Mob had never been to a bathhouse before.
She'd never had to. She'd always lived in a house with a bathtub. She hadn't even known that they made houses without bathtubs. Even when they'd lived in places without a lot of rain there had always been a bathtub for her to use. This was a place for people to take baths who couldn't take them in their homes. That was the point….right? Well that was why she was here anyway. She didn't have a bathtub.
She didn't even have a house.
No, she hadn't bothered to even get a Claw house set up for herself. She had just come here. That was all. She had just gotten on a plane and flown here. She hadn't given much thought to what she would do when she got here beyond finding Minegishi and bringing them home. She hadn't been planning on getting all covered in plum goo. She hadn't been planning on fighting with Minegishi. She hadn't been planning on…on any of this happening. She certainly hadn't been planning on going to a bathhouse for the first time…with her best friend….
Minegishi was still her best friend.
They had put their bracelet back on…that meant that they were still Mob's best friend. They had said some things which were both mean and made no sense….but that was ok. People made bad choices when they were mad or scared or stressed, just long the song had said, especially if they were a little bit of a fixer upper…like Minegishi was….yeah, that was what they were. They were a little bit of a fixer upper…
And you could fix a fixer upper up….
"….with a little bit of love…." Said Mob softly. She hadn't been very loud, not loud enough for Minegishi to hear her anyway. They were in a private bath, there had only been one left, so now they were sharing. Mob didn't mind. She had never taken a bath with anyone who wasn't Sho before…and that had been back when she had been little….but this was ok. It wasn't like Minegishi had been born a boy or anything. They had been born a girl like she had been born a girl so this was ok…but just to be safe Mob kept her back to Minegishi. They hadn't even changed in the same room before and she knew that Minegishi had a thing about people seeing them naked.
They had only just gone back to being friends a few minutes ago after all.
Mob kept her back to Minegishi. She looked over at the picture on the wall. Someone had painted a picture of the city on the wall…which was weird. It was like bringing the outside inside. That was….kind of like taking a bath outside where people could see. That was something that they had here too but that was only with other people, not private, and Mob…well she didn't want to take a bath with anyone other than her best friend…well maybe her little sister….but right now mostly just her best friend.
Even though her back was to Minegishi she was never letting them out of her sight again.
Mob heard the water stop. Minegishi had been scrubbing down before they got in. Mob had almost forgotten all about that. Mom…when she had been a baby and a little kid mom had just put her and Sho in the water without scrubbing them down first. Mob had no idea why mom would teach her something like that…but she had no idea why mom did anything that she did. It didn't matter, mom didn't matter, she had made her choice. Nobody had told her to leave…nobody had chased her around and scared her into leaving the house and never coming back…she had done all of that on her own…and Mob had been too little to make her come back. She was older, now, and if mom had left like how Minegishi had left…well at least she was big enough to go after them now…and bring them back….
And Mob was never letting them go. Ever.
The water shifted. It made waves, little ones, they hit her on the collarbones. She pulled her knees up higher. She knew Minegishi would never have made fun of her…but she had never been naked with another person besides her little brother…but she was being weird. Minegishi wouldn't have put their bracelet back on if they hadn't agreed to be Mob's best friend again….right?
They didn't lie. They said that they were sorry. It was over.
Mob heard them groan. The water moved again. She didn't know why they called this a bathhouse. This was more like a room with a small pool in it, not a big bathtub. This wasn't shaped like a big bathtub. This was more like a pool, like the public pool mom used to take her and Sho to, only this one was warm. She wondered if this could even be called a public bath. The tubs were shaped like little pools and this wasn't even a public room. This was a private room. No strangers, just friends…
Even though her friend had been acting like a complete and total stranger.
Mob wanted to turn around and ask them what the f-wording h-word they had thought they had been doing. What had they thought would happen? That they could…could turn into grass? That Mob wouldn't have gone to look for them? That…that Mob would have just let her best friend go? That she would have gone through the rest of her life alone….all alone….well she had other friends but she had no idea what she would have done without Minegishi. They were…they were her first friend….they were the first person in the world who had wanted to be her friend. Sho hadn't liked her back then, back when she had been eight, and dad…he hadn't liked her as much as he liked her now. She had been alone without even realizing it…
She was never going to be alone again. She wasn't going to let it happen.
Minegishi sighed. Mob…she wanted to know if that was a good sigh or a bad sigh. She didn't know if she could ask. She wanted to ask. She wanted nothing more than to turn around and ask them what they were sighing about. What did they….what were their….how they did feel right now? How did they feel….after….after they had said…Mob had never said anything like what Minegishi had said to her. She had never once been that mean…well there had been that time when she had told Fukuda that talking to him was like having a period….but that hadn't been as mean as what Minegishi had said. Fukuda hadn't liked her in years….until a few days ago Minegishi had been her best friend in the whole world….but then they weren't…and Mob….
She didn't even know…she didn't even know if she could….if she even had the words to ask…to ask what she had done wrong….and to ask how she could fix it…
"What?" asked Minegishi. Mob was staring at them. Her back was to them but she was staring. Her aura…it had been following them since even before they had gotten here…but they deserved that. They deserved that and a hell of a lot more. She….she had been hurt…and Minegishi had been the one to hurt her. Mob….she hadn't done a damn thing to deserve any of that…but Minegishi had still…they had still run their mouth. They had been hurt and their stupid mind…their stupid self….everything about them was so stupid…and that was why they had been stupid. They had been trying to hurt Mob because she had been hurting them…even though she hadn't done a damn thing but love them…
Love hurt.
"Nothing." Said Mob. She had almost turned around to look at Minegishi. That would have been mean. She knew how they were about people seeing them naked. Like when she had been little and she had accidentally walked in on them when they had been in bed with Shimazaki doing…stuff…stuff that Mob did not want to think of. She had walked in them doing stuff….and they hadn't been dressed…and they had been really mad at her….and she didn't want them to be mad at her again. They had already been mad at her once today…and even before then…they had been mad enough to leave.
"No, not nothing. Mob…if you have something to say to me then say it…and I know that you have a lot to say to me. There's nothing that you can say that I don't deserve." Said Minegishi. They weren't a kid anymore, they could admit when they were wrong, and they had been dead wrong to speak to Mob the way that they had spoken to her. She shouldn't have followed them…and she should have left when Minegishi told her to leave….but…but she was just a kid. She was twelve and…and she was acting like a twelve year old was supposed to act….
Minegishi was twenty nine. They had no excuse.
"I…I don't have anything to say." Said Mob. If she started talking then she might have said the wrong thing. She might have said something else that made Minegishi want to leave…or worse. She could have said something mean. She could have asked Minegishi what they had thought that they had been doing. She could have asked them why they had tried to run away….and why they had hurt her. She could have told them that they had been a bad friend to say those things to her…and to run away from her…and….and to be the way that they were. There were so many mean things that Mob could have said….but she…she knew better than to talk that way. Minegishi was back, now, and that was what mattered.
"Like hell you don't. Mob, it's ok if you want to tell me off. God knows I deserve it. I shouldn't have spoken like that to you. I shouldn't have…I made a lot of mistakes. When I told you to go…I should have gone. I should have been the one to leave and-" said Minegishi
"That's not true! No! You're never leaving again! I won't let you!" shouted Mob. So much for keeping calm. So much for keeping quiet. So much for just being happy that Minegishi was back to being her best friend. She was raising her voice, now, and raising the water line too. She was making more water….no…she was picking up all the water in the bath. Her legs were cold…and her back…and her feet….and she had to put it down….
She had to make her powers listen.
"I'm cold." Said Minegishi. Well not only did they feel like shit on the inside but they were freeing their ass off on the outside. That was impressive, what she was doing. Moving and entire body of water at once like that. She wasn't spilling a drop, either, it was just a slab of water. Moving water, like a tiny ocean, but contained. It was amazing, really, how powerful of an esper Mob was. She didn't have to ask nicely. She could have gotten Minegishi to come back through sheer force. She could have destroyed them if she'd felt like it…but she didn't feel like it. Instead she had come to them begging and pleading, practically on her knees, to get them to come back…and now they had no choice in the matter. They had to come back…back to the mess that they'd made. Back to the mess that they'd made with Ryou….and that thing with Serizawa wasn't going to just die of neglect if they ignored it….plus they had a lot of shit to work out with Mob…
They had made one hell of a mess for themselves, as usual, but this time they were going to have to stay and clean it up.
"Me too." Said Mob
"Then put the water back." Said Minegishi
"I want to but I can't." said Mob
"Can't or won't?" asked Minegishi
"I can't. I'm just….I'm….I feel unhappy. I feel like…like I want to…to start yelling but…but that's not right. I'm not supposed to be like that…we aren't supposed to be like that. We're supposed to be friends…and friends don't fight." Said Mob. She took a deep breath after she was done. She needed…she needed to calm down. Holding the water up…was helping. She could feel the water like if she had been holding it all in her hands at once. She shook it around enough to make it move but not enough to make it spill. She just….she focused on the water. That was…that was like what Tsuchiya had taught her…like focusing on her breathing…
In for four….out for four…..
"People fight, Mob, it's what they do." Said Minegishi. Mob was breathing again. Well she was always breathing, breathing was a prerequisite for living of course. She was breathing with purpose now. She was breathing like Tsuchiya had taught her. Mob…she needed someone like that in her life. A mother. A parent. An actual parent. Minegishi hadn't set out to be that person for her…but somehow they had fit into that role. They had become that person to her. They were the one who had taught her….well just about everything. The facts of life. How to deal with unwanted but not inherently bad body hair. How to manage her period. How to navigate the world….Minegishi had at some point become her parent…and they had fucked up royally.
Write me from rehab.
They had been kidding when they had said that…half kissing. They had handed Mob a joint and told her to write them from rehab. That was where she was heading at this rate. She had stank like she had just gotten into a wrestling match with a skunk in a tobacco factory before this bath…Minegishi did not envy the people washing their clothes right now. Mob…she had issues that no child her age should have had…and they were Minegishi's fault. Mob was going to have lifelong issues with…with everything that Minegishi had been fighting with for as long as they could remember…and it was all their fault. They tremored…not out of coldness. Write me from rehab….they should have asked Mob to write to them….since that was where they were heading….
Or maybe the morgue. They weren't sure yet.
Mob stopped breathing….well she stopped breathing with purpose. The water was lowered back down to where it should have been. Minegishi was still trembling…and there was no mistaking that for shivering now. This was…not a good sign. None of this was a good sign. They needed….they eyed the door. They thought about pulling a Hatori. Just running out and….well they knew better than that. They were completely naked, for one thing, and for another they wouldn't have gotten far anyway. Mob wasn't ever going to let them out of her sight again, was she?
They could feel her aura resting on them.
"I'm sorry…I'm sorry for the thing with the water and I'm sorry for making you leave. I mean…I don't know what I did but if you tell me then I...I can be sure to never do it again." said Mob
"Mob…stop it." Said Minegishi
"But I-" said Mob
"I said to stop it. God. For once in your life can you just listen to me?" asked Minegishi. They ran their hands through their hair. Part of them expected it to be longer than this. That was normal after a big cut…not that they had done a big cut in a while…but they hadn't had hair long enough to tie back in a while. They had grown it out for her…they had done a lot of things for her…and she wasn't even their kid. They hadn't asked for this responsibility…but now they had it…and it wasn't fair…nothing about this was fair…but they had never been one of those people stupid enough to think that life was anything other than abject misery punctuated by brief moments of happiness.
"I can….I listen to you all the time…even when you day mean things. You…you said a lot of mean things to me…but you took them back, right? When you put your bracelet back on you…you took back all the mean things that you said….right? Like about….about you not liking me anymore…and about our bracelets being cheap Chinese junk?" asked Mob
"Mob…these are cheap Chinese junk…but they mean something. They mean something and-" said Minegishi. They'd written an entire sappy speech in an instant. Something about how nothing would ever come between them and Mob, something about how they didn't need a couple cheap pieces of plastic to make their friendship valid, how even though Minegishi had said unspeakable things to her they hadn't meant them. They whole thing would have been long and sappy but it would have brought them closer than they'd ever been before and then they could have put all of this ugliness behind them. It would have been a great speech, too, if an attendant hadn't walked in.
Didn't these people know how to knock?
"Fresh towels….oh. Excuse me, you can't be here. The men's private baths are on the other side of the building beside the men's public baths." Said the attendant
"Two breasts, one vagina, all present and accounted for. Do I need anything else or is this enough?" asked Minegishi. They didn't want to deal with this right now. Short hair. With long hair they were mistaken for a woman, with short hair they were mistaken for a man. There was too much to explain to people…and they didn't feel like explaining anything to anyone besides Mob. So they decided to just rip off that Band-Aid and get this whole thing over with.
"I-I'm so sorry ma'am!" said the attendant
"Minegishi is a 'they'! Hey, my friend is a….I don't think that she can hear me." Said Mob as the lady ran away. She hadn't meant to turn around, it was just…well, Minegishi had gotten up. She had heard them get up and then they had said all of that…and she hadn't been thinking. She hadn't been thinking and she had seen her best friend naked…well…from the back, anyway. They still had all of those scars like Mob remembered…a lot of scars…
Mob was happy, even though it was mean to feel that way, when Minegishi sat back down and she didn't have to look at their scars anymore.
"I don't think she can hear anything over the sound of her own humiliation." Said Minegishi. They tried their best to look and sound calm. That was…never fun. The ordeal over bathrooms apparently extended to bathhouses…so why in the hell had they gotten a private room? Well for Mob…yeah. She would have died of embarrassment in the public baths…and it was about time that they started putting Mob and her feelings and needs first.
"What does humiliation sound like?" asked Mob. She was red…but not for the reason that would have made sense. She didn't mind that Minegishi was naked, or even that they had been talking about the parts of their body that you weren't ever supposed to talk about, she minded that…that she had seen their scars. They had a lot of them…and they were everywhere on their back. Like a spider web of red marks…they didn't like it when people saw them…but Mob had seen them…and for reasons that she couldn't understand that felt even worse than if she had been the worker lady and she'd seen…well the stuff that Minegishi had named.
"I'd imagine it sounds like a cross between shame, anger, and a little bit of fear." Said Minegishi
"So….what does that sound like?" asked Mob
"No clue. I don't get ashamed, not over shit like that….I get ashamed over the big things…" said Minegishi
"I'm ashamed all the time." Said Mob. She shouldn't have felt bad about seeing Minegishi's scars…and she should have been a better friend to them…and she shouldn't have been mad at Minegishi for saying all of those mean things to her since it was her fault…she was the one who had been a bad friend…it was her fault that they had said any of that.
"If it's about you stealing my manga, the stuff I keep under my bed, then you don't have to be…and also you don't have to return them, either. I'd rather you just keep-" said Minegishi
"You know about that?!" asked Mob. She covered her eyes and let herself sink into the water until she was up to her chin. Her hair was floating behind her. She pulled it around herself with her powers. Minegishi…they knew?! They knew and they hadn't said anything?! She had been bowing their books for over a year now and…and they just….they knew what was in those books, right?! So they knew what she had been doing with them….she could never show her face again…that was the only thing that…that was the only option that….that she had left….in life…
"Well you weren't exactly discreet. You think that I can't tell when someone's been in my things? And, also, the rectangle shaped outline under your shirt, the one you get when you rush off with some random excuse like you need to feed you brother or iron your bed, kind of gives it away." said Minegishi with a laugh. God, Mob was such a kid sometimes….how had they forgotten that she was still a kid. They could tell by her aura that she was getting pretty familiar with the taste of shame, and embarrassment, and maybe even a little bit of mortification. They needed to stop teasing her…and they needed to stop….huh. They were smiling. Their smile was small but it was there…they couldn't remember the last time that they'd smiled. It felt weird.
"…I want to sink to the bottom of this pool and never come back up." Said Mob
"Don't drown yourself, it's nothing to be ashamed of." Said Minegishi
"I'm not ashamed…not very ashamed. I'm more ashamed about how I treated you. You were sick…well I thought that you were sick. You were acting the way that my mom did when she got sick…and I should have been there to take care of you. I couldn't be there for her because I was little and dumb but…but I should have been there for you." Said Mob
"Mob…do you want to turn around or would that be weird for you?" asked Minegishi. She needed to look at them while they said this. They needed to make sure that she heard them, that she understood them, because they were not going to be repeating themselves. Mob…she had a lot that she needed to get through her surprisingly thick skull….maybe it was all the milk she drank…heh….
"It's not weird for me, I thought that it would be weird for you. I mean the last time I saw you naked you got mad at me." Said Mob
"When have you seen me naked?" asked Minegishi
"When I was eight…or maybe nine…I walked into your room without asking after you had told me not to do that five times before…and you and Shimazaki were doing things in bed together naked. Well you were naked, he wasn't, he still had his underwear on. I mean I didn't see, he just said so a lot of times, I think so that it wouldn't seem weird….even though that made it more weird…" said Mob
"Ryou's mission in life is to make things weirder than they need to be…but, yeah, I remember that now…and that wasn't weird for me. That was more…violating and infuriating than weird…but that was then and this is now. I trust you." Said Minegishi
"Hi." Said Mob as she turned around. That seemed like the right thing to say…hi…even though they had been talking for some time now. They just…hadn't been facing each other….which had been kind of rude. Maybe Mob should have said something like 'sorry' or…or something else. Something that she couldn't think of right now. No, right now she had to make her whole brain focus on looking Minegishi in the eye and not…anywhere else.
Mob had never seen another girl naked before.
Well another person who had been born a girl. She had changed in the same room as Minori but Mob had never seen her naked before…and she hadn't really wanted to. Seeing another girl naked hadn't been on her list of things she wanted to see. Not like seeing a boy, one who wasn't her brother naked, was…not that she was going to go around looking at any naked boys. No. She had the internet and she could have seen all kinds of stuff….but that would have been too weird…even this was kind of weird…not that she got that fizzy feeling when she looked at Minegishi…
No….it was more like….she didn't know what.
Curiosity, maybe? She just…she had never seen another girl naked before….and nobody else had ever seen her naked before either….nobody outside of her family. Mom used to give her and Sho baths at the same time…and also dad had apparently changed her clothes for her after the whole thing with the Seventh Division….plus Mukai liked to jump out of the laundry hamper and surprise people when they were trying to change clothes…so it would have made more sense to say that nobody not named Suzuki had ever seen her naked. She'd never had anyone to tell her if she was normal or not…if she looked nice or not…well Minori had told her that she looked like a first grader….
Mob's breasts were about the same size as Minegishi's.
She looked away. She should NOT have been looking at her friend's breasts! Even though she didn't like them like that it was still wrong. Minegishi hadn't meant for her to look at them like that….Mob looked at the wall behind them where all the clean towels were. That was…that was a good place to look. She had no idea what she had even looked…maybe to know if hers were normal…but of course they were normal! If they had been weird then she would have noticed…even though she had nothing to compare them to…she needed to just….just keep looking at the wall…
So that was what she did.
"Hi." Said Minegishi. Well at least they had said it back this time…and now it was Mob's turn to ignore them. Fair enough. This was probably weird for her. Minegishi, when they had brought her here, had only been thinking about how filthy they both were after Mob's plague of umes. They hadn't been thinking about how, unlike them, Mob wasn't used to communal bathing like this. Minegishi had spent half their life showering and changing in overcrowded rooms full of other people with anatomy that matched theirs…and also there was all the sex that they'd had…huh. So that was what it took to become comfortable in their own body….as comfortable as they could be, anyway, which was at least a hell of a lot more comfortable than Mob was right now.
"What did you want me to turn around for?" asked Mob, taking care to keep her eyes trained on the wall in front of her.
"Because I need you to look me in the eye while I tell you this." said Minegishi
"Tell me what?" asked Mob. She made herself look Minegishi in the eye…and only the eye…and not on the scar that they had on their chest…the jagged one…or the one on their shoulder that looked like they'd been sewn back together…or the other one on their arm. They looked each other in the eye, now, her and Minegishi….though Mob wished that she'd stayed looking at the wall. That would have been a lot easier than this.
"That none of that shit was your fault. You mom leaving? That wasn't on you. I don't know your mom, and I've made it a point not to get to know your dad, but I do know that none of their shit has anything to do with you." Said Minegishi
"But…but I watched her get sick…like I watched you get sick. She was sick for a long time. She just laid in bed, like you did, and some days she didn't even get up to make us food…like how when you got really sick you stopped getting your own food…and….and she-" said Mob
"Unless you mom has, what I suspect, is some kind of a combination of depression and anxiety with what I suspect is a Xanax addiction then, no, what happened to me is nothing like what happened to your mother…and you aren't responsible for either of us." Said Minegishi
"But…but I was there and….and I couldn't be there for her but I could have been there for you. I…I don't even know what that stuff you said is but….but I can help you-" said Mob
"No. You're twelve. Mob…none of my shit….none of my shit is your shit. I have…I have a lot that I need to work through….and I've been doing a piss poor job of working through it. If I, a grown adult, can't get my shit together then of course I'm not going to put any of it on you. Mob…nothing about me…is your fault. It's my fault. I'm the one who can't cope with…with things that ended years ago. I'm the one ruining my life and…and I'm the one who has to live with the consequences of my actions…and not just what I bring upon myself….what I've brought upon you, too." Said Minegishi
"You didn't bring anything upon me." Said Mob. She didn't know why Minegishi kept on saying things like this, like they had made her life worse. They were her best friend. They had made her life better than she had ever imagined it being…since mom left, anyway. Minegishi had been there for her when she had been all alone…and nothing, not even yelling mean things to her and throwing away their friendship bracelet, was ever going to make Mob even begin to think a fraction, one of the really complicated ones, less of them.
"Mob…what's your favorite drink?" asked Minegishi with a sigh. They felt that deep in their bones, that sigh, and they had another one coming. Why couldn't Mob just see that they had ruined her life? That they had set her down the same path that they had been walking on their entire life? That her life was, like everyone's life was, infinitely worse because she had come into contact with them? Why…her age. She was twelve. She was twelve and…and amazingly enough she was a very sheltered twelve. She hadn't lived the life Minegishi had been, she hadn't done the things Minegishi had done, and she hadn't seen the things that Minegishi had seen. She was twelve and she just didn't get it. Minegishi was seventeen years older than her. They were going to have to be the adult in this scenario, for once in their life, and they were going to have to help her get it…help her to understand that…that it was all their fault and nobody else's…not even Ryou's since there was no point in holding him accountable for his actions.
"Beer, liquor, or do you mean mixed drinks?" asked Mob
"All three." Said Minegishi
"Sapporo for beer, vodka for liquor, and my favorite mixed drink is a tie between a shooting star and a white Russian. I like the shooting star because it's sweet, and you get a piece of starfruit on your glass for decoration, but I also like white Russians because there's milk in there and I like milk…well I would like it better if there had been strawberry milk but all milk is good milk. Why?" asked Mob
"See? This is what I'm talking about." Said Minegishi
"You…want to go and get drinks?" asked Mob
"Mob…no. Just indica or sativa?" asked Minegishi
"Huh?" asked Mob
"What do you prefer? Indicas or sativas?" asked Minegishi
"It depends on how I want to feel and also what kind, too. Like I really like this kind, it comes in the pen, called-" said Mob. She liked this. They were talking about something good now, something happy, something that they both liked. They could get drunk and stoned and…and then all of this could just end up feeling like a bad dream…like a memory from a bad dream. Something far away and long gone.
"Oh God…if that attendant walks through the door right now…" said Minegishi with a laugh that the situation…kind of warranted. A kid her age talking like this…it was absurd….they should not have been laughing or even smiling. This was...this was serious….they had seriously fucked up here…and there was nothing funny about that….
"I'll tell her that you're a they and that you were born a girl, then you won't have to stand up again and be all…naked…and stuff…" said Mob
"Mob…never change." Said Minegishi
"Ok, I won't…um…do you want to smoke after this? And drink? I mean I don't have a lot with me but we're not that far from Tokyo and I have a lot of money with me so we can buy a bunch of stuff from Shimazaki's friend." Said Mob
"That's what I was talking about." Said Minegishi
"See? This is good…I knew that we were going to be friends again. Ok, we just need to dry off and then-" said Mob
"This is what I'm talking about." Said Minegishi
"Um…can you tell me what you're talking about? Because a minute ago we were talking about getting something to drink and smoke…but now it's like you don't want to…and I don't really know what's going on anymore." Said Mob
"I'm talking about how…how I messed you up. How…how messed up it is that a twelve year old has an extensive list of favorite drinks….and you even know what the difference between an idica and a sativa is. The fact that you have a drug dealer….well I'll give that one to Ryou. That one is really more his fault…but he never would have taken you to see his dealer in the first place if you…if I hadn't…if I had been more focused on you that night and less focused on myself." Said Minegishi
"Minegishi…why are you saying all of that like it's a bad thing?" asked Mob
"Because it is! Because I ruined your life! You….you're going to end up like me…and I…the world doesn't need another me in it!" said Minegishi
"That doesn't make sense! The world does need you! You are one of the nicest people that I have ever met in my entire life! I love you! You're always there for me…and you're nice to me…and you….you care about me. You care so much about me and…and I care about you and…and I'm doing my best to use moderation like you taught me so you don't have to worry about that." Said Mob
"Mob…there's no such thing as moderation. If I can't even watch what I do…then how can I expect you to do the same?" asked Minegishi
"But…you always use moderation." Said Mob
"Then why am I shaking like this? Mob…I overdid it. I overdid it over and over again…and that's not the first time this happened. Do you know why Ryou and I tell you, have told you, not to fuck with pills? Because they can ruin your life…do you remember….do you remember when you got into my Xanax? How worried I was?" asked Minegishi
"The stuff you keep in your mint tin?" asked Mob
"Yeah. Do you remember how worried I was?" asked Minegishi
"Of course I remember." Said Mob. She had been really hungry…and then really tired….and then they'd had that great big fight and Mob had spent the entire day folding paper cranes so that they would have forgiven her. That wasn't the sort of thing that a person forgot.
"Well…well I was worried because you might not have woken up….or you might have woken up and wanted another one. These…they're medicine…good medicine…if you take them like medicine. I was taking them like candy…and I really fucked myself over. Bad." Said Minegishi
"H-How bad did you f-word yourself over?" asked Mob
"Bad enough that I might have another seizure…it's happened before and every time I get to that point I tell myself never again…but I always get back to that point. I don't want you to…to get to this point. I don't want you to end up like me…to do to yourself what I did to myself." Said Minegishi
"But….but that's like when you get sick….right? I can just find Fukuda and unbanish him so he can come and fix you…and then you'll be ok. I…I can do that." Said Mob. So this was her fault…she had figured as much. She didn't exactly know what Minegishi was talking about but she did know that Fukuda…well he had better have been able to make her friend better…or else Mob would do…something. She didn't know what, yet, but she knew that it would be something meaner than anything she had ever even thought of doing to another person.
"Mob…that doesn't change the fact that I'm just going to end up doing this to myself again….and probably some other stupid shit, too, in the future. I…when I look at you I see myself…and I don't want to see myself. I don't want you to be…to be another version of me…" said Minegishi
"Minegishi…I'm not you. I'm myself and….and when you look at me I want you to see me. Then things will be easier for you, I think. I know about moderation and I know about taking care of myself and…and also I don't do the things you do. I mean I do things but not…not like what you do. I know about…a lot of stuff. Shimazaki told me about how….how you sometimes hurt people and kill them-" said Mob
"I'll kill him!" said Minegishi. Ryou…his time on this earth was up. Now he had to go in the ground…they were going to put the love of their life in the ground…and they were going to do it happily. Hell, they'd probably get a great big 'thank you' from him since his impending death was the thing that made them admit that Ryou, the stupid crazy idiot that he was, was indeed the love of their life.
"Don't! Please! He was just telling me…about how sad you get sometimes….and about how you're worried about the shoes falling on you. Well I won't let that happen. No matter what happens, no matter what you do, I will always be your friend. Even if you took enough of those rectangle pills your keep in your mint tin that you made yourself sick…even if you kill people because my dad makes you….even if you killed your parents because they were bad people….even if you cheated on everyone you were ever with before you started being in open relationships…and even though you kissed Serizawa I will always be your friend." Said Mob
"Wow…Ryou….told you all of that…and you still….what?" asked Minegishi. Well Ryou…he was going to die…or at least get his mouth sewn shut. How in the hell…how did he know about Serizawa? And why did he tell Mob…any of that? And why…why was Mob still there…even after hearing about the murders? That…that would have been a deal breaker to anyone else…but this was Mob and for her there were no deal breakers. She was a great kid like that….she was one hell of a friend, too…and Minegishi…they were never going to have a friend like her again…ever.
"I still want to be your friend. There is nothing that he can tell me, or that you can tell me, or that I can tell myself that will ever make me want to stop being your best friend. I love you and…and you're never going to leave me ever again. From now on anything we do…we do together, no more running away. If you're sad then we're going to be sad together and if you're happy then we're going to be happy together and if you're afraid of shoes dropping on you then…then I'll get rid of all the shoes in the world if I have to. We're friends and…and that's just the way that it's going to be….and I'm sorry to be so hard on you but…but sometimes you have to be…to be mean to people…." Said Mob. She didn't want to be mean to her best friend…but now she had to. Enough talking about things. Mob didn't care what Minegishi had done or thought that they'd done or thought that Mob had done or not done…none of it mattered.
What mattered was that Minegishi was back….and that they were friends again…and that neither of them was every going to leave the other one. Ever.
"…sure…" said Minegishi. There was a running joke in the group that Suzuki hadn't fathered Mob. That she was either adopted or his wife had been running around on him. Not only did she not look a thing like him but she didn't act like him either. Where Suzuki was either cold and terrifying, or cold and weird, or just a cold awkward dork, Mob was warm. She was awkward, and occasionally a dork, but she was warmth personified….well she normally was.
Now she was cold as ice.
She spoke like Suzuki did. She had the same look in her eyes as Suzuki did. She was even doing that same thing with her aura that Suzuki did. It was easy to forget but Mob was a powerful esper, the second most powerful esper, hell when her father died she'd be the most powerful esper in the world. Minegishi knew her, they knew that Mob would never hurt them, but also…also they knew how seriously Mob took love and friendship….and how off kilter she could get…and who she had spawned from…
How they felt didn't matter. What was best didn't matter. Right now they had to keep Mob calm.
"Ok. So the first thing we have to do after our bath is get our clothes back and then we have to get back to Tokyo. Dad's here too and I don't know if I want to talk to him. Also we need to find Fukuda…so I probably need to talk to dad or at least Hatori in that case….but don't worry! Everything is going to be ok. I won't let it be not ok." Said Mob. This had been the worst day of her life….and now it was the best! Things were better and the group….it was going to be more together and…and this was just the best! Everything was so perfect right now…even if she was naked…but that was ok. Minegishi wasn't going to make fun of her….and this was actually kind of nice. Warm and…and safe…especially with her best friend there where she could see them….
Bathhouses were really nice…she and Minegishi would have to go more often….but next time without the fighting and hurt feelings.