Sitting down in the school cafeteria with a little sigh, I placed my books beside me. It was the year 2012, and the month was November. At first glance, one would say I was an ordinary ninth grader who just came to a new school. In some ways, I suppose I am pretty normal. I moved to the United States when I was twelve, from Japan. I still remember a lot about my old home. The reason my family moved was…because of Kira. Or the Kira's. Or how ever many there were. Anyways, my father was one of the NPA (National Police Agency) members who quit for fear of their lives. Enough about my old life.

Currently, I go to a regular American high school, a public one. Today was a regular, normal day, except at the end of fifth period. I walked through the long hallways, and usually I am not very clumsy. But today, I was. I tripped over something, and landed onto the floor, my books scattered everywhere! Grumbling to myself, I picked up my books. No one else was in the halls at the moment, and therefore, no one was there to help me. "Sheesh…" I muttered. "What could I have tripped on?!" Standing up, I turned around to see what I had tripped over. I leaned down and picked up a…book. Huh? I thought. What…is this? The book was pure white, and appeared to be a simple notebook. On the cover, scrawny letters read: "Life Note."

I glanced around myself, and opened it up cautiously. There was a "how-to-use" section of the book, but the rest of the pages were all blank. "What…?!" I whispered. Then, the warning bell rang. "Ah!" I stuffed the notebook under one of my binders and ran the rest of the way to my next class in a disgruntled hurry.

At the end of the school day, I had let out a long, slow sigh. I locked the house door behind me as I entered my home. My younger sister, Akako, bounded down the stairs to greet me. She was twelve years old, and a sweet little thing at that. "Shina!" she squealed with a grin. "Do you have homework?" I could tell that she was hoping I didn't have any. But, of course, I did.

"Sorry, Akako…I have homework…" I replied as I walked up the stairs to my room with my backpack. I shut the door and locked it quietly as I made my way to my desk. I slipped off my backpack and unzipped the largest pocket, taking out my binders and notebooks. Lastly, I removed the strange Life Note I had found. "Hm…" I was tempted to start reading the "how-to-use" pages…but my practical mind got the best of me, and won over the argument over my curious self. So, I stuffed the notebook back into my backpack, and started my homework. I made a mental note, however, to read the "how-to-use" pages later that night…or maybe the next morning. It all depended on how fast I could finish my homework.