Kageyama Ritsu really didn't have anything better to do than spend his entire afternoon in a tree.

Tsubomi's mom was picking her up from tennis today so she didn't need Ritsu and Teru to walk her home. That was good. She was safe…at least one person he knew was safe. Now he was free to keep someone else he knew…well sort of knew, safe. He didn't really know Madoka, she was way too young to be his friend, but he knew that she was an esper and this city was crawling with Claw members. She was just a little kid and the only esper in her family. Nobody could keep her safe….nobody but Ritsu.

He wasn't coming out of this tree until he absolutely had to.

"We're not leaving until my mom calls, so don't ask." Said Ritsu. He knew what Teru had been about to say. He had been about to tell Ritsu that it was hot out, that they were going to end up destroying their skin in the sun, that they were going to die of dehydration, or whatever else he could come up with. Ritsu had heard it all before and his answer was the same as it had been last time.

If Teru didn't like it then he could leave.

"I don't think anyone's going to try and kidnap this kid. She doesn't even have powers, not really, and anyway Claw didn't start coming after me until I was nine." Said Teru. He didn't have anything against this kid, she was cute like all little kids were, but he did have something against the looks they were getting. They were too old to be climbing trees like this. They looked like a couple of weirdos…and also it was way too hot out for all of this.

Way, way too hot.

This was supposed to be one of those days, according to their normal schedule, where they plotted their next course of action in Ritsu's room and then had a sleepover. Tsubomi was busy with her family today so this was supposed to be an indoor day. Teru had dressed for an indoor day. He was wearing a sweater…and he couldn't take it off. The sweater tied the shirt and the pants together. Without the purple of the sweater there was too much of a clash between the lime green of his shirt and the bright daffodil of his pants. If he was going to spend the rest of the day, if he was going to spend the day looking like a weirdo, then at least he was going to be a good looking weirdo.

You never knew when there would be people you knew around.

"Claw didn't know about you until you were nine. If they find out about her then they'll come for her and it's not like she has a phone so she can call us. They might not even keep her at the Seventh Division, anyway, it's still under construction. She could be in Australia before we even know it." Said Ritsu

"Australia?" asked Teru with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, they're building another Division, one where they brainwash people, in Australia. They already have a headquarters there but they've been expanding." Said Ritsu. He could hear Teru clicking his tongue. He was lucky Ritsu didn't think pushing him off out the tree would have been productive. No, he didn't push Teru but he did pick an apple and hit him in the head with it.

"Watch the hair!" said Teru as he reached up and smoothed his hair back down. Honestly. They'd had enough sleepovers that Ritsu should have known, by now, how much work it took to get it like this. He had to pre-shampoo, shampoo, pre-condition, condition, leave in condition, and then set. Once it was set he ran some tea tree oil in it. It took a long time, a really long time, and now…and now he'd have to go through it again! It had been messed up…and now it didn't feel clean anymore. Teru was going to make a point of tying up the bathroom for hours tonight. This sleepover was going to be fifty percent, at least, Teru taking a bath and fixing his hair.

And Ritsu had nobody to blame but himself.

"I barely touched you." Said Ritsu

"Well you ruined my hair. Do you have any idea how long it's going to take to wash this?" asked Teru

"I know because you wash your hair every time you stay over…and anyway you don't have to. This isn't a rotten one, it doesn't even have any bugs on the outside. Do you have to be so overdramatic all the time?" asked Ritsu

"I'm the overdramatic one? You're the one beating me up with apples for no reason." said Teru

"Don't click your tongue at me and I won't have to hit you with apples." Said Ritsu

"Don't sleep with the enemy and I won't have to click my tongue at you." Said Teru. Ritsu went beet red…it wasn't a good color on him. His colors were mostly winters, navy blue was his best color, but forest green would have worked for him…anything other than that godawful canary yellow Zootopia hoodie he always wore.

"I-I-I didn't do that! We didn't…it's none of your business!" said Ritsu. He could see his aura…he needed to calm down…but Teru needed to stop talking about….about how Ritsu…this was his business and not Teru's! He wasn't Teru, he wouldn't have wanted to brag about….about what had happened…even if he could have bragged to people about that he wouldn't have. Kissing…and stuff….it was private!

"Right. So next time you come to me with hickeys all down your neck I'll just leave you to deal with it yourself, you know, since it's none of my business." Said Teru

"No…I didn't mean it like that, you know that….but it is weird that you know so much about makeup." Said Ritsu. Teru knew a lot about makeup, like how to make it match your skin, and how to hide a million and one hickeys under makeup. Mom and dad had been mad at him for leaving the house without saying anything….but they would have been even more mad at him if they'd seen the state his neck had been in….that had been Sho's fault…

It was Sho's fault for doing stuff to him that felt good…and maybe his fault for starting it…

Damn it. Now he was thinking about…about making out and stuff….he hated his brain sometimes. He hated his brain and he hated the hormones that made his brain think about making out at the worst possible time. He focused on his mission, he focused on how annoying Teru was, he focused on…he focused on how weird it was that Teru had a makeup bag and new how to mix up colors so that he could match any skin tone….

It was a weird, but useful, thing to know.

"It's not that weird." Said Teru. It wasn't! If anything it was the direct opposite of being weird. He made out a lot. When you made out with a girl she gave you hickeys and you gave her hickeys. He wasn't above regaling Ritsu with tales of his various make outs, he had nothing to be ashamed of, but it was another to walk around with a massive hickey on your neck. When you met a girl the first thing she should have noticed was your outfit, that you knew how to take of yourself and you could take care of her too, not the fact that you'd just been with another girl and she'd probably been a leech in another life.

It wasn't weird at all that he knew how to hide a hickey, no, it was normal…and useful too!

"Is too." Said Ritsu

"Is not." Said Teru

"Is too." Said Ritsu

"No, Ritsu, it's not." Said Teru

"Yes, Teru, it is." Said Ritsu

"Not it's not and anyway maybe you should take a look at yourself before you start calling me weird." Said Teru

"I'm not that weird." Said Ritsu

"You're sitting in an apple tree so you can watch a five year old's house." Said Teru

"Well at least I'm doing something that matters...keeping people safe is a lot more important than making out with random girls." Said Ritsu

"And making out with the son of the President of Claw is better?" asked Teru. Ritsu tuned red and looked away from him.

"That's different….Sho and I are in love and…and it's not like I'm going to do it again…not for a while…" said Ritsu. He didn't want to think about Sho…well he did. He thought about Sho all the time. He was like an annoying commercial jingle, like that stupid gum song, but…but it made it feel like there were fireworks going off inside of himself. Sho's voice…how strong he was….how he'd kept Ritsu safe…how his jacket felt under Ritsu's hands….

This was a stakeout not a…thinking about Sho….thing!

"I think you'd find more guys to make out with if you didn't spend all afternoon hiding in apple trees." Said Teru

"Well what do you want me to do, then? I don't get enough allowance to put up hidden cameras and, anyway, Claw has a guy who can control technology and look through any camera anywhere." Said Ritsu

"We could do something that doesn't involve us looking like a couple of-" said Teru. He had words for Ritsu, a lot of them, but he didn't get a chance to get any out. An apple hit him between the eyes. Not from Ritsu. He looked around with his aura and almost toppled out of the tree….that would have looked stupid…why did he care if he looked stupid!? He was about to be captured again and-

"Not again…" muttered Ritsu. The kid, the little boy who lived in the house, was back. He had this crazy idea that Ritsu and Teru were stealing his apples…and that didn't even make sense. Like Ritsu had said, before, these apples were growing on the public part of the grass so really he was stealing them from the city and not this family. Reigen had even said so and he knew a lot…well he knew a few things about the law.

"Hey! Stop stealing our apples!" shouted Juro. Those boys were in the tree again! Mom hated the tree boys! They always stole apples and he needed those apples! Those apples were food and his family needed food. Food was expensive, mom and dad had said, and their family didn't have a lot of money because of the baby that was growing in mom's stomach. She couldn't go to work because the baby was coming soon, which was good for Juro since that meant that mom could play with him all day, but it was bad because they would run out of money and then they'd starve and mom and dad would have to sell untitled Hirai family project!

He didn't know his little brother or sister yet but he didn't want mom and dad to sell the baby for food…if only Madoka was worth more money.

"For the last time. These apples belong to the city. Your family can't claim ownership over these apples because the tree is growing outside of your property line. I know, I looked up where your property line ends. Call my lawyer if you don't believe me." Said Ritsu

"F-Fine you….you….you booger head! I'm going to get on my mom's phone and call a lawyer! The fancy one that's on all the bus benches and then…and then you'll go to jail for stealing apples and they'll make you use soap!" shouted Juro. The blond boy said something about how he should have been using soap anyway but Juro didn't have time to argue with him. He had to get to mom and borrow her phone and then…and then the apple boys would pay!

Feet, run faster!

"Mom! Juro's running in the house!" shouted Madoka as Juro ran past her. He didn't even stop at the genkan, he just ran right into the house! Madoka retied her karate belt. Time to teach her little brother a lesson. She chased after him as he ran up the stairs. She grabbed him a couple times but he was slippery…or maybe she just wasn't strong enough….

She couldn't wait to get her powers.

Ritsu, the boy who sometimes lived in her tree, said that when she was older she would get super powers. She was an esper and that meant that she was super special and super cool and one day she'd be able to move things without touching them and…and read minds and…and get her black belt before anyone else in her class! And she'd be able to catch her little brother, too, she'd be able to move faster than the wind and she'd be able to stop him from doing back things like running in the house with shoes on!

But not her new little brother or sister because it would be a baby and babies didn't know how running worked.

"Mom! Mom! Juro still has his shoes on! And he's running! And he's thinking about doing bad things! And he won't sit still so I can use my karate on him!" said Madoka as she made it to the top of the stairs. She got the back of his shirt and he fell down…and then he started crying like a baby…and the door to mom and dad's door was closed…and she needed to get there first! She knew that she wasn't supposed to go in when the door was closed, mom and dad took normal naps and music naps a lot, but…but this was an emergency!

"Mom! Mom! Madoka's chasing me and she's thinking about doing bad things to me! And last week she said a bad word!" shouted Juro as he grabbed the doorknob to mom and dad's room and tugged on it! Mom was in there and she could save him! Also he needed to call a lawyer so he could get the apple boys out of the tree and his family wouldn't starve to death!

"No I'm not! I'm not doing anything to him! He's a liar and also he's the one who spilled mouthwash everywhere yesterday!" shouted Madoka

"Oh yeah! Well….well Madoka took a cookie last Christmas! Those are for Santa and she isn't Santa!" said Juro

"Prove it!" shouted Madoka

"I saw you! I remember! I got up to wait for Santa and then you were downstairs and-" shouted Juro as the door opened. Madoka fell and she took him with her. She was too big, that was it, and he couldn't hold her up…so this was all her fault!

"Madoka, Juro, what's happening?" asked Masami as she opened the door. Her children fell to her feet and began to shout over each other about every single grievance they'd been holding onto since the last time they'd decided to air their grievances. She sighed…she just needed a few minutes to herself….she just had to lay down for a little bit. This baby was huge and it was unusually hot out…too hot for the kids to play outside, apparently, and with Eiji working late it all fell to her…well it always fell to her anyway…

But it would have been nice to have someone else around the house.

She bit her tongue as she separated her children….her younger two children. She had someone around the house. Sure he came home late sometimes, even after midnight if the boss felt like going out, but…but at least he came home. At least he spent time with her and the kids…their kids…at least he thought about her. At least he cared….he cared about her and he kids…and she cared about the kids, too.

That was why she didn't just shut the door on them and let them sort it out themselves.

"Ok, ok, come on now. That's enough of that." Said Masami as she separated her children…her two youngest children. Bending over wasn't easy. The baby didn't like it. It hardly kicked these days, there wasn't enough room, and when it did it really packed a punch…like now. She felt that right under her lungs...well better her lungs than her bladder. That was never good…this was the last one. She wasn't leaving these things up to chance again. Three was enough….

Five. Five was enough.

"Juro was running in the house and he's still wearing his shoes and one time yesterday he-" said Madoka as she pointed at Juro

"Only things that happened today," sighed Masami. The airing of the grievances…Sho and Shigeko had never done this…but Sho and Shigeko were different children and….she focused on the pressure on her internal organs…and the cacophony of various noises that her children were making.

"Madoka chased me and I need to call a lawyer so the apple boys stop stealing our apples and also I want juice!" said Juro as he pointed out the window. Mom tried to turn around to look out the big window on the other side of the room, the one that he wasn't supposed to go near because he could fall out and die. He hoped that mom didn't go near it, the baby might decide that today was the day it crawled out of her belly button and it could have fallen out the window and died. That would have been really sad.

"Are those boys in the tree again?" asked Masami as she got up. The baby didn't like that, either, but it didn't matter. Those boys…she was about to go outside and chop down that tree with the two of them in it!

"Yes, and they're stealing our apples! We need a lawyer so…so our lawyer can tell their lawyer that those are our apples! Can I borrow your phone…and can I have some juice, too." said Juro

"Leave Ritsu alone! He didn't do anything wrong! Let them have them! It's not like we're going to ever eat them!" said Madoka. Ritsu and Teru and her were friends…sort of. Boys didn't really make for good friends and older boys especially didn't make for good friends but Ritsu and Teru were espers like she was an esper…well they said that she was.

"You just don't want your boyfriend to starve to death!" shouted Juro

"He's not my boyfriend! And….and if you don't shut up then I'm going to use karate on you!" shouted Madoka

"Juro, go to the kitchen and I'll have your juice in a minute. Madoka…don't use karate on your brother…and go to the kitchen too." Said Masami

"But-" said Madoka

"Now. Don't argue with me." Said Masami as she waddled out of her room. Her back hurt…and her feet hurt…and her children were arguing about whether or not Juro deserved juice after wearing shoes in the house….her head…her back….her everything. She did not need this right now. She didn't need anything but a nice nap or a bath…but she had to do this. She had to deal with this because nobody else would.

Eiji thought that they were just playing.

He wasn't home and he wouldn't be for a long while now. The boss wanted to go out when the boss said you had to stay out all night drinking then you had to stay out all night drinking…even if you had two kids at home and a pregnant wife who was due any day now. A forty two year old pregnant wife who was, technically, going through a risky pregnancy. Three previous miscarriages would have been enough but with her age on top of it…she needed her husband by her side…even if he would have been mostly useless in this situation.

As far as he knew the boys were just playing.

She couldn't tell him the truth. She couldn't tell him that these weren't just a couple of neighborhood boys playing in the only apple tree on the block. These boys were both espers and Madoka was one too. Even if he believed her, even if he didn't have her carted off to her psychiatrist's office, it wouldn't have helped. He would have known…he would have known everything…..and Masami couldn't…she couldn't let him know the truth….

So she had no other choice but to waddle her nine months pregnant self down the stairs and out the door.

"Boys! Hey! I see you!" said Masami as she waddled out the front door. She paused long enough to slip her flip-flops on. They were about the only shoes that she had that still fit. Back when she'd been pregnant with Sho she'd had bespoke shoes made with memory foam…she almost wished she had taken those with her when she left. Almost. If anything she should have taken….she blinked back tears. Hormones…pregnancy hormones and the fact that she felt like she had a bowling ball strapped to her stomach from the inside…

She did not need this right now…or ever.

"Ritsu and…whatever your friend's name is, I see you in that tree!" said Masami as she left her yard and crossed the sidewalk. She could feel it through her shoes…and she could smell…why did the smell of apples of all things make her sick? She hadn't ever been sick for this long before….part of her wondered if she was carrying some sort of demon baby…some sort of possessed demon baby with hooves and horns….

Maybe she could figure out who was raising these boys, get their numbers, and ask for some tips.

"I'm Hanazawa Teruki…ma'am." Said Teru. Ritsu threw an apple at him.

"Don't give her your real name!" hissed Ritsu. What if someone had been listening? What if right now at this second there were people coming for them?! Teru never thought things through. He always thought that things were just going to work out…well they didn't! Not unless you made them work out!

"Well she knew yours already." Said Teru

"It doesn't matter!" said Ritsu. He needed a new partner in crime…and a new fake boyfriend. Sho wouldn't have given himself away. He would have found some way to hide or…or something. Like maybe if they stayed really still then Hirai-san wouldn't have seen them…like in that movie that Teru said was a bunch of schlocky garbage but was actually a hell of a lot better than the black and white stuff Teru watched.

"Well-" said Teru. Manners mattered. The more adults thought of you, in good ways, the better they treated you. There was no way that they were ever going to be able to keep the little curly haired girl safe if her mom hated them. Ritsu was so short sighted sometimes….pretty much most of the time.

"Ok, Teru. Ritsu and Teru I need the two of you to get out of that tree and just…you don't have to go home but you can't stay here. You're freaking my kids out and filling their heads with crazy ideas and-" said Masami

"It's not crazy! Your daughter's in danger and-" said Ritsu

"Nobody's in danger but the two of you now get out of the tree before you fall out and break your necks." Said Masami in her best 'mom' voice. It was ineffective, it seemed. The blond boy looked like he was about ready to climb down but he wasn't the brains of this operation. No. It was the other boy….Ritsu…the one that looked like Shigeko. He was the one who was starting all of this….if her feet hadn't been two sizes bigger and if her back hadn't been about to bend in half she would have grabbed them both by the arm and dragged them to their parents.

"We're not going to fa-all!" said Ritsu. He didn't even get to finish that sentence before the tree began to shake. He looked towards Teru…but he wasn't the one doing it. He thought, hoped, was scared that, it was Madoka and she had figured out her powers…but no, it wasn't her. She had a green aura…and she was inside the house…he could see her through the window…and anyway he could see a red aura. It was like…sort of like there had been a big flash…like in that depressing movie Teru showed him about the people living in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion.

No, that hadn't been an a-bomb though…not unless they were red and could cause earthquakes.

"Was zur hölle!?" shouted Teru. He'd been through this before…he knew what the hell it was. This was an earthquake. He'd been through one of these when he'd been little…it was going to end soon. They were in the worst place but…wait…that had been…someone had done this with psychic powers!? That had been….he knew what that had felt like…and…and….he focused on the shaking. He wasn't going to fall out, he had powers….

But the pregnant lady didn't.

"Fuck!" shouted Masami as she fell to her knees. She was off balance….that was all. Her center of gravity was off and at least her knees had taken most of the impact…and at least she was kneeling on the grass. She…she felt something trailing down her leg…and a pop. The pop had come before the wetness….no…no! Not now! It was….it wasn't that early but…but this was…not now!

The shaking stopped. She tried to stand.

"H-Hey…are you…is she ok?" asked Teru as the pregnant lady tried to stand up. Her kids ran out of the house…the boy was crying…..and the girl was yelling….and the mom was still cursing….this wasn't good…he'd seen enough movies to know that this wasn't good!

"Mom!" shouted Madoka as she ran out of the house. She didn't have any shoes on but at school, during the earthquake drills, they had said that there wouldn't be enough time to change shoes…so that meant that same as it was ok not to wear shoes at all!

"Madoka…baby get my phone and call daddy…tell him it's time. He'll know what it means." Said Masami as she got to her feet. She felt something dragging her, like someone was scooping her up under her shoulders…she knew what that was. Touichirou had done that, picked her up, back in the early days….back when his telekinesis had been a novelty….but this wasn't Touichirou. She looked to Madoka….she was crying and tugging on Masami's arm….

An apple hit her over the head. The boys were finally getting down from the tree.

She felt it, the first….no…that was too strong. They always started off weak at first, so weak that she could go about her day until it was time…she looked down. That was blood…the front of her dress was soaked with it…blood and amniotic fluid. She knew the smell…she'd smelled it three times before….she'd been through this three time before….

But it had never been this fast….this painful so soon…this urgent so soon…..

"Oh shit….um…Teru, help me! You grab her legs and I'll grab her arms!" said Ritsu. No, no, no! This was bad. This lady was going to have a baby, he'd seen enough movie to know what it meant when a pregnant lady said it was time, and they had to get her to a hospital! He could hear Reigen's voice in his head telling him how he shouldn't have even been here and how he needed to stop with the spying and the stakeouts…but he hadn't caused the earthquake! Another psychic had and…and this wasn't his fault!

"What!?" asked Teru. That sounded like a bad idea. He could hear sirens…it would have made more sense to call someone or flag down an ambulance or…or something…something other than carrying this lady to the hospital!

"Just help me!" shouted Ritsu. This was bad but…but if he could survive being kidnapped then he could make sure that this lady survived and didn't have her baby on the lawn! He…this was not his fault! This was…it wasn't his fault and….and he could fix this! Or…or help or…he just…he just had to get her to a hospital and…and….

And maybe he should have listened when she told him to get out of her apple tree.