Baby Mukai was not a doll.

She was small like a doll, and it was fun to dress her up like a doll, but she was not a doll. Dolls didn't cry, first of all, when Mob tried to dress them up. Dolls also didn't kick and scream, too, when they didn't want to play anymore. Dolls didn't mind it when she dressed them up and played with them and made them into who she wanted them to be.

Mukai was a person, not a doll.

Mob did not get to decide who Mukai was. She didn't get to cast her into different roles depending on the game. She was a person. She was a person who was fun to dress up but she was still a person. So Mob played with her, but not in the way that she played with her dolls, more in the way that she played with Sho…in those rare times when Sho played dolls with her.

More in the way that she played with Minegishi, actually.

"Your sentence is death by baby. Anything to say for yourself Anna or Arendelle?" Said Minegishi. So this was their life. How many times had they had that thought in the last two years? Too many times. Whatever. Their life could have been worse. They could have been one of the Awakened if they hadn't been as strong of an esper as they were. Yeah, that was not a life that they would have wished on anyone.

They wondered if those morons were still praying for Suzuki's return.

"I didn't do it. I was framed. Please don't feed me to the giant baby!" said Mob doing a good impression of Anna's voice. Well she thought that Ana would have sounded like that if her sister was about to feed her to a giant baby. Mob didn't know why so many of the games that they played involved the dolls killing each other, or executing each other, or any of that other mean sort of stuff but she was just glad to have someone to play with. Someone who could talk and didn't try to eat her dolls.

Like Mukai did.

"You continue to lie? Really, sister? Even now you show no remorse?" asked Minegishi not really trying to do the doll's voice. That was where they drew the line when it came to the game of totalitarian princesses.

"Please Elsa! I know that as the queen you have to protect the country in this time of war but we're sisters!" said Mob

"Sisters? Ha! You betrayed me, you betrayed your country, and you've betrayed Disney studios to which we owe our very existence! Your defection to Pixar could have destroyed our entire world!" said Minegishi

"Please! I did it for you! You don't know what you've become! What happened to the big sister I used to know?" said Mob

"That person is dead, Anna, like you soon will be." Said Minegishi

"Elsa, please. We're sisters! Doesn't that mean anything? I forgave you for freezing my heart with your ice magic. Can't you just forgive me for selling our war secrets to Pixar? I was just trying to end the war before anyone else could get hurt. We've already lost Mulan, Jasmine, and Cinderella! I didn't want to lose anyone else." Said Mob

"Well now they've lost you. You will spend the last moments of your life being digested by that giant baby over there. If you're lucky she'll keep you down. You're more likely, though, to end up being vomited out and dying in a pool of stomach acid and half-digested baby formula." Said Minegishi

"Elsa, please. Come on, you don't have to do this! Why don't we build a snowman? Come on, do you want to build a snowman?" asked Mob

"No. Time for you to die." Said Minegishi. They reached over to take the well-loved doll from Mob, the limbs had be reattached several times and it looked like Mob had tried her hand at hairdressing at some point, but Mob pulled it back.

"Wait, let me take her shoes off. That way the baby won't choke and die." Said Mob. She took Anna's shoes off. She was being executed because she sold war secrets to Pixar. That was called treason and treason was a very serious crime. Also she had betrayed her sister. You were not supposed to betray your siblings even if they did go all dark side with their powers. Well she knew that she would never have betrayed Sho, anyway, she never even told on him to dad let alone betrayed him.

"Who has no sense of self-preservation? You do, you do." Said Minegishi. They poked the baby in the stomach not hard, no, just enough to get her to smile. She was ok when she smiled. Better than when she cried, anyway, though she still did plenty of that. Minegishi was learning to get used to it. Not that they wanted to get used to it but it looked like this baby was here to stay.

What in the hell had Suzuki been thinking?

His love child or not he should have had a better plan for this baby than giving it to his ten year old Daughter to raise. Not that Mob wasn't doing a good job. The baby was alive. That was already much better than Minegishi would have been capable of at the age of ten. Probably more than what they would have been capable of at twenty seven, too. They knew their limitations and taking care of a helpless little vomit machine was one of them.

It was still a cute kid, though, all things considered.

"It'll be easier once Fukuda comes back, I think, because then I won't have to watch her as closely. She can't walk or even crawl yet, not that she doesn't try, but she still gets into things. Like this morning when me and Sho were letting her lay on her stomach so she could practice holding her own head up and trying to crawl and stuff, she almost ate one of Sho's crayons. I just got up to get some milk and when I came back Sho was pulling a crayon out of her mouth. It was kind of scary…but it's ok but she didn't choke. It'll be better when Fukuda comes back." Said Mob as she took Anna's tiny shoes and put them in her pocket. She always saved the shoes. She hated it when her dolls were barefoot. Their little feet looked so cold.

If only keeping Mukai's feet warm was that easy.

She had pulled off her little socks again. Mob only saw one of them. She had no idea where the other one went. That wasn't good. Now her little pink sock wouldn't have a match…and also her feet would be cold. Mob was out of those pajamas with the feet on them, the ones that always kept Mukai's little feet warm, because she didn't know how to do laundry. She was running low on clothes herself. That would be the next thing that she figured out how to do.

After playtime.

It felt like forever since she had last played. She used to play all the time but she had been younger then. She was ten now, practically an adult, and she had all sorts of responsibilities now. She had to keep Mukai alive and keep Sho alive and also happy, even though he wasn't very happy at all since she had made him do a page from his workbook, and she also had to keep food on the table and make sure that everyone was clean and well rested and-

And it was a lot.

But she had this. She knew what she had to do and she would do it. She was the boss of the house now. She was the oldest. Dad trusted her to be the boss of the house. She had to…to do well. To make dad proud of her. When he came back he would see how good of a job that she had done and he would be so happy with her. He had to be.

He was the one who had trusted her to take care of everyone in the first place.

"Any idea when that will be?" asked Minegishi. They kind of really, really, REALLY needed their healer back. People back at HQ were not taking Suzuki's absence well. They were like a bunch of little kids fighting when dad was away…and even Suzuki's kids weren't fighting. Not like they used to, anyway, which was good for everyone. Who would have thought that without their dad pitting them against each other for the little kernels of love he tossed out would have resulted in happier and less violent kids?

Particularly Sho.

He was much less of a terror than usual. At least he wasn't when Shimazaki wasn't trying to get him to do something stupid just for shits and giggles. He was getting bored and that was bad for everyone within a ten kilometer radius. Particularly anyone stupid enough to go along with the truly stupid, illogical, or just plain insane ideas that his idle mind came up with. Like giving the baby acid.

Yeah, the baby cried enough as it was, they weren't going to be doing that.

"No. Sho tried calling him but I guess that he's somewhere without service or something. Dad too. I mean I know that I'm not supposed to call him unless it's an emergency-" said Mob

"Well what do you call this?" asked Minegishi

"Playing dolls?" asked Mob. She didn't know what they were getting at. An emergency was something like the house burning down or flooding or something like that. This was just them playing like normal. Even Mukai was being very good. She'd just had a very good nap and she liked her formula today, the one in the yellow can was her favorite, and also people were talking to her and stuff which she also liked a lot.

This was a very good day so far. No emergencies at all.

"No, I mean the fact that you're all alone with your little brother and a baby." Said Minegishi

"I'm not alone. You're here." Said Mob

"Yeah but I am not taking care of a baby. I am in no way shape or form a nanny or a babysitter or whatever else your dad would call it. Also you're only ten. I'm pretty sure that this is illegal in most countries…actually that's no kind of argument to make considering what Claw is an all of that." Said Minegishi

"What do you mean? What's wrong with Claw? It's a good place that helps bring espers all over the world together. Dad's work is very good work. I mean sometimes people get hurt and stuff but…but sometimes bad things happen." Said Mob. That was what dad said. Sometimes bad things happened. That was just how life was. Sometimes bad things happened when you were trying to make the world a better place. Like how the only way to give people powers was to…well she didn't know what happened exactly but…but she knew that it hurt.

Dad was a good person and he was doing very good work.

"Yeah, you and I are not getting into the moral grey area which Claw operates in with you today. You've got enough on your plate as it is. Let your dad explain it to you." Said Minegishi. This was maybe not the time to shatter Mob's worldview into a million little choking hazards.

"Grey area?" asked Mob. She had heard that before but she didn't know what it meant. She got the feeling that Minegishi was not talking about a room which was painted grey though. She looked over at Mukai. She didn't know either. Well of course she didn't know, she barely knew words yet, and the words that she did know were mostly not even in Japanese.

"Areas that can be seen as good or bad depending on your perspective. You know you have to mix black and white to get grey, right? Well that's what grey areas are." Said Minegishi

"Oh. Like dad's suit." Said Mob

"The fact that your dad really needs to change his suit is in no way a grey area." Said Minegishi

"He changes his suit, he has a whole closet full of them, well he used to anyway…he left them all here when he left…but that's not even what I meant. I meant that dad's suit can be blue or black depending on how you look at it. Navy blue is a weird color like that." Said Mob

"Overly literal as always." Said Minegishi. They wondered if something was up with Mob. She had always been slightly out of step socially…though with Suzuki as a father they didn't blame her. Being raised by that guy would be enough to mess anyone up socially. Well she'd fit right in at Claw during her adult years. It was easier to count the people who DIDN'T have some sort of crippling emotional or social problem.

"I'm sorry." Said Mob

"Don't be. That's what makes you interesting." Said Minegishi

"Thank you. I think that you're really interesting too." Said Mob. She knew that Minegishi didn't mean it in a mean way. They were friends and friends were not mean to each other…well Minegishi could just be sort of mean in general but not in any real way and never to Mob…unless she had done something wrong…but Mob couldn't think of anything that she had done wrong lately. So Minegishi was being honest and Mob had no reason to feel bad…even though she didn't want to be interesting. She was boring, she knew that she was boring, and the only interesting thing about her was her powers. She didn't want to be known just for her powers and she wished that there was something else interesting about her…but there wasn't.

"I try. Life's too short to be boring." Said Minegishi. They ran a hand through their hair. Getting too long, long enough for their roots to show, they'd have to do something about that. Life was too short for black hair. Though they had been putting it off since they did got literally no warning before Suzuki moved them and they did not want to end up on a tiny airplane with hair dye seeping into their brain and ultimately driving them crazy.

Crazier than they were already.

"Life doesn't feel short. It's a long time between birthdays." Said Mob. She was ten but she was already looking forward to being eleven. Maybe because then she would be older and she would know more how to take care of Mukai. Also Mukai would be a one year old and then she would be able to walk and maybe even talk a little bit. Also Sho would be ten, too, and he loved having birthdays. Dad would be forty….forty three? How had she forgotten her own father's age? She was such a terrible Daughter…well she would ask him on his birthday. He didn't much like his birthday, he never did much for his birthday, so maybe he wouldn't even care when he got older.

Adults could be sort of weird like that.

Minegishi was an adult and they didn't care about their birthday. Every birthday that Mob had spent with them, two of them, had been Minegishi just doing normal stuff like it was a normal day and not the anniversary of the day that they had been born. They hadn't even gotten any presents. Well Mob had gotten them seeds both years, they kept them in their pockets to feel better on flights and stuff, and that had been it. Well Shimazaki had supposedly gotten them something that he gave them later when Mob wasn't around but Minegishi had told her to shut up about that when she asked so she leaned more towards them having been very disappointed on their birthday.

Birthdays were important.

She wondered what Mukai wanted for her birthday. That is if she stayed with them for that long. Dad was…dad. He would not have liked her at all. No matter what Mob did she couldn't get Mukai to stop crying all the time. Also she was a baby and was very messy. Even now she was drooling all over Anna…but that was ok. That was the Anna doll that she had given a haircut to. She had three others. The best one was the singing one.

She would not be giving Mukai that one since she was still so little.

She may have been little now but she would not spend the rest of her life being little. She would get older and she would play games and make friends and all of that. Mob hoped that she spent as much of her life with there, with them, as she could…but she did not tell dad what to do. She hoped that if he found new parents for Mukai they would let her get letters from Mob and Sho and also read them to her because babies couldn't read. Maybe they would even be allowed to visit.

That would have been very nice.

"That's because you're only ten. One year, so far, has been a tenth of your life. Life starts to feel shorter the more years you've spent alive." Said Minegishi

"It does?" asked Mob. Well that sort of made sense…maybe. She was someone who was ten years old, that was true, but she wasn't someone who felt like life was short…or long. It just sort of was it's own thing. She knew that it felt like a long time between birthdays but time still passed the same way that it had always passed. It wasn't like how time got distorted, dad said, the faster you went which was why long term space travel was…well Mob got the feeling, actually, that they were not talking about the logistics of long term human survival in space.

"Yes it does. It starts to go both too fast but also too slow, too, well it seems slow when you're bored. Then once you stop being bored it goes right back to being fast again and you realize how much time that you wasted being bored." Said Minegishi

"Do you feel like that? Because I don't…but I'm not usually bored. There's always something to do or play or learn. Well sometimes I get bored, like when me and dad watch kendo and also some of the documentaries that he likes and stuff, but I'm also happy because I get to spend time with dad. I wouldn't think that you'd be bored, though, because you always have a book to read and also you're best friends with Shimazaki." Said Mob

"Yeah I feel like that sometimes…and who says that Shimazaki is my best friend?" said Minegishi. Baby drool was flung on them. Lovely. They debated taking that doll away from the baby and settled on 'no' since they did not want to hear any more of the baby's cries.

Well it was a moot point now.

The shift in the energy around them signaled Shimazaki's arrival. Minegishi could have sworn, and they had sworn, that he could sense when he was being mentioned. Either that or he had the best luck in the whole world. Whatever. He could go wherever he wanted. It was in his powerset after all, teleportation, and he could teleport wherever he wanted to.

Including on top of the high court of Arendelle…which was just a series of empty boxes but still.

"Aww, I'm not your best friend? Toshi, you hurt me." Said Shimazaki. Minegishi smiled just a little bit, enough that he could notice but no one else, and he would have considered it a success if making them smile was what they had set out to do. But it wasn't.

"You would probably be their best friend if you stopped calling them by their given name. They don't like that. Also you scared the baby." Said Mob. She picked Mukai up and started rocking her back and forth. That didn't work so she switched to bouncing her up and down. There. That got much better results.

"Here, pass her over. I'll take care of her." said Shimazaki. He had no intention to taking care of the baby himself, of course not he had better things to do, but Shibata had been making noise about how he wanted to take care of that baby for…some reason. Babies were not the good sort of interesting, they were too tedious and loud and just…too much, but for some reason Shibata wanted to take care of her even though there were much more interesting things going on.

Like how Claw was going to hell and they couldn't even find the handbasket.

"Mob, if you value that baby's life you'll do the opposite of everything that he tells you to." Said Minegishi

"I know." Said Mob. She did not trust him with Mukai. She barely trusted him with Sho. At least Sho could talk and walk and use his powers and stuff.

"Ok, then don't give me the baby." Said Shimazaki with a shrug. It could have been interesting to see what Shibata planned on doing with Suzuki's love child but he wasn't going to fight the kid over this. Not when he needed her.

"I know not to give him the baby. You told me already." Said Mob. She could feel Sho's aura coming closer. She trusted him with Mukai. She didn't like leaving Mukai with him, he was little and should have focused on playing and drawing and learning and stuff, but he was good at taking care of her.

Anyone but Shimazaki.

"Relax, I'm not here for the baby, I'm here for you. Come with me, I need you." Said Shimazaki

"Should I be worried?" asked Minegishi with a raised eyebrow…if they had even had eyebrows in the first place. They knew him. They knew that he got terrible ideas when he was bored. Doing something stupid like freaking Mob out so she exploded…yeah, he would do something that stupid.

"That depends on how much you like your job and, you know, getting paid. I feel like if Claw ends up falling apart we don't get paid anymore and, yeah, I burnt a shit ton of bridges when I left the Yakuza and I know that you don't want to be a florist…and we all know why Shibata can't ever go back to Wee World so, yeah, you should maybe be worried." Said Shimazaki

"Again with this? For the love of God can't you leave those people alone? If you're so bored then go to the store. We're out of beer." asked Minegishi. Shimazaki went there every day at least once a day to stir shit up. There was no reason to stir shit up besides his own boredom. Him stirring shit up was probably what was going to make Claw fall apart…well more than it was already. Who would have thought that micromanaging everything and everyone would have had he downside of breeding an unhealthy amount of dependence?

Also telling people that he was God or whatever hadn't been the most sound move from a business perspective.

"What happened?" asked Mob. She knew that the Awakened really missed dad. They knocked on her door every day at least twice a day asking about dad. She didn't know why they liked dad so much, he was never nice to them, but she told them all that dad would be back soon. She had no idea when dad would be back but it had been a week and she figured that he wouldn't be gone for much longer since all of his clothes were there and it felt gross to wear the same things for a week straight…

But then again he could always buy new clothes.

"Claw's going to hell without your dad and, normally, I would be all over this but it's been going on for too long and, well, I like my job. I kind of can't go back to my old job for reasons I feel like Minegishi does not want me telling you so, yeah, I don't feel like losing my job." Said Shimazaki. Life was too short to be boring and this was the most interesting job that he had ever worked…well it had been until Suzuki ran away. He was coming back though, he had to, since his kids were here and since it was so much effort raising kids Shimazaki figured that he wouldn't have wanted to quit halfway through.

"What's that got to do with her?" asked Minegishi. He had a point. Waiting for Suzuki to come back wasn't working. They hadn't been to HQ in a while but they did talk to people. Apparently news of Suzuki's disappearance had spread far and wide. People were either freaking out, deserting, or trying to carve up their own piece of Suzuki's pie…and none of those actions were compatible with the lifestyle that they had become accustomed to.

"I don't know where dad is and I don't know when he's coming back. I know that you want me to tell you or to tell them but I just don't know. Soon, probably, since he's been gone for so long but I can't give anyone any dates. I don't like to tell lies." Said Mob

"Well then you're in luck because I'm not asking you to lie. I'm just asking you to come in and just…play pretend. Pretend to be your dad for a little bit. Just go into his office, sit down, and just…well he's been teaching you to run Claw? Right? Just do that." Said Shimazaki

"Have Sho do it. Dad's been teaching him to-" said Mob. Nope. She was not going to do it. She had no idea how to be dad. She had no idea how to run Claw. She just knew how to give people orders, dad's orders, and how to answer work emails and also how to make tea. That was it. Dad did so much…and he had been teaching Sho the important stuff. She wasn't Sho. She wasn't the boy, she was the girl, and she was not supposed to be the one who inherited the world.

"Nobody's going to listen to him. He's a nine year old boy. Who the hell is going to listen to a nine year old boy? You're older and wiser and more mature and just try and hold this thing together for me. Ok? Do this for me and I'll get you whatever you want. Like…how about another baby. Yeah, then you can have a matching set or whatever." Said Shimazaki. OK, so maybe he was getting a little desperate. Well anyone would have been desperate if their entire life was on the line. Well their livelihood. This kid would help him, though, she didn't like him all that much but she was still a good kid.

Right?

"Don't steal a baby. Do I seriously have to tell you not to steal a baby? Really?" asked Minegishi. He had a point. People liked Mob. She was a cute little girl. Everyone loved a cute little girl. Her brother was a little shrieking demon child. Nobody liked a shrieking little demon child. She must have learned something from her dad…and being the first born she could be seen as being first in line even though she was a girl…so it was a good idea to have her hold all of this together…

Shimazaki had a good idea. These were truly the end times.

"I don't want another baby…and I don't think that I can be dad. I don't know how to be dad. I only know how to be myself….and also I don't want to be in charge of Claw. It's hard enough being in charge of my house." Said Mob. She didn't want to have to be in charge. She didn't know how to tell all of those people what to do. She didn't even know what it was the she was supposed to tell people what to do.

Mukai pulled on her hair.

She didn't want to have to take care of all of Claw. Taking care of Mukai and Sho was hard enough. Maybe that was why dad told her to take care of Mukai and Sho, because he was too busy taking care of all of Claw, but he…he wasn't taking care of Claw. Not if Shimazaki of all people was asking for her help.

"There really isn't much to it, probably. Just go in and act like your dad or whatever." Said Shimazaki

"I don't know if I can-" said Mob. Mukai was pulling on her hair. She was pulling and Mob didn't know how to get her to stop without making her cry. She had just finished up crying and Mob did not want to deal with any more crying and she did not want to deal with all of Claw…but she had to. If Claw did fall apart then dad's life work would be gone…

And he would be upset.

But if she messed up then he would be upset with her, too. He would be so mad at her if she made a mess out of his life's work. She would be in for it worse than she had ever been in for it in her entire life. Even worse than the time dad dragged her around by her braids because of how she had lost control…and that had been so bad…and if she messed up then it would have been even worse….

She didn't know.

"Do whatever you want. If you want to stay here and play dolls with me while the world burns then stay here and play dolls with me while the world burns. If you want to go off and fill in for your dad then fill in for your dad. Personally I think that you should at least try and do something but I'm not going to tell you what to do." Said Minegishi. It didn't matter what they wanted her to do. This was not their kid. This was not their kid and they, unlike a lot of other people, could find work outside of Claw. They also didn't believe in any of that cult stuff, either, so if Claw did fall apart then they would be fine. They didn't care about how everyone else got by. They would be fine.

They did care about Mob, though, and hopefully Claw didn't fall apart or she'd be…yeah. It would not be a good time for anyone.

"Um….I want…I guess that I…I can help…um…tomorrow. Yes, I can help tomorrow." Said Mob. She would be punished if she messed up but she would be punished even worse if she let Claw fall apart. She had to make dad happy and he would have been very unhappy if his life's work was to fall apart…and then she would really be in for it. She would be in for it and so would Sho, too, just because when dad got upset it was like he looked for things to be mad at so he could take it out on them…and it was usually Sho or someone who worked for him…and if Claw fell apart then dad would have nobody who worked for him…and then he would be extra mad…

She had to help out.

But tomorrow. She hadn't played in a while and she just…she wanted to play dolls. She wanted to play dolls with Mukai…while she still could.