Just stand there and look menacing.

Shibata could do that. He had been doing that for most of his life. He had been as big as a grown man by the time he had been seven years old. He was two hundred and twenty-eight meters tall, now, and thankfully he was done growing. No matter what he did, no matter how he stood, he looked menacing.

It was easy work.

President Suzuki was in a meeting now. Some big thing with some boss or other. They were building something or knocking something down…Shibata hadn't been told anything. President Suzuki didn't like to give people details that they didn't need. He wasn't sure if this was some kind of power thing or a security thing or just a President Suzuki thing. The only person he really talked to was Hatori. Apparently, he was a really nice guy when you got to know him.

Shibata didn't think that he was ever going to get the chance to get to know him….and he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

"…must agree, that's excellent." Said President Suzuki. Shibata had been fading in and out. This had just been shoptalk, he had never been good a shoptalk. Even when he'd worked in a shop. Back at the pet shop, that had been a good job, he had never been good at talking to distributors and customers. He had just wanted to take care of the animals. They had been so lonely, there, in their cages. They had just needed someone to talk to them, to love them. He may have taken that last part too far…

This job involved very little hugging….which was bad for him but good for everyone else.

"Yeah, excellent!" said Hatori. He had been fading, too. Suzuki didn't even glance in his direction. Shimazaki, on the other hand, did. He turned his head. He didn't need to turn his head to look, and he certainly didn't need to laugh. Hatori was just a kid and this was boring, he couldn't help but fade in and out. Shibata have him a sympathetic look. He didn't know what, if anything, President Suzuki was going to do to him for that.

Hopefully nothing…..but President Suzuki could be very unpredictable. He was Mukai's dad after all.

"Well I see that your son agrees, Suzuki-sama, but I disagree." Said the boss…. whatever his name was. President Suzuki's eyebrows raised. That was…not good. He may not have known the man personally, but he knew that President Suzuki prized himself on his composure. Hatori was less than composed, again, and nearly jumped right out of his seat. He knocked into President Suzuki…well he nearly did. President Suzuki put up a barrier…. without even moving. It was always impressive, how he could do things like that….

Though it was the sort of thing you only noticed if you were an esper.

"Oh? And may I ask why?" asked President Suzuki. He steepled his fingers and sat back. He had a good poker face. Hatori and Shimazaki on the other hand….did not. Shimazaki was laughing from behind his hand like all of this was done for his amusement. Hatori was shaking in his seat, his eyes darting between the boss guy and President Suzuki. Shibata on the other hand made sure not to let it show. President Suzuki's aura was flaring now. Shibata didn't know what this meeting was about, but he figured that it must have been important. There was some deal that they had been trying to make…he really needed to start paying attention to what happened around him. It had just been hard, lately, since…everything that had happened. All the new developments in his life…

Both of them.

How was he supposed to pay attention to his job when he had a girlfriend and…stepdaughter? Whatever Mukai was too him. He had two people at home, a family, not that he was getting ahead of himself. He wasn't even thinking about marriage. He had just gotten together with Tsuchiya, he wasn't going to rush it. That was how he always ruined things and he could not ruin this. He liked her too much and…well they worked together. Office romances were never a good idea, he had seen enough daytime dramas to know, so he was going to have to tread carefully and not fuck this up….but also not overthink it either…

Of course if he messed up then messing up his relationship with Tsuchiya would have been the least of his problems.

"Because I don't like you. I don't like you or your kind." Said the other boss guy….Shibata should have known his name. He should have known a lot of things about this man, it seemed, especially since he had enough….confidence…was the word for it. He had a lot of confidence in himself, enough to tell the most powerful esper in the world that he didn't like espers. That was…confidant…and stupid….

Shibata really hoped that he didn't have to hit this guy.

It went quick, hitting normal people. They went down fast. They just…they were fragile. Shibata hated doing that, that part of the job. He hoped that it went to Shimazaki, he liked this job. He had been born for this, he was a career hitman who came from a long line of hitmen. He actually liked this job. Good. He could have all of it. Shibata would much rather have done President Suzuki's laundry…even after he made short work of this guy….

He was kind of glad, just kind of, that President Suzuki was too sexist to bring Tsuchiya to these kinds of meetings.

"My kind-" said President Suzuki. He was sitting up straight. His eyes were, his pupils were, tiny. There was a charge in the air, his aura. Shibata wanted to run. Every single part of himself, his body mind and aura, wanted to run away. Hatori was closer to running than he was, his eyes kept on darting to the door. Even Shimazaki's aura was looking for an exit….good.

He knew that it was mean, more than mean, to be happy that Shimazaki was freaked out…but Shimazaki brought it on himself.

"I don't like the way you think that you can just put on a suit and think you can be respectable. I don't mind the Japanese but I do mind…your kind." Said the other boss…ok, now Shibata needed to know this guy's name. That was….that was not ok. No. President Suzuki was kind of an asshole, very cruel, and might have had something very wrong with him on a fundamental level…but none of that had to do with the fact that he only had one Japanese parent. That was…Shibata had been dealing with that for his entire life. He was a quarter Japanese, a quarter Indian, and he wasn't even entirely sure what the other half of Mom had been. It didn't matter. Unless you put stock in it bloodlines didn't matter. People were still going on about this…it hadn't stopped…it was never going to stop. Mukai was going to have to grow up with all of this. The thought of her having to think about…about this. To have to think about herself…about how she fit in. About how she didn't. About how she wouldn't fit in…about how people wouldn't let her fit in, even for a second.

He could feel his sweater straining.

He had to calm down. He had to keep his composure. President Suzuki prided himself on his composure and that of his entourage. Shibata didn't know what President Suzuki would do to him if he lost it, especially when he was so close to losing it himself, and he didn't want to find out. His life was as tenuous as the threads in his sweater. One wrong move and the whole thing could just unravel. He didn't want to have to go back to security. He didn't want to leave the group…maybe Shimazaki…no, he could even tolerate Shimazaki if it meant staying with Tsuchiya and Mukai…the kids…

Pretty much everyone but Shimazaki Ryou. Everyone could have done without him.

"Oh. Well then you're free to go about your day." Said President Suzuki. He waved his hand and the door opened. The other boss turned white, got up, and left. All time while under President Suzuki's gaze. He had really pretty eyes…but not when he looked at you like that. Not when they were so small, but also so big, how…he didn't even know. It was kind of….inhuman…when his eyes got like that. Mukai had his eyes but she never looked at him or anyone like that. President Suzuki…it was always so terrifying when he looked at him like that….

….not that he ever looked at Shibata….he was glad that President Suzuki never looked at him like that.

The door slammed shut behind him. As soon as that happened, as soon as the room shook and the silence was broken, President Suzuki sighed. He leaned his head downwards and stared at his desk. Hatori reached out to touch him, snapped his hand back when he touched his aura, but then…oh. Shibata had expected him to cross his arms and shrink back but no. He took a deep breath and…wow…actually touched President Suzuki.

On the shoulder, but still.

"Suzuki-" said Hatori

"No." said President Suzuki. Hatori…Shibata expected him to dive under the desk, to run out of the room, or to at least hide in his sweater. But he didn't. Not when President Suzuki snapped at him and not because of the devious looks Shimazaki was giving him…or maybe he just looked like that. It was hard to tell with him.

"I could-" said Hatori

"You could do what, exactly?" asked President Suzuki

"You want me to ruin him financially and socially? I can do that, you know that I can. It's easy, like checking my email or resetting a Netflix password…which, by the way, I could do to him. Actually I could fuck with all of his passwords, TV and banks and stuff. How's that sound?" asked Hatori. He held his phone up and waved it around. President Suzuki…well that was new. He didn't slap it away and tell Hatori that he was being annoying. He looked up…and actually made eye contact with Hatori. He made it and held it.

"If you would be so kind." Said President Suzuki. He smiled….he actually smiled. It was quick but it had been there. Wow…so he could smile. That was…Shibata looked away. That hadn't been for him to see. President Suzuki was clearly very vulnerable right now and Shibata got the feeling that he didn't want anyone to draw attention to it.

"You want me to break his arms and legs, roll him up in a carpet, and throw him off a bridge?" asked Shimazaki. President Suzuki nodded.

"That would be an agreeable course of action." Said President Suzuki. He pointed out the door. Shimazaki had teleported out of the room before he had even lifted his hand. Screaming could be heard, a lot of it. Shibata cringed. He knew that he had to say something, to offer to help, to be a proactive member of the team but….but he really didn't feel like breaking anyone's limbs or rolling anyone up and throwing them off of anything. That would have been…well it would have been his job but…but he had a lot of jobs.

"Do you…do you want me to me make you an omelet?" asked Shibata. There. That was something that he could do, and do well. That was something that he could actually do to help the situation. President Suzuki was feeling down and he got it, he knew where he was coming from, and he…well he wanted to actually comfort him but he knew that it wouldn't go over well. Hatori was his friend, his best friend, and his surrogate son. Of course President Suzuki would let him comfort him. Shibata…well he had something to add, something that he would have enjoyed adding.

Omelets weren't his favorite thing to cook but…well that was better than breaking someone apart. A hell of a lot less…easy, too.

"Yes that would be….what now?" asked President Suzuki. He made eye contact with Shibata now, he made it back even though he didn't want to. It felt like…he felt like he was under a microscope. Like he was some kind of germ or something in some science class. That he was being studied, observed, and pulled apart.

"Well, this is your last meeting of the day and I know that omelets are your favorite food and it looks like you could use a pick me up." Said Shibata. Hatori was shaking his head. He was worried…but….well he had a lot to worry about. President Suzuki could have crushed him like a bug if he had wanted to…and he was feeling vulnerable. When someone was corner they were capable of anything….and President Suzuki was already capable of anything….

"I…would be amenable to that. Make them the way my daughter, my oldest daughter, does. With ketchup. Have Shimazaki bring you home. I will be there shortly." Said President Suzuki. He waved his hand and before Shibata knew it he was being pushed out the door. He was strong…but President Suzuki was stronger…

There was always someone stronger.

That was something that he had been told back when he'd been a kid. He'd been something of a…well he'd been a lot like who Sho used to be. When he had been too small to know it, of course. He hadn't been afraid to fight back then, not until his powers kicked in, not until he got his strength. Dad had told him, after the other kid had been taken to the hospital, that he couldn't think too highly of himself because there was always going to be someone stronger. That hadn't seemed like it had been possible….

But he knew better now.

There were people in this world with powers that he couldn't even imagine. The Suzuki family. They were all powerful, even Mukai, though her powers would come in later. He suspected that she could teleport, either that or she was some kind of escape artist. She would only get stronger and….and he doubted that anyone would be stronger than her. Not after her father, her biological father, passed on. She would be a powerful esper….she would…she wouldn't know her own strength. Mob and Sho didn't always know their own strength but…but Shibata could teach her that. He would teach her to control her powers…and he would temper her temper too. She was so much like her father…

Though Shimazaki's influence could clearly be seen.

Shimazaki hadn't been exaggerating, he really had been ready to break this guy's arms and legs. Not out of any love for President Suzuki, no, he just liked hurting people. Shibata…well he sort of felt sorry for the other guy but not really. That was what he got for being a piece of shit. If he hadn't wanted to be beaten up then he should have kept his mouth shut.

Shibata wasn't going to help…but he wasn't going to stop their, either.

"What do you want?" asked Shimazaki as he dug his heel into the other boss's chest. Shibata didn't care about his name anymore, it wasn't like he was ever going to have cause to say it.

"Take me home, President Suzuki wants an omelet and he wants one right now. You know how he gets when he's hungry." Said Shibata. Hungry and vulnerable but he wasn't going to say anything about that. He wasn't Shimazaki. He knew better than to go around running his mouth. He was amazed, honestly, that Shimazaki was still alive. He had been talking about Mob. Not in the sickening way that Fukuda did…well in a sickening way…but a different one. He had been pretending, hopefully, that he had a crush on Mob. It better have been some kind of overused, run into the ground, joke. For Shimazaki's sake.

"So? He can make his own breakfast or lunch or whatever. I'm working." Said Shimazaki

"President Suzuki wants you to take me home. You can come back later and finish the job. It takes you, what, ten seconds to get home and back?" asked Shibata

"Less than that, obviously, but I'm in the zone…or at least I was. I want to get this over with. Me and Mob have a thing tonight." Said Shimazaki. Shibata's sleeves exploded. He hadn't meant to hulk out of his clothes, it had just happened. He hadn't mean to but…well Shimazaki just got on his nerves!

"That's enough." Said Shibata. Shimazaki liked stirring the shit. He was in the middle of beating a man to death but even now he had to run his mouth. What? Was this too boring for him? Shibata knew that he had some kind of brain disorder or whatever where if he wasn't being paid attention to, if he didn't have all of your attention, then he didn't think that he was real. Well that was his problem and it didn't give him permission to annoy everyone around him.

Especially not Mob. He shouldn't have been brining Mob into this.

"You and Mob don't have anything going on tonight or on any night. Now take me home." Said Shibata. Shimazaki clicked his tongue, it blended in with the loud snap of bone beneath his shoe.

"Someone's jealous. Not that I know why, well I do, actually. Mob's amazing. Did I tell you? The other day she said the funniest thing…well you probably had to be there-" said Shimazaki. No, Shibata was not listening to this. He wasn't going to sit there and listen to Shimazaki tell lie after lie after lie about Mob. Why was he even brining her into this? God, he was just as bad as Fukuda. At least Fukuda never cast himself in his lies…

Shibata needed to widen his social circle.

"Shut up and take me home. Now. You know how President Suzuki gets when he's hungry…and when people defy him." said Shibata. That was enough to get him listening. He wasn't as stupid as he acted. He knew to be afraid of President Suzuki. Who wouldn't? He was terrifying. Maybe Shimazaki would shut up about Mob, too, while he was cowering in fear. Shibata wasn't sympathetic at all. Shimazaki needed to learn to keep his mouth shut before President Suzuki got wind of what he was saying.

President Suzuki would, after all, do more than stand there and look menacing.