Children never stayed children for very long.
People grew up, that was the way that it was supposed to be. There was no stopping the passage of time for anyone. If Suzuki'd had the power to stop time for someone he would have stopped it for either himself or Shigeko. There was an expression, over the hill, and he got the feeling that he was on his way there. Walking around wasn't as easy as it used to be. His back, well his back and his knees, were being very disagreeable at the moment. Maybe it was psychological as well as physiological, though, since he was taking time out of his day to deal with nonsense.
He hated nonsense.
"I don't care what my son told you before, listen to what I'm saying now. No pets. No pets in this HQ or any other. Now get rid of those things." Said Suzuki as he took in the scene before him. Lunchtime was over. He could tell time just fine, both on an analog and digital watch, he knew that lunchtime had ended half an hour ago. The cafeteria should have been empty. The kitchen staff should have been preparing for dinner and cleaning up after the lunch rush. These Awakened here should have been at their posts, too, since he doubted that all of them worked in the kitchen.
And he doubted that all of these animals here were necessary for work.
"Bur President Suzuki-" said an Awakened. Suzuki silenced him with a wave of his hand. They had gotten bold in his absence…but that was normal. When Shigeko was in charge, even briefly, everything wound up upside down. It had been that way since she'd been a child. She always took liberties with the power he gave her and then, in turn, the Awakened took liberties with the power she gave them. He trusted her judgement when it came to most things…
This was not one of those things.
"No buts. Get rid of these animals and then get back to your posts." Said Suzuki. Shigeko had been too easy on them…but she couldn't help it. She was a woman now and that was their way. They were very kind people, women, kind and caring. She had been that way since she'd been a child, well she had been born female after all, she'd been a girl…and now she was a very short woman.
Which was something that he was going to have to deal with from now on.
"But Vice President Suzuki said that we could have a pet show…well her brother said that we could and then she approved it." Said the Awakened. Suzuki…well he was tempted to start putting people through walls…but Shigeko had approved this…and she had the power to approve this. If he put a stop to this then he would have been contradicting her…well she was his subordinate! She was VICE President Suzuki, he was PRESIDENT Suzuki. She was his subordinate and…and he didn't want to contradict her…
But he had to.
"And I said no. Now get rid of these animals before they go into tonight's dinner." Said Suzuki. He was…mostly making empty threats. There were goldfish, parakeets, and lizards…as well as various forms of rodents….not what he would eat….but he had an entire city's worth of food available to him. Yes, if they didn't stop with all of this then they'd find their pets in whatever it was that was being served for dinner. He knew that Shigeko would have had a problem with that. Sho most definitely would have had a problem with that and, yes, he didn't care how Sho felt no matter how much he carried on…but Shigeko…he didn't want to hurt her in any way….but he was going to have to contradict her. There had to be some limits to her power…
She was a woman now, true, but he was still her superior.
"But….it's vegetarian night ….President Suzuki." Said the Awakened. Suzuki hadn't known that…but it didn't matter….and also he was going to have to talk to Shigeko about these changes she'd made to the lunch menu…and the dinner menu…and also all of these events she let the Awakened schedule…and also the massive change she'd made to the pet policy.
She knew that he hated pets.
She knew that he hated the idea of pets. Animals in your home that you took care of but did nothing for you. A living thing that you were responsible for with no end in sight. At least when you had children there was an end to caring for them. They grew up. They gained independence. They moved on. That was nature's way. Animals were burdens and children…well there was an end to the burden that children put on you…
Not that Shigeko could ever have been a burden to him.
"Well obviously vegetarian night has been cancelled. Now get rid of this or prepare to eat your pets. It's your choice." Said Suzuki. The Awakened decided to go with the less macabre option. He would have done the same if he'd been them. Honesty. They were so like children sometimes…well most of the time. It had been explained to him, before, by some scientist or another that when a person Awakened their mind went to a more simple, safer, time. Maybe that explain why Sho was still so childish even at the age of nearly twelve. It was definitely why the Awakened carried on the way they did…
There was nothing that he could do about this.
There was nothing that he could do about Sho's immaturity, the immaturity of the Awakened, and Shigeko's newfound maturity. There was no point in ruminating on it. Time moved forward, people were the way they were, and he had work to do. So that was what he did. He made his way back to his office while the Awakened scrambled like children to save their beloved pets. He had never understood pets, not even when he'd been a child. Masami had always liked animals…and she'd passed it down to Sho….
Well that didn't matter.
Shigeko may have overindulged her brother but….well he was putting a stop to it. It was one thing to fill Fukuda's home with rodents, Suzuki was never going to be spending time with him in his home again, it was another to try and fill their home or their work with rodents and other small animals. Shigeko…she was so much like Masami…well that was just how women were. There was no changing how women were. Shigeko was a woman now and he was…he was going to have to deal with her…the way she was.
There was nothing that he could do about it.
He half expected to see her, there, as he entered his office. She would have been sitting on the floor playing with her dolls or with her tablet or computer…or with her brother…he also half expected to see Sho. In his mind Shigeko was young enough to play on the floor while he worked…and if she was that young then Sho was even younger than her….well this was his mind and he could picture Shigeko on her own….as she had been….
Back before…all of this.
Ten. That was the best age. She had been at her very best at the age of ten. She had been able to wield the power he gave her but she hadn't taken the liberties she took now. She had listened to him, to, and never challenged him no matter how much she disagreed. They'd also spent so much more time together….day in and day out….but then he'd put a stop to that since he had been impeding her emotional development. It was in his best interest that, as her father, she grew up to be independent…even though it would have been so much easier if she had just stayed small…stayed ten…forever.
Nothing ever lasted forever.
Time moved forwards, it stopped for no one, not even him. If he'd been able to stop time, too keep Shigeko at ten, then he would have. Sho would have been allowed to, forced to, grow up of course. The last thing he wanted was to deal with Sho for the rest of eternity. He was almost twelve…he wondered how many years before Sho grew up and left him. He had that girl he was seeing, even planning on marrying, so there was that to look forward to. Another daughter in the family….two…no…three….
He had three daughters.
Suzuki kicked a doll away as he walked back to his desk. That must have been Mukai's doing. She liked the dolls with the very long hair. Shigeko mostly liked dolls from her ice queen movie. He knew that Shigeko hadn't been on the floor of his office. She was much too old for that. She was off somewhere with her unpleasant purple haired friend….her unpleasant purple haired friend who was her age. Not Minegishi…though they weren't terribly unpleasant…even if they'd been living in his office for God only knew what reason. Whatever the reason had been it was Shigeko's business. Her friends were her business and she was a grown, if very short, woman. She could handle herself.
He'd done well when it came to his daughter.
He kicked another doll out of the way as he made his way to his desk. It was slow going, practically a minefield. This was how Sho used to leave his office…and pretty much every other space that he'd ever inhabited. Sho wasn't getting any better with age…Shigeko was, though, she was very neat. Mukai on the other hand…was still two. Not as good of an age as twelve but still a good one. She was small enough to pick up…he couldn't even remember the last time that he'd been able to pick Shigeko up…
When she'd been very small, obviously.
She wasn't small anymore. She was twelve…twelve and a half almost….chronologically young but clearly an adult. A small one. She was small…but not as small…as her sister. The word was odd, sister, even though he'd been using it since Shigeko had joined his family. Sister. She was Sho's sister….and now she had a sister…Mukai. His child…his third child…possibly his last child. Shiori didn't seem to be very receptive to the idea of having any children with him…even though neither of them was getting any younger. Mukai had joined his household seamlessly…so of course another addition to the family would be a welcomed one. His children needed their own mothers, that was the thing, it was easier on everyone when his children had their own mothers….
Shigeko was a good mother…but she wasn't Sho's mother…so of course he had turned out the way he had.
Suzuki didn't blame Sho for who he had become. He didn't blame Shigeko either. He blamed….well the vast majority of the blame fell on Masami for leaving him and the rest fell onto Fukuda for indulging him for all of these years. Shigeko was a good mother but she was not Sho's mother. She would do a much better job when she had children of her own…
The thought was terrifying.
He knew what his main obsession had been at twelve. Well…aside from trying to find his way off of this miserable planet…his main obsession had been with the opposite sex. Women were the same way, he'd been told, and Shigeko….well she'd expressed interest in the opposite sex before…and she was older now. She was old enough to do something about it…and he couldn't think of any man who would have said no to her. Well there were homosexuals, like Hatori, and men who were terrified of intimacy and the opposite sex like Serizawa….but most of the men in the world would have been happy to have had her interest…and that was….a part of becoming an adult…
A part that he was not ready for.
He sat down. He knew that he had things to do…so many things. He had things to settle, things to decide, people to punish and reward…he'd once again let his personal life impede his work life….but now he had to get on track. He needed to stop thinking about Shigeko and how every single day brought her further away from the child she'd been…and how one day, maybe one day soon, this office would be filled with her children. They'd be playing on the floor….and she'd have her own desk beside his…and her children would be carrying on while the two of them worked….because children did carry on. If she carried on then his children would…their children….HER CHILDREN would carry on and…
Something hit him on the leg.
He jumped…and so did his desk…and everything else in the room. There at his feet…was a child…not one of Shigeko's children….no. That was one of his children…his youngest child…his current youngest child. Mukai. She had been under his desk…he hadn't been able to sense her…well there wasn't much to sense. She barely had any aura…but she was still so young….
She was at a good age.
"Surprise!" shouted Mukai. She stood up…children her age were so reckless with their lives. He picked her up with his powers and sat her down on his lap. Masami used to insist that he hold the children on his lap. She had always insisted that he hold the children…play with them….read to them….and he had always been too busy. He had been busy providing for his children and in the time, the little time, he'd had in his home…well he hadn't wanted to spend it in the prescience of his two screaming children…his toddlers….
What a fool he'd been.
Shigeko hadn't been half the terror Sho had been. She had always been pleasant to be around even in those first few weeks when she'd still remembered her biological family. She had only gotten more pleasant….she was such a good daughter…she had been such a good child and….and they'd had so many chances to spend time together…but he'd been busy working or recovering from work….and….and now it was too late. Shigeko was a woman now…
She was too big to be held.
"Surprise! Over there!" said Mukai as he put his office back in order. She was small on his lap. Small and slightly sticky….he had no idea what she was sticky with but it might have had something to do with the artificial cherry smell that clung to her. She was trying to stand up now, to touch his eyebrows with her sticky little hands….
He let her.
"You may touch each of my eyebrows once and for no longer than ten seconds for each eyebrow. Are you amenable to that?" asked Suzuki. She didn't say anything, she just went right for his eyebrows. What was it with children and his eyebrows? They had been a fascination to children since he himself had been a child. He knew that they were unfortunate, mother had never once minced words about them, and he knew that there were few people in the world with eyebrows like his…but still. There was no reason to grab at them like that.
All of his children had learned really fast not to grab at his eyebrows.
Masami had always gone on about how cute it was when the children grabbed at his eyebrows. She had even taken pictures….those he had no idea where she had stored them. He wished that he did so he could have destroyed them. Those had not been good times. It was painful, of course, to have his eyebrows pulled on…and he'd stopped his children from even mentioning them…well he'd put the fear of…him…into them….
He wouldn't be doing that to Mukai.
He had no idea what sort of person she would become, if she would be the second coming of Shigeko at her best or not, but…but he knew better than to take these times for granted. Whether he had asked for it or not, her existence, she was here and she as his and…and she was small. She was small and soon she would be at the best age that she could have been at…and then she would get older. She would start wearing makeup and tiny half shirts…she'd start slamming doors in his face and calling him by his given name…and then she was going to leave him one day….
He let her tug on his eyebrows.
"Caterpillars…" said Mukai
"Yes, daughter….Mukai. They are like caterpillars…and you'd better pray that you don't end up with eyebrows like mine. You could, you know, very easily." Said Suzuki
"My caterpillars." Said Mukai
"No, they'd mine….and please don't call them anything other than eyebrows. When I was young people used to call them caterpillars….and it bothered me somewhat." Said Suzuki
"Bothering you." Said Mukai as she tugged on his eyebrow again…he would allow this. He used to throw the children on the floor when they did this…but Shigeko would not have been happy with him if he threw Mukai on the floor…and also…also he didn't want to. The children had learned not to tug on is eyebrows because he had thrown them on the floor so many times….and now...well now they were so much older…well Shigeko was. He had never cared for holding Sho in any capacity. Shigeko was older and one day Mukai would be the same age…and then all of this would be a distant memory. He'd have no daughter to hold…unless Shiori gave him one…
But he had no idea when that would be.
"Yes you are…but I don't have it in me to stop you. Carry on." Said Suzuki. Mukai nodded.
"Carry on." Said Mukai. He let her tug on his eyebrows until she got bored…which took longer than he had thought it would. Eventually she did get bored…and then turned her fascination towards his hair. She ran her hands across his head. The only reason that she even had the balance to do this was because he was holding her up.
No matter how annoying she got, how much she bothered him, he wasn't going to throw her to the ground.
"Fuzzy hair….Sho hair." Said Mukai
"Yes…Sho does have my hair. You do too, you know, and…and I need to apologize for that. I'm sorry about your hair." Said Suzuki
"Sorry." said Mukai softly. He didn't know what it was that she was apologizing for…but people were complicated at any age.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for. I'm the one who passed my…genetics…down to you. It's my fault…well technically it's my mother's fault. I resemble her greatly….well I resemble both of my parents but I got her coloring…and I'm sure that if my mother had been alive she would have been sorry as well." Said Suzuki. Mukai sat down on his lap, now, and her fascination was with her own hair now. She still had it in those four braids with the bun on the back…he had no idea why she wore her hair like that but he knew better than to criticize a female human being's choice in anything related to clothing or fashion.
"Mama drinking water." Said Mukai
"No, my mother is dead. Death is when a person's soul leaves their body and then their body is cremated or buried-" said Suzuki
"Mama drinking water!" said Mukai. He blinked…oh. She meant her mother. That made….a lot more sense.
"I apologize, Mukai, I had no idea that you were speaking of your mother." Said Suzuki
"Mama drinking water. Hot outside. Over there." said Mukai. She pointed out the window…she was so bright. She knew where the outside was…well of course she was bright. She was half of him and half of…a woman who he had once cared for….
"Yes. It is hot outside, you're very bright." Said Suzuki
"Bright outside. Over there." said Mukai
"Yes, it is very bright as well." Said Suzuki. They were talking about the weather now…that was small talk. He knew what small talk was and he didn't like to engage in it…and also it felt odd to engage in it with his own two year child. Still, it was nice to speak to her…he hadn't missed her at the time but…well there was something special to speak to your own child…someone who you made. Especially when they were just learning how speech worked….yes. There was something so special about this…
Even if he hadn't been there for her first words…or even known what they were…there was something amazing….
"How has your day been going otherwise? I see….I see that you were in my office…to surprise me I'd imagine." Said Suzuki. He had never been good at this, talking to people, even with his own daughter…his older one. Shigeko…it had always been at least a little bit awkward talking to her before she turned ten. That was truly the best age….maybe he and Mukai would get on better…well they got on now…but maybe they would be able to speak to one another better when she turned ten.
Not that there was any replacing Shigeko….of course.
"I surprise you!" said Mukai. So that was what she had been doing…well that had been obvious…but he would praise her. She had created a mission for herself and completed it all alone.
"You did…it was quite surprising. I hadn't sensed you. Very sneaky...but in a positive way. I'm trying to compliment you right now." Said Suzuki. Well that….had not been good…but she had been looking at him. That was his defense. She had been looking at him with his eyes…and that had been…a bit disconcerting. She really looked so much like him…and…and her biological mother. Her face was round…and there was the shape of her eyes…and her nose…but she had his coloring. Maybe this was why there were so many times in his life when mother said that she couldn't bear to look at him.
He looked at Mukai.
He had always hated it, the times when mother couldn't bear to look at him, when mother…when she wouldn't even respond when he spoke. He would never do that to his daughters. They were so small and…and that was so cruel…and he didn't know if he could ever be so cruel to someone so small. She was small and…and she was so….she was his.
She was half of him.
And that half of him was trying to climb down from his lap. He let her. She was so…so small….she was small and she was his. He wasn't an idiot, he knew where children came from, and anyone with eyes could have seen that she was his. She was his and…and she was out there walking and talking…what was wrong with him? He had never been sentimental, even when his children had been small, he had always killed off any feeling of sentiment…but…well now he knew the value of it. Sentiment told him what was important…or at least of note. Children grew up so fast. One day they were toddlers and the next they were children and the next they were….so much older. Proposing to girls…wearing makeup….calling him by his given name….
Reading?
"Once upon a time! The hungry caterpillar! Butterfly!" said Mukai. There had been a backpack by his desk, a small one, and in that backpack had apparently been a book. He….he knew that book. Mother had read him that book when he had been very small….though his copy, his old copy, had a different cover…and also there hadn't been those dots on the cover…..wait…that was a label?
A braille label.
She was running her hands over the dots and speaking to herself. Could she read? She was very young…and if she could read then why was she reading braille? She could see, he knew that she could see, well…he had never seen through her eyes but he knew that she could look at things. He had seen her look at things and comment them…
This was just…odd.
"Mukai? May I ask you something?" asked Suzuki. Maybe it was alright to just come out and ask her…well of course it was alright. He was her father. He could speak to her whenever he wanted to…but daughters….they were volatile. That was the word for it. The way they got upset….for no reason…or at least reasons that he couldn't understand….
They were still better than sons, of course, sons may have been heirs…but they were also nightmares.
"Shush! Reading!" said Mukai as she put her finger to her lips….if Masami had been there she would have taken a photograph…actually, no, she probably would have been angry with him for sleeping with another woman…not that she got a say in any of that anymore. She was gone and…and he had moved on….and he had a new wife…future wife…and also he had another child….
One who, apparently, could read braille.
"I apologize, again, Mukai but I was wondering….why is it that you can read braille. You aren't blind…as far as I know. Shimazaki is blind but I often forget…but you don't have the aura he does…and I would have noticed if you were blind…" said Suzuki
"Ryou blind. Over there. I'm reading. Over here." Said Mukai
"Yes…yes you are." Said Suzuki. She waved her hand at him like…like she was telling him to shut up. Had he taught her that? He hadn't done that to her before…but it was one of the few gestures he made. Was it genetic then? Or had she been watching him…learning from him….like a child learned from a parent…
He was her parent.
He…had made up for what he'd missed. He'd gotten her some gifts for the two gift giving days, the big ones, that he'd missed….but there were so many other things that he'd missed in her life. The things which had driven him insane when it came to the other children…he had never been a great lover of holding the children or reading to them or interacting with them in any way…and his feelings towards Sho hadn't changed…..but his feelings towards Shigeko….they had changed…and he would never get this time back with her…
She was twelve, now, much too old to have her father read to her.
"Mukai?" asked Suzuki. He wished, as soon as he opened his mouth, that he had kept it closed. He couldn't read braille…and he wasn't sure if he even remembered how the story went. He could see the pages and someone had put massive braille labels over the words…and…well mother had always read it to him in English…and he wasn't even sure if he remembered the story of the caterpillar who ate his weight in tiny dots of food….
But….well maybe he could jog his memory…but maybe he couldn't.
"Caterpillar…very hungry….ate a cake!" said Mukai
"Yes…you're at the point in the book…though the caterpillar would perhaps not be so very hungry if he ate more than one hole in every food he tried…though that is my opinion. I came to have that opinion when I was a year or so older than you…my mother read it to me…in English, of course….but I remember enough to translate it to Japanese…if you'd let me read to you." Said Suzuki. He spoke quickly towards the end…though he had no idea what he was frightened of. She was a child. He shouldn't have cared at all what her opinion of him was…and if she told him to leave him alone…that she was no daughter of his…that he was no father of hers…..he shouldn't have cared….
But he did care.
He watched her. She looked at him…and then ran. She threw the book at him as she ran…he managed to catch it with his powers….and her, too, then she decided to launch herself at him. So this was a common trait amongst all children. Sho and Shigeko….Son and Daughter…Oldest Daughter….Shigeko…they had always run to him when he sat on one of their beds with an open book. Never this book, no, Masami had let them choose their own books and they had chosen books with their favorite characters on the covers. There were so many other great books in the world…not that he cared too much about children's literature….
Well he cared…at least somewhat.
"Read this please and thank you!" said Mukai. She took his hand in hers, his hand dwarfed hers, and pressed it to the page. He still didn't know why she was reading a book in braille…and he wasn't sure if she even could answer that question. She was still so small…so very small…so young. Too young to even know what he was saying half the time, probably, so young that this book was the height of literature. She was still only two…and she had a few years left of being small…before she grew up…or at least got older. He had missed so much and…and now he knew what he had missed…
And he was not going to miss another moment.
Shigeko had told him that he would be no father of hers unless he was father to Mukai as well. She hadn't said so in so many words but women seldom told you exactly what they wanted. Shigeko had been angry that he hadn't been a father to Mukai, also the fact that he took her sister away from her, in addition to the whole slapping her across the face thing…there was even some anger towards the way he treated Sho…Shigeko was confusing but he may have figured her out. She wanted him to be a father to Mukai…and maybe he wanted to be her father too. There was nothing stopping him, Masami's judgment didn't matter since she had been gone for longer than Mukai had even been alive, so…so he was free to enjoy Mukai while she was still small…before she grew up…before she wound up like Shigeko….
Children grew up before you knew it, especially Daughters, so it was best to enjoy what little time you had with them.