- episode 37 -

"Yes, that's right. I am Kira," Light said, laughing half-maniacally as everyone else stared at him in horror. "I've been the catalyst to a higher world order, where Justice reins supreme. Kira carries out righteousness on an individual scale." He turned to face his audience. "Kira is the absolute version of fairness and natural selection. Good people survive; bad people die and thus won't pass on their genes to other humans. Because of me, crime has decreased significantly."
"But what about all of the good people that you've killed in order to protect your identity?" Matsuda asked in a shaky voice, half in disbelief.

Light narrowed his eyes. "Collateral damage for the greater good. As Kira, I can reform the world to a better place far faster than your task force or average police can. In fact, you should be praising me for all that I've done."

"I've had enough of this," Matsuda whispered, his eyes wide before he shut them tightly, holding the gun out in front of him with shaky hands. "It's over, Light!"

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three shots, enough to kill someone if they hit something major.

But when Matsuda opened his eyes, not only was Light not critically injured, but he wasn't even bleeding. Instead, he was grinning.

"Matsuda, my dear idiotic Matsuda. I never thought that you'd be the one to try and kill me." In a calm movement, Light reached inside his jacket and pulled out a Death Note.

Everyone gasped. Even Near looked confused, if only for a moment.

"But...but..." Matsuda murmured. "That has to be a fake. It can't be...it can't be real."

"I should have predicted this," Near muttered, looking bored. "How disappointing and yet thrillingly unpredictable. Well done."

"DON'T CONGRATULATE THE ENEMY, IDIOT!" Matsuda yelled before looking back at Near. "Wait, what do you mean? How is this possible?"

"Simple." Near shrugged. "You shot Light nineteen seconds ago and yet the bullets had no effect. Why? you ask yourself? Because bullets can only affect mortal, biotic beings."

"English, please."

"Light Yagami - Kira - is no longer human," Near summed up.

"Then...what is he?" Matsuda whispered, looking terrified.

Light's eyes lit up. "I couldn't wait for you to ask. I...am a shinigami."

"How...how is that-" Matsuda began, but he was shaking so hard that he couldn't finish.
"I've always been under the assumption that there are hidden rules to the Death Note, ones human eyes cannot see. Is this assumption correct?" Near asked, and Light smirked back.

"How very keen of you. Indeed, there are hidden rules. One of them, as you might have concluded by this point (except for that idiot Matsuda*implied), is that after the user of a Death Note has reached a metaphorical "quota," he or she becomes a shinigami."

"What kind of quota?" Matsuda asked.

Light looked proud of himself. "To complete the Death Note. In this case, that means filling out every single page. Once that occurs, the user is granted his or her own personal Death Note - and therefore becomes a shinigami." Light started his evil laugh yet again. "I'm no longer human, so none of you can even attempt to kill me, but I can most certainly kill all of you."

Light got out a pen and flipped open his handy dandy notebook to the first blank page. "Let's get started, shall we?"

***

So this is how it ends, huh? Near wondered. His name had already been written down; in seconds, he would die like all the rest, from a heart attack.

...however, Light had different plans in mind...

Near one minute later: "I like trains."

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