The flight from Tokyo to Osaka took one hour and fifteen minutes.
That wasn't a very long time at all. That was an hour and a quarter. There was no way that anything could happen in an hour and a quarter. Everyone was in their assigned seats with their assigned moving buddies and….maybe Mob should have written up some conversation notecards. That might have been best. Nobody was saying anything to anyone else but Fukuda was looking in Sho's direction and maybe he was going to tell Sho to sit with him but that would leave Shimazaki without a moving buddy, Fukuda had lost his moving buddy privileges for fighting with everyone, and Sho…well Sho and Shimazaki got up to crazy stuff when they were together but Fukuda upset Sho when they were together so….yeah. Mob would take the crazy stuff over the fighting any day.
Not that she wanted there to be any crazy stuff or any fighting.
"Ok, everyone knows the rules. No fighting, no going out onto the wing of the plane, no giving Hatori anything to drink, no doing crazy stuff, no making the plane crash so we have to eat each other, and no making fun of Hatori for being a cannibal. He can't help the way he was born. Those are the rules…and…um yeah. Sit with your moving buddy and….and please be good." Said Mob. Everyone was looking at her. The pilot had just now turned the seatbelt sign off. That meant that it was ok for her to be standing there in the middle of the aisle…and it was ok for everyone to look at her…
This was ok.
She smiled and looked at everyone. Sho was scratching again, he had been doing that for a while but he wouldn't tell Mob why, Shimazaki was fiddling with a weird looking Rubik's cube he'd found somewhere, Shibata had his headphones on already, and Minegishi already had their eyes closed and a book in their lap. Everyone, well all of her friends, seemed ok. Dad was back in his corner playing games on his laptop, well he said that he was working but Mob knew that he was playing games. Hatori would join him soon, he always did, and Mob…she was glad that Hatori was going to sit by dad.
That way he would be far away from her.
She didn't dislike him and he didn't dislike her. She felt bad for lying to him but he couldn't know the truth. He couldn't know that she had decided to confess to him, and ask to be his eventual girlfriend, all on her own. She had lied, well Minegishi had told her to lie, and she had told him that she had only said that because Shimazaki had put her up to it. That was a lie and lies were bad but….well he couldn't know that she really felt like that about him. That she had felt like that about him. She had been so in love with him…but now she wasn't because she had made a complete idiot out of herself….
She was really glad that this would be a short plane ride.
"You can sit down now, big sis, we'll be good." Said Sho. He tried and failed not to scratch. He just…had to make it through this plain ride…and then the rest of his life. They were getting better. The tattoos he did…well some of them were starting to change color…and that was good. Right? Red was bad so…other colors must have been good. He didn't know…but he did know that…that this was really itchy!
"We're always good." Said Shimazaki as he ran his hands over the Rubik's cube that he had liberated from his old toy box. He'd been trying to figure this thing out since he had been four or five…and he was going to get this done with. This was….this was doable! He was a grown man and he could do this…and he was doing this because he wanted to and not because Toshi had told him to find something to occupy his time on the plane ride because apparently plane rides were portals to hell and he was the one to led them right in.
They could be so dramatic sometimes…but that made him love them even more.
Not that he could say that. No, not with the squirmy, itchy kid sitting next to him. Sho….would not take it well. He would probably lose his little mind…and Shimazaki did not want to deal with that….so he was just going to wait for this to pass before he made Sho the best man at his and Toshi's wedding…or the guy who carried his and Toshi's unconscious bodies home after the celebrated their relationship in a more Toshi way. Yeah, this crush would pass….and so would this constant scratching. He was moving and squirming and….well it was annoying….but he could live with this...even though he really just wanted to tell the kid to go and see that healer already.
Seriously. Had Sho been throwing rocks at hornets' nests without him or something?
"Um….well then in that case be extra good. I'm going to sit down now." Said Mob. She didn't know if Shimazaki was lying or if he actually thought that he was telling the truth but she didn't want to fight with him. She didn't want to fight with anyone. She just wanted this plane ride to go well. Sometimes it felt like when they rode in a plane together everything that could go wrong did go wrong…and she wasn't going to let that happen.
This was a one hours and fifteen minute plane ride. There shouldn't have been any time for anything to go wrong.
"A rousing speech as always, Mob." Said Minegishi as they opened their eyes. Mob sat down next to her and nodded. She was making it a point not to look over in the direction of the idiot brigade. They knew why. Hatori Nozomu. God. Mob….well she was eleven and she hadn't known any better…well Minegishi had told her a thousand times not to try anything with him….but she was coming to that age where she thought that knew better than everyone else, and that little friend of hers who had nothing better to do than give her terrible advice didn't help matters….what was done was done.
And now they all had to just live with this.
Live with this and wait for things to go back to normal. Mob, of course, she was the one who had to wait for things to go back to normal. Hatori was taking this surprisingly well. He was finally acting like the adult that he was always going on and on and on about being. Mob looked up, she risked a glance in his direction, and he looked over and smiled. She gasped and looked down at her feet. Her hair rose to the ceiling. Minegishi smoothed it down for her.
Poor Mob.
"Thanks. For the compliment and for fixing my hair I mean." Said Mob as she looked down at her shoes. These were new. She used to have Frozen light up shoes. She had always just bought a new pair when she outgrew her old ones. Well now she was tool old, her feet were too big, for Frozen shoes. The kind that lit up and the kind that didn't. These were just blue, even though Minori said that she didn't look good in blue, she still liked blue….and she knew better than to listen to Minori…and she should have known better than to listen to Minori in the first place.
Being too big for Frozen light up shoes didn't make her big enough to be Hatori's girlfriend.
"You're welcome, now give me a couple hair ties." Said Minegishi as they started to braid Mob's hair for her. It was a mess right now, it had been trying to fly away all day, and really braids were the way to go. She had been wearing her hair down a lot lately. She was trying to look older than she was. She was trying to act older than she was.
She was only eleven.
"What color?" asked Mob as she opened her bag with her powers. She kept her eyes trained down at her shoes. She knew that if she looked up she would look over at Hatori again. She couldn't help it. There was a lot happening over there. Sho was itching, he had been scratching nonstop for a while now, and Shimazaki was cursing at his Rubik's cube, she didn't know why he even had that thing in the first place, and Shibata and Hatori were giving him suggestions…and she had only sat down for two seconds and they were already close to fighting…..
Which was the only reason why she would look over there.
"Any color." Said Minegishi
"I have blue and pink and rainbow and purple and-" said Mob
"Mob, any color. Come on. I'm tried." Said Minegishi. Two hair ties were passed to them telekinetically. One was blue and the other pink. They didn't match but, hey, this wasn't a fashion show. They tied off the braid that they had made and then started up on the other one. There. This would keep her hair nice…not that her hair should have been of any concern to them. This was her hair but….well it was getting all knotted. Mob usually took such good care of herself…and she took good care of them too.
The drink cart made an appearance.
"Do you want some canned coffee? We have black and vanilla late and caramel macchiato and peppermint Americano and-" said Mob. Now she looked up, but it was ok, because she had to use her eyes to go through the drink cart and find something for Minegishi. They were tired, well they were always tired, but Mob could help with that. They were always taking such good care of her so she really should have worked harder to take care of them. That was what friends were for.
"Give me a can of black coffee and one of those tiny vodkas." Said Minegishi. They had barely been in the air and they needed a drink. Normally they would have knocked out for a plane ride but, well, this was an hour and fifteen minutes. They had Googled it. If they needed to knock out for an hour and fifteen minute plane ride then they were developing a problem and they did not have a problem.
"We don't have any of those…sorry. We have tiny bottles of sake." Said Mob as she looked through the drinks. They had cola and lemon lime soda and electric blue raspberry energy drink and lots of canned coffees but for alcohol they only had sake and tiny bottles of plum wine….warm tiny bottles of sake and plum wine…
Not very good wine at all. She only slipped one into her sleeve.
"Sake and coffee? No thanks. Just give me the coffee then." Said Minegishi. They saw what Mob had done. They knew that she had pocketed a tiny wine bottle…but they said nothing. Mob…well it had been a rough couple of days. Her first rejection, making a complete and total fool out of herself, and also whatever the hell was happening with her father….she had earned herself a drink. A drink. One drink. There. Moderation.
"Ok….and thanks for the braids. They're nice. Can I do your hair next?" asked Mob. She shook her bag. She had hair clips in there…and Minegishi would have looked nice with hairclips. She had blue ones and purples ones and green ones, really all the ones that she had been able to get at the Disney Store. She knew that she was too old for the Disney Store…but she was getting tired of being…well trying to be older. Trying to be eleven…
She wanted to be little again…not very little…but just little enough that all of this grown up stuff didn't have to happen to her.
"Mob, I know that I haven't cut my hair in a while but we both know that there's not nearly enough here to braid." Said Minegishi. They were tempted to grow their hair out…but that was way too much work. The shampooing and conditioning and drying and dressing and combing and brushing….and the attention. They didn't want that kind of attention, the extra work, and also when their hair got long it rustled against their pillow….
But they were still tempted to grow it out just so that Mob could have something to braid.
"I have hairclips and headbands." Said Mob. She opened up her Elsa bag wide so that Minegishi could see it. They didn't always let her do their hair but…well sometimes they did…and she liked doing their hair even if it was short. She liked doing hair in general….though the only other person's hair she did, aside from Sho's when they played the Shoko game, was Minori's….and she would rather have done Minegishi's hair than Minori's.
"Go on then." Said Minegishi. They let Mob's braid go. Her aura glowed like Christmas morning. Good. Happy Mob was back. For how long they had no idea. She was taking it well, though, better than Minegishi would have thought. She hadn't dug herself an underground pit to live in for the rest of her life so that was progress.
"What do you want to do when we get to Osaka?" asked Mob as she clipped some snowflakes into Minegishi's hair. She clipped their bangs back mostly because that was just where they had the most hair. Their roots showed, though, when Mob did that. Maybe when they got to Osaka Minegishi would let her help them color their hair again. That would be nice…but at her house though. She wasn't sure if Hatori was going to be in his room or the rest of the house…and she didn't want to run into him. She was just going to give him enough time that he forgot what had happened between them. There. That shouldn't have taken very long at all. Just ten or twenty years. She could wait that long. Good things happened to those who waited.
"Unpack and get my garden going and then sleep until it's time to move again." said Minegishi. They didn't much like the feel of the metal hairclip digging into their scalp but they liked making Mob happy…and one of them should have been happy. Osaka. Why did it have to be Osaka? What was even IN Osaka?
Besides a lot of bad memories.
"Oh. Well you won't have to sleep for very long then. Dad said that we won't be in Osaka for long. He's having a meeting, well a war meeting but that's just a saying, with the leader of another esper group. She's trying to undermine Claw, dad said, and so he's going to meet with her…and I kind of want to, too. I mean there aren't a lot of girl espers." Said Mob
"Trust me, you don't want anything to do with this." said Minegishi. War meeting. War meeting meant 'join us or die' and sometimes people picked option two….and Mob didn't need to know about that. Mob didn't need to be involved in that. She didn't need to have even the first idea that things like that even happened. She didn't need to have any idea that Minegishi did….the things that they did.
Only one of them needed to have bad memories of Osaka.
"Yeah…dad said that his work is very boring. He does a lot of meetings and I did some, too, when I filled in for him. Still, though, it would be nice to meet another girl esper. The only girl espers I know are baby Mukai and I guess that lady who was trying to become dad's girlfriend. You remember her, right? From when we were in Seoul?" asked Mob. She didn't like that lady, in fact she might have even felt the beginnings of dislike for her, because she had been trying to go out with dad even though he was clearly married to mom…but it would have been nice if she had been nicer…then Mob could have asked her….well she didn't know what she wanted to ask but…well she just didn't meet a lot of girl espers. There were some, very few, girl Awakened but they weren't the same as natural espers. She didn't know why she wanted to meet more girl espers…she just did.
"Yeah, I remember Seoul…but I'm from Osaka, you know, and Osaka and a hell of a lot more fun than Seoul." Said Minegishi. They didn't want to talk about their childhood but they knew that Mob did and, honestly, going over Minegishi's depressing childhood in great detail was better than talking about Seoul, that baby, and President Suzuki's torrid love affair. Until a few weeks ago Mob had thought that babies could only grow in the literal stomachs of married women. Maybe it was best not to dig around into her father's torrid love affairs.
Nobody wanted to know that about their father.
"Are we going to the part of Osaka that you grew up in? Can we go to the parks you used to play in? And the arcades you used to go to? And the library where you stayed all day because….well bad stuff that you told me about…sorry." said Mob. She had been excited, for a little bit, but then she remembered that Minegishi hadn't had a good life before Claw. Mob had been thinking like they were going back to the Castle, where she had grown up, like she was the one in Minegishi's shoes. Like she could show them the house she had grown up in and the playground mom used to take her and Sho to and the library where they went for story time and the pool where she and Sho had learned to swim and the schools they had gone to…and stuff…
But not everyone had as happy a life as she'd had and she had to remember that.
"No, it's ok…and I have no idea where we'll be staying. I'll find us something fun to do, though, just you and me. The idiot brigade can figure their own fun out." Said Minegishi. Mob could come but not her brother, that was what they'd meant. If Sho came then Ryou would have to come too since he was the only one, besides Mob, that the kid sort of listened to…and this was a part of their life that they did not want to share with Mob's brother anyway. This was a part of their life that they hadn't even shared with Ryou, not fully, not fully enough to actually bring him there. The library that had been their salvation. The playground that had been their second home. The arcade where they had first learned how to control vines, how to trick candy machines and UFO catchers….the trees that used to be their parents. Ryou….they loved him but…
This was going to be a Minegishi and Mob thing, not a Ryou and Toshi thing.
"They probably don't need a lot of help. It sounds like they're having plenty of fun already." Said Mob as she held different headbands up to Minegishi's head. She decided to go with a dark purple one, that way it would go with their lavender hair. This was fun, well to her, and she knew that her friends would have thought that this was boring just like she thought that Rubik's cubes were kind of boring. She and Sho used to have one of those when they had been little, well theirs had been with colors not pieces of cloth, but it had still been frustrating and boring at the same time. She and Sho had been trying to solve it together and then Sho'd had enough and thrown it…but then dad had caught it with his powers and solved it in like ten seconds…
But that was not how this was going to go.
Dad was over in his own corner. Sometimes he looked up and over at what was happening. He must have been lonely…and maybe she needed to assign Hatori as his moving buddy. Hatori was moving buddies with Shibata because Shibata was good at making him feel safe….and she always wanted him to feel safe…but dad must have been so lonely back there. She also maybe could have assigned Fukuda as his moving buddy…but she knew that doing that would have been a bad idea. He had to fight with everyone. Even now his aura felt all…mad and he was looking at the others….and if he'd wanted to help solve the Rubik's cube with them then he should have just asked instead of staring at them and being all mad…
Not that Mob even understood why it took so many people to solve a Rubik's cube. They all should have known by now that those were mostly unsolvable.
"I have no idea why I haven't burned this thing yet….it's unsolvable!" said Shimazaki as he ran his hand over the side of the cube that faced him. The entire top row was silk and so was the row under it save for one piece of velvet…and if he tried to fix that piece of velvet then…well it had taken him this long to get one matching row and he was not going to mess it up!
This was an instrument of torture! Not a toy! And not the fun kind of torture toys….and he wasn't even into that anyway!
"No it's not. Here, just spin the center of the cube to the top." Said Sho. This was fun. This was the best thing ever. The more they played with this thing the less he felt like ripping off his own skin…and now he remembered that he was all itchy….stupid skin…..
"Center?" asked Shimazaki. What center? The center was the mechanism that let you turn the cube! For the love of-
"No, the bottom. Rotate the entire bottom two turns." Said Shibata. This was fun. He hadn't had any idea that you could play with a Rubik's cube as a group. He'd never had one, he'd tried one at the store and he'd broken it so it had been added to the long list of toys that he was forbidden from owning, but this was fun too. Trying to solve it as a group. This was better than fighting, anyway, he hated it when they fought…and this was not a fight. This discussion was just getting a little heated, that was all, but nobody was going to fight anyone. At least they had better not….and Fukuda really needed to stop all of that glaring.
"To the left or to the-" said Shimazaki. Why did he have to be the cube guy? Well because it was his cube…and he should have brought different cherished childhood mementos with him. Like his horses and dragons. They could have all had a massive horse and dragon war and….wait. No. He could feel Fukuda glaring at them. No way was that guy even coming near his most cherished childhood mementos.
"Maybe you could just take the two from the top and spin them to the bottom." Said Hatori. He'd played with these before. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made. Like Suzuki had said, though not about Rubik's cubes, sometimes you had to make short term sacrifices in service of long term goals….but that didn't mean shooting through your own shields for some reason. Fine, he was better at Space Invaders, but Hatori was better at group Rubik's cube-ing….though Suzuki really needed to get in on this. He kept on looking over in their direction, which was a welcome change of pace from Fukuda's glaring. Honestly. If he had a problem with them then he should have said something and if he just wanted to join in then…well it was a free country.
"No goddamned way, are you crazy?! That would ruin the whole thing!" said Sho. Shimazaki had worked hard, with his help, to get that line right. It had taken a million years, it felt like, and they were not going to mess that up! This cube was going to look so cool when they were done with it! Maybe he should tattoo on of those on him next….he scratched his arm…maybe when he was done with the million and one other tattoos that he had started.
"To be fair it is kind of a mess. There's green all over the place." Said Shibata
"What the hell is green?" asked Shimazaki
"The squares….sorry." said Shibata. Well he had really put his foot in his mouth there….though to be fair that was an easy thing to forget about Shimazaki.
"It goes by touch! Do you have brain worms!" said Sho as he stood up in his seat. He jabbed his finger at Shibata as hard as he could. He had made Shimazaki feel bad! How could he had done that! Nobody made Shimazaki feel bad and Shibata was lucky he was so big and so nice or Sho would have messed him up really bad for that!
"Sorry. I forgot." Said Shibata as Shimazaki tugged Sho back down to his seat. He really did feel bad and…huh? Sho's shirt had ridden up as he was pulled down and….well it looked like he had been drawing on himself with a permanent marker or something. That was….well it looked just like…no way. He was just thinking crazy thoughts.
"You're lucky Shimazaki's here." Muttered Sho as Shimazaki sat him down. He pulled his shirt down over his stomach, it had ridden up, but thankfully nobody noticed. Nobody could know until the grand reveal when everything was done and stopped making him want to take his skin off with a cheese grater.
"No, I'm lucky you're here. Now what in the hell should I-" said Shimazaki as he pulled Sho down…and he felt…chicken pox? Infected cuts? The kid was not well…Toshi could fix that. They knew what to do about cuts. Somethings were beyond them, though, and if that was the case then he would just drag Fukuda over by his ankle and have him fix the kid up. There were few worse feelings in the world than being covered by infected cuts…and he had a lot of them…and he had to let go now because they kid's aura was getting weird again and, normally, Shimazaki was all in favor of pouring gasoline onto a fire…but not this fire.
"Ok, so you're going to want to take your main finger and-" said Shibata
"Main….finger?" asked Shimazaki
"Take that side and then split it in half and put to the side most on your left." Said Sho. There. That would keep the whole top part nice. The second part, the one on the bottom, could be fixed without making the top all messed up. There. He knew what he was doing.
"No, don't do that. If you spin the center side top wise-" said Hatori. He leaned in a little too close, close enough for Sho to push him away, and….huh? His shirt had ridden down and his collar bone was showing and….damn. That was…an infected cut? It was red and….and there was this…it looked like black lines…he'd help Sho out with that later. He'd get some rubbing alcohol or something and then….well he wasn't the best at first aid, and they had a healer for this, but Hatori didn't blame Sho one bit for not wanting to go and see Fukuda.
"One at a time! One at a time!" said Shimazaki. He did not need to go deaf on top of all of his other numerous physical and psychological problems. Everything was starting to echo and….and why had he thought that he could solve this thing now!? He'd had this since 1989 and if he hadn't been able to solve it in all that time he wasn't going to be able to solve it now! Though it was keeping him from his true passion of filling everyone's lives with song, today's selection would have been Japan I love you, so maybe this was a win for the rest of the plane.
"OK, so Hatori had the right idea. Spin the center side top wise. Top wise." Said Sho. Shimazaki didn't do what he said….he didn't do anything. He just turned to face Sho and he stared at him with his eyes opened and his aura stuck to him…and that was…it was not gross or scary to look deep into Shimazaki's eye sockets. No, he was lucky. Minegishi probably didn't even get to do this! And they had boobs!
"….who wants this Rubik's cube? Sho? Shibata? Hatori? Does anyone want this cube?" asked Shimazaki. He knew when to tap out and this was the time to tape out. He held out the cube to all of them…and thankfully it was snatched out of his hand.
"Ok! Now watch and learn everyone! I'm going to solve the fucking fuck out of this fucking-" said Sho as he took the Rubik's cube out of Shimazaki's hand. Ok, now this was his time to shine. He was going to solve this and then Shimazaki was going to be all 'Sho, you're so smart' and then he was going to tell Sho that he was smarter than Minegishi and that he was better to hang out with too even if they could only be just friends…and then when Sho grew up and ruled the world he and Shimazaki could share a room in the house he was going to live in and then they could have bunk beds but with both beds being high up…and then it would be so great….and he could show Shimazaki his tattoos and they'd be so cool and he'd see, well feel, them and then it would be all great and-
And he started scratching again. There. That was the thing to think about. The constant, never ending, itchiness.
"Sho! Language!" said Fukuda. He had been watching them all trying to work that god damned Rubik's cube together, if they wanted it solved they could have just handed it to Suzuki, and that was….fine. Sho was fine, well it felt like he'd been tormenting fire ants again but he would fix that later when Sho was in a better mood, but he was not going to let Sho just start cursing like that. He had no idea if Suzuki had his earplugs in or not but he did know that the only thing he hated more than cursing was hearing his own son curse….and also Sho should not have been cursing like that anyway. He was only ten years old!
"Fukuda, unless you're going to help me then stay out of this." said Sho. He knew what was coming, Fukuda was going to ask Sho to come and sit with him, and that was not going to happen. He knew that Fukuda was lonely and old and grumpy but so was dad so maybe he and dad could go off and be old and lonely and grumpy together or something. There. That would have been a great plan and he should have said something…but he didn't want to. He was busy.
"Sho, how about you come over here and we can-" said Fukuda. He partially wanted to protect Sho from that lot and also partially…he missed him. They used to sit together on plane rides and Sho would show him things he had drawn or they would play unnecessarily complicated videogames or just sit and talk…and he missed that. Sho…things had been different when he'd been younger and, ok, that was nature's way but…he wasn't done growing up just yet. He wasn't too old for drawings and video games and….Fukuda would have even helped him with that damned Rubik's cube if that was what he had wanted to do. Whatever Sho wanted he'd do.
But not leave him alone.
He knew that was coming next. Sho, of course, would rather have spent time with his crush than the guy who had his best interests at heart. That was normal too. He was a kid and he was in love and he had no idea what was and was not good for him. That was normal and fine and…and Fukuda could deal with that. He could deal with that and he could be very persuasive when he needed to be. Sho…he was better off sitting with him, anyway, and not with that lot who let him get away with anything and had taught him God only knew what.
Sho was much better off with him.
"I don't want to. Go and sit with dad if you want to sit with someone. We're busy doing very important work. This is super important and we can't be disturbed. Life or death, fate of the world, type stuff. You wouldn't understand." Said Sho with a wave of his hand. His jacket sleeve fell down over his hand. He rolled it back up. He was careful, though, not to show what he had drawn on his wrist. It had started out as a hamster but then it had turned red so now it was a strawberry…but it wasn't done yet and nobody could see it until he was all the way done with everything!
"Sho, you know I could help you with-" said Fukuda
"Fukuda, go and sit with dad. I already said no fighting and you're starting a fight with Sho. Please go and sit with dad until the plane lands…and don't fight with him either or….well I don't know. I'll turn the plane around or something." Said Mob as she looked up from what she had been doing. She held one of Minegishi's hands in hers and the other one held a nail polish brush. The bottle of nail polish, supposedly this was purple rain colored even though she had never seen purple rain before and honestly that sounded kind of unsafe, was floating in the air beside her. She didn't want to have to order Fukuda, or anyone else, around but she also didn't want to have to deal with any fighting right now. This was going to be a fight free flight or else there would be no flight at all.
"That's lame. Make the plane do a barrel roll or something. At least then we get punished but we still get to go to Osaka." Said Shimazaki
"How about no?" said Minegishi looking up from their book. They had a book balanced in one hand, a coffee between their knees, and now their temper on a tightrope. Ryou did not need to be giving people those kinds of ideas. Ryou did not need to be having any ideas in the first place. They loved him but he was such a moron sometimes.
"No, how about yes! Barrel roll! Barrel roll!" shouted Sho. He really did want them to do a barrel roll, disagreeing with Minegishi was just a plus.
"No, please….please no…anything but that." Said Hatori. He wondered if he would survive in the bathroom if the plane went down. Was this the kind of plane that could even DO a barrel roll? What could...well the plane could go down that could go wrong…but they could lose the wings or…or they could all end up with broken necks or…or something. He didn't know. He didn't know about planes. Dad was the one who knew about planes. He didn't know.
"Yeah…this isn't a good idea….I feel like. I mean if you want to go flying through the air then I can just throw you around when he get home…how about that? And you can even make airplane noises, doesn't that sound fun?" asked Shibata
"That sounds boring. He's ten, not two! Come on, barrel roll!" said Shimazaki
"Ryou, enough about the god damned barrel roll. We are not going to do a barrel roll. This is a private plane, not a jet!" said Minegishi. They had better not have been about to do a barrel roll. If they did a barrel roll then….then Minegishi didn't know what they would do, for sure, but they did know that someone was going out that airlock.
"Hey! It's my plane, well my dad's plane, and if I want to do a barrel roll then we're going to do a barrel roll. Big sis, make the pilot do a barrel roll…no…a double barrel roll…..no! A double, no, a triple reverse barrel roll! And then we can-" said Sho
"Sho….no…you're out voted…and….just…Fukuda, go sit with dad already please right now." Said Mob. She pointed over at the seat she wanted him to sit in, right next to dad, in case he didn't get it or he couldn't hear her above the roar of the engine and the barrel roll debate…and she really didn't want to do a barrel roll! Or a reverse barrel roll! Or any of the other stuff that her brother wanted her to do!
"You can't-" said Fukuda. She was actually pointing…and she had never done that before. She was sitting there and pointing and…and a eleven year old girl was just….she was just pointing. She was pointing at where she wanted him to go…and he hadn't even done anything!
"Be a man and do everything the little girl tells you to do." Said Minegishi. They did not have the mental space to deal with that soggy turkey on rye sandwich with the gross deli mustard from the place on the corner with the roaches and the sign that never worked…God, they hated Osaka. They hated Osaka, they hated this plane ride, and they really hated that man….
But what they REALLY hated was the plane doing a double, triple, reverse barrel roll with a twist.
"I…should probably see if President Suzuki needs anything. Good day." Said Fukuda. He was not going to sit there and argue…and also Minegishi was glaring at him…and also Suzuki was looking his way. He might have genuinely needed something…even if he had just thrown his back out again or something like that. He didn't know.
All he knew was that for the next…however much longer they had…he was going to sit with Suzuki and just…try and keep his sanity.
"Fukuda. Do you need something?" asked Suzuki as Fukuda sat down beside him. Some kind of debate, instigated by Son, was happening over there. Daughter had pointed his way so she may have wanted him to intervene….but it didn't seem that serious. He could read auras. Everyone felt fine. Well…mostly fine. Daughter seemed…on edge…and so did Minegishi. They would take care of Daughter, though, they were a very nurturing person even though they didn't much look it. They had even braided Shigeko's hair even though she was old enough to do that on her own. She hadn't had anyone braid her hair since she had been small. Since Masami had been around…
But that was neither here nor there.
"Just some sane company. What are you up to?" asked Fukuda as he sat down. Coming to Suzuki for sane company….God. Well there was a first time for everything….well a first time in forever for everything.
"Important work…of an important nature." Said Suzuki as he minimized the window on his laptop. He had most certainly been working, improving his hand eye coordination was work, and…well now he was taking a break. Sometimes you had to work and sometimes you had to take breaks and this was one of those break times.
"Uh-huh. Space Invaders or Minecraft?" asked Fukuda. He knew Suzuki. Very important work meant videogames. Even now, forty four years old and the President of Claw, and he still wouldn't admit to actually playing and enjoying games. Why? It wasn't like they were kids anymore…and even then his parents had let him play for hours and hours. Well his dad had told him that he was wasting his time…but that was just how dads were. Fukuda's dad had been the same but worse. Suzuki's dad only complained, his dad hid his consoles and sometimes lost them.
"….Galaga." said Suzuki quietly. Fukuda…he had better not have been about to laugh. That smile had better not have been preceding a laugh or so help him God!
"You hate Galaga." Said Fukuda. Suzuki had thrown what could only be described as a tantrum the first time they had played Galaga together at the arcade. It wasn't Fukuda's fault that he'd just had more training on that game…and no, he'd had zero intention whatsoever of telling Suzuki the trick with the two ships. How in the hell was he supposed to defend his title if he just gave away his secrets…and that hadn't even been a secret! It was a feature of the game.
"I know. That's why I have to get better at it." Said Suzuki
"Why? You feel like taking me on as champion of the known universe again?" asked Fukuda. God…he still had that pin somewhere. Probably buried in the woods with all the other artifacts of his childhood. Unless Suzuki dug it up and took it…and he'd really wanted that pin…and he really hadn't taken losing well…and also he had really, apparently, been holding onto that since they had been in middle school.
"No, well yes, but first I have to defeat Hatori." Said Suzuki. He would not be beaten again. Hatori just….had the advantage of being younger. That was it. His reaction times were better and…and he saw better too. Because he wore glasses…not because Suzuki needed glasses….and he did NOT need glasses!
"….him? Why?" asked Fukuda. Well that…was his title and…and that was his and Suzuki's grudge match and…and they had stayed up all night several nights in a row because Suzuki just could not stand to lose…and now some upstart kid had just come in and-and-and-calm down, Tadashi. Calm the fuck down.
"Because he beat me….but I'll get him….and then all will be right with the world." Said Suzuki. He looked over at Hatori…and he was all curled up into Shibata. Son was shouting about something and apparently Hatori found it frightening for some reason. Shibata was keeping him safe, though, so that was good. Were they involved romantically? Shibata seemed like he would be a good fit for Hatori, he was a good cook, could keep him safe, and was a natural caretaker. Yes, that was good. You needed a good, nurturing caretaker for your children.
That was the most important thing.
Daughter was in the debate now…and this cheap plane was so loud that he could make out very few words…but she seemed fine. Minegishi was near her. They were keeping her calm. Also they were painting her fingernails for her. Blue. Shigeko loved blue, it was her favorite color, even though she looked so much nicer in yellow. Or purple even…purple was a good color. That seemed to be Minegishi's favorite color. Their hair was purple and the flowers on their shirt were purple…and the pajama pants he had seen her, them, in had been purple…and had also done well to show just how long her, their, legs were….even though they were on the short side….
Not that short, though, not terribly short…even if their hair was.
Why did they keep their hair so short? Maybe it was a practicality thing. He knew how much time Masami had spent on her hair and how much time Shigeko spent on hers, apparently is was a very involved process, so maybe short hair was the way to go. It was so unattractive on a woman, though, but on the other hand they did not define themselves as a woman…though he didn't understand why. She was very pretty.
Even with the short hair she was very pretty.
"Yeah, the rightful order will have been restored." Said Fukuda. That stupid kid…what was his game? End up being Suzuki's friend and then…what? A higher position in Claw? Extra privileges? Marrying Shigeko when she got old enough for all of that? And Hatori was not gay. If he'd been gay then he wouldn't have had all of his wallpapers as half-dressed anime women…some of which were also pregnant for some reason….not his business. That was not his business. Hatori gunning for his position, though, that was his business. What, did he think that he could just waltz right up and be Suzuki's best friend? That it was that easy? Well it wasn't. It was a lot of work and also….also the bridges. There were so many bridges that he was going to cross, have to cross, to become Suzuki's best friend…
Fukuda had no idea what he was so worried about. There was no way in hell that the kid would be able to hack it.
"Uh-huh." Said Suzuki. Minegishi was saying something to Shimazaki now…and their aura did not match their face…and he did know some facial expressions. Mother had made him flashcards when he had been little. They had…well it wasn't a positive one…but their aura seemed to be bonded to his…and that was certainly…well it seemed intimate. He didn't know. He'd never been with another esper before….well once…but he didn't like to think about that. He shouldn't even have been thinking about this…whatever it was that he was thinking about….
"So, what, do I play him next? Because we both know, Suzuki, that the only way to restore the rightful order would be for me to beat him." said Fukuda. Suzuki was…thinking? About….about something important…he had that look in his eyes. That tiny pupiled look….and Fukuda…well he needed more information because that look could have been caused by a number of factors. Insufficient data for sufficient explanation…heh…he wondered if Suzuki still remembered that one….
"That does make sense." Said Suzuki. Minegishi was pointing and…and now he could hear them. They called him Ryou…well he'd already had that information but….why call him that? Were they involved? And why did he care? Well he should have cared, the world needed to be peopled with espers, and he understood why they would have chosen Shimazaki. He was incredibly fit. If Suzuki had been a woman then he definitely would have chosen Shimazaki at least as a sexual partner…well if he hadn't been married to Fukuda. Yes, they'd had this discussion. If one of them had been born female they would have married the other but if one of them had woken up female due to a curse or switching places with their opposite sex duplicate from another world then they would only date the other one if all chances for reversal had proven fruitless. So then if he had been a woman he would have just been married to Fukuda…though Hatori was good company. Maybe they needed to amend this plan…though he had never heard of a curse like that, and wormholes probably did not work like that, and he wasn't talented enough at astral projection to swap places with himself from another world, they'd tried, but…it was still good to have these contingency plans.
"Or maybe I could just beat him at Space Invaders, and you too probably. I mean you were never that great." Said Fukuda. He couldn't believe this! Suzuki wasn't even listening to him! What? So he could go and eavesdrop on those morons trying to convince their leader that the best course of action on a passenger plane flying over land was to do a barrel roll because a ten year old had seconded the motion?
"Yes, do that." Said Suzuki. Well whatever they were talking about was getting heated…and Shigeko seemed out of sorts…but Minegishi was there. They had an arm around her. They genuinely cared for her as their own. He wondered why they hadn't had any children yet. It was a sellers' market when it came to love and sex. Women…he had always envied them. They always just had to sort of be there and be perfect, and they were all perfect in their own way, and then they chose any man that they wanted. Minegishi herself could have had anyone. Sure they had short hair, no eyebrows, and wore men's clothing…but there was a softness to their face…and they were so nurturing…and their hair looked like it would have been very soft….he wondered why they hadn't had any children yet. There was nothing wrong with them. They were perfect in their own way as all women…and people of indeterminate gender….were.
"So anyway, Touichirou, you want to go into space tonight with me after dinner? I hear they're planning a mission to Pluto even though it's not a planet anymore…and you love the outer reaches of space. Unless you're still too scared to go beyond the Kuiper belt." Said Fukuda. That had always been a hot button topic with him. He had always been ahead of the curve when it came to the Pluto is not a planet thing. He'd made several very long and expensive calls to the International Astronomical Union debating the validity of Pluto as a planet…and to this day Fukuda had no idea how he'd even gotten through to a live human being. Suzuki had always been full of surprises…like now…
What was he STARING at?
"Have a nice time." Said Suzuki. Now they were raising their hands, Daughter and her friends, and it seemed like they were….voting? But on what? Claw was not a democracy….also Minegishi had very small hands. He had never properly noticed just how small her, their, hands were. Maybe it was an optical illusion caused by the purple nail coloring…he didn't know. He knew, however, that they weren't going to get close enough to him that he could notice properly…in a more proper manner….tactile manner…because that would have been wrong…and such….
And also Fukuda was talking to him. That might have been important.
"Oh my God….I know that look…." Said Fukuda as his eyes followed the path Suzuki's had been traveling. He had tried to follow Suzuki's aura but his was too bright and everyone was too close together. His eyes, on the other hand, told a much different story. Fukuda…he hadn't seen that look in a while…and he knew that look…
And he knew who Suzuki was looking at.
"Look? I don't have a look. Now what were you saying?" asked Suzuki as he tore his eyes away from Minegishi…even though he didn't want to. When they raised their hand her shirt went tightly over her…ok. Now he was going to stop looking because he had a wife...and also…also he did not have a look and Fukuda had no idea what he was talking about!
"I was saying a lot of nonsense to test if you were listening. You clearly weren't and now I know why." Said Fukuda with a shake of his head. Minegishi? Them? Her? Just…that was not Suzuki's type. Well his type was anyone with the right hookups but…yeah. He liked long hair, a kind and nurturing attitude, and someone who could tell him that he was good in bed when he clearly wasn't. Masami had been very clear that their marriage had been lacking in that area.
"I…was listening. I just hadn't felt the need to respond to nonsense. That's all." said Suzuki. He didn't like to lie…and he wasn't lying. He knew that Fukuda had been talking to him, it just hadn't registered, and that was because he had been speaking nonsense like he had just confessed to. There. Now everything made perfect sense and they could talk about something else.
"Uh-huh. Sure thing, Touichirou, you most certainly weren't staring at Minegishi just now." Said Fukuda with a roll of his eyes. He half reached for the collar of his genkan before he remembered that he was forty four years old now and he and Suzuki weren't playing at world domination anymore. Still. This was a blast from the past. Suzuki staring at a girl…person. Good. Maybe now he would take off that damn wedding ring…though he really needed to stay away from Minegishi. That would not have ended well and it was Fukuda's job as his best friend to tell him when he was being stupid. That was why he was Suzuki's best friend and Hatori was just someone in his orbit.
"I…may have been glancing in their general direction…to see what all the commotion over there was about. Anyway….how have you been? Are you excited for Halloween? You've always enjoyed that Holiday for reasons I have never been able to understand." Said Suzuki. Changing the subject had never been his strong suit but he would do his best. God. He half expected to be sitting in their base in the woods slapping mosquitos off of himself while Fukuda dug into his personal….emotions…revolving around the opposite sex. That was not needed. He was married. He didn't have those thoughts about anyone other than his wife.
"There's plentiful chocolate. Anyway don't stare at Minegishi. They're in some kind of a relationship with Shimazaki already." Said Fukuda. There. He had put a stop to this before Suzuki sent him to slip notes under their door. Do you like Suzuki Touichirou? Yes, no, maybe. God…those were the days…and he was so glad that he never had to be that age again. Getting women was easier when you were an adult…and this was good. Well bad, also, because he'd already had one accidental child…and also he would have been cheating on Masami…but she was gone from their lives and Suzuki needed to move on. She had moved on from him long ago. Long before she had even left.
"Romantic or sexual?" asked Suzuki. Sometimes people had purely sexual relationships…and he was not one of those people. He'd tried, back in university, but he was just not capable of that. He liked being with someone, having a most perfect person that he did not want to share, and if…well there was no if…and he had no idea why he even cared what sort of relationship Minegishi and Shimazaki were in. That was none of his business. He didn't even care. He was the President of Claw, he had bigger things to worry about.
"From what I've been able to overhear they were in a purely sexual relationship but Shimazaki's been telling Minegishi that he loves her so, yeah, maybe stay out of that train wreck." Said Fukuda. Nope. Suzuki did not need to get in the middle of….whatever that was. Even though sinking that couple would have lifted Sho's spirits….though he should not have been encouraging Sho….though it did hurt him to see Sho going through his first love and eventual rejection…..Fukuda would put a pin in this and examine his contradictory feelings towards the subject later.
"Oh. That makes sense. Minegishi is a kind and nurturing partner and would raise their offspring well. Who wouldn't have romantic feelings for them?" asked Suzuki. Well that made sense….and he didn't care either way. He really didn't.
"Right, well-" said Fukuda. Time for a subject change. Any subject change. This was just…not going in the right direction at all. For either of them.
"And Shimazaki is a very fit man and his tattoos are fascinating to look at…and the skin looks like it would be interesting to touch...so of course they want to have a sexual relationship with him. Who wouldn't? Though I am curious how that works with him being blind." Said Suzuki
"A…lot to unpack there. I guess being blind doesn't stop…the rest of him…yeah, let's go with this…from working. Though you'd have to ask him that…and he'd probably answer." Said Fukuda. That was…Suzuki had a lot of issues he should have worked through years ago…and this was not the time to go delving into whatever his sexuality was….and also Fukuda just did not want to know. That was not his business and….yeah. That was all between Suzuki, God, and his internet provider.
"Right. I supposed that you don't really need a sense of sight for that…though it would help a lot." Said Suzuki. There was something to just looking down at your partner right at the moment of…though a sense of touch helped too….and….it had been so long since he and Masami had last…and he was not going to think of Masami or anyone in that state of affairs. Not now. Not sitting here on this plane surrounded by people he worked with and his own children.
"I'd just stay away from that whole scenario. Minegishi is your employee, you're their boss, and people might look at that and…well think that you're giving them special privileges in exchange for sex." Said Fukuda. There. Appeal to the need that Suzuki had to behave in a socially acceptable manner. That had always been the best way to shut down his weirdness. 'You're being weird, Suzuki, people are looking at you funny' had always been the thing to do the trick. Truth be told the rumors that people spread were stupid but…well Suzuki did not need to be having anything at all with Minegishi. For his own good. And theirs, too, now that he thought about it. According to Masami he had always been selfish. Relationship wise and in bed too.
"I-I would never! Claw is a strict meritocracy and-and-and I was not thinking about Minegishi like that! This is…I was just….not thinking about them like that! Just…stop with that, Tadashi." Said Suzuki. He sounded young, there, and he knew it…and he hated himself for sounding so young. He half expected his voice to break…but it didn't. They were grown men now and…and they were not children and….and all of that!
"Alright, I take it I won't be writing them any anonymous notes?" asked Fukuda with a laugh. God, the notes. The never ending notes. Suzuki's handwriting was distinctly microscopic so Fukuda had been his personal scribe and messenger. God….the never ending notes…
"No, we're grown men. We don't do that…and I'm married! Now talk to me about something else right now." Said Suzuki. He didn't give a damn what they talked about so long as Fukuda stopped insinuating that he would ever have been unfaithful towards his wife. He loved Masami and he never would have done anything like that to her. She was his everything…and there had been that one isolate incident…but she was still his everything….even if she had gone…she was still his…his wife….his reason and his life and….and she was gone but…but she was still his…or at least he was still hers…he had to still be hers…
"Ok…how's kendo been looking this year? Anyone good for Japan?" asked Fukuda. Well he knew when to stop and that was it. Suzuki….he was never the most emotionally stable person…and his aura had turned inwards for some reason. Why? Because he had been married? He had never been anything close to married. He'd trapped Masami in that house and ignored her for weeks if not months on end. He hadn't spoken to her, held her, touched her, or spent time with her at all while he was home no matter how much she begged and pleaded with him….but that was not what Fukuda wanted to talk about…not what they were going to talk about.
Suzuki liked kendo. They were going to talk about kendo now.
"This season has been very-" said Suzuki. Now that was something that he could talk about. It had been a very good season and they had some promising new people…and he would have talked about that at length….but then he felt Shigeko getting closer. There. She was…she was coming….but why? His first thought was that something had gone wrong….but he was not going to panic since he was useless in a panic…and also she must have been ok because Minegishi had been with her and they loved her as if she had been their own child.
She must have just needed something.
"Dad? Can I have the pilots make the plane do a barrel roll? It's….important…I guess." Said Mob. Sho really wanted this…and she wanted to make Sho happy. Sho and Shimazaki had managed to get Shibata on their side…and that had made it a tie…and the tie had been turning into a fight so….barrel roll time. A single one, not the crazy stuff that Sho had been talking about, because this was not a stunt plane. This was a normal plane…and Hatori had brought up a very good point. This may not have even been the kind of plane that could do barrel rolls…so it was best to just ask the pilots she figured.
Hopefully they would say no.
"A barrel roll? Don't bother the pilots, I can do that." Said Suzuki. If she wanted a barrel roll, if this was important to her, then she was going to get a barrel roll. He held himself and her down with his powers and made the plane do a barrel roll. It was easy…though maybe he should have held everyone else down with his powers too….though it was not entirely necessary to scream like everyone was.
Really. They were not going to die. They could have given more credit than that.
"There! That's the first and last barrel roll that's ever going to happen! Now please….no more fighting! And someone find Hatori I think he crawled under the seats or something…I don't know….I need a drink." Said Mob as she pulled the tiny wine bottle out of her sleeve and went back to Minegishi….and she had no idea what they were so mad about. She hadn't had any way of knowing that dad would have done the barrel roll himself….
But at least now they could stop fighting.
Hatori was hiding somewhere, Minegishi was still clutching the arm rests and their aura felt all mad, Shimazaki and Sho were talking about how cool that had been, Shibata was breathing really heavy with his head between his knees, and now the pilots were saying that they were going to make an emergency landing….this was….well they hadn't fought. They hadn't gotten into an actual fight and…and that had been good.
Forty five minutes down, forty five to go…or however long after their emergency stop….but still. Barrel rolls were better than fights.