Chapter 3: Lateralus
Kira is dead. I am Light Yagami but I am not Kira. Kira died the day I died and I haven't looked back on leaving him behind. He was me but not anymore. I don't care about him, in fact I hate him but I have to live with him if I want make this second life better. This new life is great l, and very enjoyable. I am spending every opportunity to make each minute the time of my life and it has become even better now that Hikari is born.
I am now 26 years old and I am married to Kiyomi Takada. She is a newscaster who went to my college. I killed her in my previous life. The Task Force was dangerously close to finding out that I was Kira so I wrote her name in my Death Note so she could burn all of the evidence. Ironically her death led to my demise, it was because Near outsmarted me. Now I thank him for outsmarting me. Takada is easy going and calm, the type of woman for me. We still live in Japan, however, I do still visit the Whammy House though now it is a once a year thing. The baby isn't too difficult to take care of.
Takada and I work different hours. She does news at the morning so I can take care of the baby at that time. When she comes home go to I work with the Task Force or with L in the afternoon and night. During the weekends, L and Watari come over to our house to stay. The day Hikari was born was amazing. Practically everyone I knew and loved was in the hospital that day from my friends, to my family, to the Task Force. The only people who weren't there were the Whammy Kids but it was great anyway. We had a big party after the baby was born. That was a moment that is precious to me and still is. It was a moment I was never able to experience in my previous life.
My parents Soichiro and Sachiko are especially happy to become grandparents. I am really happy that my father is now a grandfather, something that didn't happen in my previous life. If there is any person I didn't want dead in my past life, it was my father. I loved him, I cherished him, he was the reason I wanted to help the world in the first place. It was then that I was put into the situation of having to eliminate Mello. I wanted Matsuda to take the Shinigami Eye deal and take care of Mello, but my father insisted on doing it himself. I never wanted my father to take the deal but I couldn't hold myself back. It was what he wanted and I wanted to make him happy. When we invaded Mello's compound, my father held back writing Mello's name on the Death Note I was holding, despite me yelling for him to do it. After the assault, my father was taken to the hospital. The following day, he was on his death bed. I didn't want him to die. When I realized he was dying, I didn't want him to die in vain, so I begged him to write Mello's real name down before it was too late. He didn't do it and he died. As much as I was upset that I couldn't get Mello's name, I was devastated that my father. I loved my father and wanted him to live at least another 40 years, but he didn't. I tried to rationalize my father's death until the day I died, when I realized I had lost everything. I love my family and humanity as a whole. During my time as Kira, a death in my family was the last thing I wanted and sadly I ended up getting it.
If there is anything I have learned from my past life, it is that nobody should hold any judgment over others, even with good intention. I declared righteous judgment over others, the day I found out the power of the Death Note. When I discovered the power of that notebook, I thought it could be used for good. The problem is that nothing good comes out of using that notebook, it only causes despair and suffering. I wouldn't even trust an authority figure with it. I was so blinded by the early praise of Kira that I didn't realize how bad Kira was until it was too late. I couldn't accept any criticism about Kira and ended up killing anyone who disagreed. I ended up crossing a line when I killed Lind L. Taylor, a line I didn't realize I had crossed until the day I died. I held judgment over others, something that nobody should do. When I started killing criminals for the greater good, I became a dictator of sorts and not a benevolent one.
If there is one idea of Kira that I still believe in, it is that I want to make this world a better place. It is probably because I believed this before I became Kira. There may have been no wars and the crime rate may have dropped by 70% in my previous life, but I didn't make the world better, in fact I made it ten times worse. The world I made was oppressed, it wasn't the free world we live in. In my new life, I am making the world a better place. I am helping this world with the law, the only way we should be done. Besides being a police detective, I help out through charity, welfare and rebuilding. I help the world legally, the way it should be helped.
L has changed a lot as well. He is more active than he had been and he has made a huge diet change. Recently, he was diagnosed with diabetes and if he didn't change his health from all the sweets he was eating, he wouldn't make it to 40. Watari said that L's diet of just sugar would eventually catch up with him. L still eats sweets but only rarely. Watari traveled the world before he found Whammy House. He has been able to provide L with healthy cuisines from all over the planet. L eats foods ranging from Japanese, to Chinese, to Indian, to Mexican, to Caribbean. He is also being taught to cook himself, when he will eventually have to live on his own.L and I exercise pretty regularly. We play tennis a lot but L takes a mile run every morning and he has gotten a lot healthier. My health has improved as well. I have been tried some of Watari's sweets and they are very good, but I have decided to limit them to once a week. I have also improved my diet as well. I eat a lot less chips than I did in my previous life. Watari has also introduced me to using spices in my cooking. I have tried Chinese Mexican and Indian cuisine.
L is trying to find a woman to marry. I have taught him everything about social skills to help him find the love of his life. In fact I have taught the entire Whammy House more about social skills and how to express themselves better. In my past life, I used my social skills to convince people to believe my lies; I have never lied since the day I died. The only lie I ever told since was why I was so excited the day I woke up in this new life.
My father still works as a police officer but it is only part time now. He says he is getting too old for it and he only does it because to be around me. I insisted that he retire soon, he says that he is considering it. I am also planning on moving the England eventually, so I can be by the Whammy Kids more. Near and Mello say that they won't move out until L officially declare who will succeed him when he retires. I hear that Near and Mello do travel more, sometimes join L on his investigations, though Near is with him more often than Mello does though. When Mello isn't in the Whammy House, he has a wife and son in California; he insists that he will move back to England with his family eventually. Mello's real name is Mihael Keehl, a name I never found out in my previous life. Near's real name is Nate River. Nate River is much more expressive and kinder than he used to be as is Mihael Keehl. In my early trips to the Whammy House, I taught them to be kinder. Nate River doesn't plan on marrying though. He says that he likes being alone and hopes that can find a place to live on his own eventually. He does say that he is more than willing to succeed L.
Sayu has graduated from college early and plans on being chef for a Japanese Cuisine restaurant of the highest standard. She got through culinary fairly easily. The restaurant is also one of L and my favorites in Kanto as well and I would recommend it to everyone. My mother has more time now to work on gardening now that Sayu and I have moved on. I visit my sister regularly and she visits me regularly as well. If there is one thing I didn't get the opportunity to do in my previous life it was hang out with Sayu more often.
The day I died was also a day I practically lost the will to live. When everything came crashing down, I lost my friends, my family and everything I knew and loved. I simply felt that death was the only way to let go of these feelings. When L's spirit came down and comforted me, I gained my will to live again. L made me feel better at the time my life finally fell apart. He made me realize how important my life was and it enabled me to make my new life, a better life. L, or L's spiri, gave me hope at my darkest hour and I found hope in this life, a life I can live to its fullest.