Dad was going away soon.

Dad went on trips all the time. He had to go on trips for his work, though Mob wasn't sure what that work was, but she knew that it took him away from her and mom and Sho for weeks and weeks. She had no idea what, exactly, it was that he did but she did know that whatever it was he couldn't do it in Japan. He was going to a country called Brazil, now, and Google maps said that it was on the other side of the world. It was across the Pacific Ocean, not the 'specific ocean' like Sho had called it, and that was a long trip. Dad was taking a plane and he would be gone for a while.

Mob was going to miss him.

"Come on, Daughter, I know you're stronger than this." said Dad. Dad was trying to see if she could move him. She couldn't. The strongest that she had ever been was…well when she got upset and moved the whole castle, but the heaviest thing that thing that she could move on purpose was Sho. Besides, dad wasn't even letting him move her, he was pushing her away every time she tried to push him. Not that she wanted to push him or anything, no, she wasn't mad at him at all and even if she was she wouldn't ever push him.

Mom was mad at him, though, for some reason.

Sho thought that she was mad, anyway. Mom was in her bed and wouldn't get up. She said that she wasn't feeling well but Sho said that, based on how she was talking, she was mad about something. Dad had let them make their own breakfast, though, even though mom said that they were too little to pour their own cereal and milk and juice. Dad said that they were old enough, which was good, but Mob had still used her powers because the cereal was up high and the milk and juice were heavy.

Dad said that her control was impressive.

But now he wasn't impressed. He wasn't impressed because she wasn't as strong as he was. That made sense, he was a lot bigger than her, and also a lot older, but she still had to impress him. She was his daughter and he was always saying how no child of his would be a failure or weak or a disappointment or a lot of other not so nice words.

"You're too big." Said Mob. She wanted to stomp her foot and shout but she didn't. Even though it felt like they had been in the yard for hours. Even though it was cold outside and her legs were shaky because she didn't have tights on, just long socks, and her skirt wasn't that long. She wanted to go inside and play something else. She wanted everyone to play together, her and mom and dad and Sho because dad was going to be leaving really soon.

But mom was laying down and Sho was hiding under his bed with his animals because dad punished him again that morning.

So it was just Mob and dad together before he left.

"Maybe. Or maybe you're just not trying hard enough." Said dad. Mob didn't think that it was a fair thing for him to say. She was little and he was big, of course he would be stronger than her.

"I am, I'm just little. You're a lot bigger than me." Said Mob trying to sound calm, like he did. She kept her aura still and quiet. That was what dad called their colors, their auras. She had one, Dad had one, Fukuda had one, and she might have seen Sho's once. She might have just been imagining things, though, because she wished really hard that Sho had powers like she did. Sometimes when you wished for something hard enough you thought that it came true. Like when she wished really hard for a little sister and then she thought that mom's stomach was getting bigger, babies came from mom's stomachs, but mom was just wearing baggy clothes. The baby factory was closed, mom had said, and while Mob had no idea what the connection between the baby factory and mom's stomach was she knew that if it was closed then there would be no little sister for her.

"That has nothing to do with your abilities. If this were a contest of brute force I would win but our abilities have nothing to do with age. If age had anything at all to do with this then you would not be at the level you are." Said Dad

"I'm stronger than all the other kids?" asked Mob. That was what it sounded like. She had never met another kid with powers but there must have been others. Right? Because all adults used to be kids, even moms and dads, so there must have been kids in the world with powers. Dad had gone all over the world. Maybe he had met some. Maybe Mob wasn't' so alone.

She felt alone, sometimes, even though she had a mom and a little brother.

"You are the strongest esper of your age that I have ever known. The only exception being myself. You are my child and you should be strong enough to at least break through my barrier. Come now, I'm not even trying." Said Dad

"I don't think that I can." Said Mob

"Don't think, Daughter, try." Said Dad. He never called her by her name. Not Mob or Shigeko. She wondered if it meant that he was mad at her or happy with her. His colors, his aura, gave nothing away. She wondered why she was Daughter but Sho was usually Boy. Sometimes he was son, occasionally dad called them by their names even, but usually she was Daughter and Sho was Boy and mom was Masami. That was her actual name, Masami. Dad's was…Touichirou…and she shouldn't have had to wrack her brain for that information. Touichirou, or Touichi when mom and dad were jumping on the bed. It was unfair of mom and dad to be able to jump on their bed but she and Sho weren't allowed to.

"I can do lots of other things, though. I can read and write Hiranga better than all the other kids in class and I'm the only kid in my whole school, the preschool and the kindergarten, who can write with kanji. I mean I don't know a lot of kanji but I know more than all of the other kids. I can…I know how to tie my shoes with and without my powers and…and…and I can beat Sho at Go and Chinese checkers and go fish…and I can-" said Mob

"Those things aren't special." Said Dad. Mob saw her colors, her aura, move. She tried to make it stop but she couldn't. The tree behind her began to shake and a bunch of leaves, what few leaves were left, fell down on her. She reached up to brush the leaves out of her hair but stopped herself at the last minute to use her powers. Dad liked it when she used her powers for things.

She accidentally pulled her hair.

"But at school they said that everyone is special and mom said that powers were just another talent that some people had and that it was ok that Sho-" said Mob digging her shoe into the grass beneath her feet. She didn't like it when dad said things like this. These were the kinds of things that made Sho feel bad about himself, and he should have always felt good about himself. He was the best little brother in the whole, wide, world.

"Normal people can believe whatever they want, that doesn't matter. People like us don't have to grasp at whatever we can in order to justify our own existence. People like us, espers, stand head and shoulders above all others." Said Dad. Mob shook her head. She knew that she was on dangerous ground, Dad hated it when people didn't agree with him, but he was wrong…no, dads couldn't be wrong. He was just…mistaken. Yes. That was it.

"But Dad, mom said-" said Mob trying to get him to listen. Mom was smart, she knew everything, and dad would surely listen to what mom had said.

"Your mother in entitled to her own opinion. " said Dad with a wave of his hand. Mob frowned. That was kind of mean, she thought, but she must have been wrong. Everyone, even Sho, said that she couldn't get a clue when it came to other people after all….yes, that was it. Dad was not being mean to mom. He was just stating a fact. People were allowed to think whatever they wanted to think.

"And you, Daughter, you and I stand head and shoulders above all other espers." Said Dad

"But I don't want-" said Mob

"It's not a question of wanting, Daughter, and it never will be. Fate bestowed you with these powers and you've got to use them to their full potential." Said Dad

"But I don't want to hurt you." Said Mob

"You won't hurt me." Said Dad

"But if I push too hard and I lose control-" said Mob

"So don't lose control." Said Dad

"But what if-" said Mob

"No. No more discussion. You're going to try and you're going to succeed. You're going to inherit the world someday and when that day comes you need to be worthy. Forget your age, your stature, your gender, forget all of it and just act." Said Dad

"I'm too little!" said Mob

'No. You are not." Said Dad

"Yes I am! I'm six and you're…I don't know how old you are but I know that you're much older than I am and I can't break through your barrier or move you or knock you down or-or-or anything…." said Mob

"You're losing control. Stop it. You're better than this. You are Suzuki Shigeko, my daughter, and you are better than this. Do not disappoint me. I will not have another one of my children be a disappointment." said Dad

"Dad…that's a mean thing to say about Sho." said Mob, her fists clenched at her sides. Dad was not being very nice at all when he said that. You were supposed to be sweet and nice and gentle, like mom always said. Sho was a good little brother, a good person, and there was no reason for dad to be disappointed in him. Dad…he was always talking about how their powers made them special and all…but there were more things in the world than powers that could make a person special.

"I will not have another child of mine become a disappointment." Said Dad again even though she had JUST SAID that he was being mean to Sho. There was no reason to be mean to Sho. He was the best little brother ever. He as brave, he could climb and jump off of anything, and he was smart, too. He knew more about animals than even mom knew. Also he could jump from his bed to hers and back again without hitting the ground. Also he was the reigning champion of the game where the floor was made of lava and they had to jump around the TV room furniture. Also he could draw much better than she could. Sho was a good person and he was good at things…and he felt so bad about himself…and it was because Dad was just SO MEAN and it made her SO MAD and now her colors, aura, was SO BRIGHT and-

"I expect more from you, Daughter, and I will not have you become-" said Dad

"Please…stop saying mean things about Sho." said Mob

"Why? It's true. Your brother is nothing but a-" said Dad. He was about to say something mean, again, about Sho and Mob knew that she should have kept calm, kept her colors still, but she just….she couldn't. She had to make him stop. Sho was not a disappointment. Sho was a good person, the best person. Her little brother and best friend in the world…and Dad was talking about him like he was nothing….

"Dad, please stop it." Said Mob

"What? You're losing control on Sho's behalf? I cannot begin to understand you, Daughter. Why are you so bothered by me stating a plain fact? Boy is your brother, true, but you stand head and shoulders above him. You need to regain control. Why are you acting like this?" asked Dad

"I-I'm trying not to." Said Mob. She should not have been losing control. She was almost six, now, and much too big to be losing control…but Dad needed to get a clue! How could he say something so mean? How could…Mob could not begin to understand.

"Honestly. You're no better than-" said Dad. Mob couldn't help it. She knew that it was wrong to act like that, to lose control, but she couldn't help it. Dad was just being so mean. She hated it, when he was mean, because he…he was her dad and dads were not supposed to be mean…

She couldn't help it.

She just wanted him to stop.

She lost control. Her aura flared out and her colors flared out and his barrier shimmered…and he took a small step back. Mob gasped and covered her mouth when it was over. She had no only lost control but almost hurt her dad, too, and now she was in for it like Sho had been…and she had never been in for it in her whole, entire, life!

Dad took a step forward. Then another.

She closed her eyes and braced herself for whatever her punishment would be. She had seen the marks on Sho, the purple and blue and sometimes black ones that covered his stomach and back sometimes when he was bad, the kind that made mom call Fukuda and be very sad…and Mob didn't want that to happen to her and dad was getting closer, she could feel him, and she tensed up so much that it hurt…and then she felt his hand in her hair-

"There. Was that really so hard, Daughter? You could have broken my barrier, you know, if you hadn't lost control. Learn from your failures and grow." Said Dad. That was all he said before he went back in to the house. He was probably leaving now, for his trip, and Mob…usually she would have followed dad, begged him to stay, to play with her for just a little while longer. Now she…she didn't want him around…and that was just the worst. She knew that she should have chased after him, dragged out what little time they had together because she had no idea when he'd be back. She knew that she had to do that, that was what she had always done before…but now…now she didn't…

This time she just watched him walk away.