There was a second bedroom but nobody was using it.

Well not nobody, technically it was the President's room. He had just been…kicked out? Banished? Asked nicely to leave by his twelve year old daughter? He was gone, that was the point. He was off…somewhere…doing something and he had left his two kids here…for some reason. Tsuchiya wasn't entirely sure about the specifics and she didn't entirely trust the word of the other adults around here. The whole thing was just so…absurd…

Daytime drama absurd.

The same kind of daytime drama absurd that she had been watching for the past week. Every day it was the same. Train, spend time with Mukai, follow her as she followed her brother and sister next door to spend time with the only adults here and then watch daytime dramas with…the others….sometimes anime or cooking shows but mostly terribly daytime dramas…until the nighttime dramas happened. All the while Mukai got herself more and more worked up and there was nothing that she could do about it because she needed to make up the time with her brother and sister. Tsuchiya may not have agreed with everything they did but so long as Mukai didn't get seriously hurt…or something…then she was going to be fine…or so she told herself. She hadn't done anything truly dangerous yet. The other two…were not her kids…and would not listen to her. Shigeko seemed to honestly resent her….

At least Sho was ok.

For the son of President Suzuki he was a pretty ok kid. A little high stung, though that may have been the sugar, and he cursed like a little sailor…but she had known that about him already. She had known the kid for a while. The sister…she was a mystery. Tsuchiya had no idea what was getting her so upset all the time. She hadn't done anything to Shigeko…aside from raise Mukai….but she was twelve. Who knew with her? Twelve year olds weren't exactly known for their amazing capacity for rational thought. She was twelve and she was going through a lot so of course she would have been a little upset.

This was a lot for everyone.

Amazingly enough not Mukai. She was only two…and Tsuchiya…well she had been expecting nothing but meltdowns since they got her. No, even before that. When she got word of their new posting. She had expected Mukai to spend the entire time crying to go home. Crying for everyone. She…well she cried. She was two and, yes, she could talk but she wasn't entirely past crying yet. She didn't cry for what she had lost, though, she hardly cried at all. Even at bedtime. She had laid in bed and listened to her brother and sister read her stories all night. She was still in her bed now. She hadn't gotten up once in the middle of the night, that Tsuchiya knew of, and she was so good during the day…well mostly good. She was still Mukai, so a lot of slapping and shouting, but not the regression that Tsuchiya had imagined…

Maybe this place was…not terrible for her.

The thought comes to Tsuchiya as all weird thoughts do. In the middle of the night while she stared at the ceiling and contemplated her life. Normally she just replayed every single embarrassing mistake and social faux pas she had ever made. Worry came too, worry for Mukai. Worry for what her life would be. Cut off from the other kids, living in Claw with…everyone. The world that she would inherit as she got older. They were, supposedly, going to concur the world after all. Tsuchiya…did and did not believe that it was even possible. The entire idea of it was just absurd, one man taking over the whole world, but when President Suzuki actually said it…he said it like it was going to happen. Not a 'one of these days' thing but an actual….thing that was going to happen. It was so easy to believe him….and she didn't like to lie to herself. She wanted to believe him. She wanted every word that he'd said about the future to be true. She wanted…she wanted to live in a world where she would never have to feel alone, like she was the only one, and she never wanted Mukai to grow up feeling like that.

She wanted her daughter to grow up to be happy.

And she was happy. She was so happy here…even if that happiness was not the best for her. The amount of sugar that she ate wasn't good…and too much TV only made her more hyper…and by the end of the day she was hissing like an angry cat from the sheer…business…of it all…but still. She was happy with her brother and sister…it was always important to accentuate the positive. Mukai loved her brother and sister…and she was happy here. This place…was like candy. It made her happy but it was not good for her. Just look at how her brother and sister had turned out. Those kids…she was amazed that they could even read. They handled their own schooling…with incredibly mixed results…and they had no friends their own age and no drive or….or even….purpose. It had been a week…over a week…and it felt like less than a day….

Time moved differently here.

Here was just…today. One endless today. She had never paid so much mind to how much she did…and how much she needed to be doing something. For her entire life she had been working to a goal. Each year had brought with it the goal of doing well for the next grade. There had also been the matter of her training and learning to control her qi. Every day she had something that she worked towards. Here…there just….wasn't anything to do. One day bled into the next and into the next. All the kids did was play all day. Sometimes they sat down and tried to do some schoolwork but she'd watched them enough to know that nothing of substance ever got done. They just…existed…in this one big today…all of them did…

And she did not want Mukai to exist in this endless today.

She needed to…well not to go to school, obviously, she had a target on her head. That was the President's child and, like Fukuda had outlined for her back when he'd brought her Mukai, there was no shortage of people who wanted President Suzuki dead…or at least hurt…and they were not above using his children to get to him. That was why his older two kids led such isolating lives. For their safety…and Mukai…well there was no way in hell she could go to school with the other kids…but she could at least…have some stability in her life….and some rules…and boundaries…and something to work towards besides just playing all day…

But Tsuchiya didn't get a say in this.

She didn't even rank, not really, not here. She was a Scar, which was the lowest level of the upper echelon. There were Division Leaders, Cell Heads, and HQ administrators above her. Back at the Seventh Division her job had been to train Awakened soldier…and she had been good at it…and she had ranked higher than some of the other Scars…but she didn't have any kind of rank here. She was living in the President's house…with his children. One of which he had formally named his Vice President and the other one was his successor. She didn't get to start talking about how things were run. She had tried that and Shigeko shot her down. The second bedroom may have bene empty but there was still a President Suzuki here….a Vice President Suzuki….

She was still here….though she had gone out a while ago.

She had left the house dressed like what a twelve year old thought a twenty year old dressed like. It had taken everything in Tsuchiya not to ask Shigeko where in the hell she thought she was going at that hour of night dressed like that. That was not her daughter…Mukai was her daughter…and if Mukai started running around in the middle of the night doing God only knew what then Tsuchiya would have had words…all the words…but Shigeko not her kid. She was President Suzuki's kid and if he, for reasons nobody would ever have been able to understand, wanted his daughter running around at night dressed like what she thought a grown woman dressed like than that was his business.

Though he had abandoned his business in Tokyo so that made this kind of her business.

She had no idea what time it was, her phone was off in the corner charging, but she knew that it must have been late. She had managed to sleep for a little while before getting up and just….looking up at the ceiling waiting for sleep to come. It didn't….and not just because this was the least comfortable couch in all of Japan. How was she supposed to sleep when there was a twelve year old girl out in Tokyo in the middle of the night doing God knew what with God knew who?

Well a lot easier now, actually, a hell of a lot easier now.

She felt the shift in the energy that marked Shimazaki's teleporting and she could see and feel Shigeko's aura…muddled as it was. Her qi was slow, sleepy, sort of…lethargic. That….could have meant anything. Tsuchiya got up. There was worry, there, and there should have been. She had been out with Shimazaki Ryou of all people. Sure he was good with Mukai and all but…well he was Shimazaki Ryou. She had heard rumors about him, and stories from Sho, and she knew what kind of person he was…and she knew what kind of person Shigeko was. She was twelve and she thought that she knew best, again because she was twelve, and of course she wouldn't have been able to tell a good situation from a bad one…hence the drinking and the smoking. She could have been off doing all kinds of terrible things…the yakuza were out at night and Claw had strong ties with them…and hopefully she had nothing to do with that side of business…hopefully she hadn't been out doing something terrible for terrible people and-

Oh.

She'd been out getting drunk.

"Hello…Shigeko." said Tsuchiya as she opened the door. Shigeko…smelled like a liquor store had exploded…and then been grilled on a skewer with some yakitori and dipped in soy sauce…though that might have had to do with the soy sauce on the front of her dress. She was swaying as she stood….and Tsuchiya didn't think that her shoes were soley to blame. She was drunk.

There was a drunken twelve year old standing right in front of her.

"Hi…Tsuchiya…sorry for being such a b-word to you…ok. I'm done now." Said Shigeko as she walked past Tsuchiya and kicked her sandals off in the genkan. She rubbed her feet…she had been walking for a while. Even in the dim lighting, it was never completely dark in this house, she could see the red indents of the Shigeko's sandal straps and the blisters…ouch. That did not look good…Shigeko did not look good.

Of fucking course she didn't look good…she was drunk. She was holding the wall with one hand and she was swaying. That…was not good. Tsuchiya went over and offered Shigeko a hand. She took it…for once. Well she had said that she had been sorry that she'd acted like…well Tsuchiya assumed that she had meant 'bitch' when she had said b-word….not that she'd been that much of a bitch. Minegishi Toshiki…now there was a bitch. Tsuchiya had never thought that she would have ever met anyone bitchier than Ishiguro…but life never worked out the way you thought it would. She had never thought that she would have grown up to join a take over the world cult but here she was.

Life sure was something, wasn't it? Though not always something good.

"Thank you….see? I can be nice to you…and I should be nice to you…and it's hard but I will…stuff is so hard sometimes…" said Shigeko as she leaned more onto Tsuchiya. Normally it would have been painful, getting to near to her, but her qi was…quiet. That might have been the drinking…though she should not have been drinking. Tsuchiya knew fully well that she had been the one to blow the roof off of the Seventh Division…but still.

No twelve year old ever needed to be in this state.

"Yeah, you're really nice. Now come on, let's get you to bed." Said Tsuchiya as she supported Shigeko. She needed to go to bed. It was…Shigeko had her phone in her other hand…after two in the morning. Yeah, they all needed their sleep….including Mukai. She did not need Mukai getting up in the middle of the night…and she did not need Mukai to see this. She was only two, Tsuchiya had no idea what she did and did not remember, but she didn't want this to end up being Mukai's first memory or anything.

"I'm not sleepy…but I am sorry. I mean for how I was to you. I guess I'm just…mad all the time now…but it's not your fault…I mean I don't think that it is." Said Shigeko as Tsuchiya led her down the hall and up the stairs. She pretty much had to carry Shigeko, she was not ok to walk. Who in the hell had let her drink this much? Or at all? Tsuchiya settled herself…this was not the time to get upset…and she did not need to end up getting upset at the child in this situation.

That was just bad parenting.

She was a mother. She wasn't Shigeko's mother…but then again it wasn't like she had one of those now did she? She didn't have anyone to help her up the stairs in the middle of the night…well nobody should have had to…not that Tsuchiya hadn't been in her position before, stumbling home drunk at two in the morning. She'd grown up pretty far outside of civilization and, once she hit high school, there hadn't been much else to do but go out into the woods and drink. She hadn't been nearly as perfect and devoted to 'the way' as her parents had thought…she had come home in this state so many times before…and she had wished that someone would have helped her up the stairs and into her room…

Though she had been seventeen when she had first come home in this state. A full five years older than Shigeko was now.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up and then we'll get you into bed, alright? You need to sleep this off." Said Tsuchiya softly as they got to the top of the stairs. Time to be quiet now, Mukai was sleeping…and maybe it was best that Shigeko sleep elsewhere for the night. There was that second bedroom….that was perfect. It wasn't like the President would be coming back tonight or anytime soon. She didn't much want to sleep in the President's bed but Shigeko…well if she minded then maybe she shouldn't have gotten into this state…no, no, she was only twelve and she didn't fully know what she was doing.

She wasn't the adult in this situation.

"I don't need to take a bath…" said Shigeko as Tsuchiya led her into the bathroom. She turned on the light and grimaced. Too bright…and the light blue wasn't helping matters. She sat Shigeko down on the edge of the tub. She dug her toes into the bathroom rug and smiled. Yeah…she was pretty far gone.

"The rug is dry…that's good. I hate it when it gets wet…then I have to wash it or it'll smell weird. I hate it when the rug smells weird…I smell weird." Said Shigeko. She was digging both of her feet deep into the bathmat now. Tsuchiya…had no idea what to do to make this better. She just needed to sober up…that would take time…but she had to get that stuff off of her face. She looked around on the bathroom counter…that was a hell of a lot of makeup. That was more makeup than Tsuchiya had ever owned in her thirty one years of life. English….Japanese…Chinese…Korean…words she knew and words she didn't. More shades of blue than she had ever seen in her life. Makeup…but no makeup remover…

"My legs are cold. It's cold in here…but it's kind of sticky outside. It's always sticky in Tokyo…well it's worse in Osaka…but we can't go there anymore." Said Shigeko

"Hey, do you have any-" said Tsuchiya as she moved some of the makeup out of the way. She didn't want to move it around too much, none of this was hers and it all looked expensive, but she had to find some kind of makeup remover. She hardly ever wore makeup but from what she remembered you needed special stuff to get it off…unless she wanted to scrub Shigeko down….no. That was not her kid. She cared about this kid but that was not her kid.

"We can't go to Korea anymore because that's where….I think that's where Mukai's mom came from…because her name was Mi-Cha…and the note that came with her was in Korean. Minegishi read it to me, their Korean is better than mine. The note sat that Mukai…her name was Mi-Cha…and that she was bottle fed…but she kept on trying to eat the other way….so I don't know how true the note was…it's easy for people to lie. I know. People…they keep on lying to me." Said Shigeko

"Oh…Shigeko-" said Tsuchiya as she stopped messing around on the counter. Shigeko…she was playing with the hem of her dress now…or rather her very long shirt…and she could emote. Usually she had that same sort of monotone the President had…but here her voice was just so…heavy. Much too heavy for such a little girl. This whole topic was much too heavy for such a little girl. None of this should have been on her mind. She was twelve. She should have been thinking about dolls and anime and stickers and makeup and boys….or girls, she had never mentioned any boys after all…but Tsuchiya was not going to go prying into that part of her life now.

Or ever since it was none of her business.

She was going to get Shigeko cleaned up and into bed so she could sober and then…and then she didn't know. Talk to her about this? What could she say? Shigeko did not like her. She had been kind of…well unpleasant…that was a better word than the one Shigeko had used. She had been so unpleasant and Tsuchiya knew that she didn't want to hear anything from her…but she was the adult here…she was the only adult here….

One thing at a time.

"I hate it when people lie like….just tell me the truth, you know? I never tell lies…well maybe a little…like when I say that I'm fine but I'm not…but I'm fine now. Shimazaki says that when you think about bad stuff and let it affect you that's you giving it power over you and stuff and….and I have been so mean to you and I don't want to be a mean person." Said Shigeko

"Hey, hey, you're not a mean person, alright? You've been…a little cold….but that's fine. You're going through a lot." Said Tsuchiya. She gave up the search for makeup remover and sat down on the side of the tub next to Shigeko. Shigeko was staring at her now. Her eyes were red and rimmed with black…and also glitter. She smelled like cigarettes and liquor…had she been at a bar? Tsuchiya…would address the fact that apparently Shimazaki Ryou, a man at east twenty years older than her, was taking her out to bars at two in the morning. Right now she had to address…whatever this was.

"I…am. Thanks….I am. It's just…it's a lot right now." Said Shigeko and…ok. She was getting all misty eyed. Tsuchiya grabbed a towel off the rack and handed it to Shigeko. She dabbed at her eyes and sniffled.

"Hey, come on. You're ok…you're going to be ok." Said Tsuchiya. That was just what you were supposed to say when someone was upset. You told them that things were going to be ok even when they weren't. This girl's life was not ok…sure she was fortunate in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways she was unfortunate too. She was unfortunate in ways that nobody should have had to have been…at least not at her age. Tsuchiya…did not know what she was supposed to do here…so she did what she would have done for her own daughter if she had been getting worked up like this.

She told Shigeko that it was all going to be ok.

"I don't know if it am. I mean….I was mean to you and…and my mom always said that I was sweet…and…and that was what she said. She said that I was sweet and she's gone and she's gone because of dad and I love dad and she's gone because dad…because dad cheated on her…and I love Mukai but…but maybe I want I want my mom back and maybe I don't and…and I don't know. She just left and she's gone and I'm her-" said Shigeko

"Hey, hey. No. You are not your mother. You're your own person and…and I have never met your mother but I'm sure that she must have loved you…" said Tsuchiya. The mystery of the missing Missus Suzuki….not something that she was going to go into. Shigeko said that she had run away…but people did not run away from Claw. Claw didn't own the world yet but Claw was in every part of the world…there was no world to hide in. She might have been dead…Minegishi had said as much…or maybe…..well there was no point in speculating….not when there was a misty eyed twelve year old sitting there pouring her heart out to you at two in the morning.

"She…I don't know. She just…she taught me some stuff. She taught me to brush my hair and…and how to braid it and…and how to cook and…and she didn't teach me some stuff and…and then she was gone. You know? She was gone and…and I always blamed her but…but maybe I should have been blaming dad…since he was the cheater. He was the one who cheated on mom…even though he told me that he missed her every day and….and when she left I used to wonder what I did….and then I blamed her…but now it's like…what did dad do? Like…like he's a bad person and…and I miss him…" said Shigeko. This…was above Tsuchiya's paygrade…well she would have thought so if she had been more of a bitch….she wasn't. This little girl…this drunk little girl….needed someone to…listen? To tell her that everything was going to be ok…

Even though…maybe it wasn't.

She couldn't just tell Shigeko that everything was going to be ok. She was crying over her missing mother. That was…a lot. She had lost her mother and…and she was so young. Tsuchiya…didn't know why Missus Suzuki had left….and she wasn't there to judge her…even though she knew that if it came down to it the only way she was leaving Mukai was if she died at some point…and even then she would do what she could to linger on as a spirit. She wasn't married to President Suzuki, though, so…so she couldn't judge Missus Suzuki….

Even though she had abandoned two children…after presumably having been married to her husband for some time….long enough to know that he shouldn't have been allowed to take care of a couple of goldfish let alone two human children.

"Hey….Shigeko? This…isn't something that you should worry about. I'm sure that whatever happened between your parents had nothing to do with you. They're adults and they made their own choices….and sometimes when we make our own choices we make the wrong ones." Said Tsuchiya. There…that would hold for a little bit. She was blaming herself….another piece of the puzzle. She was blaming herself for what happened with her parents…she was only twelve…so of course she would blame herself….poor kid.

Poor, poor, poor kid.

"It does though…I should have taken better care of…of my family so my mom…I don't know. Maybe if I did better then dad wouldn't have cheated on her and she wouldn't have left and…and some lady tricked my dad into doing…all the things…with her…and I think that maybe it was this one lady in Korea…and also I thought that it might have been you….because you love Mukai…" said Shigeko

"Whoa…Shigeko. Listen to me….as best as you can. I have never said more than ten words to your dad…let alone done…all the things. I adopted Mukai, ok? When I adopted her all I knew was that she needed a home and that I could give her one…alright? I have no idea where she came from. I have no idea who her biological mother is…and I don't think that it matters. I don't think that this is anything that you should be worried about. You….you're a good kid. You're a good kid and…ok. You're…well we'll talk about this later but you're a good kid…ok?" asked Tsuchiya. This was…mothering. This was what mothers did. She had thought, before, that getting up every hour and changing endless diapers was hard but this…well this was a whole other level…

She hoped that Mukai never had these problems.

She was two. Her biggest problem was that she didn't get unlimited candy and soda. She…well in ten years she would be twelve….and then she would have these problems…no. She would never have problems like this. Tsuchiya was her mother in more than name only. She was actually going to be there for her, not like the Suzuki's, and Mukai would never come home drunk at two in the morning like this.

Ever.

"Tsuchiya….thanks. I mean….thank you for just…saying all of those things….I'm tired….I'm going to bed now. Thank you." Said Shigeko. She tried to stand up. Tsuchiya grabbed her by the wrist and sat her back down. She…didn't feel like the second most powerful esper in the world right then. She felt like a drunk, sweaty, twelve year old girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"Hang on, first let me get that makeup off of you and then we can put you to bed…in the other room, ok? That way you won't wake anyone up." Said Tsuchiya as she got up. She started rooting through the medicine cabinet and…there. Makeup remover wipes. Good. Finally.

"Yeah….because dad is gone…and I made him leave and…stuff…" said Shigeko as she wiped her eyes. Tsuchiya took the towel out of her hands and let it drop onto the floor. She got out a makeup wipe and went to work on Shigeko's eyes…and her whole face….because she was wearing a full face of makeup at the age of twelve…for some reason…

One thing at a time.

"Shigeko…don't beat yourself up over that. Alright? You…you're drunk. You're going to be…um…ruminating a lot…." Said Tsuchiya as she wiped the glittery eyeshadow from Shigeko's eyes and cheeks.

"What's ruminating?" asked Shigeko

"When you can't stop thinking about the things that…you think you've done wrong. You haven't done anything wrong…aside from the…no. Not the time. Just…why are you even drunk? You're only twelve years old." Said Tsuchiya as she got the last of the glitter from Shigeko's face. She went to work on the rest of her. So much makeup…well that was why…the red spots that covered her forehead….well that would have been because of the makeup….maybe a chicken and egg scenario….

"Because the blue stuff is too sweet and the olive drink tastes like sadness." Said Shigeko

"O….K…." said Tsuchiya

"Also my powers don't listen when I drink…but in a good way. They don't try and do things on their own….like….they listen and stuff….but you wouldn't get it….nobody gets it…" said Shigeko

"You drink….to control your qi? Your powers?" asked Tsuchiya. Well that made sense, her qi was very quiet right now, but there were other things that she could do…things that would not destroy her body. Drinking was…not good for an adult…and even worse for a child.

"Yeah….and it works…and don't tell me that I can't….my dad doesn't even tell me that….he doesn't tell me anything…because I banished him…and stuff…because he was a bad person but…I miss him…like…he's my dad and I love him…but he just…he did bad stuff…" said Shigeko

"Shigeko…you might be too drunk to have this talk but…have you ever considered meditation?" asked Tsuchiya

"Like what they do at temples?" asked Shigeko

"Yeah, that. How about we do some of that before…you try and do some of this…again? Alright?" asked Tsuchiya. She had no idea if Shigeko was too drunk or not drunk enough or…what…for this conversation…but she did know that they had to have it at some point. It was the same thing that she would have done for Mukai if she had been in this situation. She would have sat Mukai down and told her that they were going to mediate until she got her qi under control…and then she was going to hand Mukai a toothbrush and take her back home…to where Tsuchiya had grown up…and then made her scrub every single brick one at time…with the cheapest toothbrush in the world…

This was not Mukai.

This was one of the President's daughters but not the one that she was raising. She was raising Mukai. Nobody was raising Shigeko. She was surrounded by adults…chronologically….but they did nothing to raise her. Nobody in the world was raising this child. If anything she was raising herself. She was raising herself and her brother…but not her sister….and she didn't need to raise herself anymore. She had someone to….well not 'raise her' raise her…but someone to be there for her…at least there to put her to bed at night and get the makeup off of her face.

Shigeko was not Mukai. She was older…but not an older version of Mukai.

Mukai…would never have these problems. Mukai would have someone who looked out for her and didn't just…enable her. Someone who could set a good example. Someone who could sit her down and tell her 'you are twelve, knock it off' if she ever got the idea in her head to do any of this. She had…she had a mother…which was more than Shigeko had.

Shigeko was, for all intents and purposes, and orphan…with at least one living parent.

"Alright….after bed…" said Shigeko with a yawn. She was so young there, the yawn and the stretch. The flutter of her eyes as she struggled to stay awake. Mukai did that. It was a family trait….or maybe just something that kids did….Tsuchiya didn't know. It was after two in the morning. Shigeko needed sleep, she needed sleep, the whole world needed sleep.

So that as what she did. She picked Shigeko up, carried her to the second bedroom, and put her to sleep where she belonged.