Author note: I do not own Yakitate! Japan. Nor do I own any music from the Death Note musical, which somehow inspired this.

It's been a LONG while since I've written any Yakitate! Japan stuff, I'm aware. This oneshot is kind of the first in a trilogy of three fanfics. This is the first one. The next one will also be a oneshot, but the one after that will most likely be a multi-chapter fanfic. All three of them take place post-manga/anime, so there will be spoilers for the series.

Warning: Post-manga/anime, spoilers, swearing, angsty

Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope that you read, review and enjoy! Thanks! XD

Insecurities

Summary: One night, when Monica is about to go get some sleep, Meister calls her and she has no idea why he'd do it so out of the blue.

Characters: Monica Adenauer, Meister Kirisaki

The phone rang while she was brushing her teeth.

She spat out the toothpaste, rinsing quickly before rushing down to the kitchen to take the phone. Kai was asleep in the bedroom they shared, and she didn't want him to wake up to a phone ringing. As far as she figured out, Suwabara wasn't really much of a morning person despite his disciplined behaviour.

She picked it up, answered it.

"Hello?"

There was silence. She frowned. Who the hell would call so suddenly and then go silent as soon as she an—

"Adenauer-san? It's me, Kirisaki.."

It was Meister Kirisaki. He sounded hesitant. She'd never heard him sound so hesitant before.

Leaning against the counter, she answered.

"Oh, Meister. Um, nice to hear you after so long..." She started awkwardly.

She heard him chuckle weakly, "Y-yeah, nice to hear from you too, Adenauer-san. Sorry about the late call, I just...I just got some spare time now and I thought it would be nice to talk to you and Suwabara-san."

"Well," She responded, "Kai is asleep already, but I'm still up. You can talk to me."

"Thank you." She could hear him smile as he said that. "I appreciate it. It's been almost a year since we all went on our separate ways, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it has!" She smiled a bit, thinking back to the old times. Back to when she and Kai first got together at the Monaco Cup, when they competed together against Azuma, Kawachi and Kanmuri...man, those were pretty good times. She couldn't help but blush slightly as she looked to her wedding ring and then to her pregnant belly. "So, what's been going on with you?"

"Well," The older man responded, "I've been getting more and more adjusted to being the owner of St. Pierre. It still feels strange to me that I'm the owner of what my father built up...and all the pain we had. But I'm doing my best to move on. What about you?"

For some reason, she expected a happier-sounding sort of response. Not stuff like 'doing my best to move on' and 'all the pain we had' and 'feels strange to me' laced into it. "Well...as you already know, Kai and I are now married. We're expecting our first child in about two to three months..."

She heard Kirisaki chuckle. "First child? Do you plan to have more after that?"

Monica couldn't help but laugh a little. "Well, I think we'll figure that out after we spend some time raising our first one, but I'd be open to it!"

She heard him laugh, truly laugh, and she couldn't help but smile. Maybe he just felt so tense because he was still adjusting to things. It was only about a year since everyone went on their separate ways, after all. That wasn't too much time.

"I'm glad to hear that." Meister could be heard smiling but she felt that the smile was sad. "Um...Adenauer-san, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Um, yeah." She blinked a bit. "What is it?"

"I know I shouldn't be telling this to just anyone, but I figured I could...talk to you about it. The thing is," He took a deep breath, before speaking again. "I'm...a parent. I'm going to have full custody of the child several months from now."

...What?

She could scarcely believe it.

And...from what it sounded like..he was going to become a single parent?

"How?" She whispered into the phone.

She heard him sigh. "I...it's a long story, but I'm going to have a child being born in the next couple of months, assuming there are no complcations with her mother's health. And..I'm scared. I didn't want it to happen, I never wanted this to happen—but it's too late to do anything about that. And I refuse to abort the child. That's just..." She heard him shudder. "That's just wrong to me. Her family was going to abort the child if I didn't speak up. I don't want to run away from my mistakes."

She took a deep breath. How to handle this? She'd heard of other people getting pregnant as teenager and stuff, but Meister of all people was going to have a child? Through (what she assumed was) wedlock? After all, Meister wasn't married or anything—how else could it happen?

"Have you told anyone aside from me?" She asked.

"Only my father and Sophie. Both gave...incredibly negative reactions. So I haven't told anyone else—not even Kuroyanagi-san or Matsushiro-san. If rumor made it out that the owner of St. Pierre had a child out of wedlock, it'll be scandal. Not just for me but for my child, and I don't want to be a burden on her. So I have to keep things...discreet."

"I see." She tried to think of her own mother. How would she handle this? Monica had been given the talk and stuff by her parents sometime before they got sick and died form worrying and overworking, but she herself had never given the talk to anyone (except for Kai, but that was a different case at the time). "Well..." She took a deep breath. "I'm just...glad you're taking responsibility, you know. And to be honest—I can...see you being a good father."

"Really?" The older man sounded hopeful at that. "Y-you think I can? It's just...after how much shit my childhood was in the early years, I just...I kind of wasn't planning on having a child. Ever. I don't want that kind of cycle to repeat."

Right. That.

"Meister..." She trailed off slowly. She took a deep breath, deciding to do her best to reassure him. "First, you're the owner of St. Pierre. Unlike back then with you, you have the resources to provide for your child. That's one thing different from back then. And second...just because your father was so bad back then, even though he was being controlled by that Go-Pan thing doesn't mean that you'll be a bad father. You're not your father. I know that."

Meister went silent, but she could hear him breathing. She just hoped that she reached him, somehow. She was aware that he had a childhood with abandonment and probably would have died of starvation or illness or something along with his sister had their adoptive father not taken them in. She couldn't imagine how scarred he could be for life with that horrid treatment...

"...Thank you."

His voice was quieter now but she could still hear him.

"Thank you, Adenauer-san. I...appreciate all your words, really. I..." She heard him start sobbing, but he was also smiling. "Th-thank you.."

Monica hoped she reached out to him well enough. "You're welcome, Meister...w-will you be okay?"

"Yes." He managed quietly. "I will be. I'll...do what I can. To be as good as a father to my child as possible. Thank you, and...goodnight."

She smiled slightly. "Goodnight, Meister."

They both hung up.

Monica took a deep breath, leaning against the counter, looking down at her own pregnant belly and placing a hand to it. She smiled softly.

It looked like she and Kai weren't going to be the only ones becoming parents. Meister would, too.

Maybe once the child was born and all, maybe then she could suggest everyone getting back together for a reunion or something. It would be nice to see everyone again, and see how they changed.

She just hoped, though, that Meister would be okay with his newfound parenthood. She remembered how shocked she'd been in the beginning when she found out that she and Kai were going to be parents. They had several long discussions as of what to do with the child, and both had decided that they wanted to keep the child and figured that they might as well just get married. It all worked out.

But Kirisaki had to do all this on his own, and she couldn't imagine that being easy. Parenthood was never easy.

But she was certain that he could do alright with it. Just as long as he didn't give in to the insecurities.