Mob had never been around this many people at once before.
It made her stomach hurt a little…or maybe it was because she had been eating nothing but tempura since dinner last night. She had eaten it dinner and then breakfast and also she had tempura vegetables in her backpack as a snack. So she wasn't nervous since this had been happening on and off for a while….and she had no reason to be. So this was a lot of people….that was fine….she had been around big groups of people before….her dad was the boss of Claw after all…and stuff….
But this was still a lot of people.
There had to have been more people in this one building than there were in all of Tokyo HQ….no. A bigger one. A Division. This place had more people in it than even the first Division of Claw…and that was a very big Division! There were people pressed in on all sides of her. Normal people. Occasionally she felt the hint of an aura, sort of like how the lowest level of Awakened felt, but she knew that ther were not Awakened. The Awakened all had red auras. So far she had seen auras in purple, green, blue, yellow, and also white…and she had never seen a white aura before…and she had tried to go towards it but Hatori had pulled her back.
He didn't want them to get separated.
It would have been easy to get separated in the crowd if they had both been normal people. His aura…well it was dim…but he could easily have seen her aura from any point in this place. Her aura was brighter than his, brighter than every other aura here, and she would have stood out. Hatori still kept her close though. He was holding her by her sleeve, sometimes her wrist when people bumped into them, and that was….nice. Him being there, touching her, caring about her. The whole thing was so nice and he….he was really nice….
This was really nice.
"Watch it!" said Hatori as he pulled Mob in close. She was way too short to be here, he decided, either that or everyone else needed to start paying attention to where they were walking. She was short…and he had forgotten how short she was…and maybe he should have told her to wear stilts…no. That was ridiculous. She was eleven and she was supposed to be short and it wasn't her fault if people bumped into her but it was his fault if something bad happened to her…Suzuki could be a decent guy, sometimes a fun guy, but he could also be a violent asshole of a guy…and Hatori did not want to know what he did to people who let harm befall his favorite child.
He was going to take good care of Mob…he had to.
He wanted to. She had been pumped for this since he had told her about it. Suzuki had said so. He had said that she had been researching and planning and, well, Hatori was happy to share this with her. Get her out of the house and around people who weren't crazy….or at least unbalanced….and also it was just nice to hang out with her. She was a great kid. Best pseudo little sister that he had ever had. She was having a good time and he was happy to show her a good time…and also if he didn't show her a good time her father said that there would be hell to pay…and Suzuki had said hell…and he had done the crazy eyes again….so, yeah, it was in his best interests to show Mob a good time…
And to keep assholes from stepping on her.
"I'm ok." Said Mob as Hatori grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her close to him. It was too hot in here. She wished that she had worn something else. None of her old costume dresses fit and they didn't make those in her size at the Disney Store anymore. There wasn't a lot there that was her size but her long sleeved dress with the puffy tutu skirt and Elsa on the front still fit….because she had bought it in the wintertime. This was the summertime…and she got the feeling that either the air conditioner was broken or it was just that hot outside that it didn't make a different….and also she wished that she had worn long sleeves because then Hatori would have been touching her actual skin….but this was ok. Hatori had said that she should wear a costume since lots of people wore costumes and if he wanted her to dress like this then she would…
Because she liked him….maybe.
She liked this. She liked how he pulled her by the wrist so she was standing so close that she could smell him. He smelled like soap and body spray, but a different kind than before, and also fabric softener, and also sort of like sweat but in a good way. Not like how Sho smelled terrible if he played outside in the sun for too long. Hatori smelled….well not good like flowers or detergent or perfume but…well she liked it. He smelled better than a lot of the other people here…but that was a mean thought to have. Of course people smelled bad, it was at least thirty five degrees in here, and she shouldn't have faulted them for that….even though they must have also had parents that they could borrow deodorant from when they needed it….nope. She was happy and she was going to stay happy…even though she just got hit in the face with someone's backpack…
She was fine.
"Oh fuck! Shit! Sorry….don't tell your dad I cursed around you." Said Hatori. He cursed some more in his head. Right. He had to take care of her and taking care of her did not involve teaching her to curse. He got down to her level as best as he could and looked her over. She seemed fine…but maybe something terrible had happened like she had a concussion and…and her pupils would have been messed up…right? He put his hand under her chin and tipped her head upwards to the light. Her pupils seemed normal…so she must not have been concussed….
But he was not a healer.
They had a healer, he was a creep and an asshole but he was their only healer, and he had gone off with Mob's little brother. The kid was accident prone, if anyone needed a healer on call twenty four seven it was him, but if anyone had asked Hatori he would have sent someone else with them…or kept the kid home…or just sent someone to make sure that Sho didn't hurt himself in the first place. That guy…if Hatori had gotten any say he would have said…well a lot of things about that guy…but he didn't get a say. He may have been friends with Suzuki but he didn't get to tell him how to parent his kids…
Or that his best friend was kind of a massive creep.
Or that he had, essentially, called Hatori a massive creep. He wasn't. He just cared about Mob, that was all, he didn't want to date her! And who the hell thought that it was even remotely acceptable to-calm down. Calm the fuck down. She felt warm but…he pressed his hand to her forehead. Did she have a fever? No, it was just an oven in here….but she was red…heat stroke? Shit! What if she got heat stroke and died? Then…
Well then Hatori would be joining her.
"No, it's ok. Sho says a lot worse." Said Mob. She'd had to swallow a few times just to get the words out. He was close. He was kneeling down so they were eye to eye…and he had such nice eyes behind his glasses….and his glasses were so nice….and he was touching her…well he was trying to see if she was hurt or not…but still. This was really nice and she…she knew that he was just trying to make sure that she was ok. Minegishi had told her not to look into things too much so she wouldn't….but then again Minori had also told her that boys didn't ask girls to go places with them unless they liked them but….
But she didn't know.
Well she did know that Hatori was a lot older than her, well it didn't seem like a lot since she knew people who were even older than him, but he was an adult and she was a kid…well she felt like a short adult but she was really just a kid. She was only eleven and he was twenty, was the point, and if he wanted a girlfriend then he could have found one who was also twenty…and also dad said that he just liked boys….but so far all he'd bought was stuff with cute girls on it…so maybe he liked both….
It would have been rude to ask so she wouldn't…and also she would stop thinking about this…and stuff.
"Well….I still shouldn't talk like that around you. Your brother is ten, he doesn't know any better, so what's my excuse?" laughed Hatori as he straightened up. He bumped into someone…or they bumped into him. Maybe he should have brought Mob on the third day, or even the second, but not the first….but no, that would have been stupid. The first day was when they had the best stuff. Everything would be gone by the third day and then she would have had a terrible time…and he really needed her to have a good time…and not just because Suzuki would have him at least maimed or seriously injured if she did not have a good time.
She deserved to have a good time.
Her life, in a lot of ways, really sucked. She was a ten year old with a drinking problem….and a smoking problem…and also he knew for a fact that she had fallen off the wagon when it came to cigarettes…and also she had some creep her dad's age treating her like crap…and she was pretty much raising her little brother…so she deserved this. She deserved at least one fun day and he could give it to her.
What were pseudo big bothers for? Besides not teaching pseudo little sisters how to curse and keeping them from getting trampled to death that is.
"You like to say bad words? I mean I think that you do. You say bad words when you play games and watch TV…and sometimes you say them really loud for no reason…and stuff. My dad says that you can't help it because if you could help it then you would have…helped it….or something….I don't know…" said Mob. He had let go of her…and now she sort of wished that she had been hurt just so he could have been that close to him and….and did she like him again? Minegishi said that she just thought that he was attractive, and he really was, but also she wanted to be near him all the time. Did that mean that she wanted to be his girlfriend or….or what? He was a nice person but…well she already had two people to take care of already….and Hatori knew even less about taking care of himself than dad did…
But he did have really pretty eyes…and soft hands…and he smelled really good…
"Well….I should still watch my mouth around you. Anyway, are you ok? Does anything feel broken….fuck I am so screwed we don't have a healer….you're ok, right? Please tell me that you're ok…." Said Hatori. She had this weird feeling to her aura…well she got that sometimes…but she could have had a million and one things wrong with her and he had no way of fixing her and…and he needed her to be ok. He liked Suzuki….and Suzuki liked him….and apparently he had wound up in the middle of a weird friendship triangle with him and Fukuda….but if he let something bad happen to Mob then he would never have to worry about weird friendship triangles…or…or any other shapes ever again!
"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt at all." said Mob. She sidestepped as someone pushed past her. They had said, well a bunch of people in the front had said, that there wasn't supposed to be any pushing or shoving…but plenty of people were pushing and shoving but….but she didn't mind that much.
She got to be closer to Hatori.
"Thank God…ok. Cool. That's….that's good….damn it. I should have just borrowed Shimazaki's blind guy stick…." Said Hatori as he held her by her wrist and pulled her closer. God. He had forgotten how much crowds sucked. No wondered Suzuki didn't want to come to this thing. Shimazaki had offered him use of his blind guy stick and he should have taken it. People ran away from you when you had one of those and those that didn't could just get hit so they got out of the way. So convenient.
"No, that would have been a bad idea. If you had borrowed it then people would have looked at you and thought that you were blind. That's dishonest and also I don't think that would be nice to do…because there are people who are actually blind…and stuff…" said Mob. She played with the strap of her Elsa bag. She had safety pinned it shut like Hatori said to so that she didn't get pickpocketed. Hatori had given her a lot of good advice, like to bring lots of water and to wear comfortable shoes, but also he had some very bad ideas too. Borrowing Shimazaki's cane would have been a bad idea. She felt like it was at least not allowed, if not illegal, to pretend to be blind when you weren't…and also it wasn't a very nice thing to do. She didn't know if she could be the girlfriend of someone who had such bad ideas…but then again he would never know if his ideas were bad if he didn't have someone to tell him that his ideas were bad….
Someone like a friend…or a friend who was a girl…or a girlfriend…or something.
"That's the point. Have you been out in public with Shimazaki when he has that thing? People jump over each other to get out of the way….but yeah, I shouldn't impersonate the blind….that's the kind of shit you burn in hell for." Said Hatori. Yeah…he had to set a good example and impersonating a blind person was not setting a good example at all…and he had to work harder at this big brother thing. He wasn't Shimazaki. He wasn't going to encourage her to act like an asshole…and someone else needed to take care of Sho because that kid….well it was cute when he was ten but it wouldn't be cute anymore when he was twenty. Mob wasn't like him, though, but just to be safe he was going to not borrow Shimazaki's cane…even though it would have made getting through this crowd easier.
"Oh…I don't want that to happen to you…but it won't….because you didn't do that…and we're here…and everyone knows that you can see…and stuff." Said Mob. She felt sort of dumb. She knew words, she knew how they worked, and it felt like every word she was using was the wrong one even though she spoke perfect Japanese. She didn't know why she got like this when she was near him. Maybe this meant that she liked him? She never felt like this around any of her other friends but…but also she didn't think any of her other friends were….like Hatori. Attractive was the word that Minegishi had used and…and Shimazaki looked nice but…but then he said something or did something to remind her what he was like and then…and then the weird feelings she got sometimes when she was around him went away…and even if she had fallen in love with him she would have done everything in her power to fall out of love with him. He was in love with Minegishi after all and best friends did not hurt each other like that.
"Yeah…and if anything these idiots are the ones who need blind guy sticks." Said Hatori as some cosplayer almost took Mob's eye out…and who needed ACTUAL metal spikes? It was a costume! That guy wasn't actually going into battle! Mother fucking-no, no. Kid here. Gotta stay calm. Mob is a kid and she's impressionable. She really was. She was staring at him with those brown eyes like she was committing everything about him to memory…and he had to set a good example. She was learning how to be an adult and he was an adult so as the adult he was not going to curse anyone out in front of her…and also as an adult he probably should not have been pissing off random strangers in front of Mob, either.
"I think that they're called canes…and I think that they would have had them already if they had needed them." Said Mob. She put a barrier up, a close one, as someone with spikes all over them got too close. That would have hurt…and Fukuda was gone…not that she would have gone to him anyway if she had gotten hurt. She would have one to Minegishi, they knew first aid, or maybe if she got really hurt then Hatori could have picked her up and carried her….and she needed to stop thinking about him like that because….because she just had to.
"Well, I think that someone could make a fortune selling canes here since, apparently, no one can see you but me." Said Hatori as she put a barrier up around herself. He could see it but no one else could. Well maybe. He did feel the occasional aura but that was normal. Some people were just on the cusp of being espers. That was where the Awakened, the ones that lived through the process, came from. Just to be safe Hatori would be avoiding any and all auras. He wasn't a fighter and Mob…well she was a target. She was Suzuki Touichirou's daughter after all and that man…well he had more enemies than anyone else Hatori had ever met.
"Oh…like I'm a ghost? Or you're crazy? Or like if I never existed and I was just a figment of your imagination and then you were a figment of someone else's imagination and then the whole world was just imaginations all the way down?" asked Mob quickly. It just came to her. She had seen that movie…and also there was a cosplayer dressed like the main character from that movie…and then it all sort of came up like vomit. Like word vomit. She had said the wrong thing, she knew that she had said the wrong thing, and she just wished that she could take it back….but like real vomit once it was out there it was out there and all you could do was deal with it.
"….huh?" asked Hatori with a blink. Well that was some existential horror if he had ever heard it….and THAT was what she had kicking around in her head? Damn…poor kid. No matter. He could fill her head with…there had to be some Disney doujinshi here somewhere….something happy. Like princesses and other Disney stuff. Stuff she liked. Stuff that didn't fill him with existential dread.
"I…saw it in a movie once…sorry." said Mob. She looked down at her feet….and maybe she should have been looking up. Someone had almost hit her with their bag. Hatori had taken her by the wrist again and pulled her away. He was always looking out for her. She liked that about him….that was a good thing…the sort of thing that a boyfriend would have done for you…or a friend who was just a friend but also a boy.
"No, that actually sounds pretty neat…in a horrifying sort of way. Just…we're both real…and here, stay close to me. I'm short too but at least people can see me." Said Hatori. He let go of her and raised his arm up. It took her a minute for her to realize that he wanted her close. She came closer to him and he lowered his arm around her. It felt sort of awkward, walking with her like this, but it kept her from getting stepped on, bumped into, or crushed so that was fine. As long as he kept her alive and returned her to her father in as good or better condition than when he got her then he would be fine. He would live to see another day at least.
"Um….ok. You're not short, though, you're really tall and um…let's keep walking…and stuff…" said Mob. She had that feeling in her stomach again and her hair was trying to fly away. She tucked her head back behind her backpack. Hatori had told her to bring a backpack, a bag with lots of small bill, and also a lot of water. She had done with he had said but now she wished that she had brought more water because she was warm and sweaty….because she was close to him…
Very close.
He had an arm around her. He was pressing her into his side. She felt….so….she didn't know what this feeling was. It was like she was happy and scared at the same time. Well not scared but…nervous. She felt nervous. She knew that she had no reason to feel nervous. Hatori was her friend and only her friend and Minegishi had said, and they were very smart, that Hatori didn't like her like that….but then again Minori was also very smart about these things….and also Hatori had been really nice to her…
But then again he was always really nice to her.
He cared about her a lot. He used to call her his little sister all the time…and maybe he had stopped because he had stopped thinking about her as a little sister…or maybe he had just stopped thinking about her as little…or something. She didn't know. She just knew that…well maybe she wanted to be his girlfriend…or maybe she just wanted to be someone's girlfriend…and maybe she needed to stop thinking about this and just…buy stuff and have fun and…and not think about how close he was or how warm it was in here or….or anything….maybe she should just think about all the stuff she could buy.
There was a lot of stuff that she could buy.
Everything here was drawn by fans. There was a lot of stuff that she didn't recognize, a lot of original stuff, and also a lot of stuff that she did recognize but had no interest in….but that didn't mean that other people she knew wouldn't have had an interest in it. Like the whole table full of Sailor Moon stuff. There were books and buttons and t-shirts and stuff. She liked Sailor Moon enough but Minegishi REALLY liked it. Even though they were always saying that adults only read books that were really books she knew that Minegishi liked manga a lot. They had a lot of it…and she was not going to think about the manga that they had under their bed….but the point was that they liked manga and stuff and she would get something for them.
She would get everything for them.
"Thanks very much." Said Mob. She bowed because that as polite before she took her bags and draped them over her arms. This was good. Shopping was fun and also…also there were so many more places to visit! They would have been able to spend years and years and years of their lives here…just her and Hatori…walking around together forever. It was just a thought, of course, she knew that she had to go home eventually…but not before she stopped at every single table and bought every single thing that she saw that she or someone she knew would have liked. She had a lot of money, she didn't know how much, and if she ran out of money then….well then she could just watch Hatori buy stuff…and stuff. She didn't really care what she did just so long as she got to be with him.
Did that mean that she liked him?
Well she was always happy when her friends were happy and watching her friends have fun was almost as good as she herself having fun….but none of her other friends made him feel the way he made her feel. She didn't know why she felt this way. She had felt this way since she had first seen him. Well she had stopped for a little bit because of what happened at the party…but that was last year….and he wasn't in love with Minegishi anymore….and also he still wanted to eat them but he couldn't help wanting to eat people…just like she couldn't help the things about herself that she couldn't help….so maybe she did like him again and….well she had no idea if he liked her….
He was nice….friend nice…but also boyfriend nice….
Not that she had any idea what boyfriends actually did. She knew what she had seen and what she had read. Boyfriend kept you close to them, they thought a lot about your wellbeing, and also they helped you with things. He had been keeping her very close…but it was very crowded around here….and also he had thought a lot about her wellbeing. He had thought to tell her to wear comfortable shoes, which she had, and he had told her to bring a lot of small bills, which was good because she got the feeling that nobody here would take ten thousand yen notes, and he had told her to bring lots of water, which was good because she was very thirsty…
And now he was trying to help her carry her stuff.
"Hey Mob, do you want me to maybe help you carry some of that?" asked Hatori. Mob had practically dragged him to one of the many Sailor Moon booths…and now he at least knew what to get her for her birthday….and asked for one of everything…and she had meant everything. He had no idea how much money she had on her, every time she opened her little bag he swore that she must have robbed a bank, and he wasn't going to tell her how to spend her money but….
Well they did say that girls liked to shop.
"No, it's ok. I've got it. I hope Minegishi likes all of this. They love t-shirts and buttons, they like to put buttons on their bag, and also they like Sailor Moon the manga….well mostly. There are some arcs that they don't like but I know that they like manga and also if they don't like it then I'll keep it and….um…let's keep walking. I still have to find things for other people…so let's…do that." Said Mob. She…well she could carry this herself. She could use her powers to help her carry things, not make them float next to her, but just make them lighter….and she wanted to carry all of this herself. Carrying something for her could be a friend thing…or it could be a boyfriend thing…and she still wasn't sure what she even wanted him to be…
Or what he even wanted to be.
Minori had said that boys were both really stupid and really complicated at the same time. Well they were complicated for her, anyway, Minori had said because she was socially impaired. Boys liked girls who let them kiss them and stuff….and she wasn't even sure if she even wanted to kiss Hatori in real life…but also they were complicated in that a lot of the time they couldn't just come out and say that they liked you. Never to your face. That was why they confessed in notes and stuff…but she wasn't in school so she wouldn't get any notes and also Hatori was older and older boys were different. She had no idea how she was even supposed to tell….anything….
So she decided to just….keep on enjoying the comics market.
"Hey, check that out! Come on, Mob!" said Hatori. He had felt…well right now he felt like he was leading just a little bit too much but also….also he felt motherboards! And he knew at this point what motherboards felt like…and there were boxes of them….this way. That was just….a weird thing to sell at the comics market but, well, no weirder than those body pillows over there…
He pulled Mob along a little quicker.
They didn't sell anything….well 18+….well that he knew about….but still. Maybe half naked girl body pillows were not the thing for her to be seeing. She was little…well she was eleven…but that was still little. She didn't need to know just how weird some people could get. Nope. They were going to stick to everything that was good and suitable for children. Everything else could come tomorrow and the day after. But not this. Motherboards were calling to him! He had no idea why there were motherboards at Comiket, or what he would even do with them once he found them, but he had money and he had part of a room in shared house and also other people packed his stuff up for him when he had to move so the time for packing lightly had passed!
Now it was the time to buy stuff he didn't need!
"Mob, check this out! It's a motherboard with an anime character on it!" said Hatori. He should not have been this excited. He was a grown man. He should not have been this excited over a motherboard with a cute anime girl on it. Mostly because Suzuki needed to think that he was gay for the foreseeable future because he could be very….over protective….towards his Daughter. Which…well Hatori got it. Guys could be really….well not right…when it came to girls. Especially ones her age…and he pulled her a little closer. There were a lot of sick people in the world, he had been on the internet long enough to know, and Mob was adorable. So maybe Suzuki had a point being paranoid that every guy in the world was after his Daughter…
Though the clinginess was a little…weird.
He could be sort of weird when it came to Mob. He called her Daughter but he treated her…well like his…wife. Maybe. Hatori didn't know how dads were supposed to be with their daughters. It wasn't like he was anyone's father…and it wasn't like he would ever be at this rate…so he couldn't really tell Suzuki how to raise Mob…and also that would be just been a stupid move….but he could be sort of weird when it came to Mob. He sort of…deferred…to her when it came to stuff like how to raise his own Son…and he talked about her like…well Suzuki was a weird guy in general and he did have a point when it came to wanting to keep Mob away from guys…
After all look at who his best friend was.
"That's nice….I guess." Said Mob. He had pulled her close…and he was really excited about….whatever a motherboard was. Well she knew that it was part of a computer but she didn't know what was so exciting about that…and also why it needed to have an anime girl on it. Mob didn't know what character but then again she didn't know a lot of the characters here. She was happy, though, because Hatori was happy. He was happy enough that he had pulled her close and…and she wanted to be close to him…but also…
Also she didn't know what she wanted.
She liked him a lot. She liked being with him, she liked walking with him, and she liked when he showed her things…but also she liked other stuff about him too…stuff that she knew that he could never know that she liked about him. Like how he smelled or…or how nice his clothes were. He had on a really nice Evangelion t-shirt and…and she wished that she had seen more than the first movie….because then they would have had more to talk about. He was always showing her interesting things….because he was interesting and…and she could be interested in his interests….because they were friends and…and if they were more than friends…
That was not going to happen.
She took a step away from him. She had been more than friends close to him…and she had wanted to be more than friends close to him….and that was why she had to be the friends level of close to him. That was why she took a step back and….and then someone bumped into her so she had to take another step back…and then someone else bumped into her…and then she just sort of…had to walk. She tried to walk back the way she had came but there were too many people.
It was sort of like getting caught in a rip current.
Back when she had been little, back before Sho had gotten his scars, but also after mom had left them with dad, Mob had spent a lot of time in the ocean. It had just been her and Sho back then, that was all, and maybe if someone else had been there with them then she wouldn't have gotten caught in that current. It had been scary…but also it was her fault for swimming out so far. She and Sho had been trying to see how far out they could swim….and she had won. She had won and she had gotten pulled out far…so far…and it had been so scary….until she realized that she had powers and that she could use her powers to bring herself back to the shore. She did…but she had drifted almost a kilometer away…and Sho had been really scared because she had left him….
This was kind of like that.
This was kind of like that time only she couldn't use her powers to get out everyone out of her way. She couldn't, well she could, but she wouldn't use her powers to push everyone out of the way so she could get back to Hatori. She just…let herself be swept away. She let herself be swept away until she had no idea where she even was. She was….well she had a map….but that was in her backpack. She couldn't even get her backpack off of her back the crowd was so thick….but at least everyone had stopped pushing. She could feel….she spread her aura out. She spread her aura out far and felt…
Oh. There were other espers here.
She had felt them, before, little nudges and taps on her aura. They were little better than the awakened, really, if she was thinking in terms of power. They were naturals, though, some of them…and some of them would have been naturals if they had gotten that little extra nudge. Dad had whole labs where they gave people that nudge….though if Sho was anything to go off of it was way more than a nudge….and she just…well she would just pretend that she had never felt any other espers. If they had wanted to join Claw then they would have and also….well she knew that one of her jobs, one of the jobs of every single member of Claw, was to find new espers….but she wasn't working right now….so she wouldn't be doing any of that…
She felt fear.
Someone was…she knew that feeling. There was an aura and…and it was very scared. She looked around. She didn't see anyone she knew….and that aura didn't feel very familiar to her….but she felt it. She saw…someone was trying to get through the crowd too fast. They were pushing and shoving even though the sign clearly said no pushing and shoving….and also there were people at the doors who said no pushing and shoving…and also people were telling him not to push and shove….
Because, really, pushing and shoving was just rude.
"Can't you feel it!? Move! Get out of my way!" the guy shouted as he tried to push. Mob…she didn't feel anything. The only thing she felt out of the ordinary was how scared that guy was…and she felt bad for him…but also he was shoving a lot. His shoving was making other people shove and now…now she felt herself getting shoved along again. She was even farther from Hatori and….and she knew that she had to get back to him…but finding his aura…it was hard. He was like a needle in…well not a haystack because you could feel how pointy it was….maybe a needle in a needle stack? No, a needle in a needle stack would have mean that he was surrounded only by other espers….though that was hard, too. His aura was so little and so weird…sort of like Minegishi. Their aura lived in plants and his lived in electronics…and there were a lot of them around…but people kept on pushing and shoving her….
And she was tired of getting pushed and shoved.
She grabbed onto the side of a table and let a big group of people pass. Her hair got caught on someone's costume. She yanked it back. This was….she wished that Hatori had been there. He had kept her close and…and nothing had tugged on her hair but…well she would find him again. She just had to figure out where she was….she had no idea where she was. There had been a map, she had studied it, but only the places that looked like she would like them. Sailor Moon, Frozen, there was a braille manga table she had wanted to visit, there had been a table of knitted things that she knew Shibata would have loved, there had been a whole section of homemade plushy tables that Sho would have loved….even if he tried to say that he was too old for stuffed toys, there had even been a Galaxy Express table…and dad loved Galaxy Express even if he pretended that he only watched it to show it to her. They had seen the entire series seven times already from start to finish plus the movies. Dad loved Galaxy Express….
Oh! A sign!
Ok, now she knew what section she was in. She was….the Galaxy Express table was near here. The old school section. Well it wasn't called that officially but Hatori had said that all of those doujinshi and merch tables clustered together counted as an old school section. She could always go there and….well she was close…and it would be faster to go there than to find Hatori and then go there…and also he could see her aura. Her aura was bright. Anyone within a thousand meters could see, feel, or in Shimazaki's case hear her. She wasn't keeping it all tucked in. There weren't a lot of other espers around so there was no point. Yes, Hatori would be able to find her and…and he had his own stuff to look at and…and being near him…well…
She thought about him a lot when he was near her.
She thought about him a lot when she was apart from him, too. Dad had said that love was when you met someone and they were your most perfect person. He had said the one day she would meet a man and she would be his most perfect person and he would be hers. He would be all she desired and her will to succeed. The sun would rise and set for him…and other stuff. She didn't know if she felt like that about Hatori….she just knew that she liked him a lot. She liked the way he was always thinking about her and being nice to her and also…well she liked his shirts and his sweaters and his glasses and his skin, it was a lot better now, and his eyes and his voice and the way he smelled and….and she liked him a lot and…and well there was some stuff about him that she didn't like. He wanted to eat people…but then again everyone thought about doing stuff that they never would in real life…but also he used to like Minegishi…but that was over with now….and also there was what he did at the party…but Shimazaki had gotten him drunk and given him stuff to take….so she still….liked him but also….
Also her feelings were very confusing and she just wanted to buy stuff.
She found the Galaxy Express table, well it was more like a Maetel and Harlock table…but there was doujinshi. The kind in paper bags and the kind without. She knew not to even look at any book that had a paper bag for a cover. That was the kind of stuff that Minegishi kept under there bed…or maybe there were other types of manga that that were covered in paper bags…but she was not about to roll the dice on that.
Also the guy at the table told her that she would like the stack of stuff without the paper bags on them.
"You'll want to stick to that pile, sweetheart, it's more your speed." Said the table guy. Mob nodded and flipped through. It was…alright. She doubted that Maetel would ever talk like that, though. She knew Maetel and also….also she was not a human…well she was…but her body was back on Pluto!
"Something wrong, honey?" asked the table guy.
"Here. This is wrong. Maetel isn't human. She's got a machine body. Her real body is back on Pluto." Said Mob. She pointed to the panel that was wrong. Who had drawn this? Well this guy…but if she had made such a big error then she would have wanted to have been told.
"Well look here, a little fan. How old are you, sweetie?" asked the table guy.
"I'm eleven." Said Mob
"Eleven. Wow. Haven't had anyone as young as you at this table since…I don't even know. Most kids your age haven't ever even heard of the Galaxy Express." Said the table
"I have and this isn't right. See? Here. She isn't a human. She has a machine body. So this part where she cuts herself and she bleeds is wrong…and also she doesn't talk like this. She talks more like an adult. She sounds like she's my age here…and also she doesn't like Harlock like that. She doesn't like people who are too full of themselves." Said Mob
"Really? And you know this how?" asked the table guy
"Because my dad and I have watched the whole series seven times including the movies and I read all the officially licensed manga." Said Mob
"Wow…you sure do have a lot of time on your hands…" said the table guy
"I do. Anyway I just wanted to tell you that this whole manga was wrong…but you can draw really well…but also Maetel doesn't like Harlock like that and also she would never fight with Emeraldas either. They're sisters. Sisters don't fight. Anyway I have to go now. Goodbye." Said Mob
"Wait a second, here. Take this." said the table guy as he handed her a Maetel pin. It was one of the big kind.
"How much?" asked Mob
"Free because you know your stuff, little lady. May our paths cross again someday." Said the table guy
"I hope so too…but please pay more attention to characters being like…how they are." Said Mob as she walked away. Maybe the next table would be better. That was…well it would have been very nice if Maetel and Harlock got together they were just two very different people. Harlock was too arrogant for her, dad had said, and that arrogance was unearned. Maetel was intelligent and compassionate and too refined for him. Dad had said so and she agreed. Dad would like this pin, too, since this was his favorite character in the whole show. Yes, he would like this a lot…and also other stuff, too, because this whole section was like dad paradise.
Really, he would have liked it here.
But only if it was only him and her and maybe Hatori. He hated crowds. He hated them a lot. He liked to talk to crowds of people but also…well also he hated being in them. She didn't blame him. This place was noisy and hot and crowded and it smelled weird because there were so many different people in it, so maybe if it was just him and her it would have been ok. Maybe. She didn't know. Dad could be weird about what he liked and what he didn't like. It was like he was afraid to like things, sometimes, like he thought that there was something bad about liking things that weren't about work.
She didn't get it.
But dad was a hard person to understand in a lot of ways. But that was ok. You didn't have to understand someone to love them. You just had to love them…and she loved dad. She loved him and she knew that he would love everything that he got her even if he would pretend that he didn't. He would love…well maybe she had gotten too much…but some of this could be for her. There wasn't such a thing as too much when you were shopping. Minori had said so.
Though moving around was getting kind of hard.
It was easier to just go with the crowd. She knew that she should have been focusing on getting back to Hatori….but there was so much stuff to look at. Not just manga but also toys and buttons…and you could never have too many toys and buttons…and ok, she was running out of room on her bag and her backpack and herself for buttons…and also she was running out of room in her arms….but then she saw a place selling bags and then she had more room for buttons and more room in her arms for more things. She wanted to get back to Hatori but…
Hey! That table with the braille manga!
She would get back to him in a minute. Right now she had to see what all of this was about. Shimazaki really liked music…and also dragons….and also stories with lots of violence and a rich plot….so she couldn't get him something just because it's in braille…and also she couldn't read braille. F-word. She maybe should have taken the time to learn what all of the little bumps and dots meant before going to the braille manga table….
Oh h-word.
No matter. She could just…of course there weren't any pictures inside. There didn't have to be. H-word again. She dragged her fingers over the dots and….oh. Some of these dots made pictures…and some of them were words….and this whole thing was very complicated. Next time she came here she was doing more research….but this was kind of cool. Even though she wasn't sure if this still counted as manga. Wasn't manga without pictures, just words, a light novel? She didn't know…but hey! She knew that word! That spelled tea!
Great. She knew one single solitary word.
"That whole side is seven hundred yen or under, if you're interested." Said the woman working behind the table. She had the same sort of cane and set of big sunglasses that Shimazaki had been wearing lately even though Minegishi said that he didn't need them. She understood the cane but not the sunglasses….but it might have been rude to ask so she kept her questions to herself. About that at least.
"Um….I don't know if I'm interested. I can't read braille. I'm not blind but my friend is and he can rea braille…well I know the word for tea…but that's about it." Said Mob. She closed the book and held it in her arms. Maybe Shimazaki would like it…whatever it was.
"Well these are all transcriptions of popular shonen titles so if he likes shonen then he'll like those. The other side is shoujo." Said the woman. Mob nodded…and then remembered that not everyone was Shimazaki.
"Thank you very much." Said Mob. She went more to the shoujo side. Shimazaki liked anything with a love story…or people getting hurt….and also he liked to read to people….and also she liked to be read to…and also she liked love stories….but he was a boy so he probably would have liked everything….so it looked like the only thing to do would be to buy one of everything.
Mob needed more arms.
She needed to grow some extra arms or something. She could make things lighter with her powers but she couldn't just start floating stuff next to her…even though that would have made things much easier. She may have been an esper but the rest of the world was normal people and normal people weren't ready to know about them just yet. Dad had said so. He said that when he took over the world then things would be better for espers everywhere and then nobody would have to hide and everyone would live together and things would be better.
So dad had better hurry up with that because Mob had a lot of stuff to buy and very short arms to carry the stuff with.
Another backpack helped. Mob ended up finding the knitting table. They had knitted backpacks with anime characters…and she recognized some of them. Like Hello Kitty. She knew Hello Kitty…she used to love Hello Kitty…back when she had been little. She'd had a Hello Kitty bed set and lots of the books and the toys and all the episodes of the show….and she didn't like….well she wasn't into to it anymore but…well…..Hello Kitty was still nice…and she did need another backpack….
Since she had a lot of stuff to carry.
She had two backpacks now. One on her back and one on her front. She had four big tote bags on her arms and her money bag over her shoulder…and she was almost done. She could still feel Hatori's aura. He must have been off doing his own thing…and that was ok. She had been getting all…weird…being so near to him. That happened a lot when she was near him. She liked him. She knew that she liked him again, and not just because he was the most attractive boy that she had ever met in her life. Even if he did want to eat people, and even if he had been in love with her best friend, and even if he did still have some spots on him…he was very attractive and she was attracted to him…like Minegishi had said…but he was also a lot older than her…like Minegishi had said…
He probably didn't want her to be his girlfriend.
He was just a friend like all of her other friends were just friends. He was nice to her because they were friends. That was all. He was nice to her just like she was nice to him and all of her other friends too. Like how she had gotten Shimazaki a bunch of braille manga and that didn't mean that she was in love with him…yuck….or like how she had gotten Shibata a giant pair of knitted oven mitts so he could stop using towels…she wasn't in love with him either…ick. Friends did nice things for friends. That was all. So she…she liked him but he probably didn't like her and…and that was ok and…and she needed to stop thinking about this and…and she needed to get something for Sho…or a lot of somethings….
Like that whole table of fancy sketchbooks.
Buying everything was easier than picking something out. That way the other person had options and you had less of a chance of getting it wrong. Sho…well when he had been little he had gotten mad when she had gotten him dumb presents. He never got mad at her anymore but she wanted to give him the best present ever…which was why she got him one of every sketchbook….which she had enough space on her arms to carry…she really did. She just….had to….figure it out. She had to figure out how she was going to move from this table…without making things float because that would have been weird because she was pretty much the only actual esper here and…
And she would figure this out.
She just had to…bag Tetris…she wasn't that good at Tetris dad was much better….and what would dad have done if he had been there? Well he would have carried everything for her and told her that he loved her…and then he would have hurt his back because he never used his powers in public….because he was never in public…so of course he wouldn't have been there to help her….but if he had been there to help her then….
Her head hurt.
Her arms hurt a little, too, because this was a lot of stuff and…and maybe she should just have found a way to make this stuff float without anyone noticing but also in a way that could spare her arms…because she liked having arms….and she had to keep going. She had to keep going because there were whole sections that she hadn't been to yet. She still didn't have any more arm room left but….but maybe if she stacked things….no, that was dumb. She was out of ideas. She needed help…or someone with ideas…
Hey, Hatori's aura!
He had wanted to help carry but…but maybe that was a boyfriend thing…no it was a friend thing…but she might end up wishing that it was a boyfriend thing and….and did she even want him to be her boyfriend? Outside of her mind, that is. She knew that in life…in life and in her mind were two different things. In her mind he would have walked up to her, picked her up, and told her that he loved her and he would carry anything that he needed her to carry and also she was the prettiest girl he had ever met and that they could hold hands if she wanted to and maybe kiss…but not while people could see…like they could kiss in a room with no one else…but then they would be alone and…and stuff…she didn't really want any of that alone stuff…and she wasn't sure what all of that stuff…so he really…in life….maybe she should not have been thinking about him like that…especially while she was around a million other people…
Also what happened in her own head was nothing like what happened in reality.
"Mob! Where the FU-where have you been?" asked Hatori. He had been trying to find her for…he didn't even know how long! Like over an hour! How was she…well she was a kid. She was a kid. She was a kid and he had been a kid and back when he had been a kid he had wandered away plenty of times and…and he could not be mad at her…
But seriously! What the ever loving fuck!?
"Um….I was shopping?" said Mob. She held up her bags as best as she could to show him…even though he could see them just fine. His aura felt…well sort of mad but….but she didn't know why he would have been mad at her. She had been fine. She had been here, he must have been able to feel her aura, and he knew that she wouldn't have just run away from him or anything like that. She would never have run away from him. She wanted….well she wanted to be near him….and stuff….
But he didn't know about that.
He could never know about that. She would rather he had been mad, madder than he had ever been with her before, rather than him knowing how she felt about him. How even though he was mad at her, and she didn't really know why, she still wanted….well she wanted to be near him and also….well she would never do the stuff she did in her head in real life…and stuff but….well…this whole thing was very confusing and also her arms hurt…and her stomach, too, but that had been happening on and off for a while. She wasn't nervous or….well she was but…
She felt a lot of things right now….but none of those things were her arms.
"Yeah….I can see that. You…Mob, don't go off without me ever again. I've been worried sick about you! You could have been stolen or gotten lost or…well a lot of shit, sorry, stuff could have happened to you…and then your dad would have killed me." said Hatori. He was not going to freak out at her. When he had been a kid he had hated it when adults freaked out at him….of course he knew, now, that the shit he had been pulling to make people freak out at him had not been ok at all…but he could not freak out anyway. This was Mob. She was just a kid and she was sensitive and…and she honestly didn't seem to know what she had done wrong and…and he needed to calm down. Suzuki was not going to kill him, the sun would rise again, and his life would go on…until Mob decided to wander off and give him another mini heart attack.
"Dad wouldn't ever do anything like that to you. He likes you a lot. He says that you're good company, and that you're smart, and that if you had been born the same year that he had then you guys could have been good friends." Said Mob. Hatori had been worried about dad killing him….but why? He was one of dad's very best friends. Dad had said so…and he had also told Hatori that she liked him…but she could forgive him for that. He liked Hatori a lot so if Hatori was to ever be her boyfriend, she suspected that he liked both boys and girls so that was a possibility, dad would have liked him already….but that was probably never going to happen and she needed to stop getting her hopes up like this…and stuff.
"Well that's nice of-" said Hatori. Wow. Suzuki actually liked him…well he had known that Suzuki had liked him but…wow. He talked about him…and stuff…and Fukuda was going to hate him for the rest of his life…but that was ok. He didn't like the asshole either…and not because of this weird friendship triangle thing he had found himself all caught up in.
"He also said, once, that if you had been born a girl you would have been very pretty and smart and stuff and you wouldn't have had any trouble meeting a man and getting married." Said Mob. Hatori needed to know that dad cared about him, as much as dad could care about a person who wasn't her, and that he shouldn't have been scared of him. Dad always had the nicest things ever to say about Hatori. He never even said such nice things about Fukuda and they had been very good friends years ago…well she knew why he never had good things to say about Fukuda…because he was Fukuda.
"Ok…that's kind of-" said Hatori. President Suzuki was kind of a weirdo but…well that was nice of him. He just…didn't know how to give compliments and…and he really hoped that Suzuki wasn't going to try and do something rash like pick out a guy for him and then tell him to get married and then find a surrogate so the world could be peopled with espers…and he wouldn't do that…right? Right?
"He said that you would probably have been married to Fukuda since you guys like a lot of the same stuff and you couldn't be married to my dad because he would have already been married." Said Mob. Dad was very worried about people getting married and having babies. He said that there weren't enough espers in the world to sustain his dream of Claw ruling the world. Powerful ones, he meant, and he was very worried about people not making enough babies. Mob didn't think that it was any of her business but she did like babies….though she wasn't sure why dad wanted Hatori to marry another boy since two boys couldn't have a baby together….right? She didn't know how it worked but she did know that mom had said that boys and girls were meant to fit together like puzzle pieces…and stuff. So that meant that you needed a boy and a girl…but then how did families with two moms or two dads work? Adoption? Were there that many orphans in the world? Maybe Hatori could adopt a baby! She would have liked that…and then they could…well no, they couldn't, because babies were for married people and they weren't even going out yet…and they might never end up going out…and he might have picked a boy to go out with….
Hopefully a better boy than Fukuda.
"Who in the hell would want to be married to FUKUDA?!" said Hatori. People were looking now and…and maybe he should have been quieter but…but Fukuda?! No. He just…no. President Suzuki shipped him with….Fukuda…of all people. Ship him with literally anyone else. Shibata or…hell. Even Shimazaki would have been better than Fukuda…and he really hoped that the President didn't plan on pushing them together anyway….because Fukuda…well he was weirdly jealous of him and Suzuki…and when he was with Suzuki….well there was kind of a weird atmosphere there and….
And maybe living in a traitor hole wouldn't be so bad.
"….nobody, I guess, since in the whole time I've known him he's never even had a girlfriend or even a friend with benefits." Said Mob. Yeah…she wanted Fukuda to be happy….or at least not suffering….and being alone was hard…but Hatori deserved to be happy. Even if he didn't end up liking her well…they were surrounded by thousands of people. One of them should have been his most perfect person.
"Mob….what do you think that means? Friend with….just what do you think that means?" asked Hatori. Well this was getting….what? How did she know that word!? Who was teaching her this stuff!? She was eleven and she needed to think about…whatever it was that eleven year old girls thought about! Makeup and dolls and boybands and…glitter…or whatever….he didn't know…but he did know that she did not need to know about….things like that!
"My friend Minori says that friends with benefits is a level below being boyfriend and girlfriend. You know, like what Shimazaki and Minegishi are. I don't think that anyone would ever want to be that with Fukuda…unless all the other boys died or something and we needed him to make more people….those poor girls…." Said Mob. She had seen that in a movie, too. There had been a bad future where a plague killed off all of the men and it was only women but then an astronaut came from space and all the women killed each other over the man….but she got the feeling that if it had just been Fukuda then the human race would have died out….if movies were real…and she hoped that movies weren't real….because all of her best friends were boys….but not Minegishi…but movies were not life….and stuff.
"Ok…how did we get here, exactly?" asked Hatori scratching his head. That was….a weirdly specific scenario. What happened in her head…well kids were weird. He knew that he had been weird when he had been a kid.
"We took a car." Said Mob. Maybe he had head stroke or something…and that was why he couldn't remember. It was hot in there….and she just wished that she had worn a short sleeved shirt. She was all sweaty and….well he was close…and also her stomach hurt…but that probably had nothing to do with the heat…or something. She didn't know.
"No I meant…I was mad at you, Mob, that's how we got here. I was mad at you but…well now I'm just…I don't know what I am. Come on. Let me help you carry that and then we can….I guess go take some pictures with the cosplayers or…something. Come on." Said Hatori. Right. Well eh had been mad and now he wasn't and he knew that he should have been. Her dad…..well Suzuki would have killed him if he knew that he had lost his little girl…but he hadn't…but now he had something new to worry about. He had to worry about Suzuki putting him together with Fukuda…since he shipped them…and Hatori had never been shipped before…and he didn't much want to be shipped. Now he knew what Minegishi meant by shippening….though it wasn't Mob who was shipping him…
Suzuki's were a weird bunch.
That was the only explanation for it. Suzuki's were weird people. Mob was…well she had an excuse because she was ten…and her brother was on a whole other level when it came to Shimazaki….and both of the kids had come from the same guy. So the weirdness was genetic….though it was weird that Suzuki shipped him with Fukuda of all people….
And he was going to stop thinking about this now because this was a really fucking weird thing to think about.
"Ok…I would like that a lot….and thank you for not getting mad at me. Um….did you ever end up finding the motherboard you wanted? I mean did you pick one out?" asked Mob. He was taking the things from her to help carry and…and he had brushed his hand against her arm as he did that and…and he was there and….and her stomach hurt again….and…now it passed. That was good. She just…she didn't know what that was. He didn't make her that nervous or anything but….but he did make her nervous but….in a good way.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Come on, I'll show you." Said Hatori as he led her through a thin patch in the crowd. Well this was good. He wasn't mad anymore, and he would do better to hold onto her, and they could compare merch and stuff….and what had she bought? Rocks? This was heavy….he rubbed his shoulder…and then she helped him with his powers.
She was a great kid. Helpful…but she did run away…but he wasn't going to hold it against her. What kind of big brother would he be if he held something like that against her?
"Um….ok." said Mob as Hatori led her through the crowd. It was…well her stomach wasn't hurting anymore….but she was warm and….and she was happy. He wasn't mad at her…and he hadn't been for very long and….and that was good. This was good. This was….it had been a good day. She had liked the shopping and the stuff and the crowds…well the crowd was ok but….but being with Hatori…that was more than ok. This was…it had been a very good day…and it would continue to be a very good day….
It was hot, and crowded, and she had maybe bought too much but….but she was with Hatori and that more than made up for all of that…being with someone she liked….
More than made up for….all of that.