Family

 Family (ファミリー, Famirī) is the third chapter in the Death Note manga. It is contained in Volume 1. The events in this chapter take place in episode 3 of the anime, Dealings (取引 Torihiki).

Plot
Ryuk is intrigued as to how relaxed Light is considering that every police force in the world is trying to track him down. When Light's younger sister, Sayu, comes to his room and asks for help with her homework, Ryuk informs Light of another rule:

“The human who touches the Death Note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, a god of death, even if the human is not the owner of the note.”

Meanwhile, L is wondering why Kira couldn’t kill him and deduces that Kira needs to know the faces of his victims before he can kill them. Through his computer, L listens to the investigative report being made by the detectives from the Japanese police. The report states that the majority of the deaths occur between 4 p.m. and 2 a.m., Japan time on weekdays while during the weekends, the deaths are scattered between 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. L orders that they investigate how the victims were reported in the Japanese media, namely if the reports included pictures or footage of the victims.

Back home, Light finishes tutoring his sister and they go downstairs for dinner when their father returns home. He is revealed to be Soichiro Yagami, the chief detective of the Japanese National Police Agency who was at the briefing with L.

During dinner, Soichiro mentions to his family that they suspect a student is involved in the case that he is handling at the moment (he does not mention the Kira case itself). The times of death would match that of a student's free time after leaving school for the day. Ryuk now realizes why Light is so relaxed: his father is in charge of the Kira investigation and will unwittingly supply Kira, his own son, with information on its progress. After dinner, Light returns to his room where he confirms with Ryuk if it’s true that he can specify the specific times of death.

Three days later, at the investigation headquarters, the detectives learn that 23 victims died the day before; each victim died exactly one hour apart from each other. Some detectives mention that this disproves the theory that Kira is a student, but L quickly dispels that. He tells them that this is a direct challenge from Kira who wanted to show them that not only does he have a way to obtain information about criminals but also that he can set the time of death to whenever he wants. He also privately concludes that Kira has access to police information.

After school, Light and Ryuk go to the ruins of an abandoned house. Light mentions that he has about 50 criminals in reserve for experimentation but faces a major dilemma: he has to keep the Death Note in such a way that nobody else can touch and see Ryuk, otherwise Kira may end up having to kill his own family!

Plot Points
Here are the major plot points that happen in this chapter:


 * Ryuk tells Light that if anyone else touches the Death Note, they will be able to see and hear him.
 * The NPA begins theorizing that Kira is a student, based on the fact that all of the killings take place between 4 PM and 2 AM during the weekdays and between 11 AM to midnight on weekends and holidays. Light counters this theory by causing the killings to take place every hour. From this, L learns that Kira can arrange the time of death, and that Kira has a way of obtaining police information.
 * A major twist is provided by showing that the chief of the Serial Killer Investigation Department of the Japanese police is Light Yagami's own father. This is pretty ironic because he's trying to capture a criminal who is indeed very near: his own son.
 * When Sachiko objects to discussing murder cases over dinner, Soichiro mentions that Light's insights have been useful in previous cases. Light's skills and usefulness as a potential detective are also mentioned by a receptionist at police HQ in chapter 12 "God" and L in chapter 19 "Humiliation".

Conception
The title of the chapter "Family" was chosen because it introduces Light's father and sister (Soichiro and Sayu). Also the chapter reveals that the main Kira investigator is Light's own father Soichiro. Ohba also said that "Family" was chosen because Light stated that he would be willing to kill members of his own family if he had to.

Trivia

 * Matsuda Touta first shows his tendency to state the obvious, when he declares that the crime rate around the world has gone down since Kira began his attacks.

Famille (chapitre)