Frozen wasn't the same without Shigeko.

Suzuki thought so, anyway. The events of the film proceeded in the same way. The king and queen had an esper child with uncontrollable powers, the ice queen barely managed to get her powers under control, the king and queen die, the middle part happens, and then the ice queen almost kills her sister but thaws out her heart through something that Suzuki didn't quite understand. An act of true love or whatever. That was magic so of course it was difficult to understand. The first part of the movie made a lot more sense, that was why it was his favorite act of the movie. Shigeko's favorite act of the movie was the ending.

But she wasn't here to enjoy it.

No, she was an ocean away on the other side of the world. She should have been right there on the other side of the bed. That was where she belonged. This was a Sunday and on Sundays they spent the entire day together. They did whatever she wanted, whatever made her happy, until the day was over. That was the way it had been for years…that was the way that it shouldn't have been now...but it hadn't been that way. Not for months.

Far too long.

"Want to watch it again?" asked Suzuki. He asked himself, of course, he knew that she wasn't there. in fact if she had answered him in that moment he would have been at the very least startled…or proud, actually, because if she had managed to project her form that far from her body…that would have been amazing. He would have praised her and held her and told her how proud he was of her if she had managed that…but she was gone. He would never hold her again. He would never speak to her again. His own daughter.

He had nobody to blame but himself.

He was the one who had hurt their family with what he did. She cared for their family the stability of it, even though it had been unstable for years. Masami had been gone for years before he had even MET Mukai's biological mother. Masami was the one who had….well he had made his choices…but she was…he didn't want to think about this anymore. Not about himself and what he had done…and certainly not about Masami. She had ended their marriage, she had left him, and she…she had taken…it felt like she had taken a part of hi when she left. Some intangible aprt of himself….but of course he was just being ridiculous. She hadn't taken anything of his when she left. She just vanished one day, like a ghost that had been exorcised. One day she had been there and then the next she was gone.

Gone.

She was gone and…and he was here. He was here alone on this bed watching his daughter's favorite movie. If Masami had been there it would have been one of those costume dramas she liked. Maybe the one about the servants in the manor house…or maybe the one about the upper class lady who didn't know who to marry…or the one about…well actually there weren't very many plots to those. Masami had liked them though, so he knew better…now….than to say that all of her movies were horribly boring and repetitive.

That hadn't gone over well.

He had said that early on in their relationship. Back when Masami had been pregnant with Sho, but not so pregnant that she had trouble getting off the bed, but pregnant enough that she had spent most of her day laying down…and he had joined her. He had been watching television with her for the entire day…even though he had things to do…..and then she asked his honest opinion…and then he gave it to her….and then she had rolled over and told him that she was going to take a nap. To this day he had no idea why she had asked for his honest opinion if she had just been planning on getting angry with him. Not that he had known, at the time, that she had been angry with him. No. She had told him that she was tired.

Then she took a nap and he went about his day.

He had done the wrong thing and he hadn't even known it…at least Shigeko had taken the time to tell him that he had done wrong…though really he Had known that it had been wrong when it had been happening...and then for some time afterwards the guilt ate him alive…and then he hardly ever thought about the human being he was responsible for creating…and now he had no choice but to think of her. Shigeko had chosen her above him…well she had cast him out for good reason…and he could not be angry with Mukai. She was a guiltless party in this situation. The only person he had to blame was himself.

He was getting very sick of blaming himself.

Three months. It was almost three months….well almost three months. She had cast him out almost three months ago and…he was tired. Maybe he should have gone to sleep. Maybe he should have gone to sleep and then woken up and started his day all over again. Shiori had invited him to watch television with her after she got done working…and he would be joining her…and…well he had already created a whole new human so there really wasn't anything else he could possibly do that could top that. It wasn't like he could get even more banished from his household. It wasn't like Shigeo could double banish him, double tell him that she hated hi, double-

Well she had never told him that she hated him.

She had told him that he wasn't her father anymore. That wasn't the same as telling him that he hated her…and he shouldn't assume…but she hadn't spoken to him since sending him away. She hadn't so much as sent him a message she hadn't said so much as hello. She had just…vanished. She had vanished and…well no, he knew where she was…and she knew where he was….so….well vanished was the wrong word…but it also felt like the right one. She should have been in his life but she wasn't and...and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as what Masami had done to him…and yes, she had done it to him…he couldn't think of a single thing that he had done to her…but he knew what he did to Shigeko…but he hadn't even done anything TO her specifically…but he had destabilized their family unit and probably shaken her faith in men for the rest of her life…but that was a good thing since she shouldn't have trusted men to begin with…but he did want grandchildren….but it wasn't like he was ever going to meet his grandchildren at this rate…

He had a headache.

He sat up….too fast. Now he had a backache to go with his headache….and then all of that could add to the heartache….and there was nothing that Fukuda could do about that. He had tried, before, the first time Suzuki had felt like this…he could only fix physical problems, not emotional ones, and Suzuki shouldn't have even been having any emotional problems in the first place. He was Suzuki Touichirou. He should have been better than this. He should have had better control than this. He should have been able to take these emotions and exorcise them. He had always been so good about this…but Masami had taken that part of him when she left. That was what was missing. He used to be…better than this…he used to be able to hold himself together…

Or maybe she had been the one who had been holding him together.

He hadn't really been himself since she had gone. He had been falling apart at the seams, it seemed, and…and he had tried his best Shigeko had helped but she was no Masami. In some ways she was better. She always said what she meant and meant what she said, he had more in common with her than he'd ever had with Masami, and also she couldn't leave him because she was a child….well she could now…she could tell him to leave…but still. Masami had been his wife…and that was the one thing that she had on Shigeko. Shigeko was his daughter and there was a world of difference between daughter and wife. Even if Shigeko wasn't his biologically she was still his daughter…and…and he didn't even have her…and she had been what had been holding him together before. Not as well as Masami had but…

But maybe it was time that he held himself together again.

He didn't need anyone. He was a full and complete person all on his own. There wasn't another person in the world who possibly could have understood him. That was why he had been convinced, when he had been small, that he had come from another planet. That had happened all the time in manga and on television. Visitors from some distant star left their child on Earth to be raised by humans but that child was obviously not human, a changeling story but without magic because he had always known that magic wasn't real, and the child grew up and figured out where he had really come from.

Suzuki came from Seasoning City.

He had been born on March 17th 1973, at 2:26 p.m. in Seasoning City. His parents had been two normal people. He was not normal but he came from normal people as was the story for the vast majority of espers. Second generation espers were very rare. Most espers actually never married or reproduced…and those that did came from somewhere on Earth. Espers were a little more than human, maybe, but came from Earth. All those years he'd spent watching the sky had been for nothing. One day his father had sat him down and told him that he was human, he was being ridiculous, and if he didn't stop staring up at the sky he would never amount to anything. Father had told him to find a more realistic goal.

World domination had seemed like a very realistic goal.

It really was when you got down to it. You just had to get the world to submit to your authority and you just had to placate the people and your rule was guaranteed. He had done plenty of research into it, of course, and he had never faltered once. He still wasn't faltering, of course, he was just…taking a break…or resting…yes. He was resting and…and he just…he hadn't abandoned his goals. He hadn't abandoned his goals just because he had been-

Abandoned.

Masami had…she had abandoned him. He didn't need her. He didn't need anyone…but he didn't need her. He didn't need anyone. He was a full and complete on his own. Other people needed…he didn't need what other people needed…but he wanted…he wanted Masami back. He wanted his life back…he wanted his wife back…he wanted…he wanted to close his eyes and count to then. When he opened them he would have been in his room in his house, the one the children called 'The Castle', and Masami would have been laying there beside him. She would have been laying there with her eyes closed sleeping, she slept a lot especially towards the end, and she would have been…there. So peaceful and so there…and he wouldn't have disturbed her…no…he would have watched her sleeping…

He opened his eyes. She wasn't there. He got up.

He needed to…to drink some water. That was all that he needed. Water and…and then he needed to close his eyes and go to sleep…though that was easier said than done. The moment he opened the door his ears were assaulted by the sound of explosions and cursing…so much cursing. A lot of cursing. Why Hatori couldn't express himself with some amount of decorum he would never know. He would never understand Hatori. If he couldn't even understand his own son then how could he possibly understand the man who he wished had been his son?

He was bad at understanding people anyway so it didn't matter.

"Fuck you! Fuck…no, not you, that other guy. Of course I would never say that shit to you, Serizawa." said Hatori

"Then maybe don't say anything at all." said Suzuki as he crossed to the kitchen. You always had to cross the living room to get to the kitchen. He had no idea who was responsible for this, why so many houses were set up like this. Maybe even all of them…he didn't know. That would have been fun, looking at every single house in the world and then taking statistics as to if you had to cross the living room to get to the kitchen or not.

It would have been a lot more fun than listening to Hatori get himself all worked up over nothing.

"Suzuki, hey…and Serizawa says hey." Said Hatori

"Hello to you and hello to Serizawa…now stop yelling. I'm trying to unwind." Said Suzuki. He didn't much want to be alone…but he didn't much want to be around Hatori when he was like this. Everything was so dramatic with him. He and Sho could have been brothers…well that was just wishful thinking on his part. He'd never even been in the same city as Hatori's mother…unfortunately.

"Serizawa says he misses you and he's sorry but he has to go now…Disney World? I want to go to Disney World…I'd switch places with you if I could…ok, bye…" said Hatori. He took his headset off and threw it. Suzuki caught it with his powers and put it down nicely.

"Don't break your things. I don't care what happens to your things, of course, but I don't want to have to deal with your being upset…and you're upset enough as it is." Said Suzuki

"I'm not upset…they can go to Disney World whenever they want. I mean I've never been but-" said Hatori

"There's one in Tokyo. Go on your own." said Suzuki with a wave of his hand. He had never really enjoyed theme parks…well he enjoyed the food and the rides but the heat and the crowds has always been torture. He had thought that Shigeko and Sho had grown beyond that…the two of them had spent day after day there when they had been small….

He didn't quite understand….but he had never been able to understand people.

"You think Shiori would want to go?" asked Hatori as he made room on the couch. Suzuki knew that he should have sat next to him, that would have been the polite thing to do, but he just…he had to think. He had to calm down from his thoughts…he thought that most ridiculous things sometimes.

"…why?" asked Suzuki. His eyes narrowed…and his aura focused…..but he stopped the second that he realized how ridiculous he was being. First of all he had no claim over her and second of all Hatori was a homosexual…and third of all even if he hadn't been he was still too young for Shiori. Well he had never come out and asked her if she would have been…whatever it was that they were…with someone Hatori's age the answer was probably 'no'.

Twenty somethings were exhausting. Little more than children, really, and who wanted to date children?

"She likes going out with you." Said Hatori

"She does…but neither of us enjoys theme parks. We both went to Dreamland when we were young….that's enough." Said Suzuki. He had no idea how they had gotten to the topic of childhood trips, wait, no…he remembered. A group of children had walked by and they had speculate where they all came from. Either one big family or a school trip. They had started talking about their childhoods and the trips they took…and he told her about the time that he and Tadashi had eaten way too much popcorn and then ridden the thing that went in a complete vertical circle, he couldn't remember the name of it, until they threw up…and it had worked out since nobody wanted to stand in line next to them for the rest of the day…

She had done the same thing just with cotton candy.

She had told him that she had ridden the same ride, years later of course since she was five years and some months younger than him, and thrown up doing the same thing…though she had brought clothes with her to change into. She hadn't just rinsed off in the bathroom and learned to live with it…he had been so disgusting when he'd been younger…though no lines had been perfect…but looking back…yeah. It was amazing that he had grown up to be the man he was…

Well actually no because he was…himself.

"You went too? My parents took me when I was a kid…it was sad as hell." Said Hatori

"Sad? Dreamland?" asked Suzuki. It had been, the first time he'd seen it, like something out of a dream or a book…though he had been only four years old when he had first seen it. Mother had been sad, though, she had spent that whole first trip complaining that it was nothing like Disneyland and how she wanted to go to Disneyland…maybe that was where Shigeko and Sho got it from…or maybe just Sho. It was so hard, sometimes, to remember that Shigeko didn't actually share blood with him.

"It was falling apart when I went…and also I was only three and everything pissed me off back then." Said Hatori. Suzuki…he had heard that it had been knocked down some years ago due to lack of interest…which made sense. He had seen Shigeko's photos from her trips to Disneyland and it was difficult to compete with them.

"I can see that, you being an overly excitable and dramatic child. You're like Sho in that way." Said Suzuki. He could most certainly see Hatori as being just as dramatic back then as he was now. He had probably been something like Sho had been when he had been younger…or like Mukai was now. He had seen little bits of her on Shigeko's picture and video….thing…so much shouting on her part…maybe it was good that he wasn't around. He didn't know how he could have survived listening to that.

"Maybe I rubbed off on him." said Hatori

"No, he's always been that way. Even on the day he was born….so much crying…and I have no idea why. He's not the one who had to be filleted like a fish." said Suzuki

"Maybe the whole 'he had been born that day and was just a baby' thing?" asked Hatori

"Maybe…though not all babies cry. I never cried as a baby, not once. My mother said so. She said that the only times I cried was when I was either trying to manipulate her or enrage her." said Suzuki. Hatori was staring at him now…and he had no idea what he was supposed to make of that look Hatori was giving him.

"Your mom said that?" asked Hatori

"Yes. Those were her exact words…why? You know that I would never lie to you." Said Suzuki

"No, no, I don't think that you're lying to me…that's just…a really harsh thing for a mom to say…and also I don't think that babies are that smart. I mean I'm an only child but don't they spend most of their day either crying or sleeping?" asked Hatori

"Well…yes. They aren't very bright at all…but I was a very bright baby…and child." Said Suzuki. He didn't think that he had been making an effort to hurt his mother, he had cared deeply for his mother for the entire eighteen years that he had known her, and…and he didn't enjoy hurting people…but mother had said that and she knew him.

"Yeah, I could totally see you as a baby genius." Said Hatori

"Of course I was a baby genius. If I grew up to be a genius then I was a genius when I had been a baby. It's pretty obvious from a young age. Sho has always been an amazing artist. He used to be able to draw three dimensional objects when he had been barely older than Mukai is…now." Said Suzuki

"Oh, yeah, like how Shibata weighed, like, six kilograms when he was born and now he's almost three meters tall." Said Hatori

"That's…not entirely…the way that works. There's a difference between hyper cognition and being unusually large…though that does have something to do with his powers. It's difficult, really, to decide where powers begin and end when it comes to a person. There's so much to understand…and I will understand, later, when I have more time to figure things out." Said Suzuki

"Is that what we're going to do next? Figure out how powers work?" asked Hatori

"No, we don't have the time. We have…well we've going to have a lot to do in the future. I have no idea how I'm going to get caught up, actually." Said Suzuki

"You could build an anti-time chamber." Said Hatori. Suzuki shook his head.

"You can't change time. You can't make it go faster, or slower, or backwards. You also can't stop it. I've looked into it and the physics don't add up. The best that I can do is change the refraction of light when I need to hide and buy myself more time for something….though I haven't had to do that in years." Said Suzuki

"You can turn invisible?" asked Hatori

"I can change the way light refracts around me." Said Suzuki. He couldn't totally disappear, his aura was still there, but he could buy himself time when he needed to…and also he could hide from embarrassing situations…not that he'd had to do that in a while. He didn't have the luxury of hiding. He was the President of Claw now, and also he was Shigeko's father…and the other two's as well. He didn't get to run and hide…and he didn't even know why he wanted to. Things were the way they were and there was no hiding until it passed.

"Same thing." Said Hatori

"It isn't. I have to make an effort to change the refraction of the light around me…and my aura is still visible." Said Suzuki

"Still sounds like the same thing…but please don't explain it to me with some complicated math thing. It's too late and there's no way that I'm going to be able to pay attention." Said Hatori

"If you're so tired then go to sleep. That's what I'm trying to do…if I can ever get my mind to just shut up already.'" Said Suzuki

"Hearing voices?" asked Hatori

"No, just thinking too much…nothing that you need to know about….and nothing that you can help with." Said Suzuki

"Is it about our top ten best isometric view building design games list? Because, ok, I'll admit that-" said Hatori

"No, no, not that….but I told you that I was right. I'm always right." Said Suzuki

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're always right…anyway what's keeping you up at night? Existential crisis?" asked Hatori

"No…you can keep things to yourself, right?" asked Suzuki. He trusted Hatori….he knew that he could trust Hatori better than he could trust anyone. Well not better than he could trust Shigeko…but he would never have shared this with Shigeko…he shouldn't have been sharing anything with anyone. He should have been dealing with this himself…he just…he hadn't been himself for years now. Years and years and years…..

"Who am I going to tell? Don't answer that. I meant that there's nobody that I'd tell. We're friends, we keep each other's secrets, and if I had any secrets I'm sure that you'd keep them for me." Said Hatori

"Yes, if you had secrets I would keep them…but you don't have any. You are the most shameless person who I have ever met…next to Shimazaki Ryou. There is nobody more shameless than that man." Said Suzuki with a shudder. That was a file that he regretted reading.

"Hey! I'm not shameless!" said Hatori

"I've seen you lick the inside of chip bags." Said Suzuki

"Yeah, well, I've seen you drink ketchup so there." said Hatori

"…we'll count this as a tie…and there's nothing wrong with being shameless. You get things done when you're shameless…unless you're too shameless. I don't know. Maybe I've been too shameless lately." Said Suzuki. He wanted to sit next to Hatori…but he didn't. He needed to keep this space. He needed to keep space between them…for reasons. The most reasonable of reasons.

"Because of Shiori? Because if you ask me, and you did, if your wife doesn't want to be with you then it doesn't matter." said Hatori

"It…does. She's…don't repeat this to anyone or I'll murder you." Said Suzuki meaning every single word. He didn't know what he would have done if people knew…but he could trust Hatori. They were friends and…he and Tadashi had been friends…and maybe still…..

"I wouldn't tell anyone even if you hadn't threatened to kill me." Said Hatori

"Good…anyway…she doesn't want to be married to me but…we're still married…and that's all that I'm going to be saying about that subject." Said Suzuki. He felt…lighter...having had said that. Like he was kicking off a heavy, wet, wool coat…or something. He didn't know exactly what this was but…it was better…even if he was being stared at.

He was ten seconds away from slapping the glasses off of Hatori's face to get him to stop with the constant staring.

"Why don't you just get a divorce then?" asked Hatori after a while. Suzuki opened his mouth…and then closed it. Get a divorce? He…well he…he didn't know if he wanted that. He wanted Masami back…but she didn't want to be married to him…so he wasn't really married. How could he have been married to a woman who didn't want to be married to him? That was pointless. He had married Masami because he had loved her and he had wanted to spend the rest of his life with her…

But obviously she hadn't wanted the same thing.

That was why she was gone and…and it made no sense to be married to her. She had no interest in him at all and he…he loved her…but it made no sense to love her. Not when she had abandoned him. Not when she had betrayed him. Not when she had just…done what she had done. He had already taken off his ring…and he was seeing someone else even though he didn't have the exact word for what they were just yet…and…and the only thing that connected him to Masami, besides the child they had made together, was a piece of paper…one that could not so easily be revoked.

It took two for a divorce.

"I-I mean not to overstep. I've never been married before, what the fuck do I know? I just meant that you shouldn't get all pissed off over some woman who doesn't even like you. I mean there's a lot to like about you. You're…smart…and tall…and girls like that….I mean women like that…and you have red hair and they like that too…and-" said Hatori

"I have no idea where she is…so we couldn't have gotten divorced even if we'd wanted to." Said Suzuki after a while. Hatori had been talking but he hadn't really been listening. He had been too deep into his own mind…not a good thing. He just…he needed to…move past this. He knew that if he didn't move past this then he would be stuck for the rest of his life ruminating over Masami and…and he had been ruminating over her for years…

So many years.

He was tired of ruminating over her. He was done thinking about her. He was done…he was done with her. He was done with Masami. He was…it felt…like he was casting something heavy off of himself. He shouldn't have felt good…actually there was some pain…but it was like the pain that came when you dug out a big splinter or popped a deep bit of acne…pain but also…also it was nice that it was over…and it was over…it had been over for some time now…

It was over between him and Masami.

"Sure you can. It's easy…hang on." Said Hatori as he took his phone out of the front pocket of his hoodie. His aura enveloped his entire body for a moment, and his eyes glazed over, before he put his phone back and went back to his normal look and posture.

"There. You are now, officially, in the eyes of the Japanese government divorced from your wife." Said Hatori. Suzuki…well not it was his turn to stare. That had been…that had been nothing at all…and also it had been everything. It was…over. The whole thing was over completely and totally. His wedding ring was off and…and he had no idea if she was wearing hers…and he had no idea if….if she even…knew…well she didn't know because it had just happened….but also…also he had no idea…how did she feel? Did she care? Did she want…did she want it to be undone? What was done could not always been undone…and Hatori may have been able to undo it…but he didn't want it undone…

And he didn't care how Masami felt.

"Thank you…Hatori…so let's…do…something." Said Suzuki as he sat down. He couldn't remember what he had been getting up to do. He couldn't imagine….imagine what else he could do right now. He just…he didn't know what he was supposed to say or do or just…he just…he was divorced. He was single. He was…no longer married to Masami and…and he was with his friend and…and she was gone and…and he had other people….and he needed…well he didn't need people but also he needed….he needed…

He was divorced from his wife…his ex-wife…that was all he needed.