Mob got the feeling that Minegishi was mad at her.
She could tell by their aura. She didn't know what she had done to make them mad, well she sort of did, but they had never been truly mad at her before. This was…not good. This made her want to both run and hide but also kowtow right then and there and beg their forgiveness. She didn't get the chance to, though, because Minegishi was not hearing it.
"Good, you're awake. Now go back to your own house." Said Minegishi. Their back hurt, their head hurt, their everything hurt. They just wanted to get some rest after having kept vigil over Mob all night. At some point they had passed out…and woken up to a message on their phone telling them that they were needed for their real, actual, non-babysitting related job.
"But I'm sorry that I-" said Mob. She had a terrible taste in her mouth, she was hungry, and it was earlier than she usually got up. She could tell by the sun. She wasn't even in her house. Well the house that they were staying in, anyway. She had fallen asleep on Minegishi's couch…and she had zero memory whatsoever of how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was being very warm, very hungry, and very tired.
"Apologize to me later. Right now you need to go home and I need to shower and get dressed for work. My actual job. The one that doesn't involve you. Ok?" asked Minegishi. They sounded sort of mean…but not their usual sort of mean. Also their aura looked different than usual too. Mob didn't know what to make of this. She knew that she had done something wrong, it was wrong to take things without asking, and also it was wrong to fall asleep when you and your friend were hanging out…but Minegishi had never been truly mad at her before…
She didn't like this feeling one bit.
"Um….ok. But I really am sorry-" said Mob
"I know, I heard you the first time." Said Minegishi
"I just really want you to know how sorry I am." Said Mob
"Do you even know what you're sorry for?" asked Minegishi
"For falling asleep?" asked Mob. That was the first thing that came to mind. She should not have fallen asleep at her friend's house. She should not have drank so much that she had fallen asleep, especially when she knew for a fact that she was only allowed to have one capful, and she also should not have eaten that terrible tasting mint without asking. She would have said sorry if she hadn't fallen asleep so that was why she apologized, first, for falling asleep.
"Do you seriously think that I'm pissed off at you for falling asleep? Seriously? You're seriously that clueless, Mob?" asked Minegishi
"Yes, I am. I don't understand why you're mad at me even if I said sorry. I wish that I could, though, I wish that I could understand…and also I wish that I hadn't done that because you're mad….and I wish that I knew how to make you less mad, and also I wish-" said Mob
"Oh just fold me a thousand paper cranes, why don't you?" asked Minegishi with more anger than they knew that they should have been directing at her. She was apologizing…and of course she didn't know what it was that she had done wrong. She was just a kid after all. She didn't fully understand how close she had come to never waking up again…but she did know, she had to know, that stealing was wrong! Also that had been a bitter pill to swallow, literally, and she must have had that instinctive self-preservation instinct to spit out anything bitter! She could control plants! She must have known that the bitter ones were the ones most likely to try and kill her!
"Do you really want me to?" asked Mob. She didn't know how to fold a paper crane, she had never folded a paper crane before in her life, but if it would help her friend then of course she would gladly fold a thousand paper cranes….or however many Minegishi wanted. A thousand seemed like a very big number.
"Well if you're going to sit there and make wishes all day then why not just start folding paper cranes now? It'd be a more productive use of your time." Said Minegishi. They were too sore, too tired, and too frazzled from last night to hold their tongue. It was taking everything that they had not to curse Mob out right then and there. Space. They needed space from her. Space to process and space to get in the right headspace for work…real work.
"Um….ok. I've never done that before but if that's how you want me to tell you that I'm sorry then that's what I'll do. I really am sorry though. I shouldn't have fallen asleep, that was rude of me, and I shouldn't have drank so much to make me fall asleep and I shouldn't have drank without asking because that was wrong and also I'm sorry about-" said Mob
"Save it for later. Ok? I don't want to hear it right now. I am so upset….and I need space. Ok? I need some space to calm down. Talk to me in a day or two." Said Minegishi. They were not going to yell at a kid. Yelling at kids was wrong, well most of the time sometimes they could really be little shits, and yelling at this kid was especially wrong. First of all it was wrong because it could have set her off and second of all it was wrong because she had enough shit going on in her life as it was.
But that did not give her the excuse to steal.
That did not give her the excuse to gamble with her own life like that. Not only hers but Minegishi's too. If she had died then Suzuki would have killed Minegishi without a thought. If something had happened to her it would have been on them even though they were the ones who told her that she was only allowed to have one capful. They tried to teach her moderation! She should have known that-
And this was why they were putting space between themselves and Mob.
"Ok…I'll see you later then….I guess." Said Mob. She didn't want to leave, not really, because she was still sort of tired first of all. She had only gotten up because Minegishi's phone had woken her up. Second of all she didn't like to leave people alone when they were mad. She always followed dad around when he was mad because she sometimes managed to distract him from what was making him mad in the first place. She also didn't like to leave Sho alone when he was mad because sometimes he broke things…but sometimes she had to leave him alone because she just couldn't take it anymore and she even felt herself starting to get mad sometimes…and maybe that was the way that Minegishi felt. Maybe they were mad at her, so mad, that they couldn't be around her because….because they had mean thoughts that you were not supposed to have about someone towards her…or maybe it was like when dad told her or Sho to get out of his sight because he couldn't even stand to look at them….
Mob hoped that it wasn't one of those times.
She wanted to stay but she knew that she had to go. She made her way next door and let herself in as quietly as possible. She made sure to face her shoes the right way in the genkan, though, because dad hated it when they faced their shoes wrong. He said that it was bad manners and that they were not being raised with bad manners…even though Mob knew that she had pretty bad manners. That was why Minegishi was mad at her. They must have gotten mad because they found out that she had taken without asking...
Even though it had only been a few tiny sips and one little mint.
Well one mint which had not tasted like mint at all. It had tasted bitter…so maybe it had been a bitter. Yes, that seemed like a good name for it. A bitter. She hadn't liked it. It had tasted terrible…but it had also made her feel…nice. Kind of floaty. Floaty but also sleepy. Maybe it was the bitter that had made her so tired. Maybe it was like a sleeping pill…but if it was medicine then why was it in a candy tin? That didn't make any sense.
It didn't matter if it made sense or not. She still should not have taken without asking.
It was all her fault that her friend was mad at her. She was the one who had decided to do that, no one else, and even if they were over reacting they were allowed to react however they wanted. Like how Sho overreacted sometimes and hit her or threw things at her or pushed her or broke things or kicked and screamed and slammed doors and jumped on beds for hours on end. Mob knew that they weren't going to do something like that…well she did but also she didn't…even though she totally did. It was like her mind said one thing but then her brain said another…even though her mind and her brain were the same thing…
It was confusing.
And Mob wanted nothing more than to sleep. She was still so tired. Maybe after she slept it would make more sense to her. Her brain was still moving kind of slow. It probably just needed to recharge some more…like her phone. She checked it. She definitely needed to put this on the charger…and also she had a bunch of missed texts from Sho. They started off with a lot of mad face emojis and ended with a lot of sad faced ones. He said that he was sorry a bunch of times. Oh no….she should have gone home…even though she didn't even remember deciding that she was going to have a sleepover with Minegishi…
Her first sleepover and she couldn't even remember it.
Sleeping in the same room as her brother didn't count. Neither did sleeping next to her dad. Family was different. She'd had an actual sleepover with an actual friend and she had wasted it sleeping. She could have just slept at home. She should have just slept at home. Not only did she waste her first ever sleepover she had also imposed terribly on her friend. That was after she had done all of the eating and drinking without asking…so really there was no wonder at all why Minegishi was so mad at her. She needed sleep. She needed to sleep in her own bed and then she needed to think of how she was supposed to make this better because she did not want to lose her only friend-
The thought make the room shake.
Which was not good. Her powers were being weird still. Instead of ignoring her, though, they were doing things on their own. That was not good. Dad was awake. She could see his aura and she could smell breakfast. Dad was awake and that meant that he must have noticed and now he was going to be mad at her too and she had enough people mad at her as it was…and having dad mad at her was the worst anyway because sometimes he pushed her or pulled on her braids and she did not want to deal with the feelings that came from that because she was having enough feelings as it was and-
The house shook again.
"Daughter. Explain." Said Suzuki from his spot in the kitchen. His tea sloshed out of its cup and onto the table. Daughter's doing. She was home, now, and something had caused her to lose control. It was too early in the day for all of this. He had so much he needed to get done that day. So many idiots thought that they could challenge him, disobey him, deliberately-
His Daughter was one of those idiots.
He was loathe to call her an idiot but she had disobeyed him…or not. He had never explicitly told her that she was forbidden from spending the night with a friend. He had never run into this problem before. He had never thought that he would come home to Son purposely putting holes in the walls out of anger because his older sister had decided that she preferred the company of a friend to that of her own family…
But then again considering how her brother had been carrying on he didn't blame her all that much.
So, really, he was not mad at her. He had been upset with her before but that faded which each and every little footstep that carried her into his sight. She seemed bedraggled. Her hair was coming lose from her braids, her headband was askew, and her dress was heavily wrinkled. He so hoped that she changed. No child of his was going to walk around like that. He was glad to have her back, though, as unkempt as she was.
And as often as she had just been losing control.
"Hi dad." Said Mob as she entered the kitchen. Dad was already dressed and eating breakfast. That could have been a good thing or a bad thing. She hoped that nothing was happening at work to make him upset. She hoped that no traitors were trying to dismantle his life's work again. It was always so annoying when that happened. Dad got upset and then she had to both spend time with him and make sure that nothing happened to Sho, too, and it was a lot of work. She wondered why people were so opposed to what dad was doing. He was just trying to make the world a better place. What was so bad about that?
"Good morning Daughter. Why were you losing control just now?" asked Suzuki. He got right to the point. He didn't waste time prattling on about how her presence had been missed. He didn't need to. She was back and he was not going to admit weakness like that right to his own Daughter's face. What would she think of him then? And what kind of power would she think that he was giving her over him. He didn't need her, he didn't need anyone, he simply enjoyed having her near. That was all.
"I was just worried about Sho, that's all." said Mob. That wasn't the whole truth but she was not going to tell dad what she had done. She knew that he would have been mad at her. Kids were not supposed to drink, first of all, and also she was not supposed to steal. She hadn't stolen very much but doing wrong was doing wrong no matter what she had done.
"Yes, he was carrying on last night, wasn't he?" asked Suzuki. He wondered if she had been able to hear how her brother had been carrying on without her. He wondered if she felt guilty for abandoning him. He wondered if she had even wanted to come back. He wondered why she had even left in the first place. He wondered if she planned on leaving again. He wondered if he should have forbade her from leaving…even though he had no reason to…but he didn't need a reason. He was her father and he could forbid her from doing whatever he felt like forbidding her from doing-
But he was not going to alienate her.
And he was not going to admit how much her absence had affected him. To punish her for leaving, to forbid her from doing it again, would be the same as admitting that he had felt her absence keenly…and there was no way that he was going to do that. So he exorcised his emotion. He stuffed it down and exorcised it completely and totally so there was nothing left at all.
"Um….I don't know. I was asleep. I'm sorry that Sho was bad. I'll be home today to take care of him and then he won't be bad again." said Mob. She was tired, so tried, and also worried. She loved Sho the most out of anyone else in the whole wide world but she didn't want to have to chase after him or anything like that. She just wanted to rest and also to fold a thousand paper cranes like she had promised she would.
"See to it that you do. You can go now." Said Suzuki. That was all that he could say to her. Anything else would have been too much, would have given away too much, and he had to hold his cards close to his chest. He didn't need her, he didn't need anyone, and he certainly did not need to admit to her that he had felt something close to needing her….
So he dismissed her.
Rather than share this meal with her, he really wanted to, he dismissed her. He had to dismiss her, there was no doubt about it, because he missed her company just that badly. She should have gotten a clue and left, especially after she had been dismissed, but instead she just stood there staring at him. He looked down at his phone as he ate, maybe if he ignored her then she would get bored and leave, but she did not leave. Even though she had been explicitly told to leave him alone and go off and do whatever it was that she did during the day.
"Hey, dad?" asked Mob. Dad was smart. He probably knew how to fold paper into all kinds of shapes. She only needed cranes though. She knew that she could have just googled it but it was easier to learn new things when another person taught you how.
"Yes, Daughter? What is it?" asked Suzuki. He was tempted to tell her just to go away and leave him…but then that might have distressed her and then she might have lost control again but possibly in a real way…and he could not have had that. Even though she should have worked harder at controlling her powers. Even now her aura seemed strange. It was a combination of both active and lethargic…and he had no idea how that had even come about. She was always full of surprises. Both of the children were. Son's sheer strength, determination, and energy were surprisingly. How someone his size could have kicked so many holes in the walls, even with psychic powers, was beyond him.
"Do you…do you know how to fold paper cranes?" asked Mob
"Paper cranes?" asked Suzuki. He looked up from his phone. That was sudden. She had never asked him about that before…and it was nice. It was so nice to see her taking an interest in her own culture for once.
"Yes. Like origami. I just thought that you might have known how to because you know a lot of things about a lot of things." Said Mob. Her voice got quiet at the end. Maybe it was too early to start asking dad about things. Maybe he was tired or maybe he was mad about all the holes that were in the walls…or maybe he got mad and made them himself…and maybe she should have just gone to bed and worried about this when she was fully rested instead of asking dad-
He motioned for her to come stand next to him.
And she did. It seemed ok, he didn't seem mad, so maybe she was just worried about nothing. Even though she was close enough that he could have shoved her into a wall or pulled her up by her braids or anything, really. Distance even had nothing to do with that. He never did those things by hand, he never punished her by hand, he always used his powers…and he hardly ever punished her, too. So she had no idea why she was so worried. Sho never got all scared of dad like this and he got punished at least fifty times more often than Mob did if not even more times than that.
"Here. It's really quite simple. Watch me." Said Suzuki. He showed her. She watched him. He showed her with his powers and then by hand. It had been years since he had done this. Not since he had been small, as small as she was now, and his mother had told him that if he folded a thousand paper cranes he would have gotten a wish. He had folded them all by hand like he had been shown and yet he still hadn't gotten his wish.
But that was ages ago.
"That looks so complicated, dad." Said Mob. She watched dad work. He was good at that. Was origami something that all adults knew? Sometimes mom would fold paper animals for her and Sho to play with but she hadn't done that since they were little. Since Mob had been much too little to have watched and learned like she was now. Even though dad was going kind of too fast for her to follow.
He passed her a paper napkin with his powers.
"It really isn't. This is just a test of your ability to memorize multiple steps as well as a test of your dexterity. You can do this." said Suzuki. Those were not empty words of encouragement. He was simply stating a fact. There was no reason why his Daughter could not fold a paper cane. Cranes were easy, anyway, frogs were a whole other thing entirely. He wouldn't have minded it if she had asked him how to make a frog, too. He enjoyed teaching her things and he enjoyed having her near…which was not an admission of weakness because he was teaching her an important life skill.
Which she was on her way to understanding.
At least she had been on her way to understanding once the time came when he absolutely had to leave. He knew that he could never be late, he arrived precisely when he meant to, but he did have a schedule to keep. Deals to make. People to see. Idiots to make examples of. He had a full schedule and he was not going to ruin it just to teach his Daughter origami….even though he sort of wanted to. No matter, no matter, once a period of inactivity came up then he would sit at the table with her and teach her everything he knew. He would get her some proper origami paper too. Napkins could hardly cut it. She would have liked that, some decorative paper. Anything was better than the plain paper napkins and paper towels that they kept in the kitchen.
Yes, he and Daughter would have a nice time later on when he had the time and proper paper to teach her how to do this right.
Mob didn't think that she was doing it right.
So many of her cranes were lopsided. Some of them, most of them, couldn't even sit up on their own. She was so bad at this…but she didn't know if she had to be good at it. She just knew that she had to get to a thousand. When she got to a thousand then she could ask Minegishi to forgive her. Yes, then everything would be ok between them again. That was all that she wanted, for everything to be ok between her and her friend.
"You came home."
And also for things to be ok between her and her little brother. Sho was awake now. She must have been working for a while. She didn't know, she hadn't been staring at the clock, but the sun had moved across the room. Dad had left a while ago too. It was just her and Sho. She stopped folding and looked up at him.
He had brushed his own hair and teeth and gotten himself dressed, too. That was a good sign.
"I did. I'm sorry that I had a sleepover with Minegishi without telling you or inviting you. I should have invited you instead of leaving you and I am so sorry Sho." said Mob. Sho didn't say anything. He just sat down across from her. She used her powers to clear the cranes away and got him his box of cereal out from the cabinet along with milk, a bowl, and a spoon.
He just stuck his whole entire hand in the cereal box even though he knew that it was unsanitary.
"You should have invited me. I would have come. Even if you and Minegishi are super boring together then I would have come." Said Sho as he ate. He was mad at his sister, who wouldn't have been in his situation, but he was not going to be mean to her. He was trying, again, to be nice…even though she had been the one to leave him…but he had been acting like a jerk. Even dad said that he didn't blame big sis for wanting to leave because of how much of a jerk Sho had been acting like….
"But you would have been miserable…" said Mob
"I don't care. It's not…you should have asked me to come. I would have come. It would have been better than sticking around here with dad all night." Said Sho
"I'm sorry. I'll invite you next time." Said Mob. That was the polite thing to do even though she knew that Sho would have been miserable…but that was ok because she loved him and when you loved someone then you included them in everything even things that you knew would end up making them truly miserable.
"I wish that you would have invited me that time!" said Sho. He had tried, he really did, and he also really had not meant to send his bowl flying. Big sis caught it with her powers before it could shatter, though, so that had been good. One less thing for him to worry about. He hated getting stuff stuck in his feet and getting it out was even worse.
"I know that I should have invited you, Sho, I really am sorry. I just fell asleep and then the next thing that I knew it was tomorrow. Please don't be mad at me, I don't want you to be mad at me too." Said Mob
"Too? Who else is mad at you….besides dad? I mean I think that he might have been mad at you last night….or maybe just mostly mad at me." Said Sho. He reached over and hugged his side. It was still sore from before…but that had been his fault for acting like a jerk.
"Dad's mad at me? Why? He seemed so nice this morning. He even showed me how to fold these…but I guess that it's hard to tell with dad sometimes…or maybe I'm just clueless." Said Mob
"You're clueless…but that's ok. I guess that if he didn't do anything to you when you came home then he isn't planning on doing anything to you at all." said Sho
"That makes sense." Said Mob. Sho was hugging his side. That could have meant that dad had punished him or it could have meant that he had fallen off of something again. She didn't know. She didn't want to ask. If dad had punished him then it would have been her fault for not making sure that dad was happy or at least not mad where Sho could set him off and make him even madder. If Sho had fallen and hurt himself then that was her fault too for not watching him. No matter what happened it would always be her fault so she just didn't much feel like having stuff be her fault….so she didn't say anything even though she should have because she was supposed to be a good big sister and good big sisters did not act selfishly like this.
"Why are you even making these, anyway?" asked Sho. He kicked some away from his feet. Mom used to make these before she got sick. Hers were better. She made them so that they actually looked like what they were supposed to be. She knew all the animals. Cranes and frogs and monkeys and dogs and a whole lot of other things. That was before she got sick and had to sleep all day, though, that was way back when he had been little. He wasn't little anymore. He didn't need to play with paper cranes anymore.
"Because I have to make a thousand of them." Said Mob
"Why? Are you trying to make a wish?" asked Sho
"What do you mean?" asked Mob
"Remember from the story mom told us? When you fold a thousand paper cranes you get to make a wish and it has to come true. Not like a birthday wish or a wishing well wish or wishing on a star. When you fold a thousand paper cranes then your wish has to come true." Said Sho
"Oh. I don't remember that story very well." Said Mob
'Mom probably just told it to me in that case. You were probably busy hanging out with dad." Said Sho
"Yes. That's probably it. I'm not trying to make a wish though." said Mob
"Well then can I have your wish? I mean if you get a wish for every thousand you make then I should have it if you're just making these for fun." Said Sho
"I'm not making these for fun, Sho, I'm making them for Minegishi." Said Mob. If you got a wish then maybe that was why Minegishi had sent her off to do this. Well if that was what it took to get them to forgive her then Mob would gladly give them her wish.
"Why? Because they're your best friend?" asked Sho. He wanted to take his box of cereal and throw it at her…but he didn't. Because then she would leave and also it would be a waste of perfectly good cereal.
"Because I think that they're mad at me and I want them to forgive me." Said Mob
"So you only care if they're mad at you?" asked Sho. That wasn't fair! He was mad at big sis almost all the time and she never folded a thousand paper cranes to make HIM forgive her!
"No. I care if you're mad at me too, Sho." said Mob
"But you're giving your wish to them and not me. I'm mad at you way more often than they are, I should be the one who gets the wish." Said Sho
"I'll make another thousand so you can have that wish too, alright little brother?" asked Mob
"Fine…but let me help too. There's no way we're getting any wishes with these." Said Sho
"What's wrong with them?" asked Mob. She made a few float with her powers and held them up to the ones that dad had made. There wasn't that much of a difference…was there?
"They're supposed to be cranes, right? Well they look like lumps. There's no way that we're getting any wishes for a thousand paper lumps." Said Sho
"Well then you do it if you know so much better than me." Said Mob. That came out a little meaner, or a lot meaner actually, than she had meant. She had been working hard and then Sho just calling her hard work a bunch of lumps…that had made her just a little upset…or more than a little….
"Show me how to and then I'll show you how it's done." Said Sho. Honestly. There would be no point in making two thousand of these things if they just ended up messing them all up. Then they would have wasted a whole day and that was a day that they would never be able to get back. Besides, it couldn't have been that hard.
It was.
Dad had showed big sis and then big sis had shown him. Maybe he would have learned better if dad had been the one to show him. Maybe that way he would have been able to do better than big sis on the first try. He did do better than her eventually. When they ran out of napkin and paper towels and had to use his old drawings. When they had run out of those, even and then they had to send the Awakened out for paper. When they had covered the whole kitchen table and the kitchen floor and they had to move out to the living room.
They made a lot of cranes.
Eventually they made it to one thousand and Sho decided, then, that he would use up his wish. It was something that he had been wishing for, wanting, for years. He wanted mom back. That was all. He didn't care if she came back and she was so sick that she was stuck in bed all day. He didn't care if she never read to him again. He didn't care how she came back to him just that she came back. That was all that he wanted…
And paper crane wishes had to come true.
They just had to otherwise his mom had been a liar and he knew that his mom was no liar. She wasn't a traitor either even if that was what dad thought. If he still thought that after mom came home well then….well then Sho would have no choice. He would have to take mom with him and run away. Because if dad thought that mom was traitor then he would maybe even punish her like he punished him and big sis…and then that would have been bad…so he and mom would have had to run away. Big sis could stay with dad since he liked her best.
That was his paper crane wish. Big sis could do whatever she wanted with the second one.
"Ok, you can have your wish now. I think that we're finally done." Said Mob. The sun was making long shadows in their house. It was almost done. She hoped that it said hello to Japan for her. Not that she wished for that or anything. No because first of all the sun always rose on Japan so that would be a waste of a wish and second of all these wishes were already promised to people.
If she wanted a wish then she could just fold another thousand paper cranes.
Even though her hands were so, so sore, so super sore that she had ended up using her powers towards the end. She hoped that the thing that gave wishes didn't count that as cheating. Her brother helped with half of them…and she hoped that Sho helping didn't count as cheating either. She just hoped that the wishes worked and she didn't have to sit there and fold anymore cranes.
Even though she really wanted a wish of her own she didn't want to sit down and fold anymore cranes.
What she really wanted was mom back but she was not going to wish for that. Dad didn't like her anymore. He had decided that she was a traitor and they were supposed to pretend like she had never existed. If Mob ended up wishing her mom back into the family then she would have been miserable because dad didn't even like her let alone love her anymore…and also dad would have been mad at her too because wishing for mom to come back was the direct opposite of pretending that she had never existed.
But she still wanted her mom back.
"I already used it up." Said Sho
"Sho! You should have said something." Said Mob
"Why? Would you have stopped?" asked Sho
"No…but I still wish that you would have said something." Said Mob
"That would have been dumb. If you wouldn't have stopped then I wouldn't have had to tell you anything." Said Sho
"That makes sense…I guess…" said Mob. She still would have liked to know if he was using one of the wishes. What if he wished for something dumb, like a pet? Dad would have been mad. The only thing worse than him wishing for a pet would have been him wishing for a little brother or sister for them. Mob did not need that kind of extra work. Yes, that would have been the worst thing that he could have wished for…aside from their mom coming back. But he was smart. He knew how mad dad would have been if mom not only suddenly came back but he also found out that she and Sho were the ones who wished for her to come back. As much as she loved mom and wanted her back, more than anything else in the whole wide world, she knew how badly that would have turned out. Sho knew too…right? He was smart like that….right?
"And don't you dare and ask me what I wished for. If this is anything like birthday wish rules then it won't come true if I tell you." Said Sho. There was no way that he was going to ruin this. How often did you get a guaranteed wish? He wasn't sure if he had done it right, actually, since big sis had been the one to start this and he had only been helping. He also didn't know if this was like genie rules and the wishes were nontransferable. He also didn't know how long the wish would take. Would mom be back tomorrow morning or would this take a hundred years and she'd be back when he was old or something like that.
"I won't ask, then, but I hope that it comes true little brother. Thank you for helping me all day even though I know that you must be bored and tired and also all you had to eat today was a box of cereal and so you must be hungry and-" said Mob
"I'm fine, leave me alone and go give these stupid things to Minegishi." Said Sho. He hoped that calling the cranes stupid didn't take the wish away. Were they the wish granters or was it a God or something like that? He didn't know, the story hadn't been too clear on that, but he did know that he did not need big sis to pretend to be their mom. They had a mom and she was coming back now! Hopefully. It depended on if he had made the wish the right way.
"Ok, I will. I love you, little brother." Said Mob
"Yeah, yeah, yeah I love you too big sis…now leave me alone. I'm going to go eat another box of cereal." Said Sho. He was careful not to step on any of the paper cranes. If he stepped on them then that could ruin the wish, too. He didn't care at all if Minegishi's wish came true. He just cared about his own wish. He just cared about getting his mom back.
His wish would come true.
"Ok. You can have mine if you want." Said Mob. She'd only had a box of cereal and some milk that day…and also she was more tired than she ever had been in her life…but she was going to make up with Minegishi. They were home now. Mob could see their aura. That was good. Now all she had to do was figure out how to get these paper cranes all the way next door without running them.
How hard could that be?
Just when Minegishi thought that their day couldn't get any harder their window decided to open on it's own.
"Seriously?" groaned Minegishi from their bed. She knew that aura, it was Mob's, which meant that now after a long day of stringing up traitors it was playtime once again. Minegishi did not feel like playing. They were exhausted and still sort of upset over what had happened earlier. They just wanted to rest…
But then a little white bird flew in through their window.
And then another and another and another. They flew in so fast that Minegishi couldn't even begin to understand what was happening. By the time they made it to their window to shut it they realized that these weren't little white birds at all but folded up bits of paper. Paper cranes.
What must have been a thousand paper cranes floated their way into Minegishi's bedroom.
This was Mob's doing. They could see her aura. She had been the one to do all of this…and Minegishi knew why. Their conversation that morning. Mob making all of those wishes and then Minegishi sarcastically telling her to make a thousand paper cranes since she was sitting there making wish after wish after wish…and apparently she had….because she, like her father, was deaf to sarcasm. Well then….
Wow.
This must have taken all day. Even with telekinesis this must have taken all day. Mob really was that sorry…and of course she had been. That was the sweetest kid in the world. She had made a mistake, a dangerous and stupid one, and she was sorry. That was….Minegishi was getting a soft spot for that kid. Or maybe they'd always had one for her. Or maybe their whole head was just one big soft spot. They'd believe either.
The apology was still accepted though.
Minegishi was always going to accept Mob's apology, there was no point in holding a grudge against a nine year old anyway, but the paper cranes just cinched it. The knock on the door, on their bedroom door, was the icing on the cake. Mob was knocking. She was actually respecting boundaries. Minegishi half expected the sun to come back and some clouds to part while a heavenly choir sang hallelujah.
But they settled for opening the door and them saying a simple hi.
"Hi." Said Minegishi. There was more to say, apologies to accept, but all that they had managed to get out was a simple 'hi' before Mob was on the ground kowtowing. A little bit down the hall they could see Shimazaki laughing. They flipped him off knowing full well that he could see the gesture. Thankfully Mob couldn't from their position on the floor.
"I'm sorry, Minegishi! Please accept the one thousand paper crane wish that I got from making these cranes and please keep on being my friend. I'm sorry about what happened. Please don't be mad at me anymore!" said Mob. She held her kowtow on the floor. She could feel herself being looked at by both Minegishi and Shimazaki. She didn't care. She would gladly have done this for days and days if it meant that Minegishi forgave her.
"Ok, ok, I forgive you. Just get up off the floor and never do it again." said Minegishi. Yup, they were getting soft in their old age. Or maybe not. This was some gesture. A thousand paper cranes. Minegishi didn't believe in magic, Mob was the kid not them, and they didn't think that wishes were transferable anyway, but it was a nice gesture.
Minegishi forgave Mob but they were still a little pissed.
But, hey, Mob said that she was never going to do it again. Also Minegishi could have used a little sweetness after a full day of doing things to traitors that were really not so sweet. They weren't totally out of the woods yet, Mob had messed up royally, but at least they weren't angry…as much….anymore. Mob was…she was a good kid. Even if she had stolen from Minegishi and broken their trust….but then again maybe they should have just left that stuff where Mob could find it…
They were going to make more of an effort to keep their less than legal things out of Mob's sight…and also they were going to have to start marking their liquor bottles…so much extra work…but then again Mob had done her fair share of extra work that day too.
"Really? I'm so happy. This was so worth it! Now we're still friends and you get a wish! But don't tell me what it is or it won't come true. I think that it might be the same as birthday rules." Said Mob. She was so happy! Now they could keep on being friends and they could play together some more and hang out and have another sleepover only Mob would be awake for this one and also she would invite Sho just to keep it fair and this would be so great and-
"The only thing I wish for is a good night's sleep. Ok? Go home, I'll see you in the morning." Said Minegishi. As touching as this scene was they needed sleep to live. They could be besties again some other time. Minegishi was pretty much dead on their feet and judging by Mob's aura and how early she had gotten up that morning she wasn't doing much better.
"Ok….good night." Said Mob. She wanted to hang out and play but she was hungry and tired and stuff. That was ok, though, because they were still friends. They would be able to play again tomorrow and the next day and the next day too! Because Minegishi wasn't mad at her anymore even though she'd messed up really badly.
And it only took a thousand paper cranes to make things all better.