Mob didn't wear her hair down that often.
She liked her braids. They kept her hair neat and not tangled. They kept it out of her face too. Also the braids kept her head from getting all overheated. Having long hair was sort of like wearing a hat all the time. It was nice in the winter, she hardly ever had to wear hats in the winter, but in the spring and summer it wasn't the most comfortable. But that was ok, she looked better with her hair down. Her new friend Minori said so.
And she knew a lot of things about a lot of things.
Like clothes and makeup and stuff. Things that Mob was clueless about. She'd had her hair the same way her whole life and her clothes the same way her whole life. It had been almost eleven years of sameness and she'd been happy….but she looked like she was in the first grade. Minori had said so and she hadn't said it to be mean. Sometimes friends could say things that sort of came out mean but weren't. Like when Minegishi called everyone idiots or morons when they did dumb stuff.
Like that morning.
They had called Shimazaki a moron because he tried to melt together a bunch of caramels in the waffle iron again. He said that if you got the timing right it was delicious but he hadn't gotten the timing right and now the whole house smelled like burnt caramels and Shibata wasn't happy with him. Minegishi had called Shimazaki a moron for what he had done. They hadn't meant to be mean to him and his feelings hadn't been hurt. He had told Minegishi that he loved them, kissed them, and then went off to do Shimazaki things. So sometimes your friends could be kind of mean to you but that didn't mean that they didn't like you.
And also square pancakes could be just as good as waffles.
Square pancakes could be just as good as waffles and wearing her hair down could be just as good as wearing her hair up. She just had to get used to it. She just had to get used to how warm she was and how heavy her hair felt and how her hair kept on sticking to the back of her neck. That was the worst part, feeling it against the back of her neck. It felt like every ten seconds she had to reach back and push her hair away.
It was sort of annoying.
"Mob, you want a hair tie or something?" asked Minegishi as Mob flipped her hair for the millionth time. She had it down today, she'd been wearing it down lately, and Minegishi had no idea why. She didn't seem to like it and the constant hair flipping was getting annoying. This was why they had chopped their hair short years ago. Maybe the day would come when Mob asked them to just cut her hair into something more practical…well hopefully not soon since her father had some fixation with her hair….God, he was always touching Mob's hair…and Minegishi got the feeling that they would end up in a traitor hole if they ever cut Mob's hair down from it's current Rapunzel length….
But then again it was Mob's hair and she could do what she wanted with it.
If he had been any other man Minegishi would have knocked some sense into him long ago. He was creepy, possessive, and in the end he was just going to give Mob a lifetime of psychological problems with his creepy and possessive behavior towards her. That could not have been good for her. Thank God that she had been spending less time with him. Apparently she'd made a new friend. Good. Anything to keep her away from her dad.
And his, frankly, creepy fixation with her and her hair.
"I have some in my pockets…but I don't want to tie up my hair. It looks better this way. Minori said so." Said Mob as she flipped her hair away from her neck again. She wished that she could have just braided it….but it looked better this way. Minori had said so.
"Your new friend?" asked Minegishi. She had made a friend and that was good…because Mob needed a friend her own age. She needed to be friends with other kids but…there was a lot of bullshit that came with being friends with someone her own age.
"Yes….but we're still friends too. She's just also my friend but you're my best friend so you don't have to worry about me replacing you or anything like that." Said Mob. She didn't know tones, Minori said that she was socially impaired, but she thought that Minegishi might have been jealous. She knew that sometimes people got like that….but she also knew that no matter how many friends she made Minegishi would always be her best friend in the whole world.
"I was never worried about that. I'm honestly glad that you finally have a friend your own age." Said Minegishi
"Oh….ok. I was just worried. Also I'm glad that I have a friend my own age too. I mean you're a good friend and everyone else is a good friend…even Shimazaki even though he almost burnt the house down….but I like having someone my own age to hang out with. She's really smart about a lot of things and she teaches me things…things that I already should have known about." Said Mob
"Such as?" asked Minegishi
"She taught me about how kpop is the best kind of music because it has the best guys…even though I thought music was about how things sounded and not how the guys looked….and also she taught me about how I should wear clothes that don't have Elsa or Anna or Olaf on them because I'm too old….and she taught me about makeup and why I should wear my hair down and also about all the rules with boys…it's a lot of rules." Said Mob. She had no idea that there were so many rules for how to….be. Dad had said, before, that social rules were very complicated. He had always said, before, that it was impressive how much she knew and how good she was socially. Well she wasn't that good socially since there were rules that she hadn't even known that she had to follow. Rules that she hadn't even known existed.
"Rules? Such as?" asked Minegishi. They paused the TV and turned to face Mob. The rules. Ah yes, the rules. The never ending rules for how to look and talk and act and live. The rules that Mob did not need to live by. The rules that nobody needed to live by.
"Rules like how you're not supposed to let them kiss you unless they take you somewhere or buy you something first….unless you're playing a game but I don't think that I would ever kiss someone in a game. Also you're never supposed to open your mouth when you kiss someone unless they do it first because then otherwise boys will think you're easy also youre never supposed to let them touch you unless you've been going out with them for a while. Also you're not supposed to tell them that you like them, you have to wait for them to like you, otherwise-" said Mob
"Mob, stop. This is painful. I think I just felt part of my brain die." Said Minegishi. No. mob did not need all of this garbage in her head. Those so called 'rules' about how you were supposed to relate to boys. About how you were some prize for them to win. Like you had zero agency in the whole thing beyond making him jump through hoops….and God forbid you want anything from HIM. No, girls had no role in this beyond making him jump through hoops to get to what you both wanted….God. That shit had been ridiculous when they had been Mob's age and it was ridiculous now. Well now they had something else to talk to Mob about…and sooner rather than later.
"Oh what?! That's…um….I bet if I called Fukuda then-" said Mob. She didn't want to make Sho come back, that was smothering him, but she also didn't want anything to happen to her friend….did that mean that she was putting her friend ahead of her brother? She didn't know. She just wanted everyone and everything to be ok.
"No. Not literally…and even if I had been literal don't call that stale piece of candy corn from three Halloweens ago. I can't stand him." said Minegishi. Maybe instead of putting all of his energy and resources into finding more espers Suzuki, instead, should have put that energy into finding more healers. There had to have been another in the world and whoever that person was they had to have been better than Fuckuda.
"I don't….I don't like him as much as I used to too….because he made fun of your breasts and stuff." Said Mob. That had not been a good plane ride at all. Fukuda should have just said sorry…and maybe she should have turned the plane around…but then if she had turned the plane around they would have had to spend even more time in the air and then ever more fights would have happened and she did not want her friends to fight at all. Ever. Friends did not fight.
"Don't remind me." Said Minegishi with a groan. That had been the plane ride from hell….well most of their plane rides sucked. There was something about being hermetically sealed in a tin can with everyone twenty thousand feet up that just brought out the worst in everyone. Who would have thought that close confines and recirculated air could make people crazy?
"Sorry….but he was wrong to say stuff like that about you." Said Mob. She still felt all weird thinking about what had happened. Well bad for Minegishi, of course, but also just….weird. She knew that Fukuda had not been talking about her but…but he COULD have been talking about her….and she felt like it was selfish to think like that…..but the thought that he could have been talking about her…since hers were nothing to write home about either….it just…made her feel all weird. Not good. The thought of someone she had known for her whole life….the thought that they could think about her like that…and be mean to her like that….well she was just being selfish since it had actually happened to Minegishi and they had felt absolutely terrible.
"Yes, yes he was…but he'll get his eventually. Your dad won't live forever." Said Minegishi before they thought about what they had been saying. Right. Mob loved her dad….and she was the only person not looking forward to the day the great Suzuki Touichirou left this world.
"That's….that's a sad thought to have. I love my dad. I don't like it when he smothers me but I don't want him to die…." Said Mob. She loved her dad so much…even if he was mean to Sho and he smothered her….and she didn't want him to ever die. She loved him and the thought of being without him….she didn't know what she would do without her dad. She already had no mom….and with no dad then she would be an orphan….and she didn't want to be an orphan.
"Death in inevitable. Death, taxes, and Shimazaki doing stupid shit in the kitchen are all unavoidable parts of life…but I wasn't saying that I want him dead. I was just stating a fact. One day he won't be here to protect Fukuda and then he'll get his." Said Minegishi. They weren't sure if they were going to kill him…he was annoying but he was one of the people that Mob cared about…and they weren't excited at the prospect of whatever it was that they were going to do…but they had their reasons for doing whatever it was that they were going to have to do.
"Are….are you going to hurt him?" asked Mob. Fukuda may have been sort of mean lately but that didn't mean that she wanted him to get hurt or anything like that. She just…wanted him to be nicer…and to say sorry.
"Possibly. It depends on how much groveling he does." Said Minegishi. Why did Mob still care about that asshole? She was too nice. She was too nice and it would be her downfall. She was getting older and….yeah. The future was worrying.
"Um…I agree that he should not have said that stuff about you…and especially not to Sho…but um…maybe don't hurt him. Maybe just make him say sorry from the heart and stuff and then…and then he'll be sorry and stuff. I mean he was wrong to say that stuff to you…but hurting people is wrong." Said Mob. She may not have been Fukuda's best friend or anything, actually he was one of the people she liked the least out of all the people she knew, but she didn't want him to get hurt. Also she didn't want Minegishi to hurt someone. They were her best friend and they didn't need something like that hanging over them for the rest of their life.
"Mob, sometimes people need to be hurt. Some people can only learn things the hard way and sometimes teaching someone something that hard way involves hurting them." Said Minegishi. Mob still had no idea what they actually did….how she had no idea they didn't know. She had access to all of Claw's records and she could read. Well whatever. If directly asked they would not lie. Keeping secrets never worked out. They always had a way of getting out and at the worst times too. They would not volunteer this information, what they did for a living, but if asked they would not lie.
Though they did hope that Mob didn't ask.
Though she didn't even have time to ask. The energy around them shifted. Some of their plants wanted to recoil…and they did not let them. No, they were the boss of their plants…and Mob could override their control without even realizing it. She was the one who was startled. She was startled and she could just override their control like it was nothing…..
God help anyone who Mob had to teach a lesson to…the hard way.
"Who are we hurting?" asked Shimazaki as he popped into the living room. He leaned down over the back of the couch and felt some of the sand on him begin to fall off. Well this day had been a bust…and it was only noon it felt like. God. He missed Sho. There was always something to do with Sho around. Also Sho was good at seeing when caramels were done melting in the waffle iron, too. He could not wait until that kid came back from whatever grand adventure he was on….though not nearly as grand as the one they would have when he came back. Not that he knew what they were going to do but man were they going to do….something.
"Fukuda because he said mean things about Minegishi…well Minegishi is going to hurt him. I'm trying to get them to not hurt him and just make him say sorry." Said Mob. She may have said the wrong thing because she felt Shimazaki's aura flare against hers. Also he opened his eyes just a little bit before he closed them again. He did that instinctively sometimes, he said, and he hated doing that because that meant that eye cleaning day would come sooner. She hadn't meant to make him mad. She never wanted any of her friends to ever be mad for any reason at all.
"Again with this guy? Well he was warned. He brought this on himself. Mob, Toshi, if either of you want to say goodbye to him them say your goodbyes now." Said Shimazaki. Well not it was time for him to go splat. He couldn't get to Seoul from here on his own but he could find a way and then he would teleport as high up as he could stand then he would go splat on the ground. Nobody talked about Toshi unless they were talking about how awesome they were…and nobody talked about Toshi's body in any way end of discussion because they did not like that.
"Calm down, Ryou, we're talking about what happened before…and where have you been? And why are you tracking sand everywhere." Said Minegishi. He smelled like the ocean again…and he had forgone his usual coat. They made a mental note to make some aloe for him for later. He somehow burnt and tanned at the same time.
"I went to the beach." Said Shimazaki with a shrug. Why else would he have been covered in sand? It wasn't like he had gone to the sand factory…no…that was something best done with Sho. They always had the best times together. Collecting shells and throwing them at people would have been a lot more fun with the kid around…but he was living it up in Seoul. Well as much as a ten year old could live it up. He'd have to show Sho how fun Seoul could be…and also how to meet guys or whatever he was into because if he came back and he was still all lovesick and shit Shimazaki….he had no idea what he was going to do.
"Why? You hate the water." Said Minegishi as they sat up on their knees, reached over, and shook some of the sand from his hair. They forgot how long his hair was sometimes. It wasn't very long but it was…different seeing it all flattened down from sand and ocean water. They brushed some of the sand from his hair and then sat back down quickly. Mob's eyes had been on them the whole time….the shippening….the constant shippening….
"I don't hate it…it just don't trust it." Said Shimazaki as he shook some sand off and onto Mob and Toshi, mostly Mob since Toshi hated getting all sandy. They hated the beach. They hated anywhere that was hot and crowded. He would have taken them with him if he could…but at least now he got to be near them.
"But then why did you go? And also everyone can see your tattoos." Said Mob. She knew that people were not supposed to see your tattoos. That was because only people in the yakuza and people who wanted to live outside of society got tattoos, dad had said, and that was why Shimazaki always had to wear his coat. Also because it made him look cool. Well she thought that it made him look cool, Minori thought that it made him look attractive, and Mob didn't get it. It was just a coat…but she didn't understand a lot of Minori's stuff about boys. Especially Shimazaki. How many times could she stare at a picture of him and say that he looked nice without getting bored. He dressed the same every day, almost the same anyway, not like Hatori. You never knew what sweater he was going to wear on any given day.
"I know they can. That's what I love about this country, they don't kick you out of places just for being covered in tattoos." Said Shimazaki. He poked his Toshi tattoo as he said that. He could feel the raised lines, the ones that he had been trying to cover in the first place, and honestly the tattoos probably looked better than the scars some of them covered up. He knew that this one, the one of Toshi did, because it was Toshi.
"Yeah, it's so unfair that people don't want the yakuza hanging around." Said Minegishi
"Hey, ex-yakuza. I got kicked out thank you very much…and I got to keep all of my fingers." Said Shimazaki. He wiggled his fingers for emphasis. Toshi batted his hands away…but they let their hand linger on his. He noticed. He reached over and held their hand in his. God, their skin was so soft….
"Why would you not have all of your fingers?" asked Mob. She tried not to look at them holding hands. She liked it that they were holding hands…and also she knew that people didn't like to be watched when they held hands. Well she knew that she would not have wanted to be watched when she held hands with someone…not that she had anyone to hold hands with.
"Because when you do as Ryou has done they cut off your fingers so you have to live with that shame for the rest of your life…and don't ask him what he did. You don't want to know." Said Minegishi. They let go of his hand and shook their head. He had better not have said a word to Mob about what he had done. They had accepted it, he was who he was and all of that, but that didn't mean that everyone else would…or that Mob needed to accept it.
"Ok….I won't." said Mob. She kind of wanted to know, now, but Minegishi had told her not to ask…and she knew that he had done something bad before….but she didn't know what….but that was ok. Whatever it was he would always be her friend.
"Eh, Toshi likes to exaggerate. I do worse on a daily basis." Said Shimazaki with a shrug. So he let some people die, stuck his dick where it didn't belong, and accidentally burnt down a house or two…and also the drugs….and the stealing of the drugs…but it wasn't so bad. Toshi exaggerated.
"Like get sand everywhere?" asked Mob. She could feel some of it in her hair. She flipped her hair away from her neck again and tried her best to get the sand out. Great. Now she was warm and itchy and sandy.
"Yes Ryou, getting sand everywhere is much worse than…all of those things that Mob does not need to know about and that you had better not tell her about." Said Minegishi
"Alright, Toshi, message received. Anyway it doesn't matter why I got kicked out anyway. What matters is….this." said Shimazaki as he dug around in his coat and pulled out a really nice feeling seashell. It was all smooth and stuff. It might have had a clam in it or something at some point. Now it was all smooth and soft and nice. Just like Toshi was.
"A seashell. Lovely." Said Minegishi as a perfect seashells was put into their hand. What were they supposed to do with this? Just…well Ryou liked to feel them…and it was smooth. They ran their hands over the shell. This was….this was alright. Nice even. This….well they'd do something with this….well right now they would just hold on to it.
"I felt it and thought of you." Said Shimazaki. He had heard that, the way Toshi's aura hiccupped. They liked it. He had known that they would like it. Well he had hoped that they would like it, anyway. He didn't know. He had just felt like doing something nice for them.
"You went to the beach for seashells? I like to collect seashells…" said Mob. She would have liked to have gone too…she hadn't even known that Minegishi liked seashells….or the beach. Well actually they had said that they hated the beach….so it would have been her and Shimazaki. They had fun together. The thought of being alone with him….it's weird. She knows that he's supposed to be very good looking and she's supposed to like him, Minori had said so, but….well she didn't think he looked bad…he just didn't make her heart go doki doki or anything like that. Probably because she was Minegishi's best friend and friends didn't do things like that to each other.
"Sorry. I didn't know if you were going to be around today…and also I was throwing them at people and I know how you hate shit like that." Said Shimazaki. He would rather have taken Sho….he would have had the time of his life…God, he missed the kid. Maybe he should have a kid of his own….no, that was a bad idea. Toshi didn't want kids and he didn't want to make Toshi do anything that they didn't want to do…and also kids started out as babies and he wasn't a big fan of taking care of babies. Too much crying and too much vomiting and too much being responsible for keeping another human being alive.
"Um…I would have liked to have been able to go with you…but you're right. I would not have liked it if you had thrown things at people. That isn't nice." Said Mob. Shimazaki had kind of a meanness to him sometimes. Minegishi said that they weren't in the habit of psychoanalyzing people but if they were they would have said that it had something to do with how mad his life had been when he was a kid and the fact that he had been raised in a yakuza family, which was like Claw but much worse Minegishi had said. Mob was sad that he'd had a hard life…but she also didn't like how he could just do mean things to people for no reason and stuff. She didn't understand it…and a lot of other things about him….maybe that was why she didn't like him. Well not like she was supposed to like him…well like how everyone else seemed to like him.
"Well not as bad as Fukuda shooting his mouth off about Toshi. Seriously, I can mess him up if you want me to." Said Shimazaki
"Don't. I can handle myself, Ryou." Said Minegishi
"Well let me help at least. I want to. I love-" said Shimazaki
"Ryou, go take a shower. You smell like the ocean and you're covered in sand." Said Minegishi
"Alright, I'll take a shower…but just because I-" said Shimazaki
"Now." Said Minegishi. They waited for him to protest again. He didn't. He just leaned over and kissed them. His hand found their cheek and he tilted their head up and kissed them…and then he teleported away. They lingered in that positon for a moment before turning around and sitting back the way that they had been before. They unpaused the TV and went back to watching. Mob…they had hoped that she would have taken the hint….but she hadn't. She was still sitting there, facing them, staring with her eyes and her aura….at least her eyes didn't do that creepy thing that her father's and brother's did. At least she still had pupils. Minegishi held eye contact with her. An impromptu staring contest started….
And Mob won.
"Hey Minegishi? Can I ask you something?" asked Mob. Minegishi had been staring at her and normally people only stared at other people when they had something to say. She had been waiting for Minegishi to say something but maybe they had been waiting for her to say something. Maybe they had almost ended up sitting there in silence for the rest of their lives. That would not have been good at all.
"You just did." Said Minegishi. They knew what she was going to ask about. They knew that she was at the special time in her life, all the new feelings, etcetera….and they knew that it was normal for her to be curious about love and such…but they did not want to go into what, exactly, there was between them and Ryou….because they weren't entirely sure what was happening between them and Ryou.
They put their seashell down on the coffee table.
"Um….can I ask you something else?" asked Mob
"Is this going to be about me and Ryou?" asked Minegishi
"Yes." said Mob
"Well fine, come on, let's get this over with." Said Minegishi
"Um….ok. I just wanted to know why you never say it back when he tells you he loves you. Minori says that when a boy says that he loves you then you have to say it back. That means that you have a boyfriend now and if you don't say it back then he'll move onto someone who will. Boys are like that, she said. They don't like to wait around so you have to-" said Mob
"Mob, I say this as your best friend, alright? You need to forget everything, very single thing, that you've been told. Ok? That girl has no clue what she's talking about." Said Minegishi. They rubbed their temples and groaned. They could feel a headache coming on. Mob did not need all of that bullshit in her head. Minegishi wanted to find where the source of all of this was, all of these stupid rules that someone had thought up, and destroy it so that nobody had to deal with this crap ever again.
"No, Minori knows. She's kissed eight boys." Said Mob. That was seven more boys than she'd kissed. Minori knew a lot better than she did. She also went to school and had friends who were their age…well all of her friends were b-words that stabbed her in the back, she had said, but she still knew more about being with people and the rules and stuff than Mob did.
"So? I've kissed….God I don't even know how many people at this point….so I think that I know a little bit better than an eleven year old." Said Minegishi. They had also done things that Mob couldn't even imagine but they were not going to bring that up. No, let Mob stay young and innocent for a little while longer. She had a phone, she knew how the internet worked, she'd figure out what adults did together in her own time.
"You're right, you do know….but also there might be new rules…there are a lot of rules. There are rules that I never even thought about." Said Mob
"Those rules are bullshit, Mob, complete and utter bullshit. Ok? Nobody is obligated to do anything. Ryou is in love with me. That's fine. He can say it if he wants to. He can teleport up onto the roof and scream it so the whole world can hear. His feelings do not dictate my feelings…and before you ask I have no idea what my feelings on the subject are. So don't ask about them." Said Minegishi
"Ok….but aren't you worried that he's going to find someone else? Minori said that boys are like that." Said Mob. Boys could just leave you at any time for someone else. That was why you weren't supposed to just kiss boys or let them touch you and stuff. Because then they expected that from everyone and it wasn't fair to everyone else. You had to think about other people. Minori had said so.
"Ryou can fu-Ryou can be with whoever he wants to be with. So can I. Even if he is in love with me he knows how I am and I know how he is…and even if we were like that I wouldn't waste my time with someone who was liable to just get up and leave because I wasn't going on his timetable. Don't indulge people like that, Mob, they aren't worth it. If someone tries to make you do something that you don't want to do or you're not ready to do then you have every right to tell them to fuck off." Said Minegishi. Maybe it was best that Mob didn't know any guys her own age. They were pushy at her age…well there were a lot of pushy men out there too…and if you looked up pacifist in the dictionary Mob's picture would be right there….maybe they could move to an women only island until Mob was done growing up. Minegishi had never had that problem with women and other such feminine individuals….but isolating Mob from the opposite sex would only make it worse….was this what it was like to have a kid? The constant worry…they didn't much like the constant worry….but this was what it was. They were going to be there for Mob no matter what….and it looked like there was going to be a lot of 'what' in the coming years….
Responsibilities of the bracelet.
"I know, if boys try stuff then you can slap them like on TV…and I don't want to slap anyone but I don't know any boys so I guess I won't have to. Minori's never had to slap anyone either-" said Mob
"Minori is eleven. Mob, don't take romantic advice…or life advice…from another eleven year old." Said Minegishi. Kids did not need to learn these things from kids…and they would have thought that Mob would have been smarter than that…but that had been hypocritical of them…or at least unfair. It was unfair of them to expect Mob to be smarter than they had been at her age.
"But…she knows stuff. She knows the rules for boys and friends and clothes and posting pictures and putting on makeup and stuff." Said Mob. Those were the important things about being a girl, it seemed, and they were important to her. She just…wanted to be normal. Normal and also….she wasn't a little kid anymore and she didn't want to be treated like one anymore.
"Who makes these rules?" asked Minegishi with a sigh. Mob should not have had to deal with this. This was the one good thing, Minegishi had thought before, about living the way she did. She didn't have to put up with bullshit from the other kids. Well now she did. Now she was acting like there was something wrong with her and there wasn't. You were who you were and there was nothing wrong with who you were. Minegishi hadn't had anyone to tell them that when they had been a kid, they had been told the direct opposite in fact, but Mob was luckier than they had been as a child.
"….I don't know….she didn't say. I guess normal people. People who go to school and stuff. I don't know…." Said Mob. She knew that she was not a normal person, and she knew that she should not have wanted what the normal people had, but she just…she sort of did sometimes. She sort of wanted to go to school and have friends who were kids like her and to have had a boyfriend and to be able to wake up in the same place every single day and all of that normal people stuff….but dad had said that she wasn't supposed to have wanted any normal person stuff because she was supposed to be better than normal…but she didn't want to be better than normal. She just wanted….she didn't even know what it was that she even wanted….
"Mob, if you don't know who makes these rules then why are you following them?" asked Minegishi
"I guess….I don't want to be weird. I mean….I'm weird. I know that I'm weird and…and I had no idea how weird I was. I mean…I like the same stuff and I dress the same way since…since I've been little…and I don't know how I didn't see how weird that was….dressing like a first grader." Said Mob
"Is it any weirder than getting all of your clothes from the men's section? Or wearing a leather jacket year round? Or wearing sweaters all the time because you're too lazy to change your clothes? Or wearing the same suit day in and day out…and even to bed? Mob, the only person here who dresses 'normally', and I say that in quotes, is Shibata and he's been in the kitchen all day binge watching YouTube videos about waffle making hacks. Mob, nobody here is normal because normal doesn't exist." Said Minegishi
"But…if normal doesn't exist then why are there so many normal people?" asked Mob
"Everyone's different. Everyone has their own sense of self and self-expression. Everyone has their own way of being in the world, of being comfortable in it. Don't let someone else tell you how to be. I mean…for the love of God, you're the second most powerful esper in the world. If anything you should be the one making the rules." Said Minegishi
"But….I don't want to make the rules. Making rules…it seems kind of bossy. I don't even like making rules for Sho but I have to for his own good. I don't think that I would like making rules for the whole world…I don't even know what rules I would make. About stuff like that I mean. I don't know anything….I didn't even know that it was weird to have my hair in braids." Said Mob
"What's wrong with braids?" asked Minegishi
"Only little kids have them." Said Mob
"That's ridiculous. I had my hair in braids until I was about your age." Said Minegishi
"You did?" asked Mob. She blinked and tried to imagine Minegishi in braids….or with hair long enough to braid. She couldn't. She had seen their hair get pretty long, it was almost to their shoulders once, but they mostly just cut it short. Now it was to their ears. They'd had braids when they were a kid….whenever she had pictured little Minegishi she had always just thought of Minegishi as she knew them now but shorter….but of course they had bene different when they had been a kid. They had been a girl when they had been a kid.
Would they have been friends back then?
They may have looked different but they would have been the same person that they were now. Just with braids…and black hair…and maybe they would have worn a dress too…no. They hated dresses because you had to be careful how you moved and stuff. They would still have been the same person as they were now…just a little different….but they still could have been friends and stuff….they would have been friends but not like her and Minori were friends now…
She would not even begin to imagine Minegishi being anything like Minori.
"Yeah, but then I got sick of it and chopped it off. It's just hair. You can do whatever you want with it. If you want your hair in braids then braid it and if you don't you don't…and if someone has a problem with your hair then they can go fuck themselves." Said Minegishi
"I…I wouldn't ever tell anyone to…do that…" said Mob. She knew that people said bad words but she wasn't one of those people. She knew those words, she knew what they meant and how to put them together and stuff….but she just could not do it. Minori had said that she sounded like a little kid but….she just couldn't curse.
"Well you should. Don't live your life according to what other people want or you. I've lived like that. It's not a good time." Said Minegishi
"I'm not living my life by other people….bossing me around….not really. I just….don't want to be weird. I was weird and I didn't even know it and….and I just don't want to be weird. But it's hard because I just…I feel weird all the time….well some of the times…and I don't like to feel weird…out of place." Said Mob. She didn't know how to say it. She felt…out of place…that made sense. She had felt so out of place since she had made friends with Minori. She was a normal person who did normal stuff and knew how to be normal. Mob…she hadn't ever been normal in her life. She liked dolls and Frozen and braiding her hair and stuff like that. She liked that same stuff now as she had when she had been a little kid…and she wasn't a little kid anymore. She was almost eleven. She was almost eleven but she felt so much older sometimes.
"Mob…everyone feels like that. Well not Ryou but he's…Ryou. Most people feel out of place like that but, you know, you're just going to feel more out of place trying to become someone you aren't. If you want to wear Frozen clothes then wear Frozen clothes and if you want to braid your hair then braid your hair and if you want to do something else then do something else. Just do it for you, alright? Because you think that you have to follow some rules or whatever….and definitely not for guys. If a guy wants you to do something you don't want to do or to change who you are then he's not worth it. You got it?" asked Minegishi. They may have started speaking a little too harshly there….but Mob had to understand this. She had to. Being who she was…how she was….she was liable to go along with whatever…and do whatever…and Minegishi could not let that happen to her.
"Um…..I get it…" said Mob. She did and she didn't. She knew that she shouldn't let herself be bossed around but also…also she didn't see what was so bad about trying to fit in. Trying to feel less out of place. If everyone in the world felt out of place then….then maybe there were no places to begin with…but maybe there were and everyone was looking for their place…she didn't know. This whole thing was very complicated.
"Good. I'm sorry to sound like such an asshole but I just….don't want to see you wasting your life trying to be someone you're not. God only knows how much of my life I wasted like that…trying to be someone else…" said Minegishi
"Why would you try to be someone else? You're you. You're one of the nicest, smartest, funnest people I know." Said Mob
"Where were you when I was your age?" asked Minegishi shaking their head. Mob had been taking about herself there. She was a good friend….and something of a doormat…but she was a good person. She was one of the best people that Minegishi had ever met….and how she had come from Suzuki of all people Minegishi would never know. They wondered what their life would have been like if they had met Mob, or someone like her, when they had been her age. They probably could have shaved off a few years of pain and heartbreak that was for sure.
"Not born yet." Said Mob. Minegishi had been a teenager when she had been born…but sometimes she thought about what her life would have been like if Minegishi and her had been the same age and friends and stuff. She would have had someone her own age to be friends with….a best friend her own age….and also Minegishi's life would have been better. Their parents had been very mean to them, they had said, and if they'd had Mob around back then…well then their parents would have been a whole not nicer to them. Or else.
"Well I wish I had known someone like you when I was your age. It would have been nice. Back then it was a shit ton of people telling me that who I was, who I am, was just….wrong. Adults, kids, my parents, people I knew, people I didn't know….guys I did stupid stuff for….girls I did even stupider stuff for…it wasn't a good time. I just…don't want to see you waste as much of your life as I wasted of mine." Said Minegishi
"I won't." said Mob even though she didn't know how any part of someone life could be a waste. Life was life and even when you weren't doing anything, even when you were just siting and talking, you were learning something and growing and stuff. You even learned and grew from the painful stuff…like mom leaving. Mob didn't know who she would have been if mom hadn't left…well a lot happier…but also maybe not because if mom had never left then she never would have met any of her friends and stuff. She never would have made friends with Minegishi…and that's not a version of reality that she wants to live in.
"Good. Now do you want me to braid your hair? You've been flipping it all day." Said Minegishi. Too much heavy conversation. Too many memories. Just…too much. They were trying to distract Mob, maybe, or just trying to distract themselves. They didn't know. All they knew was that Mob really liked having her hair braided and the constant hair flipping was getting on Minegishi's nerves.
"…..Minegishi….I would love that." Said Mob. She pulled a handful of ribbons and hair ties out of her pockets and handed them all of Minegishi. Then she turned around quickly and let Minegishi work. She had no idea that Minegishi even knew how to do this but they did. Sure her braids hung crooked, by the end, and one had more hair in it than the other…but still. Minegishi had done the braiding and therefore they were perfect.
Mob would have to let Minegishi braid her hair more often.