Sho used to like coming to war meetings.

Dad used to have them a lot back when they first started going to Tokyo. Some yakuza family, not Shimazaki's but another one, had been trying to kill him on the orders of some esper group but then he'd worked something out with a lot of talking….that part had been boring…but also people had shot at him and stuff. That part had been fun. The parts with shooting and yelling and Shimazaki being all 'is this your gun?' when he would teleport over and take people's guns out of their hands….that part had been so cool!

This was not cool.

This war meeting was all talking. Sho was supposed to be sitting and watching and learning for when he had to do stuff like this. Well he was sitting, and he was watching, and he was learning. He was learning that war meetings, despite their name, could be super boring. Dad was just talking to some lady, that was all, and he had been talking to her for a while. They were talking about…Sho couldn't even remember….he wasn't really listening. Watching their auras was more interesting than hearing them talk about territory and stuff. Dad's aura was acting like it was afraid to get close to hers. Like it would come up to the very edge of hers but when her aura went over to his then his would run back to him. The lady's aura, something Shiori, kept on trying to find dad's when his got close. That was kind of interesting. Usually dad just let his aura slam into someone else's until they freaked out and agreed to whatever he wanted them to agree too.

So at least something around here was interesting.

"…very simple. We've been in Osaka longer, we have more manpower here, and we have no intention of leaving or joining Claw." Said the lady. She was leaned back and holding her tea cup in one hand. Dad was sitting straight up and holding his tea cup with both hands like he thought that it was going to escape. That was weird. Usually he used his powers for that because he liked to make a show of how powerful he was. That was important, he had always said, showing people that they needed to be afraid of you. You could either be loved or be feared, dad had said.

Sho didn't know which one he had picked.

Dad had been…weirdly nice to him. He got to sit down at the table, which was a big thing even Fukuda had to stand and he was dad's best friend, and he got his own cup of tea, too, which he was on strict orders not to spill. He wasn't a baby, he wasn't going to spill his tea, but he wasn't going to drink his tea either. It was mostly to keep you from fidgeting, dad had said, because sometimes you wound up fidgeting without even realizing it. He hadn't said something mean like 'you always embarrass me by fidgeting' or some other dad thing. He just told Sho not to finish his tea and to keep at least one hand on it.

Not everyone got tea.

Pretty much only the important people got tea. That was impolite but that was the point. Only the important people were people enough to get tea or something. Dad thought that he was people. Dad was acting like he was people, a person, and that….that was just plain weird for him. Dad never treated him like this. Even at the war meetings he had gone to before, when he had been little, dad had just told him to shut up and sit still. Well he still had to shut up and sit down and stuff but….well he got to sit at the table right next to dad…well not super close to him but still. Being near dad…he didn't like it. He knew that he shouldn't have liked it. Dad was a jerk. Dad was an asshole. Dad was the worst person in the whole world and he hated his guts….

But also dad had let him sit at the table with him during a war meeting….and he knew that big sis hadn't told him to do this.

"You haven't been active for very long at all." Said dad. He was watching the lady while he said that…but he didn't look bored. Usually when he watched people he looked bored…because he was bored. Dad thought that he was the best person in the whole wide world and everyone else was boring. That was just how he was. But he was watching this lady like she was interesting. She really wasn't. She was dressed in black and white, which was boring, and her aura was orange, which was close to red which was boring, and her hair was black, which was the most boring color, and she hadn't even used her powers once, which was so boring.

Powers fights were always fun.

Dad got into powers fights with people sometimes. That was how scars were made and also how traitors were subdued and how people were conquered. Sho had thought, when he'd heard that this was going to be a war meeting with another esper group, that there would be a massive powers fight. Especially since not only was dad bringing Fukuda but also Shimazaki and Shibata and Hatori too. Minegishi wasn't invited because they were taking care of big sis. Sho kind of wanted them to come just because they were always saying mean thing to people. Maybe if they had been here then something could have happened already!

Not that he wanted them there.

Because they had still been a jerk to him. They had still told Shimazaki that all of the tattoos that he had worked really hard on had been stupid looking. They had still made him look bad in front of Shimazaki and they were still trying to take Shimazaki from him, his friendship nothing else, and they were still the biggest jerk that Sho had ever met in his entire life. They really were! So he was glad that they hadn't been invited…even though they would have livened this place up a little bit. God, it was so boring here. Even his boredom was bored….

Even the boredom of his boredom was bored!

"We have, we've just very recently splintered off from the Rising Sun Spiritual Association." Said the lady. Sho wished that those guys were here. They were less boring than this…and they were pretty boring. Most of their members weren't any stronger than the Awakened and their leader was a million years old but at least that had been a cool fight, when there had been a fight. They had gotten a new Scar from that, this spirit user guy…or maybe girl…person who was like Minegishi…maybe. He was going with guy. He was in the Seventh Division. Sho had seen him, spirit user guy, around the Seventh Division when he took baby sis on her baby stroller walks. He had been the most powerful one in their whole organization and Claw had him….

So Sho had no idea why he was sitting there in a war meeting with this lady.

She probably wasn't even that powerful. If she had been then she would have just joined Claw already. Everyone who had any brains in their heads at all knew to join Claw. It was either join Claw or die…and not a lot of people took the second option. Some people took a third option and tried to attack dad…but that never worked out. Maybe this lady was going to try and attack dad…if her powers even worked that way. She hadn't shown her powers once…and Sho had no idea what an orange aura meant. Green auras meant that you could control thing, like take them over, at least most of the time. Red auras meant that you were either one of the Awakened or super powerful like he and dad were. Two colored auras meant that you were like dad and big sis…and that was all he knew about auras. Auras weren't much to go off of…

But they were all he had to go off of.

What was it with girls and fighting?! Big sis hated fighting and so had mom so they didn't grow out of it. This lady was the right age to be a mom, she might not have been since she hadn't brought her kid, but maybe her kid wasn't an esper so he had to go and live in a hole somewhere where he wouldn't embarrass her. He wished that this lady had brought her kid, and that her kid had been a boy, because then maybe he could have fought her kid or her kid could have fought dad or he could have fought the lady and her kid….or someone could have fought someone! God! Girls were so….he would never understand them for as long as he lived. She was there, dad was there, and neither one of them was going to budge so why not start trying to kill each other already!

When Sho took over Claw he was going to make some big changes to how these war meetings went.

"And how is Jodo doing? Still alive?" asked dad. He asked like….like that was just something to ask. Great. This wasn't a war meeting, this was just watching a bunch of adults sitting around and drinking tea and talking about other adults! When he grew up he wasn't going to be boring like this…and it was boring. It was so boring that even the other adults were bored. He could tell. Hatori kept on reaching for his phone and stopping himself, Shibata was looking out the window even though nothing was happening out there, Fukuda kept looking like he was going to yawn, and Shimazaki was drumming his fingers against his leg and looking around outside with his aura.

Not at Sho.

Not that Sho cared. Shimazaki was bored and when he was bored he looked around at stuff. He looked around at…whatever was out there. Maybe someone was walking their dog or something. Maybe the ground outside was full of rat's nests. Maybe there was a bird family outside and he wanted to take Sho away and teleport him in a tree and just…and Sho was going to stop thinking about him. His aura was trying to go over by Shimazaki. Dad had told him to sit still. Dad's aura was on his now. He went back to sitting still….because he didn't want to get in trouble. Yeah, that was it. He didn't want to get in trouble and that was it. He didn't care where Shimazaki looked or didn't look…or if he looked at him or not. None of that even mattered.

Besides, it wasn't like Shimazaki wanted to look at him anyway.

He'd been avoiding Shimazaki…no. He'd been way too busy with unpacking and getting caught up on his homeschool work and drawing and hanging out with big sis to hang out with Shimazaki, that was all. It wasn't like he was scared of Shimazaki, of if he still thought he was cool or not, because that would have been stupid. He knew that Shimazaki had said that he would always be Sho's friend and something as stupid as not being able to do a tattoo even though they were the easiest thing in the world to do….that wouldn't make them stop being friends or anything like that…and Sho wasn't afraid of that. He just…had been too busy to hang out with Shimazaki. That was all. Also Shimazaki…big sis knew and…and he knew that she wouldn't tell him, she knew how to keep a secret despite what Fukuda thought, he just…he felt like Shimazaki knew and…

And he knew that he was being crazy.

Because Shimazaki did not know. If Shimazaki knew then he would have said something. He didn't know how to keep stuff to himself, that wasn't how his brain worked, so of course if he knew how Sho felt he would have told anyone who would listen. He told everyone everything about everything. He told everyone about Hatori's nightmares and how Shibata cooked and ate when he was stressed and about how Minegishi…well he never talked about them…but because they were boring and had nothing to talk about. Not because he liked them and kept their secrets and stuff like that…and he would have told them, anyway, if he knew that Sho was in love with him…

Not that he had any idea how Sho really felt about him.

Nobody but big sis knew. Nobody but big sis could ever know….and Sho needed to stop thinking about this. About Shimazaki. About how he felt about Shimazaki. About how Shimazaki would never feel back to him. He was a million years older than he was and also he was way too cool too….and stuff. He looked so cool. He was in his jacket and his shirt that was just as black as his jacket, the one with the low neck so Sho could see the top of his dragon, and he was leaning against the wall and he was so cool and…and dad's aura was tapping his again. Not meanly, not like he wanted to hurt him, but hard enough to tell him to turn around and pay attention to dad and that lady talking about someone who was even more boring than they were.

Sho went back to looking at his tea. He knew that dad couldn't read minds but he didn't know what was up with that lady…and he didn't want her or anyone to see where his mind had gone just then.

"He just celebrated his hundred and third birthday. I think he plans on living forever." Said the lady with a laugh. Dad…well his aura was trying to laugh…but he wasn't. That would have been interesting, dad laughing, because he had never heard that before. He could laugh, Fukuda said he could, but he also said that hearing dad laugh was one of the most unpleasant sounds that he had ever heard in his life…and now Sho wanted to hear it. It couldn't have been any worse than sitting here and listening to the adult talk….and it could have taken his mind off of…stuff. His mind shouldn't have even been on any kind of stuff to begin with! This was a war meeting, a very boring war meeting but still a war meeting just the same, and he should have had his head in the game!

And dad should have too!

This should have been short. This should have been one of those join me or Shimazaki drops you off of the roof things. This should have been one of those I will never join you and now I'm going to try and shoot you things. This should not have been one of those dad drinks tea with some lady and talks about stuff that doesn't even matter things! And also he wasn't even….even focused on anything! He wasn't even looking at her now. He was looking at the table….ok now he was looking at her…and then he was looking down at the table again…it was like he was afraid to look her in the eyes. Like he thought that she would see his thoughts or something, well there were some people who could do that, but if he was so afraid of that then why didn't he just give her the normal offer like normal?

Dad was being so weird right now.

"We….we really do tend to be long lived, don't we?" asked dad. His voice did something weird, there, like it was trying to be higher than it was. Dad's voice never did that before, not that Sho could hear anyway, and it was just….weird. The way he was being. What his eyes were doing. He was even fidgeting both with his aura and with his hands. He was drumming his fingers against his teacup now…and if he was going to be drumming then he could have at least drummed with Shimazaki because this was kind of annoying….but Sho had no idea why he was drumming in the first place.

This lady wasn't that powerful.

She really wasn't. If she had been powerful enough to make dad nervous then she would have done something by now. She would have done something or dad would have done something or something would have happened. But nothing was happening. Dad was just being all…weird. Sho didn't get it. What, was he worried that this lady was going to chase him and kiss him or something…which to be fair was always a danger when it came to girls….but girls his age didn't even do that anymore…mostly…so ladies dad's age should have been way past that…and also gross. A lady liking dad. Poor lady. The only person who should have liked dad was mom…but she had run away from him….from all of them….but that didn't matter. Girls were not allowed to like that.

The thought was just…it made him want to throw up. Girls besides mom liking dad….no way.

"You would know better than I, President Suzuki, you have the most data on espers than anyone else in the world, barring the government of course." Said the lady. Sho rolled his eyes. Now they were talking about the government. Well now this was going to add a few hours to the meeting. Dad hated the government. He said that they were all a bunch of idiots and they had no idea what was going on and who they were messing with and they were stupid and had the nerve to send their spies and stuff. Dad could go on and on and on for hours about the government…and Sho did not have hours and hours and hours. He could feel himself getting older, he could feel his life slipping right through his fingers, and he just needed this meeting to be over. Join me or die. How hard was that.

Well it seemed like it was pretty hard.

Dad actually took a sip of his tea….and then another….and he had told Sho a thousand times that the tea was just to have something to do with his hands and also so people who was important at the table. Why was his drinking the tea…and why was his aura being like that? Sho wasn't the only one who thought that his aura was being weird. Fukuda was looking at him now, and the lady, and then him again. What? Did dad think that this was a fight that he couldn't win? Because he could. He was always going on and on and on about how he was the best esper ever and also he had everyone there to fight with him…even Sho. Not that he would be fighting for dad, no, he was an asshole.

He would be fighting for Claw because without Claw, well, he wouldn't have had a place to live.

"You would have access to that data, Claw's data, the whole of it, you know, if you were to join us." Said dad. He said that after he took a very long drink of tea. The second he put his cup down Fukuda refilled it for him. Their auras met when he got close. It was like their auras were talking and Sho had no idea what they were saying even though he was sitting right there. He hoped that they were saying that they were going to wrap this up soon. Sho had a lot of important stuff to do. Stuff that was so important that he wasn't even sure what it was yet. Stuff…that he would figure out later. He had a lot of time on his hands these days since he had started avoiding Shimazaki….well since he had been busy doing other things….

Like tattooing Fukuda!

There. That was something that he could do today. Fukuda had been letting him practice and Sho had bene getting better. His lines were straighter so that was good. He was getting better and maybe if he got really good really fast then Shimazaki would think that he was cool again…for friendship reasons. Not for love reasons. They were just friends and they could only be just friends….and now Sho was thinking about them being more than friends….because his stupid brain had turned into a traitor…and he knew that he had to stop thinking about this. He was in a war meeting. Sure it was boring now but at any second something interesting could happen and he had to keep his guard up…or something….even though it didn't seem like anything interesting was going to happen….

But maybe this was the part where something interesting finally decided to happen!

"We just got out from under Jodo's thumb, you think that we want to be under yours?" asked the lady. She took a sip of her tea and…and that wasn't interesting. Her saying that she didn't want to join Claw was kind of interesting…and dad should have given her the offer or tried to fight her or…or something. Anything! Anything either than sitting there and letting his aura get all weird and drinking his own tea even though he had just drank a whole bunch of tea and even though he didn't even LIKE black tea to begin with!

Sho was going to die of boredom there, at that table in Osaka, at the age of ten.

Because, really, there was very little war at this war meeting. Dad needed to think up some new names for things. Dad needed to take some of the time he spent being a weirdo and trying to take over the world and he needed to think of more accurate names for things. Maybe instead of a war meeting they could call it a boredom meeting…or something. He didn't know. Shimazaki was good at thinking up funny stuff to say…not that Sho would ask him. They were in the middle of a meeting and also…also he had to hang out with Fukuda after this so there wasn't any time to be asking him things….and stuff…

And now he was looking over at Shimazaki again.

"I don't see why you wouldn't. Joining Claw you would have access to manpower, money, protection-" said dad. Good. Now he was getting into the point of this meeting. Now it would either be over right now and she would take the offer or the meeting would end in a massive fight. That would be good too. This was going to be something and, finally, they could be done soon-

-sooner rather than later.

"We do alright." Said the lady as she interrupted dad. Now everyone was staring at her. Even Shimazaki, well with his aura, and Sho…well he had no idea what Shimazaki was looking at. This wasn't so interesting. She had just talked back to dad, interrupted him, and that wasn't interesting enough for Shimazaki to be staring at the lady like that. No. Lots of people talked like that to dad…well they didn't live long…and stuff….

There was nothing happening here that Shimazaki should have been staring at.

"But you could do better." Said dad. THAT was all that he was going to say? Really? After all of that he was just going to let her say something like that to him? Well at least something interesting had happened…and also maybe something more interesting was going to happen….maybe a fight or something. He didn't know for sure…

Be he needed something to happen already!

"I could…but that's no way to live now is it? Always looking for better. We have better and we're in no hurry to join your group or anyone else's. We're our own group. This is my group. I've built this up from nothing and I won't have that taken from me." Said the lady. She said that like she meant it. She said that like she expected dad to care that she meant it. Dad didn't give a fuck if she meant that or not. Dad didn't give a fuck about anyone other than himself. Dad was probably planning on how he was going to kill that lady right now. Sho looked over to Shimazaki with his eyes, not his aura, so that Shimazaki didn't know that he was being looked at. He had no idea if this lady could survive being dropped, Shimazaki said dropping people from up high was the best way to do it, or maybe this was going to turn into a fight…

Maybe.

But it didn't. For a war meeting, even after she had said that, there was no war. Just more talking. Talking, talking, and more talking. Too much talking. Sho sat back in his chair. Dad and that lady were talking again and his aura was still being weird and…and that wasn't even that interesting either. Nothing was interesting, everything was boring, and Sho….well he wished he had stayed home today….because at least at home there was fun stuff to do. Even not so fun stuff to do. Even boring stuff to do. Stuff that didn't involve sitting in boring meetings and listening to adults talk. Maybe Osaka people were just boring. Maybe girl espers were just boring. Maybe Sho was just too old to be sitting there, he had been little and everything had been new, before, but now he was older. He was ten now, not eight, and he had been to a million of these before….back when he'd been eight…..

He used to like war meetings….but only when there was actual war in the meetings.