Death Note.
A Death Note, or Notebook of Death, is a supernatural blank-paged notebook that grants the owner an ability to kill absolutely anyone by simply writing the person's name inside whilst picturing their face. Additionally, it comes with many rules and such regulations need to be followed or else, consequences will occur much sooner than anticipated.
No known human has ever owned one...
Caitlin Glass as Kohaku Hatashi
Michelle Ruff as Sakae Shiraki
Warnings: Errors of Any Sort, Possible Out of Character Moments, Profanity, Violence, Attempted Public Sexual Assault of the Gang Kind (Glad Nothing Actually Happened), Slight Gore, Death of Non-Main Characters (Won't Use This "Tag" Often), Some Cringe Worthy Descriptions Still (Sorry, Not Sorry; I'm Still Not That Great At This, But I'm Better)
Changes from Original Version of this Chapter: Errors Were Fixed (However, Some New Ones May Have Arrived, Which Is Why I Left That As A Warning), Dialogue Was Slightly Altered/Some Was Added, A Bit of New Information for the Original Characters Was Added, Descriptions Are Occasionally Better Than They Previously Were, and Finally, Kohaku's Appearance and Personality is Slightly Altered to be More Realistic; I Believe That's All
Additional Information For Chapter (and Chapters to Come): Bold Means Translations (Won't See That Very Often), Italics When Someone "Speaks" Means Thoughts, and '' Means Quoting. You Won't Get This "Reminder" Again.
This follows the English Dub. If you're not pleased by that information, please leave at once and don't complain to me about it because it would be a waste of time for us all. Additionally, do not just stop in the middle of a chapter or at the end of it without having already read a total of three chapters, that being the minimum of how many chapters you should read before you judge the fanfiction and before you decide whether or not you wish to continue reading it. It will, however, make more sense for that to happen if there are only few chapters available to begin with, but it's some bullshit if there are ten or more available. That is all. I hope that all made sense; if not, basically, I stated that it annoys me when someone stops reading based on what they read from one single chapter instead of multiple because it's not fair to the author's writing (give it a chance). I'm sorry if I sound pissed off :)
Light Yagami, a fair-skinned seventeen-year-old male, was sitting silently at his desk within his high school English classroom. He appeared to be slightly bored with what was occurring, his right elbow resting on his desktop whilst his hand remained perched up against his cheek, his fingers brushing ever-so-gently against the edge of his short-length light-brown hair. He was facing the front area of the classroom, but his dark-brown eyes were focused on the activities of his fellow classmates instead of the teacher; none of them were paying attention to their instructor, instead they either played video games underneath their desks or conversed with one another in loud whispers. Either way, it was very unlikely that the teacher would notice them doing such because he was far too busy with reading to them, his attention entirely focused on the educational book in his grasp.
Kohaku Hatashi, a porcelain-skinned eighteen-year-old female, was seated in the desk directly behind Light. On her face was an expression of pure boredom, her large indigo-blue eyes locked onto the figure of the teacher that she wasn't truly listening to. Annoyance flickered across her face for a split second when she overheard a few females speaking of some male that was supposedly furious at one of the gossiping girls. "Nobody cares," she mouthed to herself, unsympathetic about the drama of the other females within the classroom because the only drama she cared for was that of her own and such included any drama that revolved around her best friends; no one else's problems mattered to her, for the most part. Gently, she reached towards her bob-cut chestnut-brown hair and silently started playing with it as she zoned out from reality, ignoring the open book that was sitting in front of her on the desktop.
Sakae Shiraki, a gently-tanned seventeen-year-old female, was located within a desk towards Kohaku's right. Fingers lightly tapping on the book that laid before her, her attention was towards the ceiling for an unknown reason. She had a grin on her face and her golden-blonde hair swayed as she shifted slightly in her chair, her hair falling from rest on her shoulder and landing across her middle back. Her grayish blue eyes were sparkling with exhilaration, but it wasn't enthusiasm towards the activity of the classroom; her excitement was towards something she was thinking about, which was getting out of there.
Kohaku, Light, and Sakae were the best of friends, and they had known one another for a very long period of time. However, such an occasion of those events weren't equal for one reason alone; they met one another at different points in life, though they weren't far off from each other. Light and Sakae were childhood friends, brought together by mainly being within the same classes throughout their entire lives. During her final year of elementary school, Sakae met Kohaku by chance when both were at the store with a relative and though they were unlikely to be friends because of their large personality differences, they became very close regardless; Kohaku's parents, never having seen their daughter take interest in socializing with someone before, made certain that they kept in touch with Sakae's relatives, so that the two girls could occasionally hangout since they went to different schools, thus resulting in their eventual closeness. The following year, Kohaku was introduced to Light when she entered the same middle school and that was when the separate friendships became a trio.
As their class continued with dragging on painfully slow, Kohaku released a huff of breath and she stopped messing with her hair, boredom having brought her back to the world of dull reality. She looked towards Sakae, placing her left elbow on her desk as she pressed her cheek against her hand, furthering indicating her disinterest in everything around her. "Goddamn, this class is more boring than usual," she stated to her main best friend, hoping to catch her attention that was placed elsewhere.
Sakae blinked, her attention pulled from her thoughts as she looked away from the ceiling to gaze towards Kohaku in return. Additionally, the tapping of her fingers ceased to exist as the spark in Sakae's eyes slowly diminished. Processing the words that Kohaku had stated to her, she slowly nodded in agreement with her dear friend. "Yeah, it would seem so." She turned her attention towards Light, nodding her head towards him. "Not even Light is paying attention. He seems more out of it than usual today," she pointed out.
Kohaku released a groan as she looked away from Sakae, her expression of boredom turning into one of slight anxiety. "Ugh, don't say things like that. You know how I get sometimes." Sure, Light was usually very focused on whatever their educators were teaching and sure, he occasionally would get distracted sometimes like anyone else would, but it still brought some anxiety to Kohaku; her best friend instincts were trying to kick in, the natural tendency where a close companion would worry over nothing about another comrade when they did something they rarely ever would do. She really hated those urges sometimes, but at least they didn't occur very often. "Now, I'm worried about him a little," Kohaku stated as her anxiety kicked in a bit more. She moved her book closer to the edge of her desktop and face-planted into it, ruffling the pages as she released another soft groan. "Thanks so much for that, Sakae," she mumbled, her words barely audible to the teen since they were muffled slightly by the book her face was buried in.
"I was only just pointing it out," Sakae defended herself, using a gentle tone. "There's no need to get too worked up about it. Light is just being Light." She tried to reassure her best friend, to no avail. Kohaku was right, she did know of how the teen could get anxious sometimes about those matters, especially when it came to Light or herself; she knew that Kohaku could easily become worried about either of them if they showed any signs of difference than how they normally acted throughout the day. It was just a part of how Kohaku was, sometimes. The female in question didn't respond to Sakae, simply just keeping her head buried inside the pages of her book as she tried to will away the anxiety she was feeling, her actions causing Sakae to feel a little guilty. In front of her (Kohaku), Light released a faint sigh after overhearing the two speak and he rolled his eyes at the typicality that was Kohaku.
Their teacher droned on with his recital as most students within the classroom continued to drift along within their individual dreamlands, or whatever it was they were doing as they avoided listening to their educator. "'Listen for the voice of God. Then, follow it and know that in time, you will find your salvation'." In that moment, he decided to glance up from the booklet he was reading from. Amongst the crowd of obvious mischievous students, Light was the one that the teacher called out upon; it was most likely because he was the first student that caught his line of sight. "Yagami, are you still with us? Can you please translate the following sentence into Japanese?" he asked in instruction.
Light glanced away from the students that he was silently studying, taking notice of the fact that he was the one who was called out and not someone else (such as Kohaku, for example, since the female seemed to be dozing off at a rapid pace). He sighed and dropped his resting hand from his cheek, pressing said appendage against the desktop as he stood up from his chair. He picked up the thin booklet that laid open on his desktop and began to read aloud from it, just as the teacher instructed. Additionally, everyone within the classroom paused what they were doing to listen to him speak, some most likely hoping that he'd mess up on which sentence he was supposed to translate. "'Follow the teachings of God and receive his blessings, and so it shall be that the seas will again become bountiful, and the raging storms will subside'." Placing the book back upon his desktop, Light returned to his seat as a blank expression remained on his face, empty of any true emotion.
The teacher nodded towards him in acceptance of the translation, somewhat visibly pleased. "Excellent work, Yagami," he praised. He was about to begin reading once more when something caught his eye again. With an irritated grunt, he started to make his way towards the back-right of the classroom, heading straight towards the area of the room where Kohaku, Light, and Sakae were located. In her seat behind Light, Kohaku's head remained buried inside the book, but the only difference was that she had fallen asleep in a short amount of time. Beside her resting figure, Sakae was leaning back against her chair and her eyes were closed as she slowly drifted into her own little world. A loud smack of the teacher's hand hitting against Kohaku's desktop sounded throughout the entire classroom and snickers from various classmates could be heard shortly afterwards, the lot of them apparently finding the situation humorous.
Sakae jumped in her seat, her eyes snapping open as she was roughly pulled from her dreamland far too soon. "Holy sugar cookies!" she exclaimed without warning, unable to stop herself from saying it. She blushed in immediate embarrassment as most of the class chuckled at her. She looked towards the location of the noise and smiled sheepishly up at the teacher, who was staring at her sternly. "Oh, sugar cookies... I'm so sorry about that..." She wasn't usually one to create a sudden outburst in the classroom, but that particular day just happened to be really boring. She glanced over at Kohaku and made a face of instant horror when she noticed that Kohaku was still asleep despite the loud noise that was created right beside her resting head. Sakae awkwardly leaned over in her chair, reaching towards Kohaku to shake her awake; thankfully, their seats weren't too far apart, so she was able to reach her without much difficulty, even though she still looked and felt ridiculous. "Kohaku, wake up, please... Now definitely may not be a good time to be taking a nice nap... Seriously, please just wake up already, Kohaku..." she spoke softly, eyeing their teacher from the corner of her eye.
Kohaku released a hum as she slowly started to awaken from her short slumber, waving her arm as she swatted Sakae's hand away from her person. After a moment of shifting around, she slowly opened her eyes and sat up straight in her chair shortly afterwards, rubbing her eyes as she released a yawn. No one laughed at her, the reason being that they knew not to mess with her since she had a rather large tendency of becoming really violent when angered. "Hmm...?" Kohaku hummed again a moment later, finally getting her bearings clear and she looked up to see that the teacher was glaring down upon her. "Oh, hello, Sir. How kind of you to pay me a little visit," she said in a flat tone, uncaring about her position; it wouldn't be the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last, either.
"It's nice to see that the two of you have now joined our class once again," the teacher snapped, though his tone seemed much more directed towards Kohaku since she was usually always the one causing trouble in the classroom. "Now, let's continue with the lesson." He turned away from Kohaku's desk, inadvertently allowing her the opportunity to give him the finger behind his back, and he walked towards the front of the room. In a matter of seconds, he returned to reading from the booklet and seconds after that, most of the students went back to their own little thing as they ignored their mostly oblivious teacher once more.
A nervous laugh quietly escaped from Sakae as she looked over at Kohaku again. "I guess we're lucky we didn't get into any more trouble than that." She still felt a little embarrassed after that event, but she was relieved that she hadn't been sent out of the classroom for nothing; some teachers were really strict about what happened inside their teaching space, never hesitant to send a student to detention over something so unimportant, but luckily for them, their English instructor didn't seem like the type to really reinforce the rules, considering he hardly seemed to notice when everyone was doing their own thing.
Kohaku scoffed. "We're only lucky because this teacher is as dumb as a sack of potatoes," she mumbled, shaking her head as she eyed everyone in the room that weren't her best friends. Their classmates weren't even trying to hide the fact that they weren't paying attention to anything and yet, none of them got called out for it. Their teacher truly was either dumb or extremely oblivious to most of his surroundings.
Sakae turned her attention towards the rest of their classmates, too, and she released a sigh, nodding her head slightly. "Point taken," she replied as she took notice of how their teacher continued reading despite the fact that no one was really listening to him. She kinda wondered if he'd ever realize that...
Several additional hours of boredom ensued before the high school closed for the remainder of the day. Once allowed, everyone began making their way towards their homes. Kohaku, Light, and Sakae were heading to the male's household, like they usually did on most days of the week; Light's residence was practically a second home for the females, especially since they were seen at his place far more often than at their own households. Not that there was anything wrong with their homes, much, but they just really liked his place better because of the 'epic company', as Kohaku had once stated.
As the three best friends walked together in almost silence, Sakae eventually took notice of Kohaku's uneven and tired posture; hell, it almost looked as if the female was sleep walking right that moment. With concern willing up inside her almost immediately after noticing her friend's condition, Sakae began to wave her hand in front of Kohaku's face as they walked alongside each other. "Kohaku? You're still awake, aren't you?" she asked, major concern in her tone. She hadn't noticed earlier because Kohaku hadn't acted such, mostly, but having her much closer to her person now, she could tell that her dear friend was very exhausted.
Kohaku grumpily pushed Sakae's hand out of her face, the sidewalk and everything else returning to her line of vision. "Yes, I'm still very awake. Well, I'm barely keeping my eyes open, but I'm still awake, at the very least." Honestly, she was kinda confused as to why her exhaustion was only really hitting her in that moment. How she managed to go through most the day without falling asleep too often was beyond her. "Don't ever do that again, by the way," she added on. "I could've ran into a pole or maybe a naked hobo. You never know."
"Well, the teacher did wake you up in the middle of your nap... But then again, that couldn't be why you're feeling exhausted now since your nap had been really short... Um... A-And I'm sorry, but I was just making sure you weren't sleep walking... So, uh, yeah... Sorry..." Sakae stopped talking, closing herself off from the conversation she started. She felt like she had caused Kohaku to become a bit agitated; she probably did.
"Are you getting enough sleep at night, Kohaku?" Light asked, showing some concern for his friend. Kohaku rarely ever was exhausted, which was making him believe that something had occurred within her home recently. She hadn't stayed at his place the previous night, so perhaps something did happen and as a result, she didn't get much sleep.
Apparently, that wasn't the best question to ask of her because she erupted into pure rage very quickly. "Of course I get enough fucking sleep at night! You should know that, I sleep at your house most of the time! I just didn't get much sleep last night! Word your questions better, asshole!" Kohaku stopped walking, causing her friends to stop, too, as the both of them turned to face her, after taking a step further than she had. She stopped yelling at Light, but her tone continued to show that she was pissed off. "Dad was yelling at Mom when I got home, alright? I mean, they usually fuss, especially in the morning, but this was a first for them arguing at nightfall upon my return home." She moved into a stance as she started mimicking the words her drunken father had practically screamed at her sober mother the previous night. "'This is all your fault, Yue! If you hadn't given our daughter a man's name, she wouldn't be coming home so late! She's probably going to clubs or sleeping around with some strangers that have drug problems, using a fake name so that they don't think she's some weirdo for being given a name that women shouldn't have! The folks at her school probably think she's a lesbian or something!'" Her father could be a bit ridiculous when he was drunk, clearly. Additionally, those weren't the exact words he had used, but they were close enough to the real thing. Lastly, she failed to mention that she caught her mother drinking alcohol, too, that night; she really hoped the woman wouldn't become an angry alcoholic, too. She released a sigh as she shook her head, seemingly calming down as fast as she had gotten angry; she just had needed to vent.
"Why in the heck would anyone think you're a lesbian?" Sakae asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "You don't really hang around girls, apart from myself. I certainly haven't seen you attempt to flirt with anyone of the same gender either." She was completely disregarding the fact that Kohaku's father had been drunk when he mentioned such assumptions but then again, she wasn't actually aware that the man hadn't been sober at the time so it sorta made sense for her to respond in that way.
"Seriously? That's all that caught your attention? His drunk ass believing I'm considered a lesbian?" Kohaku questioned. She rolled her eyes afterwards. "Whatever. You're correct, though. I'm definitely not a lesbian and I haven't done shit that would prove that I'm even remotely close to being such." She huffed and stared between her two best friends, her only friends really; she didn't like most people. "God, did you hear those chicks in English? They wouldn't shut the hell up about this guy who was mad at one of them for 'no reason'. I'm pretty damn sure that the bitch gave him a reason to be mad. Her just talking made me want to shoot her, or myself, in the fucking face. Why is everyone, apart from you two, so fucking annoying?" She started up her walking again, moving by them, and the two followed behind her.
"I don't know," Sakae answered, though she was certain that Kohaku didn't really want to hear an answer of any kind. "I guess too much drama lingers around them." She had definitely heard the conversation that the teen was referring to and had chosen to pay it no mind, it being some pointless thing that some girls just talk about sometimes. "Thank you for saying that I'm not annoying," she thanked her suddenly, bowing slightly as she walked. Kohaku didn't see her do such, but she did hum in response to the unnecessary thanks.
"Just ignore them next time," Light told Kohaku. "Don't let their pointless conversations bother you so much." That's exactly what those interactions were; they were pointless because it wasn't something that the person would be worrying about later in life. Additionally, those conversations certainly weren't something that Kohaku needed to be bothered by, not even in the slightest.
"Whatever you say, bud," Kohaku sighed as she nodded shortly. She remained silent for the rest of the walk, quietly listening as Light and Sakae chatted amongst themselves behind her. "What a shitty day..."
The following day, the three best friends were back inside their shared English classroom. Once more, it appeared that the class was going to be rather dull, just like the day before. Light was looking out the window to his left as the teacher continued onward with reading more of the booklet from the previous day. In their desks somewhere behind Light, Kohaku and Sakae were quietly mumbling a conversation to one another, neither of them paying any attention to their teacher. "'Another noticeable consequence is the extinction of many species on the planet. Species are now becoming extinct at a faster rate than has ever occurred in our recorded history'," their educator spoke, once again not noticing that the entire class wasn't listening to him. That time, however, most of the classmates were on their cellphones, messaging friends that were either in different classrooms or across the room they were currently within.
As Light continued to silently stare out the window, a black notebook suddenly fell out of the sky and it landed in a patch of grass within the courtyard. He stared at it, completely caught off-guard by what he had witnessed. He remained with such an expression for a moment, causing Kohaku and Sakae to spot it. "Yo, Light," Kohaku called out to him gently. "You okay there, buddy?" she asked, an eyebrow raising in question. "What the fuck had he seen", she wondered to herself. Something certainly happened, for sure, no doubt about that.
"Huh?" Light blinked and he turned away from the window, moving to look towards his friends. Spotting their slightly worried expressions, he nodded his head and lied to them without hesitating, his expression becoming blank of emotion. "Yeah, I'm fine." He definitely didn't witness something bizarre seconds ago (lies and denial). Maybe he had just been seeing things. Maybe he didn't sleep well last night. There was no way that he just saw a notebook fall from nowhere.
"Are you sure, Light?" Sakae asked him, frowning. Her worries didn't vanish because she was well aware that he was lying. Or, at least, she felt like he was. Regardless, something must've happened. Did Light think about something horrible? Did he see something happen? Did he just witness something terrible, like a fight or harassment maybe? No, he would've said something if that were the case. She knew, for certain, that she wanted to find out what caused a sudden odd shift in Light's posture; being unaware of a problem made her more worried about her friend's sudden behavior, if it was even a problem that was making him act a little off. It could possibly be nothing, but Light definitely was acting a bit strange, she was certain of that much, so she definitely wasn't just being worried for nothing, she kinda hoped.
"Yes, I'm sure," Light responded very fast, probably too quickly for anyone's liking, and he turned away from the females, placing his attention back towards the window. He gazed around at the outside of the building until he finally spotted the notebook lying on the ground; it was still there, so it hadn't been his imagination. Perhaps someone had dropped it from the rooftop? Or maybe they had thrown it, that made more sense because the notebook was too far from the building for it to have been merely dropped.
"Liar," Kohaku accused. She gestured at him and the window that he was looking out of, not caring that he wasn't paying attention to her. "Nobody ever just randomly becomes surprised whilst staring out of a window." She dropped her hand to her desktop, continuing to stare at Light. "I mean, unless you had seen something extremely perverted or the sky is fucking falling, there's nothing that can bring that sort of expression to a person's face at the most random of times." She, like Sakae, felt that something was up and whatever it was, she was gonna figure that shit out.
Light, in response, spoke in a calm tone, trying to ignore the fact that Kohaku had basically hit the nail on the head with her second suggestion. "You shouldn't always be making assumptions when these things happen. Maybe I remembered that I have to do something later on."
"I still don't fucking believe you, Light. That's all bullshit and you know it," Kohaku stated, feeling anger beginning to build up inside. This wasn't something new with their friendship; she occasionally would get pissed off at him, for little to no reason, because she didn't have that much patience sometimes. "And I'm not making assumptions, asshole. I know that something's wrong. So, fuck you." She crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair as she mumbled underneath her breath. "Jackass."
"I heard that," Light teased halfheartedly as he continued onward with staring out the window, his eyes remaining on the mysterious notebook from the sky. Maybe someone would pick it up soon. If not, he'd gladly grab it himself after class, only to see what it was. Then, he'd just leave it be and hope that its owner would find it eventually.
"Yeah, he's definitely out of character today," Sakae commented, mostly to herself as she eyed Light for a few extra moments. Kohaku sighed from beside her, gently nodding her head in slight satisfaction; she was kinda happy that Sakae agreed with her about Light acting a bit oddly. Sakae glanced over at her, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Are you okay?" she asked her sighing friend. Kohaku just shrugged in response before she stared down at her desktop with a blank expression. "Kohaku?" Sakae called to her softly, a frown forming on her face. Again.
"Just leave me be, Sakae," Kohaku mumbled in frustration as she turned her gaze towards the windows of the classroom. She wasn't really in the mood for talking anymore. She was a bit aggravated with not knowing what Light had seen, or thought about, earlier; she liked being aware of what was happening, hating being left in the darkness. Maybe he was hiding something from them. She'd figure it out soon enough, probably; she wasn't one to quit once she got started on something.
Sakae gulped and bowed her head gently, looking down towards her desktop. "S-Sorry," she apologized in a stutter. She knew better than to continue on with trying to reach Kohaku when she was in a state of aggression; she knew that she needed to stop talking or otherwise, Kohaku would get set off further and bad things would happen. She kept her gaze on her desk, ignoring her surroundings. Well, she didn't entirely ignore her surroundings because when she heard someone call out her name, she instantly looked up in the general direction of the voice. She blinked as she saw that Light was the culprit, his eyes on her. "Yes, Light?" she asked softly, staring at him with curious eyes.
"Is everything okay between you and your brother?" he asked her, out of curiosity and partially to get her mind off of the current moment.
Ah, her older brother. Sometimes, the two of them didn't see eye to eye, but as of recently, their relationship had become a bit smoother than it had always been. So, she supposed that her answer was yes, everything was fine and dandy. For the most part. "Uh, yeah. Everything's fine. For now, at least," she answered truthfully before smiling a little at Light. She wouldn't be surprised if an argument broke out between herself and her brother sometime that week; their views of things were different, after all, so it was bound to happen again at some point. Even so, the love between them never lessened; they only had each other to lean on. Light nodded in response to her answer and he looked towards their teacher afterwards, growing silent once more as he thought about the mysterious notebook that had fallen from the sky, supposedly...
Eventually, after a short prolonged period of time, the class came to its end once again or rather, the school day had finished once more for the day, as per usual. The three best friends were walking outside of the building, remaining on school grounds for the time being. Coincidentally, they were strolling around the area in which the mysterious notebook had fallen, that fact known only to Light. Kohaku appeared to be back to her usual self, not showing any signs of the verity (truth) that she was still a tad annoyed with what happened earlier in their classroom. Sakae, too, wasn't physically revealing that she was still a bit down from what occurred. Light, on the other hand, was focused on other matters when he came to fully realize their location and he stopped walking, turning to face towards the direction where the notebook was laying. Without saying a word to the females, he began heading over to its location.
Sakae blinked in confusion as she watched him walk away. "Light?" she asked softly, not speaking loud enough for the male in question to hear her. What was he doing? Did he see something again? Did he want to rest for a bit on the benches from the little bit of walking they had been doing? Whatever he was doing, it was something new to the usual routine.
Kohaku raised an eyebrow as she, too, watched their friend walk off. "What the hell is he up to?" she wondered out loud. She glanced over at Sakae, hoping that she had some sort of clue as to what was happening, but when Sakae looked at her in return, all Kohaku got from her was a shrug and an uncertain expression. Curiosity quickly got the best of the two females and they both made their way towards Light's location, strolling up to him just as he leaned over and picked up the black mystery notebook.
As he straightened up with the curious-looking journal in hand, Light released a sigh as he heard the girls reach him; he had hoped that they wouldn't follow behind, but then again, they followed him just about everywhere, so he should've expected it. "Couldn't you two have just waited for me?" he questioned in slight annoyance as he studied the title of the black notebook. He had only wanted to see what the object was, out of curiosity, so the females could've just waited for a few moments.
"Nope because that would've be really fucking boring," Kohaku answered immediately. "So, whatcha got there?" she asked, aware that he had picked up something. She stepped forward, moving to be at his left, and she looked at the notebook. "Hmm?" She narrowed her eyes a bit as she stared at the title. "'Death Note'? That's a very strange name to give a notebook. Most go for, you know, human names, oddly enough."
"Mmm," Light hummed, nodding slightly in agreement to those words. He turned the notebook over, becoming somewhat pleasantly surprised to see that there was writing on the back. It wasn't mere inadequate scribbles; it was a set of detailed rules. He began to silently read the first guideline as Sakae stepped to be at his right. "'How to use it. The human whose name is written in this notebook...shall die'." That was very straightforward, actually; the notebook was called a Death Note, after all.
"Wait, so, you can just kill anyone?" Kohaku asked lowly, having read the same rule in her own head. "Just by writing down their name? That's actually kinda a cool concept, if you really think about it. I mean, you don't see these kinds of things just lying around." She knew that it was probably fake, most things similar to it were, but she was very intrigued.
Light quickly flipped through the Death Note, silently noting that there were more rules located at the back and absolutely nothing, name wise, had been written inside of it on the lined pages. Shortly after that, he closed the apparent notebook of death and placed it back onto the ground where he found it. "If you ask me, it's a pretty lame concept. Not to mention that it's twisted. It's really not that different from one of those chain letters you get. 'A human whose name is written in this notebook shall die?' C'mon." He turned around, beginning to walk back towards the school building. Kohaku and Sakae remained where they were, neither willing to move just yet.
"You aren't gonna keep it?" Kohaku questioned, tilting her head to the side as she watched him, still remaining by the Death Note. She was actually tempted to pick it up herself. "Not even for the hell of it? What if someone else finds it and they believe it to be real?" she asked. She waited for a response, watching as Light stopped walking after getting five steps away from the females, and he looked back towards them, saying nothing. Kohaku wasn't quite sure why she was trying to convince him to take it when she could easily do that herself, but she supposed it was probably because she didn't want to be held responsible for whatever happened afterwards.
Additionally, Kohaku wasn't the only one who had been greatly intrigued by the Death Note's concept; Sakae, who had been silent for the most part, kinda wanted to take the notebook, too. Mostly just for a rainy day, like when they had nothing to do; they could play pretend for a bit and write down names of people they disliked or something. It seemed decent enough of a concept that she didn't want to just leave it laying there. Again, just like Kohaku, she could easily pick up the Death Note, but she merely didn't wish to, for her own reasons. "Imagine if it got into the hands of the wrong person," Sakae stated, acting as if the concept was as real as they were. "They could just start killing everybody, good and bad. They could even try to sculpt out their own perfect little world to rule over." She felt chills run down her spine from the thought of the rules being real. "It's kinda scary, just thinking about it like that."
"See?" Kohaku gestured at Sakae, her eyes on Light. "Sakae gets it. Kinda." She waved her hand before placing it on her shoulder bag, such motion causing the bag to knock against her side, and she made a face of pain when she felt the edge of a textbook nudge against her torso momentarily. "I say we keep it," she suggested a second later, shifting her bag so that she wasn't being stabbed by her books within it. "Even if it turns out to be real, somehow. I'm pretty sure it's just a prank, but still, let's take it."
Light stared at Kohaku and Sakae for a moment before he finally said something. "Fine." He strolled back over to them and quickly picked up the notebook again. "But I still don't believe this thing is the real deal," he added, sharing that he wasn't as intrigued by it as they were. However, he never said he wasn't interested at all because that would be a lie; he was a bit into the concept, just simply not as much as the girls. He placed the Death Note into his bag quickly.
"Let's hope we never find out!" Sakae exclaimed suddenly, causing both of her best friends to cover their ears. "Oops, sorry, guys. I meant, let's hope we never discover this to be an actual thing? Was that better? A little bit, maybe?" she asked in a quieter tone. Surprisingly, no one had looked in their direction.
Kohaku rubbed her ears, making a face. "Well, anything's possible. I mean, there's always, at least, a five percent chance that something is possible, even when it's highly unlikely to be so." She wasn't a large believer of impossible things, but least she kept her mind open to the possibility that she could be wrong to be a mostly nonbeliever.
Light thought for a second. "Hmm, you really think so?"
"I wouldn't have said it if I thought otherwise," Kohaku commented, half smiling. It was kind of a rarity to get a full smile from her and she had plenty excuses for why, often blaming her life at home to be the reason she wasn't much of a smiler. Who could really blame her for that, really, when her parents often argued about her lifestyle.
Sakae smiled slightly at Light and Kohaku. "As the saying goes, nothing is ever truly impossible. Or something like that, anyway."
"Close enough," Kohaku remarked.
Light looked down at the Death Note. "You guys are right. It couldn't possibly hurt anyone if we keep it." If only they knew...
A train whistled as it passed by, travelers waiting patiently for it to do so. Once it was finally out of sight, everyone was allowed to cross the railroad and continue their way. The three best friends were soon walking down the sidewalk again. They were heading to Light's home, as per usual; that was their main hangout area, after all. "There must be something wrong with us to even consider it," Light commented suddenly, speaking low enough for only Kohaku and Sakae to hear as they walked by various townspeople.
Kohaku hummed. "Mmm, I suppose you're right about that one, Light." She began to think about it for a moment before she continued speaking. "Maybe we should've left it for someone else to find. I mean, there's a very high chance that it's only a prank, after all, but still, we couldn't just take the risk of someone else getting it, only for us to learn that it was real." She pressed her index finger to her lips as she thought over her previous words, walking in between Light and Sakae continuously. "Hmm." Perhaps they weren't the first ones to find the Death Note. Why didn't she think of that possibility sooner?
"What's boiling in that head of yours, Kohaku?" Sakae asked, glancing at her dear friend.
"Let me look at it for a moment," Kohaku commanded, looking towards Light as she spoke. He immediately pulled the Death Note out of his bag without question, additionally pulling out a normal notebook as well, and he handed both over to her. Quickly understanding why he had given her an additional notebook, Kohaku hid the Death Note inside of the other notebook to keep it from prying eyes. Shortly afterwards, she flipped through the pages of the Death Note as she occasionally glanced up to make sure she wouldn't ram into anything or anyone. "Hmm?" She released a sigh. "Damn it, I was hoping that someone had already written in here, that way we'd know for certain if this was a prank or not." Instead, all the pages were blank, empty of any form of handwriting. She shrugged a bit. "Well, then again, maybe some pages were ripped out after it was used."
Sakae looked confused for a moment. "Some of the pages are ripped out?" Well, she certainly hadn't heard Kohaku correctly...
Kohaku shook her head. "No. Well, I don't actually know for sure yet. I was merely suggesting it. Hold on." She double checked the entire notebook, looking for any sign of ripped pages, only to find none. "Damn it all. No signs of anything being ripped out, so that possibility is at zero and it's definitely out the fucking window. Goddamn it." She could already feel herself getting a bit frustrated.
"Do you like making calculations to seem smarter than you actually are?" Light asked, halfway teasing and halfway being a douche.
"Fuck you," Kohaku commented, continuing to stare at the Death Note as she walked with her friends. "And for your information, asshole, that wasn't a calculation of any sort. That was merely common sense, something you don't seem to have right this moment." She felt herself being nudged towards Sakae and she glanced away from the Death Note to glare at Light for pushing her. "Fuck you twice, Light Yagami. Don't make me say it thrice," she commented before she looked back at the notebook, beginning to think about other possibilities concerning it. She soon began to mumble to herself, ignoring her friends for the time being. "No pages were ripped out, there's the chance that this is a real thing, there's also the chance that I'm just missing something completely obvious, and then there's the high chance of this just being a little prank for someone or whatever. Although, honestly while the concept is decent, this is a poor excuse for a prank because this person didn't try hard enough to make it more believable to the person who reads it, that being us at the moment. How interesting..." She flipped the pages of the Death Note slowly, trying to spot any names that may had been written inside it.
As they listened to Kohaku mumble onward about the Death Note, Light and Sakae were beginning to see why she didn't have very many friends, apart from them. Originally, they had thought she avoided most people and found said humans (her words, not theirs, from some point) to be annoying, but no, it seemed more on the lines that she was a very odd individual and everyone was just aware of it. Not to mention that Kohaku had massive anger issues, occasionally. "Ummm, Kohaku? Are you gonna join us on Earth again at some point?" Sakae asked, gently nudging her.
Kohaku blinked, breaking out of her thoughts and mumbling. She looked over at Sakae, her walking continuing (as did the walking of her friends). "Hmm? Did you want something?"
Sakae released a small laugh. "No, I didn't want anything. I just... Well, you seemed like you were having a lot of fun with trying to figure out if the notebook was real or not. It's not very often when I see you actually enjoying yourself." She wasn't kidding; Kohaku did appear to have been enjoying her rambling and it really wasn't often where she was visibly expressing that she was enjoying something. Sakae also simply avoided mentioning that it was also a little weird.
Kohaku shrugged. "It's something new for me to obsess over. No big deal. There are plenty more mysteries in this world that I'll eventually obsess over as well, but this notebook is by far the greatest we've discovered. Probably. So, of course I'm enjoying my moment of thinking about it whilst it is fresh on the mind and soul." She believed she'd be completely over it by the beginning of the next week.
"It's certainly a puzzle that needs to be solved," Light commented. He looked down at the notebook that remained in Kohaku's hands before looking towards aforementioned female. "Do you think you can come up with an answer?" he asked. Prank or not, the meaning of its existence needed to be solved.
"There's only one way to solve this little mystery," Kohaku stated, sighing afterwards. She closed both of the notebooks, heading them back over to Light. He didn't place them inside his bag right away, his attention remaining on Kohaku. "But you two may not like it. As in, you'll probably find it to be boring and it may just ruin all the fun very quickly for us."
"What would that be?" Light and Sakae asked together.
Kohaku stopped walking, causing Light and Sakae to pause as well. She stared at them both, looking back and forth between them. She clenched onto her shoulder bag's strap that was starting to cause minor discomfort in her shoulder; she'd go to school without it if it weren't for all the books she would have to carry in hand. "Isn't it obvious?" she questioned them. "It's quite simple, really. To prove if it's authentic or faux, we'll just have to write down a name."
"You mean actually kill someone?!" Sakae yelled. She smiled nervously at the townspeople around them, the passing folks giving her various looks as they continued on their merry way. "I shouldn't have yelled that..." she thought to herself.
Kohaku frowned at her. "Well, yes, but that's only if this turns out to be entirely real, but it isn't, so you shouldn't be so worried about that happening." Honestly, though, she was hoping for it to be authentic. Life was boring enough already. If the Death Note could actually kill people, they'd be doing everyone a favor by getting rid of all the wicked.
"I think..." Light paused his words as he finally placed the notebooks into his bag. Afterwards, he placed his hand on his chin and closed his eyes for a moment, thinking things over. He reopened them shortly thereafter and stared at the girls, lowering his hand. "I think," he repeated, "that we need to put the name of someone who has done terrible things. That way, the murder is justifiable." He lightly paused. "If it's real, of course," he added on.
"That's exactly what I had in mind," Kohaku remarked. "We'll figure out more when we get to your house."
Light was sitting at his desk within his bedroom, his hand against his cheek and his elbow against the desktop as he stared down at the open Death Note that laid before him. Kohaku and Sakae stood behind him, both looking over either of his shoulders so that they, too, could read the rules of the notebook of death. For once, the three of them finally had something to do together that didn't involve random conversations starting up or them studying for something; the notebook was for their eyes alone, something that would remain a secret amongst the three of them.
"'This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his or her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected'," Kohaku spoke, lifting a finger to her lips after she had finished. "That's very interesting. Plus, it makes sense. Whoever, or whomever, made this, they made sure not to leave any holes in the usage of it." In other less formal and less confusing words, no holes in their concept.
Sakae began reading the following rules that were displayed on the page. "'If the cause of death is written within forty 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 six minutes and forty seconds'. Oh my goodness." If she were to be entirely honest with herself, that rule alone scared the crap out of her; not only could someone be killed with a simple heart attack, but they could die from absolutely anything that was remotely possible. That was just completely terrifying. She hoped, and prayed, to the angels above that the Death Note was fake.
"Depending on the person you have in mind, you can either kill them easily or painfully," Light remarked, staring at the rules. "This is pretty detailed for a prank, I'll give them that." In different words, he had agreed with what Kohaku had stated about the creator making certain there were no gaps in the rules (as far as they were aware).
"I'm beginning to believe that it's not some prank," Kohaku commented, moving from her position behind Light so that she could sit comfortably on his nearby bed, unintentionally ruining the sheets but they would've gotten messed up anyway. She kept her eyes towards her friends, very few things floating around in her mind. Additionally, just because she didn't believe it to be a prank, that didn't automatically mean that she believed the Death Note was the real deal. "Honestly, at this point, it just seems more like a little game someone made for themselves and they got bored of it before they even started playing."
Sakae glanced towards her before looking back down at the Death Note's displayed rules. "It's too intricate to be a hoax, so I have to agree with you on that one, Kohaku. As you stated, this doesn't seem like a prank at all. It's more of a game that someone made, but they didn't proceed in playing once it was finally completed," she remarked, crossing her arms over her chest. The game was kinda twisted, but she couldn't exactly turn back. Her curiosity was getting the best of her, once again; she wanted to see what would happen if they went through with their little plan. Nothing bad could possibly occur...
"Well, go ahead, Light. Write a name already," Kohaku instructed, kicking her legs as she watched her friends from the bed with a half smile. She was a bit excited, even with the chances of nothing happening; it was still something new that they could do together.
"Wait." Light turned in his seat, looking at Kohaku in return. Not only was he having some doubts, but he was having hopes, too, along with worries. Who wouldn't, honestly? "On the off chance that someone really dies, would that make me a murderer?" he asked her, that being his main concern. He was gonna put the name of a criminal, sure, but he needed to be certain that he wouldn't be deemed a criminal in return just from him ending the life of anyone that deserved it.
Kohaku raised an eyebrow at him. "Wasn't it your idea to put down a name of a criminal, so that killing him or her would be more 'justifiable'?" She sighed shortly after speaking and shrugged, beginning to answer his question. "I'm honestly not sure about it, Light. I mean, I suppose you would still be considered a murderer regardless, depending on how people would look at it if you were to continue killing the bad." She removed herself from the bed, stepping towards him. She placed a hand to her chest. "I'll write the name instead if that little fact bothers you," she suggested lightly, lowering her hand to her side. "I have absolutely nothing to lose. Apart from you two, of course."
"No. I'm fine, but thanks anyway," Light declined, turning in his seat so that he was looking at the Death Note once more. He flipped through the pages, turning away from the rules and onto a lined page that held no words. He picked up a mechanical pencil that was laying beside the open notebook, ready to begin writing a name. Except first, they needed to get said forename, and surname, of a criminal and additionally, they needed to have a way to see if that criminal died or not.
Sakae dropped her arms to her sides, putting her hands at rest on her hips. "Now, the real question is this; whose name should be put down first?" As terrified as she was about the possibility of it all being real, she had much bigger hopes that it was fake. That was the only reason why she was willing to go through with all the mess still.
"Oh, that's easy. Just turn on the television and watch the news broadcast. There's bound to be something going on," Kohaku commented. "Perhaps something live will be shown." There was always some asshole doing something. There was never any peace on the planet. Never.
Agreeing with the suggestion, Light turned on the small television, which was sitting on a stand beside the right of his desk. Already, the station was on a news broadcast and it appeared to be showing something live on the screen. Being shown from a helicopter was a medium-sized daycare center. The three best friends glanced at one another before they put their eyes on the screen, none of them voicing how convenient that was. The voice of a male newscaster could be heard as the display on the screen remained the same. "The same assailant who attacked six people yesterday at a busy shopping district in Shinjuku has struck again, taking eight people hostage at this daycare center." The screen display switched to the camera that was pointed at the speaking newscaster. "His captives include both children and teachers." Once again, the screen displayed something else, that time it being a photo of a nearly middle-aged man with short-cropped brown hair and small black eyes. "The police have now identified the suspect as forty-two year old Kurou Otoharada, currently unemployed. We expect negotiations to begin immediately."
"Hmm." Kohaku stared at the television screen. "Somehow, I doubt that," she remarked, commenting on the final sentence that the newscaster had spoken. She hoped that the Death Note would work because if it didn't, she had a feeling that the criminal on screen would go down fighting and he'd be taking innocent lives with him.
Sakae stopped looking at the television screen momentarily, glancing down at the desk to see that Light was writing down the criminal's name. She took a glimpse at his expression and noticed that he was collected, entirely calm. She watched as he glanced at the nearby clock that was on the wall, located above the desk. She hummed to herself as she listened to Light's mumbling. "A heart attack in forty seconds. We'll see." She continued to watch him for a few more short moments as he turned his attention back onto the television. Seconds afterwards, she did the same.
Kohaku looked towards Light, having overheard his mumbling. "You actually did it? You wrote his name?" She hadn't expected him to actually try out the notebook, having thought that he'd chicken out or something and then, she would've had to write the name. Apparently, she was wrong to have her doubts about whether or not he'd be going through with it. Even so, she glanced down at the Death Note to see if he really did write the guy's name and sure enough, he had. "You weren't kidding," she commented. "You really did it." She looked back over at the television.
Kohaku, Light, and Sakae listened silently to the newscasters as little to no information was added on about what was happening at the crime scene. Light glanced away from the television to look at the clock again, noting that forty seconds had gone by. He looked back towards the television and started speaking when nothing changed on the screen. "Looks like it didn't work," he announced to the girls. "I didn't expect it to, anyway." Although, he kinda had been hoping that it would.
Light picked up the remote for the television and made a move to turn it off. However, Kohaku grabbed ahold of his hand and shook her head at him when he looked at her questionably; she wanted him to wait a few more seconds, just in case the death of the guy was a bit slow on the dot. Sure enough, it kinda was because in a matter of seconds, something new displayed on the screen; the children and their teachers were running out of the daycare center, uninjured. "The hostages are coming out!" the newscaster exclaimed in disbelief. "They all look to be unharmed!" On the screen, the Special Forces were seen charging into the center with their shields and all, ready to take down the culprit. "The Special Forces are taking action, they're moving in!" Seconds went by and nothing new displayed on the screen, but new information was being given out to all whom were watching it unfold. "We don't know if the suspect has been arrested." Seconds later, the newscaster was shown on the screen and he appeared to be surprised. "We now have confirmation. The suspect has been found dead inside. I repeat, the suspect is now dead."
Light's eyes widened in surprise, shock filling his very being. "Dead?" he questioned aloud. It had actually worked? No, it couldn't have. Maybe the suspect had been shot to death by the police force that rampaged into the building. Yeah, that had to be it. As he stared at the screen in continued surprise, Sakae's mouth was hanging open as she, too, was taken aback by what had happened, unable to believe her eyes. Kohaku, on the other hand, smirked in pleasure about the man dying, but she believed it to just be a mere coincidence since the cops did, in fact, run into the building to get the bastard.
The newscaster, after a few moments of time had passed by, started speaking again as he revealed more information about what was happening. "The Special Forces are denying allegations that they shot the suspect. Speculations have arose, theories of suicide spreading like wildfire in the crowd surrounding the scene. However, according to statements from the hostages, the suspect just suddenly collapsed."
Sakae blinked, breaking out of her surprised state. For the most part, anyway. She continued staring at the screen of the television, still unable to believe what had happened. "It actually worked?" she questioned. It just couldn't be possible. It defied all logic that ever existed in the universe before that very moment. Maybe she had fallen asleep; pinching herself in the arm as roughly as she could manage, she gulped when she realized that she wasn't, in fact, dreaming. This had actually happened, but perhaps there was a logical explanation to why the guy suddenly died. Maybe he coincidentally had a heart attack from stress?
Light stood up from his chair, still in a state of shock. "N-No way," he denied, stuttering slightly. He faced Kohaku and Sakae, the two of them looking back at him in return. "It's just a coincidence. It has to be." It just wasn't remotely possible. Nothing like that, nothing like the Death Note, had existed in the world before. There was no way something like it could possibly exist; there was no chance that a notebook could actually bring death to anyone whose name was written inside of it.
"I'll say," Kohaku agreed, her hands placed slightly above her hips. "That was one hell of a coincidence." She looked back towards the television screen, staring at it as her smirk made a reappearance. That information had definitely surprised her, but she surely hadn't bothered to show it very well like her friends had. "All things considered, I'm still happy to know that the bastard is dead and gone." He wouldn't be potentially harming anyone ever again.
Before Sakae or Light could respond to what she stated, Mrs. Sachiko Yagami (Light's mother) called up to them from downstairs at that very moment. All she had to say was that they were gonna be late for cram school if they continued on with whatever they were doing, though she said it in a more formal and polite, motherly manner. Not having much time to think things over, Light quickly chose to put the Death Note in his bag and soon enough, the three best friends were exiting Light's bedroom together. Little did they know that everything was about to change between them, permanently...
It was getting into the final hours of cram school; most were using that remaining time to do nothing that would help them progress in life, but that was to be expected, especially if those persons had been studying and such up until that point. Each of the desks within the room were made for two, most of the chairs filled in except for four. The three best friends that had gone there together, they were sitting in various places and they weren't exactly near one another; Kohaku was sitting alone in the front of the class, Light was sitting alone two seats behind her, and Sakae was sitting at the far back with a temporary companion. Out of everyone in that room, those three were the only ones that seemed to be continuing their studies. For the most part.
Whilst Kohaku and Sakae were studying, Light had his mind on other matters and those involved the Death Note. He was thinking about writing another name, just to be certain that the first time had only been a coincidence. If he had actually succeeded in killing someone, he wasn't sure what he was going to do about it. A part of him wanted to toss the book in the trash and just forget he ever saw it, all without writing a second name, but another part of him wished to see if he had actually done some good by ridding the world of that criminal. If this was all real, maybe he could use it to fix all the cruelty on the planet. He just needed the perfect second test subject. But who?
Light was pulled from his thoughts, his attention placed upon the conversation that was commencing just a seat ahead of him, towards his right side. Sudou (a young male with short-crop unkempt black hair, brown eyes, and a signature (often worn) black hoodie sweater over jeans) was speaking to an overweight nerdy-looking classmate named Ryo and it was clear that his intentions were impure. "Hey, Ryo, buddy," he began, a sly smirk on his face as he stared down at male. He held out his hand, his smirk and his gaze never faltering. "Didn't you want to lend me twenty dollars?" Although he phrased it as a question, its true meaning was quite clear; he wanted some of Ryo's money and he wasn't planning on taking no for an answer if it came to that, which it never did.
As Light listened to Ryo fearfully complain to Sudou, he started his thinking up again. "Maybe I should try killing him," he thought, referring to the bully. However, he immediately started to dismiss that idea. "No, I should definitely avoid killing people I know. Then again, does it even really matter? I mean, would anyone really care if a guy like him was to disappear one day?" Light continued to eye them as Ryo reluctantly handed Sudou the money that he had demanded. "I better not risk it."
Whilst all of that was happening, Kohaku was silently sitting in her chair, tapping her foot against the marbled floor furiously. She was pissed off, no longer caring about studying further because her mind was on something else entirely; she had overheard every bit of Sudou's conversation with Ryo and the entire time she had been listening, she had been getting another level closer to wanting to violently rip the bully's head off his torso. She was so tired of his bullshit; he was constantly picking on those he believed were on a lower level than him and by that point, she certainly had enough of it all. For once, she was gonna do something about it. Perhaps once she was finished with him, Sudou would just fucking stop his harassments of literally everyone.
Back to where Light was sitting, he sighed to himself and looked down at his notebook. He was prepared to study again, wanting to take his mind off the Death Note for a little bit. However, he became distracted when he felt someone brush against his left arm slightly. He glanced to his left, spotting Sakae; she had decided to move up a few seats, but while it seemed like she did such to be near Light, she had a different reason for moving there. "Sakae?" he questioned lightly, raising an eyebrow at her. She remained silent, putting a finger to her lips in a gesture for him to be quiet and then, she pointed towards the front of the room. Light, keeping his eyebrow raised, looked where she was pointing and he spotted Kohaku. His expression became one of confusion as his eyebrow lowered but then, both of his eyebrows rose in surprise (he made a surprised expression) when he watched as Kohaku stood up from her seat; her fists were clenched, which meant that she had been angered by something or someone. His eyes trailed her movements and he quickly came to realize that she was approaching Sudou. "What the hell is she thinking?" he mumbled, shaking his head slightly in disapproval, his surprise fading.
Kohaku approached Sudou and his laughing goon confidently, believing that she would win the stupid battle that was about to commence between herself and the main bully because she always won in the end. The goon had his back to Kohaku, so he was unaware of her approaching until Sudou, who saw her because he was facing her, nodded in her direction, making the goon turn around to face the fuming, confident Kohaku. "Give him back the money, Sudou, before things get uglier than your face," Kohaku demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
"Ouch," Sudou commented as he took a few steps forward, moving around the desk to be directly in front of Kohaku. He placed a hand to his chest, making a face as he pretended like her remark had hurt him in some way. "That one got me good." He slyly smirked at her as he lowered his arm and chuckled. "It's been a while since I had the pleasure of talking with you, Kohaku. Two weeks, right?" Kohaku just glared at him and he continued speaking. "So, what makes you think that the money is his, hmm?"
Kohaku stared at him, her expression blank as she removed her hands from her hips. Despite the lack of emotion on her face, her fists clenched again and she felt an intense urge, one that made her want to knock Sudou's teeth in. He pissed her off that much, but she tried to keep her rage under control for once. "I saw you take it from him, assface," she stated falsely. Truth be told, she hadn't actually seen anything and only heard it all happen, but the bastard didn't need to know about that piece of information. He'd use it against her, otherwise.
Sudou continued smirking at her as he responded, shaking his head and waving his right hand that held the money whilst denying her claims of theft. He didn't technically steal it, but he did threaten the nerd indirectly to get the money in the first place. Even so, he wasn't gonna admit that Kohaku's allegations were correct. Least, he wouldn't admit such aloud. "I got this money fair and square, doll face, so it's mine. Now, go cry about it elsewhere and leave me to my winnings." He made a move to put the money in his pocket, but paused as an idea crossed his mind. Keeping the money in his right hand, he reached towards Kohaku's face with his left. "Better yet," he said as he started stroking her right cheek in a creepy kind of manner, "Maybe you can convince me to give it back. How about that date I've been asking for? We'd make a great pair, you and-"
Kohaku didn't allow him to continue his statement. She didn't want him touching her face and she was happy to make him regret his decision of doing such. She raised her left hand and grabbed onto his, twisting his wrist enough that it caused him some minor discomfort. Seconds later, her right fist connected with his abdomen without hesitation. "That should teach him to back the fuck off," she thought as she released his wrist and she watched him hunch over in pain. Unintentionally, Sudou released his grip on the money and it began falling to the floor as he held his abdomen with both arms. Swiftly, Kohaku caught the money before it reached the floor and she leaned over the nearby table, handing the money back to Ryo. "Put it someplace where they can't get it next time, preferably off of your person. Also, you're welcome." With that, Kohaku started making her way back to her seat as she ignored the dumbfounded goon and the grunting Sudou.
After a few more seconds had gone by, Sudou finally stopped his grunting and stood up correctly again. "That little bitch," he growled, glaring at the back of Kohaku's head. He pointed towards her, turning his head to look at his goon and he started yelling at him, the entire room looking in his direction because of how loud he was being; it was amazing how they ignored everything before that moment in time. "What are you doing just standing there?! Stop your gawking and teach her a fucking lesson!" Sudou exclaimed, wanting Kohaku punished for what she had done.
The words that escaped the mouth of Sudou's friend proved to everyone in the room that he was a pathetic piece of shit, just like most goons. "But what if she hits me back?" he whined, fear in his eyes. He was afraid of getting hurt in the same manner that Sudou had. Hell, he was afraid that his balls would be lost permanently if Kohaku made any violent move on him. He didn't want that, no matter how pathetic he looked for being frightened by a female his age. Messing with her after witnessing that wasn't a risk he was willing to take.
Sudou growled in anger at his friend, hitting the goon's arm very roughly. It appeared that his friend's answer had only added fuel to his growing rage. His friend released an audible whimper from the punch and he rubbed his arm as he stepped away from Sudou. "Are you seriously being a fucking wimp right now?!" Sudou yelled at him, glaring furiously. "Fine, I'll fucking do it!" He pushed by his friend, strolling pass the tables to get to where Kohaku was and she was only just beginning to sit back down in her chair. "You had no right doing that to me! That was my money!" he yelled at her, slamming his hand down on the table in an attempt to frighten her.
Kohaku didn't flinch from the slamming of his hand against her desktop. She simply rolled her eyes at him, uncaring about his newfound attitude towards her. It was far better than him constantly trying to flirt with her. "No, it wasn't your money and I only did what I did because you angered me. However, I would've returned the money to its rightful owner either way. Any decent human being on this planet would've done the same as I. Now, leave me the fuck alone. You've lost this battle, Sudou." She looked away from him, staring down blankly at the table.
Sudou didn't make a move to walk away from her or the situation. Instead, he continued to speak with her angrily. "You saw that he handed me the money out of his own free will!" Actually, she hadn't seen shit. Regardless, she was right and he was wrong; however, he didn't know that she hadn't actually seen what happened and he certainly didn't want to admit aloud that he was the one in the wrong. Why the fuck would he wanna do that, anyway?
Kohaku continued to speak as calmly as she could manage, even though she was still quite angry with him in that moment. She didn't bother fully looking at him again, merely glancing to her right side somewhat. "He merely handed it over because you were freaking him out with your not well-hidden threats. He knew you'd harm him in some manner if he didn't do as you wanted. Right this very moment, you continue to try and intimidate me by showing that you're pissed and by showing such, it very well means that you wish to do me harm and you won't hesitate to do such if I say anything else you don't like. Unfortunately for you, I don't scare easily. You're only wasting everyone's time here." She was well aware that everyone in the room was watching them; Sudou wasn't exactly being quiet about all of his nonsense.
"You stupid-!" Sudou was red with fury. "No one messes with me!" He was done listening to her words of defense. He was gonna get even. He lifted up his right fist and swung his arm, aiming for her face as he threw a punch at her. He didn't care if some people would find him disrespectful because of his attempts to hit a female, but she damn well deserved it for hurting him first. This was practically self defense (no it wasn't, but he'd pretend it was if an adult figure asked; although, either way, things probably wouldn't have ended well for him).
Because Kohaku had still been glancing at him, she saw the punch coming and was able to stop it with her hand when she caught his fist mid-swing. "Are you finished yet?" she asked dully. "I would like to study a bit more before time's up." She was so tempted to twist his wrist again, but that time around, she kinda wanted to make sure that it broke. She resisted those urges, though; she wasn't gonna fully stoop to his level. As she stared at him blankly and held his fist tightly in her grasp, she saw his left hand twitch from the corner of her eye. Sudou took a swing at her with his free hand and just like the first time, Kohaku managed to catch his fist with her hand. However, she additionally forced his left fist to the side, causing him to hit himself in the face instead when his swing went full circle because of Kohaku. She released her hold on his fists as he stepped away from her, holding his face as he constantly checked to see if he was bleeding anywhere. Mentally, Kohaku was cheering to herself, happy to have accomplished that somehow despite the awkward positioning (her sitting and Sudou standing). "Are you done now?" Kohaku asked, her tone as dull as it was seconds before the mini incident happened.
Sudou glared at her, his hands over his nose, and he let out a noise that almost resembled a growl. However, he didn't make another move towards Kohaku. He was finally backing down. Although, despite that he seemed to know that he had been defeated, he wasn't completely finished with her yet. "You'll rue this day, Kohaku," he told her after lowering his hands from his face, revealing light amounts of blood under his nose; she did make him bleed, after all. He began to walk backwards, moving away from her slowly. "You better watch your ass because one of these days, I'll get you back for this." With that, he turned away from her and headed out the door, his goon hurrying after him.
"Somehow, I highly doubt that," Kohaku mumbled to herself, letting out a sigh of relief once he left the room. She relaxed in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest as she began to contemplate her previous actions. Perhaps he would come back for revenge, but there wasn't a high chance of that. Unless he showed up with a handful of goons, he wouldn't be showing his face to her at all. With that in mind, despite her belief of him not coming back to get revenge, she opted to keep a close eye out for him, just in case she was wrong to doubt the bully's threat. So caught up in her thoughts, she nearly missed the round of applause that the students in the room were giving her. She blushed and avoided eye contact with everyone, placing her attention on the notebook in front of her person.
In their seats somewhere behind Kohaku, Sakae and Light were visibly in awe. They already knew that Kohaku was an occasional problem-solver, and that she often got into altercations that could've been avoided, but they were always awed by her; Kohaku never allowed anyone to step all over her and she always made certain that no one else was sat upon when she could help it, even with her constantly believing that everyone else's drama wasn't her problem. "Damn," Sakae whispered as she continued to stare at the back of Kohaku's head. "I love it when she stands up for others. She crushed his pride without any hesitation."
Light nodded slightly in agreement. "Men like that, they seek to crush people just to boost their ego," he commented. "I'm glad she brought him down. No one else was brave enough to do it." Plus, he was certain that some people, himself included, had thought about doing something but never did because it would've altered their reputation at the school in a negative and positive way; scholarships would've flown out the window if a teacher had seen, but fellow students would've respected the person more than they already had. Kohaku, on the other hand, didn't give a fuck about anything except doing what was right in her eyes and that was something Light could respect, even though he didn't exactly approve of her violent nature.
Sakae hummed as she began to twirl her pencil on the table; she absentmindedly had brought it with her. "I just hope that it doesn't come back to bite her in the behind," she sighed. She removed herself from the chair, standing up but not making a move to head back to her former chair. She looked down at Light and she smiled kindly. "We should go back to concentrating on our studies, Light. We'll talk again soon enough." After all, there was only about fifteen minutes left. Light nodded at her and watched as she headed back to her seat. Shortly afterwards, he stared down at his desk and once again, he began to think about the Death Note. The night couldn't be any slower...
Kohaku, Light, and Sakae were walking down the darkened street in silence. The three of them were thinking about various things, but in the end, they all eventually came to the same line of thought; the Death Note had entered all of their minds again, but not at the same exact time. Whilst Light had been thinking about the notebook of death pretty much the entire night, Kohaku and Sakae had thought about other things before they started thinking of it. Kohaku had been thinking about Sudou again, wondering if he'd live up to his threat one day before she shook that thought away and started considering putting his name down in the Death Note to be rid of him forever; just like Light had, she eventually dismissed the idea because of its riskiness. Sakae, on the other hand, was thinking about her brother, wondering what he was up to at that moment in time, but those pure thoughts quickly turned sour as she thought about her parents' murderers being the next potential victims to the Death Note; however, she instantly regretted thinking that way and felt horrible for wishing to stoop to their level of cruelty.
As the three best friends continued walking down the sidewalk that night, they grew closer to the location of a convenient store that was still open. Upon approaching the area around it, the three quickly came to realize that a young woman was being surrounded and harassed by a group of men on motorcycles. Just from the few remarks that they overheard from the leader of the biker gang, they knew that the men had horrible intentions for the poor woman. Additionally, the fact that the men planned to commit such a horrific crime in such a public area made the situation even more disgusting to the best friends. Surely, the convenient store workers could hear the commotion, but why hadn't they come to the rescue yet? Because of this uncertainty, the fate of the woman was placed into the hands of Kohaku, Light, and Sakae, but mainly Light.
The three of them headed inside of the brightly lit convenient store, but not before they overheard the name of the leader that was trying to condemn the woman to sexual assault. Once within the building, they walked over to the magazine-stand that was leaning against the window, which displayed the scene occurring outside. "We need to help her and soon, Light," Kohaku stated calmly and hushedly, watching as Light picked up a random magazine from the stand. "I damn well don't wanna witness a rape," she continued, still watching him as he opened up the magazine. She started to get impatient very quickly. "And I sure as hell don't wanna murder someone with my bare hands, but if you get any more slower than you are right now, I might not have a choice but to do such."
Sakae appeared to be panicked, her eyes focused on the events that were happening outside. The woman, thankfully, was still fully clothed but it was unlikely to last for much longer. "Whatever it is that you two have in mind, please do it quickly... I don't think we have much time to spare and neither does the lady outside..." Deep within her mind, she was thinking that the two of them were gonna use the Death Note on the guy (a plan which she wasn't thrilled with) but she had one huge doubt about that idea; what if it didn't actually work? What would they do, then, if the Death Note turned out to be a fake and the criminal's death earlier had merely been coincidence? Would they call the cops? Would they run out there and stop the act themselves? So many things could go wrong with any of those plans... And she probably wouldn't be of much help, considering... No, she didn't want to think about the past at a time like that.
"We know, Sakae," Kohaku stated aggressively, digging into Light's bag when he failed to pull the Death Note out quick enough. With the notebook of death in her grasp, she opened it and quickly hid it amongst the pages of the open magazine. Seconds later, she dug into his bag again and pulled out a pencil, handing it over to him. "You'll have a far better chance at spelling his name correctly than I will," she commented when he looked at her confused. He nodded, not bothering to question her, and took the pencil from her quickly. Immediately, he began writing the man's name down in various different spellings, hoping that one would be correct and as the cause of death, he wrote traffic accident. After that, all they could do was wait.
Outside of the convenient store, the motorcycle gang had already began to make their move on the woman. The leader, Takuo Shibuimaru, was holding her captive, using a pipe to keep her up against him as one of the men with him began to unbutton the woman's jeans hurriedly, an evil smirk on his face. Somehow, whether it was from sheer luck or the mysterious powers of the Death Note, the woman managed to get free from Takuo's grasp and she started to run away from the scene, heading across the street. Not wanting the woman to get away so easily, Takuo gave chase on his motorcycle. Despite the warnings that his goons were trying to yell out to him, as soon as the woman was safely off the street and on the opposite sidewalk, a truck smashed straight into Takuo. Debris from what remained of the motorcycle flew in the air as the gang leader died instantly from the sudden impact, the truck never stopping as it all happened.
Light stared in shock at the scene, unable to believe his eyes. Sakae was petrified, frozen in place from the sudden fear that entered her body immediately after she witnessed the accident caused by the Death Note. Kohaku was visibly pleased by what happened, a smirk on her face as she stared at the debris that laid motionless on the street, never batting an eye at what she had witnessed. Out of the three, Kohaku was clearly the most pleased. "The Death Note, it's actually real," Light mumbled. What had happened earlier that day, it hadn't been a coincidence at all; he had actually killed someone. He felt a bit guilty for killing the man, only because the man hadn't been some known criminal; although, if they had let the man and his men rape that woman, he definitely would've been considered a criminal then (A/N: he was a criminal, regardless). He wasn't sure what he wanted to do. In fact, he kinda felt sick to his stomach for being the cause of two deaths that day. Any sane person would've felt that way, too, if they killed someone of any sort.
Sakae managed to find her voice after a moment, shaking in fright as she looked towards her best friends. It was unbelievable and terrifying. Even though Light wrote the names, they were all practically responsible for killing two people. Why did they find that stupid notebook? Why did they keep it for themselves? "This is..." She gulped, raising her shaking hands to her face, placing them on her cheeks. She shook her head slightly. "I can't believe it's real. This-This isn't natural. We defied logic. We did something horrible, twice. We're going to hell for this, aren't we?" She had been hoping it was all fake. It was a horrifying power to have their hands on and she hated it. Sure, she was happy that it wasn't in the wrong hands, but it wasn't necessarily in the right hands either. She didn't want it to be real. They killed two people... Sure, they deserved it, but still...
"No way," Kohaku remarked, looking at Sakae. "We're doing the world a favor here. Who cares if we're defying the logic of the universe? I think this notebook is pretty damn cool. Sure, we killed two people, but it was for the greater good." She placed her attention on the Death Note that Light had closed. Luckily for them, the workers at the store were nowhere to be seen so their conversation couldn't be overheard. "With this, we can rid the world of all sorts of evil beings. Just think about it." She looked back at Sakae, who was frowning at her. "You said something earlier today, something about how someone could use it to sculpt a perfect world or something remotely close to that. Maybe we can do it. We were meant to find this notebook, I'm sure of it." She looked at Light, then, and she smiled at him. "And Light should be the one who has control over it."
Light's eyes widened in surprise. He had been expecting her to proclaim herself as the true owner of the notebook. His surprise went away as quickly as it appeared and he smiled back at her. He didn't feel sick anymore, not after listening to Kohaku. She was right; they could rid the world of evil and make it perfect. He was fine with killing more criminals. The world needed to be fixed and they were the only ones who could do it. "Alright," he agreed as he placed the Death Note into his bag. "But why don't you want to be the owner?"
"Technically, all three of us are the owners. You're just the one who gets to keep and use it the most," Kohaku clarified as she stared at him still. "Additionally, you're the one who found it in the first place. Therefore, you should be the rightful owner. You can be in charge of writing the names down and we," she gestured towards Sakae and herself, "Can help you get names from the wonderful and amazing internet. We'll make an epic team of problem solvers."
Whilst Light and Kohaku were on the same page, Sakae was still against it and was happy to state her feelings to her friends, despite her slight hesitation to do such. "Y-You actually want to do this, Kohaku?" she stuttered in disbelief. With Light, she could understand why he was ready to go along with it; he had shown some regret for what happened before Kohaku convinced him. Still, she never knew Kohaku's mind could easily enter a dark place. "This isn't right, you guys. We can't just go around killing criminals. Not all of them are guilty and some people can change, they just need to be given that second chance. We can't deprive them of that." She desperately wanted to convince them not to go along with their newfound plan. Everything would change forever for them if they continued.
Kohaku shook her head at Sakae, crossing her arms. She didn't speak to her in response, though. Her mind was set and she wasn't changing the plan. She glanced over at Light, tilting her head slightly in a gesture for him to say something instead; he'd have a better time convincing Sakae than she would. Light nodded shortly at Kohaku before he looked at Sakae again. "Sakae, I get that you want them to have a second chance, and most of them do manage to get it, but you know what they do once they're free? They kill and they rape, they don't learn their lesson. We can stop them much faster than any cop can. We can save our world and make it a better, safer place to live. We were given this power and we should do some good with it while we have it."
Sakae hesitated to speak again, taking a moment before doing so. "H-How can you both be thinking this way? Killing people, even if they deserve it, is not the way we should solve the world's problems. The world was meant to be impure and imperfect. Using this notebook, all we're gonna do is corrupted ourselves." She looked between her best friends, looking for any signs of agreement. Sadly, she saw nothing. They were still gonna keep with the plan. She sighed lowly, frowning still. "You're... You're both really gonna do this? Even you, Light?" she questioned, getting close to her breaking point. She knew, deep down, that she was gonna end up agreeing with them, only because they were her friends and if they wanted her by their side, she was gonna be there. Besides, she felt that if she said no, she'd cause some trouble and she didn't want that. God, she was probably gonna regret that...
"It's not gonna corrupt anyone, Sakae," Light stated to her, standing his ground on his decision. "If anything's corrupted, it's this planet that we're stuck on. It's better for the good to thrive than the wicked. We need to do this." Sakae cringed back a little at his words and she slowly began to become more upset by the fact that she was the only one that didn't want any part in it.
Kohaku stared at Sakae intensely. "Are you with us, Sakae, or are you against us?"
With another small sigh and moment of hesitation, Sakae stared at her two best friends silently before she finally answered. She knew it would come to it, her having to side with them or not. She knew that she'd be pressured into sticking with them, even if the two of them weren't exactly doing so aloud. "Do I really have a choice in this matter?" she questioned quietly. She sighed again. "I'd... I would never try to go against my friends, especially my best and closet friends. So, yeah, I guess I'm in." She wasn't very enthusiastic about it and she was certain that they noticed, but neither of them seemed to show any signs of dislike for her lack of excitement. Light placed his hand on Sakae's shoulder and he smiled a little, happy with her decision to join them. Kohaku cheered in a slightly quiet manner, something that Sakae didn't see her do very often. Sakae just nodded shortly as she stared at her best friends. She still didn't like it one bit...
Fact One: The part where Light translates the reading into Japanese, we said Japanese cause it made no sense for him to translate it into English (which is basically what they are speaking anyways in the English Dub). I always thought that part in the show was completely stupid.
Fact Two: I made Sudou flirt with Kohaku, but only because it gave him more of a reason to be speaking with her in that moment. Therefore, the tiny backstory of him flirting with her quite a lot was created. You won't be seeing that again, though, obviously.
Fact Three: The final scene was shortened. How? I only had the main characters talking, merely describing the scene that was taking place before their eyes. I didn't think the dialogue for the attempted rapists and female victim were all that important to keep within the story. Furthermore, I'd like to inform you that quite a few scenes from the previous version will be either cut short or they'll vanish altogether, only to be explained in some sort of fashion. For example, I'll likely take out any scenes that do not include Kohaku and/or Sakae; I'll let you know in the next chapter if I've made my mind up about this idea.
Fact Four: At the beginning of each chapter and before the warnings, the description of each chapter will be shown.
Revamped Date: August 17th-25th, 2018; February 28th-March 3rd, 2019 (minor edits)
Original Word Count: 4,575
New Word Count: 16,529