There was a big difference between a pool and a bathtub.

Bathtubs made Sho feel like he was trapped. They were too small, way too small, and he couldn't get in and out that fast…well he could but he couldn't. He couldn't because it was so small and the room was small and he was squished next to big sis and…and he just didn't like baths! He didn't like getting into a tub and having his body scrubbed with soap and shampoo put in his hair and then water poured over his head. He didn't like any of that and it had nothing to do with being afraid or not being afraid!

He didn't much like water.

But pools were ok. Jumping in and out was ok. He didn't like to stay in but he liked to jump in and out. His stupid brain was not going to ruin pools for him. It was like his brain was acting without him, making him scared of water but not really because he wasn't afraid of anything, and he was the boss of his brain anyway so he was not going to be scared! He was not going to have baths and pools and beaches ruined for him…well beaches were actually ruined for him but for a whole different reason. He couldn't go to the beach anymore because of the scars all over him. He had a whole bunch of scars and if people saw then then they would ask questions and that wouldn't have been good.

He didn't mind the scars.

They looked cool and they were a reminder of everything that he'd had to go through to get his real powers. To become the Awakened Child. He was the only kid who ever went through the Awakening Process. Ever. Even that kid, the one that got captured, hadn't stuck around long enough to be awakened. Sho didn't really blame him for running away. It sucked, what they had to do to you, but it was worth it too. Some people were just weak like that. They ran scared just because it hurt a little…or a lot…when they did all of that stuff to you. It wasn't so bad and it wasn't like it lasted forever. No, it only lasted for…as long as it lasted for.

Sho couldn't fully remember how long it took.

He just remembered how much it hurt…but that didn't matter. So it hurt, big deal. So he couldn't get in the tub without feeling trapped. Whatever. Pools were better than tubs anyway. They were bigger and he could get in and out whenever he wanted and also they were outside, too, which made him feel a lot better. Also big sis wasn't there to pour water over his head or to try and get him to wash his face or anything like that. He liked the bathrooms in Japan best. You scrubbed down and then you got in the tub. That was different from the rest of the world. For the rest of the world you scrubbed down in the tub or the shower. That meant that you were trapped until you were clean.

There was no way to be trapped in a pool.

"Sho? Do you want to come back inside yet? There's lunch." Said big sis. He felt her aura long before he saw her. She had been swimming with him too, well she had been swimming and he had been jumping in and out, but then she said that he was playing too rough and she left. Girls were like that, they hated being splashed and dunked and stuff. He didn't get it.

"I'm not hungry." Said Sho. She was trying to be mom again, telling him when to eat and stuff, and he didn't like it. He would eat when he was hungry and he would drink when he was thirsty and he would get out of this pool when the bad feelings came back and then he would jump in when they went away. He could take care of himself. He was not a baby.

"But you haven't eaten anything all day." Said big sis. She wasn't a liar, not usually, but she had to know that what she just said had no basis in truth. Of course he had eaten food that day. He wasn't stupid. He knew that he had to eat to live. She was just being bossy again. She said that she wanted to watch out for him but, really, she was just bossing him around. Not like he had watched out for her, before, back in Japan when that kid escaped. He had lied to dad's face or her…or maybe he hadn't. He didn't know for sure that she had or didn't have anything to do with that kid escaping and it was better that he didn't know either way. Lying to dad, that was looking out for her even if he wasn't sure if he was for sure lying. She as just being her normal bossy self.

"That's not true. I hate half a box of cereal and a can of soda for breakfast. Oh! And a bunch of cookies too. That's food." Said Sho. That was the good thing about being with dad. He let them eat whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Mom divided foods up into breakfast foods and lunch foods and dinner foods and healthy foods and unhealthy foods. At least now he could eat whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. He didn't need anyone telling him what to eat or when to eat it. Especially not his big sis.

"That's not food, Sho, that's just sugar." Said big sis. Sho flicked some water at her for being bossy. She still had her barrier up. The water droplets just stuck to it.

"If I can eat it then it's a food." Said Sho. He was nine now and he did not need her bossing him around like this. He wasn't a little kid anymore and even if he was still a little kid she was not the boss of him…even though dad was always leaving her in charge. He didn't know why dad kept on leaving her in charge. This was the part of the year when he and big sis were the same age. If anything neither of them should have been in charge…or dad should have stayed and been in charge…or he should have taken Sho with him. Yes, that would have been even better…but he hadn't taken Sho with him. He had just left and now Sho was there all alone with big sis…and she was in charge…and it wasn't fair!

"That's not true. You can eat grass but that doesn't mean that grass is a food." Said big sis. She let her barrier drop. The drops of water that were stuck to her barrier hit the ground and disappeared almost immediately. It was hot out, hot enough to dry the water that had been sticking to his face super fast too. He hated it when there was water on his face.

"Things can eat grass." Said Sho. He knew about animals. He knew way more than her about animals and he knew that animals ate grass all the time. She was not going to stand there and tell him that grass was not a food when animals ate it all the time.

"Not people." Said big sis

"Yes they can. If animals can eat grass then people must be able to eat grass too." Said Sho. If there had been grass then he would have eaten some to prove his point. There wasn't any grass here though, just concrete and dirt. It was too hot for grass to grow here. It was too hot to be January down here. The southern hemisphere was so weird.

"I don't think that's how it works. Like remember how we saw those pandas in China and they were eating raw bamboo but when we tried to eat raw bamboos we just ended up getting cuts in our mouths? I don't think that's how it works. Sorry." Said big sis. Sho stuck out his tongue. She thought that she knew everything just because dad left her in charge and also for part of the year she was older than him and also she did all of her school work…he knew things! She was not smarter than him and he did not need her to take care of him!

"Yes it is. That's totally how it works. Like how we saw on TV. If we're ever lost in the woods then we have to eat the food that we see animals eat." Said Sho

"When are we ever going to be lost in the woods?" asked big sis

"I don't know but it could happen." Said Sho

"I would never let you get lost in the woods. I'll always be there for you, little brother." Said big sis. If they got lost in the woods she would still be trying to boss him around. She was not mom and she needed to stop pretending to be mom but that would never happened and…and he did not need another mom! He didn't even need the mom he had! Not that he still had a mom…because she was gone…all he had was a dad who was mean most of the time and a big sis who was bossy most of the time…

He jumped back in the pool.

He made sure to put a barrier around himself when he jumped in so he didn't get too wet. So he didn't feel like he was drowning. That was the thing, to put up the barrier, so that way it would be easier to remember where he was. His brain was always trying to play tricks on him. His brain wanted him to think that he was back in the awakening place even though he knew for a fact that he wasn't. He was in Australia which was nowhere near the awakening place. He was in a pool which was not a place where they drowned people. He was fine.

He let his barrier down after he surfaced.

This was fine. There was water all around him but he was fine. He would try to stay in longer this time. He stayed in a little longer each time in an effort to tell his brain that he wasn't back at the awakening place. He would never have to go back there again or go through all of that again. He was fine. It was over and he had come out the other side better than when he went in. He was the Awakened Child now. He was the Awakened Child and he was not afraid of anything.

Not even water.

He let himself just sort of float. This was ok because it was a pool. There was space for him to move around in. It was bright outside, too, and not dark. He could move his arms and legs in whatever direction he chose. He could swim in whatever direction he chose. He was a good swimmer, mom had said so, but that was back when he was little. He was even better now. He wondered what mom would have said if she could have seen him swimming now. Would she still have been proud of him? He didn't know why he even cared. She was gone and she had left him all alone.

Or not.

"Are you sure that you don't want to come inside? I would like it if you did. I really would, Sho" asked big sis. She came into the pool in the usual way, with the ladder, and she didn't have a barrier up. She didn't need one, her brain wasn't trying to play any tricks on her. She could be in the water whenever she wanted to. Whichever water she wanted to be in. Even the beach. She could still go to the beach because she didn't have any of his weird scars. That was because she was born with her powers, she was the Prodigy, and he was just the Awakened Child. Wait, no, there was no 'just' about it. He had to go through stuff to get his powers, she had just been born with them. That was the easy way. Everything always came so easy to her.

He splashed her.

"No, I am never coming back inside ever again for as long as we both shall live." Said Sho. He didn't want to go back inside so for the time being he was never going back inside ever again. Maybe he would change his mind later, he didn't know, but what he did know at this moment in time was that he wanted to be left alone and not bossed around by the bossiest big sister in the history of big sisters.

"Why'd you splash me?" asked big sis. She was still coughing. He hadn't splashed her that hard. She didn't know what it was like to choke on water, to have water in her eyes and nose and mouth and then it was above your head and you couldn't even move and-

And he splashed her again.

"You didn't have to splash me…but you can if you want to, I guess." Said big sis. She was still coughing. She was still coughing like she was drowning…but she wasn't drowning. This pool wasn't deep enough to drown in. They could easily just throw themselves over the sides. They could easily escape so she had no reason to carry on like that.

He splashed her again.

"Sho, I really don't like this game…but if we have to play then you can keep on splashing me." Said big sis. He had no idea why she had said that. Why did she have to be like that? She went and told him one thing and then another thing that was the opposite of the first thing that she had said. If she didn't want to be splashed then she should have just said something…or maybe she should have just left him alone to begin with.

"Don't you have your own friend to hang out with?" asked Sho. She only hung out with him when there was no one else around. He was her last choice of friend but that was fine because they weren't friends, they were brother and sister, and that was not the same as being friends. You picked out who you were friends with. You were stuck with whoever you were brother and sister with. He wouldn't have picked her for a big sis. He wouldn't have picked anyone for a big sis. If it had been up to him them he would have been an only child. Then he wouldn't have had anyone to bother him while he was trying to be alone!

"Minegishi is sick…but not the kind of sick that Fukuda can help with, they said. Anyway I like spending time with you even if you do keep on splashing me." Said big sis. There. She even admitted that he was her last choice of person to hang out with. Whatever. And he would not stop splashing her, too. Not until she told him to stop splashing him. If she didn't like something then she should have said something. Or splashed him back like a normal person would have. Why did she always have to be like that?!

"Why don't you ever splash back? Or just leave? If you don't want me to splash you then either splash me back or leave." Said Sho. That would have been better, if she had been a jerk back, but of course she wouldn't be. How was she not a jerk? He was a jerk and dad was a jerk so then it stood to reason that she would be a jerk too…but she wasn't. She wasn't a jerk at all. She was…she was more like mom…and it wasn't fair. Why did she get to be nice like mom while he got to be a jerk like dad?

"I could never splash you back, I know how you're a little afraid of water now, and I could never make you feel bad on purpose. Also I don't want to leave you because I love-" said big sis. She was about to tell him that she loved him. She was always saying that. What, did she think that he didn't believe her? Well he did, he just didn't need to say it over and over again. Once in a while was enough. When you said something too many times it became insincere…not that she would ever be insincere. He sort of wished that she would be, just once, so then it would be ok for him to be a jerk to her. But that would never happen, she didn't know how to be a jerk, and even if she did she would never have been a jerk to him. She didn't know how to. She didn't know how to do a lot of things, like get a clue.

"I know that you love me. I need you to know that I am not afraid of the water." Said Sho. His brain just didn't like water anymore, that was all, he was not afraid of it. He was floating in a big pool of it and he wasn't the least bit scared. He just…he just felt like getting out again, that was all, because there was a lot of it and it was all around him…but he couldn't leave because if he did then she would just have gone on and on and on about him being scared of the water like he was some kind of baby or something!

"But sometimes when we take a bath and I rinse your hair you-" said big sis

"That doesn't mean that I'm scared of the water. I just don't like having water on my face and…and I just don't like being in the bathtub. That doesn't mean that I'm scared of the water or anything like that." Said Sho. He splashed her again. He wished that she would just come off it already.

"Ok…but if you were there wouldn't be anything wrong with. I mean dad says that he doesn't like it when we're scared but I don't mind. You can be afraid of whatever you want to be afraid of. I don't mind." Said big sis

"Well that's great and all but I'm not afraid of anything. Especially not something as dumb as water." Said Sho. Why would he be afraid of the water? He was made out of water, all people were, and therefore he could not be afraid of it. He was splashed around. He wasn't afraid of this. He just…his brain was dumb and tried to play tricks on him, that was all, making him think that he was back in that place. It wasn't the water that bothered him, it was that place, but she wouldn't be able to understand that now would she? She wasn't the Awakened Child, she was the Prodigy, and she would never have been able to understand what it had been like or what he had been through…not that…not that it mattered…because it was over now…and that meant that…that he was wrong to feel the way he did.

He splashed her again.

"But if you were I wouldn't mind." Said Big sis. She wiped her face off. She didn't care if she got splashed. She didn't care about anything. That was the worst part of it, having a big sister, she was just always so nice for no reason at all. She cared about you and stuff just so that she could make you feel bad. He felt bad…he felt like a jerk…even though she was being the jerk by not shutting up about this!

"But I'm not so it doesn't matter." Said Sho. He splashed again so that she could see how little it mattered…and he got water on his face…and he wanted to get out and he had been wanting to get out for some time…but he couldn't. If he got out now then it would prove her point about him being afraid of the water…and he was not going to prove her right.

"But if you were then there wouldn't be anything wrong with that. There really wouldn't be. I get scared sometimes too…mostly of…well not of myself but what I can do…I guess." Said big sis

"Well I'm not afraid of myself or of anything else. I don't get scared." Said Sho. That was a lie. He did get scared. He woke up scared sometimes…but she didn't need to know that…and he shouldn't have been afraid of anything in the first place. Dad had been telling him his whole life that he was not allowed to be afraid. Mom had said that it was ok but mom didn't get a say in anything anymore because she left. People who were gone didn't get a say.

"It's normal to be afraid of things. It's normal to-" said big sis

"But I'm not so it doesn't matter. Can't you just knock it off already? I'm not normal and I am definitely, certainly, one million percent, not afraid of the water. So can you please just drop it already, Shigeko?" asked Sho. He didn't care what was normal for normal people. They were not normal people. If they had been normal people then they would have been at home with their mom and they wouldn't have had to go moving every few weeks for no good reason and they wouldn't have been swimming outside in the middle of January and they wouldn't have had powers in the first place! They were not normal and there was no point in even thinking about what was normal for the normal people! They were not and would never be normal! They had never been normal once in their lives.

He splashed her hard enough that he made sure that water got in her eyes and up her nose.

"I'm sorry. I just…it seems like you are. I know that dad says that we aren't allowed to be afraid of things but I…I don't mind it if you're afraid. Like what mo-you can be afraid of things. I don't mind." Said big sis. Why wouldn't she just come off of this? It didn't matter what she said or what dad said or what mom had said. He was not afraid at all of the water! He was not afraid of anything. She didn't have to keep on saying the same thing over and over again.

He splashed her again.

"Sho…why do you keep on doing that? You know that it bothers me and…and you know that when I get upset sometimes I lose control…and I don't want to lose control and hurt you on accident. So why do you keep on splashing me like that?" asked big sis

"Because you won't shut up." Said Sho. She was acting like this was a big deal when, of course, it wasn't. splashing wasn't a big deal, not like drowning. Not like almost drowning. Not like when you were full of water and you tried to breath but there was no way to breath and you couldn't even move and-

And she didn't know anything about drowning and she never would.

"Ok, I'll shut up. I just-" said big sis

"That's not shutting up. Shutting up means not talking anymore. Because you were still talking that means that you had no plans of shutting up." Said Sho. He tried to sound like dad then, all scary, like he sounded when he was yelling at the entire Seventh Division without really yelling. He had this way of talking where it was as scary as when he was yelling but without him ever once raising his voice.

He didn't do a good dad. Hers was much better.

"I planned on being quiet and I was going to be quiet. Fine, if you say that you aren't afraid even though I can tell by your aura-" said big sis. She really did a much better impression of dad than he did. She did it without even trying. She just talked like he did…and she shouldn't have. She tried to be mom, she tried to be dad, who was she going to try and be next? Couldn't she just be herself? And couldn't she shut up about him being afraid of the water already!? He wasn't! He was fine! He was great! He was…he wanted to get out…but how could he when she wouldn't shut up!? It was like she was trying to get him to prove her right?!

Well he wasn't going to.

She was saying something else. He wasn't listening. Instead he dunked himself under the water. There. Now she would see that he wasn't; afraid. He wasn't afraid of the water that was all around him. He wasn't afraid of not being able to breathe…or open his mouth…or the way his lungs burned…

How long had he been under for?

He needs to get back to the top…but he can't find the top. His eyes are closed. He can't open them. He can't open them and he can't remember which was is up and he's kicking and there's no bottom but there must have been a bottom unless he's in the deep end and the whole thing is a dep end and he just needs to get OUT but he CAN'T and he can't breathe and no matter what he tries he can't get to the top and-

He feels something.

He clings to it. He clings to it and he kicks and he can't open his eyes and he feels himself going down and he can't feel the bottom no matter how much he kicks and he thinks that it might be the deep end or he might be sideways or he might be upside down or maybe the world is upside down and maybe there's no way to get to the top and maybe he's sinking and he knows that he's sinking and-

And then there's air.

He's on the ground. The concrete. There's concrete under his back and he's got air all around him and…and he's still so cold…but he's on the ground now so he's ok. He breathes. In and out over and over again. His eyes…his eyes still won't open…but he has to open his eyes. He needs to…he forces himself to…

He opens his eyes.

He hears big sis before he sees her. She's on the ground, too, doubled over. Coughing. She's coughing and spitting up water. She's spitting up water and so…so is he. He's rolled over onto his side and he's spitting up water. He doesn't remember doing this. He doesn't remember…how he got there. He doesn't know. He's just coughing up water…and so is she.

Then he stops.

She's stopped too. She stopped and she's sitting there with her knees pulled up to her chest. She's under her barrier again. He can see that there are beads of water stuck to her barrier. She's looking at him from under her barrier. There ae scratches up and down her arms. There are scratches up and down her arms and they're red. They're red and deep and she's staring at him.

He stares right back.

He did that, didn't he? He was such a jerk. It was one thing to splash your sister but another to…to scratch her that badly. So badly. He shouldn't have….but she was the one who wouldn't leave him alone! She was…she was…she was staring at him and…and she just wouldn't stop! So she had been the one to make him…to make him go underwater…and now she had scratches and…he had scratched her and….

And he was sorry.

"Big sis…Shigeko. I'm sorry. I just…" said Sho. He didn't know how to finish that sentence. Well he knew what he would have said. He would have told her that it wouldn't have happened if she had just left him alone…but he had been enough of a jerk to her already. He had been such a jerk and…and that was…that was the whole of it.

"I'm sorry Sho, I should have left you alone. I'm going to go inside and have lunch now. I'll see you when you're done." Said big sis. She didn't say anything else. She just got up and left…and he should have been happy. She was leaving him alone, like he had wanted, and now he had the whole pool to himself…

There wasn't such a big difference after all between a pool and a bathtub.