They hadn't had a movie night in a while.

Mob couldn't remember the last time that they had all been together like this…though it hadn't been on an airplane. The movie night, not the being together. The last time they had all been together like this had been on the plane to Hongkong. Now they were on a plane from Hongkong, going to Tokyo, like they had gone a thousand times before.

But this time they were having a movie night.

"Don't worry, Sho, I won't pick Frozen this time." Said Mob as she scrolled her suggestion down onto a piece of Claw stationary. The whole back of the plane, not that it was a very big plane, had been turned into a theatre. Nobody over thirty two allowed, the motion had passed because the majority ruled…even though this wasn't a democracy.

Dad had been very clear about that.

Dad had said that there wasn't any voting because this was Claw and Claw wasn't ever going to be a democracy. Mob had seen a fight brewing between her and her dad, as they often did, and then decided that movie night was going to be a democracy. It had been a game of chance up to that point, with the deciding hat in all, but now they were going to be able to vote on age limits, and ratings limits, and even on the movie itself if someone had picked the same one too many times. Sho had looked right at her when he proposed that rule, she didn't blame him, they've been watching Frozen over and over again for years period. It wasn't like Mob could ever get bored of frozen, but Mob wasn't, most people.

So she was going to pick a different movie this time.

Overnight was going to stay at democracy. Dad hadn't liked that. Mob hadn't really cared what that liked. Well, actually she had, just a little, but that wouldn't want to be a part of it anyway. Even though Mukai had asked him to be. Dad was busy working over in the corner with Fukuda. She had barely managed to get Hatori away from them. He was well under the age limit, he was older than her but still a lot younger than Dad…though she suspected that the rule had mostly been put in place for Fukuda since he was technically the oldest out of all of them.

Mob didn't argue with the age limit…and she was kind of glad that Sho hadn't invited him either.

"Don't pick some other girl thing either." Grumbled Sho as he wrote his suggestion down on his sticky note. What he really wanted to watch was that movie where the guy killed people and wore their faces but Mukai was there. So he was going to pick something that he knew she'd like, Zootopia, even though he'd seen it a thousand times before.

The things he did for his sisters.

He felt Big Sis's eyes on him. He leaned over to the left, right onto Mukai. He was right between both of his sisters, it was like they thought he was going to run away or something. Which was dumb, of course, since they were on an airplane. The only person who could leave and survive was Shimazaki but he hadn't done his 'guy on the wing of the plane' thing in forever…mostly because everyone told him to stop…and by everyone he meant 'Big Sis' because it was dangerous and sometimes it threw the plane off balance and the stupid, fun killing, dick hole of a pilot had to make emergency landings…not that he still cared if Shimazaki did that. It had gotten old even when Sho had been little…that was what happened. Things got old and things changed and people grew up and got boyfriends who they were in love with and also they got bored of Zootopia!

Sho erased his sticky note.

"What you drawing?" asked Mukai as she leaned over to watch Sho. He was drawing with the wrong side of the pencil. She reached over and tried to take it from him, to flip it over and help him, but he was being a dummy and pulled it away from her.

"I'm not drawing, I'm trying to think up a good movie for us to watch." Said Sho. He was bored of Zootopia…what else had animals in it? Robinhood? No, that was such a boring movie…the Aristocats? No, Mom had liked that one. The movie about the island where the guy turned people into animals? That was…he looked down at Mukai…not something that she would have been able to understand…and also it might have been the thing to give her nightmares.

"Train to Busan!" shouted Mukai. That was the best movie ever!

"Well…if you want to." Said Sho as he began to write.

"Mukai, how about Tangled? You love Tangled. Remember, Princess Rapunzel?" asked Tsuchiya. Sho had a taste for horror movies…and violence. It was most likely genetic since Mukai had it too. She'd been that way since she'd been old enough to watch TV…she eyed the President warily…it may have been upbringing too….either way she was not watching a zombie movie with her three year old. Mukai was up half the night as it was…this much moving wasn't at all good for her.

"No Princess Rapunzel. Train to Busan." Said Mukai crossing her arms. She shook her head so hard her whole body moved and her seatbelt rattled.

"What about…how about The Black Cauldron? You love the Black Cauldron." Said Shibata. Tsuchiya made eye contact with him and shook her head 'no'. Right, that also might have been too scary for her…though she was a really brave little girl. She was like Sho had been when he had been a few years older than her. He didn't see why they couldn't just watch the movie she had chosen, they could always cover her eyes during the gorey parts, but Tsuchiya was her mother and what she said went…even though it made Mukai angry.

"No Cauldron! Busan." Said Mukai, kicking her feet that time.

"Totoro could always use a second vote." Said Minegishi from their spot far away from the brewing tantrum…though a toddler tantrum would have been preferable to whatever the hell Fukuda had going on. They could feel him glaring at them, at all of them, and they were temped to get the baby plant out of their bag and see if Fukuda's eyes could grow back if they were full of thorns. If anything it would have satisfied Mukai's bottomless appetite for gore and violence.

"You know you've got my vote, Toshi, and…maybe it could go the other way, too?" asked Shimazaki as he wrote 'Across the Universe' down on the piece of paper in his hand…or at least he thought that was what he was writing. These were the same motions Toshi did when they wrote it down, he only had a few movies he truly loved, and he assumed that this was legible…maybe if they had been making the words out of wax or paper mâché it could have been easier…not that he needed any help. He wasn't needy.

"So, what? You vote for Totoro and I vote for…I'm guessing 'Help!'" asked Minegishi

"No, it's not that this time…though it would have been a hell of a lot easier to write…" muttered Shimazaki

"How about Lolita?" chimed in Fukuda. He knew that his opinion wasn't wanted, they had all been quite clear on that fact, but he couldn't resist. Shimazaki had walked right into that one. A person had to take the little victories whenever they could. It helped ease the fact that they were steadily losing the war.

"How about you keep it to yourself, Humbert?" asked Minegishi. That man…they eyed the airlock and wondered if there was some way to make it look like an accident….

"Am I missing something?" asked Shimazaki

"He's bringing up certain things from your past, involving certain much younger girls, that he should know don't bother you in the slightest." Said Minegishi. They…were trying their best not to think too much on it. Not with the way Ryou's aura kept on bouncing over towards Mob. He had been VERY forthright about his past when they'd met. He was Shimazaki Ryou, he liked chocolate, the Beatles, quality vinyl, chewing candle wax, getting tattoos he couldn't see, dogs, girls of any post puberty age, coke, and sawing off stop signs. It wasn't like he had ever hidden it…but that didn't make it better. It had gone from being just another fact in a long list of facts they knew about him to something that had actually happened…something real…something that could happen again….no, Mob was smarter than that and Ryou was…not as much of an idiot as most people would have assumed upon first meeting him.

"I still don't get it. I never slept with a girl named Lolita. As far as the L's go it's-" said Shimazaki

"A Pear Tree Crushing a Begonia, we saw it in China." Said Minegishi

"Oh yeah, at the theatre with the stale popcorn." Said Shimazaki

"Wait…you've never heard of Lolita before?" asked Fukuda. He had to have been messing with him. A man like that, a man who openly pursued Shigeko of all people, had never heard of that movie?

"That's a Toshi movie, I like musicals and anything about a dog." Said Shimazaki

"It's also a book." Said Minegishi

"See? A Toshi thing." Said Shimazaki with a smile. He leaned down and kissed them. They tasted like kiwi chap stick, which was weird because normally they used the plain kind…what else had changed since he had been away?

"Whatever." Said Fukuda. He looked back down at his laptop. He had work to do, a lot of it, and he didn't even want to be involved in whatever this was. It looked like they were all going to crowd around Hatori's laptop and watch whatever movie they, or more likely Shigeko, chose. He had seen Frozen enough times already…though it would have been nice if Sho had at least said something….

"You know, maybe if you were as pleasant and personable as me then maybe people would let you come and sit on the fun side of the plane." Said Minegishi

"I'm fine over here, you all just have fun watching Frozen again for the thousandth time." Said Fukuda, raising his voice so he could be heard above the roar of the engines…maybe a little too loud. He felt an aura against his…it felt like a mosquito bite. Mukai was looking right at him…making the exact same face Suzuki and Sho made when they felt they'd been wronged in some way.

"No! No Frozen! Not again!" shouted Mukai. She kicked her foot so hard her shoe flew away! She reached out with her colors and pulled it back…but not in the right direction. It hit Serizawa right on the chest and then his colors showed…way too bright! She scooted back into her chair and curled up next to Mama. Mama would keep her safe, there wasn't anyone in the world stronger than her Mama!

"I-I-I'm sorry! I just always pick what Miss Suzuki picks and-" said Serizawa. How had she known that he was writing down Frozen as his choice? Could she read? Well that would have made sense, she was a very smart person, but she didn't have to throw her shoe at him like that. Didn't she know what could have happened!? They were on a plane and it was so high up and if Serizawa made it crash then they would probably end up drowning in the ocean and then everyone would have been dead and it all would have been his fault! He tried to calm down but-but-but it was hard! He was on a plane so he couldn't open his umbrella, that would have been rude to everyone else, and Miss Suzuki was sitting all the way over in the corner and he was all the way over here and-

"Hey, it's ok…uh….deep breaths?" asked Hatori nervously as he balanced his laptop in his lap. He reached out to maybe give Serizawa a reassuring pat on the back or something but quickly thought against it as Serizawa's energy zapped his like static from a wool carpet. This was…this wasn't good. They were up here miles and miles above the ground….he remembered years ago they had discussed this…what to do if they ever crash landed and…and who were they eating first again?!

"Come on, in and out for four seconds." Said Tsuchiya as she took Mukai's shoe back. There was…kind of a reason Serizawa stayed in his room all day. He was a very nice man but he was unstable. That seemed to be the thing when an esper got to a certain level. Like there was too much power to be contained in one person. Every Suzuki but Sho was the same…even Mukai's aura was starting to show….

"I-I-I-" said Serizawa. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. One turned to two turned to three…was it every four seconds or four a second? He couldn't remember…this was all so complicated!

"I…don't think that all of you can fit in my barrier…." Said Sho. Fukuda was definitely going to survive so Sho didn't bother with him. Shimazaki could teleport away…Big Sis could make her own barrier…and so could Dad. But he was sitting there with his headphone in probably playing Minecraft or something. Maybe if Serizawa exploded and it took him by surprise then…well then Serizawa would have had Dad's death on his conscience…but better him than Sho! Sho was going to be too busy saving um…Mukai, obviously, because she was his little sister and Tsuchiya too since nobody should ever have had to have been without their Mom and also Shibata because he was nice and Hatori too, maybe, since…well he was ok. Shimazaki would of course save Minegishi…ok. That was everyone. Sho felt better, he had a plan now…

Or at least he'd had one.

Big Sis was getting up now. Of course she was going to help Serizawa, she was the only one who could. It wasn't like Sho was afraid of him or anything, nothing scared Sho but water, Big Sis was just better friends with him. She got up, went over and hugged him, and then like magic he was back to normal. Maybe that was one of her powers, she had a bunch more than he did, giving people magic calm down hugs. Or maybe it was a sister thing…or a girl thing. Mom had been able to do the same thing when she had still been around and Mom was no esper. At least that he knew of…he really didn't know anything about her…and he never would. He was going to be an orphan soon if the plan worked out and then….well and then he might have been an only child too depending on who his sisters sided with…

Mukai scratched him in the eyes.

"No more! Sho scared! No more hugging!" shouted Mukai as she dried Sho's tears before they could escape from his eyes. She would take all the saddies from him, then he could be happy again like he should have been in the first place!

"I-I didn't mean to scare you…him! I mean I just got scared and then-" said Serizawa

"It's all going to be ok, Serizawa, it really is. You just got startled. You're alright, we're all alright, and nothing bad happened. Nothing like-" said Mob

"Someone being on the wing of the plane?" asked Shimazaki with a smile. Mob got a kick out of that one, everyone did, even Toshi though they'd never admit that sober. They were just shaking their head and holding onto him for the sake of appearances or whatever.

"No, Ryou, there are no idiots on the wing of the plane." Said Minegishi through gritted teeth. They'd had such a good few years with this, too. The last thing that they wanted was to end up making another emergency stop. They just wanted to get to Tokyo so they could lay down and have a nice, jetlag fueled, nap…if a person could even have jetlag going from Hongkong to Tokyo.

"Well don't stop him, if that's really his calling in life-" said Fukuda

"Why don't you go first?" asked Minegishi

"Hey! Don't tell Shimazaki what he can and can't do! I mean…he can do whatever he wants, I don't care." Said Sho, his voice getting small towards the end there.

"Please, no more plane tricks…" said Hatori feeling as green as he must have looked.

"For everyone's sake." Said Shibata, eyeing Serizawa wearily.

"Plane…tricks?" asked Tsuchiya. She got the feeling that the name told her all that she needed to know. The name and Shimazaki's apparent plan to recreate Nightmare at 20,000 Feet….she pulled Mukai back into her lap.

"Yes! Yes, more tricks! All the tricks!" shouted Mukai as she bounced up and down in Mama's lap! She loved it when Ryou did tricks!

"No, no tricks! Just…who has the deciding hat! Everyone put your movies in the deciding hat right now…please. Not to be bossy or anything like that…" said Mob. Hatori pulled the deciding hat out from his bag and everyone wrote something down really quick. Tsuchiya wrote down something for Mukai and Mob didn't know if she did or didn't want it to be that train movie she was always talking about. On the one hand, she wanted her little sister to be happy, but on the other hand, that was a really scary movie and she didn't want her sister to have any nightmares. Also Serizawa couldn't really handle scary movies and they were also kind of in an airplane flying thousands of kilometers above the ground. They had talked about it before, what they would do if their plane ever crash landed and they got marooned somewhere. Like in that movie about the people marooned in the mountains in the snow that had to eat each other, but now that it was coming closer and closer to reality Mob kind of didn't really want to know what would happen if they had to resort to cannibalism. Not that she was against cannibalism, of course! Or, actually, she did have something against people eating other people since people weren't meant to do that…but if any of her friends were cannibals then that was ok by her. There was nothing that any of them could have done to make Mob not want to be their friend…

Though maybe it didn't work the other way around.

She averted her eyes when Minegishi reached over to put their movie pick in the deciding hat. She didn't know if she could ever look them in the eye…not after what she had done. She knew that they had said before that it was ok but…but friends didn't do that to friends. Mob had been selfish and dumb, that was just how she got when she overdid it, which was why she hadn't gone near any of the tiny liquor bottles on the plane…even though she wanted to. Even though she was so thirsty that not even strawberry milk could fix it. Even though her head was killing her. Even though she just wanted a little bit…not even an entire tiny bottle, just a little….

She couldn't risk it.

"Ok, here goes." Said Mob as she shook the deciding hat with her powers. She made sure not to take long, Sho and Mukai could be kind of impatient. She shook it only three times before she reached in and pulled out a yellow folded sticky note. She unfolded it and stared…

Either she had forgotten how to read or someone forgot how to write.

"Well? Who won?" asked Sho. That didn't look like his, he had folded his into a triangle so she would be able to feel it better. That one had only been folded in half once…and whatever was on it had to have been real bad if Big Sis was just staring like that. Hatori had better not have put one of Dad's picks in there…and Serizawa had better not have picked anther videogame movie or Sho was going to do…something….

"I…don't know. I don't even know if this is writing…I think Mukai must have scribbled something." Said Mob. Shibata held out his hand, Mob passed him the piece of paper.

"Wow! Look at this, she's actually trying to make words." Said Shibata. Tsuchiya took the paper from his hands and nearly dropped it. She could see the beginnings of actual characters. She looked down at Mukai, Mukai looked back up at her. Her eyes then jumped over to Suzuki. He was hunched over his laptop and he had his headphones in. He was, supposedly, a genius…well he wasn't a moron. Not when it came to building all of this up…she looked back down at Mukai…she did look just like him….

"Wait…you've been able to write this whole time?" asked Sho. That was…a good thing. Another sister to do better than he would ever have hoped to….it didn't matter what Dad thought. Dad was going to either be dead or in esper jail before the year was up.

"I can write! I can write!" shouted Mukai. Were they picking her movie? Did this mean that she could finally see the train to Busan!?

"Are kids that age supposed to know how to write?" asked Hatori. He couldn't really remember being three. One time a goose had chased him around the park and Mom laughed and took pictures instead of helping….and another time Dad thought he swallowed a hundred yen coin and held him upside down by his ankles and shook him…and there had been a big blue thing….that was all he could remember from being three.

"I don't know…um…maybe Mukai is just amazing? I mean she came from President Suzuki and he's the most powerful esper ever, he said, and also he's really nice and smart too. Also he made Miss Suzuki and her little brother and they're both the nicest people in the whole world-" said Serizawa

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mob's great. Someone either read the paper or pick a new one. We don't have all night, it's a short flight to Tokyo or whatever….I don't know…I'm not a pilot." Said Shimazaki. He pulled a tiny bottle from his pocket and opened it. Fucking Serizawa complimenting Mob…he didn't have to lay it on so thick, Mob knew that she was amazing, that she was the best damn thing that bastard Suzuki's name had ever been attached to…they all did! He didn't have to go and remind them all like that….

"For the love of-Mob! Give me that goddamned piece of paper before it started world war three." Said Minegishi. Nope. They knew Ryou and they knew what it meant when he got like that. They were not dealing with this right now, or ever! This jealousy…somehow it was getting worse! Mob wasn't into him or Serizawa…at least they thought so. That was not an easy conversation to have…and Mob had been pretty light on the conversation since last Christmas…whatever.

They took the paper. The meaning was clear.

"Ryou, you don't know how to write, you don't have the ability to write, and you need someone to write for you. So either ask me for help or get your label maker next time." Said Minegishi

"Wait, he actually tried to-" laughed Fukuda

"None of your business. If you want to talk to someone then talk to Suzuki." Said Minegishi with a wave of their hand. They didn't know if it had been something in their tone, or something in their aura, or maybe Suzuki had just chosen that moment to take out his headphones and see what chaos was growing around him.

"Yes?" asked Suzuki as he pulled his headphones off. He had heard his name, or at least he though he had. There was some kind of decision being made…were they still choosing a film? He didn't know, he'd been trying to ignore them. Shigeko had this under control. She had her job to do and he had his job…to take a break from now. Just to check on the world, his world, his and Shigeko's world…not that he knew what he had expected to see….it wasn't as though her ice palace was going to melt…and it wasn't as though she even cared at this point…and it wasn't as though he cared if she cared….

"I can write!" said Mukai because everyone else was still figuring out what to say.

"You can?" asked Suzuki. He felt himself smiling…his aura was bright red with hardly any yellow…this was….his three year old could write. Even Sho and Shigeko had been struggling with katakana when they'd been her age…

"She thinks she can." Said Tsuchiya quickly, before President Suzuki could call Mukai over to him.

"So stop being excited!" said Sho. No! Dad was NOT allowed to be happy like that or…or in any way at all! Sho had never seen Dad happy like that and….and it didn't seem natural! That was all. He didn't care if Mukai would read and write whole books and if she was going to be book buddies with Minegishi…well actually he would have cared a lot if she had been book buddies with Minegishi. No sister of his was going to be friends with Minegishi! Well…he looked at Big Sis…no other sister of his was going to be friends with Minegishi.

"Don't talk to me like-" said Suzuki. No, there was no way that his own son was going to fight with him right now. He hadn't even done anything to provoke the boy! Honestly…he had no idea why he even tried…well, for Mukai. It would have been nice to have been included, at least until Mukai got to be too much for him…

"We're fine, Dad, we're just trying to figure out what movie to watch. That's all. You can play Minecraft or whatever you're doing. We're fine." Said Mob quickly, before Sho and Dad decided to have a fight. It felt like there wasn't enough air on the plain or maybe too much air. She just…she had to make sure nothing happened. They were in an airplane after all…and even if they hadn't been she still didn't want them to fight. She wished that Fukuda had decided to sit next to Dad, then he would have had a friend to talk to…or maybe they were fighting. Fukuda and Dad were both trying not to look at each other, it seemed, and….and Dad needed a friend….

But Dad didn't want her in his life anymore and….and that was fine.

"What I do is none of your business….and I have every confidence in you." Said Suzuki before he put his headphones back in and looked down. The world did not need to know what he was doing…and neither did Tadashi. He could feel Tadashi staring at him. He kept his head down…he was busy, very busy, and he didn't have time for any of this. He had serious work to do…one could never have too many turrets….

"Thanks…um…what did Shimazaki, I mean Ryou, want to watch? I mean listen to?" asked Mob as she held her braids down. They were on a plane and Dad had been so mean even though he knew that they were on a plane and…and she wasn't going to lose control. She couldn't lose control…she just…she was fine, this was fine.

"Train to Busan! That's the movie! Play it, now!" shouted Mukai, pointing to Hatori's computer just in case people didn't know what she was talking about. She didn't always get her point across, everyone here was a really bad listener.

"I actually-you know what? I change my pick. Train to Busan it is!" said Shimazaki. How could he say so not someone so small? She already had the world stepping on her, she deserved a little bit of happiness in this world. Also Mob loved it when he was like this.

"I….um….let's try again, if we're changing our picks." Said Mob. If she said Train to Busan then Mukai would end up having nightmares, and Serizawa would end up hiding inside of his umbrella, and…and if she agreed with Shimazaki then people might have thought that she liked him. They would have wondered why she had been extra nice to him and then they would have thought about her kissing him and thinking about kissing would lead to everyone thinking that she'd had sex with him, Fukuda already thought about that enough on his own, and then she would have been trapped on a plane with all of her friends thinking about how she'd had sex and-and-and they could never know!

They'd have to have a redraw.

They did. Serizawa won…but all he'd written down was 'whatever Miss Suzuki wants to watch but maybe if it's ok could we watch the second Pokémon movie and if not then that's ok' so they'd wound up watching the second Pokémon movie. It was ok, kind of sad since there had been fighting, but Mukai had liked it and so had Sho. Even Dad had taken his headphones out to listen…maybe he should have been nicer if he had wanted to join them…that had been mean….but he had been mean first. He had said that he didn't hate her, just the person she was becoming, but also sometimes he talked to her and…and it nearly felt like old times…if it had been old times then Mob would have invited him but…but this was not old times. This was today times…and it was movie night.

The first movie night they'd had in a while…and the first every movie night that they'd ever had on an airplane.