Death Note: The Inner Workings of Yagami Raito
Raito does not like to get his hands dirty. That, perhaps, is the statement that can best sum up the peculiar persona of Yagami Raito.
There is a skill in looking as clever as you are. Raito knows every one of the tricks, the subtle turn of eyes, the hesitant, shy smile; he knows how to use his voice like a weapon, to soothe, to carress, or to accuse. He could have been a actor, if he had not considered it beneath him.
The law was his first love, when he grew old enough to know of the nuances of rights and wrongs, of the dirty underbelly of the world and its bitter cruelties. The law would have welcomed him too. Raito looks beautiful in the police uniform, tall and smart, the embodiment of justice. His eyes tell you that everything will be OK. Remember that the good guys always win the day.
Later, when Raito grows still older, he looks at the bleakness around him and starts to wonder, for the first, troubling time, if the law was as perfect as he had dreamt it to be.
The Death Note is the answer to his doubts.
He has thought about it many times before, of course. Raito wants to rewrite history, to leave his footprint behind when his mortal remains are long gone. He reads the newspapers and the crimes so faithfully reported, and dreams of cleansing the world of evil, dreams of a peaceful life for the deserving. It's a beautiful fantasy.
Murder, though—he won't cross that threshold. Not when he still can't let go of that first, childish infatuation he had for Justice when he was a child. But writing names in a notebook is a different matter. People are dying right on the other side of the globe, and he prints names neatly, as though he's doing homework, calmly signing their death sentence with a flourish.
He smiles more often than ever, now, and his mask smiles along with his lips. People won't find guilt in his face. L, try as he might, never saw through the façade until it was too late.
There's still no blood on his hands. (Only ink.) As long as it stays like that, everything will be okay.