the gall to fire me for no reason at all.” Otaharada started to look more like the crazy person he had been when he first took hostages. “So I killed him. Him and his two business partners that thought they could fire any employee for no reason. I had no choice but to kill the other three people who were innocent in the situation. After that,” Otaharada took a deep breath, continuing his monologue to show how truly repenting for his sins he was. Exactly as it was written down by Light in the Death Note.
Even if the game had officially begun, Light continued to write down his observations. If you want to win, you needed all the cards in your hands. What did the Art of War said “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Last time, Light had not known himself and the Death Note’s capabilities therefore died. This time, he will only be missing enough information on his enemies.
In order to do that, he still needed to write done everything he knew about Shinigamis and the Death Notes. He continued to jot down his results from seven years of experimentation and theoretical discussion (if one could call Misa’s rambling that).
If a God of Death should die, the Death Note that he brought into the human world will not lose its power. Straightforward enough, as demonstrated by Rem. Her (His or even Their ?) notebook had been essential in dispatching L and then becomings Light’s other weapon before spelling his doom.
The final rule in this section was that only by touching each other's Death Note can human individuals who own the Death Note in the human world recognise the appearance or voice of each other's God of Death.
Light reread everything once more to make sure he didn’t miss anything. That was not the case, as usual, so he could write down his final theories on the Shinigami eyes. He would never give up half of his years that would be lengthy according to the Shinigami. Since he wasn’t the one to do the experimenting, he would have to trust Misa’s (and of course Rem’s with some input from Ryuk) explanations.
First, an individual with the eye power of a god of death can tell the name and life span of other humans by looking at that person's face. Then there was also the rule that in order to see the names and life spans of humans by using the eye power of the god of death, the owner must look at more than half of that person's face. No explanation needed from that and no confirmation as all three had said the very same thing at different moments.
Then there were the two following sub-points:
- From this point, a person with the Death Note cannot see the life span of other Death Note owners including him/herself.
- There was no clear definition as to what portion of the face an Eye-user needed to see exactly but according to Misa, she only needed to see the upper half of the face, so anything covered after the nose wasn’t a bother. She never really experimented to see how far a face needed to be covered for her Eyes to not work but that was something Light could work around lated. He also recalled her using photos and seeing the names with ease of all the FBI agents and international criminals that worked with either N or Mello to kill them from afar. The quality of the photograph also impacted her sight even if the age of the photograph (be it the paper itself or the age of the participant) did not.
Stretching his back, Light did a speed-reading to make sure everything was on paper. It was much more detailed than those awfully-written, hard-to-read rules that Ryuk had hastily inscribed. With all this information, Light held all the cards in the game of life. He will conquer the challenge given by the Shinigami King; living a long and healthy life while creating a better world.
Now, he had to go write down some extra names to muddle his tracks from where his first victim was from. Why not start with a British criminal in honour of L's home? Light had amassed enough information discretely – muddying his tracks with different IP addresses and buying newspaper in paper version to be sent to a PO Box so that he could peruse at his leisure – for him to choose his pick of the lot. Maybe ten criminals, all dying the same day with different nationalities with the signature heart attack should do the trick.
The smirk on his face would have made anyone shiver once they looked at the teen. It was the same crazy look Light would usually have when writing down the targets name.
In a different location, amidst the brilliance of dying stars and freshly created supernovas, the Shinigami King laughed at the amusing spectacle the human was showing him. It was truly worth the hassle to pluck this soul, just freshly deceased and send it back in time for his entertainment. Already, the ripples of changes could be felt across the flow of time and He was looking forward to what further antics he would see.
— But one by one, in secrets, planted greed/And watered it with pride and fear
The poisoned fruit fell not far from the tree/The fiend that nobody could see
Once a realm on the shoulders of giants/Forged with ember and gold/Now a lost land, it's fading in silence/Haunted by demons and ghosts – Pride & Fear lyrics TheFatRat & RIELL —
It took Light meeting Ryuk for the second time to realise … that the Shinigami was a bit of a drama queen. Even worse, he was a forgetful sort of being that didn’t think to impart the most important details related to the Death Note, … well important for a mortal, so there could be some leeway for the being in being absent-minded. Still, how difficult was it to offer the Shinigami Eye deal since the very beginning? Or mention some simple facts like anyone who touches the Notebook would be able to see Ryuk? If Light hadn’t lived through his life before, he would have found this infuriating… Oh wait, he had already gone through the same damn thing just before.
It wasn’t easy playing the fool. To not slip up and mention things that haven’t been written down.
Basking in the Shinigami’s admiration on how he used the Death Note did sooth the sting a bit. Just enough for Light to remember that while Ryuk played the fool, he could be trusted with certain tasks… with the liberal use of bribery via apple.
Out in the real world, the masses started to murmur on internet platforms and private messages about the murderer that was killing criminals via heart attack or other improbable ways. Who was he? How was he able to kill the same way so many people who were either in hiding or locked away in prison ?
In ironic twist of fate, Light received the same moniker from before. Kira, derived from the English word Killer. Last time, it was because Light had killed many more Japanese criminals compared to the rest of the world. Which meant that there were more Japanese who were writing about him on the internet which spread to the rest of the world. This time, he had aimed for more American criminals compared to the rest of the world. Thus, he received the name The Killer in American newspapers. The Japanese internet retook that name and rebranded it Kira to shorten it to something they can pronounce more easily. It was so catchy that it took the rest of the world by the storm.
All of this took three weeks tops, exactly the same timeline as last time.
Opinions were divided on the nature of Kira. For many people, he was an avenging spirit, bringing back the righteousness to the world, the justice that was lacking in this age where many people would flaunt the laws and rules of society openly. To others, Kira was a stone-cold killer – or was he an organisation ?– who dispensed justice according to his – their – pleasure.
Unlike last time, Light no longer had the fear of not having enough time to dispense his justice. Last time, he killed many people by writing their names down as fast as he could, using the first rule of the Death Note where after 40 seconds, the victim would automatically die of a heart attack. This time, after testing it out, Light realised that if he wrote the date, then “the following names will each die an hour apart starting from midnight until 11p.m by heart attack”, he could list twenty-three names so that each hour of the day could die. He could then plan up to three days of murders for the truly guilty, which freed up his time in the evening to create some truly inspiring killing for those that truly deserved it that would be different than To make sure that everyone would know that he was the killer, he made sure that each criminal would leave a K in a circle at the crime scene, leaving the material up to the victim in question.
He also made sure to put a timer to not stay more than two hours per day to write in the book and to take make sure that he only worked on it for four days per week and not always consecutively. He had taken the Shinigami King’s warning very seriously and while he needed to use the Death Note, he also wanted to live a longer life than before. Ryuk’s appreciation of Light’s list of killings still made him preen. It meant that the brunet was still reshaping the world into a better place.
Another change he made was to go out more often with people he decided would be his friends. When he had first started, he was impatient, sloppy, so eager to make the world a better place. A brief hurricane that lasted less than a decade. He was also very alone (Misa did not really count and L was more of a friendenemy). His friends were not the smartest of the bunch, who could ever compare to Light, but they were decent enough people to hang out with.
Light had decided to befriend three specific classmates. He had remembered that they had some interesting futures, in particular they were loyal Kira followers who stayed true to the cause.
Aoi Katayama was the most average looking person you could find. Black hair, black eyes, just like a lot of other Japanese. He had nearly gotten in To-Oh university, like Light had done, but didn’t have enough points to pass the entrance exam. Instead, he had joined the police academy to become a detective that went up against criminals in a more ruthless way. With just a bit of polishing, Light was sure that Aoi could be even better and an excellent informant.
Another guy that attracted Light’s attention was Daichi Nakahara. He was a handsome fellow, athlete by being the captain of the Daikoku Private Academy basketball team, and a perfect follower of Kira. Windswept hair, chocolate-coloured that curled slightly on his head when it became a bit to long, his dark eyes, with a mole beneath the left one, attracted many of the female students at school. With looks and sports behind him, you would expect to be a player or a more haughty person. He couldn’t be the most sweetest person you could ever meet, loyal to a fault once you had his trust.
And finally, the token female of the their little group. Chinatsu Uchida came from a rich family that placed emphasis on tradition. As such, she rebelled as much as she could by dying her hair blonde with dark, big, crimson streaks. Light also couldn’t recall what her eye looked like was as Chinatsu always wore coloured contacts that were often … interesting to say the least. Sometimes blue or green, they also became silver, purple or bright pink, she always coordinated according to what she was wearing be it accessories when in school uniform or when she changed into street ware. One time, Light could have sworn she changed five times her eye colours just for fun. She was rich, so what did she care for the price to pay? Light remembered her easily as Misa would often complain about her in the show biz.
With these three people, Light was sure he had find reliable allies. He would flounder less and with solid connections, he could plan better. In order to do that, he needed to start by befriending them. So it was arcade games – where Light found out he had no dancing skills when trying out DDR, although he was a tad bit better when playing Street Fighter –, studying in the library to maintain their grades – or helping Daichi understanding the lessons a bit better so that he won’t get left behind –, shopping by being Chinatsu’s bag carriers with a side of learning on how to haggle and karaoke nights. It shouldn’t be fun, Light had expected it to be boring. It turned out to be fun and more freeing than Light had expected.
In the beginning, Light’s mother was a bit sceptical of her son going out so often, worried that Light would stop being the best student. That worry was soon soothed when Light proved during the monthly national mock exam that he was still ranked first. She became even more happier when Daichi started to take Light on some small (for Daichi) runs and helping learn a bit of self-defence. Light couldn’t have planned it better himself.
It was during one of those runs that Light literally ran into Namikawa. To not look to pathetic in front of Daichi. Light had decided to try and run around Yoyogi park every Saturday morning. It was first run and while taking a curb, Light had slipped on some wet leaves, sliding on the road, crashing into the runner coming opposite to him by accident. Light didn’t know if he was red in the face due to humiliation or if it was something else. The elevated heartbeat was definitely due to having run a bit and the fright of falling.
He was definitely red in the face when Namikawa recognised him as the boy from the hospital. Not because of the tight white sports shirt that hung around Namikawa’s chest and even tighter, grey, sports pants that hung a bit low. Being the perfect gentleman, Namikawa offered to run the rest of the way with Light, after making sure he was alright of course. It was only natural that Light offered to buy a coffee in thanks at the small stand at the entrance.
Somehow, Light had found himself promising Reiji to meet up every Saturday at seven at the park entrance to run together. It had taken until Light was under the shower to realise that the rush running through his veins had been felt one before, back before he died. When L had chained them together and when they had taken down the Yotsuba group, the back and forth banter of the same intellect had been intoxicating.
So why was he feeling the same desire coursing through his veins by the mere fact he had met Nami- no Reiji that very morning? Why did Light look forward to seeing the older man again in a week’s time?
Ryuk’s background commentary, mocking the very actions, only made Light feel even more defensive. Taking the plan out from its hiding spot, Light reread the point where he could pretend to be gay so that Misa wouldn’t be obsessed with him. More than a month ago, when he had written that plan down, he realised that he could be bi or some other such nonsense.
That wasn’t right. Light hadn’t wanted to define himself then, still to raw of his rebirth. He still didn’t want to define himself now. He was, however, someone who hated not knowing and not knowing his preferences in a partner could be a definite weak point. It looks like he had to experiment a bit, which added an extra thing to do instead of the Death Note.
That was all right, as long as Light planned correctly, he should be able to fit it in. The first step was to go buy different sort of magazines. Plan in mind, Light quickly dried himself, changed his clothes before stepped outside once again, thinking of where he could go so that he would be able to get numerous different types of research points. It would also help as a good starting point for when L would send out his FBI goons to look into different police families background.
Light wasn’t a fool. Despite being careful, it was only a matter of time before L would suspect a leak in the police department. Light had to get his information somewhere. He only had to be more careful to not get caught.
The brunet hoped that it would be Ray Pember once again. That man was definitely easy-going on the eyes. Who knows, Light thought while unintentionally licking his lips, he could be useful to sell that the young teenager’s secret was him hiding the fact he was gay to his family! He couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped from his lips. Flying above him, Ryuk wondered about the strange behaviour the human owner of his book exhibited.
– “Irrespective of how gifted you are… You cannot change the world alone.”, L Lawliet –
The ICPO Japanese headquarters was abuzz from the arrival of the new killer. Unlike what the public knew about the public heart attack executions, the real numbers of killed inmates was much higher.
For the past three weeks, approximately a hundred and eighty criminals died all around the world. Age, ethnicity, location, there was no correlation as to why and how they were targeted. The only proof that that showed they were killed by the same person (or persons) were the heart attacks during the first two weeks in perfectly healthy people. Then, the third week, some criminals were dying in different manners all while leaving a K in a circle. Coincidentally, it was just after the first Kira articles truly went global. Police forces from all around the world, working with the alphabet soup of counterparts to try and have a lead. The ICPO being on the forefront of the charge as somebody needed to be in charge.
Touta Matsuda felt a bit intimidated. He had been recently promoted to Senior Detective, directly under Chief Yagami’s unit. Since that unit was currently on the Kira case, it was normal for his colleagues and him to be invited as the Japanese representatives for the ICPO. Although, he was currently the only member of his unit to be there. Where was Chief Yagami? The meeting had already started !
“… every single one of them involved a heart attack.” One of the delegates exclaimed out loud. Squinting, Touta believed that it was the delegate from Italy.
One of the American delegates responded fast. “They were all criminals who were either being held in prison or who were wanted by police for outstanding crimes. And I think it's safe to say there are other criminals whose deaths are unaccounted for.”
His partner backed him up quickly. “At any rate, these were criminals who were probably facing execution sooner or later. Perhaps we shouldn't be…”
They were interrupted by the representative of Germany, who shouted “Why should it matter if it's a criminal or someone innocent?! Last time I checked, murder was still murder!”
A hand placed itself on Touta shoulders, attached to Chief Yagami who sat down next to him. Still a bit frazzled, Touta greeted his chief. “They started the meeting without you.”
Chief Yagami acknowledged the fact. “That’s fine. Headquarters called me about something urgent. It would seem that L has joined the investigation.”
“L, sir?” Touta had never heard about this letter. Was it an organisation?
“Right, I forgot that it's your first time at this conference. L is a person who solves every case he takes on. We don’t know his real name, face or whereabouts. All that we know is that he hides in the shadows, tackling some of the greatest mysteries this world has even known. The best of the best, only as a last resort though. Our trump card only if the mystery intrigues him.”
“I see, sir” L was seriously a cool person to work with ! If he was as amazing as Chief Yagami described him, then this Kira person or organisation will be quickly caught.
Around them, the delegates were no longer discussing about the Kira case, rather accusing each country for being behind these killings, the main suspects being the FBI or the CIA, as most criminals had been wanted by them. They all agreed that dying by induced heart attacks was a very thin lead that wasn’t as helpful if they had been attacked by a knife and a gun.
Touta could hear the first Italian delegate exclaim “If that's the case, it looks as if we'll have no choice but to bring in L.” Eery silence followed, covering the whole room.
Touta gulped, just before another delegate, to far in the room for Touta to see who they represented. “But I've heard this L is extremely arrogant and has tended to only take on cases that he's personally interested in. There is no reliable ways to contact him, even if we wanted his help.”
A man, dressed in a trenchcoat appeared at the front of the room, just on the stage where the screen was located. His hat covered his face, shadowing it in such a way that Touta couldn’t see any details of the man’s face. “Gentlemen, L has already begun his investigation into these incidents.”
Seeing Touta’s curious face, Chief Yagami whispered to him “That man's the only known person who can contact L. Nobody knows his true identity either. He contacts us using the letter W.”
W continued his speech, calm and dignified. “Please be silent. L would now like to address the delegates.”
A stylish L letter, in a gothic (? Touta wasn’t sure, it did look like a stylish letter that were in fancy books) appeared on the screen. The voice that spoke was scrambled, so that it won’t be recognised. Touta was sure a voice distorter was being used. “Greetings to all of you at the ICPO. I…am L.”
The voice let a moment of silence, to let his declaration sink in the room. “The difficulty of this case lies on its unprecedented scope. And make no mistake. We are witnessing an atrocious act of mass murder, one that is unforgivable. This case cannot be solved without the full cooperation of the ICPO. That is all of the police organisations you represent throughout the world. You need to make the decision to fully support the investigation at this meeting. Also, I require additional cooperation from Japan's National Police Agency.”
Chief Yagami reacted very fast. “Huh? What? Why Japan in particular? Why not the United States? That’s where most of the killings have been happening, followed by Saudia Arabia and Italy.”
“While most of the killings did happen in those three countries,” L acknowledged the response, “however when you take a look at the killing graph, you will see that most killings of the criminals happened not far after it was disclosed in Japanese newspaper. Even if the perpetrator or perpetrators subscribed to different international newspaper, a good portion could be linked back to Japanese news. From this, we can deduce that the guilty party is an individual or a group, there's a strong possibility that they are Japanese. And even if they are not, we can be sure they're hiding in Japan. I intend to prove my deduction very soon. ”
“Understood L. We are still sceptical of your point, so you will pardon us if we wait until you can give us definite proof. If you can give us definite proof.”
“Worry not, Chief of Police Yagami, I will provide proof via a direct confrontation with the guilty party.”
“I’m sorry, by what ?” Touta could understand Chief Yagami’s dismay.
“At any rate, I would like to set up the investigation headquarters in Japan.”
On the other side of the computer screen, L remained in his favourite seated position. Nibbling on his thumb, L couldn’t help but feel excited at the new challenge this Kira problem posed. He couldn’t wait to catch the guilty party. In the mean time, he will savour the thrill of the chase, relieving his boredom, even if temporary.
The game is afoot. L will be the victor once again.
–“Nobody trusts anyone in authority today. It is one of the main features of our age. Wherever you look, there are lying politicians, crooked bankers, corrupt police officers, cheating journalists and double-dealing media barons, sinister children's entertainers, rotten and greedy energy companies, and out-of-control security services.” Adam Curtis –