Wherever Dad went Hatori followed.
That was because they were friends, they might have even been nest friends. Mob wasn't really sure. Dad had known Fukuda the longest but he had taken Hatori with him on his secret mission to Osaka. So maybe that meant that Dad liked Hatori best…or maybe he didn't like Hatori at all since he'd left him home alone. It was the afternoon, now, and if there was some kind of mission happening Dad should have taken Hatori with him. He wasn't a fighter but he was good at digging up dirt, bad secrets not actual dirt, and moving money around. She didn't think that this mission, whatever had brought Dad here, had to do with fighting. The files said that Claw had a policy of non-aggression with the group in Osaka, which meant that Claw had promised to leave them alone. So either Dad was here breaking promises or he had a mission where he didn't need Hatori…or maybe he didn't have a mission at all.
She really hoped he'd had a mission.
Because otherwise then…Mob knew what she'd heard. The lady on the phone had not only called Dad Touichirou but she had shortened it, too. So either she was crazy or…or she and Dad were friends…but Dad couldn't have any friends who were girls. Mob knew how girls were. Sometimes they fell in love with boys but the boys didn't notice and then…well then sometimes you did dumb things like ask the boy to be your boyfriend when he didn't even like you and then you embarrassed yourself really badly.
Mob didn't know this lady, and she knew that it was mean to think these kinds of thoughts about anyone let alone strangers, but she kind of wished that this lady embarrassed herself so badly that she couldn't even look at Dad ever again.
She was being mean, she did that sometimes. She couldn't help it. She was tired, her stomach hurt, these leggings were tight and annoying, and she felt really gross. Not only did her body feel bad but her feelings felt bad too. Dad had abandoned her…her sister. Dad has abandoned Mukai and made her sad. He didn't get to do that. He didn't just get to walk in and out of people's lives like that. He didn't just get to-to love you one minute and then ignore you the next. That wasn't how love worked. Dad was weird but…but that just meant that he needed to work extra hard at being normal. Mob didn't….Mukai didn't need this kind of pain in her life.
Nobody did.
Nobody needed the pain of being woken up, either. Well not pain…well it did kind of hurt when the sun got in your eyes…Mob closed the blinds. She reached out with her powers and made sure the blinds were closed tight before she tapped Hatori's aura with hers. He didn't move…maybe because he had such a small aura. That might have been it…she tried again. Yes, that was definitely it. Maybe if she actually tapped him…but he was in sleep clothes…but this was important. She had to know where Dad and what he was doing…what could have possibly been more important than spending Children's Day with his actual children.
She tapped Hatori on the shoulder. That got him up.
"What the fuck are you-Mob?" asked Hatori as he sat up. The whole couch shook as he tried to get himself upright. He was mostly just flopping around like Mukai used to when she was a baby. She helped him with her powers. She forgot, sometimes, how fragile he was. Much less fragile than Serizawa, of course, more maybe just fragile in a different way. Hatori needed a lot of help doing things. Serizawa just needed a lot of help…being. That was a good word for it. He had trouble waking up if someone didn't knock on his door and he had trouble leaving his room if someone didn't hold his hand and he had trouble talking to people if you didn't make sure to ask him a lot of direct questions and take over for him when he got stressed…he needed a lot of things…
She hoped that Shibata had remembered to feed him like he'd promised, and that Shimazaki remembered to walk him, and that Minegishi remembered not to say anything mean to him or try to kiss him again….
"Hi Hatori, I'm sorry to wake you." said Mob
"No it's…it's fine…just…have you seen my glasses?" asked Hatori as he leaned forwards and felt along the coffee table for his glasses. She picked them up with her powers and put them on his face for him. There. That was much better. He looked better with his glasses on, she decided, not that she would ever say that to him. He might have gotten the wrong idea, like she still liked him or something. He was very nice and stuff but he had also ripped her heart out and that was kind of hard to look past and stuff, plus she already had a boyfriend. She may not have been in love with him but still, one was enough.
She hoped that Shimazaki was ok without her.
They were supposed to be at the park petting dogs right now. He could do that on his own but he liked company, he got really lonely on his own and stuff. Sho was mad at him, she thought, or maybe he just wanted to be best friends with Fukuda again. Minegishi didn't like animals at all. Tsuchiya and Shibata were busy being a couple. Serizawa didn't like leaving the house without her…she hoped that Shimazaki was ok…she really should have been there to keep him company….but no, she had to be here. She had to ride a plane for hours and hours just to come here and drag Dad back to Beijing so he could be with Mukai….
Life wasn't fair…but she was the big sister, when had her life ever been fair?
"Do you want you pants too?" asked Mob as she picked up some jeans from the ground. Hatori snatched them out of her hand without even saying thank you.
"Fuck!" said Hatori as he tried to put on his pants while he was sitting down. Mob didn't know what he was so upset about. She knew that he slept in just his underwear and shirt, she'd seen him in sleep clothes before. It looked more like he was wearing sleep shorts and a shirt than anything. Boys were so weird sometimes.
"Here, you don't have to freak out. You're not naked." Said Mob as she undid his top button with her powers.
"I know I'm not naked but you're a girl and it's just…it's complicated." Said Hatori as he finally figured his pants out. She didn't know, though, what was so complicated. Maybe just to him since he couldn't figure out that you had to undo the button and pull down the zipper…and also stand up.
"Ok….I guess." Said Mob with a shrug. She felt weird being the only one sitting but she didn't really have time to sit down and talk…and she didn't really want to. She had no idea how Hatori could have let the house get this dirty in one week. She also didn't know how he had managed to get so much Dorito dust and…whatever else that was, all over the couch. He had paper towels, there were a bunch all wadded up and tossed on the floor, so why had he used the couch as a giant napkin…and his shirt, too. She sighed…if she'd had the time then she would have cleaned up for him…but she didn't really have the time…but it was really messy in here….
"So…are you here for Golden Week?" asked Hatori suddenly.
"No, that's over now." Said Mob. She took out her phone and showed him the date. He stared, took off his glasses, cleaned them, and then stared some more. Mob didn't know what he was staring at. Her wallpaper wasn't that interesting, just a fluffy cat she'd seen once.
"Wait…what?" asked Hatori
"Golden Week ended yesterday. That's why I'm here." Said Mob
"To…beat the crowds?" asked Hatori
"No, to look for Dad." Said Mob. She didn't know what she had said to set Hatori off like that. To make him jump so high that when he came down she heard some springs in the couch break. To make him start to stutter and sweat like he was scared for his life. To make his aura jump into all of the electronics around them like it was trying to run away from his body…she felt her phone restart. Dad had better not have done anything bad to Hatori. They were friends and that was not how you treated friends! But then again this was Dad she was talking about. He didn't even know how to treat his own family let alone his friends.
"Y-Your Dad?!" asked Hatori
"Yes, my Dad. Is he going to be home soon? I have to talk to him about some stuff." Said Mob
"S-Stuff?!" asked Hatori
"Yes, stuff…why are you freaking out like that? Did my Dad do something to you?" asked Mob
"Do something? What…what could your Dad have…I mean what makes you say that?" asked Hatori
"The way you're acting. Also you're here all alone, too, and that's weird because your my Dad's best friend." Said Mob
"He really said that?" asked Hatori
"No but I think it's true. He spends all of his time with you, doesn't he? And also Fukuda's kind of a jerk now so I guess that it just leaves you for the best friend spot…you or Serizawa but Serizawa is already best friends with me. I mean I'm his best friend but he's not my best friends…friendships are complicated, like relationships." Said Mob
"I wouldn't know…anyway….maybe leave your Dad alone for now." Said Hatori
"Why? What's he doing? I know he's not on a mission, we don't have anything happening anywhere near here…if something was happening then there would have been records or something. He comes here all the time." Said Mob
"Your Dad is….very busy." Said Hatori. He rubbed the back of his head when he said that and looked away. Mob didn't know why. Dad was always very busy. He was either busy with work or his friends or-or-or anything but his family! His kids!
"With what? What's he so busy with that he missed Children's Day? What kept him from his actual children on Children's Day?!" asked Mob
"I…uh…." Said Hatori
"He made me…Mukai, sad. He doesn't just get to treat us…her…like that. We're his kids, we aren't dolls! He can't just pick us up and play with us and then put us down when he gets bored!" said Mob
"Hey…Mob? How about...about…." said Hatori
"He can't treat me like that! Or Mukai or Sho! It isn't fair and-and I think he's here to see someone but I don't know who but I know it's a lady and…and it's just….he doesn't get to act like this!" said Mob
"I can't anymore! Mob…your Dad has a girlfriend!" said Hatori
"A…what?" asked Mob. She must have been going deaf. Minegishi had warned her a bunch of times not to listen to loud music. That must have been it or…or maybe she was just jetlagged and not thinking clearly…well she had only lost an hour…but…but maybe she had been in a plane crash and just was just what her brain had to do to keep her alive. Like in that movie about the girl who was lost in the jungle and imagined a magical world or…or something…but no…there was no way her brain would have come up with something like this.
A girlfriend?!
No. No! That was not….no! Mob….she knew that Dad liked girls, he'd liked Mom and Mukai's Mom, but…but he didn't need to…what was the matter with him!? She didn't need him to have a girlfriend! Girlfriends turned into wives and wives turned into wicked stepmothers and she didn't want to have a wicked stepmother! Well she didn't know if this woman was wicked or even a little bit evil but…but she got the feeling that this lady was..
She was in love with Dad after all.
Mom…was not a nice person. She had left her whole family for what Mob assumed was no good reason. She couldn't think of a good reason to leave her family…her kids. If Mob had been a mom she would never have left her kids, not for any reason, not even if they were going to torture her. Mukai's mom wasn't any better…actually she was worse. She had abandoned a baby. She had tricked Dad into having a baby with her and then she didn't even want to be it's mom. If you didn't want to be someone's mom then you just had to use all the things Minegishi had taught her about. Mob didn't know why that b-word had treated Mukai like that…or why Dad attracted so many b-words…or why…why this lady…what did she want!?
What did…oh no….
Mob knew what she wanted, it was the same thing that all girls wanted from boys. Obviously this lady wanted to-to trick Dad into having a baby with her!...and that was truly disgusting. Her Dad and some lady….Mob didn't know her but right now she was picturing the witch from Snow White….this witch b-word was trying to have a baby with Dad and then…and then what?! Then Mob would have another person to take care of? Then Dad would get bored of Mukai and then….and then treat her the way he treated all of his other kids? This lady was just going to have a baby and leave it with Mob and then Dad's heart would be broken and…and….and this wasn't fair! She had to…she reached into her bag and pulled out her flask.
She needed a drink.
She drank the whole thing. It had been less than half full, she should have filled it up on the plane but she forgot. She had been too worried and…and she had been right to be worried. She had to calm down. She had to…it helped. It tasted awful and burned going down but it helped. Not as awful as when she had started and the burning wasn't as bad…but it wasn't working as well. When she had been little this much would have put her to sleep. She needed more…she needed to calm down. She couldn't freak out. She was freaking out Hatori.
Even though, really, he had no reason at all to be freaking out like this.
"Her name is Shiori and she's kind of a bitch but she's kind of hot, too, in a milfy way…but don't ask me what that is! She's just…don't tell your Dad I told you about her! I think it's a secret but I'm not sure and your Dad is actually a really private person, to everyone but me, and he trusted me with this and-and-and don't tell him that I told you! I was never here!" said Hatori. He pulled his blanket up over his head like a turtle. She should have helped him, told him that everything was going to be ok…but she had no idea if everything was, in fact, going to be ok. She had to worry about herself, her powers. She couldn't lose control….not now…
She tried her flask. Still as empty as it had been ten seconds ago.
"Ok…you were never here…." Said Mob slowly. She just….she needed to think. She needed a minute to just…figure this out. Dad was out with a lady. Mob had to save him before he had another kid…gross….she had to find him and…and she had no idea where he even was….
"I-I mean that I was never here! I mean…you didn't talk to me, ok? I don't know what he does to people who tell his secrets but I do know what he does to traitors and its bad…it's so bad…fuck….fuck!" said Hatori
"It's ok…" said Mob. This was a big city, and it had espers in it. He could have been anywhere…but that just meant that she was going to have to look everywhere…yes…that was it….that was what she would do. She was going to have to leave Hatori and then…and then she was going to have to look for Dad. She was going to look in every breakfast food diner, every arcade, every kendo match, and…and everywhere else he might have been. She was going to find him and she was going to drag him back home if she had to.
She knew that it wasn't nice but that was just what she was going to have to do.
She turned around. She heard rusting, it must have been Hatori. She would help make him feel better later. They could hang out like they used to and play games or…or something. She didn't know. She didn't have space in her head for him right now. She didn't have space in her head for anything but saving Dad…
"Just…hey, where are you going?" asked Hatori. She heard him getting up. She'd look at him later…think about him later…right now she needed to save Dad….she had to stop that lady!
"Out to find my Dad…but I won't tell on you….I have more important things to worry about." Said Mob as she put her shoes on. She could hear Hatori calling after him but she paid him no mind. She had to find Dad. His aura…it was around here somewhere. She was going to find him. She was going to find him if she had to turn the whole city upside down or…or something….she didn't know…
She just knew that she had to find her Dad. Now. Before it was too late and he had a Shoko or a Shigeo or-or…or whatever names that witch b-word liked!