Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 1
Oh yeah. This was bad. Grabbing a chair and ignoring the woman who had brought him in, Takaya crossed his arms and glared at the wall. He wasn't going to participate in this bullshit. Being told he had 'company' and that he should he happy about it had ruined what was otherwise an okay day
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After all, even though the relationship between Aoyama Tanaka and Sayami Lawley had never been anything spectacular, the concept that he was willing to have her, and she him, was all that had mattered to them. They had met as just two normal people, and even as their careers had begun to take off, it was still that fact alone that had made all the difference.
She never imagined she would have to be the stronger of the pair, nor that she would ever have to fight off the idea that she was being punished in some fashion. That perhaps she was cursed to drive crazy those she loved most.
But he had asked her a question, and although a thousand possibilities on what she seemed obligated to say came up, she paused and rounded her shoulders instead. Another moment passed before she suddenly remembered what she had meant to bring up before the arrival at the institute's front doors had distracted her entirely. Brightening, she turned her attention to the bag in her lap, pulling out a small laminated book.
"Daddy thought that these were all just funny, but... I brought them to show to you anyway." She opened to a page and pulled it out, pushing it across the table to show off a number of pictured outfits. Rather wild outfits. "I know you're upset that your band broke up and all, but there's always second chances," she said softly, "...I thought I'd get a head start on figuring out how to dress you once you'd gone big."
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"I was...in a band?" he asked, rather startled at that aspect of it. He figured he'd at least still be a cop, but they'd given him an even cooler job. There was a certain bit of irony in that, too, given what he'd been talking about with Demyx and Ginji only moments before his nurse had led him here. After a moment, he covered that up with an "Oh yeah! Well, looks like I'll get that second chance." Matsuda beamed at her, then paused as he realized how she'd started it all off. He continued on his train of thought, wanting to at least tell her about what he'd been up to before he asked about the Chief. "I've been talking about starting one with a few people here, already. They've got a music room, where we could practice." His smile turned into a grin as he slid the paper back across the table. "We'll definitely need some cool outfits. I really like that second one on the bottom."
Matsuda stopped here and went back to his previous train of thought. She'd said her dad had thought they were funny. He'd expected at some point to hear that the Chief was alive, since he'd seen L, of all people, but it was still came as bit of a shock to realize who she was actually talking about.
"Ah, h-how...is your dad doing?" he asked unintentionally hesitantly. It sounded as though he was alive and well and not anywhere close to dying...again, which was good. Matsuda had to admit that this life was sounding better and better. "Last I heard, I thought that he..." He trailed off, remembering what the nurse had said when he'd first woken up here. Imagined a death. This had to have been it.
He hoped he hadn't stepped on dangerous ground with the question, but he had to hear it from her. Matsuda knew he couldn't go along with it, but if he was completely honest with himself...he sort-of wanted that life. It would mean dating her, the Chief being alive, being in a band and maybe not even having to deal with Kira, and he wanted a nice simple life with an interesting job. Being in a band would give him enough to take care of without having to worry about getting bored. He could still help people, if he went around just being a good guy, he just might not be able to help them in the same way. He'd only gotten on the force because of a family connection, anyway. The police would be fine, with people like Light and Aizawa and maybe even L on the cases, so it wasn't like they really needed him...
No. He needed to stop thinking that. It wasn't a question of what he wanted. What he needed to do was get out with everyone else, save her, and get home. Instead, he focused on the person in front of him, Sayu and not, waiting to listen to her response.
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But then she noticed her mistake in mentioning her father, and in an instant her entire body felt cold and stiff, her eyes growing wide over the hand shot to her mouth in alarm. She hadn't meant to remind him of it, and although he seemed calm right now, who knew what might serve to set him off. She'd been asked to keep quiet about it, but naturally she couldn't have just made it easier on them both by keeping her mouth shut.
"He wants you to get better... we all do," she said hesitantly. "After all... the wedding was to be this summer, and...." Once again, her eyes went elsewhere, nervous, and she turned the ring on her finger absent-mindedly.
"Fifi's really wondering where you are," she blurted suddenly, "The vet says her puppies are due in about three weeks... m-maybe you'll be out of here by then?"
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But...
Marriage?
Matsuda's body went cold as he tried to figure out just how to respond. He wasn't even sure if he loved that lie or hated it. It was definitely something that he wanted very badly. It was amazing to hear, and had, in that simple instant, made him a very happy man. But it was just that, a lie, and he knew it. If he lived anything like that, he wanted it to be real, not for her to just be someone brainwashed into loving him; Sayu, but not entirely. The Chief was only back because of this place, and they could probably kill him off again just as quickly.
But if he took it, it would be a truth. Sayu even had a ring to prove it. Matsuda figured he could be happy and not really have any worries about getting killed over justice. Not that he wasn't already a fairly optimistic person, but he could be happier than he probably had been since this whole mess started. He'd even have a dog!
It took Matsuda a long moment of silence, but he finally convinced himself that no, he was not going to tell her that he'd definitely be out in three weeks or less. He couldn't do that to everyone, and had to put in his share of helping out. If nothing else, he had to be the one to stick with it, in the event that no one else did.
"It was to be this summer, and...then I went crazy, and wound up here," he finished, sighing and putting his head in his hands for a moment, staring down at the table through his fingers. He could hear what sounded like someone retching in the room, and some other commotion from the same area, but he was more focused on the current issue.
"Anyway, I...maybe. We'll see," he admitted. He looked back up, gave her a sad smile, and hoped that it wasn't too obvious of a lie. Then again, who knew? They could brainwash other people, so they very well could just brainwash him within the next few weeks and be done with it. "I'd really like to see them. And I'm...really sorry that this had to come up now, just...I don't know what happened. Please...tell your dad I'm sorry. I hope he doesn't think I'm not good enough because of..."
What was he saying? He already knew what the Chief would have thought of this, and it was all wrong, but he was starting to not care. Even if he couldn't accept it, there was nothing saying that he couldn't just go along with the visitor and try to keep her happy, right? He'd be along to rescue her eventually, it was just a matter of...well, something. Even he didn't know what, because they knew so little about this place.
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Then, without any more warning, she began to cry, half-turning away from him as she sobbed into her pink-manicured hands. An older-looking nurse gave the man across from her a disapproving look.
"Why?" she struggled out, although she must have already known the answer. "All these things you say... with Daddy dead and... is reality just not good enough for you? We were so..." she sobbed, peering out and up at him, "...so happy before."
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"I...no, that's not it. If anything, reality is too good for me, I just..." He didn't know how to end it. In the short amount of time that he'd been here, Matsuda had seen several things that he never really wanted to come across again, and he came from a world essentially controlled by a murderer that they'd been unable to catch for five years. Both of those would, for the most part, really suck compared to this life. "I don't know," he finished lamely.
He was being stubborn, but he had to be. Not only did he have things that needed to be taken care of here and back home, but it if would also dishonor the Chief's memory. Without being revived and brainwashed, the Chief had been against it, and Matsuda didn't want to take advantage of that. Also, if he just gave in to this place's lies, that would also go against the way the Chief had tried to live his life, even against what he'd died for, in a way. Why did everything always have to come back to duty and honor?
"I'll try to get out as soon as possible, so...please wait for me? I'll come find you, I promise." Matsuda still intended on rescuing her and getting her back home, but he also hadn't wanted to make her cry even more. So he'd tried to find a good way to put it that was only a half-lie. He just hoped it actually would cheer her up.
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