I don't really know why I decided to run after that stray dog that ran in front of a semi, but I don't regret shielding it with my body, even if it hurt like hell. The very last thing I remember before blacking out was that dog I saved limping only a bit as it came over to whine and lick at my cheek. After that, I felt like pretty much everything went to nothingness. I have no idea how long I just kind of thought about everything that happened, but after a while, I felt like I was regaining consciousness. The first thing I felt was an aching sensation in my ribcage, but it wasn't as intense as when I had blacked out.
While my muscles started twitching with the urge to move, I didn't feel like anything was broken or cut, which was strange. So, I ended up opening my eyes and found myself staring up at a ceiling I wasn't familiar with. It didn't even look like a hospital ceiling. Of course, this made my thoughts go to the "Where the hell am I?" kind of panicky state. Looking around revealed a ton of books on shelves around over half of the room and a desk with a computer and a small T.V. sitting on it. Sitting up took some groaning and grunting from the dull aching in my ribs, but once I did, I looked down at the dark blue blanket still tangled around my lower half. Rubbing at my eyes and face, I took another confused look around the room as I suddenly got the feeling it was familiar somehow. Also, the acne I know was on my face seems to have disappeared.
"The hell?"
My voice sounded strange. I knew it was mine, but at the same time it seemed like it wasn't. Not to mention that the language that came out was not English, the only language I could recall speaking before the accident. Did I have amnesia or something from it? I remember some things, but others are more vague hunches than really knowing. Something tells me this room is mine, but I don't really remember ever having a room this big before.
"Light, you're going to be late for school!" Someone called in what I assumed was the same language I had spoken earlier, knocking on the door.
Light had to be me. No, I know it's me. My name was different before though, wasn't it? Well, either way, I decided I'd better get up and just go with whatever's happening. It seemed things were just clicking to place in my mind all by themselves anyway.
Once I found the bathroom, I froze up and stared wide-eyed at my reflection. This perfect-skinned auburn haired girl in the mirror was not what I remembered, but my brain seemed to be registering it as my face for some reason. After a minute of staring and making sure it was indeed me, I reminded myself that I was going to be late and started getting ready. I pulled the shoulder-length hair into a clip in the back somewhat messily, letting my fringe naturally hang over my forehead in a side-swept fashion. Then I went back to the room I had woken up in and, as if by instinct, I found the uniform and awkwardly pulled it on. It seems my chest is still average, not being huge but not being flat either, and my body seems to be about as thin or maybe even thinner than I remember. After I had the uniform on, I felt uncomfortable with the skirt and rifled through some drawers until I found a pair of black shorts to wear under it. The last thing I did was grab my school bag before heading downstairs.
When I saw who was sitting at the table in the kitchen/living room area, I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Light, do you want breakfast?" The middle-aged woman asked me with a smile when they noticed me standing in the doorway.
I couldn't respond, my mouth refusing to work even if I could think of what to say.
"Huh? Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." The girl that looked to be about middle-school age said when she saw me.
"I-I-I'm fine! I'm leaving!" I finally got my body to move and slipped on my shoes before quickly leaving the house. "There is absolutely no way."
There is no way that I'm where I think I am. Or who I think I am. How do you go from getting hit by a semi to more or less taking over the body of a gender-bent mass murderer?! This is ridiculous! There's no way that was Sayu and Mrs Yagami. Absolutely no way!
I somehow got to school and sat in the right seat on instinct. I don't really know how to explain how I know things other than just saying it's by instinct. Like when I was called on and answered perfectly. Well, I guess I should know how to read english, but translating it back into Japanese when I don't recall ever learning it was strange. The entire ordeal just gets more confusing the more I think about it. So, sitting and staring out the window while brooding over it really doesn't help.
It did help me see a black book of some kind fall from the sky though. If the fact I knew this world as an anime that I adored for a while meant anything, it meant that I was caught between being excited and terrified that this had to be the day I became a protagonist. Or antagonist, depending on which way you view the story. But that isn't important. The fact that I went directly to where I saw it fall and picked up the damn book is what's important. Staring at the words "Death Note" on the cover as my thoughts swirled around two options, I knew I had to make a decision.
If I take it and don't use it, then I could burn it or something so Ryuk can't just give it to someone else. If I don't take it, someone worse than Light was might pick it up. But if I just burn it, no one will die.