In the spreading darkness and the depths of slumber, eyelids will flutter and flicker with an exchange of pledge for the revolution.
A fruit of the future told of a town that lost all reason, with the God of dreams whom smiles gracefully while judging death upon them.
To overwrite that ephemeral future, the present is distorted in blackness.
(Y) I believed there was an endless miracle…
(R) Someday, I will show you that world shining with light.
(Those are the anime opening lyrics merged together, by the way.)
Chapter 1 - Rebirth
"Today at approximately eleven in the morning, a thirty-two year old man was found stabbed to death in his apartment in the city of Yokohoma, Kanagawa Prefecture—" He didn't listen to the rest, as resentment built inside of him. He did his best to ignore the rest of what the reporter was saying. It wasn't unusual for him to catch a snippet of the news on his walk home from school. He heard so much of these bad news that each day he would hear it, he would grow increasingly numb and resentful.
"Today in the district of Shibuya, Tokyo, a twenty-five year old woman was gagged and killed by her housemate. The suspect, thirty-five year old Tofuji Naoki is being held in custody facing murder charges."
Seventeen year old Raito Yagami stopped in his tracks, standing just far enough from downtown Tokyo where he could hear the last of the news. He shook his head, staring off into the abyss that was his mind.
No matter what day it is, it's always the same thing but a different story… This world is rotting.
-1-
It was another day that he found himself sitting in class, staring out the window he sat next to. It was the school courtyard. Outside it was mild; not too much sun, not too much clouds. He sighed to himself, tempted to close his eyes and just escape this rotten world for awhile. Even here, he couldn't escape it. Raito saw his peers lash out at one another, and it wasn't hard to foresee the next criminals in a few years. He couldn't stand the sight of it. Sometimes, he would step up for someone and other times, he was too numb to bother. Though it felt like another boring day, Raito couldn't help noticing how different it was becoming.
It must be how he's auto-piloting. He was about to close his eyes when he caught sight of something falling from the sky. It was a black notebook. His eyes widened as he drank in the catch. That wasn't something that happened every day.
When class was dismissed, Raito made his way to the school courtyard. Part of him had a doubtful feeling that the notebook wasn't there anymore while another part of him was full of unexplainable excitement. He should be able to, but he couldn't explain it. The way his stomach fluttered when he sauntered the way of where the notebook landed was unfamiliar, and the overwhelming relief that flooded within him when he saw it there was new to him, too. He picked it up, flipping through the blank pages.
He found nothing in them, but the cover read in white, Death Note. He scoffed to himself. Why would someone title their notebook that? For what purpose either? Looking closer, he saw a few pages in black. He pulled the book open to one of them, scanning it over. He raised his eyebrows upon reading, "The human whose name is written in this book shall die." With that, he closed the notebook and shook his head. That was impossible, and the sound of it in itself was ridiculous. It must have been some kind of book made to scare someone.
He set the notebook back down where it was, turned away, and was making his way home from school when he stopped in his tracks. He turned back to where it lay, and he found himself walking home with it in his bag.
I can't be serious, to take this home with me and consider trying it out…
"Welcome home, Raito!" his mother called from the kitchen when she heard him close the front door behind him.
"Thank you," He slid his shoes off by the door. "Mom, I'll be in my room."
"Studying?" She asked.
"When don't I?" He teased, smiling small as he climbed up the stairs. He heard his mother's laughter before he slid his door closed and gave a resigned sigh, glancing at his slightly opened bag where the note was a tad exposed. He shook his head.
To be doing something as questionable as this…
He sat at his desk with the notebook in front of him, studying the black pages.
"This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind as they write the name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected."
"If the cause of death is written in forty seconds of writing the name, it will happen as it is written. If the cause of death is not specified, by default, they will die of a heart attack. Should a cause of death be specified, a further six minutes and forty seconds are granted to describe all the details."
As he read most of this, he grew more puzzled and more amused. The premise was impossible and ridiculous as he thought before, but to have such certain rules… Then again, it had to be a convincing prop to fool someone into actually using the thing. Raito smirked to himself.
"So, that means their death can be painful or quick by the writer's hands, huh? What good additions for a little prank." He chuckled, stood, and lay himself down on his bed, hands folded beneath his head as he stared at the ceiling. If it was really nothing but a prop for pranks, why did he have this uncertainty crawling in the pit of his stomach? He was reassuring himself that it was nothing… Though, he knew if it was nothing, he wouldn't be feeling this way. He sighed, closing his eyes. It was pointless to dwell on something as silly as this.
He reopened them. Then again, what had happened was strange. It wasn't the same as the previous days of the same happenings in different orders. No, whatever this was, had changed today. For some reason, he felt compelled to at least try to see if it was a prop or not. To distinguish it, and know whether to throw it out of it was nothing or… He didn't know what he would do if it worked.
Unable to fight his urges and alien sensations any longer, he reclaimed his seat on the chair and grabbed a pencil from the cup, prepared to write something or more of, someone down. He pulled the pencil up to his face for a moment, having second thoughts of what he was about to do. He was hesitating, but who wouldn't be? This notebook, it could either be the real deal or it was a joke.
If this notebook really does kill by the writing of a name and the picturing of a face… if I were to write a name down in the purpose of experimenting, wouldn't that still make me a murderer?
While his good-will was unsure of this, his confidence shrugged it off and chuckled again, convincing himself that that chance alone was too impossible to present itself. Relieved, he turned the television on and prepared himself again, listening to the broadcast. All he was doing was figuring out what this was. It couldn't be anything but a prop. He was sure of it. His doubtful thoughts were disrupted by the reporter's voice, "…The phantom killer, who attacked six people in the business district of Shinjuku yesterday, has now taken eight children and kindergarten teachers hostages—"
Raito stared at the television, the rest muted. There it was again. The numbness returning to him, crawling from his ears and descending to the rest of his unfeeling body as he sat there, registering these news of the same rotten effect of the different cause of crime or soon-to-be-crime that was unstoppable. Then, realization dawned on him. It wouldn't be unstoppable if he could help it, using this notebook. As the reporter began summarizing the killer's background with a picture displayed to boot, Raito decided he would use this man to find out once and for all what this notebook really was.
Facing away from the television to the notebook down in front of him, and turning himself on auto-pilot to fight off what hesitance remained, Raito wrote down the killer's aforementioned name with that picture in his mind. When completed, he glanced up at his clock, setting the own timer in his head.
If the note is true, he should die of a heart attack in forty seconds.
Raito watched the television, waiting for the moment to come. The reporter went on, but hearing nothing of Raito's interest, it was once again muted in his waiting. Even the exchanged sympathies and worries for the children's and teacher's families went unheard, Raito dully noting that he had heard these before again and again. He silently glanced back at the clock, seeing that five seconds passed, he smiled a small knowing smile.
It was impossible after all.
He stood from his chair, turning his desk lamp off and leaned to do the same with the television when he heard one of the reporters cry in shock. He froze, curiosity getting the best of him.
"The hostages are leaving the building, unharmed! The police are rushing in now. Has the phantom killer been apprehended?! Yes?" The reporter gasped, eyes widening as he announced, "We've just heard that he has died of a heart attack!"
Raito's eyes widened, as he realized that he had…
"Dead?" He uttered the word as if it were something he hadn't heard of before. A heart attack… He shook his head, his undeterred confidence and pride reassuring him that it was a coincidence. That he hadn't killed someone. His thoughts, that were as fleeting as the nerves coursing through his veins with the adrenaline paused at the sound of his mother calling him, something about… Ah, Cram School. He couldn't forget something as important as that on another boring day, but today was proving itself to be much different that he worried what would happen next.
After checking over his bag for everything he needed and pulling his tan uniform jacket back on, he glanced towards the notebook that could have possibly—He refused to believe that the notebook did that. It was a coincidence. Willing to prove it was nothing but a prop, he pulled the notebook into his bag and sauntered off to another night of Cram School. It was as boringly unbearable as his high school classes were, he sat there and would stare off, at least pretending he listened. When it was over, he wouldn't admit how eager he was to leave.
The chilly night air didn't bother him on his way to home. He couldn't stop himself from dwelling to his thoughts of how rotten the world had gotten when overhearing others' conversations. How they treated and ignored one another. It wasn't as bad as the criminals, but he knew that it had something to do with how they came to be. He heard the roaring of a motorcycle's engine, looking up.
He caught sight of a few motorcyclists, surrounding themselves around a lonesome woman. He pretended to walk into the store nearby, walking to the closest window where books were displayed. He picked one out, glancing down at the pages as if he were reading, but he was truly listening to the conversation outside.
"Hang out with us for awhile, baby." The leader of the gang crooned.
"Please don't trouble me…" was her soft reply.
The gang guffawed at her, making inappropriate remarks as they had her trapped in a circle. From her desperate cries and pleas for them to stop, Raito could collect that… He was almost done. Once the book was in his hands and the leader's name and face was fresh in his mind, he wrote out all the different variations of his name, waiting for the forty seconds to pass. To prove that this was a prop, and if it wasn't then, what would become of the woman struggling outside? He glanced at his watch then out the window.
Having managed to wiggle from their confines, the woman was running off to the opposite side with the leader of the gang chasing after her. One of his friends cried,
"Takuo! Watch out!"
But it was all for naught, because at that moment, a truck slammed right into him, leaving Raito wide-eyed as he stood there in shock. His confidence had nothing to say to this. This was the sure test, and the note passed.
It… it's real.
-1-
It was heavily raining throughout his way home, but he managed. He announced his presence, glancing up to see his mother standing in front of him, smiling. She brought her hands out expectantly. He was puzzled for a moment, then it dawned on him. He reached, pulled his bag from his shoulder and down onto the floor, easily finding where he placed the national exams. He handed them over to her, smiling small.
"Here, mom."
She scanned through it, eyes as bright as her smile.
"My son is number one again!" She cheered, "You try so hard, don't you, Raito?"
"Mm, I'll be studying in my room again. Please don't interrupt." He said as he walked up the stairs with his bag.
"Of course," She agreed, "Ah, Raito! Is there anything you wanted? You can have whatever you like!"
"No thank you, mom." He closed the door, locking it. As soon as that lock was in place, his hair obscured his eyes as a smirk rose to his face. He walked over to his desk, turned the desk lamp on, set the notebook down and sat on his chair, opening the notebook to a page full of names he had written over the past five days since he first discovered its power. His smirk widened, chuckling at his horrifying accomplishments. Even the heavy thunder from outside had nothing against his rising laughter.
"I see you're having an awful lot of fun with that."
He gasped, turning to face the sight of a shinigami. The lightning that flashed on the death god that moment made him all the more unsettling, but it was from the surprise of his presence that Raito shrieked and fell from his chair.
"Why the fear? I am Ryuk, the shinigami who dropped that notebook. By your laughter, you know that that notebook is no ordinary one."
It was silent for a moment, and Ryuk thought he was talking to himself when the human stood himself up.
"A shinigami, huh?" He stared at Ryuk straightly. "I'm not afraid, Ryuk. In fact, I've been expecting you."
"Ohh?"
"You're right. I have realized that a notebook of death does exist. I know that now, from all of those names I've written."
"You surprise me. In the past, I've heard a lot of stories where humans have picked up a Death Note before, but you're the first to write this many names in only five days… Humans are too frightened to write anything more than a page or two."
"I've already prepared myself, Ryuk." He said as he sat back down, speaking in pride. "I knew full well that this was a shinigami's notebook, and now, one has come. Are you here to take my soul, as a price for using your notebook?"
"What are you going on about? Is that some common tale made up by humans?" asked Ryuk, puzzled. "I'm not going to do anything to you. Once my notebook hit the ground, it became property of the human world. What I'm saying is, the notebook is yours now."
"Mine…" Raito's eyes widened, gleaming as a sense of relief flooded over him. All the things he would do with this notebook. He hugged it to his chest. He could cleanse the world, using this as his secret weapon, and now, he may even have a god of death at his side. He started laughing again.
Watching this from a visional globe, a hooded figure stood from the throne their body had been sitting on. With much needed stretching, the figure made their way over to another room where a flip-phone was suspended in midair, waiting to be claimed. A frail hand wrapped around the phone, pulling it into a possessive embrace as unseen eyes scanned over the foretelling screen.
/ 21:45 PM: Raito-kun went to bed now, and Ryuk is watching over him! Raito-kun needs his nine hours of rest after all! Sleep well, Raito-kun! /
A smile twitched itself on lips that hadn't lifted in years.