"So, have you heard of it?"

Hiro jerked slightly at the sudden sound of his friend's voice. He glanced up into the wondering, dark brown eyes and with a slight smile, he said, "Heard of what?"

Ayame rolled her eyes and sat back down on the top of her desk, "You know, that urban legend?"

When Hiro gave her another blank stare she let out an irritated sigh, "Kira? You know, that one guy from a few years back?"

"Which one?" questioned Hiro, returning to his daze as he stared at out the window.

"The original-obviously dumbo! And I don't mean the "second" Kira or that fake wannabe that killed old people," Ayame put the laptop in front of Hiro, forcing him to look at her, "I mean the real one."

"You keep saying that."

"Saying? Saying what?"

"The real one. Didn't you say it was just an urban legend?" Hiro pointed out, looking up towards his friend. "If it's a legend then there isn't a real one."

Ayame rolled her eyes, plopping down into her chair, "Come one Hiro. We can't just ignore it. It was real. There was something there-punishing all those people!"

"Well if there was," Hiro shrugged, "which I'm sure there was, he's gone now. Isn't he? Or she. Whichever you prefer."

"…Yeah," Ayame nodded, picking up her bag as the last bell rang for the day, "but I sort of like to think that…there's still someone out there who'd be willing to take up his legacy."

Hiro let out a soft chuckle as he watched the rest of his class file out. " "Legacy", huh?"

Silence filled the room when the last of the students trickled out. Now it was onto club activities or hanging around friends. But Hiro? He didn't want to. In fact you could say he was…too lazy to?

By the time Hiro got down to the lockers, the school was near empty-except for the few students who stayed behind.

When he opened his locker to replace his shoes, he noticed something…odd. A notebook. A notebook safely tucked into his locker on top of his shoes.

Hiro glanced around, making sure no one was there. He pulled it form his locker and held it.

A noteblook as black as night with white words inscribed at the top in English.

"Death Note?" Hiro stared at it and mumbled, "Is this some dumb occult prank?"

Nonetheless, Hiro slipped the notebook into his bag and replaced his shoes. After a moment he closed the locker and began to walk out.

Death Note.

Hiro found himself smiling a bit as he boarded the train. "Death Note"? If they wanted to pull a prank on Hiro, they should have done it more discreetly. Honestly, what was Hiro going to do with a notebook of Death? What did it entail?

A man left and everyone else was sitting. Hiro sat down in the man's spot and pulled out the notebook, careful so that it didn't fall and so that people wouldn't see the cover. For some reason…Hiro got a feeling it would be bad if someone saw him with it.

He slowly peeled back the front cover and read it.

Death Note

How to Use

I

-The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.

-This note will note take effect unless the writer his this person's face in their mind when writing his or her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

-If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen

-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.

Hiro closed the notebook and sat back, calmly tucking it back into his school bag.

What kind of sick joke is that? A notebook where if you write the person's name, then that person dies? It's laughable to say the least but at the same time it is twisted.

"The most pathetic way to die," Hiro mumbled to himself.

"Is it?"

Hiro jumped slightly, surprised to get a response. He glanced to his left to find an…odd looking man.

This man was young, probably in his early twenties, with snowy white hair and large, curious gray eyes. He sat with a slight hunch and his hands kept fiddling with his hair, his shoes sat on the ground instead of having his feet in it. He wore a white outfit, matching his snowy complexion and white hair. His shirt hung off his hands slightly as did his pants, which would probably drag on the floor. And when he looked at Hiro, he had a strange twinkle in his eyes.

"Um…sorry, I was just thinking about a story I read earlier," Hiro said, waving the space next to his head.

"Oh, no, now I'm a bit curious," the white man shifted slightly towards Hiro, "Yes, before you interrupted I was mumbling to myself."

"Were you?" Hiro gave an internal sigh. He's been saddled with a weirdo.

"Yes, I was," the white man said, he reached out the hand that wasn't preoccupied, "Naoki, by the way."

"Um…Hiro," he shook Naoki's hand and watched as the strange young man turned back to face forward. Hiro let out a slight sigh, maybe he wouldn't talk?

Unfortunately, this was short-lived.

"There is a homicide case," Naoki started, "and the detective is unable to find anything. However, they have five suspects to work with-Samoa, Susie, Richard, Neil, and Jennifer. While investigating the crime scene, this detective notices something on the calendar. They are numbers circled within the month-9, 4, 5, 10, 8. This helped him figure out who the suspect was."

Naoki glanced over to Hiro, "So? Who do you think it is?"

Hiro stared at Naoki, unsure if he should take him seriously or not. After a moment, Hiro said, "That wasn't what you were mumbling to yourself."

"Is that right?" Naoki looked at him with steady eyes. "Nonetheless, please answer."

Hiro thought for a moment…and then another…and then another…and just when he was about to give up, something clicked. "Months."

"What about them?"

"Those numbers. They represent months," Hiro pulled out a pencil and a sheet of paper, scribbling down the months in a row, one below each other. "September, April, May, October, and August. The clue is in the first letter of each month. Together, they would spell "Samoa"…isn't that right?"

Hiro glanced up at Naoki, holding the sheet in front of him. The older man looked impressed, "Yes. Yes, that is quite right."

Hiro shoved the paper into his bag and tucked the pencil away, "So?"

"So what?"

"Are you going to tell me what you were actually whispering about? A homicide, probably, seeing as my words had distracted you from it," Hiro stared straight ahead, his dark brown eyes scanning the scenery in front of him.

"Hm…quite bright you are," was Naoki's response, "Very well. I suppose I'll tell you. I'm working on a case right now. An odd case. It's about a man and elderly people."

"…The one that was on the news recently?" Hiro looked over to him.

"Yes," Naoki nodded.

"…And what do you suspect?"

"Kira, possibly. Self-proclaimed," Naoki said.

"Impossible," Hiro shook his head.

"And why do you say that?"

"Sorry, not impossible that he's "self-proclaimed". More so that he's…so fake. Kira-at least the stories of him-depict his as righteous, despite his evil deeds. This man? What was his excuse? "Putting them out of their misery". That's not righteous. That is naiveté."

There was a silence that seemed to surround the two. Both in the same bubble, yet at the same time there was a soft wall between them-one that could be easily punctured by both.

"That…yes. Quite correct," Naoki nodded, "That is exactly what I was thinking…what did you say your name was again?"

"Hiro. Hiro Saga."

"…How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen and so bright at this young age," Naoki stood, his stop nearing soon. He looked down towards Hiro with a small smile, "Don't ruin your life, okay?"

Hiro watched as Naoki slipped on his shoes and watched as the train door opened and watched as Naoki left the train.

Odd, that series of event was. Really odd. But wasn't odd enough. No, not yet. Not until Hiro got home.

"Hiro, Hiro!" his eight year old brother ran up to him along with his thirteen year old sister behind, "Guess what?"

Hiro picked up his little brother, Nagihiko, "What is it, Nagi?"

"Listen, listen! So earlier, dad came home and then he said he lost something!"

"Oh? What did he lose?" Hiro look towards Chiyo.

"He lost his badge," Chiyo answered. She crossed her arms and looked at Hiro, "Did you take it again, big brother?"

"Me?" Hiro laughed, sitting down on the couch and resting Nagihiko on his lap, "Why would I?"

"You did it when we were younger. For laughs," Chiyo answered.

Hiro rolled his eyes, "Chiyo, I am a senior in high school with a 4.0 grade average every year since I started school. I do not have time for such things."

"It doesn't matter because papa found it in the couch," Nagihiko laughed, "He's so silly!"

"Silly," Hiro smiled, "Yes, he is quite forgetful, isn't he?"

There was a pause in which Nagihiko fiddled with Hiro's school uniform and Chiyo sat down beside them, turning the television on.

"I wonder if there's anything interesting on the news," Chiyo mumbled, switching to a news channel.

There was something interesting. Very interesting. It was L.

"-ever, "I won't get involved" is not reason enough to hijack the airwaves. Therefore, let me personally say one thing to the criminal. You are an abdominal murderer."

Hiro switched the T.V. off and stood up, setting Nagihiko on the couch.

"Hey, I was watching that!" Chiyo protested as Hiro grabbed his bag.

"That nonsense about Kira? Really? Things like that will just rot your brain until you die," Hiro sighed. "So, what do you guys want to eat tonight?"

"Curry rice!" Nagihiko chimed.

Hiro looked at the pouting Chiyo, "Yeah, sure."

"Okay, curry rice it is."