"I've wondered… what if someone else picked up this notebook?"
Light Yagami stared at Ryuk with determination in his caramel-colored eyes. He rested his hand on a black notebook, the words "Death Note" written in thin, white letters on the cover. Looking back up to the Shinigami, whose hunched form still stood taller than Light, he continued in a cheery voice.
"Is there anyone out there, other than me, who would be willing to eliminate the vermin from the world? If I don't do it, then who will?" Light walked in front of his window, looking out into the distance, before turning back to Ryuk. "That's just it; there's no one, but I can do it. In fact, I'm the only one who can. I'll do it, using the Death Note, I'll change the world."
"First, I'll write the names of the worst criminals I can think of. Like I'm 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 will 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 pointed out with a raspy voice.
"Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about," Light said casually. "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 clenched his fists and smiled up at the Shinigami, who grinned wickedly.
"Just as I thought, humans are so interesting."
From the tree that rose up over the Yagami household, a pair of unnoticed blue eyes watched the young college student and Shinigami with an interest, before turning, and disappearing into the dawn.