Code Light Chapter 3: Another New Face
Light interdigitated theatrically as he waited for his opponent to make his move. He looked over behind him where Lelouch stood smiling.
"You're doing quite well. It's hard to believe you've never played before." Clearly he was impressed. Light was not amused.
"Are you going to make your move now? I grow impatient." Light mused in an apathetic tone. This gained him a sharp look from Lelouch. His opponent was not looking altogether too placid but he was Light. He planned to purge everyone in this hive of scum and villainy with the power of the Death Note. He could hardly believe that he agreed to come with Lelouch. His opponent moved, his hand trembling.
"Bad move. Checkmate." Light muttered apathetically "How you could ever stand such a game I will never know, Violet. It is so dull, pieces are locked into patterns and contained in such a small space. Life is nothing like this dull game you find so entertaining." His opponent sat stunned before starting to shout about something. Light just stood up and motioned for Lelouch to follow.
"Well done Light, but your attitude seems rather vitriolic. You really shouldn't act that way around these kinds of people."
"I can't help it. Those who gamble are immediately subject to my disdain. They are the ones who make this world rotten."
Light was thankful that the gambling session ended quickly. He wished to end the entire establishment as quickly as possible. It had not been difficult, but tedious to acquire a list of the clientele along with the images. Quickly he set to work, his pen an instrument of absolute death purging the world of those impure.
"You seem to like it." A voice chuckled, slightly strained.
"Ahh!" Light cried out dropping his pen. Beside him stood a tall gaunt creature, with slate skin. Its eyes were yellow orbs and a pair of black feathered wings sprouted from his back.
"Why are you so surprised to see me? I'm Ryuk, the Death God who dropped that notebook."
"A Death God? I can't say I am all too surprised Ryuk. Though I would have thought you would have arrived sooner. I did not doubt this notebook held great power, but now I can act with more confidence."
"Well you surprise me. Of all the Death Notes that have made it to the human world, you're the only one who's gone this far in such a short time. Most people would be too scared to use it to this extent."
"Scared? I have been given a tool to cleanse the world. I am prepared to pass righteous judgement. But what is the price for this power, have you come to take my soul?"
"Eh? Whaddaya mean by that? Is that something you humans have come up with? I'm not going to do anything to you. As soon as it touched the ground it belonged to the human world. Meaning it is yours, however if you don't want it, give the notebook up and I'll erase your memories."
"You won't have to worry about that. I'll be taking this Death Note and my memories of it to the grave."
"Speaking of which, when you die I'll be writing your name in my Death Note. Just to make sure, you see. I'll be following you around until the time which you relinquish your Death Note and it would be a terrible thing to let you out of my sight."
"If that is how your system works, then why did you choose me to possess the Death Note in the first place?"
"Choose you? How arrogant, I merely dropped my note down here to have a little fun. And it seems like I hit the jackpot because you are definitely interesting."
"Ryuk, am I free to ask you questions relating to you and the Death Note?"
"Of course Light!" Ryuk spread his spindly arms out as if preparing to give him a hug. "That doesn't mean I have to answer, truthfully or at all though. I wouldn't want to make things easy for you, and therefore boring."
"I see." Light thought about this. Entertainment was Ryuk's sole motivation and something so trite could likely be used against him. "Ryuk, would I be correct in assuming I am the only one who can see you?" Ryuk chuckled
"You're a sharp one. Indeed you are the only human who can see me now." Ryuk had such a pleased expression. Or at least he interpreted it as such. Light looked at Ryuk suspiciously.
"You use human rather specifically, are you able to be seen by recording devices such as cameras, heat detectors and the like?"
"You are rather thorough, but the answer is no. However I can still interact with the world, so some object from your world may appear to float."
"However since you don't want this to be easy on me I couldn't just ask you to kill someone."
"Right. Hold on, have you already encountered someone whose name you can't write down in the notebook? My Light, you must be really busy to have found someone like that already. Must be quite a problem for you."
"I'll deal with him in time, Ryuk. I can find other ways."
Lelouch sat down in history and watched the door for Light. Looking at his watch, Light arrived 40 seconds after Lelouch sat down. It was subtle, but Light always made sure that he came in after Lelouch. He was not unprepared as he opened his sleek laptop, with a reflective Brittanian shine. With a built in camera he would be able to record Light's every move. Then the teacher began speaking, but Lelouch merely sighed and went over all available reports on the white knightmare that caused him so much trouble.
"We have another new student today. Please introduce yourself so we can get on with class."
"I'll be joining you all here at Ashford Academy starting today. I'm Suzaku Kururugi. It's a pleasure to meet you." Lelouch looked up, attempting to hide his surprise at his old friend's appearance. Perhaps he could use Suzaku to help investigate Light, or was that an unwise decision? Light seemed wise enough to detect if he was being observed and Suzaku would hardly agree to spying on someone. On top of that he and Suzaku couldn't act as if they knew each other, since it would reveal his identity as a prince. Still it would be worth a shot to rendezvous with him, as Suzaku walked towards his desk Lelouch nonchalantly tugged at his collar. It was an old signal they used to use and hopefully Suzaku had not forgotten. He apparently remembered because he tugged at his own collar in return as he sat down.
"All right then," the teacher started "I would like you all to write a paper on the Washington Rebellion and the repercussions of what would have been if Benjamin Franklin had not been bribed by the Duke of Brittania. I will allow you to work with a partner on this, which will be due in two days." A groan spread through the classroom. Lelouch rolled his eyes, even with Clovis' funeral it would be child's play to remain at the top of his class even if he had to balance the terrorists, research on the white knightmare and avoiding Light.
"So Suzaku, you're Japanese as well? If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to work with you. My name is Light." Lelouch looked up. Suzaku and Light working together? Perhaps he could get information about Light out if he casually talked to Suzaku. He had needed an informant to track Light and had been reluctant to use Geass, but now he didn't need to make that choice. With Suzaku he could put Light into check.
"Aww Light, I wanted to work with you!" Meeya sighed. Light constantly worked on building himself an army of followers, Lelouch could use his power to compel people absolutely but Light only had his intellect and the Death Note which would be too extreme for most cases. They were all just tools in the scheme of justice, but Suzaku might be the most important he found so far. From Lelouch's reaction and their gesture, it seemed as if they had known each other a long time. However where could the two have met, Japanese and Brittanian.
"Oh, sure. But I just arrived today so I don't actually have all the required materials yet, so I might not be much help."
"It's all right, here take this textbook." Light tossed him a textbook and several leafs of notebook paper "You work on the facts of the rebellion, I'll work on the hypothetical." Light got right to work writing up a draft, simultaneously evaluating his new relationship. Lelouch would also use Suzaku to spy on him so he would have to be careful, but that was redundant because as Kira he needed to be careful at all times.
"So Light, how did you get into Ashford Academy? Normally it's only for Brittanians so how did you get in?" Light decided on the truth, which he already revealed to the class.
"Each member of my family is registered as an honorary Brittanian. My father is a member of the NPA as well and this school is one of the best in Japan. And yourself?"
"Oh, well I'm sure you heard about my accusation. But a proper investigation found me innocent and the person who did felt like a 17 year old should be in school." Light thought a bit. The charges against Suzaku was the death of Clovis. However using a Japanese soldier as a scapegoat seemed like something the government would use to cover it up, so to go against the government it would take someone high-ranking, meaning a noble. However few, if any, nobles were sympathetic to the Japanese. A little research would find Suzaku's benefactor.
"Well it's good to know someone is interested in the truth." Light smiled "So can I see your work?"
"Sure, here you go." Looking over the paper it seemed that Suzaku empathized with the Brittanians because it him it seemed as if the rebellion was a waste of life. How idealistic, only by permanently ridding the world of the rotten elements could the world be purified. Just as he prepared to start writing he saw Ryuk prancing around looking at what the other students were doing. No matter how demonic he looked, Ryuk really was just a child with a morbid sense of entertainment. Then as Ryuk passed a window he stopped prancing. Frozen he stared out into the courtyard, an invisible gargoyle. Light wondered what could surprise a god of death before getting back to Suzaku. Ryuk wasn't going anywhere, he had time.
"Well, you go over a lot of these points well, but there are some missing details as well as grammatical and spelling errors. Then again english isn't your first language is it, so I suppose it's to be expected."
"Oh, I see." Suzaku said while looking his paper over "I guess I really should work on that then, huh?"
"If you need any help I could work with you after class." Light offered. Getting close to Suzaku seemed like it would be easy. Even after being vindicated from his crime, the Brittanian class would still harbor feelings of hatred for him. What rotten prejudice this school harbored.
"Oh, well I've got some things to do today. Maybe some other time?"
"That's all right, just find me if you ever need any help."
"So Ryuk," Light asked as soon as he was safely away in his room "What is it that has you so stunned?" Ryuk floated around a bit before asking
"Light. How much has your medical sciences advanced in the last few years? How long can humans live now?"
"Why Ryuk? What could be troubling a shinigami?"
"Light, do you know the difference between a human and a shinigami?"
"No, what is the difference?" Light asked. Ryuk was dodging the question, however it could be possible to squeeze additional information out of him.
"The first difference is that when a shinigami writes a name in their Death Note, the remainder of that human's life is added to the shinigami's own life span. When a human writes a name in a Death Note, their life is not extended. So no matter how many people you kill, your life will not be extended." Light found that interesting, however there was something else to be gained.
"And the second difference?"
"Light, the shinigami can kill at any time we wish. How do you think that is?" Ryuk paused, but Light waited for him to continue "Our eyes Light. That is the difference. A shinigami's eyes lets them see both the name and remaining life of the person. That way we can kill anyone we need to and we know exactly how much time we have left." Light rested his head on his hand in a ponderous look.
"Yes? What of it? It's not as if you are going to help me kill people by telling me their names."
"That's true Light, but another rule of the Death Note is that it cannot be used on those under 780 days old or those over the age of 124."
"The relevance of this? I am very busy, Ryuk."
"Don't you get it! There was a girl out there! Over that age and her lifespan didn't show! What is with this place?" Ryuk was doing handstands with his feet flailing in the air.
"What's the matter Ryuk, calm down." Light tossed him an apple "I thought you found this all interesting." The shinigami devoured the apple in four bites
"Sorry Light. I get withdrawal symptoms if I don't get my apples, but I guess you are right. This world is most interesting, especially everything around you."
"I know you don't want to help me, but would you reveal who this person is? I could do some investigation." Light was glad Ryuk had become so nervous as to let such a crucial piece of information go. Ryuk looked as thoughtful as his grotesque face would let him.
"All right. It was a girl who had gold eyes and green hair and her name was..."