If you're reading this letter, then I am no longer alive in this world. I want you to know that you have made me so proud with your strength of will, with your intelligence, with your wisdom. You have been the apple of my eye. Every choice you've made has made me so glad, filled my heart with light. I was overjoyed when you decided to follow in my footsteps, help your aging father in his work. I know I never spent enough time with you, Light. I was always at work, busy with some case or another. Despite that... I want you to remember me as Soichiro Yagami, loving father and husband, not as Soichiro Yagami, Chief of Police of Tokyo. Please take good care of Sachiko and Sayu for me. I have always wanted to spend more time with you and Sayu. Now, that chance has slipped away like sand between my fingers.
I am ashamed to admit that I believed L for the shortest moment of time when he named you as being Kira. I have tried to wipe the very idea from my heart and mind, but it has remained there, ineffaceable, like a scar, eating away at me. If you really are Kira, Light... Just remember that I am still your father, and I still love you, no matter what you may have done.
But you should realize this: God is not unforgiving. God is merciful. People should be given a chance to atone for their crimes. Kira...what Kira is doing is destroying their only chance at being forgiven. By their victims, their families...by humanity. A criminal can regret their actions. They can still contribute to society. I have seen far too many people I know in my heart to be innocent killed by Kira due to false accusations and other people's lies. Not all criminals are beyond mercy. Please...remember these last words of mine before you write another name in that notebook of death. Remember who you were before all this, Light. Separate yourself from Kira. If you do not, it will consume you. There will be nothing left inside you except darkness. I do not want this to happen to you, Light. I love you. I always have. And I always will.
Your father,
Soichiro Yagami
