Hatori was used to eating lunch on his own.

He had eaten alone at his desk for all of his years of elementary and middle school. He had eaten alone most days since coming to work for Claw, too. He usually just ate at wherever his desk was. Right now it was the tech room at the Tokyo HQ. He had no idea how much longer he would be in Tokyo for so he really should have been making the most of his time there at his desk. He was the only one that still had a rolling chair after all…and he really should have been back there guarding it before those idiots took it for a joyride. Honestly. Those guys were more like kids than the actual kids sometimes. That was why he was eating away from his coworkers and with, well, his other coworkers…or maybe his superiors? He wasn't sure what to call them.

Little Sister-sama and her friends.

"Hatori! Come here!" said Little Sister-sama. She was waving him over to her table. Well all of the tables in the cafeteria looked the same but that was the one that she and her friends had claimed for themselves and no one there sat at that table. Some of the more devoted Awakened left offerings of milk, cookies, or small toys for her but nobody sat there but those guys. The Ultimate Four.

At least that was what Shimazaki Ryou kept on calling them.

They were President Suzuki's entourage. The espers that followed him around wherever he went and the friends to his kids. Oh. The little brother was there too. So maybe that made them the Ultimate Five. Ultimate Six, then, if he was going to end up joining them like Minegishi had said. They had told him that since he was friends with Little Sister-sama he was going to get a big promotion and end up travelling the world with them following the President around and hanging out with his kids. The whole thing didn't seem like it was true, Suzuki could not have possibly just built his entourage based on people who got along with his kids, but then again Minegishi didn't seem like the type to lie.

No, they were the brutally honest type.

He didn't make eye contact with Minegishi as he made his way to the table. He was not going to be pushing anything with them. No meant no and he was not going to be one of those guys who didn't take 'no' for an answer. He had been on the internet long enough to know that nobody liked those kinds of guys. He would have liked to have gotten to know them better, though, not necessarily sexually…though they were hot as fuck. The short hair, the shape of their face, their legs…they had nice legs…and now he's checked them out and they've made eye contact with him and….

And he sits down beside Little Sister-sama.

There. Now there's a space between the two of them. It was hard to check out Minegishi with Little Sister-sama between them…unless people thought that he had been checking out Little Sister-sama…but maybe that said more about him than other people that he was so afraid of people thinking that about him….but then again who wanted people to think that about them? Maybe it was just the other tech people getting to him. That must have been it. People just saying crazy stuff about him. It wasn't exactly ok but he would rather people say mean things about him than about Little Sister-sama.

She didn't have a crush on him. That was crazy.

She was way too young to have a crush on him. She was just a kid. She still played with dolls and wore costumes out in public and watched princess movies. She might have been too young to have a crush on anyone but if she did have a crush on someone it would be a boy her own age or something or some boy band guy or actor or something. He wasn't going to ask her or anything, it was none of his business, and he wasn't going to tell her the rumors going around.

He wasn't going to embarrass her like that. She had enough problems as it was.

"Happy Birthday, Suzuki-chan." Said Hatori as he sat down. The little brother was ten, now. He had already sent a present, some in game items, and he was happy about that. Well he had said that he was happy about that. The thank you message had been very weird. It had gone 'thank you so much and also be nice to my sister' which was just…weird. He was always nice to her…right? She wasn't looking at him. She was stabbing her chicken sandwich with a spork and not looking at him…but she could be like that sometimes. No matter what age girls were a mystery to him.

"Hi Hatori. Hey big sis, Hatori's here." Said the little brother. Hatori didn't get what he was teasing her about but it was probably some sibling thing that an only child he couldn't understand.

"Hi….Hatori." Said Little Sister-sama. She looked up at him, giggled, and then looked back down at her lunch. Minegishi rolled their eyes and patted her on the back. Hatori was very, very, tempted to ask what all of that was about but didn't want to come off as nosy. He was always the new guy, maybe, he didn't want to be the nosy guy…and he was not nosy. Anyone with unfettered access to Claw's records would have gone through them and made notes of what was interesting.

Anyone would have done it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hatori's here. Anyway back to what we were discussing." Said Shimazaki. Hatori could feel his aura focused on him. He got the feeling that Shimazaki didn't like him very much but he had no idea why. He had never done anything to him…but he was a notoriously weird and unpleasant person even by Claw standards. The only good team reviews he ever got were from Minegishi.

"We were discussing something?" asked Shibata. The table shook a little as he moved. Hatori didn't show fear because he wasn't scared at all…even though that guy was almost three meters tall and could lift a man above his head without his powers…

"Yes, we were having a serious adult discussion about a serious topic that is very serious and complicated and not something that kids could understand." Said Shimazaki

"I understood the conversation." Said Little Sister-sama

"The French fry thing?" asked Shibata. He had some barely hidden pain in his eyes. Hatori didn't know if he wanted to know what the French fry thing was.

"I can fit-" said the little brother

"Sho, don't, nobody wants to see that." Said Little Sister-sama

"Yes, the French fry thing! This is a very serious discussion that we cannot stop discussing." Said Shimazaki. He seemed…well his aura seemed pissed off. Pissed off and also focused on Hatoru for some reason. He wished that he knew what he had done to piss this guy off…because he was just a little bit afraid of him. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was afraid of Shimazaki Ryou. Anyone who had gone through his personal files and work history would have been afraid of him. Even now just sitting there at the lunch table with a kid tugging on his jacket he could be just a little bit…scary.

"Yes, how many French fries Mob's little brother can stick up his nose is a truly riveting topic." Said Minegishi rolling their eyes. They picked at their salad with a little more….force…than was strictly necessary.

"Seven in each side…well the ones from McDonald's. From this cafeteria it's only four in each side because they're so thick." Said the little brother. He then proceeded to attempt to cram a French fry up his nose to demonstrate that this was, in fact, possible.

"Sho, no, you might suffocate or poke your brain or something." Said Little Sister-sama. She was holding his arm back with her powers. He envied her just a little bit, well all of them, they had real powers after all. The only thing he could do was mess with tech. He couldn't even put up a barrier.

"Wouldn't that be a tragedy?" said Minegishi. Hatori didn't know if he should laugh or not. They were being sarcastic, right? They might have been sincere. There was just something in their tone that was hard to read. They were deadpanned at the best of times…he liked that about them. He wasn't going to ask them out again…or at all…and he was going to stop looking at them too. Right now. Right this second.

"Don't do that, Little Suzuki, you're at the table with other people. If you want to shove fries up your nose then do that somewhere where people aren't looking…but also with someone who can help you out if you start to suffocate." Said Shibata

"Hey, if the kid wants to shove enough fries up his nose to suffocate then let him stick enough fries up his nose that he can suffocate." Said Shimazaki. Hatori didn't much want to watch a kid shove fries up his nose but when in Rome watch the little kid shove fries up his nose.

"Why do you want my brother to suffocate?" asked Little Sister-sama. She looked and sounded so concerned there. Hatori wondered if he should have told her that he had most likely been joking…but then again he had no idea how serious Shimazaki actually was. The guy…was a lot of things. There was no telling with him, how serious he was or not, and Hatori decided not to get involved after Shibata gave him a long suffering look.

"I don't want him to stop breathing, I just want to see if he can actually do it or if he's just talking a big game." Said Shimazaki. The little brother actually glared up at him like he had been personally offended.

"Of course I'm telling the-" said the little brother. He went to pick up another fry but his sister stopped him again. She shook her head no as she held him still with her powers. Telekinesis always freaked him out just a little but he didn't show it. No need to make her think that he was afraid of her or anything.

"Why do you need to know?" asked Minegishi. There was a tone, there, and a flare of both their and Shimazaki's auras that he could not begin to understand. He didn't ask, though, as Shibata was looking over at him and shaking his head. Right. Not the thing for him to be involved in.

"Because I like to know what's going on, Toshi." Said Shimazaki. Hatori wondered about the use of Minegishi's given name…just their given name. How close were they exactly?

"What is going on, Ryou?" asked Minegishi. They used his given name too….and nobody else seemed to be on given name terms…..

"Is there anything going on?" asked Shimazaki. He felt Shimazaki's aura focusing on him…and he had no clue why. What did he do? He hadn't said a thing to either of them! He hadn't even started eating his own lunch yet. This was more interesting…whatever it was that he was watching.

"Why would you even care if there was something going on?" asked Minegishi

"I don't NEED to know, I just like to know." Said Shimazaki with a shrug.

"Why do you think that you need to know everything?" asked Minegishi. Shibata was shaking his head and focusing on his own lunch. Hatori tried to do the same. This was none of his business….it was interesting but none of his business.

"I just like to know what I want to know. There's no limit on what I can and cannot know." Said Shimazaki

"You know that I can, I totally can-" said the little brother. He was about to try again and he was stopped, again, and Hatori wished that Little Sister-sama would just let him shove the fries up his nose so then this big…awkward…whatever that was…would just be over already.

"You know what's going on, Ryou, I have never once been disingenuous with you." Said Minegishi. There's a narrowing of their eyes, there, and a focus to their aura…and Hatori isn't sure if they're about to fuck him or kill him. It's sort of hot, seeing them like this, though he's also slightly afraid given what their job entails…

"What does 'disingenuous' mean?" asked Little Sister-sama breaking the tension. That had been…awkward. Yes. There was no other word for it. That whole thing had just been awkward and an awkward atmosphere had settled over them but now it was gone and if she had been a few years old he could have kissed her…but he won't because she's ten and also that was a weird thing to think about a ten year old and he needs professional help for even thinking that thought. Well he had thought about her being older but this whole thing was best left between him and a qualified medical professional. Or a priest.

"It means liars." Said Minegishi. Their entire focus shifted to Little Sister-sama. Their aura and body language became looser, less closed off, and a hell of a lot calmer. They seemed….softer…somehow. It was nice. Seeing them like this was nice…and he was looking again. He needed to stop that. They had told him that he didn't have a chance with them, they had been very clear about that, and also based on whatever THAT had been something was going on between them and Shimazaki.

"Hey! I'm not a liar!" said the little brother. This time he did shove a fry up his nose…and then had it yanked out telekinetically by his older sister. If that had been his brother Hatori would have just let him do it but that was not his brother. Also for some reason the President had left her in charge of her little brother even though he was only a year younger than she was….actually less than a year. They were both ten years old now. Oh. Right. It only took nine months to make a baby…but then again when was her birthday in relation to his…

"Ok, we all saw the kid stick a French fry up his nose. Now we never have to see it again. Let's move onto new business." Said Minegishi

"I can stick like four green beans up my-" said the little brother

"Sho, no. Please stop doing that. The only person who thinks that it's funny is Shimazaki and he thinks that everything is funny." Said Little Sister-sama. She sounded like a little diplomat when she said that. She would make a great future leader of Claw….mainly because her father was more of a dictator and that go old fast.

"Well it IS funny. The rest of you just don't know what counts as good humor." Said the little brother with all the maturity that could be reasonably expected from a ten year old boy. It was amazing the difference that less than a year could make. He and Little Sister-sama were like night and day in some ways. That might have been the difference between boys and girls, though, they did say that girls matured faster than boys…though she did exclusively wear costumes so maybe she was just immature in a different way. Either that or she was really into cosplay.

"New. Business." Said Minegishi. The softness that had come to Minegishi's whole person was gone now. All that was left was simmering rage. Their aura projected it. Well Hatori didn't blame them for being upset all of the time. With the life that they had loved who would have blamed them?

"Um….my dad says that he doesn't hate me. He says that he loves me….I mean I asked him what I did wrong but he wouldn't tell me…but then he did tell me that he loved me." Said Little Sister-sama. That was…not something that she should have worried about. Her own father hating her. That was just…weird. Also he had just been sticking to her like glue and now she was worried about him hating her? He didn't get it. He really didn't get it but he couldn't ask about it because, well, it didn't seem like something she would want to talk about in front of every one. She had some pretty heavy problems for a ten year old and she probably didn't want to air them in public.

"I told you that he didn't hate you." Said the little brother. He said that lowly and he stabbed his fries with another fry…hopefully not the one that had been in his nose.

"Nobody hates anybody." Said Minegishi

"People hate other people all the time. Like I think that my dad hates everyone in Korea. He says that we can never go there ever again because of something that happened with someone and…and I guess that he just hates all of Korea now…for reasons." Said Little Sister-sama

"Dad doesn't hate Korean people, he just hates everyone in that division…but don't ask me why. I liked Seoul a lot." Said the little brother

"We're never going to Seoul again? Damn….I love Seoul…" said Shimazaki

"Wait…is this about the-" said Shibata before the table jumped. Presumably because Minegishi kicked him under it.

"Maybe that's not the thing to discuss here." Said Minegishi

"Sorry." said Shibata

"We shouldn't kick each other…because we're all friends here and friends should be nice. We should all be friends with each other….and friends are nice…" said Little Sister-sama

"Fine, that was wrong of me. Now, onto business that has nothing to do with Suzuki." Said Minegishi

"Um….are you guys going to the Chirstmas party? I'm so excited. I never get invited to these kinds of things…" said Shibata. Hatori didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. After how this whole thing had started he felt like an intruder into…this. He felt like he had stepped into a world that was not for him. That was why he never sat with anyone when he had been a kid. He had been playing his Gameboy while the other kids had been establishing friend groups and then by the time he realized that he had missed the boat it had been way too late.

Sort of like now.

He sat with these guys sometimes but the only people who had made him feel welcome were Little Sister-sama and, amazingly enough, Shibata. Minegishi and Shimazaki seemed to have…something…going on the and the little brother never stayed long. Like now. Right in the middle of the discussion about the upcoming Tokyo Division Christmas Party…which he was not sure if he would even attend….Sho, the little brother, had been spirited off by that healer guy again. He just popped up and took him away.

Apparently that was common.

With the loss of the little brother Shimazaki took his leave. Then he was followed by Shibata as they were both Suzuki's body guards…though why he sent them both to lunch at the same time Hatori would never know…and that left him all alone at the table with a barely picked at lunch and Little Sister-sama…and Minegishi. Now there was some awkwardness. Minegishi had last spoken to him to reject him…before he had even asked them out…and now he was practically alone with them.

"Well I'm going to go commune with nature or something. Mob, come and hang out with me when you're done…and don't forget to use your head." Said Minegishi. Hatori had no idea what they meant by that but judging by Little Sister-sama's aura it must have been some kind of inside joke or something. She seemed weirdly nervous or something. He didn't get it.

"Here, you can have my cookie." Said Hatori. She didn't calm down then…which was weird since kid's loved cookies and all…but at least she took it. She played with it, crumbling it up in her hands, and he regretted giving her his cookie if she was going to do with it. That was a damn good cookie, the chocolate chip cookies were always the best, but that was the risk that he took when he gave a kid is cookie. Kids played with their food, it was just what they did.

"So…um…" said Little Sister-sama. She wasn't looking at him. She was looking down at the cookie crumbs in her hands. He wondered what was bothering her. Maybe her dad was being a shitty parent again. Not that Hatori knew anything about being someone's parent, no chance of that considering that he had never even had a girlfriend before, but he did get the feeling that it wasn't normal or healthy for a kid to have to ask their parent if they hated them….not that he was about to march up to the President and tell him that he was being a shitty excuse for a father. No, it had been hard enough getting the healer to talk to him…which he had been amazed that it had worked out…

Had it worked out?

She still seemed like something was bothering her. With her dad being her dad it could be literally anything. At least he wasn't being weird and making her sleep in his bed with him or anything like that…not that he was accusing his boss of anything but that had been extremely weird…but maybe that said more about him and society…or something. He didn't know. All he knew was that if Little Sister-sama, the kid in the situation, was bothered then maybe her dad should have stopped…but then again Hatori knew fuck all about parenting….

He really hoped that she was ok, though. She was only ten and didn't need that kind of stress in her life.

"Um…Hatori…are you going to the party? The Christmas one?" asked Little Sister-sama. Oh. Well that was a relief. He had been worried that this would have been something heavy.

"Maybe, I don't know. I don't usually get invited to parties. This kind, anyway, all night gaming probably doesn't count." Said Hatori. He wasn't sure if he would go. He was technically ranked highly enough to go but he had never been to a party like this…or any party….maybe he should just not go then….

"…me neither. I mean I've never been to a party before…but I'm excited and also….um…do you want to…to go to the party…with me?" asked Little Sister-sama. She didn't look at him when she asked. Oh. She must have been just as nervous, or even more nervous, than he was. She was a lot younger after all. She had to go, she was the President's Daughter, so she didn't even have the option that he did and just not show up if it was too much. She just wanted another familiar face there. Well he could do that.

"Sure. I'd love to go to the party with all of you." Said Hatori. Well now he was a little more ok with going. He knew her and he knew her friends and it was better going as a group. It would be good, too, to get to know the people that he might have ended up working with in the future.

"Really?! I mean…ok. Sure. You can come with me…us…because I invited you. I'm um…going to um….go hang out with Minegishi now…bye!" said Little Sister-sama before she got up and practically ran from the table. He didn't know why she had run away but at least she seemed happier. That was good…even though now he had found himself all alone again. He was alone but that was ok, he had eaten alone before, and he could eat alone again.

At least he was eating alone at the cool kids' table this time.