Mob had one more thing to be guilty about.
Dinner hadn't gone well. Nobody had eaten anything and she knew that the good thing to do, the nice thing, the sort of thing that someone who was good and nice…and the sort of person Mob worked at being, would have been to start dinner all over again. Two dinners, one for dad and one for Sho, but not three dinners. She didn't feel like making three separate dinners, for one thing, she could just eat everyone's leftovers. That would have been the nice thing to do. Not this. Not leaving dad and Sho to be mad in their rooms. Not leaving her entire family to go and have grilled chicken and beer with her friend.
Mob had been such a selfish person lately…and now she was going to be even more selfish.
"Hey Shimazaki?" asked Mob. His aura snapped over to hers. He had been looking around the room. He'd been doing that all night. There were a lot of people here that were dressed like he did. Leather jackets and stuff. She could even see the slivers of some people's tattoos on their chests and arms. She wondered if he knew anyone here. She wouldn't have minded if he wanted to go and talk to anyone he knew. She was selfish but she wasn't that selfish…and she had no idea what she would have done if she had been so selfish as to keep one of her friends from his old friends or from making new friends or something like that.
"What's up?" asked Shimazaki
"Can I have of that?" asked Mob as she pointed to Shimazaki's red sauce. He had barely touched it. He never really dipped his chicken in stuff, he just ate it right off the stick, even though that tasted boring. Not as boring as boiled fish…nothing tasted as boring as boiled fish….but just grilled chicken was really boring too. That was weird. Shimazaki was always trying to have fun…he was always so much fun.
Even now, when they were just eating and drinking, he was a lot more fun to be around than anyone in her family…well not Mukai but it was past her bedtime and she had been hitting a lot lately anyway.
"Some of what?" asked Shimazaki between bites of chicken. God, this shit was good…why had he stopped coming here? Right, the people stroking guns…well he was keeping watch over them. No need to get Mob shot on whatever number date this was. No, this was a chill and honestly kind of lay date. He couldn't even remember the number of people he had taken to this place over the years. He really shouldn't have been here, actually, this was well within the 'shoot on sight' zone…
But, hey, being somewhere familiar was nice.
He needed the home field advantage. Dating Mob or going out with her or hanging out with her or whatever she wanted to call it, it was way too early for the whole define the relationship talk, was something so foreign to him that he needed every advantage he could get. If she had been anyone else then he would have just slept with her and seen how she felt afterwards. He wasn't good at the whole relationship thing, the longest relationship he had ever been in was with Toshi and they'd been going through one hell of a rough patch, but he could at least try. This seemed like Mob's sort of thing. Lazy dates and just hanging out and shit. She probably would have freaked out if he asked her to go to bed with him. As far as he knew she was a virgin, anyway, and there was some pressure there…not that he couldn't rise to the occasion, of course, he always had…but this was Mob. He liked her a lot…he was maybe into her…not like he was into Toshi but he was into her…she certainly made him nervous.
Like right fucking now.
It was kind of hard to see the fine details of the room. Between Mob's aura and all the people looking his way and stroking guns he was a little bit…overwhelmed…not that he could ever admit it! He was Shimazaki Ryou, he didn't get overwhelmed! Not even when he had no idea if people were stroking guns because they recognized him or they knew that she was Suzuki's kid and they wanted to get whatever revenge on Suzuki by killing his daughter or if there was some other poor jackass here with a death wish…or maybe everyone was just showing their gun some much needed love….or something….
Mob had asked him something, right?
"The red sauce." Said Mob
"Ah, so you want to leave it up to chance? Ok then. Eeny, meeny-" said Shimazaki as he pointed to all the tiny little plates of sauce in front of him. He'd been saving it all for her. Toshi liked it when he did that. They always said that they could get up and get themselves more but he knew that they liked it when they saved his for them. That was how love worked. You did nice things for the person you love and fed them and shit like that. Not that he was in love with Mob. No, it was way too early for that. It had taken him years to fall on love with Toshi…and to figure out that he was in love with Toshi….and things were a hell of a lot simpler with Toshi. Not that Mob was complicated….just different.
But in a good way.
"Sorry! Sorry! I mean the sauce closest to your beer." Said Mob
"I'm fucking with you, I know what you meant." Said Shimazaki. He put his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender. Right. Mob was kind of high strung sometimes…especially times like now. She always got so n edge when there was drama and shit. Well that was ok, he was a drama free zone.
"Oh…I'm sorry." said Mob
"Don't be sorry about me fucking with you, feel sorry for taking the last of my sauce." Said Shimazaki
"Oh….I'm sorry about that too." Said Mob
"I was fucking with you again…wow. You're really down tonight." Said Shimazaki
"Um…kind of….I guess. I don't know. I feel…."said Mob. She didn't even know how she felt. Guilty…but like…like super guilty. Here she was sitting and eating and having a nice time with her friend while Sho and dad were all alone in the house probably angry and hungry. She should have been there…Sho needed his bath drawn….and dad needed his suit ironed…and also she had to help them through this fight that they were in. She should have been with her family. She shouldn't have been running away. it had been ok, she had told herself, because she had been hungry…and Shimazaki had agreed…and the next thing she knew they had gone from sharing a joint in her backyard to sitting here and having dinner together….and she could have at least taken Sho….
But she had been feeling kind of selfish.
Sho…she loved her little brother. She loved him so much that it hurt sometimes…but he was hurting right now and whenever he was hurting he got mean and she didn't want him to be mean to her…and she didn't want to have to watch him. To make sure that he wasn't mean to anyone and…and to make sure that he and Shimazaki didn't do anything mean together. They acted like crazy people when they were together. They threw things at other people and tripped them….and one time they stole a bunch of stop signs and there were all of those car accidents…and also there had been that other time when they had gone to people's houses and stolen the fish from their aquariums….she didn't feel like spending the whole night telling them to be nice and not so crazy all the time.
She felt like drinking beer and eating chicken…so that was what she was going to do. Drink beer and eat chicken…and also get poked on the arm, apparently.
"Kind of soft, a little fuzzy, sort of like those fancy peaches they have at department stores." Said Shimazaki as he ran his index fingers over her wrist. She really was soft, like Toshi was, probably because she took care of her skin. She felt like a peach and smelled like a stoned pack of chicken grease flavored bubblegum. He liked it. He let his hand wander down to hers.
She was looking at him.
She was so hard to read sometimes. Anyone else would have either held his hand or told him to fuck off….well he didn't get a lot of that these days. Not from women. Men….he sometimes looked too deeply into things with men….but women were a lot easier. Toshi was easiest. He hadn't even had to flirt with them. They'd just done the stupid mission and then partied together and fucked…and now here they were all these years later. He and Mob already did the partying part, and as for the fucking part he wasn't in any great hurry. That wasn't what he liked about her. Sure she had perfect tits, legs for days, and the third cutest ass he'd ever seen in his life but she was also a hell of a lot younger than him. She was still at that point in her life where sex meant something more than trying to get off while getting another person off.
This would have been so much easier if she'd been older, not his age, just…not twelve.
"Um…well you feel kind of greasy…but also soft! Just soft and greasy." Said Mob. She had meant her feelings…but Shimazaki might have been too stoned or too drunk or too something else to know what she had meant. She didn't want to make her friend feel bad. She had already made every member of her family besides Mukai feel bad, she didn't need to do that to her friend too.
"Yeah I should have maybe licked my fingers or something." Said Shimazaki. He smiled, he tried to look like he felt like something other than an idiot, and he assumed that it was working. Yeah, that was attractive. He was so out of practice…and having to split his focus wasn't helping matters. Fuck the home field advantage, all this gun stroking was starting to make him nervous.
For her, of course.
He'd been shot a few times before. The first time had been when he had been Mob's age, actually. Dad had been pointing his gun at mom, he did that a lot, when he got drunk and he forgot that he loved her. Shimazaki had just started growing into his powers. He knew, he had always known, that he had a sense for where people were and what they were doing. It had just been getting sharper around that age. Well he'd felt dad pointing his gun at mom…and then he'd decided to do something about it. Of course he hadn't remembered that a gun could have more than one bullet in it.
A sten gun had more bullets than he cared to count.
Dad had shot him with a Winchester, a pussy gun for a pussy of a man, and it hadn't been fatal. It had hurt like hell and he'd, eventually, been taken to the hospital…after mom's funeral….but that was neither here nor there. What was here and there, mostly over there at the door, was someone concealing a fucking sten gun! Who the hell just walked around with a sten gun?! That was some old school shit right there. Annoying as fuck, too. He could dodge bullets up to a point. Sometimes there were just too many…and the sound of gunfire always fucked with his concentration...but then again not a lot of people knew that….
But the people that did know that had every reason to want him dead.
"…if you want. I didn't use it and if I need one they have others." Said Mob as she handed Shimazaki a bunch of her napkins. He'd gone really still and his aura was focused on someone. Maybe someone he knew had shown up. A whole bunch of people had left but that was alright because more people had showed up. This was a nice place and she would have hated for it to go out of business…and it would if people didn't sit down and order something….
The atmosphere had gotten really weird all of a sudden.
"Ryou?" asked Mob. She put her hand on his sleeve. He tensed up and grabbed her hand. His whole body was tense, it looked like, and so was his aura. So he felt it too, then, the weird atmosphere. Maybe that was why so many people had left…even the chicken guy had run off into the back.
"You know something, Mob? I think that it's about time you and I started heading-" said Shimazaki. He was calm. He knew that he could get out of this just fine…all by himself. Mob on the other hand. He needed to find a place to teleport to, someplace safe, someplace outside of the shoot on sight zone…ok, maybe he'd had too much to drink…and he spent most of his days stoned…right. He was going to be fine. Mob was going to be fine. They were both going to be just fine.
It wasn't like there was any good alternative.
He took Mob by the hand. She laced her fingers with his. This didn't mean anything besides the fact that she wanted to live, too. She was putting out her own aura, feeling the situation out on her own, and she must have noticed too. She was Suzuki's daughter after all. She knew the sort of people the world was full of, the sort of people who wouldn't have been happy to shoot at her or worse, and….she wasn't scared. Not even a little. She had her hand in his and…and she trusted him. She put her trust in him and…and he needed to let go of her. Aurally. He had been too focused on her and now he was fucked if he didn't get out of here. He knew some of these guys, well he recognized the way they stood and…and yeah. He knew why they wanted him dead and…wait….
He smelled jasmine.
It cut through the smell of chicken grease and beer. He smelled jasmine and he could hear that clicking….the click, click, click of heels…not just any heels…he knew those heals! That was…her sister…not Mob's, no, not the new 'her' in his life. The…the original her in his life….if he hadn't been holding Mob's hand he would have reached for where that skin portrait had been…even though that would have been pointless. Fukuda had fucked that up when he'd healed him up after the beat down Suzuki gave him. He'd replaced it with the skin portrait of Toshi…the 'them' in his life…but he kind of wished…not that he didn't love Toshi…he just wished….
He grabbed what was left of his beer with his other hand and downed it.
"Hey, Mi. How've you been?" asked Shimazaki after he finished his beer. If he had been smart he would have gotten the fuck out of there…but nobody in their right mind would have ever accused him of being smart. He needed…closure? Or open…ature? Or….or maybe he just needed to…to talk to Mi about….well there was no point, she was dead, and talking about her wouldn't make her less dead…and he wasn't one to dwell on the past anyway….also there had been some bad blood there towards the end….well that had come out after she died…
He had been in love with her but they hadn't decided on any kind of exclusivity…and he wasn't about to say 'no' to someone who wanted him.
"Oh! She's your friend! That's good, I was starting to worry." Said Mob. She didn't think that anyone was listening to her. She was kind of clueless, she knew that, but…well this didn't seem like the sort of atmosphere that friends had when they reunited….or ever. She looked around….normal people were so hard to read.
"Shimazaki Ryou." Said Mi. Ten years. She had been waiting ten years for this. She had been told that he was dead. She had been told that he moved overseas. She had been told that he changed his name and had devoted himself to God. She had been told that he had pledged his life to that madman who was trying to take over the world. Well what she had been told didn't matter. He was here, right in front of her, and where he had been didn't matter. Where he was going…that was what mattered right now.
Deep in the ground. Encased in concrete. Ground up into dog food. Boiled in oil. There were so many options…and they were all too good for him.
"Yeah, that's me. How've you-" said Shimazaki. He had forgotten how fast she could move in heels. She always had really good balance...and she had always been able to catch him off guard. Her and her sister. He saw the slap coming seconds before it landed. He ducked his head. It was ineffective.
He kind of deserved that.
"Hey! That's not nice!" said Mob. She stood up. A bunch of people's hands went for their belts and coats…why was everyone wearing a coat? It was summertime. Weird. Well she was weird too but she wasn't this weird….and also she wasn't mean. She didn't like that lady, she decided, even though they hadn't been introduced. Head slaps were only funny in anime.
"Oh my God…another one? How old's this one? Ten?" asked Mi. That…wasn't even a teenager. From the back she might have been able to pass for middle school but….no. That was a child…an honest to God child….
"I'm not ten….I'm supposed to say how old I am but I'm not ten." said Mob. Shimazaki let go of her hand and got up. He had his hands in front of him like he was surrendering…but she had no idea what he was surrendering for. Maybe because he didn't want this lady to hit him. It was a shame that she was so mean when she was so pretty. She had a really pretty dragon tattoo twisting up her arm and another one on her leg…and her shoes were so pretty! How could she walk in heels that high? Mob could barely walk in her platform jelly sandals. Maybe that was what she was so mad about, those shoes didn't look comfortable at all. Maybe she just needed a compliment. Compliments could get anyone out of a bad mood.
"Ryou, I can't believe you. I can't believe they let you like…they just…you were banished! I can't believe that you have the nerve to show up here after what you did to my sister…after what you did to me! I was…I was barely older than her and you just-just-I was fourteen! I was thirteen and…and you were my sister's-" said Mi
"Hey! We never agreed on being exclusive and anyway you came onto me. What was I supposed to do? You were into me, I didn't make you do anything. You know I'm not like that and I don't appreciate-" said Shimazaki. He felt the entire room shift….right. Guns…a lot of them. If he was being shot at from one direction…or two…well his barrier could stop bullets…when he kept it around himself. He didn't doubt that Mob could stop bullets, he'd seen Suzuki do it before, but like Suzuki Mob probably had to focus…and there was always the ricochet….
"What? That you're finally getting what's coming to you?" asked Mi
"No, I don't appreciate you making this into something ten goddamned years after the fact!" said Shimazaki
"My sister didn't appreciate you getting her killed." Said Mi
"That….that wasn't my fault. She was the one who went out without any protection. If she would have asked me-" said Shimazaki. He took a deep breath. That was not his fault. If she had needed to go to the hospital then he would have taken her…it wasn't like it had been an ambulance situation…she had gotten herself there in a cab…and….and then she had been in the morgue and she hadn't been moving and…and….
He reached over with his aura. Mob was there.
She was right there. He focused on her. She was there and…and she wasn't scared…and neither was he! Yeah, he and death were old friends by now and…and anyway….it had happened ten years ago. That was longer than some people had even been alive! He…he was passed the past…dwelling on it…dwelling on the past was boring and he did NOT do boring.
Ever.
"You were the last person I wanted there by my side. It was all your fault, you know." Said Mi
"I'm not the one who-" said Shimazaki
"Yeah, you were the one….you know she still thought you were the one…even after you got me pregnant she thought that you were the one. She was even going to keep it, you know. I was the one….God…I can't…." said Mi. She had to be strong. She had been planning this…rehearsing this….for ten years. Since her sister was gunned down right in front of her. She…she had been planning this and…and she wasn't going to….to break down just because he was trying to escape from this! That was all he had ever been good for, making quick escapes.
Well not this time.
"Wh….what?" said Shimazaki. He braced himself against Mob. He leaned against her….and she held him up with her powers. She wasn't scared…she was surrounded by men with guns and she wasn't scared….and neither was he. This wasn't….why was he scared? Not because of the guns but…well…he knew that he had kids! He had kids out there and he knew he was probably responsible for keeping more than one family planning clinic in business too! Women had come to him for abortion money before….and….and it hadn't bothered him…and this didn't bother him. No, Mi didn't want to have his kid and that was fine….but….but SHE had…she had been pregnant and he hadn't noticed…well he couldn't really notice until it was noticeable…he wasn't in the habit of looking in people's guts…but…but if he had known….
Ryoji. Kichi.
Names….he liked those names and…and it wasn't like he had been opposed to settling down! Well…he'd been twenty two and stupid. Twenty two year old Shimazaki had been a selfish idiot. Thirty two year old Shimazaki…well he wanted….why couldn't this have happened now!? He…he was fine. He….there wasn't a lot to the world right now…just Mob. The sound of her aura…it was so calm. She was like….she was like that really good acoustic version of Strawberry Fields….the world…he held her close. The world was her and….and this hadn't happened in so long….
He was going to die. Well then.
"I've said all that I can say." Said Mi. She raised her hand and began to walk backwards. Once she got out of range she would watch him die. He had been stupid back when he explained how it worked. How he had to have enough time to think about where he was going to go…to plan his escape route. Well now he didn't have one. She had men on all side of him. Even in the kitchen and out the windows. Nobody would say a word to the police…and if anyone was stupid enough to do so then they'd find nothing….ten years….it was almost over….
She just had to take a step back.
"I like your shoes!" said Mob. That was so cool! Well not the yelling part. She had no idea what any of that had been about…but seeing someone walk backwards like that in heals was amazing! That was cooler than any psychic power she had ever seen in her life!
"What?" asked Mi. She stopped. She kept her hand up but she stopped. Right…the child. Honestly she had pretty much vanished for a time. She was so….like a ghost…or a piece of furniture. She looked just like every other little girl in Tokyo. She had some character on her t-shirt, sparkles on her skirt, and those clear plastic shoes that had come back into style….she was a child…even with the makeup she'd smeared on she looked like a child…she knew that Shimazaki was blind but that was so clearly a child….
Nobody needed to go through what she'd gone through. Especially not some poor little girl who was younger than even Mi had been.
"Your shoes. They're really high. It's cool how you can walk like that in them. I can't walk that well in heels, I mean I don't have a lot of high ones, but the ones I do have are kind of hard to walk in. I like your tattoos, too. They're pretty. Do they mean that you're in the yakuza or do you just like dragons?" asked Mob
"Hey….come here. I know…I know how he can be…and you're better off without him. Come here. He's going to get what's coming to him and I'd hate for you to get caught in the crossfire." Said Mi. She motioned for the little girl to follow…but she just stared. There was somehow both nothing and everything behind her stare. She looked up through her bangs….her hair was so…for a moment it seemed like she was talking to a spirit. She knew that they were real…but….no. That was a flesh and blood little girl.
"Crossfire?" asked Mob. Now she really had no idea what was going on. She knew what crossfire was. That was when you got in the way of your little brother's nerf darts….but….that wasn't…what was happening now….
"I'm about to get shot at, a lot, with some pretty powerful guns too….wow. You guys brought out the big guns tonight…see what I did?" asked Shimazaki. He didn't feel nearly as lackadaisical as he tried to sound. He felt…cold? Really cold and…and stuck and…and the world was too small. It had shrunk down to this room….to Mob. She was the loudest thing in the room…the brightest…and the biggest…
He smelled gunpowder.
He heard the click of safeties…a lot of them…and…oh. Well now that sen gun was making it's appeared….he'd have to see where they'd managed to unearth it…well he'd have all the time when…when he was dead…he needed a way out…but he couldn't see a way out…he couldn't think. He just…he needed….he needed to protect Mob…he needed to protect himself….he needed space and….and he tried…the world wouldn't fall away under his feet…maybe because he had no idea where he would ever go…where could he go? What could he do? What could…..he….he needed air….there wasn't enough air in this room….
Well that wouldn't matter since he was about to be shot to death.
"Hey! Guns are dangerous!" said Mob as everyone pulled guns out of their coats and pants. She had no idea why all of these people had guns….but guns were not toys! Guns were….well dad had always said that a gun was a coward's weapon….and she didn't know if she felt the same way…but she did know that you weren't supposed to point guns at people! Not real guns!
This was dangerous!
"Mob!" said Shimazaki. He reached for her…and then he went deaf. Temporarily. He hated gunfire, always had and always would, it was too loud….worse than fireworks. Fireworks at least exploded up in the sky. This was like…like a thousand fireworks or…or sticks of dynamite….or whatever exploding right by his ears! He couldn't hear anything over the shots…and this was how he died….
He waited for the pain. It never came.
"That was loud…" said Mob. Her ears were ringing worse than they had ever rang in her entire life. Worse than when Sho used to shout in her ears, worse than when Mukai had been a baby and hadn't been able to do anything but cry, even worse than the time she'd listened to music with the volume turned up so loud she could feel it in her teeth. That was….not good….
What was WRONG with these people!?
"Holy….." said Mi. She felt weak. She was…she was weak. Compared to….she had always known about people like that. People who could do extraordinary things. People who could defy the laws of reality. She had never seen anything like this before. There were…bullets…in the air. Just….floating…none of them had gone anywhere….they had just collected at the ends of their respective guns….just balls of bullets hanging on the ends of guns….
Over. It was all over….and it hadn't even begun.
"I'm sorry to be so mean, I really am, but it's dangerous to go shooting at people like that. It's mean, too, and…and if you need to get your feelings out then you should talk about them or…or get stoned….or drink….or do coke…but don't shoot people!" said Mob. Everyone was looking at her….oh no! She had used her powers where normal people could see and…and she had done it so that Shimazaki hadn't gotten shot but….but still! She shouldn't have done that and now…and now…she was going to be in so much trouble!
"What are…who are you?" asked Mi. That was all she could say. This….this was….she had no words for this…
"Oh! I was so rude. I'm Suzuki Shigeko but you can call me Mob, most people do." Said Mob. She bowed, too, to be polite. Maybe if she was polite then she wouldn't get into so much trouble. Dad cared a lot about manners and stuff…and she cared a lot about them too….and also….also she needed to say sorry!
But she couldn't.
She felt Shimazaki's hand on her shoulder and then the world fell away under her feet. She was outside now. The air smelled…like air. Not like chicken. She kind of wanted more chicken….she was still kind of hungry…and dad was going to kill her for what she did but she needed a last meal…and also she needed to finish introducing herself. She was up high….she looked over the edge of the roof…up really high. Shimazaki liked being up high…and she didn't mind it….
But, really, she needed to finish introducing herself and then she needed to apologize.
"Ryou, I was introducing myself." Said Mob. Shimazaki didn't say anything. He just pulled her close. Her head was pressed against his chest….his heart was beating so fast she could feel it. It was fast and loud…not loud enough to cover up the ringing in her ears, though, but still pretty loud….his aura was all shaky and he was all shaky….
He was afraid.
"Ryou….Ryou, it's ok. It's all over now." Said Mob. That must have been scary for him. He hated loud noises, loud sudden ones, that was why he covered his ears whenever there were fireworks. Also they had gotten shot at. She knew that her barrier was strong enough to stop bullets, dad was the strongest esper in the world and if she could put up a barrier strong enough to block him then she could block anything, but Shimazaki's barrier never went very far past him…and his telekinesis wasn't good enough to catch bullets….at least she thought that it wasn't….
She wrapped her arms around him as best as she could.
"Did you hear me? It's ok…um….can you hear me? Can you hear anything? I know that it was loud." Said Mob. She could still hear his heartbeat. He was still pressing her face right into his chest. He was breathing weird now too, really weird, and his aura was shaking. She held him close. She knew what it was, he was scared, and….and she knew what to do with scared people. She knew that scared people needed comfort…all people did when they were scared…and that included Shimazaki. She had never seen him scared before, though, not once in her life. Well…maybe…that time after the Christmas party when she left and didn't tell him where she was going….but he was more mad then. Now he was just scared and…and this didn't feel right…..
But she as just being selfish right now. He could be as scared as he needed to be.
"It's ok to be afraid, Ryou, so…so you can keep on being afraid. I can be with you for as long as you need me to be. Like…like when Sho gets scared sometimes he doesn't want to admit it…and….and if you feel the same way then that's ok to. You can feel whatever way you want to feel and…and if you're not scared then…then that's ok too. I never meant to tell you how to feel or…or anything like that….I would never do anything like that." Said Mob. She stopped shaking, slowly, and then he let her go. His arms stopped crushing her….she leaned back. The roof wasn't comfortable, it was windy and also she felt something sharp poking her in the leg, but if this was where Shimazaki wanted to be then that was alright.
She just wanted him to be ok…she just wanted someone to be ok.
"Mob…" said Shimazaki as he got a hold of himself. His ears were ringing….his brain was ringing…he needed a drink. He needed to lay down. He needed to find some way of shutting his stupid brain up. That had been way too close…what was the matter with him?! He'd almost died…why? Over some whit that happened in the past. The past was in the past and…and there was no point in dwelling on the past…
It was boring and he didn't do boring.
Boredom was stagnation and stagnation was death and he didn't do death either. Not today, not tomorrow, and not ever. He was going to live forever! Or at least for as long as humanly possible. He needed…he just needed to think. That had just been some shit from the past and…and it was over. Everything was over. He was here and…and he was alive. Mob had saved his life. Mob had saved his fucking life. She hadn't had to….actually it would have made more sense for her to have been the one freaking out. Even Suzuki freaked out when he got shot at, probably because he hated being reminded of his own mortality or whatever. Mob….she had been so calm and…and she'd saved him.
Nobody had ever saved him before.
"It's ok, it's ok. Um….I have my pen…if you want to smoke that. That might make you feel better. I know that I like to smoke when things bother me or I get scared so…so here." Said Mob. She reached into her bag and fished out her pen. It had been on it's side and the oil was all pooled to one side. She would have fixed it with her powers but Shimazaki grabbed it out of her hand before she could do anything.
He needed it more than she did.
She would have liked to have gotten some too, it was hers after all, but her friend needed it and that mattered more than what she wanted. She had spent way too much time in her life being selfish. All of today she had been selfish. Sho and dad had been fighting and all she could think about was how it affected her, how she hated it when they fought, how she felt bad when dad punished Sho, how she didn't want to leave her dad if it came to that. She…she was so selfish….but not anymore.
She let Shimazaki have her pen. That was the least she could do.
"Thanks….thanks for this." said Shimazaki as he coughed out what must have been at least half of that pen. God this thing hit harsh…but it was all he had. There was enough in this pen for him and…and for her too. At least he figured. He hated these things. It was damn near impossible for him to tell when they were empty. Mob…she needed some too. She…she had saved him and…and she deserved some too.
He passed her the pen. She passed it back.
"No, Ryou, you can have it. I don't need any." Said Mob
"Y-Yeah, you do. You…you saved me…you were amazing back there! I mean…I've never seen anything like that….but then again I've never seen anything at all…" said Shimazaki
"Oh. You were trying to be funny. Um….that was funny, I guess." Said Mob
"Hey, I almost died. Let's see how your material is after that." Said Shimazaki
"I almost died too….but I'm not that funny so you still win." Said Mob
"No, no, you're funny….that shoe thing was gold." Said Shimazaki
"I wasn't trying to be funny. I really did like her shoes." Said Mob
"You know in a different life she probably would have liked you. She was always weirdly proud of her shoe collection. That was how I met her, well what drew me to her. All that…clicking….I mean I'd heard shoes like that before but not the way she walked. It was like….I don't know….I liked it." Said Shimazaki
"I'm sorry that she was so mean to you." Said Mob
"No, I'm sorry that you almost died and shit. That was….I should have done more….but it's like…that was one hell of a bombshell to drop on a guy, you know? I mean…she can do whatever she wants. She doesn't want to have my kid, fine, that's her choice…and I didn't even want kids back then anyway. I mean….maybe I did and I just didn't realize it. I didn't know any kids back then…you know?" asked Shimazaki
"Um….yes?" said Mob. She didn't know, not really, but sometimes people just talked so that you listened to them. Shimazaki had almost died so, of course, he would have been scared. Plus that lady had said a lot of mean things to him….well things that Mob assumed were mean. She really didn't get what most of that had been about….or what most of this was about.
"I mean…it's not even about her. It's about her sister and…well that's all over and…and I'm just thinking. She died…well a lot of people have died. All who've walked this earth have died…heard that in a song once…you know what I mean?" asked Shimazaki
"Yes?" said Mob
"God….you get me, you know? You get me. It's like…I loved her and now she's gone…and she's been gone for a while and it's just….I'll be better tomorrow." Said Shimazaki
"I hope so." Said Mob. She wanted him to be better now. She wanted things to be normal. She wanted at least one thing in her life to be normal…but that was just her being selfish again. She didn't get to just…just leave when things got hard…and this wasn't so hard. She was just comforting her friend. She was just being a good friend and she could worry about herself and how she'd used her powers in front of normal people later. Right now she had to worry about Shimazaki.
She had never seen him so shaken before.
That was what this was, shaken, maybe because he was shaking. Not as much as before but she could still feel it. He was really close to her after all. She could see his hands shaking as he held her pen. She could feel his aura shaking against her. She wished that she could have stopped him…well she could have with her powers…but she had used her powers enough for one night. She just leaned forward and hugged him again. He hugged her back.
He was really strong.
She was stronger, well she was a stronger esper, but he was bigger and stronger than she was. He wasn't crushing her anymore…but he had been…but that was just what people did when they loved you. Dad gave really tight hugs, too, when he was in a hugging mood. That usually happened when he was stoned. Maybe that was why Shimazaki was still shook, and why he was hugging her like his. Maybe he was stoned…he had been smoking her pen a lot. He was trying to hit it again but the light was blinking….oh. Right. He couldn't tell.
She reached over to take it out of his hand.
"It's dead, Shimazaki, the little light is blinking." Said Mob. She took it from his hand and put it in her Elsa bag. She knew that it was probably laying sideways again. She didn't really care. Shimazaki was shook and he was the only thing, person, that she should have been worrying about. He let her go again….and her hair had gotten caught in his zipper.
He got it out for her.
"Sorry…sorry about that. Just…I just need to get a hold of myself. I can barely see anything past you…you know? You're really loud. You aura, I mean. It's just…everywhere." Said Shimazaki. He held out his hands to show her what he saw….well of course she had no idea what he saw. God, he was so stupid…useless….he was such a mistake. He fucked everything up and…he took a deep breath. That was over too. Everything was over. The only thing that mattered was the here and now. He was here, now, with Mob…and she'd saved him. That was in the past but it was a part of the past that…that he could focus on. It wasn't like nobody had ever had his back before, Toshi always had his back, but Toshi had never…never just gone out of their way to save him before….
But that was just how Mob was as a person. She went out of her way for you. That was the beauty of Suzuki Shigeko…she was so fucking beautiful.
"Sorry, I'll try to be quieter." Said Mob
"No, no, don't. I like it. You're beautiful, you know that?" asked Shimazaki
"Ryou…don't say that. I'm not pretty. I know that I'm not. That lady even said that I look like I'm ten." Said Mob. She looked past him. The city…that was beautiful. There was so much of it, so many lights, and…well she wasn't going to mention things like that. That would have been mean to him and he'd had enough of people being mean to him. Like that lady. Now there had been someone beautiful. She had been so tall and pretty, and she knew how to walk in heels too which was amazing, but she had been mean, too. She would have been a lot more beautiful if she had been nicer…Mob didn't know that lady but she didn't like her. She had no idea what Shimazaki had done to make her so mad, well she said that her sister died because of him…so that was something, but….well she couldn't see Shimazaki ever causing someone's death on purpose. She knew that he hurt people who hurt dad first but….that was kind of for a good reason….sort of. Mob's ears were still ringing from being shot at…that had been so loud….and it smelled like being in the middle of a fireworks show and….and if she had been a normal person then she would have been dead.
Someone had tried to kill her…she would think about this later…right now Shimazaki needed her.
He was holding her hand, now, and his whole aura was focused on her. His aura was a lot less shaky now, a lot more still, and his body was a lot more still too. He was shiny with sweat, she could see the streetlights catching on his skin, and she wondered why he didn't just take that coat off. Even now it was hot out at night. He must have known, he said that he'd spent his whole life here, and also he could feel things just as well as she could. She didn't tell him to take his coat off, though, because….well he probably didn't want to and he was just now getting close to being back to normal.
Even if he was talking crazy talk…actually that was pretty normal for him.
"Mob, you are. You're just…you're a beautiful person. You're always thinking about other people…about me. Like…if we were caught in some kind of desert island situation you'd probably cut pieces of yourself off to feed the rest of us until help came. I mean I could always get us somewhere safe, and you and Toshi are both plant-kinetic, but I bet that if you didn't have your powers you'd just cut pieces of yourself off to feed the rest of us…and not a lot of people would do that. You put up with so much shit, too, you know? You put up with more than anyone I have ever met in my life and you do it all without getting even the slightest bit pissed….like this shit with your dad and your brother. I don't know anyone else who would have done that…and I don't know anyone else who would have caught a bullet for me let alone….I don't know…a thousand? I didn't count them." Said Shimazaki
"That's what friends are for. I don't think that it makes me special or beautiful or anything like that to be a good friend." Said Mob. She really didn't. They'd had a big talk already about what they would do if they had to resort to cannibalism…back when she thought that Hatori had been a cannibal…which was a lot better than...well she knew what he meant, now, and she didn't….but she was still his friend even though he thought about gross stuff.
There was nothing that any of her friends could do, nothing at all, that would ever make her want to stop being friends with them.
"Well…you are….and not just how you are. I mean you look beautiful too, you know? You're like…it's like you're Toshi, you know? Your insides reflect your outsides." Said Shimazaki
"I'm not pretty. Minegishi is but I'm not." Said Mob. She looked down…and then he tilted her head up. He had his hand under her chin and he was tilting her head up so she was looking right into his eyelids. They were shiny too. She wondered if eye cleaning day was coming…..Sho could help him with that…he was a lot better at helping than she was.
"Yes you are. I mean I know I can't see you but I can tell that your outsides definitely reflect your insides. You're so fucking pretty…you know that? And don't tell me that you don't." said Shimazaki
"Ok, I won't say anything then." Said Mob. He laughed, then, even though she hadn't said anything funny. She knew that she wasn't pretty, and of course she wasn't anywhere near as pretty as Minegishi, she knew that he was just trying to be nice. Well she didn't need it, it felt nice hearing him say such nice things about her, but she didn't need to be complimented right now. She had to think about him, not her. She had to worry about him.
"What's funny?" asked Mob
"Your 'A' material. Even after we nearly die….you're still trying to cheer me up." Said Shimazaki. How was someone like her just…there…in the world? She…he was into her. It hit him right in the head like a very angry head slap. He was into her. He had been chewing on the subject for a while but now he could say, without hesitation, that he was into her…it felt good to say it, at least in his own head. Almost as good as when he realized that he loved Toshi.
No acid needed this time.
"Um…ok." Said Mob. She hadn't been trying to cheer him up at all, she had just been saying things, but if this made him happy then that was ok. He was still holding her face, she could feel his fingers tracing her jawline and then going up. She wondered if he was trying to read her skin. She'd been so stressed lately that she ended up being even spottier than normal. Maybe in the morning Minegishi could help her fix it….before dad saw. He just tried to put toothpaste on her spots when he saw them.
"You really are pretty though. You have a cute face. You have perfect tits, too, legs for days, and the third cutest ass I have ever seen in my life….but I never realized how cute your face was." Said Shimazaki. He didn't actually need to do this to see someone but it helped…and also people got a kick out of it. He…he was better now. The past was the past and the present was the present and…and she was here with him and…well she was no Toshi…but Toshi was Toshi. She was Mob…and like Toshi she was a dream come true.
A good dream, not the ones where he's paralyzed and everyone he's ever met is surrounding him and telling him how useless he is.
"Ryou….don't." said Mob. She was red…and not in a good way. She knew that he was messing with her, he messed with people a lot, and she wished that he'd stop. She wasn't pretty, so he was lying, and also…also he was her friend. She didn't like it that one of her friends was looking at her…like that. How boys looked at girls…not that she was anything to look at. Why did he have to lie like that? Well…he was Shimazaki….he liked to say crazy things. That was just how he was.
Still, couldn't he think of something else crazy to say?
"Sorry, sorry, I forgot that you didn't like it when I mentioned your tits. I mean that in the most respectful way possible, you know. I don't mean to make you feel like shit. I would never try and make you feel like shit. I care about you too much? You know? I care about you….and I guess…..that I'm into you." Said Shimazaki. His thumbs were resting against her cheeks. She…was just staring at him, her aura didn't even move. This was….the hardest thing that he'd ever had to say. Even harder than when he told Toshi he loved them…well acid had helped. Without the acid he never would have been able to say it, and not just because he never would have had that epiphany if it hadn't been for the acid. He…had never been good at this. Even back with…the person he'd been in love with before Toshi…it had been hard….
Maybe it was harder because this was Mob.
Everything was kind of backwards with her. Normally he just went to be with someone and then feelings came later, his or theirs, but this…well Mob was still way too young for that. Shit like that meant something to her…all of this shit meant a lot to her…he wasn't stupid. He knew that this was a hell of an age gap. He knew that where he was in life was worlds away from where Mob was…but he didn't care. It wasn't about that. If he wanted to fuck someone then he could just go and find someone. Mob was like…he wasn't sure how to even describe her…
She helped him with the emotional shit.
Toshi had enough to deal with. They had their own shit going on and they didn't have space for his…and that was why they left him. He put too much of his own shit onto them so, of course, they'd found another boyfriend. Mob was better at the emotional shit. He didn't care if she never asked him to bed or wherever her preferred place was, well not never he was human, but for right now he was just glad to have someone who cared about him…who listened to him…who was just…always there and shit…
She was like his coat only alive and if he kissed her it wouldn't be weird.
Should he? No, he should wait. She was thinking. Maybe she was planning on rejecting him….well he could deal with that. She could have done so much better than him, for one thing, and also there was the fact that Suzuki would have reached through the fabric of time and space to murder him if he knew exactly what Shimazaki had just said to Mob…..and also the age thing might have bothered her…though she had asked out Hatori of all people…..maybe being rejected by Hatori had given her a complex about this whole thing and now she was looking for ways to reject him because she feared intimacy now or something….
He would have taken that to the silence….or maybe the wheels in her head were turning loud enough to be audible but he just couldn't hear it because his ears were ringing.
"Um…ok." Said Mob. She knew what those words meant on their own…but she had no idea why he had put them together in that order and why he had said them to her. She'd ask Minegishi later. After she asked what an abortion was and why people had tried to kill her and Shimazaki. She'd ask in the morning, though, she was kind of tired. She wondered if it would have been ok to ask Shimazaki if he wanted to go home now. They had almost died…but now his aura was all shaky and bright again…maybe he was scared again. Well if he was scared then she would sit on this roof and comfort him all night if she ha-
-d…
t….
o…..
"Was that ok?" asked Shimazaki as he pulled away from her. He tasted chicken and bubblegum. His lips were somehow both sticky with that bubblegum shit she wore and greasy from chicken…weirdly enough he could only taste the chicken and not the sauce…huh. Well that was interesting….this whole thing was interesting….especially the fact that Mob's aura had gone totally silent.
In a good way, he hoped.
That hadn't been her first kiss, he knew that much, but it might have been the first for her in a while. Suzuki kept her on a pretty tight leash and when he wasn't around Mob didn't exactly paint the town whatever the fuck red. She might have been in shock…or he might have fucked up…or maybe she just had to think. He should have asked first, he knew that now, but the moment had been perfect. He figured that Mob would have cared about moments. Toshi did, they pretended that they didn't but they did, and…huh. Did he need to clear this with Toshi now? Getting into this with another person…
It wasn't like they'd warned him about Matsuo.
So maybe he didn't need to warn them about Mob….not that there was anything to warn them about. He wasn't sleeping with her so there wasn't the whole getting them sick element in there…but this was their best friend…and also he wasn't one to keep secrets….and if they told him no then he could bring up how they just started whatever with Matsuo and never told him…no…then they'd both just end up fighting….
Maybe he should have thought this through better…or at all….but to be fair he'd just been moments away from death.
"That….ok…." said Mob. She…had to say words…she had to come up with words and…and she had to keep her powers under control. She held her aura, her powers, back with everything she had. She…had been very close to exploding…but she couldn't. If she exploded then she would hurt so many people…she wasn't in the middle of nowhere like the Seventh Division had been and the people in this city were normal, not espers, and she knew that if she exploded then people would get hurt. Nobody got hurt at the Seventh Division had been espers and that had saved them….but normal people….they were different….softer….squishier….and…and….and….
And she had to think about people other than herself.
"That was ok?" said Shimazaki. She was just speechless….good. He had been worried that he'd fucked up there for a second. He held her face in his hand again…she was warm…but her aura was quieter than it had ever been before…it was like she was trying to disappear….he had never had this effect on anyone before….but then again he'd never kissed someone with the powers of a God before.
Huh. A first for him.
"Y-Yeah…uh….yeah….uh….yeah…" said Mob. Why had he done that? To mess with her? Well…well she thought that he'd been done with that. He hadn't teased her like that since she'd been ten and…and he'd also said that he would kiss her for real in three or four years…and she was twelve and a half now. That was two and a half years….Tsuchiya had been helping her with homeschool math….she had a lot of homeschool work left to do…she hadn't been able to get anything done and…and she had to go home and…and get things done…
She wasn't being mean. She just had things to do.
"Great. Anyway, do you want to again or-" said Shimazaki
"R-Ryou? Can we go home, please? My ears are ringing and I'm tired and…and I have a lot of work to do…homeschool work…and I'm not being selfish because Tsuchiya works hard to teach me stuff and…and the more stuff I learn the more I can teach Mukai and Sho…..and I have other big sister stuff to do, too, very important big sister stuff." Said Mob. He didn't say anything, he just held her hand….she kept her aura calm. If he kissed her again then….well if he wanted to kiss her then he could…since it wasn't cheating because he was in an open relationship and…and did this mean that she was in an open relationship with him too? Or were they friends with benefits now? Or….or whatever else they could be….she didn't know…she didn't want to think about this…she wanted to go home right now…but if he kissed her then she wasn't going to stop him.
That would have been selfish of her.
If he wanted to kiss her, not to mess with her but to kiss her, then….then if she told him that she didn't want to then she would have been selfish and mean. She….she loved her friends and….and there was nothing that they could do to ever stop being friends with her…even kissing her. She….she had no idea how she was going to explain this to Minegishi…and…and also Sho would be so hurt….Sho could never know. Nobody could ever know.
She didn't even want to know.
"Whatever you want, Mob." Said Shimazaki. He didn't blame her for being tired. This was way outside of the realm of a normal night. Poor Mob…she was just tired….unless he fucked up. Unless he'd been too fucked up and shaken to read the situation right….that was always a possibility….but no, she would have told him if she wasn't into this…right?
Right.
He took her by the hand and teleported them home. The world had come back into existence. Maybe because she as being so quiet….or maybe because he wasn't caught in some stupid spiral about the past. The past didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the present….the only thing that mattered was him and Mob…and also Toshi. They were still up…it looked like they were reading. He got a clear sense of them as the world came back into view…they were sitting up in bed reading. He wondered what they were reading and he wondered if they'd be willing to read to him. God, this was shaping up to be decent night. Didn't die in a shootout, confessed to Mob, and now some Toshi reading cuddles.
It was good to be Shimazaki Ryou right now.
"Here we are, home sweet home." Said Shimazaki as the world came back into existence. Mob nodded. Her aura was still quiet…maybe she'd be back to normal in the morning….yeah…that was it.
"Thanks…um…thanks…" said Mob
"Anyway tomorrow I was thinking I could make you breakfast and then we could hang out. We don't do a lot of daytime shit. I mean normally I work but I think that you're dad's going to be too busy dealing with this shit to find traitors for me." Said Shimazaki
"Um…maybe….I don't know. I might have breakfast at work tomorrow….and…um…I have a lot of homeschool work to do and I'd like to get it done before I have to…um….hang out with my friend Minori. You know her, she's my friend that nobody likes. We're going to be very busy and then…um….I have to…um….give Sho a bath! I mean run him a bath, he's too big for me to give him baths, that would be weird….um….so….I'm going to be very busy but….um….if I have time we can hang out." Said Mob. She kind of wanted to put space between them now. She had never kissed a boy who wasn't Teru…who didn't have to run away and stuff afterwards. She would….she would have to see Shimazaki every single day for the rest of her life….after they kissed….
She'd kissed Shimazaki…..she'd kissed her best friend's boyfriend…..but she wasn't helping with cheating but…but still…..
"Sure thing, you do whatever you need to do. Anyway…uh…goodnight." Said Shimazaki. He leaned in to kiss her again. He wanted to but…but also this was kind of…she seemed off. She didn't push him away, she didn't tell him off, her aura didn't even freak out. She was just calm….as calm as she had been….so that was good, right?
He was going to take that as a yes.
"Goodnight!" said Mob as she pulled away from him and walked, quickly, to her own house. That….that was the fourth time she had ever kissed a boy….and….and it had been Shimazaki! She just…she needed to go home and…and be at home…so that was what she did. She ran home, kicked her shoes off in the genkan…and then just sat there.
She'd kissed Shimazaki.
She could still feel his lips against hers…it felt….it was bad and good at the same time. It was like there was this part of her brain that just wanted to be kissed, that liked boys and liked kissing and liked kissing boys….but there was the part of her brain that actually had thoughts and sense and stuff. The part that reminded her that this was her best friend's boyfriend. The part that…that was mad at her…even though she hadn't wanted to…well it had been sort of….but it had been with SHIMAZAKI!
She couldn't believe that she'd done that….she didn't know what she was even supposed to say.
Everyone had thought for years now that she liked him. Sho thought so, dad thought so, Fukuda thought so….Fukuda actually thought that she'd been having….stuff….with him….and she just….she didn't want to! She didn't want to have stuff with him and…and if he kissed her did that mean that he wanted to….to do stuff with her? Well…no way! She didn't want….she didn't want to be a bad friend but she didn't want….she just…
She wanted to go to bed.
She heard a door open and then another door slam shut. That was Sho. He always slammed door when he went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Sho….little brother….his feelings were hurt enough as it was now. He didn't need her adding to this….and….she couldn't tell him. Now she had a secret from him and…and she just….how was she supposed to sleep in the same room as her little brother after all of this had happened!?
She wasn't.
She got up and ran as quietly as she could. She ran right to her room, put on the first nightshirt she could find, and then she ran right to dad's room. She didn't wait for Sho to get back, to tuck him in and stuff, because….well she had kissed the old love of his life. What was she even supposed to say? That Shimazaki had confessed to her and she hadn't wanted him to? He wouldn't have believed that…nobody would have believed that…..
She couldn't even believe that this had happened.
But it had happened and…and she….she didn't want to be alone. The second she set foot outside of her room she decided that she didn't want to be alone. She wanted….she wanted her mom. She wanted her mom to come out from around the corner and tell her that she was going to be alright. She wanted mom to tell her what to do when your best friends boyfriend kissed you, and it wasn't cheating, but it still felt weird and not good….not like it was ok….not like….she just….
She could still feel his lips pressed against hers.
Mom would have known what to do…she had been in love before dad. She'd had a whole life before being married to him and…and…and this just seemed like mom stuff! Mom stuff or…or best friend stuff…but Minegishi was sleeping, probably, and also they were Shimazaki's boyfriend. She didn't have a mom anymore and she wanted her best friend to stay her best friend….and her little brother could never know….she was alone….she didn't want to be alone. She wanted her mom….and she wanted her dad.
Dad.
Dad could never know either…before, years ago, he had beaten up Shimazaki so badly that he'd bled even though he had just been messing with her then. Dad…dad could be so mean…but also he always knew what to do and he was kind of like mom only a boy and….and there was no way she would ever talk about this to a boy….but she didn't have to talk about this. She didn't want to talk about this. She wanted…she just wanted to be held….
And dad liked to hold her.
There had been so much fighting and…and maybe he was in a bad mood….well he was asleep. Mob got to his door and the first thing she heard was him snoring. He didn't like to be woken up….but she could be quiet. She opened his door slowly and tiptoed inside. She even managed to close the door without making a sound. Her footsteps disappeared into the rug. She could have flown but she didn't trust her powers right now….if she lost control dad would have been so mad at her…and if she woke him he would be mad….so she tried her best not to wake him….
The mattress ended up being her undoing.
It creaked when she climbed into. It dipped, too. She didn't know why dad always got mattresses with springs, especially with how his back always hurt him, and maybe that would take about this…or something other than the fact that Shimazaki had kissed her and now they were friends with benefits or something….she never wanted to say the words friends with benefits to her dad, ever. She really didn't want to say much of anything to anyone, ever, actually….
But she had to. Dad was waking up.
"Shiori?" asked Suzuki as he sat up. He felt another aura…no. Shigeko. She was in his bed. He didn't have to wait for his eyes to adjust, he knew it was her, and he knew that something was wrong. He could sense her aura….she had a death grip on it….and he smelled gunpowder for some reason….gunpowder…too late in the year for fireworks…
He was fully awake now.
"The lady from your phone?" asked Mob. Why did dad think that she was some random lady? He must have been dreaming or….she would worry about this later. Right now she had to worry about how dad's aura felt….he was freaking out….why was he freaking out?! Nobody had kissed him tonight! Well….that she knew of….she didn't really want to think about her dad kissing anyone. She didn't want to think about anyone kissing anyone….she just wanted to go to bed.
"Yes…no….that's not important. Why are you here, what's wrong, and why do you smell like gunpowder?" asked Suzuki
"Because of the guns." Said Mob. She hadn't fully thought about what she had been saying. Dad had just asked about a lot of things and the thing about the gun seemed like the easiest to answer….but of course that would just freak him out. He sat straight up, grabbed her by the arms, and now…now he was crushing her and…and why did so many people want to crush her?!
"Dad….you're crushing me." Said Mob as she tried to wiggle out of dad's hands. She didn't have to wiggle for long. He actually let go of her. His aura was still freaking out but at least he let go.
"That is not my intention, Shigeko, now tell me why….where you were and why you were in a situation in which there would have been guns." Said Suzuki. He tried his best to stay calm. This was….he did not need this. Someone had tried to kill his daughter…he took back every unpleasant thought he'd ever had about her. He didn't mind the makeup, the high heels, the interest in the opposite sex, or the incessant smoking. He didn't mind anything about her, anything, and…and he didn't want another daughter….well he wanted Mukai…but he hoped that Shiori only had girls…
Even if Shigeko was shot dead, even if he had incontrovertible proof that she was gone and never coming back, right in front of him he never would have been able to replace her.
"I….I was out…because I as hungry…because I messed up dinner and then people started shooting and…and I don't want to talk about it….I just….dad…..can we just go to bed?" asked Mob. She leaned forward and hugged him. She just….she wanted her mom…and she wanted her dad…and she wanted her best friend and…and she wanted…she wanted a lot of people and…and she just…she didn't want to talk about this!
"But-" said Suzuki. He had no idea how she planned on sleeping after telling him about this. This…this was something that he could deal with….something other than ruminating about certain new developments in his life that he would not be discussing with his daughter. In a way he was happy that she had brought him a problem he could easily deal with…though she wasn't giving him any information….but if she was truly tired then he could ask her in the morning.
"Dad….daddy…please. I just want to go to bed." Said Mob as she held her dad. He reached around her and held her back. He had been so mean to Sho….she was being selfish right now….but this was ok since it would have been even more selfish to have Sho find out about what she did. Sho could never know….nobody could ever know….she didn't want anyone to know! She just…she wanted to go to bed….she had no idea how she would sleep with the ringing in her ears but she would just have to do her best.
Even though her best was never good enough that was all that she could give.
"Shigeko….alright. We'll rest now." Said Suzuki. He would deal with this in the morning….finally….something that he could deal with. Someone had shot at his daughter…he shouldn't have been happy about this….but he was. That she was alive, of course, but also that he could avenge her. He knew how to do that, avenge her…..he hoped that he wound up with nothing but daughters after he had his second son…he didn't want to replace her or anything like that.
Girls were just so much easier than boys.
"Thanks dad….I love you." Said Mob. She laid down next to dad and closed her eyes. She didn't go to sleep, she couldn't, not with the ringing in her ears or in her brain. She didn't know how she could make it stop….or how to forget the memory of Shimazaki…kissing her…or how…she didn't know anything. Nothing made sense. Mom…she got the feeling that mom would have helped…if she had stayed….but she was gone and there was no reason to get mad at her. She'd been gone for a while. Mob….she…she had….she had….
She had to one more thing to be guilty about.