Sho was doing his very best not to move or talk or do anything….like dad had told him to.
That was normal for them.
It was like the game of statues. That was a game where while the lights were off, you could run around and have fun but then when the lights came back on you had to be a frozen statue. If you moved them you were out. He used to play that back when he went to school. He and big sis had tried to play that later on but it was no fun with just two people.
This was no fun.
He was sitting next to dad while a bunch of people talked about boring stuff. Sho didn't care what they were talking about, he just wanted something to HAPPEN already. Like the other day. One minute everyone had been talking and then there had been this explosion but he was ok. Dad put up a barrier around them. The other people weren't so ok but dad said that it didn't matter.
He also said that the attempts on his life were becoming very tedious.
Which meant that he was tired of people trying to kill him. The explosion was a bomb that someone had put in their briefcase. Sho didn't know why they thought something as puny as an explosion could kill dad. Nothing could ever kill dad, he was the strongest esper ever, so really all they had done were hurt a bunch of their own guys. Like that guy who tried to shoot dad.
That had been kind of scary.
One minute dad was just telling him all about how he had to be quiet and not embarrass him or Claw or anything and then there had been this loud sound, kind of like a firework going off, and then Sho closed his eyes because it was loud and scary…but then he opened his eyes and he heard something hit the ground but then Fukuda, he had been there too, covered his eyes and told him that it was something that he was never supposed to see.
Dad said that these attempts on his life were becoming tiresome…and also that a gun was nothing more than a coward's weapon.
Sho had been afraid, a little bit, because people were trying to kill his dad. He didn't want his dad to get hurt or die or anything like that, he sometimes wished that dad would go off on a plane and never come back but not like a plane to the afterlife or anything. He didn't want his dad to be dead or even seriously hurt. People were trying to kill dad…but it wouldn't work! So Sho knew that he has nothing to worry about. With powers like theirs then nothing could hurt them.
But dad was still tired of all of that so he hired a body guard.
His name was Shimazaki. His job was to follow dad around and stop people from trying to kill him. These people tried to kill him a lot. They were the yakuza, the real yakuza, and sometimes they tried to kill him. Other people tried to kill dad too like rival esper groups or even betrayers from within Claw itself. They were tiring and annoying and that was why he had hired Shimazaki. He was ok….
Really tall.
And also his powers were so cool! He was like this super cool blind master or whatever. He had no eyes, it had been more cool than scary when he opened his eyes and showed Sho that there was nothing thee at all, and he used his powers to see. He had no idea what colors were, he said that auras were either loud or quiet, and he had no idea what people really looked like besides their size and shape, but he could catch a gun dart in midair even if you shot at him while his back was turned. Also he could teleport, which he said that he would show Sho how to do if he was capable of it, which he probably was.
Because he was the Awakened Child after all.
Which was so much cooler than being the Prodigy. Big sis may have been born right but Sho had to work for what he was. He had much better control over his powers than she did and she'd had them for her whole life. He was awesome like that. Not that he was bragging or anything, big sis had been weird lately so he wasn't going to hurt her feelings or anything, but he really was the more awesome Suzuki kid.
"For the love of God…how much longer?" Sho heard Shimazaki mutter. He was closer to Sho than dad. Sho agreed with him, this meeting had gone on forever. This probably wasn't even going to end in another fight. That was why Sho had agreed to come to this thing. He wanted to see the fight. That was also why big sis wasn't allowed to come with, because there could have been a fight. Girls didn't like stuff like that. Dad also said that this was a side of business that big sis was not allowed to know about. It would just freak her out, he had said, and also she wouldn't have to run this part of Claw.
Sho would, that was why he had to be there.
He wanted to tell Shimazaki that, yes, this was so long and boring and that this was taking way too long. He wanted to say something else too, like maybe warning him about saying anything because dad liked it when people were quiet, or just telling him that he should shut up….in his best interest, of course. He didn't say anything of course. Dad had told him to be quiet after all.
That was the only reason why he didn't talk to Shimazaki.
Not because he was really tall. Not because he was kind of cool like how he just sort of said stuff without worrying about getting in trouble. Not because he was super power and cool and…and a whole lot of other stuff. No, because dad told him to be quiet and being quiet was the best thing to do around dad. Yes, that was it.
So he said nothing.
He just shrugged. He felt dad's aura focus on him. What did that want? It wasn't like Sho had said anything. Nope, he was just sitting there like dad had told him. Dad had no right to get mad at him for just sitting there like he was supposed to do. Just like dad had told him to do. Really, there was nothing wrong with shrugging and dad was not going to be able to punish him for that…dad could do whatever he wanted. He could punish Sho for whatever he wanted to.
It sucked.
Sho maybe wished that he was back at home with big sis. She was safe at home…not that Sho wasn't safe. Dad would never hurt him. Dad only punished him and only when he deserved it…when dad decided that he deserved it. At least he thought that big sis deserved it too…and that was not a good thing to think. That was a jerk thought to have and Sho needed to stop being a jerk.
"If that's all I think that I'll be leaving. My son seems to be getting restless." Said Dad. He didn't have any tone, there, but his aura at least didn't seem mad. Everyone was getting up now and bowing. Sho bowed too even though it looked dumb because he was so much shorter than everyone else. He was the only kid there.
Which was normal for him.
They left first. Dad said always get there first and leave first. That was so that people knew that you had all the power. He talked about that a lot, how to look like you had all the power, though in Sho's opinion if you had all the power then there was no reason to act like it. People would just know that you had power. Sho had power, well he would beyond his powers when he grew up, and when he had all the power then the first thing that he would do was outlaw any and all long and boring meetings.
"You good, boss?" asked Shimazaki. Sho walked a little bit behind him and dad. He couldn't help it, his legs were shorter. It had nothing to do with not wanting Shimazaki to look at him. That would have been a totally dumb way to be. Shimazaki was blind. He said that unless he focused on people's faces then he had no idea what their expression were and he never focused on anyone's face because he could just see their aura. Sho wondered what his aura looked like to Shimazaki.
Which was so dumb. Who cared what their aura looked like?
"Bored, mostly, and somewhat restless. That was beyond tedious." Said Dad as they walked. Sho looked up at the big building that they left. There were so many big buildings everywhere. He wondered if he could fly that high…he wanted to try. Just because the building was high. Not because of the building feeling inside of himself that he needed to move. He felt sort of like those times when he and big sis played soda can roulette except he was all of the shook up cans of soda at once.
He walked a little slower.
"Yeah, kind of makes you wish for another bomb, huh?" asked Shimazaki. Sho nodded. Dad couldn't see him moving but Shimazaki could. Sho did wish that there had been another bomb or more shooting or maybe a fire or something. Sometimes besides the endless talking. That was a big part of Claw, it seemed, the truly endless amounts of talking. Sho was not looking forward to that when he grew up. Not at all.
"It would break up the tedium." Said Dad after a second. Sho walked a little faster. He felt like he should say something too. He wanted to say something. He had been too quiet for too long. He wasn't used to it. He wasn't used to being quiet and still and he needed to say something or do something
"Yeah, it was boring." Said Sho. He wanted to talk. There was this feeling inside of him that he should talk. He hadn't talked in so long…and also all he had done was nod and that felt dumb. He didn't want Shimazaki to think that he was dumb. He wanted Shimazaki to think that he was cool….and he was cool!
"Anything that I should worry about?" asked Dad. There was a car waiting for them. This car was black. All of the cars at Claw were black. When Sho was in charge he was totally making all the cars red. Red or blue or green or yellow or maybe even pink because girls loved pink and stuff like that and big sis would need to get around somehow when she was older and stuff. Yeah, anything but black. Such a boring color. He wanted to talk about how boring black was, how they really needed to get new cars in different colors, but he said nothing. First of all because dad had ignored him and second of all because that might have been a jerk thing to say because Shimazaki was blind and had no idea what colors even were.
"Aside from a lot of gun stroking, no. I think they learned their lesson finally. So, can I go?" asked Shimazaki as they got to the car. One of the Awakened ran over and opened the door for dad. He looked at Sho for a moment.
"Yes. I won't need you again for the rest of the day. Take my son home." Said Dad. It was kind of like someone had poked Sho in the chest really had even though he knew that nothing like that had happened at all. Dad was just telling him to get lost again.
"We can still-" said Sho. He didn't know what he wanted to do besides hang out with dad. It wasn't fair that big sis always got to hang out with him. it just wasn't fair…or something that he should have cared about at all. He shouldn't have cared either way. Dad was a jerk, why did Sho want to hang out with a jerk? He was boring to hang out with too. This was good, actually, because he hadn't drawn anything all day. Yeah, this was good…maybe.
"You're restless, I can tell. Go home." Said Dad. Sho wanted to tell dad that it didn't matter if he was restless or not. Dad had just said that he was restless too and-and-and-
"Fine." Said Sho. There was no arguing with dad. Arguing with dad just made him mad and nothing good ever came of making dad mad. It didn't matter. He'd see dad again later anyway. Now at least he had time to draw….because big sis would just be all tired again, probably, when he went home.
"Come on kid, let's get you home." Said Shimazaki. He put his hand on Sho's shoulder and for a moment Sho forgot how breathing worked. Which was weird because breathing was just one of those things that your body knew how to do. He felt weird, all warm all over, and also like he wanted to run around. He could have run around if he wanted to. Dad was in the car now and they were driving away….so dad couldn't see if he just started running around and stuff…but Shimazaki would know and then he would think that Sho was dumb or weird or something and Sho really, REALLY, wanted Shimazaki to think that he was cool.
Because he was.
"Come on kid, let's go. You don't want to hang around here after dark, trust me." Said Shimazaki. His hand was still on Sho's shoulder and he felt like he needed to say something but he didn't know what and also he sort of felt like doing cartwheels because he had to move but he couldn't because then that would be weird and also there was broken glass on the ground and he could have gotten hurt but he needed to move and also talk but he forgot how words worked and he needed to remember how words worked and he had been talking since he was really little and people did not just forget how to talk so he had to say SOMETHIING. He had to or else he would look so dumb and-
"Um…you said that you would show me how to teleport." Said Sho. There. Those were some words. Good. Now at least he remembered how to talk and he even used words that fit the situation.
"Huh. Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I?" said Shimazaki. He was so close that Sho could even smell him…and he smelled kind of nice…and that was a weird thought to think about someone so Sho decided to stop thinking it. He needed to keep being normal and to keep his aura normal and to just be normal already….though in trying to be normal he was actually being pretty abnormal because normal people didn't have to focus this hard on being normal. They just either were or were not normal. That was how being normal worked.
"You did. So what do I do? Just throw myself really hard with my powers until I move so fast that nobody can see me? I saw that in a movie once. Um…sorry. A movie is like a bunch of pictures that move and-" said Sho. That was not the thing to say to someone who was blind. He was such a jerk sometimes. He was a jerk to everyone it seemed. He wished that there was just some book he could read that would teach him to be a nicer person. Or maybe it was just something inescapable, something in his genes that he had gotten from dad, and now he had been cursed to spend the rest of his life as the biggest jerk in the whole world….or second biggest. There was no bigger jerk in this world than his dad.
"I know what a movie is. I'm blind, not stupid, and I actually know the movie you're talking about. Also, no, it doesn't work like that. It's more like…ok, just sort of see where you need to go in your mind's eye and just…go there." said Shimazaki. Sho looked down at his shoes and nodded. He had said something dumb. Dumb and also kind of…kind of mean, too, maybe. At this rate he was going to end up being just like dad, wasn't he?
Nope.
There was no way he was going to grow up to be a mean jerk who wore the same thing every day and was also boring and…and his eyebrows were not going to look like caterpillars. He was not going to become like dad no matter what. When he took over the world from dad he was going to be a lot nicer…even if he didn't really know how to be nice. Big sis could teach him how to be nice. She had always been nothing but nice to him for as long as he could remember…aside from that fight they had a little while ago…but that was over now.
They hadn't fought at all since that day.
She had been sort of tired since that day, though, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. If he called Fukuda then that would have meant that there was something wrong with her and that she was sick…of course if she was sick and he didn't call Fukuda then she would have gotten even sicker…like mom had…but big sis was not like mom! This was different! A hundred million percent different!
It had to be.
Maybe if he learned to teleport then he could teach her. That would at least get her up off of the couch. Also that would have been nice, him having a power that she didn't. That would have been good. Even. Fair. Because she had a power that he didn't. Yeah, it would have been great if he learned how to teleport and she couldn't figure it out….
Those were jerk thoughts to have and he should not have bene thinking like that.
"I can do that." Said Sho. He had no idea what Shimazaki meant by 'mind's eye' but he did know that he needed to learn how to do this so he could show up big sis…so he could show big sis how to do this. If she didn't have the power to teleport then she didn't and that would have been really sad and then dad would have been disappointed in her but then he also would have been impressed by Sho…which might now have been great for her but, hey, life was not fair.
"Uh-huh. Go ahead and try, then." Said Shimazaki. Sho got the feeling, then, that he was being tested. He got that feeling a lot. A lot from dad, mostly, but also other espers. When he walked around Claw on his own or with big sis people looked at him like he wasn't supposed to be there. Like he was a dog at a cat shelter. When he was with dad people looked at him differently. Like he was a part of dad. Like they were thinking 'who is this kid and why is he with the big boss' or something like that. Like they were testing him. Like they were trying to figure out if he even was dad's son…
Nobody ever looked like big sis like that.
With dad or alone people were scared of her. Because her aura was so bright, mostly, but also because dad always introduced her as his Daughter. Dad almost never introduced him. Maybe it was because he was so obviously dad's kid, they looked alike after all, or maybe because dad was still ashamed of him even though he had finally gotten all of his powers…..
Or something.
"I am trying." Said Sho. He closed his eyes and tried to picture the house that they were staying in. It was easy to picture it because it just looked like all of the other houses near them. He pictured it in his mind and he felt his aura glowing and he kept his eyes closed but he didn't end up getting there…or anywhere.
"You tried. At least you can say you tried." Said Shimazaki with a shrug. Sho wanted to say that he could keep on trying, that he wasn't going to stop trying until he got it, and that he was totally capable of learning how to teleport. He wanted to say that stuff and a whole lot of other stuff but he didn't.
Because the world fell away under his feet.
For a moment, a second, there was nothing at all. There was nothing at all and he couldn't see or feel anything, not even the ground beneath his feet because there was no ground beneath his feet. There was no ground beneath his feet or air around him. The only air that existed was the air in his lungs…and that was it…
But then the ground was back.
And the air was back.
And he was fine. He was totally fine. Even if he was about to pee his pants. Not that he did. He was not a baby. Also he was not a fraidy cat. Also he was never going to wet himself in front of another person. Especially not someone that cool…or anyone! Also he was not about to wet himself because he was not scared even though the whole world had just…fallen away…but he was not afraid at all. Nope. Not at all….
"See you later, kid." Said Shimazaki. He reached down and patted Sho on the head like he was a puppy or something….and he didn't mind. Even though he hated it when people messed around with his hair. They were always trying to touch it because it was red and spiky and…and stuff. But Shimazaki didn't know what red was…so he just touched Sho's hair like he was a puppy because…Sho didn't even know. It wasn't like he was a nice guy or anything, he was kind of rude actually, and he and Sho weren't friends…not like big sis and Minegishi were friends…so it didn't make very much sense.
He liked it though.
He stood in his spot even after Shimazaki teleported away. He could still see his aura, though, at the house next to theirs. The one with all the plants in the windows. The one with the wax paper taped up over the windows. The one with the garden in front. Mineigishi's house.
Big sis came out the front door.
And Sho had no idea why he had been staring. He knew that he didn't want to get caught staring, though, because he didn't want to explain why he had been staring, because he didn't fully know why he had been staring…so he did the only thing that he could do. He ran away.
"Hi Sho!" said big sis. Sho barely heard her. He started running and he would have run all the way home and thrown himself under his bed and never come out if he hadn't seen her fall a little bit. So he had to change course, that was just what a good little brother did, even though there were barely any stairs for her to even trip on.
"Th-thanks Sho….I fell down." Said big sis as she leaned onto him. She seemed kind of tired. That was just because she had been up all night hanging out with dad, that was all, and not because she was getting sick…because she was not sick at all. She was fine. She was normal and fine. This was normal and she was normal and he was normal and now they were going to go home and be normal.
Perfectly normal.
"Yeah. I know. Come on, let's go inside and be normal." Said Sho as he helped big sis down the stairs. There were not that many stairs at all but she was acting like the time they tried to walk all the way up that Skyscraper back when they were in….somewhere in America where they had a specific day for walking up and down skyscraper stairs. He didn't get it.
But she wasn't sick. That was what mattered.