Mob and Minori were friends….even if she could be sort of mean sometimes.
But it wasn't that bad. Sometimes people who you liked and who liked you could be mean. Like how Sho had been mean to her for years or like how Minegishi could be mean to people even if they liked them. Like how they called Shimazaki and idiot even though they were probably in love with him and just hadn't realized it yet. Sometimes when you liked someone, were their friend even, they could be sort of mean to you…but that was ok.
It really was.
They weren't great friends, not like she and Minegishi were friends, but they were friends still. They hung out together and did fun stuff and all of that. Minori taught her things, too, like about makeup. Mob hadn't given much thought to makeup before meeting Minori, it had just been a thing that mom had put on sometimes, but now she liked it. It was fun. Eye makeup was fun anyway. The rest of it was hard and she was still learning but she liked eye makeup…even if she did it wrong sometimes.
"Seriously? I told you that we wear pinks and purples, not blues." Said Minori. Mob nodded before she could stop herself. Minori was wiping the makeup off of her face. It was just eye makeup. Minegishi said that wearing makeup on her face was bad for her skin and she believed them. They knew about skin and stuff like that.
Well Minori knew too but Mob trusted Minegishi when it came to skin.
She trusted Minori when it came to makeup though. She knew so much about all of this. She was the one who taught Mob after all. Mob would have worn pink or purple if she had known that she would be coming here. She hadn't, she had been planning on spending the way watching TV with Minegishi and trying not to freak out because they were sick again, but then Minori had called and told her to get…herself…down there with pens and drinks so that was what Mob had done.
And that was why she was getting her face scrubbed with a makeup remover wipe.
"I'm sorry. I forgot to change my eye makeup…because you called so suddenly." Said Mob. She didn't think that she had done anything bad…that bad…but she wasn't going to argue or anything with Minori. She wouldn't even dream up of. Minori called people who argued with her b-words and Mob did not want to be a b-word.
"Yeah, well, you should have been listening to me from the start. We wear pink and purple. Got it, Suzuki?" said Minori. She sounded mean there….but that was ok. She got that way sometimes. That was just how she was as a person. Sometimes people just got mad and that was ok…even if they didn't have to get mad at you for something as simple as wearing a color they didn't like. It seemed sort of like an overreaction to Mob, the way Minori was scrubbing her face really hard and had a really mad look on her face, but Mob would never say something like that to her face. She just wanted what was best for Mob, that was all, and Mob should have listened to her. It was like how dad had to be hard on people when they didn't realize that he only had their best interests at heart.
"I get it. I'm sorry. I'll listen to you more in the future." Said Mob. That was what she said to dad when she messed up…well when she used to mess up. Dad never told her that she messed up anymore because he loved her more than he ever had before. Still, though, it worked with Minori just liked it worked with dad. Minori stopped wiping so hard. Now she didn't look so mad anymore, either, at least Mob didn't think that she looked mad. People without auras were hard to read.
"Good. See? Is that so hard? I swear….some people." Said Minori. She threw the used makeup remove napkin in the trash and then got out a tissue. She was wiping off the makeup remover, now, and she was a lot gentler. It paid to say sorry when you did something wrong….even though maybe Minori was overreacting…but that was ok. She had a lot going on that was making her mad.
Someone had been a b-word to her again.
Mob could tell. When Minori said 'some people' she meant people who had been b-words to her…which was everyone. Sometimes it felt like that anyway. All of her friends had been mean to her in some way and Mob….she couldn't even imagine what that must have been like. Friends had to get along. Friends had to always…well not always get along…but they had to get along most of the time. Even Shimazaki and Hatori got along…sometimes. Hatori was afraid of Shimazaki but Shimazaki could be sort of nice to him sometimes….on occasion…once in a while…..Mob would help them mend their friendship once she figured out how to. Mob was lucky that she only had two people in her friend group who didn't get along….
None of Minori's friends got along.
Everyone was always being a b-word to everyone else. People could be sort of mean like that. People had been mean to her, too, when she had been in school. School put you in a room with a bunch of other people and the only thing that they had in common was their age. Mob's friends all at least had being espers and working for Claw in common. They all also liked hanging out and watching TV and smoking and drinking, well that was her and Minegishi and Shimazaki, or playing videogame…well that was her and Hatori, and helping to cook sometimes and holding the knitting yarn….well that was just her and Shibata….but still. It was better to make friends the normal way than to make them from in school. She'd never had any friends when she had been in school…
But then again back then she hadn't been allowed to make friends with anyone who wasn't an esper….
But things were different now. She was Minori's friend and she was a real and true friend. She would not backstab or betray Minori in any way. She needed a real and true friend and Mob considered herself to be a real and true friend. She would always be there for Minori even if sometimes she could overreact and be mean. That was fine. Nobody was perfect. Minori got really mad for very little reason. Shimazaki acted like a crazy person. Shibata liked to pick her up and throw her. Hatori had trouble taking care of himself sometimes and also he got really scared or little to no reason sometimes. Minegishi was great though. Well sometimes they could be mean to other people, and they kept on making Mob use moderation, but they were still great.
When you had friends you put up with the bad so you could enjoy the good.
And there was good to Minori. She was nice enough to teach Mob all the things that she didn't know. Also she was always up to hang out. That was good…even if they didn't really play that much…it was still nice to hang out with her. She could be nice sometimes and Mob couldn't blame her for being as mad as she was all the time…most of the time…some of the time…sometimes. She just had a bunch of friends who were mean to each other and also her dad wasn't doing what she wanted him to, she wanted to go back to Japan but he didn't, so Minori had every right to be upset….she didn't have to take it out on Mob but that was ok too. Sometimes people took stuff out on you when they had a lot going on.
That was ok, though, because you were there and you were ready to help them in any way you could…even if you were just sitting and listening.
"What happened? Was someone mean to you again?" asked Mob. She knew that someone had been mean to Minori again. Minori only got like this when someone had been mean to her. Mob only asked because she needed to get Minori talking. She needed to get all of her mean feelings out so she could be nice again. Sort of like how Sho used to have to hit her and shout and break things before he could be nice again.
"No…well…yeah. God. This stupid bitch I went to school with complained to her parents like a baby and now her parents complained to my school and then the school complained to dad and now…now dad wants to keep her here. Like, I didn't even do anything. Some people are just too sensitive." Said Minori
"Some people are more sensitive than others." Said Mob
"Yeah, and some people are just babies. I mean, who goes running to their mom and dad about school stuff?" asked Minori
"Kids?" asked Mob. That was the only group of people she could think of that would tattle to their parents…but she also got the feeling that she had answered a question that might have been one of those statements disguised as a question….or something. She didn't know. Minori was better at talking then she was.
"Exactly! God, she is such a kid…and nobody even asked my side of the story!" said Minori. She was done wiping Mob's eyes off and now she was rubbing the primer on…a little too hard in Mob's opinion but what did she know? All she knew was that her friend was upset and getting all worked up and…and that was ok because Mob was there to help even though the only way she could think of helping was to listen. To just be there and listen…which was enough sometimes.
"It's important to get both sides of the story." Said Mob. It was also important, in addition to listening to Minori's troubles, to agree with her too. It wasn't like she was saying things that made no sense. She was right. It was always important to hear both sides of the story when dealing with stuff. That was why she always listened to Shimazaki's side of the story before she made him say sorry to Hatori for whatever mean thing he had done. He had his reasons, they just weren't ever good reasons, and that was why he had to say sorry.
"Yeah, exactly! I'm a Japanese citizen and I have the right to a full trial! Where was my representation?" said Minori. Mob blinked. Had she missed something? Trial? There had been a full on trial? Well they probably didn't just kick you out of school like that. There was probably a trial like system before they kicked you out like how you had to have a trial before you got kicked out of society….or something. She didn't know. Maybe she had misheard again. It was easy to mishear when talking to Minori. She talked really fast and used a lot of words which meant something different than what Mob expected them to mean.
"You were on trial?" asked Mob. She hoped that she hadn't actually been on trial. That sounded scary…and also Minori was not guilty. That other girl had stolen all of her friends first. She hadn't even tried to become friends with Minori, Minori had said, she had just came to her school and started stealing friends…and stealing was wrong but stealing friends was worse than wrong. Your friends were practically your family and for someone else to just come in and mess up those bonds….Mob couldn't think of a bigger crime….well besides murder and betraying dad, of course, but those went without saying.
"Ex-fucking-actly! Why was I the one on trial? I didn't even do anything! It's not my fault that little Miss 'Oh, I didn't know they were your friends' never shaves her legs. If she didn't want me to draw attention to them then she should have shaved them like a normal person…and I wouldn't have said anything if she had just stayed in her lane and stayed the hell away from mine!" said Minori
"…what?" asked Mob. She pulled her legs in under herself. She knew that it was weird, how werewolfy she was, but she didn't know that this was something that was….wrong. Well he knew that she hadn't had to deal with this before but she hadn't know that it was WRONG. Something that people would make fun of her for….mostly it had just been annoying….but at least now she knew. She pulled her socks up with her powers, these were the new ones that Shimazaki got her and they were meant for someone taller so they went up over her knees, she was glad that Minori had said something to her. She was a good friend like that, warning her about stuff, even though if Minori noticed her legs then she would make fun of her….
But that was just how she was.
"Yeah. That stupid transfer student is from one of those countries where they don't have, like, basic hygiene I guess. I bet she just gets into the tub without washing off first, too, and wears her shoes all through her house…and eats with her hands…or whatever." Said Minori. Mob…didn't always scrub off before getting in the tub because mom hadn't really made her when she had been little…and also she ate finger foods with her hands….but she at least took her shoes off when she was in the house….though she didn't have any house slippers….and also she'd had no idea that shaving her legs was a part of hygiene…but now she knew. Minori was good at these things. It hadn't even occurred to Mob that leg hair could be a hygiene thing…but maybe that was why mom had shaved her legs. Not just because the hair, the itchiness of it was annoying, but because it wasn't supposed to be there….but wait…then why didn't boys have to shave their legs?
"Um…Minori?" asked Mob. She knew that she shouldn't have interrupted like that but she had to know. Why was it ok for boys to have hair on their legs but not girls? Every boy she knew, well not Sho…well sort of. He had a really light coat of hair on his arms and legs that was hard to see. Dad did too. Well on his arms. Mob had never seen his bare legs once in her life. The other boys she knew did, though, and it just…didn't seem fair….but life wasn't fair.
"…thinks she can run me out of the country…yeah? What? This had better not be about how you want to wear blue eyeshadow. You can't. It looks terrible and you cannot be seen with me if you're going to look terrible." Said Minori
"Um….it's not about eye shadow….and you can put pink on me if you want to." Said Mob
"I was going to anyway but come on, what is it? What are you being rude and interrupting me for?" asked Minori
"I didn't mean to be rude. I just meant…um….the leg shaving thing." Said Mob
"It wasn't my fault. She shouldn't have been going to gym with her legs like that. If she didn't want me to say anything then she shouldn't have been such a bitch in the first place. She shouldn't have started things that she couldn't finish." Said Minori
"You….have to shave your legs? You don't have a choice?" asked Mob. So that was why mom went through the trouble of shaving her legs every single day…and it would have been nice of mom to have thought to tell her about that…or warn her…or something…but maybe she had been too…too sick to think of teaching Mob about that. She had been really sick when Mob had been little….
Sometimes moms got sick.
That was what had happened to Minori's mom, she had said. Her mom had gotten sick and all the best doctors in the world hadn't been able to cure her and then she had died and then that was it. She had died and then her dad had spent a lot of money trying to talk to the other side, to talk to her mom again, and he was still spending money on that. She wondered, sometimes, if her own mom was alive…and sometimes she felt mad thinking of mom being alive…even though it made no sense for her to be mad that her mom was alive. She wanted her mom to be alive…she just wanted her mom to be alive where she could be with the family….
But that was a selfish thought to think since her friend's mom was dead.
"Well, yeah, if you call being gross a choice." Said Minori with a shrug. She finished with the primer and now she was going through her eyeshadow books. She knew a lot of things about a lot of things…and Mob was happy that someone was there to teach her…especially since she knew that she didn't know a lot of things about a lot of things….about the things that a girl was supposed to know about…because nobody had ever taught her the things that a girl was supposed to know about….well someone was teaching her now and that was ok.
"It's….gross not to shave your legs?" asked Mob. Well that was nice to know….even if it made her feel gross. Her legs had never made her feel gross before…but nobody had told her that having hair on her legs was gross before. She had seen mom shaving her legs at least a thousand times in her life but mom had never stopped and explained what she was doing that for. She knew why dad shaved, he said that he couldn't have grown a beard even if he had wanted to and he didn't want to grow a beard because it didn't look neat. He had told her when she had been really little. Mom hadn't said a thing about shaving her legs even when Mob had asked. She had just said that that's what women did….which was no answer at all…not really. How hard would it have been to say that, yes, leg hair was considered to be gross and people would make fun of her if she had it? Why hadn't mom thought to say anything? Why hadn't mom….had she even cared? Had she even been thinking about what…what Mob would do when she got older? Had she even cared? No, she cared. Of course she cared. She was mom and mom…mom cared about her. Well she cared about Sho the most but she care about Mob at least a little bit….even if she had left…run away from home…
"Exactly. It's so gross. Like, who walks around like that?" asked Minori. Mob used her powers to pull her socks up even farther. She was…gross? She was happy that Minori had never seen her without her socks on. She was glad that nobody had ever seen her without her socks on…well Shimazaki had seen her…and he saw things by feeling them….and that had been weird but sort of nice but also weird…and stuff…but that was ok because he was Shimazaki and he didn't care if things were gross…but still. She had no idea that her legs were gross. Just…hairy…but not gross.
"Um…boys? I mean they don't have to shave their legs…and that's not really fair…I mean that it doesn't really seem fair." Said Mob. She wanted to ask Minori why it was ok for boys not to shave their legs but not girls….but she got the feeling that she was supposed to have already known the answer to that question…that it was just something that girls were supposed to know….
Mob didn't know everything that girls were supposed to know.
She wished that mom had told her all of the things that girls were supposed to know before she left. That way Mob could have been more like…like Minori. Like Minori and everyone else. Mob…she didn't spend a lot of time with people her own age, Minori was the only friend that she had ever had her own age, but…but she still would have liked to have known the things that a girl was supposed to know. Who had mom…who had mom thought….who had mom been expecting to….to teach….to teach her this stuff? Dad? He was a boy and he only knew about boy things. Mom…this was her job and….and Mob had to make her aura stay still….because she was starting to get a little bit mad a mom. There was no point in getting mad a mom, she was gone now, and also she was a good Daughter and she should not have been mad at her mom…
Even though she sort of was.
Minori didn't have a mom either but her mom was dead….and Mob knew that she had no right to get mad at her mom. At least her mom was still alive and stuff…maybe. She didn't know. She had no idea where mom had gone to or why she had gone away….and also she had just gone away without…without even saying goodbye or making sure that Mob would be ok. She hadn't told Mob about how she would have to shave her legs or that her breasts would hurt all the time…and she didn't even HAVE any yet…and also her skin had read bumps along her hairline and eyebrows…and also she had just know learned about makeup and…and stuff…and mom…she could have taught her SOMETHING before she had left….
But that was ok.
Mob had a friend to show her this stuff and…and she could not be mad at her mom. Even though mom had just left one day without a single warning…but Mob was still learning the stuff that she had to know. She was just learning it late and from her friend, not her mom, and that was fine. Mom…she must have had more important things on her mind…or something….when she had gone. Even though Mob had no idea what she had even been thinking when she had left….
Mob does NOT want to think about that anymore.
So she doesn't. She focuses on her friend. On what her friend is saying. On the makeup desk behind her. On the tall stack of eyeshadow books. On the way her hair is black at the roots and pink at the ends. Mob focuses on herself, too, on the way her hair is long and black…and it's been the same her whole life since mom never taught her how to do anything but braid it…and she thinks about something else because she's thinking about mom again….
She stops thinking and then goes back to listening.
"Well, yeah, it's not fair but that's life. Besides, it's not gross for boys anyway. Just girls….and boys are so gross anyway. Like, ok, there was this guy in my class who asked me out but of course I said no because he kept this tuna sandwich in his desk since the beginning of the year. I think he said that he was trying to see if it would mutate or something but really he just ended up stinking up our whole classroom and…." Minori told her more about this boy from her class…and Mob was sort of listening. Sort of. She was listening and thinking….and at some point thinking had taken over…
She had a lot to think about.
She was glad to have a friend like Minori. She was the person who told Mob these important things. She didn't have anyone else who knew about this stuff….well Minegishi knew about some stuff because they had been born a girl…but they didn't know everything. That was why Mob wasn't upset about how they hadn't warned her about how her legs were gross…or that they would get all hairy and gross…for some reason. Mob didn't know why she had gotten all hairy for no reason, it seemed like it would have been easier if she had been born like this instead of turning into a werewolf, but the why of it didn't matter.
What she did about it mattered.
What she would have to do about it mattered…and she had to do something. She couldn't be gross. She didn't want Minori to make fun of her…or anyone else…and also hygiene was important. She still wasn't entirely sure what made girl leg hair unhygienic and boy leg hair hygienic but that was just one of those things in life that made no sense, she decided, and that was ok. She just had to…to fix this. She had to figure out how to shave her legs, that was all, and how hard could that be?
Mob was glad to have a friend like Minori even if she could be a little, or very, mean sometimes…but that was ok because she taught Mob about all of the important things that she had to know about.