Encounter

Encounter (遭遇, Sōgū suru) is the ninth episode of the Death Note anime series.

Synopsis
The day following the camera incident, Light goes to get Ryuk apples, as his withdrawal has caused him to shove his left leg behind his right, wrap his right arm around his abdomen, and take his left arm to cock his head to the side, essentially forcing him to hop on his right foot. Light bides his time buying the apples, eventually feeding them to Ryuk, forcing him to also eat the core. Ryuk does not like the entire ordeal, and threatens to kill Light with his Death Note if he continues, but Light merely laughs it off. He then goes home and starts doing what he normally did as Kira.

Meanwhile, L reports to the task force that the videotapes have revealed nothing outwardly suspicious, but he remains adamant that something had to have happened in one of the households. To himself, he realizes he needs to take a direct approach to Kira, getting to know him on such a level that he will admit he is Kira. He instructs the task force to remove the cameras and wire taps, keeping his personal approach secret.

The next day, Ryuk discovers the missing cameras and wire taps. With this stress relieved of him, Light is able to go and take the test without any complications. However, as the test begins, the proctor notes that "Student 162" is sitting improperly in his chair, and goes to reprimand him for it. Light briefly glances back at the student, and notices he is staring at him and monitoring his movements. Student 162 is L in "disguise".

Meanwhile, in the Shinigami Realm, Ryuk has been gone for "ages". The other shinigami have since been going to the human realm themselves in order to see what he's up to, as the shinigami within the realm itself have no idea or desire to know who Light even is.

Three months pass, and Light has made a perfect score on the test, allowing him to go to To-oh University, much to Ryuk's excitement. As the highest scorer on the test, he is asked to read a speech in front of the whole freshman class. However, he has to share the speech with someone who also got a perfect score on the exam, and Light instantly recognizes him as the person who watched him during the exam—L. He is now operating under the alias of Hideki Ryuga, leading some (particularly one lovestruck girl) to confuse him with the idol of the same name. The other students quickly notice how opposite the two are despite being academically similar. On one hand, Light looks like he is groomed to be a genius; on the other, L looks like a "mad scientist", as one student puts it. After the two finish and make their way back, L starts whispering to Light that he knows who Light's father is and that he has interest in the police force, much to Light's confusion. When they sit back down, L rapidly reveals that he is L.

Speechless, Light simply says he respects L. L says to himself that he doubts Light is Kira. But Light swims thousands of thoughts through his head. He questions why L would directly reveal his alias, and that he can't simply kill L since even if he knew his real name he would already be known to the task force, provoking them to know it's him; and if he tried to write "Hideki Ryuga" in the Death Note, Light could picture the idol and accidentally kill him (which is why L chose the alias). This sends Light through a state of mental panic after realizing Raye Penber's suspects, including himself, are under suspicion, the whole ordeal of which Ryuk finds "interesting". After the ceremony, L amicably bids Light goodbye and leaves in a limo (to the others' shock) driven by Watari. Light returns home and curses himself out, as if he tries to kill this "fake" L he'll just be asking for trouble, and that this L is probably just a mole who can attack and defend, with L doing this to all the suspects. But after all that, Light soon realizes that L is doing this just to gain evidence, and now he's in a cat-and-mouse game with L. He happily accepts, and plans to use it to get L's real name, whereupon he'll kill him, even if it's with his bare hands.

Rules Learned

 * How to Use: V #4: A god of death cannot be killed even if stabbed in his heart with a knife or shot in the head with a gun. However, there are ways to kill a Shinigami, which are not generally known to the Shinigami.
 * How to Use: VI #1: The conditions for death will not be realized unless it is physically possible for that human or it is reasonably assumed to be carried out by that human.