Death Note ( COMPLETE )

Volume One: Boredom

The story starts out in the realm of the shinigami where the death god Ryuk is off to find the Death Note that he dropped in the human world. The shinigami realm is boring for Ryuk, and he is desperate for some excitement. Light Yagami, age 17, is at school, also bored out of his mind, when he notices a strange notebook lying in the middle of the street. The text is written in English, but he figures out that it’s some notebook of death with specific rules.

“The human whose name is written in this note shall die”

“This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.”

“If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.”

“If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.”

“After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.”

Light immediately dismisses the notebook as a stupid prank. Five days pass. Light is seen typing at his computer and taking out the Death Note when the shinigami Ryuk startles Light by suddenly appearing. Even though Light is at first shocked at seeing a real shinigami in his room, he composes himself and shows Ryuk the vast amount of names that he has written in a span of five days. The amused Ryuk tells Light that since he was the one that picked up the Death Note, the notebook now belongs to him. Ryuk also tells Light that if he gives the Death Note to another human, all memories that he has with the Death Note will be erased. In addition, Light is the only one that can see Ryuk and that death gods must follow the owners of their Death Notes until their owners die. Ryuk tells Light that he will be the one that will write his name in the Death Note and that users of the Death Note can neither go to heaven or to hell.

In a flashback sequence, Light explains how he came to use the power of the notebook. When he saw a news broadcast of a man in Shinjuku who was taking eight people hostage in a nursery school, they broadcasted his name and a mugshot of the suspect. Curious, Light writes his name down on the notebook and waits forty seconds. After forty seconds, the news broadcasts says that the man has died of a heart attack. He decides to test it again later by getting an immediate result. He goes out on the street and sees a man in a motorcycle who tells a woman his name before he begins to harass her. Light writes down his name and “traffic accident” on the Death Note, and the man dies when a bus runs him over in his motorcycle. It’s all the proof Light needs. Although at first Light feels horrified about the fact that he’s killed two people, he admits that the world “is a rotten mess” and needs to be cleaned up. He decides to use the Death Note to kill all of the world’s criminals by giving them heart attacks and make the world into a better place where he will reign as ruler.

Chapter 2: L

The Interpol meeting continues with the representatives talking about the mass assassinations of criminals. They all agree that they need the help of “L” in order to find the murderer. L is the world’s top detective who has solved thousands of case but has never revealed his name or what he looks like. A shadowed figure in a coat named Watari steps on the Interpol meeting floor and reveals that L has already been working on this case. Watari opens a laptop with a screen revealing an L, and the voice of L tells them that he needs full police cooperation in order to solve this case. Meanwhile, Light browses through several web sites dedicated to the person who is killing the world’s criminals in order to save the world. He sees it as justification that this is what the world wants. The web sites call this being “Kira”, and Light assumes the name.