“Being ignorant is a bliss. And being genius, is a curse.”

Light always got what she wanted. No, she wasn’t spoiled. But rather, way too clever for her own good. Opportunities threw themselves at her. And when, in the rare occasion, they didn’t, she would twist the world around her so they did.

Smart, popular, beautiful, ambitious, sporty- Light had it all. She was the definition of perfect.

But, like all perfect people, she expected the world around her to be just as good as her. She no longer desired to live in a twisted, corrupted, evil, world. A world where criminals went unpunished.

And as stated earlier, Light always got what she wanted. So if the world refused to change, she would force it to.

***

I struggled to climb to the top of my school, only to realize, once at the summit, that I'm the only one to have gotten so far. 

Boredom. Loneliness. Desire for a change- I feel them every day during class. 

But no. I can't let it show. The right way to act is to smile, be humble, offer help, nod encouragingly. 

Even if I'm dying on the inside. 

Good thing I can, at least, have a few crime cases to solve once I get home. 

A smile tugged at Light's lips. 

And my parents all wonder why I don't ever hang out with my friends. Pfft. I'm popular. 

But-

I have no friends. 

***

“Light! You realize the bell just rang, right?” Sakura rushed up to Light's desk and waved her hands wildly.

Light flinched, then regained her composure before standing up. "Sorry, I was just... thinking about something."

"Ooh, mysterious, just like Mello!" She giggled as they walked to their lockers.

Right. Mello, the guy from the other class, was her main rival in academics.

"By the way, Emiko and I were wondering if you would like to come to the mall with us. You know, they’re selling new Hideki Ryuga posters. Ahh, he’s so kawaii!” She squealed.

Hideki Ryuga? The pop idol her little sister was interested in? No way would she ever be stupid enough to waste time on something like that. She forced a pretty smile.

“Sorry, Sakura. I’m a bit busy right now, but maybe we can grab coffee together sometime soon,” Light said, as she carefully conveyed just the right amount of regret in her tone. She made her eyes crinkle a bit more, to seem slightly more sincere.

Her classmates bought the act. Like always. They cheerfully consolidated her and left the classroom towards a nearby mall, while Light headed in the opposite direction towards her home. Light immediately dropped her fake expression, and took on a calm smile- her standard expression.

That way, if anyone looked at her, they would see a happy innocent schoolgirl. Hopefully not an indifferent individual, beyond disappointed with the world.

She hummed a slow tune to herself, and purposely skipped in a cute attention-catching way, but stopped short when she stepped on a small black object.

A notebook?

Normally she wouldn’t have picked it up. But it was on school grounds, so maybe someone dropped it. She could give it back to it's owner, and maybe gain their favour. She carefully picked it up with her index finger and thumb, and flipped it over.

“Death Note” was scrawled on the front cover of the notebook, in a unique handwriting she had never seen before. Light frowned, was the notebook some new kind of marketing theme big companies had come up with? She would never have imagined anyone to buy something so cheesy and unbelievable. She flipped to the first page, to see if anyone’s name was written inside. But instead, she saw some kind of rule, written in what seemed like white chalk.

The human whose name is written in this note shall die…

She groaned internally. It just got worse. She continued to read, but only saw more instructions.

This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing…

No matter how bad the product was, it was surprisingly elaborately made. Light brushed her fingers across the front cover of the notebook.

"What's that?" A voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts, followed by loud crunching noises.

She didn't have to turn around to guess who it was. Mello and his chocolate bar. 

The tall blond leaned over her shoulder, in an attempt to catch a glimpse of what she was holding in her hands.

"Just some study notes," she calmly replied as she stuck the notebook into her bag and stood up, making sure to take a few steps backwards for space between her and Mello.

"Oh, really? Can I see them?" Mello raised his eyebrows. Light internally groaned. Dammit, why couldn’t Mello just accept her lies like all the other students?

Light turned around to face the blond, improvising on the spot. What defined Mello was his desire to become the best, and inability to admit someone was better.

"Sure! But I don’t think you really need to rely on my study notes to score higher… do you?”

Mello glared at her, “Whatever, of course I don’t. Go back to studying or something." he said. Shrugging, he took another bite of chocolate and walked away with a haughty turn on his heels.

Light knew he hated her for being smarter. She sighed, why couldn’t he just be more mature and let go of their so-called “rivalry”? It was obvious she was better. Anyhow, she still found his competitive attitude amusingly adorable.

Laughing to herself, she started to walk home.

But not without reminding herself to test the notebook's powers once she got back to her room.