The Chronicles of L's Eyes
Chapter 3
Written by: Darkness Fall, Alexandria Jaganshi, and Xyllia Xerxes
Beta: Alpha Sky
Plot: Pat & Ech
The brunette went home as soon as the third school bell rang. Not like others who jumped to the teacher's desk and asked the 'new young hot teacher' about her life, her phone numbers, her address, and of course, the most common questions of all, her boyfriend that she claimed she didn't have.
He walked slowly through the grey path, trying to get his mind over the substitute teacher earlier. As the boy kept walking, he noticed the sky was getting darker by minute and soon raindrops were falling from it.
Running through the street, avoiding the raindrops from getting to his head by covering it with his blazer, he cursed the weather for changing so suddenly.
--
The boy with the name Yagami Raito finally managed to reach his home. With a piece of paper that the new teacher's number written on it, he went upstairs in lightning speed, heading to his room.
As he sit on his desk, the place where he spent most of his time, either doing homework or nothing, he took out the black book that he got a few days ago.
He knew that he got a lot of things to do, more to remember than just occupying his mind with the teacher's number. So he simply wrote all information he got on the crisp paper of the book. He believed that with this way he won't lost the number, unless the book was missing. But indeed he was matured enough to keep things in order, there's no way that he could lost the book as a kindergarten child would have done.
Staring at his not-could-be-said neat writing, the boy smiled in triumph.
He flipped through the pages of the book, which were still clean and empty, unlike his other notes which could reach three times thicker than the black book.
A sudden call from downstairs broke the silence that was haunting his room. Being an obedient son, Raito went out of his room and stepped down the narrow stairs, heading to his mother who just called him for dinner.
The usual template 'what do we have for dinner' thing was asked so carelessly by the brown haired boy as he pulled one of the chairs and sat on it, taking the newspaper that was on the table.
His mother just sighed, 'like father like son'. Sayu helped her mother putting the plates on the table, smiling at her brother who looked older than he really was.
Raito sighed, 'I really don't know what I'm expecting, it's kind of boring, newspaper these days…' He thought idly as he flipped from page to page, until he finally set it down and picked up his chopsticks.
"Can I eat first, mom?" He asked his mother.
"Sure, go ahead." She said without glancing at him, too busy preparing the pickles.
"Thanks, mom" And with that he began eating his dinner, he idly noticed that the menu was the same grilled fish he had been eating everyday for the last few weeks, but that hardly made a difference to him, as long as he got something good to eat, he won't complain, and his mother's cooking were always more than just plain 'good'.
His mind wasn't really on the monotonous dinner though, as he had his eyes glued to the television screen, an action his sister rolled her eyes at. Raito ignored her as he continued chewing his food and listening to the news.
To his surprise, breaking news came up, and what's more, it had something to do with his school. 'Massive High School Girls Death' it read. He couldn't believe his eyes and promptly abandoned his chopsticks and rice bowl in favor of sitting closer to the television.
"Mysterious deaths occurred among numerous high school students; all of them strangely are female and died in case of heart failure. The police are investigating these cases as the girls have no medical record of any heart diseases, not to mention the time of each heart attack were close to each other and the girls were on the same group of age. Scientists believe it might be some sort of plague."
On the screen appeared his dear father, Yagami Souichirou.
"Indeed this is strange, completely absurd even." He exclaimed, his bewilderment clear on his face and tone of voice "The girls all died shortly one after another,, it would be too strange for it to be just coincidence that they were all from the same school. We really have no idea where to start, but we will do our best to find out whatever is causing these deaths."
By the time he finished his statement, saying the reporters were confused would be an understatement, they were downright baffled at what happened, and every viewer probably has a similar expression on their face.
As the anchorman finished his report, Raito walked back to his seat and finished his dinner, not caring even if the grilled fish had gotten cold, his mind wandered back to the news as his eyes scrolled down the list of names.
---
The next morning he did the same thing as every person would do to start the day. Woke up, took a bath, get dressed, and ate breakfast. And now the boy with the name of Yagami Raito was eating his breakfast. He was mixing his natto and once again, his eyes went focused to the newsflash on the television, for the second time, the earth shattering sentence appeared on the screen. 'Another Mysterious Death from High School Students'
Raito jumped out of his chair and again he listened to the news reader. "Another death had occurred, this time the victim is young teacher named Ms. Saitama Midori who had come to teach at a high school as subtistute teacher recently. It was said by sources who don't want their names to be exposed that the teacher before Ms.Saitama Midori died because of heart attack even though she didn't have any medical records before" in the background a man who looked like the woman's father couldn't help but kept crying.
The two mysterious murders made Yagami Raito think. 'What could possibly have killed them all?' he thought to himself, theories popping into his mind, after all, he wasn't a genius for nothing. All died from a sudden heart attack. If it was a murderer, then he or she must be very talented to be able to kill someone from such a distance, and in a way which won't leave any clues that could be trace back to him or her, but it won't be possible as heart attack isn't something that can be controlled by human race. A new disease, maybe? But even the professional can't explain what just happened to those girls. And why girls? Why there aren't any male that died from that mysterious heart attack?
But…
'Wasn't that the teacher who gave me her number?' he pondered to himself. 'Yeah, I think it was her…'
Raito went upstairs, grabbed the book and opened it to the page where the numbers were written, he noticed that the names that he saw last night were the girls who gave their numbers to him. 'Yes, it was definitely her...' fear crept into his heart.
Starting to doubt himself about the theories that he just had conclude, he took the chair and sat on it. 'No, how could a book possibly kill someone… The idea is ridiculous.' he tried to calm himself.
He summoned all of his courage and began flipping through the book and found that the first pages weren't seen before by him, as it was glued or attached to each other accidentally by dried blood stains. A few pages, pitch black if it wasn't for white writing in it, made him shiver by reading the first words written on top if it with crisps letters.
'Death Note.' he read. 'Those whose names are written in this book shall die.' It must be some funny joke. 'If the cause of death was not specifically written, then the person will die of a heart attack in 40 seconds after the name was written.'
He shrieked. 'Uso! (No way!) These stupid rules must be made by some kind of an emo. No, it couldn't possibly happen.' he roared in laugh, trying to calm himself. But indeed he failed. If the book really does kill, then he would be in trouble, serious one.
"Impossible!" He shouted as he threw the book across the room "T-there is no way that it's real! T-the rules… it must be made by some kind of emo…" He said to himself trying to calm himself "It's ridiculous, how could a book kill? Absurd…"
Through that he still had a lingering thought, some questions that he would be dying to know the answers. 'What if it's true…? What if… the book killed them…?' Then he would be in some very serious trouble…
--
Yagami Raito set off to school. Along the road his mind went blank, thinking about the news that he had just heard. This is a world of reality, where everything was made into a precise calculation and almost everything occurred with logic. But how could this happen? If he brought a dictionary now, he would look for the thesaurus section and mentioned all things that could define the word crazy, or maybe insane. But still, he continued his walk until he reached the school.
He went through the corridor and entered the class as usual. Now he understands how boredom could kill people. And indeed he was suffering from it right now. The pack of rabid fan-girls surrounding him, shamelessly flirting with him, didn't even interest him. It doesn't matter that every other guy in the classroom would kill to be in his place, Yagami Raito just didn't care. The brunette nearly sighed out loud when the teacher entered the classroom, effectively quieting the annoying horde of girls.
"Settle down… settle down…" The teacher said, while the students hurried to their assigned seats "Now, as some of you might know, the new substitute teacher died last night under unusual circumstances. A heart attack."
He paused for a moment, clearing his throat.
Some of the students froze and whispers exploded around the classroom. Some saying how poor their teacher was, some just plain disappointed they didn't got a date with her, although the latter were, of course, the boy half of the class talking. Meanwhile, Raito hadn't uttered a single word; you could probably hear the gears in his head whirring furiously as he thought of the possibilities. The same question as last night came again. 'What if… the book IS responsible?' Raito gritted his teeth and barely kept himself from punching his desk in frustration.
"I will be teaching in her place for the time being…" After that Raito no longer listened to the new teacher's chatter as he gazed at the pitch black cover of the mysterious black book. He ran his fingers over the rough letters written in pure white in contrast to the black. Death Note. He flipped the pages and opened it on a blank page. He glanced at the teacher who had begun his academic speech, and noted that he wasn't doing a very good job at it. His pen hovered above the pristine white pages, shaking ever so slightly.
'What am I waiting for?' He thought to himself as his eyes darted back and forth from the teacher to the blank paper. 'It can't be real… can it? There's only one way to find out…'
And with that, he wrote the teacher's name, one kanji after another. He sat back and stared at the black ink writing staining the once crisp white page. His brown eyes flickered towards the teacher, who was still rambling his head off in the front of the class, and let out a sigh as he snapped the black book shut with barely any noise.
'Just as I thought... It wasn't the book.' He thought as he stared unseeingly at the black board.
He snapped into attention when the teacher suddenly choked and clutched the shirt on his left chest, right above his heart. Some of the students in the classroom leaped to their feet and some started screaming. He idly noted that one girl beside him was frantically dialing the hospital. But he knew, like the rest who had died, that she would not survive.
"H-he… He's dead!!!" One of his classmates shouted out, reducing the whole classroom into hysterical screams and cries, a lot of the students fled, either to fetch the teacher or to just get away from the scene he didn't care. Throughout all this, Raito stood frozen, he didn't even remember getting up from his seat, the black book held loosely in his hand.
'No way…. No way… The book… it's…'
He was broken out of his reverie by a soft thud; he looked down to find the book lying innocently on the floor. He stared at it, ignoring the panic around him.
When the police arrived he scrambled to pick up the book. He glanced at it one more time before he slipped it into his bag. Who knew such a plain looking book could…kill. He nearly laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all. A book that could kill.
The rest of the classes were canceled, instead scientists were called into the school to test the students and staff for some kind of virus or bacteria that could result in death similar to the few others before. Needless to say, the worse virus they found was influenza.
The tests seemed to take longer than expected as it was well into the evening before the students and staffs were allowed to go home. Raito's father stayed behind at the school and the brown haired teenager had a feeling that it would be far into the night before his father would go home, he certainly got his hands full with this one.
He walked down the dimly lit street and uncomfortably realized that it was too quiet; the only sound was the soft tapping of his shoes against cement. The road was deserted, and the flickering street light and shadowy corner only added to his discomfort. He hugged his thin school blazer closer to his body as a cold breeze blew across him. The atmosphere seemed thick, with what he was not sure, but the air smelled of something… something familiar after the afternoon's event. The air… it smelled of death. The mere thought of it made him shiver.
He stared hard at the black book lying innocently in his grasp. Not quite believing that a mere bundle of paper had the power to take a person's live, but there's no other explanation for the day's 'accident'. He realized just how much power he held within his grasp and was quite afraid and, dare he say it, giddy at the prospect. His thought raced at the possibilities, open wide to him thanks to the simple black inanimate object.
He was so lost in thought that he didn't realize as a shadow loomed over him. He whirled around and gasped in surprise, his eyes widen in shock and his jaw dropped. In front of him was a… creature. It had a tall lanky figure and a pair of leather wings, stretched across his back at about an arm's length and shredded to the point where it seemed impossible to support the creature in the air. Its face was worthy of first prize at a Halloween's costume party, with its white face and rows of jagged teeth.
"So you're the one who've found my book…" The creature said with an eerie grin on his lips, as Raito had assumed it was a 'he'.
It was then that it clicked. The creature's the owner of the book, someone who can control a person's death.
Indeed, he was looking into the eyes of Death himself.
To be continued
Authors notes:
well, at least we update. And it's twice as long as the previous chapters, so don't we deserve some nice long review? –puppy look-
-darkness fall, Alexandria jaganshi, xyllia xerxes-