"I'm going out."
Suzuki looked up from his laptop. Daughter looked up from her tablet.
"Where are we going, mom?" asked Daughter. She seemed excited, he could tell by her aura. The children did enjoy their outings greatly. He hoped that she took Son, too, or maybe just Son. Daughter was unobtrusive as always. She hadn't said a word to him since she sat down with her tablet and did whatever it was that she did on that thing. Son had been cast out ages ago, it had been his own doing. He was outside now, maybe, or maybe he was back in the junk room. Suzuki didn't know. It wasn't his job to keep track of the children.
"You and your brother are staying here. I…I'm going out to do some shopping." Said Masami
"Why aren't you taking the children? You always take the children with you." Said Suzuki. He was not a babysitter. The children….Son. Son was the difficult one. Daughter mostly took care of herself. Yes, he could babysit Daughter if he needed to.
Not that he had ever needed to before.
"Because sometimes I like to go places on my own, Touichirou. I spend my entire day with them you know." Said Masami. He didn't get it.
"But they're at school for most of the day. At school or asleep or amusing themselves." Said Suzuki. He didn't know what it was that Masami complained about so often. The children were home so little…though then they were home it could be taxing. Mostly Son. Daughter was rarely taxing, only when she lost control, but those times were few and far between. Not like when he had been her age. Well when he had been her age he hadn't have anyone to guide him. Daughter was a very lucky little girl in that regard.
"When they're at school I'm here taking care of the house. Just…watch them for a few hours while I'm out shopping, ok? I'm not asking a lot of you. I never do." Said Masami. Well she was asking a lot of him. She never asked anything of him, he just did things for her, so any asking at all was a lot of asking. Besides, this was her job. He did his job, providing, and she did her job, nurturing, and together they would raise healthy and well-adjusted children. That was how the family unit functioned best. Why was she trying to change it now?
She had never asked him to watch the children before.
"I'll send a car for you." Said Suzuki. It was odd, her going out on her own. It was odd, her leaving like this…but he was being odd for thinking that it was odd. She usually just ordered the things they needed. She only went to the actual store for things like shoes, things that had to be tried on, so maybe that was it. Maybe she was getting a new pair of shoes.
She had nine pairs of shoes in their closet.
But then again what did he know about women. He owned one pair of shoes and that was enough for him. Son had one pair of shoes too. Daughter had multiple pairs of shoes. Maybe it was a female thing. They did enjoy shopping, didn't they? Part of the nesting instinct? Maybe Masami just wanted to leave the house…even though she had no reason to. Anything that she possibly could have wanted could have been delivered right to their door. The benefit of this instant gratification age they were living in. She could have ordered anything from any country and had the shipping expedited so it came as fast as possible and she didn't have to go out into the world where anything could have happened to her and anyone could have hurt her because she was out of his protection and he sort of wanted to go with her but not really because he hated shopping, usually, and he hated being out in the world with regular people but he should have been there to keep her safe and she should at least have taken Daughter because Daughter was strong for someone her age or-or-or-
He saw Daughter's aura.
She was looking at him.
And she was concerned.
And he could not lose control like this in front of his wife and child. That was not the man who he was meant to be. He was Suzuki Touichirou. He could not and did not lose control. It would have set a terrible example, too, for Daughter to see him lose control like that. She may then end up thinking that her father was a hypocrite, which he was not, and that it would be ok for her to lose control….or something even worse. That the person who she was meant to be with….that it would be alright for her to waste herself on someone who lost control.
He had his child's future to think about.
"I can walk, Touichirou." Said Masami. He didn't understand that, either, but he knew that when Masami got like this there was no changing her mind. He was not going to panic, he was not going to let his mind run away with him, and he was not going to argue with his wife…even though he really wanted to. Even though it was even more dangerous for her to be on foot. Even though there were so many people in this world who would have loved to hurt him by going after his family…
Thank God he had the manpower, now, to have her followed when she left the house…most of the time, anyway, thanks to the latest coup/attempt on his life.
"Be careful out there. It isn't very safe." Said Suzuki. He knew Masami. She was a mystery to him, that was what he knew about her after all of these years, but he liked the mystery. The way she did things that made no sense to anyone other than herself. She was interesting. The way her mind worked…she was interesting. From anyone else it would have been annoying but she could never have annoyed him.
The children on the other hand…
They were a different story. Daughter was fine when she was alone. Masami had left and Daughter, after asking why she couldn't come with, went back to her tablet. Son was another story. It seemed that Masami had neglected to tell Son that she had been leaving….
"Why didn't mom take me, too?" asked Son. Suzuki decided to let Daughter field his inquiries. Daughter was older and more mature. He wondered how many of Masami's duties she could take over. Masami hadn't said when she'd be returning and it was approaching lunchtime. Daughter could make lunch. It wasn't hard and she had probably seen her mother do it a thousand times. Daughter could care for Son, too. She had been watching Masami since she had been two years old after all.
"You hate going to the store with mom. Maybe she remembered you saying so and then decided that it would be easier if she just went by herself." Said Daughter. That made sense. It made enough sense that it should have calmed Son down. It certainly would have calmed Suzuki down if he had any reason to worry…which he didn't. Masami was fine. She was out there in the world totally defenseless and vulnerable but she was fine. He had her followed and if it came down to it his men could protect her…with what little they could do…
She was too vulnerable out there.
The Chinese had entire cities that laid empty. Maybe when he ruled the world he could give one to Masami. Then she could interact with the world but still be safe. He'd put some kind of dome over it too. Clear diamond. Unbreakable. Then she could have been safe and protected. Then he wouldn't have ever had to worry about her again.
"….maybe…or maybe she's getting stuff for us and she doesn't want us to see. You know, like Christmas shopping." Said Son. He didn't much want Son to be there. He had disrupted the tranquility that he and Daughter had cultivated….he would get bored, eventually, and move onto something new. Hopefully nothing involving any kendo swords…he didn't like to think about that. The sword, the fact that Son had struck Daughter with it, all of the irrational feelings that came with it….
He exorcised that emotion.
All of them.
"Yes, maybe something like that…but it's summer. She'll be back, though, and I know that she would have taken us with if she could. Mom loves taking us to the store with her and all of the other places, too." Said Daughter. She pulled Son close when she said that. Masami was good at that, too, being reassuring. Not that there was anything that anyone needed to be reassured of. Masa was fine and she would be back and she would be safe when she came back.
She would be.
"Son. Daughter. Go play outside." Said Suzuki. That was the thing that parents were supposed to say, right? Go and play outside. He could remember…back when he had been very small….that he had been told to play outside many times. He had enjoyed himself…from what he could remember. They, the children, liked to be outside…
And he needed some space.
He was in the house and Masami was outside the house. That was not the way that things were supposed to be. When would she be back? He didn't know. He knew, however, that she would be back. He had this feeling, this nagging feeling, that something had been bothering her. Well she was always talking about things that bothered her but she also never told him how he was supposed to fix them…or even what it was that she was getting at half the time. She could be so confusing sometimes…
She really could.
But she was his. She was his most perfect person. She was perfect even when she wasn't. Even when she was at her most confusing she was still perfect. She was perfect even when she turned everything upside down…like now. He had never been alone with the children before. Ever. Even when Sho had been a baby he had never been alone with his own child. Wait, no, there had been the car ride to take Shigeko home from the child warehouse, orphanage, group home place….though she had been asleep for most of that trip. He may have overestimated how much it took to knock a two year old esper out. That was why he had never drugged the children's food and drink again after that even though it would have made his and Masami's lives a lot easier. That and substance abuse not a good thing to encourage in children, probably, and also they might have died. That would not have been good, either.
They children were fine, now.
He could hear them if he opened his window. He didn't mind that he was letting the air conditioning out, he didn't really feel hot and cold anymore. Not like he had when he had been younger. It put him at ease, not that he hadn't been at ease already, to hear the children's voices. Masami would have been cross with him if they were to perish, get kidnapped, or run away. They were fine. They were playing, or maybe quarreling, outside. They were fine and everything else was fine and Masami was fine and-
And update.
She had been to the bank and now she was at the shopping center. She had also stopped at Starbucks and gotten something with a long name that he could not make heads or tails of. Before that she had stopped to tie her shoe. She was wearing her white gym shoes with the pink accents. She had also checked her phone approximately thirteen times and had possibly sent a message though she had been too far away to tell. Now she was trying on shoes. She had tried on four pairs of shoes. Two pairs of high heels, one pair of gym shoes, and one pair of flat shoes.
Good. She was safe.
"Sho! Be careful!" Daughter was admonishing her brother for something. He had probably been doing something reckless again. He was so reckless…..like his mother. Though he could never have imagined Masami as half the hellion that their son was. He did take after her, though, in temperament. He was just as difficult to understand, just as much of an enigma, and that made no sense because he had not only come from Masami. Daughter was like him, though, and he had no idea if it could have been attributed to nature or nurture.
She was so much like Masami, too.
She had Masami patience and her capacity for caring. He had no idea if this could have been attributed to Masami' influence or if that was just a female thing. He didn't know. He didn't know many women or girls so he had nothing to compare the two of them to. Whatever it was he liked it. He could depend on Daughter just like he could Masami. No, not depend upon…
Trust.
He could trust the two of them. He had been betrayed before…and he was still cleaning up that mess….but he could at least trust most of his immediate family. Son…he wouldn't have trusted Son with a houseplant at this point in his life…but Daughter had proven herself to be just as capable as her mother. The woman who had raised her, not the woman who had birthed her and abandoned her, though to Shigeko Kageyama Hana would just be another stranger in a world of strangers. He had no intention of telling Shigeko the truth of her parentage and neither did Masami.
He didn't need anything tugging at his Daughter's loyalties.
"Sho, wait for me. Don't run so fast! You could get heat stroke!" said Daughter. Always thinking of her brother. Always loyal to her family. Even if Son could be so annoying sometimes. Even though that child was more like three children. Even though she had been struck in the face with a kendo sword by her own brother…well the boy they had raised with her. There was no genetic material shared between the two of them. Not that it mattered. They were raised as siblings and therefore they thought of each other as siblings and that was the way that it was going to be.
Such a pity.
His phone vibrated again.
Another update. Masami was trying on hats, now. Huh. He hadn't thought that she liked hats. They hid her hair. She had such soft and beautiful hair. He hoped that she didn't take to wearing hats. Though it was sunny out. Maybe he should have told the children to put hats on. Which one of them burnt in the sun, again? Both? No, it must have been neither. Daughter would have told Son to put a hat on…and even if they did end up with sun burns or skin cancer Fukuda could have fixed it….and he had no reason to have the irrational feelings that he had towards the man. He was a loyal follower, nothing more.
Loyalty was in short supply these days.
But Fukuda had not been involved in the coup. Fukuda had been the one to inform him of the coup as it was being planned. Those traitors…Suzuki knew that other words could have been applied but he did not lower himself to speaking like that even in his own mind….those traitors had approached Fukuda and he had no thoughts beyond informing Suzuki of the plotting that was happening right beneath his nose.
He could trust Fukuda.
Even though the atmosphere had been strange between Fukuda and Masami…or maybe he was just misreading the atmosphere. He had never been good at reading the atmosphere even as a child. In fact it was during childhood that he had first become cognizant of the fact that he was different. That though he spoke Japanese as his mother tongue he still had no idea what it was that the people around him were actually saying. People never said what they meant and meant what they said. Well he did. He did and Daughter did and the rest of the world would, when he ruled it, and when his children inherited it. Masami…to an extent…well she believed that she said what she meant and meant what she said but as of late he could feel something like a distance growing between the two of them. He didn't understand it.
But he understood her.
She was…she was Masami. She was wonderfully confusing and confusingly wonderful. She was his everything. She was everything good and everything bad that he had ever felt. He cared for her. He cared for her in so many ways that he didn't even have a precise word for it…and because he cared for her he trusted her. Whatever was happening with her…it would pass. It would always pass. These things always passed in the end.
His phone vibrated again.
He's not worried. He's not thinking of all the terrible things that could have happened to Masami out there in the world. He's not thinking of how she should never be away from him even if there were things that she needed to do. They were apart enough as it was. It wasn't like he asked to be away from her. Sacrifices had to be made on his part. He had to do what he did to give his wife the life that she deserved.
He checked his phone.
Now she was looking at children's clothing. He knew that he didn't need updates on every single thing that she did but…but it made him feel better. Knowing that she was out there, in the world, and that she was safe out there. The thought of her just being out there without his protection….it was like the floor had fallen apart beneath his feet and he had forgotten how to keep himself aloft with telekinesis. She was out there…but she was fine. She was fine and she would be coming home…eventually. He wished that he could have just asked her…
He was Suzuki Touichirou. He could do whatever he liked.
There were no limits on what he could do. If he wanted to call his wife and ask her when she was planning on coming home then…then there was nothing stopping him. He had fingers and he had a phone…but then if he asked her she would know how he felt…how close he was to losing control…and then he would lose her. She had no idea what it was like, what he could be like, and he had no intention of showing that part of himself, that weak part, to her. Even if he could do whatever he wanted he…he didn't want to deal with the consequences of what he wanted to do…
He so wanted her to come back.
"Dad? Sho has a sunburn and he scraped a bunch of his skin off when the was climbing the wall and also he's hungry…and I'm hungry too but I don't have to eat yet." Said Daughter. He hadn't noticed Daughter. He had been too wrapped up in himself to notice Daughter approaching him or the way Son was carrying on and-
What had she wanted?
"Can't you take care of it?" asked Suzuki. He hadn't been fully paying attention to what she had said but he was confident that she could take care of everything. She was someone who he could trust after all.
"Do you want me to call Fukuda?" asked Daughter
"Why?" asked Suzuki
"Because of Sho's scrape and also because of his sunburn. I'm sorry that I forgot about the sunscreen. I won't forget ever again I promise." Said Daughter. That was why he trusted her. She learned from her mistakes, apologized, and knew what she had to do to fix whatever it was she had failed at.
"Do you think that this is a situation in which you need to bother Fukuda or can you take care of this yourself?" asked Suzuki. He valued Fukuda. Loyalty, proper loyalty, was so hard to come by these days…but he did not like how attached the children were to him. How he had overstepped, before, when Masami had taken ill. How the children spoke of him. How the atmosphere was always strange when he was there with Masami. He knew that there was nothing between them, Masami was his wife and she would never commit any acts of infidelity, and he knew that the way he felt was irrational…
He was Suzuki Touichirou. He didn't have to justify why he did and did not want someone in his home. Not even to himself.
"I don't know how healing works…" said Daughter. He did not hold that against her. Healing wasn't in his power set either. Fukuda was the only healer he had ever met in all his life and all his travels. He didn't think that a scrape and a sunburn counted as a medical emergency, though, not something that required the use of a healer.
"Do you think that this is something serious enough to bother Fukuda over?" asked Suzuki. Daughter had good judgement…right? He held her in high esteem. He knew she was a child but she was more powerful and more intelligent than the rest of them if her brother was anything to go off of.
"Um….I don't think that Sho is going to die so…no?" said Daughter. She phrased it like she was asking a question. He'd have to talk to her later about speaking with intent. She should never have ended something like a question unless she was actually asking a question.
"I don't think that your brother is going to die either." Said Suzuki. She nodded. Good. She understood.
"Ok….but we're hungry, too. Um…Sho is more hungry than me but I can make him wait until mom comes back." Said Daughter after a moment. Right, they had been hungry. Children needed food just like adults did. Right….they needed food…and he did not cook.
"Did she tell you when she planned on coming back?" asked Suzuki. He did not cook. He did not like to cook. He knew how to cook, sort of, but he did not want to cook. Masami was a good cook. Daughter knew how to cook, too, though she didn't have nearly the amount of culinary knowledge that her mother did.
"No." said Daughter. He had wondered…or maybe he had wished…that Masami had given the children some indication as to when she would be back. She knew that it was getting close to the time in which the children were usually fed. Yes….that was why he was feeling….all of these things that he knew that he should not have been feeling.
"She didn't say anything to you at all?" asked Suzuki
"No. She just said that she was going. I was there with you, she didn't tell me anything special." Said Daughter. She didn't know…and of course she didn't. She had been in the room with her mother when she said that she was going…and that was fine. Suzuki was fine.
"Alright. Daughter, why don't you make lunch? You know how to cook." Said Suzuki. He did not cook and he did not want to cook. The children would be fine. Daughter knew what she was doing. He trusted Daughter just as much as he trusted Masami.
"But mom said that I wasn't supposed to-" said Daughter
"You'll be fine. Your mother told you not to cook unless I allow you to and I am allowing you to. Now go and feed your brother because he becomes more restless than he already is. I trust you." Said Suzuki. There was something to be said about doling out kernels of praise to various subordinates. That was not what he had done in that case. He did legitimately trust Daughter. He wished that there were more of him. One to make lunch and one to keep him company. He knew that it was irrational, he was a complete person all on his own, but he did enjoy her company. The way he felt…he needed a distraction.
He should not have been so anxious.
He should not have been anything. When he felt too strongly then he lost control and when he lost control people died or at the very least got seriously injured. Also it was shameful to lose control at his age. How could he rule over the whole world if he could not even rule over himself? He was fine and Masami was fine and everything was fine. He had no reason to be like this just because his wife was far from home and he was alone, totally alone, with his children for the first time in his life…
He was fine.
He needed a distraction.
So he worked. He got messages, of course, about Masami's whereabouts. They were supposed to check in every so often and the large gaps between messages made him feel like maybe they had lost track of her…and they had better not have if they knew what was good for them. How hard was it to follow one woman around while keeping enough distance that she didn't realize that you were there? He wished that he could have sent Masami out into the world with a full security detail but she would never have agreed to that.
He looked into empty cities.
There was a phrase 'down the rabbit hole' which he had heard the children use. They often fell down their own rabbit holes, mostly about shows they watched or videogames they played, and the phrase referred to severely losing track of the time. There was something calming about work and when work was paired with research, always enjoyable, he could find himself calming down and losing large swaths of time.
He went down the rabbit hole that was the logistics of creating an artificial city for just his wife.
There would be a clear dome over it. Walls were so imposing and she may have felt like he was trying to keep her trapped inside. He kind of was but the idea was to keep the outside world outside of the city where it belonged. The city would have a clear dome made of diamond over it, he could make diamonds himself so a city sized dome wouldn't take up too many resources, and she would be able to see out of it, too. The inside would be completely sterile so she wouldn't ever fall ill, ever, because if she ever fell in then she ran the risk of dying. There would be a hospital there just for her just in case anything ever did happen. She was so fragile…he would have to pave the streets with rubber so she didn't get hurt. No cars, either, because those were dangerous too. She'd have a palanquin fit for the queen that she was.
She would be a queen of the world.
And her city would have been made just for her. There would be animals, he hated them but she loved them, just out and about. Dogs and cats and elephants and zebras and wolves…no, wait, no wolves. She liked wolves, she had that sleeping shirt with the wolves howling at the moon on it that she wore sometimes but he was not filling a city with wolves for her…unless he had them domesticated…but then they would just be big dogs….there would be a lot of animals for her and they would all roam freely so she could enjoy them. There would be shops, too, because she liked shopping it seemed. Also Starbucks. One on every corner…so pretty much like some cities he had been too…and also there would be a lot of cake because she loved cake. Lots of sweet foods…and also dentists because her teeth didn't grow back like his did…at least he was mostly sure that normal people's teeth didn't grow back….he'd have to look into that, too…also all the shops would have her favorite kind of toothpaste, the kind with the bubblegum flavoring but was definitely for adults…
It was always vile kissing her after she had just brushed her teeth.
But he wouldn't say anything. It was a small price to pay for the privilege of kissing her. He would kiss her more often, then, because he would have seen her more often. After he'd ruled the world for a bit he would pass it down to Sho…dear God….or perhaps one of his offspring….the thought is terrifying….and then he could retire to the closed off city with his wife and just…rest. Just rest and be with her. He'd listen to her even when she was boring or made no sense and he would hold her and watch all the historical dramas she wanted to….and he'd have to create a television station just for her….or several. At least three. She liked historical dramas a lot but she also liked other things. Documentaries and science fiction….he'd commission more Galaxy Express 999 for them…but a more realistic take…as realistic as a program about a steam engine traveling through space was…
He'd enjoy it.
He'd enjoy it with her and their grandchildren as well. Daughter's grandchildren. The ones he would get from Daughter. Son and his family would be busy ruling the world in his place. Daughter would stay with her mother, though, and help rule the world from the closed in city. Daughters were meant to stay with their mothers. Daughter would have her own children to care for. Her husband…he had no plans for her husband. She didn't even really need one, she could have as many lovers as he wanted, he just wanted to see what sort of grandchildren she'd make. If she met the right man or men her children could conquer the world.
Good thing she was on his side.
She would be loyal to him until the day he died…not that he had any intention of dying. At some point he would funnel money into researching a way to keep him going in some capacity for as long as possible. Not that he feared death. No, fearing death was stupid. But if there was a way for the man who conquered the globe to stop his own extinction then…why not take advantage of it? For Masami, as well.
She could not die.
If there was a way to give her an immortal robot body he would….but there wasn't. Not now. There wasn't some distant planet at the end of a long train ride through space where he could go and get a robot body for his wife but actually the planet was evil and used people as parts for it and then-
Daughter was seven years old. Not him.
And with the urge to watch Galaxy Express 999 for the first time since he was in elementary school he realized that the shadows had grown much longer outside his window…
And no news of Masami…
And then the panic set it. He was well and truly…and he had to keep it under control…because she was there…out there…and obviously the people he'd ordered to follow her had lost track of her and-and-and-and-and-
"Dad? Are you ok? Your aura is being all…weird." Daughter. She was in his doorway. She was covered in sugar and she smelled of butter and there were crumbs in her hair…and she could deal with that herself.
"Fine, I'm fine. Go back to whatever it was that you were doing." Said Suzuki. He had to stay composed. Composed for himself and his children. They could not see him losing it like that…and he could not lose it like that, either. He had to stay calm.
And calmly murder the people who had lost his wife.
"Ok. Should I tell mom that you're ok, too?" asked Daughter. He felt his heart stop…and then start up again much too fast.
"Your mother is here?" asked Suzuki. How had he…how had he not noticed? Because she was a normal person. He had no noticed because Masami was a normal person and had no aura. She was harder to find than Son who had little to no aura at the best of times….
"Yes. She just came back. She said not to bother you but I bothered you because I was worried about you…and I'm sorry." Said Daughter. He barely heard her. He had no idea what he said to her after she said whatever it was that she had just said. All he could think about was Masami…there…safe and sound…
There she was.
She was in the kitchen. There were shopping bags on the floor. She was scraping something out of a pan at the sink.
"Why did you tell Shigeko that she could make lunch? This was not a nonstick pan…" said Masami as she scrubbed as hard as she could. She seemed…angry. Yes, he could see it. The tightness around her eyes, the harshness of her tone, and the way she hadn't even said so much as 'hello' to him…
"The children were hungry." Said Suzuki simply as he exorcised the feelings that grew with every second he spent looking at Masami. She was so beautiful. He watched her clean the pan in the sink that their daughter had, apparently, ruined…
Masami had such beautiful hands.
Every single part of her was so beautiful.
She was perfect. His most perfect person.
"Then why didn't you feed them?" asked Masami. She muttered something under her breath that he could not hear.
"Daughter knew what to do. You taught her well." Said Suzuki. He felt…better. Well not the best because she had been away for a while and also the kitchen was messy and he did not do well in messy and chaotic spaces. But he was doing better…and he should not have been unwell at all. She was back, he knew that she was coming back…so he should not have been feeling unwell…
Maybe he was just unwell because the people who had been following her had lost her and not even bothered to tell him.
"Yeah…you'll always have Shigeko…." Said Masami. He agreed with her. He would always have Shigeko.
"I will. Even when she has her own family I doubt that she will leave me…us." Said Suzuki. Shigeko was a good Daughter, she would never leave her parents. It would be nice. Just him, her, and Masami together. He and Masami would be able to rest and Daughter would be an adult and she would be even better company and Son would be doing the hard work of ruling the world…
So they could all just rest already.
"Right. The kids are going to grow up, get married, and then spend their lives with us…" muttered Masami. She was still scrubbing. He wondered why she didn't just throw the pan away and buy a new one since she seemed to like going out to the shops all day.
"Do you think?" asked Suzuki
"Think what?" said Masami
"That they'll get married." Said Suzuki
"I hope they end up getting married…then they can be as happy as we are…" said Masami in a tone that he could not place.
"But they were raised as siblings. I always thought that it would have been too odd for them to….Masami?" asked Suzuki. She was looking at him like…he had no idea what she was looking at him like. She had dropped the pan in the sink and now she was just staring at him. He wondered if she wanted him to turn the tap off. It was getting close to filling the sink up to the point that it overflowed.
"Touichirou…what the fu-I meant to OTHER PEOPLE! Why would you….? How does your mind WORK?! Just…explain it to me right now what is happening in your mind that would even lead you to-to-to the thought ever even crossing your mind-" said Masami. He had no idea what it was that she was so upset about. He thought that she had just meant that if the children were to grow up and get married they wouldn't have anything to worry about since there wasn't a drop of blood between them.
"Masami-" said Touichirou. He was about to explain to her how his entire thought process worked, even though it would have taken some time, when they were interrupted once again.
"Dad? Can you play with me again….because you and mom are yelling…but you don't yell at me. So can we play?" asked Daughter. He was about to send her away, she knew better than to interrupt her parents when they were talking, but Masami decided to speak first.
"Go and play with your Daughter. I have work to do." Said Masami. He didn't need to be an expert at reading the atmosphere to know that he was not wanted there…
And he didn't know why.
What had he done? She had been so cross…so short…lately. So distant. He wished that she would just write him a letter or something with all of her feelings and thoughts and wants and needs. Why had she wanted him to explain his thought process to her? Why was the burden on him? She was the one who was being all…
Whatever it was that she was being like…and for whatever reason…