Yasunaga is one of the NPA officers originally assigned to the Kira investigation who chooses to walk away from it. His resignation, alongside most of his colleagues, is what narrows the Task Force down to the small, dedicated core of six who stay on the case regardless of the risk.
Pragmatic and cautious rather than reckless — Yasunaga believes the police shouldn’t have to risk their lives for a detective who won’t even show his face or work through normal channels. Self-preservation and protecting his career within the police hierarchy clearly weigh more heavily for him than the case itself.
Yasunaga is part of the large initial NPA task force assembled after Interpol’s global summit on the Kira murders. As Kira starts targeting FBI agents directly, proving the killer can somehow reach investigators personally, his resolve breaks. In Chapter 10, he and a large group of fellow officers confront Soichiro Yagami, refusing to keep working under L’s direction, and Yasunaga formally resigns to return to standard police duty — a decision that, by removing him from Kira’s path entirely, ends up keeping him alive.
Minor: Ch. 10.
Mentioned only: Ch. 10.
Soichiro Yagami
His superior at the NPA. Yasunaga respects the chain of command but disagrees with Soichiro’s decision to trust L unconditionally.
L
Someone Yasunaga deeply distrusts, unwilling to keep risking his life for a detective who refuses to reveal himself.
Task Force members
Colleagues like Aizawa and Matsuda, who he worked alongside before the group split.
- Represents the mass early exodus of law enforcement from the Kira case, a foil to the handful who chose to stay regardless of the danger.
- By quitting early, he’s one of the few named NPA officers who never becomes a target of Light’s long-term manipulations.