Beyond Birthday

Beyond Birthday (also known as Backup/B, BB) was the 2nd child taken in at Wammy's House, in an attempt to create a successor for L, and was the serial killer behind the Los Angeles BB Murder Case.

Beyond Birthday has not appeared in the manga, anime, or film series to date, but the BB Case was briefly alluded to in both manga and anime. He was born with Shinigami Eyes, which allowed him to see and know when exactly people around him would die, as well as knowing their full names. He uses this ability to pick his victims and kill them when they would have been destined to die. It is unknown how he could have possibly been born with the eyes, though Mello wonders if a Shinigami dropped its eyeballs to Earth (instead of a Death Note). Some say that Beyond Birthday is a cannibal, but this is only a rumour. The novel did not say anything about him eating off his victims' remains. Though, this could be true, information has yet to be revealed. During the investigation of the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases with Naomi Misora, he is described to have a jar filled with strawberry jam, in the victim's fridge. Similarly to L and his addiction for sweets, Beyond Birthday craves strawberry jam. He practices his laughter as well.



History
Little is known about B, though him and A (real name unknown) were the first two children in line to succeed L. The pressure of Wammy's proved to be too great, though, and A committed suicide, while B wound up running away at some point.

His whereabouts remained unknown from May 2002 to the beginning of the story, L having tracked cases around the world to search for him. Beyond Birthday came up with a plan to surpass L, as the "World's Greatest Criminal", giving him a case that he would make sure he couldn't solve. Some have confused him with L with just a more evil complex. Few believe he could be his brother.

Believe Bridesmaid
Beyond Birthday's first known victim was the freelance writer known as Believe Bridesmaid, whom he killed July 31st, 2002, after drugging and then asphyxiating him with a rope. Four Wara Ningyo (straw dolls) were left at the crime scene, and in post-mortem mutilation, Bridesmaid's chest had been slashed several times, the killer having taken the time to redress him as well. When looking at the autopsy photos, Naomi Misora found that the wounds were made to resemble letters (in actuality, a Roman Numeral code spelling out the name of the next victim).

Quarter Queen
The second murder happened four days later, on August 4th. The victim, Quarter Queen (a 13 year old girl), was also drugged before her death, the cause of which was blunt force trauma to her skull. Her eyes were also crushed in further post-mortem mutilation. Three Wara Ningyo were left at the scene of the crime.

Backyard Bottomslash
The third killing happened nine days after Quarter Queen's murder. Backyard Bottomslash was a 28 year old bank worker, who had also been drugged before her death, though her age fell inbetween the previous two victims' (44 and 13) Her death was caused from loss of blood, with her right leg and left arm hacked off. Two Wara Ningyo were found nailed to the walls in a similar manner to the other two cases.

Fate
On August 22nd, Naomi arrives at the place that the next BB murder will be committed at, and comes to realize that Rue Ryuuzaki, the mysterious private investigator she had been working with, isn't what he seems. After having figured out several clues, she finds that Ryuzaki is in fact Beyond Birthday, and that the final murder is actually his attempted suicide. She manages to stop B from burning himself to death, and arrests him.

Two years later, on January 21st 2004, Beyond Birthday dies of a heart attack in prison, presumably one of the many criminals killed by Kira, but due to the unknown nature of his Shinigami Eyes, could be the Death God that granted them.

Look-alikes
Throughout the novel, the reader is initially unaware that Rue Ryuzaki, whom Misora thought of as just some suspicious young man, is Beyond Birthday. Readers are led to believe that he is L in person. This is because of his mannerisms and description (black hair, dark bags beneath the eyes, bad posture, love for sweets, and sitting position). It is in fact BB pretending to be L, using his acting skills to pass as a copy of the L he possibly knew or heard about. He had obviously never seen L totally in person, given the fact that he did not know L's lifespan or real name. The undisguised Beyond Birthday is mentioned at points in the novel.

Due to his resemblance to L, it is unknown if the artwork featured in DN:Another Note is Beyond Birthday or L. Some fans believe it to be L - especially since he does not have red eyes, which the fans have begun to connect with Shinigami Eyes. However, it was mentioned in the manga that it is impossible for a human to see if another human has the eyes or not, making the eyes appear normal.

Others have pointed out that it is unlikely there would be two protagonists in the artwork, as opposed to the protagonist as well as the antagonist, but there is no way of knowing until it is either confirmed or denied by Tsugumi Ohba or Takeshi Obata.