Sometimes it was best to just ignore the things which upset you.

Be it no cooperative possible allies, your Son cursing in ways that some might even call creative, or your house being infested with garden beetles sometimes it was just best to ignore the thigs which bothered you. Either that or go insane and Suzuki had no intention of ever going insane. He liked his current level of sanity, which was at perfectly sane despite what some people said before they met their perfectly timely and earned ends, and he had no desire to become anything less than perfectly sane. Even if sometimes the world seemed to be bent on making him insane.

But he was going to do his best to ignore the world.

He was going to do his best to ignore the fact that his Son had taken to essentially living in a closet…if he was planning on becoming one of those shut ins that Suzuki had been reading about then Son had another thing coming. He did his best to ignore the fact that Shigeko wasn't home either. She was with Minegishi and that was alright, they took good care of her, and even if they didn't Suzuki had taken care of anyone who would have done his Daughter harm….also he was going to ignore the fact that he had taken care of every other esper group, or group with an esper in it, and yet this woman still said 'no' to him.

It made no sense.

Joining Claw would not only be mutually beneficial for both of them but also esper kind. That was the thing, she just could not see the big picture, but most people couldn't. It was another annoyance that Suzuki tried to ignore. He knew why people joined him. The promise of money, the promise of power, the promise that he was some kind of living God as he'd been called, fear for their own lives, but never….very people saw the world the way that he saw it. It made no sense, no logical sense at all, that the powerful were forced to hide from the powerless. It made no sense that the world couldn't even know of their existence, widely anyway, and it just…it made more sense the way he saw it. The vision of the world he'd had since he was not much older than his children. A world where espers wouldn't have to hide, a world where espers wouldn't have to grow up thinking that they were the only ones of their kind, and a world where he ruled because he was the only man for the job. He was the most powerful esper on Earth after all…so of course it was right that he could rule….

And it was so annoying that nobody could see that…that she couldn't see that….

And it was annoying that he even cared what she felt. Sakata Shiori….he shouldn't have cared what she thought or felt…and he certainly should not have been trying to get her to join him like this, by removing her enemies, it just didn't make sense. She should have been given the same offer as anyone else…but if she took option two he just…he didn't know. Indecisive. He was indecisive and it was so annoying. He hated being…well he hated being anything other than himself and he was a very decisive person. He always had been and always would be a very deceive person.

To be anything else would have been annoying…almost as annoying as the garden beetles that were taking over the house.

He saw one on the wall, there, by the refrigerator. He didn't think, he just hit it flat with his powers. He had no choice. Garden beetles were vermin and he could not have vermin in the house. Houses were for people, not insects, and insects spread disease. They spread disease and disease was one of the few things that could kill him. He hadn't been a sickly child, in fact he had always been remarkably healthy, but there had been times when even he succumbed to illness…and he hadn't known Fukuda then…and the thought of something as small and insignificant as a microbe being able to end his life…it was…

Annoying.

Being weak was always annoying. Admitting his own weakness to anyone other than Shigeko, and even it was hard admitting it to Shigeko sometimes too, was just so…annoying. He didn't want to be weak, and he did not consider himself to be a weak man, but there were just somethings about himself that…were weak…and even having those parts of himself annoyed him. Acknowledging them….well that was just…that was even worse than having them. Even though he had those parts he could just…well he knew that those parts of himself wouldn't just disappear if he ignored them for long enough…but he also knew that nothing good would come of acknowledging them…so he didn't. Because they were just so….annoying.

Not as annoying as having to listen to Hatori carry on like that, though.

"Hatori, stop that. You're being annoying again." said Suzuki. He forced his aura to stay flat and calm. Hatori had made that terrible yelping sound again and now he was looking under the table. He did not need Hatori to become frightened enough to hide. That was always annoying and Suzuki could not deal with any more annoyances today.

"Sorry, Suzuki, I just got startled is all. I mean I wasn't expecting….that." said Hatori. Suzuki nodded. Maybe he meant that if he knew what to expected, later, he wouldn't carry on like that. Yes, that would have made sense. Hatori startled easily. Suzuki suspected that he had some sort of disorder.

"There was an insect and I killed it. Next time you see an insect brace yourself because I'll kill it again. Understood?" asked Suzuki

"Understood….but do you have to hit so hard? You kind of made a dent in the wall." Said Hatori. Oh, so he did. Well that was fine. He didn't much care about these houses or any houses. Houses were just collections of wood and paint and plaster. They could be replicated anywhere. They could be bought anywhere. They could be destroyed and recreated at any time. He didn't care if he brought this house down over both of their heads. He could always just find another one….not that he wanted to. That was an annoyance in and of it's self.

"I don't care, it's just a wall." Said Suzuki

"I guess…overkill for a bug, though, just saying…not that you did anything wrong! I mean…bugs suck." Said Hatori. He was playing with the sleeve of his sweater as he said that. There was a thread at the end of that which had come loose. Suzuki tore it off for him. He could not stand loose threads.

"They do…and that's why they need to die. I have no idea how they keep on getting into this house but when they do they have to die." Said Suzuki. He thought that he saw another one out of the corner of his eye and prepared to strike…but it had been nothing. These beetles…when he came to power the first thing he was doing was exterminating the garden beetle. They were ugly, annoying, and they multiplied too quickly too. The children could have tracked in only two at some point and then within a week the whole house could have been infested…and he did not want to deal with an infested house on top of everything else that he had to deal with on a daily basis.

"Maybe because it's been so humid out. It's really humid in Osaka…worse than Tokyo, anyway." Said Hatori

"That's possible. It is unbearably humid here. I have no idea why people choose to stay." Said Suzuki. He grew up in Seasoning City, which was unbearable in the summer, but Osaka was something else. What didn't help was the fact that someone kept on turning the air conditioning off. He had no idea why they, probably Son since he was shortsighted enough to think that was a good idea, would do that but he did know that it made the house almost unbearable. He was down to his undershirt and still he was hot…and he could not wait until the air conditioning finished cooling the house completely. This heat was so sticky and annoying.

"Me neither…maybe for the arcade. It's pretty great. You and me should go sometime." Said Hatori. Suzuki almost frowned at that. Hatori was always inviting him places and he didn't know why. He had no shortage of people to spend time with, including the children, and Suzuki always said 'no' anyway. He just didn't understand why Hatori kept on inviting him…but he would keep on declining, anyway, even though saying 'yes' maybe have been the thing to get him to come off of all of that once and for all.

"You and I…and also I'm going to have to pass. Take my children with you. Shigeko loves outings and Son…he's been spending a worrying amount of time hiding in the closet." said Suzuki. He had no idea what was so funny, and he could tell that Hatori was suppressing some laughter there, maybe the fact that Son was being ridiculous….yes. There was always humor to Son being ridiculous.

"He'll come out on his own when he's ready." Said Hatori still laughing a bit. Suzuki didn't get it. Son had done much more ridiculous things in the past…like the time he had gotten his tongue stuck to a streetlight in the middle of winter…or the time he and Shigeko dragged a tree into the house from the outside…and there had been one time when he had been a baby and he had gotten himself stuck dangling from the top of the door frame. Suzuki had warned him about climbing but even at the age of twenty three months he had already been completely ridiculous….and he was still so ridiculous. So annoyingly ridiculous.

"He comes out for meals sometimes. I have no idea what he does in there all day but I'm grateful that he's busy in there and not out here making a distraction out of himself." Said Suzuki. The thought of Son out there carrying on…it sends a shudder up his spine. He does not need to deal with that right now. He had intelligence to review, rivals to take down, and a very stubborn woman to convince. He had so much going on that he couldn't even take a break to do something enjoyable with Hatori…and that was the best part of his company. If he just wanted to sit there and work then he would have been sitting beside Fukuda, not Hatori. He was always good at keeping him on track, Fukuda, but he didn't need that now. He had too much to do to even begin to think about going off track.

"Yeah, Sho's got a lot of energy. He's a good kid though, just a good with a lot of energy." Said Hatori. Suzuki shook his head. Good was not the word he would have used to describe Son. Tiresome, quarrelsome, generally annoying…those were all words that better encompassed that child. Suzuki didn't know what was wrong with him. He just kept going and going and going like he was some sort of living perpetual motion machine or something.

"He's more of a perpetual motion machine than a human child. I have no idea where he gets it from. I was never like him when I was his age. I used to be able to sit perfectly still for hours and hours, even, when it was required of me." Said Suzuki. He knew that Son was his, he knew that Masami would never have let another man anywhere near her, but he just did not understand where Son had…come from. Where his worst traits had come from. He certainly hadn't gotten them from Suzuki himself…and he could not even begin to picture Masami ever behaving like Son even as a child…a loss. He was at a loss when it came to his only blood child.

"Why did you sit perfectly still for hours and hours when you were a kid?" asked Hatori. Suzuki didn't understand the question. School was the first thing that came to mind but then he remembered how terribly the other children had behaved. They spoke even though their teacher forbade it and they got up and played when it had been forbidden. The day went by much faster if you just sat perfectly still, let it wash over you, and then so any work that was assigned to you. Most people weren't like him, though, so school might not have been the best answer.

The next answer that came to mind was mother and father.

Mother and father hadn't like it when he ran around so he stopped. They hadn't liked it when he climbed on things so he stopped. They hadn't liked him playing with the other children on the playground, even, so he stopped. He sat still, beside them, for hours and hours when they did things as a family. Long drives through the country, documentary and film marathons, watching mother paint in her studio, watching father work in his office when his presence had been permitted….and now he realized how much of his childhood he had spent sitting still, perfectly still, and doing as he was told….

Why couldn't Son have taken after him in that respect?

"Mother and father asked it of me and I always did what I was told. It was my job as their son. When you have children you'll understand." Said Suzuki. Hatori had only been a Son for fifteen years and he probably couldn't even remember what it was like. Family life was such an easy thing to forget. He hadn't even thought about his, the life he'd had with mother and father, until Daughter had brought it up all those weeks ago…and in a way she was still bringing it up. She would be home soon to make tempura just like she did every Friday night and he would eat it just as he did every Friday night…and he would try not to remember the endless Fridays that had come before this…just as he did every Friday night…Fridays were so annoying.

"I really don't see myself ever having kids. I mean I'd need a partner for that and people aren't exactly lining up to date me so…yeah." Said Hatori. Suzuki wished that he had more confidence in himself. He needed to talk to Fukuda. Suzuki had felt, when he had been younger, the same way Hatori did. That there was something wrong with him, something that made him inherently undesirable to the opposite sex, Hatori was a homosexual but the point still stood, but then Fukuda had told him that he had a lot to offer a girl, well woman now since they were grown men, and that had brought him right out of the pit of despair. Really, everyone needed someone like Fukuda in their life. He was good at fixing things…but for some reason Hatori didn't seem to think so. Logic dictated that they should have been friends but logic rarely had anything to do with the invisible bonds that people formed with one another.

"I don't see why not. You're pleasant to be around despite your constant panicking, your skin is almost completely cleared up, you're competent at your work, and also the shape of your lenses is fascinating. If you had been a woman I would have been happy to have you….well if I weren't married. You need to have more confidence in yourself. It doesn't matter who you are or what you're capable of so long as you have the confidence to reach your goals. That's the secret of success, constant and never ending confidence in yourself." Said Suzuki. There. Good things. He had said good things and now Hatori would stop feeling bad about himself. He meant every word of it. He wished that he understood people better, then maybe he could see why people didn't seem to want to be with Hatori. He knew what mean valued in women and Hatori fit into that. He was small, his hair looked soft, he looked like he would have been a good caretaker, and he was very good company. If Suzuki had been looking for a wife and Hatori had been a woman then of course he would have pursued him romantically and sexually. Who wouldn't? But this was reality and Suzuki was married so he was not going to be pursing Hatori of anyone else.

He still had that ring on his finger.

He was still a married man. It didn't matter who came into is life, it didn't matter who she was or what she was or if she was even someone who he could have seen himself with in some hypothetical alternate universe in which he had never met Masami. He was a married man and he would be a married man until either he died or he received word of Masami's death, the thought makes him want to kill someone, and married men did not have those sorts of thoughts about women…or their male friends if they had been born as women. He was married and he didn't think of anyone in that way. Not Hatori if he had been born a woman and certainly not any actual woman.

Not even the most stubborn one that he had ever met.

"Yeah…if I was a girl…" said Hatori. He had a tone there that Suzuki didn't understand. What was so inconceivable about that? If Hatori had been female he would have had no shortage of partners. A female esper was a rare thing, first of all, and second of all he really wasn't the bad once you got to know him. Sure he could be annoying, most people were, but he was just incredibly pleasant to be around and to speak to. He didn't look like he would take up much room in the bed, too, which was something that Suzuki hadn't thought about before he married. Always marry someone who won't sleep too much on your side of the bed. Always marry someone what was good company. Always marry someone that you found physically attractive, too, and Hatori would have been an attractive woman considering how feminine he was now. He was a very small man, and he just had this softness to him, so if he had been a woman he would have been a very good partner.

Also he couldn't survive on his own.

He had no parents, no siblings, no cousins, no education past middle school, and no idea how to live out in the world on his own. The minutia of it. Suzuki knew how difficult it was figuring out how to live without any guidance, everything from paying bills and setting up a bank account to cremating and interring your death parents, and Suzuki had been three years older and a hundred years wiser than Hatori when he'd found himself alone in the world. Hatori knew nothing about how to survive out there…and that was perfect. The best sort of partner was one that could never leave you. One who couldn't have left even if they had wanted to. Hatori was that sort of person…

And it was a pity that he was a homosexual. He would have been perfect for Shigeko.

"Yes, you would have been a very desirable partner if you had been born a woman…but you're a man but that doesn't mean that you wouldn't be a very desirable partner…at least I imagine it does. I have no idea what men look for in other men." Said Suzuki. He really didn't. When he pictured what he would have looked for in a man, if he had been a homosexual, he just pictured the things that he looked for in a woman. Good company, good at caring for children, intelligent, capable, soft, and unable to leave him. That couldn't have been right. Men were different. Men must have wanted things from other men that he couldn't even imagine. He wondered what he would have looked for in a man if he had been a woman…and he just came up with the same thing. He wasn't good at this…but then again he had never been good at these hypothetical situations.

"Pretty much the same thing men look for in women I guess. You know, good looks and a good job and, you know, the love." Said Hatori. Suzuki nodded. Maybe he had been overthinking it. Maybe everyone was just looking for the same thing in everyone else…but then why have heterosexuals and homosexuals? Wouldn't everyone have just partnered up with everyone else then?

"That makes sense I suppose…but that also raises further questions." Said Suzuki

"You…have questions?" asked Hatori. His aura went in close and his eyes danced between the window and the space underneath the table…and he really needed to get some help for his obvious fear disorder. He was a smart man, one of the smartest Suzuki knew, surely he must have known that nothing was going to harm him so long as Suzuki was around. Maybe he needed professional help or something if his fear was overriding his basic common sense.

"Yes. What you said raises the question of why we even have heterosexual people and homosexual people in the first place if all people are looking for the same things from one another." Said Suzuki

"Because…people are attracted to who they're attracted to. Some people like men, some people like women, and some people like neither. It's just a thing that you're born with…why? Is it a conscious choice for you?" asked Hatori. Suzuki thought for a moment. Was it a choice? It had never been a choice for him. He met women and then he either didn't look twice at them or he loved them more than life its self. That was normal. He loved the women he loved because he found them physically attractive and they could take care of him. He would take care of them in the way a man was meant to take care of a woman and then she would take care of him in the way that a woman was meant to take care of a man. He would never find himself alone in the world again…not that he wasn't a complete person on his own…but men and women were meant to pair up together. Just like mother and father had said. For everyone man and woman there was their most perfect person, their other half, the person who took care of them and the person who they would take care of. For a man it meant providing for her and for a woman it meant taking care of the man's home and his children. That was why homosexuality was so confusing. The whole thing seemed based on….finding another person pleasant to be around…but both men and women could be pleasant to be around…so he just did not understand.

"No, not a conscious choice. When I meet a woman I either think that she'd be a good partner or I won't…not that I think about women because I'm married. When you get married you'll understand…and I wish that understanding you was as simple as you understanding marriage. From what you've said partner selection comes down to finding another person pleasant to be around…and that seems awfully…well it doesn't seem like a logical system to me. Men and women can both be equally pleasant and wanted in your life…and I find the whole thing to be very confusing." Said Suzuki

"…um….yeah, it's a Rubik's cube-" said Hatori

"No, Rubik's cubes are simple. You can tell at a glance how to solve one of those toys and in how many moves too." Said Suzuki. Those toys….God, those toys. He had achieved a brief moment of fame when he had been in elementary school and it got around that he was good at solving them…though he didn't think that he was particularly skilled when it came to Rubik's cubes. Everyone else just seemed particularly terrible.

"Right…uh….oh! You got another email from that Sakata woman…to your public work email, don't worry, your private stuff hasn't been compromised." Said Hatori. Suzuki…wished that he had a whole basket of Rubik's cubes in front of him. He wished that he had a whole basket of Rubik's cubes in front of him as well as his dissertation for his Mathematical Sciences graduate degree….because he understood those things. Things which made sense. He….this…Sakata….she did not make sense. He was not the one who didn't make sense, she did, and that was why she made him feeling things that did not make any sense whatsoever.

Because, really, he was fine.

So what if she had messaged him directly and not her people? So what if, maybe, she had noticed all the things that he had done for her and now she wanted to maybe make some sort of a deal? So what if she might even have wanted to meet again…and he's suddenly very aware of the fact that he doesn't have a proper shirt on….and just…he's fine. He's fine and everything is fine and…and he's perfectly calm and collected.

Of course he is, he's Suzuki Touichirou.

"Well, what does it say?" asked Suzuki. He knew that he would not be able to make sense of any written words right now….because of…reasons. Reasons which had nothing to do with the fact that Shiori…that SAKATA, had messaged him. He was fine. He was…he was the President of Claw. He was much too important and much too busy to read things. That was why he had people like Hatori around. Yes, he was…he was so busy that…that it was just easier to have someone else do his reading for him. Yes, that was it. It all made perfect sense.

"She says…well she says thanks for getting rid of her enemies but her answer still stands…and she's happy to talk to you about how you'll never change her mind and…whoa…." Said Hatori. The room shook a bit. Something fell out of the cabinet. The lights flicked. Whoa? What was 'whoa'? Well he knew what it meant, it was an exclamation which could have been both positive or negative and….and he had no idea which he was more afraid of….

"Hatori. Explain." Said Suzuki. He was still the one in charge here. He was in charge of Hatori, and his own emotions, and also the world someday. He could and would handle whatever it was that had made Hatori say 'whoa' even if…maybe she was planning on waging war on Claw. Yes! That was wonderful! Well, no, actually it wasn't…they hadn't had a war in a while but the last one had really depleted his supply of both funds and manpower…but at least war was something that he could understand.

"She says that she's tired of playing telephone and she…well she gave you her private phone number….and what looks like her personal email address." Said Hatori. That was…something. Hatori might have said something else but Suzuki…he could not think. She had…what? Well he was no stranger to getting women's phone numbers….well he was not because he had been married for some time…but just…why would she….she knew that he could…didn't she know that by giving him her phone number that he could CALL her?

"Hatori...explain." said Suzuki. He must have been overthinking this, yes, that was it. He was so annoying when he overthought things. She just…she just had some sort of perfectly logical reason to give him her phone number…and her email address….and now he was reminded of the time Fukuda had walked through the door of their shared apartment with a list of pager numbers AND telephone numbers written up and down both arms…and in retrospect maybe Suzuki should have gone to that mixer…because at least then he would have had some idea of what he was supposed to do in this situation…if he even could do anything….he played with his wedding ring.

He was still a married man.

"Ok, so telephone is this game where you-" said Hatori. Suzuki shook his head. He knew what telephone was. He had played that game in primary school and had been banned from that game, too, after he hit and bit another child…but to be fair he had been intentionally saying nonsense that had nothing to do with what was told to him and he had been ruining the game…but that had been forty years ago and had nothing to do with what was happening now…since this wasn't a game.

"No, no, no. I know what telephone is. It's a game that was played when even I was a child. I need to know why she would give me her actual phone number and her email address. Doesn't she know that I could call her? Doesn't she…you know people. You know how their minds work. Tell me why she would do this." said Suzuki

"She wants you to talk to her, I guess, probably about…work stuff? I don't know. Women are complicated." Said Hatori. Suzuki nodded. Yes, they were, they really were. She had seen that ring on his finger, she knew that he was married, so…so he was the one being…but then why would she…work stuff. Work things. She just…but she had said no so many times already…but then why would she….

Where was Fukuda when he needed him.

"Yes…you're right. You're a homosexual so it wasn't very smart of me to ask you about women." Said Suzuki. He needed to ask Fukuda about this…but he had no idea where Fukuda had gone to. Well off doing the million and one administrative things he had to do….but he needed Fukuda right now. He knew people. He knew women, he was very good with them despite never having been married, and he was the man who helped Suzuki navigate these things…..and he just…needed to stay calm.

"Yeah….but I do think that she wants you to talk to her. I mean to call her. She gave you her actual phone number so…maybe you could call her…or something." Said Hatori. Suzuki…tried his best to remain calm…but his best was not in any way, shape, or form good enough. The spot on the wall, the one which had a dent in it, now sported a hole. Suzuki hadn't meant to do that. He just…lost control…and that was so annoying…but so was this! So was him just…he didn't know what in the hell he was supposed to….calm down. He was supposed to calm down. He had to calm down.

For Hatori's sake as well as his own.

"I apologize…there could have been an insect there. Anyway let's continue." Said Suzuki as he used his powers to pull Hatori up from under the table. He was loathe to lie but, well, there could have been an insect on that wall. He didn't know. All he knew was that Hatori was terrified again and he was annoying when he was terrified and Suzuki did not need to deal with that right now. He had enough to deal with as it was…more than enough….and he didn't need anything else on his already overfilled plate…so he just…calmed down and got back to work. For his sake and Hatori's….since Hatori was so annoying when he got scared like this….but this was Suzuki's fault…he had ben annoying first…

It was so annoying when he lost control of his powers…especially for no good reason…and Sakata Shiori was not a good reason at all.