Mob had never been on a date before, let alone a date with another girl.
She liked…well she liked people. She had never cared if someone was a boy or a girl, she just liked them. It had never been weird to her, she had been in love with Tsubomi since she was five. It had just always been a part of her life. She was Mob, she was fifteen, and she liked everyone. She had never been on a date with anyone, anyone at all, before.
She hoped she got this right.
"This isn't right." Said Mob as she spun. She didn't like this dress. She had liked it on the rack, she had liked it when Mom said that she could have it, and she had liked it when she hung it in her closet. But now that she wore it…it was too…too everyone. The cat on the front was too babyish. The pink was too bright. It hit her right at the knees. It was too long and too short at the same time. You were supposed to dress up for a date.
She at least knew that.
She took her dress off and tossed it onto the floor. She knew what mom would say, the floor was not a hamper. Mom would have come right in, picked her dress up, and told her that if she wasn't going to treat her clothes right then she didn't get nice clothes anymore. Mom could be kind of strict like that. Mob picked up her dress with her powers and hung it back up.
But now she needed something to wear.
She hated all of her clothes. She didn't know how this had happened but she had come to hate everything in her wardrobe. Everything was too…too babyish. But she wasn't a baby anymore. Someone needed to tell Mom that. Everything she owned came from Costco or Togs for Tots or the children's section at the big department store. She didn't know why Mom thought that she was still a little kid. She didn't know how to make her Mom, and everyone else, not see her as a little kid anymore. Kumagawa was probably going to take one look at her and think-
-well probably nothing good since Mob was in her underwear.
She grabbed the first thing she got her hands on. A pink dress with a cat on the back. A cat on the back was better than one on the front, she decided, because not a lot of people looked at her back. Also anything would have been better than being in her underwear. Nobody had ever seen her this undressed…well besides all the girls in her class…but changing or gym was different. Nobody looked when you changed for gym, even girls like her who liked other girls…especially girls like her who liked other girls.
She was never going to be able to look Tsubomi in the eye ever again.
She had risked a glance, just one, back when she had been trying to figure herself out. Back before Kumagawa had ever come to her school. She had just wanted to see…well she didn't even want to think about what she had wanted to see….but she had seen it. She'd seen it and then she'd had to spend the rest of the day hiding in the nurse's office. She hadn't been able to bear facing anyone, it was like everyone knew, and…well after that she had completely figured herself out…but she wished that it had been in a less weird way.
Mob could be really weird sometimes.
Like now. She knew she had liked her clothes two seconds ago and she knew that she had no reason to dislike them now. If Kumagawa disliked her just because of what she was wearing then, of course, it wasn't going to be anything close to true love. The true kind of love was the kind that could survive anything. Fires, floods, plagues, explosions, crazy people trying to take over the world, giant broccoli plants, spoiled milk-
-nosy little brothers.
"Sister, can I talk to you?" asked Ritsu. He was allergic to knocking, most people in her family were. Mom and Dad always did that thing where you knocked and opened the door at the same time. There was no point in even knocking if you were going to do that, in Mob's opinion, and Ritsu hadn't even been knocking. He had just walked in and started talking!
She loved him but…but still!
"You can but I wish you would have knocked first." Said Mob
"I did knock." Said Ritsu
"You should have waited for me to say 'come in' or 'enter' or…or anything! Well not 'go away' since that would have meant something totally different but….but I could have been naked in here!" said Mob. Ritsu closed his eyes…well after the point where it would have made any difference. Being walked in on by her little brother…that was even worse than getting walked in on by your parents! And she didn't want that to happen either!
"Sorry! Sorry, I didn't realize-" said Ritsu
"It's alright, I'm wearing clothes…but next time don't let yourself in unless it's really important, ok? Like the time I let myself into your room but that was only to tell you that Mom and Dad were home?" asked Mob. Ritsu turned red, now. Mob didn't like remembering that, nobody wanted to see their little brother kissing his boyfriend…or anyone for that matter, but maybe now Ritsu would think about how she felt before he just let himself into her bedroom.
"That….um…thank you for that…"said Ritsu
"You're welcome." Said Mob
"But I did have something important to tell you." Said Ritsu
"What happened?" asked Mob, a million ideas running through her head. All of them were terrible. Ritsu was hurt. He was dying. He was running away from home. He was getting fired from the student council. Sho broke up with him…that one was the worst of all. Sho had better not have broken up with Ritsu. Mob disliked fighting….but she disliked people to played with her little brother's heart even more.
"Nothing happened. I'm just…worried." Said Ritsu
"What are you worried about? If you're worried that Sho's going to break up with you I can find him and make him spend the rest of his life with you. I mean I'd make him marry you if I could but you're too little to get married and also you're both boys. I think that rule is really unfair but there's nothing that I can do. I'm too young to vote. Maybe I can ask other people to-" said Mob
"No, no, no. Sho isn't going to break up with me, he'd never do that to me. I'm not worried about that, I'm worried about you." Said Ritsu
"Me? Why?" asked Mob
"Because….because I know how people can be." Said Ritsu
"Really nice?" asked Mob
"No, I mean I know how mean people can be….and I don't want to see you get hurt." Said Ritsu
"I'm not going to get hurt, nobody's made fun of me for a while, so you don't have to worry…or start another big cleanup. The last one…was not so good." Said Mob
"No, no, I'm done with that. I was just…I don't want you to get hurt. This girl….sometimes people say that they like you but-" said Ritsu
"Why would someone do something like that?" asked Mob
"….I don't know. Because they're mean? Or because they're afraid of what other people will think? Or because they don't even know who they are yet and-" said Ritsu
"Well Kumagawa isn't like that. I don't know anyone like that and if you know someone mean like that then you shouldn't spend time with that person anymore. They aren't good for you." Said Mob
"Yeah, he and I….this isn't about me, this is about you. You're really nice and when you're nice people-
said Ritsu
"Ritsu, stop worrying about me. I'm the big sister, you're the little brother. I'm supposed to worry about you…and I kind of am, now." Said Mob. What sort of big sister had she been, letting someone mean get near her little brother. No wonder Ritsu saw meanness around every corner. She was going to have to do something to make him feel better. She was going to have to…well she would think of it later. Right now, in this moment, Ritsu needed her and she would always be there for her little brother. Always.
"Don't worry about me. Just…if she turns out to be jerk or she tries anything with you just promise you'll tell me." Said Ritsu
"She isn't like that." Said Mob. She was a really nice person, even after everything that she'd been through. Being with all of those mean people, the personalities in her head, killing those people….the killing part was the worst. Mob had hurt people before, on accident, but she had never killed anyone. Master Reigen said that once someone went down that road it was hard to come back…but Mob didn't mind. Not so much. She wanted to change, she was serious about that, and if she was serious then Mob…well then Mob was serious about her.
"You don't know-" said Ritsu
"Yes, I do. She isn't like that, alright? Now Ritsu, I love you, but right now I'm getting kind of….not happy with you. It's good that you care about me, I care about you too, but I can run my own life…alright? I can run my own life and right now I have a date to get ready for…so please just let me get ready. If I need your help then I'll ask for it." Said Mob
"But-" said Ritsu. Mob didn't want to hear any thing else. She loved her little brother more than anyone else in the world…but sometimes he could be a little much. Like now. Mob didn't want to be mean but she didn't want to stand there and argue all night. She had to be gentle, but firm, with Ritsu and tell him that she was the older sibling and she could pick her own girlfriends. It would be a long and hard conversation but it was one that they'd have to have.
But later, not now.
"Shigeko! Your….friend…is here!" shouted Mom up the stairs. Mom's voice had never sounded better. She didn't like how Mom still wouldn't call Kumagawa her girlfriend but she also still wouldn't call Sho Ritsu's boyfriend so they were even. She'd tell Mom again, though, later…or now.
She had to go now. Right now.
"Sister, I-" said Ritsu
"I have to go now, ok? Bye Ritsu, I love you." Said Mob. She gave him a hug before she made her way down the stairs. She should have changed, or may be changed back, Or maybe just run out the window into the store. Maybe she should have just bought a new dress entirely, or an entirely new wardrobe, and then... Well then she would have missed her entire date, so that was a big no. She was going to have to make do with the dress she was wearing. At least the cat was on the back, which was better than being on the front, though. No cat at all would have been good. But she did like cats... But close with cats on them were babyish. She was not a baby, She was in middle school, and she was going on a date with her real, actual girlfriend.
She had a girlfriend.
She had someone who she liked and who liked her in return. Maybe it wasn't about clothes then. That wasn't how love worked. If this was the real and true kind of love. She could have been wearing a potato sack or a garbage bag, or her school uniform and nothing would have mattered. Of course, that sounded like something out of the TV. Ritsu had been right about people being mean sometimes…but Kumagawa had never been mean to her before…but what if she showed up in a…a wedding dress or a ballgown or…or a dress made out of flowers or-
Or no dress at all.
She was wearing boy's clothes. She wore boy's clothes a lot, but...this was a date. You had to dress up on a date, It was one of the rules, and Mob wasn't going to be mean about it...but still. She was so pretty, she didn't have to dress like a boy. Boys close were the most boring clothes of all. She didn't know how they could stand to dress like that. Well not Teru, he always dressed well….but she wasn't dressed like Teru. She was dressed like…like Ritsu, if anything. A plain white shirt and plain black pants….
No. This simply would not do at all.
"「Sorry if I am late, I had to deal with some, things, I promise it wasn't violent~」"
Despite Kumagawa being more 'Reformed' than the first time they met, she still has a habit to teasing and being very carefree, it was who she was, when she's still smiling that is, it was hard to change something like that
"... Why are you wearing that to our date?"
Mob will deal with Kumagawa's messing around later, right now she had more important things to focus on, like her girlfriend's choice of clothing
"「What? You think I should've wore short instead? It is a bit of a hot day...」"
Kumagawa rubs her chin and thinks about ripping her pants and turn them into shorts, Mob couldn't help but sigh, despite how much she loved her, she was still a weird person, which could be cute, but not when they were supposed to be on a date
"We're going to my room…" said Mob. She felt like she had a little Teru sitting on her shoulder. He was always worried about clothes…well clothes were important.
"「Gasps, but our date didn't even start yet~」"
Usually such a comment would've made Mob blush in embarrassment, but when it come from Kumagawa, who was always acting like an innocent prevent, it didn't faze her, she grabbed her hand and starts dragging her away, Kumagawa couldn't help but smile softly, she loved it when they hold hands, back in her past, everyone who tried to hold her hand would always prefer to kill themselves instead of touching her… And a few did, but not Mob, she held it with such a firm yet soft touch, it made her heart warm and blush softly.
"I know it hasn't started yet but I still think that it's important to get dressed up for dates…not to be mean or anything. I just…I was really worried about how I looked and you look…you look nice but I just…I think that maybe I like giving makeovers. I don't know. I've never had any friends who are girls or…or girlfriends….." said Mob before she started walking. She hadn't meant to be rude, about any of it, but…but it just kept on coming out as being rude. She was so clueless sometimes…all the times…
Maybe her first date would be her last.
She would have deserved it. Of course she had messed it up, she messed everything up. That was just the sort of person that she was. She was clueless and…and Kumagawa didn't need someone like Mob in her life if she was going to be like this. Maybe she just….maybe it was because the picture in her head didn't match the picture in life…she had always imagined her first date being….being different….
She had always imagined there being a boy involved.
Mob had always liked boys... mostly. It had taken her fourteen years to realize that other people that had think about girls the way she did. It was normal for a girl to notice how pretty and other girls clothes were, or how nicely she had done her hair or makeup, but it wasn't normal for one girl. To look at another girl's lips and think about how she wanted to kiss that girl. It wasn't normal to look at another girl's eyes and get lost in them. It wasn't normal to look at another girl's hand, unless you were admiring her manicure, and think about holding it. MOB had never felt this way about another girl before... and the picture just wasn't lining up in her head... when she did think about another girl, a girlfriend, She thought about someone… who dressed like a girl.
Was it wrong to try and change someone?
Yes. Yes it was. Every step up to Mob's room felt heavier and heavier, steeper and steeper, like she was walking up some massive stone staircase in a castle or something. Like there was a dragon at the top waiting to eat her, but there was no dragon, only the one she had made herself. She was the one who had messed up. Now she had two options, She could either admit she was wrong and embarrassed herself, or keep going. She didn't know which was worse, her girlfriend thinking that she was rude, or her girlfriend thinking that she was clueless. Everyone had always thought that she was clueless... It had been that way since forever...
Mom was tired of it.
So she kept going. She took the stairs up to her room, one by one, until she was there. Three doors down. Mom and Dad's room, Ritsu's room, and then herself 'why don't they just get out of the house? She felt…all of her feelings….she felt all of her feelings…and Kumagawa was probably feeling all of her feelings too. Mob had no idea what her girlfriend's feelings were. She had no idea what she could even do….she had messed up….
But when you messed up you had to own up to it, didn't you?
Mom knew that this was going to be a good date. It had gotten off to a rocky start, but it was going to be good now, She just knew it. And not just because her girlfriend was wearing her dress. She had always hated that dress, but her girlfriend looked good in it, but her girlfriend also looked good in her normal clothes. Mob was just overthinking it. It didn't matter what you wore, what you did, or where you went. A date was only as good as the people who were in it. A date was only as good as the love you shared. And she knew she loved her girlfriend.
Mom had never imagined herself going on a date before, especially not one with another girl, But this…it felt good. Right. Perfect.
Just like Kumagawa
"「Er, are you sure, I mean, I'm pretty sure whatever I wear or whatever make up I put on, I'll always be ugly, unlike you, who will always be more beautiful than a Good Loser like me~」"
Mob felt a buzzing in her head…right, her girlfriend could hear her thoughts. She blushed and looked down at her feet…and Kumagawa's as well. She was wearing boy's gym shoes…she looked up…..boy's uniform pants…and a boy's white shirt. She looked…she looked so….Mob didn't know why she was thinking these thoughts. She was the worst. She was the worst girlfriend in the world and she wasn't pretty enough to be talking about how other people dressed and-and she was downright ugly and-and-and-
-and she had said that she was ugly too….but she kept on smiling….Mob could hear something in her brain…it was like Kumagawa was whispering in her ear….but her smile…it still stayed on…as if she was proud to be known as unworthy and useless, this was enough to snap Mob out of it and glare at her girlfriend.
"Kumagawa, no! How many times do I have to tell you this?! You're amazing and beautiful and sweet and-and-and the thoughts that you're having in your head were but there by your master…and not in a good way! When Master Reigen tells me things about myself they're good and they make me happy and…and your master was wrong! I mean your mistress! I mean-mean-I mean I'm the one who messed up here and you…you're perfect and I'm….I'm terrible!" cried Mob. She didn't know why she had thought such terrible things…her girlfriend had enough terrible things going on in her head as it was!
"...「You're so sexy when you get mad like that~」"
Kumagawa leaned in and…and kissed her. It was like she was teasing at first, dancing her lips around Mob's, but soon they melted right into each other like chocolate into milk.
Best. Date. Ever.