Suzuki Touichirou loathed parties.

Well he loathed any and all large social gatherings. Small and medium sized ones too. He hated them so much….more than even he could express. He wanted to go home, he was going to go home, as soon as he made his speech he was going to go home and just…leave everyone else to their social gathering. This was something that people enjoyed. He had never enjoyed these sorts of social gatherings but he was not like other people. He was Suzuki Touichirou. He didn't have the same social needs as everyone else and therefore he, of course, had never needed to learn to socialize and there he, of course, did not need to learn how to enjoy a party.

This was fine.

Masami had dragged him, tried to drag him anyway, to so many social occasions in the beginning of their relationship. She had tried to get him to go to work parties and family parties and an assortment of other random social occasions. He had gone with her at first but they both realized how bad of an idea that was. He had never been able to talk to people socially and he had never wanted to learn. Not once. Not even when he had been young and all of his peers were pairing off into their own couples and friend groups. He had been content to be alone. There was no one else in the world like him, or so he had thought in his young, so naturally it would have made sense that he had to be alone.

Also he had not been eager to waste his time on everyone else like that.

His time had bene valuable. As a child and as a grown man his time had always been very valuable. His time was still valuable. That was why he had no plans at all of staying. He was just going to make his speech, that part he enjoyed, and then he was going to leave. The children could find their own way home. Well Son could. Daughter…he was loathe to leave Daughter but he just could not stay. Too many people, far too many people, and he had no idea what to do with so many people. He could command legions of people, that he understood, but speaking to them…especially so many important backers and cultists and investors of various degrees of importance…he couldn't do it, not socially, not unless he wanted to lose control….

His aura was shaking.

His aura was shaking and he was shaking. Not because of the speech, no he could do this on his head, but because of the sheer number of…of people….and the thought of having to speak with them socially. He was…fear. Fear was not an old friend, a bitter enemy really, something to be exorcised because it was a useless emotion. In other people fear would keep them alive. There were reasons to be afraid of heights and water and fire and strangers and even the dark. People, even other espers, could be so fragile…their lives could end in an instant. Well he was not like everyone else. His life was not fragile. He could, would, and had withstood things that would have killed any other man. Normal or esper. Suzuki Touichirou had no use for fear.

So he exorcised it.

He gave his speech and he exorcised his emotions. Daughter helped. There was a sea of auras there but hers was the brightest. She was sitting there with her brother, she looked wonderful as always and her brother…she had managed to get him dressed in something at least somewhat acceptable….but he didn't much care about Son just so long as he didn't do anything to embarrass his sister. She had been the one to approve this…and just about everything else that had been put in front of her…after all. She had been the one to want this and this was her party and her brother had better not mess this up for her. But he wasn't. He was sitting there playing on his phone. Daughter was paying attention to him, though, and she smiled at him too. At least he figured that she was smiling at him. She had made eye contact with him and their auras had made contact too.

He could do this.

The speech part. Not the talking to other people part. Let her do that. There had been more of these social sorts of things before, back before Son had been born, and he had thought that he would have gotten past the need for these social events. Well he hadn't totally, there were still times when he'd had to meet with people socially, but never on this scale. That was why he would leave this to Daughter. She had been the one to want this and she was much more of a social being than he had ever been and…and he would leave all of this to her. She had her companions, there, with her so she would be fine. Also there were other children there too, apparently he was not the only man who'd had the idea to reproduce, and she could socialize with them. Children were supposed to socialize with other children….right?

Or would that make them too childish?

He had never been terribly childish even when he'd been a child. That was because he had never socialized with the other children. Son and Daughter only socialized with each other as well as with adults…and that had gotten him some very mixed results. He had Daughter, who was in so many ways like a small adult, and then he had Son who seemed more content to act his shoe size than his age. Suzuki had no idea how it all worked, socializing, but he knew that he would not stop either of his children from doing it.

It was important for them to learn to socialize...not him, of course, only them.

Fukuda hated parties.

Claw parties, anyway. They hadn't had one of these in years. A chance to meet all of the important backers and cultists. A chance for everyone to meet the great Suzuki Touichirou and the other espers he'd collected. A chance for everyone to eat way too much and drink way too much and just make morons out of themselves. Not that all of the people in that room needed help in that regard. No, there was a whole table of people over there who were glad to make morons out of themselves at the best of times. He watched Suzuki with his eyes and Sho with his aura. His attention wasn't on his phone, no, it was on the moron a table over trying to surreptitiously steal champagne from those around him and also smoke…or was it called vaping…inhale whatever from a small electronic…thing.

Fukuda was going to have two jobs tonight.

He was going to have to keep Sho from spending time with Shimazaki and all the others, first of all, and second of all he was going to have to babysit Suzuki if he tried to stay. He usually left these things as soon as possible, well he had when they had been younger, but now Shigeko was there and he got the feeling that she would be doing this until six in the morning if she could. She was not Suzuki's daughter, not by blood anyway, but she did take after him…so why couldn't she have taken after him when it came to not being able to handle large social gatherings? Why did she even approve this? She must have known…well she hadn't know, really, because she was ten and not good with logistics or thinking things through. Because she was ten. For her a party was a chance to wear a pretty dress and meet lots of new people and get drunk and whatever else with her friends, too, some of whom looked like they had already gotten a jump on that. She could and would do whatever she wanted to. She had a glass of sparkling cider in front of her, he could tell by the color, but he knew that she would swap it out for a champagne flute soon enough…

Which was why he had to keep Sho away from that whole group.

Shigeko…she had already gotten into these sorts of things. Things that she should not have been into. Things that the adults around her should not have introduced her to in the first place. She was only ten and had been doing…all of this…for some time now. The idea had not just popped into her head at random. She had seen what the adults around her had been getting up to and instead of telling her no and being responsible the adults around her, the people she called her friends, had decided to include her in everything that they had gotten up to. Even though she was so young…and also she should have known better in the first place. She wasn't like Sho. Sho…he was impulsive. He had almost zero impulse control sometimes and Fukuda knew that it was only a matter of time before he started imitating his sister, her friends, and especially the man he had a precocious and bizarre crush on.

Fukuda was not going to let that happen.

He knew what he would do. As soon as Suzuki finished up his 'plans for the glorious future number three' speech Fukuda would get up, grab Sho, and take him home. He hated it here. He hated getting all dressed up, he hated being forced to sit down, and he hated being so near to his dad. Sho would be happy to go back home and hang out. They could play some of the new games that Sho had gotten for Christmas or they could play in the snow or Sho could draw something…anything other than hanging out with those degenerates that Shigeko called her friends. The espers that she had collected. Fukuda would not let Sho end up in that collection, he would not let Sho fall in with that crowd, Masami would have hated him if he had let that happen to her only son.

He would have hated himself if he had let that happen to Sho.

Fukuda felt Sho's aura. Oh. He had been too focused. Sho looked up from his phone. Fukuda waved. Sho waved back. Good, he had his attention. He looked bored. That was good too. Fukuda knew that he couldn't order Sho to leave, Sho did not handle orders at the best of times and in front of almost the entire financial body of Claw was not 'the best of times' so….yeah. He was not going to set Sho off on one of his tantrums now. He had been getting better about those, though, he had gotten a book about anger management from Minegishi of all people for his birthday. Not that he needed it. He didn't have an anger problem, he had a problem with all of the people around him. His father treated him terribly, his sister was…his sister, his mother had disappeared from his life when he had been six, and his first real crush was a man twenty years older than him and also just so…terrible. Just a terribly all around person. Also it must not have been easy on Sho to realize, or at least be coming to the realization of, the fact that he didn't like girls. Especially with how Suzuki carried on about wanting grandchildren and a legacy and all of that. In Fukuda's honest opinion he should have just enjoyed the children he had…and also spent five minutes with his Son and realized that he was most likely not getting any grandkids out of Sho. Poor Sho….Fukuda was not looking forward to his teenage years. Not with how he was and how his father was….it would be a shit show plain and simple…and Fukuda would have front row seats.

As usual.

He was tired of his reserved, front row, center aisle seat to the shit show that was the Suzuki family. That damn speech was over now, a toast had been made, and Shigeko was looking very disappointed at her champagne flute full of sparkling juice. She was ten. She should have been happy with juice. He remembered the time that he had come over and showed the kids how to make juice from scratch. That had been fun…but she'd turned her nose up at it, actually, now that he remembered. She had always been a milk person….which was probably why there was a strawberry milk fountain over in the corner. Good. He hoped that she drank strawberry milk until she got sick. He was tired of watching the shit show that had become her life. Ten years old and…and getting up to what it was that she had been getting up to. He had been sitting there watching Suzuki's life become….this…and now he was watching Shigeko's life become…this…and he got the feeling that he may have had to watch Sho's life fall apart, too…

He didn't want to.

He got up as fast as he could…but not fast enough. Kids were faster and he almost ended up stepping on one that had been crawling under the tables…there were a lot of kids here….which maybe was a good thing. Maybe he ought to let Sho stay and socialize with some people his own age for once. None of these kids were espers, Suzuki would have a problem with his kids socializing with non espers, but Sho needed to spend time with people his own age before he ended up like either his sister or his father. There were lots of kids and they were starting to do kid things, crawl around on the floor and such, and Sho still did kid things so maybe he ought to just let Sho stay…

He followed the path that Sho's eyes took.

Sho had no intention, it seemed, of playing with the other kids. He seemed to have every intention to following his sister over and spending time with that group of degenerates. Why? What did either kid see in those people? Well Shigeko was Suzuki's daughter. She collected espers just like her father did. Sho…Sho just wanted to be included in something. He had always been a social person. He had taken after Masami. She had always hated it, the isolation of being Suzuk's wife, and Sho had always hated the isolation that they'd had to live under. There were other kids there. Why wasn't Sho getting up to talk to some of them? Why wasn't he getting up to-

Oh.

Suzuki moved fast when he needed to. He was talking to his children. Fukuda stepped over a kid…and almost on to another kid…before making his way through the crowd over to where Suzuki and the kids were. People were giving him a wide berth…at least his body guards were doing their jobs for once….which was good. It meant that Fukuda could make his way over…and also that Suzuki wasn't going to have one of his melt downs that he got, well used to get when they were kids, when he had to speak to too many people at once. Sometimes Fukuda got the feeling that Suzuki just wanted to rule the world so he could rule from on high and not have to deal with the people below him. He could barely deal with his own children, after all, let alone a whole world full of people. Ruling over people was so much easier than engaging them as equals after all.

And Suzuki Touichirou did not engage people as equals.

Suzuki was not equals with his children. They did not command him, he commanded them, not that he wanted to command Daughter. No, he wanted to tell her to shut up of course, but he would hear her out.

"But I want you to stay, dad, please? It's a party and the point of a party is to have fun…and I want you to have fun." Said Daughter. She was so thoughtful like that. Masami had been the same way when they had been young. She had gotten the idea in her head that he would enjoy socializing with her at different events instead of being at home alone getting some work done. She was so like her mother.

"If dad wants to go then let him go. He doesn't like stuff like this anyway. He doesn't like anything…" said Sho. Well he was mistaken about that, there were plenty of things in this world that he liked, but this party was not one of them. Son seemed to be in a mood, but that was normal for him, he had been so moody lately. Whatever. Daughter could deal with him.

"But-" said Daughter. She was upset about him leaving….and he was loathe to leave her…but he had to. This was the socializing portion of the night and he did not socialize. He shook, his aura shook, just thinking about it. No, he had to go home….and he so wanted to take her with him…but it was not a Sunday and Sunday was their day together and also she had been looking forward to this for some time. She had even bought a new dress. That was a big thing for women, purchasing clothing for a new occasion, and he was not going to upset her by making her come home with him…even though he wanted her to…

"No buts. I've done my part and now I am leaving. Daughter, look after your brother. Son…don't ruin this for your sister." Said Suzuki. He knew Son, how he acted, what he was like when he got into his moods…and also what he was like when he got sugar and caffeine in him….and the food that Daughter approved was mostly sugar…and he hoped to God that Son did not ruin this for Daughter. She had been looking forward to this for so long. He knew that she would be upset if this was ruined for her and he was loathe to see her upset. He wanted nothing more than her happiness. That was why he allowed this, to make her happy, because nothing in the world mattered more to him than his Daughter's happiness.

Not even the world.

"I'm not going to ruin anything…." Muttered Son. Suzuki so wished that his Son would stop muttering and just say what he had to say. Normally Suzuki would have corrected his Son and gone over his many failures over the years but this was not the time or the place. Too many people, too many auras, and too little of his patience. He was used to auras, of course, but this was just…too many in a small space and all of them were trying to get his attention and…and it was a lot. He resisted the urge to grab onto Daughter's aura, she was so bright she practically filled the building, but he didn't because he was in public and he could not show that kind of weakness in public…and also it wasn't Sunday anyway….

It was too much.

He felt a familiar aura cut through the crowd. Green, he knew that green, that was Fukuda. He was aware of Fukuda. There was a…a sort of comfort there that he didn't want to feel. Fukuda had always saved him whenever they had been in big social situations together…not that he had needed saving…but he had always saved him. Suzuki doubted that he would have made it through university without him. He doubted he would make it through this night without him.

"I can your son home if you want, boss, Shigeko can probably handle this. It is her party after all." said Fukuda as he made it through the crowd and over to the Suzuki family. Shigeko was the only person who looked happy…well she seemed happy. Her aura seemed happy. Her face was as frozen as every but her aura seemed happy. Why wouldn't she be? Attention, lots of it, and free flowing champagne too. She was and was not Suzuki's daughter. Suzuki would have been a thousand times more dangerous if he was less socially impaired, if he had any idea how to gain influence through anything other than fear, if he had been a small and trustworthy looking little girl…

Calm. Down.

"I don't ruin things and I don't want to go home!" said Sho. Fukuda stepped to the side and let Sho crawl under a table. There was no calming him down sometimes. He had taken to hiding in cramped, dark places when he got upset. Fukuda would fill a plate with cookies, get him a soda, and then coax him out later. Before Shigeko started ordering him to come out or whatever else she was planning on doing.

"Fukuda, be me for this…thing…and arrange for Son to come home when he decides to stop…carrying on like that." Said Suzuki. He took a step towards Daughter and then a step back. He was…fine. He was fine and this was fine and he was fine and everything was fine. He was not afraid, no, he was just making a…a strategic retreat. That was all. He just needed to make a strategic retreat and…and get home so he could…attend to other matters.

Yes. That was acceptable.

He bid Daughter goodbye. This was her party and he was in her element here. She had very good social skills. Maybe it was her gender or maybe it was because she didn't come from him. Either way he knew when he had to delegate responsibility. Daughter would be fine, she would be happy even. She could handle whatever questions the various investors, supporters, and overzealous cultists asked of her. She had been able to run Claw in his absence at only ten years old, of course.

He was so proud of her.

He kept his aura on her as he left. Yes, she would be fine…but to be safe he would leave her both Shibata and Shimazaki. He could trust her around Shimazaki…well he had to. Whatever feelings she'd had for the man seemed to have faded, she spoke about her new friend more than she spoke of him, and if they hadn't and he overstepped again….well then the beatings would continue until either his behavior improved or he died from his injuries. One of the two. He so wished that he could have been there at Daughter's side…but he couldn't. Not with this many people around.

He'd make it up to her later.

On their day, the one that they had together, he would make it up to her. Right now he just needed to…to be on his own. Daughter would be fine. She was capable. She was his most capable child. Out of three…two. He had TWO children and out of the two of them she was the most capable and the one he trusted the most. Besides. Fukuda was there and he would not let anything happen to her. Fukuda loved the children and of course he would look after them in Suzuki's absence.

He could trust Fukuda.

Fukuda could trust Shigeko.

With this, anyway. She wanted to be her father then he would let her be her father. He had posted up not too far from her. She was at her table, now, with a glass of what he could tell from here was not sparkling juice at all and a plate of cookies and other desserts in front of her. The whole menu was desserts, fried foods, and about fifty difference kinds of soda or flavored milk. Because the details of this party had been approved by a ten year old. Now the party was being officiated by a ten year old. That ten year old over there in the Elsa dress and braids.

Maybe this would be how Claw fell.

Claw had always been in danger of falling apart. Be it from rival esper groups, nose governments, spies, assassins, or just the stupidity of the people who made up the organization. Claw is, was, and always would be in danger of falling…and that was normal. Fukuda had been wishing and hoping and praying for an end to this nonsense since the day he had realized that Suzuki was dead serious about taking over the world. Maybe the collapse would be internal. Maybe people, all of these very important people, would in fact be very pissed off at the fact that they had been left with a ten year old girl. She was there, not Suzuki, and they should have been annoyed at best and ready to wash their hands of all of this insanity at worst. After all how could you back a man who left his ten year old Daughter in charge?

Easily, apparently.

People lined up to speak to her. She was there, alone, at a table shaking hands and answering questions. She didn't get up and bow back, no, she never did that and neither did Suzuki. She took after him in some ways. In some ways, like these ways, she was even more dangerous. She smiled when she had to, played up the fact that she was just a cute little girl, and her face gave away nothing. Her aura…was not the most stable….but her face gave away nothing. She knew how to take care of her aura spikes too, it seemed. Every single time there was a ripple or a spike or a flare she took a drink of champagne. She took a drink of champagne and smiled. He watched this play out over and over again.

Fukuda took his own drink of champagne.

He couldn't get drunk. Not without A LOT of alcohol, anyway. He had been a legend in university. Suzuki had, too, but for a whole different reason. The man could not hold his liquor for the life of him. He'd seen Suzuki get completely wasted off of two cheap beers. They had been little more than kids back then but he assumed that Suzuki was still abstaining. Even on his wedding he'd drank plain sparkling water. Fukuda wondered what he would do on his daughter's wedding day. Probably hold her hair back when she got drunk and sick.

She started to look sick.

Shimazaki, God he hated that man with an intensity usually reserved for Suzuki, kept on popping back over with a full champagne glass for her. When he wasn't doing that he was harassing Hatori…who looked sicker than Shigeko. Hatori always had a glass of champagne in his hand. He'd also seen Shimazaki hand him something white and round to take as well as letting him surreptitiously smoke whatever it was that was in that electronic smoking…thing. He felt for Hatori, he really did. He had only been dragged into this because Shigeko collected espers and called them her friends…though obviously she wanted much more than that from him. God, she was getting to that age. He had no idea what they were all going to do when she got to that age. Well he knew what she was going to do. She was going to get a lot of men either beaten up or killed. Suzuki was entering what Fukuda liked to call stage four. There were five stages to obsession, six if Suzuki really felt like losing it, and he was entering stage four. Shigeko was starting to dominate what few conversations the two of them had. Stage five would involve Suzuki monologuing about her, keeping near to her at all times, and calling her his most perfect person…though he prayed to God that it wouldn't go that far. Suzuki usually only got obsessed with people when he was romantically attracted to his Daughter, he didn't have those sorts of feelings for Shigeko he had been perfectly clear about that, but even without this being…Fukuda feels sick even thinking of it…this still could not have been good for Shigeko.

Being cast in these adult roles.

But she seemed to enjoy it. She seemed to enjoy speaking to the important people and drinking her grown up drinks and having grown ups fawning over her…so maybe Fukuda was worried about nothing. Well not nothing, a drunken ten year old was in no way shape or form 'nothing', but maybe he should have focused his attentions on the person who truly needed him. Maybe he should have focused on Sho. Shigeko…she had body guards to save her if she needed it. Sho had no one. He had been under that table for some time now….and maybe he needed Fukuda to check on him.

So that was what he did.

He felt Shigeko's aura on him as he got up. She was looking at him. He could not read her expression. He pointed over to where the food was hoping that she would get the message. Even Suzuki gave him the luxury of meal breaks. She said nothing, did nothing, as he got up…and at some point he had gotten to the point in his life when he needed a ten year old girl's permission to get up and get something for her brother to eat. Honestly. He could remember a time when she came up to his knee, she was about diaphragm high now, and she clung to his leg and begged him to play with her and make her pork miso and read her the Hello Kitty book. Now she was nursing her fourth glass of champagne and answering questions about Suzuki's 'take over the world' timetable.

Fine then.

He felt somebody sick as he crossed the room. He instinctively latched onto that person. Oh. Hatori. He was being led to the bathroom. He was pale, sweating, and slurring something incomprehensible. Shibata was practically carrying him to the bathrooms. Hatori…well he had let Shimazaki get him into that state. Sho needed him more. Besides, if something were truly wrong with him then someone would know to fetch Fukuda. That crowd knew about whatever it was that he was on. They would get him if it were truly serious. Sho needed him now. He must have been so sad and lonely all on his own under that table.

Fukuda would be there for him even if it meant hiding under a table all night.

He loaded a plate up with some things that he knew Sho would like. Cookies and chips and fries and gummy worms and cupcakes and all sorts of things that he knew Masami would not have wanted him eating. She had tried her best to give the kids good eating habits. Fukuda maybe should have been on that better…but he had a lot on his plate as it was. Sho was….going through a lot. Sho was going through a lot and his main mission at this point was keeping him from ending up like Shigeko. If she wanted to drink and smoke and do God only knew what then that was fine. He knew that he should have stopped all of that before it even started but he had to prioritize and he chose to prioritize Sho. Somebody had to look out for him. He had no mother, his father was Suzuki Touichirou, and his sister was the second coming of Suzuki Touichirou. Someone needed to be there for him. Someone needed to actually be raising him. Someone needed to be there when he was all alone and hurt and hiding under tables probably feeling like shit and-

Or when he was sitting under tables playing games with a bunch of other kids.

"Hey! No room!" shouted a little boy as Fukuda crouched down and lifted up the table cloth. The entire table was filled with little boys and girls a little older than Sho. He almost dropped the plate that he had been holding. It had been so long since he had seen Sho interacting with kids his own age….it was nice.

"Awww…..it's someone's dad." Said another little boy. Sho shook his head. He was so adorable then Fukuda wished that there was some way to take a picture of this without looking like a creep who went around taking pictures of other people's children. Sho was red as a lobster and, yes, there was not a lot of room under that table but he didn't have to be pressed quite so close into that other kid. That was so cute. He was getting to that age and Fukuda knew that it wouldn't be cute for much longer….though he did wish that he could have taken a picture of that moment to embarrass Sho with in ten or so years…and also for Masami. Even though she hadn't emailed him back in years….

"He's not my dad. He just takes care of me sometimes." Said Sho. Fukuda felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. Sho had been asking him over and over again to be his dad…saying that he wished that Fukuda had been his father…but he was not going to dwell on it. Sho didn't mean it, probably, he was just embarrassed at having been caught. That was all.

"Brought you something to eat, Sho." said Fukuda. He could feel it. He knew when he was not wanted. That was…that was ok. Sho was older and the older he got the less he would need Fukuda. Better he was sitting there with a boy his own age than the likes of Shimazaki. He had been looking forward to spending time with Sho, waiting out this party playing those games Sho liked and Fukuda had no idea how to play, but this was ok too. Sho…he deserved to be with some kids his own age. To socialize with people his own age.

"Thanks, you can just leave it here. Um…I'm just playing Smash with these guys…and I don't think that you'd like to play too because…um…you probably didn't bring your DS and also whenever we play together you throw yourself off of the world on accident and it makes the match too short…but we can hang out later! Also there's other adults here for you to hang out with so…so you won't be so lonely." Said Sho. Message received. Sho had never just dismissed him like this but…but this was just the way that things had to be. Independence skills and all of that.

"Just come and find me when you're ready to head home." Said Fukuda. He lowered the table cloth and left the kids to whatever it was that they were doing. On his way back to his table he felt another sick person…the same sick person. There. in the wallflower corner. Hatori was talking to Minegishi…and apparently striking out. Striking out and…well thank God that Shibata was there to catch him. He was probably fine. That group knew what they were doing when it came to things like that.

They may have been morons but they wouldn't just let one of their own die.

Thought there may have been trouble in paradise based on whatever it was that Minegishi was saying to Shimazaki. They were too far away to hear and Fukuda had never learned how to read lips but he could read auras just fine. Lover's quarrel? He didn't know, he didn't care, and he wouldn't get involved unless someone got hurt. He would do his job and nothing more. Let those morons deal with whatever it was that they had gotten into…and whatever it was needed to stay the hell away from Sho. He was just a kid and those morons had better not have been thought about going near that little under the table clubhouse that Sho had made with his friends.

He needed to be a kid for as long as he could.

Because his sister was most certainly not a child anymore. Chronologically and biologically yes but emotionally she was practically an adult. She was still there, and still drunk, and getting drunker. Shimazaki had replaced her glass again…but then for some reason Minegishi came up and took it out of her hand. They, well she technically but Fukuda may have been drunk enough to refer to them as 'she' in his head but not nearly drunk enough to do so out loud, was saying something that Mob obviously didn't want to hear. There was a tug of war that ended with Minegishi downing Shigeko's champagne glass.

"Alright, show's over folks. Direct any questions, comments, concerns, and death threats to that guy over there. The one making a face like he's sucking on a rotten lemon and hating the fact that he's enjoying himself." Said Minegishi. They said it loud enough for him to hear…and judging by the way he was being glared at he wondered if they had someone heard that 'she' comment. Not that he was afraid of them. He couldn't be killed, not easily, and they were notoriously lazy. He wondered what their game was, there, grabbing away Shigeko's glass like that and sending her adoring crowd away.

It wasn't like she couldn't just get another glass of champagne.

He had no idea if she did or did not end up getting another glass of champagne. He didn't have time to keep an eye on her. He was mobbed by the crowd…and he could see why Suzuki hated this. He could see why Suzuki had chosen to run away rather than speak to the people who had gotten this thing up on it's feet. Fukuda wished that Suzuki, in all of his awkwardness, would have stayed. Maybe seeing what their beloved leader and future lord and master of the world really was would make them reconsider going along with this insanity.

He hated the lot of them.

He hated, or at least really disliked, most of the people in that room. It was exhausting and he did his best not to let it show. Whether he liked it or not he had to deal with these people. He had a lot to deal with. He had to deal with the people asking him questions about the future that Suzuki himself did not know the answer to, he had to deal with the sick person passing into his range every so often, he had to deal with Shigeko being in the room and her aura being so very loud, and he had to deal with the anxiety that came with not being able to see Sho.

Sho was both the most and the least of his worries.

He had no idea how much time passed but he knew that Sho's aura had moved. Fukuda focused as best as he could…oh. The under the table party had moved to the cloakroom. That was fine. Let him get away from his sister for a while. She had tried, Fukuda had caught glimpses of, her attempting to speak to the other children. She had been talking to another little girl, the one with the pink streaks in her hair and the dress that maybe someone her age should not have been wearing, though it might have been Shigeko who was out of step considering that her attempt at socializing apparently had gone about as well as her father's previous attempts when he had been about her age. The apple apparently didn't fall far from the tree…well at least one apple had fallen far from the tree. Sho was at least doing well.

Which was the only reason that Fukuda stayed.

He really should have taken Sho home as the night wore on. The crowd that had been around him eventually dissipated. He found himself alone, at his table, with no choice but to sit there and watch the world around him. The people who backed this insanity, the upper echelon, the drama happening between Shigeko's friends, all of it. He wanted to go. He wanted to leave. He needed to leave. He didn't want to be here…but that was the story of his life. Being places that he didn't want to be. Following Suzuki and his family to places that he had never asked to go. All of it. He couldn't leave, though, he could never leave.

He stayed for Sho.

He could feel Sho's aura flaring. Not angrily. No, he was happy. That was good. He knew that as the responsible adult he should have gotten those kids out of the cloakroom, they could have been going through people's pockets for all he knew, but he didn't feel like being anything other than what Sho needed him to be. Sho needed him to be there. The night wore on but Sho needed him to be there. Sho needed him to be there and….and he wasn't going to leave until Sho asked him to. That was who he was there for. Sho.

Not Shigeko.

She left on her own, eventually. She left with Shimazaki. He felt it, the energy shift from is teleportation, and then suddenly Shigeko's aura was gone. Totally gone. Out of his range. She had probably gone home with him. That was fine, better actually, because she was….she had been enjoying this too much. She had been having too much fun with this and maybe it was better that she went home and off to bed…or whatever it was that she had been planning on doing. He didn't know and he didn't care. He had enough to worry about when it came to Sho.

Sho was enough for him to worry about.

He didn't need to worry about anything else or anyone else. Shigeko, wherever she had gone off to, was fine. He wasn't; worried about her. He was worried about Sho. Even though he knew that he had no reason to be worried about Sho, he was having fun with some other kids, he was still worried. Because he couldn't see him. Because he only had his aura to go off of. Because he knew how quickly Sho's moods could change. He was a lot like Suzuki in that way. Emotional control did not come easy to him…and Fukuda was worried…he was so worried that he didn't have room in his head to be worried about anything else…

Not even the very sick person that had been dragged in front of him.

"Can you fix him? I think he's getting worse." Said Shibata. He was practically carrying Hatori. He was speaking nonsense. He was sweaty and speaking nonsense. His shirt was opened and his fly was down and he couldn't keep his eyes opened. Fukuda felt sick just being near him…and also that may have been the smell of piss that clung to him. Poor kid…

Though he had gotten himself into this state.

Even in university Fukuda had never been able to understand the appeal of it, getting yourself into that state, and it was one of the few things that he and Suzuki still had in common. Hatori could have said no at any time. He had gotten himself into that state and now he needed Fukuda's help. He was a nice kid and all, he still cared about Shigeko even though she had gotten him into this mess, but he had still gone along with all of this. Claw was not the place for compassion. Claw was not the place for…for a lot of things.

"He shouldn't have gotten himself into that sate in the first place." Said Fukuda. He downed another glass of champagne. He could sort of feel it, which meant that he maybe should have been counting his drinks, but at this point he didn't care.

"Shimazaki got him into this state, not Hatori himself, so it's not his fault. Now fix this because I can't deal with this anymore. I'm really losing control of this situation. So do something about this." said Shibata. He was standing over him, looming really, but Fukuda wasn't afraid. He healed fast. He was done, for now, being told what to do…but he was not done drinking. No, not at all. Even though he was having thoughts that he should not have had and he was acting in ways that he should not have acted…

He could worry about this tomorrow.

"Let him walk it off." Said Fukuda. He was tired. It was late and he was tired. He was tired of cleaning up other people's messes and he was tired of being obligated to other people. He was just tired. It was late and he was tired. He was tired and he just did not have the energy for this. Let Shigeko deal with this. These were her friends, the espers that she collected, so let her deal with them. He just could not deal with these people like this. Right now he only had enough room in his mind to worry about Sho. His wellbeing.

"I can-can-can-can-can-can-" said Hatori. Fukuda would have let him go on until he tired himself out. He was curious to see how long it would take. Hatori was fine, Fukuda knew what people felt like when they were near death and Hatori was going to stick around for quite a while, and Fukuda really did not have the energy to deal with this. Not with Hatori being all messed up on…whatever. Not with this whole thing that Shigeko had organized and then abandoned. Not even with the pair of hands picking him up by his lapels.

"Fix. Him. Now." Said Shibata. Fukuda knew that if it came down to it Shibata would not kill him. Sure this would hurt a whole lot but he wouldn't get killed. He could live through a lot. He could and had lived through Shigeko's explosion and the ones her father had gone through, too. He would live through this.

"Shibata. Sorry to interrupt, I really am, but I need to know if you've seen Mob anywhere." Said Minegishi. It was amazing how quietly they could move. It was amazing how little of an aura they had. Or maybe it was amazing that it took…Fukuda counted the empty champagne flutes…fourteen glasses of champagne to get him this drunk. Huh. He hadn't felt like this since…he didn't even know. That one party that he had dragged Suzuki to all those years ago…

"Little Sister-sama?" asked Hatori. Minegishi shook their head. They seemed more tired than anything…which meant that Hatori was most likely fine.

"Yeah, Mob. I haven't seen her in a while….also what did Ryou give you?" asked Minegishi. Fukuda felt himself fall back into his chair as Shibata let him go. Now his attentions were turned towards Minegishi, which was good for him, and now he just needed them to take whatever this was somewhere else so he could just sit there and wait for Sho to decide when he felt like coming home.

"I don't know what he gave him but I know he's had a lot to drink." Said Shibata. He was supporting Hatori now. Hatori seemed fine…is. Muttering nonsense and trying to pull on Shibata's hair, he was too short, but fine. Not close to death. He was way too hot and his heart was beating way too fast but aside from that he seemed fine. Nowhere near death. Fukuda knew what it felt like when people were close to death.

"I feel good and bad at the same time and I'm sorry that I called you what I called you and I'm sorry that I asked you out and I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable and I'm sorry that you're upset with me and I'm sorry that I asked if I could eat you and I'm sorry that you got into a fight and-" said Hatori. He was babbling sweating through his shirt and Fukuda was maybe about to fix him up just so he didn't have to deal with this anymore. This was a lot, this was more than he wanted to deal with, and he just wanted to be literally anywhere else in the world than where he was right now.

If Masami could see him now….

"I didn't get into a fight. What I was up to is none of your business. Now, Shibata, tell me when the last time you saw Mob was. I can't see her or feel her and I know that my range isn't that good but…well never you mind why I care. Just tell me when you last saw her." said Minegishi

"I haven't seen her in a while. I've been too busy babysitting him. I think Shimazaki took her home or something. That last I saw her was after you went over to talk to that woman in the blue dress. Shimazaki and her were talking for a little bit and then they just left. Sorry, that's all I know. I have bigger shit to worry about." Said Shibata

"For the love of…you. Fix whatever's wrong with him right now." Said Minegishi. They were focused on him now. Glaring at him now. They were trying to intimidate him…and it worked. Just a little. They knew that despite being considerably smaller than Shibata they were capable of considerably more. He had read the mission reports, he had patched people up after they had finished with them, they were capable of more than Shibata ever could be…

"Fine." Said Fukuda. He didn't feel like getting into it with all of them. He didn't feel like getting into it with anyone end of discussion. He let his aura pass over Hatori until whatever was wrong with him passed. It didn't take long.

"What the hell…what did I DO?" asked Hatori. Shibata looked at him and then shook his head. Minegishi didn't say anything. They just fished their phone out of their pocket, how they got away with coming to this thing dressed in slacks and a dress shirt Fukuda would never understand, and handed their phone to Hatori.

"Use this phone to find Mob's phone. Do that find my iphone thing right now." Said Minegishi. Fukuda wondered what they were so worried about. This was Shigeko, she could take care of herself, and she could make her own choices in life. If she wanted to abandon her own party then so be it. If she wanted to run off in the middle of the night with a man three times her age then so be it. He didn't care. That wasn't his daughter. If Suzuki cared, he was the one who should have cared, then he should have stayed behind and actually parented his child.

"She's….somewhere in Tokyo. Sorry, she's jumping around a lot. Just…what happened? My whole mind is a blank…sorry. Did I….I'm sorry. I'm just-Just…I feel like I said something to you and-" said Hatori

"You said a lot of shit to me, I don't care, right now I need to find where in the hell Mob went off to. You two can either come with me or stay here. Whichever." Said Minegishi. Their aura, what little aura they had, was concentrated on their pockets. Seeds. Someone was going to die…more work for him….

"I…I still feel sort of sick…" said Hatori. He wasn't sick at all but Fukuda wasn't going to get involved in whatever this was.

"Fine. Shibata, keep babysitting him. I don't need two kids to worry about." Said Minegishi. They didn't even give Fukuda a second look as they left. The other two dissipated as well. Fukuda, once again, found himself alone. He was alone and…and he didn't much want to be alone. He let himself get up. He let himself get up and he let himself look for Sho. He knew that he should have been giving Sho his space but it was late, people were leaving, and he himself wanted to go. If he wanted to go then…then it must have been pretty late for Sho, too.

He looked for Sho.

He wasn't in the cloakroom, no, just a lot of very jumpy kids in there. No, he sobered himself up and followed the feel of Sho's aura. He was, amazingly enough, sitting under the main dessert table. He had his knees up to his chest and his head resting on his knees. There was a half drank glass of soda and most of a slice of chocolate cake beside him. He looked and felt exhausted.

"Hey, you ready to go?" asked Fukuda. Sho nodded. He nodded and he crawled out from under the table. He moved so slowly…Fukuda worried for a minute. But he didn't feel drunk or anything like that. Just tired. Exhausted. The sort of tired the bone exhausted that Fukuda had felt many times before. Poor Sho…

"Yeah. I…I want to go." Said Sho

"Yeah, it's late. Come on, let' get you home. You want to say goodbye to your new friends?" asked Fukuda. Sho shook his head.

"No, I-I just want to go. I…I um…I did…I mean…I just want to go." Said Sho. Fukuda could see it in his aura, he was worried about something. Sho looked fine physically. Wait, was he bleeding….? No, that wasn't blood. That was…it was either fruit punch of….lipstick? Btu why…oh.

Fukuda knew what kids did alone in cloakrooms together.

Sho had just turned ten. He was too little for all of that. He was just a kid and should not have been kissing, amazingly enough, girls in cloakrooms. Fukuda had been twelve the first time he had ever…well that had been decades ago…and also girls had always bothered Sho. Fukuda remembered the first time Sho had ever run up and hidden behind him because some girl had decided to play catch and kiss with him….

He was growing up and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.

"Fukuda…can we have a sleepover? I don't want to go home. Can I sleep at your house? I just…I feel tired…and stuff." Said Sho. He was so tired. So very tired. Fukuda could relate. He could relate and…and he would let him. Of course Sho could sleep over. Even if once they got him Sho would end up bouncing off the walls again. Fukuda would let him. Let him bounce off the walls and play videogames and just…be a kid. Fukuda would let Sho be a kid for as long as he could. He was growing up so fast…not as fast as his sister but faster than he should have.

"Sure thing. Come on, let's get you home." Said Fukuda. He patted Sho on the back and off they went. Fukuda got their coats and then…and then they left. They found a car and they left. Sho, that was who he had to worry about. Shigeko was out there too but…but Sho needed him. Sho needed him. Sho needed him and he would be there for Sho. No matter how Sho needed him or what Sho needed from him he would be there.

He was glad, though, that Sho needed him to leave this godforsaken party. He really, really, really hated parties.