Love this. It's heartbreaking.

Much respect for Matsuda. Admittedly found him spineless in the beginning, but gradually came to accept that he was the much-needed comic relief in the midst of everything, not to mention the fact that he voiced out sentiments that others wouldn't dare to.

Nicely done. Poor Matsu, you depicted his "klutziness" so well, with details like tripping with L's coffee, and missing a single button on his shirt. He's so adorkable! 3

Nice touch bringing Aizawa in there. Those two have a serious love/hate relationship with each other; it's always nice to see them being...civil to each other. :)

I'm sure you already know that I think you are a truly fantastic writer (because I really do), but what I bet you didn't know was that I love Matsuda almost as much as you do. That was really the only thing about the manga that bothered me; how it just left Matsuda hanging, never really followed up on what the realization that Light was Kira did to him. But this wonderful little ficlet is the perfect antidote to that particular shortcoming.

I loved the exploration of this story, how you addressed Matsuda's hero-worship of Light and how much he longed to be like him, as well as the reconciliation he experiences at the fact that Light was in fact a deranged serial killer. And the bit with Aizawa at the end was really touching; to see that not everyone thinks of him as a worthless buffoon all the time was a much-needed reminder that no, not everyone hates you like you think they do, Matsuda.

Gah, thank you for this story. I really loved it.

Ok, I have actually teared up a little reading this. I too love Matsuda (and Aizawa) and I think you got across the devastation coupled with the remains of the hero-worship very well. And the ending about being human and alive is an excellent note to finish on.

This is going down as one of the best post-warehouse, Matsuda portrayals I've read. Something about your tone was poignant and sharp. The words held so much weight, but were able to maintain a light air about them. Definitely a sad slice of life.

I always feel that in stories Matsuda is portrayed as an 's why I really appreciate you writing this wonderful oneshot for him. I've been a fan of your writing for a long time now,thanks.

I like Matsuda, too. And I definitely liked this ficlet. I looked up the word "antonymy" before going onward to reading this, and apparently, the word deals with opposites, antonyms.

(Duh, now that I'm looking at the word again. I'm so stupid, sometimes. Maybe that's why I'm affectionate towards characters like Matsuda?)

Anyhow, after reading Matsu's thoughts on Light, I don't think you could've picked a better title. The part with him and Aizawa at the end almost killed me, too. TT

Oh dear Lord I don't know what excited me more after reading the author's note - the prospect of this fic, or the prospect of an undefined post-Kira taskforce fic. I don't think you even need me to TELL you know much I love Matsuda, and how completely crazy I got for post-Kira stories, let alone ones that focus on the taskforce. I'll argue with you on just one point though - Ide Aizawa!

But anyway, the review. As usual your style is painfully flawless. I only add the 'painful' because it makes me think of my own cack-handed attempts at slotting words together, and wonder how on earth you can do it so damn EASILY and so damn BEAUTIFULLY. I love your descriptions of Matsuda here, drawing into focus on the little things like him buttoning his shirt wrong and tripping over and spilling coffee. There's also something fantastic, in a way I can't explain, in the way you described both Matsuda and Light in terms of the things they are not. This brought the pair into even starker contrast and made Matsuda's clumsiness seem even more startling in comparison.

I love the setting of this, and I love that all the taskforce went. I know Mogi wasn't in it much but I really did just want to point how much I LOVED that one line about him. A way of slipping in and out? That's amazing. Genius. I love you.

This whole thing is phenomenal and beautiful and amazing. Thank you for writing it. I know that long stories can be bastards to get your head around or inspire yourself to write, so I won't try to push you into doing the post-Kira fic. The pressure from those things can be bad. But what I will say is, if you ever do decide to write it, I have absolutely no doubt that it will be incredible.

Thank you again for writing!

I greatly enjoyed reading this. Matsuda and Aizawa are among my favorite characters in Death Note. I don't view Matsuda as an idiot, in fact, he's one of the most real characters in the series. He'a bit naive, and too trusting, but he's genuine. It's that trusting nature of his that makes him look up to Light, that makes him want to emulate the Chief's son. And it's that goodness in him that makes him lash out in the end because he was so let down and led to believe the best in someone who in the end was far worse than he could've imagined. I love that you showed this human side of Matsuda. Honestly, I got tired of him being referred to as an "idiot" by L. I adore L, but that was one time where he was *wrong*.

And I really like the paragraph about how they task-force finds Light's body and their reactions. I wonder if you would write a fic about that-just a one shot detailing all of their reactions. I always wanted to write or read a fic on that. I look forward to reading your fic about the task force post-Kira. They went through so much together. Thank you ofr writing this, I really loved it.

I applaud to you author for finally making a story in which Matsuda isn't an idiot. I would have to agree with you that Matsuda isn't an idiot, but because people keep telling him such things he has started to believe them. I also think he does have the potential to do well but because he lacks self-confidence and he believes that he is an idiot; he can't seem to push himself to his limits, but he rather stays in a boundary that hurts him and traps him to be the man he doesn't want to be.

Well, lovely story and hopefully you'll update soon...

Nicely done. Still, it would of been intersting if Matsuda was mumbling despite being emotional because I'm sure that he would have all these theories in his head.

Also a Matsuda fan. It's good! It's sad, but totally in character. I'm interested in seeing the full story, and wonder if you're going against the last chapter of the manga? (1 year after Kira)

I hope you keep up with your other stories! I posted on myspace yesterday that I missed u :)]

Hope to read your work again soon!