Target (chapter 7)

"Sorry, dude. I'm a Shinigami, so that isn't going to kill me."

- Ryuk

Target (標的, Hyōteki) is the seventh chapter of the Death Note manga series.

Plot
Light Yagami proceeds to a local bus stop where he joins a young girl named Yuri whom he has invited to spend the day at a local amusement park. Ryuk, who can only be seen by Light, is with him. Ryuk wonders what a date with a girl has to do with finding out the name of the man who has recently been following Light. Light tells him that he wrote the details of his plan in the Death Note, but Ryuk admits to not reading them: It's more fun to watch events unfold rather than knowing what is going to happen in advance.

The man who has been following Light for the last couple of days is still shadowing him. As far as he can make out, the son of Soichiro Yagami, the head of the Kira Task Force, is just a normal teenager attending school and having dates with girls. There is nothing suspicious about him. The man decides just to follow him for the rest of the day and then pass on to another family suspected of obtaining leaked information from the Task Force.

Light and Yuri get on the bus and take some seats towards the back. The man takes a seat behind them. The two teenagers chat about school and their plans for university. The bus, which includes several other passengers, proceeds on its route. At another stop a man gets on board and Light recognizes him as Kiichiro Osoreda, a violent drug addict whose name Light wrote in the Death Note earlier this morning!

Osoreda suddenly takes out a gun and announces that the bus is being hijacked! He then orders the driver to use his on-board phone in order to contact the amusement park for which the bus is headed. Taking the phone, Osoreda demands that all the takings from the previous day be delivered to him or the passengers will be killed!

The passengers are trembling, including Yuri. Light then passes her a handwritten note which can also be seen by the man behind them. In the note, Light tells Yuri that his father has taught him how to handle armed men and he is going to try and disarm the hijacker. The man is appalled: What can a teenager do against such a dangerous man?

The bus is still in motion so it is possible to talk in low voices which are covered by the noise of the engine. The man leans forward and whispers to Light to let him handle the hijacker. Noting that the man has an accent, Light asks if he is foreign and the man confirms that he is American of Japanese descent.

Light expresses suspicion of the man, suggesting that he is an accomplice of the hijacker who is looking out for any attempts by the passengers to interfere. He asks the man for proof of his sincerity.

The man has been warned about giving away his identity but decides that Light cannot be Kira or else the hijacker would already have died of a heart attack. He therefore discreetly hands to Light a badge identifying him as Special Agent Raye Penber of the American FBI!

Light agrees to let him handle the hijacker. Penber knows from the news that the man is extremely dangerous, having already shot several people. Penber has a gun of his own and knows that he has to rescue the passengers. However, this could lead to an embarrassing situation with the local police as he will have to explain the presence of an unreported FBI agent in Japanese territory. He decides to claim that he is part of the FBI's own investigation into Kira since most of Kira's victims have been American criminals.

At that moment, Light drops a piece of paper on the floor. Osoreda sees this and, suspecting treachery, picks it up. However, it is just a note of the time and place to take the bus to the amusement park. Osoreda tosses it away. At that moment he suddenly screams in horror! He has just seen a monster!

The monster is Ryuk who is surprised that Osoreda can see him, but then realizes that the piece of paper he picked up was actually a piece of the Death Note! Osoreda is panicking and aiming his gun at the monster, but everyone else assumes that he is hallucinating due to drugs!

Osoreda fires his gun but the bullets simply go through Ryuk. Ryuk is amused: He told Light that he would always be with him while he owned the Death Note; that he could be seen by anyone who touched the Death Note; and that guns and other weapons have not effect on Shinigami. He is impressed by the way Light used all these elements in order to get the name of the man following him.

Having fired all his bullets at Ryuk with no effect, Osoreda dashes to the driver and orders him to stop the bus and open the doors. He then leaps out only to be hit by a car!

Light checks his watch. It is 11:45. Earlier, before leaving home, he wrote in the Death Note that Osoreda was to hijack the bus from a certain stop at 1131, demand a ransom from the amusement park, see a monster and fire all his bullets at it before leaving the bus and be killed by a car at 1145. Everything has gone according to plan!

Conception
Ohba chose the name "Target" in reference to Kiichiro Osoreda's attempts to shoot Ryuk and Light's aim of uncovering his follower's real name.

Chapter Guide
Objetivo Cible (chapitre 7) Kohde (luku 7)