Chapter Seven: Abduction
Ide was now both angry and tired, not a good combination at the best of times. He had been up for most of the night, trying to figure out why he was so angry at Aizawa.
"I'm still not sure why I'm angry with him. I can't remember the last time we had a fight."
And that, Ide decided, was the entire problem. He and Aizawa had always told each other pretty much everything. For some reason, not knowing what Aizawa was up to made Ide angry.
"It's not like I can't trust him…but we've always looked out for each other, even when we were kids in school. He was feeling bad about something…and he wouldn't tell me."
He had finally decided to go outside. It was almost morning anyway, and lying in bed for another hour wouldn't do him any good. If anything, he would fall back asleep, and then be late for work.
"And just because Matsuda is late for work and Aizawa lets him, doesn't mean he'll let me be late."
Matsuda…Ide was starting to suspect that part of the problem was Matsuda.
"Since the Kira case ended, Aizawa's obsessed with keeping the kid out of trouble. It's always 'Gotta go check on Matsuda. Gotta go make sure Matsuda didn't blow up the soda machine'."
"So, he's overprotective of Matsuda," Ide mumbled, "I knew that. We're all a little bit overprotective of him. So why…"
He paused. For the past several minutes, he had heard footsteps behind him. He had assumed that it was just another person out for an early morning walk…but they were getting closer. It was starting to sound like more than one person.
"Stop being paranoid," he scolded himself, "No one is following you. You're wearing everyday clothes, so you look like a normal citizen out for a walk."
But the footsteps really were getting closer, and whoever it was seemed to be going awfully fast for just being out for a walk…
Ide glanced behind him, just in time to catch a glimpse of a young man swinging something at his head. He had just time to register that the other man looked vaguely familiar before he blacked out.
Three hours later, Aizawa arrived at the NPA headquarters. It was still a little early, but he had expected to find Ide waiting for him. He was usually there earlier then Aizawa.
"He's probably still angry with me. I was pretty harsh with him yesterday…"
Aizawa looked all over for Ide. He looked in the lounge. He looked in every office he could think of. But Ide was nowhere to be found.
"Where is he?"Aizawa muttered.
He looked around, and, to his relief, spotted Mogi coming toward him.
"Mogi, have you seen Ide today?"
Mogi shook his head.
"I'd better call him," Aizawa said. He pulled out his cell phone, aware that Mogi was still watching him.
To his shock, the only response to his call was an automated message.
"This number is no longer available."
"No longer available…" Aizawa thought, "That's not normal."
"Mogi," he said, "Ide wouldn't deactivate his cell phone just to avoid talking to me…right?"
Mogi considered the question.
"No…I don't think so," he said slowly, "That doesn't seem normal."
"Then…you don't think something's happened to him?" Aizawa asked.
Mogi did in fact think that something had happened to Ide-if not, then he was evidently extremely angry at someone-but he didn't think Aizawa would handle that very well.
"Ide could have just dropped his phone and it broke."
"Wait," Mogi said, "He'll show up soon. If he doesn't, we'll go look for him."
"I…what if something's happened to him?" Aizawa asked.
Mogi didn't have an answer for that, so he pretended he couldn't hear. What was he supposed to say?
Matsuda had been feeling optimistic this particular morning, but all that changed when he stepped into work. He was only a few minutes late, but Aizawa and Mogi were waiting for him.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Ide's missing," Aizawa said.
"Huh?" Matsuda asked.
"He's missing…where could he go?"
"We're going to look for him," Aizawa said, "His cell phone number is no longer available, and so it could mean he's in trouble.
"No," Mogi said, "Matsuda and I will look for him."
"What?" Aizawa snapped, "Mogi, you're not serious!"
"If you go running off, the others will panic," Mogi said, "Matsuda and I can handle this. Can't we, Matsuda?"
"Hmm?" Matsuda said absentmindedly. "Oh! Sure we can!"
"But what if Ide's in real trouble? Aizawa's smarter than me and Mogi."
"Stay here," Mogi said, "When we find him, we'll call you."
"You said when," Matsuda thought, "What if we don't find him?"
"Matsuda?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry, Mogi!" Matsuda said, seeing that the older man was already halfway out the door.
As they left, Matsuda glanced back at Aizawa.
"He'll be okay until we get back, right?" he asked Mogi. He wasn't sure why, but he had a bad feeling about this.
"Better not to have someone who's as emotionally involved as he is out looking for Ide," Mogi said, "He would go to greater measures than would be prudent."
"Whoa," Matsuda said. "You said two sentences in a row, Mogi! Great improvement!"
As usual, his attempt to lighten the mood failed miserably. Mogi stared at him for a moment, then turned and walked away.
As always, Matsuda ended up in the passenger seat of someone else's car. Mogi was completely silent on the drive to Ide's apartment, and although Matsuda knew that was far from abnormal, he wished Mogi would say something.
When they got to the apartment, Mogi finally spoke.
"We should see if he's home. He might have overslept."
"Yeah," Matsuda said, "Sure."
"Ide never oversleeps. He's always on time. Always…"
He trotted off after Mogi, hoping they were right.
"Ide's going to open the door and tell us it's all okay. Maybe he got a cold or something."
However, Matsuda was wrong. Mogi knocked and knocked, and no one answered.
"He's not here," Mogi said finally, "Let's go look for him."
He turned and walked past Matsuda toward the car. As Matsuda turned to follow him, Mogi's cell phone buzzed.
Mogi pulled his phone out. He hadn't planned to answer it…but then he saw who was calling.
"Aizawa?"
"Mogi, you and Matsuda need to come back right now!" Aizawa yelled. Or at least, it sounded like he was yelling. Or screaming. "There's something I need to show you!"
Aizawa sounded hysterical. Anyone listening in would be questioning his sanity.
"This isn't good," Mogi thought. "If Aizawa's acting like this…"
He turned to look for Matsuda, and realized that the younger man was already in the car.
"Come on," Matsuda said.
"All right," Mogi said. As he hurried to the car, he tried to reassure Aizawa.
"Stay calm. We'll be right there."
