Mob was almost seven years old.
She was old enough to do things for herself, now, like get herself ready in the morning.
It wasn't hard. The first step was getting up, that hadn't been hard at all. It was still really early, the sun was barely saying 'hello', but she had school so she had might as well get up now. She wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep now, anyway. No, something very scary had woken her…
But she didn't know what.
But she had to be brave. It hadn't been a bad dream, no, because then she would have remembered it. It had been more like someone shaking her awake and shouting…but Sho was the only one who did that and he was asleep in his bed. They didn't have to get up for another hour. She didn't wake him. She just used her powers to pull his blanket up higher and tuck it in around him. Her colors touched his. Pink and blue to red.
He hadn't woken her up.
He hadn't been the one to wake her up…and neither had mom. Mom never shook them awake, anyway. She touched their heads and sang to them and then they woke up and got ready for school and had breakfast and all of that stuff. Mom might have still been asleep. Mob had no idea when she got up. She had no idea when dad got up, either. Mom and dad always just got up before them.
Dad was up.
She could see his colors, sort of. He wasn't in mom and dad's room…no…she focused. She could see his colors, a different sort of red than Sho's and with some yellow in it, in the direction of his office. That was where he did his work. Mob didn't know what work that was, he was mostly just on his computer all day, but she knew that it was important. Dad had said Sho. That was why Sho had gotten kicked out. Dad didn't like to be distracted. Dad liked to have peace and quiet. Mob was good at peace and quiet, she had been voted quietest in her entire class…and the school year was only half over!
She was quiet as she got ready for school.
Her uniform was hanging up on the hook outside of her wardrobe. Well technically it belonged to her and Sho but she had more clothes in it. Sho got the drawers and she got the wardrobe because she had more things that needed to be hung up. It didn't matter if you folded up boy's clothes and stuck then in drawers, mom said, because boys didn't really care about their clothes like that. Mob cared about her clothes. Mom said that they were very expensive. That was why she had to take care not to get them dirty…and also other things like not hanging them on wire hangers…which Mob thought was an odd thing to worry about but she still listened to mom. Things went better when you listened to mom…dad too.
You had to listen to your parents.
Mob was very careful when she put her uniform on, just like mom had said that she had to be. Mom had said, before, that uniforms were expensive and just because they were wealthy, which meant they had a lot of money, that didn't mean that they were allowed to be careless and wasteful with their things. Mob was proud of her uniform, anyway, because it was a big kid uniform. She used to have to wear a uniform when she and Sho went to the same school. They had to wear a yellow hat and a blue jacket when they walked to school, and also they had to wear shirts with the school's crest on them, but those were little kid uniforms. Her uniform had a skirt and a shirt and an indoor jacket that was called a blazer and a white shirt with too many buttons and long socks that didn't stay up all the time. It was a big kid uniform because that was what she was, a big kid.
A big, brave, kid.
She still wasn't sure what had woken her up like that. Maybe it had just been a dream after all, one that she just couldn't remember. She had those types of dreams sometimes. She sometimes had dreams where she was happy but she didn't know what had gotten her so happy but she just woke up really happy…to it stood to reason that sometimes she could have sad or scary dreams like that too…
Dreams were just dreams.
Dad said so. One time Sho had a bad dream, back when he was little, so he went to mom's bed but he forgot that dad had come home and then dad had gotten all mad at him. Dad he told him that dreams were only dreams and if he couldn't tell the difference between dreams and reality then dad was very disappointed in him…
He had tossed Sho in bed and said that.
And Mob did not want to be tossed into bed really hard, or yelled at, so she decided that she would say nothing about this. Not to dad, anyway. Dad liked her and she wanted to keep it that way. Dad liked Sho too…he must have, he gave Sho the best birthday ever after all. He got a million presents and a millions cakes. Mob only got one cake and a few presents for her last birthday…she wondered what she would get for this one. It was coming up soon, just a few more flips of the calendar, and she wondered what she'd get…maybe a million cakes…
Or maybe just dolls like normal.
But Mob wouldn't have minded the dolls. No, not at all. She was glad that dad had given Sho so much stuff for his birthday. Dad was always so mean to Sho…even now that he had powers dad was still so mean to him…but dad could also be nice. Like how he did so much for Sho's birthday or how he let
Sho play with her in his office while he was working. He even said that Sho's drawings were nice. Dad didn't…he didn't hate Sho…
Dad was hard to understand.
Dad was confusing, sometimes, like math class. Even if all the pieces to find the answer were right there in front her Mob still couldn't put them together. For math or for dad. Dad could be nice and then he could be mean and then he could be nothing at all…and it was very confusing. So confusing. The most confusing. Mob wished sometimes, that he could just come out and tell everyone how he felt about them. If he even liked them. He used to be away for months at a time and sometimes, back when she was little, Mob wondered if dad even liked them at all…and now he was there, which meant that he must have wanted to be home, but he was still kind of mean. Mostly to Sho.
Which made no sense because he had powers now.
He couldn't do anything, not really, not since he accidentally hit her in the head with her hairbrush that one time. Maybe that was why dad was so mad at him lately. He wanted Sho to be more like him. That was how parents were. They made their kids, the process by which this happened was disturbing, so they wanted their kids to be like them. Sho was like mom and she was like dad and that was an even split, everyone got a kid that way, but maybe dad just wanted Sho to be like him because he was a boy and dad was a boy. Maybe that was it.
Dad was so confusing sometimes.
Mom could be confusing too. Like how sometimes she slept all the time like she was sick and other times she'd just jump right out of bed and take them to the park or the pool or the animal shelter or just on a walk…and she'd ask them a lot if they were having fun…and those would be really fun days but the next day she'd be laying down all the time…like she was sick…and maybe it was one of those things that came and went, like a cough…but mom was not coughing. Fukuda had come by to fix her…and he hadn't so much as said 'hi' to her and Sho…but mom was still…being like that. Mob didn't get it. Dad didn't get it either. That was why he was always asking her if mom was being normal and stuff. He had been away from the castle for so long that he forgot what went on inside of it.
But he was here now.
He was here and his colors were there and he felt kind of…not good. Mad. Like he was mad at something…or someone. Though Mob had no idea what it was that he could have been mad at. Sho was right there after all. There asleep in his own bed…so dad had no reason to be mad at him…Mob didn't get it. She didn't get it at all. She knew to stay away from dad, though, and that was what she did. She was in her uniform, now, and after getting dressed it was time to brush her hair and her teeth and then have breakfast, check her school bag in case she forgot something, and then head off to school. That was how the day went. Mom would be so happy that she had gotten herself ready all on her own…
But before she woke mom up and showed her that she had gotten ready she ought to actually finish getting ready.
She walked as quietly as she could to the bathroom. She could lift herself up off the ground with her powers but that was kind of hard, sometimes she dropped herself, and mom didn't like her using her powers for stuff like that anyway. Mom didn't seem to like powers much. The rules for powers were getting more and more restrictive. Now she wasn't supposed to use them for mundane things, things which she could do by hand, because…Mob didn't even know why. Dad said that she had to use her powers as much as possible. That was what they were for, dad had said. Heaven had given them these powers to be used…though Mob wasn't sure if heaven had given them like dad had said or if it was just in her genes, not the pants but the building blocks inside of you, like mom said. Dad said that they had these powers because they were supposed to rule the world and stuff but mom said that she and Dad and Sho had powers for no reason at all. Just like how some people had red hair or blue eyes and their sisters didn't. There was no rhyme or reason to it, mom had said.
Mob didn't know what to believe.
Mom and dad were not liars, it was wrong to tell lies, so one of them must have been mistaken…but she didn't know which one. She didn't like to think about it, that one of her parents could have been wrong, because…because it made her feel like the ground was gone under her feet. Mom and dad always knew just what to do, that was why they were mom and dad. If they didn't know and she didn't know then there was nobody in the whole world who knew. Besides, it didn't matter why she had her powers. She just had them and there was nothing that she could do about it.
Besides, her powers made dad love her more.
Dad had powers, Sho had powers, and she had powers. That made her the same as them. Less different. She was tired of being different. She made her way to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror, at how different she was. She was…she was so different from everyone else. Not in the world, no, because when she went outside of the house, past the castle walls, people looked like her. Everyone had black hair and brown eyes and their eyes were shaped like hers, too. Within the walls of the castle everyone looked…they didn't look like her. Different from her and different from everyone else in the world. Maybe they all just looked different because they were special, the most special people, like dad was always saying about.
Mob didn't want to be special.
Outside of the castle her powers made her special but she looked like everyone else. Inside of the castle most of the people had powers but she looked different from everyone else. If dad didn't have powers like she did she would have wondered if the hospital had maybe switched her with another baby. Maybe somewhere else in Japan there was a little girl named Shigeko and she had red hair and blue eyes and her whole family had black hair and brown eyes and she was looking at herself in the mirror wondering what had happened and why she was so different and-
Mob started brushing her hair.
She brushed her hair with her powers and her teeth by hand. It was so much easier to do this with her powers even if her hair did get tangled in it sometimes. Easier and faster. She had a lot of hair. Mom said so every single time she brushed and braided it. She said 'you have too much hair, Shigeko' and then she smiled and laughed which meant that she hadn't said that to be mean. She couldn't be mean. She was a mom. Moms could not be mean. Dads could be mean but not moms. When she had a bunch of kids then she would be nice to them…but she hoped that their dad wasn't mean…
Maybe that was just how dads were.
Dad certainly felt mean right then. She felt…she saw…those were his colors, his aura, and he was moving around…back and forth…and he felt mad. Auras weren't stopped by walls and stuff so she could feel him as clearly as if he were standing right next to her. Based on where his colors were coming from he was still in his office…and he was mad about something. She wanted to know what he could have been so mad at. The only thing that she had ever seen him get so mad about was Sho…but he was asleep…but maybe he had done something bad and now dad was really mad and he was just waiting for Sho to wake up so he could punish him and-
Mob had to be brave.
So she went to see what had gotten dad so mad. She walked really slowly and quietly down the hallway. The floor was cold under her socks. It was still wintertime out even if the year had changed. It would be wintertime for a while, until just before her birthday. She was born in spring. Sho had been born in winter. She wondered how birthdays worked. Who decided when the baby got to be born? Did it come out when the mom ran out of room in her stomach or did the mom just decide when to push it out like on TV? Or was it a surprise? She'd ask later, when mom woke up, if she was going to be up that day, how she decided which of them was born in the spring and which of them was born in the winter.
She didn't know if dads got a say in that.
And she was not going to ask dad, no, not now. Now she was trying to hear what had gotten him so upset. She had made it to his door…and his colors still looked upset…but she still didn't know why. She couldn't just go and open the door and ask, he wouldn't have told her anyway, so instead she pressed her ear against the door. It was cold. Everything in the castle was cold. She'd heard mom complaining to dad that because the castle was so big it was really hard to heat and cool. Mom was right about that. Hot in the summer, cold in the winter, but nice in the spring and fall. That was how the castle was. Dad just didn't know because he was hardly ever home…
Well that had changed…
"I'm surrounded by incompetence." Mob heard dad say. He sounded mean, then, very mean. Meaner than he had ever sounded before…meaner even then when he talked to Sho. Mob covered her mouth so she didn't make any shocked noises at how mean dad was being.
"I appointed you division head so that I would not have to deal with these things myself…." Said Dad. Mob pressed her ear even closer to the door. Who could have gotten dad this mad? And why? Was he talking to one of the people who worked for him? Mob…now she was extra curious. Dad had other workers besides Fukuda, they had come to the castle when dad had felt Sho's aura when he was stuck in mom and dad's closet, but Mob hadn't seen or heard much from them…and dad had never been that mean to them, too….
"Stop talking. This grows tiresome." Said dad. Mob knew that tone, she knew a less mean version of that tone, and she hoped that whoever he was talking to on the phone, she could hear someone else's voice though she had no idea what they were saying, but she really hoped that they listened. Dad only said things like that when he was getting ready to punish someone…Sho, always Sho…and Mob hoped that he didn't take whatever this was out on Sho…
"Fine. If you cannot control your subordinates then I will…and you will be stripped of your rank and reassigned. I cannot stand for such incompetence." Said dad. Mob heard a phone click off and then…dad said a bunch of bad words…words that she didn't even know that dad knew…and that time she did make a shocked noise because, well, that was shocking….
"Daughter. Enter." Said Dad. Mob knew that she had no choice. Dad knew she was there…and of course there hadn't been any way to hide from him. Dad was even better at seeing colors than she was…and now she had to enter his office like he said and explain herself…and she wanted to go back to bed…
"Daughter. Now." Said Dad and Mob, well, she really had no choice.
But she did as she was told.
She opened the door by hand, it was heavy, and just stood in the doorway. Dad motioned for her to come close and when she didn't do it fast enough he dragged her with his powers. She let herself be dragged until she was in front of his desk. His face looked bored, his face always looked bored, but his colors looked…mad.
"Yes? You need something?" asked dad. Mob shook her head no. She didn't like the way dad was looking at her. That was how he looked at Sho…but that was good. If he was looking at her like that then he wouldn't look at Sho like that. If he yelled at her then he wouldn't yell at Sho. If he punished her then he wouldn't punish Sho…she had never been punished by dad but if he punished her instead of Sho then…then she would gladly let herself be punished so long as it kept her little brother safe.
"Then why are you here?" asked Dad.
"You…you felt mad and you sounded mad and I just…I wanted to see what you were so mad about." Said Mob. She kept eye contact with him, he said that she was always supposed to make eye contact when she spoke to him, and she stood up straight because he said that she always had to stand up straight. She had to be brave. She was a big kid, now, and that was why she got to wear a big kid uniform. She was a big kid, a big brave kid.
She was almost seven. Seven was a big kid.
"That's none of your business." Said Dad. Mob nodded.
"Yes Dad. I'm sorry dad." Said Mob. She wanted to leave but she knew that she had to wait for him to tell her to go. She always remembered to wait, that was one of the differences between her and Sho. Sho never waited to be allowed inside or dismissed. That was one of the differences between them besides their hair and eye colors.
"I'm surrounded by incompetence. I cannot wait until you come of age." Said Dad
"You mean…when I grow up? You want me to work for you?" asked Mob
"Of course I do. I'm raising you for that purpose and I know that you'll never fail me." Said Dad. Mob smiled. Dad seemed less mad, well his colors seemed less mad, and if he wanted her to work for him when she grew up then she would. If it made dad happy. She just wanted everyone to be happy.
"I won't dad, I promise you." Said Mob
"Good. I knew that I could trust you, Daughter." Said Dad. Then he sighed.
"Dad?" asked Mob. He didn't usually sigh like that…or do anything at all to show his feelings unless he as punishing Sho or made at Sho…this was…weird. Kind of.
"Daughter?" asked Dad
"Are you ok?" asked Mob. Dad didn't look mad, not that she was the best judge of these things, and he didn't feel mad…anymore. She didn't know. Dad was confusing sometimes.
"A six year old girl will serve me better than legions of grown men. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry." Said Dad. Mob wondered what he meant by that. That was not an answer, as dad was so fond of saying to her and Sho…mostly Sho, but Mob was not about to go and tell her dad that he hadn't given her a real answer.
"Um…you can do either. If you want to cry, though, I can get you some tissues." Said Mob. To her surprise dad smiled, actually smiled. Well it was only a little smile, like the kind you did for school pictures, but dad was smiling…
"Helpful. Like your mother. You're a good daughter, Daughter, a very good daughter. The best I could have hoped for." Said dad. Mob smiled, now, because it always felt good when dad said good things to her…though she wished that he could have saved some of those good things for Sho. He needed to hear them more than she did.
"Thank you. You're a very good dad, too." Said Mob. She said it to be nice. Truth be told she sometimes wanted a dad who was nicer, ok she wanted that a lot, mostly for Sho. She didn't care if dad was nice to her or not. She just wanted Dad to be nice to Sho.
"Don't sing my praises, I have enough people singing my praised. It's tiresome." Said dad
"You don't like it when people are nice to you, dad?" asked Mob. That would have made so much sense. Dad was mean and stuff because he just didn't like niceness…and that didn't make sense….but a lot of things didn't make sense.
"I dislike it when people sing my praises. Well I like it on occasion but not now. I know that I'm a good father to you, Daughter, and I don't need to be told as such." Said dad
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say the wrong thing. I say the wrong thing a lot. I'm sorry." Said Mob. Oh great, now dad was mad at her too…but that was good. If he was mad at her then he wasn't mad at Sho. For every moment dad spent mad at her that was one less moment that he would be mad at Sho.
"And don't apologize, either. You're my daughter. I don't need your apologies." Said Dad. That was kind of hurtful…though Mob did not let it show. Dad didn't like it when she and Sho let things show.
"I'm confused. I'm not allowed to say sorry? Mom says that when you do something wrong you're supposed to say sorry….I'm confused." Said Mob
"Daughter, when you get to your adult years you'll realize how tiresome it is to have people groveling to you. They grovel because it's their place but it is not yours. You're a Suzuki. You're better than that…but if your mother wants you to get into the habit of apologizing then…I suppose you can, for now, but not to me. Don't grovel to me. Tell me how you're going to change your behavior in the future but do not grovel to me." Said Dad
"Um…ok. I'll…um…be more careful about the way I talk?" said Mob. There were a million and one rules that existed for talking to people and just when Mob thought that she understood when she was doing a whole new rule popped up. It was like they were all playing a game at recess and Mob didn't know the rules…so like every single day at recess…
"Good. See? This is why you're one of the more tolerable people on this planet." Said Dad
"Thank you." Said Mob. She didn't know if tolerable was a good word for a person. You tolerated things like getting your hair shampooed and Brussel sprouts with dinner. You liked people. Well you didn't have to like all the people in the world, no, but saying that you tolerated someone seemed kind of….mean. But that was just how dad was.
"That's all. You're dismissed. Have a productive day at school." Said Dad. He waved his hand and the door opened. Mob didn't wait for dad to push her out of the room with his powers, she left of her own accord. That had been…her head hurt. It hurt a lot. Talking to dad…sometimes it felt like dad's rules for stuff were totally different from the rest of the world's rules for talking and stuff. Sometimes. Or maybe she just wasn't working hard enough at understanding dad. He was the only person in her whole family that she was like…sort of. They both were weird when it came to talking and stuff and they both had powers…well Sho had powers now, too, even if he couldn't really do anything…but she still had more in common with dad. In the way that she was…
Though she thought that she was a lot nicer, sometimes, than dad.
Not that being nice was a contest. Dad just didn't seem to understand about being nice, that was all, and he couldn't help it. So that was ok. He was ok now, anyway, because he had said so much nice stuff to her. She wished that he had saved some of that nice stuff for Sho. He needed to hear it more than she did. Sho had mom and she had dad, that used to be fair, but then mom stated getting sick a lot…and then Sho had been alone with her and dad…
Mob walked past mom's room.
The light was on and Mob could hear mom moving around. Good. She wasn't sick that morning. She was out of bed…though she might have just been getting up to get her and Sho up and ready for school. Well she could make it easier on mom. Then mom could say that she was a good daughter just like dad had said. Yes, she'd help out mom by….getting Sho ready, too!
Then mom would be happy.
Mom and dad would both be happy and then she and Sho could be happy and then everyone could be happy.
She had to make everyone happy. Like dad said, she was a good daughter.