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coddda · 3 months

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What would happen if Mikami would've found the death note instead??? And how would that affect L and light I NEED YOUR OPINIONS ON THISS😭

(tl;dr: "It's hard to say", but if you really want my absolute word vomit of a thought dump here you go:)

Ohhhh man those are Really hard questions to answer honestly, hmmm.

Death Note on its own has a Lot of constantly moving pieces, and trying to change up the scenarios demands a lot more than meets the eye. Like, A Lot.

For example with Mikami: While he is very similar to Light he also operates distinctly differently from him. Would he have made the Shinigami Eye Deal? The fact that he does in canon makes me believe it's pretty likely. Okay then how would that affect the story? How would that affect L's methods of investigation, since he would then likely figure out that Kira only needed a face to kill a person? How does this affect the plot when Misa comes into play? What are the consequences of him not having access to the information that Light had from his father's computer? How would he handle the FBI agents? Would he have encountered Naomi Misora??? Actually would the thing with the FBI agents even happen if Mikami doesn't have access to police information in the first place since L doesn't need to investigate the police????

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. While determining Mikami's movements throughout the first third-ish of the series would be difficult enough, it becomes nearly impossible by the time we get to where the Yotsuba Arc would be. I don't think Mikami would pull the same strings Light did to have the Death Note land in Yotsuba's hands, since it would be far too against his stricter code of judgement, and I don't know who he would give the Death Note to if he gave up his memories, assuming he'd be willing to, etc, so overall everything becomes. Kind of hard to determine!

Like. THERE'S A LOT TO COVER and honestly I'm not that good at answering for Mikami specifically because a) We only see Mikami for the last half of the series b) My knowledge on the manga is a bit rusty and I know that would be better for characterizing him than the anime. Also c) I'm. Really bad at making assumptions about characters LOL

I do think that the beginning of the Kira case would pan out roughly the same at the very least. Mikami picks up the Death Note and learns he can judge the people that he deems "evil" and begins killing people under his judgement code (which includes past criminals who no longer commit crimes, depending more on the idea of 'retribution' than deterring crime itself, basically it's different than Light's ideals but it's similar enough for the beginning events to occur) and he would likely still kill Lind L Tailor. I think he would make the Shinigami Eyes Trade, though when exactly I'm not sure, since it kind of depends on whenever Ryuk actually decides to tell him about it lol. Going forwards from there, though, like with the FBI agents? I'm not completely sure, and any one change to the main plot could end up changing Way more down the line.

As for how this change would affect Light and L, hmmm. I think, perhaps, Light would still hack into his father's computer, but this time with the intent to actually help in solving the case (especially since he helped solve a case in the past) while L would obviously still try to catch Kira as per usual.

Now I already know one of the big questions people are gonna ask is: Would Light and L still work together in person? Now that gets super complicated. Would L apply to Light's university to get closer to and keep an eye on him? No, he has a Kira to catch. Would L invite Light to taskforce headquarters after, say, he proves his ability by helping with the investigation? That's really hard to say as well. L allows Light to join the taskforce because a) He believes Light is Kira, and wants to keep a close eye on him, and b) If Light isn't Kira, then his abilities would be valuable to the investigation. This begs the question of if he would still invite Light without the former condition, which is arguably the more pressing reason for why he would invite him.

Yes they worked together during the Yostuba Arc to catch a different Kira than Light, but it was still under the very pressing assumption that Light was Kira, could be Kira again, and, if he was Kira, has a strong connection to the second Kira. The urgency of the case paired with Light Being Kira pushes them together, because Light Needs to find out more about L for his own survival and to kill him just as much as L needs to find out more about Light for his own survival and to catch him. Taking that factor away takes away the direct reasoning for them to make contact (since having Light as support for the case would be pretty secondary to him possibly being the Literal Culprit), and weakens the need for them to meet. Also L is very protective of his identity and only revealed it to the taskforce because they would not trust or follow him otherwise because the police did Not enjoy working with an unknown character whose methods they've deemed untrustworthy (using Lind L Tailor as basically a sacrifice, slipping up and getting twelve FBI agents killed) and support from the police, a pretty big and valuable asset to L, especially considering that he is not From Japan, was rapidly dwindling.

I just realized that the question also now stands about how Light would think of L as a person. Would he deeply disapprove of him for using Lind L Tailor like Soichiro does (*cough* You don't kill someone as a substitute *cough*)? I also mentioned earlier that Mikami might have likely made the eye trade, which would probably make L far more cautious about ever showing his face, which is another point deducted off of reasons to meet Light in person. I didn't even touch on the fact that L's need to assemble a small taskforce from the police was all part of Light's plan in the first place. Would Mikami have made this same plan and achieved it? It all gets very iffy and shaky when you not only remove their one, very important and very urgent motive for meeting one another, but introduce entirely new factors into the equation.

At the very least it's not like L Doesn't have Any reason to get closer to Light. Their reasoning and thought processes are very similar, and Light's deductions during the case would probably be valuable, but L also has various reasons Not to get closer (he doesn't need to keep an eye on him, he doesn't need him to draw in the Second Kira because he Isn't Kira, and then there's all the millions of new possibilities that come with Mikami being Kira, like the potential extra threat of the Shinigami Eyes earlier on) on top of his usual cautionary measures.

So. There are a lot of assumptions and "what if's" and "if x what about y's" and "well then if y what about z's" going on. It gets crazy. If I tried to go in-depth about what Mikami alone would do I'd be here for hours and even then my answer would boil down largely to "I'm not sure." (Also I don't trust my knowledge on him enough to make a definitive answer because, again, rusty knowledge)

As for how that would affect Light and L, with the assumption that things play out Mostly the same to canon (which is a very bold assumption already)? L pursues Mikami Teru, and also probably later on Misa Amane. Light pursues the Kira case as well with the information he can gain from his father's computer, and likely makes some breakthroughs similar to or exactly like L's. Perhaps he would tell Soichiro that he wants to help with the case, but Soichiro probably doesn't want to put Light's life in danger (remember, Soichiro wanted Light to stay focused in school so he could become a police officer, but Light being a prime suspect kind of got in the way of that). Also potentially because of Mikami, L has determined that Kira can kill with just a face. If he comes to this conclusion, then Light most likely will have also. Because of this he may be more understanding of the urgent need for privacy around his identity. Light may also be more trusting of L than the police, because he and L think the same way/have very similar reasoning, but may also disapprove of L himself for his less moral methods like his father. Likewise, L has no reason to spontaneously reveal himself to Light, because that would be completely unnecessary and dangerous. L and Light could collaborate with the case, but it would be at a distance I think. It could end up being like Naomi, where they work together but then separate after that. Overall, the drive for them to actually meet is massively weakened by Light not being Kira, but I still can't say anything definitively because there's just so much to take into consideration. Overall, them working together is certainly not impossible, but it wouldn't be to the same degree as it would be during, say, the Yostuba Arc.

Sorry this was basically a ramble of me going in circles when I basically could've just said "Uhh, yeah I don't know. It depends. Lol" and my attempts at explanation probably weren't very helpful but. Yeah those are my thoughts at least. It's so complicated, not only because of all the new factors you'd have to keep track of, but it also depends a lot on making assumptions about and filling in the gaps in characters (which is certainly not my strong suit LOL). I feel like it ends up coming down to an individual's read on the characters as well, and there are certainly bigger experts on these characters than me, but I hope my answer was able to give some kind of insight at least? If you think about it too hard the rabbit hole of possibilities gets Deep. Thank you for the ask anon, this was certainly very interesting to think about :)

#death note #asks #coda analyzes stuff #(or at least. I Tried to :') )#txt #ahhh sorry this is Definitely all over the place i am so very sleep deprived at the moment my brain is actively meltging #and this probably wasnt the answer you were looking for. but i tried to give my best answer at least #even a change as simple as “if x was kira instead” causes such Massive alterations to the plot #and its so hard to see how things would play differently if its anyone but light #i am also not an expert on teru mikami. i'm so sorry mikami likers if ive let you down forgive me i shouldve done my research #but if you do have thoughts of your own i'd also love to hear them...#listen man it gets crazy. it makes my head hurt. but like /pos. it's very fun to think about but Man does it get your brain thinking

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