This plane ride was not going to end in a fight.
"OK, so the rules re no fighting with each other, no saying mean things to one another, no going out onto the wing of the plane, no giving Hatori anything to drink, and also everyone has to sit where I tell them to sit because I figured out a way for everyone to sit where there won't be any fighting. Ok? If you guys fight again then I'm going to turn the plane around and then nobody gets to go back to Japan. Any questions?" asked Mob. She reached behind her and held her hair back. Everyone was looking at her. It felt, sort of, like when she had stood up and addressed all of Claw. The way she had to boss everyone around, the way everyone looked at her, the way she was in charge….
She didn't really want to be in charge.
She loved her friends and she loved her dad but she didn't much want to be in charge…but she was in charge. Dad had put her in charge because she was good at this, he had said, and also because he trusted her. Well she was not going to break her dad's trust or anything like that. She just wished that there could have been someone else in charge, someone else who could make everyone stop fighting, or something….but there was no one else. There was only her and she was the one who had to make this plane ride go smoothly…so that was what she was going to do.
She had to.
"Are you really going to turn the plane around?" asked Sho. He didn't really want to go back to Japan that badly. Japan was where baby sis was and he knew that he wouldn't get the chance to see her if everyone was there. When he went with Fukuda everyone was countries and oceans away but now…well if they went to see baby sis then people would ask questions and…and he didn't want that.
Not that he particularly wanted to go anywhere with Fukuda.
Fukuda had betrayed him. That was why they weren't sitting together. Fukuda had told dad about Emmy and…and that was not ok. He didn't want to sit near a traitor let alone go and see baby sis with him…but he would have to forgive Fukuda eventually if he wanted to see baby sis…and he did want to see baby sis…but he also just…wanted to…to not be near him. That was why big sis had changed the seating chart so that he got to be near Shimazaki. He was way more fun than Fukuda. They got this whole part of the plane to themselves because Shimazaki messed with people and big sis didn't like that even though it was funny…not that Sho was complaining. It was nice that it was just him and Shimazaki….sometimes it was nice to be away from the others….
Especially Minegishi.
"Apparently." Said Minegishi. They closed their eyes and leaned back into their seat. Hopefully Mob would stick with it this time….and hopefully she wouldn't. They did not want to be trapped in a tin can like sardines with everyone kilometers away from any and all plant life….but they also knew that people needed to have consequences for their actions…even if those consequences were given to them by an eleven year old girl.
"I wasn't asking you." Said Sho
"Sho, come on." Said Fukuda. He tried to make himself heard over the engine. It had been easier when he and Sho had sat next to one another…but now his sister had come up with a seating chart to reduce fighting…and now he was an island. He could have just gotten up and sat next to Sho, or asked Sho to sit next to him, but he didn't. He didn't want this plane to get turned around and…and he knew that Sho was still angry with him…or maybe not. He didn't know. His information on Sho was kind of dated seeing as how he hadn't spoken to him since their fight.
Which had not been either of their fault.
Sho was a child and he didn't understand that sometimes you had to make pragmatic choices. He didn't understand that sometimes you had to let a lesser secret slip to cover up a much bigger secret that had much bigger repercussions. Sho was too young to even acknowledge how he felt, to be honest with himself, and he did not need his father getting on him for the parts of himself that he didn't even want to acknowledge.
The parts of himself that made him sit next to Shimazaki.
Thank God Suzuki only saw what he wanted to see. Thank God that Suzuki was too engrossed in whatever he was doing over there in his corner than to see the way his Son was looking at the person, who Fukuda suspected, Suzuki hated the most out of anyone on this plane. Sho was looking up at Shimazaki like he was the answer to all of his hopes and dreams…and Fukuda….there were millions of other people on this planet and Sho had to pick Shimazaki…the worst possible person…and it just….
Better Suzuki know about Sho's girlfriend than his crush…even if now there was this…space….between him and Sho.
"I wasn't asking you, either." Said Sho. He glared at Fukuda with his eyes and with his aura. He was siting far away in his own space. Good. He had a while island of seats all by himself…and Sho knew that he was lonely over there…but he should have thought about that before he went and told dad his secrets! If he didn't want to be lonely then he needed to stop making himself lonely.
"Sho, I just said no fighting." Said Mob. She didn't want anyone to fight but especially not Sho. Not with anyone. Fukuda…he had been mean…and he had told dad about Sho's girlfriend…and even being near him made Mob feel all gross and stuff….but she didn't want Sho fighting with him or with anyone else.
"Nobody's fighting….everyone else started it….it's their fault." Said Sho. Shimazaki flicked him over the head. He batted his hand away. He was not being ridiculous. Sho was being…he was being normal. Everyone else was being ridiculous and trying to fight with him and stuff.
"It's nobody's fault. Now why don't we all just do what she said and be quiet and not fight for any reason, ok?" asked Shibata. He hated it when they fought just as much as Mob did. He didn't understand what it was about airplanes that brought out the worst in all of them.
"Yeah….what he said." Said Hatori. His eyes darted over to the bathroom. He could just stay in there for the whole time. It was small and safe and…and there…but if he went in there then everyone would just come looking for him…and then that might count as fighting and then Mob would turn the plane around and then they would have to start their trip all over again…and he did not want to be in this small enclosed space with everyone else for any longer than was necessary.
"See? Majority rules. So come on kid, time to be a man and do whatever your big sister tells you." Said Shimazaki. He went to flick Sho over the head again but Sho beat him, well tried to, beat him to it. He let Sho have this one. He was just a kid after all. Let him think that he had gotten one over on him, let him get over confident, then his time would come.
"Um….ok. No fighting….and if you guys are fighting then please stop…and…um….I'm going to sit down now." Said Mob. Shimazaki and Sho were flicking each other over the head…and it looked like they were playing….and that was ok. Playing was ok. Fighting was not ok. Fighting made people feel bad and plane rides tense…and she didn't want any plane rides to be tense. She wanted everything and everyone to be ok and…and she just wanted…she wanted….
She wanted a drink.
She sat down beside Minegishi and used her powers to call the drink cart over. Dad said that it was ok for her to drink so long as she used moderation…and that was why this was ok. That was why it was ok for her to take…well they had bottles but nothing she liked…but she still took a tiny bottle of wine and opened it up. It was the kind with the cap, that was good, because then she wouldn't have to finish it fast…even though she wanted to finish this fast.
She wanted to finish all of this fast.
It wouldn't take that long to get to Japan. That was good. But it would still take hours and hours. At least they weren't taking a boat. That would have taken days and days. They would be in here for hours and hours…together…and the longer they were in this plane together for the greater the chance of them fighting would be…and they had already almost fought….
And they hadn't even been in the air for fifteen minutes!
"Mob, slow the hell down." Said Minegishi opening their eyes. Well it hadn't taken long for her to find the drink cart….not that they blamed her. Not even half an hour and everyone was already getting to each other's throats. Maybe they needed knockout gas or something. Or maybe just a bunch of bricks in a pillow case. Something to get everyone to just….stop it already. God. Plane rides were the absolute worst.
"I am slowed down. See? I only drank half of it." Said Mob. She showed Minegishi the bottle in case they didn't believe her. They had taught her about moderation…and she had to listen. For Sho's sake. That way he wouldn't end up overdoing it. He didn't want to overdo it….well she didn't know what he wanted because she wasn't a mind reader….but she did know that he would not have liked overdoing and therefore he wouldn't have wanted to overdo it…and she didn't want to be the one to teach him to overdo it.
"Save the other half for later. Your dad's watching." Said Minegishi. Well watching was an overstatement. He was in the corner at his laptop, as usual, but he could have looked up at any time and noticed that his eleven year old daughter was drinking a tiny bottle of the world's cheapest wine. Not that he would care, or maybe he would, they had no idea if it was time for his half assed under parenting or his half assed over parenting.
"He doesn't care. He said that I could drink and smoke so long as I used moderation." Said Mob
"So use moderation and finish the rest of that later." Said Minegishi. Well it looked like it was half assed under parenting time. Not that they wanted Mob to get into trouble, they could never want that, they just wanted…well they wanted to have never gotten Mob into any of this in the first place. Drinking, smoking, all of it. They knew that the way they felt made them a hypocrite but…but they just…well it was normal not to want an eleven year old kid to develop a drinking problem.
"But-" said Mob. These were already tiny so there was already moderation…right? She didn't know. All she knew was that Shimazaki and Sho were punching each other now, and that seemed very close to fighting, and she didn't want to think about fighting…or anything at all. She didn't know what the problem was. It wasn't like dad was even watching her…with his eyes, anyway. He was probably playing Terraria with Hatori again. He was on his laptop too and dad was always wanting to play with him so they must have been playing together.
"Come on." Said Minegishi
"Alright." Said Mob. She put the tiny cap back on. She tried to put the bottle in her skirt pocket without lifting her sweater. It wasn't easy. She didn't want to lifter her sweater though, even if keeping it down meant finding her pocket was harder, because Fukuda was there and he was watching her…and she didn't want to be watched. She wanted…she wanted him to find something to do besides watch her. This plane was full of windows. Why couldn't he just watch the clouds go by or something?
"Here." Said Minegishi. They left her sweater….and then she pulled it right back down with her powers. Minegishi sighed. They were too tired for this…and they had just gotten up in the air. They needed to land, and soon, because no matter how peaceful this flight was it was still a flight.
"No, it's ok. I'll figure it out." Said Mob quietly. She looked down at the snowflake on her sweater. It was more like a blob with points, really, but it was still something to look down at. Better than looking up. Better than looking up and seeing Fukuda looking down at her. What was he thinking? She didn't know, she wasn't a mind reader, but she figured it must have been something bad about her…like what he had been thinking before. That she did gross stuff…or maybe it was something mean about her….like he had thought about Minegishi…not that Mob wanted him to think nice things about her…like that…either. She just…didn't want him to think anything about her at all.
She pulled her arms into her seater and brought her knees up into it, too. It wasn't that cold, not cold at all, but she didn't mind. She felt safe and warm and that…that was good.
"Mob, come on. What's with this?" asked Minegishi. They weren't going to be getting any sleep this plane ride, were they? They were going to have to stay awake and help Mob through whatever was making her this anxious. Well that was fine, this was Mob, and they cared about Mob…even more than they cared about getting what little sleep they could.
"I'm fine. Can you hold onto this for me? I can't find my pocket." Said Mob. She looked up at Fukuda and then back down at her snowflake. She reached out from under her sweater and then passed her tiny wine bottle to Minegishi. She looked back up at Fukuda, she could feel his aura on her, and she wanted to tell him to look out the window or go hang out with dad or something…but that would have been mean…and she had already been mean enough to him as it was.
"What are you looking at?" asked Minegishi after following the path Mob's aura and eyes took. Fukuda. That…they didn't even know what. That eggnog you find at the back of the fridge in July. Useful only to make things unpleasant. Just lurking there waiting to ruin your day when you reached back too far and found it. He was there, right there, an island onto himself….and he needed to stay an island.
"Nothing, just the fact that you're encouraging an eleven year old to drink." Said Fukuda. He hated it, seeing Shigeko drink, seeing evidence of what she got up to. Masami would never have let this happen…and he should not have let this happen. He was supposed to be watching over her and her brother…and he had made such a mess of it. He had made such a mess of Shigeko and he had made such a mess of Sho, too.
Both of them.
Masami would have hated him if she had been there. She would have told him that she should have stayed, that she should have raised the kids, that at least if she had been there then those two would have had a chance. Shigeko…she would have been in the sixth grade…and Sho would have been in the fifth…and they would have had friends their own age. They never would have had the chance to…to become who they were now. Sho would have met a nice boy his own age and Shigeko….well she wouldn't have even had the chance to drink or smoke or do drugs or run around with grown men….she had gotten so fast at some point….if Masami had been around…
But Masami was not around and she would never be around again.
"No, I'm discouraging her. God, try and keep up." Said Minegishi rolling their eyes. This guy was even bad at being nosy. If he was going to spend his time staring at an eleven year old girl he could have at least thought up a better excuse for it. Not that he should have been staring at her anyway. Minegishi…did not entirely trust him. Not after the fact that he had, apparently, been sitting on the theory that Mob and Ryou were….God they didn't even want to think…and he had said nothing. It didn't matter though, his time would come one day, and Minegishi would let him know exactly what he had done to earn what was coming to him.
"Minegishi, don't, no fighting." Said Mob shaking her head. She hated it when people fought…so much so that she had even made a rule about fighting….and now people were breaking the rules…and she didn't want to turn the plane around. That would just put them off schedule, she had no idea what the schedule was but she knew that they were on one, and also they would just have to spend even more time in the air and that would just mean that they had even more chances to fight and then they would never stop fighting and then it would just go on and on and on….and on and on and on….
And she didn't want that at all.
"Who's fighting?" asked Minegishi. This wasn't a fight, a fight would imply that they were both equals, and he was nowhere near their level. Sure he could heal but that must have had it's limits…and one of these days they would find those limits. When Mob was older, when she was better able to handle it, or just too busy running the world to notice that Fukuda had died. Yes, his time would come.
For everything.
Minegishi had a soft spot for Mob, or maybe their whole head was a soft spot, they didn't know. All they knew was that Fukuda had been an asshole to Mob for years…and he didn't even have any reason to hate her. If anything he should have had a problem with Suzuki's shrieking demon child back there, not his good one, but Minegishi didn't pretend to know what went on in that head of his. What they did know was that he was unkind to Mob for no good reason. The man oozed resentment…and thank God Mob didn't pick up on it. She didn't need to be resented. The world was hard enough on people like her, people who believed that everything could be solved with love and caring, and she didn't need anything else making her life worse. Especially that bastard.
Things were hard enough for her as it was.
"You and Fukuda…please stop. Ok?" said Mob. She didn't want to have to turn the plane around. She looked up at Fukuda…and then back down at her sweater. She pulled it around her knees. There. Now he couldn't see her. Well he could but also he couldn't…and she didn't want him to see her. She wished that she could turn invisible. She wished that she could have just disappeared. That would have been the best thing ever…but no. If she were to disappear then her friends and her brother and her dad would be worried about her…so she didn't disappear…
And this sweater wasn't even big enough, anyway, for her to disappear into.
"Mob…why don't you go over and see how your brother is doing." Said Minegishi. They had words, a lot of words, for this…they didn't even know what. Mob was hiding in that damn sweater. She felt self-conscious…because of this asshole. Minegishi didn't blame her. He had made even them feel self-conscious and…ad even vulnerable…and they were twenty eight years old. Mob was eleven and even less equipped to handle this than them. She didn't need to feel that way about herself, like she was being looked at Minegishi was guessing, not now or ever. She was just a kid.
And Minegishi was the adult so they would handle it.
"I can see from here that-" said Mob. Sho and Shimazaki had stopped hitting each other and now they were drawing….well Sho was drawing and Shimazaki was scribbling. He was looking down at what he was doing and scribbling and Mob was curious as to what he was scribbling but also….also she didn't want to get up. Getting up would have involved getting out of her sweater and getting out of her sweater…well she just did not want to do that right now.
"Go and get a closer look." Said Minegishi. They nudged Mob to get going. She didn't need to hear this, to hear what they were about to say to Fukuda, because that would just stress her out. She was just a kid, and a sensitive one at that, and also Minegishi did not feel like being the one held responsible for turning this plane around.
"I-ok." Said Mob. Minegishi wanted her to get up and check so that was what she did. Even though she didn't want to. She got up quickly and made sure that her sweater didn't ride up. She'd maybe ask Shibata to make her another one once this one stopped being giant. Wearing a sweater everywhere wasn't so bad. Sure it was warm and itchy but at least it kept her safe. At least it kept Fukuda from looking at her like…like she was….
Like she was how he thought that she was.
She knew, well she thought that she knew, what he thought about her. About how she could have….done stuff….adult stuff. About how he thought that she was an adult. How he thought that she was old enough to…and she didn't even like Shimazaki like that. She never would, he was just her friend, and he liked Minegishi anyway. He liked them and eh wanted to be their boyfriend and she wouldn't have messed with that even if he had been anyone other than himself….like Hatori.
He was nice.
He was all hunched over his laptop and….and he was playing Terraria with dad. She had been right. When dad got bored maybe then Hatori would be able to play animal crossing with her…or maybe not. Maybe if Fukuda saw her playing with Hatori then he would think that same stuff that he thought about her and Shimazaki…and she didn't want that. She thought about Hatori sometimes….and nobody ever needed to know that ever. She thought about….about stuff…and thinking about stuff made her feel gross….and she just….she pulled her sweater close around herself and went over to see what Sho and Shimazaki were up to.
She hoped that Fukuda didn't make anything of this….but he probably would.
He was probably thinking that she was thinking about…about stuff…and she wasn't. Not with Shimazaki. He acted like a crazy person most of the time, and also he could be very mean too…not to her but to other people. To Hatori, mostly, like now. He tore out the page that he had been scribbling on and he threw it at Hatori. Mob caught it with her powers and put it down on his notebook….Sho's notebook that he had borrowed.
She un-crumbled it. It was nice.
"Hey, I would have made that shot." Said Shimazaki as he heard the paper ball smoothing out. He still didn't get the appeal of drawing, well the appeal was probably being able to see what you were doing, but throwing paper balls was fun in and of its self. Well it had been fun, and not at all fighting, but Mob might have taken it that way. How someone like her was related to someone like Sho was beyond him. Those two were like night and day, it seemed, but they each had their strong points.
Mainly that one of them wasn't in love with him.
Mob was more fun to drink and smoke with, she held her…everything…better, but Sho was more fun in general. He was always up for anything. Throwing things at people, scaring them, or just finding things to do from nothing at all. He was a great kid and if Shimazaki'd had a kid, well maybe he had a few running around he hadn't been careful until Toshi, he have wanted his kid to be just like Sho. Just not in love with him, that would have been too weird, not that Sho was weird he was just….
Sometimes he could be kind of….like a ten year old in love.
"Yeah, he would have made that shot. Come on, throwing stuff doesn't count as fighting." Said Sho. He loved big sis, he really did, but right now he just wanted her to go back to being with her own friend and to leave him and Shimazaki the fuck alone. They were here and together and…and being next to him was just….it was nice. It was nice for reasons that he didn't want to think about. Reasons that made the goldfish in his stomach swim around and around and around in circles. Reasons that he did not want his big sis to even begin to know about.
"I…maybe don't do that…because it bothers Hatori…and stuff…and it's not nice to bother Hatori you know. Um….are you guys ok? Besides the paper throwing?" asked Mob. She thought that they looked ok, Sho seemed very happy or at least his aura seemed happy, and Shimazaki didn't seem like he was going to do anything that was super wrong….like go out onto the wing of the plane or anything like that….so that was good…..
Even though he was crumpling up the paper again.
"Sure thing….after this." said Shimazaki as he threw the paper ball again. He threw it again, and she caught it again, which sucked because he knew that he would have made it. He could sense Hatori, he could sense him sitting there all turtled up like a turtle, and he was just such an easy target….and he would have made it too if she hadn't stopped him….
This was one of those instances where he would take the lovesick Suzuki over the one who was able to actually be cognizant while she smoked.
"Big sis, why don't you go and hang out with Minegishi some more, ok?" asked Sho. He was not going to be mean. He was not going to say or do anything mean. He was just going to calmly and nicely as his big sister to go and hang out with her best friend so he could go back to hanging out with his best friend. That was all that he was going to say. He wasn't going to tell her that she was getting in the way, that he wanted to get back to teaching Shimazaki how to draw, and that here was nothing wrong with throwing paper at Hatori because it was just paper and it couldn't hurt him. He wasn't going to say or do anything mean to her….
He was going to try his best.
Because….because he sort of felt like being mean. He sort of felt like telling her to go back to Minegishi so he could hang out and…and he sort of felt like telling her that if she wanted to keep her boyfriend safe then she could go and sit next to him and keep him safe and…and that she should have sat next to him because she liked him and…and that she must have liked him and…and he shouldn't have cared who she liked but…
But she had come all the way over here to talk to Shimazaki…and that was making him feel…not good at all.
"Um…..ok. That's….that's ok." said Mob. They weren't fighting and Hatori had gotten up and now he was next to dad….and nobody would mess with him while he was next to dad….so that was ok. Everything was ok…and stuff. It was all going to be ok and…and stuff. That was good. So she…she could go back to sitting by Minegishi. She wanted to sit by Minegishi, they were her best friend and they needed her there because they didn't fly well, but being by Minegishi would have meant being by Fukuda too….and she didn't want to be by Fukuda. She wanted….well she didn't know what she wanted…but she knew that she didn't want to feel so…so….
Gross.
The gross feeling came back as she went back over to her spot. She wondered, briefly, if she should have taken the spot next to Shibata that Hatori had left. She had assigned them seats and stuff but….but she didn't feel like enforcing them….so Shibata must have been really lonely….but he didn't seem it. He seemed….well not lonely…and she didn't want him to be lonely but she also didn't want to explain to him why she was going to sit in Hatori's spot when she had her won spot and she had gone through the trouble of assigning spots and…and she just….
She didn't know.
But what she did know was that she had walked into something that she shouldn't have. She shouldn't have but she did. This was a fight. That was what they had been doing. She could tell by their auras. Their auras were all….not happy. Even Fukuda's and he hardly even had an aura. He and Minegishi were staring at each other…and then Minegishi put an arm around Mob and sat her down. Mob let herself be sat down. She didn't want to be there in the fighting but she also didn't want to make the fighting any worse than it had to be…not that she even understood why there even had to be any fighting at all.
Somehow there was always fighting when they flew.
"If you can't tell the difference between a child and her father then-" said Minegishi. They shut up as soon as Mob came into hearing distance. Thank God that private planes were so damn loud. Now Mob was back and she was next to them where she belonged and now they could rest.
"Minegishi….what are you guys fighting about?" asked Mob as she was sat down. Minegishi shook their head.
"It's not worth wasting your time over and it doesn't matter anyway. He was just leaving." Said Minegishi. There no reason to get Mob involved in any of this. This guy…this guy was going to give Minegishi a stroke. This asshole….no. They were not going to get upset over this. They were going to lean back and go to sleep and then when they woke up they would be in Japan and that would be that. They would be in Japan again and there would be space between them and this asshole and then they could go back to plotting his death from afar.
It would be wonderful.
"But….ok." said Mob. She didn't care where he went or what he did. She just…she knew that it was a mean way to think about someone but she just…wanted him to be somewhere else. It was hard being near someone who didn't like you, even harder when that person thought…stuff about you, and the hardest part of it all was when that person was also mean to your best friend. Just…she knew that Fukuda took care of Sho and she knew that he had liked her when she had been little and she knew that she had to be nice to everyone but…but sometimes it was hard to be nice to everyone when…when the person she had to be nice to….
Just wasn't very nice.
"Alright then. I'll just leave you to this. Miss Suzuki. Minegishi." Said Fukuda as he got up. He was not going to argue. He was not going to be responsible for Shigeko turning the plane around. She had that sort of power after all. Her father had given her that power, all the power, and she was going to use it. That was fine. She had made her own choices in life…and he knew that he was responsible for not stopping her from making those choices…
But what was done was done.
He had done the best he could with what, with who, he had. He could only do so much in the face of Suzuki's influence and…and it was what it was. She was who she was. She was…herself. This person. This unrecognizable person. Gone was the little girl who begged him to read her just one more Hello Kitty book. Now she had been replaced with this…this person. The person who she had become. That was…fine. She was who she was.
And he was who he was.
And right now he was a person without a seat. He had been kicked out of his seat and…and he knew that he could have just gone back but…but he did not go where he was not wanted. Shigeko did not want him and Sho…Sho didn't want him either. She didn't want him and he didn't want him and…and he was unwanted. He was unwanted by both kids…and bothering Sho would only prolong this mess that they were in…so he just….he had to sit…there was an open seat by Shibata….
And he was not nearly slim enough or short enough to fit anywhere on that side of the plane.
But there was room next to Suzuki. Well not NEXT to, that spot was taken by Hatori…and that was just….bizarre. They were talking, talking together, and Suzuki….he seemed…happy? As happy as he could be. They were talking and playing…something. He didn't know what. He didn't even know what he was seeing let alone what they were playing and…and he knew that he had to sit somewhere….unless he felt like hiding in the bathroom for the rest of the plane ride…
And he did not feel like pulling a Hatori.
But he could sit across from him.
"….no way. Atari crashed and burned for a reason. Nintendo, they knew what they were doing." Said Hatori. He looked up as Fukuda sat right across from him…even though there was plenty of space….but whatever. He was friends with Suzuki, best friends based on how often Suzuki talked about him, and…and maybe he was intruding on…whatever they had…or something. He didn't know. He just knew that he maybe should keep talking not to make this weird….or maybe it was weird to talk to Suzuki…or maybe-
"I will never understand you, not for as long as I live. You or Fukuda." Said Suzuki with a shake of his head. Hatori he could understand, he was young and young people made no sense, but Fukuda had been saying the same thing since at least 1988 if not earlier. So maybe he was the one who was wrong….no. Hatori and Fukuda were the ones who were wrong.
"What about me?" asked Fukuda. He could have sworn that they were having the Atari vs Nintendo debate…the one that they had been having since at least 1988….but that would have been crazy. Hatori was….Hatori. Why would he have had two words to say to Suzuki on why he was wrong about Atari being the best that there has ever been…and where had he gotten the BALLS to say something like that to Suzuki?
"Hatori shares your opinion on our Nintendo and Atari debate. The one we started in our third year. Do you remember? When mother finally got me a 7800? You said that it was terrible." Said Suzuki. That had been what had kicked off that debate…and they had never formally ended it. They had just….grown out of it. They had gotten older, both of them, and…yes. They had stopped this debate when they had been around Hatori's age…or younger. It was always hard to remember that Hatori was twenty years old for as young as he acted. No wonder Daughter was so taken with him. Well aside from his age he was intelligent about some things, good conversation, and his skin condition was clearing up nicely. Yes, it made sense that Daughter was so taken with him…and it was very good that he was a homosexual otherwise Suzuki would have had to keep him at arm's length…but he was so they were fine.
"Yeah….I remember…and it was terrible…but that was back in the 80s." said Fukuda. Suzuki had never been one to reminisce about their wayward youth…maybe he was just getting old…old enough to be able to talk to someone and just…not seem like he was going to kill him at any moment.
"The greatest decade to have ever been alive in." said Suzuki. It was such a pity that Hatori was as young as he was. He would have had much better taste if he had been born in the 80s….no, he would have been too young. If he had been born in the early 70s. Then he could have been…they could have been peers. He wondered what Claw would have been like with Hatori as a founding member along with him and Fukuda. That would have worked out well. He and Fukuda were a lot alike…well he was a lot like a younger Fukuda.
"You guys are stuck in the 80s." said Hatori. He felt Fukuda's aura on him…and maybe that hadn't been the best thing that he could have said….but sometimes he said too much when he was hanging out with Suzuki. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he was President Suzuki, the guy who ran Claw, and it was easy to think of him as just…a guy. Mob's dad. Just a guy who liked videogames and hanging out with his Daughter and ate ketchup on bread.
"As we should be." Said Suzuki
"Come on, you were alive in the 90s. You must have liked something about 90s gaming." Said Hatori
"No, I was too old by then. I was in my third year of high school by 1991. Much too old for games." Said Suzuki
"Right." Said Hatori. If eighteen was too old then what did he call forty four?
"If anything you missed out. You put too much faith in graphics, really, three dimensional graphics are maddening. You missed out, Fukuda and I didn't." Said Suzuki
"You guys missed out on so much. Seriously, the Superfamicom alone. The library on that-" said Hatori. God, he could have gone on and on and on about the Superfamicom. God, he was so glad that he was old enough that he could emulate any game. These guys were way too attached to their era but that made sense since they actually had to go out and buy cartridges and stuff. The 80s. What a time to have been alive….a sucky time.
"What's….happening here?" asked Fukuda
"Well Nintendo should have stuck to making playing cards. I said that in 1988 and I say that now." Said Suzuki with a shake of his head. He felt Hatori's aura. Now he was going to disagree. Well he could disagree until the sun swallowed the Earth but that wouldn't make him right. He almost wished that Daughter had been there…but she didn't know about these things…and also he knew that Hatori would never return her feelings…but he did not like watching her have those feelings for him or any man.
"Well then Atari should have stopped at the 2600 hundred." Said Hatori
"Finally we agree on something." Said Suzuki. There. He had finally found someone who agreed with him. There, he was right and he knew that he was right. Fukuda…he had been debating this with Fukuda for years…and he had been strangely quiet during this whole conversation. Huh. Usually he would have been all over this. Well he would have when they had been younger…but they were older now…but he felt younger. Well that was what came from being friends with a younger man.
"Hey…what's….happening….here?" asked Fukuda. That had been…he wondered if he had slipped into the Twilight Zone. He wondered if he would look out the window and see something on the wing of the plane besides Shimazaki being an idiot. But no, no monster and no Shimazaki, just clouds. Clouds and he endless blue sky…which was a welcome distraction from the….whatever this was…in front of him.
"Hatori is agreeing with me for once. The 2600 was brilliant. If only he had been there when we had stated this debate. It would have gone on for at least thirty fewer years." Said Suzuki
"It hasn't been….just….what? What has been going on….were you guys…talking?" asked Fukuda. Maybe he was losing his mind. Maybe he was getting airsick. Maybe he had hit his head and now he was bleeding out and this was just what his brain needed to do while he either healed or died.
"Yes. Try and keep up." Said Suzuki
"I just….this is hard for me to wrap my head around. Are you…friends…now?" asked Fukuda. He had no idea what he was seeing or hearing or…or he just…he could not begin to understand. He just…Suzuki did not make friends. He had known Suzuki since they had been thirteen years old and in that time he hadn't made a single friend but now…now what? He had replaced him? What? How did that even work?
"Yes. I suppose so." Said Suzuki. He could feel Hatori's aura…and he didn't need to be quite so emotional. They fulfilled the parameters for friendship, he imagined, they enjoyed being near each other and had things in common. That was what friendship was. Fukuda had explained it to him when they had been children.
"Wow…thanks…boss." Said Hatori. He had figured that they were cool….but…friends? This was….nice. The President could be an asshole sometimes…all of the times…but he just…he could also be sort of cool…so….wow. This was….wow.
"How does Shigeko feel about this? I mean it might be awkward for her, you being friends with her ex and all." said Fukuda. That was a low blow…and he hadn't been thinking….but now that he was he wished that there had been some way for him to take it back. He had signed this kid's death warrant. Suzuki was going to….and maybe kill everyone else too if he exploded…and he should have thought this through….and….
"I…don't follow." Said Suzuki. For a moment he wants to murder Hatori…but then he remembers that he cannot possibly be interested in Daughter. Fukuda must have just noticed how taken Daughter was with Hatori, that was all. Well that was understandable….mostly. Of course Daughter would never have…well she would have…but as good of a person as Hatori was Daughter would still never…so maybe the was the 'ex' part….he didn't know. Talking to people could be very difficult.
"What? Is that what people….no! She's a kid! She's an eleven year old girl! What the fuck!?" screamed Hatori. He jumped to his feet…and now everyone was staring at him…and his laptop…well Suzuki had been nice enough to catch it with his powers…and also not kill him with them…and that was….pretty great…but still! She was a kid and just because he was nice to her did not make him a lolicon!
"Sit down. You're being annoying." Said Suzuki. He sort of understood that. People could be very defensive when their sexuality was questioned. It had nothing to do with Daughter. Hatori had not been insulting her or making it seem like no one would ever have feelings for her…not that he wanted them to…but still. She was perfect and anyone would have been happy to have her and…and he thanked God that Hatori was a homosexual.
"I-I-I am NOT into your kid…either of your kids! I am not into-" said Hatori. He was going to die. This was going to be the end of his life. People were thinking that shit about him and talking about him and…and that was just…no! What the fuck?! He wasn't like that!
"I know. We established this before. Fukuda probably just thinks that you were involved with my Daughter because she's taken with you….and also he doesn't know that you're a homosexual. Well now he does because I said it out loud." Said Suzuki
"Um….what?" asked Fukuda. Hatori was not gay. He did not look or act gay…and also…he had it on good authority that Shigeko was seeing Hatori….well Sho had said so…and he was only a child…and he just…he didn't want the kid dead just…back in his own corner or hiding in the bathroom where he belonged.
"Daughter is taken with Hatori, not the other way around. That's not how homosexuality works." Said Suzuki simply. There was no other way to say it beside simply…well there was not saying it at all. The fact that Daughter was interested in this man. The fact that Daughter, for some reason, wanted to be with someone when she already had someone to take care of her and love her and make her happy.
"Wait….I still don't….what?" asked Fukuda. Hatori was shaking in his seat. His eyes kept on darting towards the bathroom. He was either going to wet himself or he was going to hide in there for the rest of the trip….which was fine by him. He didn't know what was going on but the sooner things got back to normal the better. Suzuki…Fukuda felt….he didn't know. Strange. Because this was strange. Suzuki did not make friends. They were friends….well they had been. He had no idea what they were now…but they had been friends…once.
"No, you what? Seriously? Why would you even think that I would….is that what people are saying about me?! Because it's not true!" shouted Hatori. He shouted and tried to pull his sweater up over his head but then he felt it being tugged down.
"You're being annoying again." said Suzuki. Why people reacted so strongly to having their sexuality questioned he would never know. It was such a simple thing to correct. Besides, he had been under the impression that Hatori was comfortable with being a homosexual. He had been very opened about it…or was this meant to be something only select people knew? It was a very personal thing…but still. He didn't need to over react quite so badly.
"Sho had told me that you and Shigeko broke up." Said Fukuda. Well this was…Suzuki never told people that they were being annoying. He told them to go away but he never just…told someone that they were being annoying and then…tugged their heads out of their sweaters like…like he was putting up with all of this…and this…this was…not normal at all….
"Oh. Well then Son was mistaken….and perhaps you shouldn't take the word of a child on these things. Daughter is taken with him, not the other way around." Said Suzuki. People, talking to them, was so tiresome sometimes. He was beginning to rethink wishing that Hatori had been born twenty years earlier. This would have been their dynamic, then, the three of them…and it would have been exhausting. Fukuda on his own had been exhausting but two of them...well not that Hatori was that much like Tadashi. Hatori frightened easily, very easily, and also he was just….a different person entirely.
"Wait….Mob is…I mean Shigeko is…what?" asked Hatori. No way. Suzuki was just….well he was really bad at this kind of stuff…and Mob didn't LIKE him. No way. She was eleven. She should have had a crush on a guy her own age or an actor or musician or anime character. Him? No, she was just a kid.
"Taken with you….have Daughter explain it to you. Here she comes." Said Suzuki. He really didn't know what was so hard to understand about this. Daughter had feelings for Hatori which he did not return. Fukuda should have been able to understand that. He had been the one, after all, to tell Suzuki that just because he had feelings for a girl it didn't mean that she would necessarily return his feelings. Ever. That had been…a difficult thing to come to terms with…since he had been prone to…a lot of very strong emotions…at that age. The age that Daughter was approaching. She would feel that way about some boy….and some boy would feel that way about her…and he had been a boy once, he knew how they thought, and the thought of some boy having those thoughts and feelings for Daughter….
He was so grateful that Hatori was a homosexual.
Hatori had no idea the way Daughter's eyes and her aura rested on him before anyone else. He knew what it looked like when someone was interested in you. He knew because that had been very important information to have during that time in his life, that time when he'd had more hormones than sense, and that time when the only thing he had wanted just as badly as he wanted to take over the world was someone at his side…who he would be allowed to kiss and…other things…and Daughter was getting to that age and…and there were boys EVERYWHERE…..
He wondered if he could find her an island of nothing but women and homosexuals…he'd talk that over with her later…maybe if he built a Starbucks there she would agree to living there….maybe….
"Hi….um….are you guys fighting? Because I said no fighting." Said Mob. Did Fukuda have to fight with EVERYONE? Sho had said, before, that Fukuda was getting old and grumpy…but he was even worse about fighting people than dad. She really did not want to have to turn this plane around because of him…and also she did not want to have to be near to him either. She pulled her sweater close around herself. Hatori was there and dad was there and Fukuda was there and Fukuda was thinking that she would do…stuff….with Shimazaki so he thought the same thing about Hatori, probably, and she did think about kissing and other stuff with Hatori…and she was thinking that and…and DAD was there and FUKUDA was there and….
And she wanted to go back to sitting near Minegishi.
"Nobody is fighting, there is no need to turn the plane around, we were just talking. Daughter, can you please explain that you have feelings for Hatori but he does not have feelings in return for you." Said Suzuki. He didn't know what her aura was flaring like that for. It was a simple thing to explain. Hatori did not return her feelings…feelings which she should not have had….but he did not want to think about this. Hatori did not return her feelings and he could deal with that….he could deal with that a lot better than he could deal with her developing feelings for some boy…who would return her feelings.
"Um…..what?" asked Mob. She must have been going crazy…or something. Dad had just…dad…he KNEW and now Hatori KNEW and she just…she just…she just….
"She doesn't. She's just a kid." Said Hatori. She looked like she wanted to die….and he didn't blame her. Nobody wanted their dad to talk about who they had a crush on. That was just…not good. She was just a kid. She was just a lonely kid who wanted to spend time with him because they only other guy around her age was her own brother. That was all. That didn't mean that she liked him. He had always hated that when he had been a kid. Anytime he made friends with a girl, his own age of course, everyone be all 'ooh you like Hatori' and then they would never want to talk to him again. Hopefully she wasn't too embarrassed.
"I-I-I….have to go to the bathroom." Said Mob. She could not lie to her dad but…but also she had no idea what it was that she even felt for Hatori and…and she just…did not want to discuss this with her dad and Fukuda and Hatori! She just…wanted to go to the bathroom….and be in there for…for a long time because….because she just did not know…what she was even supposed to say or do or feel or….
She hid in the bathroom.
She closed the door, locked it, and then pulled her sweater over her head. She could hear more talking…not shouting…and she could hear the roar of the engines and…and she just…she didn't know. She didn't know what to say or do so she would just say and do nothing. She would just…stay in the bathroom…until they got back to Japan and then…and then she would…avoid Hatori for the rest of her life….and also find a place for Fukuda, like on another plane, where he couldn't go around telling people things…and that idea must have come from him because he was the one who thought about her like that…and he just…he thought about her. He thought about her like that and…
And she pulled her arms into her sweater.
He thought about her and he talked about her and….he just…he needed to learn to keep things inside of his head. First he goes around telling Sho's secret and then he starts talking about her and…and he needed…he needed his own part of the plane with…curtains…or something. She didn't know. She would figure it out later. Much later. Right now she would just…stay in the bathroom and…and think up what to do and…and try to stay calm….because they were in a plane and if the plane went down then they would have to figure out who they were going to eat and she didn't want to reopen that conversation….
This plane ride was not going to end in a crash…or a fight…but it would end with her hiding in the bathroom.