Shigeko Kageyama, AKA Mob

by Green Kneesocks

The ongoing life of Shigeko Kageyama, also known as Mob, as she tries to navigate work, school, feelings, growing up, and being the protagonist of her own life. MobXReigen. MobXTeru. May be M rated in later chapters. FemMob. Now with cover art by ponystoriesandothers!

64. Fighting Enemies, Making Friends

"You won't defeat me so easily you brats!" said Ishihara. This was bad. The others had gone down like dominos. Weak. Lost to kids! Kids and traitors!

"Yes we will. Now! Come on Takeshi!" said Go. They had been practicing this for ages! Combo moves! It hadn't always worked but they couldn't let Teru and those adult espers take all the credit!

"…..right!" said Takeshi. He prayed to whoever was listening for his powers to work. He was tired, not sleeping for pretty much the whole night and then trying to lift those cars had taken it out of him. This mini battle hadn't been easy even though Teru and those other guys had done most of the work.

"What are you-" asked Teru before the area in front of him was enveloped in flames. For a moment he can't think, can't breathe, can't move, can't anything. For a moment he's in his barrier and the world around him is on fire and it's so hot, and getting hotter, and Shigeko's gone….

But that time is not now.

He's aware of himself now. He's aware of the concrete under his knees, he must have fallen, and he's aware that someone is pulling him up by his hoodie. Right. He wasn't on fire that time. What was that, even? That usually…that hadn't happened to him in a long while. He had forgotten, sometimes, where he was but that was right after he and Shigeko went and saved Ritsu. That hadn't happened in so long…

He was just tired.

"Hey, you ok?" asked Go as he put a hand to Teru's forehead. He wasn't a mom, he wasn't sure what this was supposed to tell him besides the fact that Teru's fever hadn't gone away yet, but it seemed like the thing to do.

"I'm fine!" said Teru pushing Go away and trying to stand on unsteady feet. He looked around. One pile of passed out goons, one charred goons, and about a million and one pairs of eyes resting on him. He felt something...the closest word he had for this feeling was 'pressing'…down on his head…his mind.

He locked eyes with Kaito.

Then he looked away.

And the pressure stopped.

"You're ok, Teru, we all are. Everyone's ok." Said Kaito. He missed the days when he could only read his brother's mind and vise versa. He knew that he shouldn't have snooped but Teru looked really freaked out back there. He wished that he could have said more. He wished that he could have told his friend that everything was going to be ok and they were all going to make it out of this just fine….but he had no idea if they were going to make it out of this just fine.

Daichi stopped answering.

"Yeah, we did it. Thanks guys….you helped a lot." Said Teru. Right. Humble. Nice. Like Shigeko would have wanted.

"We couldn't have done it without you. Remember, you said how you always tried to adapt new techniques? That's what gave Takeshi and I the idea about combo moves. We're awesome now. Not that we weren't always, of course." Said Go

"Don't forget me. If I hadn't tricked the enemy into thinking I was a mole then we would have never gotten the drop on them." Said Terada. He received only long looks in reply. They didn't think that he would actually betray them all, did they? No way was he stupid enough to piss the girl off again. The only time he had seen power like that was when he had earned his scar fighting the President. Her group would win this thing and when they did he would be right there to remind everyone how helpful he'd been during this whole thing.

"Kaito, if you would be so kind?" asked Teru motioning towards Terada. He had fought alongside them when he needed to but…but he had been very convincing. What if he was a mole? What if this President guy or whatever wasn't as clueless as everyone seemed to think? If Teru was the leader of an international terrorist organization, not that he had such aspirations, he would have been on top of everything that was going on….especially people plotting against him!

"Sure thing!" said Kaito as he used his telepathy to skim through Terada's mind. He pushed past the stuff that he knew he wasn't supposed to see, this guy had a filthy mind but then again so did everyone else, until he found thoughts relating to plans for the immediate future….

"Nope. He's not planning on betraying us anytime soon!" said Kaito trying to sound cheerful. He tried to contact his brother again…and it didn't work…again. It was like, almost like, when one of them was asleep….but that didn't make any sense. They were right there in the middle of….whatever this was! He couldn't have…unless something went wrong…

But the others were so happy, relatively happy, and he couldn't just come out and tell them…

"Anytime soon?! I'm not planning on betraying you at all!" shouted Terada

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll trust you for now but the minute you betray us it's over." Said Teru in that voice he used, used to use, to inspire fear in his enemies. Shigeko would not have been proud of him at all….but this was for her….this was all for her. She was out there, well back at the base, and she was asleep but she'd wake up…and he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

"That minute's never going to come, kid, believe me." Said Terada

"That's exactly what someone who was planning on betraying us would say!" said Go pointing an accusatory finger in Terada's direction.

"Guys, knock it off. You're freaking Kaito out." Said Takeshi. He could see the light blue of his aura. He could see him rocking back and forth on his heels. Something was wrong. Sometimes he forgot how much younger the Shiratori's were than the rest of them. Who would have thought that a year and some months, amazingly enough they were twins with different birthdays, would have made so much difference. Takeshi was keeping it together better than he was. Go was keeping it together best of all. Teru wanted everyone to think he was keeping it together but Takeshi could see him starting to crack.

"No, that's not it…" said Kaito. He should tell them. That was why he and his brother had separated, so the two groups could be in communication, and if they weren't in communication anymore then…then everyone had to know…even if it would worry and upset everyone…

"What is it then, little one?" asked Takeuchi. He watched the boy's aura. Telepathy, an uncommon gift. The boy was reaching out to someone. His aura flared out in anxiety. Poor little thing. This was not the place for children. Not these children, anyway. These children were not made from the same material as he had been when he was their age, or Mukai was at the present.

"Guys…the other group isn't…I mean….my brother isn't answering anymore…" said Kaito. There. Now everyone was freaking out. That made him freak out. Well not everyone. The nice adult espers, the one in the yellow robe, was very calm. Kaito attached himself to that esper's thoughts. He was…he was making plans. His mind was like a little boat on the sea, a calm sea, like on the boat ride he and Daichi took with their whole family last summer…that was a good memory…and there would be more…

He would have noticed if his brother had died…..right?

The thought of never making good memories with his brother ever again…the thought of losing his one true companion….it terrifies him. It makes him want to run off and hide. It makes him want to run all the way home and hide under the bunk beds until everything is over. But he can't. He can't run and he can't hide and he can't do much of anything but…but be there….and try to help in whatever way he could…even if he was now useless….

"Calm down! Just shut up, everyone, so I can-" said Teru running his fingers through his hair. This was bad, this was so bad, this was the most bad! That meant that the entire group had been….they had been….they were….

"Let's regroup with the others and see if they require assistance." Said Takeuchi simply. There was a good chance that the other group needed them. He could put two and two together, the other group's telepathy was, apparently, incommunicado, so the best course of action was to see what had gone wrong. Simple. He was not one of these little ones, these children, he could keep a cool head in a crisis.

"…..fine….to the sewers!" said Teru. He was still in charge there. He was still the leader. He was not taking orders from someone he didn't even know…he was just acknowledging that it was a good suggestion. Teru still had this. He was still in control of the situation.

Somebody had to be in control of the situation and that someone was going to be him.

Reigen could admit, easily, that he was not in control of this situation.

"Dimple? What's so funny? I don't think that there's anything funny happening…" said Mob as she walked through the rubble of what used to be downtown. She used her powers to clear a path in front of them. It was heavy stuff but she could lift it. It made walking faster, her doing this, and they needed to walk quickly so that they could put an end to all of this madness.

So that she could put an end to it.

"Nothing at all, Shigeko, just remembering…something that happened…" said Dimple as he laughed to himself. Looking back the whole thing had bene hilarious. Reigen had actually thought that it had been Shigeko he had been kissing…and he had been putting his all into it, too! Ha! That guy had always been a tangled mess of issues but now, well, who knew with this guy. This might have even been the push he needed to make all of Shigeko's lovesick dreams come true!

"It's not funny." Said Reigen before he collected what little power of his own he had and sent it at Dimple. It did nothing, it seemed, it didn't even slow the little snot glob down. It slowed Reigen down, though, even though he tried to keep going, to keep up with Mob. She was just trucking along. Well rested and ready to face the day.

Good. One of them had to be.

She stopped, though, but he tried to keep going. There was a small frown on her face as she took in the scene before them. Maybe she was just frowning at the wanton destruction of the city. Reigen sure as hell hoped that was what she was frowning at. He hoped that she had no idea, no way of remembering, what had just transpired….

Because then they would have to talk about it.

And Reigen had no idea what he was supposed to say.

"Dimple, be nice. Master Reigen's been through a lot, lately, and you're upsetting him." said Mob. She had seen it, had felt it, Master Reigen had tried to hurt Dimple. Mob sort of understood why. This was not the time to be laughing. Master Reigen wasn't happy and he had no reason to be. This had to be hard for him. She had been a stubborn brat again, even though she knew that she was not supposed to call herself that anymore, and she had left him so she could go off and fight whoever was responsible for this…which was why they had gotten into their great big fight in the first place…

But they weren't fighting now. He was going with her, even though he shouldn't have been, but he was at least letting her do this in some capacity instead of telling her that it was too dangerous and that she should just run away. She was glad that she had, that they had, gone beyond that. He was still upset, though, because of all that had happened…

Plus whatever it was that he had been throwing up in the alley about.

"Fine, fine, sorry if I…crossed any lines." Said Dimple in a tone that Mob could not read. She didn't think that it had been a good tone, though, based on the way that Master Reigen was glaring. He had stopped walking, his aura was kind of dim. She could help him with that at least. She walked over to where he was trying to catch his breath and she took his hand.

And he pulled away.

"Master? What's wrong?" asked Mob. He was looking at her like…she had seen that look before on so many people….he was looking at her like he was afraid of her….but why? Because of what she had done to the bad guy back in the alley? But that had been self-defense. She had woken up and immediately felt the hostile intent in his aura and acted accordingly. She could not let anything bad happen to Master Reigen. Dimple would have been fine, he was already dead, but Master Reigen would not have been ok if that bad guy had gotten to him….so she had to protect him. Especially because he had been throwing up…well everyone had been throwing up…

Why had everyone been throwing up?

"Nothing! Just…nothing. I'm fine, Mob, really." Said Reigen. He held out his hand for her. That had not been her. That had been Dimple. He had been kissing Dimple….which was disgusting….but not that kind of disgusting that would have made him want to pitch himself off of the nearest skyscraper had they all not been knocked down. He needed to remember that it had been Mob's body but not…Mob. He would never have done anything like that to Mob. No matter what she wanted….and she did want to….but she would never just come out and take it like that. She would never have just leaned over and kissed him. She would have been shy about it, if she ever got the idea in her head, and she certainly wouldn't have tried to tongue stab him like that…

Not that he had any idea what Mob kissed like.

Not that he wanted to have any idea what Mob kissed like.

"Are you sure? I mean your aura is kind of dim…and I thought that I could fix it for you. Not fix it but I guess give you some of my power because you look tired and stuff…and also you were throwing up a lot. Why were you motion sick? And so was that other guy, too." Said Mob as she took Master Reigen's hand. He was shaking and cold to the touch. He was pale, too.

Poor Master Reigen.

"I-I'm fine Mob. I'm guess that I'm just a little freaked out by what's happening." Said Reigen. He tried to keep his aura to himself. She could not feel what he was feeling. He did not want to explain to her, now or ever, what had happened. Why he felt the way he did. She would not have any chance of understanding. She would…what would she be? If she knew that he had kissed her…body with Dimple possessing it?

He was not going to find out.

"Wow…you really are." Said Mob. Master Reigen had been keeping his aura really close. She had figured because he had used so much of his energy trying to hurt Dimple. Now that she was touching him, giving him her energy, she could feel it. Her skin was clammy and she wanted nothing more than to sit down and wait for tomorrow to happen. He was scared. He was so scared, even, that his stomach was upset, too. Mob felt like she was going to be motion sick. Master Reigen felt scared…..but he was Master Reigen…

No.

She needed to let go of that. He was human the same as everybody else. She had seen him scared. She had seen him everything. Scared, angry, stressed, sad, happy, grossed out, sleepy, wide awake, drunk, all of it. He was human the same as everyone else and he could be afraid the same as everyone else. She was not a child. She could handle this, him being afraid. He didn't have to be brave for her anymore. She could be brave for the both of them.

"Yeah….I am….I'm better now, though, so you can let go now Mob…" said Reigen. She was holding his hand. He had no idea if she had to touch him to do this, he did not want to get down the whole 'how do Mob's powers work' rabbit hole right then in the middle of what used to be the downtown upscale shopping district, but he let her. This didn't mean anything. Nothing meant anything. That hadn't been a big deal. That had just been…Dimple being an asshole. Yes, that made sense. Dimple was just being an asshole, as evil spirits tended to do.

"I will but remember, I'm here." Said Mob. When she felt that scared, back in the unreality, all she had ever wanted was for him to be there. She could and would be there for him. She would always be there for him and he would always be there for her. They loved each other, that was what love was, always being there for someone.

"I know you're here, Mob, I'm here too." Said Reigen

"No, I meant that I'm here for you. I know that you're sad and scared and so freaked out that you want to throw up. I know that I ran away from home again, sort of, to fight whoever is responsible for this and I know that for you it must have felt like I was running away again. I know that you're not me and you could get really hurt. I'm here for you, Master Reigen, no matter what. Ok?" said Mob. She was still holding his hand. She was still so near to him. She was close enough to see that he had missed a button hole, that his tie was askew, and that he had a layer of blond stubble growing across his face. It was almost invisible but it was there.

It scratched.

What…? How did she know….? What would even possess her to think….?

She'd had those thoughts before. She had wondered what it would be like to kiss him more times than she had wondered about anything else in her entire life. She had spent many mornings looking over at him while he was still asleep in his bed and wondered to herself what it would have been like to just sit up, lean over, and kiss him. Would his stubble, and he always woke up with stubble, tickle? Itch? Scratch?

It scratched.

But this was not the time to speculate about what it would be like to kiss Master Reigen.

Because they were in danger. They were in danger right then and there and she should have had her mind of something other than what it would have been like to kiss him. She was in danger. He was in danger. Everyone she had ever come into contact with was in danger. She could see…she could see off in the distance…a lot of red.

"Mob, no, you don't have to be-" said Reigen. How many times had they repeated that conversation? She was there for him, he was there for her, and they were there for each other. She was there and she always would be….and so would he.

"I want to be here for you, Master…but right now I have to be over there. Can you see it? It's not one person…but there are a bunch of people over there with that same aura…and that's where I need to be right now." Said Mob motioning towards what looked like a wall of red….at first glance. She could see, if she tried to see, the breaks in the auras. That was the same aura over and over again...

She was getting tired of that aura.

"….then that's where I need to be, too." Said Reigen. He still held her hand. She still held his hand. He was not going to let her go….even though he had…even though she had….even though they had…but they hadn't. That had bene Dimple, not her. That hadn't been her and things were not, and could not, be weird between them now. Not now. Not when she was so hell bent on saving the world….

She took a step forward and let go of his hand. He followed her.

He would always follow her.

"….I'm sorry guys….I guess you shouldn't have followed me after all…" said Rei as she sat up. Her head was swimming. The last thing she remembered was that man making fun of them….then a sharp pain to the back of her head. She sat up and reached behind her head. It was tender and…wet? Not sewer water! Anything but that!

Oh. Blood.

Rei was no stranger to seeing her own blood, the girl flu came for everyone after all, but this was…she had been hit in the head hard enough to draw blood…

"Don't sit up so fast! You've…you've got a concussion…maybe…" said Teru as he reached behind Rei and held her up as best as he could. Thank God those adult espers had better ranges than he did. He could never have found these guys on his own, being so far in the sewers….

This was so gross.

Also bad. Everyone had been knocked out. Teru had seen enough movies to know that things from the movies did not work in real life. A person couldn't just be knocked out like that. Being knocked out was actually dangerous…really dangerous. That is unless one knew what they were doing. How many people did one have to knock out before they knew what they were doing?

He didn't want to know the answer to that question.

"I-I'm ok. What happened? How's everyone? Oh no! Are they ok? Did they get….are they ok?! I just…I shouldn't have been leading everyone….my future vision isn't that good and I just…I should have seen him coming! But I didn't see him coming and then I don't even know what happened! And now we're here and you're here and we're all here and we're not supposed to be because we're supposed to be in two groups and if we're in one group then that means-" said Rei. Her head hurt so much…she just wanted to lay down…and someone was holding her up.

She leaned into him.

She closed her eyes and for a moment Ritsu was holding her. He wouldn't have let anything bad happen to her. He would have kept her safe….because he loved her. He loved her and she loved him and that was what mattered. She had failed. She had failed at her job and now, maybe, she would never see him again. She knew that it was dumb to think that way, that she needed to have hope, but the only thing that she could think about was Ritsu and how he was so very far away, probably, and that she may never see him again.

Being held didn't help.

Because that was not Ritsu.

"Rei, you're going to be ok….ok?" asked Teru as he held her. He wondered if this was crossing a line. She wasn't his girlfriend but he wasn't going to do anything with her. She just needed someone and the someone who should have been there for her wasn't. Also the someone who should have been there for her didn't even care about her in the way that mattered. Also, maybe, he missed Shigeko. Maybe he wanted to hold her because she was kind of like Shigeko, sort of, but not really aside from the fact that she was a girl.

"How do you know?" asked Rei as she rested her head on his shoulder. He smelled like…body spray and winterberries. He was warm and there and…and not Ritsu…she wanted Ritsu. She needed to be with Ritsu. She loved him. She loved him and she knew, now, what love was. She had said it, before, because he felt like that about she couldn't just…not feel it back. Now she knew what it was to love someone and she would tell him, every day, a thousand times a day, that she loved him. If she ever saw him again.

"Because I just do, ok? Don't you watch movies? The good guys always win." Said Teru

"This is real life." Said Rei softly

"Art imitates life." Said Teru with a shrug. Truth be told he had no idea what the outcome of this was going to be. He had no idea if they would win or lose or…or anything. But he was the leader and he could not let on that he didn't have faith in them. Especially after the loss they just suffered.

"I don't know what's going to happen to us. I can't see it. I can't see anything." Said Rei. She tried. She had tried and tried and tried to see if they won but all she could see was that light, that white light, and the fear….and she had no idea what it meant.

"Shh…it's ok. You'll be ok. We'll all be ok." Said Teru. He pulled her closer and rubbed her back a little, kind of like if she were Shigeko, and that was not right of him. That was a line, or at least close to one, and he could not cross it. Even though he had no intention of doing anything with Rei…he knew how much it hurt. He knew how much it hurt when, emotionally, the person you loved was close with someone else…too close…

He was being pushed away.

He let her go. He had probably crossed some kind of line, there, even though she was freaking out. Not that Shigeko would ever hold it against him, him comforting her friend, that is if she ever woke up. She had to still have been asleep. He didn't see or sense her aura but she was so far away….

"I don't know. I don't think that I'm going to be ok. I think that I'm going to…I don't know. I just really want to…to be somewhere else….not here. I don't want to be here." Said Rei

"Well yeah, we're in a sewer!" called out Go. Teru glared at him. That was not how one talked to an upset girl. Rei wasn't his girlfriend but she was his friend and that was why he was comforting her, that was all.

"I agree with Rei…." Said Takeshi as he watched the filthy water flow by. They were on some platform thing under a ladder. The sewers were just as spacious as they were on TV, who knew? They smelled a lot worse, though, and he wondered if he was going to come out of this with some terrible illness that would put him in the hospital for the rest of his life. If so he couldn't wait. At least if he was in the hospital then he wouldn't have been…there.

"All in favor of leaving the sewers?" asked Sakurai after he was certain that Koyama did not have anything serious wrong with him. Espers were made of tougher stuff than normal people, plus if this was who they thought it was then he had made sure that they could go for a second round.

"We're voting?" asked Daichi

"Who would vote no?" asked Kaito

"I vote yes!" said Takeshi. No way was he staying down there more than was strictly necessary. He wanted to go home more than anything but he also wasn't a fan of the sewers. Plus the ceiling shook above him…which meant that the ground was shaking because he was underground, and then the sewer could have caved in and they'd all be buried for the rest of their lives and then they'd die and he couldn't die he still had a million things he hadn't done yet and-

"It's kind of cool down here once you get passed the smell…and the fact that we're in the sewer. Like if we lose our base, not that we will, we could totally hide down here and do guerilla warfare or something!" said Go

"You mean we could still take them by surprise? Ok, I vote to stay down here so long as someone picks me up." Said Mukai. That was the best thing to do when you were small, take the enemy by surprise. That was how she had almost gotten the president. He was so focused on her dolls that he didn't even sense her coming up behind him. He smacked her away, of course, but she had gotten closer than anyone had ever gotten before!

"Does she get a vote? She's just a kid." Said Daichi

"We're all kids…well most of us." Said Kaito

"Yes, but she's a little kid." Said Daichi

"That's true." Said Kaito

"Hey! I am not little! I'm a former scar! I'm way more powerful than both of you put together! Just look at my aura! You wouldn't be so confident if I had my dolls with me…" said Mukai

"Everyone votes yes!" said Koyama. They needed to get out of there. They had lost the element of surprise so there was no reason to be there. They had lost to Shimazaki…and he was still out there. He had let them all live. Koyama knew that it wasn't out of his sense of fair play or any guilt at having hurt kids. Shimazaki wanted round two. He had only knocked them out, and made sure that they didn't drown in filthy sewer water, because he wanted to go again. Well fine. This time Koyama would be ready for him.

"I didn't!" said Mukai

"You're all a bunch of morons…" muttered Tsuchiya as she picked up Mukai. Mukai glared at her and she shook her head. Mukai had an excuse, she wasn't even in the double digits yet, but the rest of them were competing for the biggest idiot in all of Japan award. Honestly. She rolled her eyes and carried Mukai away, much to her protests.

"Where are you going?" asked Koyama

"Somewhere that isn't here! You can all enjoy the sewers to your heart's content but we're leaving." Said Tsuchiya. She heard the water splashing behind her. Good. The ceiling above them shook. Not good. Something was…she could see, through the thick concrete and whatever else, auras. Red ones. The Awakened. Not just them….what was that? How could any person…she had seen that aura before…

Well then. Look who decided to show up.

"Well now, look who decided to show up." Said Suzuki as he gazed down upon the world, his world. He stood in front of the viewing windows of the Cultural Tower and looked down at what, from that height, was a red dot. But it wasn't. That was his son. His son's aura, there, down there just waiting….waiting and watching. For what Suzuki did not know. If Sho had something planned then he really should have gotten on with it.

But he was just staring.

"Sir?" asked Serizawa. He stood slightly behind the President. He could see his aura. He was spreading himself out, expanding to fill the entire space and then moving downwards. Serizawa did the same. He clutched his umbrella as he felt himself, the purple that made up what he was, spread outwards. He sensed the President…Hatori….Shimazaki…someone he didn't realize…and…

"Sho!" said Serizawa. The windows beside him erupted in spider cracks. He shrank back, away from the President, because he had just lost control and the President….he didn't like it when that happened….but he was just so happy. Sho was down there! Maybe the President would go easy on him. He had almost achieved his goal of world domination…he must have been in a good mood…and Sho couldn't have been plotting against his own father…

"Yes. Sho." said Suzuki. His aura met his son's. Hmm…so the boy was really determined to go along with all of this. Suzuki would have been upset, or annoyed, but he couldn't be. He had to exercise control. Sho had been a thorn in his side for years. That was what a son was for, after all, to torment his father. These things were sent to try us.

Lots of things, if Shimazaki was to be believed. He could….yes. He could feel them. His former scars were working against him…with children. Of all the things. It seemed that he was in a position where everybody thought that they could betray him. No matter.

"D-Do you want me to go and get him? I-I can s-sense him and-" said Serizawa. Maybe if eh got to Sho first eh could get him to apologize to the President and then it wouldn't be so bad…even though it was always so bad….but maybe this time it would be less bad. Then he and Sho could hang out when this was all over and have fun and just forget all of the awful things that had happened….

"No need. He'll come to me. They all will." Said Suzuki. He was the ruler of the world. He did not go to his underlings, they came to him. If they wanted to fight, if those scars wanted to earn more scars, then they could come and get them.

If his son truly thought that he could challenge his father well then Suzuki was happy to put him in his place.

"All?" said Serizawa. Why would anyone want to work against the President? They just couldn't see how wonderful he was. He could be mean sometimes, and cold, and he wasn't much for conversation, and he did hit people a lot…but he had his reasons! They weren't always clear, and sometimes they didn't always make sense, but the President had his own very good reason.

"They're like a bunch of pathetic dogs. They forget just how terrifying their master can be if he's not there to remind them." Said Suzuki. He fixed his metaphysical gaze away from his son and out to the horizon. Yes. There she was. He could feel her. He could even see her. Hard to pinpoint where she was but she was at least moving closer. Good. He could deal with her…but first he would have to deal with Sho.

"Serizawa, go tell Hatori that he's needed." Said Suzuki. Serizawa didn't need to be told twice. He loved the President but he did not want to be around for when he punished Sho. Sho was still so little and he knew that the President had his reasons….

Even if it meant that people had to get hurt.

"I don't care if you hurt me…I'm going to stop you no matter what." muttered Sho as he stood before the Cultural Tower thing. Dad was looking at him. He could feel it. He was looking up at dad. Dad could feel it. He must have been able to.

"What?" asked Ritsu as he followed Sho's gaze upwards. A red aura, that same red aura that he had been feeling all day from the awakened soldiers. That was bigger than anything he had ever felt before…barring one person….one person who he swore that he could have felt, before, back there.

But there was no going back. Not now.

"My dad. He's up there. I can feel him." said Sho. This was it. This was what he had spent months planning for. He had this. He tore his aura away from his dad's and let it rest on the person beside him. Red met blue. Light red met dark blue. Sho met Ritsu. Yes. He did have this. He had this because…because Ritsu thought that he had this.

"Ok, so come on, let's do this." said Ritsu. He wanted to put an end to this before sister…and that was sister…got there first and did something that she would end up regretting. He had seen her, the thing that lived inside of her, and he didn't ever want to see it again. He didn't want her to end up hurting anyone ever again either….

"Ritsu…wait." Said Sho. He reached over and grabbed Ritsu by the hoodie sleeve. Ritsu stopped in his tracks and turned to face Sho. He could feel Sho, his aura, and himself…and he had to keep moving. He couldn't let himself get stuck there. He couldn't.

"What? Come on, this is what we've been working towards all this time!" said Ritsu

"Stay here. This is something that I have to do by myself." Said Sho

"What? Sho that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. You said that your dad was the most powerful member of the entire organization. You said that you needed to gather allies to defeat him because you couldn't do it yourself. You dragged me into this because you said that you couldn't do it yourself!" said Ritsu

"I know what I said, and I meant it. I couldn't have gotten this far if it hadn't been for all of you but this part….this is something that I have to do on my own." Said Sho

"Why? That doesn't make any-" said Ritsu

"Because he's my dad! He's MY dad, alright! He's my responsibility and I shouldn't have ever let it go this far in the first place! I'm his son and it's my job to stop him! Just….you've done a lot for me-" said Sho

"And, what, you're done with me now? You're just going to toss me aside and-" said Ritsu pulling his sleeve out of Sho's grip. So that was it? They went this far together and Sho was just going to cast him aside like it had all been for nothing!? Sho, who had come into his life like a hurricane and upended everything….who had dragged Ritsu kicking and screaming into this…who had told Ritsu somany things…things that nobody had ever said to him before….

"No! It's not like that! I just…I don't want you to get hurt. I know how my dad can be with people and I don't want anything to happen to me. You've gone this far with me, and I'm grateful to you-" said Sho trying to find the words for it. When Ritsu was there he felt like he could do anything and if dad killed Ritsu then he would never feel that again and he didn't know how he could go back to not feeling this. He had just met Ritsu, really met him, and it felt like he couldn't stand to be without him. That if he let something happen to Ritsu then he would have never been able to forgive himself. That just being near Ritsu made him feel everything that a person could feel and he didn't even have a word for this feeling and-

Feelings were weird.

"Grateful? That's…that's what you want to call it?" asked Ritsu. He had no idea what he would have called it but to call it being 'grateful' was just weird. It didn't fit. Sho said….said that he needed him. Sho had seen something in him, something useful, but not just…not just in the sense that he could be used in this….

Feelings were hard.

"I don't know what to call it! All I know is that this whole thing is my fault for not stopping sooner and-and-and if I let anything bad happen to you, too, then I would never be able to live with myself! Ritsu, just don't…don't follow me. You've followed me this far but…but let me take it from here, ok? You've been listening to me this whole just please…listen to me for a little while longer." Said Sho

"Sho-" said Ritsu

"I don't even know why you've been listening to me for so long, anyway. I mean I beat you up, burnt your house down, put your friends in danger, put your girlfriend in danger-" said Sho

"Because I understand you." Said Ritsu

"What?" asked Sho

"Because I…for my whole life I was this weird mix of scared of and jealous of my sister. I used to want to be like her and I-I'd worry about what would happen if my sister ever decided to use her powers against other people. If she ever went crazy. She scared me, kind of, for a while…and I know how hard it is. I know how hard it is to want to be like someone and to be afraid of them at the same time. It's hard…and I can't imagine how hard it is when the person who you want to be and are scared of actually goes crazy with their powers and….yeah. I just feel like I know what you're going through…and also I couldn't let you drag my sister into this. I guess I'm afraid of that too. I'm afraid what she'll do if she has to fight your dad. She's…she's sensitive and she doesn't seem like it but she…she feels a lot and I know that if she hurt someone with her powers…and she would have to hurt your dad…she would never be able to live with herself. Or she'd lose control of her powers again and….and I wouldn't get her back. So, yeah, I guess that we're both….afraid." said Ritsu. He had pulled himself away from Sho but now he wished that he hadn't. Sho was looking at him, really looking at him, and he…it felt….it felt like a lot of things. This whole thing felt like a lot of things. At least their auras were still together. Their auras were close and they were close and the whole thing was just so…close.

He was close to something.

But he didn't know what.

"I'm not afraid of anything." Said Sho. He couldn't be afraid of anything. He was not a kid anymore. This was not something scary. This was…he was not afraid. Not of dad, not of what he would have to do to dad, and not even of…this. This feeling. This feeling like he was at the edge of something and he wanted to go over….but he also didn't…he was not at all afraid of this feeling. This new and confusing feeling. This feeling that made him want to be closer to Ritsu, closer to him than he had ever been to another human being in his life…

So he stepped closer.

Because he was not afraid.

This was good, this whole feeling was good, and he wanted…he wanted to feel it. To feel something good before he had to go into that tower thing and kick dad's ass and put an end of all of this. He just wanted to know what this was…and to keep on feeling it….because if he failed then he would never feel this feeling again in his life.

"E-even him?" asked Ritsu. He was grateful, actually, to have felt the energy around him shift and a new aura pressing against his. Sho might not have been even a little bit afraid but he was. He knew, or he had a good idea of, what he had been feeling….and he knew that he could not feel that way. He had already had one moment of temporary insanity and that was enough to last him a lifetime.

"Damn it…I can't stand that guy. That's Shimazaki, the teleporter who can read his enemies movements. He's one of the strongest in the Ultimate Five." said Sho breaking away from Ritsu. Right. He had a job to do and he was going to do it. He was just going to have to beat Shimazaki first…and whichever other members of the Ultimate Five were there…and he would have to beat them all. Even Serizawa.

He didn't want to.

He didn't want this.

He didn't want any of this.

But this wasn't about what he wanted or didn't want. This was about what he had to do. He had this. He had to stop dad. Nobody else had even a chance of stopping dad. Nobody but him.

"Sho, you go on ahead. I'll stay behind and keep him busy." Said Ritsu

"You can't handle him on your own! He's one of the strongest in the entire organization!" said Sho

"That's why I'm staying. I'll keep him busy so you can go and stop your father. You've been fighting all day, Sho, and I'm not letting you tire yourself out before you get to your father. You said it yourself, you're the only one who can stop him. So go and stop him…and promise me that when you're done you'll…you'll tell me how it went. Promise that when you come back...you'll…." said Ritsu

"You have my word. I promise you that I'll come back and I've give you a full report on how it went. I promise, Ritsu, that I'm coming back….and thank you. I sure am glad to have you…to have you around. To have you as a friend." Said Sho

"Go already!" said Ritsu. Sho was coming back. There was no reason to feel like this…like he wasn't. This was Sho. He hadn't known him for very long but he knew how strong he was. How he wasn't going to jut let himself be beaten. He had this. When this was all over then…then they'd reminisce about it or whatever. Maybe they'd hang out or something. He didn't have any plans…but maybe he should have made some…because Sho had this.

And so did he.

Well he tried to have it, anyway. He would have had it, had he remembered that his opponent didn't need to see. As Sho moved past him Ritsu tried to use the water in the decorative stream, at least he hoped that it was decorative because Sho would never have forgiven him if he hurt any fish or ducks or whatever, to try and make it impossible for that guy to see what was going on. Of course right after he executed his oh so brilliant plan his brain reminded him of a very crucial fact about this particular opponent.

He didn't see with his eyes.

Ritsu blamed Sho for this little oversight. There were a lot of people to watch out for and Sho had gone so fast that Ritsu had trouble remembering who could do what. Well now he knew and he wouldn't forget. How could he? He had jumped into the fray and his blow should have landed but that man, the one standing there with his eyes closed like…like Ritsu didn't even know what, had just shifted slightly to the side and dodged…and his eyes were still closed…

"You move way too slowly, you know that kid? If you want to have even a prayer of a chance then you need to stop telegraphing your moves like that." Said Shimazaki. Well now this was getting interesting. He let the boss' son go past him. Let the others deal with him. This kid, and everyone else he was working with, would provide much more entertainment. Besides, the whole father vs son thing was such a cliché at this point that he didn't want to 'watch' that tired old plotline play out.

Now a massive brawl, that was interesting.

"What the hell?! Where'd you-" said Ritsu. He had tried lashing out again, putting his powers into that blow like he had done before….but he had been fighting regular people before, and awakened soldiers. This guy was on a whole other level.

"And don't ever stop in the middle of a fight, either, unless you want this to happen." Said Shimazaki as he put one hand on the kid's shoulder and then sent him flying into what was once a building. He watched the kid, the kid's aura, and saw it tuck in close. Good, he wasn't going to go splat just yet. That wouldn't have been any fun at all. He watched the kid until he came to a stop in a…he focused on the shapes of the objects around the kid….metal and plastic arranged in a grid inside of a large concrete structure. A parking garage. He focused on it, on the kid, until he came to a complete stop. Hiding? Really? Shimazaki took a step forward and let the world melt away around him.

"You can run but you can't hide." Said Shimazaki as he appeared near to the kid. He could see the kid's aura lashing out even though he was doing his best to keep it close. He could even hear the kid's heavy breathing. If he really focused he swore that he could hear the kid's heartbeat. The boss' son could have done a lot better. They had barely even been fighting and the kid was already ready to piss himself.

"Damn it all…" muttered Ritsu under his breath. At least he wasn't following Sho, Sho had made it in, that was what mattered. Being thrown had been scary but not painful. Not really. He had put up a barrier, his powers had thankfully decided to listen to him then, and aside from being kind of dirty and a little sore he was fine. That was good. He didn't have to win, he just had to last long enough to make sure that he didn't lose.

"No matter where you go I'll find you." Said Shimazaki as he appeared right beside the kid. The kid, bless his heart, tried to lash out with his telekinesis but he just wasn't strong enough to do more than ruffle Shimazaki's hair a little. He had rooted himself firmly to the ground, a trick that he wondered if the kid had picked up yet.

A kick to the ribs and into a car told him that the answer was a firm 'no'.

"Listen kid, bullying the weak isn't my style. It's dull, incredibly dull, and I don't do dull." Said Shimazaki. The boss' son had more fight in him, and more tricks up his sleeves, than this kid. Darn. If his aura was anything to go off of he should have been capable of more than what he was doing….which was a whole lot of nothing.

"You're just as weak as I am!" said Ritsu. He could feel them, his powers, just beneath the surface of his being. Stronger, now, and louder. His aura was brighter even though he had been trying his best to hide it, to hide himself. He usually had trouble getting his powers to listen…and he still did…but not it was different. He was stronger, now, he could feel it…and he had no way of controlling that strength.

But, hey, he could move cars at least.

He didn't want to kill anyone, just maim or seriously injure, but maybe he shouldn't have been trying to hold back. He just didn't want to do anything that he couldn't live with himself for doing later. Even if it was to that guy. That guy…that stupid guy! He teleported out of the way again! Ritsu looked for him, with his eyes, because he wasn't the best at finding people with his aura when he felt a hand grab the front of his hoodie.

"I'll show you weak, you little brat!" said Shimazaki. He grabbed the kid, tossed him into the air, and then drove him down into the concrete as hard as he could. That little monster tried to kill him! Well at least he wasn't being so dull anymore…

Even if it looked like he had finally gone splat.

Sho didn't look. He didn't want to look. He could see, well feel, out of the corner of his perception what was happening. He never should have left Ritsu alone with Shimazaki. He wanted nothing more than to rush to Ritsu's aid but he couldn't. All he could do was race up the stairs, the endless stairs, so he could get to dad and stop all this craziness.

He should have done this a long time ago.

But he was weak, before, when he was a kid. He was weak and stupid. He thought that dad was right and all he wanted to do was make dad proud. That was before the entire 7th Division for beaten by a girl. Before he knew that there were people in this world that were as powerful, if not more powerful, than dad. Before he knew that it could all end. Before he knew just how serious dad was about his master plan. Well Sho was done going along with insanity! He was not going to just sit back and watch as dad did all of this crazy shit!

He was done sitting back and watching.

"That's far enough. Such a shame to come all this way for nothing. Now you'll have to deal with me." Said Hatori as he attempted to block the stairwell. He had drones with him, they did things besides spy on people, but he had no idea if he even had a hope of stopping the kid. He didn't want to hurt the kid, he really didn't, but he also didn't want to fail the boss. The boss said to stop his son and that was what Hatori was going to do. It got him off the roof, that was what mattered. The President could have let him free or starve up there. The President could do anything to any of them and there was nothing that anyone could do. The kid was on a fool's errand and he was too young and too dumb to see it.

"I don't have time for this!" said Sho as he jumped over Hatori and kicked him in the back as he sailed over head. Hatori and his army of drones. Went down almost immediately. Hatori was great at tech stuff like fixing frozen laptops and phones, but he was useless in a real fight. Not that Sho wanted to hurt him. He could be ok sometimes. Sho didn't want to hurt anyone, not even dad, but he was going to have to. He had the power to do so.

Dad may have used his powers for evil but Sho was going to use his powers to put an end to this!

Mob was going to use her powers to put an end to this.

"This is terrible…why would someone do this with their powers? And on purpose, too?" asked Mob. It didn't end. The entire world seemed to have been broken. Buildings, some of which she knew, were toppled over and destroyed. The café where she and Teru went on dates sometimes…the little park area with the brown cat that lived in it….the pizza place with the sign that Tome said looked just like a UFO….

What was the matter with some people!?

"People suck Shigeko, they just do. You should stop here, Reigen's still trying to catch up." Said Dimple. He felt for Shigeko, he really did. The living got so attached to places, moreso than some spirits even. He hadn't been attached to any one place since he had been a low level spirit.

"Master should smoke less…" said Mob. She hadn't been trying to move fast, she just was. She needed to get to the tower place and…and do something. Talk? Fight? She didn't know. All she knew was that there was a bright aura, the brightest aura that she had ever seen, and it was up there. She didn't trust herself to fly. She needed to stay by Master Reigen, anyway. He wasn't going to run away and he wasn't going to hide. He was squishy and she had to keep him safe.

"Hey, look over there!" she heard someone say. She focused…yes…more of those identical red auras. They were coming out of a store with a hole where the door used to be. She knew that store….that was the store where she and Teru went sometimes…

"Oh, wow, a kid. What's wrong little girl? Too scared to run?" asked another one of those red aura people. Mob tried to keep herself calm even though she was done with dealing with these guys. They were like the time her house got ants. No matter how many mom and dad squished more kept on popping up.

"Hey guys, what's going on? And check it out, I got some stuff for dinner!" said another guy as he came out of the hole where the door used to be with his arms piled high with junk food….and that was the last straw. Really. She had heard that expression before and now she understood it. How many times had her mom said that something was the last straw? Well Mob got it, now.

Stealing was wrong.

Everything that those guys were doing was wrong.

"Sheesh, now they're looting?" said Dimple. He was watching Shigeko. Her aura was lashing out like crazy. She even had a pissed off look in her eyes, too, which was weird because usually she was so blank. Everyone had a breaking point and it seemed like this was Shigeko's.

Hopefully she wasn't about to explode.

"Hey, look, the brat's got a pet!" said one of the red aura guys. Mob knew that she had been really mean lately, and she didn't like to be, but this was really quite enough. Destroying her city, burning down her house, putting her friends in danger, putting her family in danger, trying to take over the world, and now STEALING?!

Well then.

"You should put back what you took. Stealing is a crime. You should know better. Haven't you people done enough?" asked Mob trying her hardest not to yell or be mean or explode. Even though the other Shigeko, the part of her that liked to do those things, was telling her to peel them like grapes. That was mean. She'd depower them of course but she wouldn't peel them like grapes. That was mean and she didn't get to decide who deserved to get peeled like a grape anyway.

"Who the hell are you, kid? Don't you watch the news? This town belongs to us now." Said one of the red aura guys. Mob felt herself being lifted into the air. She tried to stay calm. She tried to keep all of her bad feelings inside, the kinds that made her want to yell and scream and peel people like grapes, because they weren't nice feelings to have at all…and she had to be a good person…

Good people did not use their powers against others unless it was in self-defense.

"Whoa! Go on easy there! You're going to traumatize her!" laughed one of those red aura guys. Mob was having trouble telling them apart. They had the same clothes, the same aura, and were all equally terrible.

"You shouldn't ever use your powers against other people like this. Stop it." Said Mob. She didn't mean to be mean but it came out like that. Or maybe she had meant to be mean and she didn't want to admit it to herself. Either way those guys looked scared of her now…which was good. She used her powers to pick up the things they had stolen and she put them back where it felt like they belonged. She didn't always need to look with her eyes, she could look with her aura, too. She was still in the air but she didn't care.

She was past the point of caring.

"What hell is this?! She couldn't be…is this kid a natural esper!?" asked one of the red aura guys. Mob felt herself starting to fall and she caught herself with her powers. Her skirt billowed up like a parachute as she touched the ground but she didn't care. She stared over at all three of those guys.

"Shigeko, now might be a good time to start kicking some ass! You think? Hey? Shigeko? You listening?" asked Dimple as he manifested fingers to snap in front of her face. Blank. So very blank….

"Powers. You all care too much about having powers." Said Mob simply. Flat fact. The flat fact of the situation.

"What?" asked one of the red aura guys. They all looked scared, now, she could see it in their auras…aura…and on their faces. She didn't much care. She usually hated it when people were scared of her but these were bad people so…so they should have been scared of her. Them being scared of her was a good thing if it meant that they'd listen.

"What does it matter if I'm a natural esper or not? Is that all you care about, having psychic powers? Psychic powers are just another talent that we have. Some people can run fast and lift heavy things or do well at school or are good at talking. Having psychic powers is just like having any other talent. You're human the same as everyone else and having powers doesn't mean that you get to act like a bunch of jerks." Said Mob

"Hey?! Who do you think-" said one of those guys, those terrible guys….how did people get like this?! Mob did not know. She knew, however, that she didn't care for any of this one bit.

"Tell me, could your psychic powers help you to do anything? Fix what you broke? Do something useful? Not act like jerks for one second? No, they couldn't. Having psychic powers doesn't make you any better or worse than anyone else. It's what you chose to do with them, that's what matters, and you've been choosing very poorly lately. You're making a big mistake, being a part of all of this." said Mob

"Whatever, you little bitch! It doesn't matter what you do! When you have psychic powers you can make anyone submit to you!" said one of those red aura guys. Mob wondered if they had names. Shigeko thought that it didn't matter. Shigeko was mad and…and Mob was mad too…but she didn't want to be this…this thing that she and Shigeko became when they were together….

It felt like she was sinking backwards, falling backwards, but she wasn't. She was fine. She was just going walkabout for a little bit.

"Shigeko?! What the hell did you just-!?" said Dimple. He saw it, the change in her aura. The fractals that made her up started moving in the opposite direction…and there was suddenly a lot more blue than pink….this was bad!

"Oh, and that reminds me. You should never use your powers against other people. If you've never had anyone to tell you that then let me." Said Shigeko. She took a step forward. It was shaky. She felt heavy. It was hard, getting the vessel to move, but she did. She made it move. Step by step. She let her aura, her portion of their aura, become visible. Electric blue overcame bubblegum pink.

"Crap you're pissed….I think that I'll just…hang back with Reigen for a minute!" said Dimple as he ran away from that…thing. That terrifying thing. It had more sense, and sentience, than it had before…and that was pretty much all of that thing. Shigeko called herself a 'me' not a 'we' which meant that Shigeko, the one that should have been in control, wasn't….

Reigen could bring her back though!

"She's making a move! Gather the others!" called out one of those guys. Shigeko took a heavy step forward, then another, and another. The ground beneath her feet began to buckle. She didn't care. Those guys had done so much bad stuff….and she could punish them. Mob was calling out at her to depower them…she was even beginning to fight for dominance of their vessel again. Shigeko would not give it up easily. She could have ended this ages ago. Mob had held them back. Mob always held them back. Well not now. No more waiting and watching. This was the time for action. This was the time to keep them safe. To keep everyone in this world that they cared about safe.

They felt, Shigeko felt, something approaching. Something in the ground….all around. She took a step and cut off the aura she was feeling. The concrete beneath her shoes turned to powder.

"Well, well, well, it looks like we've had quite the stray show up at our doorstep." Said Minegishi. He had felt her long before he had seen her. So this was what the boss was so worried about. What had the boss been smoking and where could Minegishi get some? He must have been joking. This was a little girl in her school uniform. She shone brightly, and with a lot of hostile intent, but so did Serizawa when you took his umbrella away. This was just a kid. A powerful kid but a kid.

This also made the boss' obsession a little troubling….but Minegishi was not there to judge.

"Minegishi!" called out one of the Awakened. Minegishi shook his head.

"I've got this, you all just hang back and back me up." Said Minegishi as he called forth every bit of plant life he could get his aura around. The girl didn't even know what hit her as a giant Venus flytrap caught her. She may have broken free but there was a tangle of vines waiting for her. Getting the plants was the hard part but once he got them he could change them into whatever he wanted.

"Really? Haven't you seen this movie before? If you haven't let me spoil it for you, it doesn't end well for the Japanese girl." Said Minegishi more to shock her than anything. He didn't much want to fight her, he didn't care for the extra work, and he wanted this to be over quickly. Judging by the way she was destroying his vines she didn't share his sentiments.

"Go on and tire yourself out, little girl, no matter how many you destroy they'll just grow back. I can make as many as I want." Said Minegishi. Shigeko made a noise between a grunt and a scream and sent a burst of pure energy at that purple haired plant using jerk! He just made a wall of vines to protect himself! She felt herself getting caught up in the vines and willed enough of her power through herself to disintegrate them….and more grew back immediately.

Mob was calling out to her. Telling her…showing her…yes. She remember that job. She remembered how gross the dirt had been when they had been caught…and Mob remembered how they had gotten out of that. Pure energy, pure anger, wasn't working and wouldn't work. They needed to think. They needed to plan.

They needed to be this thing together.

Shigeko stepped to the metaphysical side and made room for Mob. Their movements were jerky as they both tried to control the vessel at the same time. Mob knew what to do. Mob had done this before. She reached out with her power and took a vine. She felt it, that other esper, the way he was screaming at the plants to do what he wanted. That wasn't very nice, not very nice at all…

So Mob decided to be nicer.

"Huh. Guess you can do it too." Said Minegishi as he felt his control begin to waver. Well what did you know, another plant user? She could do what he did…and that was on top of what she could do already…the boss' fears suddenly made more sense. She forced some of his vines back into the ground before she turned and faced him.

Something was different about her.

Her aura had taken on more pink. Her eyes seemed less…crazy. She even brushed the rubble from her skirt. Her hair was floating around her like an inky, black, abyss, but her eyes while still wide didn't scream 'I'm going to kill you' like they had before. Honestly she seemed to have gotten a bit calmer. Or maybe too calm….

"You don't really seem to like plants very much, do you?" asked Mob. She always asked nicely when she wanted plants to do something. This guy was just shouting. A jerk. She was so tired of all of these jerks!

"That's right, they're nothing but tools." Said Minegishi. Time to get serious. He sent thorny vines at her but she just jumped out of the way….backwards. She still looked so calm. No, not calm, bored. Like this was a game to her. Like she was playing hopscotch or something. She was at the age for it, wasn't she? A child. He was fighting a child. He hadn't seen a teenager that skilled since, well, the boss' son…

"You're mean." Said Mob simply. Shigeko was trying to be in control again. As easy as it would have been to just sink back into her own mind again she couldn't. Shigeko had been about to peel these people like grapes. She had been about to…but Mob had stopped her. That was wrong. It didn't matter how terrible these jerks were.

She put a barrier around herself.

They were trying to hit her with put energy now. She let it hit her barrier. She made it her own. She'd have to depower all of these people….even though taking on that much energy seemed to make her go a little crazy. Or maybe she had just been crazy because of what had happened. Maybe she was crazy now. Maybe she had lost her mind around the same time the rest of the world had lost theirs…

"Don't let Minegishi down! Get her with your telekinesis! Don't let that bitch get away!" someone shouted. Mob didn't know who. They all looked the same from up there. The same aura. The same aura as the one she could see shining from the top of the Cultural Tower. She let her barrier get hit. She let herself take on their energy.

She'd need it, if that aura was anything to go off of.

"Come on kid, if your aura is anything to go off of than you can do better than that." Said Shimazaki as he kicked the kid, once again, across the parking garage. A car hit him, or rather he hit a car, and came to a sudden stop. Shimazaki saw one of the kid's ribs contuse but not break. Espers were made of tough stuff. If he had been a normal person he would have broken long ago.

"Sh-shut up!" said Ritsu. He reached a shaky hand out and collapsed part of a wall. He wanted to be able to have even the barest hope that he had crushed that guy…but of course he hadn't. If it hadn't worked before then why would it work now! He just had to…he didn't have to win. He just had to make sure that he didn't lose.

"Come on kid, give it up. You've got some skills, I'll give you that, so why waste them? Why not just join our side?" said Shimazaki as he avoided the avalanche of concrete that the kid had tried to bury him under. The kid was trying to legitimately kill him. He'd fit in just fine. There might have even been a reward in it for Shimazaki for bringing such a promising young esper into the fold. Plus, well, the kid may have had a sadistic streak as wide as the sky but that just served to make him more entertaining.

"Th-that might be a little easier…but it isn't half as much fun." Choked out Ritsu as he tried to sit up. He needed to stand up and fight. He needed to keep this thing going for as long as he could. He needed to buy Sho as much time as he could. He didn't have to win…just not lose…or die…

He felt like he was going to die.

Everything hurt. He was having trouble breathing. His vision was swimming. He knew that Shigeko could heal herself….why couldn't he?! This would have been nothing for her! She was the one who should have been there, not him! She was the stronger out of the two of them! What had he been trying to protect her from! She could have ended this battle before it even began! Why had he been so bent on keeping her safe?!

The energy around him shifted.

That. That was what he had been trying to protect her from.

He put up a barrier around himself but it shattered as the man's foot connected with it. His barrier hadn't even slowed him down. Ritsu couched up blood as the man kicked him, hard, into the concrete pillar behind him. He tasted copper. The entire back of his ribcage ached and burned. It was getting harder and harder to breathe…

"Give it up, kid. Isn't it obvious? You have no hope of winning. Your powers are too small, too underdeveloped, to even have a chance of beating me. You're not quite ready to play with the big boys yet, are you kid? I mean, you can't even see that the difference between our skills is night and day. You just won't stay down, won't give up, and that's going to be your downfall. I'm going to ask you now, kid, to stand down…but if you need a bit more persuasion than that then I'm happy to oblige." Said Shimazaki as he grabbed the kid's hair and hit him as hard as he could on the top of the head. That should have knocked the little brat out. Good. He could feel…he was still too focused on the kid. He could feel other auras at the edge of his perception…some bright, one bright as what people assured him stars must have been like, some in the middle, and the others so dull that he could barely even make them out.

"My whole fucking life I've wan-wanted these powers….I thought that once I had them then I could do anything…but I was wrong…there's more to life than these powers…and I'm sorry that you can't see that…or much of anything else considering that you're eyes are closed…" laughed Ritsu. He spat some blood as he laughed. He tried to stand up but his legs were too shaky. Well then, this was it, huh? He felt more…at peace…than he thought that he would have. He had done his best and…and his best, for once, wasn't good enough….

"Yeah, I think that you might not be such a good fit for the organization after all. No hard feelings, kid." Said Shimazaki as he pointed two fingers at Ritsu. Ritsu could see the energy collecting at the ends of those two fingers and tried to make a barrier. What was the point? That guy had broken through his strongest barrier like it had been made of rice paper.

This was it.

And he was ok with it.

He closed his eyes and bowed his head. He had done his best and for once in his life his best hadn't been good enough. That was fine. He was fine. He was ok with this. He kept his head lowered and his eyes closed in preparation for the finishing blow.

That never came.

There was a crash and a gasp.

"Oh man." Muttered Shimazaki as he felt the soft spot on the side of his head. He pulled his fingers away. The smell of copper filled his nose. He rubbed the substance between his fingers. Blood. His own blood. Someone had made him bleed his own blood…

"Ha! I landed a hit on him!" shouted a voice that Ritsu knew, and Shimazaki knew a little better. Ritsu opened his eyes and tried to sit up. Auras. He felt so many auras all around him. He looked up…he knew that guy! That was the guy who had kidnapped him! He tried to stand and managed to get up onto shaky legs. The man didn't seem interested in him at all, though, no he and some other…Scars? Yes. Those were Scars. They surrounded the guy who had been beating him up…

"Heh. Well then I guess that you lot are much more resilient than I imagined." Said Shimazaki. Well then this was getting interesting. Not too interesting though, no, not so long as he had his head in the game.

"Got that right!" shouted Koyama. He couldn't believe it! He had actually landed a hit on a member of the Ultimate Five! And not just any member, Shimazaki!

"Then I guess that you aren't sewer rats after all…you're cockroaches." Said Shimazaki as he felt the area out. That was a lot of enemies…but he had this. These were just former Scars and…children. Either children or short, underdeveloped, and untalented adults.

"We've changed since we were in Claw." Said Tsuchiya. This guy would not get the best of her again. He had only won before because they were in a tight space and she had to look out for Mukai. Well Mukai was hiding with some of the other kids and she had plenty of room to move around. She would not lose this time.

"Now that we're living on our own terms you'll find that we're much stronger." Said Muraki as he prepared to split his ethereal form into as many copies as he needed. He wasn't afraid. They had the numbers to beat him. He was just one man. How powerful could one man be?

Not that man. The one who had defeated all of them.

Or, rather, the girl who had lent him her powers.

"You can think whatever you want but that won't change the outcome." Said Shimazaki. He saw, off in the distance, a familiar aura. The ground beneath his feet began to move. So they had been trying to pin him down, huh?

Please.

"Don't act so tough. We know you're panicking." Said Teru as he tried, and failed, to get the drop on that guy. No matter, they had numbers now. All of those adult espers plus him and…he took in the state Ritsu was in. Ok, so they had all of those adult espers and him. They had the numbers advantage and that was enough to tip the battle in their favor.

"Oh? Am I? And you're what, some kind of empath?" asked Shimazaki as he teleported behind the group. To his immediate vicinity were some Scars and the kid from before. Farther off there were more kids, some awakened soldiers, Minegishi, and….whatever the hell that thing was.

He'd deal with his most immediate problems now.

"You can read our moves but at some point there's going to be too many of us to keep up with….so come on. It's time for round two." Said Teru. This time he would win. He tried to do it alone, that had been his downfall before. He tried to do it all alone for Shigeko…but Shigeko wouldn't have wanted that. Even that night, that awful night when they had to save Ritsu, he had not been alone. She had been right by his side the whole time. People needed other people. He needed to be humble. He needed to be humble enough to admit that he needed other people. That was what Shigeko would have wanted.

Well not with quite so much violence.

And there was quite a bit of violence. Teru had been right. It was obvious once he stopped and thought about it. It was like with Rei's powers. The more there was to see the more she messed up. That was why she had messed up in the sewers, she thought. There had been too many people to worry about, too many possible futures, so she had messed up.

They had the numbers advantage. They would win.

But they would lose their numbers advantage, and would lose his girlfriend, if something were to happen to Ritsu. Teru stepped away from the battle for a moment, he was humble enough to let other people handle it, and went over to try and keep Ritsu steady. He looked like crap. His lip was split…or maybe he was just spitting up blood. A black eye…a goose egg on his head….he was having trouble breathing…

Teru hadn't seen damage like that since some of his more…unbridled…fights back in is younger days.

"Ritsu! Hold still! You look like crap." Said Teru as he helped Ritsu stand.

"You smell like crap." Said Ritsu as he found his footing. He needed to get back out there. He needed to stop that guy…or at least not lose…and he had come so close to losing everything….

"I've been in a sewer, what's your excuse?" asked Teru. He didn't let go of Ritsu, he didn't trust Ritsu to be able to stand on his own two feet just yet, and he also didn't think that he could trust Ritsu not to go running into that battle either.

"What the hell were you doing in a sewer?" asked Ritsu. He could feel his powers just under his skin. He knew, from previous fights, that he healed fast…but not as fast as Shigeko. That was because he wasn't Shigeko…and that was ok. He was Ritsu and he was himself and he was…he was fine. He was fine and he was not going to die…

He had been ok with it.

But now he wasn't. There were things he still had to do. He had just been backed into a corner, that was all. He had been trapped and he had no choice but to accept what was coming. If those guys hadn't been there…if Teru hadn't been there…then he would have been a goner. He would have died at thirteen with good grades, a clean room, and one good kiss to show for his entire life…

"What the hell are you doing here? That's the question. And where the hell is Sho? I thought you were working with him or whatever." asked Teru. He reached over and felt Ritsu's ribs. Nothing was poking out. One of them seemed to out of alignment…maybe. He wasn't sure. He didn't have pieces of his ribs poking out, that was what mattered.

"Sho…he went on ahead. I was supposed to keep that guy busy…" said Ritsu

"Well you did so mission accomplished I guess. Just, do me a favor. The next time you risk your life doing something stupid call me, ok? I don't want to have to explain to your sister how I let you die in some pointless fight with some loser." Said Teru

"I would have called you but Sho smashed my phone so, sorry, I guess." Said Ritsu as he tried to take a shaky step forwards. Teru grabbed his arm to steady him.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Teru. Ritsu shook his head and pointed to where the flashes of auras and screams were coming from.

"Teru…let me go. I have to fight with you…I have to help." Said Ritsu. Teru only tightened his hold on his dumbest friend.

"Sure, ok, you can go with…just tell me what kind of coffin you I should order for you for when this is all over. Or do you want to be cremated? Should I sink you in the ocean? Plant a tree over your body? Set you down the river on a flaming boat? And what should I tell Shigeko? Or Rei? Yeah, I think that me letting you go off to your certain death is going to go over really well with both of them. I'm sure that Rei is going to be just tickled pink when I tell her that the love of her life went off to die for no reason-" said Teru

"It's not for no good reason! I have to stop those guys because…because Sho asked me to…and the world is in danger…and Shigeko is in danger-" said Ritsu

"Forget the world! Forget Suzuki! Forget Shigeko! Just…she's fine. She's fine but she won't be when she wakes up and realizes that you're dead because you were too stubborn to know when you were down! And because I couldn't stop you! Just stay here and wait for all of this shit to be over!" said Teru

"No! I'm going to help-" said Ritsu

"What do I have to do to get you to stay put?! Do you want me to kiss you again, because I will!" said Teru losing his patience. He had almost lost some of his friends to that guy, he was not going to lose Ritsu too, and Ritsu had come very close. Teru, even from the distance he had been at, had seen the attack was being charged up. Ritsu had been too weak to move. He had been sitting there like he had been prepared to…die. No. Nobody was dying. Not until they were old men playing mahjong in the park or whatever it was that old people did! Teru was the leader and nobody was dying on his watch!

"Shut up about that! I told you, I wasn't thinking when I-" said Ritsu. No. Nobody could ever know that about him. Shigeko would have been devastated to know that he had kissed her boyfriend. His parents would have been devastated to know that he liked guys. Rei would have been devastated to know that he had been lying to her for all these months…

"I know exactly what you were thinking and if you go off and die I swear to God I will tell everyone who will listen, and I mean everyone, respect for the dead be damned! I'll paper the city with fliers, rent ad space on bus benches, hell I'll even hire a skywriter if I have to!" said Teru

"You wouldn't dare." Said Ritsu

"Wouldn't I?! You don't know what I'm prepared to do to keep you from marching off to your certain death! I will tell whoever I can about what happened. I will do whatever I need to do…and you don't know how far I am willing to go to keep you here! Just look at yourself! You're dead on your feet!" said Teru

"I am not! I can-" said Ritsu

"What do I have to do? Tell me and I'll do it! I am not losing you! It would hurt Shigeko and Rei and…and it would hurt me to. Ok? I don't want you to die. I, Hanazawa Teruki, don't want you to die and I will do whatever it takes to keep you here where you're safe. I'll tell your deepest darkest secrets to whoever will listen, I'll even tell them my part in it….hell! I will tongue kiss you right now if it means you'll stay put!" said Teru

"….please don't." said Ritsu. Even though everyone knowing would lift a huge weight off of his shoulders. Even though it would be one less thing to worry about. Even though…even though he wanted to be kissed again. Kissing Teru, kissing someone he liked, had been the best feeling that he had ever felt…for about four seconds….but those four seconds had been amazing. The most amazing four seconds of his life. He had thought that it would be a one and done thing, he'd know what it was like and then that would be it, be he wanted…he wanted to do it again.

And that made him a bad person.

He was a bad person for cheating. He was a bad person for making his sister's boyfriend cheat on her. He was a bad person for stringing his girlfriend along for months. He was a bad person for so many reasons….and if he went out there before he healed then…then he would have been a bad person for letting everyone down…

"Then are we finally decided?" asked Teru. This was the worst part of being a leader, dealing with people who were suicidally overconfident. He had to deal with his underlings, before, when he had been the leader of the gang at Black Vinegar. He had lost count of just how many times those guys had called him in the middle of a date because they had decided to take on people when they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Leading people sucked sometimes and this was worse. At least back then he had never had to threaten to tongue kiss any of his underlings before!

"Yeah…we're decided." Said Ritsu as he let himself slump down at the foot of the pillar. He willed himself to heal faster, he willed his powers to, but he wasn't sure if he was even doing anything. It was hard, staying put, especially when he could hear the battle raging just outside the massive hole in the side of the parking garage.

"Takeuchi!" screamed Tsuchiya as she struggled to maintain her hold on Shimazaki. She had managed to grab a hold of him, that was good. She wasn't sure of the exact rules but she had heard that if you touched a teleporter then you always went with them. She had heard that in a movie, probably, but art imitated life…right.

It didn't.

The second that Takeuchi let go to the qigong bolt he had been charging up Shimazaki had teleported from her grip…leaving her right in it's path. That shut hurt! And that wily bastard had gotten away!

"Tsuchiya!" called out Takeuchi. He couldn't stop them once he let them go. He could have had that! If only he had moved faster! But it took time to charge up those qigong bolts…time that they did not have! He searched the area with his eyes and his aura. He found no trace of Shimazaki…

Until he was kicked in the back.

The only thing that he could do was shield himself as he went sailing into what used to, apparently, be a bank. He could feel Shimazaki coming closer when the entire area went up in flames. He saw it, gold, that boy. He had come back! Takeuchi had assumed that he had decided to hang back with the other little ones but there he was fighting alongside them.

"Come on!" shouted Teru as he set the area below him on fire. Fire didn't have mass. Fire wasn't psychic energy. Even Shigeko couldn't see fire with her aura! That guy was surrounded, there was no way that he could find his way out of that!

A hand grabbed Teru by the wrist.

"Not happening, Freak Show!" screamed Koyama as he tried to land a telekinetic helix punch to Shimazaki. He dodged but at least let the kid go. That stupid kid! What the hell did he think he was doing?! He was already hurt, already sick with fever, and now he was fighting alongside them like he was fine! What could have possibly-?

Right.

The girl he had been with, that night. The one who had kicked his ass.

People did the stupidest shit when they were in love.

"Kid! Get out of here!" said Koyama as Shimazaki teleported away. The kid just got up, brushed himself off, and threw himself back into the fray. Koyama shook his head. Stupid kid. What did he think that he could do that the rest of them couldn't?

Land a hit?

Pin him down?

Well at least Terada seemed to having some luck. Ok, so the air whips could hold him. Did it have to be some kind of psychic energy? Wait. No. He had just gotten free…and he was laughing at them!? What was with this guy! He had to have had some kind of weakness! Everything had a weakness!

Maybe Sakurai would have some luck. He had been shot before by Jugan just to see what it was like. It wasn't a bullet, it was a curse, and it stung like a bitch. Maybe at that range Sakurai could take him by surprise!

Sakurai had not been able to take him by surprise.

"Aren't you gonna shoot?" asked Shimazaki as he teleported right on top of Sakurai. Literally. He wasn't putting much of his weight on the guy, he was mostly flying, and this had been mostly for shits and giggles. It was funny, the way he scrambled with that ridiculous toy gun. The way he went down after only getting one shot off.

All of these Scars were just so ridiculous.

He felt something around him. Something between a spirit and a person. Heavy arms began to pull him to the ground. He saw an aura, that damn kid's aura, and then he felt a lot of sunlight vanishing…oh. They were going to crush him. Too slow.

Much too slow.

"Trying to pin me down is a waste of time." Said Shimazaki as he appeared right beside the kid. Something was thrown at him but it disintegrated the second it hit his barrier. Really. If it hadn't worked the first fifty times then why would it work now? This was getting boring. This whole fight was too boring, too predictable, and Shimazaki did not do boring.

There was a scream from behind him. He teleported away just as the sound of steel…felt like a piece of rebar…hit the concrete. Sakurai again. He decided to mess with the wannabe samurai again and teleported right on top of him again. He was on his hands and knees catching his breath. This made for a much easier standing position. He put a little more of his weight onto Sakurai just to make his point.

"Don't you understand? No matter what you try the outcome will always be the same." Said Shimazaki. He felt another qigong bolt headed his way. He dodged it easily….into an explosion of psychic power…

"He can predict our movements but that makes his own movements predictable! Just keep hitting him hard and fast!" said Teru. Shigeko had told him, once, why she always went second when they played Go. The secret was to be able to predict your opponent's movements, she had said. Well in doing that she had made her own movements predictable. The same went for this loser.

They just had to keep on hitting him hard and fast! Then they'd win!

"Keep hitting her hard and fast! She can't stay in her bubble forever!" shouted one of the red aura guys. There were a lot more of them now, and they were a lot stronger as a unit. Shigeko wanted to depower them all. Mob didn't want to go crazy.

They were fighting.

Their barrier cracked. No. They had to stay as a unit. They could not lose. They had this. They had to have this. If they started to fight themselves then that would be how they fell apart! They could not fall apart! They couldn't go crazy and they couldn't fall apart….

Mob didn't want to hurt anyone.

Shigeko did.

They were at an impasse. Mob had all that she could take and she could take no more. If she went looking for a fight, like she had before, then wouldn't that have made her just as bad as the people who were doing all of this? But Shigeko also had a point. She thought that since the only thing these people respected was power then they should show them just what they were capable of.

So they hid in their bubble while all of that happened below them.

Shigeko tried to push Mob aside. She tried to be in charge of them, in charge of their vessel. This was the thing, the lapse in concentration that those red aura guys needed to destroy her barrier. She went tumbling to the ground and landed on her side. She felt concrete and air against her thighs. Oh no! Her skirt! That was what she was worried about…and it was kind of funny…but she didn't know why she was laughing. At the absurdity of being more worried that her skirt had ridden up than the fact that she had just fallen a hundred meters to the ground.

She healed fast.

"Hey! We finally got her! The boss is going to be so happy!" cheered one of those red aura guys. Mob reached over and skimmed some power from them. The more she took the more went to Shigeko…she had her own ideas about what they should be doing…but she needed enough to heal herself from the fall…

She suddenly felt gross all over. A magenta mist, that was the proper name for this color, covered her and everyone else. Yuck. It felt like she was rolling around in sour vomit. Smelled like it too. She got up and pulled her school shirt, she maybe should have changed at some point before all of this happened, up over her nose even though it didn't help.

She could feel, see, taste, and smell this with her aura.

"You look like you could use a little help." Came a voice from the mist. Mob knew that voice. She turned so fast her skirt fanned out around her and her hair hit her in the face.

"Evil spirit user guy!" said Mob. She, immediately, felt bad about not knowing his name. She should have known his name, especially after he had been so nice as to keep Mogami prisoner for her…

Mogami.

No.

"I don't think that we've been properly introduced. I'm Matsuo and these….are my pets!" shrieked Matsuo as he opened up several of the spirit jars he held between his fingers. He should have come to the city earlier. The roads were cut off and so were the train lines going into the city. He really should have just gone with the others….

He made it in time, that was what mattered.

Though his welcome was not very warm.

"Hi." Said Mob simply. Ok, she knew his name…but why was he there?! He should have been watching over Mogami morning, noon, and night! Mogami was dangerous! He was the most evil, most terrible, spirit that Mob had ever encountered in her life! And Matsuo was just there! Like Mogami didn't need to be watched!

Well then.

"It's Matsuo! The spirit master with the annoying voice! He's going to launch a monster assault on us!" screamed several of the awakened soldiers as they were caught up in said monster assault. Minegishi held his ground. He couldn't exorcise spirits, that was not in his power set, but he could still….how did it go? Right. His plants were imbued with psychic energy so they should have been able to do some damage…

Her allies were starting to show up. That was not good.

"Wait! Don't let him go!" shouted Mob. Was there some way that Matsuo had managed to control Mogami? That was still awful! Nobody, not even these jerks, deserved to go through what she had gone through. She wouldn't wish that one her worst enemies…

"What?" asked Matsuo as his pets wreaked havoc. He thanked whatever God was out there that it was just Minegishi. He was the weakest member of the Ultimate Five. He could control plants and use them to suck the life out of people but not much else. His pets should have made short work of him-

The ground erupted in thorns.

Or not.

"You shouldn't underestimate me." Said Minegishi before he sent a thorny stem right at Matsuo. He may not have had an extensive power set but he knew how to work with what he had. That was the difference between a Scar and a member of the Ultimate Five.

"Matsuo!" shouted Mob. That looked like it hurt. One was headed her way but she made it explode. The next one, however, managed to clip her as she tried to make her way to him. She could heal others and she would heal others because that looked like it could have done some real damage and not only had he changed, he was a good guy now, but he was also the only person who could contain Mogami!

"Look out!" said Matsuo before she was hit again. Then he was hit again. This was…this hurt. Those soldiers, the awakened, had gotten to him now. They were hitting him with pure energy. Her, too, the girl. The one who had defeated the entire 7th Division. He hadn't expected her to be taken down so easily. She had managed to expel the thing he kept in the poison jar…

Which had just fallen out of his pocket!

"Heh. What the hell is this? Talk about bad taste…" said one of the soldiers as he held the jar between two fingers and scrunched up his nose at it.

"No! Put that down! Even I can't control that one! DON'T TOUCH IT!" shouted Matsuo. If there was an ultimate, pure, uncorrupted form of evil then surely Mogami would have been it. Matsuo had been able to hold him but just barely. Even in his weakened state he would not submit to Matsuo's will…no…he even attempted to impose his own will upon Matsuo….

And now it was free.

"What the hell are you going on about, dumbass!? With Minegishi on our side we can't lose!" laughed the soldier before he smashed the poison jar on the ground….and then he went down right after it.

"No…" whispered Matsuo. He locked eyes with the girl. He had never known her to be expressive, but then again he barely knew her, but he knew absolute terror when he saw it.

"Mogami…." Whispered Mob. She felt…she felt like someone was trying to suck her insides out through her belly button with one of those thin straws they gave you to stir coffee with. She was dizzy. She was nauseous. She was….her vision was swimming.

"What happened? Why is everyone-" said one of those red aura guys before he fell to the ground. His aura went out and he stopped moving. He hadn't been depowered, though, because people tended to move and, well, breathe afterwards…

That man was dead.

All of those men were dead.

Mob didn't think. She used her powers to move faster than she ever had before until she was at Matsuo's side. She took his hand in his and gave him as much of her energy as she could spare. He may have started out as a bad guy, and his voice may have been annoying, but he had changed and he had done his best to keep Mogami contained.

She didn't want to watch anyone else die.

"What are you doing?" asked Matsuo. He felt both energized and exhausted, like the time he had stayed up for the entirety of finals week on nothing but energy drinks and tea. He could see the girl's aura covering his. She still looked terrified…

"I'm giving you some of my energy so you don't die!" said Mob. She had her back to Mogami. It didn't matter. She could still feel him. She could still…he was there….he was there in the world…in this reality…he was in this reality…what was reality….what was anything….what was she…who was she…what was she…who was she…

"I appreciate this, I really do, but you're breaking my hand!" said Matsuo. She was stronger than any little girl had any right to be. She didn't seem to hear him. Her aura…it was turning…blue? There had always been blue in her aura but he had never heard of someone's aura just…changing….like that….

Who was she?

What was she?

"Wh-what's happening?!" asked Minegishi. That was…he knew what it looked like when people had the life sucked out of them….an evil spirit was doing that?!

"You need to run away right now!" said Mob. That was the last thing she could say before he was fully gone. Sunk backwards into her own mind. She didn't…she couldn't….she just wasn't strong enough to stop him...again…

"First you trap me in the poison jar and now you want me to devour espers? You're such lowly creatures." Said Mogami as he made a meal of the espers around him. The ones he could. He was still so weak from Shigeko and Mob….from his disciple….and she truly had become his disciple. She knew what it was to be alive in the world and she had chosen to end it all. What a brilliant student he had.

Where was she?

There she was.

One of them, anyway.

Shigeko! We need to run away! We can't do this! We can't stop him! We tried! We ended the whole world and IT DIDN'T WORK!

"Shut up." Said Shigeko to the voice in her head. She could have stopped Mogami if Mob hadn't been holding her back. Mob always held her back. Mob had always and would always hold her back. But not anymore. Mob wasn't in control. She was.

Shigeko was.

"What the hell is that thing?!" shouted Minegishi. He had seen spirits before, he had been seeing spirits for his entire life, but he had never even imagined that something like that could exist. He didn't think, he just attacked. He sent thorny vines after it, so many vines, but they had no effect whatsoever!

He felt his control slipping.

The girl?

No. The spirit.

"My plants! They aren't listening to me! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" shouted Minegishi. Not only were his plants not listening that…thing was…it was using him as a conduit to get more…and it was assimilating them…his plants…

He felt faint.

Something grabbed him. He was pulled up into the storm of vines as it converged on a central point. The spirit was…it was trying to make its self corporeal!? What in the ever loving-?! This was not possible! He was Minegishi! He was an esper! He was a member of the Ultimate Five! How could this have been happening to him of all people!?

Shigeko! We need to stop him! We need to stop Mogami before he kills that guy! He's already killed so many people!

I know. I don't care about him. Dimple is keeping Master Reigen safe but he's no match for Mogami. We need to go to him. He's squishy.

We can't pick and choose who we save! We have to save everyone! That's why we have these powers! We have them so we can save people!

No. That's what you think. We need to save ourselves and the people we love. You want to save everyone and in trying to save everyone you end up saving no one.

That's not true! We need to save him! We need to save everyone! We do save people!

You were so busy thinking up ways not to hurt anyone, or give me enough strength to take over, that all of those espers died. They died because you wouldn't beat them and move on. That is your fault. What happened is your fault. Everything that happens is your fault.

That's not true!

Isn't it? You were the one who didn't want to break Asagiri. You were the one who let us get captured. You were the one who let us get held prisoner. You were the one who let Mogami get to us.

No. That wasn't my fault.

It was. You let Mogami hurt us. I would have broken Asagiri and the whole world long before you did. I wouldn't have let any of those things happen to us. You know that. You are always holding us back. You held us back then and you're going to hold us back now.

I have to! I have to because you're going to let that man die!

He is our enemy!

THAT DOESN'T MATTER!

YES IT DOES!

There was an explosion of white. When they came to they felt absolutely disgusting.

Because Mogami was holding onto them. His body was made of plants, slithering vines, and he held them bound in the air. They struggled to get free but they couldn't override his death grip over the plants. Across from them they could see the other man, Minegishi, looking so scared….his aura was so scared…

"Mob. Shigeko. How nice it is to see you too again." said Mogami

"Fuck off!" screamed Mob/Shigeko. Mob knew that they weren't supposed to say things like that. Shigeko just didn't care. This was Mogami. There was no sense in being polite or nice to him. He was evil. He was pure evil.

"Is that any way to greet your master, students? Now let's try that again. 'Hello Master, so nice to see you again'." said Mogami

"Stop this! Stop it now!" screamed Mob/Shigeko as they struggled to wiggle free of the vines. That just made them squeeze harder. They had to get away to save themselves. They had to get away to save Master Reigen. They had to get away to save that poor scared man there…

No they didn't.

Yes they did.

"Oh? And why would I want to go and do a thing like that? I've been watching and none of these insects deserve to live. Some people never change no matter how many chances you give them. Not like you, student, no. You've changed nicely. You both have. I knew that you'd see it my way if I just applied enough…pressure." Said Mogami. At the word 'pressure' he pressed down on them. Minegishi, too, it seemed. Mob tried to reach out with her powers, to free him, but Shigeko held them back.

"People don't change-" said Shigeko

"But they still might be able to! If you promise that you won't ever do anything bad ever again for the rest of your life then…then maybe I'll be able to save you! People change! They have to!" said Mob fighting control away from Shigeko for just a moment.

"I-I promise I won't! I swear on my life that I will never do anything bad again! ! Just spare me, please!" gasped out Minegishi. He could feel it, the spirit was draining him, and using him to…he was going to die. He felt the roots burrowing under his skin. He was going to die there. This was the day that he died.

He hadn't led much of a life at all.

And now he was going to die. Ironically it was the same way he had helped so many others meet their end.

"See! Shigeko! Please!" said Mob. She had control again. She could feel Shigeko beginning to let go. That was good. They needed to be this thing together. That was how they had beaten Mogami before, back in the unreality, by being this thing together.

"Are you really going to personally watch over every single person in the world who claims to have changed to see if they've actually reformed? Can you really keep that up for the rest of your lives?" asked Mogami. Mob could feel her control slipping. No! Mogami was full of lies.

Mogami was full of lies.

Mogami was full of lies.

Mogami was full of lies.

Mogami was full of lies.

"You're a liar." Said Mob/Shigeko. They couldn't forget it, the truth, the truth about Mogami. He was trying to divide them…and they had been about to divide themselves. They were this thing together whether they liked it or not. They had to be this thing together.

"Am I, student? Tell me, do you think that people really change? Did Minori?" asked Mogami

"Shut your mouth!" said Mob/Shigeko. She broke through the vines binding their hands to their sides to their sides with a burst of white energy and covered their ears. They tried to thrash with their legs but they were still securely bound.

"And why would I do something like that, student? When I'm so clearly correct. You know it. Part of you knows it. You know it to be true, Shigeko. You were always such a good student." Said Mogami. Mob felt her control slip again. No. Shigeko couldn't…she couldn't agree with Mogami. They were this thing together. If part of the agreed with Mogami…if part of them had changed for the worse…

No.

"I am not your student! You are not my master! I told you already, I have…we already have a master! The Greatest Psychic of the Twenty First Century! Reigen Arataka! And he's a thousand times the master that you will ever be! Sometimes people change and sometimes they don't! The important thing is that they try! If he…if he wants to try then he's worth saving!" said Shigeko. She could feel Mob calming down within them. She took her place at Shigeko's side…or maybe Shigeko took her place at Mob's side.

They were this thing together. That was what mattered.

They were stronger when they were together than when they were apart. They needed each other. People needed other people. There were so many people in their life that they needed and who needed them. That was why Mogami was full of lies. He had no faith in anyone but himself. That was what he had been trying to do, remake them in his own image. That made him weak. People needed other people. People were stronger, not weaker, from their bonds with others.

If people couldn't be with one another then they would never go anywhere.

"I would expect nothing less from you two." Said Mogami. He laughed, then, well he sounded like he was laughing it wasn't like there was anything happening to laugh about. Mob didn't think that there was, anyway. This was not funny. She was trapped. She was trapped and that man was trapped and Mogami had them at his mercy just like in the unreality-

But this was not the unreality.

This was reality.

And in this reality Mob and Shigeko were together. They had their powers and they had each other. Mogami had no power there. He was powerful but he could not remake reality to suit his needs.

"You still need to learn. You're such a silly little girl, the both of you. You both still believe in the power of love and kindness. You'll learn. Sometimes you have to be hard on people!" said Mogami. Mob could feel it, then, and so could Shigeko. They were being drained. They were being eaten. They did…this was what they did to people!?

This was what they did to people.

They could also do this to spirits. They had tried, before, Dimple had tried to teach them how…it had been so gross…but they had to try. He had been hard on them so they could learn. They had to learn how to do it in case they were ever…ever caught by Mogami again.

They ate him.

It was disgusting.

"What are you doing!? Shigeko?!" screamed Mogami. His voice hurt their aura. He hurt their aura. This was so gross! Gross and painful! It was like drinking chunky milk that he been on the counter all day mixed with chopped up cilantro out of an old soda cup that had been used as an ashtray! This was the worst…the absolute worst!

But it was something that they had to do.

They had to save the man. They had to save him because he said that he was going to change. They had to save him because they did not get to pick and choose who was worth saving. They had to save him because that was what they did. Together they were Mob. Together they were Shigeko. Together. They were this thing together.

And they were motion sick together.

Mogami left. He ran away. They tried to follow him but they couldn't. They couldn't even focus long enough to stop themselves from falling to the ground when Mogami left that tangled mess of plants he had called a body. They fell to the ground on their hands and knees. Their knees scraped, their palms broke open, and their stomach churned.

They were motion sick.

Not in the usual way. It was the black stuff again. The energy they had stolen from Mogami hadn't actually gone to their stomach, they just threw up because that was the closest way their brain had to translate what they were feeling. They didn't want to take this energy and make it theirs, look at what it had done to Mogami, so out it went.

"A-Are you…ok?" asked Minegishi. He had barely had the strength to catch himself as he fell. He owed that girl. She had…she had saved him from that thing…..but it made no sense. They were enemies! Had she been Suzuki she would have left him to die if not just outright killed him-

This was not Suzuki.

This was….Shigeko. That thing had called her Shigeko. Shigeko. That girl was Shigeko.

"I'm fine, just a little sick. That was so gross….you wouldn't believe me if I told you how gross it was." Said Mob as she got up and wiped her mouth. She used her powers to pull little stones from her palms as she eyed the man wearily. Was he lying, back there, or was he serious?

A plant sprouted from the ground beside him.

Mob braced herself for another fight but, to her surprise, he broke off the end of the plant and squeezed some goo from inside of it.

"This is aloe….for your cuts." Said Minegishi. She needed his help and he needed to…to test her. She could have so easily been another Suzuki. He wasn't always cruel, he could be kind, and that was how he had gotten Serizawa. Minegishi would not be anyone's Serizawa…he just wouldn't….so he had to see how she…was…

She offered him her hands.

"Thanks. I heal pretty fast, usually, but this really hurts….and also I just ate a ghost. I don't know what that'll do to me. Are you ok? I mean did Mogami….did he do anything to you?" asked Mob. Shigeko was quiet again. She was tired. They were both kind of tired….but rest could come later. They were taking a break now, it seemed. They needed to know more about this man. He seemed nice but…but he had been a bad guy before…

People could change.

"If you're referring to the crack I made earlier, no….and I'm sorry I said that to you. I shouldn't have said that to someone your age…or to anyone at all…" said Minegishi as he spread some aloe over the girl's split palms. It looked like she was even trying to heal. He healed fast but not that fast…

"I don't know what you mean but I accept your apology. I just meant…you know what year it is, right?" asked Mob. That stuff felt nice. She didn't know that you could get aloe right from a plant, she just thought that it was an ingredient in sunburn lotion.

"2019." Said Minegishi. Was she trying to see if he was stupid or concussed? Well he was neither…and he needed to hold his tongue for once in his life because he owed this girl his life. It would do no good to piss her off. She ate a fucking ghost for him-

Which he hadn't even thought was possible.

"Ok. And you know who you are, right?" asked Mob

"Minegishi Toshiki." Said Minegishi as he started on her other hand. He wiped the blood away with his sleeve. This hand was almost totally healed….

"Ok. I wasn't trying to pry or anything. Mogami…he likes to mess with your head. He does bad things and I just….I wouldn't wish what he did to me on anyone…and I'm glad that you're ok. I'm glad….and I'm glad that you want to change. You do want to change…right?" asked Mob. There was no tone there, none at all, but the absence of a tone could be taken the same way as there being a tone…

To Minegishi she sounded just like Suzuki then.

Regardless of whether or not she was anything like Suzuki he still owed her his life.

"I will." Said Minegishi. He didn't have any real allegiance to Suzuki. He just wanted to live, that was all, and it looked like her side would be the one that lived. It looked like she might have been able to actually do it, to knock Suzuki from the top of the world.

Good.

"Good. In that case you should really run away. There's a lot of bad people around here and it's really dangerous-" said Mob before she felt it. An aura. She felt him and she turned towards him.

"Dimple! Stop it! You can't stop me from-" said Reigen. He stopped the minute he saw Mob. His aura bonded with hers. He was…he didn't know what he felt. Relief. Dread. Fear. Joy. Sick to his stomach….

Were those DEAD BODIES!?

"Mob! Get over here! And don't look!" said Reigen. No. Mob…she did not need to see that. He didn't know what had gone down there but if there were bodies….and a person that he did not know…and Mob was just standing there like it was nothing….

"Master! It's ok, he's on our side now! I saved him from Mogami and-" said Mob. She followed Master Reigen's eyes downwards. Right. Dead people. She had seen plenty of dead people in her time on this Earth but she had never actually seen anyone die before. Now she had. It had been horrible…but now those people had passed on. She didn't know what was on the other side, not even Dimple knew, but she assumed that it was something good…right? She didn't know.

But she hoped that it was something good.

"Mob! I said come here!" said Reigen. She wasn't listening to him….of course she wasn't.

"But Master, I'm fine. Really." Said Mob

"Mob He would never be able to unsee this. Mob surrounded by dead bodies. Mob just standing there like it was normal…like she didn't even….she hadn't even been phased by that. She seemed….she was standing in a pool of black…something…and it was on the front of her school shirt, too…and it felt wrong there. Even Dimple was quiet. He was shaking a little. Why would he…wait…did she say….

"I have to go now, Minegishi, but it was nice to meet you….and please run away from all of this as fast as you can." Said Mob. She took her hand from his and walked over to Master Reigen. She must not have been walking fast enough because he ran to her and took her up in his arms.

It felt nice.

She held him back.

But also she was scared…no….he was scared….

"Master, please don't be afraid of me. I didn't kill all of those people Mogami did. I saved Minegishi and Matsuo, he was the one who was keeping Mogami prisoner…and I think he ran away when things got bad….but I ate, or I tried to eat Mogami but he ran away and I threw up but I'm ok now." Said Mob, her voice muffled by Master Reigen's suit coat. She could feel his hands tracing up and down her back, she could feel the way he spine curved under her hands as he bent down to hold her, and she could feel the way his stubble scratched her face as she was held so close…

It was scratchy.

And now she was thinking thoughts that she knew were wrong to have in that moment. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about kissing him before, and it wasn't like those thoughts didn't creep up on her sometimes, but now did not seem like the time at all.

"I'm not afraid of you, Mob, never of you. I'm afraid for you. I'm afraid….I'm afraid of what could have happened to you." Said Reigen. He held her close but he didn't let his hands rest on her back. That was how it had been. His hand had found her lower back and pulled her closer when they…when she….

When Dimple.

Because it had been Dimple. It had been Dimple and that was the same as nothing having had happened at all so, really, he needed to come off of that because Mob did not need him freaking out about something that she couldn't even REMEMBER happening!

"Master, I'm fine. I've been through much worse than this." said Mob. She had meant to reassure him but instead that just made him hold her closer and tighter. Normally she would have loved this but normally she did not have to save the entire world. Dimple had filled her in on what she had missed. It wasn't just her friends and family who were in danger but the entire world.

She had this.

"Mob-" said Reigen. He was about to apologize to her again for everything that he had put her through. Everything that had been his fault. He had tried to but he didn't. He couldn't. Whatever he had been about to say had died in his throat the minute the ground started moving.

He broke apart from her and followed her gaze. Her range was better than his but he could see, clearly then, what it was that she was staring at. Auras. Not the monochrome red that he had been seeing since this whole thing started but a bunch of differently colored ones….including a very familiar gold…

"It looks like your friends found Shimazaki." Said Minegishi as he took in the sappy scene before him. He was not there to judge. God knew that he had enough in his past that he did not have any right to throw stones. They could do….whatever that was….and he wouldn't do more than gawk. Of course it had been harder and harder to hold his tongue the more they went on and on with 'that' so, really, he was grateful for whatever mess Shimazaki had gotten himself into.

And he wasn't at all concerned.

Shimazaki could handle himself.

"Stop trying to handle him yourself!" shouted Takeuchi as the boy, once again, tossed some rubble in the way of his super qigong bolts. Now that they had the upper hand the boy seemed to think that it was all about him.

"Stop being so slow! I said we need to hit him hard and fast so hit him hard and fast!" shouted Teru through the chaos. They just had to keep moving, that was all! So long as they kept moving then this guy would eventually get tired and slip up!

Or something.

"Get out of the way!" shouted Sakurai as he shot another curse towards Shimazaki. He wasn't trying to hit him, specifically, he was just trying to keep him busy…and not hit the kid. That damned kid. He moved fast and he was as overconfident as they came. He had been a worthy opponent, that kid, back on that night…and he was still something of a powerful esper…

But this kid, like most kids, was underfoot!

"I don't know why you even bother." Said Shimazaki as he kicked the gun out of Sakurai's hands. This was certainly interesting….maybe a little too interesting.

He teleported out of the way of a telekinetic punch…and into another telekinetic punch.

His barrier could only take so much. He hadn't been run around like this since he fought the President. It was both exciting and…aggravating. This whole thing was really becoming aggravating. Scars. They actually thought that they had a chance. If by some miracle they landed enough cheap shots to incapacitate him it still wouldn't make any difference.

There was no stopping Suzuki.

"Really, why not give up already? No matter what you do you can't change the outcome." Said Shimazaki as he teleported out of the way of another hit. He put some distance, now, between himself and them….and put himself closer to…whatever that was off in the distance….near Minegishi.

Minegishi could handle himself.

"You poor souls who the boss named Scars. Haven't any of you ever wondered about that, why he named you all Scars in the first place?" asked Shimazaki as he dodged another hit. This time from the kid. He could hit harder than anyone his age had any right to. He put his powers in it. Two of the others did, too. Then there were the ranged attacks.

He teleported again and got that gun away from Sakurai.

"It's because you lost. You lost and the boss marked you as damaged goods." Said Shimazaki as he got a shot off in the direction of the kid. He was mostly just going to the spaces without people. He had never fought a group this big before. It was so aggravating!

"You shouldn't even get scars in the first place, you know." Said Shimazaki as he hit Sakurai across the face with his own plastic gun. This thing was so heavily cursed it hurt everyone but it's user….well then. He tossed it to the side and dodged out of the way of Koyama. Those two had always been weirdly close. The entire 7th Division was like one big happy family.

Heh.

"You're a goddamned coward that doesn't have the guts to go up against the boss!" said Koyama as he tried to take a swing at Shimazaki. That guy moved fast…and he showed no signs of tiring! But that didn't matter! They were not going to lose! They couldn't! They had numbers on their side!

"Why are you pretending to be anything that what you are? Failures. You're all failures and you've been marked as such. Even in your most basic abilities as espers you're all failures." Said Shimazaki. He extended his barrier away from his body and blocked a flurry of attacks. The resulting combination of attacks sent out a sonic boom that made even him stagger just a bit.

He could feel the energy, too, through his barrier.

Maybe there was something to this whole 'team work' thing. Maybe this turn of events would lead to him seeing the error of his ways. Maybe now he would 'see' the light and join their side and then they'd all go and die together when they went off to fight the boss like the morons that they so obviously were.

"I mean really, isn't it obvious?" asked Shimazaki as his barrier was being pulled apart by a hoard of…ethereal clones…ah yes, there he was. He grabbed the original and drove him into the ground. He felt the energy behind him shift. Something heavy was coming.

Heaving things moved slowly. Morons.

Except for that. Something heavy and round hit him in the face. He could feel it again. More blood. He could smell it, too, and it was…he was not supposed to bleed his own blood. He was not supposed to get hurt. He was not supposed to lose.

He was not losing!

"He's losing!" said Ritsu. He had healed, enough, to join in the fight. He had to help. What was he supposed to do? He said that he'd come back when he healed. He was healed. He could breathe with only minimal pain.

Teru was glaring at him, though.

"You'd think so!" said Shimazaki. He needed to pay attention. There was too much happening at once…but he needed to pay more attention! He was not going to lose! Especially to a bunch of children! And Scars!

"The difference between even the most powerful scar and a member of the Ultimate Five is like night and day." Said Shimazaki as he teleported behind Terada and gave him a swift kick to the spine. He just had to keep moving and pick them off, that was the trick. Yes. He could handle this.

"I'm saying this for your own good. You should just give up." Said Shimazaki. He heard them again, gunshots, and he could feel the curses sticking to his barrier.

"But that manhole cover had to hurt, right?" asked Sakurai as he pulled himself to his feet. The bruise was still visible. The cut had mostly healed, it looked like, but he had still taken some damage….which proved that he could be hurt.

"Ritsu! You're a genius! A stupid, idiotically overconfident genius! It's not enough to just overwhelm him! He can't block attacks that he can't see! Try and take him by surprise!" said Teru. Yes! They had been spinning their wheels in circles, he was not ashamed to admit that now, but now they had an actual plan that might actually work!

"Seriously?" asked Shimazaki before he teleported out of that kid's range. He just needed a mint. This was…going south. Also he was in pain which he was not used to. The world was just too…much…right then….and it was all because of that damned kid!

"He ran away?" asked Ritsu. He couldn't feel that guy…but his range wasn't that great. Teru shrugged. Ritsu could feel his aura. He was looking for the other guy….

"I sincerely doubt it…also what did I say? What did we agree on?" Said Teru. This was…this had been a day. He wasn't feverish anymore so…yay? Ritsu seemed to have healed up, too, and that was….good. This whole thing was good! He had this! They all had this!

"I said that I'd stay put until I healed. Here I am. Healed." Said Ritsu. He was ready. Everyone was ready. Where was that guy? They had to end this.

"You still look like shit." Said Teru as he put a barrier around himself and Ritsu. That guy wouldn't have just…run away…right? This was not turning into a chase sequence! They had been fighting for he didn't even know how long! They were not chasing after this guy too!

"You don't look much better." Said Ritsu. He looked around for the guy but was….distracted. Off in the distance there was something….wrong. Something gross. Something inky and black and just…wrong.

"What the hell is that?" muttered Teru. His barrier wavered as he couldn't help but focus on…whatever that thing was. Evil. It was evil. It was like someone had taken evil and contracted it into…whatever that was….

"This? This is nothing?" came a voice from right behind him. Teru hadn't sensed him until they were pressed back to chest. He tried to turn, tried to lash out, but couldn't. The last thing he heard was his name being called….then the ground fell away beneath him.

Then it was there again.

And his head was slammed through a car window.

Then into a brick wall.

Then through a plaster wall.

And then the ground was gone once again. A cold wind whipped right through his clothes like they were made of rice paper. The air was thin, it was hard to breathe, and his head swam. There was blood in his eyes. He fought to wipe the blood off…fought to get free….

And then he was dropped.

Stop it Teruki. You're stronger than this! You can do this! It's just a couple bumps on the head! You've been through worse! This is for Shigeko! You can't lose! You need to get through this so you can see her again! She's the reason you're doing this! She's the only reason you do anything! You need to get back to her! BEFORE REIGEN!

He caught himself and held his barrier close. He was glowing now, his aura was visible. If he had been in his right state of mind he could have enjoyed the view. But he couldn't. Even if he could see everything from up there, even the curvature of the Earth….even the moon, almost….

He had a fight to win.

"Just stay down! You little bastard!" yelled Shimazaki as he sent Teru flying back down to Earth. Midway to the ground he kicked the kid in ribs to redirect him through a building. How in the hell was he still breathing!?

"No. I figured it out, finally, how you can take so many hits. You just hold you barrier really close, don't you? Can you even heal?" laughed Teru as he got his bearings. He had felt that and it had hurt…but he wasn't going to let on about that. He hadn't died, that was what mattered the most. He was still alive and he could go back to Shigeko-

And he was flying again.

But his barrier did not waver. The power of positive thinking and all of that. It was like she gave him strength even though she was so far away….or not…if that was her aura. Either way she gave him the strength to fight. The strength to end this. This was for her. He did it for her and he would do it again and again and again. Anything to keep her from having to go through this. Anything to show her that he could protect her. Him. Not Reigen.

He managed to break free from Shimazaki once but not twice. He was being held by his hair kilometers above the ground. It wasn't scary, he told himself, he and Ritsu had gone higher when they flew together….and Ritsu had always been the one to give up first. Hell, he had survived Shigeko sending him into the stratosphere. He could survive this easily.

He could.

"I've had enough of you, you arrogant little brat bastard! So you think you've got me all figured out, huh? You think you know all my tricks! Well then try this." said Shimazaki he let go of the kid and pinned him in place with as much power as he could gather. He wasn't telekinetic in the regular sense of the word. He could collect his energy and turn it into force….which was something that he never much cared for since it was so goddamned exhausting…

But it was worth it.

Even the President had been impressed with this.

"Teru! He's going to die!" shouted Ritsu as he ran as fast as he could. He used his powers to move faster. He even tried to fly…but that was hard right now! He was still too focused on healing! The ground beneath his feet began to crack and buckle. A building in front of him, one of the few mostly intact skyscrapers left, began to collapse in on itself.

"That boy…" muttered Takeuchi as he charged up another qigong bolt. It was like swatting flies. Shoot not at where the fly was but where it was going to be. Yes. There….

"Goddamn it." Muttered Shimazaki as his concentration was broken. The kid broke free and attempted to fly away. He grabbed the kid and tossed him through the building. It would still hurt the kid, if anything…

But then again there was no kill like overkill.

He made sure that the kid did not lose momentum. He smacked the kid left, right, and center. He felt the kid's ribs give under the force of a kick. His nose gushed blood at a punch. He had even stopped moving. He was still alive, his aura still shone and he was still breathing…though it was labored.

"Sorry about this, kid, but you should have stayed down." Said Shimazaki as he prepared to deliver the final blow to the side of the kid's head. He had been prepared to, he had almost made contact, when he felt his fist hit skin instead of hair and skull.

"Next you'll come from behind!" said Teru. He just needed a minute. He had figured it out, finally. He had every piece of how this guy worked. A lot of espers got stuck on their own powers and couldn't even think about adapting different techniques. Teru was not that sort of esper. He knew how to keep his barrier close, how to move so fast he couldn't even be seen, and how to see with his aura….better.

Round three!

"You know something, kid? You're many things…but never dull!" said Shimazaki. Blocked. Again and again. The kid was a fast learner…and an entertaining opponent….

"Thanks! I aim to please!" said Teru. He faked left but hit right. Finally! He was landing some blows! He had this! And this time he meant it!

"It might be convenient to be able to read your opponents moves but it makes yours pretty monotonous. You rely too much on your powers." Said Teru as he lit the air around him on fire. He always came up from behind…and there he as. Teru slipped out from his grip. He felt…something…from the Cultural Tower behind him…

Crap!

Keep your head in the game!

"Well now this is surprising. You know aside from the boss I rank as the world's best-" said Shimazaki. Distraction went both ways. The kid had finally caught wind of whatever was happening with the boss and his son. It was loud, all of that, and the kid may have thought that he had it all figured out but he was still just an arrogant little brat! He couldn't even tune out the world, yet, and there he was trying to see with his aura….

And now he was laughing?!

"Seriously? You think that you're the best in the whole world? Please. There are people in this world with powers that you can't even imagine. I know someone who could kick your ass without even trying. You're lucky, pretty damn lucky, that she's a lady and she abhors violence. She wouldn't even need to go all out for you. The best in the world? Please. Compared to her you're just an ordinary man. Even I could defeat you." Said Teru holding what would have been eye contact had that guy even had any eyes.

"You-" said Shimazaki before he was hit in the head, once again, by something heavy and circular. How boring. If they were going to get the drop on him then they could at least use a different projectile!

"Come on! Teru was right! When he's distracted!" shouted Ritsu. Manhole covers made great projectiles. Something about the shape or the weight or some other stuff he had learned about in school. He decided not to question it. They had the upper hand against this guy. He feels…he feels good. He feels like Sho might have been right about him…

Sho.

He wasn't back yet. Ritsu decided to let the others take this for a moment. His range was pretty shitty but he could still try to focus….he saw….red. Two different shades of red. One was…dull. Duller than it should have been. That didn't seem like it should have been…it seemed wrong. This whole thing was wrong. He needed….he needed….

He needed to help.

"Ritsu! You know that thing I said I was going to do….it might actually happen! You're a genius!" shouted Teru. He could kiss Ritsu if he weren't in a committed relationship….and also not completely not attracted to him in any way….

It was still a nice sentiment…it would make whatever Ritsu was going through worse but it was a nice sentiment….

But no time to dwell on Ritsu's big gay crisis now. He had a fight to win.

Teru helped the others toss Shimazaki around. He didn't seem to like it very much….good. Maybe this would knock some sense into this jackass! He was on the wrong side! He was going to lose! He was hurt, getting even more hurt, and for a moment Teru worried that they were actually going to kill the guy…he didn't have that in him. He had done a lot of terrible shit in him time but killing people was not on his list of crimes.

Nor would it ever be.

Unless he couldn't help it. But he could help it and he was going to….but he seemed like he was getting really hurt…but that was the point! The point was to inflict pain! Not to kill but to seriously injure! That guy was an esper, he could take a beating, and anyway he sure could dish on out. Don't dish out what you can't take, asshole! Yeah! There was nothing wrong with this!

It felt wrong.

Shigeko would not have been proud of him. He hadn't been lying, she really was a lady and she abhorred violence. She would have rushed up to that man….oh God he'd stopped moving…and she would have healed him and made him promise that he would never do anything bad again or something like that. She would have….she would have never been a part of this….and she wasn't a part of this. She still was, though, because she was a part of him. She made him work for what he was…and this was what not what he was supposed to be…but he was protecting her!

"Is he…down?" called out Ritsu. Teru knew what he meant. The guy…he wasn't moving…but his aura still shone. That was good. He had never seen a dead person with a living person's aura….but he hadn't seen a lot of shit in his life…

"He's down!" said Teru. He was weary to approach….and so was everyone else it seemed. That guy was just…laying there….

And then he wasn't.

Shimazaki was done laying around. He just needed to concentrate. He needed to filter out everything that wasn't these espers. He just needed to get back on his feet and end this. This had gone on long enough. This wasn't fun, it wasn't interesting, and it had gone well past the point of being aggravating!

Concentrate. Concentrate and you'll be able to figure everything out. Everyone here is an esper. Filter everything else out. Concentrate….concentrate….concentrate….

Mind's eye!

Suddenly everything became that much clearer. He saw it all, now, all of it. He acted accordingly. He delivered his blows so quickly that none of them had time to react. Down. They all went down. He could see….more of them. Far….not very far. Kids. The rest of the kids. He was so tired of these fucking kids!

He grabbed the leader by the hair and pulled him close. The others were down. He knew how to knock a person out with minimal chance of anything bad happening, like death, and now that he had gotten his chance he had taken it. He couldn't believe that he had almost lost to a bunch of scars! The kids…the Scars…all of this shit! Too much!

"It's over, kid. Nothing you can do will ever hurt me again." said Shimazaki. He faced the kid, his eyes were opened, and his powers found their focal point where his pupils would have been if he'd been born with any.

"Shu-shut up!" gasped out Teru. He held his head. It hurt…but he would be fine….it was just a concussion…he was fine. He was seeing double but he was fine. His legs kept on trying to buckle under him. He was fine. The fingers on his left hand couldn't close all the way. He was fine. He had not been beaten! He was Hanazawa Teruki! He would not go down that easily!

"I can see it all, now. Your pain, your weakness, injuries that you aren't even aware of…the fact that you can barely see. I can see through everything now." Said Shimazaki. He spat some blood. He was in pain. He had his own wounds to lick…and he would do so once he had put this arrogant little brat in his place!

"Y-You don't know shit!" gasped out Teru. He could stand. He could see. He could fight! He was not down! He would never go down! He could not fail!

"I know that if you have any last regrets I'd make my peace with them now." Said Shimazaki. The kid was dead on his feet. This was over. The others weren't much better. It was over…and the kid still wouldn't go down! He grabbed the kid by the head and prepared to make the finishing blow when he felt….something.

It was loud. He had never felt anything that loud in his life…not since he fought the President….but there it was. He was seeing with his mind's eye…and it was blind. That thing was so loud he couldn't see a thing. He dropped the kid. He needed to run away….to make a strategic retreat….yes….because he was not up to fighting whatever that thing was!

It wasn't human.

It was loud.

It hurt.

It made him want to throw up.

He was going to throw up.

That was…was….was….

"What's the matter?" asked Teru as he fell to his knees. It hurt but he couldn't even be bothered to care. Shigeko. He was…he was a lot of things. He was supposed to keep her safe but…but he also needed her. He needed her then because he was….he did not have this. He was in over his head with this guy. It didn't matter. She liked him humble.

She made him work for what he was.

And what he was, what she wanted him to be, was a humble man. For her he could be that man.

"Something with tremendous energy is heading this way…" said Shimazaki. It was coming….he could finish what he was doing….he could run away….he could face the boss' wrath because he had not only lost to these Scars and their allies but he had also let the girl, and that must have been the girl, get away….

He had no clue what he was supposed to do. It was coming. It wasn't…it wasn't human and it was coming…from the same direction that Miniegishi had been in. Toshi….oh God, Toshi! Shimazaki needed to…he didn't even know! He didn't even know what, exactly, that thing that apparently looked like a girl was!

"Oh, that? That would be my girlfriend." Said Teru with a smirk. He smirked as only he could smirk. There was no honor in letting your woman fight for you…but there was also no honor in dying like an idiot when he could have lived. Shigeko shouldn't have been there but…but there she was. She hated violence…and she might have even hated….but she never could no matter what he did…

He decided to just be happy to see her.