It took twenty four hours for Minegishi to recover.

They did not like babies. They didn't hate them, they didn't have the mental space to hate anyone, but they just did not like babies. The noise, the mess, the constant drooling and vomiting…they did not like it. They could barely stand Shimazaki when he overdid it and somehow a baby was worse than Shimazaki one week into his 'I can handle it' benders. At least they could dump Shimazaki in bed and let him sleep it off when he got to be too much. They couldn't do that with the baby. They had to be the responsible adult after all.

Being a responsible adult also meant knowing when to step away from the situation.

They could only take so much. Eventually enough was enough and they couldn't take anymore. Mob could not see them when they got to that point. She had trouble controlling her powers under stress at the best of times. Seeing Minegishi freaking out from stress…that would have been the thing that pushed her over the edge. The situation was stressful enough for her as it was.

Fucking Suzuki.

He was either a sexist moron or a womanizing, child abandoning, moron. Minegishi would believe either. He didn't exactly have the best track record when it came to judgement. He had assigned them to pretty much babysitting Mob after all. Still this was beyond the pale. Leaving a ten year old to watch a baby...how did that even begin to look like a good idea? To abandon a baby with a ten year old. The little brother didn't exactly help matters, either, considering the fact that he could be something of a baby himself. Suzuki was most likely a moron. He thought that because his daughter was a girl she had magical childcare powers or whatever.

Either he was just a sexist asshole or he was just an asshole.

The baby looked like Suzuki. Minegishi didn't have to do a side by side comparison to know that Mukai looked just like Suzuki. Red hair was rare. Blue eyes weren't actually common. A red aura, for a natural esper, wasn't common either. Their own aura was green. Blue seemed to be the most common color in natural espers. Awakened were a whole other story entirely but Suzuki wasn't stupid enough to put a baby through the awakening process…unless he was and Minegishi just didn't know what their boss got up to when they weren't around. Still though, he wouldn't do that to his own baby…

Kid, yes, but not to a baby. That would most likely just end up in a dead baby and nobody wanted a dead baby.

That was a line that Minegishi knew that they could not cross. They didn't hurt kids, toddlers, or babies. Not since they had been a kid, toddler, or baby anyway. They didn't enjoy hurting people in general. It was just their job seven days a week. They had nothing against violence, it was the quickest way to get things done, but they didn't get any joy from causing other people harm. Not like a lot of the people they were forced to work with. Not like Suzuki himself. He pretended that he was above it all but Minegishi could tell that he was enjoying himself when he let people 'prove' themselves against him.

Yeah, Suzuki was an asshole.

Possibly a womanizing one. They had never seen him try anything with anyone and if he had then they would have known. There was no secret that Shimazaki could keep. The man just could not keep things to himself, it was impossible for him, so if Suzuki had been pursuing a woman then he would have said something. He wasn't the type to force anyone to do anything that they didn't want to. That was his big thing. People chose to join Claw so that meant that everyone had to be ok with everything that he did. So for that to have been his baby that would have meant that some woman spent more than ten seconds with Suzuki and thought 'break me off a piece of that' and then nine months later the drool machine next door was born.

Crazy.

They didn't like to delude themselves but in this case they had to. Suzuki could not be having more kids. That meant that there would be more of him and the last thing that the world needed was more of Suzuki. His two kids were enough. His son was enough. Mob was a good kid. Sho was like two bad kids mashed together to form the most exhausting kid that Minegishi had ever seen. It was amazing that Mob and Sho were even related. Side by side they didn't look a thing like each other. Side by side with the baby between them Mob looked like the kid next door that had wandered into the scene…which brought up further questions as to where Mob had come from. She didn't look a thing like Suzuki or his son…

But thinking that Suzuki had adopted her….now that was crazy.

He didn't like kids. He liked them even less than Minegishi did. Some, very few, pretty much just Mob, were ok. Suzuki seemed to barely tolerate the kids he had at the best of time…so that could not have been his not so secret love child…even though it looked exactly like him. Minegishi didn't know and they didn't know why they were speculating about this. This was none of their business. Them knowing where the baby had come from would not change the outcome.

Whatever it would be.

"Well, I have bad news, Suzuki's not back yet." They felt the shift in the energy around them a second before he was sitting there on their bed like he owned the place. Minegishi sat up. They would have kicked them out, just because they were done recovering from dealing with the literal baby next door didn't mean that they were recovered from dealing with him. They should have kicked them out. They could feel a headache coming back on. They felt like being dead to the world again. A headache could so easily turn into a migraine and a migraine was pure hell on Earth…

But they needed to know what the state of the union was.

"And the good news?" asked Minegishi. They frowned as they sat up. They reached over and brushed some hair out of his face. Blood. Not his though, he rarely got hurt, but still blood. Presumably human blood. Presumably picked up from his little stop over at HQ. Presumably something was going down at HQ that caused him to end up with someone else's blood on him.

Lovely. Just lovely.

"There is no good news…well nothing that you would consider to be good news anyway. That's all that there is to it. Suzuki is still missing and so is the healer. People are fighting so that's good news for me but bad for everyone else in the organization. Also there had been a fire at some point but, hey, who cares. It's Suzuki's building." Said Shimazaki. He was a lover of life and excitement and the lack of Suzuki sure made things exciting. Interesting. Sort of like a 'who are you in the dark' scenario except for the fact that since he could feel the sun he knew it was light out. More of like a 'who are you without Suzuki holding your dick for you while you take a piss' scenario or something.

Lovely. This was all just so lovely.

"Whose blood was that?" asked Minegishi simply. Who would have thought that everything would have gone to hell so quickly in Suzuki's absence? What was the point of having a structure to the organization if everyone turned into a bunch of toddlers the minute their minder left? They were so glad that they hadn't gone with to HQ. They did not need the headache. They had just gotten over a headache.

"Not a clue, Toshi, not a clue. I know that he tried to bite me though so he had it coming." Said Shimazaki. They could see Toshi's aura, feel them next to him, and he knew that they were better. That was how they knew it was ok to mess with them now. Well he always messed with them but now he didn't have to feel guilty about it…or however closely he could approximate the feeling that other people called guilt.

"Why'd he try to bite you? And don't give me any 'wrong place, wrong time' crap. I know you." Said Minegishi

"Well they may or may not have been fighting over a box of those cookies, the chocolate chip ones from the cafeteria, and I may or may not have claimed them for myself…and then someone may or may not have seen fit to bite me…and then I may or may not have seen fit to bite them back…." Said Shimazaki. He could 'see' it. Minegishi was rolling their eyes. Amused but not angry. They could see them lifting their arm, too, and he knew that he was about to get slapped over the head.

He decided to let it happen. Just to let Toshi feel better.

"Sugar is poison and you're a moron." Said Minegishi

"And you're a hypocrite. I've seen how fast you can go through a two liter and also if I'm such a moron then why do you love me so much?" asked Shimazaki. That earned him another head slap. He knew that their heart wasn't in it. They'd fought before, they knew how to fight him, how to corner and confuse him. They weren't doing that now even though they had a jungle of houseplants at their disposal. They could have ended him where he stood if they wanted to. They wouldn't.

"Did you at least save me one?" asked Minegishi

"No, I gave them to the kids. I figured they needed something to eat since they told the Awakened to fuck off." Said Shimazaki

"Mob did what now?" asked Minegishi. Shiamzaki had trouble with expressions but they knew that even he could see how shocked they were. First of all they were proud of Mob for finally telling someone to fuck off, good for her, but they were also ashamed of how stupid Mob had been to tell the people who waited on her hand and foot to fuck off. Not that Minegishi blamed them.

This new batch of Awakened were especially slow and especially devoted to Suzuki…a combination of traits that made them especially annoying.

"She told them to fuck off. Well she probably didn't say 'fuck off' but that was what she meant, probably. Remember how loud her aura was earlier? That was her having enough of the Awakened. Pretty short sighted if you ask me considering the fact that it's just two kids and a baby over there but, hey, Suzukis aren't as smart as they think they are." Said Shimazaki. He was curious as to the fire next door. Maybe there would even be a literal one. he'd intervene if he was asked or if something truly dangerous was going on next door, dead kids were boring kids after all, but he was curious about what lord of the flies-esque scenario would end up developing over in the Suzuki family.

Lord of the flies next door, mad max at work, all he needed now was some other work of anarchy to take place at home and his life would be perfect.

"Damnit Mob…" said Minegishi as they got up. They may have bumped Shimazaki when they got up and they may not have felt an ounce of remorse for it. He deserved it for starting fights, stealing, and also bringing bad news to them this early in the morning…or afternoon. It depended on how one looked at it.

It was all about perspective.

Everything was about perspective. Such as how it was, in their perspective, idiotic of Mob to tell off the Awakened like she had. Thought that story could have been slightly exaggerated knowing who relayed it to them. Possibly even fabricated thanks to Shimazaki's lose understanding of the truth. Somehow the man both did and did not believe in objective truths. Not personal ones but objective ones such as the facts of an event which happened. Minegishi could take their perspective on what had happened, Mob finally having enough of someone, but that didn't change the fact of what had happened.

So maybe it was all about perspectives and also was not all about perspectives….or maybe Minegishi had just done too much reading and now their mind was addled. Yes, that worked out too.

"Hey, you're finally up. Shimazaki and I were starting to get worried. You know you shouldn't do all of that stuff at once with the healer gone. You might have never woken up again." said Shibata as Minegishi sped past him. They looked fine so there was no more reason to worry. Not that Shibata had been super worried. Espers were a tough bunch and he had figured that Minegishi had been fine. It was their boyfriend who had been pacing a hole in the floor, walls, and ceiling.

"Yes, well, unlike you I know my limitations." Said Minegishi. They paused in their journey long enough to motion to the mess of yarn in Shibata's lap. They didn't know what that was supposed to be but they counted six arm or leg holes so far.

"It'll look better when it's done. It's pajamas for baby Suzuki." Said Shibata. He held up his handiwork. That was pretty good for someone who had never done any knitting before. The baby was going to be so warm in this!

"Are you sure it's not for a baby octopus?" asked Minegishi. If you didn't know how to knit then you shouldn't bother, in their opinion, since you just ended up making a mess. Besides, there was no point in getting attached to that baby. There was no way in hell that the baby was going to be Mob's on a permanent basis. They would hunt Suzuki down and drag him back by his ear if they had to. Mob was ten. She could not raise a baby. She already had her hands full raising her little brother. The bulk of raising that baby would fall onto the adults around her and Minegishi had no signed up to be a nanny.

"Hey, it's a work in progress. It'll look better when it's finished and baby Suzuki is going to love it-" said Shibata. This earned him another one of Minegishi's glares. Shimazaki was lucky that he couldn't see them…and as soon as Shibata has that thought he kicks himself for having that thought. Shimazaki wasn't lucky. He wasn't a poor, unfortunate, soul but he wasn't lucky. Their little trip to the store the other day had proved that.

"Don't call her 'baby Suzuki' unless you feel like pissing the real Suzuki off. If this was someone that he had wanted to acknowledge as his kid then he would have acknowledged her as his kid instead of making his ten year old Daughter raise her. Also that might not even be his kid, we don't know, and if he ever comes back and we've been pretending that we had any idea where this baby actually came from….well you know as well as I do how truly sadistic Suzuki had be when he puts his mind to it and I know that neither of us wants to be on the receiving end of that." Said Minegishi

"But it's so clearly his kid. Why even lie about it?" asked Shibata

"The machinations of Suzuki's mind are an enigma." Said Minegishi. With that they continued their journey out of their house and out the door. They hated it when they had to stay at these prefabs in the middle of nowhere. What, was Suzuki trying to create some simulation of domesticity so that his kids didn't grow up any weirder than they already were?

Who knew?

All they knew was that they were getting tired of living in prefabs in the middle of nowhere and tired of all of this extra work. Their job used to be easy. Hang around, kill someone, hang around some more, torture someone, and then hang around some more. Second verse same as the first. Now they had to babysit a ten year old who was trying to both babysit a nine year old and raise a baby. This was their life. It would have gone worse but it could have gone a hell of a lot better, too.

This was their life for better or for worse.

Their life could have been a hell of a lot worse. At least they weren't one of the Awakened. Those guys had so many problems. It was Minegishi theory that whatever Suzuki did to give them their powers made them at least a little unhinged if not completely mad. Some of them were pretty slow, too. Maybe that was the reason for the different uniform colors. These were the lowest ranked Awakened here with them, and also the slowest, plus they were the most culty too. Minegishi knew that they had joined the cult of Suzuki Touichirou but they had no intention of doing any of the cult shit that the others were so into.

Like throwing themselves on the ground and sobbing because Suzuki was gone and his Daughter had forsaken them…apparently.

"Suzki! Where have you gone to!" shouted an Awakened with his hands thrown to the sky. Minegishi rolled their eyes and stepped over him. As bad as this life was right now it could have been a hell of a lot worse. At least by the time all of this was over, not just Suzuki being back but Claw's whole end goal being fulfilled, they would be left alone. They would have done their part for the new world order and then they could just rest.

Mob would have been an adult by then…right? She wouldn't need Minegishi anymore….right?

They didn't know. What they did know was that they could hear that damned baby crying from the street. They felt something as close to guilt as they could feel for leaving Mob alone with the baby and her little brother…even though Mob was not their kid. Mob was not their kid and babysitting should not have been their responsibility. If Suzuki was capable of rational thought he would have seen that Minegishi should not have been left with any child. They were a bad influence. They had tried not to be but they also were not going to change who they were just because there was a kid hanging off of them all the time. They were what they were and that did not mean that Mob had to do as they have done…but she was…but that was not Minegishi's fault. Suzuki should have taken a break from planning on how he was going to take over the world to do some actual parenting.

Because Minegishi was, at best, a concerned adult. Not a parent.

"Mob, let me in." said Minegishi as they knocked on Mob's door. They doubted that they could be heard over the sound of crying and the blaring TV. They knocked louder and louder until the door just swung opened. Well that was a good way to get stuffed into a sack and sold on the child market…but then again these kids were Suzuki's. Anyone who tried anything would most likely not live for very long at all…

Which was a pity considering how that baby was carrying on.

Minegishi stepped through the makeshift genkan and surveyed the damage. There were drawings everywhere, footprints on the ceiling, and cookie crumbs scattered all over the floor. The whole place smelled of sour milk and it got worse the deeper that Minegishi went into the house. The sink as overflowing with dirty dishes, which may have contributed to the smell, but the most likely culprit were the baby vomit stains on the rug.

Well wasn't this just a wonderful little shit show?

"Sho, we can't give her a bath or she'll drown!"

"How is she going to drown if we're in the bath with her? You think I would let her drown?!"

"No, not on purpose, but the internet said that babies could drown in only an inch of water!"

"I'll drown you in an inch of water if you don't give me that baby!"

Yup, just the most wonderful little shit show possible.

Minegishi could have just walked back to their own house. They could have just left the kids to…whatever that was. Their argument. If they were screaming then that meant that they were breathing and if they were breathing then they were alive and that was the extent of the responsibility that Minegishi had for them. They were alive and their house had not burned down. It was full of vomit but it had not burnt down. There. Everything was fine, all was right with the world, and they could return to their post of waiting for Suzuki to come back from wherever he fucked off to. That would have been the smart thing to do, anyway….

But even Minegishi could be an idiot sometimes.

They decided to intervene before the kids got into a powers fight or something. Plus all of that shouting was just making the crying….that godawful crying…worse. Minegishi hated that sound. They would have drowned it out with a dentists' drill on a chalkboard if they could. Babies…they were better off raising plants than babies….though their complaints were pointless since there was a baby right there and she wasn't going anywhere.

That very messy baby was not going anywhere.

"What the hell is going on in here?" asked Minegishi as they came upon two kids having a tug of war with a naked, screaming, baby. Well not a tug of war per say but one using powers and barrier. They were worried, actually, for that baby. They weren't sure if it was healthy for a baby to be that stressed.

They hated being the only adult in the room.

"Hi Minegishi." Said Mob as she made her barrier thicker. She didn't know why she felt better that they were there, Mob had this under control, but seeing an adult there made her feel…lighter…somehow. Also they were smart and they could have talked some sense into Sho. Sho wanted them to give Mukai a bath because she kept on throwing up on herself and also it wasn't fair that he had to take baths and she didn't. Even though she was a baby and could have drowned and then if she drowned she would be dead.

"Mob. Sho." said Minegishi as they took in the scene before them. A full bathtub. Two soaked to the bone kids. One screaming baby. This was either bath time or a group drowning. Judging by the screaming and the crying they would believe either.

"What are you doing in our house?" asked Sho. They did not need help. He was enough help to big sis as it was…but maybe Minegishi could talk some sense into her. The baby needed a bath. All she did was throw up all day. She smelled gross and the wet wipes weren't helping anymore. She needed a bath and there was no way for her to drown if she was in the bath with him and big sis. It would be a tight fit, he and big sis had stopped taking baths together because they didn't both fit at the same time, and also he didn't like water all that much, but if it was for little sis then he would do it. Also it wasn't weird to take a bath with little sis because even a pretend sister was fine to take a bath with. Sisters were the only girls allowed to see you naked. Sisters and moms.

"I followed the sound of crying and the smell of vomit. What are you two doing to that baby?" asked Minegishi. The baby wasn't screaming now, just crying a little, probably because the people around her had stopped screaming at each other like a couple of children….which, to be fair, they were.

"Sho thinks that she needs a bath." Said Mob

"I don't think, I know." Said Sho

"But she could drown in only an inch of water. The internet said so. I don't want to risk her drowning. I love her." said Mob

"See? I hate it when you do that. I love her too. That's why I want her to take a bath. She's been throwing up on herself all day and she smells like baby throw up which is somehow even worse than normal throw up." Said Sho

"But she could drown!" said Mob. What was so hard to understand about that. She was too little to hold her own head up. That meant that she could drown and die. If she got hurt then there was no saving her since Fukuda was still gone on the secret mission with dad.

"She's not going to drown if we're in the tub with her." said Sho. He had no idea how someone could drown in only an inch of water. That was a lot of centimeters of water but still not enough to drown a person. The water needed to be over your head to drown you. Sho knew what he was talking about.

"How, exactly, are all three of you going to fit in that bathtub?" asked Minegishi. They were too big for that…and also too old to be sharing a bath. It might end up warping them for the rest of their lives…or not. What did Minegishi know? They were an only child.

"We could sit with our knees up to our chests. It's not weird to share a bath with baby sis even if she's our pretend sister. Sisters are the only girls who are allowed to see you naked." Said Sho

"There's not enough room for the three of you and you know it, kid." Said Minegishi. Well there was the whole 'warping' thing right there. Sisters were the only people who were not supposed to see you naked, in Minegishi's opinion. Though they had never been a fan of causal bathhouse style nudity for obvious reasons.

"She needs a bath! She smells so gross!" said Sho. Mukai started crying again. Maybe he had been a bit too loud there…but still. She needed a bath and it was unfair of big sis to tell him that he needed a bath without making little sis take a bath too.

"Don't say mean things like that to her. If you want to say mean things then say them to me but never to her." said Mob

"I'm not saying mean things, big sis, I'm just telling the truth. She smells gross from throwing up and she needs a bath." Said Sho

"She does not-" said Mob

"Everything in this house smells gross and you need to either clean up or have the Awakened do it because there is no way that baby is going to be happy here. Also, Mob, I'd hate to say it but the baby does need a bath." Said Minegishi. They were the adult and it was time to be an adult. These were kids. They had no idea what they needed or how to take care of themselves. They may not have wanted the extra work but they had to do it. Somebody had to so it had might as well be them.

"I don't want them around…" said Mob. She knew that she was being dumb. Their job was to help her out with things and do what she told them to do. Even though she didn't like to be bossy. Even though this group of Awakened was bad at following directions. Even though they were more concerned with asking about dad than doing anything to help her.

"They're weird." Said Sho. He was the Awakened Child but he was not one of the Awakened. These Awakened were weird. They stared a lot and they never shut up about how great dad was and how much they missed him and stuff like that. Stupid stuff. Still, it was dumb of big sis to tell them to go away. They were the only ones who knew how to do laundry and also they brought most of the food.

"Yeah, I can't argue with you there. Ok, Mob drain most of the water from the tub. She will definitely drown if you try to put her in there but I doubt that she'll drown in an inch of water unless you leave her unattended in the bath and I know that you're not stupid enough to do something like that." Said Minegishi. These kids needed a responsible adult and they supposed that this was the part that they were meant to play. The responsible adult. Fine. They could do this. As much as they were loath to do this they would. They had decided, years ago, that they would only be responsible for themselves….but there were two kids and a baby involved now…

So much extra work.

"But then there won't be enough water for all three of us if we let some of the water out now." Said Sho. Not that he wanted to take a bath or anything. Not that he missed taking a bath with big sis or anything. He had been the one to say that they needed to stop taking baths together in the first place. He had been the one to say that they were too big to fit in the tub together. He had been the one to complain about how she was always telling him what to do and she was always pouring water on him and stuff. He didn't care one way or another. He really didn't.

"You are way too old to be taking a bath with your sister, anyway, and there wouldn't have been enough room for the three of you in that tub no matter how much or how little water was in there." said Minegishi. Really. This kid. He was just as stubborn as his father. Minegishi could totally see how this was Suzuki's kid. The baby was stubborn too, as much as a baby could be. Mob was….Mob.

Seeing the three of them together just added fuel to the whole Mob had been adopted theory…but they were not going to mull of that now. Right now they had to get this situation under control before that baby started crying again.

"That's not weird…is it?" asked Sho. He didn't have any other kids to be friends with besides big sis. He had no idea what was weird and what wasn't. He didn't even know why he cared if he was weird or normal or whatever. He was Suzuki Sho and it didn't matter how weird he was because…well actually it did…and he didn't know why but it did….

"Yeah, kid, it's pretty damn weird." Said Minegishi

"Yeah, well, what do you know? You've got purple hair and no eyebrows and your best friend is my sister." Said Sho

"That's mean, little brother. If you have to be mean to someone be mean to me. Ok?" said Mob

"Obviously me being so weird makes me an authority on what is and is not weird, now doesn't it?" asked Minegishi

"You're not weird, Minegishi, you're normal." Said Mob

"Normal for Claw is weird for the rest of the world, you know." Said Minegishi

"That…that makes sense I guess…but that was still a mean thing for you to say, Sho, and I think that you should say sorry. You know…so Mukai doesn't grow up to be mean to people." Said Mob. She didn't want Sho to be mean to people either but she had no idea where she had went wrong with him. She could do better with Mukai though. She didn't know what she had done wrong but she knew, now, how to do things right. She loved Sho, she really did, but she did not love how mean he could be to people without a single thought to their feelings.

"Fine….I'm sorry that I told the truth…I guess." Said Sho. Big sis was right. It would have been terrible if baby sis grew up to be like him. Baby sis still had a chance of growing up to be anything other than a jerk.

"Sho, that's still not-" said Mob

"Mob, leave him be. That's the best that you're going to get out of him. Sho, as a show of apology, how about you clean up some of that baby vomit in the living room. You're not stupid…I hope. You know that it is not good for the baby at all for it to be that messy out there." said Minegishi. Kids. They did not want to deal with kids. But they had to. They could at least get one of the kids out of there so they could so…something…about the fact that the baby needed a bath. Mob was only ten years old…and she had a point. A baby could drown so easily. Hell, an adult could drown so easily.

Great. More work.

"….fine….I guess." Said Sho. He hated cleaning but he would do anything for baby sis. Even get down on his hands and knees and clean up the living room. They would have cleaned it up later, maybe, it had just happened so fast. Maybe baby sis was allergic to formula or something. She did throw up a lot and he felt like throwing up, sometimes, when he smelled citrus. He hoped that she didn't have any allergies, though, because Fukuda was not around to help her if she got sick…

Or if she broke out into itchy spots and began to suffocate like he did when he ate citrus.

"Good. Ok, Mob…that baby needs a bath. She's only going to drown if you don't watch her…but you're ten so I'll be here to watch you watching her." said Minegishi. More extra work…but work that needed to be done. They apparently had a soft spot for babies, too, and not just kids. Well babies were babies. They didn't set out to be little assholes they just didn't have a choice in the matter. They were small and helpless and need the adults around them.

And Minegishi was an adult.

They were in their late twenties now so they had no excuse to be irresponsible like this. Even though they really did not want to do this. This was what had to be done and everyone else was either a child or an idiot so they were the one who had to help. Goddamned Suzuki. They were taking a person day when this was over…if this ever ended. They were not going to make it through the year otherwise. Babies and kids were just so…tiring.

Or maybe just Suzuki's kids.

"She's all slippery." Said Mob. She was kneeling by the tub next to Minegishi. She didn't much want to take a bath, not with her friend there, so she was holding the baby with one hand and soaping her up with the other. She had tried the sink before but Mukai kept on banging her legs on the faucet. The tub was too big, though, and the baby was so slippery…

Maybe they should have just gone with Sho's plan C and sprayed her with the hose.

"So use your powers to hold her up. You're still telekinetic, aren't you?" asked Minegishi

"I am…but I'm scared to use my powers on her in case I lose control. That happens to me sometimes and I don't know what I would do if I ever hurt her on accident." Said Mob. Mukai was so small…so small and so fragile…like a porcelain doll but even worse. She was not going to hurt her. Ever. Even on accident.

"Fine. Hang on." Said Minegishi. They always had seeds in their pockets. It just made them feel better. They could make them grow easily and even change the type of plant that they would turn into. These were apple seeds and they were not about to go and grow a whole tree nor were they going to make another man eating Venus flytrap. No, instead these seeds would grow into vines. The kind that could make a sort of vine cradle for the baby. Not the sort that sucked the life out of people. It was odd, nurturing and not hurting, but not so odd that it was foreign to them.

It had just been a while. That was all.

"Here, now you maintain it while you wash her off." Said Minegishi

"Ok….but if I lose control you'll stop me. Right?" asked Mob. She saw her aura when she said that. She knew that she should have had better control, done more to set a good example for Mukai and Sho, but even the idea of losing control of her powers and hurting baby Mukai was terrifying.

"To the best of my ability, yes." said Minegishi

"Ok…thank you." Said Mob. She didn't know what the best of their ability was but she did feel better knowing that there was someone there to stop her if she lost control. Dad was gone. Dad could stop her when she lost control. She didn't know how he did it but he didn't. But now he was gone and she had no idea when he was coming back…but that was ok. He had been gone for three days now which meant that maybe he was on his way back…even though he had been gone from mom and the house for weeks and weeks and weeks when she had been little…

She didn't know what she would do all alone with Sho and baby Mukai for weeks and weeks and weeks.

"You know you're holding this together a lot better than I thought you would. I mean all things considered." Said Minegishi

"What things are there to consider?" asked Mob. She didn't know what there was to take into consideration. Dad had told her to do something and here she was doing it. Dad believed in her and she was not going to let him down. What was so complicated about that?

"Your age, for one thing, and the fact that you also have that little brother of yours to take care of." Said Minegishi. Mob meant nothing by that. Had she been Suzuki Minegishi knew that they would have been treading dangerous ground. But this was not Suzuki but his Daughter. She was actually an ok human being.

"Sho helps me out more than I thought he would. He's not always good at helping me out but he does…but I do want my dad to come back, though, because it can be kind of hard taking care of baby Mukai." Said Mob as she washed the bottoms of Mukai's feet. She didn't walk yet but she did get sweaty in her baby socks…when she kept them on. She liked this, though, so Mob would keep doing it even though she wasn't sure how someone who couldn't walk yet could possibly get.

"Why send the Awakened away, though. You know that they have to basically do whatever you tell them to. Right?" said Minegishi. This was not the time to be headstrong. Maybe this was Suzuki's blood kid. She was just as headstrong and stubborn as he was. Just as much a firm believer in micromanaging too, it seemed. Well maybe after Claw burnt to the ground because everyone was lost without him Suzuki would rethink what he had been teaching his Daughter for all of these years.

"I know but they were just so…annoying. They were too worried about where dad was and what had happened to him to even start to listen to me. They never bring back the right thing and also they never stop talking about dad. How much they miss him and how great he is and stuff like that. I couldn't take it anymore. I have a baby to look after and also a little brother. I don't want to have to look after them, too." Said Mob as she washed in between Mukai's fingers. She liked that, she smiled, and Mob smiled back even though she wasn't all that happy on the inside. She was mostly just sleepy on the inside. She had been up all night crying again and Mob had no idea why. She had tried feeding her more during the day and stuff but all that did was make her throw up more….which had not been good for anyone.

"I get it but…but don't try to do it on your own. Ok? You have other people and you need to delegate work when you can. Otherwise you just get burnt out and the people under you are helpless and stupid…and the world does not need any more helpless and stupid people. They're annoying and they just make extra work for the rest of us and I, for one, am getting tired of all of this extra work." Said Minegishi

"Oh…but you didn't have to come over. Me and Sho would have gotten done with fighting eventually and we would have cleaned up eventually, too. I know that people need other people but dad trusted me with baby Mukai and nobody else. I can't let him down." Said Mob as she washed Mukai's stomach. That made her giggle too. People needed other people, Mukai sure needed her, but one day she wouldn't. One day she would be a big enough kid to take her own baths and eat solid food and change her own diapers…or not need them at all even. That was what Mob wanted to happen. She wanted Mukai to be able to do things on her own just like she could do things on her own.

"Yeah, well, I kind of did. That's what friends are for." Said Minegishi. If Mob had been anyone else Minegishi would have just popped round to see if everyone was still alive and then gone about their merry way. But Mob was not anyone else. Mob was their friend, sort of, or at least a kid that had managed to wring some parental instincts out of them so, really, they had no choice but to involve themselves in all of this. Even if they'd never had any intention of having kids or babies or whatever. Even if the sound of a baby crying was enough to drive them into the mother of all migraines. Even if they would rather have been lying in bed with a good book than kneeling on the floor helping wash a baby that wasn't even theirs…

Whatever. It could have been worse. Besides, it wasn't like they couldn't recover from this.