Sometimes things just did not make sense.
Sometimes it was the big things that just did not make and sometimes it was the little things. This was one of those little things which did not make sense. This show. One minute they were trying to save the world because the new boy was a secret angel and then the next it was all…Mob didn't even know what this ending was. Not even an ending. Did the world end? Did Rei and Shinji get together? Did Gendo ever stop being all mean to his son and tell him that he was doing a good job?
None of these questions were answered.
Which meant that they were going to have to do another rewatch. They had been watching and watching and watching this show over and over again but they never figured out anything about the ending. Maybe it was art. Art didn't always have to make sense. Like those paintings that were just splashes of color everywhere. Those made no sense. Mob didn't know. All she knew was that she was confused and that if she was confused then dad was, of course, very confused. This whole thing was very confusing. She didn't blame him for being confused…and she hoped that he didn't blame her either.
Because it was not her fault that the ending to this show was just…not something that made any sense.
She wondered why he was so confused though. He was her dad and he knew everything. Well not everything, he just knew a lot of things about a lot of things, so maybe this was one of those things that he didn't know a lot of things about. She could tell that he didn't. His caterpillars were coming together but not in a mad way. His aura didn't feel mad either. It was pulled inwards around him even though his arm was around her and she was half laying down on him. She could have gone to sleep like this, it was certainly late enough, but she got the feeling that nobody would be going to sleep any time soon.
Not until this started to make sense.
"Dad? Are you ok?" asked Mob. She knew that he was confused but she was just asking to get him talking. Dad didn't talk about how he was feeling unless you asked him first. That was because he didn't like to look weak even though feelings did not make you weak at all. She had been telling him that for a long time now. Maybe he would start listening to her at some point.
"I'm fine, I'm just thinking." Said Suzuki. That had been….incomprehensible. There was something there that he was missing but he just did not know what….but he needed to know what. He needed to figure out what it was that he was missing for Daughter's sake. He could not shatter her image of him. He was her father, he knew everything, and he could and would guide her through anything that she did not understand….
Even when it was something that he himself did not understand.
The plot had always been a bit difficult to this show. The angels came from space and attacked humanity. That was simple enough to understand. Only a select few could pilot the giant mechs…which were not mechs at all but clones angels…and one was kept at the bottom of the facility…and also one of the pilots was part angel…and also the mechs had the souls of the pilots' mothers inside of them….and then….at some point the whole thing became incomprehensible. That was just what television had become these days. It had been a lot simpler when he had been young. You had a space train, you rode the space train, you learned about yourself and existence, sometimes there were battles, and then you got off the space train and they tried to turn you into a bolt to serve the robot planet. There. Everything was simple and logical…
Not like this.
Masami might have been able to explain this to him. She had always watched more television than he had. She understood the conventions of it, the plots and characterization, and she had always been able to explain the things that he missed to him. Her dramas had been surprisingly complex…but of course they were. She had been a very complex and intelligent woman…not that Daughter wasn't a complex and intelligent woman…little girl…she was. She was also very young and there were limits to what she could explain to him…
She was only ten after all.
So maybe they would just never understand and it would be one of life's great mysteries…like why people ate Jell-O…or why the ground in Minecraft never became unstable even though he had built a very complex system of tunnels….or why Daughter was constantly whining about missing Son even though she knew that he was coming back….yes. Life had many mysteries to it. Many strange and mysterious mysteries.
Like this show.
"Oh….so am I. Do you think that we have to watch it again? Maybe if we do that then we'll be able to understand what happened better." Said Mob
"Perhaps….but no. The definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over again but expecting a different outcome…" said Suzuki. He knew that he would to be able to understand it any better if they watched it again for…he had lost count of how many times he and Daughter had watched this show together. Not that he minded, of course, he lived for their Sundays together. Sometimes it just felt like he was going through the motions of his week until he could see Daughter again. He did his work whatever it may be, played Minecraft….used Minecraft as a tool to design new Claw bases and also go fishing on occasion, and just waited for his time with his Daughter. So, really, it didn't matter what they did together just so long as they were together.
"Also it would get sort of boring, maybe, watching the same thing over and over again….um….do you want to watch Frozen before bed?" asked Mob
"We can watch the ice queen again if you want, I know how you love that film, but I doubt that I will sleep at all tonight. There are just too many unanswered questions and I so dislike unanswered questions." Said Suzuki
"I…I can get some answers, then, if you want…so we don't end up staying up all night. We could mess up our sleep schedules then…like that one time when we stayed up all night playing Minecraft." Said Mob. She did not want dad to keep her up all night again. That had been back when he had been smothering her. He hadn't smothered her in a while but…but she did not want to end up staying up all night again. She was getting tired, it was late enough as it was, and she just wanted to cuddle with dad and go to sleep….
But that wouldn't happen unless she got them some answers.
"Answers from where? If you don't know and I don't know, and Fukuda isn't here, then who can explain this to us?" asked Suzuki. Fukuda was usually very good at explaining things. He was more intelligent than he let on. He always had been ever since they had been children. If this show had aired just a decade earlier Fukuda would have explained it to him just like he explained everything else….including Gundam….which was just as long and complicated as this but not nearly as incomprehensible. Yes, if Fukuda had been there then he could have explained this.
Which was the only reason he wanted Fukuda around, of course.
It wasn't as though Suzuki had grown accustomed to the feel of his aura again. No, he had been beside Fukuda since they had been in school together. He, if anything, should have wanted a break from the man. He overstepped constantly and that could be so annoying. He was overstepping with Son now but that was fine. Son was his only So and he needed to learn how to do these away missions…and also it was nice to have him out of the house so he wasn't bothering Daughter…and it made sense for Fukuda to go with him because Suzuki was not about to father any more children. He had no idea where Masami even was, got the feeling that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore, and even when they had been together she had said time and time again that she didn't want any more children…so there. Fukuda had a legitimate reason for being away with Son and not being there to explain this to him and Daughter…
And that was the only reason why he wished that Fukuda had been near. That was it.
"Um….Minegishi might know. They know this show and they're really smart, too. Or maybe Hatori because he's the one who showed this to me…even though he's not as smart as Minegishi." Said Mob. She sometimes felt like Hatori wasn't that smart in general…but that was a mean was to think about her own friend so she tried not to think thoughts like that. So what if he had trouble doing his own laundry, drank even though he knew that he was bad at it, and also he kept on expecting hiding from Shimazaki even though everyone knew that Shimazaki was a very nice person? Hatori was…he was a good friend. Just a friend. A very tall and very nice friend who wore very nice sweaters and knew about very nice shows and games…but still just a friend.
"Good. Go get someone who can explain, then." Said Suzuki. Daughter was so smart like that. She was smart like him. When he didn't know something, and there was very little in this world that he did not know, then it made sense to find an expert. Like how Fukuda had been the person to explain social skills to him. If not for Fukuda then the children might not have been there….well Son would never have been born. Daughter would have been adopted by some rival esper group or something. She was a very powerful child and anyone would be happy to have her…
And he wanted nothing more than to tie a rope around her in that moment so that he would be able to drag her back at the first sign of trouble.
He has no clue, of course, what that trouble could possibly be. This was a Claw compound. Houses for upper echelon members of Claw out in the middle of nowhere. Daughter was safe. There was no chance that anyone in Claw would even think of harming a single hair on her head. There was nothing bad that could happen to her…well she could get bitten by some of the venomous Australian fauna…or she could injure herself somehow…or she could spontaneously die as people tended to do….
He forced himself to calm down. She would be fine…he needed to believe that she would be fine or he would lose his mind.
"Ok….I'll be back." Said Mob. She could feel dad's aura sticking to her as she climbed out of bed. She didn't know what he was so worried about. She went and saw he friends all time and he knew that. She would never be able to understand him, it felt like sometimes, because he was just…not someone who made sense all of the time. Like why he sometimes smothered her and sometimes ignored her. Or why he let his aura cling to hers but he let Sho go across the world all on his own…well with Fukuda…but still. She should have gone with too. She and dad could have gone with and stuff….and then she could have been there to make sure that Sho was safe and ok…and stuff….
She was smothering him.
She was smothering Sho without even being in the same room as him. She was smothering him because she was thinking about keeping him with her all the time just like dad tried to do to her. She didn't want to smother him. She knew how to show her love better than that. She knew how to show her love for someone without smothering them…and she had to. Even though she needed to see him, to hear from him, to make sure that he was ok. Their family was so little and so broken already that she just…she couldn't lose him too. She had already lost her own mom and she had lost baby Mukai who was not her sister but still someone who she loved with all of her heart….she couldn't lose her little brother too.
She walked fast past her room.
Just her room now. There was no Sho to share it with. That was a room with one bed and the bed was hers. She only had to wash her own bedding now, not his, and she only had to wash her own clothes now, too. She didn't have to make him breakfast anymore or make sure he did his school work or chase him around trying to brush his hair or…or hide the soda from him once it got to be nighttime because he couldn't have liquids after eight…and she could even eat citrus again if she wanted to. She was all alone. That great big room was all hers. She had room for all of her toys, and she didn't have to fold her clothes up really small anymore, but she didn't care about having room for her stuff or being able to eat citrus or….or anything. She just wanted her little brother back.
But she didn't want to smother him.
He was out having a good time. He was on an away mission, which he liked, and he was with Fukuda too. Fukuda was one of his best friends and favorite people. Sho was one of Fukuda's favorite people too. They were probably out having all kinds of fun in Seoul….or wherever it was in Korea that they were…and Mob was not going to interrupt their fun to start smothering her own little brother. No, she would not be doing that at all. She was going to walk through the house and put on her shoes and then go next door and see who was awake and could explain Neon Genesis Evangelion to her.
And she would do it all with dad's aura stuck to her.
His aura was still stuck to hers as she put her sandals on. This was the southern hemisphere and that meant it was time to wear sandals instead of boots. She wished that she had taken into account how hot it would be before they left England. She could have gotten a new pair of sandals then. These pinched her feet and also her toes were starting to hang over the edges. She pulled her toes in close so they wouldn't touch the outside ground. That would have been gross. Your bare feet were never supposed to touch the ground outside no matter what country you were in. Also it was uncomfortable. She didn't know how she had grown so much since last summer. It hadn't even been a full year ago. She had been growing a lot this year, more than normal it felt like, and she had no idea why. Wouldn't it have made more sense to grow slowly? That way she wouldn't have to buy new clothes that often and also Sho wouldn't be jealous that she was taller than him. She had never asked to get taller, it was a pain really, and she hoped that she finished growing soon.
She was tired of growing out of everything.
She knew that she had to grow up, and she was looking forward to it, but also she wasn't. When you grew up then you grew out of things…and Mob wasn't sure if she was ready to grow out of things. Sometimes she felt like she was growing out of Frozen but then she got sad and remembered how much better it made her feel. She had grown out of her Frozen chapter books, though, and sometimes her dolls felt a little bit boring. She had been playing with the same ones for years after all…so maybe they just needed to come out with new versions of her dolls. She wasn't ready to grow out of them yet…even though it was weird that she still played with dolls…the pink haired girl at the party had said so….
But Mob wasn't ready to grow out of things.
What if she grew out of all the things that she loved? What if she grew out of playing with Sho? What if she grew out of all of those fun times when she would dress him up like she had a little sister and they would do sister stuff together? What if she grew out of being friends with Minegishi? What if one day they just…stopped being friends…or something? That happened sometimes, she had seen it on TV and stuff….but she never wanted that to happen so she wouldn't let it happen. People grew out of clothes and toys…but not other people, she decided, or at least she wouldn't. She would never grow out of her friendships or her sibling ships or…
Or anything.
She would never grow out of spending time with her dad, either. Even though she got the feeling that she might have been too big to share a bed with him. He had said, before when she had been, little that she and Sho were too big to sleep in the bed with him and mom…and stuff. Maybe he had only said that because the bed already had two people in it and she hadn't been needed to warm up mom's side…or maybe four in a bed was just too much…or maybe he just hadn't wanted to share a bed with Sho because he had kicked in his sleep since even before he had been born, since he had been in mom's stomach, and dad just hadn't wanted to deal with that.
Mob didn't know.
She didn't know a lot of things. She had no idea if she was too big to sleep next to her dad. She had no idea if she was supposed to have outgrown sleeping next to her dad and hanging out with her friends and playing with her brother and playing with dolls and watching Frozen….and stuff. She didn't know. If she had been in school or with other kids she would have known, it had been the other kids in first grade that had called her a baby for sharing a room with her little brother and stuff, and maybe if she had still been in school…she would have been in sixth grade maybe if she was remembering right…then the other kids would have called her a baby for sleeping next to her dad and wearing a Frozen nightgown and Tangled socks and stuff…and maybe she was a baby…she didn't know….
But she did know that she had to be very quiet.
She had to be very quiet because she was in her friends' house and it was very late. It was late enough that Shibata had already fallen asleep in front of the TV…and why he didn't just put a TV in his room Mob would never know….and even though he was snoring really loudly Mob still had to be quiet. She slid quietly out of her sandals and left them in the makeshift genkan with everyone else's shoes. She faced her shoes and also everyone else's the right was. She could see Minegishi's purple gym shoes, Shimazaki's shiny black shoes, Shibata's giant shoes, and Hatori's beat up shoes all there. Everyone was home…or at least nobody was running around barefoot outside and stuff.
Which was good.
Mob was barefoot, almost barefoot, inside. She was still in her socks, she had to wear socks, even though it was hot out she still had to wear socks. If she didn't wear socks she would end up being all itchy. Her legs had been so itchy lately and she didn't know why. Itchy and prickly. She would worry about that later. She walked through the house as quietly as she could. That was what she had to worry about. She had to worry about waking up the people around her. She knew that she had come over to find someone awake…but it felt like nobody was awake at all.
Well it was very late.
It was late enough that she could feel that Minegishi was asleep. She could feel their aura. She could feel them and when she got close enough she could hear them breathing really deep and slow…like they did whenever they were asleep…and that was not good because they were the only one who could explain the show to her and dad. Mob knew not to go into their room while they were asleep. She knew that she wasn't supposed to wake them up. She knew how hard it was for them to get to sleep…and she didn't want them to be tired the next day….but she also couldn't come back alone…
She heard cursing.
There was a sliver of light down the hall. That was Hatori's room. Shimazaki never put the lights on and even if he had been awake he would have been with Minegishi. Their auras weren't all tangled up but Mob still knew not to go and just walk into Minegishi's room. Shimazaki was sleeping, she could tell by his aura, so she had to move extra carefully and extra quietly. She made sure not to make any noise since he heard very well and good friends did not wake their friends up in the middle of the night just to explain TV shows to them….
But it was ok to ask Hatori because he was already awake.
That was not way to get his sleep schedule on Australian time, Mob thought, though she would never just come out and tell him that. He stayed up late a lot of the time even though he knew that he would just be tired in the morning. He just had trouble taking care of himself, that was all, and a lot of boys were like that. Dad could be like that. He stayed up light and when he worked he hunched over even though he knew that hunching over like that was bad for his back and also he was mean to people but that just made him so lonely that he had to smother Mob and stuff to get rid of all of the lonely feelings. That was just how some boys were. They needed girls to take care of them, dad had said so, and Mob didn't mind taking care of her friends…not that she would be telling Hatori that it was bed time or anything like that.
She needed him awake, anyway, so she could bring him back to dad and stuff.
"Hatori?" asked Mob as she knocked on his door softly. Well she had been trying to knock softly but the minute her hand made contact then the door swung opened on it's own. Well that didn't count as sneaking around, Mob decided, because the door had opened of it's own free will…or maybe the universe had done it…either way the door was opened now and she couldn't close it…well she could…she could but she didn't because she needed Hatori.
"Hatori?" asked Mob again. She stopped herself for a moment. Was it ok to step inside of his room? Minegishi had told her not to do that unless it was an emergency…and this might have counted as an emergency. Or a mission, even, because dad had sent her here to find someone who could explain their show to him…so maybe she was ok…
She stepped inside.
This room was about the same size as hers and Sho'. There were two one person beds across from each other. One was made and one had a bunch of clothes and stuff on it. That must have been Hatori's. She'd have to show him how to do laundry again later. Right now she had to get his attention. He had his headphones on and he was playing something, something that made him curse a lot, but that was normal for him. Why he played games that made him mad enough to curse she would never know. He had headphones on so that was why he hadn't heard her. She didn't know if she should bother him or not…well dad wanted her to so she would.
She crossed the room.
There were crunching noises as she walked across the floor. That was because it was covered in chips. No wonder Shibata didn't want to sleep in here. It was like the floor was alive with chips. Every time she stepped there was a crunch, then another crunch, and then another. Step, step, step….crunch, crunch, crunch….one chip after the other after the other. She knew that her socks would be orange on the bottom once she got to Hatori….but that was ok. She could always change her socks. She walked up to him and watched over his shoulder.
Oh. He was playing Minecraft.
Well he was killing a Minecraft dragon…which was more like how Sho played Minecraft. Mob and Hatori, when they played, mostly just built stuff together. Well they had built things together back when they had been playing together all the time. Back when she liked him. She didn't like him like that anymore, like she wanted to be his girlfriend, but she still liked him as a friend. A friend who was her friend and…and could be really nice even though he cursed a lot and threw up whenever he drank and also he wanted to eat people….which was wrong outside of some kind of survival situation…but they were still friends….
And also he was still pretty tall.
Even sitting down he was still taller than her. She had been growing but he was still taller…and stuff. But that was just…a thing that was a thing about him. He was older than her so of course he would be taller. That was just how it worked. The older a person was the taller they were…well until you got to be an adult. Lots of people were taller than her so a boy being taller than her was no reason to get all doki doki about him…and she wasn't even being all doki doki. She was just…noticing him. That was all. She hadn't been this close to him in a while. Him or any boy that wasn't related to her…and also who wasn't Shimazaki. Hatori was…he was a lot of things. Some of them were good, some of them were bad, and some of them involved him spending a whole plane ride in a bathroom throwing up because he had never had anyone in his life to teach him about moderation and stuff.
Mob had no clue how she felt in that moment.
She didn't want to be his girlfriend, not anymore, but…it was nice being near him. Probably because he was a boy and stuff…and she liked boys…and she wanted a boyfriend….but she didn't want him as a boyfriend. So then why was she still staring at him like this? Why did she wanted to be closer to him than she was now? She didn't know. She felt weird. Not love…she wasn't in love with him. He could be so weird sometimes. He could be weird and he could be kind of a little kid sometimes and…and also he wanted to eat people…
But nobody was perfect.
She didn't like him…well she liked him…but she also didn't LIKE him…but she also didn't dislike him…and he could be a very nice person when he was being normal…and she didn't dislike him or anything like that. Even after he had confessed his love for Minegishi she hadn't disliked him….just…not liked him in the same way. Outgrown him. Outgrown the way he made her feel…but she had liked feeling that way…and she didn't feel that way right now but she felt some way….she was near to him and she felt some way but not that way….and stuff….
And maybe she was leaning in a little bit too closely.
"What the hell!?" shouted Hatori as he felt an aura pressing down onto him…and then someone watching him…and breathing on him. His range wasn't good, it was fairly terrible actually, and he hadn't noticed her until it was too late. For a moment he had thought that it was Shimazaki come to mess with him again…but it was her…and he regretted shouting at her…and also hitting her with his chair…or just her barrier…and now she had caught him too…and he did not need her to take care of him…
But it was preferable to falling flat on his face.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to sneak up on you….I was just…watching you…play Minecraft." Said Mob as she caught him and put him back in his chair. Right. People didn't like to be snuck up on like that. Well now she knew and she knew never to do that to him or anyone else again.
"Hey…Mob….it's nice to see you again…at two in the morning." Said Hatori as he took stock of the situation. Right. It was two in the morning and his friend/ tiny boss was in his room…and he thanked GOD that he had just been playing Minecraft and not doing something that would have scarred her for life.
"It's nice to see you too….um….I like your shirt." Asked Mob. She almost never saw his shirts since he always wore this nice sweaters. Well his shirt was nice too. There was a kitten on it and it looked so cute and happy….and Hatori always had the nicest clothes….
"Thanks….I like your…pajamas. They're…blue." Said Hatori. He had no idea what she could have possibly been doing in his room at two in the morning….was she lonely? Usually she went to Minegishi or Shimazaki when she was lonely. Had her laptop frozen again? Well that was the kind of thing that could wait until morning…or until he had some pants on…but there was no point at all in wondering what she was doing there. She was there and that was what mattered.
"Thank you." Said Mob. She didn't know what to say after that. She felt….not doki doki weird….but just sort of weird. Maybe because usually when she spent time with him, lately at least, everyone else was around and also she was taking care of him in some way. Now they were just…alone….and she didn't know why this was making her feel so…weird….but not in a weird way…well yes in a weird way…but not in a 'bad' weird way…just a 'weird' weird way….
"So…what are you doing here?" asked Hatori. He hoped that she didn't take it the wrong way or anything. He just…had no idea what she was doing in his room at two in the morning…and also this looked sort of…not good….
"Um….my dad and I don't understand Neon Genesis Evangelion….so we need someone to explain it to us and Minegishi is asleep…so um…can you explain it to us?" asked Mob
"The President…is asking me to explain Evangelion to him….at two in the morning?" asked Hatori. That was…unexpected. The President was asking for him, specifically, and to explain a show….well that was his new job then, he supposed. He was tech support, the guy who did the Netflix, and also the guy who explained TV….ok then.
Could he be the guy with pants on, though, that was the question.
"Yes. Now come on before dad gets upset…and bad things happen to people when my dad gets upset." Said Mob. Dad never punished her or said mean things to her or anything like that anymore…but that didn't mean that he was nice to other people. He wasn't. He could be really mean sometimes and she didn't want dad to be mean to Hatori. Hatori was a very fragile person. There was no way that he would be able to handle dad even saying one mean word to him. He'd hide in the bathroom for the rest of his life and they'd have to give him his meals pushed under the door…and also nobody would have anywhere to go to the bathroom, too.
"Right…I hear you. Just…let me put on some pants." Said Hatori. He felt like maybe wearing pants was best when having an audience with the President of Claw and also the man responsible for such innovations as the traitor hole, the traitor barge, and the Awakening Chamber. Yeah….Hatori didn't feel like dying, getting his ass kicked, or ending up in some bizarre torture experiment.
"Oh….I thought you were wearing sleeping shorts. Yeah you should…do that." Said Mob. She turned around quickly and held down her braids. She hadn't realized that he hadn't been wearing pants…but that was such a weird thing to get all…like this about. She and Sho had been changing together in the same room since they had been babies. She had seen a boy not dressed before….but Hatori was not related to her…but she was still being weird. Shimazaki always slept in just gym shorts and she never felt like this…this weird feeling…when she was with him…
Was she in love with Hatori again?
She didn't think so. This wasn't a doki doki feeling. This was like…embarrassed? Embarrassing? She didn't know. All she knew was that he'd had no pants on and she'd been in the room with him when he'd had no pants on and now he was putting pants on, or looking for some in the clothes pile on his bed, and then when he put on his pants she would bring him to dad and dad would get his explanation and then they could watch Frozen and go to bed…and also dad didn't need to know about this part. She got the feeling that he would not be happy about this part…even though she hadn't done anything….
Well she had snuck into his room in the middle of the night.
That was something. So, really, it was her fault. She needed to stop doing this like Minegishi had told her to time and time again. She needed to start knocking…well she had knocked. She had just knocked too quietly and then he hadn't heard her. She knew that if he had heard her then he would have been weird pants and then nobody would have felt weird or embarrassed or anything…or maybe she was the only one who felt weird and embarrassed. He just seemed nervous to talk to dad. She could tell by his aura and also because people were always nervous when they had to talk to dad.
Mostly because he could be a very mean person at times.
"You don't have to be scared of my dad, Hatori, he won't hurt you. You're coming to help him…and also he knows that you're my friend. He knows that you're important to me…and stuff. He's very nice to me so I know that he won't hurt you. He doesn't even have any reason to. He's not mean to people who don't give him a reason to be mean to them. You'll be fine." Said Mob. Dad also knew that she used to be in love with him but Hatori did not need to know that. No, she could live a long life without Hatori knowing that she used to get a doki doki feeling when she was near him.
"…yeah. Your dad…he's great. Just great." Said Hatori as he walked out the front door and through the field of flowers…which Minegishi was probably going to yell at him for crushing. The flowers had spread again…but he wasn't going to complain. Let them spread. Whatever made them less likely to kill him in his sleep…or while he was awake.
"He is, he really is…most of the time. He'll be nice to you, don't worry, and try not to step on the flowers too. Minegishi needs them so they can commune with nature." Said Mob as she hopped over the flowers. They had started in the back garden and moved to the front of the house. She wondered if the flowers would spread through the whole compound. That would be good. That way the next people who lived here would have all of these pretty flowers to look at. Even in the dark they were so pretty, like when they caught the moonlight….
Hatori's glasses were pretty too, when they caught the light.
She had always liked his glasses. They were just so…square. She had never seen square lenses before but now that she had seen them she had decided that they were her favorite kinds of glasses ever. When she got old and needed glasses she would get square ones. Dad was old, he sort of needed glasses, but he would never admit it let alone get square ones…and also she sort of wanted dad to get round ones because Hatori had square ones and she used to like him…and it would be weird if dad started to look like a boy she used to like.
Very weird.
She knew that she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with dad and all, he had made that very clear, but she also wanted to spend her life with…well not Hatori specifically because she didn't know if she could be with someone who didn't know about moderation…but she did want to be with someone like him. Someone who shared her interests. Someone who wore nice clothes. Someone who smelled nice, and she didn't care what Minegishi said she liked lynx better than real cologne, and she sort of missed the way he used to smell. He used to just put on more body spray every morning but now he was showering more and using a soap that wouldn't aggravate his skin and also he was using less body spray…and she missed the lynx…and stuff….but there was nothing that she could do. She wasn't going to say anything because that would have been weird.
It wasn't like she liked him or anything.
She knew that she didn't. The whole, and very short, walk to her house had given her some time to think. She used to be near him and she would think about spending her life with him and being his girlfriend and holding his hand…and she wanted to hold his hand but also…maybe she just wanted her hand held. Maybe she just wanted her hand held and to be kissed and all of that other stuff…or something. Well she had always wanted that for as long as she could remember, to have a boy loving her, but…but she had never wanted it like this before…she wanted…
She really wanted him to take her hand and kiss her…but also to have an undo button so it wouldn't affect the future or something.
But there was no undo button. She knew that an undo button wouldn't turn back time at all but would, instead, take her to another dimension in which she had never done the thing that she had tried to undo. In traveling to the dimension she would end up switching places with the Mob in that world. That would make the multiverse unstable and stuff, probably, like in that movie she and Sho saw. So she would not be doing that…and also she would never kiss Hatori either because kissing was for boyfriends and girlfriends…and she didn't want to be the girlfriend of someone who drank four tiny bottles of vodka even though he knew that he could not handle it and then spent the plane ride throwing up in the bathroom.
No, she didn't want that to be the rest of her life.
She also knew that friends sometimes kissed and stuff…but she would never just…ask him to kiss her…or however Minegishi and Shimazaki started up whatever it was that they were. They were friends who kissed and did other things, Mob wasn't sure of what those things were exactly but she knew that she didn't want to do them, and Mob didn't know if she could just….be friends with someone in that way. She didn't even know how two people could do all of that without being in love…well Minegishi wasn't in love with Shimazaki…but he had said that he had a crush on Minegishi and he never told lies…and Mob wasn't about to go around telling his secrets…
This whole thing was complicated and not what she should have been thinking about when she was about to see her dad.
"Hi dad. I brought Hatori. He's going to explain the ending of Evangelion to us." Said Mob. She bowed, too, because politeness put dad in a good mood. He needed to be in a good mood. He always got in a bad mood when she talked to boys…and Hatori counted as a boy because he was the closest to her age.
"Good night…evening…early morning….sir!" said Hatori. He bowed too after she bowed. Suzuki…even sitting there in bed in his undershirt with his laptop on his knees playing Minecraft he was a scary guy. Maybe it was the eyes…or the aura…or the fact that he had commissioned plans for a machine that shot people into the sun…or maybe the fact that he was insane enough to plan on taking over the world.
"Daughter. Come back to bed." Said Suzuki. His eyes narrowed. Daughter had been interested in this boy. He didn't see why she would have ever even entertained those sorts of feelings for him. He was…well his skin condition looked like it was clearing up…and he smelled a lot better…which would only increase his value in Daughter's eyes….
He would die before he saw his Daughter tied down to the likes of Hatori Nozomu.
"Ok…um…so you guys got to the ending?" asked Hatori. He got the feeling that Suzuki didn't like him…and that was the worst thing that could possibly happen to him. Suzuki…people who he disliked never lived very long…and he had no idea what he had done! Well aside from embarrassing Claw back at the holiday party…yeah, ok, he had every reason to be pissed off.
"Yes. Explain it. Right now." Said Suzuki. Daughter was beside him in bed where she belonged. Good. He put his laptop on his bedside table and folded his hands. He could feel what little aura Hatori had. The TV went to static…digital static…bars. It went to the bars it went to when the transmission was disrupted. Nervous. The boy was nervous. Why? Suzuki hadn't even done anything to him.
"Please." Said Mob. Dad thought that because he was the president and also because he would be king of the world someday he didn't need to say 'please'. Well somebody had to and it looked like that somebody was going to be her.
"Um….ok. So in the end they couldn't stop instrumentality so…so that's instrumentality. Um…it's very unclear so…um….if you watch the movies then you'll see better what happened." Said Hatori. His eyes darted towards the door. If this house was set up anything like the one he was staying in then the bathroom should have been just down the hall…and nobody would disturb him there…because it was a bathroom. He could make a run for it and-
"Movies? Explain further." Said Suzuki. Well that was good. Now he and Daughter had something new to watch together. He so looked forward to that. They would have something new to watch and then they could talk about what they watched and it would be good. They would have a nice time together. Well they always had a nice time together but now they would have an especially nice time together. Good.
"Um…you guys like Galaxy Express, right?" asked Hatori
"Yes." said Suzuki. He didn't much want that information getting out but if anyone asked then he could just say that he watched it with his Daughter…not that anyone in their right mind would ever think of questioning him. No, that would have been quite suicidal.
"Well they finished the first movie before the anime so…so the first movie spoiled the ending…sort of." Said Hatori. He was doing his best but it was just so hard to think with Suzuki staring at him like that…how small could one man's pupils BE? He had seen that look before, on the little brother when he got excited…or mad, but it looked just…scary…on Suzuki.
"So it's like that?" asked Mob. She knew that dad was scaring him…and she didn't know why. Dad was being very nice right now.
"Yeah, they made a bunch of movies to explain what happened in the anime and…and I wouldn't spoil them for you so…um….watch the movies I guess?" asked Hatori. He wanted to run and hide and just…get away from Suzuki. He had never seen him this close up, never in his own home, and never without his suit on…and somehow he looked even more imposing without his suit…and also he had a lot of freckles on his arms…and Hatori didn't know what he was supposed to do with this information.
"Thank you, Hatori. We'll do that." Said Mob. Well she had bene hoping for a more in depth explanation, not another excuse for dad to keep her up all night, but this was fine too. She liked spending time with dad…she really did.
"You're dismissed." Said Suzuki. That had been informative. More movies of this show…which he rather liked. He had missed out on a lot of media being stuck in his own era for as long as he had been. Well that was alright. He had Daughter and she knew the best games and the best shows.
"I'll walk you out." Said Mob. She tried to get up but dad held her back with his powers. She didn't know why. Hatori was her friend. She hung out with her friends all the time. Dad could be so weird sometimes…not that she would ever call him weird to his face again or anything like that.
"He can walk out on his own." said Suzuki. He was going to keep Daughter at his side. She had already gone off before and had been gone for almost ten minutes. That was entirely too long for them to be apart on those days which they had together. Things would be better when she grew up and she would be by his side at all times.
"But-" said Mob. That was rude, letting him walk out on his own, and she had no idea why dad was being the way he was. She had always had trouble understanding him. It was just Hatori. It wasn't like she was going to run away with him. No, he would be too scared and she would never leave dad alone like that.
"It's ok. Goodnight President Suzuki…and um….Miss Suzuki…glad to be of assistance and…um…that's a cool Minecraft world you guys have. The base is…cool." Said Hatori. He knew, as soon as he finished talking, that he had said the wrong thing…because he felt President Suzuki's eyes and aura on him…
And it had been the wrong thing.
As it turned out President Suzuki was REALLY into Minecraft.
"See? And if you do this…" said Hatori as he walked through the President's meticulously crafted world. He was still scared, of course, but…well he would live to see another day. What else could he ask for?
"…so that's how that works…" said Suzuki. Well he didn't…hate…this boy. He could sort of see what Daughter saw in him…or had seen in him at one point, he didn't know. He disliked talking to her about her feelings towards the opposite sex so he just never would. He would simply meet her husband when she presented him and then he would decide where to reassign him to based on that meeting. Hatori was…not a terrible human being…not someone he would see Daughter spending the rest of her life with…but he could be allowed to live on the same continent as her if this ended up being the man she chose to be her husband….at least he had his uses…
"Um…I'm going to watch Frozen now…if nobody minds." Said Mob. Dad and Hatori said that they didn't mind. They were sitting next to each other on the bed playing Minecraft…and that might have been a good thing. It was so weird seeing dad getting along with someone. Well he was still giving orders and stuff but he wasn't being outright mean…so that was good. Still, though, it was weird seeing dad just…getting along with someone…but it was weird how things turned out sometimes.
Like the fact that her weird feelings had come back.
Or just never gone away. She still wanted the whole kissing and handholding thing with Hatori…but she didn't want to be his girlfriend…and that made no sense. It made about as much sense as making movies to explain a show that they had over twenty episodes to explain…and stuff. But that was ok. This was ok. Everyone was getting along and…and that was ok. Dad was getting along with Hatori and they were playing Minecraft and…and she wasn't that tired…and she had always wanted her dad to get along with her friends…so this was all ok.
It didn't make sense, not all the way, but it was still ok.