Chapter Text
Cold. Dark. Lifeless.
Just a few of the many, many words Ryuk could use to describe the Shinigami Realm. There were more, of course: barren, desolate, gloomy, morose…a complete shithole. But if Ryuk could only pick one word?
Boring.
It was unbearable. Ryuk was plagued by complete and utter boredom. Play around with some bones, gamble, kill some humans. Day after day, the same thing over and over. From his perch atop a structure of bones, he sighed, resting his chin on a clawed hand. He watched with half-closed eyes as Gook, Zellogi, and Deridovely finished another round of whatever game they were playing. He couldn’t be bothered to figure out which one.
“Ha! I win again!” Deridovely cheered. “No hard feelings, right?”
Gook ignored the declaration of victory, turning his attention to their spectator. “Oi, Ryuk!” He called, demanding the spaced-out Shinigami’s attention. “Would it kill you to join us?”
“Okay. I’ll join.” Ryuk replied, looking away from their game and focusing his eyes on the horizon.
He had no intention of actually joining them, of course. What was the point of gambling? It was just as mind-numbing as doing nothing at all. He flapped his wings, taking to the sky and ignoring the confused shouts of the other three Shinigami as he left them behind.
This is all so…ridiculous. This world is rotten. He thought, not paying attention to where he was going as he flew across the cloudy landscape. He heard a soft “oof!” and the flapping of another pair of wings as he bumped into a bony figure. He looked up to see Rem in front of him.
“Whoops! Sorry, Rem. Didn’t mean to bump into ya. Hyuk hyuk.”
“Ryuk.” She greeted him curtly.
“Where are you flying off to in such a hurry?” He questioned, tilting his head to the side.
“I’m going to the portals. I…I want to watch the humans with Gelus.”
Ryuk snorted. “Humans? Well, that sounds more fun than gambling, that’s for sure.”
“I suppose you’ll be coming with me then.”
“Oh yeah! This will be interesting!”
He clutched the stolen Death Note that was hidden beneath his clothes, an idea forming in his mind. Very interesting…
───────•°•☽•°•───────
A cool breeze distorted the gray clouds covering the sky into feathery streaks, carrying the salty scent of the ocean along with it. It wasn’t unusual weather for a November afternoon in Odaiba; in fact, the current environment was quite pleasant.
Cafe Kitsune was a small coffee shop on the waterfront of the island. In the back corner of the cafe, Light Yagami and Teru Mikami sat across from each other, settled comfortably into a medium-sized booth. Light wore sunglasses and a face mask to avoid being recognized. Teru took a sip of his coffee as he scrolled through emails on his laptop.
“Okay, hit me.” Light spoke up. “What’s my schedule look like this week?
“Well,” Teru started, taking another sip of his coffee before putting the cup down and continuing. “You have a photoshoot with Eighteen Magazine tomorrow, and a meeting with the director of that movie on Tuesday…oh, and Hideki Ryuga will not stop emailing me -”
Light groaned. “Ugh, seriously? Is he ever gonna quit it? Just block his address.”
“I did! He keeps making new ones.”
“Are you for real?” Light tried not to burst out laughing in the middle of the cafe. “That’s…kinda pathetic. He needs to move on already.”
Teru smiled, clearly holding back laughter himself. “Indeed. Well, besides that, your producer is asking how progress on your new song is going.”
“Oh!” Light grinned, visibly excited. “I recorded a demo last night! Wanna listen to it? I’ll email it to you when I get home.”
“I’d love to hear it. I’m sure it will be incredible as usual, Light-sama.”
Light rolled his eyes. “How many times have I told you to stop calling me that? It’s weird.” He didn’t mind his fans speaking about him in that way, but hearing it from his manager and closest friend was a little unnerving.
“I apologize, Light-sama.”
“What did I just tell you?”
“Oh, sorry! My mistake, Light.”
Light rolled his eyes. “Well, anyway,” He started, glancing down at his watch. “Sayu is about to get home from school. I need to go back.”
“Yes, of course!” Teru replied. “I’ll give you a ride.”
“Thanks, Teru.”
He finished his drink as Teru folded up his laptop, sliding it into his briefcase. “Shall we?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
───────•°•☽•°•───────
“Light! You’re home!” Sayu cheered, running to him and hugging him. “Oooh, cool boots!”
Light smiled, glancing down at the black combat boots that he’d paired with fishnets, shorts, a choker, and an oversized hoodie. “Hey there, ‘Yu. Thanks.” Light greeted his younger sister, returning the hug. “How was school today?”
Sayu groaned. “Ugh, it sucked. As usual.”
Light chuckled. “I’m sure it did. You can tell me more about it while we eat. What do you want for dinner?”
“Hmm…I’m not craving anything in particular! You can pick!”
“Alright…I think I’ll make curry. That sound good?” He asked, leading her down the hall into the kitchen.
“Anything is good if you’re cooking, Light!” Sayu exclaimed, hoisting herself up onto the counter.
Light narrowed his eyes, regarding his sister with suspicion. “Why are you being a kiss-ass?”
“Whaaaat? I’m not! Can’t I compliment you without you thinking there’s some kind of ulterior motive?”
Light put his hands on his hips and raised a brow, staring at her silently while trying to figure out what she was hiding. “Oh!” The corners of his mouth turned up. “You didn’t do your homework.”
“Damn it!” Sayu huffed. “How do you always figure it out?!”
“Sayu…” Light’s face softened and he gently put his hands on her shoulders. “I know that school sucks. I know you hate doing your assignments. I know it’s hard, but hey- you’re almost done! Just a few more months!” He encouraged. “We both know school is stupid and pointless, but unfortunately, you need that piece of paper they give you at graduation to get anywhere in life.”
“I know…” she sighed. “Ugh, why can’t I just become famous like you? You’re so lucky.”
He frowned. “I wouldn’t say that.” Although he’d taken his first modeling jobs out of necessity, Light was happy and comfortable in his career; however, the lifestyle of a celebrity was not something he wanted for Sayu. “It's not all sunshine and rainbows. Most people couldn’t handle a day in my life. Besides, you need to pursue what you’re passionate about. Don’t you want to go to art school?”
“Mhm…”
“Just a few more months until graduation, then you’ll be free.” He gave her a small smile. “Will you please get your homework done while I cook?”
His sister pouted. “Can’t you do it for me?”
“Sayu.” He narrowed his eyes. “You have to start doing things on your own. I don’t want you to get into the habit of relying on others- not even me. In this world, you can’t count on anyone .”
Sayu looked up at him sadly.
He put a hand on his forehead and stepped back, resigned. “After dinner, I’ll help you with whatever you can’t get done on your own. Sound good?”
“Okay!” Sayu hopped down from the counter, giving Light another hug before running off to her room.
Light shook his head and sighed, opening the fridge and peering into it. “What am I going to do with her…?” He mumbled to himself, crouching down and grabbing some carrots. He then stood up and opened the freezer, taking out a few thin chicken breasts and putting them in a bowl of water to thaw out. He moved over to the spice cabinet, taking out a few potatoes as well as the curry roux and a few spices.
He finished prepping the vegetables and threw them into the pot, creating a satisfying sizzling sound when the diced carrots and potatoes hit the hot oil. In a small frying pan, he cooked the now thawed-out chicken, the smell of it wafting throughout the kitchen. Once the vegetables had been cooked enough he added water and tossed in the curry roux cubes.
Light had just finished cutting up the now fully cooked chicken when he heard the sound of the front door unlocking. He stiffened, his eyes narrowing in contempt. Well. Look who decided to make an appearance tonight. He thought, not bothering to go see the new arrival entering the house.
“Light.” Soichiro walked into the kitchen, his expression cautiously neutral.
“Father.” Light greeted him curtly, not looking away from the pot as he stirred in the chicken.
Soichiro’s eyes turned to the ground, his hands awkwardly sliding into the pockets of his coat. “That smells good.” He muttered, clearly avoiding having to look at his son. As usual, he did a poor job of hiding his discomfort with Light’s choice of clothing.
“There’s only enough for Sayu and me.” Light replied dismissively.
Sayu’s thundering footsteps as she ran down the stairs echoed through the house, followed by an excited cry of “Dad!”. She was in the kitchen almost immediately, giving Soichiro a big hug. “You’re here! I thought you weren’t coming home today!”
There was a brief flicker of a smile on his face before his lips curved downwards into a frown. “I’m not, unfortunately…I’m only here to pick up a few things. I need to get back to work.”
From behind them, Light scoffed. No surprise there.
Sayu’s expression dulled. “Oh…”
“I’m sorry,” Soichiro muttered guiltily.
“It’s okay…” Sayu plastered a smile on her face. “Just catch all the bad guys so you can come back home soon, okay?” Her voice dripped with empty cheer.
“I will. I promise.”
An empty promise. Light resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
Soichiro gave Sayu another hug and then nodded awkwardly at Light before turning around and heading upstairs to retrieve whatever he’d come here for. Light didn’t care enough to ask.
“You managed to not argue with him today,” Sayu remarked plainly as soon as their father was out of earshot.
“Hm.” Light hummed, turning off the stove. “Dinner’s ready.”
Sayu smiled, genuinely this time, taking the bowl of curry from Light. “Can we watch TV while we eat?”
“Sure. You can choose whatever show you’d like.” Light carried his bowl to the dining room, sitting down and picking up the remote.
He turned on the TV and was immediately greeted with a news report. “Ugh, why is it on this channel?”
“Police are searching for an armed suspect who robbed a food truck in Shibuya at gunpoint last night. In the following footage is the suspect, who you can observe holding a gun, grabbing an employee, and pushing him against the van. At one point, the suspect is seen repeatedly hitting the employee with the gun while taking money from the truck. According to eyewitness reports, the suspect stole the cell phones and wallets of all employees present. Police have not been able to find-”
Light changed the channel, scowling. “What a joke. The bastard’s face was caught on video and the police haven’t found him after an entire day? They could have traced the location of the stolen phones! Honestly, an unpaid tech support intern could solve this case faster than those idiots.”
Sayu didn’t respond, quietly taking the remote from Light when he passed it to her. She switched to the drama channel and a corner of her mouth lifted into a small half-smile when she realized her favorite movie was playing.
They ate and watched in comfortable silence, neither one of them acknowledging the two empty chairs on the other side of the table.
10 years had passed, and yet Sachiko Yagami’s absence was still felt by all of them. Light was probably the least affected, becoming more apathetic with every year that passed by, but he knew Sayu missed their mother dearly. It had been difficult, having to grow up faster than he should have and running their household almost entirely on his own. He’d had to raise both Sayu and himself- lord knows their father couldn’t be bothered to be around enough to do it. Soichiro Yagami was a good man, but he wasn’t a good father.
Light didn’t hate his father, but he naturally harbored resentment toward him for being so absent. The man hadn’t even shown up to his wife’s last moments, choosing to stay at work for an interrogation.
“Why didn’t you come right away?!” A 10-year-old Light screamed at his father. Tears rolled down the young boy’s face as he stood up from his seat next to the hospital bed and stomped his foot furiously. “I called and called and called! Why didn’t you come right away?!”
Soichiro couldn’t say anything, his eyes flicking over to the heart monitor that had flatlined hours ago, unable to look his distraught children in the eyes.
“Mama!” A 7-year-old Sayu sobbed hysterically. “Mama!”
Light glared at his father, wrapping his arms around his sister as an act of comfort.
Soichiro looked away.
The memory of that day was one that Light had given up on forgetting. The name of the criminal that his father had abandoned them for was burned into his brain: Otoharada Kurou.
Wait a minute… Light’s brows furrowed, remembering something he’d seen earlier. He pulled out his phone, opening up the browser app and typing that name into the search bar.
Sure enough, the first news article that appeared was only 2 days old. A mugshot looked up at Light from the screen, accompanied by the headline “Suspect flees the scene after killing taxi driver and stealing his fares.” In the article, it stated that Otoharada had been missing for a month after being released on parole. He’d originally been in prison for going on a meth-induced killing spree.
Light found the whole thing ridiculous. Why release the bastard to begin with? Seriously, can’t the police do anything right? How do you lose an entire man, a dangerous man? This world is rotten.
Well, that explains why Father is stuck at work. He must be working on the search for this guy. It’ll be better if I don’t mention this to Sayu. Light couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit of worry. He cared for his father despite their strained relationship.
“Light?” Sayu was standing up now, holding both of their empty bowls in her hands. “You look tired. I’ll do the dishes tonight.”
“Sayu, that’s not neces-”
“Please, Light.” She insisted, her lower lip trembling.
“...alright. Goodnight, ‘Yu.”
“Goodnight.” She gave him a small smile as he stood up and went to his bedroom.
He sat down at his desk with a sigh, opening up his laptop. “Gotta email Teru the demo…” he mumbled to himself.
He quickly attached the audio file to an email and sent it off to his manager, already knowing he’d receive some cheesy, ridiculous response like ‘My ears have been blessed, Light-sama!’ in just a few minutes. The thought made him chuckle.
He glanced down at the corner of the taskbar, noting that the time read 11:39 PM. Hmm…I have a photo shoot tomorrow, don’t I? Perhaps it’s time to go to bed…
He rose from his seat with a yawn and started to get ready for bed.
He had no idea just how much he was going to need his energy tomorrow.
───────•°•☽•°•───────
In the back row of a large lecture hall at To-Oh University, L Lawliet shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The sounds of keys clicking on laptops and textbook pages being turned made the young man’s skin crawl; large lectures were always a horrific sensory experience for him. He was barely listening to the professor speak, more focused on tuning out all the overwhelming noises. It helped him to bring his thumb up to his lips and bite down gently on the nail.
L grimaced as the professor stood up from the stool he was sitting on, the piece of furniture making an awful scraping noise as its legs dragged across the ground. Maybe I should just leave. No one will notice in a class this large, and if they do, they won’t care. He tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as he folded up his laptop and put it away, not wanting to draw attention to himself on his way out.
As soon as he stepped into the hallway, he let out a sigh of relief. Peace and quiet… Though he was still pretty unsettled, he lowered his shoulders and let himself relax. He decided that cake would make him feel better, making his way over to the campus cafeteria.
With a slice of strawberry shortcake in hand, L settled down at an empty table by the windows. He slowly began to eat, feeling a wave of calm wash over him with every bite he took.
“Ryuzaki-kun?”
L looked up in response to his alias, wondering who the hell dared to interrupt his meal, but smiled seeing who it was.
“Kiyomi-chan. Hello.” L greeted her, relief washing over him.
It hadn’t taken long for L to determine that Kiyomi Takada was pretty much the only person worth talking to around here. She was intelligent, ambitious, observant- but most importantly, she didn’t treat L like he was broken. Being both autistic and an orphan had led to a lifetime of being treated with disdain, pity, or a peculiar amalgamation of both; However, Kiyomi just treated him like she would any other person. L could honestly say he was proud to call the woman his friend.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in a lecture right now?” She questioned, sitting down across from him.
He clenched his jaw, recalling the sensory nightmare today’s lecture had been. “I left early. The environment was…not ideal.”
“Oh.” Kiyomi nodded. “I think I have a friend in that class with you. I can ask her for the notes. I’m guessing you weren’t able to take any?”
“Your assumption is correct,” L muttered bitterly.
“I thought so. I’m sorry you had to deal with that, Ryuzaki-kun.”
He shrugged. “All the classes that happen in those giant lecture halls are first-year classes. It won’t be an issue for much longer.” He paused to take another bite of his cake. “By the way, have you chosen a topic for the assignment in our philosophy class?”
“Yes, I was just leaving the library. I spent a few hours there doing some research before making my decision; I’m writing about consequentialism.”
L pressed his thumb against his bottom lip. “Ah, is that so? I was considering a similar topic for my paper.”
Kiyomi’s face brightened. “Perhaps we could work on ours together? We can compile sources to use for our individual assignments.”
L nodded. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that. You always do provide valuable insight. Why did you choose consequentialism?”
“Hm…I suppose it appealed to me the most out of all the branches of philosophy because I feel like I’d be agreeing with what I’m writing about. I can’t help but think that people like Bentham and Sidgwick had a point, you know?”
L nodded. “Yes, I think so too. Every day it seems humanity strays further away from justice. I was reading in the news that they let a serial murderer out on parole after 10 years in prison, only for him to immediately escape and commit more crimes.”
Kiyomi frowned. “How horrible. Why would they even release a man like that?”
L shrugged. “I’ve found life is simpler when I don’t try to understand the logic behind the NPA’s poor decisions. The last thing I need is to get into an argument every time a case I work on has an unsatisfying resolution. It’s better to keep my mouth shut if I want to keep getting called in.”
“It’s sad that they’d consider honesty a crime,” Kiyomi remarked, her lips pressed tight into a grimace.
“Indeed.” L put an elbow down on the table with a sigh, leaning down to rest his chin on his hand. He briefly glanced out the window, watching people walk by. How pitiful. They’re all blissfully ignorant of the way the world is decaying around them.
A sudden flash of black and white on the horizon caught his attention. His eyes were locked onto the foreign object that seemed to fall from the sky, landing in a bush outside. No one else had noticed it. Did I just imagine that…?
There were few things L hated more than an unsolved mystery. His composition book full of cold cases from crime documentaries that he’d solved on his own could attest to that. Curiosity had gotten the better of him. L stood up and gave Kiyomi a half-hearted excuse, heading out to the brush that had caught his eye.
He couldn’t explain the strange urge he felt the moment his eyes landed on the mysterious object, as if it was calling to him. He seemed to be in a trance as he walked up to the place where it had landed, looking around to make sure no one was watching him before sticking his arm into the bush and feeling around for the object.
Sure enough, his hand made contact with a leathery material, and he quickly pulled the object out. He brushed a few stray leaves off the sleeves of his blazer before inspecting what appeared to be a notebook. His eyes widened in surprise as he scanned the words etched into the cover.
“Death Note?”