Fukuda did not feel like the highest ranking member of Claw in the room. Not by a longshot.
If anything he felt like a babysitter. He was holding Sho back, keeping him from doing something stupid like starting a fight with the division leader. Or maybe just keeping him from taking off and freeing the prisoners all on his own. Stupid things like that….though it depended on the context. Sho was a good boy, and he wanted to do the right thing…
But right not the right thing was also the stupid thing…the stupidest thing that he could have possibly done.
"Let them go! My dad is the President and that makes me the…second President…and….and I am ordering you guys to let all the prisoners go!" shouted Sho. This was not happening! He…he had to do…something! He had power! A lot of it! If his big sis had power then he had power too! Or….something…
"Sho, no." said Fukuda as he shook his head and pulled Sho back. He had taken a step forward, a threatening step, a stupid step. As powerful of an esper as Sho was, and he was a very powerful esper for someone his age, he was in no way strong enough to take on any of these Scars.
Fukuda was not going to let him get hurt.
"Sho! Stop it!" said Fukuda. Sho elbowed him in the stomach. He wanted to double over but he didn't, he couldn't. Now was not the time to show weakness. This was…he was the highest ranking member of Claw there and he had to do…something. He had choices to make…
All sorts of pragmatic choices.
"I'm not going to stop it! We can't just keep people-" said Sho
"President Suzuki will be informed of this after we've fully awakened the child and done what we can with the man. You don't need to concern yourself with this, Suzuki-chan." Said Ishiguro. That child…he'd had more than enough of that child. He had no idea why that child was even here. The child's nanny had been the one to request a meeting with him on the subject of the prisoners, not the child himself, and even if he had called a meeting Ishiguro would not have agreed to it.
That child had no power here.
This was his Division. He had fought the President, fought longer and harder than anyone else, and he had been rewarded with this division. It was his. This was where they created new Awakened. This was where they trained legions of Suzuki's followers. This was the Seasoning City Division, this was the city that made the largest proportion of espers by population. This was not a daycare. This was not an orphanage. This was not the place for Suzuki to dump his unwanted offspring….
He was not going to let this place become anything less than what it was…and he was not going to let himself become anything less than what he was.
"Hey! I am not Suzuki-chan! I am Suzuki-sama and-" said Sho. Fukuda was still holding him back…why!? What the hell did he think that he was doing?! Sho…he knew that Fukuda wasn't always on his side but…but this was wrong! This was so wrong in so many ways. Sho…he was…he was mad at everyone and…and he needed to keep calm. He couldn't fight everyone at this division, if he did then he wouldn't have been allowed to see baby sis anymore, and…and he liked Ritsu but…but not more than he liked baby sis and…and he didn't know what he would do if baby sis…if she was gone from his life forever…but also…also he couldn't just…just let all of the stuff that they did here happen to Ritsu…
He knew very well what happened at this Division.
"Sho, stop it. This isn't productive." Said Fukuda. Sho was glaring at him now…and he deserved it. He deserved to have Sho upset with him. Sho was too little to understand this…any of this. He was only eleven and…and he knew that this was wrong and he wanted to put a stop to it. He was still too little to be able to understand the pragmatic choices that came with…this life…and this place.
"I agree, it's impossible to be productive with the way this little pest is carrying on. Perhaps it's time for his nap." Said Ishiguro
"Hey! I don't need a-" said Sho
"Sho, go back home and let the adults talk. Alright?" asked Fukuda
"Fuck you!" said Sho. That time he did hit Fukuda…and he deserved it! Fine, if Fukuda wasn't going to do something then Sho…well he was going to do it himself! He didn't care what happened to him! He shoved Fukuda one more time before he left.
"Language." Said Fukuda as Sho ran off. He was probably off to break something or hit someone else…something to get his anger out. Fukuda would talk to him later. Right now he had to get all of this sorted out.
"You aren't going with him? How would President Suzuki feel if he knew that his nanny was neglecting his son and heir?" asked Ishiguro
"I am not Sho's nanny. I think that you're forgetting that I outrank you and everyone else in this room." Said Fukuda
"I suppose that the information did, in fact, slip my mind." Said Ishiguro
"I suppose that it would be getting slippery in your old age, Ishiguro, but I can help you with that. I can fix that right up for you as soon as I finish making arrangements for the prisoners." Said Fukuda. The kid was coming with them. The man…he was on his own. The kid was coming back to HQ with him. He'd do better at an HQ if not with the Suzuki family….he was Shigeko's brother…but Sho liked him…and Shigeko…well maybe figuring out the truth would…no…the truth would devastate her…but it also might take her down a peg…but Suzuki himself wouldn't take it well…but he was already going to be pissed that Fukuda had even brought Sho here in the first place….
He didn't know what to do.
Sho was his main priority. Sho is, was, and always would be his main priority. He loved Sho and he had to do what was best for him. Sho…was not going to take this well. Maybe if…if the kid stayed with them…or at least in a place where Sho could visit him…then that would soften the blow that was this situation. This impossible situation. Shigeko's brother was an esper…of course he was. Fukuda wasn't stupid, he knew that if a family made one esper they would probably end up making another, and he…was not alright with this. Them having another Shigeko to deal with….though he wasn't anywhere near her level it seemed….it was going to be a lot. Even worse if Shigeko found out the truth. She had gone off the rails back when Suzuki left and gave up his powers to her…that power was given to her under the assumption that she was his child…and she wasn't. She was only adopted…and he even had a daughter of his own….and now Shigeko and Sho would probably figure all of that out and….
And he needed to focus on one thing at a time.
"Arrangements have been made. The prisoners will be awakened and then added to the ranks here at the Seventh Division. President Suzuki will be informed when the process is completed. I see no reason in bothering him with the minutia of the process. He's a very busy man as we both know." Said Ishiguro. This man outranked him, technically, but Ishiguro was not going to let him extend what little power he had over him. This was his Division. Here he was the supreme authority…and he wasn't going to stop here. He was going to show the President that he was not a failure…not like the last time they'd managed to find an esper child.
"You're planning on turning talent into junk? You can't be serious. This is the worst Division when it comes to making Awakened. I'll be taking the prisoners with me to Tokyo HQ and then President Suzuki will personally see to it that-" said Fukuda
"Do what you want with the man but the boy stays here. He's been on our watch list for a while now and we're not letting him go." Said Ishiguro
"You're seriously thinking that you can replace one child with another?" asked Fukuda. A low blow. One that he needed to make. He had to hit where it hurt. The failure of the Seventh Division hadn't been forgotten and never would be. There was no way that Ishiguro was going to let that happen again…and Sho…well he had seemed like he was on his way to make it all happen again…
He had been the one to free that kid, the one from a few years ago, even if he denied it.
Fukuda knew Sho, he was a good kid, and if he hadn't been able to let this happen at eight then he didn't expect much had changed for Sho at eleven. He was going to set this kid free…and he would have done it anyway even if he hadn't been in love with him. Sho was going to do something stupid but this time people would notice…and when they told Suzuki Sho would…well he would be punished…and Fukuda might not have been able to put him back together again. Suzuki could lose control, easily, when he got upset….and Sho had never upset him that badly before…but now if the kid managed to escape Sho would be the one everyone would blame….
And he couldn't let that happen to Sho.
"The losses of the past are irrelevant to our current situation. If you want to dispute my will then dispute it. You can bring this up to President Suzuki if you want. Tell him that you and his son have been here for months with no discernable reason….well nothing work related of course…" said Ishiguro
"I don't like what you're implying." Said Fukuda
"I'm not implying anything. I'm simply stating a fact. Neither of you needs to be here and yet you are. President Suzuki may have something to say about that." Said Ishiguro
"President Suzuki may have something to say about you undermining the authority that he gave me." Said Fukuda
"And he may have something to say about you undermining the authority that he has bestowed upon me. Of course if you really want to settle this then I see no reason why we need to wait to involve President Suzuki." Said Ishiguro
"We don't settle our problems this way in the upper echelons. I'm through arguing this with you. Sho and I will be going…and we'll be taking the child with us. You can have the man. There. Now everyone gets a recruit." Said Fukuda
"You dare talk to me like-" said Ishiguro. Fukuda could feel the emery around him begin to shift. He…did not think that he could put himself back together after getting swallowed up in a mass of gravity. He had been there when Suzuki fought Ishiguro. Suzuki had been able to pop the black holes like soap bubbles…but Fukuda's powers did not work that way…
In a fight he knew that he had no chance.
But it didn't look like there would be a fight. The door to the war room opened and an Awakened scuttled in. That was a good word for it, scuttled. They were so jumpy here…though Fukuda couldn't really blame them. The way Ishiguro acted. Even now Fukuda could feel the gravity in the room pulling him closer and closer…
He held onto the wall with one hand.
"What's this about?" asked Fukuda. He tried to look and sound calm…even though he knew the barer of bad news when he saw one. That Awakened looked like he was about to die…and that could have meant anything. Literally anything could have gone wrong…hopefully Sho hadn't thought to do anything stupid….
"How could….get out! Get out you idiot! Prepare the east wing! Now!" said Ishiguro as he sent a mass of gravity trailing after the moron who cared to come to him with…with…with…THAT?! No…someone had said something to the President…and when he found out who there would be hell to pay! One of his people….or maybe not one of his people. His people didn't have the kind of initiative….they weren't a bright bunch either…no…someone was trying to undermine him…
But not one of his people.
"What's happening?" asked Fukuda. Please don't be Sho….please don't be Sho….
"Vice President Suzuki is on her way as we speak. This matter will be settled by her. Now if you'll excuse some of us have actual work to do around here." Said Ishiguro. Well now he had some damage control to do…and a warm welcome to give. Suzuki had sent his daughter…why? Why not just come himself? Did he really consider this to be…nothing? Something so small, so inconsequential, that he would send his own daughter and not come himself?
President Suzuki was sending them, him, another one of his children….why?
"Shigeko? She's….excuse me. I have business to attend to." Said Fukuda as he walked out of the room. He made sure not to break out into a run until he was well out of sight and range. Shigeko was coming….she was coming and not Suzuki…and that meant…he had no idea what that meant! Suzuki never let her wander so far from him…actually if it had been up to him Shigeko would have been on some kind of leash…so she had left on her own…but WHY?! She…she…she couldn't have known. She could not have known that he and Sho were here…and Sho wouldn't have told her…but Sho had been upset…and he couldn't think when he was upset…
Fukuda ran as fast as he could.
He followed the feeling of Sho's aura. Sho was…not in the direction of their apartment. No, he was…down. That was the feeling that Fukuda got. Sho was lower down. He was down several floors and…and these damn curse rooms! Fukuda's aura didn't exactly have the best range but…but he should still have been able to see Sho! Sho was bright, he always had been, but this place…Suzuki should not have been allowed to design anything!
This place was a labrinth.
This place…Fukuda had been there when Suzuki had designed this place. This had been one of the first Divisions that Suzuki had designed…and it showed. He had been more concerned with making it look col than functional….hence the hallways that led to dead ends. Hence the design that felt more like a labrinth than an actual building. Sho was down on another floor, probably the one where they held prisoners, and he was probably doing something stupid…if he hadn't already done something stupid…and Fukuda…he had to be there to protect him from everything…even himself.
He had promised Masami.
He had promised Masami that he would look after Sho…and even if he hadn't promised Masami he still had a responsibility to him. Sho was practically his son, it wasn't like anyone else was taking care of him, and Fukuda had to protect him. He had to protect Sho not only from the world around him but also from himself and all the stupid things that he did. Not only the obvious things, like how Sho insisted that he didn't need to bathe and could live in poptarts and coke with no ill effects, but also from the less than obvious things….like this.
Damn it, Sho….
Fukuda made it, eventually, to where the prisoners were kept. He had been too slow, of course, to stop Sho from trying to do something stupid. There he was in front of the cell door picking the lock like this was a good idea. Or even an idea. Sho hadn't had an idea. He'd had half of one. He'd had a quarter of one. He'd had an eighth of an idea. He was only eleven, he wasn't capable to thinking things through, and…and Fukuda….he loved Sho…
So he was not going to yell…or curse….no. He was going to stay calm.
"Sho, what do you think that you're doing?" asked Fukuda. He did not yell. He did not curse…he never cursed around Sho…but he did feel like cursing now. He reminded himself that Sho was a kid. He reminded himself that Sho was too young to know what he was doing. He reminded himself that Sho was only doing this because he was a good kid, that was all. He was a good kid and he…he needed to stay a good kid for as long as he could…
Fukuda…he needed to…to make sure that Sho stayed a good boy…but he also had to keep Sho alive.
"Fuck!" said Sho. That was all that he could think to say. He just…fuck! That was it. He should have been begging Fukuda to help him. He should have been telling Fukuda that if he didn't help him right now Sho would never talk to him again or something else…something worse. He just…he needed to think…but he couldn't think! All he could think was about how Fukuda was there and now he was fucked and…and…just…fuck!
Fuck this whole thing!
"Come on, Sho, stop with this." Said Fukuda. He sighed and tried his best to stay calm. Sho was a good kid. He reminded himself that Sho was a good kid. That Sho was…he was a good kid and…and Fukuda wasn't going to tell him to be a bad one…but he just…he had some pragmatic choices to make.
"I-I'm doing the right thing and I don't care what happens to me! I'm not going to let Ritsu…and his friend too I guess…" said Sho. It sounded dumb when he said it. He thought that he was dumb, anyway. He had thought that…well that it would all be over once he let everyone out…but with Fukuda there staring at him…he just…
He felt like a kid.
He was a kid. He was a kid and…and with an adult there…not just Ritsu's friend but an adult that he knew…he felt like a kid. Like a little kid. Like he was a little kid back at the old house and mom had caught him going through the snack cabinet. He wasn't doing anything bad, though, he wasn't doing anything bad at all! He just…felt like it…
Because that was how Fukuda was looking at him right now.
"Thanks a lot, kid." Said Reigen. Well this was…unexpected. The kid's dad….? He had that sort of presence. He didn't look a thing like the kid, of course, but he just had that…energy…that dads had. This was…either going to be good….or bad. Very bad…well this whole day had been very bad.
"Shut up." Said Ritsu. Reigen said the wrong thing sometimes….and this was not the time to be saying the wrong thing. This was…Sho was scared….and if Sho was scared then something was wrong…well everything was wrong. This whole day had been one wrong thing and then another and another….
And now it looked like it was about to get even worse.
"I'm not going to let them get kidnapped and…and awakened and…and fuck you if you try and stop me!" said Sho
"Sho…I know that you want to do the right thing but I need you to think for a minute. What happens when you let them go? What do you think is going to happen?" asked Fukuda
"They escape." Said Sho
"On a twisted ankle?" asked Fukuda. He could feel it. Both of them were injured…the man worse than the boy. No aura…well not much of one. Maybe he had potential…and maybe he didn't. Fukuda had to worry about the kid. He didn't have the luxury of worrying about the man too.
"You could heal him." said Sho. Fukuda should have been doing that right now! He was a healer, that was what he did, he healed people…and he helped Sho too! He had always helped Sho when he needed it…and he needed Fukuda's help now more than he ever had before. He just…he didn't know. He didn't know why Fukuda was just…why he was being this way. Fukuda couldn't have…he couldn't have been ready to just…let Ritsu get kidnapped….Fukuda wasn't like that. He wasn't like everyone else in Claw…
He wasn't like dad.
"That would be great, actually." Said Reigen as he shifted his weight off of his ankle. Psychic powers came in more flavors than they had ice cream, it seemed, and this was something to file away for later. It was best to learn everything he could about his captors, then he could use it to his advantage….and Ritsu's. Mostly Ritsu's. Sure he wanted to get away but Ritsu…he was just a kid.
Ritsu came first.
"Then I'm involved. If I'm involved then I'm going to be…well you know what your dad does to traitors. You know what he'd do to me…and you, too." Said Fukuda
"He can't throw me in a traitor hole, I'm his only son, and you're the only healer." Said Sho
"Sho…no power is unique. He could find another one of me…and he could have another son, too. It's actually a lot easier to have another son than it is to find someone else with my power set." Said Fukuda. There. The truth. The harsh truth. He hadn't wanted to tell Sho the harsh truth but…but he needed to know. Suzuki…did not like having his trust broken. He didn't look it but he was actually incredibly sensitive. He did NOT like being betrayed…and Fukuda had already betrayed him by bringing Sho here…helping Sho with this…
He would be lucky if he survived.
Nobody in Claw was truly irreplaceable. Fukuda was hard to replace but Suzuki had his limits. There must have been someone else in the world who could heal people, no power was unique, and as far as Sho went…Suzuki had never loved Sho. Not once. Suzuki could easily have another son. He could meet another woman and have another son and then Sho…well he would be irrelevant. He would be purposeless. Sho….the truth hurt…he looked like he was about to cry…but sometimes you had to hurt someone to help them.
Sometimes you had to make some pragmatic choices.
"What….?" Asked Sho. He felt….he would have felt better if Fukuda had kicked him in the chest. He would have preferred it if Fukuda had kicked him in the chest. He reached a hand out and held the bars next to him. He felt like…like he had been kicked in the chest…and he couldn't breathe….and he couldn't stand up…his legs were shaking and his heart was shaky and…..
And there was a hand over his.
"Hey! Fuck you!" said Ritsu. He didn't normally curse…but he had to now. Sho…he looked like he was going to cry and…and it hurt Ritsu to see him like that. It just…it hurt! He knew that he should have been worried about himself, about how he was going to get out of there, but Sho looked like he was going to cry and…
And now Ritsu had a hand over his mouth.
"Ritsu! Sorry about him, he's just a little-" said Reigen. Ritsu…he needed to sit Ritsu down and teach him what to do in a kidnapping situation like this. Seriously. Ritsu needed to shut his mouth…or at least stop licking Reigen's hand like that….he had to let go. That was just…unpleasant…but this was what he got for trying to get a ten year old boy to shut up. At least he hadn't gotten bitten.
"No, I'm not anything! I'm…fuck you! You can't just…you can't say that to him! If you're going to do something terrible to us then do it already but leave Sho alone!" said Ritsu
"I'm not going to do anything horrible to you…actually…you're hurt." Said Fukuda. Yup…that was a kid. Actually it was nice, how he came to Sho's defense like that, really nice. Good for Sho. He needed someone like that in his life…and Fukuda would do what he could to keep Sho's little boyfriend in his life. Even if this was Shigeko's brother…the more he looked the more he could see Shigeko in him. The eyes, mostly, they had those same eyes. Same shape, same color, same…same. It was like looking at a male version of Shigeko, almost.
Almost.
Shigeko would never have stood for this. She was powerful, he doubted that any prison could hold her, and she would have just left. She would have just ripped the bars off and then gone about her day. Her brother wasn't half the esper that she was, which was good…for everyone. He would do well at Tokyo HQ. That…would be best for everyone. Shigeko….well he could think up some reason to keep her away from Tokyo…and…and she didn't even know that she had a brother. A real brother. She had no idea that she had been adopted….and maybe it was time that she learned…
One thing at a time.
"It's just some scratches." Said Ritsu. He let go of Sho's hand and walked away from the bars. He got a bad feeling about this guy…well he got a bad feeling about all of these guys but he especially had a bad feeling about this guy…and not just because he had been a jerk to Sho.
"Fukuda. Fix them both. Now." Said Sho as he wiped his eyes. Fine. If Fukuda wanted to be an asshole then Sho could be an asshole right back. Sho….he didn't want to be an asshole towards Fukuda…and he didn't want Fukuda to be an asshole to him…he just…he wanted things to be normal. He wanted things to go back to normal between them….and he wanted Fukuda to take back what he had said…
But he wanted all the cuts and scratches on Ritsu to go away.
Also he wanted Ritsu's friend to get better too. He wanted them both to be able to run when they had to…and they would have to run. That was the best thing for them to do. Sho could send the Awakened in the other direction and Fukuda…well if it came to it Sho could take Fukuda. If Fukuda wasn't on his side anymore…and he had been on his side for so long…like now. Now he was at least doing what Sho had asked him to do…
Told. Sho had told him to do this.
"Oh my God…" said Reigen. There had been a moment of a sort of…warmth? And buzzing? And then…and then he had felt fine….and he was fine. He put weight on his ankle…and he felt…fine. Perfectly fine.
"You had some damage to you lungs too, and a cavity. I fixed it." Said Fukuda. He didn't know if there had been any point to it. That man…might not have been able to survive what was about to come to him…and Fukuda was about as sad about this as he could be at this point in his life.
"Good. Now go back the way you came. Go home and just…forget that you saw me here…and then we aren't ever going to talk about this ever again…and if we get thrown in traitor holes then I'll have dad throw us in together." Said Sho. Fukuda was only listening to him when he had told him what to do. Like dad did. Like an asshole. Sho…he thought that he had been done with this…being an asshole to the people who loved him…but he just…this was something that he had to do. He had to get Ritsu out and…and if being an asshole was the way to do it then…then that was what he had to do.
Fukuda could help him if he wanted to…
Did he? He was getting closer to Sho. He got down to Sho's level. He did that a lot when Sho was a kid…a smaller kid. He still felt like a kid. Like he was little and everything was way too big. Like the world was too big and everything was too high up and his telekinesis didn't listen and…and he wanted…he wanted the other feelings that came with being a kid too. Like how Fukuda used to get down on his level and put a hand on his shoulder and tell him that everything would be ok…
He did the hand on his shoulder part.
"Sho….I'm sorry about this." said Fukuda as he put his hand on Sho's shoulder. He took a deep breath and put Sho to sleep. That was something that he could do but didn't like to. He could put people in healing comas if he had to…and this was one of those had to situations. Not a want to situation but a had to situation.
He had to make pragmatic choices sometimes.
"You killed him!" said Ritsu. He took a step back….and then another…and then another. He took so many steps back that he walked into Reigen. Reigen put his arms around him. Ritsu didn't shove him off…even though he was fine on his own. He was fine and…and he wasn't fine…he was…
He was scared.
"Hey, Ritsu…Ritsu, come here." Said Reigen as he pulled Ritsu close. That was…the kid was still breathing. That was good, right? That was…this was bad…but he had to…to be…be…..there….for Ritsu.
"No, he's just sleeping. You…you're both going to be fine…and so is he just…don't piss anyone off. Alright? Don't piss anyone off and…and it'll go a lot easier for you. Excuse me." Said Fukuda as he picked Sho up as best as he could and carried him away. Sho…was a lot heavier than Fukuda remembered. He used to be able to pick Sho up with one arm. Now it took both arms…and it was practically a drag and not a carry….but he had to do this.
He had to save Sho from himself.
That was what Fukuda did, he saved people, and often from themselves. He had to do this for Sho. He had done this before for Suzuki and now he was doing the same for his son. He had done this for Suzuki until Suzuki got too strong for this to wok. Sho would be that strong one day, too, but that day was coming later. Not now.
Now he was just a kid.
He was just a kid and Fukuda was going to drag him home and put him to bed. Fukuda couldn't count how many times he'd had to do this, carry Sho to bed, but…it had never been like this. Sho had never been this heavy and…and things had never been this…grim. This dire. This…whatever this could be called. This was…he was…everyone was fucked. Well and truly fucked. There was no way out of this…no way for him and no way for Sho…no way to get out of this unscathed….but Fukuda could at least do what he could to…mitigate the damages.
It was time to make some pragmatic choices.
One of those pragmatic choices was dragging Sho to bed. Sho was going to be angry with him when he woke up…and then this fight would start all over again…but he had other things to worry about. Shigeko was coming. She knew. She was coming and…and Suzuki wouldn't be far behind. That was enough for him to worry about without touching the subject of Sho and his boyfriend and what, ultimately, to do about…all of this. A lot of pragmatic choices were going to have to be made…and Fukuda was the man who was going to have to make them.
He was the one in charge here after all…even if it didn't always feel like it.