Mob was not a little kid anymore.

Which was why she was sitting in a Starbucks drinking something that was truly disgusting talking about books that she could barely understand and had to force herself to finish reading. She was not a little kid. Not all of her books needed pictures and not all of her drinks needed to be more sugar than liquid. Like the time she and Sho had made lemonade from scratch and put in so much sugar that it stopped dissolving. Even if it had been kind of good…but Mob was not a little kid anymore. She was nine years old now and nine was not a child…well it was….but not a small child.

"You know you don't have to drink that if you don't want to." Said Minegishi. This was either the high or low point of their life. Sitting in a Starbucks with a nine year old and watching said nine year old attempt to choke down a cup of black coffee and discuss a book that Minegishi only read because they were bored on a long plane ride. They had nothing to do with their time but hang out with a nine year old…

"I know." Said Mob as she took another sip. She was not little. She was not a little kid and she was friends with Minegishi and Minegishi was an adult and drank coffee and talked about books and therefore that was what Mob would do, too.

"Or torture yourself. Whatever. It's your coffee and you can do what you want with it." Said Minegishi. What was with this kid? She was in no way Suzuki's kid. One time Minegishi had seen him throw an entire pot of tea at one of the awakened because it had gone cold or was too weak or whatever Suzuki thought justified one throwing such a fit over a pot of tea.

But that nine year old was also going to inherit the Earth or whatever.

So really what they were doing was kissing up to their future boss. Well one of their future bosses. Suzuki may have been a sexist asshole but he was not stupid. There was no way that he was going to leave Claw to his son. He had might as well just out a dog in a suit and let it run Claw. No, this girl was their best bet.

All hopes for the future rested on a nine year old girl.

"I know that I can stop at any time but I don't want to be wasteful…and also I don't mind. This is good. This is very good…" said Mob. She wasn't lying. Good coffee tasted very bitter. Dad had said so. She had taken a drink of his coffee once when she was little and he said that it was good because it tasted so bad. That was the rule. If something tasted bad then it was good for you. Like grapefruit. Or medicine. Well she never took medicine, she never got sick, but she heard that it was just awful.

"Wasteful? You got a real kimono for your birthday. I don't think that you've got any money troubles." Said Minegishi. There had been a time in their life when they would have loved to have worn something so expensive…but that time had passed when they hit adulthood and realized that there were better things that a person could piss their money away on. Like books and liquor and lavender hair dye.

"I don't think that we do, I don't really ask, but I don't want to be wasteful. Mom, my mom, she always said not to be wasteful…but don't tell my dad that I was talking about my mom. We're not supposed to talk about her because she betrayed us by leaving." Said Mob

"You have a mother?" asked Minegishi. Who in the hell wanted a piece of THAT? Even at their most desperate they wouldn't have touched Suzuki with a ten foot pole. That guy. He wasn't unattractive but he wasn't attractive either. Well aside from the money and the power but it was not worth it to have to wake up next to him every single day.

"Yes. Her name was…is….Suzuki Masami. She was very nice. I miss her every day…but don't tell my dad I said that either." Said Mob. She expanded her aura out as if dad were right there ready to smack her over the head for talking about, even thinking about, mom. They weren't supposed to waste their time on traitors and mom was a traitor…even though the thought of her mom as a traitor left a taste in her mouth more bitter than the coffee she was trying to drink.

"I don't tell him anything. I, like most people, am not worthy of even breathing the same air as the great Suzuki Touichirou." Said Minegishi

"That's not true. You're a good person and a good friend and you can breathe whatever air you want to…but please just don't tell my dad that I was talking about my mom. He really hates it when we talk about her." said Mob

"Your secret is safe with me." Said Minegishi. They weren't about to go betraying the kid's trust. Also they weren't about to go and start a conversation with Suzuki. They had no idea why anyone would ever want to have a conversation with him. They had no idea how his children could even stand him.

"Ok. I knew I could trust you. You're my friend." Said Mob. She knew that she was smiling too much and that her aura was showing too much….but she was happy. She was so happy. She had never had anyone who would keep her secrets…aside from Sho…but she never had many secrets before.

"Yeah….I'm friends with a nine year old…hooray." Said Minegishi

"And I'm friends with an adult. We can be friends, right?" asked Mob. She didn't know if kids and adults could be friends. She didn't know the rules about friendship. For her whole life she had only been friends with Sho.

"You're Suzuki Shigeko. Who in the hell thinks that they can tell you what to do?" asked Minegishi. She had the potential to have been a real brat, but she wasn't. Minegishi wondered how Suzuki, overgrown child that he was, had managed to raise a kid like this. Minegishi still thought that she might have been adopted. It all fit. The fact that she looked pure Japanese, the way that her aura was a different color from her father and brother…if aural colors were inherited like that, the way that she was nothing like her father or brother…but Minegishi was not about to go off and voice those half-baked theories to his boss. No, that would not have gone over well at all.

"My dad." Said Mob. Dad was the only person who told her what to do. No other adult had ever been that way towards her since she had stopped going to school and mom had left. She was the one who told adults what to do, now, sometimes…and that was weird. Well it had been really weird but now it was less weird. She had gotten used to telling the Awakened what to do and dad sometimes even sent her to pass his orders along to other departments too. Mob always tried to be nice when she told people what to do. Not like how dad told people what to do. He was always kind of mean about it.

"Yeah. That'd be about right." Said Minegishi

"But he tells everyone what to do. He has to because he's the most powerful esper ever. He said so. He said that it's a terrible burden being the most powerful esper alive. That's why I'm glad that I don't have to inherit the world, I couldn't if I wanted to because I'm a girl, I don't think that I could tell everyone what to do. I don't even like telling people what to do now. Sho is always calling me bossy but I don't want to be." Said Mob

"Yup, that's Suzuki in a nutshell." Said Minegishi as they took a sip of their coffee. This kid was way too sweet for this world. Also this kid was probably adopted. Also Suzuki was a sexist asshole. So pretty much second verse same as the first.

"Yeah, that's how dad is." Said Mob

"I don't know how you can stand him. If he were my father I would have emancipated myself at the age of four." Said Minegishi

"What does emancipated mean?" asked Mob

"When you go to the courts and have yourself declared a legal adult. Best decision I ever made." Said Minegishi with a shrug.

"You did that when you were four?" asked Mob incredulously. Did that mean that Minegishi was an orphan? Did that mean that They didn't have any parents? The best characters in shows and books and movies and games were always orphans because they didn't have parents to tell them what to do and also the lack of parents really pushed the plot along and stuff. Mob was glad, though, that she was not an orphan. She was half an orphan because she didn't have a mom but she didn't want to be an all the way orphan. She loved her dad and brother and her mom, too, even if she was supposed to pretend that she had never had a mom in the first place.

"No, fifteen." Said Minegishi. They prayed that there were no follow up questions…but this was the kid. Of course there would be follow up questions.

"Why?" asked Mob after a moment. She had cycled through several questions before settling on that one. She hoped that she wasn't being nosy. She just wanted to know….even if it was none of her business. She knew that asking adults about the past was not ok, dad hit her sometimes when she asked about things like his parents and stuff, but she knew that Minegishi would never hit her so that was ok. Even if they were mad at her at least they wouldn't hit her.

"Because my dad was an asshole and my mom was an even bigger asshole. Maybe that why I'm such an asshole. Maybe it's genetic." Said Minegishi. That was the extremely abridged version of a very crappy life. A crappier life than Miss Suzuki had over there…or not. Minegishi didn't know. Suzuki was an asshole but he wouldn't just go and knock the kid around….would he? There was no point in it. The kid would only get stronger while he got weaker. That was how the natural ordered of things went. You got stronger while your parents got older and weaker and then, eventually, you could come back in your early twenties and make them pay for every single injustice they had wrought against you. Then you planted two trees and every year you went back to your childhood home and harvested the fruit and then just let it rot in front of you while you drank a nice warm sake and flipped through a good book.

"You're not an….you're not that. You're a very good person. I like you a lot." Said Mob. She didn't say bad words, dad said that there was no point to being crass like that and also it was unbecoming not just for a member of the Suzuki family but also for a girl, but she wasn't about to go around being bossy to her friend. She wasn't dad. He was the one who had to boss everyone around, not her.

"Yeah, I like you too. You're a good person Mob. Sweetest girl in the world." Said Minegishi. They picked up their book and hid behind it. They didn't do these cute bonding moments. So the kid had a similarly crappy life only without the economic uncertainty. Big freaking deal.

"Oh…my mom used to call me that. Sweet. She used to say that I was really sweet….that she wanted me to be really sweet." Said Mob

"But then you weren't so mom flew the coop and left you alone with Daddy Dearest?" asked Minegishi. As soon as they spoke they realized that they had said the wrong thing. The kid's eyes welled up with tears and the table began to shake. Right, don't piss off the second most powerful esper in the world and the spawn of the man who snapped a man's neck once for…Minegishi didn't even know.

"I-I guess…" said Mob. That was probably why mom had left…and this was why it was best that she didn't talk about mom. Because when she did she got sad. She didn't like to be sad and also…and also she didn't like to think about…about this…but she had been thinking about this. In trying not to think about her mom being gone she was, in fact, thinking about her mom being gone. Maybe if Mob had been better mom would have stayed. Maybe if she had done more to help take care of Sho or more to make dad happy then mom would have stayed….Mob didn't know. All she knew was that she was crying a little, now, and dad would be mad if he found out.

"See? Didn't I tell you that I was an asshole?" said Minegishi. They pulled their sleeve down over their hand and dried their tears. They had seem parents do this with their kids…not that their maternal instinct were finally going to kick in or anything like that. The kid just needed comfort, that was all, and it would do nobody no good to have that kid all upset like that.

"You're no an….you're not that word. You're a good person and my friend. I mean we're friends and…and you didn't mean to hurt my feelings. Because we're friends and friends don't hurt each other's feelings, right?" asked Mob

"I was out of line with that whole thing about your mom." Said Minegishi. Everyone had a line. Some people had several. Her father had more than most people. Mob was most certainly adopted. Suzuki would have put anyone who dared to upset him like that deep in the ground.

"No, you weren't. You're my friend and friends do not hurt each other's feelings. Brothers can hurt their sister's feelings but friends don't hurt each other's feelings." Said Mob. That may have just been wishful thinking on her part. She had seen friends on TV and they never set out to hurt each other…and she was friends with Sho and she had never once set out to hurt him. Sho had never set out to hurt her, either, he said. He just said words and they came out and he just had thoughts about hurting stuff and then it just happened. That was ok. It was ok so long as nobody set out to hurt anyone else.

"Right…." Said Minegishi. Was this a kid? Was this Suzuki's kid? They didn't know. They knew what they had been like as a kid, they had been a morose and vindictive little devil, but this kid….Mob was something else entirely.

"And we're still friends, right? Even though I lost control of my feelings and my powers a little bit?" asked Mob

"Yeah, we're besties." Said Minegishi. They said this sarcastically because, well, Mob could not have been serious. In what universe could a few tears and a slight loss of control be a friendship ending even? They could not begin to understand the kid, sometimes, or most of the times. It went both ways, too. She, as usual, seemed to have trouble with tones. Her eyes and her aura lit up like Christmas morning. Part of them really felt for the kid. They knew how it felt to be alone. They had spent a lot of time alone when they were a kid…of course they had chosen to be alone. Maybe they just rejected people before they could get close enough to reject them…or maybe they just didn't like people bothering them while they were trying to get through this life thing as fast as possible.

The kid was ok. Kids were ok. Minegishi wasn't about to run out and have two point five kids and a house with a white picket fence but this kid, right there, was ok.

"Um….can you have two best friends….besties? Because Sho is also my best friend." Said Mob. Wow. A best friend. She'd never had one of those who wasn't Sho before. What did best friends even do? She didn't know. She knew what she and Sho did but she and Sho were also brother and sister. That was why they spent almost all of their time together and played together and ate together and took baths together and dug to the Earth's core together and made forts together and stuff like that. What were she and Minegishi going to do together as best friends? If a person was even allowed to have more than one best friend.

"You can have unlimited best friends." Said Minegishi with a shrug. They told themselves that this was only good for them. That they did not need to watch what they said more carefully and that there was nothing wrong, this was not the low point of their life, being best friend with a nine year old.

Also that nine year old just happened to be the second most powerful esper alive. So there.

"Oh. I didn't know that. Ok." Said Mob. She was so happy. She was so happy, happy enough that she could feel…oh. She reached behind her and pulled her braids down. Her hair had started to float. She tucked her braids into her cat ears headband. Minegishi really was a good friend.

"Well you can so why not go out and make all the best friends you can?" asked Minegishi. The kid needed more friends. The kid needed to hang out with other people. Minegishi could feel an attachment forming…and that was not good. They had never been attached to anyone since they had been a child. Attachment left you vulnerable…and also Mob would be moving on soon. It wasn't like Suzuki to stay in one place for too long. General gossip was that he was sleeping with that annoying woman from finance….but that couldn't have been true. Well at first Minegishi had doubts about it but, apparently, some woman had voluntarily married Suzuki at some point…

"Um…I don't know a lot of people…and I'm not that good at talking to people…even if they're nice to me." Said Mob

"Really? Because when we hang out you can't seem to shut up." Said Minegishi

"Oh….I'm sorry if I talk too much. That's the problem that I have, I either talk too much or too little. Also I don't know how to make friends. I don't even know how I made friends with you. I have a lot of trouble talking to people…even when they're nice to me. Like that lady who was nice to me…I don't know why I'm always so mean to her…" said Mob. Sho thought that Pang-san was a nice lady. She came to dad's office at least once a day to talk to him…and at least once a day Mob had to take a walk. She didn't like how that lady was always so close to dad…and why dad's aura always got so weird when she was near. She was a nice lady though, even if she did talk to her and Sho like they were in pre-school…and she had never said or done anything mean…so Mob had no idea what was wrong with her. Maybe she was just bad socially. Dad said that some people were just bad socially but it was ok because when he ruled the world the he would be able to change the social rules completely.

"You? Mean to someone? Call a priest, it's the end of days." Said Minegishi

"I don't think that it's the end of the world…I think that there has to be demons and fire raining from the sky like in this movie me and Sho, I mean Sho and I, saw once. Also yes I can be mean without even realizing it. I just….I don't like the way she talks to dad and stuff. Like she doesn't say mean things but she stands really close and she says his name in a weird tone…and also she calls me Shigeko-chan instead of Miss Suzuki." Said Mob

"I thought you wanted to be called Mob?" asked Minegishi. Maybe they needed to get in on that betting pool. Apparently Pang from finance was into their not so benevolent leader. What was she after? The money? The power? Neither of them were worth dealing with Suzuki. Even if it was just sex Minegishi couldn't imagine it being anything other than short and to the point. The man only had two kids after all so, yeah, even his first wife hadn't been eager to get on that.

"I-I do but…but I don't want her to call me Mob. I want her to call me Miss Suzuki…and I don't know why." Said Mob

"You seriously don't know how you feel right now?" asked Minegishi

"….my mouth feels kind of bitter from all of this coffee." Said Mob as she smacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth a couple of times. She was sticking to tea from now on. Adults drank tea. She wouldn't look like a little kid for drinking tea…right?

"No, I mean emotionally." Said Minegishi

"Dad says that I shouldn't let myself feel too many emotions or I might lose control of my powers." Said Mob. She wondered if it was the same for everyone….or it probably wasn't since Minegishi didn't seem to get it.

"…and another piece of the puzzle falls into place." Said Minegishi. So that was why Suzuki always looked like he was either on his way to a funeral or sucking on a lemon flavored dick.

"Huh?" asked Mob

"Jealous. You feel jealous that this woman is trying to take your mom's place." Said Minegishi. That may have been the wrong thing to say since the table jumped. Every table jumped. People began to look around in wonder. Someone said something about an earthquake.

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Mob. Maybe she needed to get her hearing checked. There was no way that anyone would ever think that they could try and….she had heard wrong. That was it. /she had heard wrong and now Minegishi was going to repeat themselves and it was all going to be just fine.

"Obviously this woman is into your dad and she's trying to…um….be his girlfriend." Said Minegishi. There was no child friendly way of saying 'she's trying to get ahead by getting in his pants' so for once Minegishi held their tongue. They were not prepared to explain the horrible truth of the facts of life to Mob in the middle of a Starbucks on a cold spring afternoon.

"She wouldn't." said Mob. She sounded…mean…when she said that. Well she felt mean. She had a mom, her name was Suzuki Masami, and she did not need another one. Girls were not allowed to like dad. If she was allowed to boss adults around then she was making a rule. No girls were ever allowed to like her dad. Ever. End of discussion. They weren't even allowed to give him candy on Valentine's Day…or maybe they could since dad hated candy. She didn't know. She was just making this all up ad she went.

"Hey, hey, it's none of my business or yours, you know. I could be wrong, I don't exactly hang out with the ladies in finance and gossip." Said Minegishi. Yeah, there was the Suzuki in her. Minegishi knew that look and that aura well. That was the 'someone's got it coming' look. Poor Pang from finance. Well that was what she got for trying to climb he company ladder by climbing into the boss' lap.

"She wouldn't….because nobody is allowed to like my dad like that. Girls are not allowed to like my dad." Said Mob as she tried to keep her powers and her feelings under control. She was not getting a new mom and dad was not getting a new girlfriend…or wife…and that was the end of it.

"Under penalty of torture?" asked Minegishi. She was kind of cute when she got all fired up like this. She was like a hissing kitten. A coffeed up hissing kitten.

"No…um….I don't know what the penalty would be…because I've never given anyone a penalty before but nobody is allowed to like my dad like that….because it's kind of sort of gross….really gross…and um…um…I don't know!" said Mob. It really was gross, the thought of some girl liking dad like that. Girls were not allowed to like dad like that and dad was not allowed to like any girl but mom like that. He and mom were still married. He still wore his wedding ring. He and mom were still married. The ring never came off because marriage was forever…unless you got divorced….but mom and dad were not divorced.

Her head hurt.

Her stomach hurt.

And her heart was beating really fast.

"Yeah…no more coffee for you." Said Minegishi as they slid Mob's cup away from her. As cute as this was that was still the most powerful esper on Earth losing it. Minegishi could not let that happen. Especially after what may or may not have happened to the Eighth Division thanks to either her, her brother, or both of them.

"Right….no more coffee because….because I think that it's making my heart beat funny. Like when I drank a whole pot of tea. Um…let's…do you have any good books to recommend? Like the last one?" asked Mob. She was not going to lose control over her powers. She was in control and she was not going to lose control over her emotions. She was going to sit and have fun with her friend before dad expected her back. That was what she was going to do and…and that was just the way that it was going to be.

She was in control.

Because she was not a little kid anymore.