DISCLAIMER: I do not own the manga Death Note or any of its characters.

Chapter 1: Absence

A normal day at Daikoku Private Academy consists of merciless teachers, carefree students, and assignments tedious enough to die from. But, by now, I was used to it- as was any other student attending this school. Everyone sported the school uniform, whether they liked it or didn't. Some excelled whilst others failed. It was just another normal day at Daikoku Private Academy. Or, at least, it would have been.

Once the clock struck fifteen 'o' clock, it was finally time to head home. I opened my locker, and took out the usual: a compact textbook on history, a large textbook of math, and another hefty one containing English. Zipping my backpack completely was a task in itself. With that done, I slammed my locker closed, and slung my black bag over my shoulder.

It was rather dull, to tell you the truth. It was the same routine day in and day out. Nobody else seemed to notice. I had my share of friends, but they all enjoy this simple lifestyle. I needed something… different. Something that would change my life in a way so that my life would have meaning. Something… While I though this, I took my time pondering and worked my way to the exit .

But, before I could reach for the door, I heard a voice calling my name from the opposite end of the hall:

"Hey! Daisuke!" it cried. It was my friend from childhood, Yuka.

Curious to what she could want, I looked back and shoved my free hand into my pocket.

"Hi,Yuka. What is it?" I asked. She wasn't one to start conversations. When Yuka got close enough, she handed me what looked like a fortune cookie. It looked as if it was handmade.

"Here.I forgot to give this to you at our lunch break." she said, forming a smile.

I smiled back. "Thanks. I thought you were acting a bit different."

The girl laughed, and then waved as she left the building. "See you tomorrow!" … When she let the door close behind her, I sighed; I had a feeling that Yuka was starting to fall for me. It was sort of bothersome, because I'd much rather just stay friends though; I can't tell you how many times I've seen a friendship ruined because it 'didn't work out'. But, I decided to put that aside for now; fortune cookies were my favorite. I cracked it open, and ripped the fortune out from the left portion of the cookie. The strip read:

"Today will determine the future." Yeah right. I ate the cookie, and tossed the fortune in a nearby trashbin.

When I finnaly got outside the sun's beams met my face; the bright gleam made my eyes narrow. My fellow peers were flooding out of the school, some in compact clusters- possibly chatting about how their day went or maybe even upcoming events. But, that was just a guess. My eyes strayed, before I noticed one figure standing alone, looking over something. The honor student,Yagami Light. I admired him, because he was intelligent, athletic, and relatively comical. But, maybe even more than anything, I noticed that by the way he spoke he seemed to think the same way as I did. Light thought that this life was plain, just as I did.

He looked over in my direction, and grinned at me. But, once I started to walk over to him, the sun's rays got the better of me. I was forced to wince from the overwhelming brightness, and when I looked back, Light vanished. But… how could he just… dissappear? It was bizzare, to say the least. Was I just seeing things…? It was as if he was never there. The thing that Light was looking at, however… still seemed to be there. Regardless, I decided to strolled over, to see what he was looking at. That was, if there was anything there to begin with. I just prayed that I wasn't going insane.

As I got closer to where the honor student was standing, I saw what looked like a black notebook. Maybe… somebody dropped it? Or maybe they didn't want this notebook… It was unclear, so I pressed on so that I was directly in front of this notebook. Perhaps there was a name on it- so that I could return it. But… when I picked it up, there were two large words written of the cover of this notebook written in English. I raised a brow, as I muttered:

"Death… Note?"