Now Australia may be a weird place, but that doesn't mean stuff just naturally falls out of the sky every now and then. Well, it does, but not very often. I walk up to the object that has just fallen in front of me, and what I see is rather interesting. A small black notebook with the words 'DEATH NOTE' over the front cover. So it's a fake Death Note, for cosplaying by the looks of it. I wonder who dropped it, or how they dropped it, since I saw it fall to the sidewalk but there are no trees or buildings someone could have dropped it from. Well, I suppose someone on the roof of the abandoned warehouse on the other side of the road could have thrown it this way, but then it would have landed diagonally, not vertically.

I pick it up. It's too heavy for it to have been carried by the wind, so how did it get here? Did it fall from a plane or a helicopter or something? Oh well, I suppose this thing's mine now! I put it in my school bag. It looks just like a Death Note, so it's probably one of those replica merchandise ones that you can buy on the internet. I've never thought to get one myself, since the nendroids accidentally took up my merchandise budget. Well I suppose I have one now!

I wonder what would happen if a got a real Death Note. What if I really could kill someone just by writing their name down? Would I use it the same way Light did? Would I become a "Kira"? It certainly sounds fun. Just to think about it, I, Chris Atarashimono, would save my world from all evil! I would create a utopian world where everybody can live peacefully and happily, a world not ruled by the totalitarian capitalist elite, or whatever they call themselves nowadays. Unfortunately, Death Notes are basically magic, so they can't exist in real life.

'Hey mum, I'm home now!' I say as I close the door behind me.

'Hey Chris! Would you …' For a moment she suddenly seems like she's been completely distracted by something, despite the fact she's looking straight at me.

'Yes? … Mum?'

'Oh, it's nothing, I just noticed your, uh, hairstyle is different from what it was this morning. Would you like an afternoon snack?'

'No, mum, I'm fine. Anyway, I'll just get started on my homework now, so don't bother me.'

'Are you sure you don't need anything?'

'No mum.' I already have everything I need in my room.

'Good boy.'

Once in my room, I unpack my bag. What I said was partially true, I do have some homework I need to get done, but really it's not much. Most of my time after school is spent either gaming, reading or watching anime.

'Hey! Chris! Come down here for a second!' I hear mum shouting from downstairs. Right now my head is completely empty of thoughts, a side-effect of the stressful day at school.

'What?'

'I'll be taking your sister to that Justin Bieber concert now, so be good while I'm gone!'

Dammit, I really hate that kid. Not only is he a talentless idiot, but he has repeatedly stated that he hates anime! Even though I know it isn't going to do anything, I suppose it wouldn't kill me to write his name down in the replica Death Note. I suppose it's the thought that counts.

'Listen, we're going now, so if the phone rings, answer it okay?'

'Sure mum.'

The moment she closes the door behind her, I run up the stairs and grab the Death Note out of my school bag, taking it to my desk with a pen in my hand. I then proceed to write down two words at the top of the first page of the notebook.

Justin Bieber

I know it won't actually work but, well, at least I'll have a cool replica. Still, it's fun to think about. Anyway, I might as well unpack my bag now and see if I-

*BEEP*

Huh? I pull out my phone to see who had texted me. It's Indy. And she said…

'!'

My eyes widen. What does that mean?

'?', I reply.

'!'

'Can you please talk English?'

'We're being kept out of the concert area for some reason, and a bunch of ambulance trucks have just arrived! I don't know what's happening but I hope Justie's okay!'

My face right now. Enough said. Seriously, since when did Indy start calling him "Justie"? More importantly, how did they get to the concert in less than ten sentences? Is that even chronologically possible?

'Indy what's happening now?'

'They say he's dead. He can't be dead! Not Justie!'

…

…

FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?! HE CAN'T HAVE DIED JUST BECAUSE I WROTE HIS NAME ONTO A PIECE OF PAPER! THIS ISN'T LOGIC! THIS CAN'T BE REAL! Alright, calm down, just... ask for clarification.

'Indy, what exactly did you see? Do you know how he died?'

'They say he justsuddenly clutched onto his chest and flopped onto the ground, as if his… wait, why do you care about any of this?'

A heart attack. He died of a heart attack. I can't hold myself in anymore.

'NO FUCKING WAY!' I scream. I run downstairs to see if there's any snacks I can bring back up to my room. Food usually calms me down. Shit, the pantry is empty aside from a bag of potato chips. That'll have to do.

I didn't kill him. This is impossible. This has to be impossible. No, it's just a coincidence. I… what if this is real? What if the fictional, magical, definitely-not-real item that I had always longed to obtain was in my hands right now? Well, one way or another I need to know for sure.

If I test the Death Note a second time I will know for certain that this this actually has its powers. But this time I need to see the results myself. In the Manga/Anime, Light was lucky enough to conveniently be at the scene of a biker gang attack, but luck like that probably won't come to me. No, I need to deliberately set up a situation where I see the person die with my own eyes.

Wait, I have an idea. I open up the notebook and read the instructions. I probably should have read them before I killed anyone. Well, there are more instruction pages here than in Light's book, I can tell that much… in total it has XXIX pages of rules. That's, what, 29?

Let's see… Ah, yes, it says here that, after writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds. So that means I can have de facto control over someone before they die. This should make things easier.

So, I suppose I'll spend the rest of this evening going over the rules of the Death Note, seeing if they match up with those in the Manga, and wonder how I am acting so calm about this. I mean, if this is real, then I just killed someone! Then again, this isn't exactly the first time. I take another potato chip out of the bag.

(Lauren's POV)

'Just take Tom and run!'

'We're not leaving you here!'

'Dammit for once in your life can you just listen to me?!'

*BANG!*

My eyes snap open, to be met with almost complete darkness, only lit by the stars and light pollution visible through my window. I turn my head over to see a familiar white-haired boy standing next to my bed.

'What… time… is it?'

'It's just past 4AM. I heard you were panicking in your sleep so I came over here. Here, water should make you feel better,' he states, handing me the half-full glass.

'Nah, that's fine, I'm not thirsty… Tom, did I wake you up?'

'No, I actually just got home. 'Little time for rest when my skillset is in such high demand.'

For those who don't know, Tom runs an illegal yet profitable IT service for various high-ranking organizations ranging from the mafia to the Common Ground Movement. He's by far the most talented hacker I know, and even at the age of 13 his skills are completely unparalleled. Granted, doing the intellectual dirty work of criminals isn't very justifiable, but I know he's a kind-hearted person who needs money for all his… come to think of it, what does he do with his accumulated money? Does he just use it all on his video games? That wouldn't surprise me.

'My latest customer gave me my hardest challenge yet, you see. He asked that I make his computer completely immune to all possible kinds of spying, surveillance or tracking. Then he also asked that I make a custom-designed voice scrambler for him. All in all, it took quite some time, but I'm glad that I'm done.'

'You're only a kid. You shouldn't let people work you to death like that.'

'Look, I know this is all way too much work for someone my age, and I know dad would literally murder me if he found out what I was doing, but in the end, at least I have this,', he says, holding up a hundred-dollar bill. He's right, if our dad found out that Tom was associating himself with criminals he wouldn't hesitate to kill him, or at the very least make him wish he had been killed. Especially since our dad happens to be the chief of the Australian NPA.

'So what were you dreaming about, Lauren?' Tom asks, pulling out my chair to sit on.

'It was… it was nothing.'

'You don't have to hide anything from me. Was it the day that mum… well...'

'I'm sorry, I just… I still feel it was my fault that she died.'

'Lauren, don't say that. There's no way either of us could've prepared for that.'

'Letting someone die through inaction is no different from killing them directly, and there had to have been something I could've done.'

'Look, no matter what you did, she would've died. You were only, what, twelve? And if it weren't for you, that other kid would've died too.'

He's right. Just thinking about that boy, that masked vigilante who rescued us and who comforted us after seeing our mum had died, is enough to cheer me up. And I'll never forget the look on his face when he said those words:

'Please, I only did what was right. No more, no less.'