So this was where their life had gone. Eh. Could have gone worse.

"So from now on we just follow Suzuki around wherever he goes?"

"Pretty much."

"Whatever."

Minegishi crossed their legs and leaned back. They were sitting next to Fukuda, the first member of Suzuki's entourage, and their plane buddy for the duration of their trip. They didn't get to ride up with the Suzuki family, horror of horrors, they were relegated to the back. Minegishi wasn't complaining. It was hard enough being stuck in a flying metal tube with Suzuki, they didn't need to get up close and personal with him.

Flying was hard enough.

Minegishi wasn't afraid to fly, no, very little in this world could scare them. Nor did the fact that the President himself was right there frighten them in the least bit. Suzuki was an asshole and he could kick some ass when he wanted to but he never kicked any ass unless he was provoked. Minegishi had no intention of provoking the boss. So that was not what bothered them. Minegishi simply did not like being up so high off the ground. Aside from the seeds in their pocket, they always carried seeds with them, they were never this far from plant life. Even a boat would have been better. At least the ocean had seaweed.

No matter, they'd brought something to help with this and many other of life's annoyances.

"What's that?" asked Fukuda as he leaned up from his phone. He knew Minegishi. He didn't know Minegishi as a person but he was familiar with their work. Very familiar. There were only so many reasons Suzuki could have had for brining Minegishi with them and none of them were good. Normally he wouldn't have cared but normally they would not have been heading back to Japan.

She was fine.

Masami was fine. If Suzuki had found her then she would have been there with them. He would have had her dragged across the ocean to him and he would have made her beg for his forgiveness. Also he would have killed Fukuda, too, for his part in all of it. No, Suzuki did not know about Masami's whereabouts. Even Fukuda himself had no idea where she had gone to. She had moved again and not told him where she was going…for security reasons she had said. Not knowing where she was would have made it difficult to bring Sho to her.

A foam dart hit him on the head.

"Son, stop it. I've told you before, a gun is a coward's weapon."

The kids were happy. More than happy. They hadn't been back to Japan, back home, for two years now. Well Sho was happy anyway. Shigeko was as unreadable as always. She was looking over towards them for some reason. If he hadn't known any better he would have said that she had her father's eyes. Her aura wasn't as closed off as usual…and that was not good. He hoped that she was happy. He hoped that she wasn't about to send them crashing into the ocean. There was some difficulty there, still, separating the little girl he saw from the destruction she had wrought to the Eighth Division. That hadn't been so long ago, just after Sho's birthday last year, and he was nowhere near over it. What he had seen. What he had been through. All of it. He could hide it though, the fear he felt for Shigeko, just like he'd hid the contempt he'd felt for her father for the past almost thirty years.

And the utter dislike he had for one of Claw's best enforcers.

"A couple Xanax. I don't plan to be conscious for this little field trip. You want one?" asked Minegishi as they held out an old hard candy tin.

"You know I can just put you under, right?" asked Fukuda as he held up his hand and shook his head. Medications didn't work on him, first of all, and second of all the kids were right there. That was a terrible example to set for them…but then again look at who their father was. Now there was a terrible example and then some.

"Pass." Said Minegishi as he popped two pills into his mouth and washed them down with a swig from their water bottle. Just water, unfortunately, since this was not going to be a long trip. Seoul to Tokyo. Not very long at all. They were no stranger to air travel, being ping ponged between Divisions as they were, and it never stopped being unpleasant.

"Well do you have to do that where the kids can see?" asked Fukuda

"Yes." said Minegishi. There was some silence then. Minegishi pulled out a book and started skimming it. They weren't always reading, they just liked to make it look like they were, that way people might get a clue and leave them alone.

"Alright then." Said Fukuda. He was not going to start something on that plane or on a train or in the rain or anywhere else from that old book of rhymes the kids read. He had been following Suzuki around for decades. He knew not to start things. He was not going to start anything. He was going to tally up his bad thoughts for the day and then just wait for the sun to set and then rise again. That was all that he could do. That was what he had done for the past he didn't even fully know how long.

"Sho, that's my arm rest."

"No, this is mine and that one's mine."

"But that's both of them."

"Fine, you can have this one."

They were fighting again, Sho and Shigeko, but that was the usual for them. As usual Suzuki did absolutely nothing. Well he did a whole lot of nothing until he smacked Sho upside the head or slammed him into a wall or sometimes just hit him….those times were the hardest. They were rarer, now, than they had been in the past. Maybe because Sho had powers now. He was considerably less of a source of shame to his father now. Thank God they were in a plane and Suzuki knew not to make this any worse while they were thousands of miles up in the air.

"So this is my life now." Said Minegishi. Their eyes were closed. Their eyes had gotten way too heavy. This was the real stuff, not analogs, and they hadn't had the real stuff in a while. They hadn't been on a plane ride in a while. Since becoming Mob's only friend they hadn't been sent to any other divisions. At first they thought that, hey, they could finally settle down and put down some roots but, no, as it turned out they were promoted to Mob's best buddy for all eternity and the second member of the Suzuki family's entourage. At least the pay was good and the company was less annoying than what they were used to.

"The first decade is the hardest. You'll get used to it. Just go where he goes and do whatever he wants you to do." Said Fukuda. There was a note of bitterness there. He knew that Suzuki couldn't hear him and even if he could he couldn't hear tones for shit. Fukuda had tried sarcasm out on Suzuki extensively back when they had been younger. He couldn't hear it. In fact he took pretty much everything literally. The thrill of insulting the man to his face wore off quickly, they hadn't even been men back then, just a couple of kids in school together. Him just trying to get by and Suzuki just trying to take over the world.

And here they were now.

"The FIRST decade? God, how long have you been doing this?" asked Minegishi. They cracked an eye opened. Well then. They didn't mind it, not really, being friends or whatever with Mob. It was an easy gig. It might even get better when she was older. Not a kid anymore. Kids were ok in small doses.

A foam dart hit them between the eyes.

Very small doses.

"We went to school together." Said Fukuda as he looked out the window. They weren't even over the ocean yet. Sho had used up half his darts. Fukuda had helped pack the kids up this time and he had made sure to pack Sho's darts under his clothes where it would take him a while to find them. The kid hated changing clothes and bathing,…and Fukuda didn't blame him. He knew what Sho looked like underneath that long sleeved shirt and jeans. Poor kid. It was getting hot out too, starting to get hot out, and Fukuda had no idea what the poor kid was going to do once summer hit.

People would see his scars and they'd have questions.

In all the years that Fukuda had known Suzuki he never would have guessed that he would have been cruel enough to do something like that to his own Son. He knew what the Awakening Chambers did to people, he designed them, and he designed the uniforms that the Awakened wore too. He was the one who called their scars unsightly. Almost three decades they had known each other now…and that just went to show how well a person could truly know Suzuki Touichirou.

"Damn." Said Minegishi. Their head was starting to swim just a bit. School together? How could anyone have stood to be in Suzuki's presence for that long? For any length of time? Even being this close to the man was making him squirrely. Caged in. Suzuki wasn't even looking at him, not with his eyes or his aura, but being so close to the man…it had Minegishi feeling cagey.

They needed a nap.

But that nap was not forthcoming. As soon as they closed their eyes again, rested their head against the window and closed their book, another aura got even closer. That was an ok aura. An ok aura from an ok kid. Minegishi's friend. Minegishi's only friend…it felt like. That was fine. It said more about the rest of the world than them. They'd never had any use for others, never had any use for friends, so if a nine year old made for better company than the rest of the world than that said a lot about the world now didn't it? She was an ok kid, Mob, and normally Minegishi would have been ok with Mob trailing after them trying to make friends and puzzle out those strange creatures known as adults. This was not a normal time. Minegishi was miles above the ground and the only plants that could be felt were the seeds in their pocket.

Not a good time at all.

"Your brother still being an asshole?" asked Minegishi without opening their eyes.

"Sho isn't being a…that word…he just doesn't like long plane rides." Said Mob

"Korea to Japan is not long, Mob." Said Minegishi. They didn't even really need a plane. They could have taken a boat or something, anything other than the hell that was riding a plane, but it was what it was. He felt her sitting across from him. She was watching him. Eyes and aura. She stared a lot but not like how Suzuki stared. Suzuki stared at you like you were a frog and he was going to dissect you. Mob stared at you like you were a colorful insect. Something there and fascinating and worthy of her fully attention and appreciation.

How Suzuki expected anyone to believe that those two were father and daughter Minegishi did not know.

"Miss Suzuki. Are you alright? Motion sick? Anything?" asked Fukuda. Sometimes when he looked at her he saw that kid, the little kid he used to make dinner with. The kid he used to play with. The kid he used to pick up and give airplane rides to. Well she didn't need airplane rides anymore. She was nine. She could ride on a real airplane. She could ride on a real airplane and she didn't need or want him to pick her up and spin her around.

"She's sick of her brother." Said Minegishi with a groan. What was with that 'Miss Suzuki' crap? She hated that shit. She liked to be called Mob. She could decide who she was…and Minegishi was not projecting their own craptacular childhood onto Mob. Nope. None of that. Though if in ten years Mob ended up planting a tree Minegishi would not have been surprised. Not that Mob was going to make herself an orphan. If she was planning on it she would have made herself an only child before making herself an orphan.

"No, I'm not sick Fukuda. I just wanted to hang out with Minegishi. Also Sho wants to hang out with you but he's also planning on shooting you in the eye even though dad said that a gun is a coward's weapon. I'm just warning you now but you didn't hear it from me." Said Mob

"You can sit here but be quiet. I'm sleeping until we get to Japan. You get it?" asked Minegishi

"Got it!" said Mob

"Good. Now let me rest." Said Minegishi. They heard the click of a tablet turning on. Then they heard some scurrying followed by the sound of a toy gun shooting off a dart. So this was their life now, huh?

Whatever. It could have been worse.