A/N: I don't own Death Note.

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It was lunch time at Wammy's House and Matt was just walking along through the courtyard (as usual glued to his PSP and not watching where he was going) minding his own business when he tripped on something that had been lying on the ground. Matt yelped as he landed on his ass and, even worse, he could only watch in horror as in slow motion, his beloved PSP sailed out of his hands and shattered on impact with the ground. Matt cursed his luck. He wouldn't be able to sneak off to town for replacement parts until the end of the week! Jeez. What the fuck was he going to DO until then? Matt picked himself up to find he was sitting on the thing that had caused him to fall. The offending item was a book—a black notebook to be precise with the words "Death Note" written on the cover with... maybe it was whiteout? Curiosity peaked, he opened the book and read the first line.

"The human whose name is written in this note shall die." Matt rolled his eyes. That was pretty sick.

He was about to toss it when he reconsidered upon casually scanning over the elaborate rules... Somebody had too much time on their hands. Yeah it was messed up but the very idea of one of the students here coming up with this shit... that was surely good for a few laughs. Mello would no doubt appreciate this particular brand of humor.

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"I can't talk now Mattie. I'm this close to beating him this time."

Matt gave an irritated sigh as he returned to their shared dorm room which was currently empty. Mello was going to spend all night in the library again, working himself towards an early heart attack trying to outdo "that stupid sheep."
Matt tried not to get involved in Mello and Near's rivalry but some days, like today for instance, Matt got annoyed that Mello's obsession with the albino took up so much of his time and attention.

Matt sprawled on his bed at an awkward angle, kicking his boots in the air while staring vacantly at the wall. His fingers twitched, deprived of his PSP. Roger had already confiscated his X-box earlier that week after an incident in Near's room which involved an envelope filled with shaving cream being stuck partway under the door, followed by a large encyclopedia being dropped on said envelope. (That was totally not his fault by the way—alas apparently he was guilty by association...)

Matt was so bored.

He had already done all his course work (deliberately getting many of the answers wrong so as not to step on Mello's toes.) But now there was NOTHING to do.
Meanwhile that stupid notebook innocuously sat on his desk almost like it was... waiting.
Matt had all but forgotten about it...

That's not true. He had tried to forget about it but it was always there in the back of his mind. Almost like it was calling...

While Matt was more er... mellow than Mello he also was never too good about the whole "impulse control business" either. He preferred to do things that offered instant gratification—like video games.

But wouldn't it be great if he could just zap all his problems away? If Near would just... disappear?

No more Near... and Mello could finally relax and focus on the things that were really important...

Matt laughed and shook his head. He was getting way too serious about this. It wasn't healthy. And what the hell was he thinking? Matt didn't even really hate Near-at least it wasn't the frothing rage of a certain chocoholic blonde. And as if a Notebook could actually kill someone anyway—that defied all logic, right?
Matt began to approach his desk nervously but stopped himself. Scared? Of a stupid notebook?

Mello would laugh at him for weeks.

This was ridiculous-it was just a dumb prank!

And he'd prove it. He'd write a name down and they'd all laugh about it later.

But which name?

Well that should be obvious—Matt wrote "NEAR" in large, scrawling letters at the top of the first page.
Yeah, Mello was sure to get a kick out of seeing the name "NEAR" (or as the Wammy's mainframe he once hacked into for kicks revealed—Nate River) in this supposed "murder notebook." As an afterthought Matt wrote "Nate River" down too, chuckled, and then closed the book.
Yes, surely Mello would approve.