Rei could see the future.

She could see that she would be having egg salad for lunch. She could see that Riko would throw a sock in her face for no good reason in about half an hour. She knew that it would start to rain in about four hours and then stop suddenly. She knew that she would forget one of her good eyeliner pencils in her pocket and it would get ruined in the wash. She knew that the tomatoes in the fridge would go bad by the time dad tried to make himself a sandwich.

She could see the future and she could act accordingly.

First of all she hated egg salad so she would, instead, help mom make literally anything else for lunch. Second of all Riko was a jerk and had no right to throw an icky gross sock in her face so, really, the only thing to do was a preemptive strike. Third of all there was nothing she could do about the rain besides close all the windows so at least nothing got wet. Fourth of all she could take her good pencil out of her pocket because it had been expensive and she only had so much money.

Also she threw out the tomatoes before anyone could get sick.

She could see the future and it was a dead useful power. She had been using her powers more and more lately since the whole almost dying thing. The whole 'getting stuck in an end of Akira explosion' thing. The whole 'fighting a real life shonen villain but not really since Mob was the one who did most of the work' thing. She wished that she could have seen the future better back then. Too much had been changing too quick…and also she had been scared out of her mind. When she was scared it was harder to use her powers.

She wasn't scared now.

She was ok. She was more than ok. She was the most ok. She was so happy to be back at her house with her family, even if Riko was a jerk, and she was so happy to have been able to sleep in her own bed and wake up in her own room. She was so grateful not to be dead or kidnapped. She was ok and it was all thanks to the power of friendship, like Go kept on saying, and also the power of love. Yes, love had a lot to do with it.

She loved Ritsu after all.

She didn't know what she would have done without him. Back them, back when they had been running, she had been so scared. She had been so scared that she didn't know up from down or left from right or light from dark or anything. She would have totally freaked out if not for Ritsu. He was there and he had bene scared too but he had been strong enough to keep her calm…and he had been there for her even though he had been beaten up and, honestly, had gone through a lot worse than she had. She had to be there for him because he had been there for her.

He loved her.

It's a good feeling. Loving someone and being loved in return. She'd always wanted a boyfriend but now, looking back, it may have just been for kissing reasons. Kissing felt good and she liked doing it and she had, mostly, just wanted a guy that she could kiss. That was why she had kissed Go and Takeshi and a few other boys too. Also, maybe, why she had wanted to be with Ritsu when she first met him. He was cute. He was more than cute. That had been the first thing that she had noticed about him…and it had been kind of shallow…but then he saved her from being kidnapped. Then he saved her again when the world was about to end or be taken over or whatever Sho's dad's endgame was. Ritsu had saved her and she had saved him…and that was love.

Real love.

And then they did the thing. Not THE thing, no way, because as much as she thought about THE thing she knew that she was not ready for that. No, the thing that they did was just fine. More than just fine. She had wanted to do that, that and a whole lot more, before but it had never felt like…like something that she could reach out and feel. Like it was something that was ok to do. She had always freaked herself out when she got even close to doing…things like that. But then, the night after, it had just felt so right…and they did the thing….but not THE thing….and it had been so good and loving and right….and she couldn't believe that she had almost died without knowing what it felt like….

Good, it felt good.

Which had been such a relief. She'd heard, before, that boys sucked at it. That they didn't care if their girlfriends had fun or felt good and that they just wanted to get it over with so their girlfriends could do stuff for them. Ritsu hadn't been like that. He listened to her when she said what felt good and what didn't and he made sure that it was really good. Rei had heard that you were supposed to pretend that it was good even if it was terrible so you didn't end up hurting the guy's feelings. Well she hadn't had to pretend not even once…even if his nails were kind of long….but that hadn't been that bad. It hadn't been bad at all. It had been the most awesome thing in the history of ever!

Even if she did kind of suck at it.

Well Ritsu never said that she sucked at it. He loved her and he never would have said something like that. He didn't have so. She knew that she sucked at it. That was why it had taken so long. She had heard, before, that boys finished super fast. She didn't know why that was supposed to be a bad thing. That just meant that he'd had fun. Ritsu probably hadn't had a lot of fun. She had no idea what she was going…and also all the staring. She didn't mean to stare, she'd just never seen anyone but herself naked before. Well she had but never a boy. So she had stared….a lot. Enough for him to ask her to stop staring. Enough for him to probably have been embarrassed. He hadn't stared at her. He hadn't looked away but he hadn't stared, either.

He hadn't ever done anything like that before.

Which was something that she reminded herself of. Something that she had to remind herself of. Ritsu wouldn't lie to her. When you love someone you never lied to them. He hadn't done anything like that before and she was his first girlfriend and his only girlfriend and she shouldn't be worried about stuff that she knew wasn't true. Besides, she'd kissed more people than he had so if anyone had a right to be worried it was Ritsu. Not that they were counting. No, like she had read in several very expensive books at the bookstore, it had more books than the library and nobody looked at you weird there for reading the relationship books, a person's previous sexual partners had no bearing on the current relationship and there was no reason to even care about what your partner's number was.

Not that either of them had ever gone that far with anyone else.

She was just insecure, maybe, and she didn't even know why. He was good at it, doing the thing, so she had no reason to worry about…anything. That was a dumb thing to worry about. Her boyfriend being too good. Most girls had the opposite worry if what she had overheard was anything to go off of. She really had no idea what she was so worried about.

The creeping feeling that all of this was going to pop like a balloon.

She could see past the explosion now. Before, when she had tried to use her powers, the explosion had been hanging out there on the horizon blocking her view of literally anything else. Well now it was gone and she could see clearly now the future. There, far off, there wasn't an event but a sense of…dread. Like something big and scary was coming…something related to her and Ritsu…but she didn't know what. She knew that they were going to be together forever…she knew it in her heart to be true…but when she looked into the future there was nothing to reveal.

No house or family or anything.

Just this sense of dread. This feeling that everything that she and Ritsu had together was going to pop like a balloon. She didn't want that. She could never want that. She wanted Ritsu with her, by her side, for the rest of her life. They weren't going to break up. She was so happy with him. Even if he could be a little distant sometimes. Even if she did get the feeling, sometimes, when they were together that his mind was elsewhere….and hello Rei! Of course it was! He was busy with school and student council and also all that stuff that happened to his sister and also his parents were screaming down the house every night. Of course he was sort of distant from her sometimes.

They were not going to break up.

She had no plans of breaking up with him and as far as she knew he was happy with her….though her information on him was becoming sort of dated since he hadn't messaged her back in a while…and she really wanted to hear from him….or better yet see him. She hadn't seen him in so long, not since his parents came back from their trip, and she wanted nothing more than to see him and kiss and him and spend time with him…and also maybe other stuff. Stuff that she maybe should not have been thinking about. Well there was nothing wrong with thinking about it, she had read that there was nothing wrong with having a healthy understanding of your own sexuality and that of your partner, but she liked him for other reasons, she wanted to see him for other reasons….so she had to think about those other reasons.

She really wanted to see him.

But she wasn't supposed to go anywhere. Mom and dad were really worried, still, about what had happened even though it was over now. She didn't understand adults sometimes. Once something was over then there was no reason to keep on worrying about it. She knew that, in the future, there would be so many other things to worry about. She didn't even have to use her powers to see what all of those things would be. There were a million and one things to worry about and what had happened wasn't one of them.

Ritsu was one of them.

An idea was taking root in her mind. She was worried about Ritsu, of course she was, because he had been through so much and now he was stuck in his house with his parents and they were probably back to fighting and that was really stressful for him…and she didn't want him to be stressed out. He was probably really lonely to see her, too, and maybe that was why he hadn't messaged her back in a while. Mom and dad were busy anyway so it wasn't like they'd notice, really, if she snuck out. Just so long as she was back before lunch…even if it was egg salad. Truly disgusting. She knew that mom would have made something else if Rei had helped her….but Ritsu was more important than the fact that egg salad really sucked.

He needed her and she needed him so, really, it would have been wrong of her NOT to go and see him.

It would have been wrong of Reigen NOT to bring this to Mob's attention.

Because, really, she liked videogames. He had found his old games console, well one of them, in a box underneath his bed of all places. Mom must have put it there. He hadn't played this in ages, not since mom took it away, but he was a grown man now and if he wanted to play Dreamcast then he was going to play Dreamcast. Plus, well, he hadn't feel his human faced fish in a while. He wondered how Seaman was doing these days….

And he was going to have to make sure not to laugh.

Because then Mob was going to ask him what it was that he was laughing at and then he would have to explain to her and he did not want to do that. Also he was an adult and should not have been laughing like a middle schooler over something like that. It was the name of the game. It was about a human faced fish. It lived in the sea and had the face of a man. Ergo Seaman. Yes, he was not going to start laughing. He was going to be mature and composed….

And also he was going to remember how to even hook up a Dreamcast. Had it really been so long?

"Arataka? What are you laughing about in there?" asked Sophia as she scrolled through her phone in the kitchen. Work was still unsure if they needed her. Lots of people freaking out over the terrorist attack. They'd need her later once all the baby expats ran away. For now, at least, she could enjoy being home with her son and his fourteen year old codependent best friend/non sexual life partner.

"Nothing, mom, I'm not laughing at anything." Said Reigen as he turned the TV around. Ok, so he was just a moron. Red to red, yellow to yellow, blue to blue….wait, what? What did this blue wire go to? There was not supposed to be a blue wire…right? Wait, no, it wasn't connected to anything. Mom had, at some point, designated this the random wires box. He didn't even know what half to these wires and chargers were for….

"Oh God, you found it." Said Sophia. She had come out from the kitchen to see what Arataka was fussing over. Apparently he decided that ten in the morning was a good time to ruin the TV. Right in time for the news, too. She knew her Son. He was going to sit there playing that damned Seaman….don't, Sophia, you'll never live it down….game.

"Am I still banned from Dreamcast?" asked Reigen. He was kidding…mostly. He was a grown man now and she could not ban him from anything. He could drink and smoke and play videogames to his heart's content.

"That depends. Did you ever apologize to your teacher?" asked Sophia. She was pretty sure that she had either taken that games console away because he had called his teacher an asshole or because he had just up and quite doing his math homework one day….or maybe that was because instead of going to boy's volleyball team meetings he had been sneaking away to fool around with the Ono girl from across the way….or something. It had been….she didn't even know how long. It had been about 2000 or 2001 when she had taken it away…he had been about…ten or so…so too young to have been fooling around….

"Mom, I already paid my debt to society for that one. Remember, you made copy kanji from the dictionary five hours a day after school for weeks?" asked Reigen. His hand still hurt just from remembering that. There was no kill like overkill. He wondered if she thought, now, that it had been an unfair punishment….of course she hadn't. Mom, admit that she had made a mistake? Hell must have frozen over in that case.

"Oh, right. Well we are going back a long ways here, Taka-chan." Said Sophia. She didn't want to sit there and rehash the past. She knew what the next words out of her son's mouth would be. He would go on and on and on about how unfairly she had punished him. Well she had done her best. Better she be the one punishing him than his father.

"Yeah, I was a pretty shitty kid." Said Reigen. He wondered if mom would agree or saying something to the effect of 'yeah, but I was a shitty mom' and then they would hug and their bond would have been mended and then they could have lived together in happiness and mother and son…

"No, you weren't. You were just a wild little boy, that's all." said Sophia. She knew what he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear that she had been a shitty parent. That she had made mistake after mistake after mistake when she had been taking care of him. That she should have done better. Well she had done her best with what she'd had. Nobody was perfect. If he thought that he knew better than she did well he had another thing coming once he had his own kid. If he ever had his own kid. She wondered if that day would ever come for him. Later, rather than sooner, if he was planning on keeping up with whatever it was that he and Mobbu had together.

"Yeah, well, I grew out of it." Said Reigen with a shrug. That was the closest that he would ever get to an apology from her. Not that he was one of those people who blamed his mother for everything under the sun. No, he was perfectly capable of taking responsibility for his own actions. His life was his own and he had made some pretty poor life choices in the past…but that was all in the past. Right now he had to get this console hooked up so he and Mob could play videogames and have a nice day together. Poor kid needed as many nice days as she could get.

"I'm pretty sure that the cable that you're holding doesn't go to your game, Taka-chan." Said Sophia. She was not going to rehash the past. She was not going to fight with her son. Not about the past or the present or the future or the fact that he was way too old to be playing videogames like that. He really should have been thinking about what he was going to be doing with his life. Seasoning City was in ruins, his business was hopefully over and done with, and he had Mobbu to think about. Really, he should have come up with some kind of plan or idea at this point. Unless he wanted to stay with her forever, she wouldn't have minded that at all.

"If it doesn't go with it then why is it here?" asked Reigen. He was frustrated just a little. He tried to keep it to himself. He was glad, actually, that Mob was up in her room. She didn't need to be stressed about anything. She had been through way too much. Mob was up in her room and she was having fun…or whatever. He didn't actually know. He had just found his Dreamcast and got to it. Which was what he had to do, get back to it, and not sit there and fight with his mother. She seemed so much taller than him, there, because she was standing and he was sitting on the floor like a kid.

"Honestly I have no idea. I just sort of used that as cable storage." Said Sophia with a shrug. She had been something of a packrat and it had gotten worse after Taka left. Not that she hadn't taken it well, she had, because that was just the way things were supposed to be. Your child grew up and left. That was the way of the world...even though she had always assumed, growing up in this country, that her son would have stayed with her. Well of course she hadn't given him much of a reason to stay now had she?

"Do you have to use my stuff as storage space, mom?" asked Reigen. His room was a storage room, now, and yeah he knew that she had the right to do whatever she wanted in her own house…and all of that…but still. It had been his room. His room had been full of boxes and his drawers had been full of junk and his closet had been full of boxes of mom's clothes….whatever. This was her house and she could do whatever she wanted.

"Well considering the fact that you moved out, Taka, I didn't think that you would mind. As I recall you said that the next time you'd be here they'd be digging your grave." Said Sophia. That had been the last thing he shouted at her before he left for university all those years ago. She didn't know why he hated it here so much. True they'd had their differences but it hadn't been that bad, not after his father had left anyway, and he had no reason to feel the way he did. She didn't understand him but then again when had she ever understood them.

"Yeah, I was a dramatic little shit." Said Reigen with a shrug.

"That you were, Arataka, that you were." Said Sophia with a shake of her head.

"Still, you didn't have to fill my room with junk." Said Reigen

"I didn't think that you'd be coming back, Taka." Said Sophia

"I'm not back….not permanently." Said Reigen. He did not need his mom getting any ideas. He was not going to stay. He couldn't. He had to get Mob back to Seasoning City at some point. She had a life there and she had to get back to it. She hadn't been to school in a while, first of all, and also she had her friends and her family and her boyfriend in Seasoning City. He couldn't just uproot her from her entire life…and also there was the legality of that, too. Mob wasn't an orphan, she still had parents, they were just really crappy.

"Taka-" said Sophia

"Mom, you know that I can't stay. I have to get Mob back home-" said Reigen. Nope. No way. He was not sitting there and having this argument again. He didn't know what mom thought that she was going to accomplish by starting up with this. Mob was not his kid and she was not her kid either. Mob had her own life to get back to and he was not just going to uproot her…and also he didn't want to move back in either!

"Home to what? Arataka, from what you told me she had completely dropped out of her life. She'd stopped going to school, stopped going to work with you, and-and-and what is there in Seasoning City for her? Especially after what happened. Why not just make a clean break from it all? She could be happy here-" said Sophia

"Mom! Listen to yourself for ten seconds. Mob is not my kid. I can't just…and she doesn't even want to! She wants to go back home. She has a life, mom, and yeah I let her drop out of it but…but she's going to drop back into it. She's not…she's not going to drop out of her life again…she's feeling much better now." Said Reigen. He wasn't going to let that happen again. He was going to be there for her. He was going to always be there for her no matter what. She had been through so much but she was taking it so well…better than he ever would have thought.

"Feeling better? How much longer do you think that she'll be ok for? Once the high of saving the whole world fades away and she realizes that she almost died. That you almost died. That…that all of that insanity actually happened. She's going to end up back at square one-" said Sophia

"No she won't. I won't let her." said Reigen

"How? How are you going to keep her from-" said Sophia

"I'm not going to uproot her from her entire life, mom, and I'm not going to let her drop out of her life either. We have fun together. She knows that she has me and she knows that no matter what happens she'd going to be ok and everything's going to be ok. She knows, ok? She knows." Said Reigen. He was not getting all wrapped up in his own shit again. He was going to be there for her one hundred percent. That was how it went. That was what friends did and she was his friend and he was her friend and they were there for each other and he was not going to abandon her again and she was never going to be apart from him and she was never going to run away again and he was never going to push her away and-

"How? Arataka, how is she going to know that everything is going to be ok? She's just a kid and she's been through things that no child should ever have to go through. She's probably scared out of her mind, or at least she will be, anyway, once she comes down from this. She saved the world, Arataka, and she's been through so much doing that….she's not going to be ok forever. She needs…she needs a lot. She needs much more than you can-" said Sophia

"Mob needs….Mob's fine. She's fine and she'll tell me when she isn't. What happened between us is never going to happen again, ok? I am never going to treat her like that again and she's never going to run away again. Ok? Mom, I am handling it and I will continue to handle it." said Reigen

"How are you handling it?" asked Sophia

"Well first I'm going to get this Dreamcast set up and then me and Mob are going to spend the rest of the day playing videogames and having fun." Said Reigen. He mostly got it, he thought, at least he thought that he thought. Mob was younger. She would probably know better than him.

"Maybe you should hold off on that, Taka." Said Sophia as he son got up off the floor. He wasn't actually going to go upstairs and both her….was he? He had more sense than that, right?

"What? Don't tell me that you're going to start up again about videogames rotting my brain." Said Reigen

"No, not that. I just…you're playing with fire here, Taka." Said Sophia

"No, we're going to be playing Dreamcast." Said Reigen. What was with her? She was not going to lecture him about wasting the day playing games. He knew her. She still hated it when he enjoyed his life in any way.

"I mean that…you know she's fourteen right? And she has a laptop in her room?" asked Sophia. After all the times she had walked in on him, and all the times he had screamed at her that when he had kids of his own he was never going to treat them the way she treated him, he was seriously going to go up those stairs and bother a fourteen year old girl who was alone in her room with the door closed and a laptop?

"Mom!" said Reigen. He did not need her making that kind of conjecture! Seriously. Mob was not…well he had no idea what she was and was not…and he was not going to ask! Or speculate! Or-or-or-

"What? I'm just saying that maybe you should wait for her to come downstairs on her own." Said Sophia

"Mom! I don't want to talk about…she's probably just talking to her boyfriend or something! I walked by her room and I think I heard her talking to him or something." Said Reigen. Besides, he would have been able to tell…and he gets off the train of thought before it starts.

"….and you didn't stop and think that maybe, just maybe, that wasn't all the more reason to leave her be?" asked Sophia. Honestly. Her son. He could be so short sighted sometimes.

"Ok, ok, ok, I'll leave Mob alone until she decides to come out of her room! Can we please just never speculate about this again?" asked Reigen. He had, at some point, forgotten about privacy. He had lived without it for so long. He and Mob most certainly needed a bigger place. It was nice having their own rooms…not that they would be able to move since all the spare housing in Seasoning City was probably all taken up by now. Still, it was nice to have some privacy…and he had remember how to give it, too. She was way too old for him to be bothering her like that when she needed some alone time talking to her boyfriend.

"Deal. Ok, you wait for her to come downstairs and while you wait I need you to put my TV to channel two while I put the kettle on. How's that sound?" asked Sophia. She was not going to fight with her son. She was going to have a nice visit with her son and she was not going to get on him to make something of his life or to take more responsibility for himself and the person he had been tasked with caring for…nope. She was going to put the kettle on and then watch TV and then wait for work to bother her to come it.

Yes, that was what she was going to do.

"….but then what are you going to do?" asked Mob as she sat crossed legged on her futon talking to Teru. It was sort of like he was there with her, sort of, but not really since they were so far apart. She wished that they could be together again. She missed him so much. It was worse than yesterday. She wanted to go home to him but she also wanted to stay here….the whole thing was very complicated.

"Live wherever they tell me too. I can't be picky right now and it's not such a small place. Originally they wanted me to stay in a one room but I told them that there was no way I was living in one room." Said Teru. He hated this, being so far from her. She was coming back though, she had to, and when she came back it was going to be great. That was why he had turned down the studio. He needed at least one bedroom. That way she wouldn't keep him up and he wouldn't wake him up. Also he could do so much better for her than a studio apartment. She needed a real house to live in, and he would have given it to her if he could have, but his parents were being total assholes. They wouldn't get him a house even though he needed a place to live. Too permanent, they said, and too much for one person to worry about. As if they had ever cared to begin with.

"But if you want to live in a house then they should let you live in a house. It's not like they're the ones who have to live in the house. They're all the way on the other side of the world. I don't know, I shouldn't talk about things that I don't understand." Said Mob. She didn't understand parents one bit. Her parents, his parents, anyone's parents. He said that his parents had more money than God…not that she knew why God even needed money to begin with…and if they could afford to get him a house to live in then they should have. She would have done that for her son if she had more money than God.

She pressed a hand to her stomach.

Not that she has a son or a daughter or any sort of child at all. No, she and Teru were not going to have a baby. She had just been thinking about it a lot because of…a lot of things. Things that they had done. She was not going to have a baby or anything like that because she was just a kid…and she and Teru were not going to get married yet because they were still kids…even if he had said that he had wanted to get a house for the two of them to live in…which was something that adults did…

She was not an adult.

Even if she sometimes felt like it. Even if she had saved the world and a lot of other stuff. She didn't think that she was ready for all of the stuff that adults did. There was a lot to being an adult, a lot that you had to worry about, and Mob was getting tired of worrying about everything. She had saved the whole world…she sort of wanted a break. She wanted a break and she also wanted to go back to her school and her friends and her life…but she did like it here, too. She liked it here with Master Reigen and she liked it back there, back home, with Teru.

"I don't understand either….I mean it doesn't even matter. Whatever. I don't care where I live so long as it's big enough for you and me." Said Teru. It was going to be so great. They were going to be together in his new apartment. They were going to live together. They were going to spend every day of their lives together…but not in a terribly needy way. She was not going to want to be with him if he was terribly needy.

"Your last apartment was big enough for the two of us." Said Mob. She knew that Teru wanted her to move in with him…and she had no reason not to want to. Even if moving in with him would have meant leaving Master Reigen…actually that was a good reason not to want to move out. She had made a promise after all….but she had also made a promise to Teru. She had promised to love him and to always be with him…and also she said that she would spend the rest of her life with him….

"This one is…going to be smaller than the last one. I'm sorry but it's the best that they could do on such short notice." Said Teru

"I'm not upset, Teru, why would I be? I'd be happy with you no matter where you lived. Really. I don't care how big it as just so long as you're happy. That's all I want. I know that you've been really unhappy lately…and I don't want you to be. It makes me sad when you're unhappy. I love you, Teru." Said Mob

"You are so fucking sweet….sorry. Just…sorry. I know you don't like it when I say stuff like th-" Said Teru

"You…you don't have to apologize. I like it when you say nice things to me." Said Mob. She liked how low his voice got, there, and she didn't know why. She just felt this tingling sort of feeling all up through her body when he talked like that. Kind of like being shocked but in a good way.

"Oh? You do? Like what?" asked Teru. He was leaning on his side, now, and there was a tone to his voice that made her insides get that nice feeling again. She wished that she had been there or that she had been with him…because then they could have kissed….and more than kissed.

"Um….I don't know. I just like it when you say nice things to me." Said Mob. She could feel her hair starting to float. She could feel herself turning red. She wanted…she wanted a lot of things in that moment. She wanted Teru to be there, right next to her, even if it was just to hold her hand. She just wanted to touch him, that was all. In some way. She just wanted something real, something that she could just reach out and feel. It wasn't fair, sort of, that he was so far away…but she had no one to blame for that but herself. She was the one who had gone away from him after all.

"Like…how cute you are when you smile?" asked Teru

"Teru!" said Mob. She laughed, a laugh that she hadn't even set out to make, and pulled her shirt up over her face. She didn't even know what it was that she was so embarrassed about. He was just Teru, her boyfriend, and he said nice things about her all the time.

"What? I just so happen to think, Shigeko, that you're cute when you smile. Like now. You have no idea how cute you are right now." Said Teru

"You…you look nice when you smile, too. I like it when you smile. I like it when you're happy." Mob. She smiled and let her hair, the part that wasn't floating, fall over her face. She knew that Teru liked it when she smiled…and for some reason that made her feel embarrassed. She didn't know why. She had been naked with him more times than she could count. He wasn't even in the room with her…even though it felt like it…but he was all the way back in Seasoning City and she was there….and she kind of wanted him to be there with her….

She missed him.

"You know…you're the only one, pretty much, who gets to see me smile. I just…there hasn't been a lot to…never mind!" said Teru. She was happy. She felt good. He was not going to bring her down. She had enough going on, saving the whole world, and he was not going to ruin her happiness…because that was not the way this worked. Even though a part of him hated how happy she was while she was all the way over there and he was here.

"Never mind what?" asked Mob

"Nothing. I don't want to make you upset." Said Teru

"You could never do anything to make me upset…well you could, actually, but that's not like you at all." said Mob

"Shigeko….I love you, ok? I love you and I'm going through some of my own shit and I am not going to put it on you after we-" said Teru. He couldn't just put it all on her. She had almost died, before, and before the whole almost dying thing she had to fight for not only her life but theirs too. She didn't need…she didn't need to deal with his shit on top of the shit that she had to deal with.

"You're my boyfriend, Teru, I'm here to make you feel better. We make each other feel better when something is bothering us. That's how relationships work." Said Mob

"This is my shit to deal with. There's nothing that you can do, anyway." Said Teru

"I can listen and I can be there for you." Said Mob. That was doing something. That was something that people needed sometimes. She needed it sometimes…but not as much as he needed it. She had people in her life who cared about her. When she had been living outside so many people had helped her…but his own parents knew how sad he was that they were gone and they didn't come back to him not even for a visit.

"But you aren't here, Shigeko." Said Teru. He couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice. He should have. She didn't need that from him. She didn't need that in general.

"I know…but I'm here but it's sort of like I'm….there. I'm there for you." Said Mob

"It's just…I know that I shouldn't complain about having to move. I'm lucky to have found a place and the act of moving…that's not what's upsetting. It's just…this place only has one bedroom." Said Teru

"Well that makes sense. It's just going to be you living there." said Mob. She didn't know why he was upset that there was only one bedroom. How many bedrooms did they need? It was just the two of them after all. She didn't want her own bedroom, she wanted to share with him, even if he was a bed hog.

"…I know. They didn't even….they're never coming back. Even though Claw is done with, that's why they left in the first place, they still aren't coming back. Like…like there's something wrong with ME-" said Teru

"No. There's nothing wrong with you. I love you. If your parents don't want to come back then…then-then…I don't know. You…I don't know why they treat you like that but…but…." Said Mob. She didn't know. She wanted to tell him that his parents were treating him terribly. That he did not deserve that. That he was a good person and his parents should have seen how good a person he was.

"I love you too…and I don't need them either. I don't need them either because…because I have you. And you're right. WE don't need two bedrooms. What do I care if they have a space in MY apartment? Our. Our apartment. It's just you and me and I don't need my parents ruining it for us." Said Teru

"Right…our apartment. It's going to be…our…apartment." Said Mob. She liked that. She knew that she liked that. There would be a place for just the two of them…because that was what he wanted. What they wanted. She loved him and when you loved someone you either spent the rest of your life with someone or you broke up…and she had no intention of breaking up with him. She thought that she would have had more time to make up her mind, him or Master Reigen, but really there hadn't been any making up her mind…because no matter how much time passed, even if she became an adult, Master Reigen would always be older than her and he would never think about her in the same way that she thought about him.

"Yeah, and it's going to be great. I don't need my parents. I've never needed my parents. I have myself and I have you and who else do I need? Yeah, one bedroom is plenty." Said Teru. She always made him feel better. He wasn't that ten year old kid his parents had left all those years ago. He was practically an adult. He didn't need mom and dad to tie his shoes for him. He was practically a man and all he needed was his girlfriend. She was going to live with him and they were going to do so much and be so happy…and she was going to leave Reigen for him….

This was going to be great.

"We don't need two bedrooms…because it's just going to be us." Said Mob. Just her and Teru…her and Teru living together in the way that adults did. That was…she could do that. She was his girlfriend. She was supposed to want that. She loved him and because she loved him then she should have wanted to live with him and marry him and have kids with him and then they could be happy for the rest of their lives. She wasn't a kid anymore…so why was she so nervous?

"Yup. Just you and me." Said Teru. He could just see it now…it was going to be so great. Waking up next to her, having breakfast, going to school, coming home…all of it. Also sex, a lot of sex, and that was…that was also something worth looking forward to. It would be like the time that she stayed with him only she wouldn't be homeless and trying to deal with a bunch of truly terrible shit all on her own.

"In your apartment." Said Mob. It would be like all of those times that she'd stayed over…only she wouldn't feel like she was terrible. She wouldn't have the feeling just hanging over her…it would be great…it really would be.

"In our apartment." Said Teru. He wondered what it would be like to have her with him all the time. Permanently. They would have to agree on décor and a chore schedule and a whole bunch of other things…and he found himself looking forward to that. Just…making a life with her. This was what it was to be an adult, to look forward to sharing your life with someone you loved.

"Yes, ours…just the two of us." Said Mob. She wondered if it would be like living with Master Reigen. Would they cook together? Watch TV together? Spend hours together just talking? Probably. She and Teru did that already…but it would be different. Living with him all the time…it would be like being married…which he wanted. Which he wanted and she had never given much thought to. Well it made sense. He had been living like an adult for much longer than she had. Of course he was ready for this…and if he was ready for this then she was ready for this too. A home, being together, taking care of each other, all of that adult stuff.

She had no idea what she was going to do.

She had no idea how to be married so someone. Even without having a wedding living with him…when they were a couple…that was just like being married. They were in love and had sex and cared about each other…and now they were living together…and that was like being married. She had no idea, though, what else….what else came with it. She thought back to her own parents. The fighting. She didn't want to fight with Teru. She wanted…she would have to be like her mom. She would make dinner and keep the house clean and…and take care of their kids.

Her hand found her stomach.

She hadn't ever thought that far ahead in her life. Well she'd had idle sorts of thoughts before but…but to actually be staring down the future….it was a lot. She remembered…she remembered holding someone very small. That person was small and warm and the minute he was placed into her arms she felt a sort of kinship with this person that she had never thought possible. She was responsible for another human being…she had made a person. That was the ultimate power, being able to create life, and being able to mold that life into whatever you wanted and-and-and that was not one of her memories. That was one of Touichirou's…and she wondered when these would stop already. She was back into her own body. It was over. It was over and she was Mob and her life was her own and no one else's and now….and now she just had to…to untangle her life from Touichirou's and…and then get it tangled up with Teru's.

This was what she wanted.

Even though she felt such pain…pain that was not hers…when she thought about marriage. She felt the pain of waking up in a cold bed. She felt the pain of having been rejected by the one person she had thought would…would always have been there for her. She felt some anger at herself for allowing these feelings to enter her mind. She had to be a complete person all one her own….and those were more of Touichirou's thoughts and memories. She needed to untangle her life from his.

And there was no better way to do that besides actually living her life.

She needed to live her life and that meant…that meant that her life was progressing. Even though she had never meant for her life to end up progressing this fast. She hadn't thought before, not even a year before, that she would ever have been in this position. A boy was so in love with her that he wanted to marry her. He wanted to marry her and live with her like adults did. They would have a home and jobs and lives and kids….and it was all happening so fast….

Way too fast.

But that was fine because they loved each other. If he loved her and she loved him then there was no point in waiting. Even though she had just gotten through so much…but that was ok. This was what she wanted. She had always wanted someone to love her and now she had someone to love her and she loved him in return and if he wanted to marry her and everything that came with it then…then that was fine…though maybe they could have held off on a few things…

She loved him but she was not at all ready to have kids with him.

"Just you and me-" said Teru. He had asked her to marry him, before, because he had been so convinced of his own incoming death…but now he was alive and…and it was a big and scary step but…but he knew that he loved her. He loved her and he was an adult in every sense but the chronological one so this made sense. This was something that he was ready for. This was something that he was looking forward to.

"We'll be married and we'll be happy and we'll have kids and they'll be happy and everything will just be so…happy." Said Mob. That was what he wanted and if that was what he wanted then that was what she wanted too. They both wanted nothing more than eternal happiness for each other. That wasn't that much to ask.

The picture on her laptop screen went all blocky.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Lost control for a moment….that hasn't happened in…anyway. Yes, that sounds wonderful and I can't….I can't wait." Said Teru. He was struck with the feeling that maybe he hadn't thought this one through. He wanted to live with her, he wanted to spend his life with her, but he hadn't thought so hard on what…on what all of that would entail. He didn't want kids, at least not now while he was in MIDDLE SCHOOL but…but that was what you did when you agreed to share your life with someone…and he would do a good job. Yeah. If that was what she wanted then he would do the best job…but not now. They were in middle school. People in middle school did not have….well they didn't have their own apartments either but…yeah, no, that was not happening until they were older…even if Shigeko was probably excited about that…

There suddenly was not enough air.

"Teru? Are you ok? You keep on pulling at your collar like that." Said Mob

"Me? I'm fine. Just…just a little stuffy in here. I'm fine. Anyway how's…how are you doing? Wait, no, I asked you that already. Uh…cats? There's a cat there. Tell me about the cat again. I am really interested in hearing about this cat." Said Teru

"His name is Thomas O'Malley and he's orange and he likes warm hugs and he's kind of old so he doesn't play that much but he likes his laser pointer and his mouse on a stick and-" said Mob. She would have gone on and on about that cat, that was truly one of the best cats in the whole world in her opinion, but she was interrupted.

A welcome interruption.

And she should not have been thinking like that. Not about Master Reigen. Not while she was talking with Teru. Not after she and Teru had just gotten done talking about their future together. She should not have been thinking about Master Reigen…even though his voice made her feel like she was about to be motion sick but in a good way. Even though when he talked to her he never made her think about the future in the way that Teru…she needed to come off of this.

"What's he want?" asked Teru. His voice was so bitter he could taste it. He didn't care. What more did Reigen want from her. Whatever he needed he should have taken care of by himself. Shigeko was not his girlfriend and he should not have been treating her like one…and Teru knew that he shouldn't have been jealous. Reigen didn't have a chance with her. Also Shigeko had already promised…well she said that she would…

Shigeko was his girlfriend. Not Reigen's.

"Mob! You want to play videogames!?" called Reigen from the living room. He was not playing with fire if he stayed down there. Mob could always just tell him no or pretend that she couldn't hear him.

"Master Reigen wants to play videogames…but I'll call you back later. Next time I can borrow the laptop I mean. Ok?" asked Mob. She felt bad about leaving Teru but she didn't want to talk about their future anymore. She didn't even want to think about it. She just wanted…she wanted to play some videogames.

"Yeah, sure. That's fine. Talk to you later. Love you." Said Teru. He should not have been talking to his girlfriend like that….but he was pissed off! He was pissed off not only because she was ditching him for Reigen but also because he was getting pissed off in the first place. He wished that he could have just told her to stay but that would have been controlling and girls hated it when guys acted like controlling pricks. He loved her and she loved him…and for some reason she still ditched him for Reigen…and it hurt…

" Teru. I love you t-" said Mob. The call ended before she could finish…but that was ok. Teru knew how she felt about him. She had told him at least a thousand times or more that she loved him so he knew it to be true. He had this whole life planned for the two of them after all…and Mob was ok with that…she really was…

But she also really wanted to just play some videogames….or something. Anything but talking about the future.

Rei didn't want to think about the future.

She didn't want to think about the high probability that she would get caught and punished once her parents realized that she was out of the house. She didn't want to think about how much trouble she would get in if Ritsu's parents caught her in their house. She didn't want to think about any of that. All she wanted to think about was the present. How she was there, right below Ritsu's window, and how romantic this all was.

Well the boy was supposed to be the one outside of the girl's window but still. This was still plenty romantic.

She wished that she hadn't broken her phone. That way she could have just texted him. Now she had no way of getting his attention…and maybe she should have looked into the future to see how she would...oh! Hello Rei! She watched TV, she read things, she knew how this was supposed to go. The boy throws a bunch of little rocks at the girl's window and she opens it and then he comes in and…and then a whole lot of other stuff that the camera usually cut away from. Well she didn't know if they were going to do any of that, she kind of wanted to, but she did know that she wanted nothing more than to climb up through his window and…

And a lot of things.

"What the hell?" asked Ritsu as he looked up from his book. He sensed another aura and then half a second later someone was throwing things at his window. Not Sho. No. He always just let himself in…and also his aura wasn't orange. That was Rei….for some reason. He checked his phone. She had gone quiet a moment ago…

So it wasn't anything serious.

He wished that it was. He wished that she had come over to tell him that the world was in danger again or something. She probably hadn't. Ritsu watched TV, he read things, he knew this old cliché. Wasn't he supposed to be the one to come to her window? Maybe he should have, it would have saved her a trip, and that was the kind of thing that he was supposed to do anyway.

He sighed, opened a window, and then used his powers to levitate her in before anyone noticed. Especially his parents. If they found out then…he didn't even want to think about it.

"Thanks so much. Sorry I just dropped in on you. I just really wanted to see you and then I thought 'hey! I can go see him' and then I came here but then I realized that my phone was still broken to I-" said Rei. She knew that she was talking too much. She knew that she always talked too much. She couldn't help it. It was the first time that she was seeing him in person since his parents picked him up from her house. She wanted to say so much but it all got all mixed in her head and then all that could come out was a play by play of sneaking out to come to his house. He listened, though, because he was a good listener like that. He always listened to her no matter how much she went on and on and on. He liked listening to her. He watched her…and their eyes me…and she felt like she would melt through the floor right then and there.

"That's…that's what happened to me today." Said Rei. She dropped her eyes and stared down at their feet. She had taken her shoes off. She wished that she had worn nicer socks. She didn't know why she wished that she had worn nicer socks, Ritsu didn't care about things like that, but she really wished that she had worn nicer socks.

"Ok….uh….it's nice to see you again?" said Ritsu. He suddenly wanted space. He wanted to put as much space between them as possible. He felt…guilty…even though he hadn't done anything wrong. Well, lately, he had kissed Teru…but that was a moment of temporary insanity. He hadn't done anything wrong lately…but it still felt like it. His eyes glanced over towards his window.

He didn't see anything but that made sense since Sho usually came by at night.

"It's nice to see you too. Sorry I just….I was really missing you." Said Rei. She was nervous. Why was she nervous? Because they were alone for the first time since they did the thing together? Because this was his room? Because she had come here with no plan and now he must have thought that she was…he didn't think anything bad about her. That was her own insecurity talking. Ritsu loved her. He was happy to see her. Why would he have been? He was her boyfriend after all.

"Um….I missed you too." Said Ritsu. Even though he had no idea how she could have missed him considering how many times a day, no, an hour she texted him.

"So um…do you want to…I don't know. I just wanted to see you, I didn't think this far ahead." Said Rei. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to cuddle him. She wanted…she wanted a lot of physical things right then and she knew that there was nothing wrong with that, the book had said so, she also knew that a relationship also needed emotional stuff too. Talking and stuff like that. Sex was a building block of a relationship but there was also emotional intimacy…and also they were not going to be doing that because she wasn't ready yet.

"You can stay but just be quiet. If my mom catches you in here then she'll throw you out." Said Ritsu. He wondered if he'd get thrown out too. Mom had already thrown one of her kids out…but he was the favorite. He was the one that all hopes for the future rested on, his parents had actually said that once, and he was the one that mom would never get rid of…unless she found out about his powers. Unless she found out every single thing about himself that he had been hiding from her.

"Ok, I can be quiet. I can be so quiet. I can be the most quiet. I can-" said Rei. She was still talking and she was only doing that because she was nervous and she was only nervous because…because of everything that had happened.

"Rei. Seriously. My mom…you don't want my mom to catch you…and neither do I." said Ritsu

"Oh….are they fighting again?" asked Rei. She shouldn't have asked that. She knew that the answer would be yes. His parents were always in the middle of a fight even though that must have been exhausting. She didn't get adults. She and Ritsu were a couple and they almost never fought. Well emotional intelligence was hard sometimes, that was why there were so many books about how to achieve it.

"Yeah….I think that it's the same fight." Said Ritsu. She took his hand in hers. He didn't look at her. How could he look at her? He had been lying to her since the beginning…and he was still lying to her. Even now. He knew how this would go. They'd lay down on his bed and he'd tell her about all the things in his life, most of the things in his life, that bothered him and she would be there for him and he wouldn't deserve it one bit. She would be there for him because she loved him and she thought that he loved her back…

Maybe he should have just told her the truth already.

He didn't. They did end up laying down on his bed and he did end up telling her what was bothering him but he didn't tell her the truth. He couldn't. He had just come out of one crisis, he didn't want to start another. She didn't deserve that. She hadn't done anything to him to deserve that kind of pain and he wasn't going to cause her that kind of pain either. So, really, there was nothing that he could do but be there with her and let her be there for him. She was his girlfriend and he was her boyfriend and this was…this was the way that things were….even if he wanted…even if he wanted to be with someone else…

He stopped thinking about that.

He tried to stop thinking all together. She was there, with him, and that was the whole of it. She loved him and he was not going to hurt her so…so this was it. Him and her cuddled up on his bed. Her listening to him go over the latest developments in the war at home. His arms around her, her head on his chest, his powers keeping his door shut so nobody walked in and got the wrong idea…even if that would get her away from him…and that was not something that he should have even wanted in the first place…just like he shouldn't have wanted...the things that he wanted. All of the things that he wanted.

Rei could see the future. He wondered if this was what it was going to be like for the rest of their lives.