Valentine's Day was a holiday about love.

Not just the kind of love that made you want to kiss someone and hold their hand and marry them. No, there were different kinds of love. Like the love you had for your friends and the love you had for your family and also the love you had for a cold bottle of milk. Not that Mob was going to be giving milk out for Valentine's Day. No, that would not have been a good gift at all. She was the only one who really liked milk, the only one who would gladly replace all the water in the world milk, so it would not make a good present. Not that she had a lot of Valentine's Day presents to give.

No, not very many at all.

But that was normal for her. She only had so many boys in her life that she had to give gifts too. She had dad and Sho and Fukuda and maybe Minegishi. She got Minegishi a bar of dark chocolate just to be safe. If they were a boy then Mob was doing the right thing by giving them chocolate. If they weren't a boy then they would at least be happy to have gotten the chocolate. Everyone liked chocolate….or at least most people liked chocolate.

Dad hated sweet foods.

Well not all sweet foods. She'd seen him eat plain cheesecake before. Since he'd eaten it then he must have liked it at least a little. She hadn't gotten him a plain cheesecake though. He might not have actually liked it. He told her before about social niceties, how sometimes you had to try and act like everyone else, and if you acted enough like everyone else then you would get followers and stuff. Mob didn't really want followers, she wanted friends, but she figured that the same thing went for making friends. That was why she drank so much coffee even though she really did not care for it at all. She wasn't going to make dad eat something that he did not care for at all. It was Valentine's Day and on Valentine's Day you were supposed to give the boys I your life that you loved presents.

So she had made dad an omelet.

She'd made it just the way mom showed her how to all those years ago. Dad liked moms cooking, he'd said so back when mom lived with them, and mom hadn't made this but…but it was still the same recipe at least. Hopefully dad would like it. She'd even drawn a heart and written 'Happy Valentine's Day, Dad' in ketchup. Dad liked ketchup. She spelled it right, she knew that she had, and she knew that he would like this because that was what mom had done on the rare Valentine's Days when dad had been at home. She wondered what mom was doing. Was she making Valentine's Day omelets for someone else? Was she still making them for dad and then eating them all by herself? Did she even think about-

That didn't matter.

Mom was gone now. What she was going to do or doing right now or thinking right now didn't matter. She was gone and she was never coming back. Mom was gone and Mob had no idea why. She could have left because she didn't love Mob anymore, because of her powers or how weird she was, and that was fine. There was nothing that Mob could have done to get her mom back. She might have left because Mob and Sho fought all the time. She might have left because dad could be kind of mean sometimes. Mob didn't know. All she knew what that it was Valentine's Day and on Valentine's Day you had to do something special for the boys in your life that you loved.

So she made an omelet and drew a heart on it using ketchup.

It hadn't taken too long. She had been a little out of practice, not that she had spent much time practicing to begin with, but she had at least done a good job. It wasn't burnt. That was good. She had spelled everything right. That was good too. Now all she had to do was wait for dad to wake up and come to the kitchen and see what she had made for him. It wouldn't be very long, no, because she could see his aura moving. It was morning time. She hadn't woken Sho up yet. She wanted to spend time with him. She wanted to give him his present, assorted chocolates but none with fruit inside, and then she wanted to spend time with him. She loved him so much and this was a day about love so this was, therefore, a day to spend time with her little brother who she loved very much.

But not her dad because he had a lot of work to do.

He always had a lot of work to do. Running Claw was very hard. There were all of the Divisions and outposts and compounds and safe houses and all of their sources of money, too, that he had to manage. She would have liked to have spent the day with him, and she could have, but she knew that Sho would not have wanted to come with. He wasn't as good at sitting still and being quiet as she was. Dad liked it when they sat still and were quiet. That was also why she hadn't woken Sho up, either, because she knew that he would not have been able to be quiet for breakfast. Not like she could have.

She really wanted this to be a good Valentine's Day.

"Daughter. Explain." Said Dad. That was the first thing he said when he came to the kitchen. She didn't mind that he didn't say 'good morning' or something like that to her. She knew that he would only say that if someone said it to him first. It was always best to let him talk first. That way she wouldn't accidentally end up making him upset or anything like that.

"Happy Valentine's Day, dad, I made you breakfast." Said Mob. She had made herself breakfast too but he could see that. There were two uncovered plates and one with tin foil on it. That would be for Sho when he woke up. She dew a ketchup heart for him, too, but he wouldn't care. She didn't mind it if he didn't care, it was the thought that counted, and that wasn't just for Christmastime either.

"I can see that. You made this yourself? You didn't ask the Awakened to do anything?" asked Dad as he sat down. He looked at her with his aura and at his breakfast with his eyes. She hoped that she had done that right, the same way mom did it, because she knew that if she messed up he would not have been nice about it.

"No. I made it all on my own. Well they brought the ingredients but I cooked it all on my own." Said Mob. She sat down at her spot across from him. She used her powers to pour herself a glass of milk and to pour him a cup of tea. She had made the tea herself too, though the kettle had done most of the work.

"You used to do this more often. I remember." Said Dad. He was talking about back when they lived in the old house. Back when mom had either been sick or not home. Back when…she needed to stop thinking about this. It was wrong to think about this…even though Dad was the one who brought it up. She wondered if he still missed the old house. If he had ever missed the old house. Probably not. It wasn't like he still loved their mom or anything like that. He thought that she was a traitor and they were not supposed to love traitors. Bad things happened to traitors. Mob didn't have the first clue what those things were, exactly, but she knew that she did not want any of them to happen to her mother. That was why she had mostly stopped wishing for mom to come back. She didn't want anything bad to happen to her…even if she had left them all alone with dad. Even if she had decided that she didn't want to be their mom anymore. Even if she hadn't even said goodbye. The least that she could have done was to say goodbye…but Mob did not want to think about this now. It was irrational. It made no sense. Mom was gone and she was never coming back so there was no point at all in being mad at her for being gone.

"I did. I used to cook but now I don't have to because the Awakened bring us everything." Said Mob. There. That was a good answer. She had said the right thing because she hadn't mentioned the old house at all. She wanted to mention the old house, this old lives, what it had been like to have mom around. How she used to draw ketchup pictures on their omelets. How she used to let Mob help her make breakfast. How she used to smell like cinnamon sometimes because she would make things like French toast and pancakes with it. How she…how she had done a lot things.

She didn't say a word about mom.

"May I ask why you chose to cook today? You didn't have to." Said Dad

"I wanted to because it's Valentine's Day. I made you breakfast because I know you hate chocolate and like breakfast foods." Said Mob. She watched dad with her eyes and her aura. He still hadn't eaten anything. She had…she had done something wrong, then, to make him not want to eat. He must have been hungry, he always woke up hungry, but he wasn't eating….

"You aren't obliged to get me anything, you know." Said Dad

"Obligated?" asked Mob. She knew that on Valentine's Day she had to do something nice for her dad because he was a boy and you had to do nice things and give gifts to the boys in your life that you loved and stuff.

"A word which means 'have to'." Said Dad

"I know what obligated means, dad, I just meant that I don't know why you said that. It's Valentine's Day and I know that you don't like chocolate so I made you an omelet." Said Mob

"You didn't have to. Even if tradition dictates that you do something nice for me because I am your father you still didn't have to. You know that I don't care much for holidays." Said Dad. Mob frowned just a little bit. She knew that she didn't HAVE to do something nice for her dad, nobody had twisted her arm or anything like that, but she wanted to. She loved him and when you loved someone you wanted to make them happy. At least that was how she saw it.

"I know that I didn't have to make you breakfast but I wanted to. I just wanted to do something special…but if you don't like it then I can make you something else." Said Mob. She just wanted to have a nice Valentine's Day, that was all. Somehow she had managed to mess it up just like she managed to mess everything up. What was with her? Why was she so clueless? Why did she mess up everything?

"No. This is fine, Daughter, thank you." Said Dad. Mob smiled. She smiled so much that the only way she could have possibly smiled more would have been if dad had used her real name. He didn't, though, because he never did. She sometimes wondered if he remembered her name. She knew that was crazy talk, though, because of course he knew her name. He was her dad, he had been, the one to name her…unless mom had been the one to name her. That would have made sense too. Mob knew, however, that when she had kids she would remember all of their names…not that she knew when she would have kids or who she would even have kids with. The boy she liked was long gone and she would never see him again…

She tried not to think about that.

She, instead, thought about the great day that she was going to have. It started off great because she had managed to make breakfast without burning the house down. It would stay great, too, because dad took a bite of the omelet she'd made for him. He chewed it slowly and looked down at his food the whole time. She didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad sign. She just knew that she had tried her best and she could not do better than her best…well she could have practiced…and maybe she should have practiced. Maybe that would have been better…maybe she would have done better that way…she didn't know.

All she knew was that she really, really, REALLY wanted dad to like the omelet she'd made for him.

"This tastes…good." Said Dad. Mob was happy. Mob was so happy that she had to hold on to her braids or else they would float away. That would have been bad. It was bad enough that dad could see her aura. He did not need to see her losing control either. That would have ruined the whole day. He was always so upset with her when she lost control. She was too old to lose control and had been for some time. If he got mad enough at her then he punished her….or he might have even left her one day…like mom had…

She stops thinking about this and focuses, instead, on that fact that she had done something right.

"Thank you." Said Mob. What else could she say? She wanted to know what he liked about it specifically, if it was a good as mom's, but she knew not to ask about mom. That was not a good thing to do. That would most certainly ruin the entire day.

"Your mother…she taught you how to do this." said Dad. Mob's heart stopped. It had taken dad a while to say that, almost like he hadn't been sure what to say, and Mob wished that he had picked something else to say. He was talking about mom. He never talked about mom. He hadn't talked about mom since he had told them that she was a traitor and that they were never to mention her again for as long as they lived. But he was talking about her….right now he had just said…and was that ok? Was it ok that dad had mentioned her? Did that mean that it was ok for her to mention mom….

Mob didn't know.

"Yes. She did." Said Mob. She decided not to use a lot of words. The fewer words she used the better. If she started up about mom then she would have started asking questions. She would have asked if they were any closer to finding her. She would have asked if they had figured out why she'd left yet. She would have asked if dad ever laid awake in bed at night and missed her. She would have…she would have started and not been able to stop…even if mom was a traitor she still missed her so much…and she just wanted to talk ABOUT her since there was no way to talk TO her…

But she didn't even get a chance to say anything else even if she had wanted to.

"Wake your brother. His breakfast is getting cold." Said Dad. That was what Mob did. She got up from the table, went to their room, and woke Sho. He hadn't wanted to wake up, of course, because it was early but dad had told her to do something so of course she was going to do what it was that dad had told her to do. She was a good Daughter that way. She also didn't want to stick around long enough for dad to start to get mad. Even if he was the one who brought mom up first…but there was no point in whining about how unfair it was. She had been told to do something and now she was going to do it like a good Daughter would.

"Here you go, Sho, happy Valentine's Day." Said Mob as she took the tinfoil off of Sho's breakfast. He tubbed the sleep out of his eyes and picked up his fork. He was still tired. He had gotten up in the middle of the night again to change clothes and change his sheets. She wasn't going to tell dad that Sho had wet the bed, though, because then dad would have been mad and she did not want to ruin the day for anyone.

"Thank your sister." Said dad. He was scrolling through his phone now. He was using his powers, too, to eat. He had his fork hovering in the air with a bit of food on it. He looked up briefly, fed himself, and then went back down to scrolling through his phone. Mob wondered why he didn't just put his phone down. Mom had always said no powers or phones/tablets at the table…but mom wasn't there anymore. Mom wasn't there anymore and this was not her house or her table or a meal that she had cooked.

Since Mob cooked this meal did that make it her table now?

She was just a kid but she had been the one to make breakfast. She had been the one to remember it was Valentine's Day and she had been the one to cook breakfast and she had been the one to wake Sho up, too. After this she would brush his teeth and his hair and help him pick out day clothes and make sure that their school work got done…all the things that mom used to do. She was even cooking the same foods that mom had cooked…

Maybe Sho was right. Maybe she was trying to replace mom.

"Thank you for the meal, big sis." Said Sho. He yawned when he said that. He was still sleepy. It made sense, he had wet the bed in the middle of the night, and he hadn't been able to get to sleep even after his clothes and sheets had been changed. Mob had helped with that, too. That was another thing which mom had done. She wasn't trying to be mom, she didn't wake up in the morning and decide that she was going to be new Suzuki Masami, she just…she did what she had to do. Dad had been the one to put her in charge. She had never asked to be in charge. She had never wanted to be in charge. That was just what had happened. She was in charge now and she…and she had to do what she had to do…

She was not trying to replace mom and Sho had bene wrong to accuse her of that.

Not that she would ever tell her little brother that he had been wrong. She would never have told him that every time he accused her of pretending to be mom it made her both sad and mad at the same time. She was not going to make them fight like that. She wanted them to have a good day. She had always never wanted anything more than for the people around her to have been happy.

Was that so much to ask?

"You're welcome, little brother." Said Mob. She sat down and got back to eating. They ate in silence. She could feel dad's aura resting on hers. He wasn't looking at her with his eyes but he was looking at her with his aura. She didn't know why. She had made breakfast like she had done, before, back at the old house. It wasn't like she had done something amazing. There was nothing at all amazing about making breakfast. Mom had done it every day. A crazy part of her thinks that dad might have been missing mom, that he had been resting his aura on her because she reminded him of mom, but that was crazy. If he had been thinking of mom, if she had been making him think of mom, then of course he would have punished her. He didn't like mom, he didn't care about mom, and in fact he might have even hated her.

Because she was a traitor.

Mom didn't love dad, either. If mom had loved dad, had loved any of them, then she would have been the one to have made breakfast. She would have been the one to have said happy Valentine's Day. She would have been there with them…or at the old house, actually, now that Mob had thought it through. She would have been at the old house and so would she and Sho, probably not dad, and they would not have been sitting at the table in whatever country this was at whatever Claw base this was…but there was no point in thinking about that now.

Mob would never leave her family.

She knew that she had to grow up to have a family, dad had said so, and she knew that one day she would be someone's mom and she could not see herself ever running away from home. She didn't know who her kids would be or how many she would have or what they would be like but she knew that she would never just up and leave them. She would never leave her husband, either, even if he was like dad…and she really hoped that he was nothing like dad….not that she had any idea at all who her husband would be.

She knew who she wanted to be her husband.

She held her braids down again. Her aura was bright, dad could see that, and her face was red…which she knew that Sho noticed. She could not think about him, the boy, because then she would be all nervous and sad and a whole lot of other feelings. She needed to think about something other than the boy, she knew his name and she knew that she could not even so much as think his name, but in trying not to think about him then it just made her think about him more. She wanted to be with him, to be his girlfriend, and to hold his hand…or even kiss him again…

She missed him more than anything.

She missed him and she wanted to kiss him and….and she didn't even know him. She didn't know a single thing about him besides the fact that he was an esper like her. He also had blond hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. He was taller than her, too, which had been nice. He was brave, too, because he had escaped from being kidnapped, on accident of course because dad was not a kidnapper, and also he had run all the way home on his own through the winter cold…at least she hoped that he had gotten home. She hoped that he had made it home, and since Claw hadn't found him then he must have gotten home ok, and she knew that since he was probably safe and sound then…then she would never see him again.

But that was ok.

He was safe and sound and she should have been happy for him. She should have been happy that he was with his parents, both of his parents, and that…that he was probably happy again. Mob knew that she should not have been imagining what it would have been like to have set a fourth place at the table. What it would have been like to make a 'Happy Valentine's Day' omelet for him. She had never gotten a boy anything for Valentine's Day. Well she had gotten a boy a chocolate lollipop once when back when she had been in the first grade but she had gotten too scared and ended up giving it to her little brother. She would have gotten something for the boy. She had kissed him, well he had kissed her, or maybe they had kissed each other. Once the kissing happened, once two people decided to do something so big, then giving gifts on Valentine's Day was pretty easy compared to that.

Not that she would ever see him again.

She tried not to think about him. She tried to eat. She tried to eat without thinking of him and how he had met her and how she had met him and how it had felt to kiss him and hold his hands…and how she had promised to never forget him…and how he had promised never to forget her. She knew that she couldn't love someone she he just met but she also knew that she could not have…she could not have just kissed him for fun. Sometimes these were just for fun things, like Minegishi had said, but that had been more than…than to feel good. He hadn't just kissed her because it felt good…right? He had kissed her because…she just did not know. She just…she wanted to see him again. She wanted to hold his hand and kiss him…but she couldn't.

She couldn't forget him.

She wondered if dad would ever forget mom. She wondered if he ever still thought about her. He had mentioned her just now…but then he had gotten very quiet. Even his aura was being quiet. Still, too, which was not like him. His aura had been focused on her, before, but now he had pulled it in close. He wasn't looking at her with his eyes or his aura. She wondered if dad was upset…but he wasn't. If dad had been…anything…but he wasn't. Not that she could tell. She couldn't tell when his aura got like that. He probably wasn't upset, though, because dad was…dad. He was dad and he didn't want mom to come back…and he probably didn't even love her anymore. She wondered why dad had loved mom in the first place. She wondered why dad had ever loved mom in the first place.

She wondered how he had ever fallen in love with mom in the first place.

How could you tell if you were in love? What was the criteria? She didn't know. She thought…she didn't know what she thought. She didn't know how she felt about that boy, the one who she didn't even want to think the name of, but she knew…she knew that it felt close to…close to love…even if it couldn't be love. She wished that someone would have told her what love felt like, when you could tell that you were in love, and how you knew who it was ok to fall in love with…

She was not going to ask. She knew not to ask.

Because if she asked then dad might have known…and dad could never know. She was a traitor, she had gone against dad's orders, and she knew that dad would not have loved her anymore if she had been a traitor. Even now he seemed like he didn't love her. He wasn't looking at her. He wasn't looking at Sho, which was always a good thing, he wasn't looking at anything at all. He was just…there. His aura was so close…and she had no idea what she had done wrong. Was this what it would be like to be married to someone? Would he had been like dad, keeping his aura close so she couldn't figure out what he was feeling? Would the boy have been that way? No, he hadn't once hidden what he was feeling…even though that was what you were supposed to do. Boys, especially, but her too. She didn't to be married to someone who hid their feelings. She didn't even want to be the girlfriend of someone who hid their feelings. She wanted…she wanted to be that boy's girlfriend so badly…but she didn't even know him.

She ate her breakfast.

A silent breakfast wasn't weird in the Suzuki family. A silent breakfast was something that was almost normal. It was better if they were silent. The less noise they made the less chance there was of dad getting upset with them. Everyone was in their own head. That was good. If they kept their thoughts in their own heads then they could not make their thoughts known to everyone else…which meant that dad could not get mad. She wished that mom was still there. She could have asked mom about how she felt and what she was supposed to do now. She couldn't get the boy out of her head and she would have done anything to see him again…she wondered if mom had ever felt that way…

No, she had wanted to be away from dad.

She wondered if dad had ever felt that way about anyone. Not mom, of course, because he said that she was a traitor. She wondered if dad had ever been in love with anyone else besides mom. She wondered if dad would ever fall in love again. She wondered if he parents were even still married. She didn't know. She wasn't going to ask. She hoped that dad never fell in love with anyone else, though, because she did not need a new mom. Even if love was a good feeling. Even if maybe being in love would make dad a nicer person.

She didn't know. She stayed silent. It was a silent breakfast…or at least it would have been.

"Tastes just like mom used to make." Said Sho. He yawned as he said that. He was sleepy. The sun was barely up. That was why he had forgotten himself. That was why he had done something so wrong, so very wrong, as to have mentioned their mom. Something that he knew he would probably pay for later. Dad had punished him for much less, much less serious crimes, than mentioning their mom. Now dad was going to be so mad at them. Now dad was going to hit Sho and maybe her, too, because she had been the one to make their breakfast. Mob closed her eyes. She stopped herself from putting up a barrier. Dad didn't like that. He took it as a sign of defiance. She just sat there and waited.

She also stopped breathing.

Sho did the same thing. She could see his aura, scared, and she could feel it too. Also scared. She could see his how chest had stopped rising and falling. He was scared. He was scared and there was nothing that she could do about it. Even though she loved him more than anything she could not help him. He had done the worst thing that she had ever seen him do and now all they could do was wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And keep on waiting. Dad finished, he ate all of his food, and then he stood up. He was tall. How had Mob never realized that her dad was so tall? He didn't seem mad, his aura seemed pulled in and his eyes didn't rest on either of them, but she still shook as he walked past her.

"I'm leaving. Entertain yourselves today." Said Dad as he left the kitchen. He didn't even look at them as he left. He acted like they were invisible, like they were ghosts, like he wasn't mad at them enough to have wanted to turn them into ghosts. Mob didn't breathe until she heard him step into the part of the hallway that served as a genkan. Sho didn't breathe until he heard the front door open. They both didn't relax until they saw his aura leave their, mostly Sho's, range.

"It really does taste like mom's so….thanks." said Sho. He said that long after dad was gone from both of their ranges. That was the only time when it was safe to say something like that. Mob reached over and took his hand. She held his hand tight, even if his hand was both greasy and sticky at the same time, and smiled. That had been…not as bad as it could have been. Nobody got hit. Nobody got punished. Nothing bad happened at all. Maybe because it was a holiday…even though dad didn't care about holidays beyond knowing that they had to observe them. Still, Mob was not complaining. That had been even better than anything that she ever could have imagined.

They talked about mom and nobody got hurt.

"You're welcome…and happy Valentine's Day, little brother. I love you." Said Mob. Sho let her hold his hand. That was good. This was good. They had talked about mom, nobody had gotten hit, and now Sho was letting her hold his hand. He hated that, he had said, because he wasn't a little kid anymore. He really wasn't, this was the part of the year when they were the same age, but she still liked holding her little brother's hand because she loved him so very much…

She loved her whole family so very much…even if dad could be mean…but he hadn't been mean back there…

This was the best Valentine's Day ever.