Mistimed Misfortune: Chapter Four:
Raito found that day that cake was actually quite good. Mostly because it got rid of the bitter taste in his mouth for a short while. Matsuda found that bringing Raito cake seemed to cheer him, if only for a few minutes. Matsuda was more than happy to bring the boy cake if it helped him to be happier. As they left the hospital, Matsuda brought the boy a vanilla ice cream cone just to see if he liked it as much as he liked cake.
He did.
"Alright, Raito-kun, here we are!" Matsuda said cheerfully.
Raito looked mournfully at his hands, now devoid of ice-cream cones, as he exited the car. He followed Matsuda back inside HQ. Mogi was sitting at the desk in Matsuda's usual place. "Back so soon? Yagami-kun, if this upsets you, you really should wait awhile before you talk about it."
"No! It… doesn't upset me! I'm perfectly happy!" Raito smiled a very half-hearted grin that was clearly fake. "Just interrogate me!"
Mogi looked at Matsuda for support. The younger man mouthed, 'Just do it! …Carefully.'
"Alright, Yagami-kun, follow me." Mogi declared, walking back to the same interrogation room as before. "Please have a seat," offered the large man, gesturing to the seat that faced the window again.
Raito sat down quickly.
At the same time, Matsuda went to ask Ide to get some cake.
"Alright, Yagami-kun, what did the killer look like?" Mogi asked quietly.
Raito paused, that bitter taste growing stronger. "He had messy black hair, eyes that changed from red to dark gray, and he wore a white shirt and baggy jeans. Both of them seemed pretty generic. He was covered in blood, and he had a knife, but I doubt he carries it around."
Mogi nodded. "Does this sound familiar? 'Happy early birthday, lollipop.'"
"No," Raito blinked. "Well, my father did call my mother lollipop occasionally, but her birthday was on the 10th, and that was fourteen days before… that happened."
"Alright," frowned Mogi. "Does the letter R mean anything to you?"
"Specifically, no. It's a letter of the English alphabet… that's about all I need to know about it." Raito shrugged, confused.
Mogi paused. "Did your family ever keep strawberry jam at home?"
Raito was now extremely confused. "No, we never really liked strawberry. We just stuck to orange marmalade."
"Well, then, you just revealed a potential clue, Yagami-kun. That is all we need to ask you." Mogi stood up. "Thank you. You can go now."
Raito smacked at the acrimonious taste in his mouth. "You are welcome."
He followed Mogi out of the door. Matsuda was waiting for him, with a piece of coconut cake. "I thought you might want this."
"Thank you, Matsuda-san!" Raito tried to sound happy.
Mogi spoke up disapprovingly. "You spoil that boy, and he's not even your child."
"Shut up, Mogi-san! Cake is good for little boys!" Matsuda chastised. "I'm going to take Raito-kun home now."
Mogi opened his mouth to argue, but then decided it was not worth the bother. He watched the two walk out of HQ and climb in the car.
"Touta-san, only you could think cake is good for little boys. Oh well. I guess if any kid deserves it, it would be Yagami-kun." Mogi muttered to himself.
Matsuda Touta was not one for complicated things. This included homes. He lived in a nice-sized apartment on the third floor of an average apartment building in Tokyo. There wasn't anything too complicated in his home. Everything was simple, easy-to-use, with little to no maintenance.
Raito quickly realized all this when he followed Matsuda into his apartment. "This is nice," he said kindly.
"I got you your own room and everything!" Matsuda exclaimed, sounding quite pleased with himself. The man led Raito to a medium-sized room. It was nothing too fancy. There was a bed, desk, set of drawers, and a large bookshelf. Raito thought Matsuda was trying to imitate his old room. The bookshelf was almost empty but for the books he had gotten at the library on the 24th. "I also got you a computer, but I didn't have time to set it up."
Raito burst into grateful tears, hugging the man. He was surprised that Matsuda would go through so much for him. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Matsuda patted the boy on the back. "It's nothing! I just want you to be happy, Raito-kun."
Raito looked up at Matsuda, smiling slightly through his tears. "Thank you, Oji-san!"
"You're welcome!" Matsuda insisted, pleased to know that Raito was considering him family. "Why don't I go make dinner now? It's almost seven! You can set your computer up while I make it."
"Okay," Raito agreed, releasing Matsuda from the hug.
"It's in the closet." Matsuda told him, and headed into the kitchen. The smell of miso soup soon filled the apartment as Raito set up the computer. For the first time since his family's premature deaths, Raito felt just a little happy.
"Raito-kun, I have to go to work. Will you be okay here?" Matsuda asked. It's seven in the morning, Raito thought sadly.
"Of course, Oji-san," mumbled the auburn-haired boy.
Matsuda headed for the door, calling behind him, "There's cake for breakfast and ramen for lunch. You can have Manju or Anpan for any snacks if you like."
"Okay…" Raito mumbled, getting out of bed. He didn't bother to change out of his pajamas as he went to eat cake. Matsuda left the apartment. Raito went to look in the refrigerator for cake, and noticed a note left on a sticky note there.
Raito-kun, it read, if you need anything, you can call me at 090-2348-9625. Don't eat too much cake, or there won't be any for after dinner! I'll be home at four. See you soon, Matsuda Touta :D
Raito couldn't believe he actually wrote an emoticon. "Matsuda, you idiot," he muttered affectionately.
As he devoured his cake, he wondered how he was going to get clues for his family's murder case. Then it came to him. He'd hack the NPA.
It was the only answer he had.
Manju is sticky rice surrounding a sweet bean center. Anpan is bread with sweet bread in the center. I found them on Wikipedia, using a list of Japanese dishes, because I don't really know much about Japanese food. I've never been to Japan D:
Also, Matsuda's phone number is how a Japanese cell phone number is supposed to be written, but it's just random numbers (minus the 090 part; that's an actual area code). I wouldn't advise calling it, but if you do, let me know what happens! XD
I will hopefully be updating tomorrow! I'm aiming for daily updates...
I know you love all the Matsuda-ness in this fic! He's always good for a little comic relief.