Mob was officially old enough to cut Minegishi's hair.

They had said so themselves. They had come to Mob, put a pair of scissors in her hands, and told her that it was about time that she learned how to cut hair. She was old enough, they had said, to cut her own bangs and whatever else she wanted to cut. She didn't want to cut her hair, anything other than her bangs, and she certainly hadn't wanted to cut Minegishi's hair either.

But what she wanted had never really mattered.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Mob as she ran a comb through Minegishi's hair for the fifth time. It was important to get all the knots out, they had said, because knots made for uneven haircuts. Their hair was too short, though, to get knotty. Not like Mob's. Her hair had been a knotty mess lately, mainly because she had been forgetting to brush it. She hadn't really had much of a reason to. It wasn't like she had been going anywhere or doing anything.

It wasn't like she had never been to Tokyo before, she practically lived here, and she had done all the things already.

"For the last time, yes." said Minegishi. They were doing their best to stay calm, their best to treat this just like any other day. It was, for all intents and purposes, just another day. They were hanging out with Mob like they had spent countless days doing before. Five years of these sorts of days. After five years they thought that they had gotten to know Mob, or at least enough about her to be able to tell when something was wrong.

And something was very wrong.

They felt the comb dreg through their hair again. The sighed and looked up from their book. There, in the mirror, Mob was shaking. Nerves, maybe. This was a big day for her. The first time she had ever cut hair, anyone's. Minegishi didn't particularly care who cut their hair, they were perfectly capable of cutting their hair on their own, but Mob…well she wanted to be treated like an adult, or at least not as a child.

So here they were.

"But what if I mess up?" asked Mob

"You're not going to." Said Minegishi

"But what if I do? I've never cut hair before." Said Mob

"I just want it short, that's all. Just go with the layers and cut it down as short as you can." Said Minegishi

"But…but I could still mess up." Said Mob. Minegishi sighed and closed their book. She couldn't tell if they'd meant to slam their book shut like that or if she had just been imagining things. They turned around to face her, knocking some shampoo off the side of the tub as they turned. Mob caught it and put it up on the shelf. Easy. She hadn't even had to lift a finger. Why couldn't everything have been that easy? Why did she have to mess everything up?

She was always messing everything up, wasn't she?

"Mob, look at me. There is no way in hell you can possibly mess this up. I trust you, alright?" asked Minegishi. That should have reassured her…but it didn't. That was just…her aura told the whole story, the only problem was it was in a language that Minegishi didn't know! Mob was clearly guilty about something, bothered by something, but they had no idea what. Nobody did, not even Ryou and he'd spent an entire vacation/sabbatical with her.

"You…you do?" asked Mob

"With my life." Said Minegishi

"You…you shouldn't. You shouldn't trust me with your life or your hair or-or anything!" said Mob. The tiles behind her fell from the wall one by one. They shattered when they hit the ground…that wasn't good. Now the wall looked bad…as bad as she felt. She wanted to go back to her room or Serizawa's room or…or a room. Any room that didn't have Minegishi in it. She would even have gone tree climbing with Sho and Mukai if it meant that she got to be away from Minegishi…

How could she have possibly felt this way about her best friend?

Minegishi was looking at her now, raising a space where an eyebrow should have been. Mob looked down at their feet. Her socks were blue, their socks were lavender, and the bathmat was green. Their colors didn't match. They didn't go together at all…it was her fault. If she had worn her purple socks then it would have been better and…and if she hadn't done what she'd done with Shimazaki then it would have been better. Last time had definitely been the very last time, and this time she meant it.

Not that it helped at all.

"Ok…and now we're being dramatic." Said Minegishi. They took the scissors and tossed them into the cabinet under the sink. The last thing that they wanted was to be accidentally impaled if Mob lost control of her powers worse than she had now. This was normal for her, the lack of control anyway. They way her aura flared as tears welled up in her eyes…it was either really bad, what had happened, or just something that Mob thought was really bad. There really was no middle ground when it came to Mob.

"I'm not trying to be." Said Mob as she wiped her eyes. Minegishi shrugged.

"You're thirteen, it comes with the territory. You want a hug?" asked Minegishi as they stood up.

"Yes…I would like that a lot." Said Mob. Minegishi opened their arms and Mob threw herself into their chest. They took a step back before they balanced themselves out and held her close. She came up to the middle of their chest now. Before, when she had been little, she had only come up to their belly button. She wished that she could have been little again. Things had been so much easier when she'd been a little kid…or even any kind of kid. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt like a kid.

"Mob…can you please just tell me what's been going on? The cryptic, drunken phone calls-" said Minegishi

"I was high for some of them." Said Mob. She knew that she shouldn't have been, she knew what Minegishi had said about moderation, and she especially knew what they had said about how being stoned or drunk or anything else made you made bad choices. She knew firsthand how bad those choices could be. She hadn't been her normal self any of the times she and Shimazaki had done all the things, or even any of the things. She had either been drunk or high, sometimes there had been coke, and also there had been Molly too…she especially liked Molly…but not what it made her do. When she did took much of anything, when she didn't use moderation, then she didn't think and when she didn't think…well when she acted without thinking she did bad things…selfish things…things that Minegishi had said were ok but she knew deep down that they weren't.

"Ok, the cryptic stoned phone calls-" said Minegishi

"Also some of those times I was on coke." Said Mob. Minegishi shook a little, their aura got brighter, and the spider plant sitting on top of the toilet tank grew a tree branch…but they didn't let her go, that was what mattered.

"Sure…the cryptic, coked up phone calls-" said Minegishi

"Also some of those times I was on Molly." Said Mob. Minegishi took a deep breath and breathed out through their nose. It tickled the top of Mob's head and made her bangs dance on her forehead.

"Alright then…all of those drug induced cryptic phone calls and texts-" said Minegishi through clenched teeth.

"And also Ryou and I were-" said Mob

"Mob! I…love you. I will you love until the day I day and probably for some time afterwards if my spirit doesn't want to pass on…but let's not test that, ok?" asked Minegishi

"I didn't mean to test anything." Said Mob softly. Minegishi broke the hug. They stepped back, until their back was against the sink, but they held Mob's shoulder's in their hands. Mob had no choice but to look up into their eyes, not when they were this close, and now when she could feel how mad their aura was.

"I really am…am sorry." said Mob softly. Minegishi held eye contact with her. Their eyes were a really pretty shade of brown. Some lavender eyeshadow would have looked great on them, and some lavender lipstick too. Also Mob was getting better at drawing on eyebrows now, they almost looked real, and she must have had a purple pencil somewhere. You could use lipliner to draw on eyebrows, it didn't just work on your lips. Also Mob might have had some purple mascara too, but it might have been in a deeper shade of purple than Minegishi would have liked…not that they had ever liked the makeover game. The liked the makeover game about as much as Sho liked the Shoko game.

But like Sho they did it for her.

But unlike Sho they didn't have to...well Sho didn't have to play the Shoko game but he did it to cheer her up. Not that they'd played in a while…she hadn't felt like playing anything with anyone in a while. Not even dolls, unless Mukai asked her first. Maybe this was what it was like to grow up. You put away your kid things for adult things…but Mob didn't want to do any more adult things either. She just wanted…she just wanted to be alone….

But she also wanted her best friend back…even though they hadn't gone anywhere she still wanted her best friend back.

"About the drugs? Is that what all of those calls were about?" asked Minegishi. Mob looked at them, then at the ground, and then back at them. Their t-shirt was apparently fascinating beyond belief. Yuck Fou. A play on words but not a very good one. Not one good enough to hold Mob's attention like that. She was guilty…had they finally hit the nail on it's goddamned, mother fucking, cock sucking, head? Could they finally move on and get back to whatever the hell passed for normal around here?

Things were never that simple…but they had better have been about to get real simple real soon or else.

"Come on, Mob, give me something to work with here. I promise whatever it is it's probably not as bad as you're making it out to be." Said Minegishi. Mob nodded…but didn't look up.

"Mob, seriously, you're really trying my patience here." Said Minegishi

"I…didn't mean to." Said Mob

"Then stop being such a teenager about this and tell me what's wrong. I'm not your parent, I'm not going to punish you or whatever…your actual parent doesn't even do that." Said Minegishi. They omitted the fact that he should have, but in whatever way normal people disciplined their kids. Minegishi honestly had no idea how normal people got their kids to listen to them. They assumed that it had nothing to do with vicious beatings, starvation, or hours and hours of berating. There were things about time outs and apologies, the sorts of things Tuschiya did, though it didn't really seem as though Tsuchiya was making much progress when it came to Mukai.

The Suzuki family was a stubborn bunch.

Was it this Suzuki family or the whole of the Suzuki's in Japan that were this incredibly, unbelievably, unbearably stubborn? Maybe it was just this bloodline. Suzuki himself was stubborn enough to try and take over the world after all. Hatori had let it slip, once, that his parents telling him that word domination wasn't exactly an actual career goal had cemented it for him…in blood. They weren't going to push Mob to that point, actually they were trying their best not to, but they did need to get to a point. They knew Mob, when she had an idea she held onto it for dear life, and right now she had idea in her head that….what, exactly? They weren't going to like her anymore because she had, what? Gone partying around the world? They weren't happy with her…but she was thirteen, she had more money than God, and there wasn't a soul on Earth who could tell her what to do with it…and what she wanted to do was party.

Minegishi wasn't exactly doing backflips over it but it wasn't quite as bad as Mob was making it out to be.

"…he would, if he knew…." Said Mob softly

"About the drugs? I think he knows but he's too afraid to say anything. You know for a man trying to take on the entire world he's surprisingly nonconfrontational. I can see where you get it from." Said Minegishi

"No, not about the drugs. He knows about them and he already says that he hates me or…or the person I've become, which he says is entirely different from hating me but I don't understand what the difference is." Said Mob

"Who understands what's going on in the head of his." Said Minegishi with a dismissive wave of their hand.

"Um…I think Fukuda maybe, since they've been friends for a while, or Hatori because they're best friends. Also sometimes they're bed buddies, because Hatori has nightmares and I think that my Dad gets lonely. Sometimes in the middle of the night he used to think I was my Mom so I guess he still misses her. He has a girlfriend now, Shiori, I told you about her. She-" said Mob

"-belongs in a dog kennel. Yes, I've heard." Said Minegishi

"I never called her a dog." Said Mob

"No, but you did call her a bitch, well as close as you could come to saying the word 'bitch'." Said Minegishi. Mob looked incensed, as usual…some things never changed.

"I…she's more a witch than a….that word." Said Mob

"Really? Because she sounds more like a bitch than a witch." Said Minegishi

"Well…witches can be b-words, right?" asked Mob

"I'll have to say that, yes, this particular witch is a bitch." Said Minegishi. They had never met the woman, for all they knew she could have been Mother Theresa reincarnated, but since she was apparently ready to marry Suzuki and have his children they sincerely doubted that. They didn't really want to meet the woman in question and they didn't care if their thoughts on her character or whatever were accurate. Mob was smiling again, as close as she could get to smiling, and…and they couldn't remember the last time they had seen Mob smile.

"I think…I think that she is. She made my Dad hate me…or maybe he hates me on his own. I just…it's hard, how the people who used to love me the most in the world can hate me so easily or just…or just leave me." Said Mob softly

"Do you think that I'd ever do either?" asked Minegishi

"You left me once, remember? And then I went back for you?" asked Mob. Minegishi winced.

"Yeah…I remember…but it's not going to ever happen again and none of that was about you. That was about me and just…not being able to handle where my life was going or where it had gone…and the Xanax didn't help. Stay out of those, by the way. It's a hard habit to drop." Said Minegishi

"But if they're bad then why do you still take them?" asked Mob

"Because…I like the way they make me feel, I guess. I know that they're bad for me and I know that they bring out the worst in me but I just…like the feeling, I guess. The drowsiness I could do without but the feeling of being….at peace, I guess. My brain shutting off for a minute, giving me space to think or…I guess not think. I like the feeling even though it's bad for me and I'm just…I'm that sort of person, I guess." Said Minegishi

"Me too…." Said Mob. They got it. They really and truly were her best friend in the whole world. They knew exactly how she felt about Shimazaki. They were in love with him and they had done all of the things with him too. They knew how good it felt and…and maybe after each and every time it happened they also said so themselves that this would be the very last time…but it never was.

"So you know, now, to stay out of them. Listen…you're thirteen now, you aren't eight anymore, and I won't treat you like an eight year old anymore. You can do whatever you want to do. There isn't a thing in this world that I, or anyone else, can do to stop you….but please be smart. If I tell you that something is bad news then listen to me and if I tell you not to overdo it then…then please, for the love of God, don't overdo it. I know you partied a lot on your trip and it's probably eating you up inside because you're Mob and everything eats you up inside-" said Minegishi

"No, it wasn't about the drugs! It's the sex that's eating me up inside!" said Mob. She covered her mouth before she could say another word. She had actually said, to their face, that she'd had sex with their…with both of their….boyfriend. She closed her eyes and waited for the yelling or the cursing or the crying or even just the explosion of color that was their aura….but none of it came.

They opened their eyes.

Minegishi was staring at them, again, though they had let go of her shoulders. She looked them in the eye and their hand went right to her stomach. She gasped as they pressed down as hard as they could…but they weren't hurting her. Of course they weren't hurting her, they were her friend, and…and even though it felt like it she knew that she hadn't done anything technically wrong. Sort of like when she told Sho to stop drinking cans of soda before bed so he drank bottles instead. She was technically right but…but even with permission best friends didn't do that to each other and it would have made perfect sense for Minegishi to start yelling at her or hitting her or…or anything.

But they just kept their hand on her stomach.

"Mob…I'm going to ask you this once, only once, and I want you to be truthful. Whatever the answer is I'll accept it. I won't yell, I won't scream, I won't even offer up my opinion. For once in my life I'll keep my mouth shut. Ok?" asked Minegishi

"O-Ok?" asked Mob

"Are you pregnant right now or are you trying to get pregnant?" asked Minegishi, still pressing their hand to Mob's stomach in search of signs of life. They forced themselves to stay calm…they really needed to start meditating with Tsuchiya. Whatever the answer was they were going to accept it. They had no real choice. Mob wasn't going to get an aborting, they knew her, and they weren't about to chase her through the house with a coat hanger and a cup full of rue tea. Whatever happened, happened. Whatever she was planning…they eyed the bracelet on their wrist…whatever she was planning on doing with her life they were with her every step of the way.

They may not have been in favor of Mob becoming a mother at thirteen but they weren't going to let her go down this path alone, either.

"N-No! Of course not! It was just about….I don't know what it was about…I mean it felt really good and he's always nice to me…but it's not about that!" said Mob. Her and Shimazaki….a baby? No way. That would have caused an even bigger mess than the one she was in right now! She didn't even know what she would have told everyone…and she would have had to tell everyone something. Right now nobody needed to know, she really couldn't think of anything more private than this, but if she suddenly showed up with a baby one day, or her stomach got big, then she knew that people were going to have all kinds of questions…and she didn't think that she could lie her way out of that one….did people still leave babies on doorsteps? That was…well if that happened then it was awful and also…also she didn't want to ever have to lie to Shoko or Shigeo about where they came from and she didn't want to lie to her friends either…

But most of all she never wanted to get to the point where she had to lie to them or…or tell them about what she'd done.

"Oh thank God!" said Minegishi as they pulled their hand away from Mob's stomach. The muttered a prayer inside their mind, to whatever it was that was seemingly watching over them, and they also apologized for not being a better whatever the hell they were supposed to be. This was…this was nothing short of a miracle. Maybe Mob's baby fever had calmed down. Maybe now she could get on with the business of being a normal, semi-normal, thirteen year old girl.

"You…you're still not mad?" asked Mob. She knew them, she knew that they didn't lie, but every part of her was telling her that they should have been mad. She had betrayed them. She had…hadn't….but she felt like she had. Maybe it was because best friends weren't supposed to do this to each other or maybe it was because she had been taught her whole life that the world was built for two…or maybe because she had been taught for her whole life that love stories, true love, were real.

"No, not if you were safe. Your sex life is none of my business and I don't have any plans of making it my business. Just be safe like we talked about, alright?" asked Minegishi

"Ok…ok. I mean if you're not mad." Said Mob

"For the last time I'm not. I don't care, so stop avoiding me and sequestering yourself in that room with Serizawa and stop and pretending that you can't hear me calling for you. I don't care about your sex life. I wish that you had waited until you were older, mostly because I'm still not sure if you can handle this emotionally, but that ship has long since sailed. Alright? So will you please just cut it out and get back to cutting my hair?" asked Minegishi

"I…I can do that, if you…if you trust me." Said Mob

"I already told you, Mob, I trust you with my life…now get to it. There is no way you can possibly fuck this up." Said Minegishi as they grabbed the scissors. They handed them toa skeptical looking Mob and sat back down on the edge of the bathtub. They sat at an angle where they could see themselves in the mirror…and Mob.

A less nervous Mob.

She was still shaking, of course, because this was all new to her. Not only cutting hair but the world she had decided to jump into with both feet. She was thirteen and she was acting like a thirteen year old did. All feeling, little thought, but plenty of guilt and remorse later. Well this was not a facet of her life she should have felt guilty over. Compared to the rampant drug use the sex really was nothing. So she had found some cute foreign boy, or a lot of them, big deal. She was being safe and that was all that they could ask for. Mob was taking adult responsibility for the adult actions she was taking and…and that was good. She was becoming an adult, hopefully a better one than Minegishi. Hopefully they hadn't rubbed off on her too badly, hopefully they hadn't taught her too many terrible lessons, hopefully she wasn't Minegishi Toshiki part two, now with barely controlled telekinesis….the one thing that they couldn't teach her. That was what they had been brought on to do, teach her how to control her powers, and somehow they had come to teach her everything else under the sun….somehow they had come to this…to being her best friend. They had never really been master and student, had they? They'd always been friends…thought part of them wished they'd stayed master and student…

If only to have taught Mob how to properly cut hair…not that they minded the pixie cut…