Minegishi had never been a fan of flower crowns.
It had always seemed kind of macabre to them. Wearing a crown of dead flowers and all. What a way to show your mastery over nature. That was the point wasn't it? You killed something and then you wore it's body on your head to show that you as a human being had mastered nature. Well Minegishi had already mastered nature, it was the nature of their powers after all. So really they had no need for a flower Crown.
Not that they would tell Mob that, of course.
"Thanks Mob, I love it." Said Minegishi as they looked up from their book. This obviously meant a lot to Mob, she had sought them out after all. They had come to this park, more of a shrine really, to get some reading done. Ryou was being Ryou, they loved him but they were not in the middle to listen to the same three songs over and over again while he and Mukai broken plates with baseball bats. They loved him but they needed some space. From him and from everyone. The walls in that building were absolutely paper thin. They could hear everything, Tsuchiya and Shibata carrying on, Serizawa playing what sounded like the exact same game for the past two days, and whatever the hell Sho had going on with Fukuda. Those damn hamster could carry on too, there was nothing like waking up in the middle of the night to two dozen and one hamsters squeaking for their little lives….
Next time they moved they had better have been moving to separate houses.
On separate continents. Separate planets. Separate…well not completely separate. Mob was alright, when she wasn't acting like a complete and total moron. She seemed fine, now. She didn't look like she was about to launch into her ten page speech about why, exactly, it would be the best idea ever for her to have a baby at the age of twelve. No. Now she was just standing there clutching a flower crown in both hands looking like she was about to cry….
Damn it, Mob, why do you have to be like that?
"I really do. Good use of lavender." Said Minegishi before they bowed their head. It took Mob a moment to realize what they were asking.
"Oh! Sorry!" said Mob before she put the crown on their head. Right, of course they would have wanted to wear it. That was the point. She hadn't expected them to wear it, actually, it had just seemed like the sort of thing that you were supposed to give someone on Greenery Day. Not that she had ever given gifts on Greenery Day before but…well she had wanted to give Minegishi something. To have had an excuse to talk to them.
She had never needed an excuse to talk to her best friend before…but this was now and things were different.
"Don't apologize, you have nothing to apologize for." Said Minegishi as they closed their book. They scooted off to the side and patted the ground beside them. Mob usually just sat down…but things had been weird between them these past few months so this made sense. Their bracelet caught on the grass under them, it protested in pain, but they didn't care. They made it grow thick and soft, careful not to attract the attention of the normal people. When they were done they patted the ground again.
That time Mob got the message.
"I….I guess I don't." said Mob as she sat down beside Minegishi. She swept her hands under herself to make sure that her skirt wasn't sticking up in the back. That had happened to her the other night and she hadn't even noticed until Shimazaki but his hand on her back. She was glad he couldn't see…well no, actually that was a mean thing to be glad about, but she was glad that he hadn't seen her…yes, that was better, less embarrassing.
Still a lot of guilt, though.
Minegishi wasn't mad that Shimazaki liked them…so she had no reason to feel this way. Maybe it was because she had always thought that people could only be with one other person. Dad had always said that the world was built for two and that was why he picked Mom, because people needed to pick one other person to be with them for their whole life. To help them out with things and have kids with them and stuff. Mob…she didn't want to have kids with Shimazaki….but he was a good help to her. He always made her feel better and he helped her with dinner and stuff. That was…aside from the kissing and touching part it was good….
But also it made her feel really bad…
"I mean unless you went out and did something stupid, of course." Said Minegishi
'Um…today I kind of did something stupid." Said Mob
"What did you do?" asked Minegishi. They braced themselves for the worst. Knowing Mob it could have been anything from she accidentally used salt instead of sugar to she went out and found a cute Chinese boy and now she was pregnant and Minegishi was expected to spend the next twenty years helping her raise it. Maybe Mom had a point when she'd caught them in bed with that other kid….though she hadn't had to make her point by calling them a whore, beating them with an extension cord, and locking them naked and bleeding in a closet for twelve hours….
Yeah, Minegishi wasn't going to be doing any of that.
"I accidentally left a spoon in the microwave." Said Mob. She didn't know why Minegishi had started laughing, it had been really scary! There had been a little fire and Mukai's second favorite bowl melted…and she couldn't get another one the Disney Store had stopped making that one and now Mukai was mad at her. There wasn't anything at all funny about that!
"That's all?" laughed Minegishi
"Yes…and it's not funny. It was scary and also Mukai's bowl melted and now she's mad at me." Said Mob
"She's three, she'll get over it." Said Minegishi
"I don't think that she will. I can't get her another one because they stopped making that one, it's really old. It was actually Sho's bowl first but he doesn't really use any of his bowls and plates and stuff because he eats all of his meals with Fukuda. Also he's kind of too big for Zootopia, he said, but I don't think he is. He's still really little." Said Mob
"He's your age." Said Minegishi
"Yes…but his birthday is before mine, so he's still really little." Said Mob. She had never once thought of her and Sho as being the same age even though, for part of the year, they were. He had always been her little brother. Little. Even when they were adults he would be her little brother. Even though she wasn't allowed to hang out with him anymore he was still her little brother.
"He's about the same age you were when…you know what? I'm not going to bring this up. Forget I said anything." Said Minegishi
"When I what?" asked Mob
"The thing….with that guy. The thing that we're never going to speak of again?" asked Minegishi
"Oh….oh! That's….I don't want to talk about Teru! I know that I did a bad thing-" said Mob. No! No way! Teru was…a thing had happened with him and now it was done with and she was never going to do it again. Well not unless Shimazaki really wanted to…he seemed like he really wanted to…but she didn't really want to…but that didn't matter. At least he wouldn't kick her out and break her heart afterwards like Teru had. Maybe it was better with a boy you didn't like, not like that, because then there was no chance at all that your heart would be broken.
"Hold up, what? Who told you that you did a bad thing?" asked Minegishi. Well someone was going to die, or at least suffer. Mob didn't need that shit in her head. Sure, yes, she should not have been having sex at her age but she didn't need to be shamed for it. She was a human being, she was going through puberty, and this was what human beings going through puberty did. It was natural, in a neutral way, and just because she was a girl, just because she so happened to be born with two X-chromosomes…it had no bearing on anything!
"Nobody used those exact words but it just…it feels like everyone thinks that I did a bad thing. Like you got mad at me-" said Mob
"Hold the fuck up, Mob, I never said that…ok, yeah, you did a stupid thing but not a bad one. Go out and have as much sex as you want with whoever you want whenever you want, it's nobody's business what you do in bed but your own. just don't go around having unprotected sex…that reminds me, you've still got those-" said Minegishi
"Yes! I have everything you got me! Please stop saying all of those…those words, out loud. Someone who speaks Japanese might hear you." Whispered Mob. She had all of the stuff…the stuff that kept you from having babies in her Elsa bag. She knew the words but she wasn't going to say them out loud! Not when there were people around…she felt like everyone in this park was staring at her…like everyone in the world was staring at her….
"For the love of…if someone has a problem with what we're saying then maybe they should just mind their own business." Said Minegishi. They didn't care what languages the people around them might or might not have spoke. They weren't going to live their life wondering, watching, paranoid about other people and what they thought.
"People aren't good at that." Said Mob. She wished that people could have been better at minding their own business. Mostly Fukuda. She still didn't know why he had asked her about all of that stuff….or why he had to just….she hadn't meant to hurt Sho! If Sho would have talked to her himself then they could have worked it out but…but no, Fukuda had to go and talk to him and then to her and now she couldn't even hang out with her own little brother or Fukuda would go and tell Dad all about Teru and stuff…and then Dad would love her even less than he loved her now.
"No they are not. People love to give you their unwanted opinions on everything….but whatever. Fuck them. There is nothing wrong with what you did and anyone who tells you that there is can deal with me, ok?" asked Minegishi
"But…but nobody told me, in those words. It just…it feels like I did something wrong. Like I'm always doing something wrong. Like how Dad's mad at me because of my hair-" said Mob
"If your dad has such a problem with your hair then he can close his eyes whenever you enter the room." Said Minegishi
"-and my clothes, too. He keeps on saying that he knows better then to criticize my clothes but then he tells me that my clothes are too tight and that people are looking at my….that they're looking at me." Said Mob
"That's just him projecting." Said Minegishi with a wave of their hand. Of course the man who spend inordinate amounts of time 'reading their t-shirt' would think that every single man in the world was just dying for a glimpse of a pair of breasts through an oversized t-shirt.
"What do you mean?" asked Mob
"He's unhappy with how he can't be within a hundred meters of a woman without staring at her chest and because of that he thinks all men are like that. Don't get me wrong, a lot of them are, but that's on them. I mean what does he expect you to do? Unscrew them and put them in a drawer?" asked Minegishi motioning towards Mob's chest. She gasped and crossed her arms. Fucking Suzuki…
"I-I-I don't want my Dad to think anything about my-my-my-" said Mob
"Then tell him that. Next time he gives you crap about your shirt or whatever tell him that if your chest bothers him so much then maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't be looking there." said Minegishi
"I-I don't think that I could ever say that to Dad…or anyone. Not even Fukuda." Said Mob. The tree behind her started to grow thorns. It matched Minegishi's aura. Their eyes were narrowed….right, right, they didn't like Fukuda either…well they didn't like anyone but they especially didn't like Fukuda.
"Did he say something to you? Because if he did I swear to God I will put him in the ground." Said Minegishi
"No! Well…well he told me….um…." said Mob. She didn't know if she could tell Minegishi. She didn't like keeping secrets from her best friend. She didn't like keeping secrets from anyone. But she had to keep this secret. If she told Minegishi and then Minegishi went and hurt Fukuda then Fukuda would probably get right on a plane straight to wherever Dad was and then Dad would love her even less…maybe even hate her…or Minegishi would just end up killing Fukuda which would be bad too. She may not have liked Fukuda that much…or at all…but she didn't want him dead. She didn't want anyone to die.
"Yes?" asked Minegishi
"He just…made me feel bad too. About growing up and stuff….and it does feel bad. It's just….Dad keeps on telling me how much better I was when I was little and…and I don't want to be little anymore. I don't think that I can go back. My Elsa dress doesn't fit anymore and…and I like having red hair and I like wearing makeup and I like….I like boys. They're nice…sometimes. Sometimes they can act crazy but they help you out and listen to you when you're sad…and the kissing and touching stuff isn't that bad…but I know that I'm not supposed to and-" said Mob
"Mob. No. Fuck that. Take that feeling and tell it to get the fuck out of your head." Said Minegishi
"Um….ok." said Mob. She didn't know how, she had never been good at exorcising feelings.
"No, say it." Said Minegishi
"Say what?" asked Mob
"Get the fuck out of my head." Said Minegishi
"I….um….get the f-word out of my head." whispered Mob
"Louder." Said Minegishi
"Get the f-word out of my head." Said Mob
"Mob, come on, say it. Get the fuck out of my head!" said Minegishi
"Get the fuck out of my head!" shouted Mob. People were looking at her…a lot of people. Some of them might have even been able to speak Japanese….but even if they couldn't that didn't change the fact that it was rude to shout in public! She covered her eyes even though she knew, she was old enough to know, that just because they couldn't see her it didn't mean that she couldn't see them.
"There. Now whenever you think that you're doing something wrong just remember those words." Said Minegishi
"I said the f-word…." Said Mob
"I know, I was sitting right here." Said Minegishi
"I'm not supposed to say stuff like that….Dad is going to be so mad at me." Said Mob
"I doubt he heard you all the way in Osaka." Said Minegishi
"That's where he is right now? Still? Why? We don't have anything happening in Osaka." Said Mob. So Dad had gone there again….what secret mission could he have possibly had going on in Osaka of all places? It was hot, there, really hot and…and he was missing the whole week. Mukai had been asking about him. She really missed him and…and he had better have been planning on coming back for Children's Day. If not then…then Mob was going to go to Osaka and bring him back. It was one thing to hurt her and Sho's feelings, they were big and they were used to it, but Mukai was only three. She had her whole life to get her feelings hurt. She had her whole life for Dad to let her down.
"I have no clue why your dad does the things he does and I don't care. The only person named Suzuki I give a fuck about is you." Said Minegishi
"Still? Even though I made you mad and…and other stuff?" asked Mob. She couldn't bring herself to say what the other stuff was. She didn't have to, anyway. Minegishi knew. Shimazaki couldn't keep anything to himself and he had been Minegishi's boyfriend before he had been Mob's. They knew about all the kissing and stuff, they just didn't care….but Mob did. Even though it made no sense at all.
"Yeah, of course. There isn't a single thing that you could do that could make me stop loving you." Said Minegishi. They would have said 'even if you killed someone' but Mob had built up quite the body count. Between the Seventh and Eighth Divisions Mob could be classified as either a natural disaster or a prolific serial killer. She hadn't even been trying….whatever. They had known from the beginning that Mob was more a bomb than anything else. They didn't care. Unconditional love and all of that.
They had never experienced it but they were pretty sure they knew how to give it…at least they were sure that they were trying.
"Minegishi….I love you too." Said Mob before she hugged them. They felt just like she remembered. Just as warm and…and like home. That was what it felt like, like going home, to her real home. This was the first hug in so long…she never wanted it to end. She was going to stay this way for the rest of the day if she could!
"Ok, ok, that's enough of that, Mob. Alright? Just let go and I'll…make you a flower crown or something." Said Minegishi as they hugged Mob back. They weren't in the mood for one of these maudlin scenes. They hadn't even done anything but tell Mob what she needed to hear…fucking Suzuki. Minegishi was doing a better job parenting Mob than he was and they weren't even a parent…at least they had tried not to be. They had spent nearly thirty years avoiding becoming a parent but here they were being hugged to death by Mob.
It wasn't so bad.
They just wished it hadn't come after….all of that. A pep talk that they hadn't wanted to give. Wished that there hadn't been a need for. The world was very unkind to a girl at that age, Minegishi knew. They had been a thirteen year old girl once. It really was the worst age possible and they had no desire to relive those years…or for Mob to have to live those years at all. But there was nothing that they could do. Nothing that they could do but be there for her….and to make her a flower crown.
It was Greenery Day after all.