"Welcome home!" Mrs. Yagami chirps as Kay and Light walk through the front door.
She holds her hands out in anticipation and the two best friends stare at her for a moment before realizing what she was waiting for and opened their bags. They pulled out papers and Mrs. Yagami looks over them.
"My, my! Tied for Number One yet again! The test is nationwide, you know?"
"Yeah," Kay says.
"We're going to go study in our room, so don't disturb us," Light continues.
"Okay. Do you two want anything special? Anything at all!" Mrs. Yagami exclaims as Kay and Light head up the stairs.
"No thank you," Light calls before he closes the bedroom door.
"We already have everything we need," Kay says, voicing what she knows Light is thinking.
They walk over to the desk and Light pulls the Death Note out of a drawer. They stare at it for a moment, Light chuckling quietly.
"You've taken quite a liking to it."
Kay and Light whip around and scream when they see Ryuk standing behind them.
"Why're you so surprised? I'm Ryuk the shinigami and the one who dropped that notebook. I'm guessing by your laughter that you both know that it's no ordinary notebook.
"A...shinigami?!" Kay stutters, bending down to help Light, who had fallen out of the desk chair in surprise.
The teen boy composes himself for a moment before speaking.
"I'm not surprised, Ryuk. In fact...we've been waiting for you!" Light says, looking the shinigami in the eye.
"We have?" Kay asks.
"And there are some things I want to show you," he continues, ignoring Kay.
He rips open the Death Note and shows it to Ryuk. The shinigami takes the notebook and flips through the pages.
"My, my! Look at all the people you two have killed in just five days."
Light doesn't see but Ryuk notices a shadow pass over Kay's face before she looks at her best friend with an unreadable expression.
"So what happens now? Are you going to take our souls?" she asks.
"Huh? Is that another thing you humans made up? I'm not going to do anything to you. Once the Death Note lands in the human world, it belongs to the human world. So it's yours," Ryuk explains, pointing to Light.
"Mine…"
"While both of us use the Death Note, Light was the one who first picked it up. So it belongs to him…" Kay mumbles, deep in thought again.
"That's right. Also, you two are the only ones who can see and hear me. The Death Note is the bond between Light and Kay the humans and Ryuk the shinigami."
"The bond…" Light murmures.
"So there are no consequences for using the Death Note?" Kay asks, glancing at Light again.
"No. Although, it is said that humans who use the Death Note are plagued with nightmares and bad luck."
"Tell me about it…"
"Is that all?" Light asks Ryuk.
"One more thing: anyone who uses the Death Note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell."
"That would've been nice to know ahead of time."
"Silly Kay. That just means that there is no Heaven or Hell!" Light says, cheerful for some reason.
"You'll find out about that after you die. Hyuk! Hyuk!" Ryuk says.
"Ryuk?"
"Hm?"
"Why did you drop the notebook?" Kay asks.
"Because I was bored, that's why. I'm in the shinigami's realm, so killing people in the human world isn't any fun. It's more fun to be here, is how I figured it," Ryuk explains before he looks at the Death Note again, "Gotta say, though, you two really wrote a lot of names in here."
Kay's eyes fall to the floor again.
"I was...bored too…" Light says, making both the shinigami and other human give him a bewildered look.
"Tell me something: why did you only specify the cause of death for the guy who got hit by a truck?" Ryuk asks.
"All the criminals whose names we write down die of a heart attack. It's the same every time. Even a fool is going to notice that somebody is bumping off the bad guys. People are going to know that someone out there is passing righteous judgement! Eventually, only good people will live on Earth!" Light exclaims.
"Then the only one left with a bad personality will be you two," Ryuk points out.
"What are you talking about, Ryuk? We're serious, straight-A students," Light says.
"Model teenagers," Kay finishes.
"And we...will reign over a new world! Everyone will accept us as the God and Goddess!" Light says optimistically.
Kay smiles softly at her best friend before looking down at the Death Note.
"Sachiko! I'm home!" Soichiro calls out as he closes the door behind him, careful to not make large or sudden movements.
Sachiko comes into the room with a hand splayed on her pregnant belly and 3-year-old Light tailing close behind her.
"Welcome home, darling! Let me get your raincoat for you!" she says, taking her husband's coat before dropping it suddenly and gasping.
For in Soichiro's arm, he cradled a little girl with burns and scratches. She's still but quite awake, her large, green eyes shining brightly.
"Who...who's this?" Sachiko asks, fighting her motherly instincts to take the toddler in her own arms and take care of her wounds.
"This is Kay. She's the same age as Light. Hold on a second," the police officer says.
He scoops up his son and walks up the stairs before entering Light's room.
"Son, can you keep an eye on our guest here?" he asks.
"Okay, Papa!"
Soichiro smiles before setting Kay down on the rug and leaving the room. He leaves the door open and heads downstairs. The two toddlers stare at each other for a moment, both nervous about the stranger in front of them.
"Do you like puzzles?" Light asks, breaking the hush that had fallen over the room.
Kay nods her head and wobbles to her feet before following Light to a table with a bunch of puzzle pieces on them. The two work for a few moments, Kay invested with the puzzle while Light keeps glancing at his house guest.
"You don't talk much, do you?" he asks.
Kay shakes her head as she reaches over to pick up a puzzle piece, leaning into Light in the process.
Downstairs, Sachiko places two mugs of tea on the table and sits across the table from her husband.
"Soichiro...who is this little girl?"
"Kay was found in the woods two days ago looking even more battered and bruised than now. She was rushed to the hospital and I was the one assigned to figure out where she came from and who had hurt her. It turns out that she had escaped from that orphanage that went up in flames...so awful what happened...she fled into the woods and was wandering for several days alone with no food or water. Sachiko, darling, I know that we are already about to have a little girl, but Kay had no one! And she and I have already formed a bond!" he says.
Mrs. Yagami looks down and sips her tea in thought. After a moment, she sighs and sets her mug down.
"I am not saying that we should go ahead and call up the adoption agency...but I can't think of a reason why we can't share the roof over our heads until she is healed and feeling better," she says, a smile beginning to form.
"I'm going to go check on them," Soichiro says, standing up and heading upstairs.
He peeks around the edge of the door frame into Light's room and sees Light and Kay laying on the ground next to each other, snoring softly. He smiles before he carefully scoops the two toddlers up and tucks them into bed. He smiles once more before he turns off the lights and closes the door.