Disclaimer: As this is a fanfic for the manga series "Death Note", to keep it feeling as realistic and as true to the original story/characters as possible, I will often make use of quotes, situations, and characters from the original series. For these parts I claim no ownership.

Author's Note: From now on I won't be putting disclaimers in this story. We all know this is a fanfic.

Our story begins at the same time as it does in the manga series, "Death Note." Light Yagami is a senior in high school who is bored out of his mind, and the shinigami, Ryuk (who is also bored), drops his Death Note on Earth. Light sees the notebook magically appear on the ground while looking out his classroom's window, but instead of him picking it up, a boy that Light has never seen before picks it up. Light continues looking out his classroom window and loses interest in the notebook. He is now curious about who the boy is. After all, he has never seen the boy before and it appears that the boy is ditching class. After the boy flips through the notebook for a bit, Light sees him go into the school.

A few minutes later there is a knock at the classroom door and the bored Light turns to see who it is as the teacher opens it. He is surprised to see that it is the boy who picked up that notebook a few minutes ago.

The teacher announces to the class "Class, we have a new student. This is Akira Yume. Be sure that you treat him properly. After all, he is new here and has been living overseas for some time." The teacher whispers to Akira "How good is your Japanese?"

Akira looks at the teacher and smiles. "Oh, I'm fluent in both English and Japanese. My parents made sure of that."

The teacher nods. "Hmm, okay. Since there's only one seat left, you can sit... You know what, never mind." He points to the boy sitting in the desk in front of Light. "You there!" The teacher slams a textbook on the sleeping boy's desk.

The sleeping boy opens his eyes and jumps from surprise. "Huh?"

"No sleeping in class!" The teacher looks over and sees that the girl sitting next to the once sleeping boy is reading a manga. "And how many times have I talked to you about reading manga in class?"

The manga reading girl blushes red with embarrassment. "Sorry!" she says as she shoves the manga in her backpack.

The teacher sighs and then points to the boy who'd been asleep. "You go sit in the open seat in the back of the class."

The teacher continues by saying "Akira, you can sit here, in front of Light Yagami. If you need help with something, ask him. He's our ace student."

Akira takes his seat in front of Light and the teacher continues his lecture from before. As the teacher lectures, Light notices that Akira is quickly writing down as much the teacher says as possible. He thinks that this is pretty weird because no one in his class takes very many notes, himself included.

Some time later on the bell rings, signaling that it is now lunchtime. Light begins walking to the cafeteria when he hears someone calling his name.

When Light hears his name he turns around and sees that the one saying his name is Akira. He thinks to himself: What does he want?

Akira catches up to Light. "Hey Light, where's the cafeteria?" Akira then smiles sheepishly.

Oh yeah, that's right. He's new. "Just follow me. That's where I'm going right now."

Akira smiles. "Thanks."

The two begin walking to the cafeteria in silence. While walking, Light sees that Akira is carrying that strange notebook from before.

"Hey, uh, what's with the notebook?"

"Hm? Oh, I found this outside today. I was hoping to take a look at it and see what's in it."

"Right..."

Light and Akira enter the cafeteria and get their food. Akira eats his food quickly and begins looking at the notebook while Light eats at a normal pace and just observes Akira. The two are sitting at a table by themselves, near a window in the cafeteria.

"Hey Light. Check this out. This notebook says that it's a 'Death Note' and that this is a 'death god's notebook."

Light glances at the notebook. "Why's it all in English? This is Japan."

Akira shrugs. "Dunno, but take a look at this." He points to the first line on the inside of the cover. "How to use it: The human whose name is written in this note shall die."

Light shakes his head. "That's just sick. Why's everybody into this kind of crap anyway? It's like one of those dumb chain letters that say you'll get cancer if you don't pass them on."

Akira laughs. "Yeah. This looks like a pretty intricate prank though."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, there are tons of rules in this thing for how to use it, and they're pretty detailed too. Also, there's tons of conditions that have to be followed to make it work."

"What are you gonna do with it?"

"What do you think? I'm gonna keep it."

Light raises an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I think it's kinda cool. I wonder though… Should I test it?"

Light raises an eyebrow again. "On who?"

"I dunno, but it'd have to be tested on someone bad. Someone who deserved to die. A criminal, not some innocent bystander..."

The bell rings, signaling that lunch is now over. Light and Akira head back to class. Some time later on, school ends and the two begin walking home. Coincidentally, the two boys have to go the same direction. Akira's house comes up first and the two part ways.

Akira smiles. "See ya. I'll tell you tomorrow if this thing actually works." He waves the Death Note.

"Okay. Bye."

Light continues walking home while Akira walks inside his house after unlocking the front door.

While walking home Light wonders: If that notebook really has the power to kill people, would that make him a murderer if he uses it? Light quietly laughs to himself. There's no way that a notebook could kill someone. Why am I even thinking about that?

Author's Note:

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