Mob almost never got to sleep in.

It wasn't that she didn't like to, everyone liked to sleep in, it was just that she rarely got a chance. She had too much to do. She had to get up early enough to make breakfast and maybe do some laundry, and also get dressed and stuff, and then she needed to braid Mukai's hair like she liked and also braid her own hair…and brush her hair too…but not Mukai's. No, her hair was like Sho's. She hated getting her hair brushed. She even ran away whenever she saw Mob brushing her own hair.

Maybe that would be a good way to get rid of her now.

"Wake up! Wake up now! Breakfast!" said Mukai. Mob opened her eyes…only to get Mukai's sippy cup jabbed in them. She batted it away and rolled over. She was tired. She needed to sleep just a little longer. Since all of her friends were living in the apartment with her Shibata took over a lot of her jobs. He made breakfast and made sure that everyone was fed and he even did laundry if she asked him nicely enough. Mob mostly just had to get herself ready for the day. Mukai's mom braided her hair for her and got her dressed too….even though she wasn't as good at braiding hair as Mob was.

That was ok. Mob could fix it.

"I'm up, I'm up." Said Mob as she turned back around. She should have been nicer…but also when someone was sleeping you let them sleep. Mukai was old enough to have figured that out by now. She was two and two wasn't a baby anymore. She could walk and talk and jab stuff in your eye, too, even though she knew that it hurt. Mob still loved her, though, even though she could be kind of annoying sometimes.

That was just part of having little brothers and sisters.

"Go back to sleep! And don't look at me!" shouted Sho. The room shook as he jumped out of bed, at least they weren't back in Tokyo where the bunkbeds were, and he knocked some stuff over…because he was using his powers to take all of his bedding off the bed at once.

"Sho, you wouldn't wet the bed so often if you didn't drink liquids after seven." Said Mob as she sat up. Mukai was jabbing her in the chest with the sippy cup now…and now Mob smelled like orange juice. Great. Now she was all sticky and…well she was ok. This wasn't her favorite nightshirt or anything, this was just her Aurora one and her movie was super boring so it was ok if Mukai got it all sticky…even though Mob hadn't packed a lot of clothes since she hadn't ever thought that she would be staying this long…but she had lots of money so she could just buy a new nightshirt.

Or she could just throw it in with Sho's bedding.

"Don't talk to me!" shouted Sho as he ran out of the room dragging all of his bedding behind him. Mob…well she was ok. Sho couldn't help it if he wet the bed sometimes…well he could, he knew how to tell time and he knew that she wasn't just being a b-word when she told him not to drink after seven, but also he was little and he didn't always think things through…well Mob had been older then him when…well he was a boy and boys were different. Most of them weren't good at taking care of themselves, dad had said so. That was why she had to take care of him.

Or at least she used to have to take care of him back when he lived with them.

"Don't talk to me…Sho. Don't talk to Sho." said Mukai. Mob nodded and pulled her covers off with her powers. If Sho wanted to be mean this morning then he could be mean. There wasn't anything that she could do about that. She loved him, of course, but sometimes…well sometimes he could make her a little…unhappy. That was it, unhappy. Not mad just….not happy.

Maybe because it was so early in the morning…and also because she had orange juice on her face.

"I won't, don't worry." Said Mob as she stood up. She stretched...and then wished she hadn't. Her stomach decided to get all twisted up when she did that. She didn't let it show, she was proud that she hadn't let it show, since it set a bad example for Mukai. Mob had never seen her use her powers before but she must have had some even if they hadn't come in yet. She didn't need to lose control all the time…and dad wasn't around to teach her about conceal don't feel…well Frozen could teach her that…and also dad hadn't helped Mob one bit teaching her that…so what did she even care if dad was gone. She was fine.

Her stomach hurt but she was fine.

"You hurt. Owie. Over there." said Mukai. She poked Mob on the back a couple of times…oh no. Mob turned around and looked at herself in the full length mirror….not now. This wasn't supposed to happen yet...not for another week…but it had happened and Mob wasn't going to freak out. She knew what was happening, for one thing, it had been happening for a while…and also Mukai was there. If she freaked out then Mukai would freak out and then when this happened to her she would end up thinking that she was dying.

Mob wasn't going to let that happen.

There was nothing worse, nothing that she could think of anyway, than thinking that you were dying. Than laying there awake at night thinking that you were bleeding to death but you couldn't tell anyone because it was private and also you pretty much only knew boys…and Minegishi….and you don't want to talk to them about this because it's private. Mukai didn't have anyone…well she had a mom…but moms sometimes forgot to teach you stuff. Like how her mom had left without even waning Mob that it could happen. Mom must have known. Minegishi said that this had to happen to you so that you could have babies. Mom had two of them so she must have known but she left and she didn't even think to tell Mob about…about anything and…and then it had just been so…so….mom had been such a…such a…

Mom was kind of a b-word…but Mob wasn't.

"I'm not hurt, it's just a thing that happens to me, ok?" asked Mob as she pulled the blanket off of her bed with her powers and wrapped it around herself. The door to her room didn't close. Sho had his hamster tunnels running out of their room…and the hamsters couldn't just live in the living room because they got scared….but it would have been so much easier if they could have lived out there. At least then she would have been able to change clothes in privacy.

She missed privacy.

She knew that none of her friends would ever make fun of her for this…but she also knew that she never wanted them to know about this. Ever. It was bad enough that Sho had gone and told everyone the first time it happened. She didn't need that to happen again….even though they had thrown a really great International Friendship Day Party…a belated one…and it had passed again…but nobody needed to know about this!

Nobody but her little sister.

"Blood. Over there." said Mukai. She took a step back and her aura got bright. Maybe she was trying to put up a barrier…but she didn't have to be scared. This happened to everyone, almost everyone, and…ok. This was the worst thing ever. It hurt and you felt gross all the time and also you had to be careful so that nobody knew and it was hard to get blood out of things….but it wasn't scary. Not like…dying. Yeah, dying was scary and since you weren't dying when this happened to you then it was nothing to be afraid of.

"I know. That's normal. That's called your period and it happens to you when you get old enough to have a baby." Said Mob. There. That was pretty much it. Now Mukai wouldn't be scared and when this happened to her she would know what was going on…Mob had this. She was a good big sister. Well she knew that she was a good big sister, she had been one for almost her whole life, but she had been a good big sister to a little brother. Little brothers were different. They were kind of mean sometimes and they yelled a lot and the worst that ever happened to them was that they wet the bed. Little sisters were different…but Mob could take care of both.

Or at least she thought she could.

"There. Over there. Blood." Said Mukai

"You're right, that's blood but it's supposed to be there…well not there. Actually I'm going to have to throw this out…but I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine." Said Mob

"Owie…over there." said Mukai. She was glowing bright red now…and that meant that she was scared…maybe even trying to put up a barrier.

"It's not an owie just…hang on. Let me get cleaned up and then I'll explain it to you, ok?" asked Mob

"Explain." Said Mukai. She said it like she was testing out the word. She did that sometimes when she heard something new. Mob wondered how she would say it when she was older. Would she be all 'Sister. Explain' like how dad was all 'Daughter Explain.'? Well it was 'Shigeko. Explain.' Dad knew that she had a name now…at least he had when he'd been around…but she was glad that he was gone. If he had been there then he would have been trying to pick her up and feed her and stuff. Mob did not need to be fed or carried…and also dad might have wanted to smoke with her again and it was always weird when dad smoked with her.

She wondered if it would have been weird smoking with Mukai.

Not now, of course, since she was only two and two year olds were not supposed to smoke. Eight seemed like a good age. Eight or nine of maybe ten, like how old she had been…and Sho had been…well maybe Mukai wouldn't even need to do the stuff that Mob did…but it was fun…and she did want her sister to have fun…she'd worry about this later. Right now she had to worry about how worried Mukai was right now and how she had to get cleaned up before it got any worse. She used her powers to get her black leggings out of the drawer, she hated leggings but she hated being embarrassed more, as well as some other clothes. Dark colored things that didn't show when they got dirty…but were also very warm to be wearing in the summer time.

Maybe they could go somewhere cold next summer.

"Come on, I'll explain in a minute, ok little sister?" asked Mob. She held out her hand. Mukai reached out and grabbed it…and dug her little nails into it. Mob was going to have to cut them again soon…or just file them…and she was going to have to do the same for Sho. She hadn't cut his nails in a while and he bit them when they got too long, which was bad for him. Maybe filing them down would be easier…

She had so much to do today.

But she would take it one step at a time. At least she didn't have to make breakfast, so that was a step that she could skip. Everyone was in the kitchen already…even Minegishi! She could feel their aura and hear their voice…they still sounded tired…maybe they needed to smoke something. They had been drinking a lot and drinking made you sleepy. Also they had been taking a lot of those bitter pills they liked, the ones from their mint tin, and…and those made you tired….but they were awake now and they were fine and Mob…well she had been planning on going to the big doll store today…but she could spend time with Minegishi too.

There was a lot to do today…but Mob could do it.

She could do anything that had to be done. She could do it all, she had always done it all, and nothing was too much or too hard or made her want to rip her hair out because sometimes it felt like nobody knew how to take care of themselves and she never got a second just to sit down and-and she was fine. There was nothing that she couldn't do, like get Sho out of the bathroom. She could feel his aura. He was in there because he had wet the bed. He had to rinse off, he hated it, but also he liked to hide because he was embarrassed…even though he had nothing to be embarrassed about. She wished that she had been born a boy, then the worst thing that she'd ever had to worry about was wetting the bed.

Boys were so lucky like that.

"Sho in there." said Mukai as she pointed at the door.

"I know, I can see his aura too." Said Mob

"Knock. Over there." said Mukai before she knocked really slowly on the door. She held eye contact with Mob the whole time like she was teaching her how to knock on the door…when really she was the one who needed door knocking lessons. She always just kind of let herself in…but that was ok, she was only two.

"I know Mukai, I know." Said Mob

"If you both know that I'm in here then why don't you go away!" said Sho. He was mad. Something hit the ground…a lot of things. She hoped that he wasn't making a mess in there. She didn't want to have to clean anything up. Even just standing there was making her stomach hurt. She wondered if she had any more of those Motrin things, they really helped…or maybe she and Minegishi could just spend the day smoking and hanging out like they used to back when Mob had been little. That would have been nice…but she couldn't do anything or plan anything until she was changed and cleaned up. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself and knocked on the door again.

Next time she was finding them a place to stay in with more than one bathroom.

"Sho? Do you think that you'll be done soon? I kind of really need the bathroom." Said Mob. There was the sound of something else falling down and then the door opened.

"Fine, here, go nuts!" said Sho as he walked out of the bathroom really fast. He didn't even say 'hi' to Mukai….well he was embarrassed. She didn't know what he was so embarrassed about, though, since he knew that she and Mukai would never make fun of him. They were his sisters and he knew that his sisters would never have treated him like that…but also wetting the bed was embarrassing all by itself…

She knew that plenty of embarrassing stuff happened to her that she didn't want her little brother to know about.

"Sho no running!" said Mukai

"You're right. Sho shouldn't be running…but I don't feel like telling him to stop now. I have stuff to do…and you just stay out here, ok? You stay out here and then I'll explain stuff to you better so that when it happens to you then you won't be scared." Said Mob

"Not scared. Brave." Said Mukai

"I know that you're brave….but also stuff like this can be kind of scary. You just wait there, ok?" asked Mob. She patted Mukai on the head and then went into the bathroom…the mess of a bathroom. Having everyone share…well that meant that things were kind of cluttered…and you had to be careful in here. If you weren't then you could accidentally knock everything off of the counter.

Like Sho had.

Mob had a lot of stuff she kept on the counter. Make up and lotion and shaving cream and stuff…and now that stuff and everything else that had been on the counter was on the floor. Mob used her powers to put everything back where it needed to go…well where it looked like it needed to go. She knew that she was maybe mixing things up but she…well she didn't want to look around and go through everything so it could be arranged. She mostly just wanted to take a bath and change and just…get through this.

But she didn't have time to take a bath.

Mukai was knocking on the door, she wasn't the most patient person in the world, and Mob knew that the more impatient she got the more likely she would be to throw a tantrum. She was glad that dad wasn't here for this. He didn't like it when people were impatient. He was the most patient person ever to live, he said, because he had been planning on taking over the world for thirty years. If something was worth doing then it was worth waiting for, dad had said…and she didn't even know why she still cared about what dad had said. He had also said that Mukai was a mistake and that pretty much cancelled out anything else that he had ever said in the history of his life.

People were not mistakes.

She knew that to make a person you had to REALLY go out of your way. It wasn't like how you sometimes brought a bee in the house on accident when it decided to land on your clothes and you came inside with an extra passenger. When you went to make a person you had to meet someone and fall in love and then do…all of those gross things…with them…things that she didn't want to think about her parents doing. People had to go out of their way to make other people and you couldn't just make a person by mistake. Mukai was not a mistake. She was the best little sister in the whole, wide world.

Even though she could be kind of impatient sometimes.

"Knock, knock! Knock, knock!" said Mukai as she knocked on the door

"I'm almost done!" said Mob as she tossed her clothes off. She was going to have to throw all of this out…she hated being wasteful. Dad always said that just because they were wealthy that didn't man that they could be wasteful. Mom had said so too. That was one of the few thing that they'd agreed on. Well maybe there was a lot of other stuff that Mob couldn't remember right now.

They must have agreed on something…being married and all.

As hard as Mob tried to remember she couldn't think of a single time that mom and dad had…agreed. I front of her. Mom used to say that they had to do things because dad said so and ad used to say that they had to do things because mom said so…but they never agreed. They never spent time together wither. They never hugged or kissed…well maybe that was because dad was gone all the time and mom was sick all the time. That made sense or maybe her parents had just never…loved…each other. Or at least dad hadn't loved mom.

If he had then he never would have cheated on mom and made Mukai.

"Open up! Open up!" said Mukai. Her little fingers were creeping in under the doorframe. She wasn't strong enough to open the door on her own like that. She as a little kid. She didn't even have her powers yet. Mob…well she kind of wanted to tell Mukai to wait…that she was old enough to know how to wait….but she wasn't going to be so mean to her own little sister. Dad was mean enough to her as it was…well he had never been mean to her to her face…but calling someone a mistake was still one of the worst things that you could ever call them.

She had no idea how she ever could have come from dad.

Dad was….dad. He was mean and…and actually he could be pretty nice. He always did whatever she wanted to do even if he didn't like it…and he always listened to her…and also he just…she didn't know why she was thinking about him…and also mom. Mom had run away and dad had…dad had put her in a position where she had to send him away. He had called Mukai a mistake he had said terrible things to Sho, too, for as long as she could remember, so why did she…miss him?

Probably because she always got weird when this happened to her.

"Knock, knock, who's there? Now!" said Mukai. Mob wasn't angry with her sister or even annoyed. She was little and she was bad at waiting. Mob was older and she had to be the calm one. Even though…well when this happened to her she had mean thoughts. She wasn't supposed to be mean, ever, because if she was mean then nobody would like her anymore. That was why nobody liked dad and Fukuda. She had to be nice, sweet, all the time like mom had wanted…and also being mean just felt wrong. She just…wasn't that kind of person.

Not usually, anyway.

"Alright, alright, hang on." Said Mob as she balled her dirty clothes up in her blanket. The blanket she would wash on her own but the clothes she would throw away…and hopefully nobody asked her why she was carrying around a balled up blanket. She loved her friends and she knew that they would never have said or done anything mean to her…but still, this was embarrassing and she didn't want to be embarrassed. She wanted to warn Mukai about this, and then she wanted to have breakfast, and then she wanted to go through the rest of her day.

But she almost never got what she wanted.

"Mukai, come on. Leave your sister alone and have some breakfast." Said Tsuchiya. Mob had been too wrapped up in what she had been doing to notice her aura or her footsteps. She froze for a moment but…well Tsuchiya was a girl so it was ok for her to know about stuff like this. Actually she probably already knew, being an adult and all, and maybe even she should have been the one to explain all of this to Mukai. She was her mom after all.

But sometimes moms forgot about important things…like this.

"It's ok, I'm done anyway." Said Mob as she opened the door. Mukai ran in and hugged her. Mob hugged her back after a second. Mukai hugs were the best hugs…well they were tied with Sho hugs. The best hugs came from your little siblings, that was the point. She hugged Mukai back…and she didn't even mind that Mukai was digging her nails into her skin.

She'd have to cut those.

"Owie. Sho mama…owie. Over there." Said Mukai

"I'm fine, I told you that it wasn't an owie….and you know my name. It's Shigeko…or big sister…or Mob, if you want to call me that, but nobody in my family calls me that. Just my friends…but you and I are friends so it's ok." Said Mob as Mukai let go of her. Mukai looked up at her…and made a lot of eye contact. Her pupils got really small like dad's and Sho's did when they thought really hard about something. Mob's eyes never did that….but she never thought very hard about things. Not so hard that she had to stop what she was doing and just stand there very still so she could devote all of her brain power to figuring something out.

"Big…sis….big sis? Shige….Mob? Big…too much!" said Mukai as she pulled at her hair and stomped her foot. Her aura flashed red there, very bright, bright enough that all Mob could see for a second was red. So much red…kind of like dad's red but lighter…but not as light as Sho's. Somewhere in between dad's and Sho's.

Nowhere near hers, though, but her aura was pink and blue.

"That's kind of a lot for her right now. Isn't it, Mukai, isn't it?" asked Tsuchiya. She bent down like she was going to pick Mukai up but Mob shook her head.

"She's got to have breakfast. You know how she gets when she's hungry." Said Tsuchiya

"I know but I have to teach her about her period now. Then she can have breakfast." Said Mob

"What….why? She's two. She doesn't have to worry about this for another-" said Tsuchiya

"Nine years. I was eleven when it happened to me and I didn't know what was going on and I thought that I was dying. I don't want that to happen to her. It's really scary, you know, when you think that you're going to die. Like…like everything is going to be the last. Like the last time you wake up, the last time you go to bed, the last time you hang out with your friends, the last time you hug your dad…the last time you see your brother. When you think that you're going to die, that you might wake up dead in the morning, it's a bad feeling…and I don't want Mukai to feel like that." Said Mob. Tsuchiya's aura passed over hers…and there was something in her eyes that Mob couldn't place.

"Wow…that's….a lot. Also good on you for doing that math so quick." Said Tsuchiya. She patted Mob on the head like she was Mukai. She wasn't Mukai, she wasn't two, and she didn't…ok, now she was being mean again. She had been complimented and now she had to say thank you and she had to be nice…so that was what she was going to do.

"Thank you…um…thanks for helping me and Sho out with homeschool. You know a lot more math than we do." Said Mob

"It's ok, I'm an adult, that's what we do. We know about things and we teach kids things…and I can teach Mukai about this when the time comes. You don't have to. You're her sister, not her mother." Said Tsuchiya

"I know that I'm not her mom, that would have been really weird if I was since she's my sister. That would have made her my sister-daughter. That's not right." Said Mob

"No…you're right. That…it's not…but that's not what I meant. What I meant to say was that I have this." said Tsuchiya

"…sometimes moms forget. Mine did. She didn't tell me anything when she left…and I'm not saying that you're going to leave but sometimes people forget. Even Minegishi didn't remember to tell me and they're the smartest person I know." Said Mob

"Minegishi's not stupid, I'll give them that…but none of that was their place in the first place." Said Tsuchiya

"What do you mean?" asked Mob

"I mean…your dad…never talked to you about this? About what happens when you get older? About how your body is changing and all of that?" asked Tsuchiya. Mob…had no idea what Tsuchiya was talking about. DAD talk to her about this? He was a boy. He didn't know about this stuff…and even if he did, even if he knew all that there was to know, she still wouldn't have asked him. He was a boy. That would have been extra embarrassing.

"No. Why would he have? He's a boy, he doesn't know about this stuff…and even if he did I wouldn't want to talk to him about it. That would have been gross…like, very gross." Said Mob. It was bad enough that dad knew that this happened to her. He knew and he was always trying to feed her and pick her up and stuff because he thought that she was suffering, it hurt but not that badly, and…well she wasn't going to correct him. Correcting him would have meant talking about it with him and you were not supposed to talk about that kind of thing with your dad. Your mom, yes, but not your dad. Boys were so lucky. Nothing happened to them. They just got taller, had to shave, and smelled really bad all the time. She wished that she was a boy…almost.

Boys had to wear pants all the time and she was not prepared to go through the rest of her life like that. Leggings were bad enough.

"Because he's your…you know what, you're right. I wouldn't have died if my dad tried to talk to me about any of that." Said Tsuchiya

"I don't think that I would have died, I didn't know that people actually could die of embarrassment, but I know that it would have been awful. Boys are so lucky, nothing happens to them." Said Mob

"Well that's not exactly-" said Tsuchiya

"Mukai's lucky too. Well not really because dad is kind of a jerk to her but she's lucky that dad won't try to take care of her when this happens to her. He won't try and carry her around or feed her or brush her hair. He won't try and smoke with her either. Never get stoned with my dad. He's kind of…annoying…when he's stoned." Said Mob. Tsuchiya was staring at her again. The atmosphere was weird and her aura was weird…and Mob didn't get it…but she had always been clueless. That was part of being a Suzuki, she figured, since dad was clueless a lot of the time too.

"I'll…take that into consideration…" said Tsuchiya

"That's good. Dad's no fun to get stoned with. Anyway I'm going to explain to Mukai now and then you can take her to the table. Is it pancakes for breakfast again?" asked Mob

"No…um…he made waffles this time." Said Tsuchiya. She said that kind of weirdly…and her aura was kind of weird too. Like she was thinking way too hard about something…or something. Mob didn't know what there was to think so hard about. Waffles were very simple to make, they were pretty much just square pancakes, though Mob wasn't going to start asking Tsuchiya what she was thinking about.

No, she had enough to do as it was.

She rolled the toilet paper back up. Mukai had been unrolling it for fun. She did that sometimes...but that was ok. Mob used to do the same thing when she was really little. Mukai didn't much like having the toilet paper rolled back up, her aura was showing, but Mob…well she had a good reason for doing what she had done.

Also that was a waste of toilet paper.

"Come here, Mukai, I have to teach you about something. It's embarrassing, and kind of gross, but you'll thank me when you're my age." Said Mob as she opened up the cabinet under the sink. Mukai ran over and started to try and crawl in…she was kind of like Hatori like that…but Mob pulled her out with her powers. They could play hide and seek later.

"Hide and seek! One, two, three!" said Mukai as Mob pulled her out of the cabinet with her powers. She was kicking a little bit…and her little baby kicks were hard…but Mob was stronger. Tsuchiya was watching from the doorway. She smiled and shook her head. Mob didn't see what was so funny, she knew better than anyone else how hard Mukai's kicks could be.

"In a minute, Mukai, just…listen, ok? You're a girl and when you get older something's going to happen to you-" said Mob. Mukai kicked her in the chest…and she was a hard kicker…but no harder than Sho had been when he had been…well not her age, she couldn't really remember that well when Sho had been two, but she had been kicked by him when he was older and he kicked pretty hard. Mukai took after him…but she would get better when she got older…

But Mob didn't have time to wait for Mukai to get older.

"No listen! No listen, big sis, no listen!" said Mukai as she kicked and pushed her way out of Mob's arms. Mukai was making her stomach hurt more, it felt kind of like she had swallowed a knife and it was trying to get out from the inside, but that was ok. Mukai knew her name! Well she knew, anyway, that she wasn't Sho's mom…and that was great!

But she really did need a Motrin….and a drink…and to smoke.

"Wow…you know my name now…and we can celebrate that later." Said Mob

"Party?" asked Mukai

"If you want…but after I rest a little bit, ok? After I rest and I explain stuff to you." Said Mob. She didn't know why Tsuchiya was still laughing. She was laughing behind her hand, like you were supposed to do when you were being polite, and Mob…well she wanted to tell her that she didn't have to laugh and if she was going to laugh then she didn't have to be polite…but that would have been mean and having her period was no excuse for being mean.

"Goodnight, sleep tight, bed bugs on you!" said Mukai

"That's not how that goes…and we don't have bugs…but…listen….so…here." said Mob. She pulled one of the bath time toys over, one of the mermaid cats, and handed it to Mukai. She sat still better when he had something to play with. She was little like that….maybe even too little. Maybe Tsuchiya had a point. Mukai didn't have to worry about any of this until she was older. Mob hadn't gotten her period until she was eleven. She hadn't had to start shaving her legs until then too. She still didn't wear a bra…she might have needed one…but she still didn't have one. Maybe she should have waited until Mukai got older to tell her about all of this…

But by then it might have been too late.

Mob was not mom. She wasn't going to forget. She wasn't going to leave someone to think that they were dying. She wasn't going to let Mukai grow up to wake up covered in her own blood with no idea what was happening to her. She wasn't going to let that happen to her own little sister…or her daughter, either, when she had one…or more. Maybe she would have nothing but girls, like five or six of them, and when they got older she would have to teach them about this stuff…well then she would. She wasn't going to forget and she wasn't going to run away. She was going to be a good mom when she grew up, a better mom than her mom ever was…

And she was going to start by being a good big sister.

"Bath time…no bath time…" said Mukai as she sat down and played.

"You're right, it's not bath time…well I need one but I don't have time. Anyway you're a girl and when you get older you're going to have your period. That means that blood's going to come out of you and it's going to hurt but you get to have babies so it's a good thing." Said Mob

"Slow down there, Shigeko." said Tsuchiya

"Why do I have to slow down? That's what the whole point of it is. Minegishi said so." Said Mob

"Well, yeah, that's the point…but you do not need to think about having babies right now. You're only twelve." Said Tsuchiya. Mob blinked. Of course she wasn't' going to have a baby, she was twelve, and she didn't even have a boyfriend. Teru didn't count since they weren't a couple. Kissing didn't make you a couple…and also she would never see him again…and now she was thinking about him. She blinked her tears away. She would have plenty of time to cry about him later.

"I know that I'm twelve…and of course I'm not going to have a baby. I don't even have a boyfriend…and I don't do things like that with my friends….and I don't know why people keep on thinking that I do! Sorry! Sorry, I just…get mad sometimes…when I'm like this…and Fukuda keeps on thinking that I want to do stuff like that with my friends and stuff…and I don't!" said Mob

"I don't! I don't, mama!" said Mukai

"Shigeko…that had never crossed my mind….I was speaking in general and…he actually thought that?" asked Tsuchiya

"Yes." said Mob. She didn't know why Fukuda thought that stuff about her…and she didn't care. It didn't matter. She had banished him. She never had to think about him ever again…and she didn't want to…so she was going to stop…now. Right now…and she did….no she hadn't. She didn't understand her brain sometimes. She needed a drink….maybe Minegishi felt like sharing.

"And your dad…let him live?" asked Tsuchiya

"Yes, of course. He and dad are best friends…and my dad would never kill anyone. He sometimes hits people but only people who deserve it like traitors and stuff." Said Mob

"Right…so…um…yeah. Anyway, what were you telling Mukai?" asked Tsuchiya

"I was saying how once it happened to you then you got to have a baby…but she can know how that happens later. That's not one of those things that you need to know about, I don't think. I don't like knowing about that…it's gross." Said Mob

"Huh." Said Tsuchiya

"What?" asked Mob

"It's nothing just…it's nice to see you sounding like a kid for once. Normally you act like you're in your twenties." Said Tsuchiya

"Oh….ok. Anyway back to gross stuff. Um…so, yeah Mukai, that's going to happen to you. You're going to wake up and you're going to be covered in blood and it's not going to stop for three to five days, sometimes seven, and seven to ten days if you're like Minegishi." Said Mob

"This many." Said Mukai as she held up both of her hands and wiggled all ten of her fingers. She was starting to learn her numbers. She was so smart…well of course she was, she came from dad. Dad liked math a lot…a lot more than Mob and Sho did, anyway. Mukai was the most like dad, she decided, but she wasn't going to tell Mukai that. She might have taken it wrong. She might not have liked dad. Mob wouldn't have blamed her. Dad had called her a mistake after all and that was the worst thing that you could call someone.

"Yes, that's how long it takes for them." Said Mob

"Holy…." Said Tsuchiya. She had her hand over her mouth and her eyes were wide. Her aura was scared…but Mob didn't know what she was so scared of. It wasn't like she could catch it from Minegishi.

"What's wrong?" asked Mob

"That….is a lot. No wonder they're such a….no wonder they're the way they are." Said Tsuchiya. Mob nodded. That would have made sense, actually. They said that the whole thing just kind of snuck up on them and when it happened it felt worse than anything they had ever felt in their life…so maybe they weren't sick like mom had been. Maybe they just had their period…that was great!

Well, no, actually it wasn't since Mob would even have wished this on her worst enemy…if she'd had a worst enemy…or even any enemies at all.

"They need a motrin, I think, and to smoke…but no more drinking. They've been drinking enough…oh! Right! Ok, getting stoned and drinking helps but so does Motrin…but you're too little for all of that…and stay out of the medicine. You could die." Said Mob

"No medicine! Not sick!" said Mukai. She pushed away from Mob and got up. She had planted both of her feet right in Mob's stomach…and she almost shouted at Mukai for doing that…almost.

"Hey! Mukai, say sorry!" said Tsuchiya

"Sorry…no medicine! Not sick! No medicine!" said Mukai

"No, no, I didn't mean for now. I meant when you got bigger and had your period. That's what its called, by the way, and it's not polite to talk about but it's nothing to be ashamed of." Said Mob

"Not sick…period!" said Mukai

"Yes…but please stop saying that." Said Mob

"Period! Period! Period! You not me!" said Mukai. She was running away now…and she was too far for Mob to reach…well she could have gotten Mukai with her powers but that would have made her mad. She ran past her mom and out the bathroom….and Tsuchiya was laughing…and she didn't have to laugh. There was nothing funny about any of this.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." said Tsuchiya between laughs. She was still laughing and now Mukai was running around shouting the word 'period' over and over again…and now everyone knew….they knew and Mob was going to die. That was it. She was going to die of embarrassment…but at least she had taught Mukai about this stuff before she died….but maybe Tsuchiya'd had a point…

"…I think maybe Mukai might be too little to learn about this stuff." Said Mob as she sat down on the bathroom floor. She wondered if anyone would notice if she called a plane and flew back to Japan…no…dad was there. She could fly to…she needed to be somewhere happy. She needed to be somewhere where nothing bad ever happened to anyone and….and there were milkshakes…and churros. Big ones….

She wondered if the others would be upset if she went to Disney World on her own.

"Yeah, maybe she's just a few years too young….but that's ok. You tried. You're a good big sister, Shigeko." said Tsuchiya. Mob…she smiled….just a little. She was…warm…on the inside. She was a good big sister. She tried really hard to be a good sister…and she succeeded….even though Sho was still mad, her sister was shouting to everyone about periods, and she was hiding in the bathroom like Hatori when he got scared…

She was still doing a better job than her mom had ever done.

"Thanks…um…thanks." Said Mob. Tsuchiya smiled at her and then left, probably to catch Mukai. Mob….needed a minute. She just needed to calm down and…and she had to throw her clothes out…and she had to wash her blanket…and also she had to have breakfast…and at some point she was going to run away to Disney World for a little bit. It wasn't a long flight…and she'd come back….she just needed a minute…

She kind of wished that she had slept in.