Mom sure loved taking long walks.
Mob had never known her mom to love walking this much. Mom usually complained, before, about how far apart things were and stuff like that. Now she was walking them through the heat all over the city. Well it felt like they were going all over the city but it must not have been that far. Dad had offered to send a car around for them but mom said that they weren't walking that far. She said that they all needed the exercise anyway.
Mob wondered why they needed the exercise.
Mom was sleeping a lot less these days, she wasn't as exhausted, and Sho was always running around and playing and stuff. Mom must have meant that Mob was the one who needed the exercise, then, because she had been spending pretty much all of her time with dad. Dad didn't like running around or anything like that, he liked to work, and he liked it when she was quiet and let him work. She had been spending her summer on the floor of dad's office with her toys or her tablet. Mostly her tablet, dad didn't like a lot of clutter in his office, so she had been mostly on her tablet. Dad didn't limit their screen time like mom did and he even let her buy as many games as she wanted. Stuff for her games, too.
Her tablet cat had the very best food, now.
Dad didn't say that her games were a waste of money like mom did. Dad said that she was learning valuable nurturing skills which would serve her well in her adult life. That meant that she needed to learn how to take care of things because when she grew up she was going to be somebody's mom like mom was her mom and Mob had to be a good mom so she had to learn to take care of things. Sho didn't have to learn to take care of things, dad said, because he was a boy and when he grew up his wife would take care of things for him just like how mom did for dad. That was how it worked in families.
Dad had said so.
Dad was always telling her what she would be when she grew up. How she would work for him and help him run the world, even though she didn't want to, and how she had to have a lot of kids because the world didn't have a lot of espers in it and they needed to make more. Mob had wanted to grow up and work at the animal shelter and take care of the cats….but she didn't tell dad that. If she told dad that then he would tell her that she was not allowed to grow up to work at the animal shelter and help take care of the cats. Dad already had a plan for her and she had to follow it.
It was best to just do whatever dad wanted.
That way he didn't end up getting mad at you. Sho was always doing the opposite of what dad wanted him to do. Dad was always telling Sho to be quiet and stop being a nuisance but Sho always just did whatever he wanted. Even when he was with mom he didn't just go with it even though it was so much easier to just go with what mom wanted. Like now. Like right now mom said that they were going for a walk and Mob, well she didn't much want to go on this walk, but mom said that they were going to walk so they were walking.
It was too hot out.
Mob had black hair. It was long and thick and it trapped heat. That was why she got hot so easily in the sun. Dad had said so. He said that she was unlucky because she had to have long hair and that her hair was black. Sho had short red hair. It reflected the sun, dad said, which was why he was better at being in the sun than she was. The hats that mom made them war didn't make her any less hot. Her head was sweaty and the rest of her was sweaty. She was so sweaty that her dress was sticking to her back and getting stuck on her legs. Her shoes were slippery in her sandals from how much she was sweating.
But she was not going to complain.
Not like Sho was.
"Mom! Walking is so boring! Can't we walk to somewhere fun, like that park?" asked Sho. Mob wanted to go to the park, too. It was less miserable if you were playing something or doing something fun. Not that Mob would ever have said something like that to mom. When someone wanted you to do something then it was best to do it. Otherwise they got mad.
"Sho, come on. It's nice to get out of the house and explore the neighborhood sometimes." Said Mom. Dad said that mom had been acting weird lately. Mob agreed. Mom had been leaving them all alone in the house with dad. Dad usually left her in charge of her and Sho. It should have been fun, being in charge, but it wasn't. Sho didn't like it that dad always put her in charge even though she was a whole year older than him. He said that she wasn't mom and it wasn't fair.
Dad just told Sho to be quiet and do whatever Mob said.
"But I don't even think that we're even in our neighborhood anymore." Said Sho. Mob agreed but said nothing. The houses were different here, a lot smaller. They lived in the biggest house in the whole city, dad had said, but the houses here looked nothing like theirs. They were smaller with only fences, not walls, and Mob didn't know how a family could live in a house so small. Where they did they put all of their extra stuff? Where did the kids in the family play? Where did the dad work? Where did the mom sleep and watch TV?
"It's nice to explore other neighborhoods, too. It's nice to see what else is out there." said Mom. Mob nodded. This was nice, exploring, kind of like what dad did. He had been all over the world and he had seen so much…and he said that when she and Sho got older he would bring them, too. Mob didn't know if she wanted to leave Japan, though, she had always wanted to travel with dad but the thought of leaving Japan…when she had seen so little of it…it was kind of worrying….
Mob wished that mom could have come too.
But dad said that mom wasn't safe because she didn't have powers. He said that when he ruled the world he would make a city for mom to be safe in. She would be safe and happy, dad said, in the domed city that he would make for mom. Mob thought that it sounded kind of lonely, a whole city just for one person, and the dome would be….trapping. It would be like the garden wall but worse. It would be like being trapped under a glass bowl, like Sho did to garden flies even though it was mean, and it would have been…
Mob wasn't allowed to have opinions on the things that dad did and did not want to do.
"Like other parks?" asked Sho. Mob wanted to tell mom to look on her phone for other parks for them to play at. Walking without purpose was miserable…but she wasn't supposed to question mom, either. Children did not question their parents, dad had said so, and she was not going to make mom or dad upset. She had to set a good example for Sho, too, dad had said. A lot of work went into being a good daughter but it was work that she knew she had to do. She had to be a good daughter so she could help keep the family together. Everyone had their part to play. Dad had said so.
"Maybe. We'll see where our feet take us." Said Mom. She stopped walking and looked on her phone. Mob wanted to ask what she was doing but she didn't. That might have counted as questioning mom. Mom had been so snappish with her lately. Mob wished more than anything that she could just get a clue already. Lately it had seemed liked everything she did was wrong. Everything she did had just made mom mad at her. Mom wouldn't even look at her much these days. Mom only tucked Sho in and she only washed Sho when they took a bath, Mob was old enough to wash her own skin and hair mom had said, and mom was telling her to fix her own snacks and put her own clothes away and…
And Mob had no idea what it was that she had done wrong.
But she wanted to make it right.
"We have brains in our heads and feet in our shoes and they can steer us wherever we choose." Said Mob. That was from a book, one of their English books, that mom read to them sometimes. Mom still read to them but she only sat on Sho's bed and she held him close and…and Mob was bigger than Sho. Mob was bigger than Sho and she was not little anymore…like dad was always telling her. She was older, a second grader once school started again, and she had to…she had to be a big kid now.
"That's right." Said mom. She didn't look at Mob when she said that. Even though dad said that she spoke really good English. Dad said that she had to be careful the way she said certain words or people who's mother tongue was English would think that she sounded funny. Mom didn't tell her that her English was very good or that it was good that she remembered her book or anything like that.
Mom didn't even look at her.
Mom hadn't even taken her hand.
Mom had taken Sho's hand and they were walking down this strange road in this strange part of the city. She wondered how dad felt when he walked down strange streets in strange countries. Did he feel like this? She'd ask him later. She wasn't allowed to question him but she was allowed to ask him questions. Dad liked it when she asked questions about him and his life. Well sometimes he didn't and it was hard to tell what was and was not ok to ask sometimes…
A lot of the times.
She kind of wished that she was back with dad. She wished that she was back in dad's air conditioned office where she could be with him and see how he was and just…just make sure that nothing made him mad…or if something did make him mad she could keep him away from Sho. She wanted Sho to be safe even if he was the one who made dad mad at him. She wanted a lot of things…things that she could not have. She wanted everyone in her family to get along all the time, like on TV, or like how other people's families were. She wanted….she wanted a lot of things…
She wanted her dad.
Because dad at least looked at her, sometimes. Not with his eyes but with his aura. She had no idea if mom was looking at her…well she wasn't…but there was another way of looking at people that had to do with auras…but of course mom wouldn't do that. She couldn't do that. Mom was a normal person and normal people did not have auras. Only espers had auras and mom was not an esper. There weren't a lot of espers in the world, dad had said, and that was why he had picked mom to be his most perfect person. He said that when she grew up she would find her most perfect person to, when she grew up, and he would be an esper.
But there weren't a lot of espers in the world.
Even though she had felt some, been feeling some, and had been feeling some for a while. She used to feel them occasionally before and after school. Little pokes at the edges of her feeling. Little jabs like when Sho poked her in the middle of the night. This was the middle of the day, though, so it was different…and also she had never felt this many before. It was getting worse…not worse but more…numerous.
Lots of little pokes.
Lots and lots and lots of little pokes.
Sho couldn't feel it. Sho would have said something if he could. He was bad at sensing people. He was bad at sensing her, sometimes, even though dad had said that she had an unusually bright aura. Dad said that she was almost as bright as her was. That had made her feel good. Dad could be mean, sometimes, but he could also be really nice to her too. She just wished that Sho could have gotten some of that niceness, too.
But he didn't.
Because he always did things that were wrong. He didn't have powers like she could and he couldn't sit still and be quiet like she could…and dad would only like Sho if he were more like her. Dad was…dad was dad and Mob…her job was to be there for dad…..to be there to keep him from getting any more upset at Sho…and she maybe liked spending time with him, too. At least he looked at her and talked to her and….and he was starting to be nicer to her than mom was….
She wanted to be with dad.
And she wanted to be with mom too.
She wanted everyone to be together.
But she mostly wanted to stop this poking feeling. She got this from Sho when he slept because he had bad dreams. She felt this from dad when he needed her attention. She did not like feeling this from strangers on the street. It was annoying and kind of…gross…too. Gross like being all covered in sweat all day while she walked under the blazing hot sun….
She stopped.
She stared.
These other auras felt weird. Her aura was pink and blue, dad's aura was red and yellow, Sho's aura was just red, and Fukuda's aura was just green. She didn't know why those people, the ones she could see, all had auras that were the same. Sho had an aura that was red like dad's but his aura was a brighter red and it also felt different. These people…it was like someone copy pasted them.
It felt wrong,
"Shigeko, keep up." Said Mom. Mob pointed at the people sitting in the black car at the end of the street. She couldn't see into the car, it had black windows, and she wondered how driving at night worked with black windows. Not that she was about to ask a bunch of complete strangers why they had a black car and black windows and how they drove at night without getting into all kinds of terrible accidents.
"Sorry mom." Said Mob. She stopped staring at the car. It drove off really fast and Mom grabbed her by the arm. Now she was sort of being dragged. Her sandals were getting dirty. These were new. Mom had gotten them for her on her last shopping trip. Mom explained that she had to take care of her shoes and all of her stuff. She said that because she was older now she'd have to do more for herself.
Because one day she wouldn't be there.
Mob knew that mom meant that one day she'd be an old person and Mob would be a grown up. When Mob became a grown up the she should have been able to take care of herself. That was why dad was letting her hang out with him, too, because one day she would be a grown up. When she became a grown up the she would have her own family to take care of.
Being a kid was practice for being a grown up. Dad had said so.
"Mom, are we going to a park? One with a playground? And a dog run? And one of those sprinkler things?" asked Sho
"But we're in clothes." Said Mob. She never thought things through. Dad said that. He said that Sho never thought things through and that was one of the things that made him annoying. Dad thought that Sho was annoying all of the time. Sometimes Mob thought that Sho was annoying and all but that didn't change the fact that Sho was the best little brother in the whole world. Even when he was tugging on mom even though you weren't supposed to tug on people like that.
"It's hot out, it's not like we'll get sick or anything like that." Said Sho
"But we'd still be all wet." Said Mob. She was sweaty already. She didn't want to end up soaking wet, too. Dad had been teaching her not to feel the heat or the cold but…but she wasn't that great at it. She wasn't that great at it yet but she didn't let on. Dad didn't like her when she was a failure.
She wanted dad to like her.
Because it felt good, having dad like her.
Even if it made her selfish.
"I don't care about that, big sis. I'd rather be all wet than all hot and sweaty." Said Sho. Mom reached down and touched his head. He always got head touches and head pats. Because he was so little. Because he was so little and…and she wasn't little anymore. That was why dad trusted her to make lunch and look after Sho and stuff. Because she wasn't little anymore.
"We'd have to walk home like that…and it's a long walk home." Said Mob. Mom was still walking them. She kept looking behind them at the people who were walking down the street, too. They had those weird copy and paste auras, too. Mob didn't get it at all. She didn't get why there were so many espers out in the world…and why dad kept on saying that there were so few of them in the world. Mob wanted to know more people like her. Sometimes she felt very alone, even in her own house, because aside from dad it felt like there was no one else in the whole world who was like her. Dad even said that. He said that there wasn't any girl in the whole world who was like her.
It was kind of lonely.
But she knew that she should not have felt like that. She should not have felt so alone. Dad said that being lonely was a bad thing. He said that she had to be a complete person on her own like he was. He said that he was a complete person but…but then he was always letting her spend time with him. And also he had married mom. And also he had made her and Sho. If he was such a complete person all on his own then he shouldn't have needed a family or anything like that. He should have been fine being all alone like he had said.
Mob didn't get him sometimes.
But she never told him that.
Because Dad liked her best. Dad liked her best and she….she liked dad best. She liked dad best because Sho liked mom best and mom liked Sho best. That was the best way for them to be. They had to divide up their parents evenly. Things had to be even and equal and…and that was the way that they were supposed to be. Even though when dad was gone she felt so alone. Mom didn't have powers and Sho didn't have powers like she had powers and mom liked Sho best and it just left Mob feeling so….
Alone.
Even now she felt alone. Mom was talking to Sho. She had let go of Mob and now she was holding hands with Sho and walking with him and…and she felt so alone even though she was with her mom and her little brother…and she was surrounded by other espers….strangers. Strangers with strange auras. Red, like the house over there that was painted bright red. Red like the red flowers that grew in the window boxes. Red like…kind of like dad's aura. Like dad's aura but…but different and also…and also kind of similar and she still felt so alone and she just wanted…
She didn't want to be alone.
She didn't want to feel alone.
And she didn't want to be surrounded by strangers. Mom and Sho were an island she was…she was also an island but they were not an archipelago like the nation of Japan was. Japan was an archipelago. That was one of the bonus questions on a test she took at school last year. That was a vocabulary test. She knew that word from dad, though, because he had gone to the Philippines and that was an archipelago. Lots of islands together was an archipelago.
She wasn't an archipelago, though.
She was an island all on her own. Like Madagascar, which dad had also gone to and told her about. She didn't want to be an island, though, she wanted to be an archipelago. She wanted to be in an archipelago with someone but she…she felt so alone. Mom and Sho were there and Dad was home and she wanted to go home but she wasn't sure where home was….she expanded her perceptions. She expanded her perceptions and looked for home…not that she was planning on running away…just that she wanted to feel-
Oh.
There were a lot of those copy and paste guys around, more than she thought, but also…she knew that aura!
"Mom, we've got to walk that way." said Mob. She tugged on mom's hand even though she wasn't supposed to do that. She had a good reason for doing this, though, a very good reason. She hadn't felt this aura in so long, so very long, and she missed it so much.
"Shigeko, wait for your brother." Said Mom. She let Mob tug on her…and Mob didn't think that she was mad. She had trouble, though, with figuring out what people felt and needed and wanted. It was so much easier when people said what they meant and meant what they said. Like dad was always doing. He always said what he meant and meant what he said and it may not have always been nice but at least he was easier to understand than most other people. Even people in her own family.
"You had better be leading us to a park." Said Sho. Mob didn't know where she was leading them because she wasn't leading them to a place. No, she was leading them to a person. A person that they would be so happy to see and who would be so happy to see them.
Right?
Wrong.
The walk had been longer than Mob had thought. She could tell where people were by their auras but judging distance was not easy. Still once she started she couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop. She didn't want to have this alone feeling inside of her anymore. She didn't want…she didn't want to feel alone anymore.
But maybe the walk had been too long.
"Fukuda!" said Sho. Well at least he was happy. They were very far from home, now, and she had the blisters to prove it. She was still happy, so happy, but not happy enough to shout like Sho did. He shouldn't have been yelling, it wasn't polite.
"What the hell-hello. Hello Masa-Mrs. Suzuki. Sho. Shigeko. What brings you to my neck of the woods?" asked Fukuda. It was weird seeing him outside of their house. He was dressed in summer clothes and he had a grocery bag. Maybe they were near his house. Or maybe this was just where he bought food. Mob didn't know. She was just happy to see him.
"Big sis led us here." Said Sho. Mob nodded. She had never expanded herself out so far before. Dad would be so happy with her when she told him about this! Not that she was going brag or anything like that….because that would have been wrong.
"Did she now?" asked Fukuda. He was smiling like he was happy but his aura was kind of…scared? That was the feeling she was getting off of him. Like how Sho's aura was when he knew that dad was going to punish him or when he was having a nightmare. But why would Fukuda have been scared? Wasn't he….wasn't he happy to see her? To see them? Why wouldn't have been happy? He was always happy when he came to their house.
"Yes. She led us here from about….eleven or twelve blocks away…" said Mom quietly, Fukuda nodded.
"Wow, you felt me from that far away, Little Lady?" asked Fukuda. Sho crossed his arms and stamped his foot. He didn't like it when dad talked about how strong her powers were…and it seemed like he got just as upset when other people praised her, too.
"Yes. You and a bunch of other espers too. They're back there, over there, and across the street as well." Said Mob. She pointed to all of the espers around them…and that might have been rude. Those espers ran away when she pointed at them. She was being rude or…or maybe they were scared of her…
"Wow. I had no idea that there were so many of us around. You could feel all of them?" asked Fukuda. Mob nodded.
"Yes. Dad says that I have very good range." Said Mob
"So it was you I felt earlier, then?" asked Fukuda. Mob nodded again.
"Yes. That was probably me, too. Dad said that my aura is very bright." Said Mob. She got the feeling that she was saying the wrong thing based on the looks that mom and Fukuda were giving each other.
Mob just didn't understand.