"I think that I'm a bad person." Said Mob. She was at work now, plant work, and she was starting to get what Minegishi was always saying about how plants were better than people. Plants never asked you what was wrong or told you they loved you or told you they missed you or waited for you to come home and tell them about your day and had dinner waiting for you…

Dinner sounded pretty good right about then.

Greasy fried chicken, savoy ramen bowls, big piece of chewy candy…the citrus kind. Yes, citrus, even though Sho was always saying that citrus was the most disgusting thing ever invented. Lemon chews and orange soda and big juicy grapefruits….

He'd have probably made something healthy for them. But he would make them whatever she wanted. He loved her like that. He loved her in every single way a person could love another. He loved her like the day was long and candy was sweet and milk was delicious and the time it took for them to release a new EVA movie was entirely too long.

He loved her.

She was terrible.

"You're utterly irredeemable I'm sure." Said Minegishi as me moved some plants to a spot with more favorable sunlight. He didn't mind it when they made their needs known. They were never annoying and never asked for more than he was willing to give. They never asked to be friends. It was a simple relationship between him and the plants, one that he had understood his entire life, and one that existed in stark contrast to whatever kind of relationship that girl was trying to strike up with him.

Apparently they were the sort of friends who spilled all of their self-loathing to one another.

"Do you really think so or are you just saying things?" asked Mob

"Which answer would make you happier?" asked Minegishi

"Whichever is true, I guess. I mean I think that I'm a bad person and…and I guess that it would make sense for you to think so too." Said Mob. She felt sick, very sick, because of what she had done. She had felt sick to her stomach almost every single day since she had…since she had done that awful thing that she had done. Again. Without any excuse. She had just done…that…well not had sex but…but somehow it felt even worse.

It made her feel nauseated.

She made herself feel nauseated.

"I…I don't think that you're terrible." Said Minegishi choosing his words carefully. That girl may have been annoying as all else but she had still taken Suzuki down and lived to tell about it. She didn't have Suzuki's temper or temperament, or his worldview, and she was much nice than him too but she had her own idiosyncrasies. She was emotionally unstable, made terrible choices in life, and loved to dump her emotional instability and terrible life choices onto the feet of those she called her friends…

And it was better to stay he friend than anything else.

Also she could be kind of ok when she wanted to be. She thought about others, well him, a lot. She brought him snacks and drinks from the store sometimes when she was out, asked how he was, and even put together a nice care package for him a few days ago. Chocolate, pain killers, and napkins with cats on them for some reason. She could be very nice.

But she was also a teenage girl with teenage emotional and relationship problems.

"Thank you." Said Mob. Well that was nice of him, even if he didn't know the whole of what she had done, but it was still nice to know that she wasn't terrible. Even though she felt terrible. Terrible and terribly hungry. A growth spurt, probably. Mom had said, back when she still lived with her family, that she and Ritsu were eating them out of house and home. Mob knew, now, that mom hadn't meant it even though it felt like she had. Even though it made sense. Food was kind of expensive…kind of really expensive…and they had been going through a lot of it lately.

"Any time." Said Minegishi hoping that this was the end of it. Why that girl was filled with so much self-loathing he would never know. So she cheated on Serizawa, who wouldn't? Well probably people with better track records than Minegishi himself. The wholesome sort of people that he had always imagined her to be. She was still sweet and wholesome but she was also human and she knew that she could have anyone she wanted. That part made sense. Why she stayed with Serizawa after it all came out he did not know.

Not that it was any of his business.

And not that he really cared. She was the most powerful being on Earth, who knew how her mind worked?

"It's just…have you ever done anything bad? I mean I know you have but have you ever done anything bad, said sorry, than did it again? And also probably would do it again if you could? And also think about doing it again even though you know that you're not supposed to? Because it's wrong and you already said sorry and made a bunch of promises that you're supposed to keep but you can't but you have to so you tell lies and the lies make you feel sick, so sick that you could throw up? And then you always sort of feel like throwing all the time? And then-" said Mob. It all came out like word vomit, which was preferable to real vomit, which she also felt like could come out at any time. She was right, very right, to feel like she was going to throw up because she had done something truly disgusting and despicable.

"Who'd you fuck this time?" sighed Minegishi. What else could she be so twisted up over? Honestly. This kid was such a kid.

"W-what? I didn't! I mean we didn't this time! I mean I didn't go there planning on us-" said Mob. Minegishi was definitely her smartest friend. Probably because he was always reading books. Maybe reading books made him good at reading people.

"Spare me the details, please." Said Minegishi. Well then. Poor Serizawa, this would certainly send him back to his room…not that he knew, it seemed, because he had been usually chipper and chatty lately...…not that Minegishi was going to be telling him about this. No, he was not in any rush to go telling the details of that girl's sordid affairs to the guy she was…in love with? Minegishi didn't know how that girl really felt about him and that, also, was none of his business. Really all of this was none of his business but she was looking up at him with hope in her eyes like if she just confessed her since he could absolve her cheating heart of the mistakes that blackened it…

Or maybe she was just itching for her shift to end.

He knew he was.

"Ok. I won't tell you the details of what happened. I just think that I might be a bad person and I guess that I want someone to tell me that I'm not even though I know that I am." Said Mob

"And you want me to be that person to you because?" asked Minegishi

"You're very nice, and smart, and also my friend. Also you have more experience doing bad things than I do. Not to be mean! I meant, just, that you…do you ever feel like you're going to throw up?" asked Mob

"When I'm sick, yes, but not when I think about what I've done. I've made some mistakes, done some terrible things, but I don't believe in regrets. Regrets just slow you down. As far as I'm concerned there's no point, none at all, in moaning and groaning about every single terrible thing I've done in my past." Said Minegishi

"I wish I could be more like you…" said Mob

"No. You don't. You could not handle it, the things that I've done, just look at how you're going to pieces just because you can't stay away from that guy…Reigen?" said Minegishi

"Yes. Him. Master Reigen…but he says to just call him Reigen now. He says that he's not that man to me anymore." Said Mob

"You know, someone the thought of you calling that guy 'master' makes the whole thing even stranger." Said Minegishi

"He said that, too. I still wish that I could either stop doing bad things or stop feeling bad about doing bad things…but I can't. I feel bad all the time, so bad, that I always feel like I'm going to throw up. I'm always tired and nauseated and I'm eating a lot too. It might just be a growth spurt but maybe I'm just eating because I feel bad. Sometimes my mom hides in the laundry room and eats cookies when she's sad." Said Mob

"Or maybe you're just sick and you need to see a doctor. Just a thought. Maybe a doctor or a therapist, even. Or maybe you should just stop sleeping with men twice your age. Just a thought." Said Minegishi with a shrug.

"….I want to but I can't. To any of those things. I can't see a doctor because my mom still has my insurance card and if I go home to ask her for it then she'll ask me to come home, and I want to, but I can't because if I leave Serizawa then he'll live in his room and die without me and I also can't stop being his girlfriend for the same reason, also I love him, and I can't stop thinking about being with Master Reigen because I love him, too, even though he won't die without me-" said Mob

"Well then nothing to do but accept that this is your life now." Said Minegishi. She just wanted to be heard and validated. He didn't know how he was supposed to validate her when she was being so stupid. So very stupid. Break ups hurt, they always did, but it was clear that she was in over her head. She wanted to be with the other guy so she should have just been with the other guy. Minegishi knew that if someone put that on him, their entire wellbeing on being in a relationship with him, then he'd kick them to the curb. Who needed that in their life? Well, her, obviously.

"I…I guess so…" said Mob. Now she was being all sniffly. She was going to cry and she didn't know why. Well she did, because she was feeling terrible both emotionally and physically, and she did cry sometimes like when she was in the shower and finally, blissfully alone but…but why was she crying now!?

"Oh God….come here, come on, before someone comes in and sees you like this." said Minegishi. He offered her a hug. She threw herself into his arms and rested her head on his chest. He sighed and patted her on the head in a 'there, there' motion. He did not like having her that close. He could feel her aura and it gave him the instinctive feeling that he should have run away, far away, because if she wanted to she could crush him like a bug. Snuff him out like a weed…

But she was not Suzuki.

She would never have done anything like that to him. She was much too sweet, too nice, even if she was a serial cheater apparently. Also Suzuki would never have cried into his chest like that. He sighed. Plants were so much easier. Their needs were so much simpler. This, this friendship thing, it was messy enough with someone on his level but with this girl…it was a complete and utter disaster.

"You'll be ok…I guess. I mean Serizawa loves you so I guess he'll forgive you and…not break up I guess…or you can just come clean and tell him that you're incapable of being monogamous…or whatever. It's none of my business…" said Minegishi. The best advice he could have given her was not to play the game. That was why he never did the relationship thing. It was easier, and much less messy, to just be with someone when you wanted and to be able to leave them when you were done. Merging your life with someone else, marrying your fortunes together, that was messy business. Especially if you were fifteen and stupid.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" said Mob. Minegishi smelled like dirt and plants and mulch and stuff, which was the way their job smelled, but somehow more…concentrated…and his aura was touching hers and this was all too much…and her stomach was being all rumbly and tumbly….

She was going to be sick.

"Not on me." Said Minegishi letting her go like she was on fire. Nope. As powerful as she was he was not going to let her throw up all over him. Everyone had a line and that was his. She took a step back and put her hands on her stomach.

"Turn that way. If you're going to throw up at least do it into the soil and not the flood…and you're cleaning up your own vomit. That is not in my job description." Said Minegishi. He watched in curiosity as her aura moved and turned and churned as she clutched her stomach. He had never been the best at reading auras, that was more Shimazaki's thing, but he got the feeling that her aura was not supposed to look like that….

"Wait, no, I'm not. I can make myself not throw up…if I try…there. Ok, I'm better now. Well not all the way better but I feel less sick." Said Mob. She did not want to throw up. It was a terrible feeling, being sick enough to throw up, and actually throwing up was worse. No. She could just make her stomach stay calm…

"Wouldn't it be easier to just, you know, vomit and get it over with?" asked Minegishi. He still watched her aura. It hadn't always looked like that…had it? He knew that it moved but it had always moved more…evenly…if that was the term. Now it was more…concentrated….and closer…if that made any sense…

"No. I hate throwing up, it's a really bad feeling. I'll be fine. I just…I just have to not think about what I've done and…and just move forwards...but also keep it a secret because Serizawa asked me to promise not to ever do that again…" said Mob. Well if she was going by exact words then she had just promised Serizawa that she would never sleep with Master Reigen again. That hadn't been sleeping with him per say…but she wasn't going to go by exact words…though thinking of it, the fact that she had made an exact promise, it made her feel better.

It didn't make her stomach feel any better, though.

"So there you go. Welcome to adulthood. Lots of mistakes, regrets, hard choices, and even harder outcomes." Said Minegishi with a shrug. She made her own problems. He felt for her…as much as he could…but she did make her own mistakes. She wanted to be an adult and this was what adulthood was. If he was going to be her friend, a true friend and not a sycophant, then he was going to tell her some of the hard truths.

Not all of them, he liked being alive, but some of them.

"….It sucks…"said Mob. She knew that she shouldn't have said it like that, it was rude, but it really did suck. She thought that being an adult meant that she would be able to do whatever she wanted. She knew, she thought that she known, exactly what she wanted but now she had no idea. She knew what she wanted and she knew what she had and she knew that she wanted what she had and also what she could not have and she knew that she could never have them both…she had tried that already…and now she knew that all of this only served to make her feel utterly terrible…like she was feeling now….

"Yes, yes it does, but it's still better than being a kid." Said Minegishi with a shrug. As many problems as adulthood brought with it he wouldn't trade it for another shot at being her age in a heartbeat. Not a good time for him…or for anyone.

"Yes, I guess, I mean when I was a kid I had a lot more rules to follow. I-I kind of miss those rules, though, not the part where my mom and dad bossed me around but the part where I guess…I didn't have to think about as much as I do now. Someone else was thinking about me and taking care of me…I mean Serizawa cares about me and says that he wants to take care of me but sometimes…sometimes I feel like I'm the one taking care of him…and it's hard sometimes. Being an adult is hard sometimes." Said Mob

"Yeah, it can suck but, hey, what can you do? Besides get back to work I mean. We really should get back to work and get off of all of this." said Minegishi. And now was the part of the day when she wanted a heart to heart talk. She wanted wisdom, someone to tell her what to do, and Minegishi did not want the responsibility of being that person to her. There was a reason that he had no plans of ever having kids of his own.

"Yeah….I guess. I guess that there's nothing that I can do but…but get back to work." Said Mob. Minegishi was smart, she decided to listen to him. It was easier to listen to other people than it was to listen to herself. She didn't think that she was the best at running her own life, anyway. Maybe she was just bad at being an adult. Maybe she should just do what the other adults did. Watch and learn and all of that.

So that was what she did.

The feeling in her stomach did not go away. In fact it got even worse he later it got in the day. It was absolutely unbearable by the time she got home. It hit her, actually, as she got off of the elevator. The whole floor smelled like cooking. Someone was cooking something with a lot of onions…

And it made her sick.

"You're home! I didn't know if you were bringing home dinner so I made us some-" said Serizawa from the kitchen. He was trying, really trying, for her. She had been sort of distant since the other night, the night after all of that with her family had happened. The night when he couldn't…and he still couldn't…and he didn't need Google to tell him that she had felt very rejected, then, though it had been helpful. That was why she had gone to the store in the middle of the night, because she felt rejected, and that had been awful. He needed to make an effort for her like she was making an effort for him.

Relationships took a lot of effort.

"Bathroom!" shouted Mob as she ran past him. She didn't even have time to face her shoes the right way as she entered, she just kicked them off and ran as fast as she could to the bathroom. She had tried to keep from throwing up but now her body just was not listening to her! She had barely gotten the toilet seat up and stuck her head in the bowl when her insides decided to become her outsides. Even the convenience store mixed fruit she had snacked on while she walked home came back up…and that was expensive…

There was an aura around hers and a strong hand on her back.

"Are you ok? Do you need some tea? I mean, that's what my mother made me when I got sick…are you sick? Or did you just eat something bad? Do you need me to get you something from the pharmacy? Or do you need to go to the hospital?" asked Serizawa. He rubbed her back and used his powers to get her hair out of her face. He tried to stay calm, he had to stay calm, but the rattling the filled the apartment betrayed him. She was sick. She could have been dying! People died from all sort of things! She could die of dehydration or starvation if she couldn't keep food down! Or maybe she was going to die of stomach cancer like his great aunt had! Or maybe-

No. She probably just has food poisoning. Calm down, Katsuya.

"I can't go…to the hospital….mom has my…insurance card…" said Mob after she was sure that she was done throwing up. It still smelled awful. She wished that the windows in their apartment opened. They didn't, not even a crack, and Mob was trapped in there with the onion smell that made her stomach churn…and also made her…hungry? Well of course she was hungry, she had just thrown up everything she had eaten and her stomach was empty.

"B-But you…you're…" said Serizawa rubbing her back. She looked like she was about to say something before she went back to throwing up. He made a sound between a squeak and a gasp, a truly odd sound, and went right back to rubbing her back. He wasn't sure if this was helping her at all but this was what his mother had done for him and he had always found it very comforting. That was what she needed, comfort, but also tea and medicine and toast and crackers and lemon juice and all of the other food sickness cures that he could remember.

"N-No…costs too much without….without the card thing…" said Mob after she finally finished throwing up. That had just been clean stuff. Great. Just great. Maybe there was no end to it. Maybe this was just her life now.

This was weird.

"Do you need to!?" asked Serizawa failing to stay calm. Insurance be damned if she needed the hospital then he was taking her to the fucking hospital! He didn't care how much it cost him, her life was priceless!

"No. I'll be fine. I think it was just because it smells so much like onions in here." Said Mob as she got up from the ground. Her back felt cold without his hand, there, and her aura felt lonely as he pulled his away from her. She went over to the sick and stuck her head under the tap to get a drink. She felt her hair being pulled back and heard the toilet flush.

He took good care of her.

And that was why she couldn't tell him the real reason she had been throwing up.

"I-I'm sorry! I was making curry from scratch, not from the cubes or the powder, and it's my mother's recipe, she says hi by the way, and there's a lot of onion in it and-and I didn't know that you disliked onions so badly. If I had known I never would h-have ma-made-" said Serizawa

"It's ok." Said Mob as she swished her mouth out with water. His apologizing was making it worse. He had nothing to apologize for! He had never done anything but love her and here she was, throwing up because she had been so terrible to him!

"I-I just wanted to make you something nice for dinner and my mom…well she called me and we got to talking and then I remembered how much I liked her curry and…and she said that she could give you the recipe so you could make it for-for me-" said Serizawa

"Really, it's fine." Said Mob

"B-But then I thought that it wouldn't be fair if-if I made you cook for me. I mean-mean you're always busy all the time and you work so har-hard at school and work and-and I just want to-" said Serizawa

"It's ok but can…can we go outside for a little bit? I don't…I don't feel so good..." said Mob after she finished having her water. At least she didn't taste that gross, throw up, taste anymore. That was good at least. The water just made her feel even sicker, though, and that made no sense because it was water. This wasn't good. She needed to be able to eat and drink to live…and the smell of onions had never made her sick before…

Maybe she needed to go to the doctor after all…

"S-Sure! Whatever you want!" said Serizawa. He reached across the apartment with his powers and turned off the stove. After a moment he remembered to move the pan to another burner so it would still be edible by the time they got back. She would be hungry, maybe, by then. He figured that she would have wanted to stay inside and ride this whole thing out but he would do whatever it was that she wanted…

And what she wanted, apparently, was going outside to get some air.

He held her hand the whole time. He didn't know where they had been walking towards but she knew, it seemed, and he followed her. He would follow her to the ends of the Earth if he could. Maybe it was wrong, being willing to follow someone like that, it hadn't gone so well the last time, but this was different. This was love. He loved her and he trusted her and…and he would gladly follow her wherever it was that she wanted to go.

Even if people were giving him all kinds of looks.

He still didn't get why. Well he knew why, it was the age thing, but he didn't get it. She wasn't that much…ok she was that much younger than him…but that didn't mean anything. She loved him and he loved her and love was all that mattered. Right? He had always thought so but…but now he was beginning to think differently. He loved her and she loved him but there was still the age thing and just because they didn't think that it mattered didn't mean that other people wouldn't feel the same way. It was weird, he knew that it was weird, but nothing about his life had exactly been normal up to this point. He knew that he shouldn't have cared what other people thought but…but maybe he should have if he was still planning on rejoining society…

He could never leave her.

But they were getting a lot of looks. He wanted to stop holding her hand, even, as they walked down the street. He didn't listen to that feeling, though, because she would have felt rejected. Also he wanted to hold her hand. He knew that he shouldn't have focused so much on that other people thought, being overly concerned with the thoughts of others wasn't a good way to be, but he had to at least care a little. That was why he had gotten back in the habit of showering every single as well as brushing his teeth and keeping his hair nice. There was a balance, Reigen had told him a while ago, between caring about what other people thought and being overly self-conscious…

He tried not to think of Reigen.

He had been trying not to think of Reigen for a while now. They had traded apologies and then nothing, nothing at all. Silence. Serizawa wondered if the ball was in his court, so to speak, but if it was he had no idea what sport they were even playing. It was like someone had tossed him a bowling ball and a baseball bat and told him that they were playing hockey. Social things were still so hard and the person he went to for help with all of this was the reason he felt like this in the first place!

So he tried not to think about Reigen.

Or the looks that he was getting. The looks got even worse as she led him into a convenience store. He assumed that she had gone in for medicine but she, instead, led him right to the prepared foods. He tried not to feel hurt, he had worked hard on dinner…he had even gone to the store by himself even though it was so hard and the world was so big and he was all alone in it without her and also he hadn't bagged his groceries fast enough…but he had gone through all of that for her and she wanted, instead, to eat…

Fruit?

Right. She had been throwing up. Was fruit good for that? He didn't know. All he knew was that she wanted fruit and he got her fruit because he wanted to make her happy. That was all he had ever wanted was her happiness. It hurt, though, because he had worked hard for her….he was always working hard for her…and she just…but she was sick and she suddenly didn't like onions and she had been throwing up and she couldn't control when she threw up and he had already forgiven her for the things that she could definitely control so he had might as well forgive her for the things that were definitely out of her control as well.

And he chose not to think about it.

Because, objectively, they were having a nice night. She ate her fruit, fruit salad and an entire grapefruit, in the park under the stars just the two of them. She even let him have some even though fruit was in no way a substantial enough meal for one, let alone two. Not that he said anything about that, either. No, he wouldn't. He would just enjoy his time with her. Mob. Shigeko.

His girlfriend.

The light of his life. Even though she could hurt him she was still the light of his life and he would do anything for her. That was love, the real and true kind of love, the kind of love that he felt for her. Shigeko. Mob. His girlfriend who he loved and who loved him and who hadn't been trying to hurt him. Not ever. Not even when she…not even then. She hadn't been thinking of him, then, and she had said so…and that hurt even more than if she had been spiting him…

Stop thinking about it, Katsuya, and just have a nice night already.

So he did. So they did. They had a nice night together and a nice morning and he knew that those nights and mornings would repeat over and over again each one nicer than the one before it because he had her and she had him and it was all just so nice. So perfect. So wonderful. Such a good night and such a good morning.

Mob's mornings were terrible.

And her afternoon would be even worse. The feeling in her stomach was back. How she could simultaneously be ravenous and nauseated she did not know. All she knew was that she ate enough for two people at lunch and then was sick enough for two people at gym class and then for three people at body improvement club. She was so sick that she took a sick day from work, not a good move if Serizawa's mountains of work etiquette books were to be believed, but better to take a sick day and maybe another than to infect everyone she came into contact with at work with whatever it was that she had.

The internet had not been helpful.

She could either have a stomach bug, a gluten intolerance, a lactose intolerance, cancer, typhus, or diphtheria. The internet also said that if symptoms persisted for more than twenty four hours she needed to consult a doctor. Even if consulting a doctor meant that she needed her insurance card and even if getting her insurance card meant going home…to her family's house…where she used to live…where her family still lived…

At least mom said that she was done yelling.

"Ritsu! Bring in the mail!" called mom as Mob opened the door. Her key still worked, she didn't know why she had expected it not to, but it was nice that it still worked. She…it felt nice, being back home, even though she knew that she wouldn't have been there for long. If mom and dad hadn't been home Mob would have just gone into the folder with important stuff they kept in their room and gotten her insurance card. But mom was home.

Mob got the mail even though she wasn't Ritsu.

"Shige…you're home…" said Mom. She was sitting at the table with her laptop and a pile of papers that Mob didn't know the purpose of but seemed very important. Lots of numbers on them. Mom had brought her work home with her. That was what adults did, they worked, and Mob was being a terrible adult by taking a sick day.

"Hi mom…here's the mail. I'm not Ritsu but I got it any way but I can put it pack if you want him to be the one to get it for you." Said Mob

"N-No…I'll take it. Thank you…Shigeko." Said mom. She took the mail but didn't look through it, maybe because it was mostly junk mail from what Mob could see.

"Are you…are you staying?" asked Mom after a while. Mob shook her head. She couldn't stay. Serizawa had been without her for the entire day. He probably missed her a lot. She missed him, too, but she knew that she didn't miss him as much as he missed her.

"No. I just need my insurance card so I can go to the doctor." Said Mob. Mom got to her feet immediately and put her forehead to Mob's head. She didn't know why moms always did that. They had an ear thermometer and a tongue one, too. Maybe moms just had special temperature sensing powers. Maybe she'd get them when she and Serizawa had a baby.

She'd rather just stick with the powers that she already had.

"You don't have a fever…but you are very pale…" said mom. Mob nodded. Her eyes weren't resting on mom, though, but on the bowl of fruit on the table. There were oranges, there, and grapefruits. Thank God Sho wasn't there or he would have tried to have it out with her over their differing opinions on citrus fruits.

"I don't have a fever, mom, my stomach just hurts a lot and I'm always hungry, too, at the same time…" said Mob. Her mom made a weird gasping sort of sound and then put her hand squarely over Mob's stomach. Her eyes were weird, too, really wide and kind of like she was mad…or maybe scared…or maybe both at the same time. Mob hadn't seen her mom look like that since that terrible day when she had lost control and accidentally hurt Ritsu.

"And that why I need to go to the doctor. It hurts all the time and I thought that it was because I've been…bothered…lately but now I think that maybe I'm sick. I think that I might be sick because I threw up a lot yesterday and I don't know why. Before I could stop myself from throwing up but then I came home and everything smelled like onions and then I just got really sick." Said Mob. Mom still wasn't saying anything, she was just standing there with her hand on Mob's stomach and looking like a weird mixture of afraid and scared. It was making Mob feel a little bit afraid and scared, too, and she could feel her hair start to float. Mom's was floating, too, and so were the papers on the table.

Mob put everything down as best as she could.

This seemed to snap mom out of it. She pulled her hand away really fast and clasped her hands together. She was breathing funny and looking at mom like…like she was afraid. Mob didn't blame her. The room still had dents and scraped paint and missing pictures and knickknacks from when she and Ritsu had lost control and had their great, big, fight.

"Shigeko….were you telling the truth when you said that you took a pregnancy test before?" asked mom in a quiet sort of way, so quiet that Mob hadn't been sure that her mom had even spoken at first until the question was repeated again, only that time much louder.

"Yes. I drank a lot of water and took a test and waited five minutes. It said that I wasn't pregnant." Said Mob. She didn't know what that had to do with this. She had already taken the test and it said negative and she hadn't had sex since then so, of course, she couldn't be pregnant.

"How much water?" asked mom

"Huh?" asked Mob

"How much water did you drink? Shigeko, those tests aren't…I know you probably got the cheapest one you could find-" said mom

"I did." Said Mob though now she wished that she hadn't. Mom had a tone, there, and she wasn't the best at reading tones but she knew that mom was upset with her. Great. Just great. Another thing to be worried about.

"Shige…Shigeko, never cheap out on these things…and don't drink a lot of water right before, either. That makes it diluted…and those cheap tests aren't reliable." Said mom

"But it said that I wasn't pregnant. Why would they sell a test that doesn't work?" asked Mob

"Because you're fifteen! Sorry, I'm sorry Shigeko….I know that yelling gets me nowhere with you. Shigeko, you're fifteen years old and you don't fully know how these things work. When you drink a lot of water the pregnancy hormones get diluted…if it was even late enough for the test to register…or early enough. If you wait too long you can get a false negative too…and if you want proof of that, well, you aren't an only child now are you?" said mom

"Wait, so I could….what? Mom, please don't mess with me. Why are you messing with me?" asked Mob. Mom shook her head and did that thing where her lips got really thin like she was sucking on a lemon…which sounded pretty good right about then, actually…..

"Shigeko I am not messing with you. These are things that…that I suppose I should have taught you…that I thought I had time to teach you…oh God….this is not happening…" said mom

"Mom…you're making me worried…" said Mob. No…no way. She could not have a baby. She was just all worried and worked up because of what she had done. That was all. She was just making herself sick from the stress of it all. That was all. Nothing more and nothing less. She pressed down on her stomach. If she were pregnant it would have been bigger and rounder. She would have noticed something like that!

"Shigeko…I'm the one who's worried. You…I'm trying my hardest not to yell at you. I'm trying my hardest not to panic. I am making an effort to-" said Hana. She had failed her child in every single way in which a mother possibly could and now she was paying the price. A grandmother at not even fifty. Her mother was still alive. Her mother's mother was still alive! Well, if you could call that living….and Hana was going that route herself very soon! This was enough stress to give her a stroke and send her to the same care facility as her grandmother! How could….why would…..

This was too much.

But she had to remain calm or her daughter would walk right out that door and never speak to her again.

"You don't have to! I mean….I'm just worried because…because I did a very bad thing…and it's been eating me up inside and that's why I've been sick lately, probably, and also why I've been so hungry lately, too." Said Mob

"What could you have possibly done, Shigeko, that's worse than what's already happened?" asked Hana dismissively. She had been dismissive because she had to be. She could not even begin to fathom anything worse than the situation that they were facing. Her daughter was pregnant with a manchild's child…ok, he was a nice man but he was thirty one! And he didn't' work! And Shigeko had more education than he did! What could possibly be worse than the crisis that they were facing right at that moment?!

"I…I did something bad. I did something so bad…and then I did it again after I promised that I would never do it again but I still did it…and I know that I shouldn't have and I know that it was wrong, both times I knew that it was wrong…but I still did it and I'm afraid that I'll do it again and I have no reason to do it aside from that fact that I…I want to really badly…but I know that I shouldn't-" said Mob trying to tell her mom without, actually, telling her mom. Not that mom still had the power to command and punish her, she was an adult now, but mom still could be mad at her and ashamed of her and disappointed in her…

"Out with it, Shigeko! Just get on with it because whatever you've done it can't possibly hold a candle to the situation we are in right now!" said Hana losing her temper. She couldn't help it. Things just kept on going from bad to worse and just when she thought that they were done they went from worse to terrible! The universe seemed to take it as a personal challenge to heap as much hardship onto her shoulders as it could! First one of her children has powers, then both do, and now all of this!

"Did you ever cheat on dad?" asked Mob suddenly. She didn't know what else she could say. Well not that, she should have thought about something other than that, because that was something that she did not want to know about her parents' marriage at all. Nope. Sot at all. She could have lived a long life without knowing that about her mom and dad.

"What? No, of course I haven't, Shigeko, and what does that have to do with….oh." said Hana. Well then. This was…good…actually. A boy her own age. Shigeko acting her age. Shigeko acting her age with a boy her own age…at least Hana hoped to whatever God that was out there that it had been with a boy her own age.

"I…I did something bad…I cheated on Serizawa even though he loves me and he forgave me but then I did it again and I've been feeling really bad but I can't tell him because he was really sad before the first time I did it and then he said that he'd forgive me if I said that I would never do it again but then I did…I didn't go him to do that but we still did and ever since I've been feeling really, really, really bad and I don't know what I'm supposed to do and it's just so much!" said Mob. She was trying her hardest to keep things from floating and the house from shaking. She was shaking. Her stomach hurt even worse now and she…she didn't know what she was supposed to do….

"Shigeko….these things happen. You're not ready for all of this but…but you can learn from this and-" said Hana. Well this maybe this would be the thing that got her daughter back home where she belonged. Shigeko wasn't the first person to ever find herself in this predicament and she was not going to be the last. This was…a bump in the road of life…and it could be smoothed over. Yes. This situation could be fixed and then…and then they would all just pretend like this little ordeal had never happened. Shigeko would come back home and go to school and spend time with her friends and work for that nice man again just like it had all been before all of this. Yes, everything would go right back to the way it was supposed to be.

"I don't know why I keep on hurting him. I love him and he loves me but I keep on hurting him." said Mob softly. She was then pulled into her mother's arms.

"Love isn't everything, Shigeko. Love is…it can be complicated. It can be…hard recognize. Sometimes what we think is love is something else like…dependence or desire…and it's hard. You're only fifteen and you're still learning…and I'm sorry that your lesson had to be such a hard one…but things can go back to the way that they were before-" said Hana

"How? How can things ever go back? I…I did something terrible. I did it twice, even." Said Mob

"Because time will pass and this will all be…be a difficult chapter in your life, that's all." Said Hana smoothing down her daughter's hair and holding her close. It hurt, being so near her, feeling the crackle of the energy around her, but this was her child and she was not going to push her away again.

"But it's not…I don't think that it'll ever pass. I wish that I had never done any of this. I wish that I had never even confessed to Master Reigen in the first place." Said Mob softly. She said it so softly that she was saying it mostly to herself. She wished that she had never started this thing. If she hadn't, if she had just…just kept it inside until she was an adult…then none of this would have happened.

"What? Shige…what did you just say?" asked Hana. She needed to have her hearing tested, she was getting up there in years after all, because she could have sworn that she had just heard Shigeko say that she had confessed to the man that she had worked or since she was eleven years old.

"I…I confessed to Master Reigen and then he said no to me so I…that's how me and Serizawa got together." Said Mob

"Oh. Well that's…that's ok…" said Hana. He had turned her down. That was fine. Shigeko had embarrassed herself and gotten herself rejected, as she should have been since her boss was a grown MAN, and then she had started a rebound relationship with the manchild she was seeing now. Ok then.

"But he meant yes but I didn't know that he meant yes and then I slept with him and it was so perfect but then it wasn't and then he and Serizawa got into a great big fight and Serizawa and I got into a great big fight and there was just a lot of fighting and I don't want there to be any more fighting and then Serizawa got really depressed and he wouldn't go outside but then he would but then you said that Master Reigen was the one who told on me and I was just SO MAD so I went to his house even though I knew that it was a bad idea and then we…we didn't sleep together but…but we still did some stuff that I knew was wrong and now I feel like this and-" said Mob

"Reigen…Reigen the man you work for? You slept with him, too?" asked Hana. That was not a common name at all…but maybe it was. She prayed that it was. That man…she had trusted him with her CHILD! And that was what Shigeko was, a CHILD! A goddamned mother fucking CHILD! How could she have just left her daughter with that man?! How could she have been so naïve?! How could-

"Yes. That Reigen. Reigen Arataka." Said Mob softly. Mom was staring at her again. She was pale, so pale that Mob could have sworn that she could see the blue of her veins.

"Shigeko….mommy needs…mommy needs…" said Hana. She needed a time machine. She needed a car door to slam her head in. She needed a plastic bag to tape over her head. She needed a ride to the nearest bridge so she could throw herself off of it. She needed a glass of cyanide. She needed-

She needed a drink.

She needed a drink more at that moment than she had ever had in her entire life.

So she went to the liquor cabinet and poured herself a cup of sake. The bottle said that it was supposed to be served warm but she didn't care. She just needed alcohol in her system. She just needed to kill a few brain cells. It wasn't like she had been using them, anyway, since she had let her daughter get into this predicament.

"Mom….?" Asked Mob as her mom stopped drinking sake from a cup and drank straight from the bottle. She knew that her mom drank, she had seen both of her parents drinking before, but mom had never drank like that. She was drinking like she had been walking through the desert for days and days and hadn't seen water in all that time.

Sake was not water.

"Shigeko…let's get you that insurance card, ok? And then we'll make you an appointment with a doctor and then we'll…we'll get this whole thing sorted out." Said Hana. It was hitting her fast, too fast, probably because she had been drinking like a university student. Well what else could she do? Her daughter's life was, had been for some time, spiraling out of control.

And she had let it.

"But…but what about what I did…?" asked Mob. She at least expected mom to say that she was disappointed in her. That was what moms did. They told you when you had disappointed them and Mob knew that she had been behaving terribly lately. She was disappointed in herself. Of course mom would have been disappointed in her.

"Shigeko….I honestly have no idea." Said Hana. She meant it. It was so freeing to be able to just say it. She had no clue what she was supposed to do in this situation besides get her daughter to a doctor. Hana couldn't punish her, yelling would do nothing, and there was no reasoning with a fifteen year old girl who thought she was in love. So, really, there was nothing at all that she could possibly do.

"Oh…ok…" said Mob. Well that did not inspire confidence at all. Maybe this was what it was to be an adult. Your mom couldn't get you out of messes anymore. You had to get yourself out of messes. You. Because when you were an adult you were responsible for your own actions. She was an adult now and she was responsible for her own actions…

And she had been acting very poorly lately.

So she decided to take responsibility for her actions…and the first step was telling Serizawa what she had done. So that was what she did when she got home. She just…told him. She told him everything that happened even though she really didn't want to. She didn't want to tell him but she didn't want to keep it inside anymore.

And if he broke up with her then so be it.

Because it was a lot. She loved him, she did, but she was still terrible for what she had done…and maybe part of her wanted him to tell her that she was terrible, too. Maybe part of her wanted him to yell at her and to tell her to get out of his house and out of his life and then she could be with the person she had wanted to be with for so long…and he still would have had her…

She still loved Master Reigen and Master Reigen still loved her.

But Serizawa loved her too. He said that he did. He yelled at her, yes, and he cried at her but through all of it he kept on assuring her that he still loved her. He loved her and he would always love her. He would be better for her, he would do better for her, and he would always be there for her. There was nothing in the world that would ever make him stop loving her.

Even though it made no sense.

Love made no sense. Feeling it, not feeling it, feeling it for one person, feeling it for two…none of it made any sense whatsoever. She loved him and she wanted him to stop loving her. He loved her and he never stopped wanting to love her. So they were at an impasse. Not that she told him that she wanted him to stop loving her…not in so many words, anyway.

"Please…please just make me go away so I can't hurt you anymore." That was what she had said. She knew that she would just keep on hurting herself and him again and again and again. He said that he loved her. He said that he didn't care. He said that no matter what happened he would always love her. Then he cried some more. Then he stopped. Then he cried again.

And they went round and round like that for a while.

And the whole time Mob had no idea what she was supposed to do next…besides got to the doctor…but in the wake of the atom bomb she just dropped on their relationship she could barely even muster up…anything….on the subject of her pending doctor's appointment. It seemed as though there was no point to worrying about it. Pregnant or not the outcome of her life would still be the same.

No matter what she did she would always be his.

And she had no idea how to feel about that.