“Now can you tell us what that was all about the other day?” Maki asked Keiko. Her hands were on her hips, an accusatory look was on her face. Right next to her, Akito didn’t say a word, but Keiko could still see the question in her eyes. The three were up in Keiko’s room, and were supposed to be working on homework together, but not a lot was actually being done.

“Right. To be honest, I am surprised that Light-kun went along with it, but now I owe him a favor...anyway well I didn’t want to face Daicho-kun without having a boyfriend myself, not after the mess that was our break up a few months ago. I didn’t want you guys to tell him I was single, and I saw Light-kun walking in the distance, so I used him as my scapegoat. I whispered in his ear asking him to please to go along with it, and well the rest is history…”

“So you’re telling us that you KISSED golden boy Light Yagami and pretended that he was your boyfriend in front of your EX and he went ALONG with it?” Maki was nearly screaming now, and Akito’s eyebrows shot up.

“I can’t believe it,” Akito muttered, “well, he is a nice guy. From what I’ve observed, at least.”

“Yeah, well as I said, now I owe him big time for saving my life,” Keiko replied, “though I don’t know what that’ll be yet or when. Not sure how I’ll be able to help Light-kun out either, it’s not as though I can help him with school work, we’re basically at the same level there. He has no trouble with girls, and everybody likes him.”

“That’s just it, you’re never gonna be able to pay him back for his heroic actions,” Maki cooed, and Keiko pinched her arm.

“Ouch! I’ll get you for that!” Maki replied, and Keiko dodged a return blow.

“Guys, peace and love,” Akito murmured, and Keiko and Maki stared at each other before working together to attack her. Akito was unable to keep a straight face. She started to giggle, hitting the remote as she did so, turning on the T.V. in Keiko’s room.

“We’d like to apologize for the interruption,” the anchorman said, “as of now, we are bringing you a live worldwide broadcast from Interpool’s ICPO. We now take you live to the ICPO.”

“Keep the T.V. on,” Keiko cried, grabbing her notebook, “this has to be about the Kira case, I’m sure of it!”

“I still think you’re weird for keeping tabs on this, but I have to say, I’m interested in hearing about the Kira case as well,” Maki said, handing Keiko her notebook filled with her investigative notes.

“Shhh, guys, it’s starting,” Akito said, her eyes glued to the television. There was a guy on screen, with dark hair and matching dark eyes, the name card in front of him read Lind L. Tailor.

“I head up a national police task force, which includes all member nations,” the guy on the screen says with a serious expression on his face, “I am Lind L. Tailor, otherwise known to the world as L.”

Keiko gasped, “no way, it can’t be! L’s never shown his face before, could this mean he’s really serious about this Kira case?”

“Maybe,” Maki replied, “anyway shut up, I wanna hear what he says next.”

“Criminals around the world are being murdered by a serial killer, I have no doubt about that. I consider this crime to be probably the most atrocious act in history. I will not rest until the person or persons responsible are brought to justice. Kira, mark my words, I will hunt you down. I will find you.”

Lind L Tailor had a glint in his eyes, “Kira, I have a good idea of what your motivation might be and I can guess what you hope to achieve. However, what you are doing right now is evil.”

He stopped talking, and stared straight into the camera, it was a direct challenge to Kira. He was quiet for a few seconds as he let his words sink in. A few seconds later, he was suddenly grabbing at his chest, moaning in pain.

A few more seconds passed, it appeared he was dead.

“No way,” Keiko muttered, “it can’t be…”

For once, Maki was speechless as well, and Akito grabbed both her friend’s hands and gave them a little squeeze. “He can’t really be dead, can he? I mean, Keiko, you told me that he was the best investigator in the world. He has to be acting, right?” she whispered.

A few seconds later, after they wheeled him off the screen,  a voice started to speak again. The background this time was a grayish white, and the gothic lettering of the letter L appeared on the screen.

“I-I had to test this just in case but I never thought it would actually happen. Kira, it seems you can kill people without having to be there in person. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t just witnessed it. Listen to me, Kira, if you did indeed kill Lind L. Tailor, the man you just saw die on television, I should tell you that he was an inmate whose execution was scheduled for today. That was not me. The police arrested him in absolute secrecy so you wouldn’t have seen him on T.V. or heard about him on the internet. It appears that not even you has information on these criminals. But I assure you, L is real and I do exist. Now, try to kill me!”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

A few seconds of nothing passed, “what’s wrong? Right now, kill me do it!...what’s the matter, can’t you do it? ….well Kira, it seems you can’t kill me after all. So there are some people you cannot kill. You’ve given me a useful hint.”

The girls were glued to the televisions screen. Keiko noted that there were some people that Kira couldn’t kill, and that when he killed Lind L. Tailor that he had his face and his name available on the screen. She would write that in her notes after the broadcast was over.

L continued on, “I’ll tell you something that I think you will find interesting. Although this was announced as a worldwide broadcast, the truth is, we are only broadcasting this in the Kanto region of Japan. I had planned to broadcast this message around the world until I found you, but it looks like that won’t be necessary. I now know where you are. The police treated your first killing as an unrelated incident but in actuality the first of your victims was a suspect in Shinjuku. Of all the criminals who have died of heart attacks, this one’s crime was by far the least serious, furthermore, the crime was only ever reported inside Japan. I used that information to deduce this much, you are in Japan and your first victim was little more than an experiment, which means that you haven’t been killing for very long. We decided to broadcast in Kanto first because of its large population, and luckily, we found you. To be perfectly honest with you, I never expected that things would go this well. It won’t be too long now until I am able to sentence you to death. Naturally I am very interested in how you are able to conduct these murders without being present, but I don’t mind waiting a little bit longer. You can answer all of my questions when I capture you. Let’s meet again soon, Kira.”

“Wow, I knew this L guy was amazing but that was...amazing,” Keiko muttered, opening up her notebook to write down what L had said in his broadcast.

“You have a way with words, my friend,” Maki muttered and Keiko stuck out her tongue at her. Maki and Akito started to talk more about the case, meanwhile Keiko studied her notes, trying to find any other correlation that L might not have covered during the broadcast.

It’s unlikely that he would reveal everything outright, that’s not like him, there has to be something else about the case he didn’t publicly discuss.

She went back to the start of her notes, and looked at the times of death of the victims, noticing the clear pattern.

Looking at this, it could be possible that Kira could be a student. No way...could a student really be a murderer? Then again, does being a murderer really have an age limit? I wish I could personally help L capture Kira, she thought.

Light’s POV

Light was walking home from his cram school, Ryuk following him close behind.

“Light, you got a second?” Ryuk started, and Light sighed, clearly a little annoyed. He was still upset that L had bested him on live T.V., and was thinking of the best way to get in contact with L without suspicion. He had to figure out a way to get rid of him. The sooner, the better.

“Ryuk, I already told you, you can’t talk to me in public. How many times do I have to tell you?”

“In that case, I’ll talk, you just listen,” Ryuk started, “if you don’t want to hear me you can plug your ears or something. First of all, I don’t have anything against you. I actually think the notebook couldn’t have been picked up by another person. I’m here ‘cuz I have to stick around until the Death Note is finished, or I see you die, whichever comes first. But make no mistake, Light, I’m not on your side or L’s side.”

Light glanced behind him real quick, speaking softly, “yeah well I knew that much already.”

Ryuk continued, “you’ll never hear me say anything about whether what you’re doing is right or wrong. I’m not here to support you or give you my opinion, I’m just a spectator. But as your roommate, I might have a few things to say now and then.”

“What’s this about, Ryuk? Why are you telling me about all this stuff anyway? It’s not like you.” Light questioned, trying to keep a neutral expression on his face.

“It’s just, I’m no ally of yours or Kira, if you prefer. The only reason I’m going to tell you this is because personally, it’s starting to creep me out.”

“Get to the point already,” Light commented, annoyance coursing through him once more.

Damnit Ryuk. I know you’re not on my side or L’s side. Now just say what you want to say already!

Ryuk laughed a little, “you’re being followed by another human. He’s watching you right now.”

Light stopped in his tracks a moment, trying to quickly collect his thoughts.

“It’s really starting to get on my nerves! I realize that there’s no way he can see me but because I’m always following behind you wherever you go, I feel like I’m constantly being watched!”

“That’s a problem. I’ll have to get rid of him as soon as possible,” Light muttered out loud, continuing to walk again.

Light pondered the best way to go about getting rid of the person tailing him on the rest of his way home. When he got home, he laid on his bed, “above all, I need his name. Then I can get rid of him.”

Ryuk laughed, and started to explain to Light the differences between a human’s eyes and a shinigami’s eyes.

“Ryuk, this deal is...out of the question. Giving up half of my remaining life span is too much. Let’s get this straight. My goal is to create a world free of criminals and all evil, and I intend to reign as a god in that world for a very long time. I might consider the deal if it would lengthen my life, but not if it shortens it. I can’t do that. I should think that you would me by now."

“I figured you’d say that, but I just wanted to tell you so you didn’t complain that I didn’t tell you later on,” Ryuk responded. “So, if you are not going to use the eyes then how do you plan on getting this guy’s name?”

Light smirked, “why Ryuk, why should I spoil the fun? Just keep on watching. You remember the favor that Keiko-chan owes me?”

Ryuk laughed, “what’s she got to do with it?”

“Oh, you’ll see, you’ll see.”