(A/N: Holy crap, this was the hardest chapter EVER. I am so sorry that it took so long to upload. I'm actually moving out of country and it's hectic and shit, so it's been taking so freaking long to write anything. I may not upload for another couple of weeks. It's insanity. I'll be writing at every chance I get, but these next chapters are so freaking hard. -.- I promise I'm writing as much as I can.)
[Ah, bit of a warning, since I had so much trouble figuring out who Souta's father was going to be, I made it a semi-crossover. Not like, OH MY GOD, IT'S GOING TO TAKE ON THE PLOT, but more like, "Oh, I know who that is!" Besides, in another story, yet to be published, some of the characters had the same names and I couldn't change it because I was already in the habit. xD Besides. It makes it interesting.]
Thirteen: Souta Yamasaki's story {Part 1}
Souta's plane landed a few minutes early, so he had just that amount of extra time at the hotel to get himself sorted. He'd brought all of his nicest suits on this trip. Besides, he might meet his father this week and he wanted to make a good impression.
He had six days to find his father, so he planned his appointments very carefully. Today he met two of them, on the second day he would meet two, and on the third day he would go see the one who was dead. He gave himself an entire day for that one so he could pay his great respects. On the fourth day, he would only meet one, and on the next two days he would meet two a day. On the seventh, he would go home.
His parents thought he was off looking at colleges this week, so they agreed to let him go. His mother seemed a bit uneasy that he was going to her hometown, but he brushed it off. Not all the way, however. He knew that her unease meant that he was in the right place.
Souta collapsed backwards onto the hotel bed. God, plane travel was exhausting. He closed his eyes, wishing he could fall asleep and postpone his meeting, but knowing he can't. He opened his eyes and checked his watch. His meeting was in half an hour... the meeting place was ten minutes away according to the GPS on his cell phone. He should probably call his sister to let her know that he landed, but who knows what she could be doing.
She was probably having a lot more fun then he was right now. Playing on the beach in the sun and the sand. How he wished he could be sixteen again, without a care in the world. He could go where he wanted with his friends, and stay out as long as he wanted. Well, that's actually not true. His curfew was 1:15am, and he wasn't allowed to go places that sold alcohol as it's sole purpose.
He felt sorry for his sister at the same time. Being with her fiance and the man she loves on a lengthy vacation and being unable to do anything. He couldn't imagine what she must be feeling. He wondered if his mother and step-father would ever make him marry someone he didn't love and then go on a vacation with Jacqueline.
Oh, yes, recently, he and Jacqueline had realized they were in love with each other and he told her about looking for his father. She supported him %100, and he was grateful. They had spent all of yesterday together just... being together. Souta doubted he would ever love anyone else. If he found his father, he planned on asking Jacqueline to marry him when he got home.
Speaking of finding his father, it was time for him to go. Souta ran a comb through his hair, trying to calm it a bit, and he straightened his suit carefully. Once he looked acceptable, he ventured out, carrying his briefcase in one hand and his mobile phone in the other.
He followed the path on his phone and finally reached the building. It was tall, and a bit intimidating. His father could be running this place. Souta told himself to not keep his hopes up. This was definitely not his father. It was just his luck, that it wasn't going to be his dad. He just felt in his bones that his father was going to be the dead one. If none of these men he suspected of being his father were actually his father, then he would assume the dead man was his father.
It seemed like it was a horrible assumption, but it seemed logical enough. Souta hoped that his father was alive. Who doesn't wish their father was alive. To Souta, it felt like this was the point in his life where he found what his life actually meant. Where he found out who he was. Where he brought his father home and he met Souta's mother and their entire family was happy. Souta had no idea what Matthew would do, and now that he thought about it, he could take Demiya away. Unless Demiya chose her mother instead of her father, but what were the chances of that. She's had so much fun with her father, that it's doubtful that she would choose her mother.
Souta walked into the tall, frightening building and to the reception desk that was the first thing as you walk in.
"I have an appointment with Genkai Tomori at eleven thirty." Souta told the person at the desk.
"Of course..." the woman standing there typed something into her computer. "Of course, go up to floor fifteen and his office is all the way down the hall."
"Thank you." he said and he headed towards the elevator.
As it went up, he realized that this could be a little awkward. "Hi. My name is Souta. I could be your son." He would have to think of a subtle approach to this matter. He couldn't sound too was a large chance that this wasn't his father, so he had to keep quiet.
"How can I help you today, Mr. Yamazaki?" the man behind the desk asked.
"Well, do you know a woman by the name of Itsuyo Heyashi?" Souta inquired, trying not to sound nervous.
"Why... that name does ring a bell." Mr. Tomori said.
"She is my mother," Souta explained as he handed the man a picture of her, "I'm looking for my father, and the data said that you were an active detective the same time she was."
"Oh, that's a different Itsuyo, I'm afraid." Tomori said, "The only Itsuyo Heyashi I knew worked at my tennis club at the same time I was a detective. I was a detective for about two months before I decided I wanted to do this instead."
"Do what?"
"Sit in a big leather chair and order people around." Mr. Tomori laughed, and Souta half-heartedly joined in.
Souta stood outside of the tall building, staring at the list of addresses in his hand. He crossed off Mr. Genkai Tomori. Souta sighed. He can't loose hope. Not now. It's only his first try. It's not that bad. Maybe towards the last few days... He can't get discouraged at all until the end. When it's all over he can wallow in depression, but not now.
Now, he had two hours before his next appointment, and by golly, guess what? It takes two hours to get to his next appointment by car. He was probably going to be a little late. Makoto Wakasuki would just have to deal with it.
What kind of man was Mr. Wakasuki, Souta could only wonder as he waited through the long drive there. Souta watched the taxi-meter go up as the man drove. Souta wished he would have rented that car, and he supposed that the rental car place was his next stop. It may be more expensive, but this taxi money was out of his pocket. Souta inwardly groaned. as the amount rose and rose.
Almost regretfully, Souta told the driver to wait in the driveway of a common suburban two-story house he had stopped in front of. Souta didn't expect to be very long. The driver sighed, wondering if this guy was telling the truth. He seemed so tense and nervous as he walked up to the house. Maybe he was paying a debt to a crazed murderer. Hey... it could happen.
Instead, about ten minutes later, Souta came back looking depressed. On the way to the airport for a car, apparently, the Driver looked back at the man sitting in the back seat in the rear-view mirror. He looked like he was talking himself out of being depressed. A few minutes later, he was fine again. He just seemed exasperated for having gone all that was for nothing.
Souta was more annoyed now, then anything. He had gone on a four hour road trip for a ten minute visit with no results. Mr. Wakasuki had never even heard of Itsuyo Heyashi, but had gone to school with someone with a similar name. Souta had to keep in his utter annoyance until he got to his hotel room.
The car rental was no problem, and because he was wealthy, it was a nice car. A deep blue-purple convertible. He didn't even know that they rented cars like these, but he drove one and the police haven't shown up to say that he stole it, so he supposed he would just use it.
A few hours later, Souta laid in bed with the TV on to the "cheesy Japanese drama-sixteen-to-twenty-episode-all-night" channel, but he wasn't really watching. He spent so much money on a taxi. They were so expensive these days and he used one for four hours. He should have just asked for a ride, but... that might have been a bit rude.
No matter how hard Souta tried, he couldn't get to sleep that night and he thought he might just die of exhaustion. He hardly got any time to rest, and he couldn't sleep due to the smell in that awful taxi, and now... he can't sleep. He tossed and turned for hours. He watched TV for a while, then tried to sleep again. He read, he wrote a little for his essay that was due in two weeks.
He couldn't lie... he was a bit nervous about tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after. And until the end of his trip. It was just his luck that the dead man would be his father. He kept thinking that, over and over, and he almost didn't want to visit his grave. What if... Souta even looked for this guys family, and he'd found them. He wondered if they knew who his father was. He supposed he'd find out in two days.
Souta thought he got about three hours of sleep last night, and he had to put on his happy face and pretended to not care that he had to drive twenty miles out of town for Mr. Ozuro Yamagata. His house was very nice. It was on a lake, and it had a luxury boat docked behind the house. It looked like a beach house, but it had four stories. Where did this guy work, Souta wondered as he walked up to the door. However, before he could knock a voice came from the water.
When he looked, there was someone in the boat and he looked ready to go out on the water. The man in the boat called Souta's name, but it sounded like a question. So, Souta went down to the boat and met Ozuro Yamagata. On a mini-yacht.
"So, your searching for your father because you just learned that your 'father' isn't actually your father, so you want to know who your dad is?" Mr. Yamagata asked.
"Yes. My mother is Itsuyo Heyashi." Souta handed Mr. Yamagata his mothers picture, "Do you know her?"
"Why... yes. I do. We were friends in high school. Just friends. We went to the same college for a while, and during that time there was an interesting case that a very smart detective got her on and she mostly dealt with that because her boyfriend was in questioning as the murderer."
"What?"
"Well, he didn't kill her, right?"
"No..."
"Exactly. Anyway, I think they were pretty serious. They had known each other before in middle school and high school, so they were plenty comfortable. Everyone knew about their relationship except for the girl who was in love with him, so he had to pretend to be her boyfriend. They were happy for a while... Then he died. It turned out that she was pregnant, with you I see, but it seems as if you don't take after him too much."
"Do you remember his name... what he looked like?"
"I believe his name was Light. It was a very common name way back when..." Mr. Yamagata trailed off, "How is Itsuyo doing these days?"
So, Souta told him the basics. She's married to Matthew, but it doesn't seem to be working anymore, Demiya is their daughter and they're about to get a son-in-law. Not by her choice. Everything was fine.
"What about you?" Souta asked, wanting to get the conversation off of his family. It was a bit too much for a stranger.
"I'm a lawyer. Just starting out, but I'm doing pretty well. I'm not married. No kids. Just me."
Souta wished that they had a large lake behind their house and a yacht that he could hang out on when ever he wanted. Well, they were rich, so it wasn't impossible...
As Souta drove to his next destination, he knew it wouldn't matter. Light Yagami was his father. Of course he was. It was hard to shake off that thought. It was so painfully obvious, and he knew that it was just his luck.
Souta turned on the radio, desperate to clear his mind. Mr. Yamagata didn't give him too much information, but he gave him enough. Souta promised himself that he wouldn't break down until he got home if Mr. Yagami was his father. Damn, he was back to that again.
Mr. Kenji Sato was a very bubbly man, who loved his tea shop. He knew a lot about tea, and didn't recall anyone with the name Itsuyo, or with the face of his mother. Though, Souta couldn't lie... that tea was fantastic and he bought some to make back at the hotel room.
Speaking of the hotel room, again, he couldn't sleep at all. Not a wink. So, at the brink of dawn, he made himself get out of bed, start some coffee, and take a much needed hot shower. He stood under the hot water, letting it pour over his face. Man, what was he thinking? This trip could be very emotionally troubling and he would probably need a therapist when he gets back. Everyone might need therapy, but some for different reasons.
As Souta dried off and sipped at his coffee, he imagined that his sister would want him to call, but he just couldn't. Not now. Besides, she was still of her vacation. She didn't need his drama right now. If you could call it drama.
God, it was so real right now, Souta could hardly believe it. He had three days to find his father. Now that he thought about it, he probably should have extended his trip by a few days, but he timed his trip just so that he would get home just a few days after his sister. He wanted her there. She supported him completely, and he was glad. She saw how her father tormented him, slowly and silently, and he knew that she wanted him to have better then that.
About an hour after he finished his coffee, he was standing in front of a grave and he was looking down at his fathers name. Light Yagami. He was only twenty three. Just a year older then Souta. Souta felt an odd connection with this grave, and so he sat criss-cross in front of it, not taking his eyes off of it. Light Yagami. Souta thought that maybe he should just go home, but he hadn't met with Light's family yet.
As he stared at his father's grave for the longest time, fighting his stupid emotions, he realized that in this moment, he had never been more alone.