They hadn't been to Disneyland in a while.
Dad used to leave them at Disneyland all the time. They got bored pretty fast but that didn't mean that she and Sho were totally sick of it. Of course they weren't. They loved Disneyland and they were happy to be there now. It had been so very long since she and Sho had been to Disneyland together…way too long…
Which did not suit Mob at all.
When they had been little dad used to let them practically live at Disneyland. That was before, back when they were seven and eight, but now they were eight and nine and much older. Now dad took Sho with him a lot of the time. Mob could have gone on her own but she didn't want to. That wasn't any fun. Minegishi didn't want to go with either and Mob wouldn't have wanted to leave Sho behind anyway.
Things were always more fun when Sho was around.
"Give me the rest of your popcorn." Said Sho as he reached for her popcorn bucket. She let him have it. He liked the popcorn better than she did, anyway. They had a lot of different kinds here and she thought that she would like milk tea flavor but it was just sort of weird. She wished that she had her actual milk, it was sort of hard to make her powers listen now after she had been getting them to listen by drinking milk and also she could feel more of her feelings now too, but she didn't need it. Well she sort of felt like she did but it wasn't nice to borrow from Minegishi all the time like that. Not nice at all.
And she had to be nice.
"Are you sure you only want popcorn for lunch? They have lots of other stuff here." Said Mob as Sho finished off her popcorn. Dad had told her to make sure that her brother ate some actual food at some point. Popcorn didn't count because it wasn't very good or you. Not enough food groups. That was why she liked he chicken sandwich that looked like Mickey's hand. It had all the food groups and tasted good, too. Also the place that had that was right next to the place with the churros and those may not have been good for her but they were for dessert so that was ok.
Plus Sho liked churros too.
"I'm not a baby anymore, I know what I want to eat and when I want to eat it." Said Sho
"I know. I'm sorry. I was just worried about you. I don't want you to be hungry later." Said Mob. She didn't say that, also, dad had told her to make sure that he ate real food. He hated it when she brought up the fact that dad had put her in charge. She didn't know what was so upsetting about that. Dad put her in charge not only because he liked her best, which may not have been all the way true considering how he was spending time with Sho now, but also because she was older. She couldn't help being older.
Also she had never asked to be put in charge anyway.
"I'll say when I'm hungry and I'm saying so now. I don't know why you don't like this popcorn, it's really good." Said Sho
"I know it is but it tastes weird, milk tea, as a popcorn. I think that I like the salt kind best…or maybe the caramel kind." Said Mob
"Boring." Said Sho as he threw his head back and tossed a piece of popcorn into his mouth. Mob caught it with her powers and held it there until he sat right and ate like normal. He could have choked to death and she did not want that.
"No it's not. Plain popcorn is boring. That's the only kind dad likes…well sometimes he puts ketchup on it." Said Mob. Dad only ate plain popcorn. Sometimes with butter but it had to be real butter. He didn't like the artificial butter that came with the stuff you made in the microwave. He said that it was vile…but then again he hated most good foods.
"He puts ketchup on everything. One time he put it on pizza." Said Sho. Mob nodded. She remembered that time. Dad was kind of weird sometimes…kind of really weird. Mom used to tell him stuff like 'Touichirou, you know that doesn't take ketchup' when dad would try and do something weird…but now she was gone and dad was free to ruin all of the food that he wanted to. Not that she was ever going to tell her dad that not everything needed ketchup…also that the things that did need ketchup, like omelets, did not need so much ketchup that you couldn't even see the food that you were eating anymore.
"That's so boring though. You can get salt and caramel popcorn anywhere. You could wake up in the middle of the night and tell the Awakened to go off and get you those kinds of popcorn and then they totally would. Why not get something interesting like the soy sauce kind or the shrimp kind-" said Sho
"Because the shrimp kind is sort of…not good." Said Mob. She wanted to say that it had been the most unpleasant thing that she had ever eaten but dad said that saying things like that was called hyperbole and she was not supposed to waste her time speaking in hyperbole. Like how she and Sho weren't supposed to say that they were starving even if they were super hungry. There were a lot of rules to what they could and could not say.
"Ok, yeah, bad example. The shrimp kind sucks. Shrimp is for shrimp and maybe chips but not popcorn." Said Sho
"Maybe shrimp salads, too." Said Mob
"Yeah, the salads too…but only the kinds without lemon." Said Sho
"Also maybe crackers. I like shrimp crackers." Said Mob
"That's because you want to be a cat." Said Sho. He reached over and flicked her headband. She held it on with her powers. She felt more awake today and her powers listened better…but they also didn't listen sometimes, too. Usually when she had been drinking milk all day she sort of got tired and her powers got tired, well not normal milk but the kind she drank, so it was a little weird being all the way awake…
But it bothered Sho when she was tired all day.
"I don't want to be a cat, I just like them a lot. They're cute and soft and fluffy and they're fun to play with. Like do you remember-never mind." Said Mob. She was not going to ruin today by talking about the past, about when they were little, about times that they were supposed to pretend had never happened. Even though she didn't want to pretend that they had never happened. She just had to because those had been times that they had spent with mom.
And they were not supposed to talk about mom.
Dad had said so, he had told them so many times before, that they were never supposed to talk about their mom ever again. She had left them, their family, and they were not supposed to talk about her. She had betrayed them. She had abandoned them. They had no reason to even think about her. Dad had said so and he was their dad and he got to decide everything…and it just wasn't fair. He didn't get to decide what went on in their heads or what they talked about when they weren't with him…
But he sort of did.
Because even when they were away from him it sort of felt like he was there. To Mob, anyway, she couldn't speak for Sho. She had no idea how he felt. She wasn't going to ask. She wasn't going to talk about this with him. They were there to have a nice day. This was the first time that they had been able to come here since coming to Tokyo. Even if it was hot out and stuff. Sho was taking the heat worse than she was. Dad didn't really feel hot and cold, he said, but that was not an easy trick to learn. Even in the shade Sho was super sweaty.
She hated making him dress like that.
He had to wear long sleeves and long pants and gym shoes even though it was hot out. It wasn't high summer yet, mom always called it high summer when it got to be later in the year, but it was pretty hot out. She had to make Sho dress like that because dad said so and dad said so because Sho was covered in scars and if normal people saw them then they would ask questions and they couldn't have that. Sho didn't care but dad did and if dad cared then Mob did.
She still felt so bad for him.
Which felt sort of unfair even though that made no sense. She thought, sometimes, that it wasn't fair how she had to always think of him but nobody ever thought of her. Well dad was always getting her stuff and he listened to her about the hugs and stuff but that was not the same as thinking about her. He was always asking her what she needed and what she wanted but he was also telling her that she had to be the one think about the things that Sho needed and stuff. She had to watch out for him because she was his big sister and stuff but…but then who was going to watch out for her?
Or maybe she didn't need anyone to watch out for her because she was so old, now, since she was nine after all.
"Remember what?" asked Sho
"Nothing." Said Mob. She didn't want to talk about the times when mom would bring them to the cat shelter. They weren't supposed to talk about mom and they weren't supposed to remember those times, either. She shouldn't have even brought it up. She needed to learn to think before she spoke. Like dad had said.
"You were going to say something. Don't lie to me." Said Sho. He was right. She shouldn't have lied to him like that. She was a terrible big sister for lying. Telling lies was wrong, anyone could have known that, but talking about their mom was also wrong. Which one was less wrong?
She didn't know.
But she did know that…that lying made her feel a lot worse than talking about mom ever had. Talking about mom…that was something that made her feel bad but more of because her mom was gone and she was never coming back. Lying to her little brother made her feel bad because she was being a bad person when she told lies. Even if Minegishi said that the only bad thing about telling lies was when you got caught. She wasn't supposed to tell lies though, dad had said so. He had said that because he never wasted his time telling lies then neither should she and Sho have…even though pretending that they had never had a mom in the first place was kind of like telling a lie.
Because they had a mom. Her name was Suzuki Masami and Mob remembered her. She was real, not imaginary, Mon knew the difference.
"You're right. I shouldn't have lied to you. I just spoke without thinking. I was just going to ask if you remembered the cats at the shelter that mom took us to when we were little. That's all. I'm sorry." Said Mob. Sho was quiet after that. She had said the wrong thing and now he was going to be sad, now, and it was all her fault.
"….I remember. There was the orange one, do you remember? The one we called Toulouse?" asked Sho
"Because of the Artistocats. I remember. Remember how Marie and Berlioz weren't his brother and sister?" asked Mob. She was smiling a little. She shouldn't have been smiling. She shouldn't even have been talking about this. She knew better than this. Dad would have been so disappointed in her. He would have been so disappointed in her that he couldn't even stand to look at her. That was the worst, the time when he said that he was so very disappointed in her that he couldn't even stand to look at her….it hurt so much…
And he would have said that to her again if he knew what they were talking about.
But Sho was smiling now. Sho was smiling and if it meant that Sho smiled then she wouldn't mind it if dad found out that they had been talking about mom and if he decided to tell her that he didn't like her or pick her up by his braids again then…then that would be fine because she had seen Sho smile. Besides, she could always borrow a capful or two from Minegishi and then not be as sad anymore.
"I do. I think that the one we called Marie might have been a boy, too." Said Sho
"I thought that all white cats were girls." Said Mob
"No, just most. They called the white cat, the one we called Marie, the workers called him Prince so he might have been a boy. I don't think he minded being called Marie." Said Sho
"I hope he didn't mind. Poor kitty. He should have said something." Said Mob
"Maybe that was why he was always trying to scratch us." Said Sho
"Us? He was mostly just trying to scratch you. Remember how you use to always chase them around trying to pick them up? And then mom would-sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said-" said Mob
"Mom showed me how to pick up cats without scaring them away. I remember." Said Sho. They were quiet, then, and Mob opened her popcorn bucket again and pushed it towards Sho just so that something would happen. She wished that she had just been able to keep her mouth shut. She wished that she could just get a clue already. Nine years old and she couldn't even get a clue…
"I remember when mom showed you that. I was there. We were really little…" said Mob. She knew that this was wrong. She knew that it was wrong because dad said so. She knew that dad would be so mad at them…but she wanted to…to talk about her. About mom. She had been their mom, she had existed, and even if she left them it didn't mean that she was just…not their mom anymore…
At least that was how Mob saw it.
Dad saw it differently. She was supposed to see everything that dad saw. She was supposed to see what dad saw and think what he thought…even though that was not how it worked. She and dad were totally different people. She and dad could agree about stuff and disagree about stuff…..but that was just the way that she saw it. Dad wanted her to be a good Daughter and to be a good daughter she had to see what he saw and think the way he thought…even though he could be so very-!
She needed milk.
As soon as she got home she was going to see if Minegishi was home and if they wanted to share. She sometimes had to ask two or three times but they eventually shared with her. It went both ways, though, because she was bringing them back some of the curry popcorn. They would probably like it. Well they said to bring back weird popcorn and curry was a weird flavor for popcorn without being all weird like shrimp…so it would be a fair trade…
She couldn't wait.
"Yeah, we were, but we're not anymore." Said Sho as he finished off her popcorn. He didn't seem worried or sad…and maybe she shouldn't have been either. It wasn't like he was going to tell on her, he wasn't that sort of person, so maybe she shouldn't have been worried about anything. It wasn't like dad knew what they were going to say, what they had said, when he wasn't around…so maybe she should have just relaxed. Yeah, it was like a secret…
Secrets were ok.
Well they weren't but it wasn't like she was going to go up to dad and tell them that she had a secret that she was keeping from him. She already had one that she was keeping pretty well. She wasn't about to get her best friend who wasn't Sho in trouble and she also wasn't about to get herself in trouble either since kids weren't allowed to drink.
Also it felt like talking about mom wasn't nearly as bad as drinking.
"No…we're not. You're almost as tall as me now." Said Mob. Sho had always been smaller than her but now he was starting to catch up…or maybe she was just shrinking. She didn't care if she grew or if she shrunk just so long as her little brother was happy.
"That's just because of your shoes. We're the same size and I'm going to be taller than you anyway. Boys always end up being taller than girls." Said Sho.
"Not all the time. Remember those ladies we saw from the Olympics? They were over two meters tall." Said Mob
"Yeah, ok, but how many olympics people are there just walking around and stuff. Most of the time boys end up being bigger and stronger than girls." Said Sho. Mob was both sad and happy that they were done talking about mom. She wanted to talk about mom, she wanted to remember her, but she also felt bad when she talked about mom since…since it had been so very long….
"Yeah, that's true. You'll probably be bigger and taller than me when you grow up." Said Mob
"But not stronger…" muttered Sho
"You don't know that. You're still growing. You could end up being even stronger and more powerful than me when you grow up, little brother." Said Mob
"You think?" asked Sho. He seemed happy, then, and hopeful. Mob nodded. Even though dad said, before, that she would always be stronger than Sho.
"Yes. I think so." Said Mob. Thinking and hoping were the same thing so it was not a lie, not really, because she really hoped that he grew up to be a much more powerful esper than she would ever be. Then he could be happy. What could be better than her little brother being happy? Besides having mom back…no, Sho's happiness mattered the very most.
Sho seemed very happy then.
He was shaking her popcorn bucket a bunch even though he could tell that there was no more popcorn in it. Even though he was all red and sweaty, maybe they should come back in the fall or winter next time, he still seemed so happy. That was good. Sometimes he was so sad when they talked about mom, in those rare times when they would talk about mom, but now he seemed at least a little happy…and that was good.
This could still be a fun day.
"Do you want to go and get more popcorn? Or a giant churro? Or something with food groups in it?" asked Mob. It was important that she made sure that Sho had enough to eat. Also to make sure that he didn't get another sunburn…but she would put more sunscreen on him later. She didn't want to make him upset just yet…and also he had on long pants and a long shirt so the only thing she had to worry about was his face and neck. That was easier than trying to put sunscreen on his arms and legs while he squirmed and kicked and stuff.
"I don't want to eat anything yet. I want to ride something. How many fast passes do we have left?" asked Sho. Mob nodded and went into her bag. Next to the balls of money, phones, and chargers were all of their fast passes. Technically you were only supposed to have one of those at a time but Sho hated waiting in lines and the Awakened like to be helpful…and also it wasn't cheating because they could have kept these if they had wanted to. They just…liked waiting in line…or something.
"We have pirates and space mountain and Winny the Poof and the teacups…but they aren't teacups here and also we just ate a bunch of popcorn-" said Mob
"I don't care. I don't care if we're full of popcorn or the teacups are all mermaid here. I want to do that." Said Sho
"But you might throw up again." said Mob. Also she might throw up again. She woke up nauseated sometimes, this morning had been one of those times, and she was mostly fine now…but she had been avoiding the teacups for a reason even though at this Disneyland they were in a cool little Mermaid place and she really wanted to go…
"That's a risk I'm willing to take. Now come on!" said Sho. He threw her popcorn bucket around her neck and grabbed her hand. Mob let herself be dragged. Even if she knew that she could, and would, get super dizzy it was worth it to make Sho happy. He hadn't been happy in a while so she was happy to make him happy now.
Just like when they had been little and spent the whole day, days and days even, at Disneyland.
They may have been older, and she may have not been one hundred percent on the whole spinning around until she was sick thing, but making her little brother happy was always worth it.
Besides, they hadn't been to Disneyland in a while.