Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The school bell just rang. Tens of students started running off outside the classroom. It was the last period. Only a few students took their time, and one of them is Light Yagami, the highest-scoring student of the entire school. The end of the school year is close by, and this is the final year of high school for Light. He carefully put his books inside his bag, and he slowly started walking towards the exit. 

While walking, he started thinking about how he’s going to deal with his final exams while still having enough time to watch his favorite conservative debaters. As great of a student Light is, he doesn’t have any interest in the subjects he is studying so hard and scoring so good at. He is mostly interested in debating, philosophy and politics; being a proud conservative. 

He carefully glared through the window with ambition in his heart. That’s when he spotted an odd-looking notebook laying in the grass next to the school. “Huh? Someone probably dropped their notebook,” he mumbles as he exits the school building. He walked towards the notebook and looked at the ground. The notebook is covered in huge letters that read “Life Note”. Light thought of the notebook as an interesting find, so he grabbed it. 

Opening the first page, his eyes lit up. “Rules? What is this thing?” His eyes slowly started moving down the notebook as he read the rules written. “The human whose name is written in this note shall become pregnant, if alive.” Light’s face filled with shock and lighter, “What kind of unique prank is this? Either way, this is interesting and I am in on it.” He went on to read the second rule, “This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name… Woah, his? A guy can’t get pregnant. What is this, some woke book? Oh, I am taking too much time here. I should get going. I’ll check this out when I get home.” He put the notebook under his shoulder and continued walking home. 

*

When Light distanced himself away from the crowd, he went on to inspect the notebook. “Only people who own a uterus can be impregnated.” He shook his head with a smirk. “So women? You don’t have to make it so complicated. Let’s see what else we’ve got here.” Upon seeing the fourth rule, Light’s eyes lit up. He started mildly shaking. “If the name of a person without a uterus is written within the next forty seconds of writing the first person’s name, then the second person’s sperm cell will be transferred inside the first person. If this is left empty, then the genetics will be transferred from a randomly picked person on Earth.” Light almost fell into laughter. “This is genius. Hilariously made. I wonder who this was intended for, but it doesn't matter,” he held the notebook tightly as he walked through his quiet neighborhood. After arriving at his door, he went inside without knocking, dashing straight towards his room upstairs and locking the door. 

He immediately sat on his desk and turned on his lamp. He immediately opened the notebook, but noticed that there is one more rule he forgot to read. “The fetus can be killed at any time by crossing out the mother’s name. If anyone else who doesn’t own the Life Note tries to abort the fetus, they will end up in failure.” A massive smirk appeared on the face of Light. “Well, let’s try this to see what kind of prank they are plotting on me.”

Chapter Text

Light dramatically turned the notebook to the first empty page, skipping an entire page designated for rules. “I’ll read those later” he mumbled to himself. He took out his pen, and started thinking about who he should write first. But then he remembered something. This notebook is most likely just an insane prank. The first person he could think of is a girl from his class that recently had an abortion. Her name is Kyouka Ueno. She didn’t think things through while being intimate with her boyfriend, and she ended up getting pregnant. The moment Light put her name in the Life Note, he didn’t think of anything. He was just giggling and laughing. This is all a joke obviously, right? “I’m just going to write this name, and throw this book somewhere near the school so people can find it and joke about it. I am not going to put anyone as the father, so I don’t create trouble for myself.” 

When Light decided to go to sleep, he remembered that there was another page of rules he forgot to read. He stood up and sat at his desk. “If a brief description is provided in the span of forty seconds, the child and its properties can be modified as the writer wants, as well as the duration of the pregnancy.” This gave Light excitement. He went on to read more. “If the duration of pregnancy is not written next to the mothers name within the first forty seconds, then the pregnancy will last only eight hours, with a completely functional child being born out of it.” This shocked Light. “That short? Wow. What a unique joke. It somehow made itself an item that could help me fulfill my deepest goal. This is psychological. I’m starting to doubt this was made by a regular teenager.”

Tomorrow morning, Light grabbed the notebook and took it with him to school. He plans to drop it on the floor when nobody is looking. However, the atmosphere at school was pretty weird. “Light!” his classmate Jun shouted, “Something crazy happened. Kyouka got pregnant. Again. And she is currently giving birth. She probably hid her pregnancy for nine months. Everyone in school is talking about her. Poor girl.” Light slowly turned his eyes towards Jun. Deeply shocked, he stared at Jun dead in the eye. He didn’t know how to react, so he thought to himself, “What the hell? This can’t be a coincidence. She couldn’t have hid her pregnancy for nine months. No, this is because of my notebook. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe this is because of me.” He held tightly to his notebook, and hid it to make sure nobody knew. “Damn… Who would’ve thought?” he quietly answered to Jin, “I gotta go right now, preparing for class, see ya”

*

Upon arriving home, Light witnessed Sachiko Yagami, his mother, staring at the TV with a shocked expression. Next to her was Sayu Yagami, Light’s younger sister, who had a much more careless look, but nevertheless had the atmosphere of being weirded out. “Light, your father is on TV. Something supernatural happened. One girl from your school went through all the nine months of pregnancy in just a few hours. The baby turned out fine, incredibly. They didn’t know what they were dealing with, so they couldn’t abort it to protect her life. They didn’t think the baby would come out alive, after all. Such a sad thing to become a mother as a teenager.” Soichiro Yagami, Light’s father, is an excellent gynecologist, famous in the city for doing multiple jobs regarding pregnancy. One of those jobs is providing abortions, too. Journalists are interviewing him about the weird phenomenon, as he is the one who dealt with her. “This is unlike anything we’ve ever witnessed,” Soichiro said, “It was extremely dangerous for her, and we couldn’t do anything to help. She entered the hospital two hours before giving birth, but we calculated that her pregnancy lasted for 8 hours. The proof we have is that she only entered the last stage of pregnancy in the last hour, and her womb was gradually expanding. I am glad the girl's life was saved.” Light slowly started walking to his room. “At least she didn’t have to go through all the nine months, but she is facing the consequences of her actions,” he said aloud.

He went inside his room and locked the door. “That’s it! With my modification, I can make the babies immune to abortion! That way, all of the evil that abortions have caused will go away. I can create the world I have always wanted. A world highly more populated than it is right now. The bigger the population, the more people will work together. More scientists will arise. Society will flourish. All the people will compete more, and the quality of those that win will be excellent. I can create the world I’ve always dreamt about. With my ability to modify babies, I can also wipe out any disability. I can make all of them be as conventionally attractive as I am, by giving them my perfect genes. Someone has to do it. Someone with qualities, like me. I am going to pick women who are capable of being good mothers and who also have good genetics. I’ll create my perfect world, as I am the new creator,” Light opened his notebook and started writing the names of women he found on a public archive of women who did abortions, “How many Isaac Newtons have we lost due to abortion? How many Einsteins? No more, I will make society rise. No more will we try to avoid overpopulation. Overpopulation only leads to good. The more great minds, the more they will cooperate. Or compete, which will once again lead to good. So what if many of them die? There will be so many of them left. That is the point. There will always be more and more people that will drive society to a better place. Only good can be born out of this idea. People are so stupid, it’s insufferable. They don’t know what is good for society. I alone am the saviour of everyone’s stupidity and ignorance.” Next to every woman he wrote, he put himself as the father. He modified the babies to have no disabilities or illnesses whatsoever, and made them unable to be aborted. He also modified the child so that there is no way to know for sure that Light Yagami is the father, with no way to identify the DNA. That was his main code, which he will use for every single pregnancy. 

*

In a few days, people noticed that this isn’t a coincidental phenomenon. Many of these pregnancies occurred. There is an international meeting regarding the hundreds of sudden pregnancies that Light wrote. The country representatives, police and detectives decided to treat this case as a serial rape. This is something magical and unearthly, so they decided they need to let the big detectives step in.

The world’s greatest detective, named L, stepped in. He is a detective that doesn’t reveal his name or face. He is completely anonymous. He is also really picky with the cases he tackles. He only deals with cases where there are 10 victims who lost their life or a one million dollar bounty. Either way, this case was interesting to him. 

The first thing L decided to do is have someone meet with Soichiro Yagami in his name. He wants Soichiro to work with him on this case, because Soichiro knows the most about the pregnancies that occur and is overworked at the hospital. For Soichiro, this was a weird offer. What could possibly a gynecologist do working with a detective? Still, L seemed like he knew what he was doing. After Soichiro gained L’s trust, the two met up. They discussed things that none of the other detectives and police knew. It was important that they give the rapist a name. As everyone would expect, most people were really against what Light was doing. Yet they naturally gave him a name, through all the talk surrounding him. It is Purega, from the shortened word of “pregnant”.

Chapter Text

Soichiro Yagami and L were contemplating whether they should publicly announce their rivalry with Purega. They could even create a way to lure him and reveal his location. Soichiro was really shocked at what L looks like. A skinny man with long, oily and messy hair. He has eyebags like he hasn’t slept in days, and wears a plain white shirt with long sleeves. He makes slow movements with his terrible posture. Basically, he looks like a guy who lives in his mom’s basement. ”Looking at some of the first victims, it is very likely that Purega is somewhere in this region,” said L, “I believe we should broadcast a trap and we need to do it region by region in Japan. And we must move quickly, because five hundred new babies have already been born due to Purega’s victims. But first of all, we need to broadcast to the entire world that a detective group against Purega has been formed, and we need to show everyone just how disgusting it looks when a baby is born in eight hours. That way everyone is aware of the situation. Mr. Yagami, I need you to help me collect people for this group. Find the most useful people you know, and I will decide whether I can trust them.” “Understood,” said Soichiro, “Your plan is the best thing we can do, I stand for it.”

Later, L returns to a private hotel he booked so he could stay in Japan. He decided to call Watari, his trusted assistant, to inform him about the situation and all the plans. “Purega has some sort of goal,” L quietly says as he stares at the city through a massive window, “They seem to try to create as many babies as possible. I know that Purega is a real person. I am 100% sure. I studied the patterns enough. Despite that, only a human being can be this disgusting. All these babies share a few characteristics. They are all completely healthy. They all look similar, too. Whenever we try to test the baby’s DNA, it’s like a part of it is deleted. Only the birth-giver’s DNA matches. Purega seems like they want to give birth to an entire new society of humans that, in his eyes, have perfect genes. Perfectly healthy, conventionally attractive, intelligent. And he tries to achieve that with overpopulation. It’s like he knows what happens when overpopulation occurs, but he still doesn’t care and wants to do it anyway. That’s pathetic. There is no point in bringing more humans into this world. It’s rotten to its core. Overpopulation is an entirely different story of a problem. The world is rotten because people like Purega exist. People who are childish like him. And like me. Even though our beliefs are pure opposites, we are one of a kind.”

*

In order to test whether he is a real person, L set off a trap. He made up a story about a woman named Linda Tailor who had three abortions in the last year, and then he broadcast her on live TV, speaking of her as a superhuman. It was an infertile woman who volunteered. Light is able to impregnate people who are infertile. He fell for the trap, and now L knows for sure that Purega is a real person. This was also the perfect time to publicly announce the rivalry between L and Purega. When Light wrote Linda’s name in the Life Note, people noticed her womb expanding and rushed her to the hospital. The broadcasting switched to L’s speakers. “Very well. It seems Purega is a real person. And he lives in Kanto in Japan, because that was the only region this was broadcast in. Of course, I already knew all of this from the people who have fallen victim to you, but I just had to double check. I can see right through you. I see you hate abortions. I see you want to bring as many humans as possible into this world. That disgusts me. You will not win. No human will enter this world anymore, especially not through your serial rape. You are nothing but a rapist. I will deliver justice.” 

Upon hearing this, Light got filled with rage. “Me? A rapist? Oh, you don’t know anything. You have no idea how wrong your entire ideology is. I don’t care about your judgments, and I won’t care. I know my actions lead to good. I can clearly see your hatred spread. You are just a misanthrope. Everyone wants descendants. I am making this world a happier place. They will all be healthy and beautiful. All of my children. And they are not just my children. I share them with the women I write in the Life Note. I will make their life more meaningful. Your wokeness is bringing hatred into this once pure world. That is why I only write the names of women who had abortions, by finding medical records of abortions in Japan and every state where abortion is legal. Murdering babies is only bringing us away from the ultimate goal that you are not aware of. A goal where society rises, and many people live beautiful lives. But no, you want everything gone. Your hatred is spilling so much that, if nothing is perfect right now, you want to avoid it completely. I love life more than you!” He noticed he was losing control of himself in his madness, so he stopped. ”L never said he hates humans. He just wants to respect the woman’s choice in having a baby, right? I still think that is wrong, since I believe every woman wants to have a baby,” thoughts are going through Light’s head. L never heard this entire monologue that Light yelled at his TV. 

After ending the speech and finishing with the announcement, L went on to research the first victim of Purega, Kyouka Ueno. He decides to explore all the information about her school, the Daikoku Private Academy.

“This is an interesting school. Not many people would know about her if she’s in a private school. She had an abortion once, which makes a little more sense. Purega is a cruel anti-abortion protester. That poor girl managed to save herself from pregnancy in this misogynistic society we live in, and Purega decided to give her that disgusting punishment. Abortions barely got legalized in Japan as of now, but the new government is close to changing that law once again. It seems they won’t need to do that, now that Purega is unleashed. Mr Yagami told me he used to illegally provide abortion and healthcare before it was legalized in Japan. I respect him a lot for it. He truly is a man with strong character, which is needed for this investigation.” L continued exploring, and he stumbled upon a youtube channel of the Daikoku Private Academy where live debates inside the school were posted. He decided to look into it. “Oh, would you look at that? It’s Mr Yagami’s son. He seems to be a skilled debater. He is always on the conservative side though. Awh, well that’s a shame. He clicks on one of the videos. The thesis is “Abortions should be legalized and provided.” L smirks, “This should be interesting, I might get some leads out of this.” 

L started skipping through the video to analyze it. “I’m starting to believe that you just don’t want babies to be born. It’s just your hatred slipping out,” said Light in the debate. His opponent, a shy girl with pink hair, jumped, “No! That’s not my ideology. I just prioritize the choice of a woman to take care of someone. You are the one that is overly obsessed with false pureness!” L rolled his eyes, “No, none of these abortion rights debaters are radical enough. It is not about the rights of the mother. With that mindset, none of us will ever defeat anti-abortion protesters. It is solely because humans shouldn’t be born anymore. We’ve all witnessed this life. An antinatalist view is the only way to be happy in this society. The happiness of the mother is a bonus. The more fetuses we abort, the more lives of suffering we will prevent. It is because in this world you always suffer. You are either bored or you want something. As my good teacher Arthur Schopenhauer told me,” L turns towards his bookshelf, and then turns back towards his computer, "existence is suffering that we are unwillingly put in, and all we can do is avoid more people falling into it.” 

*

L watched Light debate the entire night. Light particularly caught his attention. “What an interesting kid… Oh! I almost forgot. I need to call the few agents Mr Yagami invited to check if they are ready to help with the investigation.

“Light Yagami… I will find a way to approach him. He is definitely something special.” 

Meanwhile, Light was preparing for his final exams. But then, a thought struck him, “Is it safe for me to debate as a conservative anymore? That will give me similarities with Purega. Eh, I guess I could do some reverse psychology and not care. However, my father started working with L. I am already dangerously close to him. But at least now I can get information about the Purega investigation.”

Suddenly, an eerie shadow appeared over Light’s room. Light turned around and saw a huge, mythical creature in the shape of a woman. She was floating in the air, holding a trident. She wore a white dress with a golden belt, and she had horns in her hair. “What the hell?” screamed Light while falling off his chair. “Fear not, I won’t hurt you. The notebook you use was mine. I dropped it from the clouds, where I live. My name is Ilya, and I am a goddess of childbirth.” Light stood up, “You want your notebook back? I understand. Ilya stood in place for a second, “I don’t need it, it is just yours now. I am here to give you company, to be a spectator of the way you use the notebook. You see, it’s really boring up there in the Olympus Realm. I dropped the notebook and flew down in order to have some fun.” 

Light pulled out the notebook and continued writing the names of women who had abortions.”I will only do this for a short time, I need to prepare. My entrance exam for the To-Oh university is in a week,” said Light, “By the way, is there anything else that I should know about this notebook?” “Ask me whatever and I’ll tell you,” said Ilya. “Hmmm,” Light ponders, “Is there any way for me to control the humans I give birth to after they are born?”