Mob had always thought that Minegishi had very pretty hair.
Their hair was lavender. This wasn't an anime, Mob knew that their hair wasn't actually lavender, but it was always weird seeing the black peeking out from under the lavender. Those were the roots. Minegishi had black hair just like she did, and Mob was sure that the hair that they had been born with looked very pretty, but Mob just liked the lavender better. Everyone had black hair, well it felt like that anyway, but not a lot of people had lavender hair. It was so pretty. If Mob had been allowed to color her hair then she would have had lavender hair too.
But she wasn't allowed to color her hair.
Dad had never told her that she wasn't allowed to color her hair but she got the feeling that dad wouldn't like that. She wasn't even allowed to cut her hair, any part besides her bangs, so of course dad wouldn't let her color it either. Even though that made no sense because it was her hair and it grew out of her head…but she wasn't going to argue with dad. Nothing good ever came from arguing with dad. So her hair would be long and black for the rest of her life…even though lavender was a very pretty color…and red would have been nice too so she could match the rest of her family…
Sometimes she wished that she hadn't gotten all of the Japanese.
She was half Japanese just like mom was and dad was and Sho was but she looked like she was all Japanese…and for her whole life she had wished that she had red hair and freckles like dad and Sho or wavy brown hair like mom had. She knew that she should have been grateful to look like she was all Japanese, mom had told her that when she had been Mob's age all she had ever wanted was long black hair like everyone else, but she wanted to look like she fit in with her family. Sometimes it felt like she had just been copy and pasted into them, like when she looked at old family pictures and stuff, or like the hospital had made a mistake and given her to the wrong family….
But she was who she was.
She had to be who she was and who she was, who she would always be, was Suzuki Shigeko with the black hair and brown eyes who looked like she was all Japanese even though she was only half Japanese. She was Mob and she was Suzuki Shigeko and she was the way she was…and that was just how things were….and stuff. So she couldn't cut her hair or color it red or lavender…but that was ok. She had a best friend who colored their hair and Mob could help and maybe that was as good as if she had been coloring her own hair…and stuff.
Besides, she was a good helper anyway.
"Mob, how's the back looking?" asked Minegishi as they worked on their hairline. God, they hated doing this. They wondered if they could just let it get back to black….no. They could be lazy but they weren't THAT lazy. They'd had lavender hair for almost ten years now. They weren't going back to black hair. They had might as well just let it go long and braid it if they were getting back to that look. Heh. Mob would have had a good time with that. She'd had her hair in braids, mostly, since Minegishi had met her. It amazed them that Mob never got tired of it…but then again they totally saw Suzuki as being controlling enough to tell her how to wear her hair. He had been controlling enough to tell her that she had to wear a copy of his dead wife's dress after all.
God, they hated that guy.
But there was nothing that they could do about that. He was their boss and the most powerful man on Earth…and also his garden had a few too many weeds in it…and not in the fun 'Ryou' way. No, he was just….unpleasant. Understatement of the century. Suzuki Touichirou was unpleasant. In other news the sky was blue, water was wet, and bleach wasn't meant to go on hair. They felt for Mob, having spawned from that man, but at least one day he'd be old and then a new tree would be planted…which they would plant for Mob if she didn't feel up to it…and then things could be better than they were now.
Or whatever.
Things right now, right in this moment, weren't too bad. Mob was sitting there on the edge of the tub watching them do their roots. She was still down about her little brother being gone, Suzuki's love child being off God knows where, and also apparently her dad had been the human equivalent of a pair of wet jeans on his birthday…but at least Mob wasn't…well she was sad but she was usually lowkey sad. Like a young, much less vengeful, them…and they wished that there was something that they could do…something besides just hanging out with her like this…
But there wasn't.
"You put all the white stuff over the black parts. I can't see any more black." Said Mob. First Minegishi had to put bleach over their black roots. Then they would turn white and then they could put the lavender on. It was a lot of steps. Maybe she wouldn't have liked to color her hair, then, since it took so long and she had a lot more hair than Minegishi. She wondered what it was like to have short hair. Probably a lot colder in the winter but also not as hot in the summer. Also Minegishi didn't have to spend nearly as much time brushing their hair as Mob did. Not even back when they had let their hair grow really long until it almost touched their collar. They were lucky like that. Mob would never be able to change her hair for as long as she lived.
"Good. Ok, set a timer for half an hour." Said Minegishi as they looked themselves over in the mirror. That was fine. Could have been worse. Just so long as they got all of the black they didn't care that there was some overlap to the parts that they had already colored. Lavender, pink, yellow, or white. Anything was better than black.
"What song do you want the timer to play when it goes off?" asked Mob
"I don't care." Said Minegishi
"Are you sure? You can pick whatever song you want." Said Mob
"Do I have to pick something?" asked Minegishi
"Yes, it's your timer." Said Mob
"Anything but let it go. Mob, you're a great person and all, but if I have to hear that song one more time I am going to murder everyone in this house but you." Said Minegishi
"Um….ok….I guess…it's still a good son though…" said Mob. She didn't know how anyone could ever have gotten sick of that song. It was the best song ever. It was just so…nice. How Elsa could just stop being scared of her powers and how she could just use them like and figure out what she could do and stuff. Dad eve said that it was a nice song and he was dad. He said that it was nice how Elsa, well he never called her Elsa because he never could remembered anyone's names from her movies, how she could just use her powers and be free and stuff. He said that it was a good feeling being able to sue your powers to make things and stuff like that. It was the good way of letting it go, not the explody way of letting it go, because the explody way of letting it go was not good at all.
That was what dad wanted for espers everywhere.
Mob wanted that too. She wanted every esper in the whole world to just be able to let it go and be free with their powers and not have to be scared of themselves even if they lost control sometimes and also for normal people not to be afraid of espers either. Normal people and espers would get along and then nobody would have to hide. Things would be better once dad took over the world. All the espers in the world would be able to come together and espers and normal people would be able to get along and then everything would be better…and stuff…
And also they would be able to stop moving all the time.
They would be able to find one house to live in. Another castle. The one that dad kept on saying he would build for her. They could live in the new castle just her and dad and Sho…and also all of her friends…and then they would be able to stop moving all the time and also Sho wouldn't have to go on away missions, she wanted him back so badly, and even Baby Mukai and her new family could move in too since there would be room for everyone….and it would be so great…
But that was in the future and this was now and instead of worrying about the future Mob needed to set this timer for Minegishi or else their hair would end up being all messed up and then they would be upset and stuff.
"Do you wanna set a timer?" sang Minegishi. They forgot how personally Mob took Frozen. They weren't in the habit of psychoanalyzing people but to them it seemed that Mob identified with the lead character because of her own barely controlled psychic powers, poor relationship with her father, annoying younger sibling, and lack of female role model…but still, she shouldn't have taken that movie so personally. There were so many better movies out there…not that they were going to stand there and critique their ten year old best friend's taste in movies.
"Yes I wanna set a timer. Do you wanna pick a song?" Sang Mob right back. Minegishi had a pretty voice when they sang….the only trouble was that they never sang. Well Shimazaki said that sometimes they sang to him but Mob had never heard them sing a whole song. Just little pieces, like this.
"Do you have anything from Sailor Moon?" sang Minegishi right back. It was about time that they showed Mob one of the greatest things to come out of Japan since Peace cigarettes and vending machines with tiny cans of coffee in them.
"I have everything the internet has. Do you wanna hear the original theme song long version in the original Japanese?" Sang Mob. She wondered when the singing would end. She never wanted it to end. The singing was fun. Minegishi was smiling, too, which they didn't do that often since they were usually in a bad mood. Well it looked like they were in a bad mood a lot of the time. Mob knew better. She knew that they were tired a lot since they didn't sleep and also because Shimazaki was always doing nonsense but that didn't mean that they were mad. They were just prickly, like a porcupine or a cactus, and that didn't mean that they were upset or anything like that.
"Yes I want to hear the original song long version in the original Japanese." Sang Minegishi. Mob was smiling now. Good. It was always a good thing when she was happy. That was all Minegishi would be able to give her. Just these little moments of happiness in her otherwise dreary life that she would be able to string together at some point in her adult like so she could say something like 'yeah, I had a pretty crappy childhood and all, but it wasn't all bad because I had my best friend' or some shit like that. Yeah, she'd say it while Minegishi was on their death bed and then it would be a beautiful end to their life and their friendship with Mob…
Or something like that.
They didn't know. All they knew was that Mob needed to smile more often. If she kept up the frowning, and yes she did frown a lot, her face could get stuck like that. Then she would end up like them or something. They didn't know. All they knew was that Mob was too much like a younger version of them. Circumstance, of course, they didn't see Mob getting put in a group home to nearly killing some asshole who had it coming….or any of the other shit that Minegishi had gotten up to at nearly eleven…but the world had dealt her a pretty shit hand. She lived in a gilded cage which wasn't as bad as what Minegishi went through…but this was not a contest that anyone would want to partake in, who had it worse, let alone win.
Especially not with a nearly eleven year old kid.
"OK, I set it. I can't wait until your hair is done. It's going to be so pretty when it's done…I mean it's always pretty, but now it's going to be extra pretty." Said Mob as Minegishi unclipped the towel from around their neck and sat down on next to her on the side of the tub. Mob wrinkled her nose as she smelled the bleach from their hair. She wondered how it felt, to have that in her hair, but she knew that she could never ask Minegishi to show her. Dad would get upset and nothing good ever came from making dad upset.
"Thanks, but I'll just settle for anything other than black. Not that there's anything wrong with black hair, I just don't want my hair to be black." Said Minegishi
"I've never even seen you with black hair." Said Mob
"It's nothing special." Said Minegishi with a shrug. They looked like they did now with black hair. They didn't know what Mob was expecting. It was the same but black.
"Is that why you color it? Because you want to look special?" asked Mob. She had always wondered about that, why Minegishi went through all of this work, because they had always hated extra work for the whole time that Mob had known them.
"No…well maybe. There's a very complicated story behind my hair…" said Minegishi
"Is this one of those things that I'm too young to hear about?" asked Mob
"Yes…well yes and no. There's some shit in there that you're too little to know about but…well…" said Minegishi. They had been telling Mob for years and years now that there were things that they would tell her about later when she got older…and it looked like Mob was just about ready for later to come…and Minegishi didn't blame her. She'd been hearing this since she had been eight so that was about three years now…and maybe she was ready to hear…a few things…maybe. They didn't know. They didn't want to be disingenuous but they also didn't want to fill her head with things that she wasn't ready to know about…..and this was why they were never having kids.
"I'm almost eleven. I'm not a little kid anymore. I can know about things." Said Mob
"You know if you have to tell people that you aren't a child anymore then you're most likely still a child." Said Minegishi
"If you don't tell people when you aren't a kid anymore then how are they supposed to know that you aren't a kid anymore?" asked Mob
"They just know. They can just tell that you aren't a kid anymore." Said Minegishi
"Oh. You mean getting taller and looking like an adult and stuff." Said Mob. She pulled at her shirt a little bit. She looked older now but…but she still looked like a kid. She didn't even know why she cared if they grew or not. People would just look at them and say stuff, like Fukuda had said stuff about Minegishi, but she just…wanted them to grow…and faster…even though if they grew faster then more of her clothes would stop fitting and stuff…she didn't know. The whole thing was very confusing.
"More like your actions. You're a girl so…well a lot of people are going to look at you and treat you like you're older than you are very soon…and it sucks. Believe me, it sucks, but don't…don't go by how you look. Go by how you act. That's the real measure of adulthood." Said Minegishi. Mob was a tiny adult in so many ways. She had been raising her own little brother for years, had been left responsible for a baby as well for a time, had run Claw, and had been given unimaginable power by her father….in so many ways she was an adult…but she also played with dolls, got emotional over movies, believed in the powers of love and friendship, and hadn't seen even a tenth of the terrible shit the world had to throw at her. She was…she was a child with some very adult like qualities….but not a small child…so maybe she was old enough to hear some things that she had been asking about for a while.
"But…I already act like an adult. I take care of Sho and I'm second in command of Claw…but also I'm eleven and short…so I don't really get it…but I do feel like, sometimes, you treat me like a kid, like when you won't tell me some things." Said Mob
"Mob….fine. Get comfortable because you're getting an abridged version of why I dye my hair." Said Minegishi. Mob immediately shifted in place and folded her hands in her lap. Minegishi shook their head. Mob was too eager and too cute.
"Are you sitting comfortably?" asked Minegishi with a sigh. Mob nodded…but then she put on her thinking face…
"Yes. I mean it's hard to get comfortable sitting on the edge of the tub, the backs of my legs are kind of cold, and also it smells like bleach in here, but I think that I'm as comfortable as I can be." Said Mob
"Ok, then I'll start. I dye my hair because…well because I want to dye my hair." Said Minegishi. There was no one reason why they did this, there were a million small ones, and they needed time to sanitize those million small reasons for Mob to understand because she was only ten, not even eleven yet, and certain things were just not ok to tell her…and also there would be follow up questions that Minegishi would not have been able to in good conscience answer.
"That's it?" asked Mob. That maybe came out mean…and she hadn't meant to be mean…but also that hadn't been an answer. She knew that Minegishi wanted to dye their hair, that was why they did it, but she had no clue at all WHY they wanted to dye their hair.
"Well, yes. I dye my hair because I want to and I want to because…well like you said I do want to look different. When I was a kid, and for part of my teenage years, I spent my entire life being told that who I wanted to be was wrong. When I got emancipated I thought that things would be better, and in a lot of ways they were, but I still had to follow a lot of rules…a lot of rules which made no sense." Said Minegishi. They were sanitizing as they went. They felt like Shibata following Ryou around on those rare times when he tried to cook just wiping up spills and putting things away as Ryou tore through the kitchen like a monsoon. That was what Mob was doing now, tearing through their past, but unlike Shibata and Ryou they were letting Mob tear through their past…
A sanitized version of it.
"They wouldn't let you color your hair? Who? Emancipated means that you get to live on your own like in anime but…but if you were on your own then who was telling you what to do?" asked Mob. She thought about it a lot, well more than she should have, living on her own without all of dad's rules and smothering…but she tried not to think like that because she loved her dad. Still, though, being able to b who you wanted to be…that must have been pretty great….
"Everyone. I was emancipated when I was fifteen and…and the world was a different place then. Japan was a different place….I mean it's still a lot of stifling rules, especially when you leave places like Tokyo, but back when I was a kid it was just…it sucked. It sucked a lot and I…well I had to go along with a lot of shitty rules because I was fifteen years old working part time in some shitty flower shop trying to make ends meet." Said Minegishi. They didn't much like this part of their lives. It was, in some ways, worse than their time with their parents or their time in the group home. It was worse because it was supposed to be better. They had spent their entire life thinking that if they could just get out from under their parents and from under the group home then…then everything would be better…but it had just been more bullshit for them to deal with.
"But still…it was your hair….and you should have been allowed to color your hair whatever color you wanted it to be. You weren't like me. You didn't have a dad telling you what you could and could not do. That wasn't fair at all. When my dad takes over the world I'll ask him to fix that rule for you." Said Mob
"Thanks. You're sweet and all but you don't have to. I don't give a fuck about any of that. I am done living under rules like that. It's my hair, like you said, and I'll do whatever I want with it." Said Minegishi. Well that had been painless. Maybe Mob would go off on one of her 'when dad rules the world and make it a better place' tangents and then they could get off the subject of their teen years.
"When did you start coloring it, though? When you were done growing up?" asked Mob. Maybe she could color her hair when she was done growing up and dad was really old. He was already getting old, he was forty four, and he would be forty five and forty six and then on and on and on until he got all old and bent over and tiny like an old person from an anime. Then she would be able to do whatever she wanted…or maybe she would have to wait until after he died….
"No….before I hit the age of majority. I met this girl...this blue haired girl…and she…well she dyed my hair and then…well I was about sixteen or seventeen, the edge of it, when that happened…and yeah. That when I started living outside of society. Dyed my hair, cut it short, started dressing….well like I'm dressed now…moved with her to Ni-Chome….got another job and…yeah. That's the story of my hair. So, what's new with you? Your dad still being a dick? Still miss your brother? Any new developments in the world of Frozen merch that I should know about?" asked Minegishi. They needed to change the subject NOW. They had said too much and now….well now they needed to start talking about literally anything else…
Right this fucking second.
"Um….I have new socks...that's new with me. I still miss Sho a lot…they're coming out with a whole bunch of Frozen Fever stuff that I'm going to get…and dad was sort of mean but he's not a…that word…and that's all of your question. I'm glad that you had such a good friend and that you colored your hair the way you wanted it and stuff. Are you and her still friends? Is she an esper too? And what's Ni-Chome?" asked Mob. She thought that it was ok to start asking a bunch of questions because Minegishi had been asking a bunch of questions…but now that she saw their aura she got to thinking that maybe she should not have asked a bunch of questions…and she wished that she was better at the whole talking thing…she really did.
"Mob…you're getting into some shit that I don't like to talk about…." Said Minegishi with a sigh. A story about how they had started dying their hair was now turning into why they didn't do the relationship thing…and Mob didn't need to know about that. She didn't need to know about the tangled mess that adult relationships were, she didn't need to know about the many, MANY ways Minegishi tended to fuck relationships up, and she did not need to know….to know things that would shatter her image of them.
"Oh…I'm sorry. I just wanted to know more about you. You know everything about me and I just wanted to know more about you but if you don't want to tell me then that's ok too. I don't want to make you feel bad. You're my best friend." Said Mob
"Thanks….your my best friend too…and I guess I can tell you…some things. Her name was Jun…Taniguchi Jun…and she was someone…who I cared about a lot. I cared about her and she cared about me but I messed the whole thing up in ways that you are too young to know about. She wasn't an esper but…but she always thought that my powers were just…she liked them. She was the first person to ever look at what I could do and like it for…for what it was. Not what I could do for her…and she didn't get freaked out when I showed her, either, which at the time was just…a lot for me. I cared about her a lot and that was why I moved with her to Ni-Chome…which is a part of Tokyo where people….like me live. We moved there together when I was seventeen and…yeah. It was…a nice place to live." Said Minegishi. They checked the timer on Mob's phone….and they wished that they had the power to control time, not plants….but they didn't and now they just had to calm the hell down. It was easier thought than done. They needed to calm down before they freaked Mob out…and also the bathroom was becoming overgrown.
"Why are you making so much aloe?" asked Mob as an aloe plant poked her in the side of the head. She tried to read Minegishi's aura but it was all tangled up in the plants and stuff…and she got the feeling that she had something wrong or done something wrong…and she wished that she knew what it was so she could fix it.
"I…don't like to talk about this. That's just me losing control like you lose control sometimes." Said Minegishi. They had been telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help them God but maybe they should have said something else. Mob's aura flared out and various bottles of product rained down from the shower shelves. They didn't care. Let someone else clean it up. They didn't need any more extra work. They had enough work to deal with getting their stupid emotions back in order.
"I'm sorry! For making you upset and also for-" said Mob. She put everything back with her powers as fast as she could. She wished that people's feelings were as easy to put back together. She wished that she knew how to make Minegishi feel better….but she didn't. She really didn't. She was so mad at herself. They were upset and it was all her fault!
"Don't be. This is on me, not you, ok? And calm the hell down with that. I'm fine. It's not that sad." Said Minegishi. They should have been over this long ago. They'd had something great with someone, they messed it up, and that was that. It had been years ago. There was nothing more pathetic than holding on to the memory of a woman that wanted nothing to do with them. It had ended almost eight years ago now and there was no need to dwell on it. No need for all of that extra work.
"It is. You're sad because you aren't with your best friend anymore. That's very sad." Said Mob. She didn't know what she would do if she and Minegishi weren't best friends anymore. It wasn't like she could just go to the store and get a new Minegishi. If she woke up one day and Minegishi was just gone….she didn't know what she would do…besides be very sad…
"You're my best friend, Mob, otherwise why the hell are we wearing these bracelets? You're my best friend and I'm not sad….not really. All of that shit happened years ago. I'm over it." Said Minegishi. They put a hand on Mob's back. She was getting herself worked up again. Why? She should have been depressed over her own shitty life, not Minegishi's, Minegishi should have been the one to be expressed over both of their shitty lives. They were older. Mob was just a kid. She had enough to deal with in her own life and she did not need to get herself worked up because of Minegishi's shit….shit that they brought on themselves.
"Ok…but it's still sad. You lost your old best friend." Said Mob. She couldn't think of anything sadder than losing your best friend….well Sho dying….and dad dying….and how mom had run away…and also if a kitten died…all of those things would be pretty sad but…but losing your best friend was up there.
"Mob, you're the only person I have ever called my best friend in my life. She was…well she was my girlfriend…now she's my ex-girlfriend….and honestly I don't blame her. I was not ready for any of that…and honestly I never will be. There's a reason I don't do the relationship thing….and you are WAY too young to know why. Trust me on this. Ok?" asked Minegishi. Mob nodded…and Minegishi thanked God that Mob nodded. They did not want to get any deeper into this than they had already gone.
"Ok….but I am sorry that you got dumped. That's got to be hard. I've never been dumped but I think that it must be hard…but it's ok. Other people like you like that." Said Mob. She had never been dumped but there was that time in the first grade when that boy liked her but then he ignored her after kissing her and holding her hand…and that had been hard. But it was ok. Minegishi probably felt worse than Mob had back then but she would make them feel better. She had never had or wanted a girlfriend before but she did know that if a boy dumped her she would want to hear that she was still a person who could be loved, that other boys would want to be with her, and that she wasn't some kind of unlovable person who would die alone and lonely…that was a terrible way to feel and Mob would not let Minegishi feel that way. Ever.
"Mob, I've told you before. You can have Haotri. Take him. I don't want him. He's yours." Said Minegishi. Hatori was, somehow, Mob's idea of a good catch. He cleaned up nicely. His skin was clearing up, he was using a soap that worked for him, and he hadn't been coating himself in lynx every day. He was still a nineteen year old crater faced overgrown child, how he thought that dish soap and laundry detergent were the same thing was beyond them, so Mob could have him.
"I-I don't like him like that anymore…at least I don't think so….I mean I think about him sometimes but not as a boyfriend just…just like how he's a boy and I like the way he looks and smells and I want to know what his skin feels like and also what it's like to…to kiss him and stuff…but not in a boyfriend way…if that makes any sense." Said Mob. She played with her braid and looked away while she said that. She didn't know what that feeling was but she got the feeling that it was something embarrassing.
"You think he's attractive, that's what that feeling it. I don't know why you think that he's attractive but you do and, honestly, he's all yours. I cannot emphasize this enough." Said Minegishi. Well Mob was certainly getting close to that special time in her life….and they were going to have a talk…later. They were mostly talked out for today. Besides, the only guy even remotely close to her age who wasn't her brother that she knew was Hatori and as he had sworn over and over again he was not into little girls. Minegishi didn't know what he was into but they had heard the word 'pregnant' back at the party during his confession and…yeah…they didn't need to hear anymore. If Mob wanted to drag the not so greasy little weirdo to bed with her when she got older then she could have at him.
"Oh….ok….but I wasn't talking about him anyway. Um…what would you do if boy who wasn't Hatori liked you?" asked Mob. She thought that her feelings for Hatori went past thinking that he was cute but she didn't want to talk about that anymore. Besides, she had to figure out if Minegishi liked Shimazaki back. If they liked him back then it would be the most perfect thing ever. They could get married and have babies and then Mob could be friends with their babies and play with them and take care of them and then Minegishi and Shimazaki would be happy for the rest of their lives and then Mob could watch their happy lives…..and it would be great.
Not that she was going to just come out and ask Minegishi if they liked Shimazaki like that.
Shimazaki had trusted her with his secret and she was going to keep it to herself. She wasn't good at talking but maybe if she just never said that it was Shimazaki who liked them…or maybe if she never let on that she knew that Shimazaki liked them….then she could figure out if Minegishi liked her back. Yeah. Like if it was all hypothetical situations or something. Then if Minegishi did like him then Mob could tell him that they liked him and then he could ask them to be his partner and they could get married and have five or ten babies and the Mob could play with the babies and everyone would be happy!
That is if Minegishi even liked Shimazaki back in the first place.
"Depends on the guy." Said Minegishi. Well they were well and truly off the subject of Minegishi's romantic failures…and onto the subject of their future romantic failures. Mob and love….Mob and boys…and it would only get WORSE as time went on…and it was already pretty bad now…well they'd weather the incoming hormonal storm. They had to…even though they saw their future revolving around conversations about boys…and Mob's thoughts on them….and it would be even worse than her obsession with Frozen…but Minegishi could handle it.
Bring it on.
"What if he…was really nice…but also acted like a crazy person all the time? Like he didn't think that he acted like a crazy person but everyone else did but he was just trying to be nice…and also he really liked music and…and was fun but also crazy…and a little annoying…but still a really good friend. Oh! And also what if he wore a lot of cologne?" asked Mob. There. She hadn't named any names or put in any details, specific details, that would let Minegishi knew who she was talking about. She felt good, actually, because she had never been that good at talking before.
"Hmm…that would depend." Said Minegishi. They knew EXACTLY who Mob was talking about. Subtly was not Suzuki Shigeko's strong suit. God. One of these days they were going to sit Mob down and tell her that adults could have sex, and kiss, and cuddle, and just enjoy being with one another without being in love or a relationship. They didn't blame Mob for being confused now, though, because she was eleven and had zero frame of reference for even a traditional relationship let alone whatever they were with Shimazaki. Whatever their situation was…their….situationship. Yeah, that fit. Their situationship.
"On what?" asked Mob. She leaned in close. Depend? There were deal breakers? Those were important. She had seen in a movie once where a man had a bunch of deal breakers, which were things about a woman that he would not have in a relationship, but then he met the perfect woman and he let them all go. He didn't mind that she had four kids or that she had been in prison or that she only had one leg or that she was six feet tall or that she had type B blood. He still loved her just the same and she quit her job at the ramen shop and married him and they had a baby at the end…so people could get over their deal breakers….
But Shimazaki had a lot more deal breakers than that….even if he was a very nice person….
"Does he like the Beatles? Because if he likes the Beatles then there's no way." said Minegishi. They were messing with Mob just a little bit…nothing serious. Just for fun. She really needed to learn to be more subtle…and to not ship her friends. Besides, everyone knew that HaoriXShibata was the more viable ship anyway the way those two were always hanging out.
"Um….is that a big deal breaker? Because he likes them a lot…I mean he would if I were talking about a specific person." said Mob
"Well I suppose that I could overlook that just so long as he doesn't have any tattoos. I'm not a fan of tattoos at all." said Minegishi. They smiled a little as Mob's eyebrows came together. It was cute. Even though she looked just like her father did when he tried to comprehend such incompressible things as Jell-O. Thank God she hadn't gotten Suzuki's eyebrows…though that might have made it even more adorable…and now they have to try not to laugh at the thought of Mob with her dad's eyebrows.
"Um…what if he has a bunch…and stuff." Said Mob. This was…not good. Maybe Minegishi only wanted to kiss Shimazaki, that was it, and they could only overlook all of his deal breakers for kissing reasons….oh no. Shimazaki would be so sad….
"I suppose I could overlook them if he didn't chew on strange things….like candles. Who wants to kiss a man with a mouthful of candle wax?" asked Minegishi. Mob was making this too easy...they'd stop in a minute, though, so they didn't end up upsetting her. She needed a boyfriend. A boyfriend her own age…or at least a boy her own age for her to kiss and whatever else, Minegishi was not going to open THAT box up anytime soon, she felt like doing with. At least then she could get all of this out of her system and she could stop shipping her friends.
"Um…what if he brushed his teeth before he kissed you? I feel like that would fix the candle wax problem…" said Mob. Well this…this was not good…but she could fix this. She could just tell Shimazaki all the things that he needed to change to get Minegishi to like him back…but then he wouldn't be himself anymore and she had heard that you had to be yourself…but you also had to fit in…and this whole thing was very complicated….
"Ok. Go tell Ryou to brush his teeth after he finishes chewing on candles." Said Minegishi. Mob's jaw dropped. She pulled her braids down and held onto them for dear life. Her aura retreated inwards….and Minegishi tried their best not to laugh….even though Mob deserved it for trying to play matchmaker with her friends.
"I-I-I….how did you know?" asked Mob. She had been so sneaky…but she had never been good at being sneaky…and now Shimazaki would know that she had let Minegishi know that he had a crush on them and then his heart would be broken and it was all her fault! She had broken her friend's heart and she…she had just been trying to help!
"How many guys do you know that like the Beatles, wear too much cologne, have more tattoos than they have room for, and chew on candles? Come on…and also no playing matchmaker. Ryou and I are what we are. You can have…well I won't get into what it is that we have…but you can have it without being in love…ok? Without doing the relationship thing? You get it?" asked Minegishi
"I…I get it. You don't like him like that…but if you did and you told him I bet he would be happy." Said Mob. She wished that Minegishi liked him back but they had said that they didn't do relationships…even though she could see that they were sort of in a relationship with Shimazaki….and also they would have been so happy together…but Mob didn't even have time to think of a sneaky way of telling that he was in love with them, one where they would love him back, because her timer went off.
That was ok, though, because now she got to help Minegishi paint the dye onto their hair!
"Yeah, he'd be over the fucking moon, Mob. Now come on, help me get the bleach out of my hair." Said Minegishi. Honestly. They were going to have to go through…..how long did puberty even take? Too long. They were going to have to deal with years of this….well they would, obviously, because they cared about Mob…but still. They needed to help her find a guy her own age or something because this living vicariously through people could not have been healthy. They would have to do that under Suzuki's nose, of course, because they got the feeling that he was one of those 'no man will ever be good enough for my precious little girl and I will murder any horny teenage boy who even thinks about her' dads….which was why Mob REALLY needed to find someone. Really.
"Can I help you do the paintbrush too?" asked Mob. She liked helping paint their hair…and also the part with the tinfoil…and also rinsing the dye out later…they just loved helping Minegishi with their hair so much….
"If you want. Now come on before I damage my hair…further." Said Minegishi. They got up and clipped the towel back around their neck. Good, the heavy discussion was over and now they could get back to normal. Back to what they had been doing. Back to wat was simple and easy and made sense and had nothing at all to do with their many romantic failures.
"Minegishi, don't say things like that. Your hair is really pretty." Said Mob as she got up. Minegishi had the prettiest hair that she had ever seen. It was lavender…and even if it wasn't lavender it would have been the prettiest hair that she had ever seen. Short or long, black or lavender, they had such pretty hair. Mob had always though so for their whole friendship.
Mob had always thought that Minegishi had very pretty hair…and was a pretty person on the inside, too.