'This world is a rotten place…'
…
In the Realm of Shinigami:
'Day after day, same old same old…'
Ryuk, a god of death, grew tired of his mundane life as a shinigami.
In the current age, humanity has taken a step back from direct warfare. Conflict still persisted. But ever since the usage of nuclear weapons in the Second World War, issues have been resolved in a far more reserved and colder manner.
Healthcare and technology have also experienced qualitative changes in recent history, which have benefited humanity and made death a far more scarce phenomenon.
The amount of human life to reap was too abundant.
So, the gods of death became... unemployed.
Ryuk's fellow shinigami companions did nothing but gamble and bum around to pass the time in their near-eternal lives.
One of the gambling shinigami, wearing a reindeer skull mask, turned to Ryuk and said, "Ay, senior, why don't you come play some bone dice with us? We haven't seen you around a lot recently."
Another Shinigami beside him rolled his hollow eyes and said, "Yeah, brother. Have you been working or something? There's no way you're so broke that you need to syphon life spans from humans again, right?"
The shinigami with the reindeer skull mask continued, "Or did the boss finally punish you for secretly carrying two Death Notes, haha?!"
Ryuk lingered for a second, his glassy eyes reflecting the ruined world of the Shinigami. After the silence grew too eerie to bear, he finally said, "I was just thinking about the Death Note I recently lost."
The hollow-eyed shinigami asked nonchalantly while focusing on rolling his bone dice, "You lost it? Where did you lose it?" But as soon as he heard the next words coming out of Ryuk's mouth, a chill ran down his spine.
"The human realm"
…
'This world is a rotten place.' A student thought to himself while gazing out of the window of his classroom.
The student, Light Yagami, was an ideal teenager. He had straight A's, was the son of a respected police officer, was adept at sports, and was popular among his peers.
He was what every guy dreamed of becoming. But to Light himself, his life was… boring.
He was a born genius with a gifted body, so academic achievements and sports were never really a struggle for him. He also had a good upbringing and a well-off family. His life should've been perfect.
Yet, he felt hollow.
Due to societal pressure and his own expectations about himself, he was locked in a path without choice. Everything the world had to offer still left him longing for one unobtainable thing: Freedom.
'Freedom of being more than just a powerless cog in this wretched world.'
Light kept looking out of his classroom window. Lost in reverie and indifferent to the rest of the world.
But suddenly, a shadow fell upon his face. Blinking in confusion, he looked up at the sun. A falling object obstructed the light from reaching his pupils.
He narrowed his eyes and followed the descending object. As it came closer to the level of his classroom's window, a muffled flutter reverberated through the air.
Sound of chaotic pages in a book falling through the sky.
Thud! The book landed on the ground, creating a small cloud of sand from the impact.
Light leaned closer to the window and looked down at the book. It landed on its back, its cover empty and pitch black.
After observing the black book for a bit, he thought to himself, 'What idiot dropped his emo book from the roof?'.
Bop! While observing the mysterious book, a piece of chalk hit the side of Light's head.
"You are our star student,, Mr. Light Yagami. We can't afford you not to pay full attention to the lecture," Said the teacher at the front of the class.
Light didn't say a word back, but slowly turned his neck to look at the teacher, his gaze cold and piercing.
"*cough* So where was I? English? No, yeah. Science? Yes, let's continue. So, the multiverse theory is…." The teacher hurriedly returned to teaching.
After that, he didn't think about the mysterious emo book again and returned to his internal monologues.
…
The mundane school day passed as it always did: Uneventful, repetitive and easy.
As Light was walking back home with a nonchalant expression, he suddenly stopped.
In the periphery of his vision, he saw the same pitch-black book lying on the dusty ground.
'Did that emo idiot just forget about picking up his book? Why did no one take it away? Do the janitors even do their job anymore?'
He sighed, bent down, and picked up the book. Flipping it around, he swiped away the dust with his hand and read the title on the front cover.
'Death Note…'
He lingered for a moment, then opened the book to see its content. He skipped over the first black-coloured page—the one filled with the rules—mistaking it for the extension of the black cover.
'Huh? Is it all empty?' He frowned in disappointment. 'These damn emos are getting too damn lazy, they don't even take notes anymore!'
He closed the book and threw it into his school bag.
'Not going to let a perfectly good book go to waste.' With that, he went back to walking home.
While walking, he coldly grimaced and thought to himself, 'If I had the power, I wouldn't wait for a second to punish all these inconsiderate rakes. Emos, Terrorists, Murderers, all of them will face justice, MY absolute justice!'
…
After getting home and settling into his room, he sat down on his chair. After a while of mindlessly staring at his reflection in the mirror of his desk, he sighed and let curiosity get the better of him. He opened his school bag and took out the mysterious book inside.
'Why is it named Death Note, though? Even if it's a bad attempt at being edgy, it has to have some meaning behind it.'
He then starts flipping through the book again, this time in reverse—from the back to the front—because he had already checked it front to back.
This time, when he reached the last page, which was actually the first, he raised his left eyebrow strongly.
'Huh! How did I miss this special page the last time?'
He observed the overall page for a bit, admiring its jet-black background, and then read the first rule, which was written in a creepy white font at the top.
"The… Human… whose… name…" Halfway through reading the first rule, he abruptly stopped and rubbed his temples.
'Is this edgelord a foreigner? Why is this written in English? And especially in this weird, emo font. So pretentious…'
Then he thought of something else, 'Hold on, the name, why didn't the idiot owner of this book write his name in his own book? If I had known the kid, I might have returned the book to him…
'Upon reconsideration, it's obvious why he didn't write down his own name; it's because he was an idiot after all.'
He sighed, and suddenly had a genius idea:
'Well, according to the law of finders keepers, I am the rightful owner of this book now. Deciphering this goofy font is going to take way too long, so before I do that, I should make sure I don't repeat the previous owner's mistake, and…
'Write down my own name as the rightful new owner of Death Note'
…