Dad had missed Children's Day.
Today. May Fifth. Children's Day. He had missed it. How could he have forgotten? It was the most important day of Golden Week, Who knew what the other days were even about? Greenery? The Constitution? The Emperors Birthday? Who cared!? The most important day of all was Children's Day. Dad should have known that, he had three children.
One of them was still an actual child.
"Shigeko?" asked Mukai as she tugged on Mob's skirt. Mob looked up from her phone. She had been staring at her messenger app. She knew that she needed to tell Dad something but she had no idea what. She wanted to beg him to come back. She wanted to shout at him to come back. She wanted to ask him what he thought that he was doing. She wanted…her stomach hurt. Her stomach hurt, she felt gross, and Dad had run away from her…
From home.
She had checked. There was nothing at all going on in Osaka. The big spirit thing had left, the businesses there ran themselves, and it was hot. Dad hated the heat. Dad had no reason to be there. Dad…he should have been here, at home, with his family….with Mukai. She was the one who wanted Dad back. Sho didn't want Dad to come back and Mob…she didn't know what she wanted.
She loved Dad but Dad…he didn't love her anymore. Not as much.
"Hey Mukai, you want to play games on my phone?" asked Mob. Mukai shook her head and looked down. Even her braids were dropping. Her face, her braids, her aura…everything about her was all droopy and sad. She never should have been sad. She was Mukai.
"No…." said Mukai softly. She sniffled. She was either sad or had a running nose. Mob would have believed either.
"You want me to go and find Sho for you?" asked Mob
"No…Sho's over there….finding ham-ham." Said Mukai
"Oh…do you want me to find the hamster with you?" asked Mob
"No….I don't want you!" said Mukai. She pushed Mob as hard as she could. She wasn't that strong, too, really her nails had felt worse…but her words were the worst of all.
"That's…ok." Said Mob. Mukai was little and she didn't know what she was saying. That was ok. Mob was bigger and she had to be nice to her sister…even if her sister had taken…a lot of things from her.
"I want…where's Caterpillars!?" asked Mukai. She pushed Mob again. Mob let her. She didn't want them to fight. She didn't want to hurt Mukai's feelings…Dad had done a good enough job of that.
"He's…away…" said Mob. Mukai didn't even know where she was, she couldn't read a map yet, so telling her that Dad was in Osaka would have just confused…and telling her that Dad had chosen someone or something else over her….it would have hurt her. Mob knew fully well just how much it hurt when Dad replaced you.
"Where is he!?" asked Mukai
"He's-" said Mob. She didn't know how he was supposed to explain all of this. That Dad was the sort of person who said that he loved you one day, someone who smothered you, but then he just left. He just got tired of you. You did something he didn't like and then he was done with you and….and there was nothing that you could do….
Mob had no idea what she was supposed to do.
Mukai wouldn't understand. Dad was weird and complicated. Even Mob couldn't understand him. He had loved her so much, at least he had said so, and now he loved her less…or maybe even not at all. He had said that he loved her but that was the 'Dad' version of love. Mukai was too little to fully understand Dad and how love worked…
Mob didn't even fully understand and she was nine and a half years older than her.
"If you give her a poptart she'll be quiet." Said Sho as he walked into the kitchen. Mob got up…just in time to be hit in the head with a box of poptarts. Double chocolate with a vanilla swirl. The strawberry ones were the best, she wished that Sho would have ate those. They were healthier because they had strawberries in them. Not that she got to tell Sho what was and was not healthy for him to eat. She wasn't even supposed to be talking to him at all.
Her own little brother.
"Oh…um…Tsuchiya doesn't want her to have a lot of sugar." Said Mob. Sho rolled his eyes and took the box from her. Mukai was doing that thing where she held her hands up and jumped up and down. Mukai didn't need anymore sugar, Tsuchiya had said so…well Mob would have wanted to give Mukai the poptart…but then the conversation would have been over. The fight.
Fukuda had told her that she wasn't supposed to talk to Sho anymore…but he hadn't said anything about fighting.
"So? She's not around. She and Shibata are too busy doing it to care." Said Sho as he opened up a poptart. Mob didn't mind the poptart as much as she minded…THAT! As much as she minded the fact that he little brother not only knew about that kind of stuff but also…also he just came out and SAID it!
"Little brother!" shouted Mob as she put her hands over Mukai's ears. She couldn't know about that kind of stuff! She was way too little!
"What? It's true, you know it's true." Said Sho with a shrug.
"I…I know…but she doesn't. She's only three, she doesn't need to know about stuff." Said Mob. She kept her hands over Mukai's ears. She was squirming and trying to get away.
"I can hear you! I can hear you right now! Over here!" said Mukai as she got away. Sho laughed and handed her a poptart. She took it, put it down the front of her overalls, and reached for the rest of the box.
"Sho…." said Mob. She didn't know which was worse, what Sho had said or the stomachache that Mukai was going to have later. She wasn't supposed to have so much sugar at once…and she wasn't supposed to know about that kind of stuff. She was better off not knowing. Once you knew about stuff then you thought about stuff and then when you thought about stuff then…then when you grew up you did stuff. Mukai was so little and happy all the time…she didn't want Mukai to know what it felt like to get your heart broken. Sho wasn't supposed to know either. He was still too little….this may have been the same age right now but he had still been born second.
"What? She was sad and now she's happy. She got poptarts now and she might be getting another brother or sister, too." Said Sho
"Brother! Sister! Brother! Sister!" said Mukai as she ran out of the room. The poptart fell out of her overalls…Mob would clean it up later.
"Do you…." Said Mob. Was it ok ask him questions? Or was she not allowed to talk to him at all. She wished that it hadn't been today, that it had been some other day in the past, that she…that she had just been allowed to be near her little brother. That she had been allowed to be his friend…or at least his big sister.
"Do I what?" asked Sho
"Do you think it's true? Do you really think that Shibata and Tsuchiya are going to have a baby?" asked Mob
"That's what happens when you do it, isn't it? You have a baby….you'd know." Said Sho. She didn't like the way he'd said that…or maybe she just didn't like that he'd said it at all. She knew what he thought about her and Shimazaki, the same thing that everyone thought about her and Shimazaki. Part of her wanted to get it out of the way, at least then people would be thinking something true, but the rest of her knew better. It was….just a lot…and not something that she wanted to talk to her little brother about!
Maybe she was just being clueless.
That would have made sense, if she was just being her old clueless self. Her little brother would never have said anything so mean. Sure he could be mean, he was half of Dad after all, but he was also a lot nicer than him. Sho was nice and…and ok, he wasn't always nice to her but…but she did kind of deserve it since she was with the boy he used to like but…but….
She knew Sho and she knew herself.
"I….we both know where babies come from." Said Mob. That must have been it. They both knew where babies came from and….and that was all that it could be. She held her stomach. She didn't know if it was her feelings that were making her stomach hurt or just the fact that her body hated her right now.
"Yeah, whatever, just move. I have to find Sunflower Seed the Second? He got out of his ball and I have to find him before he dies." Said Sho
"I haven't seen him…but I can help you look. If you want." Said Mob
"Why would I want your help?" asked Sho
"Because you love me." Said Mob. He still loved her…right? She didn't know what she would have done if he'd stopped. She'd had so many people stop loving her over the years. Mom. Fukuda. Dad. Minegishi for a little bit….it always hurt. She didn't know if she would have been able to move past it if Sho didn't love her anymore. Mom…her leaving had hurt but it had been years now so the hurt was mostly past. Dad still sort of loved her. Fukuda had turned into the biggest jerk that she had ever met in her life. Minegishi…had been mad at her but things were ok now. Sho…he was her first friend, the only person who she had known for her whole life, and he was her little brother…
She knew if he had stopped loving her
"Yeah, I love you. I just don't need your help." Said Sho
"Ok…" said Mob. Sho loved her…even if it didn't always seem like he did he still loved her….it didn't make her feel any better.
"Oh my God, what? What are you so sad about? What do you have to be sad about?" asked Sho. He pointed at her when he said that, getting very close to poking her. She didn't mind. At least he was talking to her.
"I…I don't know. I guess because Mukai was upset." Said Mob. She couldn't tell him why she was sad. She didn't even fully know. Maybe because Dad was gone and Mukai was sad or that she'd been replaced or because she couldn't be friends with her brother or maybe just because her body hated her right now. None of those things, aside from the Mukai thing, were things that she could have discussed with her little brother.
"She's just upset because Dad's been gone for a while. It's a good thing. She needs to get used to being hurt by him. We did…well I did." Said Sho
"I…I know too. Dad doesn't like me anymore." Said Mob. She knew what it was like to be Sho….sort of. At least Dad didn't hit her…well he hadn't hit Sho in a while either. So now she and Sho were the same…or at least she had thought that they were. Sho was making his mad face, no, and he'd kicked the chair in front of him.
"Don't be an asshole, you know Dad likes you. He's been a dick hole to you but he loves you. You…you don't know what it's like. Dad's always liked you." Said Sho. He didn't kick the chair again…or her…she wasn't going to say that again. She just….she had sounded dumb. She had messed up. Now she just…she had to figure out how she was going to put things right.
"He doesn't….I mean…he's not here. He missed Children's Day." Said Mob. She sounded dumb. She had never sounded as dumb in her entire life as she had right then. Dad didn't care about Children's Day. Dad didn't care about any holiday. Sho didn't care about Dad, either. The only people who cared were her and Mukai…but she couldn't talk to Mukai about this. She was only three, she wouldn't have been able to understand. She couldn't talk to Minegishi, either, because they would have just said 'f-word Dad'. Shimazaki wasn't around and Serizawa…well it was mean for her to complain about her Dad when Serizawa couldn't even remember his. She didn't have anyone she could talk to. The only one who might have understood was Sho…
But even if she had been allowed to talk to him…even if Fukuda hadn't been blackmailing her…it wouldn't have gone well.
"So? We never do anything on Children's Day besides hang streamers." Said Sho. He pointed to the streamers on the table…the ones that she should have hung…the ones that they should have hung together. If they had been little then they would have hung them together but…but they weren't little anymore…
"I know…" said Mob
"Then go and hang some streamers or something and let me look. Ok?" asked Sho. She knew that look, the look on his face and his aura. He was mad. She had made him mad…that was the last thing that she had wanted to do…btu she had done it and now she had to make it right.
"Ok." Said Mob. She didn't want to fight with him. Sure if they were fighting then they were talking but if that was what it took to be able to talk to her little brother then it wasn't worth it. She didn't want to hurt him. She didn't want to be hurt. She just wanted her little brother back.
But that wasn't going to happen.
Mob pulled out her phone and walked into the living room. There was something under her feet…a lot of somethings. It felt like sand. Whatever it was she would deal with it later. Right now she had a lot of staring to do. She stared at her messages. The last message she'd gotten from Dad was months ago…and he had only told her to make him an omelet when he got home. That was it. If he decided to run away to Osaka then this was all that she would have had left of her Dad.
Well him and her little brother and sister of course.
Mob shook her head. What was Dad thinking? It was one thing to be mean to her and Sho but Mukai was little. Dad…he must have been working. She remembered what she'd heard, the lady on the phone, the mysterious lady…but it must have been for work. What else could it have been? Sure she had called him Touichi and that was weird but this was Claw, it was nothing but weird people. Mob sat down on the couch and crossed her legs. Yeah…it was a work thing and…and that was normal. He had things to do and so did she.
Like taking care of Mukai and Sho…but mostly Mukai at this point.
"Here, this for you." Said Mukai as she handed Mob a piece of poptart. It had been chewed on a little but Mob still took in anyway. She had only had the box for a few minutes but she had managed to cover the whole living room in crumbs. Mob would clean that up later…at least it would give her something to do. Serizawa was taking a nap and Minegishi and Shimazaki were out someplace. She was here all alone with her brother and sister…and she couldn't even play with them….
Life was so unfair.
"Thanks. I…it's really good. I'll eat it later." Said Mob
"No, eat it now!" shouted Mukai
"Ok…um….ok." said Mob. She didn't want to eat this. It was wet with something, probably Mukai's spit, and it had hair on it. She tried taking a pretend bite but Mukai slapped her on the arm. Right…she was going to have to take a real bite. She brushed the hair off and bit into it…it was terrible. It was just as terrible as she'd imagined but…but she had to keep on chewing. It took her a few seconds to chew and swallow, the longest seconds of her life, but she did it. That was what you did when you loved someone, when you were their big sister. You made them happy. You did whatever you possibly could to make them happy.
Even eat gross stuff.
"That was very good, thank you Little Sister." Said Mob. Mukai reached down and picked up another poptart piece…Mob braced herself. Another piece was put into her hand. Mukai wasn't done. She picked up another big piece…Mob didn't think that she could keep two more pieces down. She was about to use her powers to break it up really small, so small that it was dust, but instead of handing it to Mob Mukai just put it down next to her. Then she did it one more time. Now there were two pieces next to her and one in her hand.
Three.
"Did you pick up three because you're three?" asked Mob
"That for you, that for Sho, that for Caterpillars." Said Mukai. She sniffled again and looked down at the pieces on the couch. Mob ate her piece, at least this one wasn't wet. She ate it but it didn't help Mukai at all. She just took her arm and swept all the pieces off the couch at once.
It wasn't fair.
"Mukai, how about we give Sho a whole poptart and give Dad none at all, ok? Because you know he doesn't like chocolate-" said Mob
"No! No Caterpillars….no Dad. Where's Dad?" asked Mukai. Mob opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. She had no idea what she was supposed to say. 'Dad is in Osaka with some weird lady doing work stuff'? No, Mukai wouldn't have understood….Mob didn't even understand. She didn't know why Dad hurt the people she loved. She didn't know why Dad just…why he left…
Why he had left Mukai again.
Mukai was the person who mattered here. She was the littlest and she was the saddest and…and Mob was the big sister. She was supposed to take care of her little sister. She was supposed to make things better for her little sister. She was the one in charge of this family and….and she was going to make this right. Life was unfair, it hurt in ways that were hard to imagine, but Mukai didn't need to know that yet. She was still so little…too little to learn that lesson….
And even if she hadn't been Mob would never have let Dad teach it to her.
"He's gone but he's coming back. Don't worry, Mukai, I'll bring Dad back to you…I won't let him treat you like this."