Well. This was not how Ritsu saw today going….not at all.
Ritsu had been planning on spending the day, well what was left of it, with Reigen. He had found another symbol, this time under the staircase at school, and he and Reigen were going to add this one to the database. They were trying to see a pattern, some rhyme or reason to what all of these even were, and that would have taken up a good portion of the afternoon. Also there was supposed to be Korean barbeque afterwards….which meant pork which was the best of all meats….but now it looked like instead of figuring out what all of the mysterious symbols were about, hanging out with Reigen, and getting barbeque Ritsu instead was going to spend his evening dealing with…whatever this was.
Whoever this was…
He knew who this was. His name was Suzuki Sho. He had a little sister. That was who the baby in the stroller was…or maybe it was a kid? He didn't know, he was an only child. He did know, however, that this was probably very bad…well of course it was bad since Tsubomi had seen him and she'd probably ask him a million and one questions later….but it could have been bad like Ritsu was about to get kidnapped and used for experiments bad….
Or maybe he was just going to get punched in the face for trying to hold hands with Sho.
That was always an option. Most guys didn't take it well when he tried to…well not that he tried with a lot of guys but…things had gone badly before. Sho…well he'd ran away….but now he was back and…and Ritsu…well maybe he had come on too strong or…or maybe Sho didn't even like him like that….and maybe he didn't like Sho like that…maybe Ritsu just thought that he was…cute…or something….
He shudders at the word 'cute'.
It's a fully body sort of thing. Full aura, too, and that gets Sho's attention. Well his aura's attention. Now his aura was meeting Sho's and…and that felt…good. Good and bad at the same time. Another shudder. This one wasn't because he had thought of Suzuki Sho of all people as cute. He…well he was. Even if he was covered in dirt and leaves…and it looked like he'd gotten into a fight with a bird at some point….he was cute and stuff….but also dangerous.
This was dangerous.
Ritsu was, supposedly, a genius and as a genius he should have been smart enough to run away. Sometimes you had to run away. Reigen said that. He said that a lot…because he had spent most of his life running away. Ritsu…he knew not to engage with the people who stalked him. He knew that when he sensed them and saw them the best thing to do was to keep moving. Now…well now was different. He knew Sho. Sho was on his side…and even if Ritsu had messed it all up Sho…wasn't going to drag him off for experiments…right?
He'd find out in a second.
"Hello!" said the baby…he had no idea what her name was. She was obviously the baby sister that Sho had told him about, the one who he was here visiting, but Ritsu was blanking on her name. Something…with a 'mu' sound? He didn't know. It didn't matter, it didn't seem like she could talk. Not really. She was mostly just saying 'helllo' and waving at him. He waved back.
Sho stood still.
It didn't fit Sho, him sitting still like that. Ritsu…he could count the number of times they'd met on one hand but in each of those times Sho hadn't been standing still. Even when he stood in place he shifted from the right to the left and back again. Now he was still. He was still and he was staring at Ritsu like he'd never seen another human being before or something.
He had really nice eyes.
Their eyes met. Sho didn't look away. Neither did Ritsu. He was aware, sort of, that there were people around him. School had just let out. This was the way that everyone in his neighborhood took home. There were older kids in uniforms, kids in normal clothes, and some moms with strollers too. Sho didn't blend in at all. It wasn't the red hair or the blue eyes or the fact that he was filthy or even that he wasn't wearing a uniform. No, he just…stood out. There was just…something about him…something that was his and his alone…something that made him stand out like no one else could.
Something that Ritsu…wanted for himself…if even for a little bit.
He knew, as he walked over towards Sho, that he didn't stand out. Not here. Not when there wasn't any attention being put on him. Not when he wasn't Ritsu the smartest kid in school or Ritsu the poor boy who lost his sister or even Ritsu the weird kid who thought that there was some kind of city wide conspiracy of evil psychics. No, here he was just a kid in the crowd…a kid walking against the crowd but a kid in the crowd…
A kid about to meet another kid.
"Did you get into a fight with a bird on the way here?" asked Ritsu. That seemed like a good place to start. The feathers. He had feathers in his hair and so did his little sister. She was trying to reach out of her stroller now. He…had no idea what to do. Mom and dad hadn't had any other kids after Shigeko died and his only cousin, Tobio, was older than him and lived in another city anyway. He didn't know what to do about little kids who kept on saying 'hello' to him…
Or guys his age who didn't say anything at all.
"Let me guess, the bird won?" asked Ritsu. Sometimes it was best to keep talking when the other person didn't say anything right away. That had always served him well. Either the other person said that he was an asshole and left or they started talking to fill the atmosphere with something other than silence. Sho looked like he was going to do the second thing…once he finished up with the staring.
Ritsu didn't know if this was good staring or bad staring.
"I-I didn't get into a fight with a bird! It just…well baby sis wanted to see the nest and-" said Sho
"Hello!" said the baby
"-and then I brought her up there and there were these baby birds and she wanted to play with-" said Sho
"Hello!" said the baby, this time with a kick of her feet. Ritsu wondered if she was meant to only be wearing one shoe. He didn't ask, though, since it didn't really affect him how many shoes that baby had on. He wasn't the one who was supposed to be babysitting her.
"-the baby birds but the mom came back and she was all pissed off even though we were being-" said Sho
"Hello!" said the baby, this time….angrily? Could babies…or kids? Could people her age even get angry? He didn't know. It wasn't like he could remember being her age.
"-nice to them and everything!" said Sho
"So…you did get into a fight with a bird…and the bird won?" asked Ritsu. He held eye contact with Sho. Sho was the first to break it. He reached up and took a feather out of his hair. He held it in his hands and played with it. His sister tugged on his coat.
"Hello!" said the baby, this time directed at Sho. Ritsu…had he been like that when he'd been little? He couldn't ever imagine tugging on Shigeko's coat…or even being near her. She hadn't been the much older than him, just a year, so…well he wouldn't have tugged on her like that…when he'd been that little baby's/kid's age…well actually in the pictures that he'd seen, the ones mom and dad hid in their room, he hadn't even been as big as baby whatever her name was right now….
Shigeko had been long dead before he had even been two.
"…it was a draw…" said Sho. He looked up as he said that…and normally it would have hit Ritsu right in the stomach. Right in the stomach like getting struck by lightning…or whatever getting struck by lightning felt like. He didn't know a better way to describe it, the feeling he got when he was near a guy he liked. The feeling he got when he was near Sho…well it was worse when he was near Sho…but now it didn't really feel like anything. Now instead of lightning there was this…sort of heavy feeling…in his stomach. There was a baby tugging on his pants leg and…and that was Sho's sister…he got a sister…
He got two of them.
Ritsu exorcises the feelings as best as he can. His powers don't listen when he has big feelings, bad feelings, ones like this. They don't listen when he has heavy feelings…and when he has big ones like being pissed off his powers act on their own. The midpoint, they worked best at the midpoint, and he had to stay at the midpoint all the time. He had to stay there all the time so he could be ready. He had to be ready for when they came and…stuff.
He was not ready now.
He did the best he could to get this feeling, this heavy feeling, out of his chest. People had sisters. People were older siblings and people were younger siblings. This was something that he'd had almost eleven years to get used to. This was something that he had to get used to now. This was…he needed to calm the hell down...he needed to get back to the midpoint….
Right. Now.
"Hello! Hello now! Sho!" said the baby. Her aura…she actually had one….hit him when she said that. Yeah…she was pissed off. She had the same sort of aura as Sho…not just the color but the feel of it too…maybe because they were brother and sister. Yeah, that would have made sense. He wondered what color Shigeko's aura would have been…what kind of aura she would have had…if she even would have had an aura….
He stops wondering. It's pointless.
"She wants you to say 'hi' back. She's not going to stop until you do. She's had a lot of soda and M&M's today." Said Sho. He reached down and patted his baby sister on the head. Her hair sprang right back up. She looked like she had gotten into a fight with an electrical socket and lost. So did Sho. He decided to focus on Sho…on his spiky red hair…and not the fact that his sister was right there and talking and…
And yeah. He focused on Sho.
"Hello." Said Sho. He waved at the baby. She waved back. Her aura felt…better? Less like she was about to climb out of that stroller and put him in the ground, anyway. She smiled and waved to him. He waved back. Someone stopped and pointed at them.
Ritsu stopped waving back.
"So this is what you do? You stalk people and fight with birds?" asked Ritsu as he looked back up at Sho.
"It wasn't a fight, I told you….and I'm not stalking you either. Me and baby sis were just out for a walk…a long one." said Sho
"Where? Through the woods?" asked Ritsu. Sho's reaction gave it away. The way he flinched. His whole body and his aura too. There was a big flinch there…the woods. The ones outside of town…that was a long way away…but now he knew exactly where they were hiding and…huh.
Mom and dad had been right to tell him to stay out of the woods after all.
"No. I wasn't in the woods. I was just…walking…for a really long time!" said Sho
"Alright, you were just walking for a really long time. So where are you walking to, anyway?" asked Ritsu. Good. Now he knew where they were coming from…and now he just needed to figure out where they went. Were there bases besides the one in the woods? Where were they? And…and what connection did Sho have…well he knew what connection Sho had but…but he needed to know why Sho was there…what he wanted…what they had sent him here for….
If Sho was there for him…or if he was just taking his sister for a walk like he said.
"Nowhere in particular…not to you! I wasn't stalking you! I have better things to do than to watch you hold hands with your girlfriend!" said Sho
"She's not my girlfriend." Said Ritsu. It was a reflex. People always thought that he and Tsubomi were together…even their parents. Dad was always telling him to be care and not do anything that he would have done…which was gross…and her parents were always joking about how they had to start saving now since they knew that Tsubomi was going to want to have a fancy wedding…and then there was the way that both of their parents told them to keep their doors opened...
Well…mom and dad had actually been right about that one too….
"Then why was she holding your hand?" asked Sho. Ritsu…maybe he just wanted to hear jealousy there…not that he knew why. Even if Sho did like him back, doubtful since he ran away before…and also since they were both guys, it wasn't like they were going to be boyfriend and boyfriend. No way. Mom and dad would have freaked out if they knew the truth…and also Sho was a part of the evil organization that was collecting psychics to take over the world with and stuff. There was no way that it could have worked out…so there was no point in having hope….for anything….
But it would have been nice, though, if Sho had been jealous.
"Because she wanted to." Said Ritsu
"But then…why were you holding her hand?" asked Sho
"Why? Are you jealous?" asked Ritsu. That…had been serious….but only a little bit. If he said yes then…well Ritsu would deal with that…and if he said no then…well Ritsu would deal with that too.
"I-I'm….I-" said Sho
"Jelly!" said the baby. Ritsu kept calm, he stayed at the midpoint, even though he kind of wanted to push the stroller off into the alley for a little bit. Not for a long time, and not in the sun or anything, and not so far away that the baby could have gotten kidnapped or anything…he just…
He was not going to get mad at a baby. That was stupid.
"No, jealous. He said jealous and-" said Sho
"Want jelly sandwich! Jelly! Cream cheese!" said the baby. Ritsu wrinkled his nose. That…that was the worst thing that he had ever heard in his life. Jelly and…cream cheese? The stuff that went on bagels? Why would….gross. Ritsu had no idea what country Sho and his sister's family came from but he knew for a fact that he had no plans of visiting it.
"I don't have one with me…but I have candy. You want more candy? More M&M's? More colors?" asked Sho. The baby nodded and held out her hand. Sho reached into his pocket and…wow. Ok, he just…had loose M&M's…in his pockets…
Ritsu wanted to laugh but he settled for a smile.
"That's disgusting." Said Ritsu in an effort to cover up his smile.
"What? You have something against M&M's?" asked Sho as he popped one into his mouth almost like he was challenging Ritsu…or something. Ritsu didn't say anything. He just reached across, into Sho's pocket, and pulled out a handful of half melted M&M's.
And he ate them.
"No. M&M's are fine…but jelly and cream cheese sandwiches sound disgusting." Said Ritsu after he finished chewing. Truth be told they were sticky and dusty and also they tasted like…dirt? Like dirt right off the ground…and he didn't want to think about whatever else Sho had in his pockets…and he'd only taken them because he had wanted to be near Sho…
But there was no way that Sho could ever know that.
Sho could not EVER know that Ritsu had just…wanted to get close to him. Close enough to see if that scar on the side of his neck went all the way down his chest…close enough to see what it said around the lightning bolt patch on his coat…it said Shimazaki Ryou on it in red thread….close enough to count the feathers in his hair…four….close enough to see what kinds of leaves were in his hair…Ritsu didn't know anything about leaves but he now had close visual confirmation that they were green…and close enough to smell him…and he didn't smell good….but he didn't smell that bad either. Sort of like himself…himself and not wearing deodorant…but in a good way….if there even was such a thing….
He was never going to be able to get that close to Sho ever again…unless he felt like stealing more candy from his pockets.
"H-Her mom likes weird stuff like that…like all they have to drink at her house is grape soda…and she likes pimento loaf too…which is this thing with peppers in it and it's all meaty and just…gross….and stuff. Her mom is weird." Said Sho. He played with the feather in his hand again. It was frayed. Ritsu wanted to take it and put it back in his hair…but that would have been way too much. He had no idea if Sho even liked him…or guys even at all…and that was not the way to find out.
The best way to find out would have been to ask but…well that could come later. How later he did not know just…later.
"You're weird." Said Ritsu just to have something to say.
"I'm weird? You're the one who just reached into my pocket and stole-" said Sho
"More! More now!" said the baby. She kicked her feet again. Her other shoe was loose on her foot. Ritsu wondered what would happen if she lost it. She could walk…right? Were babies that little able to walk? He didn't know…maybe she couldn't….because of the stroller…though that might have been because she lived in a secret base in the woods with the rest of the evil organization.
"You've had enough." Said Sho
"More now!" said the baby
"Mukai, no. You have too much energy as it is." Said Sho
"Now! More now please! Sho now please!" said Mukai
"No, you-" said Sho
"If she has so much energy then why not just take her to the park or something?" asked Ritsu. He was getting a headache. Babies…he was glad that mom and dad hadn't had any more kids. He wasn't glad that he was an only child but he was glad that he'd lived the almost elven years of his life so far without having to deal with any of that.
"Ritsu…you're a genius!" said Sho. Well he shouted it more than said it…and Ritsu wished that he hadn't said anything. Now people were looking at them….more people than had been looking at them than before…and a lot of people had been looking at them before…
He looked down at his shoes.
"I know that I am." Said Ritsu quietly. Hearing it from Sho…well that had been good. Lightning bolt good. Having everyone see how good that made him feel…well that hadn't been good at all. In fact that had been bad. That had been so bad that Ritsu had wanted nothing more in that moment than to run all the way home and hide under his bed until people forgot that today had even happened…but that wasn't what he did.
No, he went to the park instead.
Well dragged would have been a better word for it. He had been dragged to the park. Sho said that he needed to be lead there but Ritsu…well he got the feeling that Sho had just wanted to go with him…or maybe that had just been wishful thinking. Thinking that he should not have had. God, he was acting like Tsubomi. She was always looking for evidence that he liked her…even though he had told her clearly that he didn't….and no matter what he said or did she still tried to look for evidence and signs that he secretly liked her and that he wanted to make their games of 'house' and stuff…real….
He didn't.
He didn't want that with Tsubomi and Sho didn't want that with him. He had ran away when Ritsu tried to hold his hand. That was a clear enough sign that Sho didn't like him like that…and he had no reason to like Sho like that. Just because Sho was the first person to ever really listen to him…and just because Sho was the person who helped him figure out what he was…all of what he was. The esper thing and the…other thing…that wasn't reason enough to like him, right? Or maybe it was…and Ritsu just didn't know anything about love…not that he was in love!
He couldn't be.
He just…thought that Sho was…cute. Good looking. Weird but in a funny way. Nice but also…also there was something else to him and…and Ritsu knew that Sho was a part of the group that stalked him. The group that was going to try and kidnap him if he showed any signs of having powers. The group that was going to take over the world. Sho was a part of that and instead of doing the sane thing and running away Ritsu was, instead, sitting right back up in that very same rocket ship slide with him as before.
Maybe everyone was wrong and Ritsu wasn't a genius at all. Maybe he was some kind of moron or something.
"Come on, Sho! Slide!" said Mukai, he knew her name now, as she tugged on Sho's coat. There was a line to go down the slide as usual. This was the tallest slide probably in the whole city if not the whole country. Of course there was always a line of people trying to go down it…and one idiot trying to be brave but instead blocking the whole thing…
"Baby sis hang on, we have to wait." Said Sho as he pulled his sister back. She had been about to push some bigger kids out of the way….not that she was strong enough to do anything…but still. The last thing that Ritsu needed was to have to break up a fight between Sho's little sister and whoever she ended up shoving away…or Sho himself since he seemed like the type to get into fights based on the scars.
They were everywhere.
Well on his arms, anyway, and his back. Sho was crouched down and his jacket had ridden up in the back. Ritsu could see what looked like a scar tree growing on his back. He'd caught sight of Sho's arms, too, when they'd been climbing up this thing. He had those scars on his arms…and he could have sworn that he could see another scar on Sho's leg where his pants had ripped at the knee….he had a hell of a lot of scars.
They were….kind of cool actually.
Ritsu wanted to touch them…not in a weird way but in just a…examining them…way. Like playing doctor…not like how he and Tsubomi had, of course, but like…seeing what they felt like. He had a million of them, it seemed, and from the brief glimpses that Ritsu had gotten they all seemed to have different colors and textures…and he just wanted to see them for the sake of seeing them…and not for the sake of seeing Sho and touching him and stuff….
Lightning in his stomach…again. Great. Just great.
No wait, that wasn't lightning. His phone vibrated. He checked it…Reigen. Ritsu put it back in his pocket. He may have been friends with Reigen, and he may have liked hanging out with him, but sometimes…well sometimes he had his own stuff to do. Kid stuff…normal kid stuff…like going to the park and…and helping his new friend babysit…or whatever. Yeah, that was what he was doing…being helpful…not that he knew a lot about babies…
But he did know that you weren't supposed to give them soda.
"Here, drink this while you wait. You're getting all red." Said Sho as he pulled a bottle of cola from his pockets…how deep did those even go….and pressed it to his baby sister's lips. She drank it fast, way too fast, and Ritsu wondered what the point of even coming here was. They had come here to help he burn off all of her extra energy but here Sho was feeding her more sugar.
Yeah. Sho needed him.
"Aren't we here to help her get rid of her extra energy?" asked Ritsu
"Yeah, it was your idea." Said Sho
"Then why are you giving her soda?" asked Ritsu
"So she doesn't die of dehydration of course….and also because she likes it." Said Sho
"I like it!" said Mukai as she threw the empty bottle back at Sho. He caught it without using his powers. He just…well that was kind of cool…well Sho was kind of cool…
Alright, that time had been actual lightning.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you do. Now come on, it's our turn." Said Sho. He sat Mukai down in front of him at the base of the slide. That made sense. She was way too little to go down on her own. She would have gone over like that little kid who had been trying to climb the slide. She had gone over, Ritsu could see from up here, and there was a crowd gathering around her. She wasn't crying, though, she was saying that she was fine…and she didn't even look hurt….even though she had fallen three meters right onto the woodchips….
Weird…but he'd seen weirder things…
"Well, are you coming or not?" asked Sho. Ritsu blinked. That was…weirder than the kid on the ground that was for sure. Ritsu…had slid before…with Tsubomi when they'd been little and she'd been too scared to go down on her own….but this was…well he was way too old for that now and…
And that was not Tsubomi
"You too! You too now!" shouted Mukai
"You heard my baby sis. Come on already." Said Sho. Ritsu nodded. He was making something out of nothing. People slid together all the time. He just…he had to get back to the midpoint…right now. He just…he could sort of feel another aura…and see one too. This one was…not red…and very faint and…and that meant that he might have just been super out there with his aura and….and that was all the more reason to get to the midpoint…
It was time to stop making something out of nothing.
"Whatever." Said Ritsu. Maybe if he said whatever then he would feel whatever…or something. Something other than this lightning bolt feeling that was running through his body from his stomach. It started when he scooted up behind Sho and only got worse as they went down. About halfway down the slide he entertained thoughts of throwing himself off the side…but then he would end up getting hurt and his mom would be as upset as that little kid's mom was.
"Madoka! Come here!" the little kid's mom yelled. She was kind of loud…but not loud enough to make someone freeze. She wasn't even doing that mom yell that made everyone stop in their tracks…moms had that kind of power. Sho might have just been unusually weak to mom yells, like that was his one weakness or something, because he had gone totally still as they stopped at the end of the slide.
He didn't even stop his baby sister from getting up and running away.
"Sho? Are you ok?" asked Ritsu as he leaned forward. As much as he liked being this close to Sho this was a really awkward position to be in…plus people were yelling at them to go already, too. Sho was being way too still…and it was weird. He was staring at some lady now, the little kid's mom, and he was acting like he'd seen a ghost. An evil spirit, not a regular one.
"Sho? Earth to Sho? Hey you in there?" asked Ritsu. He shook Sho a little...and that seemed to be the thing. He sat up straighter…and his aura practically slammed into Ritsu. Even his hair stood up more. Ritsu…didn't get it. Why he was staring at that lady…not even at her, at her back, especially since he really should have been looking out for his baby sister. She had run over to the pullup bars and now some older kids were helping her hang upside down…and that could not have been safe for her.
"Mom…" whispered Sho. It sounded like he said 'mom'…and he was staring at the lady's back now. Her kid must have been more hurt than Ritsu had realized. The mom picked her up and carried her really fast over to her car, like she was running or something…which made sense. The kid had fallen three meters…and that had to have been dangerous….
He wondered how dangerous a one meter fall could be.
That was how high Sho's little sister was off the ground. Some other kids were trying to get her to hang upside down…and that could not have been safe. Ritsu….he knew that she wasn't his little sister, she was Sho's, but he wasn't going to just let her get hurt. Even if she could be kind of annoying. What kind of…friend? Were he and Sho friends? It didn't matter. They never would be if he let anything happen to Sho's baby sister.
He nudged Sho again. That did the trick.
"Mom….Mom!" said Sho. He got up and started running….and not in the direction of his little sister. Great. Just great. Sho was running off to where the cars were parked…was he chasing after that lady? Why? He had said mom but…that couldn't have been his mom. She didn't look a thing like him, she had black hair first of all, and second of all he had said that he didn't have a mom…
Well everyone had a mom…the baby had to grow somewhere….but his mom wasn't around he had said.
But Ritsu wasn't there to worry about other people's moms. No, he was too busy worrying about other people's little sisters. Specifically Sho's little sister. In the time that it took him to make his way over to the pullup bars Mukai had not only fallen but she'd also thrown up all over herself.
Wonderful.
"She fell on her own! Honest!" said one of the kids Mukai had been playing with. Ritsu didn't say anything, he didn't even look over at that kid. He was too busy worrying about Mukai. She was on the ground and she was crying…and she smelled like throw up…and also her aura was really painful in a way that Ritsu hadn't even known that he could feel pain…
But he had to be there for her. He was the biggest kid there after all and he sort of knew her, too.
"Come on…let's get you to Sho…let's get you to your brother." Said Ritsu as he reached down and helped her up. She was being all limp…he picked her up under her armpits and held her like he was taking out the trash. He had never held a baby before…but like Reigen always said you had to try everything at least once….and he also said that sometimes you had to run away….
But this was not one of those times.
He could not run away from a crying baby. Well not one he knew, anyway. She was little and she probably didn't know what was happening to her besides the fact that she was in pain. Ritsu had a memory like that. The first thing that he could remember was his head hurting. He didn't know why his head had been hurting but he could remember being in a blue room and his head hurting and then mom was there…he hoped that this didn't turn into one of those memories for her. That would have sucked.
Almost as bad as getting abandoned in the park by her big brother.
Ritsu was not going to raise this baby if that was what Sho had in mind. He seemed crazy enough that he might have tried something like that…well if he did then Ritsu would tell him to go to hell with that. That was not the good kind of crazy. So far Sho had been the good kind of crazy, the kind that stalked you and told you to stay away but then stalked you some more and told you to come to the park with him…and stuff. Ritsu…well it would have sucked if Sho turned out to be the bad kind of crazy…even if Sho didn't like him back and they'd never be together and stuff….
Stop thinking about that.
"Baby sis!" said Sho. He either felt Ritsu coming, heard the crying, or both. Ritsu found him in the last place he'd left him, the parking lot, so maybe his fears that he'd ran away and left his sister to be raised in the park by Ritsu had been a little bit overly dramatic…not that he was every overdramatic. Reigen just liked to accuse him of that to make himself feel better. No, Ritsu was not overly dramatic now…he was the right kind of dramatic…which was not dramatic at all.
Sho was dramatic enough for the two of them.
"Mukai! What the fuck! Oh my God…oh my God! Oh my mother fucking God! Oh my mother fucking-" said Sho
"Do you always talk like that?" asked Ritsu. If his mom had heard him talking like that then she would have taken him to the store and made him pick out the bar of soap she was going to wash his mouth out with. You weren't supposed to say those things let alone shout them in a crowded playground….and especially not in front of a little kid.
"Fuck you! This is an emergency!" said Sho
"Fuck you! Fuck you!" said Mukai. Now she had stopped crying and she was laughing…and that was good…right? Even if she was probably going to end up getting her mouth washed out with soap…she had a mom, right? Sho had said that she had a mom….but wait…she and Sho had different moms? When they looked alike? How did that even….work?
"Don't say that….ok, just this once because you got hurt…and I'm sorry that you got hurt. I should have been there." said Sho
"I fall down." Said Mukai. She showed him her arm. There was a red streak running down her sleeve. It stood out against the pink of her jacket. That was a lot of blood. Ritsu…he had no idea how much blood babies had in them…but he knew that she had lost a lot of it…and maybe she needed a hospital or…or something….
Sho had this.
"I'm sorry." said Sho. He rolled down her sleeve and kissed her wrist better and…oh. That was just a scrape. That wasn't so bad….and this was another reason why Ritsu was so glad that he wasn't a big brother. He didn't know how he was supposed to handle these things. The scary things…and the gross things too.
All of the gross things.
"I throw up." Said Mukai. Sho shook his head. Thankfully he didn't kiss that better. It might have even been too gross for him…though he was still holding her close. Even though she was covered, well the front of her anyway, in throw up Sho didn't seem to care.
"I'm so fucking sorry." said Sho. He kissed the top of her head. Her hair sprang right back up as he pulled away. She looked up at him and then poked him in the eye.
"Over there." said Mukai. She pointed back at the pullup bars. Sho…he actually had tears in his eyes. He hugged his sister close…even though she had throw up all down her front….and he kissed her hair…even though it was covered in woodchips and dirt…and hopefully only woodchips and dirt.
"I'm so, so, so sorry Mukai. I should have been there with you. I was just being…stupid…and I left you…and it'll never happen again. Ok? Are you mad at me?" asked Sho. Mukai tugged on his hair.
"No." said Mukai as she tried her best to rip out a fistful of Sho's hair.
"Don't worry, these are happy hair pulls. Thanks for saving her…thanks." Said Sho. He was facing Ritsu now. He shrugged.
"I couldn't just leave her all alone over there…but you could have warned me that you were going to freak out and run away. What even was that back there?" asked Ritsu. Sho looked down at his shoes. His sister was about to lose one. Sho put it back on with his powers. He didn't even look up as he did it.
"I…thought that I heard my mom. I mean…that lady sounded just like my mom….but it wasn't….I mean I didn't see her but her hair was black and…and my mom had brown hair. She had long brown hair and it was kind of wavy but…but soft and she…she wasn't that lady. I was just being stupid." Said Sho
"You weren't being-" said Ritsu. He knew what it was like…thinking that you saw someone you lost…and he didn't mean the time that he thought some other lady at the department store was his mom and followed her all the way to the third floor back when he was three. No, he meant…the times when he would be outside and he'd see a black haired girl in braids….Shigeko had braids in her shrine picture…and he thought that he'd seen her and that mom and dad had been wrong….but he was the one who had been wrong and…and he knew what it felt like….
It didn't feel good.
He reached out. He was….well he was going to do something really stupid. Sho was right there….his hand was right there…and Ritsu could have easily reached out and taken it…but just to make him feel better. It didn't have to mean…what he wanted it to mean. He…well he wasn't the kind of person that would just leave someone to feel bad like that…well not someone he sort of knew…and he didn't care if Sho's hand was covered in baby throw up…he was still going to hold it…
Well he was going to…until he got kicked.
"Mama! Want mama! Now!" shouted Mukai as she kicked Ritsu's hand away…and knocked some sense into him. What had he been doing?! There were people here! They could have seen….what if his parents drove by…or Tsubomi came by to look for him or…or…how could he had been so stupid! He had to…he had to get away….it was one thing to hold his hand when nobody was around but…how could he had been so stupid?!
He had never been more grateful that Reigen didn't know when he was being ignored.
Ritsu felt his phone vibrate again…not a text but a call this time. If his ringer had been on then he would have been saved by the bell…he needed to stop hanging around his dad so much. That wasn't funny even in his head….and now he felt extra stupid even though he knew for a fact that Sho couldn't hear what he was thinking…but still…
He had never been so happy to get a phone call in his life.
"Y-Yeah….we should….we should bring you back home now. Sorry Ritsu…I have to bring her home now." Said Sho
"It's ok, I have to go too. I have…something to do. Um….I'll see you later, I guess?" asked Ritsu. That had come out wrong…like he wanted to see Sho….but like he was excited to see him…or something…well he was but…but he wasn't supposed to show it and…and he needed to go! Right now!
"Um…sure. Maybe. Later. I just…I have to go home…bye!" said Sho. He ran back over to where he had left the stroller. He was always running away…because he didn't like Ritsu in the way that he liked him…or, more hopefully, because his sister was covered in her own throw up and she needed a change of clothes before she got sick or something. Yeah, that made more sense…or less sense….he didn't know. He just knew that he had to get going, he had to get back to Reigen, and he couldn't stay here. Not after…all of that.
That wasn't how he had planned for his day to go…but it could have been worse.