Weeds thought that they could just grow wherever they pleased…well they couldn't.

That wasn't how this worked. That wasn't how anything worked. Weeds could grow on the lawn, they didn't give a fuck about the lawn, what they cared about was their garden. These plants were theirs, and extension of them, and they didn't like waking up feeling like something was crowding them out and stealing precious water and nutrients from them like some sort of plant…vampire….plant-pire thing…no. Just no.

This could not be allowed to pass.

"I just want you to know that you've brought this on yourselves. All of you." Said Minegishi as they raised a hand. The weeds in their garden began to writhe. They could kill plants, yes, but they could change them too. It was difficult, changing one thing into another, but it was less of a waste than straight up murder. Murder was for people. Change was for plants. Plants could be repurposed. People were what they were.

Plants were so much easier to deal with.

"There. Now for the rest of your existence you will grow tomatoes. Enjoy being useful." Said Minegishi. They had done it, it hadn't been easy but they had done it, and now they could enjoy the fruits…vegetables…the plant which was classified as both a fruit and a vegetable at the same time. They picked it from the vines and took a bite…

And then immediately spat that bite out.

Dandelion seeds. The entire thing had been full of dandelion seeds. They caught the air as Minegishi spat them out. Wonderful. They were too tired, they had woken up tired, and now they would spend the rest of their day tired. Their quality of sleep was getting worse….well because they had fallen asleep on their own. They didn't usually do that. No medicine or drinking or weed or anything that they had to do to get their brain to the deepest part of sleep. No. They had let Ryou just put them to bed…and they had slept on and off….

More off than on.

And now, really, they needed more sleep. They needed to sleep and then get back to the drawing board when it came to their latest mistake. They really wanted a tomato. A nice tomato salad…or just a sack of them…or a glass of tomato juice….or maybe they could follow in the footsteps of their fearless leader and just pour themselves a nice glass of ketchup. Wonderfully disgusting…but not the weirdest thing that Suzuki got up to. Probably. They didn't know. They doubted, though, that he had ever accidentally ended up with a mouthful of dandelion seeds.

Minegishi probably should have done something about those.

They could see them caught in the air. The wind had picked up. The summer breeze, warm and not unpleasant, was carrying God only knew what over into Mob's yard. They could see them being carried away and maybe they should have done something. Those seeds would not stop in Mob's yard. They would follow the wind for kilometers and kilometers until they set down and grew God only knew what. Maybe Minegishi had a responsibility to do something about that. Maybe they needed to grow the hell up and take responsibility for their actions. They didn't know. They were too tired to deal with this right now. They were too tired to deal with a lot right now.

Like the little girl sitting on her lawn and watching the grass grow.

Minegishi had been able to feel Mob but they'd had no idea how close she had been. Ryou had described her aura as having someone screaming in your face no matter where you turned your head. Mob, to them, was bright. She was bright like staring into a lightbulb….but all the time. It was hard to judge just how far away she was since, once you got close enough, it was like staring into a lamp until your got black spots in your vision.

Or something.

They didn't know. All they knew was that Mob felt like she needed them. She was sitting down on the grass just staring and…and staring. Staring and staring and…and now she was wiping her eyes. Yeah, Minegishi needed to get over there. They didn't have a choice…well they did. They could have just left her there to cry in her back yard, nobody was putting a gun to their head to make them help, but they weren't heartless. They were an asshole, a misanthrope, and generally an unpleasant person to be around but they were not heartless.

Not when it came to Mob.

She was the only person…well next to Ryou…that they cared about. That they put ahead of themselves, who's needs they cared about, and who they would leave their garden and the mutants that they created within it to see what was making them cry. They crossed the lawn and grew the grass into a set of steps so they could get over the fence. They could have just climbed over but they didn't feel like it. Besides, who was going to say anything? Most of this Tokyo suburb, the neighborhood at least, was reserved for high ranking members of Claw and it's affiliates. It was all espers here, nobody would say anything, and if they did then what would be the point?

This was Claw. There would be no point.

Just like there was no point in Mob sitting around staring at the grass. She had her phone on the ground in front of her, and normally Minegishi would have been happy to have seen her with her nose out of it, but this was…not good. She was….not just sad but…it was hard to get a read on her aura. It was like staring into a lightbulb and being asked what brand it was. They didn't know. They had no idea what, exactly, she was feeling but they knew that her aura looked awful and her eyes were bloodshot and….

And she was wearing jeans?

"Hey, Mob." Said Minegishi as they came up next to her. Their eyes must have been deceiving them but…nope. She was wearing a pair of dark colored jeans. There was a hole in the knee, and someone had taken a sharpie to the left thigh, but she was wearing actual jeans. They were a bit too short on her, though, Minegishi could see the entirety of her pink socks…those weren't her pants. Those were her brother's pants….and that would have made sense since as far as they knew Mob didn't even own a pair of pants…because she hated pants….

So why was she wearing them now?

"Hi. What's up?" asked Mob as she wiped her eyes again. She was wearing pants under a dress and then her sweater, the gigantic one Shibata had made her, and she was….hiding. She was hiding her body in her clothes again…which meant that she was feeling self-conscious again…..

"Just doing some gardening. You?" asked Minegishi. They felt…their range wasn't that good…but they felt along as best as they could. They couldn't feel Mob's little brother…which meant that Fukuda, the wet ham sandwich of a human being that he was, was still gone….and he hadn't said anything else to Mob…but he didn't have to say anything else. He had done enough. He had talked about Mob in a way that he should have never let cross his mind and it had stuck with her and now she was sitting in the sun dressed like she was practicing for winter…and Minegishi was going to have to pick up the pieces of all of that…wonderful.

Fucking Fukuda.

"I'm just….I don't know. Thinking." Said Mob. She was thinking. That was….well they had told Mob a million times before that she needed to start thinking but….well she didn't need to be thinking about this. She didn't need to be thinking about her body and what creeps thought about it. She would end up wasting her life caring what creeps thought. Even if Minegishi beat Fukuda into an all-purpose pink paste another creep would take his place. That was just life when you had two x chromosomes…and it sucked…

And Mob was too young to know that it sucked.

"About?" asked Minegishi. They would let her tell them. She was in a bad place right now. Minegishi would let her lead. This was a very precarious place that they were in with her.

"I just…I'm just thinking about…about yesterday. About how much fun we had at movie night…until all the people started to die and…and stuff." Said Mob. Minegishi…well that was something unexpected. She was thinking about last night and…oh. Right. Those scenes. The two scenes that they should have been more fastidious about covering her eyes for. It had affected her, seeing that, and Minegishi…they would deal with it. They would deal with whatever Mob was feeling or thinking or anything.

Responsibilities of the bracelet.

Mob was still wearing hers. The pendant was tucked into her sleeve but Minegishi could tell that she was still wearing it…and also judging by the tan line where the band had ridden up she never took it off…and that bracelet came with responsibilities…on Minegishi's end. They may have been friends but Minegishi was the adult here and they were the one who had to pull Mob out of…this. Minegishi got into these sort of bad emotion pits and Mob…well she pulled them out of them without even trying…and Minegishi could do the same.

They had a responsibility to Mob…even if they weren't her parent they still had a responsibility to her.

"Yeah, that part was pretty fucked up. A couple parts were pretty fucked up. Listen, I feel bad for not covering your eyes for you during the….love scenes. I'm sorry if you feel uncomfortable and you can talk to me about anything that's bothering you or any questions that you might have." Said Minegishi. Next movie night they were vetting the options in the hat. Nothing rated above general audiences. They would gladly had sat through their millionth showing of Frozen if it meant that Mob didn't have to feel…however she was feeling right now.

"I'm…I liked the love scenes….how in love they were. I feel bad that Jack had to die…because he loved Rose and…and Rose loved him. She had found someone that she loved but then he died and…and a lot of people died…like the little baby." Said Mob. She wiped her eyes again. Minegishi took her hands away from her eyes and wiped her eyes themselves. They pulled them hem of their shirt up and wiped her eyes as best as they could.

They had really fucked up.

They hadn't even thought about the ending. The sheer amount of death…and of course Mob wouldn't have been able to handle that. This was Mob. She got upset when they had to kill garden slugs and beetles. She was a believer in love and friendship and…and she had probably never had any actual experience with death. Her mother was most likely dead, if defectors couldn't get far from Claw then a normal woman had no chance of getting away from the President, and from how Mob talked about her it seemed like everyone had just told her that her mom had run away. Like what you told your kid happened to a dog when it got hit by a car or something. Poor Mob. That had been way too intense with an eleven year old…and Minegishi should have thought of that….

Parenting was hard. That was why they had no plans of becoming one.

"Mob…people die all the time and…and it sucks-" said Minegishi. This was…if they had been more of an asshole then they would have walked away. This was beyond their paygrade. They could be a babysitter, fine, but this was something that her parents should have been dealing with. The only problem with that was that she didn't really seem to have any of those. Sure she had a sperm donor and an incubator but her incubator was most likely dead, and couldn't have been much of a mother if she had chosen to reproduce with Suzuki Touichirou of all people, and her sperm donor…well the less said about him the better. This was not Minegishi's responsibility…but it was. They weren't Mob's parent, they were her best friend, and that was as close to a parent as Mob was going to get.

"I know that people die all the time…my dad said so. He said that every single second two people die…and then he said a bunch of other numbers. He likes numbers. He told me how many people die and…and he says that everyone who's alive now will die." Said Mob. Minegishi….sincerely wondered if Suzuki Touichirou was on drugs….because it would have made sense. Either he was on drugs or he….legitimately had something wrong with his brain. His Daughter comes to him in the middle of an existential crisis and he just tells her how many people die a day? What even….well drugs were a hell of a drug but…well this gave credence to the personality disorder theory…or something more…but they did not have the mental space to sufficiently analyze Suzuki Touichirou. They had to focus on this Suzuki, Suzuki Shigeko.

"That's true. It's harsh but true….and it sucks. It sucks and it's ok to feel the way that you do." Said Minegishi. They knew that they couldn't undo what her dad said, what he did, but they could at least tell Mob that the way she felt was ok. That was what she needed, validation, and they knew that she wasn't getting it from her dad. That was all people wanted, really, or at least all that they had ever wanted back when they had been her age. Validation. Someone to say 'hey, Minegishi, you're ok' or something like that.

"I feel….I don't want to die." Said Mob. She sniffled again. Minegishi wiped more of her tears. She was shook…that movie had been way too much for her. She was having her fist existential crisis and she probably didn't even have the words for it. That must have been hell, being trapped in something terrifying and having no idea what was even happening to you. The words for it. Well Minegishi could at least give her the words for what she was feeling. For what was happening to her in her mind right now.

"Mob….you're having your first existential crisis. This is ok. Everyone has an existential crisis at some point in their lives, some of us more than once, but that's ok. You can feel however you're feeling right now. It's all ok." Said Minegishi slowly. They sounded….well they sounded like they would have wanted someone to sound when they had helped them through this…not that anyone had helped them through this. They had been alone in this just like they had been alone in the world for as long as they could remember. Even though they'd had parents, a sperm donor and an incubator, they'd had a profound sense of being alone in the world for as long as they could remember…and Mob did not need to feel like that. Nobody, but especially not Mob, needed to feel like that.

"Yeah. That's what my dad called it. Minegishi…I'm going to die. I'm…I mean my…I mean…I'm going to become one of those two people that die every second…and I don't want to be." Said Mob. She was crying now, sobbing, and this….Minegishi was doing their best. They had told her that she was going to be ok, that they were there for her, and…and they had no idea what else to tell her. They weren't a parent and this required parenting skills that they….just did not have. They'd never been a parent, they'd never had a parent, and they had no idea how to be a parent…but they knew how to be a friend. They'd been a friend for three years now, Mob's friend, and they knew her. She was freaking herself out because….because she had way too much on her shoulders as it was and…and now she was just starting to buckle under the weight of it all…but that was ok. Minegishi was there and they could help build her back up.

"Mob…listen. You're going to die but not for a while. You're eleven, you're healthy, and you're not reckless with your life. You're going to be around for a while. It's ok, though, to feel like you do. I felt the same way when I was your age. Death….it's a part of life. You'll die and so will I but not any time soon, ok? So how about we go inside where there's air conditioning and watch Frozen or Tangled or something else without mass suffering and unrealistic love stories?" asked Minegishi. They weren't going to lie to her. They weren't going to tell her that she would live forever if she just wished hard enough. People died. Everyone died. Minegishi had sent a few people, quite a few people, to their untimely ends…and Mob did not need to know about that. Mob was having a hard enough time dealing with her own death…but that was at least something that she could understand…not what Minegishi did for a living. Mob would die and she had to be ok with it…

But also she was eleven.

She was eleven and she was dealing with a lot. Her father was using her as a pseudo wife, she was raising her brother, she was growing up in a world domination cult, she had to work with a creep who sexualized her, and now she had to confront her own mortality. Minegishi…they were not going to lie to her. She was going to die someday but that didn't mean that she couldn't enjoy her life. That didn't mean that she couldn't get out of the sun, since this was one of her self-conscious days, and watch her favorite movies. Life was to live, not lie in wait for death, and now they were going to do something with their lives….and watching Frozen counted as doing something with their lives.

"Minegishi….I love you so much…and I would love to watch Frozen with you….I would love nothing more than to watch Frozen with you…while I still can." Said Mob. She wiped her eyes and then launched herself into a hug. Minegishi did not like to be unexpectadley touched but….well this was Mob. They forced themselves to stop tensing up, usually she gave more warning before she went into a hug, and they hugged her back. That was what she needed, a hug, and that was something that Minegishi could give. They could give her a hug and they could try their best to build her up…and they could only help that their best was good enough.

Since they had no clue, sometimes, what they were even doing.

They were her friend and…and maybe she needed something more than a friend. She was getting older and starting to have big feelings that Minegishi did not know how to deal with, now to help with, because…nobody had helped them. Nobody had ever been there for them when they had been her age and…and they had been truly alone in the world for so long. Mob didn't have to be alone in the world. She had Minegishi and Minegishi would always be there for her…as best as they could be. Mob…she had a friend but she needed a parent…and she didn't have any of those. She had a dead mother, a sperm donor, and Minegishi.

Minegishi was not anyone's parent and they had no intention of ever being.

They didn't know how to be parent. Hell, the barely even knew how to be a competent adult. Dear old mom and dad hadn't taken the time out of their regularly scheduled cruelty to teach them how to do…well anything. They had come into the world without knowing how to open a bank account, find a job, make a dentist's appointment, pay their taxes, or even how to do their own laundry properly. The group home hadn't helped either. At the age of fifteen they had been declared by the courts to be able to survive on their own….

They had done their best.

They had been fifteen years old, the year had been 2003, and internet cafes had been plentiful. They figured out how to get money, they hadn't needed Google to tell them that robbing drunks was easy, and they had figured out how to rent a room, one window facing a brick wall and occasional hot water, and how to find a job, they had one skill and they used it as best as they could. They had even managed to get the equivalent of a high school diploma without even having to work for it, all of those long hours spent hiding in libraries and bookstores really paid off. They had managed to figure out as much of how to function in the world as an adult as they could before joining Claw, they'd had nothing else to do and Claw had made them an offer that they would have been stupid to refuse. They had learned everything but parenting.

Which was why they were not a parent.

Not to their own child and not to their boss's kids either. Mob was not their kid and they were not her parent so…so certain fuck ups could be excused. Like teaching her that she could find all of the solutions to her problems at the bottom of a bottle or at the end of a joint. That…they hadn't known any better. They had been short sighted. They had seen an eight year old girl who had…a lot going on….and they had done what they had thought was best at the time. Now they saw, when they looked at her, an eleven year old girl with substance abuse issues that she should not have had and…and that she could have avoided. That had been their mistake but…well they hadn't known any better. They hadn't known what Mob would become to them and they hadn't…thought this far ahead. Well now here they were…and at least that was the worst of it…but not the last of it.

There was no last of it.

There was just the latest of it. The latest in a series of Minegishi Toshiki's generous supply of fuck ups. This one was…not as bad…but not good either. They had let her watch Titanic. They had assumed that she had seen it, or at least knew of it, since the stupid thing had been the biggest movie in the world for…well she hadn't been born yet. Minegishi had been nine when that movie had come out. They had been nine and they had been able to handle it. They had seen it five times, theatres were easy to sneak into back then, and they hadn't been disturbed by it. On the contrary. They had loved the scenes when the boat went down. They almost made up for the boring love story…though the drawing scene….that had been something….

And they had assumed that the drawing scene was the only thing they would have to cover Mob's eyes for.

Well that and the car scene…that damn car scene. They knew that eventually they would have to answer her questions about the car scene. She was eleven and…and Minegishi had been about her age when they had figured things…and themselves….out. Mob was just a kid but….well she was growing up whether Minegishi wanted her to or not…but she had not been grown up for the veritable orgy of death and heartache that was the end of Titanic…and now Minegishi had to pick up the pieces of that…

But that was ok. They had fucked up and they would fix it. That was what it was to be an adult.