Suzuki Touichirou had never considered himself a patron of the arts.

He could see the value in them, of course, culture had a value in and of its self. He had, however, never sought the arts out. He enjoyed music and television but never to a large degree. Plays had always been thigs that he had been dragged t. School trips, nights out with his parents, dates with women he couldn't even remember the names of, obligations that had to fulfil. That was what plays were. Even the last time he had seen a play it had been for Shigeko.

Also it had been the best play that he had ever seen in his life.

There was music, action, romance, and beautiful women…plus an intellectual property that he was a1ware of. The best plays, he decided, came from movies. You knew hat to expect and you were pleasantly surprised when the plot deviated. Like how the sisters bickered more in this than they did in the play. They actually acted like sisters. Well he didn't have any sisters but he did have children and they had always bickered….well when they were younger. The bickering might have stopped because he had a boy and a girl. Shigeko had grown up, he had heard before that girls matured faster than boys, and Sho had stayed a child. Sho was still in the bickering phase of life but Shigeko was long past that.

He wondered if Shigeko and Mukai would end up bickering.

They were both girls but ten years, well nine years and nine months, separated them. Shigeko might have been more of a caretaker to Mukai than a sister. She was old enough to be Mukai's mother after all…no…wait. Ten was too young to be a mother. He had heard of things like that happening, this was a terrible world he lived in, but not for his daughter. Shigeko…well biologically it would have maybe been possible…ten years separated her and her sister and that was the point. They probably didn't bicker. They probably got along very well. He hoped so, anyway, he had never seen the two of them interacting.

He wondered if Shigeko had shown Mukai that ice queen film yet.

Most likely, it was her favorite after all. Mukai was a girl so she would have liked it…though it did seem like more of an all gender inclusive thing once you got past the dolls and general femininity that was attached to it. The ice queen had powers too great for her to control so she did her best to suppress hem but had the occasional explosion. That was something that was applicable to both sexes…though the ending made no sense to him. Suddenly she could control her powers because she accepted them?

Suzuki had accepted his powers since the day he had become cognizant of how different he was from everyone around him…and yet control still eluded him.

Complete control. Complete and implicit control. His powers were always there, always trying to take over, and he had to keep them in check at all times. It was exhausting. Most espers had to will their powers to work, he had the opposite problem, he had to will them to calm down. To obey. Like unruly children…even more unruly than his children had been. It was a constant, never ending battle with himself…and he doubted that even magic from rock trolls and an act of true love could ever make that better.

He'd had true love and it hadn't helped.

With Shigeko. Not romantic love, no, she wasn't genetically his but she was still his daughter and if he ever had those sorts of thoughts and feelings for his own daughter then he'd have had no choice but to kill himself. He loved Shigeko truly, deeply, and completely in ways that he had never loved anyone before. Certainly not her brother. There was very little there to love. Sho was just…Sho. Shigeko was Shigeko. He had no idea what Mukai was like…and he never would…and she was probably better off without him. What kind of a father could he have been to her? She had lived her entire life without him…she didn't need him anymore…she had never needed her father.

He wasn't her father.

He was Shigeko's father, he was Sho's father, but Mukai…he was responsible for her existence and that was it. He was nothing to Mukai…and he never would be…but that was…the way it was. He…he didn't miss her. He missed Shigeko but not her. He missed Shigeko and…and she would have loved this. Mukai wasn't….well she wasn't someone he knew…so he had no idea if she would have liked this….but he knew that Shigeko would have….

He missed Shigeko so much….and there was nothing that he could do about it.

"I don't think that they're doing an encore." Said Hatori from his spot right next to him. That had been his spot during the last show, and the one before that, and the one before that. They had been coming to every single showing of this play since they'd gotten here. There wasn't any work to do…well there was always work to be done, but nothing that needed his direct oversight…and he wasn't up to overseeing anything. He was…taking a break. A slight break. A sabbatical. He was the president of Claw and he could do whatever he wanted.

And right now he needed to…wanted to…maybe slow down on working…just a little….and he didn't even know who he was justifying himself to.

Certainly not Hatori. He didn't need to justify himself to Hatori, he was Hatori. He was like one of the kids…well not like Shigeko…and he had no idea what Mukai was like…he was more like Sho. The cursing, that was it, the cursing and the videogames. Hatori was a lot more tolerable to be around than Sho. Aside from his filthy mouth he was good conversation, he usually agreed to whatever Suzuki said, and he knew when to shut his mouth. He was kind of like Fukuda in that respect.

No, he was better than Fukuda. He hadn't betrayed him.

"Encores are for concerts, this was a play….though you would have noticed if you'd put your phone down for once." Said Suzuki

"I put it down…sometimes. I mean it's not like we're bothering anyone up here." Said Hatori. He had a point. They were high above everyone else in the same seats that they'd sat in when they first saw this play. Last winter, of course, when they had first seen it…with Shigeko….

She had sat right over there.

It had been months ago when they'd first come here…and if he had some way of knowing what would end up happening he would have done more to savor the time that he had with Shigeko. Done more to make more memories with her. Spoke to her more. Listened to her more. He wished…he wished that he had spent more time with her. He had expected that they would have had the rest of his life together…but he had ruined everything and now he didn't have her. He just had the memories they'd made…so few memories. Why hadn't he made more memories? He'd had an entire decade to make memories with her. Now all he had was Claw…which was a lot….and Hatori…and Hatori was no substitute for Shigeko.

She wouldn't have looked at her phone even once during this performance.

"Well you should still pay attention. At least then if you'd been paying attention you would have known that this was a play and not a concert." Said Suzuki

"I didn't know that plays didn't do encores. I don't go to a lot of plays." Said Hatori

"How could a play even do an encore? They'd have to do the whole thing again…actually that sounds like a good idea." Said Suzuki. When he ruled the world he was going to have encores for all of Shigeko's favorite plays…and he was going to have more plays made from Disney films…and he was going to make all plays run twenty four hours a day. That way Shigeko would be able to just see a play whenever she felt like it, less going back and forth waiting for another showing. There. That would be good…and Shigeko…well he assumed that she would. It wasn't like he was ever going to be able to come with her to the plays or anything.

She didn't want anything to do with him after all…she didn't even consider him to be her father anymore.

"Then at least we wouldn't have to keep on going home and coming back here…not that I mind! I mean I don't have anything better to do." Said Hatori

"We don't…well we do…but also we don't." said Suzuki. There were things that he could oversee. There was work that had to be done…not by him specifically…but he didn't much like it when things were out of his control…but, mentally, he wasn't anywhere near sound enough to take control. No matter what he did his mind still went to Shigeko. How he hadn't seen her in weeks. How her life was progressing without him. How the life that he'd thought that they could build together…how it wasn't going to happen…like…like…

At least she had been the one to ask him to leave…he didn't know what he would have done if she'd run off in the night.

"But he are going to be coming back here again…right?" asked Hatori

"Of course." Said Suzuki. There was another showing later that night. Of course they were going to see it. That was what Shigeko would have wanted. She would have loved this and…and he'd been so busy that he had rushed away almost right after they saw the show and…and he could have stayed and seen it again with her…and again…and again….

"You know they have other plays, right? I mean it's Broadway." Said Hatori

"I'm aware…but I like this one. This is Shigeko's favorite." Said Suzuki. He was aware that other plays were playing but Shigeko…well this was the only one that she liked. She had very good taste, first of all, and second of all the rest of the world agreed with her. That was why this play had run for the past eight months. If this play had been a baby then it would have been one month away from term…not that he was thinking about children…babies…his own or anyone's else's. Children were people that existed, some of which he had a personal hand in the existence of, and…..that was it. He had children but they didn't need him…and that was fine. He knew what he had done. He knew that he had done something wrong and now it was time to live with the consequences of his actions. He may not have had Shigeko anymore but at least he knew what he had done.

At least she had been clear on all the ways that he had failed her as a father.

"Want me to invite Mob and the others…or just Mob?" asked Hatori

"No. You're good company." Said Suzuki. Of course he wanted nothing more than to invite Shigeko…no. Not invite her but order her. He was her father, legally, whether she would have him as her father or not…she was not beyond his command. Even if she didn't want him as her father he still outranked her. He could have ordered her to come back…

But he didn't want her there if she didn't want to be.

She had made herself perfectly clear. She did not want to be around him. She didn't want to have to be near him….she didn't want to have to be near the man who had betrayed her so completely. He had broken her family. He had promised to provide her with a home when he adopted her and…and he had broken…well Masami had broken it first. She was the one who had broken their family and their married but also…also…also he was not her. He was his own person and just because she had done something wrong that did not give him the right to betray her…and she hadn't even done what he had done. She had just left…he had cheated on her….

No wonder Shigeko didn't want him as her father anymore.

"You sure? Mob would get a kick out of this. Remember how excited she was befo-" said Hatori

"Of course I remember." Said Suzuki with a wave of his hand. He may have raised his voice a bit…but the play was letting it out and it was loud. He would stay here until everyone left, he couldn't stand crowds, and in that time he could be as loud as he wanted to be…but he had no reason to be loud anyway. Shigeko was gone. She wanted him gone. That was the fact of the situation. No need to get emotional over something that he couldn't have changed even if he'd wanted to…

Even if he wanted to do nothing more than change this situation.

"Sorry, sorry. I just thought Mob might like this. Mukai too. I mean she's Mob's sister so-" said Hatori

"I told you never to mention her in my prescience." Said Suzuki. He wished that he had been able to foresee what Hatori had been about to say. Now he was thinking of Mukai…no. That wasn't fair. He had already been thinking about her. She was his after all. His progeny. She was…well she was his and…and there was half of him running around in the world. It had been easy to almost forget her, to almost forget about the mistake he'd made years ago, but now…now she was with his children in his home and…and it was impossible to forget about her…even if he was on the other side of the world.

"Sorry. I just…thought she might like to come." Said Hatori

"…I have no idea what she would like…I don't know her….so I cannot speak to what she would enjoy." Said Suzuki

"She might not have liked this, actually, since she's two and all. I can't see her sitting still for something this long…and all day too." Said Hatori

"You've never met her before so you can't speak to her preferences either." Said Suzuki

"I've seen Mob's Instagram stories and other stuff. Mukai's there a lot. Her and the cats, mostly, and there are hamsters now too." Said Hatori

"…what?" asked Suzuki. He must have heard wrong. He knew that his vision was starting to degrade, and his back, so it would have made sense that his hearing was beginning to degrade as well. He knew that he had been clear with his children over the years, no pets, and…and they had gotten a cat but a cat at least had it's use. It ate rodents. Rodents were evil. Rodents were the worst creatures to ever live. His children knew that. He had told them that when they'd watched that Borrower's film together…he'd made it clear and now…now they had filled the house with rodents…

If Sho hadn't looked exactly like him, and if Masami hadn't been totally incapable of cheating on him, then he would have been sure that Sho had been someone else's.

"Sho's got hamsters now. He started off with six but I think that he might have gotten some more. Here….hang on…ok. Here, see?" asked Hatori. He clicked his phone opened and showed him Shigeko's…picture…thing. The one where she posted pictures of herself, her friends, and her siblings. Both of her siblings. That was….Mukai was holding a hamster in her hands…and she did not look horrified. She should have looked horrified.

She was his daughter after all.

Her hair was still in the four braids…he had no idea what was going on with that hairstyle but he knew better than go criticize a woman's….well a female human's….fashion choices. What did he know? He kept his hair cut short and had been wearing the same suit for the past decade. Mukai…she was wearing a red shirt and overalls…he liked red. So did she. She was his child…of course she was his. She looked exactly like him…well she had Pang Sujin's face. She'd had a round face…and round eyes. She'd been a very beautiful woman. He hoped that Mukai took after her…and also that she didn't. She deserved better than her mother had gotten…both of his girls deserved better…though he had no idea what he had ever done to Masami….but it must have been something terribly to drive her away.

Nothing as bad as cheating, though.

He hadn't cheated on her back when they'd been together. He hadn't cheated on her once or even so much as looked at another woman. Now he had done more than look…with two other women….one of which was texting him right now. He knew that it was Shiori…Pang Sujin hadn't tried to contact him since she went into hiding and Masami…well she had disappeared off the face of the Earth. No, that was Shiori. Hatori handled everything to do with work.

He didn't check his phone.

Instead he took Hatori's phone and swiped to see the rest of Shigeko's photos. She had called this thing a story but he didn't really see much of a story arc there. Just had and Mukai playing with hamsters…and Sho was there too. He was sitting on Shigeko's bed, the blue bedding gave it away, with his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around himself. Suzuki knew what that meant. He'd been in that position before…that was vulnerability. Pain. Rejection? He had only felt that way when he'd been rejected…or dumped…and….a terrifying thought. Sho…he loved that girl he was seeing. He loved her totally and completely. The sun rose and set with that girl, Suzuki knew, he had once been in Sho's position. He had once had someone who he wanted to be married to. He'd had someone who he loved and…and he now had someone who he lost…and the wound was still there. The wound was there and it was raw and it refused to heal no matter how much time passed. The bleeding had stopped but the wound was still opened. Not even a scab had formed…this was the sort of wound that he would have to live with for the rest of his life…

And now Sho would have to live with that as well.

"You know what's happening with my children. What's wrong with my son?" asked Suzuki

"Sho? I think too much sugar, maybe, and not enough sleep." Said Hatori

"No, not physically. Why is he laying like that?" asked Suzuki

"No idea but I can ask Mob right now if you want me to." Said Hatori

"No. Don't trouble her. If it were something that she wanted me to know about then she would have told you to tell me. She did not inform you of any new developments…and she would have told you if Sho had been rejected or…or if his fiancée had broken off their engagement…." Said Suzuki

"You're worried about Sho?" asked Hatori

"Of course. He's my son. I don't ever want him to feel that sort of pain. You know…well you don't, actually, since you've never been in a relationship. Well it's very painful to have someone leave you and the way my son is laying there…well he's very upset. I've been that upset before." Said Suzuki. He could say these things to Hatori. Hatori was little more than a child, really, and telling him something like this…well he was completely harmless. So this was alright….even though now Hatori was staring at him…

"Like when your wife left, you mean?" asked Hatori

"Don't ask me about that. Don't ever ask me about that." Said Suzuki. It was harmless to share these things with Hatori…but he didn't want to. He didn't even know how to talk about this with…with anyone. He hadn't even talked about this with Tadashi…with Fukuda. Fukuda hadn't even heard about the time after Masami left. Back when the wound had been fresh and new…and bloody….and there had been hope to close it.

At least now he accepted it….and now there was no point in talking about this.

"Right, sorry. I forgot that it was a sore point for you…anyway….um…Sho's maybe just sad because the cat keeps on trying to eat his hamsters and also people keep on stepping on the tunnels. I don't think that Sho's girlfriend broke up with him. I mean she agreed to marry him and that's got to mean something…I mean, I don't know. I've never been married." Said Hatori

"And you never will be if you don't try to find someone." Said Suzuki

"I'm not really looking right now…um…anyway, yeah. That's just Sho and the hamsters…and I know you don't like animals but I guess since they figured you were never going to come back…" said Hatori

"Oh." Said Suzuki. Hatori had a point. Right. With him gone the children would, of course, have thought that they were beyond his command. They had filled the house with rodents…for some reason…and Mukai had never been under his command so…so that was fine and this was fine…everything was fine.

"So…yeah. That's the kids and their pets." Said Hatori

"….never show me that again." said Suzuki as he passed Hatori's phone back to him. He never wanted to see those rodents again…and he never wanted to see his Son so upset ever again…and he never wanted to see Mukai again…and he never wanted to see Shigeko again. She…she was still in those half shirts and…and that was why he didn't want to look at her…and it had nothing to do with the gaping wound she had left when she sent him away.

"…you really dislike Mukai that much?" asked Hatori. This again? He had made himself clear, so many times before, that he did not dislike any of his children. He loved Shigeko, tolerated Sho, and Mukai…well he was largely indifferent to her. None of those emotions could be classified as hate.

"No, I neither like nor dislike Mukai. I hate rodents. They're evil creatures." Said Suzuki

"How can they be evil? They're tiny as fuck." Said Hatori

"Don't curse…and yes, they're evil. They spread disease and they squeak….God, the squeaking…and they steal food from you and they run up your pant legs. I'm so glad that I don't live there anymore….for that reason." said Suzuki

"Wait…so we're never going back?" asked Hatori

"No. This is what life is now." Said Suzuki

"Oh. So we just…watch the same play over and over again until they stop running it?" asked Hatori

"Yes." said Suzuki

"And then what'll we do when they stop running it?" asked Hatori

"I don't know, you're the one with the schedule." Said Suzuki

"You told me to ignore the schedule since we had something important to do…this, I guess." Said Hatori

"Well…check it again and tell me where our next destination is." Said Suzuki

"Um…Japan?" asked Hatori as he checked his phone. Suzuki shook his head. Nope. That was not going to be their next destination. Shigeko was there and…and he didn't know if he was ready to be in the same hemisphere as her. It had taken him years to be able to return to Japan after Masami left….but he would not be telling Hatori about that. He was harmless but he also had a habit of asking about things that he knew Suzuki was not ever in the mood to talk about. Tadashi….Fukuda…he'd had the same habit when they'd been young. As they got older Fukuda had gotten better about asking him about things. He had a sense for when Suzuki was ready to talk about things…Tadashi would have known that to say….

But that didn't matter. Tadashi was gone now too….and that was fine. This was fine. Everything was fine.

"No. Next?" asked Suzuki

"It hasn't been planned that far yet." Said Hatori

"Tada-Fukuda always planned at least half a year in advance." Said Suzuki

"Well…he's better at this than I am. Do you want me to find him for you? I can-" said Hatori

"No." said Suzuki

"Oh. Well do you want to see a different play? Cats is playing." Said Hatori

"Why would I want to go and do a thing like that?" asked Suzuki

"Mob's bringing everyone here to come and see it. Well she was planning, last time I heard, to-" said Hatori

"Shigeko is coming here? To this city?" asked Suzuki. The lights flickered above him…all the lights…and that…well that wasn't fine. That was wrong of him….but at least he hadn't brought the roof down over their heads. Shigeko was…coming to him? No, that was insane. She didn't want anything to do with him…and hope….hope was nothing. Hope was illogical. Hope was the stuff of children's bedtime stories.

"Well, yeah. I mean it's not set in stone, Serizawa hates moving and I don't know if you can even take a kid as young as Mukai on a plane." Said Hatori

"She's very small and would need a booster seat…and she's isn't a child. She's two. She's two and five months old. She's…she's not a child yet. She's a toddler." Said Suzuki

"Oh. So that's what a toddler is. I thought that toddler was just another word for baby." Said Hatori

"No, that's a totally different life stage. Babies don't walk or talk…properly, anyway. It's a different life stage…but you wouldn't know that. You're not a father and you're not that far removed from that life stage yourself." Said Suzuki with a shake of his head.

"Hey! I'm not…I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm-" said Hatori. No, not this again.

"Twenty one, I know what age you are. You are twenty one years and four months old. Your birthday is near to Mukai's. I didn't mean that you were a child….well you are little more than a child compared to me. I was twenty four when you were born. I was already a grown man when you were a newborn. Therefore you are barely removed from being a child." Said Suzuki

"Oh…sorry. I just…I get sick of people treating me like I'm a baby just because I'm the youngest in the group." Said Hatori

"Well then you're very lucky since we won't ever be joining the group again." said Suzuki

"Not even when they come to New York?" asked Hatori

"No, we'll be in Japan then." Said Suzuki

"But you just said-" said Hatori

"I know what I said. Listen to what I'm saying now. We're moving to Japan to do…whatever it is that we need to do there." said Suzuki. When Shigeko left Japan then he would return…but not before. Never before. He didn't know if he could be anywhere near her. She was…she was his everything…but also she didn't want to be his anything…so he was going to put space between them. What else could he do? He didn't want to be around her if she didn't want him. He didn't want to be with someone who didn't want to be with him. He had someone who wanted to be with him, someone to keep him company, and…and he had important things to do here. All sorts of things.

He may not have been a big patron of the arts but he did love this play…so he was going to see it again…at least another five times. Maybe ten. However many Shigeko would have wanted to see it for.