Mob hadn't expected Mukai to have gotten so big.
She knew that people grew, she wasn't' stupid, she just hadn't been expecting baby Mukai to have grown so much. She was a kid. She was the littlest kid that Mob had ever known in her life, not counting Sho when he'd been that little, and…and she used to be baby. When Mob had met her she hadn't even known how to crawl or hold her own bottle or…or anything, really. She knew how to cry, mostly, and throw up, and scream, and pull hair…
She at least still knew about the hair pulling.
"Mukai….that's my braid…." Said Mob as she tried to pull her braid out of Mukai's hand. They had a house full of dolls and toys and stuff but for some reason ever since they came in Mukai had wanted to tug on her braids. Maybe because she had never seen braids before. Her mom had really short hair….and it didn't look like she anything about dong hair. Judging by how wild Mukai's was…kind of like Sho's….but he was a boy so he got to look like that.
She would have to do something about Mukai's hair.
Maybe she could teach her how to braid her hair…was she too little for that? Mob had been older when mom had taught her…but Mukai was really smart and stuff. Well Sho had said that she was really smart. Mob hadn't had the time to get to know her…not that she blamed Sho for that. Fukuda had told him to keep baby Mukai a secret so that was what he did. They weren't fighting about that anymore and there would have been no point in even bringing it up. Mukai was here and Mob was her sister again…she had always been Mukai's sister…and as her sister she was going to teach Mukai how to braid her hair and other important things too.
That is if Mukai ever decided to let go of her hair.
"No! No! Mine!" said baby Mukai as she tugged even harder on Mob's hair. Mob didn't get it. The whole house was full of toys! She had gotten all of her old toys from storage, and Sho's too since she had no idea what baby Mukai liked to play with, and she had even gotten a bunch of new ones…but for some reason Mukai just wanted to tug on her hair. Maybe because a lot of the toys were still boxed up…and maybe Mob should have unboxed them….but she wasn't fully sure where everything could go since…well she had no idea when dad was coming back…and he had to come back sometime…she hadn't told him to go away forever…or even to as far as he had and…and how could he not like Mukai? It wasn't like she had ever done anything to him….
And it wasn't like he had long enough hair to grab either.
"Baby sis, no! That's not nice." Said Sho as he tried to pry baby Mukai's fingers apart. She was strong…or maybe Sho was just afraid of hurting her. Mob knew that she was afraid of that. She could have gotten Mukai's hand off easily with her powers or even her own strength…but then she might have hurt her on accident. Mob had already hurt a bunch of people on accident…including Minegishi…and they said that they were fine now but….but she had still hurt her best friend…and made a lot of people homeless….
She wasn't going to hurt her baby sister too.
"Sho, it's ok. It doesn't hurt that bad….and besides, she'll get tired of this eventually. Right?" asked Mob. Sho got bored of things easily and baby Mukai looked just like Sho…well they both looked just like dad….but baby Mukai looked just like Sho and she kind of acted like him too so many she and Sho just had a lot of the same genes…or something. Maybe she would act like Sho since they were so closely related…or because Sho knew her better…or something. She didn't want to think about that.
Sho knew how to get her to let go…Sho knew a lot of things about her.
"Here, you just have to distract her. That always works." Said Sho. He used his powers to pull some dolls from one of Mob's many doll boxes…she hadn't known that she had so many. The whole house was full of boxes…she and Sho had always just sort of bought toys when they saw them and then put them into storage when they got bored. Dad didn't like clutter in the house…dad wasn't there…so baby Mukai could have as many of their old toys as she wanted…and her own….
She could have as many of Mob's old toys as she wanted.
A bunch of dolls started to climb out of the box. Sho could do fine movements to, he just didn't do those that often. If dad had been there he would have called Sho 'impressive' even though he knew that Sho didn't want to hear it. Dad would have told Sho that he was impressive and Sho would have said a bad word and then she would have had to separate them because they always fought…and she had no idea what Mukai would have done…because she had never been a part of her family….because dad hadn't let her be….and Sho had kept her a secret and….
Mob helped with the dolls.
Mukai clapped and laughed as more of Mob's old dolls crawled out of the box. These were mostly princess dolls…she had no idea why she had so many. She usually got a new set once a year…or twice if they had new outfits…or they came out with new talking ones…and then there were the Disney World exclusives…and the collector's editions that she knew she should have kept in the box but had really, REALLY, wanted to play with…and also there were all the ones that she gave haircuts too….
It was good that there were two girls in the house, now, because someone needed to play with all of these dolls.
"Mine! Mine now! " said Mukai as she reached towards the doll. Her aura reached out first and then her short little kid arms. Her aura was red…just like Sho's…and dad's. Her aura was bright red and it was happy…not like dad's….but like Sho's. He was happy and baby Mukai was happy and…and Mob was happy too…right? She should have been happy...she had no reason not to be happy. She had her sister back and…and her dad may have been gone but…but he had done something unforgivable.
He had called his own daughter a mistake.
"Which one do you want, baby sis? They all want to meet you." Said Sho as he made some of the dolls walk over to Mukai. Elsa's, mostly, her old ones. They were kind of dirty…and some of them had short hair…and she had tried to paint one of them's nails and stuff…and Mukai needed new dolls…and she had new dolls…and she liked these and…and she was happy…so Mob was going to do her best to be happy along with everyone else.
She shouldn't have had to try and be happy. She should have just BEEN happy.
"All! All now! All now big brother!" said Mukai. She reached out with her aura again…and Mob….she was happy that Mukai could talk. She was happy that Mukai could reach out for things and talk…and stand…and that she knew that Sho was her big brother. It was good that she knew that she had family…family from blood. She had a mom and Sho had said that her mom adopted her…so they didn't have the same blood…but also…well…everyone was a suspect. She had no idea who baby Mukai's real mom was but everyone was a suspect…not that she was going to go around asking people…
She didn't want to know who Mukai's mom was…but she did want to know.
She wanted to know what lady had decided to come in and just…break her family apart! Her family had already been a little bit broken, with mom having run away and all, there had only been two thirds of the Suzuki family and now there were three thirds…wait…no. That wasn't how it worked…four! There had been four of them….and that meant that now there were three out of four Suzuki's...but dad was gone so there were two out of four which meant that her family had been broken in half….but now with Mukai that was three out of four so…wait…no. Mukai made five and…math was hard. She hadn't gotten any of dad's math genes…but…well because of some lady her family was even more broken then before!
At least they had Mukai…Sho had Mukai…she knew who he was at least…not that Mob was upset!
No, this was just…a chance to get to know her sister better and…and she was happy for the time that she had with Mukai now! She had all the time in the world with her baby sister. She made an Elsa and an Anna, ones that hadn't been given haircuts though she had drawn makeup on them, walk over to Mukai. Mukai reached out and grabbed them both…and then she sort of banged them on the ground…but that made sense. She was little and she didn't know how to play with things…and Mob could be the one to teach her how to play with things…since that seemed like the sort of thing a big sister was supposed to do. A big sister to a little sister, not a big sister to a little brother, because there must have been a difference…not that she knew…
She had never gotten a chance to be a big sister to a little sister…thanks to her little brother…no. Thanks to dad and Fukuda. Always them, never Sho.
"Come on, big sis, she said all of them." Said Sho. He used that tone that he used when he was trying to get something from her that she didn't want to give…and she was not mad about that. She wasn't even a little bit irritated. No, that would have been…mean. That would have been really mean. She loved her brother and…and there was nothing that he could do to make her feel…the way that she was trying not to feel now.
"I don't want to make too much of a mess…dad doesn't like it when there's a mess." Said Mob. She didn't know why she had brought dad up…it wasn't like he was coming back. He had made his choice and he had chose leaving…even though she hadn't meant for him to go far away…or take Hatori with him…but what had happened had happened. Dad had been mean, he had called his own daughter a mistake, and he had even just…given her away. Just had Fukuda come to the house and take her away from her family and….
And maybe they were better off without dad….or at least Sho and Mukai were better off without dad…
"Dad isn't here." Said Sho. Mob wanted to tell him something like 'I know, little brother, I'm the one who made him leave' or something else like that…something mean like that. She'd been having a lot of mean thoughts lately. It felt like she was going to have her period, all of these mean thoughts, but her stomach didn't hurt so she knew it wasn't that. She just…had to get used to this. The new situation. Mukai being back and…and her dad being gone. Her dad had just….left…like mom had but…but she had made him go away…and he'd had to go away…
That was what was best for Mukai…and she had to think about Mukai….and Sho too.
She was the big sister and she had to think about the wellbeing of all of her siblings. She was still in charge of the house and…and even though her own little brother had snuck around and lied to her face for months and months…and even though her own little sister didn't even know who she was anymore…she still had to think about her siblings and how to take care of them…and she could not get mad…she couldn't let her brother make her mad…
She loved Sho and she could never be mad at him…not now after she knew what it was to be mad at someone you loved….
"I know…but….I'm the one who's going to have to put everything back, ok? And we already have a bunch of toys in our room and…and I still have a bunch of our stuff to unpack." Said Mob. She wasn't going to bring up dad again. Maybe that was why she was so upset. Maybe she just…this house reminded her of dad. This was the blue house…he'd had this house fixed up and painted for her…he had always talked about that. He had always talked about how when she grew up it would be just the two of them and her kids…because she was his only daughter…and he had been lying to her face when he said that. He own dad had been lying to her face…and now…well that was over now and she had to…work at getting rid of all of these feelings that dad had made her feel…and that was enough work for now…
She didn't want to pile cleaning up the mess Sho was going to make on top of all of that.
"Alright….but she's going to get grouchy. She gets grouchy really easily actually. I think that she gets it from dad…." Said Sho. He had another tone there…she didn't like the sound of that tone. She just…she hadn't memorized all of his tones…even after having been together for their whole lives she didn't know all of his tones…but she knew at least that he was hurt…and she didn't know why he had to be hurt. He hadn't been lied to…yes he had. Dad had lied to him, too, about Mukai and she could not forget that fact.
She could not be mean to Sho…even in her own thoughts….
"Yeah…that would make sense. Um…Mukai? Do you want more dolls?" asked Mob. She turned to face her little sister. They were all sitting on the floor…and she was sitting wrong...she shouldn't have been sitting like that since she was wearing a dress….Mob would have to teach her how to sit. Mob had a lot to teach her…and she was happy to teach her baby sister…and play with her…and she wasn't upset that Mukai had forgotten her…that her aura didn't even lighten when Mob spoke to her…
Not like when Sho spoke to her…but with Sho…she knew who Sho was.
Mob was little more than a stranger…a stranger with the same family name…no…not even the same family name. Mukai was a Sagami, not a Suzuki, and that was because her mom was a Sagami…even though that made no sense. She was a Suzuki even though her mom wasn't married to dad. When a dad had kids the kids had his family name and not the mom because being the dad mattered more than being the mom even though the mom was the one who had the babies in the first place. Dad…he should have left Mukai's name the way it was….maybe if he had left Mukai's name the way it was then she would have remembered her family better….
Or maybe not. Mukai didn't know that many words yet.
"More! More now! More now please!" said Mukai. She sounded like a little kid…because she was a little kid. She might not have even known what a family name was. Mob hadn't known that her family name was Suzuki until preschool. It hadn't mattered until then…and Mukai was too little for preschool…and since she was an esper she probably wasn't going to any kind of school…so maybe her family name didn't matter…
Her being here with her family….that was what mattered the most.
"Do you want…do you want me to get your more dolls? Do you want your big sister to get you more dolls?" asked Mob. She was going to have to make friends with Mukai again. She was going to be sisters with Mukai again….only this time for real. They were real sisters and…and they had to play together and…and she was going to teach Mukai things and….and she shouldn't have been worried about a mess in the house. Sho was right, dad didn't live there anymore, and he wasn't there to get mad…so it was ok to make a mess then….
"Yes! More now! More now please!" said Mukai. Her aura flared out and the box of dolls tipped over. She didn't know if Mukai had done that…or if she had done that. Mukai had looked at her when she said that….she had looked at her like she knew her…but she didn't…but that was ok…because they were getting to know each other right now.
"More now please, big sis." Said Sho. He took Mukai's hand and pointed to Mob. Mukai stared at her for a second before she reached over and started to pull on Sho's jacket.
"More now! More now please!" said Mukai. She shouted, flared her aura, and kicked her feet. Mob reached over and stopped her. She was wearing a dress and she should not have been kicking like that. Mom had taught her, years ago, about how she had to watch how she sat when she wore a dress…and she wasn't sure if that was the sort of thing that a sister taught you…but she was also kind of like mom too so…so maybe that was ok…and stuff….mom would have done that if she was Mukai's mom too…
But she wasn't. Dad cheated on her. She was never coming back now.
"Come on, say 'more now please, big sis' or just big sis…" said Sho. Mukai shook her head and kicked some more. Mob decided to let her kick, she was getting really upset now, and….well Mob had been able to deal with her being upset when she'd been a baby. She had just held Mukai and rocked her and gave her the pacifier and changed her if she needed it…but Mukai didn't look like she wanted to be held…and she was too old for a pacifier….also she was halfway potty trained, Sho had said, so she probably didn't need to be changed…she wasn't a baby anymore…she was a little kid….and Mob didn't know what to do with a kid that little…
But Sho did.
"No! More! No talking! Shut up!" said Mukai. She swung at Sho and he caught her little fist. He held her hand in his and kissed it. She tried to pull her hand away but he was stronger than her…and Mob…she had no idea if that was helping or not. She had no idea about her own baby sister….
"Come on, don't tell me to shut up. Now come on and-" said Sho. Mukai shook her head and got her hand loose from his. She crossed her arms and kicked her feet. She was mad…Mob hadn't meant to make her mad…and she had no idea how to make her feel better. She didn't know if Sho did, either, and…well her mom probably knew how to make her feel better….but Mob didn't want to talk to Mukai's mom. She knew what Sho had said, that Mukai's mom was nice and stuff, but she just…didn't want to talk to someone who could have maybe done all the things with her dad! Was that really so hard to understand!?
She was calm.
She was calm and…and this was…an opportunity to learn about her baby sister. She didn't need to talk to baby Mukai's mom or….or anything. Sure baby Mukai was getting upset but she could just….get used to it? Maybe she took after Sho…maybe if she just gave Mukai what she wanted then she would calm down…she must have taken after one of them…and it would have been Sho since she actually knew him….but she would have liked it if Mukai had taken after her at least a little bit…
But there was still time for that…so Mob was going to calm down now.
"Sho, it's ok….I know what she means. Here Mukai…you can have all of these. They're all for you." Said Mob. She walked all of that dolls over to Mukai…it was a lot of them…and she wasn't mad anymore at least. She was happy and…she Mob was happy that she was happy. She wondered what dad would have said about this…he probably would have told her to make sure to clean all of this up when she was done….or something. She didn't know…she had never seen dad even talk to Mukai…and she had no idea how a person could make a person without even….even loving them!
Was this just….how boys were?
Dad…he was her dad…and she had never known him to be a bad person….but she had heard that boys were like him. She had seen it in movies and on TV and in books and stuff. Boys just sort of…did that…with girls and then never called them again and stuff. Also they made babies and left. Serizawa's dad had done that, he had said, and…maybe it wasn't just dads. Moms could leave too….but mom…she had only left because dad cheated…even though she knew that it took a long time to make a baby Mukai would have been growing in her mom's stomach after mom had left…but maybe dad had done this with other girls and mom had found out….but why would dad do that? She knew how boys were, they liked all of that sort of stuff, and she had even done some of that stuff with a boy…had that meant anything?
A thought she didn't want to have.
She…had thought that Teru like her…that was why he had wanted to kiss her and do that other stuff with her…but Minegishi had told her that adults did that kind of thing without being in love…but she wasn't an adult and neither was Teru and….and she had wanted it to mean something. Like…like it was this big love story…like they had met and kissed and they were in love but fate kept them apart, all the best love stories had fate keeping the people apart, but in the end they always came together….because they were in love…and she loved Teru but Teru might have just wanted to kiss her and touch her and stuff and….and maybe boys were just like that. Her own dad was like that….and worse…he had made a whole human being and-
-and she did not want to think about this right now…or ever….but especially not while she was sitting on the floor playing dolls with her little brother and sister.
"Say 'thanks, big sis' Mukai….come on…you can do it." Said Sho. He pulled Mukai over so she was sitting on his lap. He was pointing to Mob now…and Mob smiled at Mukai. Mukai…she made a thinking face…the same sort of thinking face that dad made when he was deep in thought. Her eyes got really small…the black part…her eyes were super blue…like dad and Sho's….but that made sense since she was dad's kid and…and she was Mob's sister…they didn't look a thing alike but…they were siblings and…stuff.
Good stuff…because it was good to have a little sister…even if her dad had cheated on mom when he made her...not that any of that was Mukai's fault…and Mob wasn't mad at her…she could never be mad at her own baby sister.
"Thank you! Please and thank you! Please now!" said Mukai. She had to think for a while to say that…but that was just because she was little and she was still learning words. She was only two and…and she may have forgotten about Mob but…well she was still little. She could remember Mob…or make new memories of her…and Mob could do the same. They loved each other…even if they didn't know each other.
They were sisters. That was how it worked.
"You're welcome….baby sister." Said Mob. She reached over and put her finger in the palm of Mukai's hand…she had done that a lot when Mukai had been a baby. She was a little kid now, not a baby, but she could still wrap her hand around her finger. Her hand was bigger…and somehow it was sticky even though she hadn't eaten anything sticky in the time that she'd been home, but Mob let her. She didn't care about the stickiness.
She was just happy to have her sister back.