Suzuki Touichirou did not cook.
He knew how to cook, he wasn't helpless, but he just did not like to. It was tedious, first of all, and second of all there was no reason for him to cook when he could just delegate those tasks to his Daughter. She was a better cook than him and there was nothing wrong with delegating a task to someone who knew better than him. Yes, Daughter was the one in the household who did all the cooking. She was the best at it after all. Especially breakfast. There was no better breakfast maker in all the world than his Daughter, Shigeko.
That is when she was actually making breakfast.
She wasn't. The house wasn't filled with the sounds and smells of cooking. No, it was filled with the smell of paint…and he so hoped that smell dissipated before they had to move again. They would be moving to Osaka soon and…well he would have to paint that house blue for his Daughter too….Shigeko liked blue…well maybe he could have it painted in advance. At least that way even if the house didn't smell like cooking it wouldn't smell like a paint factory. Though right now he had to worry about this house smelling like cooking. It didn't. This was…she always made breakfast….
Something was wrong.
That must have been it. Suzuki stood in the empty kitchen and tried to stay calm. Something was wrong but nothing serious. Maybe she was out of commission again…he hoped not. He didn't know if he could deal with that kind of shock again. Maybe she was smoking again…and he chooses not to think about that. She was his Daughter and he didn't want her smoking anything but…but Shigeko was also, essentially, just a very short woman who lived in his house with him so…so really he had no right…well he did but…it would have been very inadvisable to try and make her stop. He hopes to God, though, that she hasn't been smoking again….
Not that he gets to have an opinion on that.
What he does, however, get to have an opinion on is the lack of breakfast cooking in that kitchen. Something must have been wrong…and he had to find out what. If it was something simple like her sleeping in then he could wake her. If it was something complex like her being….well like all of that happening to her again then….well he'll leave her to Minegishi's capable hands. If it's something else like she's smoking or drinking, and he'd much rather deal with her being indisposed due to menstruating than being intoxicated, then he would just leave her alone to deal with all of that. There. He knew what he would do….and he just had to….well he just had to find her and go to her and talk to her….
You're being ridiculous, Touichirou.
He can hear Masami's voice in his mind. He's being ridiculous and he knows it. There must have been at least a hundred other ways for him to get breakfast. He should have just left her alone….especially if she was indisposed in some way….but he just…there were so many things that could have happened to her. She was so small and helpless and she needed him…and he was going to be there for her. He loved her so much and…and she was just….she was his Daughter and she was Shigeko and he just…had to make sure that she was alright. He ignored Masami's voice in his mind and made his way back up the stairs to the children's bedroom.
And stopped in his tracks.
"Ow…ow….ow! God…mother fucker!"
For a moment he thought that he had been hearing Daughter's voice. She did have a very high pitched voice, Shigeko, and for a moment he thought that something was terribly wrong, because she never spoke like that, but that moment passed quickly. Now it was his own voice in his mind telling him that he was being ridiculous. That vice was clearly Son's and it was clearly coming from the bathroom. Suzuki had no idea what it was that he did in there for so long and he didn't care just so long as he didn't bother his sister.
Though he did sound like he was in pain.
That could have been a real bother to Shigeko…and it was somewhat of a bother to Suzuki himself as well. He didn't care if Son was in pain, if he had hurt himself then that was his own problem, but he did care if Son carried on like that. You were never supposed to carry on if you were in pain. Father had made that very clear to Suzuki when he had been young…but for some reason Son hadn't got the message. He didn't understand that boy sometimes. Father had hardly ever had the need to tell him anything more than once. Twice was almost unheard of. Son…Suzuki did not understand anything about that child sometimes.
How this was his Son…how he had made this person…he would never understand.
"If you're in pain have Fukuda fix whatever it is. Don't carry on like that." Said Suzuki as he knocked on the door. The Boy had been awake for not even half an hour yet and already he was carrying on. Already he'd hurt himself. How he had even managed that was beyond Suzuki's understanding. How he even could be…whatever it was that he was…was beyond Suzuki's understanding. The way he carried on all the time…the way he was always so quarrelsome…Suzuki didn't understand it. He hadn't been anything like that when he had been a child.
He had been a very good child.
He had done what he was told when he was told to do it. He had been quiet, clean, and courteous to the adults around him. He had always fulfilled his role in the family. He'd gotten good grades, kept his living space clean, and never bothered mother and father with any of his childhood problems. The only thing that he had done wrong, really, was lose control of his powers…but he had gotten better about that as he got older. Son at least had complete control over his powers…near complete. His aura had flared but he hadn't done anything at all to affect the environment. That was good.
Son was good at that, controlling his powers.
"I'm not in pain and I'm not carrying on….and I'm not doing anything!" said Son. Suzuki didn't much care for being lied to…but he also didn't much care for carrying on with Son either. He was very good at carrying on and Suzuki…well he didn't want to bother Daughter. She had enough to deal with as it was. He didn't need to give her anything else to deal with. The more she had to deal with the more stress she would feel and the more stress she would feel the more she would drink and smoke…and he couldn't tell her not to drink and smoke…but he also didn't like it at all….
"Whatever you're doing don't bother your sister with it." Said Suzuki. He didn't wait for Son's reply. He didn't wait for Son to probably yell at him if not curse again. He didn't want to deal with that and he did not want Shigeko to deal with that. He could feel her aura. Something was bothering her. Her aura was pulled in close and it shrank away from his. He decided to deal with….whatever that was. If he even could. He remembered how useless he had felt…he had been….but he had no other option but to be useless. There were some parts of her life that he just…could not help her with.
But maybe this wasn't one of those things.
Maybe this was something that he could help with. He didn't know. He would rather have dealt with anything that she could throw at him than deal with Son being…Son. Whatever he was. He was…himself. He was himself and Suzuki did not want to deal with him. He would much rather have dealt with Shigeko. Sure she drank and smoked and went through biological processes that he could never begin to understand but he could at least…sort of deal with her. At least she wasn't a child. Well she was but…not in the way that Son was. Son was childish but Shigeko….well she was like a very short woman.
A very short woman who was bothered by something.
"Shigeko? What's bothering you? You…your aura…feels bothered." Said Suzuki as he knocked on her door. He would have opened it but…well nothing good happened when he just opened her door. He did not feel like getting a door slammed in his face and he also did not feel like seeing her covered in blood again….he would never forget that. That image would haunt him until the day he died and probably for some time afterwards.
He still loved her, though, and he always would.
"Dad….nothing's bothering me. I don't know. Do you want breakfast?" asked Shigeko. He felt like he was being lied to. He could read auras and…well maybe nothing was bothering her and he wasn't as good at reading auras as he thought that he was. He knew her, that she loved him, and that she would never lie to him…so he must have been wrong.
He was, for the first time in his life, glad that he had been wrong.
Well the second time. He had thought, years ago, that Masami had been getting ready to break up with him. Back in the early days of their relationship. Back when she had been pregnant with Son…but before he had realized it. She had been ignoring his calls and she had, when they had spoken finally, been very quiet and distant…and that was how women were before they told him that they couldn't be with him anymore. That he was too…much…or not enough…or other such contradictory things. Women had always been so confusing….even Masami. She could have just told him from the beginning that she had been pregnant without making him worry…she had been so confusing….but Shigeko wasn't. She said what she meant and she meant what she said. She was so easy to understand….most of the time….all of the time….
Even now.
"Yes." said Suzuki. She had asked him if he wanted breakfast. She had asked him if he wanted breakfast and…well she didn't have to ask. Of course he wanted breakfast. Of course he wanted to eat a breakfast that she had made for him, preferably with her there, and preferably without her brother if he was hell bent on being….however he was being that morning.
"Um….can you maybe put ketchup on your own piece of toast this morning?" asked Shigeko softly. She…had said something that he must have misheard. She…well yes, he was perfectly capable of putting ketchup on his own piece of toast. That was all the she had meant by that and if he were to make anything other than what she had said out of that aside from the fact that she wanted to be saved the trouble of spreading ketchup on his piece of toast….and he didn't want to either.
Dunking untoasted bread was easier and better too.
But he didn't just want untoasted bread and ketchup for breakfast. Well he did but also he wanted an actual meal. He could easily eat a loaf of bread on his own doing that. He used to do that, actually, when he had been younger. Mother used to hide the bread from him but that hadn't stopped him from buying his own bread…but then the mice had come…hundreds of them….mice in the walls….mice in the floors….all around him….
He couldn't stop himself from shuddering.
"I can but I want an omelet too." Said Suzuki. He wasn't in the mood to eat just bread and ketchup. That was the point of all of that. He wasn't going to just have loafs of bread stored under his bed anymore….and also he was a grown man and he could have as much bread as he wanted now…and also Shigeko was a good cook and she loved making him breakfast…right?
Of course she did.
"….I don't really….I mean….I don't want to make omelets today. Sorry dad." Said Shigeko. That….what was wrong with…well she was fine. She was fine. She just didn't want to cook him an omelet. She was like Masami in that way. 'I'm not a short order cook, Touichirou, I'm not just going to make you omelets on demand' she had said. She had said that and…and Shigeko was not a short order cook either. Obviously she had gotten sick of making him the same thing over and over again. People, had noticed, did not have much of an appetite for repetition be it food or movies or music. Even Fukuda and he had always considered him to be his closest companion and closest thing another man could come to being his most perfect person. Back when they had been young they had tried a movie marathon….but he, for some reason, wanted to watch different movies. He hadn't been able to watch the first and second Galaxy Express movies back to back for more than six hours…and they had been watching the laserdiscs too….and he'd had the sort of player that flipped the disks over for you…people were strange sometimes. Normal people….or people close to being normal….
Shigeko was normal and…and he was happy about that…and he could work with that too.
"That's alright. Can you make scrambled eggs? You're good at those." Said Suzuki. There, that was different. That was different and he knew that he would be eating breakfast with her too. He would be eating breakfast with her at the table and….well it was a bit odd being near his child after knowing what she did…but she was not a child. Well he was but she didn't think or act like a child….she was more like a short woman. Yes, he thought of her that way, for his own sanity. A short woman who he shared his home and his life with. There.
A short woman who knew how to make the best eggs that he had ever had since…well….the taller but still shorter than him woman he had shared his life with before her.
"Dad…I just…I don't want to make breakfast today. They have scrambled eggs at HQ. Can't you eat those?" asked Shigeko. He…might have been losing his hearing…or his mind. Maybe he had deafened himself like mother had always warned him about. Maybe he had lost his mind, gone insane, as many people had accused him of being so many times in the past. Yes. He must have been losing his hearing or his mind…
But he didn't want to lose his hearing or his mind.
So then….she was asking not to make breakfast but…well he had been looking forward to this since he had realized that he had no reason to be uncomfortable around her. She was his Daughter. She was his…she was Shigeko and if she wanted to smoke then she could, it was like medicine for her and he would never take her medicine away, and now he was ok with that…and he was ready to be close to her again…
And he was ready to have breakfast with her again.
"But…you always make breakfast." Said Suzuki. There. That was what he was going to say. Part of him wanted to pick her up and carry her into the kitchen and tell her to get to cooking right now and the other part of him…well he felt like apologizing for something….but he had no idea what. Maybe he should just apologize. Fukuda had given him that advice, before, that when you felt like you had done something wrong you should just apologize even if you didn't do anything wrong…or even had the faintest idea that you had done anything wrong…
But he didn't tell lies. He was bad at it.
"Dad….I love you. You know that I usually make breakfast but….I don't want to come out of my room today. I can't. Just…if you want homemade food then…Shibata would probably feed you." Said Shigeko. No, no, no. He wanted to spend time with her, he wanted to eat her cooking, and he wanted to be near her. He wanted to be near her and no one else…even if Shibata was, supposedly, a very good cook. He was…he was going to just…could he just tell her to get up and make him breakfast? Could he at least tell her that she needed to open her door since he hated talking to a closed door and an aura? Could he…could he even tell her to do anything anymore?
She wasn't a child anymore after all, she was a short woman essentially, and…and women were several different kinds of confusing.
"But…I like it when you cook for me. Are you….is something wrong? You…you always make breakfast." Said Suzuki. He didn't understand…and he hated not understanding…and he hated not understanding her. That was what she loved about him and what he loved about her. They always told each other exactly what they meant. They were always close to each other like that, and transparent with each other, and he just…didn't like this. Her keeping things from him. Even her feelings. He couldn't understand feelings, not even in an abstract sense, but…but he at least wanted to be informed of her.
"Dad….I'm fine, it's just I did something and…and I don't feel like cooking at all today and…and why don't you go and have Shibata make you breakfast? Hatori is there and you can hang out with him….you like him a lot…and also he was telling me yesterday that he found games from a console that you might have never even heard of…but don't talk about me/ Just…Hatori would probably want to have breakfast with you." Said Shigeko. She was…telling him that…that she didn't feel like cooking. Oh. He could deal with that. That was…sometimes a person just lost motivation for things…and he could…he could spend time with Hatori. He was good company. He was good company and he just…he could be good breakfast company as well as good nighttime and work company. Yes. They were friends and that was what friends were for.
Being good company.
"I….can do that. Alright. Goodbye, Daughter. I'll see you when I come home. Have a good day." Said Suzuki. She was fine. She just didn't feel like cooking. That was…fine. Sometimes he had days when he didn't feel like working either. Those days were called Sundays for him. Everyone had those days and…and that was alright. That was alright and…and he would eat breakfast with her again. Hell, he would eat dinner with her again. He would come home and eat dinner with her and…and she would be there when he got back and…
And of course she would be home when he got back.
He shook his head as he walked away. He had been such an idiot. He had been so ridiculous. She was just…tired…or something. That was it. He would just…he wouldn't make her any more tired than she was. He would do as she suggested. He did enjoy Hatori's company and she knew that he enjoyed Hatori's company…and also he hated the breakfasts that HQ made…and well…he would do as she suggested just to make her life easier.
It was best that he made her life easier.
If her life was easy then she wouldn't have to do…other things…to make it easier. More bearable. Not that he had any idea why she would have thought of her life as being unbearable. He gave her whatever she wanted, whatever she needed, and anything else that would have come up. He just…he didn't understand her sometimes…but he wasn't going to try. She was a woman and women were very complicated people. There. So it was alright to not be able to understand her.
"Oh my God!"
Though Son would always remain a complete and total mystery to him.
But he didn't want to try and figure Son out right now. Right now…well right now he would do as Shigeko had said and…and he would just…go next door and have breakfast with Hatori. If she thought that it was a good idea then…then it was a good idea. He didn't want to sit at that table without her there anyway. It wasn't a good feeling, sort of large and cold and empty, and also…well Son would maybe join him and he and the Boy always fought when they shared a table. He didn't feel like dealing that right now. He didn't feel like dealing with much of anything right now.
He felt like having breakfast with someone who was very good company.
So that was what he was going to do. That was what he had slipped on his shoes and stepped outside of his house to do. He just…he could feel Fukuda's aura…and he was the more familiar aura…and the more familiar person. Suzuki knew him as well as he was capable of knowing another person. He knew him and…and he just…he could have just went and had breakfast with him…even though he really couldn't cook…but Daughter had said…well she had told him what to do and he didn't much like being told what to do…but he also did really like being near Hatori…not that he needed anyone. Not that he was anything other than a full and complete person on his own. Not that he was nervous, either, because he had no reason to be. He was the President of Claw. He could go wherever he wanted to go and he could do whatever he wanted to do.
And what he wanted to do was have breakfast with his friend….well his second friend.
Fukuda was his first friend and Hatori was his second friend and, really, those were the only two people he was used to outside of his family. Sure there were people all around him all the time but he just…he just worked with people….but that was different than….well than being with someone….on friendly terms….but it was only Hatori he had to be on friendly terms with. There. By the time he walked down the road, a very short trip, to the next house he felt fine.
He knew Hatori and he felt fine.
He knew Shibata, too, though not nearly as well. Hatori was his companion. Shibata was his two and a half meter tall shadow. It was odd, actually, not having this man in his shadow. He opened the door the minute Suzuki got close. Well that was nice, he had never been good at knocking at doors, and he hadn't done it in years for anyone who wasn't family. Fukuda had always told him that he was bad at it. Either too quiet or too loud or too many times or too few times….and doorbells weren't much better. God, he hated doorbells.
He liked being met at doors, though, he really liked that.
"President Suzuki! Come in…and please excuse the mess. Mob…Her Little Ladyship only just now told me you were coming….come in!" said Shibata. Suzuki really did not need to be told twice…or to excuse the mess. It wasn't that bad. Son made worse messes just drawing pictures. Sure the shoes in the genkan were faced every which way, and the entire house was crowded with plants, and for some reasons there were streamers and balloons everywhere….oh. Right. Daughter had told him about that. The others had thrown a Friendship Day party….another holiday he had to remember….but she would remember it for him. She was so good at remembering things for him….and taking care of him…
And he missed her terrible.
The kitchen that he was led to was identical to the one in his home. They were all identical, mostly, though this one was white. The one in his home was blue. The plate that he had been served on was white. Most of the plates in his house were blue. The omelet on his plate was different, too. Shaped differently than when Daughter did it…and also there was bacon on the side and not the inside…and yes…someone else had made this…
"Here you go, President Suzuki, and it's happy to see you." Said Shibata as he drew a happy face on his omelet for him in ketchup. Daughter did that sometimes…and also she did it better than Shibata did…but nobody could ever be better at anything than his Daughter was. No, this could in no way, shape, or form was anyway close to even being as good, let alone better than anything that his Daughter was capable of making.
A second plate was put down beside him.
He had been about to ask if Shibata would be joining him when he felt an aura…on him? No, no, attached to his phone. Hatori. Right. He was supposed to be having breakfast with Hatori…and now he felt better. He hadn't even realized that he had been feeling poorly until he felt better. That was…that was odd. He may not have always been able to name what he felt but…well he at least knew when he was feeling something. The closest word he had for what he had been feeling was out of sorts…and he had been feeling out of sorts for a bit but…well now he felt better.
Which was good because, apparently, Hatori felt terrible.
"I didn't do anything! I didn't!" Hatori shouted and fell back…and Suzuki did not get it...and also this lent credence to his theory that Hatori had some kind of disorder. He was always so quick to panic even in situations where it was not warranted.
"Hello Hatori. I know you didn't do anything, it's seven in the morning, I doubt that you had the chance. Now eat breakfast with me." Said Suzuki. He used his powers to pull out a chair. Hatori's eyes darted to him, then to the chair, and then back to him. He was laying on his back on the kitchen floor, that was where he had fallen, and Suzuki wondered why he wasn't making any move to get up. He really should have…and also he maybe should have gotten dressed or at least put on pants.
Pants would have been nice.
"Um….ok…..but….um…I didn't do anything! Um…and she didn't mean it…and also…also I don't even like her like that!" said Hatori. Suzuki had no idea what he was talking about…but that was normal. Hatori always got himself worked up over nothing…or maybe it was something. Suzuki didn't really know.
"I have no idea what you're referring to. Now sit down and eat before your food gets cold and unpleasant." Said Suzuki. He sounded like his mother in that moment. She had said the same thing to him when he had been a child, not a child Hatori's age but an actual child, and he…well he said what he had to say. He said what he had to say and he just…well Hatori's food was getting cold. It was getting cold and…well Suzuki would excuse the lack of pants if it meant that he got someone to eat with him.
"And maybe put on some pants….and tell Shimazaki to put clothes on, too. We have company." Said Shibata. Hatori nodded, got up, and ran away. He slipped a little on his way out….and Suzuki had no clue what he was so worried about. He so wished that Hatori would have just said what it was that bothered him, that frightened him so terribly, so Suzuki could either fix it or tell him that he was being ridiculous.
He was so ridiculous a lot of the time.
But he was good company and his company was missed as soon as he left. Shibata was telling him, now, about something that Son had gotten up to. He didn't listen. As long as Son hadn't hurt anyone then he didn't care. If he had been talking about Shigeko, well, then that would have been a different story. Shigeko was amazing in all of the things that she did…especially cooking. Suzuki knew that the polite thing to do would have been to wait for Hatori to come back but he didn't want to wait for his food to get cold and unpleasant. He liked his food warm and pleasant….and he also like his company to be good…and what he was used to….
How long did it take to put on pants?
Well too long, actually, if one got delayed…which it sounded like Hatori had. He heard the sound of a door opening and he had actually sat up just a bit taller, it could have been Hatori, but it wasn't. He felt two auras moving. One which wasn't much of anything, the plants had more feeling to them than the aura that they were attached to, and the other…well the other he did not care for at all. Shimazaki really was the better body guard…but he was also an annoying person, the most annoying human being Suzuki had ever met, so really he was better off with Son. At least they complimented each other in terms of annoyingness.
"Toshi, come on. Just tell me if this is faded or not!" said Shimazaki. Oh yes, he was grating. He was annoying and grating and he did not know how anyone put up with him Daughter was fond of him…and he didn't know why. So was…it took him a moment to realize who Toshi was. Minegishi Toshiki. Minegishi Toshiki who was a 'they' but also had a male first name….they were complicated. They were a puzzle wrapped in an enigma….
And he so wanted to figure them out.
He focused more on their aura…just to figure them out of course. Another door closed. They had put some distance between themselves and Shimazaki…who's aura had now found his. He pulled back to himself. Shibata was still talking as he plated up more food. Suzuki picked at his but did not eat any of it. He had no idea what he had hoped to figure out by doing that…but he had been hoping to figure out something…he didn't know.
"Ryou, get that out of my face. It looks terrible. Maybe that wasn't the best spot to get tattooed…and maybe that wasn't the best message to tattoo onto yourself…and maybe the whole effect of it wouldn't have been lost if you hadn't let the forest retake the land. I don't know, I'm not your tattoo artist. Now leave me alone." Said Minegishi. There was the sound of a door closing and then…well and then another one opening. He made a mental map of the house. This one was bigger than the one he stayed in and was laid out differently. Three bedrooms. Was that enough for four people? He had never intended to have anyone either than Fukuda follow him around…well technically these were Daughter's friends and they followed her around. He wondered if they had enough space…he would ask Hatori later…or maybe Minegishi if he saw her, them, again.
But not Shimazaki, no, there was no way that he was voluntarily speaking to that man.
Hatori seemed to feel the same way. There was the sound of another door opening and then Hatori's aura jumped. It jumped in the walls. It jumped in the phone in his pocket. Even the microwave jumped to life for a moment. For once Suzuki understood what it was that bothered him. Shimazaki was an annoying man. He was more than annoying. It was nice to see that others felt the same….not that he cared about how others felt, but it was nice to know that others felt the same way that he did about things…
Not that it mattered. He could feel however he wanted about whoever he wanted.
"Hatori! Just the man I wanted to see! Anyway, do this look faded to you? Because I feel like it would have faded at this point and-" said Shimazaki. The walls were thin here, either that or everyone was just loud. He would believe either. He could hear everything in this house clearly. He could hear water running, floorboards creaking, and the sound of Hatori and Shimazaki. Hatori was not having a good time…and that was good. He had good taste in people. He should have, he was Suzuki's friend after all.
"Oh my God! Keep your pants on! And put on a shirt…and long pants too! Suzuki's in our house!" said Hatori. Suzuki ignored the lack of title. Hatori forgot sometimes but they were close enough as people for him to be able to forget. Fukuda forgot sometimes to use the title too and Hatori was pretty much a Suzuki level friend.
"No, he's not. It just feels like he's here because his aura is so bright." Said Shimazaki. Suzuki…he couldn't hear auras…and also that was just…something that he almost wished that he could. He knew that he didn't actually see or hear auras, that was just what his mind translated metaphysical perception as, and he saw and felt….and Shimazaki heard and felt…and he would have asked Shimazaki what it was like…if he hadn't been such a truly annoying man.
"No, he's here in the kitchen and you need to put on pants and stop asking about your dick tattoo!" said Hatori. Suzuki…had heard rumors. Well he had heard people talking and…and Shimazaki had made reference to that while he had been within earshot but…well he trusted Hatori on this and just…why? Why would any man do that to himself? He just…could not begin to understand people…especially Daughter's friends.
"Let me be the judge of….oh. Hello, Mr. President. So nice to not see you today." Said Shimazaki as he teleported into the kitchen. Suzuki….well he kept his powers under control…and he did not drop his fork. He had never seen Shimazaki that undressed before. He had never wanted to see him, or any man, that undressed….and he was very fit, actually, and he looked nice…aside from the tattoos….
All of the tattoos.
"Shimazaki…..you're covered in tattoos." Said Suzuki. He had known, this was a well-known fact about him, and he had seen Shimazaki's forearms on more than one occasion but….he had never seen him that…undressed. That undressed and…and he knew that the yakuza did tattoos and…well…that was vaguely…impressive.
That he had sat through that process.
Needles. Tattoos involved needles. Getting stabbed over and over and over again…and he had sat through what must have been hours and hours of that…and it was impressive art. Suzuki would never have done that to himself, and also he would have grated off any tattoos that Son ever got too, but on another person who was not him or related to him in any way….they were impressive.
Also apparently he had gotten tattooed on his…and it wasn't just a crazy rumor….and Suzuki crossed his legs. It was an instinct.
"Yeah, he is, and he was just about to put some clothes on." Said Shibata. He turned away from the counter and reached over to shoo Shimazaki away. Suzuki…could not stop staring at him. He had…so many colors on him. His stomach was part of a dragon and…oh. That was the same dragon…or two of them? One wrapped around from his back and…was that a gunshot wound? It was…and there was a stab wound too…and also he was very fit. Well Suzuki had known that he was fit but he had never seen him so underdressed…and he was very fit….very, very fit….and he could see what Daughter had seen in him.
"You're blind. Why are you covered in tattoos if you're blind?" asked Suzuki after a moment. He could understand being fit even if you weren't blind, it felt good to be healthy, but the tattoos…the pain of it…and also it took away from…himself. Not that Suzuki had much of an opinion either way.
"So the sighted people of the world have something to look at." Said Shimazaki. That made sense. Art was for the viewer and Suzuki…well he had nothing against art, he liked it, he may not have understood it but he liked it.
"We've all seen them. Now go put something on because our boss is literally right there." said Shibata. He tried to send Shimazaki away…and he was right to do that. Shimazaki really should have been wearing more clothing, not just because he was standing in front of his direct superior but also because there was a woman in the house, and Suzuki could have just ordered him to go away…but he didn't feel like it. He wasn't done looking and those were for sighted people…they were for sighted people and Suzuki was a sighted person so….yes, he would stare.
"Were they painful?" asked Suzuki. He wanted to reach out and feel them, the one on the upper part of his chest near his collar bone, the part that covered up what looked like a gunshot wound. Entrance. He also wanted Shimazaki to turn around so that he could see the exit wound…and he also wanted to touch the exit wound…but he didn't need Fukuda to tell him that asking that, even if he had all the power in that situation, would have just been strange.
"You get used to it." Said Shimazaki. Suzuki understood that. Pain was easy to get used to once you felt enough of it. That certainly looked like it had been painful. He had no idea how tattoos were done exactly but he knew that they used needles. He had seen mother's sewing machine needles and he knew how thin they were…so that was…jab after jab after jab….of the needle into his skin. In color, too, colored in. That must have taken some time. He could understand that, taking the time for the things that you cared about, even if the things that Shimazaki cared about seemed pretty….well he was just not a fan of tattoos…well not on himself or his children….
But Shimazaki….they looked nice on him.
"Shimazaki, you need clothes and-" said Shibata. Suzuki agreed. He needed clothes. He knew that if Shimazaki didn't put something on then he would just be staring at him for the rest of…well until he got tired of staring at him. He had no idea when that would be. There was…he didn't know much about art….but there was a fascination to this form of art and….he knew….
He had seen that drawing before.
"Why do you have one of my Son's drawings on your leg?" asked Suzuki. He had seen Son working on that. It was part of his series on dragons. He had done a series of dragons in non-dragon situations. This one was a dragon eating a cup of pudding. This was…this was Son's work. There wasn't a straight line on that dragon. There were nothing but curves and…the whole thing just did not fit in with the others. The eyes, too, that was how Son did eyes…and for a moment Suzuki wondered if Son had moved on from a paper canvas to a human canvas….but no. Son knew not to do things like that.
"Because I'm told he's one hell of an artist and, well, I'm in Tokyo and my guy is here and Sho's here so I might as well get some good art immortalized onto my skin." Said Shimazaki. That made sense. Suzuki could see it, now, how Son's art style had been changed. The way he used colors was different…and his dragons had much larger scales. Yes. This was not Son's original work. This was a replication. Nobody could ever top Son's work.
"Good, you answered his questions now-" said Shibata. He was still trying to get Shimazaki out of the room. Shimazaki…Son was a good artist but he wondered why he had gotten some of his work on his body. That was a visible place, he could never wear short pants ever again, and he had seen other yakuza tattoos. He had seen them before, back before all of this, when he had been a child at the beach with his mother and father. He had stared then, of course, because he was fascinated with them…but then mother and father had carried him away and told him never to do that to himself. Those weren't meant to be seen, they had said, and it was wrong to show people. That was why they had that strip of clean skin in the middle…but Shimazaki didn't…and also he had gotten that tattoo from Son's drawing well after he had left the yakuza….
Suzuki had trouble understanding people sometimes.
"Aren't you worried about getting shunned from society?" asked Suzuki. He was covered in tattoos. Suzuki…it was hard enough walking through the world with red hair. He really, really, really did not understand people sometimes…he wished that Shigeko were there. She was very good at understanding people. She was good at everything.
"I thought that we were building a new society. Are tattoos outlawed in the brave new world too?" asked Shimazaki. Suzuki nodded. That was right, they were building a new world, so there was no point in caring about the rules of society…well to a degree.
"No." said Suzuki. He knew that, in the new world, he would not restrict self-expression. People did not like that at all. He was going to rule over the world but he was going to be a benevolent ruler. He may have been the most powerful being on Earth but he also didn't much want to end up dead at the hands of his subjects.
"Cool. So anyway what are you doing here-" said Shimazaki. Suzuki didn't much like being questioned but he didn't have time to say anything. The energy around him shifted. He felt another aura getting closer…and he knew that aura. He had never paid that aura any mind before…and he didn't now. No. He just…was reacting to another aura coming deeper into his passive range. That was all.
"Ryou. Put some clothes on. For everyone's sake." Said Minegishi. She, they, smacked Shimazaki on the chest as they walked by. They didn't look at him, they didn't even acknowledge him aurally, and that…he didn't know why he wanted them to acknowledge him. Well because he was Suzuki Touichirou, obviously, and that was a good enough reason to feel the way he did.
"I'm wearing shorts." Said Shimazaki. Minegishi slapped him on the chest again and rolled his eyes. Masami used to roll her eyes like that at him. He half expected Minegishi to tell Shimazaki that he was being ridiculous.
"A shirt then." Said Minegishi. Something passed between them and Shimazaki. It was all aural, which made sense, and Suzuki had no idea what that was but he knew that Minegishi had won. She, they, it was hard to think of her as they since…well he hadn't thought about them in any great capacity…but now he knew her, them, and he knew them better in the context of helping Daughter with a distinctly female….process and….well…
She was really pretty.
He was not staring. He was not staring at all. He knew never to stare at a woman, especially one of who was not wife, and he had no idea what the rules for when it came to people like Minegishi but to be safe he was not going to look. He was going to look down at his food and not at Minegishi where and in pajamas, and they somehow made pajama pants of all things look nice, and they just….he was not going to look at her…them.
So he stared down at his food like it was the most interesting thing that he had ever seen in his life.
It really wasn't. Daughter's work was much more interesting. Also she knew to drown his food in ketchup…..God, he missed Shigeko. He missed her but for some reason she had just…not wanted to make his breakfast and…and now he was here and staring down at his food like it was interesting when it really wasn't and….well at least he hadn't had to stare for long. Hatori sat down beside him, put a laptop down between them, and then the rest of the world faded away. It felt like it was just him and Hatori and…well that was the way that he wanted it to be. The others…well they had left the room at some point…but Hatori was there and that was what mattered. Just him and Hatori and breakfast time…and that was just what he had wanted. He hadn't even known that he had wanted this but…well it was what he wanted.
Suzuki didn't cook, he didn't much care for other people's cooking either, but he did care for the good company that he had.