Shiori had never given much thought to the stars.

They were there. They could be seen better in the country. If she was ever lost then, in theory, she should have been able to use them to navigate. In theory. She hadn't ever actually tried that, and she had only been in the outdoor survival club because it got her out of the house, but if she ever needed to use the stars to navigate home she wasn't nervous.

She had Touichirou after all.

"Is that a star or a planet over there?" asked Shiori mostly just to get him talking. He was so cute when he talked about this stuff, the sorts of things that he was interested in. She never would have pegged him for an astronomy nerd but then again a year ago she never would have pegged him as anything other than the megalomaniac who thought he could rule the world. He was, of course, but he was also cute. Really cute.

Cuter than anyone would ever have known.

"Over there is Saturn. It's in the constellation Ophiuchus and can be seen with the naked eye…well not this well. This is just a projection…well you knew that already…obviously. You're here with me." Said Touichirou. Even lying on his back in the dark she could see how red he was. She had no idea what he was blushing about. This was just a date. They were in the night sky room of the planetarium, all alone, but it wasn't like they were doing anything.

They were adults. They had homes if they wanted to do…anything.

"I am." Said Shiori as she took his hand in hers. He, somehow, got even redder.

"I…yes….you are." Said Touichirou

"So…what's that one?" asked Shiori as she pointed to another collection of stars up in the artificial sky. If she'd had a choice they would have been at the aquarium right now, the touch tank would be closing in an hour, but she didn't get a say in this. Touichirou had called her, actually called her, and asked her if she wanted to go to the planetarium with him.

As a date.

He had used the word date. That was…something. They had been out before, to the aquarium, and that had been…something in between a date and just spending time together. She liked it, being in this in between place, but he wanted more from her…but it wasn't like they could have any more. Touichirou was still married to his wife after all. The mysterious Missus Suzuki. The woman who had walked out on him.

Bitch.

Really. That was a bitchy thing to do. Shiori had done some messed up shit in her lifetime but she had never walked out on anyone. Her last relationship…well she had left…but she had warned him that she was leaving. It was either Jodo or her…and he chose Jodo. Well then that was fine…over a decade down the drain…but that was fine. She had her own life going on. She had her own group and she controlled this city…and she had a season pass to the aquarium. There. What else could she have wanted in life? Well another starfish would have been nice…she was pretty sure that Star Princess was dying…and also she would have liked a bigger house, or at least more room for her garden, and a greenhouse would have been nice….and also…

She was happy with what she had…and she was happy with who she was with.

"Over there is…is…that is…sorry. I just…lost my train of thought." Said Touichirou. She could hear his voice wavering. She wondered if anyone else had ever heard that. She'd heard him command a room, he was a lover of unnecessarily long speeches, and she'd heard him berate his underlings...well it was very hard to find good help these days. She'd heard him angry, the entire world had, and she'd heard him making speeches for the glorious future like a professional politician….but she'd never heard his voice waver like that…

He was nervous.

He was red and sweaty. He was shifting in place. His aura was everywhere. He was nervous as a schoolboy…it was flattering, in a way. She hadn't made a man this nervous in years. Most of the men she met, the ones her age, were either out there looking for a wife before they got too old, were looking for no strings attached sex with a 'modern' woman, or hadn't even wanted to go on a date in the first place and only went out because they wanted to get their parents off their back. She had missed this…the simplicity of it.

And the sheer adorableness, of course, of making someone else this nervous.

"I was asking about that group of stars over there…but if you don't know…" said Shiori

"I know what that constellation it. That's Virgo." Said Touichirou

"Hey, that's me." Said Shiori

"Oh. I hadn't realized that your birthday was so close. Happy birthday…I mean it isn't your birthday yet. I mean…happy future birthday…or maybe I should just tell you happy birthday between August and September twenty third." Said Touichirou

"I never would have guessed that you're into astrology. So is it all the astros then? Astronomy, astrology, Astro the boyband…" said Shiori

"No, just astronomy. My mother was heavily into astrology and as for boy bands that's more of my daughter's area of expertise." Said Touichirou

"Damn. I wanted to talk boybands with you." Said Shiori

"Oh. Well if you enjoy that kind of music then I could learn about it for you. I care about you…about the things that make you happy." Said Touichirou. He was sitting still now, very still. Even his aura had gone still. The swirl of red and yellow, almost equal in their quantities, was still. They were in his aura, mired in it, the both of them. She would have wanted his aura, to be mired in it, instead of what he had just said to her.

He cared for her.

She…was nervous. She was…she cared for him…in a way. She didn't know if she was ready to jump into some long term…whatever…with someone else…let alone a single father of two…and also the President of Claw. Kids…she had thought about it…and she wasn't opposed to them…but he had teenagers. Well he had almost teenagers, they were called tweenagers right? Well he had two of them and she knew from experience that they did not want some wicked stepmother coming into their lives…and she didn't want to be anyone's wicked stepmother. Not that she intended to be a 'wicked' stepmother…but that was what his kids would see her as. Even if she fed them nothing but fast food and candy, even if she let them swing from the chandeliers and climb up the walls, even if she let them run so completely wild that they went to live in the woods they would always see her as the woman who stole their father from their mother.

Their mother was a bitch who walked out on them…but they were kids and they wouldn't see it like that.

Kids never saw it like that. Shiori was forty. She knew, now, that her stepmother had been doing her best. She wasn't the witch that Shiori had seen her as back when she had been twelve…and her own mother was a bitch. Both of her parents were pretty much useless as parents and human beings, but she had been too young to know back when things had fallen apart. She had…regrets….she shouldn't have been using her fledgling against a non-esper…and she didn't want to have any more of those.

She had collected enough regrets to last her a lifetime.

"I….care about you too, Touichirou." Said Shiori. She still didn't know if she wanted him to be one of her regrets….or if he even would be. He was the president of Claw. Here, laying down in the dark, he was…Touichirou. He was a nerd. He was nervous. He was awkward. He was cute. Here in the dark they were just Shiori and Touichirou, two middle aged people on a date.

She shouldn't have been dating him.

She should have been thinking more about how this looked. There were so few female espers….and even fewer female bosses. She was pretty much the only one, well her and Touichirou's daughter, but that was pure nepotism. Of course he was going to put his children into positions of powers. Maybe not at the age of twelve but it made perfect sense that he would put his daughter into a positon of power. He would do the same for his…girlfriend…if that was what she was.

That was what everyone was going to see.

They were going to see her sleeping her way to the top. Touichirou was notorious for turning down, well outright ignoring, anyone's advances. Rumor was that he was gay and had something going on with that healer that was always following him around or his hit man, the hot guy who was really committed to the leather jacket look. She didn't need some other rumors flying about him…him and her. He wasn't gay, he was just too awkward to know when he was being pursued. She'd practically had to write him a note in the sky.

Not that she should have pursued him.

She hadn't meant for it to go this far…or maybe she had wanted it to. She didn't know. There were the things that she wanted, the things that she needed, and the things that she had. She had what she had always wanted, she wanted Touichirou, but she just….couldn't have him. Not….not in the way that he wanted…that she knew that he wanted. He wanted…well she wasn't even sure of what he wanted. They had been talking for a while…and now they were dating…but if she put the label that he wanted on this…well then where did this leave her? What was she? Just another woman chasing after a rich and powerful man? And if she was with him then she would lose everything she had…and she had done so well to resist Claw…to keep her business out of all of that. She had worked hard and now…now she was throwing that all away…just so she could be happy.

She finally got the whole thing about having your cake and eating it too.

"Sh-Shiori….do you….I mean….do you want to…I mean-" said Touichirou

"So, is Pisces up there right now?" asked Shiori. She wasn't, she knew that, but Touichirou didn't notice. She knew what was coming. Define the relation, as the young people said. She wasn't young anymore, not young enough to be talking like that, but she knew what it meant. It meant that Touichirou had been about to ask her for an actual relationship…even though a year ago he had practically run screaming out of her house. She had gotten over him…and now he was back…and now she wanted…she wanted…

She wanted to have her cake and eat it too…but also she wanted to put her cake in the fridge and maybe eat it later…or just let it rot until she had the excuse to throw it out.

As cute as he was, as sweet, as adorable, he was still the man who had run out on her. He hadn't been ready…and she may have pushed him…but he should have just said that he wasn't ready for all of that yet. He should have said something, anything, instead of just…sharing that with her…getting her hope up…but he was here now and he just…he had been about to say….about to ask her to….

She just wanted to look up at the stars and have fun…so that was what she was going to do.

"No, that constellation is only visible above Europe. I've seen it, it's amazing, but it's not visible over Japan." Said Touichirou

"Oh, well that's not fair." Said Shiori

"What isn't?" asked Touichirou

"That we can see my birth sign but not yours." Said Shiori

"I don't mind…but if you ever wanted to see it I know a good spot in Italy….and I wouldn't be opposed to taking you with me…if you wanted to come with." Said Touichirou. Wow. Alright that was…a lot. He hated travelling alone, that was common knowledge, he went everywhere with his children and several members of the upper echelon…and he had invited her….and she knew that this wasn't an invitation to join Claw. This was an invitation to join….him. He, the man who ran away before she could even button her blouse, was asking her to travel the world with him.

Not going to happen.

"No thanks, I get airsick." Said Shiori. Not a lie, not really. She had taken a plane before, once, for a school trip…and she had spent the whole time with her head in a paper bag. She needed to be on the ground, maybe it was her powers or maybe it was because flying was terrifying. She didn't know and she didn't want to do a deep dive into her psyche to figure it out.

"We could take a boat." Said Touichirou. There was hope there. She had been listening to his voice long enough to pick up on the subtle changes. He was making a point not to look at her too. He was staring up at the sky…like he couldn't bring himself to look at her…but his eyes…they darted over to her….and then went right back up to the sky as soon as she noticed. He was cute when he was nervous…but this wasn't cute…this was…this was a lot right now.

A lot of things that she wasn't sure if she could deal with right now.

"I get seasick too." Said Shiori. That was…more of a lie. She hadn't gotten seasick since elementary school…but she didn't much want to go and travel the world with Touichirou. That was the fantasy, wasn't it? A rick man spirits her away, falls in love with her, and then they had a bunch of weird kinky sex…she needed to stop reading poorly written erotica before bed. She wasn't opposed to sex, she wasn't even against exploring some of the more…interesting aspects…of it.

"Me too...but don't tell anyone." Said Touichirou. He was facing her now…and he was utterly serious. Well of course he was. He was the President of Claw. Any weakness could be used against him…no that she ever would…and he knew that she never would. He trusted her….trust was more valuable than gold…when you were the kinds of people that they were….

"My lips are sealed." Said Shiori. She even did the motion. He smiled. He turned over to face her and he smiled…she had never seen him smile…like that before. He was happy. He was happy in this sweet way….not that post orgasm high way…and he was actually cute when he smiled….just so long as she didn't look him in the eye, of course. His pupils were tiny and…very focused…on her.

He loved her.

It hit her. That was how he was looking at her…and she just…she was not ready for that. She wasn't him, she knew when she wasn't ready for something, and she wasn't ready to have another person love her like that…and she wasn't ready to love him. This wasn't TV. They weren't going to say 'I love you' and then kiss while the credits rolled.

This was real life…and life was messy.

"So, where are you headed after this?" asked Shiori. He wasn't going to stay with her…right? She knew that he had problems at home. She knew that he was avoiding his own daughter…his twelve year old daughter. If she had been the girl's mother she would have sat her down and told her that she was a child and she didn't get a say in whatever it was that she thought she had a say in, that she didn't get to order around adults as she was apt to do, and that she was going to act like the child she was. Of course Shiori didn't get a say…and she didn't want a say. The last thing she wanted to do was be the stepmother to a teenage girl.

Or a teenage boy.

Touichirou had one of those too. He was a year younger than the girl. He was going to be a child for another year or so…and then he would be a teenage boy. The last thing that she wanted to do was chase after two teenagers…deal with their mood swings…put up with all of their drama. Teenagers were the worst, the absolute worst, she had been aware of that fact for her entire life…even when she had been a teenage girl herself. Teenagers were the worst and the last thing that she wanted to be was the stepmother to two of them.

Even if their dad was incredibly adorable, sweet, and just….Touichirou.

"Home…well where I'm currently staying. I have some things that need doing. Nothing that needs my immediate attention, nothing I have to travel for, but something that I need to settle. Hatori has been…acting in my stead…but his power has limits…and for good reason." said Touichirou

"That pimply faced little nerd? He's been ruling with an iron fist? Him?" asked Shiori

"His complexion has cleared up significantly over the years…and he hasn't been ruling with an iron fist. I have no idea how he's been ruling….the word for it. He's been…a lot like my daughter…but…I don't even know." Said Touichirou

"What's he been doing?" asked Shiori. She didn't know the little nerd but she knew his type. He didn't look like he could hurt a fly…but people did change when you gave them a taste of power…and Touichirou did have a lot of it to go around.

"Punishing people in strange ways. Making them kiss, making them fight, pouring sand down their backs, publishing their entire search history for all of Claw to see." Said Touichirou

"Oh God…well everything else was just weird but the search history thing is just going too far." Said Shiori with a shudder. Beware the quiet ones indeed.

"I agree. That's why I'm going to be overseeing things. Even I think that's cruel…and I've been told before that I can be incredibly cruel." Said Touichirou

"I've seen crueler. At least you don't shun people. Jodo was always a fan of that….bastard…" said Shiori

"I agree. I have never understood, never in my life, how it was crueler to just get things over with. My parents…when I was young they were found of pretending that I didn't exist when I did something wrong…or something that they saw as being wrong. Mother…she could be very…confusing sometimes." Said Touichirou

"You sure we aren't brother and sister? I was kidding, before you say anything I was kidding. I just meant that my parents did the same thing when I was a kid. Granted I deserved it but still. If I ever have kids I'm never treating them like that." said Shiori

"I feel the same way…but my children don't seem to care. Well my son. My daughter…I haven't had to correct her in years…well…I did but I feel guilty. I shouldn't have hit her." said Touichirou. There was a vulnerability to him…one that she got the feeling that he didn't show people very often. There was a softness to his voice…and to his eyes…and his aura. She…well she liked it….the way he was looking at her…

She could get used to that…if she wanted to…or had to.

"Let me guess, she's a daddy's girl?" asked Shiori

"She's my favorite." Said Touichirou

"Your honesty is refreshing, I'll give you that." Said Shiori

"I would never lie to you….I mean I don't like to lie anyway, I'm told that I'm bad at it, but I would never lie to you…to someone I care about." Said Touichirou. That might as well have been a declaration of love. She…was warm. Red. She knew that she was red…and she couldn't even blame it on the heat since the air conditioning was turned up to eleven or something. She was…he was…he was cake and she wanted to have him…and eat him too…well not literally but….she did want him…

To be with him…that was what she wanted right now.

"You know something? You're sweet…a lot sweeter than I would have taken you for. You're sweet to me…you're good to your daughter. Even if you did pop her one, of course, but if she's anything like I was at twelve then she was asking for it. What'd she do? Something about a boy, right?" asked Shiori

"No…and please don't worry me like that. She's getting to that age…and I have no idea what I'm going to do." Said Touichirou

"Tell her that she's not allowed to date until you're dead?" asked Shiori

"That would be…ideal. The thought of some man taking advantage of her makes me want to kill someone….but also I do want her to grow up normally…and I do want grandchildren…but it's too soon for all of that. They grow up before you know it, children, it's as though you take your eyes off of them for one moment and suddenly they're wearing makeup and tiny half shirts and…and calling you by your given name." said Touichirou

"That's why you popped her one? Don't beat yourself up over that. If I had been running around with my face all painted up, my stomach exposed to the world, calling my father by his given name…I don't even want to think about what my parents would have done to me." Said Shiori

"I also would have been punished severely if I were to have called my parents by their given names…and I would never have worn makeup or half shirts but I know that they would not have been happy with me if I had done so…being male and all. I…didn't hit her because of the makeup and clothing. She just…she called me by my given name…and she told me that I wasn't her father…and she cast me aside. She doesn't need me anymore…and…don't tell anyone but this…is very painful for me." Said Touichirou. Huh. So the great Suzuki Touichirou was actually a great big softie…when it came to his daughter anyway. Huh. If Shiori had ever told her parents that she didn't need them anymore and they were not her parents…well she had, when she had been fourteen…and they had stripped her room down to a bare mattress and made her earn everything back…not that she advocated for that….but really. That little girl deserved more than a spanking or whatever she had gotten…not that Shiori had any say in how that child was punished.

No, she did not want to be stepmother to what sounded like a spoiled teenage brat.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up. You did what you had to do…actually you went pretty soft on her. She's a teenager, well going to be one soon. She's twelve, you said?" asked Shiori

"Twelve and a quarter." Said Touichirou

"Well there you go. She's twelve and thinks that she's grown…and it's your job to tell her that she isn't. She's going to push boundaries, that's what teenagers do, and it's only going to get worse…especially since you've got a girl. Girls are…well we can be-" said Shiori

"Terrifying." Said Touichirou

"Yeah, that's it. Teenage girls can be downright terrifying." Said Shiori

"Women of all ages terrify me…well not all women. You don't. You…you've made me feel…better. Thank you for that. You always make me feel better….I enjoy being around you…and I look forward to the next time that I can see you. I…enjoy speaking with you and spending time with you…and I would like to continue to do so." Said Touichirou as he took her hand. She had seen it coming. He had been creeping his hand closer to hers like they were a couple of kids on a date…and in a way they were. They were two people long out of practice here…on a date…and only a date…they weren't promising anything to each other. They were just on a date and…and this was…was alright.

She took his hand.

"Yeah, I like spending time with you too…anyway…what's that bright star up there?" asked Shiori. Smooth she was not…but Touichirou couldn't tell. He was still holding her hand…but thankfully the heavy talk was over with now. Now they were back to looking at the stars and…well she had never given much thought to them….

But stargazing was fast becoming a hobby of hers.