There was never a dull moment in the Suzuki family…even at six in the morning.
"Mama, mama wake up! Wake up now!" said Mukai. Tsuchiya sat up. Between Mukai slapping her in the face, the house shaking from someone deciding to go on a morning indoor run, and the sound of retching she really didn't have much of a choice….wait…the sound of retching…
Oh no.
"Throw up, mama, over there." said Mukai as she pulled the front of Tsuchiya's t-shirt. Mukai didn't have to inform her of anything. She could hear it for herself. One of the kids was sick...and they didn't have a healer anymore. She'd been on the receiving end of Fukuda's powers more than once and that man could clear anything up. Without him around she was going to have to deal with…what sounded like a bad case of food poisoning…all on her own.
Well she was a mom and this was what moms did…and better one of the older kids than Mukai.
"Who's throwing up? Is it Sho? Is he keeping food under his mattress again?" asked Tsuchiya as she got up off the couch. One of her socks had gone missing in the night…she kicked off the other one. No time to worry about that now. She had a sick kid to deal with. Food poisoning…she'd need lemon tea, peppermints, saltine crackers, and plain toast…and to figure out why Sho hid food in strange places. Normally it was poptarts but so far she'd found a block of cheese behind the TV and a sandwich in the microwave. Probably Sho. Shigeko had more sense than that.
Not a lot of sense but more than that.
"Hide the food…later. We play later. Sho mama throwing up….over there." said Mukai as she tugged on Tsuchiya. She reached down and patted Mukai on the head. Her hair was stiff…time for a bath. Tsuchiya added that to the list of things that needed to be done. First and foremost she had to take care of whichever kid, most likely Sho, was sick.
"You mean your big sister? Come on, say big sister." Said Tsuchiya. Mukai was getting better at stringing words together but the meanings of those words were often loss on her. She still didn't know that Shigeko was her older sister…well that made sense. She had just now met her…well outside of being an infant. Mukai just needed more time.
They had nothing but time.
Mukai grabbed her by the leg of her pajama pants and dragged her up the stairs. She was adjusting well….had adjusted well. She was walking around like this had always been her home. Children were resilient like that and Mukai was at the stage where she didn't have the easiest time forming new long term memories anyway. That happened at about three. That was the earliest age that Tsuchiya could remember being. She had been three years old and she had gotten lost in the temple…she couldn't remember where she had been going but she knew that she had gotten lost…but then dad had found her and everything was fine. She wondered what Mukai's first memory would be.
Not of her father, obviously.
She had met Suzuki once and he had looked at her like she was some kind of alien. That was better than open resentment or rejection…right? Tsuchiya didn't know. Mukai was at the age where family bonds meant nothing to her. There were taller people in her life who took care of her and played with her. That was it. Some of those people had titles and some of them did not. She didn't even know what a father was let alone that she had one…and that he had run away rather than even take ten seconds to get to know her…or maybe Shigeko had kicked him out. That was the story that Tsuchiya had been given but it made no sense. President Suzuki was planning on conquering the world but, somehow, he lets his twelve year old daughter kick him out of the house? It didn't make sense but then again not a lot made sense in the Suzuki house.
Like why Shigeko was, apparently, the one who was sick and not Sho.
"Excuse me! I've got to get help! Big sis is sick!" said Sho as he scooted past them and practically jumped down the stairs.
"Don't break your ankles!" shouted Tsuchiya. He was either ignoring her or he hadn't heard, one of the two. She heard the front door open and slam shut. Well at least he knew enough to go and get help. He really was a good kid when you got down to it. They both were good kids….for the most part.
"Sho go outside now." Said Mukai as she pointed down the stairs. Tsuchiya reached down and picked Mukai up. For some reason she smelled like chocolate. Hopefully she didn't have some kind of candy hoard going. Tsuchiya had said, a thousand times at least, that Mukai was not supposed to have a lot of candy….but of course nobody listened to her. Nobody ever listened to her around here…but she was a newcomer to the group. Maybe after they'd stayed a while longer…
As long as they had to stay.
The Seventh Division wouldn't take that long to fix…or at least make structurally sound. Claw needed Awakened and the Seventh Division was the only place, well aside from that Ninth Division that they had been working on for a while, and Claw couldn't function without Awakened. Awakened and other espers that needed to be trained and they couldn't be trained at any old place. Suzuki was putting a lot of effort and manpower into getting things back to normal and then when that happened she and Mukai, hopefully, would be moving back home.
Hopefully.
She really had no idea. Mukai's brother and sister wanted her around but their dad….well he wasn't around…but he had to come back…right? He wasn't actually going to let his twelve year old daughter throw him out of his own house…right? Tsuchiya didn't actually know…and she had no idea what she even wanted. She wanted whatever was bets for Mukai. Mukai deserved to know her siblings, of them, and not just Sho. This had been two years too late. She deserved to know her big sister just as much as her big brother. Her father on the other hand….Tsuchiya had no idea if knowing him would even be good for Mukai…or if she even got a say in what happened.
In the Suzuki household sometimes you could only just….go with it…no matter what was happening.
Like when you found a twelve year old girl, dressed like a twenty year old, sitting with her face in the toilet retching up what sounded like at least a few internal organs. Mukai ran over and started slapping Shigeko on the back, not to hurt her, but because she was coughing and vomiting. Poor kid. Food poisoning was a bitch…and so was alcohol poisoning. She smelled like someone had thrown up in a brewery. Tsuchiya kicked her bag out of the way as she walked into the bathroom…and she heard something glass clinking. Well then. Someone had….been out…last night. Shigeko was not her daughter and she didn't get a say in how she was raised…but also she was only twelve years old! Someone had to be an adult in her life…and…and how had she even gotten herself into this state in the first place. She wasn't anywhere near drinking age….and she looked her age. Even in a half shirt and shorts she looked her age….
Tsuchiya wished that she could have just acted her age for once.
"There, there. There, there." said Mukai as she patted Shigeko on the back. Tsuchiya stepped over them and grabbed the rinse cup from the bathroom counter.
"Thank Mukai….but you can go and play now, ok? Go and play with Sho." said Shigeko as she pulled her head out of the toilet. Tsuchiya reached over and flushed it for her. Poor kid…but maybe this would teach her not to drink…but maybe she was way too young to learn that lesson. She was twelve. She should have been…what did twelve year olds even do. When she had been twelve her life had been school, training, meditation, the occasional competition, and chores…so many chores. Shigeko had the chores thing down but…well alright, maybe she wasn't the one to teach Shigeko how to be twelve….
But she could be the one to nurse Shigeko through what was going to be the world's worst hang over.
"Sho go outside. Sho gone." Said Mukai. Tsuchiya handed Shigeko the rinse cup of warm water. She needed to rinse. She needed to brush her teeth. She needed to brush her hair….and to change clothes…and take a bath…and rest. She needed a rest…and then…she didn't know. If it had been Mukai in Shigeko's place then she would have punished her…but she wasn't Shigeko's mother, first of all, and second of all Shigeko outranked her…so there wasn't any way to punish her…that wouldn't have even worked…she was at a loss.
Kids. If only they came with an instruction manual.
"Oh…right. Ok…um….I don't feel so good….you should play somewhere else, ok?" asked Shigeko
"No play. You drink. There, there." said Mukai as she went back to patting Shigeko on the back. Tsuchiya wished that she hadn't left her phone on the charger. That was the most adorable thing that she had ever seen.
"You should rinse, not drink. Get that taste out of your mouth." Said Tsuchiya
"You're right." Said Shigeko. She rinsed and spat a couple of times before handing the cup back to Tsuchiya. She filled the cup again. Shigeko needed fluids, she had lost a lot of water, and she needed more electrolytes too…sport's drink? Was there any in the house? These kids mostly drank soda and strawberry milk….anything other than water. It was like they were allergic to water or something. Shigeko needed water…with some salt…but mostly she just needed rest.
She was way too sick.
She sat up and went back to retching. Tsuchiya picked Mukai up and handed her some bath toys from the beach bag. That would keep her busy for a little bit. Long enough, anyway, for Tsuchiya to hold Shigeko's hair back. Being this close to her…well it hurt…just a bit. She could feel Shigeko's aura and she wasn't hostile, she was never hostile, but it just….hurt being this near to her. She wasn't used to Shigeko or Shigeko wasn't used to her, one of the two. In time maybe this would get easier. She had no idea how much time it would take but they had nothing but time. There wasn't anything that needed doing, there wasn't any kind of schedule or even a list of goals, so really she wouldn't have lost anything if she had spent the next twenty four hours sitting there on the floor holding Shigeko's hair back while she puked her brains out.
She didn't much want to spend the rest of the day doing this, though, but…what else could she do?
Well she could always pass Shigeko along to the next person. She heard the door open…and Sho was shouting about his sister being sick. Sho didn't seem to know that she was drunk…and that was good. He didn't need to know about this. If he knew about this then he would try this and…well they didn't need two of them. God…what was Suzuki even doing here? He had two kids…well he wasn't here…but he should have been. If he was going to be too busy conquering the world or whatever then maybe he shouldn't have had kids.
Or maybe he just should have left his children with someone else to raise them.
"Row, row, row your boat….row, row, row your boat…." Said Mukai as she waved a plastic boat around in the air. She was so cute….it was amazing that her da didn't want to know her…but that was for the best. If this was how he raised his kids then it was for the best that Tsuchiya was the one raising Mukai. She didn't want Mukai, in ten years, so be sitting there with her face buried in the toilet puking her guts out…and she didn't want to have to hold back Mukai's hair unless she had food poisoning. Maybe when she got into this state…in university…or at her wedding…when she was an adult. When she was at the right age for all of this.
Not now.
"Gently down the stream." Said Tsuchiya. Mukai smiled and then poked her in the back with the boat. If she ignored the fact that Shigeko was drunk this could have been a really cute family scene. She could have been the stepmother or something...something to Shigeko. Something besides the person who held her hair back when she was drunk and got sick.
"Merrily, merrily, merr-oh no!" said Shigeko before he retching started again. Her entire body was racked…and Tsuchiya did feel bad for her. She knew that Shigeko had gotten herself into that state. She was too young to fully understand that this would have happened if she drank too much…or at all…and she shouldn't have been out all night either. But she wasn't Shigeko's mother, no, she was Mukai.
The person standing in the doorway was the closest thing to Shigeko had to a mother…poor girl…
"Life is but a dream…a bad one." said Minegishi. They looked more tired and more pissed off than normal. They must have just rolled out of bed. They had a serious bedhead going on and they were in their pajamas…and their socks didn't match. One of them was purple with individual toes and one of them was all black…and too big, much too big. Maybe that was their boyfriend's….the person who the should have…no. This was not the time for that. The kids needed adults and it was up to her to be one of the adults….
Possibly the only adult.
"Mine over there, mama, over there." said Mukai. She pointed at Minegishi just to make sure that everyone knew where they were. Mukai was so sweet like that. Minegishi didn't seem to think so, though, they gave Mukai a look that could have killed. Mukai just smiled at them and stuck out her tongue. They stuck their tongue out right back.
"I see them." Said Tsuchiya. She could see them…and she sort of wished that she hadn't. Mukai thought that they were just playing with her…and they had better have just been playing with her. Mukai hadn't done anything to them and they were acting like a bitch…well that was normal for them. She had no idea what Matsuo saw in them…but now was not the time.
"Hi Minegishi….I don't feel so good…" said Shigeko
"I can tell. Move." Said Minegishi. They actually tapped Tsuchiya with their foot like they were going to kick her out of the way…and she was calm. She was going to stay calm and set a good example for her daughter…and she was going to tally up her evil thoughts for the day and then she was going to meditate on them…and she was not going to lose her temper. She scooted out of the way and let go of Shigeko's hair.
Minegishi didn't miss a beat.
They were holding back Shigeko's hair, now, and rubbing her back. They were crouched down on the bathroom floor…and their shirt was riding up in the back. There were some scars that could be seen there. Raised and red and long…some of them crossed. Minegishi reached over and pulled their shirt down in the back. Tsuchiya tried her best to look like she hadn't been staring.
She didn't know if it worked.
"So, Mob, I take it you and Ryou had fun last night." Said Minegishi as they rubbed her back. Shigeko pulled her head out of the toilet and nodded. Minegishi pointed at the rinse cup and snapped their fingers.
"We did…and please stop snapping. My brain hurts." Said Shigeko
"Snap! Snap!" said Mukai as she tried to snap her fingers. She didn't know how. Tsuchiya put her hand over Mukai's before she got frustrated and started crying. There was already one crisis happening, they did not need two.
"You know that you can just ask me with words, right?" asked Tsuchiya as she handed them he rinse cup. They snapped their fingers and then pointed at the counter plant.
"Use your words." Said Mukai
"This is easier. Now someone give me the fucking plant." Said Minegishi still snapping their fingers over and over again.
"Here….and please don't fight." Said Shigeko as she pulled the plant down with her powers. It shook, a bit, and some dirt fell down onto the floor. That was weird. Usually she was really good with her telekinesis….but that was under normal circumstances. She knew that Shigeko drank, she had seen her do it, but she had never seen Shigeko this drunk before…and she must have been tired too. She had been up all night…with Shimazaki Ryou…and that was….worrying. She…thought that he was good with Mukai…but also she didn't fully trust him around Shigeko…Minegishi seemed to but they were Minegishi.
"Nobody's fighting, Mob, we're all friends here." Said Minegishi. They reached out and the fern began to grow…a lemon? It didn't turn into a lemon tree, it just sort of grew a lemon. It grew from garden size to grocery store size in a few seconds. Huh. So that was what they could do. She had seen them fight before, and she had seen the aftermath of the body disposal they did for President Suzuki, but she had never seen them just…do that. Huh. If they could do things like that then what in the hell were they doing working for Claw?
She wasn't about to ask them.
She knew why people joined Claw. They joined when either they had nowhere else to go or they were made offers that they couldn't refuse. There was also a much smaller percentage of people who sought them out. Well…non Awakened, anyway. The Awakened joined because they wanted powers. She already had powers. She just joined to get away from her life. One day had been just like the day before, repeated over and over again, and she had just…wanted out…and now she was here. Still, if she could have done what Minegishi could do she would have done pretty much anything aside from join this insane asylum.
But she didn't think that this was the time to discuss that…and not just because there was a drunken twelve year old sitting down on the bathroom floor.
"Drink the water and suck on the lemon." Said Minegishi
"But this is the rinse cup. It's for rinsing." Said Shigeko
"Brush and floss and rinse!" shouted Mukai
"Do you want to stop throwing up or not?" asked Minegishi
"I do…alright." Said Shigeko. She drank the water and sucked on the lemon just like she was told. Tsuchiya scooted over to be closer to Mukai. She was getting curious, now, and she wanted to be in the middle of it…whatever all of that was. She just had to know. She was so curious and bright…but this was not the time to be curious and bright. This was the time to let Minegishi deal with this. Shigeko trusted them more and they were more like her mother, well parental figure, than Tsuchiya was.
She should have left them alone…and that was what she would do.
"I don't know if I'm ever going to stop throwing up." Said Shigeko. Tsuchiya got up and tried to lift Mukai. She shook her head and pointed at the bathmat. She wanted Tsuchiya to sit and play with her…but there wasn't enough room. This bathroom was not designed for three people and a toddler.
"Maybe some plain toast would help?" asked Tsuchiya
"Not yet. She's not ready for solids. She has to get her stomach settled…and it's going to settle. It might just take a while…and let this be a lesson to everyone in this room about overdoing it." Said Minegishi
"I know that I should have listened to you…and I wish that I had listened to you." Said Shigeko
"Why didn't you? I have been telling you since you were right years old-" said Minegishi
"Eight?!" asked Tsuchiya. That was…she must have misheard. Mukai must have deafened her over the years with all the crying and screaming…because eight…she had just heard the word eight…and she just…she thought that she had seen everything and heard everything…but this…well this was new. Eight. Eight years old.
When Tsuchiya had been eight years old her biggest problems in life had been mom and dad not letting her go to the movies with her friends, then endless chores she had to do around the temple, and the fact that no matter how many times she asked Santa she had never once gotten a Super Famicom for Christmas. She hadn't even had anything stronger than scoop of rum raisin ice cream. Eight….
Yeah. It was best that Suzuki wasn't around to try and raise Mukai….because Tsuchiya would have taken a swing at him.
"This many." Said Mukai as she held up all ten fingers…was it too early to try and teach her to count? She maybe…she needed to focus on that and not…the fact that Shigeko had been partying since she had been eight years old.
"Yes, that many." Said Minegishi as they began to take Shigeko's hair out of the two messy braids. Minegishi snapped their fingers and pointed to the hairbrush. If they thought that Tsuchiya was going to just hand them that brush then they had another thing coming. Besides, it would have set Mukai off. She was holding her hair down now. She hated having it brushed…but she needed it…and braided too. In the four braids with the bun that Shigeko did. Mukai liked it that way…and she was finally old enough to like her hair a certain way…but she was in no way old enough to do what Shigeko had done…and she wouldn't ever be that old. Not until Tsuchiya was deep in the ground or scattered in the ocean or buried under a tree or whatever Mukai was planning on doing to inter her.
"That was ten." Said Shigeko
"Don't rain on your sister's parade. At least not while I'm raining on yours. Seriously, what did you think you were doing? I've been telling you for years now to at least use moderation and you just-" said Minegishi
"I know that I overdid it but I had to. I had to forget something…something terrible….something that I never wanted to know about but then I asked about it because I didn't know what I was asking about and then Shimazaki told me and then I had to forget and…and now my stomach hurts and I don't want to suck on the lemon anymore." Said Shigeko
"Well you're going to keep on sucking on that lemon…and you're going to tell me what Ryou told you so I can ask him what possessed him to tell you…whatever the hell he told you." Said Minegishi. They brushed her hair as they spoke. Smoothly. It just went right through…she had really beautiful hair really. She was very pretty...when she wasn't puking her brains out face first in the toilet. She should have been putting on makeup or trying on clothes or doing whatever she did for fun with that one friend her own age and not just…sitting there on the floor sick as a dog getting her hair brushed.
She was so young.
She was so young and…and she wasn't that much older than Mukai. She was twelve and…well Tsuchiya could see it. Her and Mukai there. Minegishi…well they were very motherly with her…or was the word parental? It was a motherly sort of parental. Tsuchiya could never have imagined her father or Shigeko's father or any father doing that for their daughter. Especially not Shigeko's father. That man…Tsuchiya would have been amazed if he knew his children's names. How one man could have raised children who just…were like this…and saw nothing wrong with this….she didn't know. There had been times, so many times, when she had looked at Mukai and thought to herself 'how could anyone have given her up' but…yeah. It was for the best that Mukai had been given up.
It was best that she was raising Mukai…and it was best that Suzuki's other children that she was here, too.
"I asked him…but I shouldn't have asked him and now I know and I can never un-know and I wanted to see if I could give myself amnesia so I drank and smoked a lot-" said Shigeko
"You were trying to black out?" asked Tsuchiya. She had never been black out drunk in her life and she was a grown woman. Shigeko was a little girl and she had been trying to get black out drunk…well she hadn't…but she had just been trying…and that was insane. This whole thing was insane.
"What in the hell did Ryou tell you that made you want to drink until you blacked out?" asked Minegishi. They reached up and pulled down the clear bag of hair ties on their own. They took the ones that Shigeko had been wearing and tossed them off to the side. They handed the empty hair tie bag to Shigeko and she pulled out two lavender ones.
"He told me about…stuff…that some people were doing…and I hadn't known that they were doing it and if I had then I wouldn't have asked!" said Shigeko. She drew her knees up to her chest and shook her head. Didn't let that stop them as they began to braid her hair.
"Me too! Me too!" said Mukai. She got up from Tsuchiya's lap and ran over to Shigeko. She put her knees back down and immediately Mukai ran and sat down on her lap. Shigeko handed Mukai the hair tie bag and Mukai took out a handful of them.
"These. These now." Said Mukai
"Um….I only need five…but you can't count yet so…ok." Said Shigeko. She took the ball of hair ties that Mukai handed her and took out five of them. Minegishi rolled their eyes and went to work on the next braid.
"This almost makes me wish that my hair was longer." Said Minegishi
"Your hair might be long enough to braid. You could ask Mukai's mom-" said Shigeko as she began to parcel out Mukai hair into that four braids and a bun style she liked. Tsuchiya felt sort of…useless…there. she had nothing to do…and she would gladly have gone on doing nothing if it meant that she didn't have to braid Minegishi's hair for them. They had enough hair to braid…but that didn't mean that it needed to be braided.
"Pass. So, what exactly did Ryou tell you?" asked Minegishi
"Um…do you have to know exactly?" asked Shigeko as she tied Mukai's hair into the bun. Mukai touched it and nodded.
"Very good." Said Mukai
"Yes, I need to know." said Minegishi
"But…why?" asked Shigeko
"Because I have to know if I should spare his life or not." Said Minegishi
"I…think that you're kidding and…and I don't want to make you guys fight." Said Shigeko
"We fight enough on our own…now tell me already. The suspense is killing me." Said Minegishi
"Killing Mine. Mine die! Over there." said Mukai. Shigeko put her hands over Mukai's ears. Tsuchiya leaned in closer. Whatever this was it was not fit for tiny little ears…or maybe she just didn't want it repeated. Mukai wasn't totally out of her mockingbird phase yet.
"Um….ok. Shimazaki told me about how…" said Shigeko. She leaned in close to Minegishi. She whispered something while Mukai squirmed on her lap trying to hear what she obviously was not meant to hear….or maybe she just wanted her hair to look pretty.
"I'll kill him." said Minegishi as Shigeko pulled away. They looked genuinely angry there…it was so weird to see them looking anything other than tired and vaguely pissed off. They looked more than vaguely pissed off…and now she had to know what was going on.
"What'd he tell her?" asked Tsuchiya
"Don't say it!" said Shigeko
"Ryou explained something to her that she was curious about but in no way ready to hear about….and it's amazing that you didn't know…but if you weren't ready then you weren't ready and Ryou should have exercised what little judgment he had and kept it to himself." Said Minegishi
"I don't want to talk about this or think about this. It's just….if that's what boys want me to do then…then I'm going to be single for the rest of my life. I'm going to be single and I'm going to have a house full of cats like on the animal hoarding show and…and I'm not going to be mean to them but I'm going to have a dozen cats and no boyfriend." Said Shigeko
"Cats, mama, kitty cats." Said Mukai
"What?" asked Tsuchiya. Minegishi sighed and put their hands over Mukai's ears.
"Oral sex. Shigeko asked about oral sex and Ryou told her more than she needed to know. Now she's been traumatized for life and she's going to move out to the middle of nowhere with a few dozen cats." Said Minegishi
"Wait…why does a twelve year old need to know about oral se-" said Tsuchiya. What was…WRONG with that man?! Ok…now she was worried. When a child asked you about that, a child who was not your own, then you said something like 'ask your parents' and…well Shigeko didn't seem to have those. A runaway mother and a father who seemed to think that she was some kind of grown woman in a child's body or something. Shigeko needed guidance but…not from Shimazaki Ryou. She'd heard things about him and…well now she was worried about those kids…
"Don't say that word! And don't…don't talk about it and…and do you want to move to the country with me? You can name some of the cats." Said Shigeko
"If I have to. At least it'll be quiet…but no cats in my room. I can't stand the smell or the shedding." Said Minegishi
"Wait, are we actually moving to the-" said Tsuchiya
"Ok. Sho's going to be happy. He likes cats." Said Shigeko. Tsuchiya was not much of a cat person. She hated the smell, the shedding, the scratching, the hissing, and the constant meowing. She hadn't minded the ones that lived on the temple grounds, they did their own thing, but an indoor cat was totally different…and now it looked like they were going to end up packing a couple dozen cats into this fire hazard of a house. She wanted to open her mouth, to tell Shigeko that she needed to think about this, but she couldn't. Shigeko was, technically, her boss…and she got final say and if she wanted a couple dozen cats then that was what was going to happen…and she couldn't believe that Minegishi was just going to let this happen.
"You know, Mob, you can just get some cats and they can live here. I don't know if Serizawa has another move in him. He was up half the night crying." Said Minegishi. Tsuchiya frowned. It was nice how Shigeko cared so much about her friends but it just didn't seem healthy for him to depend so much on her. That was too much stress for someone her age…no wonder she drank…not that she should have been drinking but it made sense why she drank.
They were going to have to do more meditating.
She had been trying to get Shigeko away from all of this…and she had thought that it had been working. But now she was…well all of this had happened. This was just…a setback…and one that they could both move past. Someone had to have this little girl's best interests at heart. She had to be that person. She was the only one who actually thought about what she needed, not what would make her happy, and…and she had to do something…
She would. When all of this was done with.
"Oh…so we shouldn't move…we can stay and I can fit the cats in here." Said Shigeko. Tsuchiya wanted to asked her where, exactly, she planned on putting a couple dozen cats. This house was already overcrowded enough as it was. There were boxes stacked to the ceiling in some rooms. Toys and clothes and books and she didn't even know what. All of those boxes, plus what was unpacked, plus the four of them…and now she wanted cats…and there was nothing that anyone could do. She could have said something…but better she occupy her time with cats then drinking and boys and all of those other things that a twelve, not even thirteen, year old girl should not have been involved in.
"That's a good plan…but we should start with maybe one or two cats. You know, see how it goes." Said Minegishi
"This many." Said Mukai as she held up five fingers.
"Ok. You're right…we've never had a cat before so we need to learn about taking care of them." Said Shigeko
"And I guess that, since you're avoiding boys for the rest of your life, we should start feeding Mukai anti-growth hormone so she stays little forever." Said Minegishi
"I'm a big girl now!" shouted Mukai
"But…Mukai wants to grow up….and growing up isn't so bad…" said Shigeko
"Well then we'll have to have Ryou steal us an orphan." Said Minegishi with a shrug. Tsuchiya had no idea if they were being sarcastic or serious, it was hard to tell with them. They mostly just sounded tired now. Their hands were shaking a little. How much sleep could one person have possibly needed? They already spent most of the day napping…like a cat. Well then at least they could have some company during the day since it looked like they were going to have to share their home with a couple dozen cats.
"You want to have a baby?" asked Shigeko
"No, you do. Since the day I met you you're one goal in life has been to find a boyfriend and have a family of your own….why you don't aim higher I will never know…." Said Minegishi
"Because I want someone to love me and I want to love someone back and….and I thought that I did…but if I have to do something like that then…then I don't want a boyfriend." Said Shigeko
"Uh-huh….you know, Mob, if someone loves you then they would never make you do something that you aren't comfortable with." Said Minegishi
"But…if that's something that I need to do because that's what people in love do then….then it's not right to…to not do…that really gross thing." Said Shigeko
"Nobody has the right to make you do anything that you don't want to do, I taught you that, and I also taught you that if someone loves you then they've only got your best interests at heart." Said Minegishi
"But…I mean…I know that if someone was mean to me then they wouldn't love me…" said Shigeko
"And why would you want to be with someone who didn't love you?" asked Minegishi
"I wouldn't…but it's something that you have to do. Boys like that and sometimes they try and make you…and I know that you're supposed to bite it off when they try and make you do that…but I don't want to do that either! I don't want to try and bite it open with my eye teeth…" said Shigeko
"Eye teeth?" asked Minegishi
"Eye! Teeth!" said Mukai. She poked Shigeko in the eyes and the teeth. Shigeko didn't seem to mind.
"Shimazaki said that I needed to bite it opened with my eye teeth if a boy tried to make me do that…and also that I should tell him or my dad if a boy tried to make me do that and then he or dad would hurt the boy….and I don't want anyone to get hurt. I don't want anyone to get hurt and…and I don't want to have to do that…and if boys just make you anyway even if you don't want to-" said Shigeko
"Mob. No. Nobody has the right to make you do anything that you don't want to do. I know that I taught you that. If someone loves you, actually loves you, then if you say no they'll respect….and if they can't you tell me…and I'll do…things that you don't want to know about….but whatever I do could not have happened to a worse person. You're worth more than that, Mob, a hell of a lot more and if someone can't see that then they don't deserve to see." Said Minegishi
"….are you going to blind them…?" asked Shigeko
"If I have to." Said Minegishi. Wow. Some emotion out of them…and not the good kind. Mukai covered her eyes. Tsuchiya didn't blame her. Minegishi had done worse than blind people…and Tsuchiya was genuinely afraid for anyone who had the nerve to try and make Shigeko do anything that she didn't want to do.
"Ryou blind. Over there." said Mukai as she pointed out the door…in the direction of Shimazaki's aura. Huh. She was getting better at sensing other espers. That was good…she was growing up….though she wasn't grown up enough to overhear this conversation. Tsuchiya thanked God that Mukai was too busy playing with her braids instead of seriously listening and trying to understand what was going on right beside her.
"But….I don't want you to blind anyone for me." Said Shigeko
"Well then let's hope whatever guy you end up bringing home isn't a jackass." Said Minegishi
"I…don't want to find a boy like that…but if not all boys are like that then how do I know which ones are the good ones and which ones are the bad ones?" asked Shigeko
"That takes some trial and error. Sometimes the worst guys are the ones who work the hardest to sweep you off your feet. When you start out, especially when you're young, it's easy to see everything through rose colored glasses…but it gets easier the older you get." Said Minegishi
"But I don't wear glasses." Said Shigeko
"It's an expression. It means that you just…see things in the best way possible…the way you want to see them. Sometimes when a guy is nice to you, any person really, then you just…look the other way. You look the other way until you can't and…well you're smarter than me and a hell of a lot nicer so…we'll see how it goes. But do not hesitate to call me if someone tries to make you-" said Minegishi
"I-I don't want you to hurt my boyfriend…ok?" asked Shigeko
"Not if I don't have to. So, what do you say? Are we going to the animal shelter today or are we going to drink coffee in the park and watch cute boys do cute boy stuff?" asked Minegishi
"Um….both? Just…um…let me finish Mukai's hair…and…um…let me tell Sho that we're getting a bunch of cats." Said Shigeko
"Sho! Kitty cats!" shouted Mukai as she got up. She practically launched herself from Mob's lap and down the hall. Shigeko turned around and hugged Minegishi with everything that she had before she went out to follow Mukai…who was messing with the bedroom door it sounded like. Tsuchiya got up, too, she had a big day coming to her for once. Apparently they were getting a couple dozen cats. Minegishi did the same….though they did not get up as easily as Tsuchiya could.
She could help with that.
She offered Minegishi her hand. Minegishi didn't even glance in her direction. They pushed themselves up from the floor and stretched. Well then. Tsuchiya couldn't tell if that was one of their many attempts at being a bitch or if they honestly thought that they didn't need the help. She didn't know. Minegishi was….complicated.
That was a word that could be applied here. Complicated.
"I'm going to kill Ryou." Said Minegishi as they straightened their shirt. Tsuchiya didn't know if they were talking to her or to themselves. They weren't looking at her. They were going through their pockets, now, and Tsuchiya would have left if they hadn't been blocking the doorway.
"Sorry, can I just….get past?" asked Tsuchiya. Minegishi stepped over to the side. Whatever they had been looking for in their pockets they had found it…a tin of mints? Well that was smart. She could hear Shigeko trying to get Mukai dressed…so it looked like they were heading right out without even so much as brushing their teeth. Cats….great…
"Ryou…for the love of God…" muttered Minegishi as they filled the kids' rinse cup with water. Tsuchiya decided to leave them alone. They were back to that low level pissed off that they usually were. They weren't in the mood to deal with them while they were being a bitch. They had been almost…nice…back there…but they had been talking to Shigeko about some pretty important things...the sorts of things that she was going to have to talk to Mukai about.
Mother things. Parent things.
The sorts of things that someone needed to talk to these kids about. Tsuchiya…well she was not their mother…and she didn't know them that well. The others did…Minegishi did…and they cared enough to take the time out of their busy napping schedule to help Shigeko out with all of this. That was….uncharacteristic of them…though she didn't know them that well. Heh. Well you learned something new every day, didn't you? Even at six something in the morning.
It was never a dull moment in the Suzuki household…especially now since they were getting a couple dozen cats.