File 13: A Collection Of Theories Chapter 1, a death note fanfic

Warning: Contains spoilers for the Death Note manga and anime, L:Change The World (film and novel), How To Read: 13, Death Note: Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, L: The Wammy's House, One Day, and the oneshot featuring an older Near.

Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and variations thereof. Welcome. This is a fic written in an attempt to shed light on the central character of Death Note: Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases — Beyond Birthday, or Rue Ryuzaki.

I should warn you before we begin. While I have done my best to extrapolate information about Beyond Birthday from the limited amount we have been given, this fic may sometimes fall into the category of "Epileptic Trees". For those of you who might not know, the term "Epileptic Trees" is a general term for wild, off-the-wall theories. The term itself was named after a leading theory explaining the mysterious shaking trees on LOST during the first season. The theory? The trees were having epileptic fits. While I've tried my best to back up my theories with plausible evidence (complete with page quotes, no less!), I admit there may be times when you'll have to suspend disbelief while reading this.

Also, I must warn you, this little rant does get a tad snarky. If you feel unable to read this without getting offended, or you do start reading this and find yourself growing angry, I would advise you to close this page on your browser and never return.

*cracks knuckles* Now I've gotten that out of the way…

The main reason behind writing this fic (if I may make a snobbish statement here) is that I, personally, am sick and tired of searching for information relating to Beyond Birthday throughout the Death Note fandom, only to find wildly inaccurate exclamations about Beyond Birthday which often directly contradict any sort of information we've been given.

Not only are the vast majority of the exclamations wildly unrealistic, they also go against the very tone of Death Note itself. Remember, the original series was not written as a general display of gore, unhealthy obsession, and/or insanity. Death Note was marketed as a supernatural/psychological crime thriller, if I remember correctly, with an intelligent, manipulative protagonist and antagonist.

And then I come online to find everybody and her mother shrieking OMG TEH ANGST!1!1, and forcing Beyond Birthday into the role of a stupidly obsessive, cannibalistic lover with a penchant for excessive gore and ridiculous nicknames such as "Lawli".

Poor Beyond Birthday.

In defiance of the myriad of incorrect Fanon portrayals, the authors of which I bet never so much as looked back at Another Note once they'd finished reading (if they've read it at all), I have decided to do my own research into Beyond Birthday, not to mention the whole Wammy's House system.

Let's start with the basics. By basics, I mean what can be directly inferred, or what is implied, in the novel Death Note: Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases.

And yes, that is a ridiculously long title.

1) B calls himself Beyond Birthday, but that is not his real name.

This is more or less stated in the book, and the same can be said for the alias he used, which L took to use in the Kira case: Rue Ryuzaki. The narrator of Death Note: Another Note, the one-and-only Mello, claims the reason B called himself Beyond Birthday was because he'd had the shinigami eyes since he was born.

"He had these eyes before he was born, which is why he called himself Beyond Birthday." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 95

Granted, in English, it probably would be more accurate to give his name as Before Birthday, rather than Beyond, particularly if we go by the basis of this quote, but I'll accept that as being part of the difficulties of Japanese-to-English translation.

2) B is a fan of the manga Akazukin Chacha.

This probably seems like a fairly strange, unimportant thing to pick up on, but it will make more sense further on. For proof, I offer these two quotes directly from the novel, spoken by Beyond Birthday himself, who was disguised as private detective Rue Ryuzaki at the time, in a conversation with Naomi Misora.

First quote:

"Look here." Ryuzaki said, pointing to the right side of the shelf second from the bottom. There was an eleven-volume set of a popular Japanese comic book named Akazukin Chacha.

"What about it?"

"I love this manga."

"You do?"

"I do."" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 58

Second quote:

"So you must know this manga. Min Ayahana-sensei's legendary creation. I read every issue as it was serialised. Shiine is so adorable! I liked the anime just as much as the manga. Love and courage and hope — Holy Up!" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 58

Granted, it could just be the book's author, NisiOisin, inserting a reference in there and giggling up his sleeve, but bear with me.

3) B was born with the shinigami eyes, which inspired his alias Beyond Birthday.

This is more-or-less stated by Mello in the book:

"The eyes of a shinigami. These eyes could be given out by any shinigami in return for half the recipient's remaining life. They allowed the recipient to see people's names and remaining life. Normally contact with a shinigami was a prerequisite for acquisition, but Beyond Birthday had traded nothing — he had seen the world through those eyes since before he could remember." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 94

Mello professes not to have any clue about how Beyond Birthday could possibly have been born with the shinigami eyes, without making any sort of bargain with them beforehand. As shinigami are forbidden from loving or mating with humans, as stated as several points in the manga and anime with Ren and Misa, this rules out the possibility of one of Beyond's parents being a shinigami, thus making him half-shinigami. Sorry, fangirls.

4) B is mostly likely a mathematical genius.

This is a trait I had decided upon quite a while ago, while rereading Death Note: Another Note.

B being a mathematical genius is pretty well-implied in the novel by the complexity of the Los Angeles BB Murder Case. I won't go into the full details of the case here, as it is extremely, incredibly convoluted and complicated. For those of you who are curious, go out and re/read the book.

Some evidence of B's mathematical skills can be seen in this quote:

"I is one, II is two, III is three, IV is four, V is five, VI is six, VII is seven, VIII is eight, IX is nine, X is ten, L is fifty, C is one hundred, D is five hundred, M is one thousand. So these wounds can be read as 16, 59, 1423, 159, 13, 7, 582, 724, 1001, 40, 51, and 31." Ryuzaki said, reading the complicated numbers without a second's pause. Was he good with Roman numerals, or was his mind really working that quickly?" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 54

Another supporting piece of evidence towards B being good with maths is the simple fact that he'd had to live with the shinigami vision his whole life. In the anime and manga, we are able to see the numbers above certain character's heads, proclaiming their death dates. But this is largely unhelpful as, for the most part, those numbers seem incomprehensible, and impossible to solve into actual times.

I solved it.

The basic way to find out the death dates is to bear in mind that every number stands for a specific unit of time. Let's start with L's lifespan. For a brief moment in the anime, we are able to see L's lifespan as 7 5 23 1 36 2

I figured out that the numbers denote units of time, roughly in this order: days, hours, seconds, years, minutes, months.

So, L's lifespan reads as:

7 5 23 1 36 2

days hours seconds year/s minutes months

Misa saw L's death date in "Wager", episode 15 of the Death Note anime, which corresponds to the date May 28th, according to the anime timeline. On May 28th, L goes to Light's college and Misa finds out L's real name and death date through use of her shinigami eyes.

L's date of birth was October 31st, 1979. Theoretically, the numbers signifying the death date would probably count down from the moment a person is born, so they would have been showing how much life he had left by the time Misa saw his death date. The day Misa saw his death date (although it's probably more accurate to call it a "death countdown") was May 28th, 2004.

Now, all that's left to do, is to add 7 days, 5 hours, 23 seconds, 1 year, 36 minutes, and 2 months to the date May 28th, 2004, and we'll end up with L's date of death.

*cracks knuckles* Let's do this.

Date of Misa seeing L's death countdown: May 28th, 2004

L's death countdown: 7 days, 5 hours, 23 seconds, 1 year, 36 minutes, and 2 months

7 days

5 hours

23 seconds

1 year = 12 months

36 minutes

2 months

2 months + 12 months = 14 months

May, 2004 + 14 months = June, 2005 (Let's presume, for simplicity's sake, that this is June 1st, 2005)

June + 7 days = June 7th

5 hours, 23 seconds, 36 minutes.

So, in conclusion, the time L was supposed to die was originally going to be on June 7th, 2005, at 5:36. The only reason he didn't was that he was killed before his fated time by the shinigami Ren.

All I'm saying is, Beyond Birthday must be bloody brilliant at mathematics if he's able to convert shinigami to human time at first glance.

5) B is a fast runner.

This is implied in the scene in Death Note in which Beyond Birthday attempts to attack Naomi Misora to try and figure out if she has the brains and guts enough to be a worthy opponent for him. I'll let this quote speak for itself:

"He dodged again, but their fight was over. Misora had no intention of running, but her opponent did not seem to be as fiery. While Misora was getting to her feet, he spun around and ran away. Misora briefly considered chasing after him and took a couple of steps in that direction before abandoning the idea. She was pretty sure she could take him in a fight, but not in a footrace. She was not a strong runner." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 73

6) B probably has a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

This is implied in the novel, where it specifically states him being meticulous and finicky:

"If you didn't want to leave fingerprints, most people would wear gloves — or otherwise, wipe down anything they touched. But this guy… apparently he wiped clean every fingerprint in the house. At all three scenes. At first I wondered if he'd been to the victim's house so many times he had no idea what he'd touched and what he hadn't, but once I read that he had unscrewed the lightbulbs and wiped the sockets, it became a completely different story." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 26

"According to the files, like the lightbulb sockets, each page of every book had been wiped, removing all fingerprints — suggesting that the killer was extremely finicky." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 35

"Beyond Birthday was careful, and finicky…" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 159

For those of you who might not know much about obsessive-compulsive disorder:

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear or worry. People diagnosed with OCD typically undertake repetitive behaviours aimed at reducing the associated anxiety.

People with OCD frequently perform tasks, or "compulsions", to seek relief from obsession-related anxiety. A relatively vague obsession could involve a general sense of disarray or tension accompanied by a belief that life cannot proceed as normal while the imbalance remains.

Some people with OCD perform compulsive rituals because they inexplicably feel they have to, while others act compulsively so as to diminish the anxiety that stems from particular obsessive thoughts. The person might feel that these actions somehow either will prevent a dreaded event from occurring, or will push the event from their thoughts.

Some symptoms of OCD include:

Cleanliness/order (e.g. obsessive hand-washing or household cleaning to reduce an exaggerated fear of contamination; obsession with order of symmetry, with an overwhelming need to perform tasks or place objects in a particular place or pattern)

Counting/hoarding (e.g. repeatedly counting items or objects, such as clothes or pavement blocks when they are walking; hoarding items such as junk mail or old newspapers)

Safety/checking (e.g. obsessive fears about harm occurring to either themselves or others which can result in compulsive behaviours such as repeatedly checking if windows and doors are locked)

*squints* I think, all things considered, if B does have OCD, he most likely has an obsessive-compulsive disorder of the cleanliness/order variety, probably related to fingerprints. (Imagine having to wipe the place for fingerprints every time you came into a room!)

7) B has natural black hair

This one is said as such in the book:

"The main raised his head. And slowly stood up. Natural black hair. A plain shirt, faded jeans. Thin, and apparently fairly tall, but his back was curved, leaving his gaze two heads lower than Misora's." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 39

8) B gets up early at 6:00 am

As stated in the book:

"If only I could see the death of the world," Beyond Birthday murmured, on August 19th at 6 a.m., just as he woke up." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 95

9) B is thin and fairly tall

Stated:

"The main raised his head. And slowly stood up. Natural black hair. A plain shirt, faded jeans. Thin, and apparently fairly tall, but his back was curved, leaving his gaze two heads lower than Misora's." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 39

10) B knows how to drive.

This is something so obvious I tend to roll my eyes at anyone who misses it. It is more or less said after the scene in the book Death Note: Another Note when Beyond Birthday attempted to assault Naomi Misora in the alley:

"He left the alley and jumped into the sedan that he'd left on the main road with the engine running. He turned a few corners quickly and checked the back mirror then parked in the lot he had picked out in advance. The sedan was a stolen car and would not lead back to him, so he had planned to abandon it here. One eye on the security cameras, he left the parking lot on foot, leaving the mask, blackjack, and club behind in the car. He had shoved them all under the seat. Leaving no fingerprints." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 74

Not only does this say he knows how to drive, but it also reveals other valuable information too.

B knows how to drive, and is likely old enough to do so legally.

He knows how to steal a car. Whether or not that literally implies something like "B knows how to hotwire a car", I still think that's pretty valuable information, if you ever want to write a fanfic with B needing to drive someplace.

He apparently has enough resources (read: money) to acquire a mask, blackjack, and club.

As heavily implied in the attack scene with Misora, he apparently knows how to use a blackjack and club too. Story fodder, eh? Why and how does he know how to use a blackjack and club?

That last line "Leaving no fingerprints" pretty strongly supports the theory that B has some form of OCD, doesn't it? Originally I was prepared to write that theory off, thinking that B only wiped fingerprints off at the crime scenes, which would be pretty understandable. Considering he's never attempted any other crime (that we know of), he probably wanted to eliminate all possibility of capture (there's no kill like overkill). However, the fact that he wipes the fingerprints again here likely implies that this is an ongoing thing for him.

11) B has a wide knowledge of various medicines and drugs.

This can be expanded upon somewhat to say that B, as well as being knowledgeable about drugs and medicines, also has a fascination with anatomy and how the body generally works. That would be likely, bearing in mind that he was born with eyes that allow him to see people's names and dates of death; he naturally would have been very curious about how other people's bodies worked.

I'm basing this assumption on the first paragraph in the novel, as narrated by Mello:

"When Beyond Birthday committed his third murder, he attempted an experiment. Namely, to see if it were possible for a human being to die of internal haemorrhaging without rupturing any organs. Specifically, he drugged his victim so they fell unconscious, tied them up, and proceeded to beat their left arm thoroughly, being careful not to break the skin. He was hoping to bring about enough haemorrhaging to cause death from loss of blood, but this attempted ended, sadly, in failure." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 9

He seems fairly knowledgeable here, doesn't he? In direct contradiction of the raving, blood-soaked lunatic so many fanfics seem to portray him as, here he just seems efficient and clinical. I'm envisioning something like a scientist, doctor, or a surgeon as possible careers of his (in an AU fanfic, of course). Quite possibly he was into maths, medicine, or science as a kid.

12) B ran away from Wammy's House in May, 2002.

Stated in the novel. Read this quote:

"The current head of Wammy' House had told Quillish Wammy/Watari, who had told L about B's disappearance in May, and ever since L had been looking for him even as he solved his other cases. Wammy's House only knew him as B — they did not know his name, Beyond Birthday, so this search was near impossible, but L at last picked up his trail when the murders started." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 117

Why 2002? The Los Angeles BB Murder Case started on July 31st, 2002. So, Beyond ran away from Wammy's House in May, and started the murders in July, leaving him only one month (June) to get prepared.

Why do I mention that now? You'll see. It comes into play a bit further on.

13) B has no eye for judging people.

What this means is, I'm led to believe, that B cannot look at a person and tell their potential or character. As Mello says:

"Beyond Birthday, Rue Ryuzaki's one and only failure. The only failure the killer who never made mistakes had made. If he had just rated Naomi Misora bit higher, he would never have let that slip. But it was too late. He might have been born with the unbelievable eyes of the shinigami, but he had no eyes for judging people." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 169

From what I understand, B has no eye for judging people based on their talent, character, potential, or worth, and this leads him to underestimate them (leading to this final, fatal flaw, as mentioned here).

14) B cracks his neck as a habit

Much like Mello eating chocolate, Near fiddling with his hair, L's sweets, and Matt's smoking, Beyond Birthday cracks his neck as a habit.

"The assailant cracked his neck. And with his head still hanging at an odd angle, he walked on down the street." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 74

"Beyond Birthday cracked his neck, and began to move." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 96

15) B's mother died in a train crash, and his father got mugged and killed.

Said in the book.

"From the time he was born he knew the day his father would be attacked by a thug and die, knew the day his mother would die in a train crash. He had these eyes before he was born, which is why he called himself Beyond Birthday. Which is why a child as strange as he was taken in by our home, sweet home — Wammy's House. He was B. The second child in Wammy's House." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 94 & 95

16) B was raised in Wammy's House, the school for gifted potential successors for L in Winchester, England.

I feel this is common knowledge anyway, but in case you're after proof:

"…. which is why a child as strange as he was taken in by our home, sweet home — Wammy's House. He was B. The second child in Wammy's House." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 94 & 95

17) B's codename was Backup when he was in Wammy's House

Just as Nate River's codename was Near, Mihael Keehl's name was Mello, and Mail Jeevas's was Matt, Beyond Birthday's was Backup. Originally I had dismissed this as being pure Fanon but, lo and behold, it actually appears in the novel:

"The first child, A, was unable to handle the pressure of living up to L and took his own life, and the second child, Beyond Birthday, was brilliant and deviant. B stood for Backup." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 105

So much basic information about B's manner and personal life can be gleaned just from a casual flick through the book, I'm amazed most people don't seem to know anything about him.

Right, now onto my theories. This is the part I must warn you about Epileptic Trees; a lot of these theories I've tried to back up with evidence from the book, but, well, suspend belief anyway.

THEORIES

1) B has golden-brown eyes.

Right, now, first off the bat, and already we're getting a bit Epileptic Tree-ey. To all those who've read the book, you're all familiar with the illustration on the inside cover of Death Note: Another Note, aren't you?

*waits as readers quickly flip through the pages of their books*

To those of you who aren't, let me explain:

On the inside cover of Another Note, B and Naomi Misora are depicted from roughly the chest up, facing outwards, their backs separated from one another by stylised eyeball-and-cross motifs. One large eyeball which boasts an eye colour equivalent to Misora's in the illustration is looking directly at B's back, while two smaller golden-brown eyeballs are, in turn, staring at Naomi Misora.

We all know Death Note puts particular emphasis on symbolism, right? I can't think of anywhere where this is more apparent than the anime, where we have church bell noises coming out of nowhere, dramatic lighting, and cruel smirks that apparently go unnoticed. The theory here is that the two eyeballs on the inside cover of Another Note are directly representative of B and Naomi watching each other.

[Spoiler alert] Throughout the book, Naomi is suspicious of Rue Ryuzaki (Beyond Birthday), and watches him closely as he works through his deductions. It is implied by Mello at the end of the novel that Ryuzaki was doing much that same thing:

"And, as Ryuzaki, he had played the fool, observing Naomi Misora, occasionally guiding her skilfully, from the first scene to the third, making sure she gathered and deciphered all the clues and messages she had left behind… all the while testing her from this angle or that, seeing if she was worthy of serving as L's substitute…" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 160

My theory is, the same way that brown eyeball is symbolic of Naomi watching B, so is that pair of golden-brown eyes symbolic of B watching Naomi. Thus; B has golden-brown eyes.

2) B was born in Los Angeles

Why else would he go to Los Angeles to commit the crime?

If you scroll back up through the page, you may come across this:

Why 2002? The Los Angeles BB Murder Case started on July 31st, 2002. So, Beyond ran away from Wammy's House in May, and started the murders in July, leaving him only one month (June) to get prepared."

Between running away from Wammy's House in May, and the case's commencement in July, he only had one month to get from England to America, meaning he didn't have much time at all to familiarise himself with the area. And it is implied that he's pretty damn familiar with it. See these quotes:

"On July 31st, 2002, in the bedroom of a small house on Hollywood's Insist Street, a man named Believe Bridesmaid was killed… The second murder occurred four days later, on August 4th, 2002. This time it was downtown, in an apartment on Third Avenue, and the victim was a female named Quarter Queen… The third murder was in West L.A., in a townhouse near the Metrorail Glass Station, and the victim's name was Backyard Bottomslash." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 21 & 22

"In which case moving from Hollywood to downtown to the west side of town could be seen as an effort to confuse the investigation." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 29

Hollywood, to downtown LA, to West LA, all in something like four days. You'd have to be pretty darn familiar with a place to make those sorts of manoeuvres quickly — I know I've lived in Melbourne for 7 years, and I still haven't the faintest idea how to cover that much ground, and get to equivalent places that quickly.

This pretty much implies that B had to have grown up in Los Angeles, but there is another bit of proof. In the novel, B is described as having borrowed a house in West LA under the name of a dormant company:

"He was lying on a simple bed on the second floor of a prefabricated storehouse borrowed under the name of a dormant company, in the suburbs on the west side of town. One of many hidden lairs located across the country. Why West L.A? Because on that day, Naomi Misora, the suspended FBI agent fronting for the century's greatest detective, L, was going to be there." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 95

You have to have some connection to a company to borrow anything under its name. This is a bit of a wild leap, but I'd hazard a guess that one of his parents owned, or was at least part of, that company.

3) B's father was an American, and his mother was Japanese

B would have to have had an American parent and a Japanese one, since he grew up in West LA, and also knows so much about Japanese culture. See these quotes:

"Since Wara Ningyo were used for curses in Japan, there were people wildly theorising that the killer was Japanese, or someone with a deep-seated grudge against the Japanese, but especially since these Wara Ningyo were a particularly cheap variety that could be easily purchased in any toy shop (for about three dollars) no one theory had gained prominence." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 28

It is implied while he worked with Naomi Misora under the guise of Rue Ryuzaki, he was speaking fluently in Japanese to her all the time. This is proven, I think, by a conversation between Raye Penber and Naomi, after she asks Raye to research Ryuzaki's background information:

"There are no records of anyone named Rue Ryuzaki at all. The name Ryuzaki is reasonably common in your home country, but none of them are named Rue."

"Oh. He speaks Japanese like a native, so I thought he might be from there… so it's a fake name?"

"Presumably."" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 98

Also:

"You're nikkei, aren't you, Misora?"

"Nikkei…? My parents are both from Japan. My passport's American now, but I lived in Japan until after high school…" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 58

"Nikkei" is a term which generally refers to all people within the Japanese diaspora (Japanese people living outside of Japan). This could quite possibly be a hint that B's own mother was a part of the diaspora, which she probably would have been, if B had grown up in Los Angeles.

Oh, right, about that…

I think that B's father quite possibly was an alcoholic American, while his mother was Japanese. I'll admit, B's mother quite possibly could have been an alcoholic. I don't know all that much about Japanese culture when it comes to alcohol, but I have a feeling their honne-and-tatemae (equivalent to the western "saving face") would probably be a contributing factor in them not being as prone to alcoholism as Americans might be. *frowns* I don't know, I'm sort of plucking at straws here.

But, there is one more thing. I really don't like going so far into stereotypes, but from what I've personally witnessed, a vast majority of Asian families from most Asian cultures, be it Japan, China, or as far down south as Malaysia, tend to be quite strict when it comes to education.

Most serial killers are abandoned by alcoholic fathers, and raised by domineering mothers. If B's mother was Japanese, that could provide her with an explanation why she would be seen as "domineering", particularly if she had a genius son. *winces* I don't mean that Asian families are so strict they naturally raise serial killers… gaaah, okay, I'll shut up now.

So, B's father was an American alcoholic, and his mother was Japanese. It fits with the descriptions of their deaths, too:

"From the time he was born he knew the day his father would be attacked by a thug and die, knew the day his mother would die in a train crash." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 94 & 95

Getting attacked by a thug and killed, as his father did, in a back alley while stumbling home drunk seems a bit more plausible a death for a drunk than getting run over by a train, doesn't it?

The fact that Beyond knows about so many Japanese things (how to speak Japanese, manga (specifically Akazukin Chacha), anime, the nikkei diaspora, the significance of the Wara Ningyo, etc.) likely means that his mother was alive for longer than his father, thus her Japanese heritage would have rubbed off on him more. It fits with the typical serial killer profile, too: serial killers are often abandoned by alcoholic fathers, and raised by domineering mothers.

4) B is cold and detached, doesn't laugh easily, and gets excited only at the thought of L.

Oh, go away, yaoi fangirls *flaps hands at them* What I mean by this is pretty well summed-up by Mello in the novel:

"He knew the time of death of every person he met. I hardly need explain just what effect this would have on his personality. You might think they would hardly be useful without a Death Note, but that is simply not the case. The ability to see someone's remaining life is the ability to see death. Death, death, death. Beyond Birthday lived his life unceasingly reminded that all humans would eventually die." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 94

Can you imagine what effect this would have on him? Since he knows when everyone around him is going to die, his most likely train of reasoning would be something along the lines of: "People are going to die someday anyway, so why bother getting close to them?" By simply taking this line of thought into account, it stands to reason that B would have to purposely remain very aloof and detached to avoid people and people's affections, since he most likely doesn't want to get attached to them only to be devastated when they die. Thus, he doesn't laugh easily, and feels he has to practice it. See here:

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha! No, that's not right… I should laugh more like this… Kya ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah, that's better. Kya ha ha ha ha!" Laughing wildly, Beyond Birthday got out of bed. A harsh, cruel laugh, but an unnatural laugh, a phoney laugh. As if laughing was just another task he had to perform." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 95

Hmm? *blinks at the waiting yaoi fangirls* Oh, right, that last one.

In the novel Another Note, Beyond Birthday was practically in hysterics while mulling over his plans to surpass L:

"The thought was the only thing that made him laugh without needing to think about it." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 96

*shrugs* I'll admit, I'm a bit at loss here. Originally, yes, I did think that Beyond only got excited at the thought of surpassing L, but now I'm a bit bereft. Mello did say something like:

"The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases.

L.A.B.B. — L is After Beyond Birthday.

This reading is why I think this name is so much closer to the killer's intentions than the Wara Ningyo Murders, or the Los Angeles Serial Locked Room Killings. I wasn't talking about the names on a purely stylistic basis. Whether Beyond Birthday had put that much thought into it, I have no idea, but if he had a specific reason for choosing to commit his murders in L.A., then that is probably why. I am sure he had a much more personal obsession with L as an individual than Near or I ever did." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 105 & 106

There's also this pearl of knowledge, also from Mello:

"L was the goal of everyone in Wammy's House.

Every one of us wanted to surpass him.

To step over him.

M did, N did, and B did.

M as a challenger, N as a successor.

B as a criminal." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 117

And no, that is not Mello spontaneously breaking out into poetry. That is genuinely how some parts of the book are written.

*shrugs* To me, this gave me a pretty good idea of how all the Wammy's children see L. Not as a father, not as a brother, not as some sort of lover, but as a goal. They all want to attain that goal and surpass it, they all want to be the best they can possibly be, and that includes surpassing L. To my mind, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to imagine that, possibly, none of the kids at Wammy's even genuinely like L — they just see him as an attainable goal. Perhaps the goal of surpassing L in ability was seen as a major thing the kids were taught at Wammy's House?

It would make an interesting way of characterising B, Mello, and Near, eh?

5) (untitled)

This point won't make a lot of sense if someone hasn't seen the flashback in Death Note: Relight 2: L's Successors, where Near is listening to L via a computer with the other Wammy children.

To those of you who don't think that the boy standing up the front near the monitor wearing a white shirt and jeans in the flashback is B, I object.

We all know symbolism is a recurring motif throughout the Death Note series, right? When we have church bell noises coming out of nowhere, weirdly functioning pens, traumatised potato chips, and glowing red eyes, why can't B appear where many people say it is impossible not to?

I may be slightly biased here, but the animators of the Death Note anime could not have simply switched Matt out by accident, as the boy standing in his place is too drastically different just to have been a simple colouring mistake. I know a lot of you won't like to hear this, but it has to be said.

Matt isn't actually a very significant character.

In fact, I'd say he's fairly minor as far the Death Note chronology goes. Sure, he showed up at the end to help Mello, both with surveillance and the eventual kidnapping of Takada, but did he really have any impact beforehand? It baffles me why people go so far as to make Matt Mello's lover, or some such, because I genuinely do not see how that's supposed to work, even if he did have a bigger role in Canon. Does it occur to any of you that Matt just might not have anything to do with Mello before showing up to help him?

Here's what I think happened. Towards the end of the series, Mello knew he was outnumbered and outgunned, but he needed help to kidnap Takada. So, he contacts Wammy's House, and asks for a person most skilled at the type of work surveillance, stakeouts, and hijacking requires. No previous knowledge of Matt's existence, no contrived declarations of Twoo Luv making me squirm; he just needs a person skilled at the damn job.

I like this theory of mine, mainly because it poses a far more interesting picture of Matt than any I've encountered before. We know from Matt's role in the highjacking that he is skilled at it (teargassing, driving motorbikes, causing diversions, etc.). We know from Matt's role in the surveillance that he's very good with computers and staking out places for days on end. I personally think that the reason Matt is depicted as constantly playing video games is that his mind works too fast for anything else; he must have something to occupy him, both in terms of fast-twitch muscles, reaction time, and alertness. This might have just been something he took up during the stakeout so he could be prepared and be constantly kept alert.

Don't the implications of all that seem like prime fodder for a story? Why is Matt so skilled at kidnapping? Why is he so skilled at surveillance? Craft a fanfic around all that, and you've got an prime adventure on your hands.

*sighs* Matt, like B, is a woefully under-appreciated, and under-researched, character. He would be so cool if people actually took the time to look at what's in front of them and figure out what it all means, but no. Like B, people seem perfectly happy to relegate him to being Mello's sidekick or lover (or, in one memorable fanfic I once had the misfortune of reading, sex slave).

*puts up "Minor Characters Are People Too" sign*

Anyway, I digress. Where was I? Oh, right.

I think it's highly likely that, towards the end of the flashback, the boy standing up the front is B while he was still at Wammy's House.

I know some people say at the start of the Relight flashback the boy was blond, and use it to refute the fact. To them, I say: Use your eyes. By the end of the flashback, the blond boy who had previously been standing upright is clearly sitting down at the front. L had been talking to the children long enough for the other person (the dark-haired boy I think is B) to enter the room and come to the front.

The manga Death Note was originally published in 2003. The novel Death Note: Another Note by NisioIsin, was published in 2006. The Death Note anime came into being in 2007. The gap between the publication of Another Note and the release of the Death Note anime means the animators would have had more than enough time to read the book and include subtle hints about the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases in the anime. One of the more obvious hints, I think, is the time in episode 12 "Love", when Misa Amane's video as the Second Kira makes a references to the shinigami eyes. I love that episode, mainly because of this. The Second Kira's video made no reference to the eyes being specifically "shinigami", she just mentioned them as "eyes" (The exact line goes something like: "I know you don't have the eyes.") While Light stops and stares, L goes noticeably rigid, and stares at the screen. I believe he screams and falls out of his chair at one point, although that could be in another episode.

Either way, I think it's a pretty strong hint.

6) B learned of L's appearance from A.

This is going off what I've discussed above in the previous point about the flashback in Death Note: Relight 2: L's Successors. In the Wammy House, the blond boy who is the most likely candidate for A, sitting next to B, is wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, and is also sitting in a way uncannily similar to L. Earlier, when he'd been standing, he'd had an identical slouch. This proves to me that A had met L at one point and would be likely, considering that A was intended to be L's first successor.

The theory that A had met L is more-or-less heavily implied to be true, as Mello says in the book Another Note:

"We were raised at Wammy's House in England, Winchester, as L's successors, as L's alternatives, but that does not mean we knew anything more about L than anybody else. Including myself, only a few of us ever met L as L." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 104

It is basically said in the novel that B himself never met L, so it would be unlikely that B could have learned of L's appearance from anyone other than A:

"Or perhaps B simply wanted to meet L. Then he could use the eyes of the shinigami he'd been born with and see L's real name, see when L would die. He would be able to find out who L was." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 106

A had to have imitated L very strongly, and B would had to have imitated A closely, since the resemblance to L was so strong. As said in the novel:

"There were lines under his eyes so dark she wondered if they were actually done with makeup… He wore a long-sleeved white shirt and blue jeans. His bare feet were crammed directly into beaten sneakers. She had a strange sense of deja vu. Like she'd seen him or met him once before. There was something about him that reminded her of Rue Ryuzaki — of Beyond Birthday. But the resemblance was backward, like this was the original, and the other had been a copy." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 172

This says something about A, too, that he was able to mimic L so closely, or at least, it says something about the strain he was under. If he was taught to be like L so much he even had to dress like him, no wonder he ended up taking his own life.

… *winces* That was blunt. I apologise.

7) B is right-handed.

We all known L normally bites the fingernail of his right hand, because he's right-handed. In short, you generally use your dominant hand more than your less dominant one. When B is depicted on the cover illustration of Another Note, he is shown biting the fingernail of his right hand. Even if the illustration doesn't show B at all, as some people do claim, the chance of him being right handed is around 85%, since right-handers are so common.

8) B is not insane.

Troubled? Most likely, yes. Obsessively focused? Yes. Here's an insight into B's personality by the illustrious Mello that I wish more people would remember, since it provides such a clear picture of his motivations and personality:

"It all boiled down to the entire case being a challenge for L, and he had tried to kill himself, for that alone… but while murders could be dismissed as simple madness, committing suicide for such a stupid reason could not. Before he became like that, if only someone had stopped him… but that just shows how intent he was on his purpose. His own life was as meaningless as the lives of his victims, nothing but a tool in Beyond Birthday's quest to surpass L. It mattered more to him than his own life. Perhaps he was less intent than desperate. Nobody could have stopped him. That was his resolve. Which made him… so very strong." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 171

This, coupled by my earlier theories on how death affects his way of thinking about other people, provides more of a personality to B than any fanfic I've read featuring him.

The Los Angeles BB Murder case's complexity speaks for itself. If B really was insane, I highly doubt the plan could possibly have been so well-organised. If B was insane at the time of the Los Angeles murders, the plan wouldn't have gone nearly so smoothly; there would have been erratic changes of plan, sudden backtracking, loose ends that had to be picked up, etc.

Another clincher: From what I've researched, in the USA, if insanity is accepted as a cause of the crime, the culprit is sentenced to a mental hospital:

"And a few years after his arrest, on January 21st, 2004, serving a life sentence in a California prison, Beyond Birthday died of a mysterious heart attack." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 173.

The fact that Beyond Birthday was serving a life sentence in a Californian prison, and not a mental hospital, proves he isn't insane.

9) B is not a psychopath.

First of, I think a lot of people need to realise exactly what a "psychopath" is, as, from the looks of it, most people think it means slavering, gibbering lunatic.

It doesn't.

Psychopathy is traditionally defined as a personality disorder. Psychopaths generally lack empathy, disdain of close attachments, use cruelty to gain empowerment, have exploitative tendencies, and destructively seek excitement or gratification. Studies have shown a good portion of CEOs can be officially considered psychopaths; most psychopaths tend to seem very charming and suave. Think stereotypical cartoon villain.

The fact that Misora thinks of Ryuzaki like this…

"No absolutely not," she said, honestly. "Creepy and pathetic, and so suspicious that if I weren't on leave, I'd move to arrest him the moment I laid eyes on him. If we divided everyone in the world into those that would be better off dead and those that wouldn't, there's no doubt in my mind that he'd be the former. Such a complete freak that it amazes me he hasn't killed himself." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 56

… probably means she doesn't find him either charming or suave.

So, in short. Is B a psychopath? No.

Is Light a psychopath?

Oh, yes.

10) B is a highly skilled actor.

This is more-or-less directly implied in the novel by Beyond Birthday's acting as eccentric private detective Rue Ryuzaki.

"Naturally, his face and fingerprints would burn as well — he had always disguised himself with heavy makeup while he was with Misora, and he had never left a picture behind, so even if someone directly affiliated with Wammy's House inspected the body, they would have no idea that Rue Ryuzaki/Beyond Birthday was B from Wammy's House. He had left nothing to connect Beyond Birthday to B. He had no intention of hiding his own identity (he wanted them to find out he was Beyond Birthday, to find out he was another B.B.) but he had to hide that he was B from Wammy's House." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 162

11) B has an eidetic memory.

I suppose I should start by explaining what an eidetic memory is, first. An eidetic memory is incorrectly called "photographic memory" by the majority of people, and is the ability to recall images, sounds, and objects in high precision without using memory aids.

"Good memory. Didn't even need to see the picture again. Nearly a photographic memory — first the number of pages in the books, and now this." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 63

"Not even looking at the book. Seriously? Even at the speed he was reading, he'd managed to memorise the entire contents perfectly? Was that even possible?" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 63

Here are some more quotes which don't really fit into any individual theory, but act more as a general personality indicator for Beyond Birthday:

"Beyond Birthday had the eyes of a shinigami congenitally. It was not particularly difficult for him to track down people with the initials B.B. or to find people who were fated to die on a certain day at a certain time. Killing people was, for him, normal. Killing people who were fated to die anyway was no effort at all." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 94.

And, in a conversation between Rue Ryuzaki (B) and Naomi Misora:

"I have never once been submissive. One of the few things I can boast about. I have never even been submissive to a traffic signal."

"You really should."

"Never."" Death Note: Another Note, pg. 82

Now, this one is particularly important:

"When Beyond Birthday went about committing this series of murders, he did not have any difficulty killing his victims. After all, the murders themselves were not his purpose, and he had no intention of expending undue effort on them." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 93

I'm hoping now writers will stop making fanfics about B having an excessive lust for gore. From the sounds of things, he could not have cared less about the murders; what mattered to him was his ultimate goal of creating a crime that L would never be able to solve. NOT the bloodshed. Alright?

Do you understand now? Gods, I swear, if I have to scream this one from the rooftops, so help me, I will. B hasn't the slightest interest in blood'n'guts beyond seemingly a medical interest in how the human body works. So, all of you writers who write fics about B practically rolling about in buckets of entrails, please stop it. Please, please, please. It's humiliating, it's degrading for such a fine character, and it is completely inaccurate to the Canon portrayal. Forget tweaking a few personality traits to fit a fanfic; what many writers seem to have done is fling all of B's previous characterisation out of a window.

*breathes heavily*

Now, now onto L and B's age. Yes. you read that right.

I warn you, what follows is probably more Epileptic Tree-ey than anything you've previously had to read in this fic. I won't be surprised at all if you decide that these theories aren't true. In fact, for now, I'll say they're not. While I think my previous theories about B have a high percentage of actually being correct, the following theories on L are more Fanon than anything else.

*shrugs* But hey, if all else fails, it might give you great ideas for a story.

L Lawliet was born in 1979, as clearly stated in How To Read 13. At eight years old, he solved the Winchester Mad Bombings case, prevented the outbreak of the World War III, and met Watari.

In fact, just read this interesting piece written by Mello:

"If I had space left over I had intended to carry right on into the other two stories I heard from L: the story of the detective war between the three greatest detectives, all solving that infamous bio-terror case, with guest appearances by the last of the alphabet, the first X to the first Z from Wammy's House; and the story of how the world's greatest invention, Quillish Wammy, aka Watari, had first met L, then about eight years old — the case that gave birth to the century's greatest detective, the Winchester Mad Bombings that occurred just after the third World War." Death Note: Another Note, page 170.

*rubs head* Damn, I can feel the plotbunnies developing already.

L Lawliet first met Quillish Wammy at about eight years old and, presumably, was sent to Wammy's House in the same year. It is shown in one of the Death Note oneshots that, prior to L's arrival, Wammy's House was just an ordinary orphanage. This implies that L's parents were killed in 1986, when L was eight years old, and he got sent to the orphanage.

L himself said in the manga, right before he and Light began the infamous tennis match, that he had lived in England for five years, presumably referring to his time in Wammy's House. He obviously couldn't have been born in England, as he arrived at Wammy's House at age eight — had he been born in England and arrived at Wammy's at eight years old, it would contradict the fact that L only stayed in England for five years.

Okay, now, bring on the Epileptic Trees.

L Lawliet's name sounds French, n'est-ce pas? My conclusion is that L was born and raised in France until age eight, when he was brought to the orphanage in England. I think this is reasonably supported by the fact L has ties to a French conman Aiber (Thierry Morrello), and is also fluent in French, as shown in the movie L: Change The World. But then again, I could just be grasping at straws.

If eight year old L arrived at Wammy's House in the year 1986 and stayed there for 5 years, he would have left the orphanage in 1992, probably to pursue his career as a detective, since he'd already amassed a reputation from the Winchester Mad Bombings case. It is well-known throughout the Death Note fandom that once L left, the goal of Wammy's House became to find a successor for L. It would be safe to assume that A and B (Beyond Birthday) arrived that very year, 1992.

Read this amazing piece from Mello. *rubs head* The plotbunnies are multiplying rapidly.

"Even I know nothing about L before he met Watari — Quillish Wammy, the ingenious inventor who founded Wammy's House. But even so, I know how Watari felt. Looking at L's incredible talents from the perspective of an inventor — of course he wanted to make a copy, of course he wanted to create a backup. Anyone would feel the same. As I have already explained, L never appeared in public. L knew that his own death would increase the crime rate all over the world by a few dozen percentage points. But what if they could copy him? What if they could make a backup?

That was us.

L's children, gathered from all corners of the world.

Children gathered together, never told each other's names.

But even for a genius like Watari, creating a fake L was easier said than done. Even for Near and I, who were said to be the closest to L… the more we tried to be like him, the closer we got, the farther away he was, like chasing a mirage. So I hardly need to tell you what it was like when Wammy's House was first founded, when he was still experimenting. The first child, A, was unable to handle the pressure of living up to L and took his own life, and the second child, Beyond Birthday, was brilliant and deviant,

B stood for Backup.

But B tried to surpass L, not become him… no, that might not be right. I have no way of knowing the inner workings of his mind. He… their generation was not the fourth generation, with Near and I, all the children bound only to the one with the serial L. They were prototypes, never even given the L code, expected to fail. I prefer to refrain from idle speculation based on my own experiences, but, well, Beyond Birthday may have thought something like this: As long as there was L, B would never be L. As long as the original existed, the copy was always a copy." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 105

A and B were at Wammy's House at a time period from 1992 to 2002, the year when Beyond Birthday ran away to commit the Los Angeles murders. There is a ten year gap between the two dates, when the "first generation" stayed at Wammy's House.

If we detract one year for every generation:

The first generation, A and B, would have stayed from 1992 to 2002, for ten years.

The second generation would have stayed from 1994 to 2003, for nine years.

The third generation would have stayed from 1996 to 2004, eight years.

The fourth generation, Mello and Near, would have stayed from 1997 to 2004, seven years.

This would make Mello eight years old when he'd arrived at the orphanage, and Near six years old, if you calculated it by their birth dates.

If L was 22 years old in 2002, B could not have been younger than a teenager when he ran away from Wammy's House, since he was able to copy L's appearance so well. This wouldn't have been possibly if he hadn't hit puberty. For males, puberty normally begins at around 12 years old and, on average, has completed its "dramatic" stages by about 26. It is unlikely, then, that B was below the age of 15 when the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases began.

So, we've ruled out anything below 15 years old for B's age. If we bear in mind how B had a license to drive and become a private detective in the novel, he obviously would've had to be of legal driving and working age. In Los Angeles, California, the legal driving age is 17 years old. It appears that, statewide across America, the legal working age is above 18 years old. Therefore, B would have to be either 19, 20, or 21 during the time the LABB Murder Cases took place. As it is unlikely B, being L's successor, would be older than the person he's succeeding, we can also rule out anything above 22, which was L's age at the time.

Personally, I think B's age is 20, at least at the time of the murder case. We know B likes his symbolism, with the Wara Ningyo dolls a case in point, and being 20 years old could be quite symbolic of him being second to L, as 2 is the first digit. 20 = 2 = 2nd.

So, for the purposes of this theory, B was 20 in 2002. So if we subtract 2002-20, the resulting number, and thus his birth year, would be 1982. If B was born in 1982, it would make him 10 years old when he arrived at Wammy's House in 1992, 15 years old when Mello and Near arrived in 1997, and 20 years old at the time of the murder case in Los Angeles in 2002.

To finish, I leave you with this quote:

"Playing your enemy's game until he relaxes and lets a hint drop is a perfectly good strategy." — Rue Ryuzaki (Beyond Birthday), Death Note: Another Note, pg. 81