Suzuki was well aware of the fact that men were perfectly capable of cooking.

Whether or not he, specifically, could cook was still up for debate.

"You have to flip it now, Dad." Said Shigeko. She handed him a spatula. He took it and poked the top of his omelet. It was still runny.

"Right now." Said Shigeko. Suzuki shook his head. He may not have been an expert but he would tell when something was done and something wasn't. She was giving him the wrong information…why? A test? Was she testing whether or not he had been listening to her? Well he hadn't been…not completely. Her explanation over the proper way to cook an omelet had been very long and rambling. He assumed because she was intoxicated.

He didn't know exactly what was in that cigarette she was smoking but he knew that he didn't like it.

"Dad, come on." Said Shigeko. She attempted to flip it with her telekinesis. He stopped her. It took some effort, more effort than he had ever had to use, but that made sense. She was getting older. She was about at the age when he'd had his first major growth spurt, both physically and with his powers. He'd always had his powers, there was old sixteen millimeter film in some box somewhere of him as a small baby levitating himself out of his crib, and they'd always been at least somewhat difficult to control. It had gotten worse, the breaking things and the shaking of the house, when he'd hit puberty. Shigeko may not have been his but they had the same powerset…well she had a few more than he did…but that was good.

Every father wanted his child to match him.

Match and…possibly eclipse….but he was happy for her. At least he forced himself to be. This was his child and she was capable of…of so many things. He loved her. She may have been a trial but he loved her. Even the way she was…even how she was growing up. Growing stronger. Yes, in the grand scheme of things her growing stronger was the least of his problems. She was wearing makeup, again. Her shirt was too tight, again. Her skirt was too short. Again. All the markers of growing up…of time's unstoppable march forwards. He, of course, felt it too. The way his back ached, the new lines at the corners of his eyes, the fact that when he was with Hatori and Serizawa he understood about every third word. Time marched forwards….it's march was inevitable…

But he was still the one in charge here, he was still the parent and she was still the offspring, and he knew what he was doing….mostly.

"It isn't done yet, can't you see? The top is still undercooked." Said Suzuki. He poked it again for emphasis. Shigeko shook her head. What? Why did she always have to question him? He didn't question her. He didn't question why she had to smoke from her electronic smoking…thing. He didn't question why she had to frame her eyes in black or paint the lids blue. He didn't question why she had to wear such tight shirts or why she had to move around the way she did. He didn't question why she had to wear such small skirts, why everyone in the world had to know exactly what not only both her knees looked like but several centimeters of her thighs as well. He didn't question why she had chosen to destroy her beautiful hair. He didn't question her, he held his tongue, so why couldn't she just do the same?

Why did she always have to be so, very, incredibly, difficult?

"Eggs keep on cooking even after you take them off of the fire, Dad, and omelets cook when they're flipped over." Said Shigeko. Suzuki nodded. He nodded and….and he…really should have had more respect for her. Men may have been allowed to cook, they may have had two hands just like women dad as Shiori was so fond of reminding him, but the kitchen was still the woman's domain. He, as a man, couldn't expect to just walk into a kitchen and know what he was doing when women had been cooking since the beginning of time.

"I apologize. I seem to have forgotten about thermodynamics. Here." Said Suzuki. He put the spatula down and used his powers to transfer his omelet onto a plate…he tried to. The moment he picked it up he knew that he'd miscalculated. He had expected it to stay in one solid mass but….but of course it came apart. Eggs were not bread, eggs were not solid, eggs were not strong. It broke in half, began to, the moment he picked it up. Shigeko anticipated this, though, and caught it with her powers.

She was so resourceful…so intelligent…so his. His daughter….but not his Daughter.

"This is why I don't use telekinesis when I cook. Well I mean I do for cutting and stuff but there's some stuff you have to do by hand." Said Shigeko

"Yes, I am aware of that now. Shio…I have been told this before." Said Suzuki

"Then why didn't you listen?" asked Shigeko

"I suppose that I thought I knew better than you….in this instance. I was wrong. In this instance. You're the woman and this is your kitchen and you know what you're doing." Said Suzuki. Shigeko should have accepted the compliment with all the grace she accepted every compliment with. She didn't. She, instead, crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him. A defensive gesture. Why? Had he done something threatening? He didn't think that he had. She was his daughter and for as much of a headache as she was he would never have done anything to hurt her.

"Shigeko." said Suzuki

"What, Dad?" asked Shigeko, her arms still crossed defensively across her chest for no good reason.

"Why are you doing that?" asked Suzuki

"I'm breaking more eggs because I have to make omurice for everyone, not just you. If you want another omelet then I can make another one for you…but after I'm done with Sho's and Mukai's. Oh! And Ryou's, too, in case he wants to eat with us. If not then you can have his." Said Shigeko. No. None of that. Nothing that she had just said appealed to him in the slightest. Dinner with Shimazaki Ryou…he would rather have sat down to dinner with Tadashi and discussed, in great detail, the minutia of their sexual relationship than sit there with Shimazaki Ryou. She had used his given name….and she was setting a place for him at the table…

It was her right as a woman.

She was clearly a woman, now, and clearly heterosexual. She was old enough that mate selection was something she was preoccupied with. He, too, had someone…but he was forty six and she was thirteen….not even thirteen yet. There was the inner conflict, she was so young but so clearly a woman, and…and there was the conflict within himself as well. He loved her so much and the last thing he wanted to do was to see her wasting her time with the likes of Shimazaki Ryou. He was old enough to be her father. He was obnoxious. He was annoying. He was an idiot. He could have left her at any time. She should have been smarter than that…but…but maybe she was. She was still standing there defensively. Maybe she was afraid of something…maybe she felt that she need his protection….

Suzuki was her father. He was perfectly capable of protecting her.

"No, I mean why are you crossing your arms defensively around yourself. You know I'll always be there to protect you….well not always, you'll outlive me, but for the time being I will always protect you. So don't be frightened." Said Suzuki. Shigeko shook her head…but did not uncross her arms.

"I'm not afraid, Dad, I just…it's weird." Said Shigeko

"What is?" asked Suzuki. He hated that word, weird. It was a word used when someone transgressed beyond the bounds of what was considered to be socially acceptable. He was weird, strange, and he knew it. He had been told so many times before by so many different people. Including Shigeko….she had informed him of her opinion before…why was so doing it again?

If he didn't get to criticize her outfits, cosmetics, and use of various intoxicants then she did not get to call him weird.

"It's weird when you call me a woman and stuff…I don't know. I mean I know that I'm not a kid but…just…it's weird when you point it out." Said Shigeko

"I don't understand. Explain." Said Suzuki. He had simply been stating a fact. She was a woman now. She had made that abundantly apparent at this point. This was…he had no idea what he'd been expecting. This was nature's way. There had been a film he'd watched when he'd been young, mother had been partial to it, though not Shigeko despite that fact that most of her media came from the Disney company. It told of a place where you never had to grow up. As a child he'd found the concept disturbing. Who would have wanted to be a child forever? Being a child was the worst. You had so little autonomy over your life…when he'd been a child he'd wanted nothing more than to grow up….

And yet he wanted nothing more for his children to…well to stay children forever.

Just his daughters. Sho…he couldn't wait until Sho became a man. Then he could go on to be another man's problem. Preferably a woman's, preferably that lovely girl he'd been seeing for the past few years, though Sho was still certain that he was a homosexual. He had obviously inherited some less than desirable traits and Suzuki was truly sorry for that. Not that he would ever tell Sho, though. There was no speaking with that boy. He couldn't even remember the last time they'd had a civil conversation. He used to think, years ago, that things would be better once Sho grew up. That once he became a man he would be…well not a totally different person but at least someone he could deal with. Someone who could rule the world after he either died or became incapacitated. Those hopes had been dashed, of course, though he still couldn't wait for Sho to grow up already. Then he could go on to be someone else's problem.

Anyone else's problem, he didn't care who's.

"I mean it's not just you, it's…it's anyone. I don't know. I don't like…I don't like how it feels like…like I'm not allowed to grow up. It feels like everyone wants me to stay a kid forever but also they talk about how I'm an adult and…and it's like I don't know which one I am…and it's just weird when you talk about it, too." Said Shigeko. Suzuki needed a moment, so he took it. In that moment Shigeko beat the eggs with her telekinesis. She added cheese as well. The rest of the ingredients would go in later. That…was not his concern. He had to think about…about what she had said. It made no sense. The fact of the matter was that she was a woman. There was no getting away from that and no reason for her to wish to remain a child…and she hadn't done anything wrong by growing up. He had no idea how she could have ever felt that way. Growing up was nature's way. It was neither right nor wrong, it simply was. She made no sense…

But also she did.

She was twelve, nearly thirteen. He had never been female but he had been her age once. It was the worst. Thirteen had been the worst year of his life. The onset of puberty, the beginning of middle school, the fact that he had wanted nothing more than to have a girlfriend but women, they had been girls back then, hated him. He'd had so little autonomy in his life, mother and father had controlled everything. He'd also had Tadashi following him around and it had been so annoying…no. He hadn't been annoyed he'd simply been feelings things for Tadashi that had taken him thirty years to puzzle out. Even last year, even after crossing that line with Tadashi, he could still count thirteen as being the worst year of his life.

But it shouldn't have been the same for her…it made no sense.

"It makes no sense." Said Suzuki. Shigeko looked up from what she had been doing. She had been adding some green pepper and onion to the omelet in the pan. He caught the ingredients as they fell in every direction. Her powers.

"Dad, we've been over this before. Omelets can have other ingredients besides cheese and ketchup." Said Shigeko

"Yes, we've argued about that before. That is not what I'm referring to. I know that you're at a difficult age right now, I was once your age too, but I have no idea why you feel the way you do. When I was your age I was beholden, completely, to both of my parents. I had no say in what I wore, when I went to sleep, when I woke up, how I wore my hair, how I went to school…my parents, your grandparents, could be somewhat…controlling, I suppose. I have made it a point to give you all the freedom in the world in the hopes that you would grow into someone more….that your life would be better than mine, easier, I suppose. I have given you all the freedom in the world. I allow you to do…the things you do. You're a woman and I treat you as such and I don't know why you feel…the way you do." Said Suzuki. He looked away from her. She kept her eyes on him, he could feel them, her eyes and her aura. The next thing he knew a hand was in his.

"Dad…please don't feel bad. I don't want….the last thing that I want to do is to make you feel bad. I love you, Dad, and….and I guess I don't feel weird. I mean…I like how you let me do whatever I want but it just makes me feel weird when you call me a woman. That's all. I love you Dad but…but sometimes I just wish that things were the way they were before." Said Shigeko

"Before when? You have to be specific." Said Suzuki

"Back when…when I was Daughter. When you loved me." Said Shigeko. He had no idea what was the matter with his children. Why they thought that he didn't love them…well, alright, Mukai had every reason in the world to doubt his love for her. He had given her up after all. She must have had some memory of it, she was constantly asking to go to Busan…to go home. Sho….well Sho was correct. He didn't love Sho, but he didn't hate him either. Sho was simply his first attempt at having a son, that was all, practice. For every single mistake he'd made with Sho he knew that he was going to do better, to be better, for Tetsuro. He knew what not to do now. Shigeko…he had made some mistakes along the way with her…but he had no idea what mistakes those had been. He still loved her, despite the person that she'd become, despite the headache that she'd become….

He loved her and he would continue to love her no matter what…and he knew that there would be a lot of 'what' coming as the years went by….

"I still love you. Don't be ridiculous." Said Suzuki. He wondered if this would have been an appropriate time to roll his eyes. He knew that the gesture was juvenile but he was feeling juvenile. It was just so…the entire thing was so childish. Her thinking that he didn't love her. That was so very…adolescent, of her…he wasn't ready for her to become an adolescent.

He wasn't ready for all of this….for any of this.

"But…but you called Mukai 'Daughter'….and you used to call me that." Said Shigeko softly.

"And?" asked Suzuki. He called a lot of people a lot of things. He saw no significance. She was his Daughter and she was still young enough that he could care for her, spend time with her, enjoy her company. She was Daughter and Shigeko….well she was herself.

"It just…it feels like you like her more." Said Shigeko

"I do." Said Suzuki simply.

"But…" said Shigeko. The pan jumped. He held it down. Honestly. She didn't want to be twelve, that was fine, but she didn't have to act like she was two.

"Control your powers. I like her better than you but that doesn't mean that I don't love you. Don't be ridiculous." Said Suzuki

"But…I don't understand." Said Shigeko

"What is there to understand? I love you both but I like her better. She's easier to be around. I love you, Shigeko, but you're not a child anymore. You've become a more complex person than I had ever imagined. You….whether you want to admit it or not you're a woman and women have always been very…difficult for me to understand. I love you but I don't always like you. The things you do, the way you carry on, the clothing you wear, the company you…keep. You aren't a child anymore, you're beyond my command, and…and I accept that." Said Suzuki

"Oh….ok, I guess….I mean….ok." said Shigeko

"That omelet is done. Here, allow me." Said Suzuki. He reached out with his powers, much more carefully this time, and put it onto a plate. The whole time Shigeko stared down at her feet. He glanced down, too, and saw nothing of interest. Her aura was pulled in. She eventually crossed her arms around her chest.

He let her.

She was being defensive, feeling defensive, and he…he was not going to press the issue. She was herself, that was all. She was herself and he couldn't understand her, had never been able to understand her, but that was…but that normal. He had never been able to understand women and now she was a woman. But he still loved her. He would always love her. Even if he couldn't understand her all the time.

He was well aware of the fact that he wouldn't be able to always understand her…but that was normal when it came to people.