Mob did too know the meaning of the word moderation.

Moderation meant that you didn't drink a whole gallon of milk a day or smoke a pack of cigarettes a day or use a whole bottle of bubbles whenyou took a bath. Mob knew what moderation meant. She knew how to do moderation. She knew how to be moderate. She just didn't want to be. That was all.

"Well I know someone who's going to be invisible for a while." Said Minegishi as they took the pen out of Mob's hands. They knew where this came from. They knew who had been STUPID enough to give this to Mob. The same person who had taught her how that smoking a pack a day was an acceptable way to live her life.

"How do I turn invisible? And also can I have that back? It was a gift." Said Mob. Shimazaki was so nice. He had let her have his vape pen. He said that she could have it because her life was hard and stuff. She didn't think that her life was that hard but she did appreciate him thinking about her and stuff. He was a good friend, an annoying friend but a good friend, and she was so happy to know him. He was getting the best birthday present ever when his birthday came around.

"I have no clue and, no, you can't have this back. You shouldn't have this here at all. What if your dad catches you? I know the first person that he's going to come after if he finds out about this." said Minegishi. They liked being alive. They had no plans of dying at twenty seven because Shimazaki Ryou was an idiot. If Suzuki figured out that his precious little girl was getting up to things that precious little girls weren't supposed then they knew who he was going to blame first.

Or second.

They didn't want to be blamed at all. This was not…it was sort of their fault. Sort of a lot of their fault. They had taught Mob some terrible coping mechanisms and now they would have to live with this for the rest of their life. Somehow this sat more on their mind than the numerous crimes that they have committed up to and including murder.

"You said that vaping was ok." Said Mob. She wasn't smoking even though she wanted to. They were outside in the smoking/reading/coffee drinking outside space and she could see people smoking and she could smell people smoking and she wanted to be one of them…but she had promised Minegishi and there were no extenuating circumstances.

"I did but this isn't a vape pen. Ok? The stuff I gave you was pretty much just water and flavorings. This is something that is actually something very illegal and also not for kids anyway and I don't want either of us to have to deal with your dad's wrath." Said Minegishi. They tucked the pen into their pocket. Ryou would not be getting this back. How could he be so stupid? Minegishi had expected better from him…

And that had been their second mistake.

Their first mistake was starting Mob down this path. They didn't want to be a hypocrite and they didn't want to make her life any worse than it already was but…but they also wanted to live. Also they didn't want to ruin her life. They had ruined their own life in a lot of ways and they just…did not want that for her. There was something to it, being responsible for a kid, and they just…this was a lot more than they had ever asked for.

There was a reason that they had decided early on not to ever have any kids.

"What is it then? And why can't I vape it? It makes me feel good. Food tastes better and everything makes me happier and I'm not as scared of my dad, sometimes I can ever forget how mean he can be, and also I can watch Galaxy Express and not be bored. Nothing is boring when I vape that pen. I like it." Said Mob. The world seemed to work on that rule. Things that felt good were bad and things that felt bad were good.

It didn't seem fair at all.

"Illegal drugs, mostly, some heavy metals in there too maybe." Said Minegishi. They weren't going to sugarcoat it. Sugar was poison.

"….but we do illegal stuff all the time. Dad says that because we're working in service to his goal it's ok to break laws." Said Mob. That was why there were so many people hiding the money and also why people couldn't know about Claw and stuff. Because most people wouldn't understand what dad was trying to do and then they would try and punish him even though there wasn't anything wrong with the stuff he did because he was destined to take over the world and stuff.

"Touche. You have a point but I raise you this…how about we don't increase our chances of getting caught by breaking too many laws at once? If you have to do this can you at least just do it at home? And also where your dad won't catch you? And also not to the point that you're talking nonsense and eating to the point of throwing up? Please tell me that you can at least do that for me." Said Minegishi. Well they couldn't argue with that logic. They weren't going to sit there and act like a hypocrite…but they could at least get Mob to use her head…but this was on Minegishi too. Maybe they should have mentioned that people would care a HELL of a lot more if she got caught smoking this and not if she got caught sneaking a cigarette.

They were bad at this.

This whole being a fulltime babysitter/best friend/role model to a ten year old. They were in no position to be taking care of anyone other than themselves and even that…that was not advisable either. They had messed up their own life big time, they were a high ranking member of Claw after all, and now they were messing up Mob's too…but then again she was the daughter of the idiot who had founded Claw…so they didn't know.

Maybe it was a 50/50 thing.

"Ok. I'll vape a regular bubblegum vape. Do you want some?" asked Mob. She offered her boring pen over to Minegishi. They shook their head.

"Pass. You just do your thing." Said Minegishi. They sat down in the shade of a mezzanine tree. Mob joined them. That tree liked the smell of bubblegum about as much as they did. Minegishi patted it's trunk and gave it a little encouragement. Well now at least it was complaining less. Minegishi took their book from their messenger bag as Mob tried her best to replace one bad habit with another.

Minegishi really sucked at this.

"What are you reading?" asked Mob. She got the feeling that she had done something wrong…well she had…but she hadn't had any idea that it was the sort of thing that dad would have been mad at her about. She wasn't allowed to smoke but vaping wasn't smoking. They were two totally different things. She didn't much care about the law, dad said that the law didn't matter in the slightest only his laws did, but she did care about getting in trouble with dad. He could be so scary…but he hadn't been that scary lately. Her bruises were even starting to fade. She had been doing a lot better…and she had to spend the whole rest of the day with him in his office…and she loved him but lately he had been sort of…too much. His aura had always been on hers and he kept on looking at her and it was hard to get away from him. She had no idea how much she would miss her walks through the building. It would have been easier if Sho had been around but he was always helping Fukuda and she didn't want to be there with Fukuda. Even though he said that he still liked her she got the feeling that she didn't.

And it made her feel sad.

"A biography about a famous serial killer and cannibal." Said Minegishi as they flipped their page. The sun was bright, the air was clean, and they had plenty of plant life to keep them company. This should have been a good time…and it mostly was. Aside from the fact that their ten year old best friend had picked up some of their worst habits…but there was no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. It was what it was and all Minegishi could do was keep Mob safe and not let her do anything stupid.

"Why do you want to read about scary stuff like that?" asked Mob. Sometimes Minegishi read boing books that were very long and very difficult to understand and sometimes they read books in other languages that Mob also couldn't understand and sometimes they read books with people kissing on the cover that Minegishi said that Mob was way too young to understand but this would be the things about Minegishi that she would never be able to understand. Why they read books about murder and war and death and people eating people.

"Because it's interesting." Said Minegishi simply.

"Why is it interesting?" asked Mob. She wanted to know. Sho liked scary things too. He watched scary movies and movies with fighting in them all the time. Mob didn't like those. She liked movies where people met and fell in love and cared for each other and lived happily ever after. It was hard to pick something that they both enjoyed so Mob mostly just sat through Sho's movies even though she really didn't get it.

"Because I like reading about people more messed up than myself. Raises my self-esteem. I like to feel good about myself.." Said Minegishi. They had always had a flair for the macabre ever since they had been small. It might have been due to their terrible upbringing but they were not about to start talking about terrible upbringings with the Daughter of Suzuki Touichirou.

"You…feel better about yourself when you read about terrible people?" asked Mob

"Yup." Said Minegishi

"Ok…I don't get it but ok. I don't read a lot of books so I don't know. I mostly just read manga." Said Mob

"Did you ever finish that pile of manga you bought a few weeks back?" asked Minegishi

"I'm still working on it. I got through this one series where the boy and the girl fall in love but then the girl is actually a ghost and he finds out later and then he exorcises him because he wants her to be with her family and it's very sad." Said Mob

"Spoilers." Said Minegishi. They heard a crash and looked up. The Awakened were fighting again. Something about a chair. God, these people…

"Sorry. I didn't mean to-" said Mob

"I don't care. You can spoil all of the manga you want." Said Minegishi

"Ok. So then before that I was reading this other manga about this boy who wants to learn how to play piano but he's had at it and he has to get better really fast because if their club doesn't do good then it'll get cut and-" said Mob

"And then the standoffish girl who acts like she hates him is secretly in love with him and then they almost get together in the end but they don't and then there's this bonus chapter that doesn't give you any closure but instead just gets you wanting to read more?" asked Minegishi

"How did you know? Did you read it too?" asked Mob

"No, but I have done my time in shoujo hell. I know how these go." Said Minegishi

"I don't think that shoujo is the H-word." Said Mob. Shoujo was the best kind of manga. No fighting and lots of love. She loved love and she didn't see why Minegishi wouldn't. What felt better than being in love with someone and then they loved you back?

"Well that's because you're ten and this stuff is for people closer to your age, not mine." Said Minegishi. They were not going to shit on her choice of reading materials. There were few feelings worse than having someone shit on what you loved.

"So when I grow up I have to read about murderers?" asked Mob. She didn't much want to read about murderers. There were enough scary things in her life already.

"If you want. It's a free country. You can read whatever the hell you want." Said Minegishi. They had spent their whole life being told that their choice of books was wrong. They had spent their whole childhood being told that everything about themselves was wrong. They hoped that Mob never had to feel the way that they had felt for their entire life.

"I think that I'll still read the stuff I like now. I like reading about love. It makes me happy." Said Mob

"You're ten going on thirteen, you know that?" asked Minegishi. They were not looking forward to Mob's teen years. It wouldn't be so cute when she hit puberty and the creeps started coming out of the woodwork. She seemed to like older guys, there was a world of difference between a teenager and a child, and that did not give Minegishi optimism for her teen years. Minegishi hoped that she met a guy her own age when she hit those years.

"No, I'm ten going on ten and a half. I'll be ten and a half in the wintertime. That comes before thirteen." Said Mob

"Not literally. You've just been really obsessed with love lately. You're like a teenager….in a princess costume." Said Minegishi. She was a walking contradiction. She was as boy crazy as a middle schooler and she was dressed like an elementary schooler…well she should have been an elementary schooler…but she was dressed like a much younger child than she was. How did she even find those costumes in her size? Not that Minegishi was going to say anything. They didn't want Mob to grow up any faster than she already was.

"Elsa is a queen." Said Mob

"A costume is a costume." Said Minegishi with a shrug. They wondered what was up with Mob and all of the costumes. Maybe because she hadn't had enough contact with other kids her own age to feel self-conscious about still acting like a kid.

"Not if it's my normal clothing." Said Mob. She didn't think that it counted as a costume if she wore it in her life. Besides, they came from the clothing section of the Disney Store and therefore these were clothes.

"And if your entire life is a fancy dress party." Said Minegishi with a shrug. Kids and costumes. They could never understand that even when they had been Mob's age.

"Are fancy dress parties fun? I've never been." Asked Mob. She had never been to any kind of party at all. She had always wanted to go to one, any kind of party, even a political party even though those sounded boring and dad said that politics were the useless. She just wanted to know what it was like to be at a party. That was why she had said yes to all of the parties people asked her to approve.

"I have no clue. I hate parties…so thanks for approving all of those holiday parties. I'm going to end up having to go to some of them because I'm in the upper echelon…and also to keep Shimazaki from embarrassing himself, me, and everyone else in the upper echelons." Said Minegishi

"Oh…I wasn't thinking about if people wanted to go…because I didn't know that people might not want to go….but maybe it'll be fun. I don't know. I've never been to a party before. Me and Sho never had birthday parties because dad didn't want us to be friends with the other kids." Said Mob

"These aren't going to be like birthday parties. These are adult parties. Drinking, talking, maybe dancing, and a bunch of people trying not to kill each other. Parties aren't that fun if you're an adult and you have enough sense not to get messed up at a work party…and I hope that you have enough sense not to get messed up at a work party." Said Minegishi

"I do. I know that if dad sees me drinking he'll be mad. It'll still be fun, maybe, if I don't drink…because I hear that parties are supposed to be fun." Said Mob.

"Well if you don't have fun you can come and be a wallflower with me and Shimazaki when he inevitably overdoes it. Probably Shibata, too, because that guy is impossible around the opposite sex. I don't see him working the room and dancing with some beautiful stranger who he'll sweep up off her feet and then live happily ever after with." Said Minegishi. Most likely they would end up glued to Shimazaki's side because he ALWAYS overdid it no matter what the occasion was. They didn't know what Suzuki did to people who publically embarrassed him but they knew that it couldn't have been any better than what he did to people who tried to flirt with his ten year old Daughter.

"I hope that happens for him. I hope that happens for everyone I know. Does that happen a lot fat parties?" asked Mob. She felt her face turning red. She felt sort of like Anna in the First Time in Forever song only she wasn't thinking about a stranger but someone she knew…and who probably didn't like her like she liked him….but she could still think about it.

"Why? Hoping that a certain someone is going to be there?" asked Minegishi. They couldn't help it. Mob was so cute when she started up about Hatori Nozomu…and Minegishi could not begin to understand it. But then again their taste in men wasn't much better.

"Um….I don't know." Said Mob. She did know and she felt bad about lying…but it wasn't a lie because she really didn't know who Minegishi was referring to for sure.

"You know he's nineteen, right? And also you can do a lot better." Said Minegishi. They felt bad for Mob. She was only ten and she liked someone who had better not have had any interest in her…and also for some reason pale, gangly teenage boys with bad acne and questionable style sense were her type. Well at least she would never be lonely.s

"I know how old he is…and I think that he's really great…." Said Mob softly. She felt like everyone was paying attention to her but instead they were all paying attention to the two Awakened that were having a contest to see who could jump over the most chairs. It didn't look like it was going well.

"What do you even see in that guy?" asked Minegishi. They cringed as an Awakened fell on top of one of the metal mezzanine chairs…and now he was screaming about his broken phone…play stupid games and win stupid prizes.

"I just sort of like him I guess….it was like…like I saw him and then I just sort…felt like I liked him. When I saw him I felt all doki doki and also all sort of…have you ever mixed soda and pop rocks and then drank it?" asked Mob. She could talk about this with Minegishi because they were best friends. Also nobody was paying attention to her. One of the Awakened had fallen on his phone and broken it. Mob felt bad for him but also she wondered what he had thought would happen if he had been jumping over chairs with his phone in his pockets. Boys were so weird sometimes.

"No but I know what you're talking about. Be prepared for several years when that's all you'll be able to feel." Said Minegishi. Well then. Yup. It was coming. Great. They had the feeling that they were the one who was going to have to deal with all of that wonderful special time in life stuff. The talk, first real love, first period, first time, mood swings, body image issues, all of that wonderful stuff that came to you during puberty was just waiting for Minegishi to help Mob deal with. Great. Well it wasn't like there was anyone else who could deal with this stuff. Mob's mother had left years ago and Suzuki wasn't really a hands on dad at the best of times…and also Minegishi wouldn't have been surprised if he was so clueless about what was coming that it hadn't even occurred to him to even have told her about….anything.

This was going to be a fun few years.

"Nonstop? How many years?" asked Mob. Well she was glad that this weird feeling was normal but she didn't know if she could deal with feeling that nonstop for years and years and years.

"Twelve or thirteen to about nineteen or twenty." Said Minegishi. They would have to talk to Mob about all of this later. They'd get her a book, too, but later. She was only ten now and it seemed early…or late depending on how much Mob was like Minegishi was at her age.

"That's…a long time to feel like this…but then I'll be old enough that he'll like me…I mean that someone would be able to like me." Said Mob. She held her braids down with her hands. She was thinking about him and now she could feel his aura and she felt all embarrassed and stuff even though she knew that nobody was looking at her but Minegishi…and she knew that Minegishi wasn't going to make fun of her for this or anything.

"Mob….call me when you're back to normal. I don't know how many years I can deal with this for." Said Minegishi

"I am normal. I mean I think that I'm normal. I mean…I don't know. I know that I shouldn't like people without getting to know them but also I know that it's ok to like people because people like other people all the time…and stuff." Said Mob

"It's normal to like people, I just meant that this is new for you. I'm going to miss playing dolls with eight year old Mob, I really will." Said Minegishi. They felt melancholic about this kid growing up…and this wasn't even her kid! They should have been happy that Mob was growing up because the more she grew the more she would be able to cope with life and deal with her own things…but Minegishi would miss younger Mob. Before all of this…

This was why they had no plans to ever have kids.

"Minegishi, we will never stop playing with dolls. I promise you that we will never, ever, ever stop playing dolls together." Said Mob. How could they stop playing dolls? Why would they stop? They had to play dolls because there were very few things in this world that were more fun to play with dolls. Even if they became old people they could and would still play with dolls.

"Well I guess that we'll have to invite him, then." Said Minegishi. They pointed over in the direction of an aura that felt a lot like theirs actually. It traveled through electronics. Theirs traveled through plants. Huh. Well that was interesting.

"Stop looking! Wait, look. Wait, look but don't make it obvious that you're looking." Said Mob. Hatori was there. Someone must have called the tech office even though they had a rule about working on people's personal stuff. Not an official rule they just didn't like extra work. Well he didn't. Mob was staring at him, she did that a lot, but she was also not staring at him. If she looked away every so often then he wouldn't be able to tell that she was looking at him.

"Yeah, you've got it bad." Said Minegishi. It was like looking at a greasy planetarium. What did Mob see in this guy? She could have gotten literally anyone else. Well there was the old saying about books and covers but that book was also shouting at some Awakened so….

"He shouldn't shout like that…but also he doesn't fix people's personal stuff. Well he fixes mine but he doesn't like to do that for other people." Said Mob. She held her braids in one hand and her vape pen in the other. He had on a sweater with a pigeon on it. It was the nicest pigeon that Mob had ever seen. She watched him stomp off from the Awakened…and now they were cursing at him…and he turned to yell at them even though he knew that yelling wasn't nice…or maybe not since he had been yelling a lot…

They made eye contact.

Mob gasped and then looked away. She vaped quickly, trying to look natural, because if he knew that she had been staring at him then he would think that she was weird and dumb and stuff. Mon inhaled too much bubblegum vape fluid and started coughing. Minegishi hit her on the back a few times. She didn't feel any better, though, because she could feel his aura getting closer and closer. This was good. This was bad. This was everything that she had ever wanted. She hated this and wanted to throw herself off the mezzanine. She always came to him, he never came to her, and now he was closer and she needed to stop coughing and she couldn't and-

"Suzuki-sama and….friend. Hey. How's it going?" asked Hatori. Mob stopped coughing as best as she could. She had to look normal and natural and stuff. She was fine. She was fine and she could so this. She was going to do this. She just had to make words.

"Hi Hatori." Said Mob. She choked a little bit when she said that. She needed to look normal and be normal and this was normal because if it was abnormal she'd end up freaking out and…and her knew that this was not normal but she still had to stay calm because this was so BIG!

She wished that Minegishi hadn't taken her good vape pen away.

"This is Minegishi. They're my friend. In case you didn't know them…which you didn't." said Mob. Right. She had to be polite and the polite thing to do would have been to introduce Minegishi. She had to be polite because it was normal to be polite and she had to be normal.

"How's it going, Minegishi?" Said Hatori

"Hello." Said Minegishi. They looked him up and down before getting back to their book. They weren't Mob. They weren't clueless. They knew how they were being looked at. Mob was just an excuse to come over there. He needed to do something about that body language.

"They're fine and I'm fine. How are you?" asked Mob. She was careful not say too much, dad said that she had been rambling lately and she had been difficult to make sense of when she talked that much, and she didn't want to look dumb or anything in front of him.

"Fine, just dealing with those assholes. What brings you two out here? Come to see the show?" asked Hatori

"We were just out here enjoying the day since we have nothing else to do. Not like you. I bet you have all sorts of things to get back to." Said Minegishi. That idiot knew that Mob liked him and he wasn't even looking at her. Minegishi didn't want him to return her feelings, that would mean a lot of extra work for them since they'd have to kill Hatori, but he could at least look at the ten year old that was head of heels for him. At least spare Mob's feelings.

And also they knew when they were about to get hit on and even if Mob hadn't been there they still did not feel like getting hit on.

"Yeah, I should get going…unless you have anything that needs fixing. I can fix just about everything. Laptops, consoles, calculators…phones?" asked Hatori. Minegishi held up their book.

"Can you fix the binding on this? Otherwise please get out of my light." Said Minegishi

"No but I-" said Hatori

"Light." Said Minegishi

"….right. Well I guess I'll get going. Suzuki-sama. Minegishi-san." Said Hatori. Mob had been watching the whole thing, she got the feeling that Minegishi may have been being a little bit mean there but she wasn't the best at talking, and now she felt like she had to say something. She had been there the whole time and she'd had trouble figuring out what to say and the conversation had been going so fast…and she felt like such a kid…

She was a kid.

"G-goodbye! Happy Halloween…in October…." Said Mob. She should have said something else. She couldn't believe that she had said something so dumb and now he thought that she was dumb and she felt bad and her aura was moving and her hair was floating and-

Something was pressed into her hand.

"Inhale once and only once…and only because that was painful for all involved." Said Minegishi. Mob didn't need to be told twice. She inhaled once, which may not have been enough to feel better, but she gave it right back when she was done. She wanted more, she needed more, because Minegishi was right. That had been painful for everyone involved and she was all stressed and stuff and she wanted to ask for more but she knew that Minegishi wouldn't let her have more.

Even though Mob knew the meaning of the word 'moderation'.