This was a party.

A real party, Shimazaki had said, and he knew a lot of things about a lot of things. Like parties. This place was bright and dark at the same time and very loud and there were a lot of people but Mob wasn't scared. No, she wasn't scared or nervous or anything. She felt good. She felt great. She felt better than she had ever felt in her entire life…even though her face was kind of numb. Her face was numb and her legs were bouncing to the beat of the music and she felt warm, way too warm, but also…happy.

She had never felt so happy in her entire life.

She had a whole pile of napkins in front of her. She was folding paper cranes over and over again with her hands and with her powers. She had no idea what she was going to wish for but she knew that whatever it was couldn't be any better than the feeling that she had right now. This was amazing! She felt warm and happy and good and safe and-and-and she was wide awake and not hungry and at all and-and-and-

"Mob! How's my favorite person!?" asked Shimazaki as he teleported right in front of her. She wasn't scared. She had been able to feel his aura all night. She could feel his aura and her aura but no one else's aura because these were all normal people. Sometimes she forgot that most of the world was made up of normal people. Sometimes she forgot because she lived only with other espers. Well now she remembered…until she forgot again. Things inside of her head had been sort of slippery for a while now. She didn't care.

She didn't care about anything.

Well she did and she didn't. She cared that she was warm and dry, otherwise she could have gotten sick, and she cared that Shimazaki was happy. Those were the things that she cared about right now. She also cared about how squeaky her shoes were against the ground, how many napkins she could fold and unfold, and about this song! This was the best song ever! Well it had no words and just the same sound over and over again but she still wanted to get up and dance and stuff!

But she couldn't because she was only ten and they were at this place in secret.

"I'm thirsty and also kind of bored. I want to get up and move and stuff. Can't I go where you keep on going?" asked Mob. She didn't want to be alone right now. She wasn't scared, just bored, and he was the one who was always saying how terrible it was to be bored anyway. She wanted to follow him out into the crowd and gone where he had gone and done whatever it was that he was doing. It seemed fun.

"Bored? How in the hell are you bored? Mob, come on, this is a real party!" said Shimazaki as he made himself comfortable in their booth. He had two drinks in his hands. One was for him and one was for her. It looked like a smoothie and smelled like one too. Mob pulled it over with her powers. The top looked like snow. She made tiny snowmen at the top.

"The party we came from was real too." Said Mob. They had come from a party…and it hadn't been as fun as this…but nothing in her entire life had ever been as fun as this so there was no comparison.

"It was real….dull. A nice, long, stuffy, work affair. This is a real party! Come on, can't you feel the beat? And smell the people? And drink your fruity drink…thing. Seriously, drink that thing. I asked for whatever the fruitiest, girliest drink they had and there it is. Now hydrate! Hydrate before you dehydrate and shrivel up like a raisin!" said Shimazaki

"Does that really happen?" asked Mob

"Yes! Now you need to hydrate before you dehydrate and Toshi kills me…well more than they're planning on killing me already since, you know, the coke." Said Shimazaki

"Why would Minegishi be mad at you? This is a good thing. I feel good and you feel good and I'm happy and you're happy and we're both happy." Said Mob. Why did it seem, sometimes, like all the best things in life were bad? Drinking and smoking and now this? She had more control over her powers now than she ever had in her entire life. She could feel them. She could feel them there just under her skin and she knew that they would listen to her no matter what. She pulled her drink over to her with her powers. It slid across the table and stopped right in front of her. Perfect. The foam at the top wasn't even disturbed.

"Because they think that I'm going to ruin your life with this shit or whatever. That's just Toshi worrying about you since, you know, they love you and all of that. They see themselves when they look at you, I think, and they don't want you as heavy into drugs as they were….are. Me, I don't care. I've had the best times in my entire life all messed up and now I want to share those with you." Said Shimazaki

"I…I don't want Minegishi to be mad or sad but…but I feel really good and I have a lot of control over my powers and I…I just feel really good." Said Mob

"Me too…but you know what would me us both feel better? Not getting dehydrated. Now drink you little lush." Said Shimazaki. Mob picked at her drink with her powers. She poked the top. She…felt…it. She felt it with her powers and her brain told her that it was cold and wet…like snow. She was getting the feeling of snow from his drink. She had always been able to feel with her powers but…but she had never been able to feel this clearly…

What else could she do?

She made a little mountain on the top of her drink. What could she do? She could…she could make little snowflakes out of the frozen part of her drink and make them rain down…and she could…she could make a little Olaf. He liked warm hugs. So she made a friend for him. Then they hugged. Then she made two more friends and made them hug. She liked warm hugs. She wanted warm hugs. She wanted to give and receive warm hugs. The world did not have enough warm hugs in it. She would have to fix that.

She made more snowmen and they were all giving warm hugs just like all good snowmen would.

She wondered if the snowmen that they had made in the park were cold and lonely. She wondered if she should have made them hug. She wondered if they could go back so she could fix her snowmen and make them hug again. She wondered if she was cold. She wondered if he was cold. She wondered if she should get up and give him a warm hug. She wondered if he would give her a warm hug. She wanted a warm hug. She loved warm hugs.

"Your aura sounds….busy. Busy and kind of like…high pitched? And soft? What are you doing?" asked Shimazaki. Mob tried to listen to her aura. All she could hear was the music around her. It made her thumb her feet against the ground. She wondered if he could see her doing that. She wondered if he could hear her doing that. She wondered if her hearing and aural sense would get as good as his if she closed her eyes forever. She closed her eyes. She could feel everything around her with her aura. The one hundred and thirteen people around her. The six hundred glasses both full and empty. The electricity in the walls. The millions of snowflakes just outside. All of it.

There. That wasn't so hard.

She had done all of that while building snowmen. It wasn't so hard, splitting her focus, not now. Dad had always said that splitting focus was hard but dad never did things like this. She could easily split her focus because she had no focus at all to begin with. She could feel and see the whole world around her with her aura. She felt like she could do anything…because she could. She was Mob. She was and she was sitting there and she could do anything.

She wanted to build a snowman.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?" asked Mob as she made tiny snowmen in the fruity ice having on the top of her drink. She liked to build snowmen. She couldn't make them come to life, she had already tried that, but she liked to make them with her powers. They were listening better than they had ever listened before in her entire life and she did not want to waste this. She wanted to do…stuff. All of the stuff. She wanted to go back outside to do stuff and things. All of the stuff and all of the things.

She felt like she could do anything.

"You wanna go back outside and make more snowmen?" asked Shimazaki before he gulped down his drink. Shimazaki said that it was very important that they stay hydrated or else they could get really sick. So that was what they did. We'll they had been drinking snow, before, and this looked and smelled a lot better than snow…but she also REALLY wanted to build a snowman.

"Yes! I want to build all the snowmen! I don't care if we were all wet with snow!" said Mob. That's what they had been doing in the park before coming here. She had felt sort of numb for a little bit and then really good. Then her powers had been listening better than ever and she could feel every single snowflake, so, of course, there had been nothing else to do but build a snowman.

And sing.

And they had sang and built snowmen until their clothes were soaked with snow that had turned back into water, because of science, and then Shimazaki said that he would bring her to a real party. And now they were here. The music was loud and there were a lot of people and this was a 'no kid zone' or something and that was why she had to sit here and sit still and not tell anyone that she was only ten because they would get kicked out and Mob didn't want them to get kicked out. Shimazaki was so happy here. She could tell by his aura.

And she wanted her friends to be happy.

"That sounds fun! You sound fun! You're fun! You're here and you're fun and I love you and I want to build a snowman with you and I want to pick you up and throw you and I want to dance with you but I can't dance with you because you're ten and you're too young to be here with me and if someone catches you here then we're getting kicked out and I want to dance with you so bad…so we will later! We'll build a snowman later too! It'll be big and tall and come to life but not kill everyone even though Frosty should have killed everyone….hasn't it always sound kind of like a threat? Like he'll be back next winter? Like he'll kill those kids for giving him life like how kids kill their parents? Well I guess not everyone kills their parents…anyway! I want to leave with you right now and I want to do stuff with you but let me dance some more. I've just got to dance some more but then we can go outside…but keep staying here and don't look at anyone or talk to anyone…and for the love of God don't tell anyone you're only ten!" said Shimazaki. He leaned across the table and kissed her on the top of the head. Mob wiped it away after he teleported away. Even as good as she felt now she still didn't want to kiss him or anything like that.

Gross.

She would never do that to Minegishi anyways…and Minegishi hadn't done that to her…so why was she still upset? No. She was not going to think about that. She was not going to think about that because she was having fun and she didn't want to think about that and she didn't want to think about anything that she didn't have to think about and also she was thirsty and hot and hot and thirsty and she wanted to move and she needed to move but she couldn't move and she was so thirsty.

So she drank her drink.

She felt good. Well she felt a little sick after drinking her whole drink at once, dizzy a little bit, but she also felt good. She wanted to feel this good for the rest of her life. She wondered if she could. She didn't much like the numb feeling in her face but she could get used to that if she could feel this good for the rest of her life! She closed her eyes and saw with her aura. She could do anything. She could feel everything. She could tell her powers what to do and they would listen. They would listen and not do their own thing like they kept on trying to, well they had been before. Now her powers listened. They listened and she could make them listen.

Because she was Mob and she was awesome and this was awesome and life was awesome!

Minegishi hated their life. It was awful.

This night was awful. They were about ready to kill someone. They were about ready to jump out of this car and kill the next person that they saw. They were in a neighborhood that Mob should not have been in. They knew that this had been Ryou's idea. Ryou had brought her HERE of all place. Mob's dot had stopped moving. It had stopped moving for a while. She was…the car slowed and stopped. She was in a club of all places….

Minegishi hated clubs.

But Ryou loved them and he knew never to bring them…so he brought Mob. She was in there. Minegishi could see her aura. It was bright but….sharp? Not spiking. Not spiking or flaring or…or anything. Focused. She was very focused…which could have been good or bad. Well this whole situation was bad. Mob was ten and Minegishi knew what Ryou got up to in those sorts of places…and it was stuff that Mob should not have been getting up to. They knew what sorts of people hung out in places like this…and they knew that Mob was Mob and she should not have been anywhere near this place…

"Leave it running." Said Minegishi before the climbed out of the car and slammed the door. They shoved their hands in their pockets. They were freezing, they should have worn a proper jacket, and the lack of plant life was even worse than the cold. Ryou was going to die…or at least suffer. Mob…Mob was Mob and she'd be fine. Minegishi knew that she had been through enough, first heartbreak was rough when you were ten, so she would not be lectured about the fact that she should not have under any circumstances gone off with Shimazaki…no, they weren't going to make this night any harder for her. For either of them.

God, that hated clubs.

They hated large social gatherings. They had been planning on being a wallflower until the damn party had been over and then they would have gone home, gone to sleep, and then woke up tomorrow and went about their normal day. That had been the plan but now that plan was just…gone….and now they had to go into a very small space packed with drunk, horny, and often handsy people looking for the idiot they worked with/lived with/were unfortunate friends with. Well him and the ten year old girl who should not have been in there….

And then she wasn't.

Minegishi didn't even step insde before Mob's aura was gone. Great. Mob, or rather Shimazaki, was running from them…and of course he would run. He had messed up. He had messed up and he knew that he had messed up so of course he was running…or rather teleporting. Great. Well now they had to get back on the road and play detective all night…or follow the leader…or some other children's game that Mob should have been playing instead of going to clubs in the middle of the night with the worst possible person that she should have been with.

God. This night.

"God! This night!" shouted Shimazaki. He had to shout, really, because he just…had to shout. So he shouted. Even though she, the little she who made them a we, shushed him for reasons he could not understand.

"Don't yell! You'll wake people up and then they won't be able to go back to sleep and then their sleep schedules will be messed up and then it'll be my fault for not stopping you from shouting so please just stop shouting." Said Mob. Shimazaki reached down and patted her hair like she was a dog. He could feel her aura. She felt sort of like raw tripe. Like really fresh raw tripe. It was weird. He liked it. He reached out and touched her again. He let it get caught in his aura. She pulled away.

"Come back! You feel good!" shouted Shimazaki

"You're shouting! Please, stop shouting! I asked you to stop shouting! Now I'm shouting at you for shouting! That's not right of me! I need to stop shouting! And I will….now. There. Now I'm not shouting anymore and my voice is normal and in my normal voice I'm going to ask you not to shout because it bothers people." said Mob. She did that thing that people did when they wanted you to shut up. The turn it down motion. Well he was going to pretend that he didn't see that.

"So!?" asked Shimazaki. He felt the snow under his shoes. It was cold. It was cold and also kind of slippery. He didn't much like it when it was icy and snowy outside, it made seeing fuzzy, but she was there and she was going to take care of him. She was like Toshi like that. Like a smaller version of Toshi who wore dresses and drank milk and always smelled like bubble gum but also who he was not going to have sex with because that would be wrong and he had done a lot of wrong things in his life but not that.

God, he missed Toshi.

Toshi would have just let him shout. Toshi might have even shouted along with him. Toshi was fun like that. She was fun too, Mob, but not as fun as Toshi. There was no one in the world that was as fun as Toshi. He missed them so much. He wished that he could have shared this with them. They would have been so much fun! They would have had fun or complained or just…he just wanted Toshi to be near him! That was all! He needed Toshi to be near him! He needed Toshi like he needed air and water and sugary snacks but not now because he wasn't hungry!

"It's in the middle of the night. People are going to be upset if we wake them up and then what if the dad wakes up and he's upset and he beats up his kids? I don't want to be responsible for people being upset and beating up their kids…and even if they weren't going to beat up their kids then I still don't want to be responsible for waking people up in the middle of the night." Said Mob. He put his hand on her head and let it stay there. Her hair was wet. She smelled like stale sweat. She was warm. She was like a little heater. Her hair felt weird, though, a lot smoother than Toshi's. Toshi's hair was kind of dry. That was because they colored their hair. Their hair was lavender. He knew what lavender was. Lavender was Toshi and Toshi was lavender and he missed Toshi so much!

And Toshi missed him too because Toshi knew how awesome he was and Toshi needed him just as much as he needed Toshi.

"Who the fuck cares!?" asked Shimazaki. She cared too much, that was her problem. Toshi cared about things too but not to the point that they became boring. Well they were sort of boring now since they had bonded with this kid….but that was ok. Toshi would never be boring to him no matter how boring they got and how much time they spent with a kid instead of him….did they want a kid….?

He could do that!

It would be great! Their kid would be the most fun kid ever! He could teach his kid all of the important things that he was teaching Mob now! Also his kid would be fun, like her little brother, and they could do fun stuff every single day and it would be the best! Then when the kid got older they could do even more fun stuff together and it would be the most fun ever because it would be half of him and half of Toshi and it could just enjoy it when things were fun and not freak out over nothing!

Because, really. Mob was freaking out over nothing.

"Me! I'm the one who cares! If you wake people up then they won't get enough sleep and if they don't get enough sleep then they won't be able to go to work and if they can't go to work then they can't feed their families and then their children and pets will starve to death and I don't want to be responsible for that! I've got enough stuff to be responsible for…." said Mob. Shimazaki shook his head. This kid worried too much. Not good. She needed to learn how to let go and just…let it go. Like that song she sang all the time.

"Let it go…let it go…something about snow and letting it go….and also maybe coming out….let it go…" sang Shimazaki. There. Now she would get it. That was her favorite song from her favorite movie and now she would understand that she had to just let it go already and have fun. This was the shit that Toshi should have been teaching her!

"Do you want to play Frozen? I want to play Frozen. You can be Elsa because you're my friend and I can be Anna and then we can find some snow and then make a mountain…but, ok, so in this game it'll be like the movie but instead of going up the mountain and coming back down she just stays up the mountain, ok? And then Elsa and Anna live on the mountain together and Anna has ice powers too and they have a new kingdom where they can be sisters and nobody is afraid of themselves and also they wear pants because I play this with Sho sometimes and he wears pants even though that's not accurate to the movie. So it's ok if you wear pants. I'm not going to wear pants though because I don't like pants." Said Mob

"Aren't you cold? Aren't you freezing? How are you not cold like that? I can't feel the wind but you can and you've got to be cold…what if I kill you? Shit…ok, don't die. That's my big rule. Don't die….and also don't tell Toshi." Said Shimazaki

"I won't die but I don't keep secrets from Minegishi. They're my best friend. See? Well you can't see but you can…you can tell where things are with your aura…and stuff. Well I have this bracelet and Minegishi has this bracelet and that means that we're best friends and friends don't keep secrets from friends…even though they kept a secret from me…." Said Mob. Shit! No, she could not tell Toshi! If she told Toshi then Toshi would be even more pissed at him! And they could stay pissed for a long time!

"Just keep this a secret from Toshi, would you!? And don't be pissed at them either! And get over that brail faced nerd already! It's only been….without being able to feel the sun I have no idea how long it's been…but it's been long enough to forgive Toshi and get over that guy! And before you say anything I will not stop shouting!" said Shimazaki

"I am not going to keep secrets from Minegishi! We don't have any secrets…well we have things that I'm too young to know about…but I don't keep secrets from them because we're friends and they know everything about me…and I wish that I knew everything about them….but that's not how it works.." said Mob. Great. Now she sounded sad and stuff. Well whatever. She wanted to know about Toshi…and he knew about Toshi! He knew all about Toshi!

"Toshi is one hundred and fifty seven centimeters tall. That's something to know about Toshi. Let's see what else….they like so sleep under and open window in the summertime….they sometimes dream in black and white….they have fillings on their back three teeth…they're pansexual which does not mean that they like to fuck in kitchens…well they do but it means the same as being bi….I think…I don't know all I know is that we're compatible and Shibata is weirdly protective of his kitchen…even though it's my kitchen too and I can do whatever I want in it…and I'll leave my pudding cups wherever I want to…" said Shimazaki. These were the things about Toshi that nobody knew but him and Toshi…and certainly not that kid that everyone seemed to be into…not that he cared. That kid could feel however he wanted about whoever he wanted. Toshi would never feel the same way back….so why did he still feel like….

Stop thinking. This is what the coke is for.

"Um…please stop telling me things about Minegishi. That's more than I ever wanted to know about Minegishi….so please stop telling me things." Said Mob

"I'll stop talking about Toshi but I am not going to stop telling you thinks. I have a lot of important wisdom to impart on you." Said Shimazaki. That was what you were supposed to do with kids, impart wisdom, so that was what he was going to do. He liked doing that, being smarter than someone, and being able to make someone into someone even better than the someone that they had been. She was going to grow up to be the perfect friend when he was done with her or so help him God!

"What's your wisdom about? Is it about where we're walking to? Because I really want to know where we're walking to." Said Mob

"See? This is what my wisdom is about. You've got to just let it go sometimes, like your song, like now. You're all worried about where we're going instead of just letting your feet do the walking. Just follow your feet and they will lead up to where we need to go." Said Shimazaki

"My feet have blisters." Said Mob

"That's good. That means we've been walking for a while." Said Shimazaki

"But they hurt." Said Mob

"That's good. Pain is weakness leaving the body. I heard that on TV once and TV has a lot of wisdom." Said Shimazaki

"But my feet really hurt. My legs want to walk but my feet hurt." Said Mob. He looked her over. Yup. Those were some nasty blisters. Well he was not going to stop walking. He needed to walk because…because he just needed to walk. He needed to walk and he needed to outwalk Toshi because Toshi had almost caught him before and he was not ready to end the night and deal with them being all pissed off and shit at him.

"I'm not going to stop walking. If I stop walking then the night's going to be over and I don't want the night to be over." Said Shimazaki

"But we don't even know where we're going." said Mob

"What's it matter where we're going? What matters is where we are." Said Shimazaki

"Where are we?" asked Mob

"No fucking clue. Somewhere in Tokyo, maybe, but we're fine. It still smells like Japan so we're good. Come on, don't stop walking. Whatever you do don't stop walking." Said Shimazaki

"What happens if I stop walking?" asked Mob

"You're going to start bouncing in place again and watching that give me a headache….but if your feet hurt so bad then I guess I can carry you." Said Shimazaki. He didn't wait for her answer, he just picked her up and threw her over his shoulders. She wasn't that heavy. Or maybe he was just that strong. Either way now they could get back to their very important walking mission of walking.

Which they did.

The back of his neck itched where the puffy part of her dress rubbed against him. He could feel her shoes dripping onto his chest….and he didn't much like that. He had to expand his barrier around her physical body. It was the only way to have her this near. He never did this for anyone. Well for Toshi…and he was still thinking of Toshi. He needed to get on a higher level. He was still thinking about them and…and he never really stopped thinking about them. Even at night when he tried to drift off he always focused on the feel of their aura when they were apart and the feel of their breathing when they were together. Toshi was really good at breathing. Some people were good at breathing. Some people were bad at it. Some people were just neutral. Toshi was very good at breathing.

God he missed the way Toshi breathed.

Not enough to let them find him, of course, because that would have been bad. He teleported a few times just to throw them off of his trail. He needed….well he had no clue what he needed. The kid needed things, right? She was telling him about how that bitch at the party was a bitch to her by being all bitchy. Girls were scary like that. Guys he understood. They kicked your ass or you kicked their ass. Girls got inside of your head and broke you down until you were nothing…or they just got inside of your head end of discussion.

Toshi was inside of his head and they weren't even a girl.

Toshi was Toshi. He didn't always get it but he respected it. They were one of the few people on this Earth who he respected. Toshi was one of the few people on this Earth who could get inside of his head…and now that they were there he didn't know how to get them out. Like the raccoons that had gotten into the walls when he had been a kid. He knew that they were there, he could hear them and feel them and sense them, but he hadn't known how to get rid of them…and he hadn't wanted to. They had been his friends. He had fed them and let them sleep in his bed when he got lonely…which he had been…and Toshi was the same.

Toshi was his raccoon.

"…but if strawberry milk did come from pink cows then that would be against nature's laws and-" said Mob

"Toshi's a raccoon. Toshi is my raccoon. Toshi is my favorite raccoon. You know what I mean?" asked Shimazaki. She would get it. She was a nice kid like that and she would get it. She was good at getting things. God, he loved this kid. He loved her now and he would always love her. Why weren't there more people in the world like this kid?!

"….I don't know what that has to do with milk…" said Mob. She actually sounded a little put out there. Heh. This kid was so fucking adorable!

"It doesn't. I was just thinking about how much Toshi was like a raccoon. How warm they are and how they're always there for me and how if you leave food out for them they'll eat it because they're in a constant war with themselves every single day not to overeat because their parents never fed them and that's why they think that sugar is poison because they know that once they start they can't stop and that's what all the fruit is about." Said Shimazaki

"Um….can we go back to talking about milk?" asked Mob

"I want to talk about Toshi. Why would you want to talk about milk when you could talk about Toshi?" asked Shimazaki

"Because I'm thirsty." Said Mob. Huh. Fair enough. They hadn't hydrated in a while…and he was thirsty now that he thought about it…and not just in the Toshi way…in the thinking about Toshi way…God he missed Toshi so much…and he needed to see Toshi like he needed water…and also he needed water…

"Come on, let's hydrate. You have money right?" asked Shimazaki. She held her bag next to his ear and shook it. He heard coins and also…was that the crumpling of money? He didn't know. They'd figure it out when they got to…a place that sold liquids. Yeah, liquids. He just needed a place the sold liquids!

So that was where he took them! To a place with a lot of liquids!

"…and then the kid drank a gallon of milk right in front of me and tried to pay with a ten thousand yen note! And when I told her that I couldn't change ten thousand yen at this hour the guy, the one with his eyes closed, just started stacking drinks on the counter! And he wouldn't stop until I told him I had enough in the register to make change….maybe I should have held out." said the most chatty cashier Minegishi had ever met. Well at least he was a wealth of information. Mob had definitely been here. How many other ten year olds in blue dresses traveled with blind men dressed in all black and paid in ten thousand yen bills?

They had just missed them.

"Did they say where they were headed?" asked Minegishi. Ryou…where he was off to next depended on what he was on. Coke and MDMA made him want to be around people. DMT made him want to be alone…and God have mercy on them all if he'd given Mob some DMT to smoke…acid made him want to be in nature….and mushrooms made him want to hide under a blanket…

And the only thing Minegishi had to go on was that they were very sweaty and very thirsty.

"Probably to a bathroom but hopefully to bed. Honestly. What kind of a man would bring his daughter out at this hour? Well…I hope she was his daughter…." Said the cashier. Minegishi was about to start breaking either things or people. They had nothing to go off of. They had been here, Mob could apparently drink a gallon of milk in one sitting, and Shimazaki was apparently being creepy towards her again. Wonderful.

"Thank you for your help. Now give me a box of long Peace's and a black coffee." Said Minegishi. They rested the head in their hands as they waited for what they would need to get them through a long night. Suzuki got up around five or six depending on his mood. It was around one last they checked. They did not have a long time to get Mob and bring her home before her dad woke up and noticed that his favorite kid was gone.

What had Shimazaki been thinking?

Mob had been, according to the cashier, just as sweaty as he had been. Sweaty and thirsty could mean almost anything. They had no idea what Shimazaki carried on himself in any given day. Mob was a ticking time bomb….and at least she hadn't gone off yet. Downers and depressants suppressed her powers…so it stood to reason that uppers and euphoric would set them off…

So the first thing that Minegishi was going to do when they found her was stuff her full of Xanax and pray that she didn't develop an addiction.

"Excuse me? Ma'am? Your coffee and your cigarettes." Said the cashier. They were too damn tired to correct him. Minegishi took their wallet out as quickly as they could. That damn bracelet got caught in their pocket. They got it out with a yank and winced at the feel of fabric tearing.

"Thank you." Said Minegishi. They took a sip of their coffee. Lukewarm and burnt. Wonderful. The cashier shook his head. Well if he didn't want people to make weird faces then he should have invested in a better coffee maker.

"That's the exact face that the kid made when she tried it. Not that the kid needed any more coffee in her. She was practically bouncing up and down. The man, too, though that may have been because he cleaned me out on canned coffee and energy drinks." Said the cashier. Minegishi stopped drinking. Their eyes went wide.

"Jittery? How jittery?" asked Minegishi

"The girl was shaking so hard that she ended up knocking over my whole counter display and the man was moving so fast I didn't even see him go from one end of my shop to another. I swear. The people who come in at night…" said that cashier. Minegishi looked around. Time for some detective work. Ryou had no idea what was in cans at the best of times. He went by feel…and canned coffee felt just like those tiny Asahi's he liked to carry around in his pockets sometimes…and the energy drinks….he could smell the sugar in those through the cans….

They were good for when you came down.

He wouldn't bring Mob up to his level. No, not if this was the first time. He knew how dangerous fucking around with this could be and he had this fixation on Mob growing up to be the perfect friend and boss…he had brought her to a store and paid with money…because he knew how she felt about stealing…he was taking care of her…

There had been one set of 28.5 centimeter men's dress shoe footprints outside.

He was carrying her. They had been walking for a while…and she had gotten tired…so he carried her. Wait, no, not tired. There were all of those snowmen outside…and she had been jittery. She wasn't tired at all. She had been wearing these little blue Mary-Janes….not good for walking around all night through the Tokyo snow. She couldn't go on…but she was still going on if not walking…and she had been sweaty and thirsty…

Right next to the register sat an untouched box of Frozen themed milk chocolate bars with the whole cast on the front.

Mob wasn't hungry. She would have bought the whole box if she had just been high…and she would have been lethargic if she had been drunk…so Shimazaki had decided that this was the best time to introduce her to the hard stuff…but WHAT hard stuff?! Minegishi took a deep breath. They needed to know what kind of danger they and everyone else in Tokyo were in. They needed to know how to bring Mob back down from whatever she was on.

Also they needed to know what they were going to be executing Shimazaki Ryou for doing to her.

"Did they say or do anything else interesting? Think. Hard. I need to find this kid. It's way past her bedtime like you said." Said Minegishi. This was also coming close to being a shot for shot live action remake of the climax to Akira but they weren't going to say that. No, that would not have gone over well at all…just like the drugged up ten year old wouldn't go well for the good people of Tokyo. Maybe Ryou was trying to destroy it. He had grown up here and his life had been just as bad as theirs…no. That wasn't like him. That required introspection, planning, and thought. He was capable of neither of those things.

"You sure are interested in these people….wait! I've got it! You're Toshi!" said the cashier. He snapped as he said that…which had not been necessary to snap them out of their thoughts. No, the much hated abbreviation of their first name had been more than enough to do that.

"I am. They mentioned me?" asked Minegishi trying their best to sound friendly and personable…which they had to be because the best detectives were and they had to be a detective tonight. A detective tonight and an executioner tomorrow.

"The man did. He was worried that you would find out about something…and the little girl kept on saying that she would not keep secrets from you….I know! That's your daughter, isn't it?" asked the cashier. Minegishi didn't have the energy to correct him.

"Thank you for your help. You're coffee's burnt." Said Minegishi as they left the warm of the store. They could see the footprints, Ryou's footprints, going off to the left. They motioned for the car to stay put. The footprints went into an alley. His…and then, suddenly, hers. They stopped at a dumpster…

Mob must have been drinking milk all night.

She was not going to piss in an alley. She had more sense and decency than that. Well then at least now there were more clues than what they had started off with. Sweaty, jittery, but still with enough sense not to piss in an alley…worried, too. Anxious. Not a lot could make Ryou anxious….and he was the anxious one. They were mad at him…and usually it rolled off his back…but now something was making him jittery and anxious….and there was a broken weed pen sitting there in the snow…which meant that one of them had been trying to come down….but too jittery to calm down…

That coked up moron.

He had never admitted it and never would but coke made him anxious. Uppers, euphorics, all of it made him anxious. He had trouble sitting still at the best of times. They knew him and they knew…they knew where he was headed. He was jittery about them and thinking about them…and he had someone with him who needed a bathroom…and he didn't have a lot of friends in this city…or in the world…but there was one person who would always tolerate his presence…because he let them use him as a canvas for their 'art'…..if that creepy skin portrait of Minegishi could be called art…

If Mob came out of this with a tattoo then Shimazaki was losing one of his.

"….no more weed for tattoos! I'm too far in the hole, Shimazaki…" Mob could hear arguing through the bathroom door. This was the grossest bathroom she had ever been in. There wasn't even any soap to wash her hands with, just a bottle of dish detergent, which was a kind of soap…though she would have preferred real soap.

She would have preferred a lot of things.

"….you know that I don't carry money around on me. Who do you think I am? A functional member of society? Come on, man, you've known me for years." Said Shimazaki. Mob's head hurt. It had been hurting for a while. The top of the world feeling had gone a long time ago. After that she had just been jittery and thirsty….and now she was just jittery and thirsty and tired. At least she didn't have to pee anymore. There was that. She wanted to feel that on top of the world feeling again. Even if it made her face numb and the world move too slow and also too fast at the same time. She wished that she could feel it again but Shimazaki said only once, maybe twice, but that was it because she was a kid and he didn't want her to die and stuff…..

How could something that made her feel good be bad for her?

"…and what do you think this is? A charity? Shimazaki, I need money. I'm running out of room to practice on you anyway. Either pay me or get out…and take the kid with you. I don't even WANT to know what the story is on her." said Shimazaki's friend. Mob's hair rose up at the mention of her. Her powers were coming back…well they had never gone…but they were back to doing their own thing now. The water in the sink was trying to rise up. She wasn't trying to do that. She wasn't making the cabinet rattle either. She wished that her powers would just listen. They had been listening so good before but now it was like they were making up for lost time.

She rinsed her hands.

"….she has money. Calm down. She's got more money than God and I know that she'll buy off of you. The kid's a budding fiend I swear…" said Shimazaki. A fiend was someone who did this too often. That was why she could only have seconds and not thirds. He had been trying to teach her moderation so she wouldn't die, like Minegishi was, but she didn't need to be taught moderation. She knew herself and she knew her limits. Washing her hands in a dirty bathroom with lime scented dish soap and water that wouldn't even get hot enough to steam would probably kill her long before thirds and maybe fourths would. The water at home was hotter. This water was barely warm. Shimazaki was being just like Minegishi. She didn't know why he was telling her 'no'. He said that if you took too much at once you could die but…but she had a bigger chance of dying from catching something in this dirty bathroom than she did of the stuff that Shimazaki has given her. He was still doing it. He had only let her do it once more and then he said that the rest was for him. That wasn't nice. Mob always shared with her friends.

Like how she had tried to share her pen with him but then he dropped it and the cartridge broke.

"….nine? Ten? Why is a kid that young looking to buy? And….are you on coke? Is she? Shimazaki…what the hell, man? Why are you involving me in this? I am not going to prison because you brought me a coked up ten year old!" Mob was not happy. She was not happy about how weird she felt and about how dirty this bathroom was and about how she was being called a kid…well she was a little bothered, she couldn't help it…but she was not going to be mad about any of that. She was not going to be mad about anything. When she got mad then she lost control of her powers and she needed to keep her powers under control because…because otherwise she could do something bad. Her pen would have helped, or something to drink, or maybe she just needed sleep…but she couldn't sleep. She got the feeling that sleep would not come easy at all tonight…if she ever made it back home…

She had no idea where she even was.

"Stop asking questions and just go with it. She's a kid, she's got money, she's looking to buy, and I'm mostly sure she's coming off the coke. That's what the pens are for. I kind of dropped hers and…well…she's like me but worse. A lot worse. So it's in our best interests to smoke her down. So stop freaking out. She's got money, you know I'm not going to say anything, and then once our business is done we'll be out the door and you can get back to jerking off with the sound on way too loud. Sound like a plan?" asked Shimazaki. Mob had no idea what a lot of that meant but she did like the leaving part. She wanted to go home and she would have gone home on her own if she had any idea where she even was. She knew that she was in Tokyo but she didn't know where and her phone battery was low. If she knew where she was then she could check the map app and get directions…but she had no idea where she was. Well Shimazaki's friend's house. That was where she was. But she had no idea where that was in relation to her house. It was late and Sho must have been so worried. She hadn't been there to tuck him in. She should have thought of Sho. She had been so focused on her own hurt and getting away from it all that she had forgotten about her own little brother…and she was such a terrible big sister. She would make it up to him in the morning. No school work tomorrow and he could use her for target practice. Good. He would like that. She would have to get home first, of course, and to get home she would need to ask Shimazaki to take her home…

Even though she didn't want to take him away from his friend….even if they were arguing like cats and dogs…or maybe cats and cats that they didn't know….because cats fought a lot…even when they were friends they fought. Sort of like people.

She needed to say sorry to Minegishi. She had been so mean to them and she needed to say sorry. They had kept Hatori liking them a secret but…but that was ok because…because they were friends and friends forgave each other. If Anna could forgive Elsa for freezing her heart with a blast of magic then Mo could forgive Minegishi for not telling her that Hatori liked them. That was just what it meant to be someone's best friend. Forgiveness no matter what.

"….you're telling me that the kid has eighty thousand yen just sitting there in her little pockets? How stupid do you think I am?" asked Shimazaki's friend. Mob could hear their voices as she walked down the short hallway. She felt her Elsa bag. Did she have that much? She had no idea. She had never sat down and counted it or anything like that.

"Hi." Said Mob as she made it into the living room. It was messy, like the rest of the house, but that was because a boy lived there. The art was nice, though, even if a lot of the girls in the pictures had no clothes on. That was fancy art, Mob had seen some the time that she and Minegishi had gone to the art museum, and in fancy art the people never had any clothes on….for reasons…

"There's the girl of the hour! Mob, I need eighty thousand yen." Said Shimazaki. Mob nodded and country out eight ten thousand yen notes. She liked big bills because that way you had to carry around fewer of them. She handed them to Shimazaki who handed them to his friend.

"Um…Little girl? This is…a lot of money…." Said Shimazaki's friend. Was it? Mob didn't know. She had just always had money. She knew that she could get more if she needed it. Dad said that she shouldn't carry big bills like that because it was suspicious but she didn't see what made it so suspicious. It just made buying things easier…well until people wouldn't give you change….and stuff…but that was ok. They just had a lot of drinks now and she could carry them with her powers so it didn't matter.

"And that had better buy us a lot of shit." Said Shimazaki. Mob wondered if he had to curse so much. She wished that he could curse less. Sho was starting to curse now and she did not want Sho to even know the meaning of those words.

"It will….but….you know I have questions about this. I mean I've known you for years and I know you've done some fucked up shit but….this is a ten year old…" said Shimazaki's friend as he handed Mob more pens than she could ever smoke in a lifetime. She put them in her bag. She would divide them up later once she tasted them all. He could have the ones that tasted bad and she would keep the ones that tasted good. That was fair.

"Oh my God I know she's ten! Why does everyone think that I'd go after a ten year old? What about me makes you think that I would try and get with a ten year old? I am not a creep and if you see me with a ten year old and that's the only thing that comes to mind then there's something seriously wrong with the way you think." Said Shimazaki

"…I know you, man, that's all I'm going to say. I mean what am I supposed to think when you just show up in here at two in the morning with a kid all coked up and shit? Come on, I know you. I know you and I know why you can't show your face around the family anymore." Said Shimazaki's friend

"There's a big difference between ten and fifteen and if you can't see it then you've got problems." Said Shimazaki

"Whatever man. You've got your stuff now take the kid and get the hell out of here. I'm tired." said Shimazaki's friend

"You're a lot of things but you're not tired. I'm a lot of things but I'm not tired. Wanna not be tired together?" said Shimazaki. There was a tone there that Mob could not place. Low but…but not mad low. The sort of low that made her feel sort of weird when she heard him talk like that. She didn't want to feel weird. She already felt weird and she didn't want to feel any more weird than she had to. She mostly just felt like she wanted to go home. At least that way she could feel weird from the comfort of her own bed.

"…there's a kid right there, I know that you're blind but you must know, right? Doesn't she need to be in bed or something right now? Or, you know, anywhere but here?" asked Shimazaki's friend. Mob frowned. She was not a little kid…well she was….well she was and she wasn't.

"Nope. She's a free agent. Doesn't whatever she wants. Takes after me in that way. Just put some TV on and leave her be. Come on. It's been a while and I have a lot of emotional stuff I've been trying to run from." Said Shimazaki. He nudged his friend and apparently that was all the persuading that he needed. Space was made for Mob on the couch and she was told to keep smoking until she forgot who she was. Well she was going to smoke but she was not going to forget who she was. The sounded terrible, scary even, not knowing your own name.

She knew who she was.

She was Suzuki Shigeko. She was Mob. She was Mob and she was watching someone else's Netflix on a dirty couch in a room that smelled like smoking, and not the fun kind, at two in the morning with the sound turned way up because she was not as little as people thought that she was and she was mostly sure what she was hearing….she hoped that it was fighting but she also knew that adults fought in public but went to private places to do…private adult things…

She wanted to smoke to forget all of what she was hearing.

She had no idea what was even happening in the other room and she did not want to find out. She knew, from mom, that moms and dads fit together like puzzle pieces and that was why there were boys and girls. She also knew that boys and boys could be in love and stuff but she had no idea what…happened…and she did not want to find out. Nope. She wasn't even going to Google. Not that she could. Her battery was almost dead. She should have asked Hatori to do the charging trick for her back when they had been at the party…

Before he had confessed to Minegishi right in front of her.

There were sad thoughts in her head. The top of the world feeling was gone and now she just felt…bad. She felt like she had been walking around Disneyland all day in her plastic dress up shoes in the sun with no shade or water. Her whole body hurt, her head was ringing like there was a woodpecker inside of it, and her face was still kind of numb. She was all sticky from sweat and no matter how many of the milks that they had gotten at the store she drank she still felt thirsty.

Also she had to pee. A lot.

It had been fun being on top of the world but now she was coming back down…and she wanted to head out and head home….and she might have been able to make it on her own. she didn't have very long before dad woke up…so she had better start walking. She'd use her map for as long as she could but she'd figure it out just from feeling auras. Dad's aura was bright. She'd be able to feel him eventually and if he asked why she hadn't been home she would just…tell the truth. That she had been exploring the city with a friend. Dad didn't need to know about the top of the world feeling or the smoking or the drinking or the heartbreak or about what she was listening to right now.

No, dad did not need to know about that at all.

She checked her phone…and it would be a very long walk…but she would make it. Even though her feet had gotten wet and that had made blisters…and also it was cold out and she didn't have a proper coat and wasn't overheating for no reason anymore…and also she didn't know if it was ok to just up and leave….well she wanted to go home and she didn't want to wait and see where Shimazaki took her to next. He was a good friend and she liked him a lot and stuff…but also she wanted to go home and not on any more adventures. So that was what she did. She put on her shoes, made sure she had her bag and a few things to drink, and left down the path for home….

It wouldn't be such a long way home at all. If she walked fast she could be back before dawn.

Minegishi had a hard 'dawn' time limit and they knew it.

Suzuki got up early, sometimes VERY early, and he would notice if he got up and his favorite kid wasn't home. He would notice and he would ask questions and then, well, some traitor holes would be filled. They were getting closer to Mob, at least, and hopefully Ryou would stop running and just confront the fact that this night had been one big screw up from start to finish….but that would involve taking personal responsibility and that…that was not something that he would ever do…

But it was fine.

They had Mob to worry about. It was late and they had to find Mob. She had been in one spot for a while…and now she was moving again…but slowly. Not teleporting. Good. Maybe Ryou was coming down and at that point where he couldn't trust his perceptions of the world…or maybe he was just too high and he knew that he could wind up literally anywhere if he tried in his state…but that was whatever. They could deal with him later. They'd kill or maim or seriously injure him….or just give him the silent treatment and leave mental scars that would never heal….yeah…that would be best…but first they had to catch up to him and…

Or maybe just Mob.

He was nowhere to be seen and his aura was nowhere to be felt. He had left Mob all alone to walk through the snow covered streets of Tokyo at two in the morning without a proper coat on….and Minegishi was about to kill someone. They were about to kill someone and that someone was named Shimazaki Ryou. Didn't he know what could have happened to her? Her aura seemed calm but…but there was always the threat of other people. Mob was a little pacifist…and the world was full of wolves…

Mob had better not fight them about being rescued. They did not have the energy for that shit.

"Mob! Get your ass in this car!" said Minegishi. They opened the door and, if Mob didn't come in of her own volition, they were prepared to drag her in kicking and screaming. Better them than the wolves who stalked the night looking for unattended little girls.

"Minegishi? Why are you here?" asked Mob. She had thought that she had felt them…but her aura was being all tucked in and weird. Probably because she felt all weird…and also from the cold. She was happy…happy-ish….to see Minegishi. She felt sad when she saw them but…but they were still best friends…even if Hatori did like them better.

"Get your ass in this car. That's why I'm here." Said Minegishi. Fine. If Mob wanted to do this the kicking and screaming way then they were going to do this the kicking and screaming way if they had to.

"Um….ok." said Mob. She didn't want to be close to them right now but she also didn't want to be out in the cold, either, so she got in. She closed the door and then Minegishi told the driver to go home and ignore all speed limits and traffic laws…which seemed sort of dangerous to Mob but she didn't say anything. She could feel Minegishi's aura and they felt mad…even though if anyone was going to be mad it was Mob because she was the one who had to see the boy she liked the most stand there and confess to her best friend.

That had hurt.

But not being friends with Minegishi would hurt more. They were friends and…and friends did not fight. They did not keep secrets but they did not fight. They just…they made up. Mob knew that she wanted to make up…but she also knew that everything hurt and her feet were wet with melted snow and blister goo and her brain was ringing and she just wanted to lay down…

But she couldn't because she was wearing a seatbelt.

"Mob…."said Minegishi. They needed….they needed to know a lot of things. Like what in the hell had happened that night. They knew that Mob was not their biggest fan right now. She may have been getting up to some very adult things but she was only ten years old and it was hard for a ten year old to deal with rejection like that. They knew that Mob had run away because it had been a lot for her, and it probably was still a lot for her, but Minegishi needed to know what in the hell had happened.

"Yes?" asked Mob. Minegishi felt mad. They had been mad at her before…and they had every right to be mad at her now. She had been mean to them and she had mixed fun stuff and also they had made them drive around the city at two in the morning looking for her. Of course they were mad at her. She would have been mad at herself too.

"Mob...how do you feel right now? Talk to me." asked Minegishi. They were going to be nice. They were going to suppress the rage that they were feeling. They were also going to make a mental note of getting their blood pressure taken soon because this was not a healthy way for their heart to be beating. All of this suppressed rage was not good for them…

"My brain hurts and my feet hurt and I have to pee." Said Mob. That was easy to answer. She had been expecting them to be mad at her…and they still felt mad…but not as mad as they could have been. Maybe things would be ok between them…even though she still felt sad about what had happened with Hatori…well he could like whoever he wanted and Mob was ten, not thirteen or fourteen, so she was still too young for him to like her like that…but she just wished that Minegishi had said something instead of just…just letting Mob carrying on feeling the way that she'd felt.

"What did he give you?" asked Minegishi quietly. They eyed the driver. He was rocking out to 90's pop rock in the front seat but he could still have been listening…and they did not need this getting back to Suzuki. No, maybe it would have been fine if it was his other kid but this was the one he cared about.

"I forget what it was called but it made me feel like I was on top of the world and the most awesome person to ever live…and then also the regular stuff…and I'm sorry that I mixed stuff. Please don't be mad at me." Said Mob. She would have drawn her knees up to her chest but her shoes were all wet. Her feet were numb, anyway, and she didn't know if she even could life them that high.

"Coke. He gave you coke….I'm going to kill him…" said Minegishi. No. No way. He knew how dangerous that was. It was one thing for them to mess around with that stuff, they were adults and they could make their own choices in life, but Mob was a kid. Not only that but she was an unstable powerhouse…who was surprisingly stable…but they would try to puzzle out how her powers worked later. Right now they needed to just…fix what went wrong between them and get her home…

And then they could finally rest already.

"Please don't. He was just trying to make me feel better after…after Hatori said that he liked you. I was just really upset and he saw that and he tried to make me feel better by taking me on an adventure. We went to a place with music…that I don't remember so well…and then we went for a long walk and then we went to the store and then we went and saw his friend…who might have been his boyfriend or just another person that he does kissing stuff with…sorry….maybe I shouldn't have told you that…because it hurts when the person you like likes someone else…" said Mob. She couldn't believe that she had told Minegishi that. She knew that Minegishi had said, before, that they were not in a relationship with Shimazaki…but both of them acted like they were. Mob had seen enough movies and read enough manga to know how people in love acted. They kissed and cuddled and spent all of their time together and talked about each other all the time…and she knew how much it hurt when the person you like liked someone else…

"Mob, we aren't like that. He can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants. I don't care. I care about you. I care about you and I have been worried sick all night-" said Minegishi. They were turning into a mother hen. They could have given Shibata a run for his money. Worried. They had been worried about Mob…but that was normal. This was normal for them. Caring for her had become normal and…and they were used to it by now. They were going to be there for Mob no matter what…and it looked like there was going to be a lot of 'what' over the years.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry…or drive around all night and miss your bedtime…or make you get into a fight." Said Mob

"I wasn't in a fight." Said Minegishi

"Then why do you have a bruise on your neck?" asked Mob

"A leech in a blue dress." Said Minegishi before they could think. Right. Mob was ten. She had no clue about…anything. Hell, she had been too young for whatever dirty games those kids were playing in the coatroom. She was too young to know about the things adults did when they were drunk and trying to escape emotional pain. She could figure all of that out in her teen years.

"Um….I don't understand…but ok. I'm sorry that happened to you…and stuff…" said Mob

"Don't be sorry. I'm sorry. Just…way to make a backhanded comment by the way. I've taught you well. Anyway I'm sorry about Hatori. I didn't tell you that he had feelings for me and I should have. I thought that by not telling you I was sparing your feelings…but I guess that I had just been prolonging the inevitable." Said Minegishi

"I…I wish that you had told me so I could have stopped liking him…because I really liked him. He was just so…so nice to me…and tall too…and I really liked him….but I know that I'm too young for him to like me back but…but I was just being dumb and hoping that he would like me when I grew up. I was so dumb…" said Mob. She had no idea how she could have been such a dumb little kid. Why would he have liked her back? She was just a kid. She shouldn't have…have had hopes about…about them.

"Mob, shut up with that. You weren't being dumb. You're ten, you were being ten, and you want a boyfriend and he's the only guy within ten years of your age that you know. I should have told you that he had feelings for me but…but I guess that I just liked…seeing you have hope for something. I mean….you go through a lot and I just wanted to see you being happy about something….even if it was Hatori Nozomu." Said Minegishi. Their words tasted like ashes in their mouth. Too much emotional realism. Too much emotional rawness. Too much emotional honesty. They'd had a lot to drink and it was late….and they had been worried out of their mind…and also they cared about Mob. They cared about her and they had might as well own up to the way that they felt.

"He's not as bad as everyone says…" said Mob. Well she…she had never seen him drunk before…and she didn't much like it. Minegishi had said that you weren't supposed to ever get that drunk…and now she knew why. She still liked him…but not as much. As a friend…and someone she could imagine kissing….but maybe not someone she could imagine marrying and having babies with.

"He's not my type. He's your type…and maybe when you grow up you'll be his. I don't know. He's not mine." Said Minegishi. They liked seeing Mob hopeful about the future, or about anything, and she did need this. She needed something good in the shit show that was her life.

"I…I don't know if I still like him. I mean he liked you and…and I like him but…but not as much. I mean I know that you don't like him but I just feel like…like maybe I don't like him as much as I did before." Said Mob. She didn't know how to say it. She didn't know how to say that she liked him but also didn't. She didn't know what this feeling was….what a lot of her feelings were…and stuff. She didn't know. She was tired.

She wanted to lay down.

"Well if you still like him in a few years give him a try. For now just…just know that I am never going to have feelings for anyone you have feelings for. Ok?" asked Minegishi. They both had shitty taste in men but at least it wasn't the same shitty taste in men. Thank fucking God.

"Ok….and I never thought that you did. I just…it just made me feel sad when he said that he liked you…but I know that you don't like him back…and I can't believe that I said something so mean to you over a boy." Said Mob. She rested her head back and closed her eyes. She wanted sleep but also couldn't sleep…but she still closed her eyes.

She felt an arm over her.

"Yeah, there's no way a guy is coming between us. Good, we're ok, we've bonded, and now let's just get you home before your dad wakes up and starts wondering where you are." Said Minegishi. That was…that was more loyalty that they had ever shown anyone or anyone had ever shown them. They didn't know what to do so they put their arm around Mob careful not to get their bracelet caught in her hair.

That bracelet came with certain responsibilities.

"I don't want to go home….can we have a sleepover?" asked Mob. She didn't want to end up going home and waking dad and Sho up and then dealing with them asking where she had been. She wanted…she wanted to rest with her best friend. That was all she wanted. She always felt so nice and goof and safe when she was with Minegishi.

"Fine. Whatever you want." Said Minegishi. Their bed could not fit two comfortably and they didn't have a nightgown for Mob to borrow, just actual pajamas, but if Mob wanted to have a sleepover then they would. Anything to make Mob happy. They were best friends after all, they had the bracelets to prove it, and those bracelets came with a certain set of responsibilities.

Which included letting you best friend recover from a party in your bed at two thirty in the morning.