Ryoko Shiraishi/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Kohaku Hatashi
Shiori Izawa/Kira Vincent-Davis as Sakae Shiraki
When clothing isn't described, either school uniforms are present (we all know what those usually consist of) or an aforementioned outfit is still being worn.
Within his English classroom, Light Yagami, a seventeen-year-old with fair skin, is silently seated at his desk. He appears to be slightly, if not entirely, bored, elbow resting on his desktop while his hand remains perched against his cheek, fingers brushing gently against the edge of his short light-brown hair. He's facing the front, yet his dark-brown eyes focus on the activities around him, performed by his fellow classmates; none of them are paying attention to their instructor, either playing video games underneath their desks or conversing with one another in loud whispers. Either way, it's unlikely that their teacher will notice because, by the looks of it, he's far too busy with reading aloud, his attention fully on the educational book in his hands.
Sitting directly behind him, hands and arms resting on the opened book laying before her, is Kohaku Hatashi, an eighteen-year-old with skin like porcelain. She has an expression of pure boredom; her large indigo-blue eyes are locked on the figure of the teacher she isn't truly listening to. Annoyance flickers across her face for a single moment when she overhears a few gossiping females, one speaking of some male who, supposedly, is furious with her. "Nobody asked," she mouths to herself, unsympathetic about the drama of the other teens within the classroom. She only cares for her own and such includes drama revolving around her friends; no one else's problems matter, much. She reaches towards her bob-cutted chestnut-brown hair, silently playing with it as she finally just zones out.
Located at the desk towards her right is Sakae Shiraki, a seventeen-year-old with a gentle tan. Fingers lightly tapping on her closed notebook, which lays beside her opened textbook, her grayish blue eyes stare upon the ceiling; her mind is elsewhere. She is grinning, at peace with the world surrounding her. Her golden-blonde hair sways as she shifts within her chair, falling from rest on her shoulder and landing across her middle back. She cares for nothing in this moment, except for leaving so her fantasies of relaxation can become a reality again.
Kohaku, Light, and Sakae are friends, a well known fact to their classmates, the school faculty, and their individual families. They've known one another for a long period of time; however, they met at different points of their lives. Light and Sakae are childhood friends, brought together by being within the same classes throughout their entire educational lives. During her final years of elementary learning, Sakae met Kohaku by chance when both were at the same store with a relative; although they were unlikely to be friends, with how different their personalities were, they became very close. Kohaku was then introduced to Light when she entered the same school during middle schooling years; toleration for one another turned into something close to friendliness. And so, they eventually became a trio of friends.
As the class continues dragging on in a painfully slow manner, Kohaku huffs and stops messing with her hair, boredom bringing her back into the dull reality of school life. She glances towards Sakae, placing her elbow on the desk as she presses her cheek against her palm, further indicating her disinterest in everything around her. "Goddamn, this class is more boring than usual," she comments lowly, hoping to catch her friend's attention.
Sakae blinks, her thoughts escaping her. She looks away from the ceiling to gaze at Kohaku. Furthermore, the tapping of her fingers cease as the spark in her eyes diminishes; she's back in reality, too. Processing the words stated, she nods slowly. "Yeah, seems so." She glances at Light, nodding towards him. "Not even Light is paying attention; he seems out of it."
Groaning, Kohaku looks away from Sakae, her expression turning into one of anxiety. "Don't say things like that; you know how I get sometimes." Sure, Light does usually focus on whatever their educators teach them and, okay, he tends to get distracted sometimes, just like everybody else, but even so, anxiety gets brought upon Kohaku in these moments when she becomes aware; her friend instincts are attempting to kick in, the natural tendency in which a close, or somewhat close, companion worries over absolutely nothing about a comrade when they do something even slightly different than what they normally do. She really hates these urges, but thankfully, they don't occur very often. She moves her book closer to the edge of her desk and immediately face-plants onto it, ruffling the pages. "Thanks for that," she utters, words slightly muffled.
"I was only pointing it out," Sakae defends, tone gentle. "There's no need to get too worked up; Light is just being Light." Unfortunately, her reassurance is a complete failure; the anxious teen merely waves off her words of wisdom. Kohaku is correct, though; Sakae knows, far too well, that her dear friend tends to get anxious about matters involving either Light or herself. As she watches Kohaku keep her face buried inside the pages of her textbook, she begins feeling guilty about saying anything at all. In front of them, Light releases a faint sigh, having overheard them, and rolls his eyes at the typicality that is Kohaku.
Their teacher drones on with his bland recital as most of the students continue drifting within their dreamlands, avoiding their educator's dull words. "'Listen for the voice of God. Then, follow it and know that in time, you will find your salvation'." He glances up from his booklet. Amongst the crowd of obvious, and oblivious, mischievous students, Light is the one the teacher calls out; he just happens to be the first unfortunate student to be caught in his line of sight. "Yagami, are you still with us? Can you please translate the following sentence into Japanese?"
Light glances away from the students he'd been silently studying. Sighing and dropping his resting palm from his cheek, he presses the aforementioned appendage against the desk as he stands. He picks up the thin textbook, which laid open on the desk, and starts reading aloud, just like the teacher instructed. Everyone suddenly pauses their movements as they listen, half of them likely expecting, or hoping, that he'd mess up. "'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 desk, he returns to his seat with a continued blank expression.
The teacher nods in acceptance of the translation, somewhat visibly pleased. "Excellent work, Yagami," he praises. About to recommence with reciting, something else catches his eye. With an irritated grunt, he makes his way towards the back-right corner of the classroom, heading straight towards where the three friends sit. In her seat, Kohaku's head remains buried in the book, except she's now sleeping. Beside her resting figure, Sakae is leaning against her chair, eyes closed as she slowly drifts back into her little world of relaxation. The loud smack of their teacher's hand hitting against Kohaku's desk sounds throughout the room, causing snickers to release from various classmates that find the situation quite humorous.
Sakae jumps in her seat, eyes snapping open as she's roughly pulled from her dreamland. "Holy sugar cookies!" she exclaims, unable to prevent her sudden outburst. She immediately blushes in embarrassment as most of her classmates explode into immediate laughter. She smiles sheepishly at her teacher, who gives her a stern look. "I'm so sorry..." She glances towards Kohaku and notices that she remains asleep. Awkwardly, she leans over in her chair and reaches towards her friend to shake her; their seats aren't too far apart, but even so, she still looks, and feels, ridiculous. "Wake up, please... Now may not be a great time to take a nice nap... Seriously, please just wake up already, Kohaku..." she softly speaks, eyeing their teacher as she shakes her friend gently.
Kohaku hums, beginning to awaken from her short slumber. She waves her arm, swatting Sakae's hand away. Shifting, she slowly opens her eyes and sits up straight in her chair, rubbing her eyes as she yawns loudly. Nobody laughs at her, too scared to; she has a tendency of becoming violent when angered. "Hmm...?" Her bearings clearing, she looks up to see their teacher glaring at her. "Oh, hello," she greets nonchalantly. "How kind of you to pay me a visit during class hours," she continues, using a flat tone, uncaring.
"It's nice to see you two have rejoined the class," the teacher snaps. "Now, let's continue with the lesson." He turns from her desk, inadvertently allowing her the opportunity to give him the finger, and heads back towards the front of the classroom. In a matter of seconds, he returns to reciting from the booklet, resulting in the students returning to their little worlds as they ignore their mostly oblivious teacher again.
Nervous laughter quietly escapes Sakae as she looks at Kohaku again. "I guess we're lucky we didn't get into more trouble." She still feels a little embarrassed, though, but it's quite a relief that they hadn't been sent out of class for nothing; some instructors are very strict about what happens inside their teaching space, never hesitant to send out a student for something unimportant, but luckily, their English educator isn't the type to completely reinforce the rules.
Kohaku scoffs. "Only because our teacher is as dumb as a sack of unpeeled potatoes." She shakes her head, eyeing everyone. Their classmates aren't even trying to hide that they aren't paying attention, yet none of them are called out for it; their teacher is either hella fucking dumb or just extremely oblivious to a lot of things.
Sakae turns her attention towards their classmates, too, and sighs, nodding her head. "Point taken." She watches their teacher again as he continues reading aloud without noticing that nobody's actually listening; she kinda wonders if he'd ever realize it...
Several more hours of boredom ensue before school finally releases; once allowed, everyone begins making their ways to their homes. Kohaku, Light, and Sakae are heading to the male's household, like they usually do; his residence is practically a second home to the females, especially since they're there far more often than their own, not that anything is wrong with their homes much.
As they walk together in silence, Sakae eventually takes notice of Kohaku's uneven and tired posture; it almost looks as if she's sleepwalking, maybe. Perhaps Sakae is just being a little bit paranoid. Even so, with concern welling up inside suddenly, she starts waving her hand in Kohaku's face as they walk beside each other. "Kohaku? You're still awake, right?"
Grumpily, Kohaku pushes Sakae's hand from her face, the sidewalk returning to her line of sight. "Yes, I'm very much awake. Well, sorta. I'm managing to keep my eyes open, so that's a plus, I guess." She's confused as to why her exhaustion has fully hit her now, of all times. How she succeeded in spending half the day without falling asleep, mostly, is beyond her. "By the way, don't do that again. I could've ran into a pole or a naked hobo. You never know these days."
"Well... I guess the teacher did wake you during your nap... Then again, that couldn't be why you're still tired because the nap was, like, super short. Ummm... Also, I-I'm sorry about doing that, but I was just making sure you weren't sleepwalking or anything... So, uh, yeah... Sorry... Really sorry..." Sakae stops rambling, closing herself off from the conversation. She feels like she'll only cause Kohaku to become more agitated.
"Are you getting enough sleep, Kohaku?" Light asks, finally showing some concern.
That immediately proves to be the worst question he could've asked her; Kohaku erupts into pure outrage. "Of course I get enough sleep, you stupid ass-hat! You should know; I sleep at your damn house just about every night! I just didn't get much rest last night! Word your questions better, jackass!" Her verbal abuse ends abruptly. She stops walking, causing her friends to pause, too. She faces them, no longer yelling but remaining pissed. "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. Somehow, they managed to argue all goddamn night." She moves into a stance and starts mimicking the behavior her drunken father displayed to her just-as-drunk mother. "'This is all your damn fault, Yue! If you hadn't given our daughter a man's name, she wouldn't be coming home so late! She's probably sleeping around with random men that have drug problems, using a fake name so they don't think she's some freak or something! The folks at her school probably think she's a lesbian!'" Although those aren't the exact words he used, they're close enough. That man can just be so ridiculous when intoxicated. She sighs, shaking her head.
"Why would anyone think you're a lesbian?" Sakae questions, raising an eyebrow. "You don't hang around girls, apart from myself, and I certainly haven't seen you attempting to flirt with someone of our gender identity."
"Seriously? Out of everything I said, that's all that caught your attention? His drunk ass believing I'm considered a lesbian by everyone we know at school?" Kohaku rolls her eyes and waves off her previous words. "Whatever. You're correct, though; I'm definitely not a lesbian and I haven't done shit to prove I'm even remotely close to being one." Huffing, she stares at her friends; her only friends. "God, did you hear those chicks in English? They wouldn't shut the hell up about some dude who was mad at one of them for 'no reason'. I'm pretty damn sure the bitch gave him ninety-nine reasons to be mad. God, her talking just made me want to shoot her, and then myself, in the fucking face. Why is everyone so goddamn annoying? Well, you two aren't, for the most part; everyone else is, though." She looks away from them, beginning to walk along the sidewalk again; they follow.
"I don't know," Sakae answers. "I guess too much drama lingers around them." She overheard the same conversation, but had chosen to pay it no mind; it was some pointless thing that has absolutely nothing to do with her. "Thank you for saying I'm not very annoying." She bows slightly as she walks; Kohaku doesn't see her doing so, but hums in response to the unnecessary thanks.
"Just ignore them next time," Light tells Kohaku. "Don't let their mindless conversations bother you so much." Those pointless matters were nothing to worry about; there are far more important things to focus on. Like academic scores.
"Whatever you say, buddy boy." Kohaku sighs. Staying silent for the remainder of their walk, she listens as Light and Sakae chatter amongst themselves. "What a shitty fucking day..."
The following day, they're back inside their English classroom. It appears things are gonna be rather dull again. Light is gazing out the window as the teacher recites more lines from the booklet he holds. In their desks behind him, Kohaku and Sakae are mumbling out a conversation, neither paying attention to their instructor. "'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 reads, oblivious, again, to the fact that nobody's even listening. However, this time as a distraction, more than half the class is on their cellular phones, messaging friends from other classrooms.
As Light silently continues staring out the window, a black notebook suddenly falls from the sky and lands in a patch of grass within the courtyard. He gazes at it, completely caught off-guard. He remains with such an expression for a moment, causing his friends to spot his disbelief. "Yo, Light," Kohaku calls out. "You okay there, man?" She raises an eyebrow. "What the hell did he see?" Something certainly happened, she has no doubts about that.
"Huh?" Light blinks and turns from the window, glancing behind himself to eye his concerned friends. He nods shortly and, without hesitation, lies, his expression becoming blank. "Yeah, I'm fine." Maybe he'd just been seeing things.
"Are you sure?" Sakae questions, frowning. Her worries remain; she's certain he's lying; regardless of being correct about that feeling or not, something happened. "Did he think about something? Did he see something? No, he would've said so... Right...?" She wants to know what caused the sudden shift in his posture; being unaware of a potential problem only makes her more concerned; most likely, it wasn't anything but even so, he's acting a little strange.
"Yes, I'm sure," he responds quickly, turning away from them as he places his attention back towards the window. Gazing around, he eventually spots the notebook again; it's still within the grass. Perhaps someone dropped it from the rooftop. Actually, maybe they'd thrown it; that makes more sense because the notebook is laying too far away from the building for it to have just been simply dropped.
"Liar," Kohaku accuses. She gestures at him and the window. "Nobody just randomly becomes surprised while staring out of a goddamn window." Dropping her hand onto her desk, she continues staring at the back of his head. "Unless the sky is fucking falling or you've seen the makings of a very bad porno, there's nothing that can bring about that kind of expression."
In response, Light speaks calmly, despite his irritation. "You shouldn't make assumptions. I was merely remembering that I have to do something later."
"That's bullshit and you know it," Kohaku states, her anger building further. This wasn't exactly a newfound discovery in their friendship; occasionally, she'd get pissed with him for little-to-no reason because she doesn't have much patience with him. Hell, she has no patience in general. "Also, I'm not making any assumptions, douche-ass. I know that something's wrong, so go fuck yourself with your bull." She crosses her arms, leaning against her chair. She utters another word of choice. "Motherfucking jackass."
"I heard that," Light halfheartedly teases, continuing to stare out the window, eyes remaining on the mysterious notebook. Perhaps someone will pick it up soon. If not, maybe he'll grab it himself after class, just to take a peek of what lies inside; then, he'll leave it be for the owner to eventually find.
"Yeah, he's definitely out of character," Sakae utters, eyeing Light a little longer. Beside her, Kohaku sighs, nodding with slight satisfaction of the agreement. The aforementioned female glances towards the sighing teen, tilting her head. "Are you okay?" Her friend shrugs before staring down at her desk. "Kohaku?" Sakae frowns.
"Fuck off," Kohaku grumbles, turning her gaze towards the windows. She's no longer in a talkative mood; she's very aggravated. She hates being left in the darkness. Perhaps Light is trying to hide something from them. Well, if that's truly the case, she isn't gonna sit around and wait forever; she'll find some way of revealing the truth he's avoidant of sharing.
Sakae gulps, bowing her head, looking at her desk. "S-Sorry," she stutters. She knows better than to try continuing with reaching Kohaku while she's in such a state of aggression; in other words, she needs to stop speaking or otherwise, her easily angered friend will just get set off further and likely do something drastic. So, instead, she keeps her gaze on her desk, ignoring her surroundings for a while as she remains silent. Her attention, however, is eventually drawn back by the call of her name; she glances up in the general direction of the voice. She blinks, her eyes locking on Light, who stares back. "Yes?" she softly questions, gazing at him with curiosity.
"Is everything alright between you and your brother?" he suddenly asks.
Ah, her older brother. Sometimes, they don't see eye-to-eye; however, in more recent timing, their relations have become a tad smoother. Therefore, she supposes her answer is yes; everything's fine and dandy, for the most part. "Uh, yeah, everything's okay. Well, for now, at least," she replies truthfully, smiling a little. She honestly wouldn't be surprised if an argument breaks out between herself and her brother later in the day or sometime in the upcoming week; their views towards things are vastly different. Even so, the love between them has never lessened; they only have each other to lean on. Light merely nods and, shortly afterwards, looks towards their instructor, growing quiet once more as he thinks about the mysterious notebook that supposedly had fallen from the sky...
After a prolonged period of time, the class comes to its end, the school beginning its closing for the evening. The three friends are walking outside, remaining within school grounds. Coincidentally, they are strolling around the area where the mysterious notebook had fallen, a fact known only to the male. Kohaku seems to be back to her usual behavior, showing no signs of the verity behind her mask; she's still annoyed. Sakae, too, isn't physically revealing her true emotions; she's still a bit down. Light, on the other hand, is more focused on a different matter as he comes to fully realize their location; he stops walking, turning towards the direction where the notebook lays. Without a word, he begins strolling away from the females.
Sakae blinks, confused as she watches him walk off. "Ummm, Light?" she questions, speaking so lowly, the male is unable to hear her. What is he doing? Did he see something again? Did he want to rest on the benches? Whatever he's doing, it's breaking his usual routine. Kohaku is probably gonna flip her shit.
Kohaku does not, in fact, flip her shit. She raises an eyebrow as she, too, watches their mutual friend stroll away. "What the fuck is he up to now?" she wonders. Glancing at Sakae, she hopes the teen has some clue as to what's occurring, but when Sakae gazes towards her, all Kohaku gets is a shrug and uncertain expression. Curiosity quickly gets the best of them; the females start making their way towards Light as he leans over and picks up a black notebook.
As he straightens, with the curious-looking journal in hand, Light sighs as he hears the girls approaching him from behind; he'd hoped they wouldn't follow, but then again, they echo his footsteps just about everyday, so he should've expected it. "Couldn't you two wait?" he questions in slight annoyance, studying the title of the dark notebook.
"Nope, that would've been boring," Kohaku immediately answers. "So, whatcha got there, Light?" She moves forward, side-stepping to his left, and looks at the mystery notebook. "Hmm?" She narrows her eyes, staring at the title. "'Death Note'? That's a very...strange name. Most go for, you know, human ones like Kagome, oddly enough." She hums. "Even so, I like it; it has a twisted ring to it."
"Mmm." Light nods slightly. He turns the notebook over, becoming pleasantly surprised that there's some writing and it isn't mere inadequate scribbles; it's a set of detailed rules. He begins silently reading the first guideline as Sakae steps to his right. "'How to use it. The human whose name is written in this notebook... Shall die'." That's pretty straightforward, he thinks.
Kohaku reads the same guideline in her head. "Wait, so, you can kill just about anyone by simply writing their name? That's a cool concept, if you really think about it. I mean, you don't see these kinds of things just laying around." It's most likely fake, most things similar to it are, but she's still very intrigued.
Light quickly flips through the Death Note, noting that while there's more rules located in the back, absolutely nothing has been written on the lined pages provided. Shortly after the discovery, he closes the apparent notebook of death and places it back onto the ground. "If you ask me, it's a pretty lame concept, not to mention that it's twisted. It's 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 turns, starting to walk back towards the school building. Kohaku and Sakae remain where they are.
"Wait, you aren't gonna keep it?" Kohaku questions, tilting her head as she watches him. "Not even for the hell of it? What if someone else finds it and they believe it to be real?" She pauses as Light stops walking, only a few steps away; he looks back towards them, saying nothing. "They'll have all the fun in the fucking world while we'll just go back to our scheduled program of boredom and dullness. I say we take the damn thing anyway, so we can have some decent entertainment for once." She'd pick it up herself, but she doesn't want to be held responsible for anything that happens afterward.
She isn't the only one intrigued by the Death Note's concept; Sakae, having been mostly silent, kinda wants to take the notebook, too, but for a rainy day or something. They can play pretend for a bit and write down names of people they dislike or get frustrated with. It's a decent enough idea; she doesn't want to leave it there. Again, like Kohaku, she can easily pick up the Death Note herself, but doesn't wish to for her own reasons. "Imagine if it got into the hands of someone who'd throw it away or use it for evil," Sakae hypothetically states. "They would start killing everybody, good and bad. They would even try sculpting their perfect little world, a place where they are a ruler of all things." Chills run down her spine at the mere thought of the notebook actually being legit. "It's kinda scary, thinking about it like that..."
"See?!" Kohaku gestures towards Sakae, eyes on Light. "Sakae gets it. Sorta. In a way. Whatever." She waves her hand before placing it on her shoulder bag, such motion causing it to knock against her side; she makes a face of pain when she feels the edge of a textbook nudging against her torso momentarily. She shifts her bag, so she's no longer being stabbed by the books within. "I still think we should keep it, even if it magically becomes real somehow. Pretty sure it's just a prank or an unfinished, discarded game but still, let's take it."
Light stares at them for a moment before finally saying something again. "Fine." He strolls back over and quickly picks up the notebook. "I still think the concept is lame," he adds. Although he isn't as intrigued, he's still a bit interested because it's new, in a sense; it's a different take on something he's seen before and that's about as fascinating as it gets for him. He places it into his bag quickly. "I can't believe you guys think it's real."
"Let's hope we never find out!" Sakae suddenly exclaims, making both friends cover their ears. "Oops, sorry. I meant, uh, let's hope we never discover this to be an actual thing I hypothesized? Was that better? A little bit, maybe?" she asks, using a quieter tone. Surprisingly, after that outburst, no one had looked in their direction.
Kohaku rubs her ears, making a face of irritation. "Well, anything's possible. I mean, there's always, like, a three-to-five percent chance of something being likely, even when it's highly unlikely to be so. Did that make sense? I hope it did." She isn't a large believer of the impossible, but she keeps her mind open enough to the possibility that she's wrong to be a nonbeliever of most things.
Light thinks for a second. "Hmm, you think so?"
"I wouldn't have stated it if I thought otherwise, idiot," Kohaku comments, half-smiling. It's a rarity to get a full smile from her; she has plenty of excuses for why, often blaming it on her life at home. Who can really blame her when her parents often argue, between each other rather than at her, about her chosen lifestyle.
Sakae slightly smiles. "As the saying goes, nothing is truly impossible." She pauses, thinking before shrugging. "Something like that, anyway."
"Close enough," Kohaku remarks, waving her hand nonchalantly.
Light glances down at his bag, where the Death Note resides. "I suppose you're right."
The whistling of a train sounds throughout the atmosphere as it passes, travelers waiting patiently. Once it's out of sight, everyone begins crossing the railroad again as they continue on their merry way. Soon enough, the friends are walking along the sidewalk again. As per usual, they're heading to Light's home; after all, that's their hideout. "There must be something wrong with us to even consider it," Light suddenly comments, speaking in a low tone as they walk amongst the crowd of various townspeople.
Kohaku hums. "I suppose you're right about that one, but, uh, didn't you say you didn't believe in its supposed magical traits? So, that being said, you shouldn't even be worrying about it, you non-believer." She pauses. "Anyway, maybe we should've left it for someone else to find, like its actual owner. I mean, there's a high chance that it's just an unfinished prank or game..." She sighs. "Even so, I guess we couldn't take the risk of another person seeking it out, leaving us only with unsated curiosity." Pressing her finger to her lips, she thinks things over, walking in-between her friends continuously. "Hmm."
"What's boiling inside that head of yours, Kohaku?" Sakae asks, glancing towards her.
"Let me look at it," Kohaku commands, looking towards Light. He immediately pulls the Death Note from his bag without question, along with a normal notebook, and hands both to her. Quickly understanding the meaning behind the additional journal, Kohaku hides the Death Note inside of the other notebook, keeping it from prying eyes. Shortly afterwards, she flips through the pages of the death notebook, occasionally glancing upwards to make sure she won't ram into anything. "Hmm?" She sighs. "Goddamn it, I was hoping that somebody had already written in here, that way we'd know for certain if this was just a prank, failed experiment, or whatever you wanna call it." All of the pages are empty of handwriting. She shrugs. "Well, then again, maybe some pages were ripped out or something."
Sakae seems confused, mishearing her friend's words. "Wait, some of the pages are missing?"
Kohaku shakes her head. "No, I said maybe some had been ripped out, but I don't really know for certain, yet. Hold on." She double, even triple, checks the entirety of the notebook, only to find no sign of tampering. "Goddamn it all. Nothing has been ripped outta this thing, so that possibility is at a damned zero. Fucking hell."
"Out of curiosity, are you only making these calculations just to seem smarter than you actually are?" Light questions, only halfway teasing.
"Fuck you and your douche-assery," Kohaku comments, staring continuously at the Death Note as she walks with her friends. "For your information, ass-face, that wasn't any sort of calculation; that was common sense, something you don't seem to have right now." She suddenly finds herself being nudged in Sakae's direction. She glances away from the Death Note, glaring at Light for pushing her. "Fuck you twice, Light Yagami. Don't make me say it thrice," she states before looking back at the notebook, soon beginning to think of other possibilities concerning it. In minutes, she begins mumbling to herself, ignoring the presence of her friends. "No pages ripped out, there's the chance this shit is real, there's also the chance that I'm missing something completely obvious, and then, there's the almighty almost fact of this just being some game-slash-prank. If I'm completely honest, although the concept is pretty decent, this is a very poor excuse for a prank because the creator didn't bother making it more believable. How intriguing, though..." She flips through the pages again, but at a slower pace, still trying to spot any form of signature she might've missed.
While listening to Kohaku mumble, Light and Sakae start to see more reasons behind why she doesn't have very many friends; originally, they thought she just avoided most and found said mundanes (her words, not theirs) to be annoying but as they eye her, it seems more on the lines of everyone's aware that she's not only quite violent with her lack of control towards her massive anger issues but she happens to be an odd individual, too. "Ummm, Kohaku? Are you gonna join us on Earth sometime soon?" Sakae asks, nudging her gently.
Kohaku blinks, breaking from her train of thought. She glances at Sakae as they walk. "Hmm? What is it? Do you need something? Did you say something?" She panics when amusement crosses Sakae's expression. "Did I step in something?!" She quickly checks her footwear.
Sakae laughs. "No, I didn't say anything, I don't need anything either, and you didn't step on something. I just... Well, you seem like you're having a lot of fun with trying to figure out this whole notebook ordeal. It's not often when I get to see you actually enjoying yourself."
Kohaku shrugs. "It's just something new for me to obsess over for a short while. There are plenty more mysteries in this world that I'll eventually go nuts over, but right now, this notebook is by far the greatest we've discovered. Well, it probably is; we haven't actually discovered many mysteries up until this point but we will, eventually. Anyway, I'm just gonna enjoy my moments of thinking while this is all still fresh on my mind because who knows how long it'll be before the next greatest mystery comes to light."
"Well, it's certainly a puzzle," Light comments. He glances at the notebook, which remains in Kohaku's grasp, before looking towards the aforementioned female again. "Do you think you can come up with an answer?" Prank or not, the meaning for its existence needs to be learnt.
Kohaku sighs. "There's only one sure way to solve this little mystery." She closes both notebooks, handing them back to Light; he doesn't place them inside his bag right away, his attention fully on her. "However, I don't think you're gonna like it." She thinks her phrasing over. "Uh, that meaning you'll probably just find it boring and it also might ruin all of the fun behind this particular topic."
Together, Light and Sakae speak. "And what would that be?"
Kohaku stops walking, her friends pausing with her. She stares at them, clenching onto the strap of her shoulder bag; it's starting to cause minor discomfort to her shoulder but she welcomes the dull pain with open arms as it keeps her in touch with the reality of their 'situation'. "Guys, seriously? Is it not that obvious?" She shakes her head. "To prove if it's authentic or faux, we'll have to write down a name. Test the waters, you know."
"You mean kill someone?!" Sakae yells. Immediately realizing her mistake, she gulps and nervously smiles at the townspeople around them, the passing folks giving her various looks as they continue their walking. "I shouldn't have yelled that..."
Kohaku frowns at her. "Well, yes, in theory, but that's only if this turns out to be completely real. Since it isn't, you shouldn't be so worried about that. As much as I like the idea of it being real, I don't really see it as being such. I know I've said there are possibilities of the impossible being possible, but this is just a little too far fetched. So, like, hakuna your tatas." Sakae looks confused. Kohaku sighs. "Soothe your boobs." Sakae understands the meaning immediately and blushes sheepishly. "Everything will be fucking fine, jeez." She's still hoping for some authenticity, though; life's too boring as it is and if the Death Note can really kill people, they'd be doing the world a favor by getting rid of the wicked.
"I think..." Light pauses, placing the notebooks into his bag. Afterwards, he places his palm against his chin, closing his eyes momentarily. He thinks things over. Shortly thereafter, he opens his eyes and stares at the females, lowering his hand. "I believe it's in our best interest that we only put the name of a criminal; that way, their death is justifiable." He pauses again. "If it's real, of course."
"That's precisely what I had in mind, you sudden believer of unlikely odds," Kohaku remarks. "We'll figure this out more when we get to your place."
Sitting at his desk, hand resting against his cheek and elbow propped on the desk, Light stares down at the Death Note. Kohaku and Sakae stand behind him, looking over his shoulders so they, too, can read the rules of the notebook. For the first time in a long while, they have something to do together that doesn't involve random conversation start-ups, homework, or studying; the notebook is for their eyes alone, something that will remain a secret amongst themselves.
"'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 quotes, lifting a finger to her lips after finishing. "Hmm." Tapping her lips twice, she moves her finger away. "Well, that's interesting. Plus, it makes a lot of sense. Whoever or whomever created this, they made sure not to leave any holes in the usage of it." In less confusing words, there seems to be no gaps in the concept.
Sakae quotes the following rules on the displaying 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." That rule alone scares the shit outta her; not only can someone be killed with a simple heart attack, they can die from anything even remotely possible. It's terrifying to think about. She hopes, and prays, to the angels above that the Death Note is just a harmless game.
"So, depending on the person you have in mind, you can either kill them easily or painfully," Light remarks, staring at the displayed rules. "This is pretty detailed for a prank, I'll give them that."
"I'm beginning to believe that it's not just some stupid prank," Kohaku comments, moving from her position behind him. She sits comfortably on his bed, unintentionally ruining the sheets that would've gotten messed up anyway. Very few things float around in her mind as she keeps her eyes on her friends; 'Is it just an abandoned game?' is one thought. She doesn't even wanna think about it being real, 'least not until she sees some proof; she doesn't want her hopes getting too high, only to fall. "By this point, it seems more like a game someone made and they got bored before they even started playing it."
Sakae glances towards her momentarily before looking back at the Death Note. "It's far too intricate, so I have to agree with you on that; as you stated, this doesn't seem like a prank but more of a game that was made, yet never played. It's kind of twisted, though, like you've both stated at one point or another, so maybe they just...chickened out or something." She crosses her arms. She wants to chicken out, too, but her curiosity is getting the best of her again; she wants to see what will happen, despite that nothing bad can possibly occur.
"Maybe. Who cares, though? It's our game now," Kohaku states, kicking her legs as she watches her friends from the bed, half-smiling. "So, go ahead, Light. Write a name already." She's a tad bit excited, even with the chances of failure and nothingness.
"Wait." Light turns in his seat, looking at her. Not only is he having doubts, he's having hopes, too, along with worries. "On the off chance that someone really dies, would that make me a murderer?" He's gonna put the name of a criminal, sure, but he needs some reassurance that he won't be deemed a monster, too.
Kohaku raises an eyebrow. "Wasn't it your brilliant idea to put down a name of a criminal, so that killing him, or her, would be more 'justifiable'?" She sighs, like per usual, and shrugs. "I'm honestly not sure about that. I mean, I suppose you would be considered a murderer, depending on how people would look at it, especially if you were to continue killing off the bad guys." She removes herself from the bed, stepping towards him. She places a hand to her chest. "I'll write the goddamned name if that little fact bothers you," she suggests, lowering her hand. "I have absolutely nothing to lose. Apart from you two, of course."
"No. I'm fine, but thanks anyway," Light declines, turning in his seat so he's staring down at the Death Note again. He flips through the pages, turning away from the rules and onto a lined page that holds no words. He picks up a mechanical pencil, which had laid beside the notebook, and is ready to begin writing. Except first, they need to get the forename and surname of a criminal, and they need a way to see if the bastard dies or not.
Sakae drops her arms to her sides, placing her hands at rest on her hips. "Now, the real question is whose name should be put down?" As terrified as she is, she has much bigger hopes that it's fake, so it lessened her anxiety by a fraction and is the reason why she's still willing to go through with it.
"Oh, that's easy. Just turn on the television and watch the news broadcast. There's bound to be some asshole doing something somewhere. There's never no goddamn peace on this fucking planet," Kohaku comments. "It's likely gonna be live, too, so that'll help us know if he, or she, actually dies."
Agreeing, Light turns on the small television; it's located on a stand right beside the desk. Immediately, they notice the station is already on a live news broadcast. Shown on the screen, straight from a helicopter, stands a large daycare center. The three glance at one another briefly before they place their sights back on the television, never voicing how convenient this is. The voice of a male newscaster is suddenly heard as the display remains 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 displaying screen switches to another camera, which is pointed at the speaking newscaster. "His captives include both children and teachers." Once more, the display changes, a photo of an almost middle-aged man. "The police have now identified the suspect as forty-two year old Kurou Otoharada, currently unemployed. We expect negotiations to begin immediately."
"Hmm." Kohaku continuously stares at the television. "Somehow, I doubt that," she utters. She hopes the Death Note will work; if it doesn't, that criminal is likely to go down fighting and he'd be taking innocent lives with him.
Sakae glances towards the desk, seeing Light writing. She glimpses at his expression and takes notice of how collected he is. She watches, still, as he glances at the clock on the wall above them. Humming to herself, she listens to him mumble. "A heart attack in forty seconds. We'll see." For a few more short moments, she watches him before looking back at the television, just as he did.
Kohaku looks towards Light. "Did you actually do it?" Without receiving an answer, she glances at the Death Note; he did indeed write down the name. "Huh, I guess you weren't kidding." She hadn't expected him to go through with it, originally thinking he'd chicken out or something. She's happy to be proven wrong, for once. Silently, she looks back at the television.
Kohaku, Light, and Sakae quietly listen to the newscasters as little-to-no information is added about what's occurring at the crime scene. The aforementioned male glances away from the television again to look back at the clock, noting that forty seconds have gone by. He looks back towards the television, speaking up when nothing changes. "Looks like it didn't work," he announces. "I didn't expect it to, anyway."
He picks up the remote, making a move to turn off the television. However, Kohaku grabs ahold of his wrist and shakes her head when he looks at her questionably; she wants him to wait, just in case the death of the criminal is a bit slow on the dot. Sure enough, it kinda is; in a matter of seconds, something new displays on the screen. The hostages are running out of the daycare center, unharmed. "The hostages are coming out!" the newscaster exclaims in disbelief. "They all look to be unharmed!" Displaying on the screen, Special Forces are shown 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 pass; nothing else is shown. However, new information is being given out to those watching it all unfold. "We don't know if the suspect has been arrested." Almost immediately afterwards, the newscaster is shown and he appears to be surprised. "We now have confirmation. The suspect has been found dead inside. I repeat, the suspect is now dead."
Light's eyes widen, shock filling him. "Dead?" he questions aloud. It actually worked?! No, it couldn't have... Perhaps the suspect was shot to death by the police force that rampaged into the building. Yeah, that has to be it! As he stares at the screen in continued surprise, Sakae has her mouth hanging open as she, too, has been taken aback by what happened, unable to believe her eyes. Kohaku, on the other hand, is smirking, happy about the man dying but believes it to be just a mere coincidence.
After several moments, the newscaster starts speaking again. "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 blinks, breaking out of her surprised state. Mostly. She continues watching the screen, still unable to believe it. "It actually worked...?" That can't be possible; it defies all logic that exists within the universe. Maybe I'm asleep? Pinching herself on the arm as roughly as she can manage, she gulps when realizing she isn't just dreaming. Maybe there's a logical explanation to why the guy suddenly passed. Maybe he coincidentally had a heart attack from...stress?
Light stands from his chair, still in a state of shock. "N-No way," he denies with a stutter. He faces Kohaku and Sakae, both looking at him. "It's just a coincidence. It has to be."
"I'll say," Kohaku agrees, hands slightly above her hips. "That was one hell of a coincidence." She glances back at the screen, her smirk making a reappearance. "All things considered, I'm happy that the bastard is dead and gone. He can't hurt anyone ever again."
Suddenly, Mrs. Sachiko Yagami, the beautiful mother of Light, calls to them from downstairs. All she states is that they'll be late for cram school if they continue on with what they're doing, though she said it in a very formal, polite, and motherly manner. Having no time to think things over, Light chooses to quickly place the Death Note inside his bag. Soon, the three are exiting his bedroom. Little do they know that everything is about to change for them, permanently...
It's getting into the final hours of cram school. Most are using their remaining time to do absolutely nothing that can or will help them progress in life, instead wasting their time socializing; that's to be expected, of course, but perhaps some of them have worked very hard. Each desk within the room is made for two students, most chairs taken except for four. The three friends are sitting in various places, not exactly near one another; Kohaku is alone in a desk up front, Light is sitting alone two seats behind her, and Sakae is sitting at the far back with a temporary companion. Out of everyone there, the three are the only ones that seem to be continuing their studies, for the most part.
While Kohaku and Sakae are studying, Light's mind is on other matters; the Death Note. He's thinking about writing another name, only to be certain that the first death had only been a coincidence. If he actually had succeeded in killing someone, he isn't certain what he's going to do about it. Part of him wants to toss the book in the trash and forget he ever saw it, all without writing another name, but the other part wishes to see if he had actually done some good by ridding the world of that criminal. If it is all real, maybe he can use the notebook to fix the cruelty on the planet. He just needs the perfect second test subject.
He's pulled from his thoughts, attention suddenly on the conversation commencing just a seat ahead of him, towards his right. Sudou, a young male with unkempt cropped black hair, brown eyes, and a signature black hoodie-sweater over jeans, is speaking to an overweight, nerdy-looking classmate. "Hey, Ryo, buddy," the bully begins, slyly smirking as he stares down at the male, his victim. He holds out his palm, his smirk and gaze never faltering. "Didn't you want to lend me twenty dollars?"
As Light listens to Ryo fearfully complain about the money, he starts his thinking process again. "Maybe I should try killing him." However, he immediately dismisses the 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?" He continues eyeing them. Ryo reluctantly hands Sudou the money. "I better not risk it."
While that occurs, Kohaku taps her foot against the marbled floor furiously. She no longer cares about studying; her mind is stuck on the conversation that took place. The entire time she'd listened, she got another level closer to wishing that she could violently rip Sudou's head off his torso. She's sick and tired of his bullshit; he's constantly picking on those who supposedly are on a lower level than him. She's gonna do something about it. Perhaps once she's finished, he'll stop his constant harassments.
Back where Light is, he sighs and looks at his notebook. He's prepared to study again and take his mind off the Death Note for a while. However, he becomes distracted again when someone slightly brushes against his arm. Glancing towards his left, he spots Sakae. "Sakae?" he lightly questions, raising an eyebrow. She remains silent, putting a finger to her lips in a gesture for him to be quiet, too. Then, she points towards the front of the room. Light, his eyebrow still raised, looks where she's pointing and spots Kohaku. His expression becomes one of confusion before it switches to one of surprise; he watches as his friend stands from her seat, fists clenched like she's angered. His eyes trail her movements and, quickly, he comes to realize she's approaching Sudou. "What the hell is she thinking?" he mumbles, shaking his head slightly in disapproval. He glances at Sakae. "How did you know she was mad?" He doesn't get an answer.
Kohaku approaches Sudou and his laughing goon confidently, believing she'd win the battle that's likely to commence between herself and the bully. The goon, with his back towards the approaching teen, is unaware of her arrival until Sudou nods in the female's direction, making him turn around to face her. "Give him back the money, Sudou, before things get uglier than your face," she demands, hands on her hips.
"Ouch," Sudou comments. He takes several steps forward, maneuvering around the desk to be directly before her, pushing his goon aside. He places his hand to his chest, making a false expression of hurt. "That one got me good, Kohaku." He smiles slyly at her as he lowers his arm, chuckling. "It's been a while since I had the pleasure of talking to you. Two weeks, right?" She just glares at him. "So, what makes you think that the money is his, hmm?"
Kohaku stares at him with a blank expression, removing her hands from her hips. Despite the lack of emotion shown on her face, her fists clench again; she immediately feels another intense urge to knock out his teeth. Instead of doing as she wishes, she keeps calm. Mostly. "I saw you take it, ass-face," she falsely states. She actually hadn't seen anything, just heard it, but she isn't about to let him know that; it could be used against her.
Sudou smirks, shaking his head while waving his hand, which holds the stolen money. Well, technically, he hadn't stolen it; he just threatened the nerd indirectly to get it from him. "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 makes a move to place the money into his pocket, but pauses as an idea crosses his mind. Keeping the item of interest in hand, he reaches towards Kohaku's face with the other. "Better yet." He starts stroking her cheek in a particularly creepy manner; Kohaku is unphased by the inappropriate action. "Maybe you can convince me to give it back. How about that date I've been asking for, huh? We'd make a great pair, you and-"
Kohaku doesn't very much like that he's touching her, not that she shows her discomfort physically, but given that she's about to make him regret that decision, she's quite happy about the opportunity he's just handed her without his knowledge. She raises her hand and grabs his, twisting his wrist enough that it causes him minor discomfort. Next, her fist connects with his abdomen without a moment of hesitation. That should teach him. She releases his wrist and watches him hunch over in a pathetic display of pain. Unintentionally, Sudou releases his grip on the money, which begins to fall towards the floor as he holds his abdomen with both arms. Swiftly, she catches the money, long before it hits the floor, and leans over the nearby desk, handing the money back to Ryo. "Put it someplace where they can't get it again, preferably off of your person next time. You're fucking welcome, by the way." Kohaku starts making her way back to her seat, ignoring the dumbfounded goon and grunting Sudou.
After several seconds, Sudou stops grunting and stands correctly. "That fucking bitch," he growls, glaring at the back of Kohaku's head. He points towards her, looking at his goon. He starts yelling, the entire room placing their attention on him; it's amazing how they ignored everything, up until this moment anyway. "What are you doing just standing there?! Stop gawking and teach her a lesson!"
"But what if she hits back?" the goon whines, fear in his eyes. He doesn't want to get hurt; hell, he's scared he'd lose his favorite parts of his body if Kohaku makes any sort of violent move against him. He doesn't care about looking pathetic; he just doesn't wanna lose his ability to have children someday, or die brutally.
Sudou howls in anger at his lackey, roughly hitting the wimp's arm; the answer only adds fuel to the fire. His friend whimpers, rubbing his arm as he steps away from the angry male. "Are you seriously wimping out on me right now?!" Sudou yells, glaring. "Fine, I'll do it myself!" He storms over to Kohaku's desk, just as she's beginning to sit down. "You had no right doing that to me, bitch! That was my money!" He slams his hand onto the table, in an attempt to intimidate her.
Kohaku doesn't flinch; she rolls her eyes, though. "Firstly, it wasn't your money. Secondly, I only did what I did because you pissed me off; however, I would've returned the money to its rightful owner regardless, like any decent mundane on this planet would've done. Thirdly, would you gladly fuck off and leave me the hell alone? You've already lost this battle."
Sudou doesn't walk away. "You saw that he handed me the money outta his own free will!"
Kohaku continues speaking calmly, though she's still pretty pissed. She doesn't bother fully looking at him, merely glancing. "He handed it over because you were freaking him out with your threats. If he didn't do as you wanted, you would've harmed him. He knew that, which is why he did as you asked. Right now, you continue trying to intimidate me into giving up what you wish, but I don't scare easily. You're only wasting everyone's time."
"You stupid-!" Sudou is red with fury. "No one messes with me!" He lifts his fist and swings, aiming for her face. He doesn't care if it's disrespectful; she deserves it.
Seeing the punch coming, Kohaku is able to stop it; she catches his fist mid-swing. "Are you finished yet? I would like to study some more before time's up." She resists the urges to break his hand. From the corner of her eye, she sees his other hand twitch at his side. Expectedly, he takes another swing at her and just like the first time, she manages to catch it. Additionally, she forces his fist to the side, causing him to hit himself in the face. She releases her hold on him as he steps away from her, holding his face. He constantly checks to see if he's bleeding. Mentally, Kohaku cheers; despite the awkward positioning, she managed to hurt him like she wanted. "Are you done now, asswipe?"
Sudou glares, hands over his nose. He doesn't make another move, finally backing down, much to Kohaku's relief. "You'll rue this day." Lowering his hands, he reveals the light amounts of blood that drip from his nose; Kohaku smirks. He starts walking backwards. "You better watch your ass because one of these days, I'll get you back for this." He turns away and heads out the room, his goon hurrying after him.
"I sincerely doubt that," Kohaku mumbles, letting out a sigh of relief. She instantly relaxes in her seat, crossing her arms. She starts contemplating her actions. Maybe he will return to get revenge, maybe he won't; unless he shows up with a handful of goons, he's unlikely to willingly show his face around her again. With this in mind, she opts to keep a close eye out for him, in case she's wrong to doubt the threat. Caught up in her thoughts, she nearly misses the sudden round of applause that the other students give her. Blushing from sudden embarrassment, she avoids eye contact with everyone, placing her attention on her notebook.
Somewhere behind her, Light and Sakae stare in awe; they've already known that their mutual friend can often get into altercations that could've been avoided, but still. Despite the fact that they're always told, by Kohaku herself, that no one else's drama is her problem, she tends to get involved anyway. Maybe someday, she'll stop denying how good of a person she really is deep down. "Damn," Sakae whispers. "I love it when she stands up for others. She really crushed his pride, huh?"
Light nods. "Men like that, they seek to crush people just to boost their ego. I'm glad she brought him down. No one else was brave enough." Scholarships would've flown out the window if a teacher had walked in during the confrontation; thankfully, Kohaku doesn't give a fuck about anything except doing something she thinks is right. That's something he can respect, even though he doesn't approve of her violent nature.
Humming, Sakae twirls her pencil on the table; she absentmindedly brought it with her, despite not needing it. "I hope it doesn't come back to bite her in the behind." Sighing, she stands and looks at Light, smiling kindly. "We should go back to concentrating on our studies. We'll talk again soon." He nods at her and watches as she heads back to her seat. Shortly afterwards, he stares down at his desk and starts thinking about the Death Note again.
Kohaku, Light, and Sakae walk down the darkened street in silence, each thinking something different before their thoughts align. The aggressive female originally thought about Sudou, wondering if he'd live up to his threat, and starts to consider writing his name to be rid of him; however, she dismisses the idea after a moment because it's too risky. The calmer female had been thinking about her brother but her thoughts have turned sour as her parents' murderers come to mind; she thinks about writing their names, but immediately regrets the thought and feels horrible for wishing to stoop to their level of cruelty.
As they continue walking, they grow closer to the location of a convenience store. Upon approaching the area around it, they quickly realize that a young woman is being surrounded and harassed by a group of men on motorcycles. Overhearing a few remarks from the leader, they know the men have horrible intentions for the poor woman. The fact that such a horrific crime is going to be performed in a public area makes the situation more disturbing; surely, the workers inside the store can hear the commotion, but why won't they come to the rescue? Fear?
The teens head inside the brightly lit convenience store, but not before hearing the name of the leader trying to condemn the woman to multiple sexual assaults. Immediately, they walk over to the magazine-stand, which leans against the window that displays the scene occurring outside. "We need to help her and soon," Kohaku calmly states, watching as Light picks up a random magazine from the stand. "I don't wanna witness an assault of...this kind." He opens the magazine. "And I sure as hell don't wanna murder someone with my bare hands, but if you get any slower, I might not have a choice."
Sakae appears panicked, eyes focusing on the events happening outside. Thankfully, the woman is still fully clothed, but that's 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 she..." What if it doesn't work? What will they do then? Will the cops be called? Will they run out to stop the act themselves? So many things can go wrong... And I won't be of much help because... No, she doesn't want to think about the past again.
"We know that, Sakae," Kohaku aggressively states, digging into Light's bag when he fails to pull out the Death Note quicker. With the notebook in her grasp, she opens and hides it amongst the pages of the opened magazine. She digs into the bag again, pulling out a pencil; she hands it to him. "You'll have a far better chance at correctly spelling his name than I will," she tells him, upon receiving a confused look from him. He nods, not questioning her, and takes the pencil. Immediately, he starts writing the man's name in various different spellings, filling up an entire page as he hopes one is correct; the cause of death is to be a traffic accident. They only have to wait.
Outside, the motorcycle gang is already beginning to make their advances on the woman. The leader, Takuo Shibuimaru, is holding her captive, using a pipe to keep her against him as one of his men starts unbuttoning her jeans hurriedly, an evil smirk on all their faces. Somehow, whether it's from sheer luck or the mysterious powers of the Death Note, the woman manages to get free and starts running across the street, away from the store. Not wanting her to get away, Takuo gives chase on his motorcycle. Despite the warnings that his goons shout at him, as soon as the woman is safely off the street and on the opposite sidewalk, a truck smashes straight into Takuo, killing him instantly. Debris from what remains of the motorcycle flies into the air as the truck continues on its way, never stopping.
Light stares in shock at the scene, unable to believe his eyes. Sakae is petrified, frozen in place from the sudden fear that has entered her body. Kohaku is visibly pleased by what has occurred, a smirk on her face as she stares at the debris, which lays motionless on the street. Out of the three, the latter is the most satisfied. "The Death Note, it's actually real," Light mumbles. It hadn't been a coincidence; he actually killed someone, two people. For a moment, he feels a little guilty; in fact, he kinda feels sick to his stomach.
Sakae manages to find her voice, shaking as she looks at her friends. This is unbelievable; all of them are practically responsible for killing two people. Why did we find that stupid notebook? Why did we keep it? "This is..." She gulps, raising her shaking hands to her face, placing them on her cheeks. "I can't believe it's real... This... This isn't natural. We defied logic completely. We did something horrible, twice. We're going to hell for this, aren't we...?" It's a horrifying power to have. She hates it. She has some mixed feelings, too; it isn't in the wrong hands but it isn't necessarily in the right hands either. She wishes it wasn't real...
"No way," Kohaku remarks, looking at her. "We're doing the world a favor. Who cares if we're defying the logic of the universe? I think this notebook is pretty damn awesome. Sure, we killed, like, two people, but it was for the greater good." She places her attention on the Death Note, which Light closes. Luckily for them, the workers inside the store are nowhere to be seen. "With this, we can rid the world of all sorts of evil. Just think about it." She looks back at her frowning companion. "You said something earlier today, something about how someone could use this to sculpt a perfect world. Something like that. Maybe we can do it. We were meant to find this notebook, I'm sure of it, be it because of fate or epic luck." She glances towards Light and smiles. "I think you should continue being the one who has control over it, Light. I mean, why not? You're the one who wrote the names."
Light's eyes widen. He expected her to proclaim herself as the true owner, not him. As quickly as it appeared, his surprise vanishes and he smiles back. She's right; they can rid the world of evil and make it perfect. He's completely fine with continuing the extinction of crime; the world needs fixing and they're the only ones who can do it. "Alright," he agrees, placing the Death Note into his bag again. "Why don't you want to be the owner?"
"Technically, all of us are the owner; you're just the one who gets to keep and use it," Kohaku clarifies. "Also, like I said, you wrote the names. Plus, you found it first. Therefore, you should be the rightful owner. You can be in charge of writing more names and we," she gestures towards Sakae and herself, "We can help you get them, using the wonderful and amazing invention called the internet. We'll make an epic team of problem solvers."
Sakae is the only one against it. "...Y-You actually want to do this, Kohaku?" she stutters, in complete disbelief. She can understand why Light's so ready to go along with it; their friend is very convincing, plus he's most likely to enter a career path involving crime solving. Still, she hadn't thought that Kohaku's mind can so easily enter such a darkened place. "This isn't right... W-We can't just go around killing criminals... For starters, not all of them are guilty... Secondly, some of them can change for the better if given the chance; we can't deprive them of that... Lastly, it's just wrong..." Everything will change...
Kohaku shakes her head, crossing her arms. She doesn't say anything; her mind is set. She glances at Light, gesturing with her head for him to say something instead; he'd have a better time convincing Sakae than she will. He nods shortly before looking at their companion. "Sakae, I get that you want them to have second chances, and many manage to get it, but you know what they usually do once they're free? They kill, they steal, and they rape; they never learn their lesson. We can stop them. We can save our world and make it better, safer. We were given this gift and we should do some good with it."
Sakae hesitates. "H-How can you both be thinking this...? Killing people, even if they do 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, we're just gonna corrupt ourselves..." She looks between her friends, looking for signs of agreement; she sees nothing. She sighs, her frown remaining. "You're... You're really gonna do this...? Even you, Light...?" she questions, getting close to her breaking point. She knows, deep down, that she's gonna agree, only because they're her friends. Besides, if she says no, she feels like that'll only cause more trouble; she doesn't want that.
"It's not gonna corrupt anyone," Light states, standing his ground. "If anything's corrupted, it's this planet we're stuck on. It's better for the good to thrive than the wicked. We need to do this." Sakae cringes at his words and slowly begins to become more upset by the fact that she's the only one that doesn't want any part in it.
Kohaku stares at Sakae intensely. "Are you with us or against us?"
With another sigh, and a moment of hesitation, Sakae stares at her two friends silently before finally answering. She knew it would come to this, knew that she'd be pressured into sticking by them. "Do I really have a choice...?" she quietly questions before sighing again. "I... I would never try to go against my friends, especially my closet ones... So, yeah, I guess I'm in..." She isn't very enthusiastic about it and is certain that they noticed, but neither seem to show any dislike for her lack of excitement. Light places his hand on her shoulder and smiles, happy with her decision. Kohaku cheers in a slightly quiet manner. Sakae nods shortly as she stares at them. She still doesn't like this one bit.
Approximately five days have passed since Kohaku, Light, and Sakae agreed to continue their usage of the Death Note. As those days went by, Kohaku and Light remained ecstatic about making the world a better place, removing vile and pathetic criminals roaming the Earth; Sakae, however, still dreaded the idea. The three had killed quite a load of offenders, but only Light wrote the names; he hardly allowed the females to even touch the notebook, only letting them glimpse at the names written within. He refused the idea of letting them write inside the notebook, too; Sakae was the only one who didn't complain about that because she never wanted to touch it again; Kohaku, on the other hand, found it unfair, despite it having been her suggestion that he'd be the only one writing in it.
During the evening, it pours rain; the sky is gloomy as hell, all of its bright beauty out of sight. It's like death is floating, or flying, through the atmosphere, ready to claim another innocent and/or sinful life of any bystander that crosses its endless pathway. The three friends enter the Yagami household again; Kohaku is completely drenched from the rainfall unlike them, who'd been shielded by their umbrellas; it's all good, though, because she totally enjoyed being soaked, except not really but whatever. It's her own fault for not having her own.
Upon entering, they're politely greeted by Light's caring mother, one after the other. She stands near the staircase, smiling brightly with her hands together in front of her, clothed in some casual wear. "What a pleasant surprise," she states, eyes focusing on her son. "I wasn't expecting you home so early, Light." Her attention turns to Sakae, her cropped brown hair swaying slightly. "Welcome back, Sakae. It's always a pleasure to be seeing you again." In return, the teen greets the woman kindly and with a pleasant smile. Lastly, the woman's attention is placed upon Kohaku and her smile becomes a mixture of amusement and concern. "Oh, dear. Kohaku, surely you have an umbrella at home you could've used?"
Kohaku grins sheepishly, rubbing the back of her soaked head. What happened was she returned home instead of heading to Light's place before cram school, which resulted in her being so frustrated with her parents arguing again that she left her house without proper protection from the rain. "I do, but I got so distracted, I completely forgot that it would start raining lions and wolves tonight instead of, you know, cats and dogs," she states, using a slightly different phrase since the rain is being pretty brutal. "I don't mind a little harsh weather, though. Besides, it's definitely not the first time I've done this." She tends to forget things, thanks to frustration.
Mrs. Yagami shakes her head slightly, still smiling; she's amused because that's so like Kohaku and is concerned because the teen can potentially become ill. "I don't doubt you." She gestures towards the staircase. "You're free to use our restroom to dry off as much as you can. I'm sure you can find some of the clothing you left behind. I don't want you walking or sleeping in wet clothing until you return home; you could catch something."
"Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Yagami," Kohaku politely comments. She doesn't particularly like making rude or sarcastic remarks around the woman, but only because she considers her such a kind person, one who shouldn't hear any of the shit Kohaku says; if she was anything else, words would fly without remorse or hesitation. She walks by Light, water dripping onto the floor as she goes; she'll have to clean up the mess once she dries off, to avoid an unfortunate accident. Behind her, Sakae follows closely before making her way towards Light's bedroom to locate some of Kohaku's clothing; she finds some almost immediately in the closet and, after giving the clothes to her friend in the bathroom, heads back downstairs with a towel, cleaning up the water so no one can slip.
While the females dealt with the little dilemma, Mrs. Yagami and Light had a short conversation; firstly, the woman asked him how everything went and got a positive response; secondly, she didn't outright ask him to hand over his results of the nationwide exams but her son caught on quickly and handed over the paper, his mother praising him instantly; lastly, as Sakae cleans the puddles of water, the woman asks her darling son if there's anything he, or the girls, want but both politely decline before they heading upstairs. Light informs his mother not to disturb their studying as he reaches the top step.
When Light and Sakae enter the dark bedroom, they find Kohaku already inside; she's sitting on his bed, messing with the towel over her head as she tries drying off. She's now dressed in dull, wrinkled, baggy black clothing; her wardrobe is basically just baggy dark-tinted things and the occasional white hoodie; it's better than the damned wet school uniform, at least, and pretty comfy. She glances at Light and Sakae, but doesn't utter a word. Sakae takes a seat beside her as Light locks the door before heading to his desk across the room. Kohaku gives up on drying her hair, hands dropping onto her lap. The towel is left atop her head. She glances at Light, watching as he turns on his lamp and pulls out the Death Note from his desk drawer, sitting down in his chair. He begins looking through the various pages, which are filled with names of criminals. Sakae watches, too, frowning.
As Light skims through the notebook, he maniacally laughs in a quiet manner. He killed many criminals, yet it's barely been a week. He has no regrets, completely satisfied with the work he's done; well, his friends helped but he did most of the work. He keeps his focus on the Death Note, ignoring his surroundings. Behind him, Kohaku looks disgusted and Sakae looks disturbed. "That's the worst maniacal laugh I've ever heard in my goddamn life," Kohaku whispers. "He really needs to work on it."
"I guess..." Sakae mumbles, not particularly caring. She's greatly disturbed, yes, but not by the laughter itself; Light is changing right before her eyes. Never did she think he'd become like this; the Death Note is already corrupting him. Kohaku, on the other hand, doesn't seem all that influenced, considering she's the same as she's always been, except she's, well, helping kill people that probably don't actually deserve their horrific fates. She glances between them, worry filling her; she's afraid of their personalities changing permanently. "This was such a horrible plan... The Death Note is already causing harm... Light's beginning to scare me... I hope he doesn't go overboard with this... Kohaku, she hasn't changed much... I mean, I never expected her to be into killing but other than that, she's the same person..." She places her sight on something else, like the closet. "I don't understand why Kohaku hasn't changed, but Light has. Could it be because he writes in the notebook? If that's the case, I'm glad I wasn't pressured into writing anything in there. I never wanted this. I thought it was fake. I wish we threw it away when we had the chance..."
"You've taken quite a liking to it," a deep voice states, breaking the friends out of their trances. Standing in the corner is a fairly humanoid-looking Shinigami by the name of Ryuk; he's extremely slim in appearance and has light gray skin, almost bluish, with spiky black hair; he has thin blue-gray lips and sharp-pointed teeth; he has a silver chain, with a heart at the end, hanging from his ear like an earring; his limbs are abnormally long; his fingers, thin and long, are coated with rings; he has large, round yellow eyes with bright red irises; lastly, though they can't be seen currently, he has retractable feather-like wings on his backside that enable him to fly. He is a fascinating, yet terrifying, creature.
Outside, the thunder crackles. Light releases a surprised yelp, falling out of his chair very dramatically; he stares up at Ryuk with wide eyes. Sakae quickly stands from the bed and loses her footing, landing on the floor, too; she stares at the Shinigami, her jaw dropping. Kohaku blinks in surprise but other than that, she doesn't really react; the dude looks cool.
Although he's entirely aware that the two females are inside the bedroom with them, Ryuk ignores their presence; he's far more interested in the male. "No reason to act surprised. I am the Shinigami, Ryuk. That used to be mine. Judging by your laughter, you've already figured out that what you have is no ordinary notebook."
Light stares at him for a few additional seconds before reaching to grab the top of his rolling chair, pulling himself from the floor. His widened eyes return to their natural state. His shocked, surprised expression vanishes, replaced with temporary blankness. As he stands, Ryuk glances at the nearby females, seeing Sakae still looking surprised, though she's no longer on the floor, and Kohaku appears to be somewhat intrigued by his appearance, still residing on the bed. The Shinigami looks away, his attention on Light once more. "A Shinigami... A God of Death, huh?" Light questions calmly. "Well, I'm not surprised." He smirks, his expression becoming something sinister. "In fact, Ryuk, I've been waiting for you."
Kohaku hadn't been sure what Light was going for when he started speaking to the Shinigami, but quickly figured it out before scoffing; there's no way in heaven or hell that he merely acted like he was surprised. She shakes her head, removing herself from the bed; the towel on her head falls to the floor. She stares at Light in disbelief. "Bitch, please. That's the biggest bloody lie I've ever heard. If you'd actually been expecting him, then why the hell did you fall out of your chair like that? Because of his appearance? Bitch, you should've been expecting that, too, so quit your lying. By the way, that was very dramatic of you and you're not that great of an actor. Just saying." Sakae mumbles in agreement. Kohaku moves to stand beside her. "Even Sakae's agreeing with me. So, yeah, quit playing and be honest; you were scared."
Light glares at her, but makes no remarks of defense; instead, he keeps his words to himself and looks back towards Ryuk. Kohaku grunts in displeasure, but says nothing more, eyes landing on the Shinigami. Sakae places her attention on him, too. "I've already figured out that this Death Note I found is real; it didn't take me long," Light states. "And now that I've witnessed the proof of its power, I only feel more confident in what I'm gonna do." He didn't openly acknowledge the help he'd gotten.
Kohaku scoffs again. Then, she glares at him. "Fuck you, Light. If it weren't for Sakae and I, the Death Note wouldn't even be in your grasp right now." She gestures to herself. "I came up with the idea to kill criminals. Sakae gave out the idea of ruling the world and helps out sometimes, keeps all this a secret, too. Stop dismissing us and give us some goddamn credit, you attention whore."
Sakae grips Kohaku's arm, holding it tightly. "Kohaku..." she whispers, gulping. She feels like thousands of eyes are staring upon her when, in reality, no one is. "Please, let's just let them talk... It's alright..." Who needs recognition anyways for something so horrible...? She's somewhat happy that Light isn't entirely acknowledging their help, but alas, it additionally makes her sad, knowing that he's becoming very egotistical, more so than he ever has been. Kohaku glances at her, ultimately deciding to stay silent; Sakae's relieved.
Ryuk glances at the three, taking in their words; he's becoming a bit more intrigued. He'd already been interested in Light's potential, especially after noticing all the names written in the Death Note, but hearing the teen's self-confidence is fascinating. He doesn't care all that much about the females; however, he's interested in seeing how things will turn out when the aggressive female's obvious anger problems create more conflict. "I certainly wasn't expecting this. Several Death Notes have made their way into the Human World in the past, but you're the first to have written this many names, especially in such a short period of time." He briefly glances towards the females. "And you're the first to have gotten a little outside help." He looks towards the Death Note. "Just look at how many people you've killed together in only five days. Most are reluctant to write this much."
Kohaku remains silent. Sakae waits patiently for Light to respond; she additionally continues holding onto Kohaku's arm, in case her friend suddenly flies off the handle again. "I've already prepared myself, Ryuk," Light says, his back facing the Shinigami. His hands are on his desk; he's staring at it. "I used the notebook, even though I knew that it belonged to a Shinigami and now, that Shinigami has come."
As Kohaku, Ryuk, and Sakae watch Light silently, the former makes an annoyed expression at the words he shared. She doesn't believe him; she damn well knows that he hadn't known such a thing when they first grabbed the notebook; all of them were pretty positive that it was fake, until they were proven wrong. "Yeah, right! As if! He's probably just saying that so he doesn't look like a fool or something. Unless he's a really damn good actor, I don't believe any of the shit he's trying to pull. He wasn't saying anything about a Shinigami when we were killing people together. If he'd actually known, he would've let Sakae and I know. Light, maybe you can fool the Shinigami, but you sure as hell can't fool me."
Light continues staring at his desk as he speaks to Ryuk, hands resting near the Death Note. "So, what will happen to me? You're here to take my soul, right?" he asks, making an assumption. "Kohaku and Sakae only touched it; they never wrote. So, they should be safe, right? You'll leave them be?" Again, he's just making assumptions. On the bright side, Sakae's happy to hear that he still cares for their safety.
"Hmm, what do you mean?" Ryuk questions. "Is that some fantasy you humans came up with? I'm not gonna do anything to you or these girls." Light's eyes widen. He turns from his desk, staring at him in surprise. Sakae seems a bit flabbergasted by the information, too, but Kohaku doesn't seem to care that much. The Shinigami continues. "The notebook becomes part of the human realm from the very moment it touches the Earth." He raises his arm, pointing towards Light. "In other words, the notebook is now yours."
Light grabs the Death Note, staring at it. "This is mine?"
"Ours, asshole; it's ours." Kohaku rolls her eyes, keeping her thoughts to herself. "We found it together. We've killed people together, though the latter is more technical. However, he did touch it first, so I guess he's the rightful owner, technically? I don't know. It's still not fair that he's taking the credit for everything, either way. Jackass." She bites her lower lip, holding back a remark; she doesn't want to disappoint Sakae.
"If you don't want it, just give it to someone else," Ryuk states. "But if you give it away, I'd have no choice but to erase all of your memories of the notebook."
Sakae decides to speak. "Before you continue, does that mean none of us will be punished?" Are we safe? She already hates everything about the Death Note, but she wants to be certain that they aren't in harm's way because of their actions with it.
"One can only hope," Kohaku utters. As much as she's enjoying the killings, she doesn't want to be punished for it; she merely gives names but, even so, she wants to be certain, too. If anyone is to be punished, it should be Light; he's already getting a big head and has been the one doing most of the work, anyway.
"Let's just say this," Ryuk begins. "You will feel the fear and pain known only to humans who have used the notebook, and when it's your time to die, it will fall on me to write your name in my Death Note. Be warned, any human who's used a Death Note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell for eternity. That's all." He releases a short maniacal laugh. "Now, you have something to look forward to after you die." His words seem more directed towards Light; he's the only one using it, giving him the fate of oblivion.
"You know," Kohaku remarks, staring at Ryuk. He stares back momentarily. "A simple yes or no would've been fine; we just wanted to know if we'd be punished. You didn't need to be so cryptic, you cool as fuck looking Shinigami." So, only those who write in the Death Note will be punished? Does that mean Sakae and I are in the clear? He isn't gonna kill us in the future? We'll make it to Heaven or Hell, unlike Light? Why the fuck did he have to be cryptic?! I don't speak nor understand cryptic! It just fucks with my mind! She needs more to go on to be completely sure.
Sakae raises her hand; she wants clarification. "Ummm… I have a question, Mr. Shinigami." Ryuk looks at her. "Since Kohaku and I sorta helped Light with finding the criminals, does that mean we share the same fate?"
"Like I said, only humans who have used the notebook can neither go to Heaven nor Hell. Unless you two wrote within it, you do not share the same fate as Light," Ryuk clarifies. Kohaku and Sakae are lucky to have such a luxury, all because they avoided writing names. "You will die when you are meant to."
"We are some lucky bitches, Sakae," Kohaku comments, releasing a sigh of relief. "With the logic you stated, Ryuk, wouldn't that mean that Light is basically gonna end up becoming just like you?" She places a finger to her lips, humming gently. "Hmm, I'm sure it's a possibility. It would be something extraordinary."
"It would be, wouldn't it?" Ryuk hadn't thought about that. That would be interesting, having a human become a Shinigami upon their death after using the Death Note; it's never happened before, but perhaps things will be different.
Suddenly, there's a knock on the door; the voice of Mrs. Yagami can be heard from the other side. Kohaku, Light, and Sakae give each other looks of worry, uncertain whether or not they can open the door while Ryuk is there with them. However, the Shinigami in question simply tells them to go ahead. Light opens the door and has a short conversation with his mother, taking a basket of apples from her that she'd gotten from neighbors. As this occurs, the friends think the same thing; she can't see Ryuk? Shortly after closing the door again, Light walks back to his desk and places the basket on it.
Ryuk approaches the desk. "That notebook originally belonged to me and since you're now using it, only you can see me. However, there's the exception of those who have laid their hands on the notebook as well, like those two girls you have with you. And, of course, my voice can only be heard by you three. In other words, you can say that the notebook has created some sort of bond between the four of us." He picks up an apple and takes a large bite. He chews for a bit and swallows. "Yum."
"Why was I chosen?" Light questions. Ryuk is too busy devouring half of the apples to answer right away.
"I highly doubt you were, considering you didn't even want the damn thing until you were convinced," Kohaku comments. "Also, I continue to lack appreciation towards the fact that you keep dismissing the acknowledgement that Sakae and I are a part of this nonsense, too."
"I want to hear it from him," Light says, glaring at her, completely dismissing her second statement. As he waits impatiently, Kohaku fumes silently. "Are you even listening?" he asks Ryuk.
Ryuk swallows another whole apple. "Hmm. Apples in the Human World are worth the trip. What's the best word to describe these? Juicy? Sour?" He wipes his mouth as he wonders, ignoring the human that wants his attention. Sakae quickly utters a suggestion; sweet. "Yes, definitely sweet." He eats another. Hearing Light complain more, he looks at him. "Sorry, kid. Did you say something?" Light grumpily repeats his question. "I didn't choose you. Don't you see? This is all just an accident."
"See? I told you so. You just never listen to reason anymore." Kohaku steps towards Light, roughly elbowing him in the side. He grunts and glares at her again. "You ain't that special."
"It was an accident?" Sakae questions, blinking as she stares at the Shinigami. She moves closer to Light and Kohaku.
Ryuk stares at Light. "You actually thought you were chosen because you're so smart or something? Don't be so vain. It just happened to fall around here and you just happened to pick it up before," he nods towards the girls, "Those two did. That's all there is to it. That's why I wrote the instructions in English, the most popular language in the Human World."
"If you wrote down specific instructions, that would mean you dropped it on purpose," Kohaku points out, giving Ryuk a questioning look. "Why? Did you want to experiment or something?" The three humans stare at the Shinigami, waiting.
"You're asking why?" Ryuk questions. "I did it 'cause I was bored." He wanted to be entertained. He regrets absolutely nothing; he's enjoying what he's been getting so far; he doesn't want to get rid of Light just yet.
Light is flabbergasted. "You were bored?"
"Looks like even the Shinigami can become bored out of their minds," Kohaku remarks. Sakae nods.
Ryuk explains. "The truth is Shinigami haven't got much to do these days. Most of the time, we're either taking naps or gambling. If you take the time to write names in your Death Note, the others just laugh at you for working so hard. Even if you wrote the name of another Shinigami, it'd be pointless because they wouldn't die and since we live in the Shinigami Realm, it brings us no amusement to kill those in the Human World either. So, I figured I'd have more fun if I came down here myself. Anyway, I'm surprised at how many names you've written, but I wanna know why you only wrote the cause of death for that guy who was hit by the truck."
Light gives him a sly smile. "If you don't write down the cause of death, the victim dies of a heart attack and that's probably the best thing about the Death Note, Ryuk." If the criminals are dying from cardiac arrest, no one will be suspicious about their sudden deaths, for a while. "You see, I've-" He gets interrupted by someone clearing their throat; it's Kohaku. He rolls his eyes. "We've already exhausted the list of the world's major criminals. Eventually, we're gonna get rid of them all."
"Indeed, we are," Kohaku agrees. "Well, we're gonna try, anyway." Sakae shivers; she'll never get used to hearing that.
"What's the point of doing that?" Ryuk asks.
"It's only a matter of time before people figure out that these criminals are being eliminated by someone. I want the world to know of my existence, that there's someone passing righteous judgement on the wicked," Light greedily states.
"There you go again," Kohaku states, sounding angry. "I really hate how you made this all about you again. I was the one that came up with this fucking idea in the first place." She stops herself. "Okay, technically, Sakae came up with the idea, but even so, I came up with the idea before you did. Hell, I was the reason you were convinced to even pick the damn thing up. Okay, again, it was technically Sakae and I together, but mostly me since I'm all for this and she isn't." She shoves Light. "The point I'm poorly trying to make is you need to start giving us a bit more credit, you greedy jackass. We're not mindless slaves." Light just glares at her, again.
Ryuk interrupts the little dispute, which hardly even is one. "Why even bother? What are you trying to achieve by passing judgement on them? Why do you care?"
"Because I've been bored, too," Light admits. Kohaku doesn't bother saying anything again; that was probably true and she can agree with that since she'd been bored, too. "I wasn't ready to believe it at first, but it's obvious now. There's something about the Death Note itself that makes humans want to try it out at least once." Okay, that's something else Kohaku can agree with; she continues silently listening, occasionally glancing at Sakae out of impulse. "At first, I wrote the names of the worst criminals I could think of, like I was cleaning up the world, one name at a time so that eventually, no one will ever do anything evil again and while the truly guilty ones, who deserve to be punished for their crimes, die of heart attacks, the people who are less guilty, but who still make trouble for others, will slowly be erased through disease and accidental death. Then and only then, the world will start moving in the right direction. It'll be a new world, free of injustice and populated by people who I've judged to be honest, kind, and hardworking."
"But if you did that, it would make you the only bad person left," Ryuk points out.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Light states in a somewhat innocent tone, smiling. "I'm a hard working honor student, considered to be one of Japan's best and brightest. And I, I will become the God of this New World." He considers himself the good guy amongst all the bad. He's gonna change everything.
Kohaku sighs, completely done with being dismissed so easily. She doesn't respond with anger or frustration anymore, though; instead, she responds blankly. "Seriously? For the final time, what about Sakae and I? Any room for us, you greedy bastard?" she questions, adding a bit of emotion in her tone towards the end. She strolls towards his bed and sits on it. "I mean, you seem to always dismiss us, so are we not pictured in this New World you speak of?" She watches as Sakae silently walks over and half-smiles as she sits down beside her. Quietly, Sakae gently taps her hand, giving a gesture that she's agreeing, in a sense.
"You two could be the Goddesses," Light suggests, staring at them. Okay, so, suddenly, he's acknowledging them again. What the actual fuck is that all about?
Kohaku scoffs. "Ha, as if I wanna be called that. No, thank you. I'm good." She shakes her head. "I don't need a title; just being acknowledged is good enough." She looks at Ryuk, who has eaten another apple. "You and your fucking apples, demon. Goddamn. Meh, whatever. Anyway, you staying? If so, I must warn you that Light writes very dramatically, sometimes." Kohaku mimics the behavior. "It starts off like this, all normal, but then, he just suddenly goes like this." She shoots her arm out towards the right and in every other direction, each time she pretends to write down something. She makes a random sound effect as she does. She stops after a moment. "It's kinda like he's thinking, 'You die! And you! You also!', or you know, maybe he's doing really odd and horrible karate movements. Either way, it looks fucking stupid." She grins a little at the Shinigami. Ryuk chuckles, surprisingly amused by her.
Sakae giggles, nodding. "Yeah, he's a bit overly dramatic." The Light she knows well is kind of a dingus, so she likes that he's still somewhat his old self.
"Who says I'm being over-dramatic?!" Light huffs. "...Okay, fine, I can be a little over the top, but it looks cool!"
"It looks fucking stupid," Kohaku states again, giving him a half-smile. "In a very nice and hilarious way." She's suddenly enjoying herself again. So, he dismissed their help multiple times; it's whatever. He only wanted to show off in front of the Shinigami; at least, she wants to believe that's why he did it. If not, she'll pretend it is.
Sakae smiles, worries vanishing almost entirely. "I think it's stupid in a funny sort of way, too." She wants more moments like this; she wants to go back to how it once was. Unfortunately, the notebook has already corrupted Light so much and there's likely no way of reversing the damage that has been done to his mind and soul.
"I can't tell if you two are insulting or complimenting me," Light states with a slight pout.
"Maybe we're doing both," Kohaku says, trying to confuse him. "After all, we happen to be women. Us females can be very confusing to men like yourself. It's the way of life, the natural order of everything that we know. Don't question it. You'll only get a massive headache." She sticks her tongue out.
"You shouldn't be confusing, though. You should be, I don't know, not confusing or less so," Light states, his intelligence temporarily slipping. "Don't stick your tongue out at me." Sakae laughs in the background. He pouts again. For someone who wants to rid the world of evil, he still can be quite innocent sometimes.
"Humans are interesting creatures," Ryuk states to himself before taking a bite of the last apple, watching the humans from the corner of the bedroom.