Mob and Sho were down to one birdie….and they could not afford to lose this one.
"Sho, be careful." Said Mob as the birdie sailed over her head and hit the side of the house. Sho had already sent all of their other birdies sailing to parts unknown. Really. She had no idea where they had gone to. They just went sailing into the sky and then they were gone. Maybe they had slipped into another dimension or something. She didn't know.
All she knew was that she couldn't afford to lose this birdie.
She used her powers to bring it over from where it had hit the house. She was glad that these were soft, foam and plastic, because otherwise Sho could have broken a window or something. She didn't much care about the house, it was a Claw house like any other, but she did care about the hassle of getting the window fixed and also dad telling her that she needed to watch Sho better. She knew that she needed to watch Sho better…but she also knew what dad's idea of 'better' was and she wasn't going to be mean to Sho like that.
Especially about something as dumb as hurting the house or losing the birdie.
"I am being careful. You should be more careful about using your powers. That's minus ten points…but I'm feeling gracious today." Said Sho. He hadn't hit it that hard. He was just used to doing this with someone taller…and also someone who took this game more seriously. Big sis was ok, though, even though he suspected that she was letting him win. She always let him win. She loved him like that…even though he was a baby and could win on his own.
He was pretty sure that he was winning, anyway.
"But we aren't playing for points, Sho, we're just playing for fun." Said Mob. She sometimes caught the birdie with her powers on accident…and she couldn't help it. She knew that it couldn't hurt her, not like when she and Sho had played this with rocks when they had been little, but her powers just kicked in and caught the birdie when it got too close. That was better than losing the birdie, of course, but she still didn't want to upset him…
And also they weren't even playing for points.
She would have let him win if they had been. They were playing for fun. She knew how competitive Sho could get at this and she always let him win…even though he didn't like. That was what big sisters were supposed to do, let their little brothers win games, even if it upset their little brothers. Besides, it upset him more to lose. If he wanted to lose, and also yell and curse, then he could play with Shimazaki when he and Minegishi got back from wherever they had gone to.
Minegishi said that they weren't on a date but Mob got the feeling that they were…maybe because she was maybe going on a date in the future….maybe.
She didn't know. She hoped that Minegishi and Shimazaki were on a date. Then they could be boyfriend and theyfriend and they could get married and have babies and then Mob could help take care of the babies just like she had taken care of baby Mukai when she had lived with them….she didn't want to think about baby Mukai and how she would have loved this day…and how she would have loved to play with the birdies…and how she would have loved….well she would have loved a lot of things. Mob tried not to think about her. She had her own family now, ones that had a mom and dad and not just a brother and a sister…though for all Mob knew she had new brothers and sisters, and she was in a better place and…and maybe when Minegishi and Shimazaki had a baby then Mob would miss baby Mukai less because she would have a new baby to play with…or something….
She was playing with Sho now and that was what mattered.
"Well I want to play for points…and I want you to play me for real. Don't let me win. I can beat you on my own." said Sho. Big sis always let him win…and he almost wished that she had been Shimazaki. He never let him win, ever, and even though losing sucked it was better than someone else letting him win like he was a baby or something. He was not a baby and…and he needed to win on his own. He wished that Shimazaki was there but he had to go somewhere with Minegishi…for work….well Shimazaki had never said in his exact words that they were going off to do a work thing Sho figured that some more traitors needed to die…or something….
Because why else would he be spending time with Minegishi when Sho was right there?
Well for kissing, boob feeling, and whatever else came afterwards reasons….that Sho did not want to think about. So what if that was why Shimazaki liked Minegishi? He and Sho had something way better than that. Any girl would let you kiss her and stuff. Minegishi could have been anyone. There was only one Sho and Sho was his only best friend and…and stuff. When Shimazaki came back then they could play for real and he could win for real or lose for real and then…
Well he didn't know what would happen next.
He didn't need to know what would happen next when it came to hanging out with Shimazaki. He just needed to know that they would be hanging out again. That they would be able to scare people or go to the mattress warehouse and jump on the beds or play with dogs at the park or steal stop signs or go to the store and shake up all the sodas or…or any of the other stuff that they did together. Even if it was boring stuff like watching Shimazaki's friend finish his new tattoo or watching him clean out his eyes or narrating what was happening on the TV for him…it didn't matter. Sho was just happy to have been able to be near him.
But playing with big sis was ok too…and they were playing together….and they were having fun and that was what mattered.
"So, come on. It's better if we play for fun." Said Mob. She didn't really want him to start yelling and cursing and hitting the ground with his racket or throwing the birdie over the house. She just wanted a nice, friendly, worry free game of hit the birdie over the net. Was that too much to ask?
"It's more fun if we play for points. Don't you want me to have fun and be happy?" asked Sho. He knew that she did. This was just the fastest way to get her to listen to him. Sort of like when she called dad 'daddy' to get him to stop acting like a jerk for ten seconds. That was his record, ten seconds, he almost made eleven once but that would have been too hard for him.
"You know that I do." Said Mob. What else could she possibly want? Well maybe for him to take a bath on his own, he smelled kind of bad...well he had started out smelling bad and now he smelled worse, and also she sort of wished that he would eat something green once in a while, and also she wished that he would take off that coat because he was all hot and sweaty….
And she also wished that he had told her why he was wearing that coat in the middle of August in the first place.
She knew why she wore her sweater, well why she had it tied around her waist, because she didn't want people to look at her and think about her naked. If Fukuda could think about her naked then anyone could…and she didn't want that…and also she was worried that Sho might have had someone thinking about him naked, too, even though she had no idea who would ever want to think about her little brother naked. He was just a little kid…well he had a girlfriend…but girls were not allowed to think about him like that! Well not that she would find his girlfriend and tell her that she was not allowed to think about Sho like that….because that would have been really weird….and also she wasn't about to ask Sho either. If she asked him then he could end up with the idea in his head that people were thinking about him, then he would feel gross all the time if he didn't already, and also…also he might need her to explain why someone would think about him like that…and then she would have to explain all the thoughts that girls had about boys…and then that could lead into her own thoughts about boys…
And since he didn't need to know about all of that she figured, maybe, that she should just leave well enough alone.
"Then let's just play for points. Please, big sis? Come on." Said Sho. He could keep this up for hours. He didn't want to just hit the birdie back and forth, that would have been pointless, he wanted to play to win…even if playing with her wouldn't be anywhere near as fun as playing with Shimazaki. He was taller and stronger and he could teleport and stuff…and also he let Sho curse at him and stuff…and he knew not to play rough or curse at his sister…even though it was less fun that way.
"Ok, we can play for points…but if you win don't think that I let you. You're better at this than I am." Said Mob. Not a total lie. He was better at hitting the birdie over the net than she was. Also he never got penalties for using his powers. Not like she did. She couldn't help it. He could, though, his control was much better than hers. He was lucky like that.
She was so proud of him.
She knew that Sho didn't like people being proud of him, he had gotten mad at dad for being proud of him, so she would never tell him…but she was very proud that he had such good control over his powers. Like she would never have. She took after dad, dad had trouble controlling his powers too, but she needed help. Dad didn't need help, he hardly ever lost control, and Sho had always had almost perfect control. Not like her.
But that was ok. She was proud of her little brother even if she knew for a fact that he did not want to hear it.
"You're right…but you had better not be thinking about letting me win. If you do then I'll let you win at something and you hate beating me." Said Sho
"Ok, ok, I'll play fair. Get ready." Said Mob as she tossed the birdie in the air and hit it with her racket. It went over the net that time, which was good, and Sho managed to get it over net without sending it over her head….and she had managed to hit it back to him. This was going well….and it was fun. She couldn't remember the last time they had played hit the birdie together…or anything together. They used to play together more when they had been little but now they were older and they had their own friends…well they shared friends but she did NOT like to do the kinds of things with Shimazaki that Sho did and Sho thought that Minegishi was boring…and also Hatori had become more of dad's friend…
But at least they could both share Shibata.
He was both of their friend and he made good food. Well mostly good. Sometimes he forgot ingredients and sometimes he forgot food in the oven or on the stove but he was still a good friend. They were all good friends, really, and she and Sho…maybe they should have hung out with everyone together more often…even though the only person who wasn't annoyed in any serious way by Shimazaki was Sho…and also Sho didn't get along with Minegishi…and also Hatori wanted to eat Minegishi…well everyone but he couldn't help the way he was born…and also Shimazaki was always mean to Hatori and…
And she'd figure out a way for them all to hang out together after she was done playing with Sho.
It felt like it was going to be a short game. They always played first to a hundred points wins and Sho was really good at this. Mob either missed the birdie or used her powers on accident…and if she smoked or drank she could have made her powers stop acting up…but then Sho would have wanted to smoke or drink and he wasn't good at moderation so she wouldn't give him any ideas. He hadn't asked her about any of that since he came back from his sleepover with Shimazaki and she wasn't going to put ideas in his head.
She just wanted to play hit the birdie over the net.
Even if she wasn't that good at hitting the birdie….but that was ok. Sho was good at hitting the birdie. He was so good at hitting the birdie that it always went over the net…and sometimes over her head. Like now. It went sailing over her head again and it hit the back window of the house. She was happy that she hadn't caught that one with her powers…even though Sho didn't seem to happy….or at least his aura didn't. She didn't know what he was so unhappy about. He had gotten a point because she missed. Now the score was twenty seven to three. That was very good. She knew that he knew greater than and less than and she knew that she had been playing this game fair and square and she knew that he should have been happy to have been winning.
But she also knew that he didn't seem very happy at all.
"Seriously? You promised that you wouldn't let me win!" said Sho. He didn't curse and he didn't throw his racket…but he did yell just a little bit….but she was the one who had made him yell. She had promised him that she wouldn't let him win. She had promised him that she would play him fairly. She had promised. She was treating him like a little kid. He didn't want to be treated like a little kid! He was tired of being treated like a little kid! If Shimazaki had been there-
-if Shimazaki had been there then he would have been treating Sho like HIS kid.
That was what he would have done. Shimazaki was always treating him like his kid and telling him that he loved him like his own kid and…and he liked having someone who cared about him but…but that was not how he wanted….well he had no idea what he wanted but he was tired of being treated like a kid and….and he knew that he was only ten and a half and…
And he knew that he needed to calm down.
"I'm not. You know that I'm not. I'm just not good at this…especially when you hit it above my head." Said Mob. Now she remembered why they stopped playing this game. Sho always got way too into it. Sort of like dad would have been if Minecraft had been competitive. She wondered if, after did, Sho would have wanted to play some Animal Crossing with her. That was nice. There were no winners and losers and everyone was friends and also there weren't any birdies that went over her head for Sho to get mad at.
"You're supposed to jump." Said Sho. There. He was done yelling. He was going to be calm and he was going to be nice and he was not going to throw his racket through the window and he was not going to curse, not at her but in general, and he was going to play with her and they were going to have fun and…
And now he remembered why they had stopped playing this game together.
"I don't know how to jump as high as you can. If you want me to hit it back then stop hitting it so high." Said Mob. She wasn't going to be mean…and she got the feeling that she had said something mean…but it had been the truth. If he hadn't hit it above her head so many times then she could have had more points and the score could have been closer.
"Just send the birdie back." Said Sho. He knew that she was just letting him win again. She always let him win. That was just who she was. She was nice like that but right now…right now he didn't want someone to be nice to him. Right now he wanted someone to…to challenge him. To play him for real. To be less…like big sis…and more like….
He was playing with big sis. That was what mattered.
"Ok….but when you hit it back please don't send it flying so high." Said Mob as she hit the birdie back over to Sho. She would jump as high as she could this time. She would jump and then probably miss but that was ok because at least Sho would see that she had tried and then he would stop thinking that she was letting him win. She wasn't. She was just really bad at this.
"I'll show you 'so high'…" said Sho as the birdie went towards him. She hadn't seen anything yet. He would send it over her head. He would show her how high he could send it when he was trying. Then maybe she would start trying and she would stop treating him like he was a little kid. He may have been a kid but he was not little and he could….
He could hit really hard when he wanted to.
At least she jumped that time…not that it had done her any good. He may have accidentally put his powers into that one. It went over her head…and also the house…and now they had no birdies left. They had no birdies and unless they went back to using rocks like they had when they had been little it was game over…and Sho hadn't wanted it to be game over! He had just wanted her to play him for real. Nobody would ever play him for real. She treated him like he was a little kid…and Shimazaki treated him like he was his kid and…
And he just wanted to be treated like….like he was Sho….
"Sho, no. Come on, little brother, don't be upset. It's ok, come on. I bet that if we went to the front yard we could find the birdie and then we can keep on playing and I'll be sure to jump extra high. Come on. You're better at finding things than me." Said Mob. She knew that he was getting upset and she knew that it had been an accident, he hadn't meant to lose their last birdie…but maybe they could still find it. Everything had to be somewhere and…and they hadn't even found the ones they had lost in the backyard….but maybe they would have more luck in the front. Maybe this birdie hadn't gone to the secret dimension of lost birdies…
Though Mob would have taken the secret dimension of lost birdies any day instead of….well…this.
She had felt his aura once she stopped focusing on their game. He had been in her range but that was normal. Well not at this time of day. This was the middle of the day, not even lunchtime yet, and the person who belonged to that aura should have been near dad. He should have been in the HQ where dad was and not…here. Not standing there in the front yard holding their birdie like…like that was a normal way for him to be…
Because this was not normal at all.
"Hey, I found your shuttlecock." Said Fukuda. He had been waiting all day for Sho to come home from whatever he had been getting up to with Shimazaki, hopefully those two weren't the ones who had been switching those street signs around, and once he had gotten home his aura had been practically tied to Shigeko's….
And he needed to talk to Sho alone.
Well he needed an excuse to talk to Sho. He had been about to invite Sho over for lunch, Shigeko would have probably been happy to have been able to skip cooking duty for the day, when a shuttlecock had hit him right on the head. Sho's doing. Even without using his powers he was an unusually strong little boy. Well now he at least had an excuse to talk to Sho…though he would invite him over for lunch since he had no use for four cans of cola and a bowl of plain noodles with a little bit of butter. That is if Sho even agreed to come over….
He still seemed pretty pissed off…and Fukuda didn't blame him.
"What the hell is a shuttlecock?" asked Sho as Fukuda stood there holding the birdie like…like some kind of birdie…holding…guy! What? Had he been the one hiding all of their birdies? Was he responsible for hiding the world's supply of birdies? Was he holding them ransom so that Sho and big sis let him play or something!
Well then he could make himself a house out of those birdies because he was not welcome at their game!
"Sho, don't say the H-word. It isn't nice." Said Mob. She crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't much want to talk to Fukuda. She thought that she had made herself perfectly clear when she had told him to get out of her yard and go back to his own house the other night…but maybe he had thought that she had only meant for that night. Maybe he had found their birdie because he wanted to play too, like he had played with them when they had been little, and if he did then…then Mob was throwing the game and….and if Sho got mad then she would deal with him.
Because Fukuda was the last person she EVER wanted to play with.
"I'll say whatever I feel like." Said Sho. He had much worse words for Fukuda. He was a mother fucking cock sucking bitch! No, a bastard! No, a bitch, because that was worse than a bastard! A bastard was just someone who had parents who hadn't been married when he had been born. A bitch was a female dog and…wait, no, that would be an insult to dogs and dogs hadn't done anything bad to him ever. Well one time a dog had bit him…but that was ok because he bit the dog back and then said sorry….and he wanted to bite Fukuda but not say sorry afterwards…
But then big sis would have been mad at him…so he didn't do that…even though Fukuda deserved to be bitten so hard that his skin never grew back.
"But…it's not nice…and Fukuda was nice enough to find our birdie…and now he can give it back to us…and stuff." Said Mob. Her arms weren't enough. She used her powers to pull her sweater down over her head and then she put her arms thought the hole. There. Now she was better…well she was very hot…but also she was better. Well a little better. She wondered if Sho would have let her borrow his summertime jacket…which she hoped that he wasn't wearing for the same reason that she was wearing this sweater….
Fukuda had better not have been talking about Sho like he talked about her or she would do…something. She didn't know what but…but she would do….something.
"Right, well, here's your shuttlecock back. Anyway Sho I was wondering-" said Fukuda. Shigeko was wearing that sweater again and…well now he knew what she was wearing it for…and he had no idea how he was supposed to clear the atmosphere with her. He DID NOT think about her like that. She had, somehow, gotten the idea in her head that he thought about her in…that state of affairs. Of course he didn't. She may have acted like an adult but he knew that she was still only eleven….and even if she hadn't been just….no. That was just…no.
Unless he changed his name to Shimazaki Ryou the thought of him and Shigeko at any point in her life would have been just….no.
"Birdie. It's called a birdie." Said Sho as he used his powers to take the birdie from Fukuda. Big sis's aura was all pulled in and she was hiding in her sweater….probably because he knew that Fukuda didn't like her for some reason. Well he didn't like anyone, sort of like dad, but worse. Dad at least liked big sis…and also Hatori for some weird reason…
"Oh, right, a birdie. When I was your age we called it a shuttlecock-" said Fukuda. Well that was certainly a lot of hostility….and it did not suit Sho. No. He had always been such a nice kid….well a nice kid with a mean streak as wide as the sky…but this level of hostility had never been directed at Fukuda before…and he didn't like it. He understood where all of this was coming from, he knew how Sho felt, and he knew that Sho was too young to understand why Fukuda had done what he had done….but he still…Fukuda could make this right. He had to make things right between him and Sho.
Because he could not let them go wrong.
Things had gone wrong between him and Shigeko. He had let Suzuki influence her too much…and he'd had so many chances to bring her back before she went over the edge and…and he hadn't. He had dropped the ball with Shigeko but he could still be there for Sho. That had to still count for something. Shigkeo…he would always be sorry for what had gone wrong there but at least he could still help Sho…
At least he could still make things right with Sho.
"Well we call it a birdie now. Thanks for giving it back. You can go home now…or something. Whatever you do during the day when you're not hanging out with dad." Said Sho. He was being an asshole, he knew that he was being an asshole, and he knew that big sis would have been mad at him for even thinking the word asshole let alone being one…but right now he didn't care. Fukuda was a liar, a traitor, and also he didn't like big sis. Sho didn't always get along with her, she could treat him like a baby sometimes, but he at least never said mean things about her…anymore. Also she had never once told one of his secrets.
Not like Fukuda.
"Sho…you know I was making plain noodles with a little bit of butter and I accidentally made too much. I accidentally bought too much cola and ranch dressing too. So if you wanted to come over and have lunch with me-" said Fukuda
"How do you know it's too much food if you haven't even started eating yet?" asked Mob. Someone needed to teach Fukuda about cooking. He had been messing up his grocery shopping since she had been little. He would always accidentally buy too much food and then he and mom would make dinner together, and he would let her and Sho help, and…and those had been good times…and stuff. She missed…well part of her missed those times but right now…right now most of her just wished that he knew how to plan meals better. It wasn't hard. She had learned from YouTube…but maybe he didn't know about YouTube since he was as old as dad was…well then maybe he should figure it out on his own in that case or find a wife or have a daughter so he had someone to do his shopping and cooking for him.
"Big sis is making lunch. I don't know what she's making but I'm going to eat lunch with her." said Sho. There weren't enough bowls of plain noodles with a little bit of butter, enough cans of name brand coke, and enough bottles of ranch dressing to make him sit there and have lunch with a traitor.
"You can eat with Fukuda if you want to…I don't mind." Said Mob. She didn't really want Sho to have dinner with Fukuda. She just wanted Fukuda to go away right now. She knew that she was being selfish but she really, really, really wanted him to go back to work or his own house or…or anywhere else in the world. Tokyo was the biggest city in Japan. There must have been somewhere else, anywhere else, he could have gone.
"I just thought, Sho, that you would like to have lunch with me…you know, since your dad gave me some free time. We could catch up, hang out, maybe head over somewhere…" said Fukuda. Suzuki had something wrong with him where he couldn't understand subtlety and double meaning. Shigeko had the same problem even though there wasn't a drop of blood shared between them. Sho had no such problem. He understood social cues, double meanings, and subtlety. He took after Masami in that way.
"….fine. I'll have lunch with you….because you seem like you're really lonely and you'd be sad…or…whatever." Said Sho. He knew where Fukuda wanted to go. They were in Japan and baby sis was in Japan and if Sho went somewhere for a long time, somewhere far away, like where baby sis was…then he had to go with Fukuda….and as much as Fukuda was a traitor…Sho had no choice but to go with him.
"OK…I'll be here….if you want to finish the game." Said Mob. Sho tossed her back the birdie and then went with Fukuda…and that was ok. Fukuda…if Sho wanted to be with him then she wouldn't stop him. She…she just wanted him to be happy…and she couldn't imagine how being with Fukuda could have made anyone happy….and she would have made Sho plain noodles with a little bit of butter…and with all the soda he wanted….and also she would have let him have a whole glass of ranch….but this was ok. If he wanted to be with Fukuda, if Fukuda was the person he wanted to be with…even though he was a traitor, then that was fine. He wasn't all bad…he had been nice when they had been kids…and he may have been mean and he may have spent too much time, any time was too much time, thinking about her naked and doing….stuff…but maybe he wanted to say sorry or something. Or maybe he just….wasn't all bad….somehow…
He had returned their birdie….shuttlecock…or whatever. That had to count for something….right?