Fukuda loved Sho very much.
It hurt to see him like this. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Fukuda had woken up in the middle of the night to the feel of a very angry, and very bright, aura and then nothing. It had taken everything in him not to march over there and see what the hell was happening. But he couldn't. Suzuki was there and he did not appreciate overstepping. Fukuda had to be careful about how many times he overstepped his bounds into the Suzuki family. He couldn't' be fired or gotten rid of, Suzuki was not a sentimental man but he did see the value in having a healer around, but he could be barred from speaking to or being around Sho.
And he loved Sho a lot.
He loved Sho and he cared for Sho and he would always love and care for Sho just like Masami had asked him to, even if she hadn't because he was just a kid caught up in insanity that he couldn't comprehend, but sometimes he had to know when to act and when not to act. So, no, he did not act even when he woke up Shigeko's aura lighting up the sky like the northern lights. He did make a stopover in the morning after he had felt Suzuki leave and the kids had seemed fine. They had been outside playing in the snow like nothing.
That had been hours ago.
Now the sun had gone down and Sho had come around looking for some company. Shigeko had gone to visit Minegishi and the others and had the prescense of mind not to bring Sho. Fukuda thanked whatever God was out there that Shigeko knew better than to get her brother involved in everything that she was doing. Sho was just a child and did not need to be exposed to all of that. Fukuda didn't mind having him around, on the contrary he welcomed his presence, even though it had been a long day of dealing with an unusually short tempered Suzuki. He had been short tempered for a while now. Fukuda didn't pry into why. He still needed to give Suzuki time to reset from their last big talk.
He saved his mental energy for Sho.
He used up a lot of it these days. There had been so much going on…this had not been a good year. For anyone. Especially Sho. First the debacle with the baby and then Suzuki officially declaring that Sho had to answer to his sister as if she were his mother, how that seemed like a good idea even to Suzuki Fukuda would never know, and then Sho ended up getting his first real crush on the WORST possible person he could have had a crush on…and then his sister also had a crush on that person which would have been hard enough on it's own but throwing that on top of Sho figuring himself out was just too much…and then on top of having to figure himself out and deal with the new and weird familiar structure he also has to deal with his father getting weirdly close to his sister…and then his sister went and discounted a lifetime of the shit his father had been putting him through….
It was a lot for a not even ten year old.
Fukuda loved Sho and he would do the best he could…even if that meant having to play the most complicated videogame that had ever been bestowed upon mankind.
"Fukuda…let's play something else." Said Sho. He didn't want to go home, dad was home, but he didn't want to play any more Minecraft with Fukuda. He was a nice person and all but…but he was bad at this game. He and big sis were friends again and they were going to play in their own brand new world together…and maybe he had just been playing with Fukuda because he'd had no one else to play with…and stuff. Now he had her and he and Fukuda could play something else. Something that they would both be good at. That would be good. He didn't want to stop playing Minecraft with Fukuda completely but he did want to play something else. He was so worried about dad and what he might do that he just…he didn't have any space left over in his brain to help Fukuda play a game that wasn't nearly as hard as he made it out to be.
"No, we can keep playing. I bet there are a lot of other missions that we can go on. Like you were telling me about-" said Fukuda. He could feel Suzuki, he was home, and he knew that he needed to keep Sho over until his dad went to bed. Suzuki must have felt the fight that had happened in the middle of the night and it was only a matter of time before he punished Sho even though it had been Shigeko's aura that had turned night into day. She was usually the one to set him off. She didn't set out to do so but she was the one who usually set him off.
"Fukuda, it's ok. Me and big sis, and probably her boyfriend too, are going to get back to playing. I can tell that you don't really like this game so we can play something else." Said Sho
"No, I like it. I love this game. You know that. In fact I spend my days watching the clock waiting for the day to be over so we can play together." Said Fukuda. He felt bad lying to Sho but he needed to keep him occupied. He needed to keep Sho on this game because it was long and complicated. It would keep him staying put for a good, long time. If he played something else then the chances of him getting bored and leaving went up and then he might have ended up crossing paths with his father and…and Fukuda knew what would happen if he let that happen.
"Oh…I didn't know that. I thought that you didn't like it because you still don't know the controls or the crafting system and also your aura looks really frustrated when we play…and so does your face." Said Sho
"It's not that I dislike this game, not at all, it's just really complicated. I'm just too old for this but that doesn't mean that I can't still try." Said Fukuda
"But you're so bad at it…sorry." said Sho. Even after last night he was still acting like a jerk to the people he loved…and not even on purpose. It was so easy to say mean things to the people that you cared about…and it shouldn't have been. Big sis said that it was hard being mean to people, for her anyway, and that just meant that she was a much nicer person than he was…but he could still try. At least he was trying. That had to count for something….right?
"No, you're right. I'm bad at this, really bad at this, but that doesn't mean that we can't still have fun together. You don't have to play with your sister and her…the boy…man…guy. The guy she's interested in. We can still play together you and me. What do you say?" asked Fukuda. Nope. He was not going to let Sho get involved in…whatever was happening there. Whatever was happening with Shigeko. Just…Shigeko in general. Sho always got so angry when he was around her and…and Fukuda knew what happened when Sho got angry. He was just a little kid and he didn't need that in his life. Those feelings. The ones that came when he got angry and lost control of his actions.
"Fukuda…..I like playing with you and all but…I'd rather play with big sis in a new server me and her made and also I would invite you but sometimes it feels like you don't really like her and also you're really bad at this…no offense." Said Sho. He was being kind of a jerk, there, but maybe it was more of a jerk thing to let Fukuda think that he was good at something when he wasn't….and if he really liked playing then he and Sho could play in their own server. Sho didn't want him to play with all of them not only because he was bad at Minecraft and would slow him down but because he thought that big sis was a jerk…for some reason.
"None taken…and I still like your sister. I like her just fine." Said Fukuda lying through his teeth. He obviously wasn't going to tell Sho the truth. She was his sister and he loved her and he couldn't see who she would be, who she was becoming, and who she would become. Fukuda knew that well. He had spent so many years with Suzuki before he knew the truth…and if someone had told him the truth, that his best friend was dead serious about all of this insanity, he would have told them to get lost…and that was just part of being young and close to someone.
"But then why are you always so weird when it comes to her?" asked Sho
"What do you mean?" asked Fukuda. Of course Sho was more observant than the rest of his family. He kept calm. He kept his face calm and his aura calm and just kept…calm. He had to keep calm. Otherwise Sho would figure out what he was really feeling…and then that would open up a conversation that he was not ready to have. Not now. Not when Sho wasn't even ten years old yet.
"You call her Suzuki-san instead of her given name and also you never hang out with her like you hang out with me and also…also sometimes when you talk about her it's like you're talking about a totally different person. Like you have her mixed up with someone else…someone who's a jerk. Big sis isn't a jerk. She can be clueless and bossy sometimes but she's not a jerk." Said Sho
"Sho…I'm sorry if it feels that way to you or her but I don't dislike her. She's just different….getting older. That's all." said Fukuda. There. Shigeko had accepted that excuse so maybe Sho would, too. He thought quickly in case he didn't. He was a lot different than his sister and father after all. He was clever, like Masami, and observant….Fukuda had to be careful how he handled this.
"But I'm getting older too. I'm almost ten. Does that mean that when I'm ten you'll start calling me Suzuki-san and stop playing with me and also you'll think that I'm a jerk?" asked Sho
"Sho, no. I would never think of you like that and we'll always be able to play together and also I'll keep on calling you Sho unless you ask me to call you something else. Alright?" asked Fukuda
"But I'm getting older. You said that you're weird when it comes to big sis because she's getting older but I'm getting older too." Said Sho
"Well it's different for you. We're…we just have more in common because….because we're both guys. Your sister just has a completely different set of interests and they just don't overlap with ours. I mean, come on, do you want to play dolls and watch princess movies all day?" asked Fukuda
"Playing dolls is ok, like if you're playing the doll execution society game, or like if you're playing hot air balloons or something with them…and some of those movies are ok. I like Brave because she has a bow and arrow and she has red hair like me. I like some parts of Frozen, like the part with the wolves or the giant snowman or the Fixer Upper song, and also I like Tangled too because Flynn's super cool and if he were real I'd want to be best friends with him…and stuff. Just because big sis is a girl that doesn't mean that I don't have stuff in common with her. She has stuff in common with me too. We both like playing in the snow and playing Mario Party and Smash Brothers and Mario Kart and also Minecraft and other stuff too." Said Sho
"Well…you see…she's getting older and…and it's normal for you and her to have different social circles. You're getting older so you have me and she's getting older so she has Minegishi and….the rest of them." Said Fukuda
"Yeah….I guess that makes sense. Also I think that big sis and Minegishi are good friends because Minegishi is probably a girl. I heard her boyfriend call them 'she' once and something if you look really closely they kind of have boobs but not really but still more boobs than guys have, even really fat ones, but I didn't look for too long because you're not supposed to look at girl's boobs because they don't like that." Said Sho
"Yeah, don't ever stare at a woman's chest, they really don't like that….actually don't stare at anyone who doesn't want to be stared at." Said Fukuda. He needed to keep Sho from doing that, even to Minegishi, because no matter what Sho ended up being staring at women's chests was not socially acceptable and he got the feeling that Suzuki wasn't about to tell his son that. He had been pretty bad about that when they were kids after all.
"But what if they aren't a girl? It's ok to stare at guys because they don't have boobs. Shimazaki said so." Said Sho
"When did he tell you this?" asked Fukuda. When had that even come up? And also he needed to start spending more time with Sho. He didn't need Sho getting his life advice from Shimazaki of all people. Shigeko….she could do whatever she wanted…but Sho didn't need to get into what that guy was into.
"A couple days ago at the park with all the dogs. He said that you should never stare at a girl because they don't like that and they're going to think that you're a weirdo who's going to try and kiss them and touch their boobs without asking, which you should never do because that's a crime and also people who go around doing that to girls deserve to have their privates nailed to beehives and then covered in honey so the bees and the bears will get to them, but if you stare at guys all you have to do is worry about getting beat up and stuff." Said Sho
"Uh-huh….Sho, don't stare at people. That's not a good thing and you can't teleport away so, yes, you could get hurt." Said Fukuda. He wondered what else he would have to tell Sho not to do. Nothing good was going to come from Sho getting his life advice from Shimazaki.
"Shimazaki said that he'll always have my back so I can stare at whatever guys I want. He says that it's ok to want to stare at guys. Girls too. Whoever I want to. He says that staring at people is part of figuring yourself out. I don't know what he meant by that but it's nice that he'll always have my back." Said Sho
"Sho….maybe don't count on him following you around for the rest of your life…and also please don't stare at people. It hurts their feelings." Said Fukuda. It was socially unacceptable, too, but he didn't want to get into that conversation with Sho right now.
"Yeah…I guess so. Sometimes people stare at me because I have red hair and stuff and it does make me feel kind of bad…like I'm in a zoo or something, but Shimazaki says that I shouldn't let the bastards make me feel bad. He says that people have been staring at him all his life because he was born without eyes, and then because he grew up to be awesome, and that there's no use in worrying about what other people think of me or why they're staring at me because my worrying won't change the outcome. People are going to do what they're going to do." Said Sho
"He tells you a lot of things, doesn't he?" asked Fukuda. He wished that there was some way he could take notes. That way he would at least know what he had to correct. Shigeko…there was no correcting her at this point but Sho was different. Less headstrong, mostly, and a hell of a lot less arrogant too.
"Yeah. He's really smart. He's the smartest guy ever! He knows a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff. Like, he knows how to tell dogs apart by just feeling them coming and touching their fur. He knows all the breeds of dogs that there are to know. It's so cool…and other people think that it's cool too. Like this one lady didn't even know what kind of dog she had but then he told her and she was all 'but you're blind' which was kind of rude because you can't just tell someone that they're blind but then he was all 'I can tell' and that should have been the end of it but then he kept on talking to that rude lady…because he can be nice like that…but he did talk to her for way too long." Said Sho
"Well adults socialize differently so he might have just felt like spending time with someone his own age…like he should." Said Fukuda
"But…you're an adult and I'm a kid and we're friends." Said Sho. He didn't get it but then again he didn't get a lot of things about Fukuda these days. Like why he didn't fully like big sis anymore. Her being older and having different interests and her own friends and stuff seemed like not a very good explanation at all…but he trusted Fukuda.
"It's different for us because I've known your dad for most of my life and I've known you since a few days after you were born. I'm closer to being family than a friend, at this point." Said Fukuda
"Yeah….I guess that you're different. You're less fun to hang out with." Said Sho before he could stop himself. He was being a jerk, again, and he just couldn't help it. He just needed to try harder, that was all, he just had to try harder at being a good person.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Fukuda. That had hurt but he didn't show it. Sho was just a kid and he didn't know what he was saying. He was nine, not even ten, and he couldn't think things through like an adult would. That was part of being a kid, not knowing what the right and wrong thing to say, was.
"You don't climb trees or build forts or have pudding eating contests or sock skate or have cursing contests or throw rocks at people and then hide or jump out and scare people and also you'd never let me poke you in the eye." Said Sho. There. Now that he explained himself it would make sense and then Fukuda would know that he hadn't set out to be a jerk.
"Poke me in the…what?" said Fukuda. Just…what? He'd had the stray thought to poke Shimazaki in the space where his eyes should have been but that was something that he would never actually do. He could never get him to stay put long enough, first of all, and second of all it would be socially unacceptable too.
"In the eye. Shimazaki let me poke him in the eye…well where his eye would have been. It was so gross…but I can't complain because he had been telling me since I started asking that it would have been super gross…but I did it anyway. It was gross." Said Sho. He stuck out his tongue at the memory of it. It had been a lot cooler in his head but once Shimazaki said he could, well, he had to go through with it…even if it had been gross. But it had sort of been the cool kind of gross, like holding a handful of earthworms, but it had also been the gross kind of gross, like sticking your finger in a really bad cut, the kind you got after you fell out of a tree, to get the splinters out and stuff. It had been gross and cool and….and once was enough for him. Shimazaki said that most people who asked never went through with it…and Sho could see why.
"Sho….if it was gross then why…why would you ask him if you could do that?" asked Fukuda. He hoped to God that Sho had asked him first…and he also hoped to God that Shimazaki hadn't offered. That was just…well it had to have been painful…and also it was just…stomach turning. The thought of it. Just…why.
"Because I thought that it would be cool…and also I wanted to know if he would let me." Said Sho. Sometimes he asked if he could do stuff just to see if people would let him do it. Like time he asked Shibata if he could ride on his shoulders and help him cook like in Ratatouille. Shibata had said yes…for a while…but then the hair pulling go to be too much so Shibata put him down and let him eat a whole thing of cake batter. He hadn't expected Shimazaki to actually say yes but Sho was happy that he did. He was happy that Shimazaki had trusted him to do that.
"Well he did let you…" said Fukuda. His stomach was turning. Nope. Not ok. Sho…Sho was going to be spending a lot more time in his office. A LOT more time. All the time.
"Yeah, so I'm happy about that but I won't do that again. He says that he doesn't let a lot of people do that to him because it feels weird and also he has to clean his whole eye space out afterwards so he doesn't get an infection and it's boring and stuff dong that. That means that we're good friends. He never even let big sis do that and she wanted him to be her boyfriend." Said Sho
"Did she….did she ask him if he could do that?" asked Fukuda
"No, probably not. I don't know for sure. We don't talk about her that much. She has her own stuff going on like you said. Plus if he still likes her I don't want to hurt his feelings because she has a new boyfriend now and they're going to get married and have lots of babies and then they'll let me take care of the babies. I don't want to rub all of that in his face if he still likes her. Plus she's going to marry Hatori and he's nowhere near as cool as Shimazaki so I don't want to remind him that he lost to a guy who goes running to you whenever he gets a papercut." Said Sho
"Did she say that she was dating Hatori?" asked Fukuda. Nope. None of that either. Shigeko may not have been his responsibility but she was too young for that guy and…and all of that. Well she was too young for a lot of the things that she did but she was especially too young for all of that.
"She said 'no' and that she wasn't going to even ask him because she thinks that she's too young, that he thinks that she's too young, but I think that she should still ask him because you said that adults can like kids like that but they shouldn't but I think that it's ok if he likes her like that because he's a really cool guy. Also she kind of has boobs and I know that you're supposed to like them so he probably won't think that she's too young in that case. I think so, anyway, I don't get boobs. I mean I get that they're for feeding babies and stuff but I don't….get it." Said Sho
"Sho…he's probably going to say no to her so you should probably tell your sister not to embarrass herself….because rejection is very emotionally painful and it's better for the rest of us if she doesn't have to deal with all of that…" said Fukuda
"Well then I'll tell him that if he says no to my sister then I'll find him and beat him up and also I'll delete all of his Minecraft worlds and I'll reset all of his passwords too so he can't get into his stuff." Said Sho
"Sho, no, that's not nice. Just…leave your sister be. Alright? Leave your sister be and let her run her own life. Give her space." Said Fukuda
"But…but I don't want to give her space. I gave her a bunch of space when I was mad at her and then we had a great, big, fight yesterday." Said Sho
"I know. I felt it. Sho….do you want to talk about it? The fight that you had with your sister." Said Fukuda
"I don't want to talk about it." Said Sho
"Are you sure? You might feel better." Said Fukuda
"I said that I didn't want to talk about it." Said Sho
"I'll let you curse if you tell me about it. How's that sound?" asked Fukuda
"Why the hell do you want to know?" asked Sho
"Language." Said Fukuda
"What the hell? You fucking said that I could curse!" said Sho
"I said that you could curse if you told me about the fight that you and your sister had…and also don't say that word. The 'F' word. You can say every word but that one. You're too young." Said Fukuda
"….Shimazaki lets me say it…." Said Sho
"Well I'm not Shimazaki." Said Fukuda
"I know. Shimazaki's cool and he doesn't make me talk about stuff that I don't want to talk about." Said Sho
"Sho…sometimes in life we have to talk about the things that we don't want to talk about, ok? I don't mean to be nosy but I'm very concerned. I felt both of your auras and…and I just want know how things are going between you two. You said, before, that you were angry with her because she said that your dad treated the two of you the same and-" said Fukuda
"We're not fighting about that anymore. We….we talked about it. I mean…I mean we fought and I lost control and hurt her but we talked and…and we're ok now. She knows that dad doesn't treat us the same and I…I said sorry for hitting her again. I hit her again…" said Sho
"Well that's fine. Sometimes in life we make mistakes. As long as you apologized for hitting her then you're fine." Said Fukuda
"I didn't just hit her though…I scratched her too. I scratched her arms up so bad that there was blood and…and then I got so upset that I hit myself…"said Sho
"Sho…no. Don't ever do that to yourself. Ever. You do not deserve that. You have enough to deal with as it with your dad hitting you. Don't start hitting yourself on top of all of that. Kick holes in the walls, break things, hit other people, but never hit yourself. Ok? I need you to promise me that you will never hit yourself ever again." said Fukuda
"Fine! I promise you that I'll never hit myself again….I already promised big sis so I'll promise you, too. At least you didn't remind me that you outrank me…" said Sho
"Outrank you? Sho, no, you're the President's son. You outrank everyone…and rank doesn't matter. Rank only matters in Claw but Claw is not…Claw is not everything." Said Fukuda
"But we're going to take over the world." Said Sho
"…yes…but Claw hasn't taken over the world yet so rank doesn't mean anything." Said Fukuda
"It does in my family. Big sis says that she's older and dad promoted her and she outranks me in Claw so she can give me orders and she ordered me to never hit myself again." said Sho
"Sho…don't hit yourself. Ever. You're right that your sister was right to tell you never to hit yourself but she was wrong to pull rank on you like that. Never pull rank with anyone, ever, unless you want to upset them. Ok? I can't even begin to imagine how upsetting that must have been for you…" said Fukuda
"Yeah…it was…but I'm ok now. Me and big sis are ok now. We stopped fighting and…and things are ok now. We agreed to listen to each other more and spend more time together and stuff like that. So me and big sis are ok." Said Sho
"If you and your big sister are doing so well then why are you here and not at home with her?" asked Fukuda
"She's not at home. She and Minegishi are painting each other's nails at Minegishi's house and I don't like getting my nails painted. Also I…me and big sis probably woke dad up with our fighting, I mean if you felt it all the way over here then he probably didn't sleep through it, and I just…I want to stay here until he goes to bed so that way I won't get punished…and that's why I want us to keep on playing too. Not Minecraft because sometimes I can be frustrating playing with you, no offense, but I want to play something else…or something." Said Sho
"Oh. Why didn't you just say so? Sho, I've told you before, you're always welcome here no matter what. Anytime of the day or night you can come right through that front door and I'll never kick you out…but always knock on my bedroom door though. Ok? Never just let yourself in, I could be changing clothes or something, and that would be awkward for you to walk in on." Said Fukuda
"Yeah, it would be because we're both boys but not family and only family can change together, so I'll always knock….does that mean that I can stay?" asked Sho
"Of course…and we can play something else. You know, I know a really great game. For a few years it was the most popular game in Japan. It was so popular that it caused a coin shortage even." Said Fukuda. He wanted to keep Sho near and also…and also he may have had his own personal reasons for this. For showing this game to Sho. The game that his father had dedicated a portion of his childhood to mastering. Suzuki used to talk about teaching his son how to play Space Invaders…and how to do about a million other things too…and he might have still been planning on it. That is if Fukuda replaced the word 'son' with 'daughter'. Yes, that would have been a lot more accurate. Suzuki was done with Sho and had been done with Sho before he had even started…so he didn't get to give a damn if Fukuda taught the kid how to play Space Invaders.
"What game?" asked Sho. He hoped that this wouldn't be boring. A lot of old games, the ones that came out when Fukuda was a kid, were so boring…but he wouldn't be a jerk even if this was the most boring game in the history of games.
"The greatest game ever invented of course." Said Fukuda. In Suzuki's opinion, of course, this was the greatest game ever invented. He had waxed poetic, as much as he was capable of, about how when he had a son, he hadn't even spoken more than three words to a girl at this point, that he would teach him to be the greatest Space Invaders player the world had ever known. Well Fukuda…he was just doing what Suzuki would have wanted…and if he overstepped and took this from him then so be it.
"Stop suspending me and just tell me what game it is!" said Sho. The suspense was killing him. This game was either going to be really good or really bad but Sho would never know unless Fukuda showed him the game already!
"Keeping you in suspense, I'm keeping you in suspense, not suspending you and-" said Fukuda
"Ok, fine, stop keeping me in suspense and just tell me already…please." Said Sho
"Alright. Here, let me just exit out of this and get to the site I found….." said Fukuda. He felt his laptop slide over to Sho's side of the table. The display of power startled him a little but did not scare him. No, not even back when it had been Suzuki taking things out of his hands had he been scared. He was, however, not going to let Sho have free reign of his laptop. There were a lot of things there, not all of them Masami related, that he did not need Sho to see. No, there were a lot of conversations in that laptop that they did not need not have right then and there.
"Here, let me do it, I'm faster. Did you put it in your favorites?" asked Sho as Fukuda took his laptop back. Sho was hyped about this game, now, but Fukuda wouldn't let him just get to it already. He was much better at this stuff than Fukuda was. It would take him all night just to find is favorites bar.
"I did…but let me get to it. Don't look in my favorites because…there are things that you shouldn't see…like different things that I got you for your birthday. I don't want to ruin the surprise." Said Fukuda
"You got me art supplies." Said Sho
"How did…no I didn't." said Fukuda
"Oh. Ok. I just thought that you did because everyone always gets me art supplies. Nobody gets me what I really want." Said Sho
"What do you really want?" asked Fukuda
"A hamster or a cat or a real life dragon but I don't think that they have dragons so I'll just take the hamster or the cat." Said Sho
"Um….what do you want that's not alive?" asked Fukuda
"A 3DS." Said Sho. It was new and he needed one and he knew that he needed to wait until his birthday to see if he got one before he went and got one himself….even though he was pretty sure that he only got art supplies again. He always got art supplies for every gift giving holiday, he did like art supplies and he did need them too, but there was more to him than art and stuff. Sometimes people just saw one part of him and thought that it was all of him…or something. He didn't know. He just wished that people would see more to him than he could draw…that dad would say 'good job' to something other than a drawing…
"Don't you already have one of those?" asked Fukuda
"No, I have an original DS. I need a 3D one." said Sho
"But…the games were already in 3D…weren't they?" asked Fukuda
"No, not really, that's why I need a 3DS. A green one." said Sho
"Well maybe you'll get one for your birthday." Said Fukuda
"I'll probably just get art supplies…and I'll probably get stuck playing 2D gams until I'm old and I can't see or hear well enough to play games and then my kids'll show me some new games but I'll be bad at them because I'll be your age." Said Sho
"….I'm forty three, not eighty three." Said Fukuda
"Both of those sound old." Said Sho
"Yeah, well, maybe you're just too young to appreciate two dimensional games. Back in my day we only had two dimensions and we were grateful for that. Just two dimensions and two colors. Black and white." Said Fukuda
"That sounds like a pretty shitty game to me." Said Sho
"Language, and it's not. It's actually pretty addictive. Here, give it a try." Said Fukuda
"Fine, I'll try it. What's this called?" asked Sho. He reached for the laptop and put his fingers on the keys. Left and right arrows for directions and the spacebar to fire. Simple enough.
"Space Invaders. It's simple but challenging. Just shoot up at the aliens before the land." Said Fukuda. He watched Sho get started…and bit his tongue when Sho went with his father's strategy of never shooting through his shields. It was best to get through as many as you could while they were up high. The shields would do no good when they were low and moving fats and bearing down on you.
"This is easy. They move slowly and they hardly ever fire. Plus I have these big shields." Said Sho. People were so easy to entertain back when Fukuda had been a kid. He felt bad for people who were alive whenever this game was made. How was something so boring the game that caused a whole coin shortage? He didn't get it. Still, though, he would play this because it was special to Fukuda and he had been enough of a jerk as it was. He was going to be nicer. He had to work at being nicer to everyone, not just big sis, because he had to be a good person.
"Shoot some more and see how slow they move." Said Fukuda. Sho was being surpassingly sparing with his shots. Not like him at all. A bit like Suzuki. He had always lined up his shot and hit specific targets…and he had done that for every shot and never shot through his shields and to this day Fukuda still wasn't sure how he managed it.
"Hey…that's not fair…" said Sho. Now they were speeding up…and they should have gone that fast from the very beginning!
"See? I told you that it would be challenging." Said Fukuda. Fukuda had never seen him look less like Suzuki than he had in that moment. Sho may have had Suzuki's hair and eyes but he was nothing like Suzuki. He had always been strangely calm when he had played, like he was meditating or something, he had never been that animated when he played. He was animated and angry and…and it was adorable. He was adorable. Fukuda wished that he could have thought of some reason to take a picture for Masami…though it would have been useless since she had cut off that burner phone she had bene using and hadn't emailed him in years and years. Still, though, this was something that he wished that she could have been there to see. He wished that she could have been there at the table with him and Sho. A picture of a family. Mother and son and…and him. Mother and son and him. Sho was not his son…but…but he wished that he was. Fukuda had wished, for years, that Sho had been his son…he had wanted that more than anything for so long...
But it would never be true.
"But they move too fast for me to hit. Not unless I shoot through my own shield but that would be dumb because then I would have no shield." Said Sho
"Sho…you can shoot through your own shield. It's perfectly good strategy to shoot through your own shield." Said Fukuda. He knew that he was going to catch shit if Suzuki ever heard the terrible thing that he had just taught Sho how to do but, hey, if he wanted to teach his Son how to play Space Invaders then he should have done it himself like he was always saying he wanted to back when they had been kids. He hadn't so it was up to Fukuda to teach Sho what his father hadn't. What his father didn't care to. What his father never would. His father would never look past himself, what he wanted, to see the amazing person that he had made. The person that he had made and just...treated like…like this.
He loved Sho so very much after all. Like a son.