Disclaimer! All fictional entities featured/ mentioned in this segment belong to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata; except Erin Blogger, who I made up for the purpose of this fan fiction.

A little something for Aizawa in the aftermath of that grueling test L subjected him to, and a golden opportunity for some Matsuda/Aizawa interaction.

You know what the hypocritical humor in this and the whole series is? Erin claims to have problems with people not listening to her or taking her seriously. But then there's Ryuzaki, who's having problems with convincing the team that Light is Kira, and she belittles him the most. What the F?

PS: Anika is the name I gave Aizawa's baby. As far as I know, the baby has not had his or her name or gender disclosed, so I thought I should fill in the holes. Any of you who know better can correct me at any time.

CONSOLATION

"Matsu, I know that investigating Yotsuba and managing Misa must eat up a lot of your time, but if you ever get a chunk of free time," "Elin" requests one day, "do you think you could…swing by Aizawa's, and apologize?"

He blinks back in response, learned instinct urging him to say, "Huh? You want me to apologize? What'd I do?" There have been times when he's thought that it should be Aizawa making the apology. That is, back when he was still working with the task force.

"Nothing you did. But someone needs to go see him, make sure he's okay. After…you know, that thing, with Ryuzaki…"

By the sound of things, it appears that Elin is still almost as eaten up over it as he's been, when work hasn't demanded his undivided attention. Though the man's temper flares had scared them both, she must still regret not saying anything about his leaving until it'd been too late to make a difference.

"Let's face it, Matsu. If you don't do it, who will? Ryuzaki's sure not gonna. He chases the poor guy out and totally humiliates him, then gets a sleazy con-man and a chain-smoking burglar to take his place. Doesn't even mourn his absence. I don't know what that tells you, but to me, that speaks volumes."

As brash and in-your-face as she can be, Elin's pretty much the only one around here who has total faith in him without his having to earn it, these days. Drawn together through their mutual sense of helplessness and desire to make something more out of themselves than they currently are, they can speak freely to one another without worrying what the other will think.

"W-well, I'm sure he had his reasons for…testing us," he says hesitantly, mentally warding off the feeling of being watched. This isn't lip service, though; Ryuzaki doesn't really do almost anything without a reason. Whatever that reason may be. Sometimes he shares his intentions, sometimes he doesn't, and when he does, the group would sometimes be left with the vague feeling that he hadn't told them the complete truth. As a total enigma in himself, one can do little more than speculate with Ryuzaki. And that only gets so far.

She snorts out her own speculation: "Yeah. He did it 'cause he knows he can do it and get away with it. I mean, honestly, Matsu, he didn't have to do that. He wasn't even sleeping here."

As much as he seeks his approval, even he can't deny that his superior's ways are questionable, to say the least. He has done things that he hasn't agreed with (accuse Light of being Kira, call him an idiot right in front of him for everyone to hear, etc.). But he doesn't like to think that Ryuzaki is that cruel. Surely, there'd been more to it than simply "because he could do it?"

Still, as much of a bully Aizawa was to him ("bully," what a word for a grown man to use), even he hadn't deserved to get treated like that, not really. Matsuda could've sworn the older man had been about to cry when Watari had come in to drop the ball. That had been pretty unsettling.

"I'm sure there was more to it than that."

Elin knows him. He won't say anything remotely mean about Ryuzaki, whether he's watching them or not. It's not in his nature. Plus, he still works under him. He's in charge of his salary, as far as he's concerned. So, since she doesn't work with them and her say doesn't count either way, she does it for him: "You could take all the damn reason he has, stuff it into a cockroach's belly-button, and you'd still have room for a number divided by zero, his sense of decency, and his heart."

…

"…I don't think cockroaches have belly-buttons. I don't think you can divide by zero, either."

"Exactly."

Elin can say some nasty things when she's mad. So far, Ryuzaki's the only one who seems to push her buttons; they've been hissing at each other since he'd first brought her into custody (or to be more accurate, she's been hissing at him, while he brushes her aside; the only one he'll openly hiss at is Light, and those episodes can get quite violent). Even so, he wonders if she actually means half of the things she says when angry beyond the moment she's said it. She does it that often.

(Which makes it all the more embarrassing when she stands up to Ryuzaki for him, but he could never tell her this; he doesn't have the heart to, or the nerve.)

She takes a deep breath before clapping a hand on his shoulder, tilting him in her direction as the buddy he is to her. "Listen, let's forget that heel, for a while. Right now, Aizawa is who we're worried about. He felt like a loser when he left us, I saw it on his face, and we just can't stand for that. To be honest, you and I both know the best about how that feels, so we should apologize to him, on behalf of the task force. I'd go with you, but I'm on a leash. Besides, you know him better. You've worked together."

That much, he can't deny. And he can't deny her request, skittish as he is about seeing his former co-worker again. Ask him to jump, and he'll ask, "How high?"

She grins at him, jiggling him a little. "That's the spirit! They treat you like a klutzy intern now. But just wait. You'll show them. And when you do, they'll call you a hero! You'll bring all of us rookies justice, and the women will sing your praises! Shucks, maybe they'll even ask you to do an encore! This, I prophesize."

The words of encouragement are overkill, at this point.

…

How long has it been since the man who would constantly belittle him stormed out of headquarters in an indignant rage? Two weeks? Three? Four? Matsuda has lost track.

The opportunity rears its head not much later, in the most convenient, if flawed, of circumstances: he spots his afro-sporting ex-superior heading down the street outside of the shop where Misa is currently absorbing her reflection in the fitting room as she tries on one Gothic outfit after another.

The catch: his family is with him. The people with whom Aizawa had hardly spent time since this case had begun. Just seeing them together makes Matsuda balk. It wouldn't be wise to just pop in to discuss matters with Aizawa while Eriko and little Yumi are within earshot, but more than that, he feels bad about the idea of intruding on their precious quality time. Not to mention, he can't leave Misa alone for very long. He has responsibilities of his own.

Would Aizawa even want to speak to him?

But I promised, he remembers with a groan. I promised I'd check in on him. And who knows when I'll get a chance like this again?

This is what he gets for being physically unable to say no to anyone.

He shouts out a brief, hasty explanation of where he's going to Misa while she's still in the fitting room—"Hang tight, Misa-Misa, I gotta find an ATM to make a withdrawal!"—before zipping out the door. Normally, he'd wait to see if Misa had heard him, let alone approve. But not this time. Aizawa's afro is quickly vanishing into the crowd.

Not knowing how else to get his attention, he cries out his name when he isn't stuttering "sorry, excuse me, pardon me," to the people he weaves through before he catches up to the family. To say the least, the three of them look very surprised to see him.

He doubles over when he tries to bow in greeting, his hand darting for the back of his neck as he huffs out between breaths, "Good-morning, Aizawa, Eriko! H-how are you, Yumi? Gosh, you've gotten so big since I last saw you!"

Which hasn't been too often, these days.

Aizawa stares at him for an unbearably long time, his gaze suddenly narrowed. Not good. "It's 12:30 in the afternoon, Matsuda," are his first words to him since they'd made their separate ways. Somehow he's not surprised that he'd use his first words to correct him.

"Matsuda, what are you doing here?" asks Eriko, warily enough. "Is something wrong?" Matsuda is from work. To be running up to them like this from out of the blue, he must have something urgent to tell Aizawa. Something that will force him to cut his vacation short and disappear back into his job.

Yumi picks up on this right away, and squeezes her father's hand in her tiny ones, almost possessively. "Daddy, are you going to have to go back to work, now?" she asks. Even as a bachelor without a family of his own, the little girl's eyes, wide with confusion and worry, are enough to break his heart.

"Oh, no-no-no, he doesn't have to go back to work!" he insists, waving his hands around like signal flags. "I-I just, uhm, thought I should swing by and see how you all were doing. And, uh…"

Shoot. This is what he gets for not thinking of what to say ahead of time. Normally, he could think up of something at the drop of a hat, but oh, Yumi and Eriko's eyes! They're making it hard for him to come up with anything.

Around that time, Anika begins to fuss in her stroller, as she often does when it isn't in motion for too long. Aizawa, realizing that whatever Matsuda has to talk to him about cannot be mentioned in front of his wife and daughters, turns to Eriko and says, "You go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Eriko's eyes don't lose much of their wariness, but since Anika is fussing, she has no choice but to take Yumi's hand and guide the children away. In the meantime, Matsuda finds himself staring eye-to-eye with the man he used to chase Kira with, who doesn't seem too happy to see him.

"Well? What do you want?"

"What, me?" It's so…odd, to see Aizawa in a leather jacket and khakis, rather than his usual business suit. He looks too casual. For him, anyway.

"Yes. Obviously, you wanted something, or else you wouldn't have popped up from out of the blue, calling my name and scaring Yumi."

"Oh. Oh! Right. About that…first, let me say that I'm sorry I startled you guys. I hadn't meant to."

"No. You can't help it. It's in your nature."

…

Is he still licking his wounds, Matsuda wonders.

"Well, I don't mean to hold you up. I-I just wanted to say…about what happened at headquarters—"

"Don't waste your breath."

Oh, no. Maybe he is still angry about it? If there's one thing that hasn't changed about Aizawa, it would be that hard head of his.

The older man inhales. "If you went out of your way just to apologize on behalf of the task force, don't. I'm over it. Since I quit, I've been able to spend more time with my family, and…"

And hopefully, patch things up a little with Eriko, Matsuda wants to say, but can't. That might be pushing it.

Aizawa glances up towards the skyscrapers towering above them, as though trying to gather his thoughts. "As far as I'm concerned, he wound up doing me a favor. In his own twisted way."

A favor? Just weeks ago, Aizawa had proclaimed how much he hates Ryuzaki and everything he does. What does he mean? He doesn't go into detail, and Matsuda doesn't press him for them. Neither has the time. It makes him think about what Elin had said, about Ryuzaki basically lacking a heart.

Aizawa claps a hand over his shoulder, to Matsuda's mild amazement. But unlike with Elin, he doesn't tilt him in his direction, or any direction. "Look, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You just do your job, at least try to stay out of trouble, and give the others my regards. If you're out with Miss Amane, it's really not a good idea for you to leave her alone, especially for my sake."

His lips curl into a somewhat bittersweet smile. "And don't count me out, just because I'm not officially working with you, anymore. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

With that, he turns and vanishes into the crowds to catch up with three of the most important people in his life, hands in his jacket pockets and gait just a little bit straighter. Matsuda can only stand there and watch him go, at a loss for words.

He wonders what Elin would think of this when he tells her what Aizawa had said? Would she even believe him?

He wonders, at least, until Misa calls him back to his own duties.

END