bray452

[bray452]

The Dilemma of Tanaka Minoru

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22566298 Summary: Minoru gains an aversion to touching money and a new problem...

How to get rid of the Death Note. Any human who uses the Death Note meets an unfortunate end of course. Major Spoilers for the new Death Note one-shot (created February 4th of 2020).

Ryuk knew he wasn’t supposed to go back to Minoru, but the teen was the only one in a long time he had so much fun with. It would be a shame to write his name down. All that amusement down the drain. All those apples he still hasn’t eaten rotting before his eyes.

Besides, if the kid was really as smart as Ryuk thought…

This would be no problem for one Minoru Tanaka.

Ryuk cackled and flew down into the ground. He approached the Tanaka house, coming out of the ground and into the living room. He saw Minoru preparing to leave, his life span quickly spinning down like a lotto machine ready to spit out the numbers of the gambler.

Ka-ching! Ryuk laughed.

Then he brought the Death Note up and down onto Minoru’s head with a thunk.

Minoru stumbled, whether it was from the force of Ryuk hitting him with the book or the memories doesn’t matter. What does matter at this moment to Minoru was the fact that Ryuk came back.

“I told you to never bother me again Ryuk,” Minoru grumbled and put his backpack on. “I thought I told you to give the Death Note to the president a month ago—”

“That’s the thing. You see…” Ryuk interrupted with a grin from ear to ear, “...The Shinigami King added a new rule I thought you’d like to know.” Ryuk waved the Death Note around before opening up to a new rule page.

“A human who buys or sells a Death Note will die…?” Minoru read aloud. “Doesn’t that mean I should already be dead? I sold it and haven’t died, or is it that the president will die now?”

Ryuk shook his head and closed the book. He held out his gangly hand.

Minoru’s eyes narrowed before he sighed, “Right right, you need an apple.”

It wasn’t hard for Minoru to grab one from the kitchen and toss it over to Ryuk.

“Now talk.”

Ryuk munched on the apple, licking his fingers. “Yes, I would have missed these,” he said between his chewing. He licked his teeth, now finished. “It applies that way now, but for you and the president guy. If he accepted the Death Note, he would have died. And when you accept the money…”

“Not remembering doesn’t make me immune to that does it?”

“Exactly.”

Minoru averted his eyes down towards the floor. He couldn't give up the Death Note again, but he can’t have Ryuk following him everywhere. He would also forget to not “accept” the money. A notebook that can only bring pain and suffering…

He thought he had the right answer last time, but what can he do now?

He can’t give it up. He can’t sell it. He has to keep it.

His plan failed failed failedfailedfailed.

Minoru took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. No time to panic now.

“Ryuk, does… does the rule only apply to when I obtain the money myself? What about my mom? What if I use a card to buy things? Online transactions? Can I touch it with gloves on—”

“You have a lot of questions don’t you Minoru? You’re going to need a lot of apples for that.”

Minoru wanted to scream, “How many apples do you want?”

Ryuk hummed, “Let’s see… an orchard.”

“You, what? An orchard?” Minoru was stunned, flabbergasted, but he should have known. “You’re asking that to test out the new rule, aren’t you?” So he’s a lab rat now, no—

A human sacrifice.

Ryuk just cackled, his chest heaving as he bent over in laughter. “Two years of apple withdrawals! Two years!”

Minoru grit his teeth and then relaxed his jaw. He needs to stay calm and collected. Calm and collected. Breathe in and out. He’ll be okay. He’ll think of something.

“Can you at least tell me if L knows about this?” Ryuk shrugged and answered, “Maybe, maybe not. The only person who knows the Death Note is not in the president’s possession is the president himself... as far as I know.”

Minoru sat down onto the couch, his head cradled in his hands. His heart pounded as he forced himself to think of anything, anything at all. What was the right answer?

He lifted his head up and set his hands down onto his thighs. In and out, in and out. Think think think! Think damn it!

Minoru needs more information, but how could he get it without a bunch of apples? “Maybe,” he started to say, “maybe I could just not—” “—Not use the notebook? That’s just asking me to kill you for being so boring.”

Minoru stared at the Shinigami. Is this what Kira had to go through? Is this why Kira started killing people? To just amuse this specter. No, Kira wanted to create a different system of justice. This probably just fueled the person behind the Kira mask even more, unlike Minoru who didn’t have that drive. He didn’t have a big dream to change the world before the notebook, and he didn’t want to even then.

He was just a teen who wanted to live comfortably... to have his dad be home for dinner. To have his mom not be worried about the rising price of everything. He didn’t want to worry about his friends not being able to get away from their problems. He wanted his peers to not be scared of the future. He didn’t want people to drown in their debts. If they misused their money, that wasn’t his fault. But he gave them the means to get out of their problems and their worries. Even if he didn’t remember, he knew we would have been happy and content before he died.

Now he has this burden to shoulder as the people—the country he did this for is happier than him as they celebrate this new Kira. He didn’t care if Ryuk gave the Death Note over to the president. He wouldn’t have been able to use it without repercussions since the situation was public. Minoru didn’t have to worry about the Death Note falling into another person’s hands that he didn’t know. If it did, it would be America’s fault.

Now he either has to either amuse Ryuk enough to not die or die and have the Death Note possibly be given to someone else.

What’s the right answer to his dilemma?