Mob had never been sick before. She didn't like it.

"Minegishi, when is this going to be over?" asked Mob as she squeezed Minegishi's Totoro pillow to her stomach. This was worse than cramps. The box the pill had come in said that she may have had some slight cramping. This wasn't slight and this wasn't cramping. It felt like her stomach was trying to turn it's self inside out, like when you were balling up socks. Her stomach wasn't supposed to act like that, too feel like that, and any minute now she knew she was going to throw up.

She couldn't, though, because Minegishi had told her not to.

"This bleach has to sit for at least twenty minutes…probably half an hour since your hair is so much thicker than mine." Said Minegishi as they finished up the last of the bleach. This was…a process. They had never dyed anyone else's hair before, and they had never done red before, so their self-confidence wasn't exactly at all-time highs. Still, though, they'd try.

This was for Mob after all.

"No, I meant how long until my stomach stops hurting." Said Mob. She held the pillow tighter to her chest. The smell from the hair bleach wasn't helping. She needed to make this stop. If Fukuda had been around then he could have…she didn't even want to finish the thought. Sure he could have helped but then she would have had to be around him and stuff.

She would rather have thrown up.

"I have no idea. I just gave you the second dose so…a day? I don't know exactly. Here, take another hit from your pen." Said Minegishi. They reached past Mob over to the bathroom counter and handed her back her pen. This was…not ideal…but the best that they could do.

"But what about moderation?" asked Mob as she took her pen back.

"If you don't want it then put it back." Said Minegishi

"No, no, this is fine." Said Mob before she clicked her pen back on. The battery was starting to die. She hadn't charged it in a while. Not since before…before she had done everything that she had done. It was one of those things that divided her life, she decided. Like how there was a before mom left and an after mom left. Or a before and after she'd had her period for the first time. Or a before Mukai had been born or an after Mukai had been born. Or a before Sho had been born and an after Sho had been born.

She couldn't remember that last one but she knew that it had divided her life.

Now there was a before she'd had sex and an after she'd had sex. Her life was cut right in half, right down the middle. Before she'd had sex she'd been a kid…well kind of…but now she was an adult. Sort of. She was still twelve and she was still short but now she knew what it was like, weird and slimy, and she could have a baby if she wanted to, too…not that anything like that was going to happen. That was what the medicine had been for. Minegishi said that she had to take it so she didn't have a baby.

She kind of wished they had asked her what she wanted.

She exhaled. Minegishi hadn't asked her if she wanted another hit, they had told her to take one. They just told her to take another hit. They hadn't asked her, either, if she had wanted to take the medicine. They just gave it to her and told her to take it. They didn't ask, either, if she wanted to go to the doctor later. They had just told her that she had to. Mob didn't know what she wanted, mostly. She knew that she didn't want to be sick so of course she would go to the doctor but she didn't know if she wanted a baby or not. She liked babies…but if she had one of her own then she would have been responsible for another person being in the world….she would have liked to have had time to think. But she hadn't had any time at all.

Minegishi said that it wouldn't work if she waited too long…so she did what she had been told…even though maybe having a baby wouldn't have been so bad.

"Feel better?" asked Minegishi

"A little bit." Said Mob

"Good. Keep smoking that if you start to get nauseated again. I don't care if you get stoned, you can't throw up. Seriously." Said Minegishi. They had no clue how long it took for this stupid pill to take effect. Hopefully soon. Mob didn't look too good. The bleach stench might now have been good for the nausea…but Mob had wanted red hair and she wanted it now. She needed it right now.

There was nothing better for a breakup than a massive change to your appearance.

It was like shedding your skin. For Minegishi, anyway. Getting rid of the old you, the you that existed before. Breakups were never fun but first breakups were their own ordeal. Minegishi had no idea what exactly this kid had promised Mob but they knew it must have been a lot if Mob had slept with him. They knew her, she was not the casual sex type. She was the 'they all lived happily ever after type'. They didn't know exactly what had happened but they knew that Mob was hurting right now.

And they knew that there was nothing that they could do…nothing but help her move forwards.

"I know, I know. If I throw up then the medicine won't work and I'll have a baby." Said Mob

"Exactly. So keep it down." Said Minegishi

"But…" said Mob

"But? But what?" said Minegishi. They spun Mob around so she faced them. They didn't care if any bleach dripped down onto their pillow and they didn't care if that stool didn't like turning that fast. She had said 'but' like she was planning on arguing with them. No. This was not up for debate.

"I…I don't know. It just would have been nice if you had asked….I guess." Said Mob, They were looking her right in the eyes. She looked down. She had gotten some bleach on the pillow, it looked like. There were patches on white in the grey.

"No." said Minegishi

"No?" asked Mob

"That's right, no. It's not up for debate. I don't care how sick you are, we are never risking you getting pregnant. I can't let that happen to you." Said Minegishi

"It's not about me being sick…" said Mob

"Don't tell me you want to have a baby." Said Minegishi. No, she had better not have even been thinking of…of doing something so insane! Idiotic! Thoughtless! A baby…where in the hell was THIS coming from!? Hadn't she had enough of babies? She had to take care of two babies already, and Minegishi wasn't counting Mukai. She didn't need to add a third baby to her workload…she wasn't thinking. She was twelve. She didn't need a baby…she shouldn't have even been having sex…but that cat was out of the bag. She didn't need to…Minegishi kept calm. They did their best to keep calm. Yelling…nothing had ever been accomplished through yelling at a teenager.

"….I don't know what I want." Said Mob

"Well I know what you need and what you need, right now, is to be twelve. You can't be twelve and have a baby." Said Minegishi

"I can. I get my period and stuff and that means that I can have a baby." Said Mob. She didn't know if she wanted to have a baby but she knew that she could have had one if she had chosen to. If she had sex again, not with Teru since he didn't like her anymore…she didn't want to think about that. It hurt. Him not liking her…she didn't have any other boys she liked…she didn't want to like another boy. Not if it just hurt, if it would just end in hurt…in pain…in heartbreak….maybe that was why people had babies. To help with the heartache that came after the person you liked hurt you.

"Yes, biologically, but that's just biology. You're twelve years old. You can't raise a baby." Said Minegishi

"I…I don't know if I can or I can't. I took care of Mukai when she was a baby…but she wasn't my baby. It might be different if it's my baby." said Mob

"Mob…Shigeko. No. You have all the time in the world to have your own baby. You're only twelve, you don't need a baby right now. You already have enough going on in your life. You don't want to add another person to this shit show. Trust me." Said Minegishi

"You don't like babies." Said Mob. Of course they would have said no to Mob having a baby. They didn't like babies at all. They weren't going to have any of their own and that was fine, their body was their own, but Mob liked babies. She liked them and…and maybe she would have liked her own baby. Of course she would have liked her own baby. She would have loved her own baby. She would have loved any baby but she would have especially loved her own baby. She would have loved Shoko or Shigeo or…or whatever name she picked.

"Exactly." Said Minegishi. They didn't like babies. They didn't want to deal with a baby. If Mob had a baby then they would have had to deal with it. Therefore they did not want Mob to have a baby. There was more to it than that, of course, but if that was the explanation that Mob wanted to latch onto, what would get her to get off of this baby thing, then so be it.

"But I do and…and I think that if I had a daughter then I…then I could do a good job taking care of her." said Mob

"And you will. In ten years. When you're an adult." Said Minegishi

"Why do you get to decide?" asked Mob. She didn't get it. They had spent what had felt like hours telling her that her body was her own. So what, she was allowed to have sex but she wasn't allowed to have a baby. She didn't even know if she wanted one…but it would have been nice to have been allowed to decide for herself.

"Because I'm the adult here and it's my job to tell you when you've got a bad idea and that idea, the one about you having a baby, is the worst idea that you've ever had. I'm counting the time you tried to wash your hair with mayonnaise, by the way." said Minegishi with a sigh. Mob was being ridiculous. How could she have not heard the words that had been coming out of her mouth? A baby…a baby?! The last thing that they needed was adding another person, a baby, to this shit show!

"…it was supposed to make my hair shiny….and it kind of did…and it's my hair and if I want to put mayonnaise on it then I can and…and it's my body and if I want to have a baby then I-" said Mob. This wasn't the same as the time with the mayonnaise. She had done it before, first of all, and second of all mayonnaise was supposed to be good for her hair. It had been, sort of, it had made her hair shiny from the grease. She wouldn't do it again, of course, because she had learned from her mistakes. Babies weren't the same, they weren't mistakes. Dad thought of Mukai, he used to think of her as, a mistake. Mob hadn't set out to get pregnant but if she did then…then she wouldn't call Shoko a mistake. Shoko would have come into the world loved and wanted.

"Yeah, it's your body. You want to put mayonnaise on your head and smell like a sandwich then go ahead. You want to have a baby then…then think about it. Think about how much work it was taking care of Mukai. Think about how much you have in your life that you want to do, things that you can't do if you have a baby on your hip. Think of how tired you were all the time when Mukai was a baby. Think of the diaper changes and the midnight feedings. Think of the vomit. Think of the shrieking. Think of what Mukai is like now. Can you handle that? Really?" asked Minegishi. They had their hands on either of her shoulders now. She had to listen. She had to get this through her head. She was twelve. She couldn't have a baby. Her body was her own, of course, but that didn't mean she always knew what she was doing with it. She was thinking about messing up in a way that she couldn't take back. Sleeping with some idiot was one thing but having his baby…no. There was nothing else that they could say but 'no'.

"I…I don't know." Said Mob. She honestly didn't know. She had been tired all the time when she had been taking care of Mukai…but that was because she had been working too. If she had a baby then she wouldn't have had to work, certainly not fill in for dad. She would have had more time for the baby….but then the baby would have had more time with her, too. More time to cry. More time to throw up. More time for Mob to mess up…there were so many things that she could have done wrong…but also so many things that she could have done right too. She just didn't know….but it wasn't like she couldn't find out…

"Ham-hams! Come to ham-hams!" shouted Mukai as she knocked on the door. You had to always knock on the bathroom door before you ran in.

"Speak of the devil…" muttered Minegishi. They could hear her running down the hall. That was something that they were never going to get used to, the constant running. Something else that they could add to the 'don't have a baby' list. Maybe if they added enough things then Mob would actually start listening to them.

"Come now! Come to ham-hams! Sho ham-hams!" said Mukai as she ran into the bathroom. Shigeko was here! Her colors were here so that meant that she was here! Now she could go and see Sho and the ham-hams!

"She wants to know if you guys want to come with to Fukuda's house. Sho's hamsters need feeding." Said Tsuchiya as she followed Mukai into the bathroom. Her nose curled at the smell of bleach. Minegishi was dying their hair again…oh. Shigeko. That was unexpected. This was shaping up to be a day of unexpected things, it seemed. This was not how she had seen her day going…but it was better than chasing after Mukai and watching trashy daytime dramas all day. It was nice to actually have something to do, like a mission, even if it was just some light pet sitting.

"Kitty cat hungry too." Said Mukai as she tugged on mama's leg. They had to feed kitty cat and ham-hams. Sho wanted them to. Sho would be there at the ham-hams house and then he would play with her and pick her up and throw her. He had been gone for so long but now he was back and everything was going to be ok!

"Right, the cat's hungry too. You guys want to come and help?" asked Tsuchiya as she pulled Mukai away from the bathroom counter. She didn't know what all of those chemicals were but she knew that she didn't need Mukai eating them or getting them in her eyes.

"I…um…" said Mob. She didn't know. She liked the hamsters and the cats but she didn't like Fukuda. He was still away but…but what if he showed up while she was in his house? He knew. He knew and…and he'd had all night to think up mean things to say to her…

"I'm in the middle of dying Mob's hair, go on your own. How much help could you possibly need? It's just a few pets." Said Minegishi. They checked the timer on their phone. Still too soon. Even if Mob had wanted to get up they wouldn't have let her…not that she still listened to them. No, she was all grown up now it seemed and she could make her own decisions.

"Sho likes to give them the royal treatment." Said Tsuchiya as she pulled her phone from her pocket and showed them the very long list of instructions Sho had sent her. Minegishi looked up from their phone. Their eyebrows, where they would have had eyebrows, raised up. Tsuchiya took the opportunity to lean over and, subtly, look at their screen. Just a timer. This was none of her business, whatever they got up to, but Matsuo had said that they might have been trying to ghost him and….and this was none of her business. She had Mukai to look after. She couldn't get pulled into all of this drama….it was kind of hard to avoid, though. Eighty percent of this group was drama.

"This is why I hate pets." Said Minegishi as they skimmed over the wall of text that Sho had sent. Well at least he was ok. That was good to know, maybe now Mob could stop worrying.

"Did Sho…did he say anything else? Is he ok?" asked Mob. Mukai was tugging on her skirt now. She pulled her hands off. Mukai was fine…at least one of her siblings was fine. Sho was all alone with Fukuda in the Castle. He was well enough to write out lists of instructions…so maybe he was fine, like Minegishi had been telling her. Maybe he was ok and he didn't need her anymore…that was good, right? That he didn't need her anymore.

"He didn't say anything but I'm sure he's fine. He and Fukuda are on a trip or something." Said Tsuchiya. It seemed kind of weird, only taking one of the kids, but she didn't know everything that went on with that family. She was just glad that Sho had an adult with him. He'd gone off on his own without an adult, both of the kids had. She hadn't gone off on her own without an adult for the first time before she had been a teenager…and looking back she had been putting herself in all kinds of danger. She'd had her powers, of course, but back then she had been more stringent about not using them against other people. The kids, Shigeko at least, was like she had been. Sho on the other hand…well she was more worried about the other guy….

"Don't tell Suzuki." Said Minegishi quickly. Nobody needed to deal with him right now, especially Mob.

"Why not?" asked Tsuchiya. She knew what happened to people who kept secrets from Suzuki. It wasn't good. This had to do with one of his kids, too, and for as much of a bad father as he was he did care about them….sort of. Mukai mostly, it seemed, but Shigeko and Sho to an extent.

"Because dad gets mad about stuff like this so just don't say anything." Said Mob. If dad found out about…about anything…she didn't even want to think about it. How upset dad would get. How he'd hell and break things and just…just…the tiles underneath her feet cracked. She had to calm down. Dad wasn't going to find out. Dad wasn't going to know because everyone here was good at keeping secrets. Even Tsuchiya. In for four, out for four….in for four, out for four….

"Alright, alright. I'll see you guys later then. Come on, Mukai, let's go feed the ham-hams." Said Tsuchiya. She knew when to leave. She had hit a nerve, how she didn't know, but she knew not to stick around. Nothing good came from stressing Shigeko out. She was breathing, though, instead of reaching for that pen thing she smoked…so, progress?

"Bring Sho! Mama, bring Sho! Bring Shigeko! Bring Mine!" said Mukai as mama picked her up and carried her away. She tried to get free, she tried to hold onto the door so she could stay, but mama carried her away…without Shigeko and Mine!

"See? Do you think that you could deal with that day in and day out?" asked Minegishi as Mukai screamed the house down.

"I…I don't know." Said Mob. She was Mukai's big sister, she took care of her sometimes. She had taken care of Mukai when dad had told her too and she had been taking care of Sho, too, for years. Not when he had been a baby, of course, when he had been a kid. Babies didn't stay babies forever, they turned into kids…and then adults. She didn't think that she would have done such a bad job…

"I do. You don't need that in your life right now. You're hurt right now, I get it, and when people get hurt they do the craziest things. Believe me, I know. You're just a kid and you don't know any better. I do, so just listen to me for once in your life." Said Minegishi. This was why they were never having kids. She didn't want to listen to them…and she wasn't even their kid. Someone who was half of them would have been worse, so much worse, and someone who was half of them and half of Ryou….the world would never be prepared.

"But-" said Mob. She had arguments. She had…well not arguments like fighting but arguments like…like things she wanted to say. She felt sick but that didn't mean that she wasn't pregnant. If she was pregnant then she wanted…she didn't even know…not yet. It would have been nice to have had the chance to think it over and figure out what she wanted to do. She had a lot of have to dos in her life but not a lot of want to dos…and it would have been nice to have been able to…well it wasn't like she wanted to have a baby…or not have a baby…it was a lot to think about and it would have been nice to have had more time.

But she didn't.

The energy around them shifted. There was a crash and then some shouting. Shimazaki. She held the pillow closer to her chest. She didn't want to see him today or tomorrow or…or ever…well not ever. If there had been some way to go back to the way things were between them before then she would have. She missed the way they used to hang out, before he fell in love with her, before he kissed her. He hadn't tried to kiss her for a while but she didn't want to risk it. The last thing she wanted to do was kiss another boy…or do all the other stuff. He had said that he liked her because of the way she made him feel, not because he wanted to do all the stuff with her, but maybe now that she had done everything with someone else he would have wanted to do it with her…she would never have done that to her best friend…but if he wanted to…

She felt like she was going to throw up.

"Damn it….whatever. Mob, stay here and don't touch your hair. I'll rinse the bleach out when I get back. Be sure not to touch your hair but if you do for the love of God don't touch your eyes. Not unless you want braille lessons from Ryou." Said Minegishi. They let go of Mob and went to deal with whatever the hell Ryou had brought home. They'd have to thank him, later, for ending that conversation…or pausing it. They got the feeling that this was going to be one of those things that never ended….great.

"I don't." said Mob softly. She didn't think that Minegishi heard her. They were gone, now, to take care of Shimazaki. That was what you did when you loved someone, you took care of them. If you loved them as a friend or a boyfriend or a sibling…or a kid. Her stomach churned. A kid…a baby…she didn't know what she wanted. She didn't know if she could have taken care of a baby and…and she wished that she'd had time to think about it.

She hadn't been thinking.

She hadn't been thinking about sex when she'd had it. She hadn't even thought that all of this would have happened. One thing had led to another and then another and another…and now she was here, sitting on a stool, holding a pillow in her lap, while her hair got bleached. She couldn't see what was happening under all tin foil. She trusted Minegishi, though, that her hair was turning white under there. Once her hair turned white then it would be time to turn it red. She wouldn't have been able to see it, then, either underneath all the tin foil.

She held the pillow tighter.

She couldn't see what was happening inside of her either. She didn't know what was happening inside of body but she knew that she was getting sick. She could feel her stomach turning and churning…Shimazaki's aura wasn't helping. His aura, his voice, his…himself. He was right there. She could tell. He was there and at any time he could have popped in to hang out with her and to ask her to kiss and-and-and maybe even more since she had done all the things already. She didn't want to do all the things with Shimazaki…he was tall and he smelled good but…but she didn't want to. She could never do that to her best friend. Even the thought of hurting Minegishi like that…well they were in an open relationship….but still. The thought of doing that to her best friend made her feel like….

Like….

Like she was going to throw up.

So that was what she did. She threw the pillow on the ground and jumped over to the toilet. She jumped from her stool and barely made it. Throwing up…she hadn't done this in so long…she had forgotten how much it hurt. The burning in her throat, the aching in her stomach, the horrible taste in her mouth. She hadn't thrown up in so long…and she didn't want to throw up again. At least the churning in her stomach was gone….

Because she had thrown up the medicine.

Minegishi had told her so many times to make sure that she didn't throw up. She needed to find them and tell them…there was a lot of shouting…no, just loud talking. She could hear Minegishi talking Shimazaki and…and it might not have been good talking. She didn't want to make them any madder and…and she might have even been fine. She didn't know how medicine worked, how long it had to be in her stomach for. Maybe it didn't take that long, it hadn't been a very big pill after all….so maybe she was going to be ok.

Maybe.

Throwing up was gross. She didn't want to do it again. She didn't want to throw up again and again and again…and if she started taking the medicine again then she would have thrown up again. She didn't want that and…and maybe if she tried to take it again then she could get sick. You could get really sick if you took too much medicine and…and she was probably fine, anyway. She was…she was ok. She stood up. She was going to be ok. She couldn't even see the pill in her throw up so…so that meant that it had been absorbed already. She was going to be fine…everything was going to be fine.

She had never been sick, not like this before, and she didn't like it…but she felt a little bit better now…so she knew that she would be fine. Perfectly fine.