Colors were very important…and Mukai had collected them all!

"Look, Mama, look!" shouted Mukai. Mama was on the floor stretching. That was boring. She needed to look up and see that Mukai had, with Shigeko's help, collected all the colors. Mukai spun around once the show Mama her skirt. Mama went from child pose to sitting up…but didn't say anything…even though Mukai had collected all the colors.

Which was very important.

"I said look! Look at me! Right now!" shouted Mukai. She stomped her foot, too, so Mama couldn't ignore her. Mama was somehow staring right at her and also looking right past her like-like she wasn't there! Like how Ryou looked at her! But that didn't make any sense since Mama could see and Ryou couldn't.

He didn't care about the colors but Mama did.

"I…can see. Did Shigeko pick that out for you?" asked Mama after a while.

"We go to the store today, I get this. I have all the colors. Now you have to look!" said Mukai. She spun around once more and her hat nearly fell off. Mama reached over and fixed it, she was nice like that. Shigeko would have used her colors but Shigeko wasn't there right now. She was playing with Seri, they were best friends, or maybe she was Seri's Mama. She was already Sho's Mama…could she be more than one person's Mama?

Mukai was glad that she didn't have to share her Mama…even when she did things like this.

Mama got up and then picked Mukai up even though she wasn't a baby anymore and she didn't need to be carried. She was a big girl now and she could walk on her own. No more stroller for her, she was three, and three meant that people couldn't tell her where to go. She kicked and squirmed to get free. It worked because Mama put her down on the couch…

And tried to steal Mukai's shoes!

"No! What you doing!? Mine!" shouted Mukai as she tried to kick Mama in the face. She knew the rule, no hurting people, but also she knew that you weren't supposed to steal things. Only Ryou was allowed to steal. He had taught her to fill her pockets with candy when nobody as looking. Then you got unlimited candy for when your Mama told you 'Mukai, you have too much candy in your belly' which wasn't fair at all. It was her belly and she could decide what she put in it just like these were her feet and she could decided what to put on them!

And right now she decided that she was going to put shoes on her feet!

"Mukai, no kicking. You know that." said Mama still holding onto her foot no matter how many times she tried to pull it free. She was little and Mama was big…it wasn't fair!

"Mine! My foot! My shoes!" shouted Mukai

"Mukai, no. You know that you can't kick people and you know that you can't wear shoes in the house." Said Mama, still trying to take her shoes away. These shoes did not belong to Mama, they belong to Mukai, and Mama had no reason to take them. Her shoes went with her dress. She didn't have all the colors as she didn't have the shoes. Shigeko had said so and she knew a lot about colors…mostly blue but blue was a color too! Mukai tried her best to get away from Mama but she was just so much bigger and stronger and-and it wasn't fair!

"No! No! It's not fair! My shoes, my colors, all mine!" shouted Mukai. She held out her hands and her colors showed. She didn't want Mama here anymore. She didn't want Mama to take her shoes away and then probably the rest of her colors! She knew what was going to come next, Mama was going to make her do boring things, and she didn't want to do boring things! She wanted to have fun and-and-and-and-and-and it wasn't fair!

Mukai pushed Mama.

She pushed her with her colors. She fell back and let go…and just looked at Mukai. She didn't look mad…she looked scared. Mukai looked down at her hands. Here colors were still showing but not as bright. For a minute she had been even as bright as Sho and Sho was always so bright! They had the same colors so it counted. Shigeko had different colors so it didn't count. Maybe Mukai could have Shigeko's colors, next, or even Mama's!

Mama's colors were showing, that didn't happen very often.

Some people showed their colors all the time and some people hardly ever showed their colors at all. There were even some people in the world without any colors at all. Those seem to be very sad people to Mukai, should know what she would do if she didn't have any colors at all, colors meant that people could see you. It was always easier to see the people with the colors. To know how they felt. They look more real. People without any colors at all look like dolls. Well, Mukai wasn't a doll at all. She was a person just like all the other people with colors. She had her colors and…and were people going to try and take hers now that they were showing? She tucked her hands into her armpits. She didn't want to lose her colors but…but also she could even get more colors! Mama's colors were showing, and she could have those, but then Mama wouldn't have any colors... and that would have been very bad…so maybe everyone would keep their own colors.

Even if they didn't show all the time.

The house was shaking, now, and she could see more colors. Shibata didn't show his colors all the time, just like Mama, and Mukai didn't know why. It was easier to see him when he had his colors out like he did now. He was scared, and running, it was fun. The house shook and the couch bounced like bouncy house. Mukai laughed as the couch bounced like a bouncy house…but then she screamed! The couch was a roller coaster now! Shibata picked up and the couch and she was flying with it! This was even better than being tossed in the air!

She felt less sick than being tossed in the air, or even being on a normal roller coaster.

"What's happening? Is everyone ok? Are we under attack?" asked Shibata. His shirt was all ripped up, like what happened with the hulk. Mukai crawled to the end of the couch and pulled on some of the pieces that were still there. Dark red, not a good color at all. Bright colors were good, like the colors of everyone's colors!

So many colors!

"It's…it's fine, Hiroshi. She just won't take her boots off." Said Mama as she stood up. Shibata turned red and put the couch back down, which was not fun at all. The end of the ride was always the worst part…though you could always ask to go again.

"Again! Again! Do it again!" shouted Mukai

"I…don't know if that would be a good idea, but I do know what would be. How about we get those boots off and then-" said Shibata as he reached over for her boots. She crawled to the other end of the couch and sat on her legs. No way was she letting him steal her boots! First it would be those colors and then the rest of them, too, and then she wouldn't have any colors at all!

"No! Don't take my colors!" shouted Mukai

"But…but you really shouldn't wear shoes in the house…." Said Shibata

"That's what I told her….I don't even know where she came up with the idea that she could….." Said Mama. She made a Minegishi noise, there, the kind they made when you tried to get them to read to you from their storybook but they said 'no' because they were always mean and tired and smelled funny.

"My boots, Mama, my shoes! My shoes and my colors! Get your own!" shouted Mukai

"Mukai…um…are you sure you want to talk to your Mom like that? You're kind of hurting her feelings." Said Shibata

"No! Mama's hurting MY feelings!" shouted Mukai. Shibata and Mama looked at each other, now, instead of at her…but there was no escape even though they were distracted! Mama was in front of her and Shibata was at the side of the couch and the other side had a wall and she didn't know how to knock down walls yet! Caterpillars said that one day she would grow up to be very big and very strong…but that day wasn't today! Today was taco day!

"Maybe you could just take them off of her?" asked Shibata

"She's small but she's fast…and strong. I don't know how to get those shoes off of her…and it's not like she can't just go to her father and ask his permission." Said Mama, her voice getting mean at the end there for no reason.

"Do you think he'd really let her wear shoes? I mean he's kind of really big on manners." Said Shibata

"One time I found her in his office eating an entire chocolate cake by herself….with her hands. At this point I'd believe he'd let her do anything." Said Mama

"Caterpillars doesn't like cake. Does this." said Mukai. She scrunched up her face and made the noise Caterpillars did when she shared her cake with him. Mama and Shibata didn't laugh even though it was really funny! Maybe they just didn't know who she was talking about. Caterpillars had lots of names. Caterpillars. Suzuki-sama, Suzuki-kun, Dad, Touichirou, President-sama….she had no idea why one person needed that many names. One was enough. Like her, she was just a Mukai.

"Yes…yes he does. Your Dad…..your Dad does a lot of things…" said Mama

"Caterpillars does things…has colors. Too many names." Said Mukai

"I don't think that he'd let her walk around the house with shoes on, though…not that I want him to get mad at her…but he's probably fine. Today went well, we won, and he was in a good enough mood to play Minecraft on the ride home so…maybe we should try?" asked Shibata. Mama's eyes got small and her colors went back inside of her body like they were running away from a big scary thing, or maybe a bunch of little scary things…or maybe only two medium sized scary things.

"I don't need his input on how to raise Mukai. He's done enough damage as it is." Said Mama. Then she whispered some bad words.

"Language!" said Mukai. That was what you were supposed to do when someone said bad words, she'd seen Fuckuda do it a bunch of times to Sho. He loved saying bad words, they were his favorites, and he couldn't help it because the world really fucking sucked. He'd said so.

"Maybe…maybe we could just let her keep the shoes on? I mean it makes her happy-" said Shibata. Mukai nodded. Yes! Shibata was the best person in the house right now!

"Hiroshi, no, that's disgusting. She's been walking around the city all day with Shigeko in those shoes." Said Mama

"But…I mean if it makes her happy…and people in other countries keep their shoes on in the house." said Shibata

"Hiroshi, we aren't in a foreign country anymore, we're in Japan, and in Japan we take our shoes off indoors." Said Mama with her teeth closed really hard like she was trying to trap a bird in her mouth because she didn't have a cage.

"She isn't…I mean she's only half Japanese….or a quarter. I know she's half Korean but the other quarter is a mystery. Well Hatori would know, he knows everything about President Suzuki…it's actually getting kind of weird, and-" said Shibata

"No! I do not need that man or-or you for that matter undermining me!" shouted Mama. Mukai took off her hat and held it in front of her face. That way Mama couldn't see her and she couldn't see Mama being mad. She didn't like seeing mad people, they were scary, and seeing Mama mad was the worst. She should have been happy all the time, that would have ben easier, but now she was mad and Mukai didn't even know why. Something about Caterpillars…but Caterpillars was the most fun person ever! Why was Mama mad at him?

Mama was weird sometimes.

Mukai kept her hat over her face. She needed this meanness and loudness and weirdness to pass. Maybe if she didn't look at it then all the bad feelings could get bored and run right out of Mama and then only happy feelings would be left….but wait, Mukai couldn't see through her hat. For all she knew the feelings had left….but she didn't dare take the hat off of her head. They could have still been there and then the next thing she would know Mama would be yelling at her. She kept the hat on her face even though she couldn't see any colors, only black…

Wait, no, she could still see colors.

If she focused hard enough then she could see her own colors, her hand through her hat. She could sort of see Mama, Shibata was much clearer, and there were more colors coming! There was green and it was getting closer. As the big patch of green got closer all the little greens woke up. They got brighter and brighter, like when you turned the dimmer knob on the wall even though you weren't supposed to play with it because one time it came off and it got stuck on bright and you lost it at the park when a duck ate it. The green was getting closer and closer and brighter and brighter…who was that?

She took her hat off….it was Mine!

"Trouble in paradise?" asked Mine as they walked over with one of their storybooks in their hands. Mukai couldn't wait until she was big enough to read, then she would steal all of Mine's storybooks until they had no stories left!

"No, we're just…trying to figure out what to do about Mukai." Said Mama

"Have you considered obedience school?" asked Mine in that same bored way they said everything. Even things that made no sense.

"No school for me! School is for other kids, no colors kids, Caterpillars said. Never, ever, ever going to school." Said Mukai. She put her hat back on top of her head and crossed her arms. She didn't know why Mine would have thought that she went to school. Schools was boring, Caterpillars had said so, and only for the no colors people.

"No colors?" asked Mine

"She means normal people. She's…got this thing about colors now." Said Mama. Mine looked at Mukai for a while. Mukai stared right back. They had pretty colors but they were tired and mean and weird and smelled funny. Also they had no eyebrows and that wasn't right.

"I…can see that. Showing solidarity with her brother?" asked Mine

"Sho not here right now…ham-hams need dinner." Said Mukai. Sho had a lot of names, too. Sho-kun, Suzuki-kun, little brother, big brother….people had too many names!

"Shigeko took her shopping today, and she looks so adorable!" said Shibata

"Mob left the house today?" asked Minegishi

"Shigeko went to the store! So did I! bought this!" said Mukai. She pulled at her shirt to show Mine. They had colors for hair, they should have been able to appreciate Mukai's colors, but….but what if they wanted to steal her colors?! They were staring at her, now…she put her skirt back where it belonged.

"Good to know….I guess she isn't completely in the throws of videogame addiction next…there might be hope of getting her out of that room before she starts living in pajamas and bright orange bathrobes…" said Minegishi. Mama laughed even though Minegishi hadn't said anything funny.

"Good luck with that. Even if you do get her out she's just going to go right back in…that's just how the Suzuki kids are." Said Tsuchiya

"I'm aware, I've known Mob longer than you have…and a word of advice, if you want to raise one of these kids. Get them listening early….that was the mistake I made with Mob. We're equals…technically she's my superior but you know what I mean." Said Mine

"No, Mine, don't know what you mean….too many words from you!" said Mukai

"Well Mukai knows I'm her mother…it's her father that's driving me insane. Her father and Hiroshi. She wants to wear shoes in the house…and I can't believe that it's even up for debate!" said Mama

"I-I wasn't debating, I just said that it made her happy and…and maybe she's from a place where people where shoes inside. President Suzuki has red hair and blue eyes…who has red hair and blue eyes. Maybe it's like how she loves Korean horror most of all, like it's something in her blood or….or something. I mean you can't fight blood." Said Shibata

"Yes you can, she's three. Tell her to take her goddamned shoes off or take them off of her yourself, you're ten times her size." Said Mine. Mama looked away.

"She's…strong. Strong and fast." Said Mama

"I am." Said Mukai. She was strong and fast, and when she grew up she was going to be the strongest and the fastest person ever! Caterpillars had said so!

"Well then I don't know. Cover the floor in saranwrap and let her go wild, then. I don't know…I have to figure out how to coax Mob out of that room…we must have some milk or something around here." Said Minegishi

"That's a great idea!" said Shibata

"So we do have milk then?" asked Minegishi

"Milk is in the fridge…use a cup!" said Mukai

"Yes, we have plenty of milk, but that's not what I was talking about. We should have plenty of saranwrap, enough to make a path for her. Then the floors stay clean and she doesn't get her feelings hurt. Minegishi, I really owe you one." said Shibata. Minegishi and Mama looked at him, and then at each other, and then at him again. Mukai didn't know what they were looking at. He seemed normal to her, he didn't have most of his shirt on but he was normal.

"You…you do whatever you want." Said Mama. She threw her hands in the air, which meant 'I give up'. Mukai knew, Sho did that all the time when they played 'jump on Sho and tickle him until he cries' and also 'step on Sho's stomach until he runs away'.

"Saranwrap's in the second junk drawer, the one where Ryou keeps his dinner candles. Have fun, try not to suffocate yourself." Said Mine. Mukai didn't know what saranwrap was but she knew who Ryou was and…and he wouldn't have tried to steal her colors or her boots! And he always said things that she understood and…and he was a very fun friend and she wanted to play with him right now!

"Ryou! Ryou! Ryou!" shouted Mukai. Mama shook her head. Mine sighed…but Mukai didn't care. They could be as boring as they wanted to be. Ryou was coming, she could feel it. The room felt weird around her, and the colors had trouble deciding what they were, but as soon as it started it was over.

Now Ryou was here and the real fun could start!

"Ryou! You're here! Don't take my colors away." warned Mukai. Ryou put his hands in the air like Mama did, like he gave up….oh, that had been fast. Probably because he didn't know what colors even were. He had said so before, it was very sad….now that she thought about it maybe it would have been best to share her colors with him. Then maybe he could have learned them and he wouldn't have been sad anymore…but then again these were her colors and she didn't have to share if she didn't want to. Caterpillars had said so.

"What's going on with the colors now?" asked Ryou. Mine rolled their eyes.

"Nothing, Mukai is just being a three year old right now. You deal with her, I have a thirteen year old to deal with and let me tell you, she's worse…never having kids…" said Mine. They talked really quiet as they walked away. Ryou talked loud, though, so it all balanced out.

"I know, Toshi, I know that your baby factory is closed indefinitely! Not pushing you for kids! This is me not pushing you for kids!" shouted Ryou. Mama covered her face and made a noise like she was laughing…or maybe crying…maybe she didn't like hearing about pushing? Shigeko and Seri didn't…but they were weird…but Mama had been weird for a while now so it all balanced out.

"No pushing, Ryou, pushing is mean." Said Mukai

"Oh, so now you remember what I taught you." Said Mama

"Mukai remembers everything, she's like an elephant, watch. Hey Mukai, what'd we do three weeks ago today?" asked Ryou

"I don't know…three is this many." Said Mukai holding out three fingers like Caterpillars had taught her. Ryou smiled and shook his head.

"Well then maybe she's like a goldfish, then. You know they're smarter than people give them credit for, live longer too. Don't taste that great but, hey, you cant win 'em all." said Ryou. Mama put her hand over her mouth.

"You….ate….a goldfish?" asked Mama

"Tried to swallow one once, it didn't really go down. It was actually worse than eating baby octopus, you ever eat baby octopus?" asked Ryou. Mukai stuck out her tongue.

"Yuck! Octopus!" said Mukai sticking out her tongue and shaking her head. Ryou reached over to rub her head but instead knocked the hat off of her head. He pulled his hand back and looked confused.

"No offense but you're a very strange man, Shimazaki, a very strange man." Said Mama

"I know, that's how I fit in here so well. You've got to be a little nuts to make it in Claw." Said Ryou

"Yeah…yeah. I can see that now….or maybe I'm just going crazy. Maybe all of this is driving me crazy….I don't know…" said Mama softly

"What's happening here, exactly? Mukai colored on herself again? And why does it sound like someone's stealing my cling wrap?" asked Ryou

"That's Hiroshi. Mukai won't take off her boots and now he's covering the floor in saranwrap or…or something. I don't know, it all spiraled out of control so quickly…like it always does." Said Mama. Ryou reached into his pocket and pulled out his smoking pen. Mukai reached out but he pulled his hand away and held it out in front of Mama. She reached for it but then pulled her hand back and shook her head. She needed to make up her mind. Mukai couldn't wait until she was big enough for a smoking pen, then she could get the giggles and stuff like Shigeko and Ryou did and she'd have nothing but happiness inside of herself all the time!

"No thank you. I…I don't want to go down that road." Said Tsuchiya. Ryou took a smoke from his pen and put it back in his pocket.

"Suit yourself." Said Ryou, spitting out big clouds of smoke. Mama waved her hand in the air even though it smelled good, like oranges!

"Can you do that outside, maybe?" asked Mama

"It's hot as fuck out there…but yeah, in a minute. Let me help you out with Mukai first." Said Ryou

"I've tried everything but she…she won't listen. She actually managed to knock me off balance…with her powers. I have no idea what I can even-" said Mama. Ryou disappeared and then reappeared on the couch next to Mukai. She threw a pillow at him, the hard one that nobody liked.

"Don't be sneaky!" said Mukai as she threw the pillow. Ryou caught it and put it behind his head.

"But I like being sneaky…but you're right. Time for a break. Think I'll take my shoes off." Said Ryou as he crossed his legs…but he wasn't wearing shoes. She could see his socks, they didn't match. One was green and the other was red with Mario on it…that wasn't right!

"You don't have no shoes! And your socks don't match! It's a bad thing!" said Mukai

"Is it? Well then I guess I should wear some shoes, right?" asked Ryou

"Yes! Yes! Go and wear shoes!" said Mukai as she tugged his socks off of his feet. There. Now at least his feet matched.

"But I don't know where mine are." Said Ryou

"They over there!" said Mukai as she pointed to the shoe pile by the door. Ryou turned his head the other way.

"Where's 'there'? You know I can't see." Said Ryou

"I know! I know! Over there! You gotta hurry, Ryou, hurry over there!" said Mukai. She pointed a bunch more times, but he wouldn't even look! What was wrong with him? He needed to put his shoes on and he needs to put them on right now! He said he was going to put his shoes on when you said you were going to do something then you had to do it! That was the rules!

"Hurry where? You know what, maybe I'm just going to have to live the rest of my life with cold feet. I guess that I'll be frozen in this spot forever. No more games, no more playing in the park, no more-" said Ryou

"No! You take this! I get shoes! Stay here!" said Mukai as she took her shoes off…she tried to. Her feet were stuck in them! But she had to get them off before Ryou turned into a boring person! He needed his shoes…he already didn't even have enough colors just for himself and…and if he turned frozen because he was cold then they could never play together ever again! She needed to get her shoes off but they were stuck on her feet!

"Help me! Help me! Mama, help me!" shouted Mukai as her boots got more and more stuck on her feet every time she tried to get even just a tiny bit free!

"See? You've just got to get inside of her head. Kids aren't that hard once you get to know them." Said Ryou, talking to Mama instead of helping!

"Wow…you're…you're pretty good at that…heh. You know something, you're a better father than her own father…I mean you would have been-" said Mama

"Pretty sure I have a kid or ten out there somewhere." Said Ryou, shrugging instead of helping her like he should have been!

"Oh….well….you're still very good with her, so thank you." Said Mama, her eyes being all wide when they should have been looking at Mukai and helping her.

"You know, if you ever want to have another one I've been thinking about-" said Ryou. Mama reached down and finally started helping! Her colors were showing….but that was good! More colors for everyone!

"Thank you so much, Shimazaki, but I can take it from here. Why don't you go and…get back to whatever you were in the middle of? I…I have this." said Mama as she pulled Mukai's boots off. Shimazaki waved bye and then left…without her shoes! But she had been about to give them to her…she took them back from Mama and sat on them.

They were her shoes.

She didn't understand grownups sometimes, they were so weird. Maybe people just turned weird when they got tall enough…well Mukai was normal and she was going to stay that way. She was going to sit on her boots like normal for the rest of her life. That way nobody would be able to take them, and her colors, away and she could be Mukai forever. She didn't know who she would have been without being Mukai…she only had the one name, Mukai-chan, and she didn't want to collect anymore…

The only thing she wanted to collect was more colors…and to guard these ones too!