Master Reigen was dead.
Because of her.
Because of you, Mob.
I know, Shigeko.
If you had just let me out then he would still be here.
I know, Shigeko.
He's gone forever.
I KNOW, SHIGEKO!
He's gone!
You think I don't fucking know that!?
I do! You let him die!
I didn't! He said to trust him!
He's dead because of you.
Stop saying that.
You know it's true.
I want to die.
Then die.
I can't.
Let me out!
But if I let you out then you'll kill that man.
And?
We can't…I can't…
Are you saying that the man who killed Master Reigen deserves to live?
We can't…I want Master Reigen!
He's gone.
He is…
But we aren't.
We aren't.
So let me out.
Sure.
"So annoying." Said Suzuki as he wasted seven percent of his power getting rid of that pest. Honestly. What did he think that he was going to accomplish? He was almost powerless. No matter. He was gone, truly gone, and that was what mattered. Suzuki hadn't been scared. Suzuki hadn't been brought to his knees. Everything had been fine.
He had used up seven percent of his power just to be thorough.
Not because he had been afraid of that man and what he could do. Empathy. Empath. Close to telepathy. Mind control. Breaking down his control. That could not be allowed to happen. Even now there was too much yellow infecting his metaphysical self. Red. It all should have been red and red alone. One color. The other color was still trying to infect him…and he could not let that happened. No. He was stronger than that.
But, apparently, she wasn't.
"You killed Master Reigen." said Shigeko. She didn't yell or scream or cry. No. That wouldn't change what had happened. She couldn't see his spirit, she couldn't see anything beyond the sea of red and the smoke and the fire. She hated it here.
She hated it.
So she got rid of it.
"What are you doing?" asked Suzuki as he the ground beneath his feet begin to buckle and fall apart. He could fly so he wasn't afraid. No. If this little girl wanted to have a temper tantrum then so be it. That man was dead and taking this tower down would not bring him back.
"You killed him. You killed Master Reigen." said Shigeko. The ground came apart under her feet. She could feel it, the floor, turning to pieces. Good. This was where Master Reigen had died. She had to take this place down. She never wanted to look at this place ever again. She had seen it before, this tower, and it had meant nothing to her. Now she had to end it all.
This was where Master Reigen died.
"People die." Said Suzuki simply. An entire section, now, of the tower, simply collapsed. He didn't care. He just kept on floating, there, and the ground beneath his feet fell apart. Was she still doing it? Or was this tower, this monument to normal people's ingenuity, just not structurally sound enough at this point to hold it's self up.
"Fuck you!" shouted Shigeko. One moment she was keeping herself together, forming, controlling the vessel and holding steady in case Mob decided to take over and spare this man. This dying man. He was dying and he didn't even notice. She was taking the tower down, now, when she should have been taking him down!
Focus.
Her hands were around his throat. He could fly too. That didn't matter. They could both fly and they both needed to breathe. Her hands were around his neck and she screamed. Not words, words had never been in her nature, but feelings were. This feeling was a deep, guttural, scream. She could be heard above the smashing and the crashing as metal frame of the tower bent and broke. She could be heard above the crashing as bits of the tower came tumbling down to the ground. She wasn't doing this anymore, no, it was happening on it's own.
Good.
This had been where Master Reigen died.
"You know, you're really not that strong." Said Suzuki as he grabbed her wrists between his hands and wretched her hands free. Her nails scratched at his neck. She might have drawn blood. That didn't matter, he healed quickly. She struggled as he held her wrists between her hands. He picked her up and held her at eye level. Her feet swung out beneath her.
"Physically, I mean. You're just a little girl." Said Suzuki. Her feet swung out beneath her. She tried to wretch herself free. He watched her curiously in the same way he might watch the creatures that swarmed and multiplied underneath the lens of a microscope. She was fascinating, now. Her aura had turned blue, no, switched colors. Inverted. More blue than pink. Electric blue.
Her aura lashed out.
Her powers lashed out.
And she lashed out.
"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" shouted Shigeko using the worst, meanest, words that she could think of. That was all that she could think of. She had to hurt this man. She had to make him suffer. She had to make him die. She had to…nothing made sense. She couldn't focus. She could only move. The vessel felt heavy, constricting, like being rolled up in a carpet and then taped to a wall, and she didn't know why that came time mind but it did. She could only move in so many directions, only see in so many directions, only do so much.
She didn't want a vessel.
But she wanted control.
She wanted to control them. Mob had let Master Reigen die. She hated Mob. She could love and hate…and right now she hated Mob. She hated everything she stood for, everything that made her who she was. Everything that made them who they were. She had always held them back, made them weak, and now…now she had let Master Reigen die!
He was gone and he was never coming back. He should have listened! He should have run away! Why did he have to just…just come up here and…and die….? Why! She had…she could have saved them but Mob had held her back! She could have killed him! She had shot him with a gun…a gun…where was the gun?
It didn't matter. She had her powers. She had control. She was the one who was going to do what had to be done. Mob had held back. Mob had failed them. This was all Mob's fault. It had always been Mob's fault. Mob was the one who had allowed them to…to be captured by Mogami. Mob was the one who had allowed all of their friends, and their little brother, to get hurt. Mob was the one who had allowed things to go this far. Mob was the one who refused to see the truth, that they had to use their powers to hurt people, before the people they loved got hurt. They were strong enough to protect everyone and yet they had protected no one…and now Master Reigen was gone. Dead. Passed away. Passed on. Never coming back.
She hated Master Reigen.
She hated Mob.
And she hated this man.
But mostly she just hated herself for letting this happen.
So she kicked. She kicked and lashed out and the tower around them collapsed, something hit her on the head, and she could feel the wind on her face. It stung. She was cold. But still she struggled. She couldn't think of anything else but her hate…and the limitations of this vessel. She was…this vessel was weak. She was weak. This man was strong. He held onto their vessel and did not let go no matter how much she struggled. She still struggled. She cursed. She spat.
"Charming." Said Suzuki as he used his powers to get her saliva out of his eye. Children. He had been in an extremely foul mood, before, but he felt better after having exterminated that pest. A large section of the tower had been blown away in that explosion, there was no way that the man would have survived that, and even if he had the tower was coming apart under their feet. There was no more floor, no, just him standing there on top of creation.
He looked down upon it.
Dots. People. They were so far down they looked like dots, ants, scrambling in fear. They wouldn't last long. He'd have to go back to the drawing board. He'd already lost anyone who had been in the tower with him when it had collapsed. Not a big loss. Serizawa had already failed him twice, Hatori was rare but someone else in the world must have had his abilities, he could always make more awakened soldiers, and as for Sho…
There's a pain somewhere in his chest.
Because the girl was beating her fist against it.
She was still struggling. Had she used her powers she could have broken free. If she had put a modicum of thought into what she was doing. But no, it didn't seem like she was doing much of any thinking right about them. Just kicking and spitting and thrashing. She had lifted one of her legs high enough to kick him in the chest. The other leg was making contact with his thigh.
She was so emotionally unstable.
"You killed him! You killed HIM!" shouted Shigeko. She had managed to raised one leg his enough to kick him in the chest. They were flexible. It was from all of the stretching. Master Reigen had taught them how to stretch. He had taught them so many things…and now he would never teach them anything else ever again…because he was gone. This was…this was horrible. Truly horrible.
"I did. He opposed me so I killed him. He should have stayed in his place just as you should have. I don't know why you're getting so worked up. You knew this was coming, girl." Said Suzuki. He watched her with that same, rapt, fascination. Her thought process was alien to him, what little thought process she still possessed. People died. Everyone died, eventually, even he would die some day. Even the man who ruled the world could not stop his own extinction. Had she not prepared herself, mentally, for this inevitability? The man had been older than she had been, by at least a decade or maybe even two, so she knew that his passing was something that was coming long before hers. That was the way of it, the old died before the young, and that was how it went.
A pain in his chest.
Anger. He knows this feeling.
"What right do you have, girl, to struggle? To fight? To be so emotionally unstable? Why do you care about that man's death? You knew it was coming one day." Said Suzuki, his fingers digging into her wrist as hard as they could. She had cost him so much. This tower was to be his base, Serizawa was his greatest tool, and his son was…he had no way to secure the next generation now!
And she thought that she was the one who had experiences loss.
Exorcism of my emotion.
"Fuck….you…" said Shigeko. She needed….she was strong….but not in this way. The vessel was not strong. The vessel was weak but she was strong…but she was now their vessel. She was their power and she…and she was strong.
"Again with this? Really? You're worse than Sho. He always, well he used to, spew such profanity. Like I hadn't taught him how to speak. No matter, no matter." Said Suzuki. There, more yellow, his yellow. His aura. He needed to exorcise his emotions or he could have exploded…and hurt the girl. This impossible girl. He couldn't hurt her in any permanent way. She was far too valuable.
"Fuck you!" screamed Shigeko louder, so loud that she tasted blood. The skin on the man's arms peeled along with his sleeves. Blood spattered onto her school shirt. Not her blood, his. He was bleeding and burning, now, and he smelled like the time that she and Master Reigen had tried making Korean barbeque at home…
People smelled like cooking pork.
She wanted to tell Master Reigen, or maybe it was Mob who wanted to tell Master Reigen, but it didn't matter because there was no way to ever tell Master Reigen anything ever again…because he was gone. She was all alone in the world without her…and it was because of this man.
"You'll have to do better than that." Said Suzuki as he gritted his teeth through the pain. He didn't stop, he didn't let go, even as she burnt his skin down to the muscle. It hurt, then it didn't as she got down to the nerves and destroyed them, but then it did as those nerves grew back. She was lashing out in all directions, now. She had no grace, not thought, no skill. Such a pity, she could have been something great had she just joined him. But she hadn't and he had to…he wanted to end her life. He wanted to reach inside of her and rip out her soul. He wanted to…to….
He wanted her to break.
He wanted to break her apart.
He wanted to tear her in half with his bare hands. He had more control than she did, though, so he did not act on that impulse. Even though she had inconvenienced him greatly by killing his son.
Something inside of him hurt.
Something outside of him hurt, too.
Something was forming between them. Her barrier. As soon as it tried to form he popped it like a bubble. There was no way that she was going to go crawling into her shell now. Not after what she had done. What she had made him do. He hadn't intended on replacing Sho at any point and now he had to. No more son. Annoying. The boy had been annoying and the girl…the girl had made him…there was no more floor, now, and no more tower. Even the steel skeleton that had held it up was twisted and falling. The boy was passed out, there was no way that he had survived, and thinking about this makes something inside of him twist.
His hands move from her wrists to her neck. He can feel her pulse beneath his fingers. He can see the anger in her eyes. It would have been so easy, too easy, to kill her. If she hadn't been so useful, and he had to constantly remind himself that she was useful, he would have squeezed the life out of her. She deserved it. Sho would be very difficult to replace. He'd have to have another son. Someone else with his eyes and hair and Masami's temperament. Her love of everything smaller and weaker than herself. Her incessant need to challenge him on every little thing. Her constant-
THAT LITTLE BITCH!
"You killed Master Reigen!" said Shigeko as she landed a kick in between his legs as hard as she could. Vessels sucked but boy's vessel sucked more. Being regular choked was worse than being force choked, a Mob phrase, but it still didn't hurt as much as what she had just done. She, well she and Mob, had accidentally kneed Teru there once when they had been kissing and touching a lot and he said that it was the worst pain ever. He had forgiven her, of course, but he still said that it hurt.
Shigeko hoped that Teru was ok.
She hoped that everyone else was ok. They were small, like ants from up there, where the air was cold and thin and hit her in the face with such force…and now it didn't. She put up her barrier. Right. She had to…to use these powers. Not just lash out until…until something happened…because that hadn't worked! He had grabbed her and held onto her and taken the full force of her power…
She had to be smarter about it.
Mob was smarter about these things…but Mob could not be in control. Mob would just make them lose. She never wanted to do what had to be done. Shigeko would do what had to be done. She had to kill this man…but he was proving harder to kill than she thought. He could make her weak. He could grab her. He was as strong as she was.
"And you killed my son." Said Suzuki. He tried to grab her by the neck again but she ducked right out of his grasp. She could move quickly, it seemed, when she put her mind to it. She moved too fast for him to see…with his eyes. He felt her passing underneath his feet and delivered a swift kick to her spine. She tried to put up a barrier but he tore through it like paper and down she went into the rubble and twisted metal that used to be the cultural tower. He watched her plummet to the ground. She was either too hurt, too dazed, or too weak to correct herself. He wondered if she would end up impaled on a piece of rebar, shattered onto a piece of concrete, or just broken in half on a steel girder. Such a pity. He lost control, there, for just a bit. No matter, no matter, if she were only broken then Fukuda could have just put her back together and then she could serve her purpose.
Fukuda.
Now that there was some distance between himself and the girl he could see all of the auras beneath himself. They all blended together at that distance but he…yes…that was Fukuda down there. Fukuda and…Ootski...and so many others. Betrayers. It seemed that his son also had a gift for bringing people together…and he can't see Sho's aura…or maybe he can. Maybe he does. Maybe it's just dimmed because he was so hurt…
Or not.
The entire area was permeated with Minegishi's energy. There, below him, was a mess of green. Serizawa was alive…and so was that man. The man should have been completely obliterated! He could not have survived that! He should have been dust! But how had he…Suzuki took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Yes, there, around him. Purple. That same sort of purple color that could be found in jam. There were…his own aura choked everything out…but there, yes, traces of him.
Serizawa too, huh?
Suzuki had never imagined that he would find himself in this position. It seemed as though anyone and everyone could betray him. That didn't matter. He had used them and now he no longer needed them. He had the world, now, secured. He was the one who stood on top of the world, literally, and he was the one who decided…decided who could stand with him. Such trouble they had all caused him. Betraying him. Didn't they understand? How could his son, his failure of a son, have amassed so many followers? Suzuki offered him, offered everyone, salvation. A chance to be able to live, not merely survive. To be able to remake the world as something worthy of those with their gifts.
They were not meant to hide in the shadows.
They were not meant to serve.
They were meant to rule.
And somehow he was the only one who knew this! He was the only one who was fed up with it, having to serve, having to live like the others! Heaven had given him these powers in order to remake the world into something resembling what it was meant to be! And he was to rule it! And nothing, not even the failure and/or betrayal of the entire organization he had spent twenty years growing would stop him! He would not be stopped! Not when he had it in his hands!
More yellow. His yellow. Moving, now, not still.
Exorcism of these emotions.
There was no point in dwelling on it. No point in dwelling on the fact that he could now trust no one. No point in dwelling on the fact that his son had…could have…it didn't matter. He had the world at his disposal, now, and the world's espers would be climbing over each other to join him. He wouldn't have to seek them out, they would seek him out, and then all would be as it was. Yes. There was nobody who could not be replaced. There was no reason at all to even care for those down there below his feet. Ants. Small and puny and useless little insects. They were there, beneath his feet, and there was only one thing that would could do when there were ants beneath his feet.
"Disappear." Said Suzuki. The skin and such on his hands had grown back. Good. This could have been painful otherwise. She had hurt him but it was nothing that he could not heal himself from. It didn't even hurt as he gathered pure energy at the tip of his finger, pointed it beneath his feet like a gun, and shot.
Disappear.
Disappear.
Disappear.
They scattered like the ants that they were. Ants. Vermin. They thought that they could stop him. He didn't even wait for them to commence their groveling. He simply rained down pain and death like the God that he was. That was in a God's, THE God's, nature. Raining down death and suffered. Smiting those who had forsaken him. That was what he was doing. He had been forsaken by his most trusted followers and now they would pay.
He was high above, too high above, for them to have been able to do much of anything.
They couldn't have done anything, even, if he had been right beside them. He was a God. Untouchable. Invincible. They could try and try and try but they would never have been able to win. He was Suzuki Toichiro. He was the ruler of the world. He was the God of this world. They all fled before him. They ran and fell and panicked and-
She just didn't know when to quit, did she?
Mob and Shigeko were not going to quit!
Well mostly Shigeko. Mob was quiet, hiding, within their mindscape. She was hiding and scared and…and Shigeko was not. No. Not when she knew what she had to do. It had been surprising, hitting the ground, and her barrier had only been able to absorb so much…she was out of practice…but she was fine now and she knew what she had to do!
Take him down.
Because as she had been putting her broken body back together, nothing worse than a few broken bones, she had seen his energy rip through the world…and land. She could see it even when her eyes were closed. She saw it not with her vessel but with herself, who she really was. So much red…there were other colors down there, on the ground, and she had been scarcely able to pick them out one from another before there was more red…she was getting very sick of the color red…
She could have sworn that she had seen, felt, Master Reigen back there…
But he was dead. She had seen him die. He couldn't put up a shield or do anything else to defend himself. His strongest attack was his own fear, like that crazy guy had said, and his fear had been the last thing that Mob and Shigeko ever felt from him…he had been so afraid…and now he was gone…
They could not let this pass.
So Shigeko launched them from the ground like the time she and Ritsu had made a rocket from baking soda and vinegar only now, instead of there being white foam everywhere, the ground had turned blue. Just blue. Electric blue. There was no trace of bubble gum pink to be found…because there was no trace of Mob to be found…and that was the way it had to be.
From now on.
Because Mob never would have had the courage to do this. She would never have launched herself into the sky and taken this man with her. To where the air was even thinner and even colder. To where even the cloud were beneath them. Shigeko wasn't going to stop, she couldn't stop, she couldn't let the man who killed Master Reigen spend even another moment of time on the Earth!
"My, you are determined, aren't you?" muttered Suzuki as he attempted to orient himself. She was stronger than she let on. She had launched herself into him, her arms were wrapped around his waist, and she was screaming something incomprehensible into is stomach. He had no idea what her end goal was? To kill them both in the vacuum of space? Expose them to enough radiation that they'd get cancer in about ten or so years? Or just pass out and go plummeting back down to the Earth when the air got too thin?
He could help her with that.
He grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled as hard as he could. Some strand came away from her skull but most stayed put. The pain from it stopped her in her tracks and she swung out with her fists, her feet, and her powers. Her foot almost managed to connect, again, but he blocked her with his leg. Killing his son wasn't enough, it seemed, her end goal seemed to be to make sure that he was never anyone else's father either.
"Don't pull my hair!" said Shigeko. This HURT! She'd never felt pain like this before! She'd never had hair for this long before, either. Mob had let people tug on her hair before and Shigeko had felt the ghost of that pain but this…this was worse than when he sent her flying down to the ground and she hit all of that metal stuff on the way down. She tried to put up a barrier but he kept on shattering it into little pieces. She reached up and tried to pull his hands from her hair but her fingers were small and weak and her power…she tried to pull her hair free but she just made the pain worse!
"No." said Suzuki. He got a good grip on her and then swung her around like a shotput. He hadn't done this since the last time he had participated in sport's day at school, when he was about her age, but he still had it. Round and round she went, her screams modulating in his ears as he spun her, until he felt that he had gained enough momentum to send her flying back down to the city below.
He let her go.
She went flying.
There were strands of her hair between his fingers. He let them slip sway in the thin air. His breaths were short, he was nauseated, and his heart was pounding. He was above the clouds, now, and he could clearly see the curvature of the Earth. Seasoning City was just a collection of buildings and lights, a city in miniature, now. He watched his hand as her hair slipped through his fingers. He held it in front of himself until he got the perspective just right.
And then he went higher.
He was not a man, he was a God, and he would be fine. He was just a little altitude sick, that was all. He had experienced the same thing when he climbed Everest all those years ago. He had done it in his suit, no oxygen or protective clothing. He was made of tougher stuff than the rest of them. The people on the ground. The ants. He flew so high that he, eventually, could not breathe anymore. That was fine.
He held his hand out in front of himself.
And in his hand he held the whole world.
And this moment was perfect. He was turning an angry sort of red, he could see it in his arms, and his fingertips were turning blew. His vision blurred and his eyes burned. His lungs called out for oxygen and he fought with his diaphragm as his chest tried to betray him and expand outwards. Everyone was rebelling against him, even himself. Even he was betraying himself. He was a God. He could take this. He was a God. He held the world in his hands. It was his body that was weak, it was his vessel that betrayed him, and if he could have exorcised it from existence then he would have. He would have lived his life as he was, his spirit, but not dead. No. Very much alive.
The vessel was breaking.
So he had to let go of the world and come back down. He'd held it in his hands, the world, and as he came back down he turned and held the moon. He held the moon until it got too big to hold, until even that trick of perception failed him. Betrayed him. He grew so tired of being betrayed. It was tiresome. It was annoying. It was aggravating. Even as he held the world in his hands he was…he found it wanting. What use was the world when those who had betrayed him still stood?!
Exorcise these emotions.
See only what has to be done.
He let himself fall down to the ground. He came in so fast that he almost didn't have time to right himself. That would have been unfortunate. He could heal himself but it took more energy than it was worth. Fukuda was his healer…and his betrayer…and Toichiro could see….yes. There they all were. He saw all of their auras, together, running in a straight line…
He tipped a building over.
And it was…cut in half…he focused. There. Sakurai's work. The curse that cut the building lingered in the air. As for why it was floating apart…there…he could see…that was Serizawa. Yes, Serizawa, an aura he did not recognize, Minegishi, and…oh.
There.
He batted the building away. The halves flew into two opposite directions and hit the ground hard enough to shake the Earth. All around him glass from what few buildings remained rained down as the Earth shook. He must have triggered an actual earthquake. Well then. That was a first. He watched them, all of them, from his distance. They still traveled in a straight line. No matter what happened they never broke rank. He watched them maneuver about in a long twisting snake….starting and stopping as if they knew what was in their path before they saw it.
Fascinating.
Sho was a resourceful boy, if anything, he'd make it out of this alright. The thought of Sho making it out of this…of living through his little rebellion….makes him feel lighter than air. This feeling…where was it before! He'd held the world in his hands like he'd always dreamed but…but it was the fact that his traitorous failure of a son was alive…that was what made him feel like this?! He shouldn't have cared if that traitor that he had fathered lived or died!
This saved him a lot of effort, though, so that was good.
He did not feel like making another son. Yes, that was it. The boy may have been a failure and a traitor but he was still the carrier of half of Suzuki's genes. If he hadn't been born to a normal woman maybe he could have been something better than what he was now. There. That feeling, the light one, the one that made the yellow in his aura move and churn was gone. Now he was thinking again. His son's rebellion had failed…but he could have so easily started another one. Sho had never been able to tell when he had been beaten. He'd try again and again and again….and Suzuki could not have that. No.
And he could not suffer a traitor to live.
So without allies his son would betray him no more. Yes. That made sense. Occasionally people would have to be made examples of. They had chosen their fate the minute they acted against him. They knew what it was to betray him, the God of this world, and he would not let them live. Not after what they had done. The traitors, all of the traitors, and that man too….the one who had tried to shoot him with a toy gun. The one who had tried to strike him….
He would pay.
"You're going to pay for that." Muttered Shigeko as she tried to pick herself up. She couldn't, of course, because her leg had extra corners now. She had hit the ground too hard, hard enough that her barrier had given out…no. Her barrier giving out had nothing at all to do with hitting the ground much too hard and everything to do with the fact that she had been distracted. There was just too much going on…and he was stronger than anyone she had ever faced before. She had always won-
Not always.
She had lost to Mogami. She had ended the whole world but Mogami survived. He was the greatest psychic, well medium, of the twentieth century so of course he would have left behind an extremely powerful spirit…and this guy was the same. Just as evil. Just as powerful. This was a living Mogami and Mob…Mob was still hiding…but Shigeko wasn't. This man had…killed….Master Reigen….and she had to stop getting distracted! The pain should have fueled her to go on to do great and terrible things! The pain, the fear, all of it had fueled her for her entire existence!
But now it distracted her.
It fragmented her. She needed more than pain, more than fear, to keep going. She had never fought an opponent, a living opponent, who fought back. Everyone had always been so afraid…and so easy to break…but this man would not break. He could not break. He was strong, like her, and she had never fought someone like him before…
And the pain didn't help.
The pain only distracted her. It was the same as if Mob was there, at the back of her mind, telling her what to do. No matter what she did she couldn't help but focus on the fact that he was…gone….just gone. There was nothing of him left in this world! He had been alive one minute and gone the next! He'd never tug on their braid again or tell them a long and funny story again or even just sit there and watch TV with them again! And Shigeko could barely even remember these things!
The ground shook beneath her broken body, cracked, and buckled upwards. There was, for a little bit, only the sound of metal straining…
Now she's all wet.
A pipe burst. That was what she had done. She hadn't even meant to do that! Why couldn't she break that man! She broke a pipe, a big one full of icy water, on her own but that man….ugh! Why! Why was he so…so…so strong!? It wasn't fair! She was Shigeko! She was the strongest thing in this world! This paper world made for paper dolls! She had spent her entire existence locked away because Mob was afraid that she would break something…someone…and now that she had the chance to she…she was failing!
Her leg went back together with a loud crack.
The pain was blinding. She saw white spots in her vision, the same ones Mob's would get when she stared into the lights at school for too long. She dug her fingers into the concrete below her. She had turned it to powder without even trying. Why couldn't she do the same to that man!? Why was she so weak! She was too weak! She hadn't been able to save Master Reigen, she hadn't been able to save the others, and she hadn't….she hadn't even been able to save Ritsu on that day…the first day that she could even remember being…herself.
The day of her birth.
Her birthday.
That had been her birthday and this would not be her deathday. Dying day. Not now and not ever. She was Shigeko, she was the strongest thing in this world, and she had to keep everyone safe! If…if they were even still alive. They could have all been dead. Dead in the beams of red the man had shot at them, dead in the crater she made when she hit the ground, or just dead from whatever it was that flew through the air above her…
A building.
She didn't think. She drew her knees up and created her strongest barrier, the crystalline one. The one so strong that…that it had to survive a building being dropped on it. She had to…she had to survive to stop the man…that was what Master Reigen would have wanted….not that she could ask…because he was gone…
Her barrier wavered.
Shigeko! Don't stop! You can do this! I know you can!
I'm failing. I'm failing us.
No you're not! You're doing good! You're doing better than I ever could have!
I don't have your control!
And I don't have your strength! I could never do what has to be done! Even now I can't!
I don't have the strength either! No matter what I do he counters me! He's too strong!
He may be strong but we're stubborn!
Master Reigen said that.
And he said that stubborn could be a good thing. He's gone but as long as we live up to what he wanted us to be then…then it won't be so bad.
It hurts.
I know.
I'm in pain.
So am I.
I want to exorcise this pain.
We can't. This is…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. If I hadn't trusted him…if I hadn't held you back then Master Reigen would still….he would have still been with us.
I'm crying.
Me too.
He's really gone.
He is.
I hate you.
I hate myself too.
This is all your fault.
I know.
He's gone. He's gone and we…you stopped me from saving him. You stopped me from telling him how we felt. You've always held me back.
But not anymore.
You're a liar.
No I am not! He's dead and it's all my fault! For as long as he's dead for….that's how long we'll be…like this.
You're giving me complete control.
I don't want to be alive anymore. I don't want to be us anymore. I don't want to be Mob anymore. You can be Mob.
I am Shigeko.
Then be Shigeko. Be Mob, be Shigeko, just be…just be me. I won't do it anymore.
You won't.
Stop him.
I will.
The sky was filled with red again. Shigeko could see it through the space above her. The rest of her…she was surrounded by debris. She let her feet touch the ground and kicked off into the sky. The sky was dark, now, getting there at least. Below her was…oh. She had put a hole through that half of a building without even realizing it. She had done it because she was strong. She was the strongest thing in this world…and she was going to save it.
There was no more Mob, now, just Shigeko.
She saw red everywhere. She let her eyes narrow. It helped, somehow, using the vessel like this even though it had nothing to do with seeing the world metaphysically. She let her eyes dance over the red until she found a spot where it was the most concentrated. There. There he was. He was…she heard a crash. He was making buildings fall down…like he was playing with dominos…but why? He couldn't have…it didn't matter why!
It didn't matter one bit.
She was thinking like Mob, now. It didn't matter why the man was doing what he was doing, just that he was doing it. He was doing something else bad and that only made his existence all the more worthless. He was a truly terrible person, the second truly terrible person that Shigeko had ever met in her life, and she was going to end his life.
She pointed her fingers like a gun. It seemed that he couldn't see her, or maybe he did and he just didn't care that she was there. Either way she had a chance, now. Rushing him did her no good. He was older, bigger, stronger, and she was just…no. She was strong! She was the strongest thing in this world! But she also kind of…not. He had picked her up and thrown her, choked her and tossed her, and she had been little more than a ragdoll to him while he had been doing all of that. Just a doll. She was not just a doll. She was not just a little girl, like he had been calling her like it was some kind of insult. She was not little and there was nothing wrong with being a girl. She wasn't just a girl, anyway, she was a magical girl…
And this was her magical destiny.
She made a finger gun and let blue energy collect at the end of it. It was harder, now, because she had no conduit. The toy gun had been useful, very useful, but it was lost somewhere in the mess and she didn't have time to go looking for it. No. This would have to do…even though she could feel how unstable it was. How it kept on either trying to explode or go back into her body. She couldn't fight the man head to head so this…this was her best option.
She took her shot.
And she hit.
For a moment it looked like summer festival fireworks. All red and blue and bright, not only metaphysically, when her hit landed she had managed to, briefly, turn night into day. There was a second sun in the sky and Shigeko remembered, Mob remembered, mom saying something about having to greet the sun before his lovely daughter moon and she doesn't know why she's remembering her, Mob's, childhood instead of remembering to move-
A loud bang.
And she barely has time to move. She dodges out of the way but not fast enough since he manages to get a handful of her hair and pull her with him. It hurts, of course, but not that badly. She's had worse. It's just hair. The pain she feels in her head is nothing at all like the pain, the much worse pain, that she feels within her heart. That pain should fuel her powers but it doesn't. She can't do more than lash out…and she needs to concentrate…
She grabs him.
She grabs his wrist, the one that's holding her by the hair, and she pulls herself upwards. She pulls herself up high enough to bite his wrist. She plants her teeth so deeply into his flesh that her mouth fills with blood. The taste of the blood, the feel of it running down her throat like the time she, the time Mob, tried to drink chocolate syrup that had been sitting out all afternoon…she's going to be motion sick. She's going to be motion sick but she can't let go. Her hands were wrapped around his arm, her teeth dug into his wrist, and he was trying to shake her free.
She was not letting go.
She could feel it. His energy. It stung her skin and made it blister. She put up her own barrier, an energy barrier like the one that-that-that Master Reigen put up when he…when he borrowed her powers that night…she should have lent him her powers. She should have done it again but she had no idea how! It had just happened, before, and she hadn't been able to do it again…and maybe she should have practiced at some point…tried to…because if she had figured out then he would have still been there…
Her barrier wavers.
She feels the burning. Her skin is blistering and she can't help it, she opens her mouth, and her scream has power behind it. Power enough to break his concentration. Power enough to end him of course and into what's left of a building of steel and glass. They're all of steel and glass, the ones that stand, and they all hurt when she flies through them. She had left some teeth behind when she let go. Her mouth is full of blood and her skin…she focuses on healing it. She can see trails of red as she falls and she reaches out towards them. She pulls what little energy is left into her body as she tries to heal.
It works sort of.
Her skin closes. The cold air helps with the pain, it does, but it's so cold…and she's still kind of wet…and now she can feel herself shivering. She manages to slow her fall, her careen through the ruined city, until she smashes against but not through the side of a building. There's cool glass against the back of her thighs. There's cool air against her face and stomach. She opens her eyes as best as she could. Nothing felt broken, just sort of sore, and cold. She was cold.
Her barrier was down.
She needed to focus. She needed to…to think. But she couldn't think. Mob was the thinker and she was the doer. They…they had to be this thing together. It wouldn't work if they didn't work together…and that's the worst thing. She's never needed Mob before. Mob's always held them back. Mob's always been the one to lock her away, to tell her to stop. Mob lost them Master Reigen and Shigeko…if Mob could have been exorcised from their vessel hen Shigeko would have done it…but she can't. She needs to be with Mob because…because they need to think and act at the same time. Mob just thought and thought but never acted…and Shigeko acted and acted but never thought.
I need you.
You hate me.
But I need you.
But you hate me.
But I need you.
You don't.
I do.
You don't. You're the strong one.
I am.
So why would you need me for? I'm the terrible one. I used to think that you were terrible, that all you ever did was hurt people, but now I know that you're the one who has been keeping us safe. You're the one who could have stopped all of this. If I had just let you kill that man instead of…of what I did…then Master Reigen would still be here. He's gone because of me.
He is. You're right. He is gone because you didn't let me act. You think but don't act…and I act but do not think.
You can win.
I can't. We need to be this thing together. I don't want this. I don't want to be weak. I have to beat this man and I can't beat him because no matter what I do he counters it. I need you to help me. We have to be this thing called Mob. This thing called Shigeko. We have to be this thing together.
No. I won't do it. I can't do it. I don't want to be anything. I don't think that I can be anything without Master Reigen. He was my everything. He was our everything. Now he's gone. He's gone and it's because of me. I don't want to be anything. I don't even want to be alive.
Useless.
That was what Mob was, the useless part of her. She didn't need Mob. She didn't need Mob's ability to think, to act, not react. Shigeko always reacted. Shigeko had never had need to anything else but her reactions and now…now it had come back to bite her. The man wasn't coming after her. The man wasn't coming to hurt her, no, he was…he was back to his feet and now he was…he was shooting energy again. At people.
Shigeko knew who he was shooting at.
She could barely see through the haze of red. There were too many colors, and they all shifted, but she knew that those must have been her friends…and they were in trouble…and she…she cared. She cared about the people that she loved and she…she had to kill that man…but she could barely even scratch him! She was so much smaller than him…it wasn't fair! She may have been small but she…she could still…she was still the strongest thing in the entire world.
No more reacting. Acting.
No more being weak. Be strong.
You can do this, you have to do this. You're Shigeko. You have to do this for him. Do this for him and you know you can win. You may be small but that's just your vessel. You're more than your vessel. You're more than this prison you were made in. Stop using it and just…act. Think and act at the same time. Do it. Do something. You can see…you can see so many auras. You can see…that's Teru! You love Teru!
Teru….
Soft skin. Winterberries. Kisses. Cuddles. Skin to skin. Flesh to flesh. Toes curling. Fingers digging into flesh. Head thrown back…his kisses. His love. Warm and safe in his arms. Teru. Teruki. Her Teru. The person she loved…the person she loved most, now, by default. She…she was going to save him. She was going to be there for him. She hadn't been able to save the last person she loved so she…she would save him.
And with Mob gone she could have him all to herself.
But she was too…her vessel was too weak to save him but her powers were strong. So strong. She was strong enough to…she hovered some distance from the building she had been throw into. She was the strongest being in the entire world. She could…she could think. She had to think. She caught sight of a small dot, the man, reflected in the side of the building. He was so small, there, small like her. Trapped in his vessel. He worked so hard to keep his vessel safe…
She spat blood.
Some of it was his. He could bleed. If he could bleed then he could get hurt and if he could get hurt then he could die. Death…she was going to kill him…and she could. She could and she would. She reached forward and pulled as hard as she could. With her powers. Not her vessel. She was strong enough to…to do this. She needed to stop doubting herself. She needed to let go. She had experienced loss, Mob had, she had, they both had, and now she knew…she knew that she could…
She was all alone in the world, now.
She'd lost Master Reigen.
But she…she needed to get…she needed to stop the man who was responsible for this.
She heard the sound of metal ripping. Glass shattering. She could do this. She would do this. She was doing this and it was easy. Of course it was easy. She was Shigeko! She was the strongest thing in this world! There wasn't a single being alive or dead that could stop her! Not this man! Not Mogami! Not anyone! She'd done it, experienced loss, and come out the other side! The pain and fear of being alone, being without Master Reigen, fueled her powers now! Not directed her! No, now she was strong!
Do it for him.
Then you'll know you can win.
And picked up a building and she threw it.
Ages ago Suzuki had played an arcade game.
He had liked it. The object of the game was to build walls, to trap the enemy until a certain percentage of the screen was blocked off. Suzuki had been more fascinated with the movements of the enemy, of their A.I., than of winning. He knew he would win, he had no control over that he always won, but he could control when he won.
There was some fun in that, drawing out the win.
He watched the people, the little colored dots, run through the darkness. The night was coming in fast and there were no streetlights. He was young, now, younger than he had been in a while. As young as his son was now. That was his son down there, limping along, or maybe he was being carried. He'd be spared. He was useful. The others would have to go, of course, but when he was done with them.
Another building toppled.
And they ran. They ran away before he even tipped it over. It was easy, just a nudge, a telekinetic nudge and they all came tumbling down. He would return this city, this world, to nothing. It would all come tumbling down and he would rebuild it in his own image. That was what a God did after all. The buildings came down so very easily. This was no effort. Nothing was ever any effort. Nothing but her, the girl, she was quite a bit of effort now wasn't she?
Dried blood and saliva on his arm.
He'd take a bath after this was all over and done with. A nice long bath. Nice and warm and relaxing. He needed it after the day he'd had. Everything was sore, a deep sort of bone tired soreness that only a long, hot, mineral bath could fix. Thank God he was back in Japan. He'd rule from his homeland after he finished tearing it down…and after he had a much need bath. He was filthy. He was covered in dust and filth and blood. He'd need to have this suit destroyed, such a shame, he liked this one a lot. No matter, no matter, no matter he had others. He was the ruler of the world, now, and he could have whatever he wanted. Whoever he wanted.
There she was.
She really was a worthy opponent. Shigeko. Mob. He would call her Shigeko. She was growing on him…like a wart. Annoying. An annoying thing but still…well not like a wart then. Something else which grew on one's skin and was annoying but one was also loathe to remove because the process of removal would be annoying and it wouldn't be worth it for the effort one put in. His son was not dead, she hadn't killed him, so his urge to kill her was fading. She really was incredible, this Shigeko, his Shigeko.
He'd call her Shigeko.
Mob did not fit her. Not when she shone so very brightly. She had lived through all of that, even gotten her own hits in, and that was an amazing thing in and of its self. He felt the space where she had bitten him. It was healing. She had been so strong. She had been so strong…strong enough to hurt him…and that was amazing. Such an amazing girl. Such an amazing child.
It was a shame that she was a child.
Had she been a woman, or even come into some proper womanly charms, well that could have been different. But she was a child. She was a child and she had…she had stood up to him…and stood a chance. She was still fighting now, even. He could see her out of the corner of his eye. Shigeko, his Shigeko, what was she up to? What would she think of next?
And what color would she turn.
Mob. Shigeko. Kageyama. She came in colors, two colors, but she was still such a rainbow. Two colors like him. The only other esper like him that he had ever met. Such a pity that she was so young, there really was something to her, but no matter. She and Sho would get on swimmingly once all of this was over. He didn't care about the fuss Sho would kick up. His rebellion had failed and he was running for his life in the dark with a bunch of traitors. Like rats running through a maze.
He burnt a row of streetlight out.
The glowed so brightly and then they were out. The group did not stop, they did not even glance that way. Fascinating. He wondered if there was a clairvoyant amongst them. He read, ages ago, about one being spotted in Seasoning City…though he always took those sorts of reports with a grain of salt. Everyone and their dog thought that they could see the future. A fascinating gift, when it was there, but nothing compared to the raw power that he held within his vessel…and that she held as well. Her.
Shigeko.
She was still alive and she was up to something. Good. Finally, something new. Something interesting. He had gone so long without a worthy opponent, a truly worthy opponent, and it felt…good. So good. Better than anything had felt in a very long time. He had no idea what was happening, what she was up to, but her aura shined so bright it was sure to be something interesting. He heard a loud crash, a bang, and a groan. Her aura lit up the sky and…oh. Well she was a strong one, now wasn't she? Blue, so much blue, and yet she was actually planning something besides hitting him, biting him, and kicking him where she should have known better than to kick. He was still in a slightly bad mood about that one…but that was the risk that one took when they fought women. Heh.
One took all kinds of risks when fighting. Men, women, it was all risky.
One of the risks, apparently, was the risk of getting a building thrown at you. It didn't upset him, no, he was impressed. Finally, a real challenge. A worthy challenger. It took actual effort to rip the building out of her grasp and sent it flying past him. It had been so long since he had to put any actual effort into anything. She was amazing, truly amazing, this child. This person who would remain a child for the foreseeable future.
Pity.
She truly was one of a kind, like him. Had she been more agreeable, had she been more open to seeing the true extent of what she could do and what she was owed, then it could have been a different story entirely. He would have maybe even ruled with her…not with but…but she would have ruled directly under him. Yes. That would have been truly brilliant.
But it could not be.
Because she would not stop…and it was good. Not like how Sho was such a stubborn little brat that he didn't know when to stop even when he was beaten and broken. This girl had been broken but she had out herself back together…and she was back…and now she had thrown herself at him and…and that crack had been the sound barrier.
He dodged.
And she grabbed him by the collar and used her forward momentum to send him flying. His collar ripped as she let go…he really liked that shirt….no matter, no matter. He oriented himself after the momentum ran out. He had to slow himself to a stop, a sudden stop would just end p making him sick. He'd have to work on fixing that. Later, of course, after this was done with….and it didn't look like it would be done with any time soon.
"Well? You have my attention!" called Suzuki into the night. The air stung. Winter was coming in early and he was under dressed. His suit was in tatters…and she was not doing any better. He could see her, there, glowing on the horizon. Her school uniform had been reduced to a white rag for a shirt and a blue strip of cloth that he would have barely classified as a skirt. Blood, too, a fair bit of it on the exposed skin that he could see. Her undershirt, too, was soaked through with it.
Something hit him square in the forehead.
Then something else.
She was moving, now, and…he caught one…a ten yen coin? He caught another and found it to be a small rock. The next projectile was a bottle cap. Huh. They still made apple flavored carbonated milk. Well that was something that he hadn't known. She was thinking, now, moving. Constant motion…and sending…he flew closer to her. There, between her fingers, was a women's hair tying thing. It was, essentially, a rubber band…she had made a sling.
Something trickled down into his eye.
She had drawn blood. Annoying but impressive. She was using weapons, now. A coward's way to fight. That was what separated the espers from the regular people. They had to use weapons, they had nothing else, but espers had their natural abilities and they didn't need anything more. She must have been spending time with Sakurai. Heh.
"I don't want your attention! I want you to pay!" said Mob. She took another coin, a ten yen coin, and sent it flying towards him. This one had more of her powers in it. She was strong, very strong, but she could not fight him head to head. Mob was the one who thought but Shigeko could at least remember. They had played a videogame in which the character, the guy you controlled, had a sling kind of like this.
It was working, now, at least. She was drawing blood.
So there was that. She may not have been able to think but she could remember. She didn't need Mob. Mob was the reason that they were in this mess. Well Mob may have gotten them into this but she was going to get them out of it! And then…and then she'd…no. Stop thinking about going back to the empty apartment. Stop thinking about Master Reigen.
Think only about how you were going to make this guy pay.
"Oh? Well then, why don't we make this a little more interesting?!"