First impressions were very important.

People decided in the first five seconds of meeting you if they liked you or not, Mob had read, and that didn't really seem fair. You couldn't get to know a person in only five seconds. It had taken her a long time to like Shimazaki and if she had gone by the five second rule then she never would have made one of her very best friends. Well of her friends were her very best friends, well except for Minegishi who was her VERY best friend….and Sho who was her friend and her brother….but still, you had to get to know a person over a long period of time before you decided if you liked them.

But first impressions were still important.

That was why Mob had been in the bathroom for so long. She had to make a good first impression and that meant looking nice and clean and stuff. People didn't like you if you were sloppy looking, dad had said, and that was why he always wore the same suit day in and day out. Well he had different suits but they all looked the same. Mob mostly dressed the same too. She had the same sort of clothes for work. Same dark blue dress and white tights and blue sweater and ribbon…and she knew that she wasn't supposed to wear blue because it made her look sick, Minori had said, but Mob liked blue and if she liked blue she would wear it, Minegishi said that she should just wear whatever she wanted. Mob thought that she looked nice.

Mostly.

"Go away…go away already." Said Mob as she put more concealer on the red thing on her forehead. It had been hiding under her bangs, that was why she hadn't noticed it, but now it was so big and so red that she could see it through her hair…and that was not how you made a good first impression. Good skincare was important, Minegishi and Minori both agreed on that, and this…was not good skincare. Mob had been so busy working that she hadn't been having skincare days with Minegishi…and now she had this big red thing on her forehead and it just…wouldn't go away!

"Go away already….please?" asked Mob. She knew that it couldn't hear her, that she sounded like a crazy person, but she didn't know what else to do. The concealer wasn't concealing. No matter how much she put on the bump was still there and the red show through….and that was only the worst one. She had some more along her hairline but she could mostly cover those up with her bangs and makeup. This one, however, was stubborn. More stubborn than Sho when it came time to take a bath.

She would gladly have gone through the trials of bath time every morning and night and weekend and week day if it meant that she never had to deal with this ever again.

But that was not how this worked. She did not get to just make deals with whoever was listening, God or the Gods or whoever ran the universe, because if she had then her life would have been a lot easier. She would have given up Frozen to make Sho and dad get along and she would have given up the sweater Shibata made her so that mom could come back, she was worth a sweater Mob decided, and she would have given up milk so that dad could just be nice to people and normal and stuff….and dad was worth milk, she decided. She would have given up strawberry milk too, which was the best of all milks, so that Sho could be happy for every single moment of his life...

But she didn't get to make those kinds of deals with God or the Gods…or whoever people were supposed to pray too.

She could only make deals with herself. She could only tell herself what to do and she would only do things by herself to make her life better. That was why she didn't complain when dad put her in charge and why she wasn't complaining now that dad had decided that he was done being in his room and that he was ready to be in charge again. That was also why she didn't complain that dad was ruining the party, no more dogs or swimming pools of pudding or slides from the top floor of the building to the bottom…and she couldn't even get enough pudding in time for a pudding pool at the end of the slide anyway…but still…

Dad was back. That was what mattered.

Dad was back and, yes, he was going to make the party significantly less fun…and also Mob was going to have to go back to spending all of her days at home and stuff, and also Sho was probably going to be in a worse mood than ever but…at least dad was back. Dad was back and he was going to get back to normal…and then things were going to be normal around here again and…and normal was good. Right? Normal was good and she should have been happy that things were getting back to normal…and now she wouldn't have to worry about running Claw in addition to running the house…and dad was going to be happy again and….and stuff….

So that was a good thing.

She was going to be making a new friend, too, hopefully…so that was a good thing. Yes. Good things were happening. She was making a new friend and it was almost Shimazaki's birthday and also it was going to be Sho's birthday in a couple of months and also maybe if they stayed in Japan long enough they could have a Christmas party too but just them not everyone else in Claw…and also if they didn't stay in Japan they could go to England Sho could see his girlfriend….Mob wasn't sure what their relationship was like if Sho also liked Shimazaki but she knew that Sho would at least be happy to see her so…good things were happening. Even if she had this red thing on her forehead.

And even if her phone was ringing.

Calls weren't usually good. Calls meant that Sho had hurt himself, or Shimazaki was drunk or something, or Minegishi was drunk…but they hardly ever got drunk enough to call her, or maybe Sho was prank calling people again….or it might have just been another commercial. Hopefully nothing big like the HQ was on fire…or blown up…or someone had soaped up the stairs again….

Oh. It was just Minori.

Mob answered it. She knew that if she let it go to voicemail then Minori would have been upset with her…and she knew that nothing good would come of Minori being upset with her. She was Minori's best friend, she had said before, and she had an obligation to her even though for Mob Minegishi was her best friend. That was why they had best friend bracelets. Those were important, like wedding rings, and you didn't just get them for no reason…not that she would tell Minori that. No, Minori needed all the friends that she could get. Especially because everyone she knew was a b-word to her. Mob didn't want to be a b-word to her or to anyone….even if Minori could be kind of…a lot…sometimes….and she gave bad advice…but they were friends and this was what friends did.

They answered the phone when their friends called.

"Shige!" said Minori. Mob didn't know if that was a good 'Shige' or a bad 'Shige'. She'd know in a minute, though, so she didn't have to ask. She put her phone done on the bathroom counter and put it on speaker. She needed both hands for this. The concealer wasn't working….so maybe more foundation? Minori would know. She knew about makeup. She didn't know about boys, Mob was never taking her boy advice ever again, but she did know about makeup.

"Hi Minori….good morning….or night. I forget what time it is where you are." Said Mob. It was morning for her but Minori was all the way on the other side of the ocean. Maybe it was still night there because the sun always rose over Japan first. Dad had said so and he knew a lot of things about a lot of things.

"Yeah, hey, good morning or whatever….anyway when in the hell were you going to tell me that you were going to throw a Halloween party?!" said Minori

"It's also a party for my friend. It's his birthday. He's turning thirty one." said Mob

"Which friend?" asked Minori

"Shimazaki." Said Mob

"Yakuza guy?! The hot yakuza guy?! You're throwing him a party and you didn't even think to invite me?" asked Minori. Mob had to turn the volume down. She didn't know why Minori thought that Shimazaki was so attractive. Ok, so he was tall and his hair was nice and he smelled good and stuff….but he was no Hatori…not that Mob was still in love with Hatori. No, she couldn't even be in the same room with him for long periods of time….and it was her own fault for listening to Minori…not that she blamed Minori or anything like that. No, she would never have been mean to a friend like that.

"Um….well your dad should have been on the invite list already and-" said Mob. She didn't think that she had done anything wrong by not inviting Minori specifically to this…but she must have been wrong. She could be sort of clueless about this sort of stuff sometimes.

"You should have specifically invited me. Then I could have asked my dad myself and he could have said yes…maybe. If I worked him hard enough. He's still pissed at me just because I have a friend with benefits…well dad thinks that he's my boyfriend and I'm going to let him think whatever he wants…anyway you should have told me. If you had told me directly then I could have used this as an excuse to come back to Japan! Also we could have done matching costumes!" said Minori. Mob…well she wanted to be Elsa….but they didn't make Elsa costumes in her size…and also Minori hated Frozen…or at least said that it was for first graders….but matching costumes could have been fun. They could have been other princesses….or something else because Mob was eleven and a half and Minori was almost twelve so…well matching costumes still could have been fun.

"Matching costumes does sound nice but…I guess I just didn't think and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I was such a b-word. Please forgive me." Said Mob. She didn't think that she had been a b-word, the invitation had still gotten to Minori, but she knew that sometimes she didn't know if she was being a b-word or not. Minori knew more about these things than she did…and also she could be kind of sensitive…but that was ok. When you were friends with someone you accepted everything about them, the good and the bad.

"Fine, I forgive you. Anyway you've got to tell me these things next time. Like, if you have a Christmas party again then you had better invite me specifically…and bring your brother, too." Said Minori. Mob…well she couldn't imagine why someone wouldn't have wanted to be Sho's friend since he was the best little brother in the world but also…well Minori had kissed him…and Mob knew that Sho could kiss whoever he wanted and that she wasn't the boss of that part of his life…but he had a girlfriend and also…well girls liking her little brother was kind of…not something that she ever wanted to talk about.

"Sho would come anyway because we're related but…he has a girlfriend….and you're seeing someone too….if you were planning on kissing him or anything like that I mean." Said Mob

"Oh my God! Shige! I'm not going to….I mean if he wanted to…and I mean his girlfriend is still all the way in London, right?" asked Minori. Mob…did not much like where this conversation was going. Sho had a girlfriend and he was not a cheater…also she wasn't sure if he even liked girls…well he must have since he had a girlfriend but he also wanted to be Shimazaki's boyfriend so….the whole thing was complicated and also none of mob's business so she didn't ask. She didn't ask and also…well also she didn't want Minori to be with Sho and stuff like that…and also maybe they needed to talk about something else before this whole thing got weird.

"She's still in London and…um….hey, do you know what to do about spots? Because I have one, well a bunch of them, but one really bad one and it keeps on showing through the concealer." Said Mob

"Shige, of fucking course I know what to do. If it's showing through the concealer then you should just pop it." Said Minori

"Pop it?" asked Mob with a frown. She felt it with her finger….which may have been a bad idea because some of the concealer came out. She could have popped it like a balloon…but that would have hurt a lot it seemed like.

"Yeah, with your fingers or a safety pin or something. If you pop it then it'll heal." Said Minori. Mob…well she could have gone to Fukuda to have it healed…but then she would have had to talk to him and stuff. She knew that it would get better on it's own, or Minegishi could even help her, but they had work stuff to do today….though Minegishi could have probably fixed it without popping it…but they had work stuff to worry about and besides, Mob needed this gone soon….even if getting it done soon would probably hurt.

"But…doesn't that hurt?" asked Mob. She didn't want to have to pop this and hurt herself…but she did want it gone. First impressions were very important. First impressions and…well she wanted to make a new friend and…and she just….she didn't like having this thing on her head and she wouldn't have liked this thing on her head even if she hadn't had to make a good first impression on someone new.

"Oh course it hurts. It hurts but you have to do what you have to do. I mean maybe you should leave it, though. I mean you're still trying to get with glasses boy, right?" asked Minori

"Um…the thing about that is-" said Mob

"Because, really, and not to be mean or anything but he has got the worst skin that I have ever seen in my life. Seriously? I have no idea why you even want anything to do with him. You could get with way hotter guys like-" said Minori. Mob didn't want to talk about this. She didn't want to talk about how she had messed up….and she didn't want talk about how maybe Minori didn't always give the best advice when it came to stud about boys….and also she just…well she wanted to talk about other things…or maybe nothing at all. Maybe she wouldn't even have the time. She had to hurry up. There were other people who needed the bathroom and she had been in there all day…and maybe she should just hang up before Minori started to talk about more stuff that Mob didn't really want to talk about.

She had never been so glad to feel dad's aura in her entire life.

"Shigeko? How much longer are you going to be in there? Other people need the bathroom." Said dad as he knocked on the door.

"Sorry Minori, I have to go now…but thanks for the advice." Said Mob before she hung up. She opened the door with her powers and pulled her bangs back down. That was….better. She could still sort of see it but she might have just been making something out of nothing because she knew that it was there. kind of like her Tangled T-shirt with the grease stain that she always noticed but nobody else did. Or her Anna T-shirt with the strawberry milk stain. Yeah, she was making something out of nothing.

"Shigeko, what's that on your head?" asked dad as she stepped past him to let him into the bathroom. Mob reached up and covered her forehead quickly. She hadn't been making a big enough deal about this. She had this spot on her head and she was going to have it there for the rest of her life…unless she popped it…but it hurt to touch and…and she didn't want to hurt herself…and maybe Fukuda could fix it but then that would involve talking to him and being near him…and she didn't really want to do that.

"Nothing. Just a…thing that I have to…pop. Don't look at it." Said Mob. She looked down at the bathroom floor. It was white. Even dad noticed it. Dad had noticed and he had said something…and everyone else would have noticed…even the new guy. He was going to notice and…and maybe she shouldn't have gone….but that would have been mean. He was finally ok with seeing her, well having her in his house, and she comes in looking like…this…but he had taken the time to let her into his house and he was super scared of people…and stuff.

"Alright, I won't look…but don't pop it. If you pop those then you'll scar…and also picking at your skin is a bad habit." Said dad. She looked up…and he wasn't looking at her like he said. He was nice like that sometimes. Not nice enough not to say anything about the giant thing on her forehead, though, but that was normal for dad. He could be nice like now….well dad nice.

"I know that it is. Minegishi always says not to pick at my skin but my friend Minori said that if I wanted to get rid of this thing then I needed to pop it." Said Mob

"Listen to Minegishi. Never pop those. You're just going to end up hurting yourself and making it worse in the long run. Believe me, I know." Said dad. Mob…didn't know how he could know. He never got spots on his skin. He hardly even had any freckles on his face….but he said that he knew what he was talking about. He must have been her age, once, even though it was hard to think about that. Dad being a kid. He had to have been her age and…and Mob knew from the book that Minegishi got her that this was a normal part of growing up, her skin was going to get all oily and stuff, and that it happened to everyone…even dad it seemed.

It was so weird to think about dad being her age.

But he must have been. He had been her age once and…and it was so weird to think of him standing in front of a mirror picking at some spot on his head. He must have care when he got these…and he knew how to fix them…and she wished that he had told her what to do before she had gotten one this bad. Minegishi knew complicated stuff about oatmeal and honey and avocado and witch hazel….and Mob….well that was very complicated to remember. When Minegishi mixed this stuff up they weighted and measured things…and Mob didn't have that kind of time right now. She needed this thing fixed….and dad….

Well he must have known what to do.

"But…then what do I do?" asked Mob. She looked up at dad. He was looking down at her now. He brushed her hair away from her forehead and stared at her. He poked the spot with his fingers…and it hurt…but not that bad. He poked at it again and stared. What, did he think that it was going to do something?

"Put some toothpaste on it. My mother taught me that. Here." Said dad. He called the toothpaste, his toothpaste, over with his powers. He uncapped it and put a big gob of it right on her forehead….and that was worse than the spot. At least the spot…well that was supposed to be there…since even Minegishi got these sometimes…but the toothpaste was just…ick. She was going to stick to whatever Minegishi made for this. This was…well dad had thought that this was a good idea.

Well grandma had thought that this was a good idea.

That was….it was weird thinking about grandma…how she'd had one. How dad had been her age and he'd had a mom…and now he didn't. He'd had a mom and then she had left, died, and now he was just…himself. Like an orphan. She hadn't really thought about that, before, dad being an orphan….but he was. He was and now he was her dad and one day he would be gone and she would be an orphan and…and she didn't want to think about that. She wanted to think about….other things.

Like the toothpaste on her head.

"How long do I have to keep this on for?" asked Mob. This was…well she smelled good. She looked dumb but she smelled good. She tried not to laugh at the idea of dad being her age and looking like this….and she succeeded. She would never laugh at her dad but especially not now, not after he had been really upset about….something. Upset enough to stay in his room for a really long time. She wondered what it was that had upset him so badly…but she didn't ask. She knew that dad would have just told her that she didn't have to know.

Still, though, she wondered what could have been bad enough to make him hide in his room like that.

The new guy, well maybe it was too early to call him the new guy, had that same problem. He had spent years in his room because he was afraid of people and stuff. Fifteen years. That was longer than she had been alive for. She wondered why people did that, hide in their rooms, and she wanted to ask…but that wasn't the thing to just ask someone. Not when she first met them, no, she had to make a good first impression and she couldn't do that by asking a million personal questions at once like that.

And also she couldn't make a good first impression with a glob of toothpaste on her forehead.

"Several hours." Said dad. Mob frowned. That was…well she didn't have a specific time that she had to be there…but she wanted to be there bright and early. When his mom said that she could be reasonably assured that he would be awake. He didn't really pay attention to night and day, his mom had said, but he usually went to bed between nine in the morning and noon and Mob didn't want to get there too late and wake him up and stuff. She didn't want to get there too late but she also didn't want to get there on time but also with this big glob of toothpaste on her head.

"Can I wipe this off now? I have to go soon." Said Mob. It was a long way to Baked Goods City. Not long enough to take a plane but long enough that it would be a long car ride. It would have been faster by train but dad didn't want her to take a train. Not on her own but at all. He worried about her, he said, but Mob had no idea what there even was to worry about. It was just a train. Sho took them all the time with Fukuda.

"Where?" asked dad. Mob wondered if he had forgotten. She had told him, before, that she had to go and meet someone new and bring them to Claw, maybe. He might have forgotten like he had lost track of the time, or something, when he had been in his room.

"To meet the new person I was telling you about. Remember?" asked Mob

"Yes, I remember. Very well. I suppose that you're just going to have to live with it…well if you popped it then Fukuda could heal it but it's a very painful process." Said dad

"And Fukuda doesn't like me." Said Mob simply because that was the truth.

"Everyone likes you…or at least they had better." Said dad. Mob….she didn't want him to try and force anyone to like her. People either liked her or they didn't and she knew that friendship wasn't a thing that you could force. You could try and force someone to be your friend but that wasn't real friendship and Mob only wanted real friendship.

"He doesn't and that's ok. Not everyone is going to like me and stuff." Said Mob. She wished, well part of her wished, that Fukuda could have been like he had been before. Back when he had liked her and he had been nice and stuff…but that was in the past. Like Elsa said, the past was in the past, and Mob knew that she had been talking about bad stuff…but good stuff could be in the past too. Good stuff like having someone who cared about you and was nice to you and played with you and read to you. Well Mob…she wasn't a little kid anymore. That was in the past too. Fukuda had liked her when she was a little kid and now she wasn't and…and all of that was in the past and she was ok with that. She really was.

"You are a very likeable person. Don't say those things about yourself." Said dad. He was serious there, well he was always serious, but there were times that he could be especially serious. His eyes got all blue, well they were always blue, but his pupils got really small and stuff. He and Sho had the same serious face though they were serious about different things, usually.

"Well you like me but Fukuda doesn't…and that's ok. I'm ok with him not liking me." Said Mob. She had taken a long time to get used to it but…well she had no choice but to get used to it.

"….I'll have to speak to him in that case." Said dad. Mob shook her head. No way. That was the last thing that she wanted. Fukuda could like her or dislike her or whatever else he wanted. She didn't care anymore. He was being nice to Sho and he had stopped looking at her, he didn't even look in her direction anymore when they spoke, so really she didn't ask for anything else. She was fine with whatever their relationship was now. Not everyone in the world was going to like her and that was fine…she didn't even know if she wanted to be friends with him anymore.

"Please don't. I can handle things myself, ok? And I don't even care if he likes me or not. Honestly right now I'm more worried about the new guy liking me." Said Mob

"I can't imagine why he wouldn't." said dad. Mob…well she didn't know why sometimes people didn't like her either but she just knew that some people were like that. Not everyone in the world would like her just like not everyone in the world liked strawberry milk and Frozen and stuff like that. People were different. There were as many types of people in the world as you could imagine and sometimes they wouldn't always get along…and she really hoped, though, that she and the new person got to be friends. She knew how hard it could be to make friends and she wanted to be friends with him and then he could be friends with her friends and then…well they'd have a whole new person to be friends with and stuff.

"Because I have toothpaste on my head."said Mob. Dad used his powers to wipe her head off with one of the bathroom towels. She knew that her makeup was getting messed up right now…but she didn't have time to fix it. She had to get going soon.

"Thanks dad. I have to go now but I'll see you later, alright? You can have Shibata make you breakfast. I don't have time, it's a long way to Baked Goods City. Alright?" said Mob

"That's fine….but take an umbrella with you. It looks like rain today." Said dad. He pointed out the bathroom window and to the grey sky like she hadn't noticed it yet. She knew that it looked like rain but she didn't need to carry an umbrella around with her. She was going to be riding in a car all day and even when she had to come out she would be able to put up a barrier. Dad worried about the strangest things sometimes.

"Dad, I'm going to be in the car all day." Said Mob. She really didn't want to have to bring something that she would have to remember….and she knew that she'd just end up forgetting it. Like how she had forgotten her clear plastic Frozen umbrella with the snowflakes…and they didn't make those anymore so it was an especially bad loss. She had a new one, Anna this time, and she didn't want to lose it…but she supposed that she could always take one of the plain white ones….even though those were boring.

"Take one anyway." Said Dad. Mob…was not going to argue with him. If he wanted her to take an umbrella then that was fine. She didn't want to have to carry it around all day and try not to forget it somewhere….she always forgot umbrellas when she took them places….she would do this because dad asked her to and he was just looking out for her and stuff.

"Ok….fine. I will. Here, you can have the bathroom now." Said Mob. She did what dad said and took an umbrella as she left. She didn't need it but, well, he cared about her and at least he was showing it without being all….dad…about it…so that was good. This was going to be a good day, she decided, even if she had this spot on her forehead that wasn't going to go away and even if it looked like rain and she had this umbrella that she didn't even needed….it was still going to be a good day.

Because she was going to make a very good first impression and she was going to end up making a very good new friend…hopefully.