Ijemaru sat at his kitchen table in his apartment, eating a bowl of cereal before he left for work. He'd already had several occasions to test out his Shinigami eyes and he found their power... satisfying. Not only would he know the names of people just by looking at them, but he'd be able to tell instantly if someone was another Death Note user. It was an exhilarating feeling, having anyone and everyone's lives in your hands.

Ijemaru looked to his little T.V. and listened to the news anchor for a moment. "Several states in the U.S. have been quarantined for outbreaks of what doctors identify as the Bubonic Plague, including California, Montana and Main. Inhabitants deemed not to be infected have been evacuated. Needless to say, people are panicking. Since the black death in the 1347 killed around the world for three years, in some places wiping out more than 70% of the population, of course they would be. No one saw this recent outbreak coming and the world wonders: where will it hit next? " It switched to a female reporter. "Thank you John. Some people are speculating that this may actually be the work of another Kira, as the victims so far have only been criminals. But others are arguing that it's just dirtier in the prisons than other places. The police say they need more information before they can officially announce it as a Kira related incident." Ijemaru turned off the T.V.

"Looks like you're famous," said Zans.

"This is a problem..." Ijemaru muttered in reply.

"Whadaya mean?" Zans looked at him curiously.

"Plague is the only death note that kills using the black death. It even says so on the inside of the back cover. If anyone finds that out I'll be the only possible suspect--no matter how many other Kira's are out there. Since I've already started killing with the plague, I’m left with limited options... Zans, I have a question."

"Hm? What's that?"

"Does the binding of a death note possess the same qualities as the pages inside?"

"Yes. They're all a part of the death note."

"I see... Looks like I won't be bored when I get home from work today." He said, smiling mischievously.

---------------(after a long busy day of work)---------------------

"So come on," said Zans. "You said you had something interesting in mind. Tell me what is is."

"I've come to three decisions," Ijemaru said in reply, holding up three fingers for effect. "To help one along, I took this from work." he held up a leather book binding, a perfect match for the cover of his death note.

"Are you gonna switch the covers?" Zans asked.

"That's part of it," said Ijemaru. "I'm going to switch the bindings, but I'll copy the information from the real Death Note into a normal journal. I'll put the fake binding onto the journal, then I'll put the journal binding onto the real Death Note. Then I'll burn the real cover, and destroy it."

"You're gonna burn it?!" exclaimed Zans.

"Is there a problem?" Ijemaru asked in an almost intimidating way.

"You bet! When you're gone that'll be my death note again!"

"Ah, but right now it's entirely my property and you can do nothing to stop me, seeing as you have no death note of your own." Ijemaru tilted his head back and smiled. "Besides, this plan gives me lots of excuses. First, they'll see the fake Death Note and assume I'm the Kira killing with the plague, only to find out it's a fake. I can then say I broke into some confidential files in the paper's vaults, saw a picture of a real death note and copied it. That's not so hard to believe that there'd be a picture like that in there since the original Kira lived in Japan. Additionally, due to my occupation, I would easily have access to all the potentially Kira-related deaths, so I can use that to explain how I have all the victims and times of death written down." He smiled evilly. "And if they go to the vaults to check my alibis, I've already put some pictures of my own death note in there. That of course also proves that I went to the vaults within a reasonable time frame. And soon they'll find that the cover I used to make my copy of a death note also came from the paper's storage!" Ijemaru put a hand over his eyes to calm himself down a bit. "Of course, from then on, even if I've been proven innocent, I'll be the first to trigger suspicion. It'll be important to keep the real death note hidden some place safe." Ijemaru looked to Zans. "And that brings me to the second part of my plan."

"Which is?" Zans asked, still partly in shock at the brilliant plan this boy had thought up. Oh, he's very smart...

"I'm going to put several pages of normal paper in with the death note, at the front. There I'll style it like a notes journal; just the kind of thing an investigative reporter for a newspaper, like myself, would have. I'll have a hidden flap at the back of the book where I can hide whatever page of the death note I'm currently using, and after it's been completely filled up and the deaths on it have passed, I'll burn it. Then I'll simply slip a new page in it's place. I'll keep cryptic records of everyone I killed in my journal, for future reference, but I'll make sure no one could decipher them."

Zans blinked, still in awe of this child's intelligence and creativity. "So, what's the third thing you decided on?"

Ijemaru smiled and leaned back in his chair. "It wasn't an easy decision. And it makes me glad I started the outbreaks in America." He paused for a moment, as if to finalize the decision within himself. "I'm going to start killing criminals with heart attacks. But to ease into it, I'll have to make the outbreaks of plague peak and settle down, without raising anymore suspicion. That means infecting everyone who would have been near other infected people at a reasonable time. I'll have to kill around a hundred innocent people by the time this is over, and that pains me. But I have to make this just look like a freak natural accident.... So then, I'd better get to work with those first two decisions of mine."

Ijemaru worked till eleven completing his half journal half death note combo and his fake death note. Then he copied all of his previous victims in a cryptic way in his journal. For something like "John Martin 11 o'clock" he wrote "No leads on the murder of Johnny Cash. His mother almost ran into me the day before. I felt bad when I heard what happened. Case numbered: 1; 7-1-2-3-4, 2; 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-3-1-2, L. 3; 1, 5, N." The code might be suspicious, but many investigative reporters had their own unique filing systems to keep things confidential and organized. But the real kicker, what that the events described had really happened. This was how he'd code all of his records, also, they could be used as alibis later on.

He'd have to be careful in the way he did things from now on. Killing was a risky game, especially if you were a Kira. Ijemaru crawled into bed and relaxed. He'd love to see how the world evolved from here on out...