Big sis sure knew some pretty boring games.

"What's even the point of this?" asked Sho from his hardly ever used laptop. He and big sis were sitting at the kitchen table playing a game that she had just found out about. This was supposed to be fun…but Sho had no idea what was supposed to be fun about this.

"We mine things to build with and then we build with the things that we've mined with. Hatori says that there's more to it than that but right now he's teaching us the basics." Said big sis. She got all red and played with her hair when she talked about Hatori. He didn't get it. He had seen that guy before and he wasn't cool at all…but maybe he was a really nice guy even though he wasn't cool and stuff.

Maybe he wasn't the kind of guy who would let you get your head pecked by an angry bird.

"What comes after the basics?" asked Sho. She was still playing with her hair and turning red and acting like a girl did when she liked a guy. That was how girls got when they were around him sometimes. Girls he hadn't even said two words to. They played with their hair and they pretended that they needed help being pushed on the swings and climbing the play structure and then he did help them and then they asked him to hold hands and sometimes they even tried to kiss him.

Ick.

Like the last time he had been to the playground. He had been playing in the tunnel minding his own business trying to play secret fort by himself when some girl came up to him and pretended that she was lost, even though the play structure wasn't big enough to get lost in, and then he had offered to help her out, and he did, but then she asked him if he wanted to kiss…and of course he was not going to kiss her because he didn't even know her…and he just didn't get girls sometimes.

Like why they liked you.

"I'll ask….and he's typing….and he says that there's fighting and stuff. He said that you would probably like it…but first he needs to teach us how to play." Said big sis. Ok, so there was more to this game than digging holes and building a house. Yeah, he liked this game and he liked this guy. The base building part could be fun, too, now that he thought about it. He could build the coolest base ever and then he could fight some people and then…..yeah, this could be fun.

He liked this game.

"Fine, I think that I'll play for a little longer." Said Sho. He liked this game and he liked this guy. Well he was going to have to beat him up, of course, because big sis liked him. Not as bad as dad beat up Shimazaki though, not enough to make him bleed, just enough to make his point. He could like big sis back but if he ever did anything to hurt her or break her heart then he was going to have to come back and beat him up even harder….or killed him. Yeah, if some guy ever hurt big sis or broke her heart he would have to die.

Simple.

"Thanks, Sho. I know that you're going to have a lot of fun playing with us." said big sis. She still looked really happy. Good. He liked it when she was happy…and also it was kind or weird, too. She was happy because she was playing this game with some guy who she liked. That was weird for him. Also she was eating a lot of cereal, too, from the box. She had been eating a lot lately…but not as much now as she had before. She was hugging him less, too, which was nice. He liked hugs but not all the time and not the kind that broke his bones. She had been so weird lately.

Maybe it was because she was in love.

She was in love and that was so weird for him. She was his big sister….she wasn't one of those girls who chased you around and tried to kiss you or tried to get you to hold hands and…and that was not who his sister was. She was his sister and she played with him and they were friends and…well they were still friends. Even if she was going to turn into one of those girls who chased guys around and tried to kiss them. He could handle that.

Girls were so weird sometimes, though, and big sis was the weirdest.

Sho didn't know what was with her and this guy. He was so…not cool. She was in love with this guy and he wasn't cool at all. He didn't know how to have fun. Not in the real world anyway. He didn't know how to build forts in the real world, probably, and he didn't know how to climb trees in the real world, probably, and he didn't look cool in the real world either. His hair wasn't spiked up. It was all puffy but also greasy and shiny and he wasn't that tall and he didn't look like he was strong and his powers weren't even that cool. So he could control technology. So what? That wasn't nearly as cool as being able to teleport and pull your barrier in so close that you could get shot right in the face ok and also being able to eat sixteen pudding cups without getting sugar shock.

Girls were so weird.

"Sho, Hatori says not to dig too deep or there'll be lava." Said big sis

"That sounds cool. Ask him what we can build with lava." Said Sho

"Um…he says that lava means death and that if we touch the lava we'll end up losing our stuff and going back to the starting out house." Said big sis

"But I want to dig an underground fort." Said Sho. She ate some more cereal and started typing more. She was typing to that guy again, now, and he…he was fine. He knew that this was fine. She liked this guy, not Shimazaki, and that was the important thing. If she didn't like Shimazaki then he and Shimazaki could be friends…

"Hatori thinks that it's a good idea." Said big sis. She smiled when she said his name. He didn't get it at all…but he liked Hatori. He liked that she liked Hatori. He liked that she liked Hatori. She didn't like Shimazaki and that meant that he and Shimazaki could be friends…even though Shimazaki had let a bird peck his head. Not only that but he laughed, too, like it was funny. But it wasn't funny at all. It had been scary. That momma bird had been really mad at him.

Even though he was going to be nice to her babies.

Fukuda said that moms were like that no matter what the species. When you messed with their babies they got mad at you and pecked your head. His mom hadn't been like that, though. Dad had hit him all the time and mom never stopped him…but then again there was nothing that she could have done. Dad answered to no one. He was always saying that he answered to no one. Dad wouldn't have stopped just because mom told him to and even if she had told him to he had powers and she didn't. He was strong she wasn't.

You weren't supposed to hit girls.

Dad had never hit mom, from what Sho could remember, and also he hardly ever hit big sis. You weren't supposed to hit girls. Sho had been bad about that, he had hit big sis so many times, but now he hadn't hit her in a while and he wasn't going to. Fukuda had said that it was ok to hit her so long as he said sorry but…but he didn't want to be that person….and also if anyone ever tried to fight big sis then he would beat them up so bad they were bleeding and breathing funny and stuff. Because that was the right thing to do.

He wasn't going to beat this guy up, though.

He seemed nice. Well he seemed nice over the game and on that one time that he had seen him in the lunch line. Maybe big sis just didn't like guys who were cool. There was a lid for every pot, he'd heard, so maybe that was why big sis was with someone who was as boring as she was. Maybe he'd end up liking a girl who was as cool as he was. If there was even a girl like that in that world. If he did end up liking a girl she would have to be cooler than him, actually, and she would have to have cool powers, too. She'd have to be the coolest person around.

And also if he got pecked on the head by an angry momma bird then she was not supposed to laugh at him.

Shimazaki had laughed and that had been the worst thing about it. Sho had cried because he had laughed. It just…it had hurt. It had hurt more than getting pecked in the head ever could. That he would laugh like that…and also that Sho had looked so stupid in front of him. Sho had looked like the biggest idiot in the world and now Shimazaki didn't even think that he was cool anymore. Well he hadn't said that but Sho wasn't going to give him the chance to. That was why he had been hanging out with Fukuda so much. Shimazaki didn't like Fukuda, said that he was boring, so that was the best place for Sho to be.

He still wanted to see him, though, even though he had laughed when the bird pecked his head.

"Ok, Hatori says that we have enough stone for the next part of our fort. You can stop digging now." Said big sis. Sho didn't listen. He wanted to keep digging. If you dug down deep enough there was lava. He could end up making a lava pit or something. That would be cool. They could trap enemies in them and then burn them alive. Kind of like the traitor holes only death would be much quicker.

"No, I want to make a lava pit for our enemies." Said Sho

"But Sho, we don't have any enemies yet. We're still learning how to play…and also Hatori says that if you dig down too deep that you won't be able to come back up." Said big sis. Sho stuck out his tongue but stopped digging. Once he learned how to play then he was making his own Minecraft world and he was digging as many traitor holes as he wanted. Also he would build an underground layer and also there would be zombies, which this game had, and then he would fight the zombies and kill them, too.

And also big sis could come over and hang out if she wanted.

She would probably be busy with Hatori and stuff, though, since he was going to be her boyfriend now. That was how it worked, right? If you liked the girl back then you played with her and stuff. That was why he didn't play with girls who weren't his sister. He wasn't going to give anyone the wrong idea. That was the worst thing you could do to a girl besides beat her up or do that thing that guys did where you run up and flip their dresses up, making her think that you liked her and then breaking her heart. Girls had fragile hearts, dad had even said so, and you weren't supposed to be mean like that and make them think that you liked them. If this guy was giving big sis the wrong idea then he was getting beaten up. Also if he was just pretending to like her so he could hold her hand and kiss her and touch her boobs, well she didn't have any but still, then Sho would beat him up so badly that he couldn't even drag himself to Fukuda to be healed.

Sometimes guys could be jerks.

Sometimes they could laugh at you while your head got pecked by a bird. Like it was just the funniest thing ever. Well it wasn't funny at all. It was scary and painful and…and Sho didn't know why he still wanted to be around someone who had treated him like that. It didn't make any sense. He should have just not wanted to be Shimazaki's friend but he did want to be Shimazaki's friend and he wanted to be building forts with him in the real world and digging holes in the real world and collecting rocks and wood and stuff in the real world with him.

But he wasn't, he was going to keep on playing with big sis, because he was her little brother and he was going to be nice to her.

"When do we get to the part where we fight enemies?" asked Sho

"Um….Hatori says later. He says that our building skills still aren't that good." Said big sis

"What's building got to do with killing enemies?" asked Sho

"He says that the point of this game is to build and that if we were just going to fight and kill people that there are a bunch of other games we could play with killing but I wouldn't like them…and he wants me to be having fun too." Said big sis. She giggled at the end of that. That weird giggle that girls did when they liked you. Sho never wanted to hear his own flesh and blood sister giggle like that again. It was too weird. Her liking this guy was too weird. He was glad that she didn't like Shimazaki anymore but…but the thought of his sister liking anyone was just the weirdest thing ever.

He was still happy for her, though.

He was happy that she had found a guy who thought of her and stuff and was as boring as she was. That way they could be happy together. It was just so…weird…though. He sort of wished that they could go back to being little for a little bit. They used to play together a lot more back then but now she had friends and she had to spend time with dad all the time and now she had a boyfriend too, maybe, and it was just…things just kept on changing.

He wanted them to stay the same.

What if she married this guy and then he never saw her again? What if she had a bunch of babies and then she was too busy to be his big sis? He didn't like how she was always bossing him around and trying to be mom and all but…but he also didn't want her to go away and get married and have babies and then never see him again. He liked her even if she could be bossy and annoying and boring. If she went off and married this guy then he would be all alone with dad, too, and he didn't think that he could be all alone with dad.

But he wanted her to be happy.

She was always talking about how she wanted him to be happy and he wanted her to be happy right back. That was what a good little brother wanted for his big sister. This guy made her happy. She had been smiling and giggling all night…and it was nicer than how she had been laughing before. At least now she was laughing at something instead of just laughing. This was nice.

Even if she was laughing at the guy who she was going to marry and stuff.

"Hey, Sho, Hatori just said the funniest thing. He said-" said big sis

"Are you his girlfriend now?" asked Sho. Her eyes went wide and the table tried to jump up off the ground. He stopped it with his powers. He didn't mean to freak her out. He just had to know. That way he could know if he had anyone to beat up and also if he had to expect her to be leaving any time soon.

"What?! Sho! Why would you-" said big sis

"Because you're laughing like girls do when they like someone and also you talk about him a lot and also we're playing this boring game with him. So, are you his girlfriend or what?" asked Sho

"I'm not his girlfriend. I can't be his girlfriend. He's nineteen and I'm ten." Said big sis. Sho didn't get why that mattered. She had tried to make Shimazaki fall in love with her and he was ten years older than Hatori. Fukuda said that sometimes that happened but it was on the adult not to fall in love right back with the kid…but he had also said that big sis should have known better than to fall in love with an adult….so maybe this was her knowing better. Maybe her not asking Hatori to be her boyfriend because he was an adult and she was a kid was just her knowing better…or something. He didn't know. He hoped that she stopped knowing better before she fell in love with Shimazaki again. If she was in love with Shimazaki then he and Sho couldn't be friends…if they even were still friends after what happened with the birds.

"That didn't stop you from liking Shimazaki, though, and he's twenty nine." Said Sho

"Sho, I never liked him. I never liked him and he never liked me. He was just teasing me because he likes to tease people. That's all. I never, ever, even once thought about him like that." Said big sis

"But dad beat him up." Said Sho. Of course big sis liked him, otherwise why would dad have beat him up like he had? Well aside from the fact that he liked beating people up.

"I know. You were already mad at me about that. I told you then and I'm telling you now. I don't like Shimazaki like that and I never did and I never will." Said big sis

"Ok, fine, you don't like him like that even though he's the coolest guy who ever lived." Said Sho

"He's not the coolest guy who ever lived." Said big sis. How could she think that? She hung out with him more often than Sho did. She even smelled like his house all the time. She had even been in love with him. How could she not see that he was the coolest guy ever?

"Then who is? Hatori?" asked Sho

"No. I mean yes. I mean…I don't know…but don't shout or dad's going to hear you." Said big sis

"Hatori is not cooler than Shimazaki. You just think so because you're in love with him and you want to marry him and stuff." Said Sho. He didn't want big sis to be in love with Shimazaki but he didn't want her to say stuff like that about him either. Shimazaki had been such a jerk and Sho knew that he should have been happy to be rid of him…but he wasn't happy to be rid of him…and also he didn't want to be rid of him at all. He wanted them to be friends but then he also…he also sort of didn't…and the whole thing was really complicated. Feelings were really weird and complicated.

"Sho! I don't….I don't want to marry him and I…ok, fine, I like him a little bit but he doesn't like me back because I'm ten and he's not ten. Ok? And I don't want to talk about this with my little brother. If you liked a girl then I wouldn't ask you. I would listen if you wanted to tell me about her and I would make friends with her, too, but I wouldn't just come out and…ask you….and stuff." Said big sis

"Fine, fine, fine. Jeez. I was just asking. I don't hate him or anything like that but if he likes you back then I have to beat him up. It's just something that little brothers have to do to keep their big sisters safe." Said Sho

"Well he doesn't like me back and also how is beating up someone who likes me keeping me safe? That makes no sense at all." said big sis

"It's so he knows that if he ever broke your heart or hurt you that I would hurt him. You're a girl and I have to keep you safe." Said Sho

"No, my job is to keep you safe because I'm older than you. I'm the big sister and you're the little brother. If a girl ever hurt your feelings or broke your heart then I would…well I don't know what I would do exactly but I know that it would not be very fun at all for the girl. Nobody is allowed to hurt you, little brother, no one." said big sis

"Well that's never going to happen because I don't like anyone. I don't even know any girls that I would like." Said Sho

"Oh….because there aren't any girl espers. Dad said that it would be ok if you married a girl who wasn't an esper because there aren't a lot of girl espers. Also he said that if you didn't pick someone then he would pick for you…so maybe you should pick someone." Said big sis

"Dad doesn't get to decide that for me." Said Sho

"Dad decides what he wants to decide. He doesn't answer to you or me or to anyone. He's told us bother that a million times before. There's nothing that we can do about what dad wants to decide for us so the best thing to do is just…to let him decide.." Said big sis

"Is that why you like this Hatori guy? Because if you don't pick a guy dad's going to pick for you and you know that if he ends up picking for you that he's just going to end up picking a jerk like him?" asked Sho

"No….I don't know why I like him exactly….I just like him. I like his sweaters and how tall he is and…and stuff. I don't know. I don't think that you always have to have a reason but I think that having no reason at all is better than the reason being that you're scared of who dad is going to pick for you." Said big sis

"I'm not scared of anything." Said Sho

"Oh…ok. I would be, though, if I was in your place. Dad would pick a jerk, you're right. Don't worry. You'll meet a girl and then you'll love her…or maybe a boy…but I think that dad said that you're only allowed to like girls." Said big sis. Sho wanted to kick another hole in the wall. Dad thought that he was the boss of everyone! Well he wasn't the king of the world yet! And also Sho would like whoever he wanted to like and just because he had never liked anyone did not mean that he would end up liking a boy.

He was already different enough as it was.

"I can't like a boy, dummy, I am a boy." Said Sho trying his best to stay calm. He knew that it was a thing, he had seen families like that before, but he also knew that dad would kill him if he tried to have a family like that. Sho knew that you needed a girl to have a baby and he knew that dad cared a lot about him growing up and having kids that were espers and stuff. Dad would be mad at him if he ended up liking a boy and then he would end up beating him up and stuff…and also probably a lot worse than normal, too, because Sho was talking about messing up the line of succession thing that dad was always talking about.

"Sometimes boys like boys. We've seen families like that. Sometimes boys like boys and sometimes boys like girls and sometimes girls like girls and sometimes people like both and sometimes people like neither. Minegishi says that it's a spectrum." Said big sis. She said it like she knew everything. Well if course he knew that all families looked different. He lived in the same world as she did. He also knew that not only would dad be mad at him but…but he was already different enough from everyone else! He had red hair and blue eyes and people were always staring at him and assuming that he didn't speak Japanese even though he WAS Japanese and also…also he had been born without his powers and…and he was already different enough from the rest of his family…

"Well I can't like boys because….because dad would be mad at me…and also….I'm different enough, ok?!" said Sho. The table jumped a little bit. He had done that. Dad could have seen his aura or heard and for a moment Sho thought that he had…but he was still in his room. Good. Sho did not want to explain to dad what was happening and he did not want to get punished, either. Dad would be mad at big sis for liking someone, mad at him for losing control, and also mad in general that he had been disturbed.

But not mad at Sho for…other reasons.

He was different enough as it was. He was enough of a disappointment to dad as it was. Dad had said, before, that he had no idea how he'd managed to have Sho for a son. Everything he did was wrong. Everything he said was wrong. Everything that he was, all of the things that made him Suzuki Sho, this whole collection of things that made him, well, him was just….wrong…and he didn't need to give dad another reason not to like him. To think that he was 'wrong'. To think that he had been born wrong…and that big sis had been born right.

"Ok. I didn't mean to tell you that you did. That's just a thing that happens sometimes, that's all. You'll like who you like and you'll not like who you'll not like. That's all. I don't care who you fall in love with and marry. I just want you to be happy, little brother, that's all." said big sis. Did she always have to be so nice and stuff? He had just yelled at her and she was back to being nice. Fine. Whatever.

"Fine. Whatever. You can like who you like too. Even this Hatori guy…even if you say that he doesn't like you back. Whatever. Let's just get back to learning how to play this dumb game." Said Sho. He didn't want to talk about this anymore. He had never liked anyone in his life and he wouldn't until it came time for him to like someone because he was NOT marrying the girl that dad picked out for him. Nope. No way. He knew that dad would pick out another girl like big sis and he didn't want to be married to his sister.

He didn't want to be married at all.

And he didn't need to think about this because he was nine and he was too….too young to like someone anyway. Big sis only like this guy because that was just how girls were and there was nothing that he could do about it. She was a girl and she was just like that. Thinking about liking people and love and all of that. Well she should worry about herself and that she liked. He liked her back, he had better like her back, or else.

Sho didn't know what the 'else' was but it was going to be a thousand times worse than learning to play this boring game.