Eclipse Akira Amane, August 4, 2023

On my thirteenth birthday, a little after I graduated from my highschool, my mother told me a fairytale. Or a horror story. I don't know if I actually don't know which, or if I can't tell the difference under normal circumstances. What does it matter if the princess marries the prince or gets hauled off to the underworld?

"It's not real anyway," I told my mother, my arms crossed over my favorite red tie (school uniform for my private highschool). "There's no such thing as gods of any kind, and now you expect me to believe in Shinigami like some stupid kid? Tell me, Mother, what's he going to do if I, say, refuse to go to Japan with you?"

Mother pulled her rapidly whitening hair back. "Don't be so cocky! You are very smart, Eclipse, but there are many things you don't know yet! Like the fact that I know Shinigami exist...and so did your father. So did many people, before you were born."

"M-my father?"

It wasn't long after I had learned to speak, that I began asking about him. I could see it pained her to draw up the memory of him, but I kept asking. So every now and then, she would give in and talk. Like now. But I always sensed she was holding back something. Was this it? Was this the missing piece of my father? But this is crazy! Shinigami don't exist...But I also knew my father was no fool. Intelligence is at least partially genetic-and I loved my mother, but I didn't get any IQ points from her.

"Yes...Oh, Eclipse, you have no idea how much you look like him..." She touched my cheek, her eyes red and glistening.

"M-mom, you don't have to, I mean, we can do this another time. I understand."

"No, Eclipse, I have waited long enough. Your father would probably say too long."

She took a deep breath.

"There is a realm in this universe that is neither heaven nor hell, life nor death. It is a barren wasteland, and it is the home of the Shinigami." How many times had she rehearsed this speech? It was like she was reading it... "There must be hundereds, maybe thousands of them, spending their days doing nothing-gambling, talking with each other, or looking down on the human world. It's quite boring."

I almost laughed.

"Mother, I'm trying to believe you, I am. But, assuming this is true, how would you even know this?"

"A Shinigami named Rem told me. She's gone now..."

"Rem?-"

"Your father's Shinigami was named Ryuk. My entire plan hedges on his boredom, so don't interrupt me!" I looked down, ashamed, and a little stunned. I could count on one hand the number of times my mother had raised her voice at me. I'd never seen her so tense... But how could she expect me to believe this foolishness? Was she actually crazy? She does seem to believe genuinely in her story...But there should be other indicators to mental illness, like the inability to form coherent sentences, or auditory or visual hallucinations. If she had had any, she'd never told me, not counting seeing the gods of death floating around and talking to her...I readjusted my glasses, deciding for the moment to play along, to at least see where she was going with this.

"My father had a Shinigami?"

Mother grinned. "Hai. Sometimes, Shinigami enter the human world, most often to do their work-taking humans from this world and into the next by writing their names in a notebook. But sometimes, like Ryuk and Rem, they do it because they're bored. They drop their Death Note in the human world, and see what happens. Light had one and so did I. Before you ask, a Death Note is a notebook," she almost sighed, closing her eyes and reclining back into her chair. She traced the sides of an imaginary book in the air, while she spoke. "A notebook in which anyone can write the name of a person, and that person will die."

"Th-that's-" I swallowed. "But that..." I shot up from my chair. "You killed people?"

"Hear me out, Eclipse! I have always taught you right from wrong, have I not? At least hear your mother out, I deserve that much. It wasn't easy raising you alone. If at the end of this conversation, you still don't understand, do what you must. But until then, sit back down, Eclipse."

Weakly, I sank into the chair.

"You remember the Kira case, right? In Japan, in the years before you were born."

"Of course."

When I was in the tenth grade, there was a section in my textbook.

"You were so interested! It made me so excited, it's like you already knew. But I couldn't tell you. You were too young. Eclipse, your textbook didn't have the name of Kira or any of the detectives working on the case, did it?"

That's right. I had thought it strange that no one had been credited with the capture of such an...influential-and successful- serial killer. Nor was a name provided for the killer himself. I asked my teacher, searched online. Nothing. Only old fansites where people either mourned his "disappearance" or thanked God for his death.

"Your father was one of those detectives."

My eyes widened. "What? Did he catch Kira? Did he kill him? What does this have to do with Shinigami?" My thoughts were racing. I'm not sure I would have chased Kira. He punished those who needed to be punished. The FBI database during the time Kira was active reported that even crime rates dropped all the way in the U.S. thanks to Kira's reign. Through what little snippets of information there were on the case...I was actually rooting for Kira.

"Your father was Kira. And I helped him. We killed using our Death Notes. And now it is time for you to continue your father's work, in Japan, where you belong."

Silence, while my mother waited for it to sink in. Then, I stood. "Well now I see why you insisted on me applying to To-Oh. I need some air."

"Eclipse, are you alright?"

"Don't follow me." I headed toward the front door. She called after me, "You are your father's son!"

Almost uncontrollably, stuffing my hands into my pockets, I smirked.

All my life seemed now like a held breath. An anticipation. I alienated my classmates with my intellect, baffled my teachers with my intelligence. In intellectual ability, none were my equal. Just like my father. And now, I had decided to expel that breath. The moment had come. My place, I had decided, was no longer in this foreign country. No, not just like my father. My father had been caught. "By a man named Near." My mother had said. Who, by his approximate age at the time of my father's murder, should still be alive. Not for long. I readjusted my glasses and turned the key in the lock.

"Mother!" I called into the house.

"Yes, Eclipse? I'm in the bathroom, make up!"

"I am going to start packing now."

Silence. Then, "I am so proud of you, Eclipse. I'll be just a minute. We'll leave tomorrow night, and I'll explain more on the way."

I still didn't know if I believed the nonsense about the Shinigami, but if my father really was Kira, then I could discover more about him in Japan than I ever could here. And besides, I thought. This Near interests me...The man who outwitted my father. Certainly, someone worth investigating.

"I'll buy the tickets in a false name, and the fakes should be ready in about five hours," I told Mother, backtracking carefully through Japan's databases. No trace. No footprints. "We'll pay in cash when we get there."

"Why do we need fake names just to go back home?"

"Mother, you were involved in the Kira case. Even though it was a long time ago, Misa Amane returning to Japan would raise some eyebrows, especially with someone like me in tow, if I really do look as much like my father as you say."

When the screen went dark I stared into my reflection. I would have to cut my hair into a different style. Something uncharacteristic, just in case, and maybe wear contacts. My hair, though, my hair was distinctly my mother's. Blond and American-looking. No need for a change in color there.

"Right, Li-Eclipse. Do what you think is best."

"Just get packed, Mom, and make sure the money is ready. I'll take care of everything else. Right now, I'm heading to the barber. What do you think of me with a buzzcut?"

She pulled a face.

Eclipse Akira Amane, August 7, 2023

"Welcome aboard, Mr...Kurasaki, Mrs. Kurasaki."

"Thank you, sir." The flight attendant handed us back our seat assignments. One way tickets to Japan. Mother let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't tell me you were worried, Mom?"

"I'm your mother, that's my job. Besides, don't you think your hair is just a bit over the top?" She tugged a piece gently.

I laughed. "I kind of like it," I said, running my hands through it. "I'll look like any other kid in Japan." I had given my barber a picture of the group Tohoshinki, and told him to do his best. Judging by the sidelong glances I received from girls my age (and a bit older)-his best was pretty damn good.

"Ecl-Katsuro?" my mother said as I lifted her fifty pound bag of shoes into the overhead compartment (some things never change, I guess).

"Yes?"

"I have to tell you lots of things on the way. I know you don't believe me yet, but if you still don't have sufficient proof over the next three days, then I'll drop it altogether."

Out of her purse, she pulled a thick, hard-backed volume entitled "Japanese Mythology."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh come on, Katsuro. Some of your father did rub off on me after all."

She flipped to the chapter on Shinigami and began. "This is the first rule," she said quietly as the flight attendant recited the information for take off. "You must never, ever shorten your lifespan by obtaining the Shinigami eyes yourself, although you will be tempted."

"Shinigami...eyes?" I frowned. I didn't like this. I still didn't really believe it, but my mother surely couldn't have come up with such an elaborate story on her own, even if she was mentally incompetent. Besides, if nutjobs really did believe this, it wouldn't do to be talking about it in the middle of an international flight. Mother smiled, and shook her head. She said, "You." Then she placed her finger on a word in the text. "Must." Then "know." Then "the." "Name of the one intend to kill. Shinigami eyes allow..." "You," she said again. "To...see...the...names...but...take...half...life."

I raised my eyebrows.

"There is only one more rule, Katsuro," she said.

"Yes?"

"You must kill Near."