Sometimes it was fun to stay up late.
Even if this was when the weird stuff came on.
"Why do her clothes talk?" asked Mob. She didn't understand this show at all. She liked the main girl, her hair was pretty, but she didn't understand what was happening. Why was the long haired girl so mean to her? Why did her clothes talk? Why was her magical girl outfit so…naked? And why did her boobs flutter around in her transformation sequence? Sailor Moon, well all of her friends too, got naked for their transformations but their boobs didn't flutter around.
That looked like it hurt, honestly.
"Because her clothes are alive and they fight together." Said Sho. Honestly. Big sis knew nothing about TV shows. She watched boring stuff with kissing and friends doing boring stuff. This was interesting. There were friends being friends but there was also fighting and stuff. Even if the girl did get naked a lot. That was stupid. Her armor didn't protect anything. Why did magical girls always have to in such weird clothes? If you were going into battle then you should have put on some real armor or something.
"But why are her clothes alive? And why is their school so weird? And why is her friend so nuts? And why doesn't her skirt cover her…anything?" asked Mob. She would not have liked to have to wear a uniform like that. Like the one that she wore after she transformed. Mob could never have walked around like that even if she had to fight evil and stuff.
"I'm watching the same show you are." Said Sho with a shrug. Suddenly a hand covered his eyes.
"Don't watch this part, she's going to be naked again. I think that you're too little to see this." said Mob as she covered her little brother's eyes. For his own good, of course. This was not TV for kids. The rating in the corner of the screen said that this was rated for adults only. Well they were not adults, not even if they combined their ages. They were twelve, together, and would soon be thirteen together but they were in no way an adult together.
"Hey!" said Sho. Maybe too loudly, actually. Mom was asleep. If she got up and found them watching grown up stuff at this hour she'd be mad and take away their TV tomorrow. She didn't punish them for real, he'd rather take her worst punishments than anything dad could have cooked up, but he also did not want to have his TV time taken away.
"You're too little to see the naked parts." Said Mob simply.
"But you can't even see her naked parts. They forgot to draw them on." Said Sho. Who cared if she was almost all the way naked? People were naked all the time. People were naked under their clothes all the time and nobody ever said anything.
"I don't think that they're allowed to draw them on." Said Mob. She didn't know why anyone would ever want to draw something like that. People were naked all of the time under their clothes. That was more than enough.
"Well if you can't see her naked parts then I should be allowed to see." Said Sho. He didn't get what the big deal was. He took baths with his sister all the time. Mom had even explained why boys and girls were so different….ick. He didn't care if the girl was almost all the way naked anyway. He wasn't one of those guys that hung out under the slide or the jungle gym trying to look up girls' dresses and stuff. He didn't get it, honestly. People could be so weird sometimes, especially when it came to girls and stuff like that.
"Nope. You're too little." Said Mob. She was the big sister and it was her job to keep him safe and stuff. Mob didn't know why you weren't supposed to see naked people, aside from the fact that it was embarrassing, but she did know that it could be bad for you…somehow.
"Come on, I want to see the fight!" said Sho. The fights were the coolest part of this show. That was his favorite part of this. That and the dog in the hoodie. Everything else he could have taken or left. They had weird angles in this. He didn't get it.
"Shush! You'll wake mom up! When she gets back into her normal uniform then I'll uncover your eyes." Said Mob. It weird watching a show like this with her brother, she decided. It was really weird. It was one thing to share a bath with your brother or change with your family in the family changing room at the pool. Those were all normal situations in which a person could expect to be naked. This was…this was something entirely different, it felt like.
"But then I'll miss the whole fight!" said Sho. He wanted to see if the almost naked girl beat the other almost naked girl. That was her arch enemy….maybe. He wasn't watching for the plot, no, it was kind of complicated. He was watching for the fighting and the drawings and also that blind guy was way cool. They should have had more of him and less of the girl with the one red piece in her hair.
"You also shouldn't be watching fighting, too, because it's bad for you." Said Mob. Sho had been kind of…fighty…lately. She didn't fight with him, of course, because she was his brother and you were not supposed to fight with your little brother. Besides, Mob was obviously doing something to bother him and she wished that he would just tell her what it was that she was doing wrong. Then they could have gone back to getting along all of the time instead of just most of the time.
"Why don't we just turn the TV off and read, then?" asked Sho sarcastically. While they were at it they could have walked to school and waited for tomorrow to happen. Girls, or at least big sisters, were so boring sometimes.
"We can do that if you want to. I got this new book at my school's library, well it's a manga, and it's about-" said Mob. Reading to Sho…that would have been wonderful! She had a great book, well dad had said that manga was not books, but Sho would have liked it a lot. It was about dogs and they were friends and they did fun stuff together. Sho liked things like that…well at least he used to. He liked things with fighting in them now…more than he had before….
"I was being sarcastic, duh! I don't want to read, I want to watch the fight. I don't get why you're being so weird about this. You and me have been taking baths together for our whole, entire, lives. You've seen me naked and I've seen you naked and we're real people, too, not drawings." Said Sho. He threw himself back into her and they both went crashing to the ground. He stood still, then, so he could hear if mom was getting up. He heard nothing.
And big sis didn't try to cover his eyes again.
"It's different because we're brother and sister…and also it's normal to take baths. It's not normal to walk around in the world almost all the way naked. Also you're a boy and boys like girls which is why boys can only see their sisters naked. I think that's how it works, anyway." Said Mob. The thought of being naked in front of a boy who was not her brother was…she didn't think about it. That would have been enough to make her drop dead from embarrassment.
"Well I don't like girls like that so I can watch the fighting, then, and don't tell me that I can't see fighting. There's fighting in all of your shows, too. Like in Sailor Moon or in Frozen, even. You can't say one thing and then do another. You're not dad." Said Sho. Dad did stuff like that all the time. He told Sho that he was annoying and stuff but he also did stuff that was annoying…like how he was always talking to himself while he worked…or like how it was his mission in life to kill all the fun that he could find until the world was just as boring as he was.
"I'm not…and it doesn't matter if you still think that girls are gross or not. I don't think that boys are supposed to see stuff like that." Said Mob
"Well you're not the boss of me just because you're older." Said Sho. If he were the older brother instead of the younger brother then he wouldn't have made up rules just to mess with her and stuff. All of his rules would have been just and fair. Like they'd have at least five capfuls of bubble bath per bath per night. Also all movies were to end in either dance parties, fights, or cool credit sequences. Never kissing. Never, ever, ever kissing. Yes, those would be his rules if he were the big brother….he didn't know why he had to be the little brother.
"I guess….but if you think that you're going to end up weird or something then…then we're watching something else." Said Mob. This seemed like the kind of thing that would turn a person weird. Like those kids who weren't allowed to play together at recess anymore because the teacher caught them doing gross stuff…ick. She didn't want Sho to end up like that.
"All the stuff that comes on this late is weird." Said Sho with a shrug. Maybe that was because only weirdos were allowed to stay up with late, it seemed. All of the stuff that came on late on this channel had girls with big boobs and tiny clothes and stuff that Sho felt like he was supposed to laugh at but wasn't funny at all to him.
Grow ups were weird.
"I know…I don't know why grown-ups like to watch stuff like this. It's kind of cool how the drew everything but…but the whole thing is weird and hard to follow." Said Mob
"Maybe that's why it's rated for adults." Said Sho
"Maybe. Maybe we just can't understand it…kind of like how dad can't understand Frozen. He thinks that it's boring." Said Mob. Grown ups were different from kids. Kids had fun stuff to watch, adults had confusing stuff. One day they would become adults and then they would watch stuff that their kids thought was weird or boring or confusing. That was just how it worked, probably. She knew that she had enough trouble understanding things now…she was not looking forward to becoming a grown up at all.
"He's right, it is boring." Said Sho with a shrug. Girl shows were so boring. Girls were just different like that, weird, but it was ok because girls thought that boys were weird too. Maybe that was why dad was gone all the time, he thought that mom was weird or something like that.
"Little brother!" said Mob. How could something so…so wrong…have come out of her little brother's mouth!? Where had she gone wrong?! What had gone wrong in his life, in her life as his big sister, that he could think such terrible thoughts?! Now they needed to watch Frozen again, in Japanese and then in English with Japanese subtitles, until he understood why Frozen was the best thing ever.
"What? It's boring. They sing a bunch, she goes up the mountain, she comes back down the mountain, and then everything melts. There's nothing happening there! No fights, no nothing! She has super cool ice powers and she doesn't even fight anyone. Like it would have been cooler if her sister had fire powers and then they had a powers fight. Instead they just talked and hugged and stuff. So boring." Said Sho
"We talk and hug and stuff…" said Mob softly. Did Sho think that the times they spent together were boring? Did he think that she was boring? Lots of people thought that she was boring…well it was the truth…she was boring but so was dad…he was her dad after all.
"We're in real life. Nothing interesting ever happens in real life. Like how you and dad have powers but you never do anything with them." Said Sho crossing his arms. He crossed his arms and kicked his feet and he wanted to kick a bunch of other things…but he did not. He didn't because…because it was not the thing that he was supposed to do. He was supposed to be gentle and sweet like mom had said. He didn't know why he was so mean, sometimes, or why he wanted to kick and hit stuff sometimes…and he wanted it all to stop.
"Mom says-" said Mob before she was cut off. Mom said that she wasn't supposed to do things with her powers. When she used her powers then mom got all quiet, sometimes, or she got mad sometimes too. Mob didn't want anyone to be mad at anyone ever. If she really did end up being a princess of the world then the first thing she would do would be to make a no fighting rule. Then everyone would have been a lot happier. Yes, people should not have been fighting. Ever.
"Like if I had powers I'd-" said Sho
"But you do have powers. You can see the colors, auras, and sometimes you move things without touching them…like the time you hit me in the head with my brush. Remember?" said Mob. She did not want to get into this again. He was not powerless. He had powers. He had powers and there was nothing wrong with him…but he didn't see it that way. No, she knew what would come next. Next up he'd say that there was something wrong with him. That he had been born wrong and she had been born right. People were not born right or wrong, they were just born. It was what you did with your life that mattered. Just like Mewtwo had said in the first Pokemon movie.
"….said I was sorry already…" said Sho. He didn't want to have to feel bad about that anymore. When he thought about it then he felt bad and he either cried or hit something…or sometimes both at the same time.
"I didn't mean for you to say sorry again, I just mean that you do have powers. You can move things without touching them just like me and dad can." Said Mob. He could…sometimes. Rarely. But he would get better. He was just littler than she was, that was all. There was nothing wrong with him. Nothing wrong with him at all.
"No. I can't. Not like you and dad can. No matter how much I try it's like…it's like things didn't even change. No matter what happens, no matter what, you were still born right and I was still born wrong." Said Sho. He felt like this all the time…and he didn't know why. He did know what would come next, though, it was the same thing that she always said. She always said that he was fine the way he was and stuff like that. Stuff that she said just to make him feel better.
"No! Sho, don't ever say that. You were not born wrong. You were born right because you were born. I'm happy that you were born, Sho, I'm so happy. I want you to be here and I want you to be born. I don't care if I'm Elsa and you're Anna. I just want you to be my little brother." Said Mob
"….it doesn't matter what you want. It matters what I want. I want…I want to…I want to have been born right." Said Sho softly. She didn't understand. She could never understand. No matter what happened she was still the Suzuki that had been born right and he was still the Suzuki that had been born wrong. Dad had even said it, once. Big sis was born lucky. He was lucky to have been born at all. He was the reason mom had that thing on her stomach.
"But you were! The day you were born was the happiest day of my life!" said Mob. She meant every word of it. Having a little brother was the best thing ever. She didn't know what she would have done without him. She sometimes dreamt about now having him. Sometimes she dreamt that she was at a place…a bad place…and he wasn't there. He wasn't there and mom wasn't there and dad wasn't there and she was all alone…but then dad was there but she didn't recognize him…and that was the end of her dream. Sometimes she woke up tasting milk. It was a bad dream…but it was just that, a dream. She had Sho and Sho had her they were together just like they were supposed to be. There couldn't be a Suzuki Shigeko without a Suzuki Sho.
"You don't remember when I was born. You were just a baby. Nobody remembers things from when they were a baby." Said Sho shaking his head. He didn't need her to tell him things just to make him feel better. Nothing that she could say could ever change what they were. Suzuki Shigeko had been born right, Suzuki Sho had been born wrong. There could have easily been a Suzuki Shigeko without a Suzuki Sho. In fact dad might have even preferred it that way…
"I do. I do too remember. I remember….I sort of remember. I remember I was in this room with a funny smell…and I wanted to go home…but then you were there all wrapped up…I remember that they blanket was sort of scratchy…and I mostly just remember how you smelled." Said Mob
"How did I smell?" asked Sho rubbing his eyes with the back of his sleeve. He was glad that they hadn't turned the lights on. He didn't want to see his tears. He wasn't supposed to cry. Crying was wrong. He was wrong. Everything about him was wrong.
"Kind of like lotion." Said Mob resting her head on his shoulder. When he didn't push her away she tried pulling him in for a hug. He allowed himself to be hugged but he did not hug her back. Sometimes he didn't hug her back…but that was ok. She was not supposed to be pushy like that. Besides, dad said that they were getting too old for hugs anyway.
"Do you really remember that or are you just saying stuff?" asked Sho softly. He was being hugged. He didn't hug back even though he wanted to. He was getting too old to be hugged. He was not a baby anymore. Dad had said so.
"I really remember. That's a real memory. It's something that really happened." Said Mob. She knew that it was a real thing that happened to her. Dreams had a hazy sort of feeling to her, kind of like walking through a fog…the thick kind that came into their yard sometimes and hung around so thick that they couldn't see the house from the top of the slide.
"Oh. I kind of remember…something from when I was a baby, too. I remember I was really little and…and I was mad about something…but then you were there and you were…you were there and I was there and mom was there and dad was there. The sun was in my eyes. That's all that I remember." Said Sho. He knew that it was a memory that really happened and not a dream because he could remember it clear as a movie. He could never remember his dreams, the details, just the way that the dreams made him feel…especially the way they made him cry, sometimes.
"Oh. How old were you?" asked Mob. Maybe if she knew how old Sho was in his memory then she could remember how old she was in hers. She didn't know why that was important, just that it was.
"I don't remember, I was a baby! Sheesh!" said Sho pushing away from her.
"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by that. I don't know what you know, I can't hear your thoughts…and I don't want to. That seems like it would be a terrible power. The world would be so loud. It would be like everyone's talking at you at once." Said Mob trying to talk about something else, anything else. She looked around the room quickly before her eyes landed on the TV. Another episode of that show. They were having a marathon, it seemed, though she had no idea who would be able to stay up all night watching TV. Well, who besides her and Sho.
"You just like it quiet because dad likes it quiet." Said Sho
"No, not because, we just have that in common. I'm like dad and you're like mom." Said Mob
"We each get one." said Sho quietly. That was the fairest thing….but he wished, sometimes…but he knew that it was stupid to wish for things that could never come true. Dad would never stop looking at him like he was Sho gum. Not until he became something more than what he was.
"Yes, that's how it works I think. I don't know. This stuff is kind of complicated…but dad didn't tell me to like it quiet, I just like it quiet is all. That's why I think that being able to hear people's thoughts wouldn't be a good power at all. It would be so loud all the time and also you would be invading people's privacy all the time." Said Mob getting away from the subject of their parents. Sho got so sad when they talked about things like that…and she never wanted Sho to be mad. No. He was her little brother. If she could have done something, anything, to give him eternal happiness then she would have.
"Yeah…I get it. Kind of like how her clothes keep on talking to her. The would be so annoying, I think." Said Sho getting back to the show at hand. He didn't want to talk about that anymore. He could feel himself getting mad, getting mean, and he did not want to be mean Sho right then. He didn't ever want to be mean Sho.
"Yeah, it would be. I love my uniform but I wouldn't want it to talk to me." Said Mob shaking her head. She had enough trouble concentrating in school to begin with. She didn't need her uniform trying to start a conversation with her. Taro did that enough already…not that she minded…but maybe she should have minded.
"What would it even say? I mean you have powers but you don't save the world or fight evil or anything with them. You're boring like that." Said Sho. Mean Sho was back. He didn't want to become mean Sho but he just couldn't help it. It had just come out. That was just…he was trying to hurt her, maybe. He didn't know why he wanted to hurt her…or maybe he did. He didn't know. He didn't want to think about this.
"I know." Said Mob simply. It didn't hurt. He was only speaking the truth. People at school said that she was boring. She always looked like she was bored, they said.
"Like, it would probably get so bored of you that it ran away." Said Sho. He didn't know why he said that. He didn't know why he wanted her to…he didn't even know. Yell at him? Tell him off? Cry? Do something? So anything?
"Probably." Said Mob just as simply. She was boring and that's why her school friends never stuck around for very long. She was boring because she couldn't go over to people's houses or have them over to hers and she didn't know a lot of the games they played and stuff like that. It didn't matter how often they talked to her and ate lunch with her and played with her, they always left her in the end. That was fine. She had Sho. He was her little brother and her best friend all in one. She was so lucky to have him as a little brother.
"Then you'd be naked and stuff." Said Sho. She didn't react. She never reacted. She never reacted or anything ever. She just sat there, always, with that same look on her face. Be more like Shigeko, dad said, and control yourself. Be boring, he meant. Never react, he meant. Let me say anything to you and treat you however I want to, he meant.
"Yeah, probably." Said Mob. That would be what would happen if her uniform ever got tired of her like everyone else did. Then she'd be there in her underwear and undershirt and then people would laugh at her…like they did already.
"Then they'd all laugh at you." Said Sho trying, again, just to make her say something or do something…because no matter how calm someone looked, how bored they looked, there was always something coming. Always.
"Most likely." Said Mob. There was some silence after that. The only thing that they could hear was the TV. It was on quiet, very quiet, but she could hear it as clear as if it were going full blast.
"I'm sorry." Said Sho suddenly. He needed to say that. He didn't totally feel it but he had to say it. He had to be nice to his sister. She was his sister and she had always been there and she always would be…and it wasn't like he had anyone else there, in the house, to play with. Even then…that wasn't the whole reason. No matter…no matter what happened they would always be brother and sister…
"About what?" asked Mob. He had nothing to apologize her. She had nothing to make him say sorry for. He had done nothing to make her make him say sorry. You weren't supposed to say sorry when you told the truth. You were just supposed to tell the truth, the whole, and nothing but the truth so help you God. Even if it hurt. Well the truth hurt, that was how it went. The truth hurt…but that was ok. It was ok if she hurt. Anything to keep him from hurting.
"The stuff I said to you." Said Sho quietly. He should have been better, like mom wanted him to be. She wanted him to be a sweet, gentle, boy and at least he could be what she wanted to be. At least mom thought that he had been born right. At least mom liked him for who he was…and not what he could do. Could or could not do.
"What about it?" asked Mob
"It was mean. I shouldn't have said mean stuff like that to you. I'm your little brother and you're my big sister and we…we should be friends and stuff. We shouldn't fight…I shouldn't fight with you. I don't know what's wrong with me. Sometimes I'm just…mean…for no reason. It's like there's another Sho inside of me and he makes me say weird stuff…but not really because there isn't really another Sho. There's just me." Said Sho. He drew his knees up to his chest and closed his eyes. He was the worst little brother in the world. Another way that he had been born wrong and she had been born right. She had never had a mean thing to say about anyone ever. She was being what mom wanted him to be, too. She was just good at everything, wasn't she? It just…it was not fair.
"Sho, I'm not mad. You didn't say anything that wasn't true. I am boring and if my uniform was alive then it would run away from me the first chance it got. I don't do cool stuff with my powers, I can barely control them, and if my clothes did run away and I was naked then everyone would laugh at me. It's ok. It's ok to tell the truth." Said Mob. She put a hand on Sho's back. He shouldn't have been so sad. He had told the truth and you were always supposed to tell the truth. She wished that there was something that she could have done. She couldn't even hug him, no, because he would have just pushed her away again.
"…if they laughed at you then I would beat them up. Even without cool powers like yours I would beat them all up." Said Sho. Mean Sho liked to hurt people and things…but mean Sho could also do good. He could defend her. Even if he wasn't a sweet, gentle, boy like mom wanted…he could still keep his big sis safe. That was what brothers were supposed to do, they were supposed to keep their sisters safe.
"Please don't." said Mob. Fighting was wrong and she did not want Sho to fight for her. She didn't want anyone to fight with anyone else ever for any reason. Especially not her little brother. Besides, she was the big sister, not the little sister, and it was her job to keep her little brother safe.
"I would. I'd take your uniform and put it on and then I'd beat everyone up." Said Sho standing up and pointing towards the TV. Even if it meant having to put on a talking dress he would hurt anyone who tried to hurt his sister. He was supposed to keep her safe.
"I really don't ever want you to beat anyone up…and also why would you wear my uniform?" asked Mob. The thought is funny, though she does not smile. Control was important. Still, the thought of Sho in her school uniform was funny….
"Because it gave me super powers, duh!" said Sho shaking his head. If he got her powers by putting on her clothes then he would gladly dress up like a girl for every single day of his life from this moment onwards.
"My uniform doesn't give me my powers…" said Mob. She wished that it did. Then she could take it off and just be normal. Like everyone else. Not only that but then she could just take her powers off and give them to Sho. Then he could have been happy.
"Well if it did I'd wear it. If it was alive and it gave you super powers and made part of your hair red then I'd wear it and I'd beat everyone who ever made fun of you up with half of a pair of scissors. I really would." Said Sho. That could have been kind of cool…him using his powers for good. Her powers. Psychic powers. If he could do cool stuff with his powers then that would be what he did. Good stuff. The stuff that mom would have wanted him to do.
"But then they'd get hurt…" said Mob. You weren't supposed to hurt people and you weren't supposed to play with scissors. You weren't supposed to point knives at others and scissors were a lot like knives.
"I don't care! I'd do it! I'd do it again and again and again and again-" said Sho
"What is going on out there?" oh no. Mom was up. That could have been so bad. That could have gone so wrong. They were not supposed to be up this late, they were not supposed to be out of bed, and they were certainly not allowed to watch weird adult shows in the middle of the night! Mob and Sho didn't say anything. They just turned off the TV and ran right back to bed where they should have been in the first place. Staying up late was fun sometimes…
…but not all the time.