Chapter One

Mikhail was enjoying dinner and the local news. He had come to Japan for a special occasion. Watching the news intently, he glanced at the time on the screen. "Soon," he thought. Eating another bite of his salad, he started to count down, coolly staring at the television. As his count reached zero, nothing visible to him happened. "Should be any time now…." Maybe ten minutes later, the newscaster began to look distraught. He was in the middle of a report when the news hit him: "Newly elected councilwoman Sayu Yagami said, in a statement today…. Oh… Oh!" His tone was shaky as he announced what had just come through his earpiece. "This just in...We're getting reports that criminals have started dying of heart attacks by the dozen, in Shinjuku alone! Reports are still filtering in, but we have every reason to believe that this may be an international phenomenon. More as we get it." Turning off the television, Mikhail began to plan his next move. The opening gambit had been flawlessly executed, every criminal broadcast since Kira's disappearance had died at once today; he had spent his time wisely, gathering the information he needed. Flawlessly, he had mimicked Kira's pattern of killing, judging criminals and killing them with heart attacks. Unlike Kira, however, he had scheduled their deaths years in advance, but this was necessary. It gave him the time to plan and analyze what he needed to do to pull his plan off. "I've most certainly spent my time well, and now, it's time to carry out the plan. No longer will I be written off, no longer will I be 'One of' the best, I will be THE best." He began to chuckle. At this, Nise, his shinigami who had been happily munching on potato chips, unaware of the news report, looked up at him. With a surprised tone in his voice, he asked "What's so funny over there? " His voice was gruff and slightly whimsical. Mikhail shrugged and simply said "You'll see tomorrow!"

Nise looked harshly at Mikhail, his seemingly permanent smile dropped for a moment. "No, I think I'd like to know now! When I gave you that Notebook, you promised me that there'd be FUN involved, fun and potato chips. That was five years ago! When you made the eye deal, you promised that the fun was close, that was two years ago! Five years, and I still only have potato chips! You need to pick more up by the way. Anyway, I came here to have more fun than Ryuk, and even though you write in the book all the time, no one ever seems to die! If I don't start enjoying myself in the next five minutes, I'm gonna write your name and find someone else!"

Mikhail gave Nise a hard look and shrugged again. "Fine. I've been laughing because your fun has just started! The act has begun. All those entries in the Death Note, five years' worth, just keeled over at once. From this day forward, people will die every day, and there'll be panic. You told me that Ryuk explained all of his adventures to you; well I'm going to one-up those, no matter what they are! Not only are you going to have more fun than Ryuk, I'll show you how easily humans can be manipulated, I'll show you this "New World" that Ryuk talked about, but most importantly, I'll show all of those people who wrote me off that I am smarter than them; Smarter than them all." Mikhail continued looking at Nise, a cool smirk on his face. Nise's skin, colored like tarnished bronze, contrasted deeply with his hair that looked like wild strings of polished brass. The skinny and plank-straight figure walked over to him, peering at his Death Note over his shoulder. He seemed to be reading intently. Suddenly, his grin returned, and he began to cackle maniacally. "You clever fox you, that is fun! Imagine those thousands of people all over the world just suddenly falling over dead! Sorry I doubted you, Mike!" Nise patted him on the back. It looked awkward because Nise was so tall. Nise returned his gaze to the list of names again, looking confused. "Wait…these names here… the dates have already passed. What are these?"

Mikhail's smirk never wavered. "I left some space before I began writing names. These were for the investigators of the Kira case. I knew one of them would slip up eventually, So I left ample space for them. When I asked for the eyes two years ago, that was because someone had gone on Television under a pseudonym, claiming to have investigated the Kira case. Once I had the eyes, I wrote his real name in my notebook with a few special instructions." He touched the name with his finger. Nise looked closely at it, it read: Touta Matsuda, February 25, 2016, Accident. On February 2, sends a letter to the Hotel Shinjuku containing a picture of each of the Kira investigators, as well as all he remembers about the Kira case." Nise merely replied "I see." Mikhail continued "After receiving that letter, I did the same for the other investigators, specifying that they send a letter to a different hotel each time, and then dying of an accident or disease twenty three days later. Through these letters, I assembled knowledge of the Kira case equal to the knowledge of someone who worked on it. I also learned the identity of the real Kira, but you already know who that is." Nise nodded. "But what are you trying to achieve with all of this, Mike? All you've got is knowledge about a closed case and a few dead men. What's that for?"

Chuckling, Mikhail wagged his finger at Nise. "Don't you understand? I mimicked Kira as closely as possible, I assembled knowledge equal to what he might have known about the case, and what am I trying to achieve? It's obvious! I'm going to convince the world that I, Mikhail Mentider, am Kira. I am going to convince the one investigator that I cannot kill, L, that he was wrong, that who he caught was a puppet. I will achieve the same worship Kira got, but I am not Kira. I will outsmart the world, and then prove to them that their 'god' is just a man!"

Nise was confused by this, but his confusion didn't show. Instead, his grin stayed the same, and all he did was shrug. "As long as there's entertainment... and chips. Don't forget, we're almost out of those too." He grumbled. Flopping on the couch, Nise turned the television on and settled in, watching some cooking show.

Mikhail browsed the internet, looking for criminals to judge. He found a great many, sighing, he started to write down their names. He saved a few criminals for later, writing down their names with special instructions. He wrote more names, until he could find no more, then he wrote a final name, again, with special instructions. Apparently, crime came back with a vengeance after Kira's disappearance. It took a while, but criminals soon had nothing to fear, and began anew. Wars, too, resurfaced. Countries began to invade each other out of greed; the world looked like it was falling apart. Mikhail thought to himself while writing; "Kira had united the world; good people were free from evils done upon them, and the bad ones paid. Then someone had to catch him, kill him. L. I hate L. People always use L as the example of the smartest in the world. Well, this little charade will show them just how wrong they are."

Calling to Nise, Mikhail announced; "I'm gonna turn in early, I don't want to miss a second of the mass panic on the early morning shows." Intent on his cooking show, Nise simply said between a mouthful of chips "Whatever, Night. "

Mikhail was about ready to drift off to sleep, thinking once again to himself "My special criminals, a poet and an insane man, should be busily writing their goodbyes. This ought to get L's attention, especially when coupled with my third target: The Director of the FBI! The three of them ought to be more than enough to draw L's interest, and if not, well then I'll continue my killings until I find him and remove him. Either way, it's a win-win, for me, anyways." He chuckled slightly. "Be warned, L, for I am going to dethrone you. I hold all the cards. You will bend the knee to me!"