Mukai was big enough to make her own cereal now.

Mama had said no cereal, Mama had said that it was too late for snacks, and Mama had told her to go to bed. Mukai wasn't going to listen to Mama, not right now. Mukai was too hungry to listen to Mama. She'd barely eaten anything at dinner time, she hadn't wanted to. Dinner hadn't been what she'd asked for. She had asked Shibata to make her a pizza with ice cream and chocolate cake but instead she had gotten fish stew…and she hadn't asked for fish stew! She didn't know what Shibata would have given her something she hadn't asked for! That hadn't been nice at all…it wasn't fair!

If you wanted something done right then you had to do it yourself, like Caterpillars had said.

"OK, need a bowl, cereals needs a bowl…." Said Mukai as she walked into the kitchen, into the light. Someone, probably Mine since they were mean, had turned off the hallway light and the living room light too. She'd had to run before something got her, the things that lived in the dark, like vampires and zombies and monsters and the things with too many teeth that bit you. She was safe in the kitchen, now, in the light….

But now she had another problem.

She had forgotten how high up the cabinets were. Book I was still too little to reach that high, even if she stood on a chair, she knew because she could tell. She was a smart Mukai. Mama had said that she was the smartest Mukai in the whole world. She tried the chair thing anyway, she grabbed the chair from the table and pushed it as hard as she could. It was noisy. She had to be quiet, people were trying to sleep. Comment if Mama caught her out of bed then she was going to be in big trouble.

She didn't want to be in big trouble.

When she was in big trouble, Mama took her things away. Like how Momma took her phone away and now she never wanted to play phone games on. Or like how Mam had took away her suitcase full of candy and now she couldn't have candy whenever she wanted. Or like how Mama had took awake her shoes because she kept wearing them inside. It wasn't fair! Why then Mama have to be like that?!

Grownups were weird.

Especially when they were tired. Mukai pushed more slowly, now, even though she knew she was just taking up more cereal time. She didn't know how to make pizza or ice cream or cake but she did know how to make cereal. Shigeko had taught her. You took the bowl and then you put in milk and cereal from the box, not the lumpy stuff Caterpillars made on the stove and called cereal. She didn't like that at all, even with butter and brown sugar. She wanted cereal and she wanted it now!

But first she would have to climb.

"That's high up….got to be brave." Muttered Mukai. Sho would have been able to make it. Sho was tall and brave and knew how to make cereal, too, and poptarts…maybe she should have woken Sho…but Sho would have told Mama on her and she didn't want that. So she climbed up onto the table and reached for the cabinet…she was still too short. She tried jumping but that didn't work, it just made the chair shake…she needed to be taller…

She climbed up on the counter.

Walking was a lot easier than climbing. Sho could walk up walls, she'd seen it. She made her colors show…it didn't work. She pressed her foot up against the counter and tried to take a step. Climbing it was, then…she could do it. Even though she had never climbed so high on her own without Sho before. She had to try. She pressed her hands to the top of the counter and made her colors show. She pushed down and felt herself flying upwards.

She made it onto the counter.

The kitchen looked so little from up here…but she was brave. She wasn't scared of falling off and getting owies. She wasn't scared of anything! Not even the things with too many teeth that lived in the dark and bit you. She was in the light and when you were in the light then you were safe…and the bowls were right there. She remembered where Mama got her Tangled bowl from every morning…she opened the cabinet. She pulled the door opened with her colors and then, as soon as she saw her Tangled bowl, and before she lost her colors again she pulled it down…

And all the other bowls came with it.

The bowls, the cups, all of it. She pulled and it all came down….onto her! She took a step back…and then another….and then there weren't any more steps left to take! There stopped being a ground to step onto, there stopped being an anything, and before she knew it she was falling backwards. Mama!? Where was Mama!? She was going to fall and get owies and Mama needed to save her and-

-Mama didn't save her.

"Damn, I'd hoped it was a tiny burglar." Said Shimazaki as he caught Mukai centimeters from what would have been her death. He knew he hadn't been imagining things! 'Go back to sleep, Ryou' and 'it's nothing, Ryou' and 'I'm losing my patience here, Ryou'. No, there really had been a tiny little thief…well not thief, kids couldn't steal food.

Or at least his kid couldn't.

"Ryou!" shouted Mukai as she hugged him. He had saved her! And he wasn't going to tell Mama about what had happened, that was the best part. She hugged him as tight as she could. She was never letting him go! He was tall, he could reach the cereal without making a mess.

"Mukai! Ok, now that we've introduced ourselves care to tell me what you're doing in here? If you're looking for the community liquor stash you can't have any, not until you're…I guess seven or eight? Yeah, that seems like a good age." Said Shimazaki as he put Mukai down on the counter. He felt something sharp trying to poke into his socks. So he had heard something shattering…it better not have been his mug shaped like a dog's head…not that he would have been mad at Mukai or anything if it had broken…just not happy….

But not mad at her, never mad at her.

"I'm three, Ryou, this many." Said Mukai holding up three fingers.

"Well if you want to live to be this many then you're going to have to stay put while I sweep this mess up." Said Shimazaki holding up four fingers. She held up four fingers too, he took that as understanding, and then got to work. He knew where the broom was, where the dustpan was, and he knew where most of the mess was. The only problem were the thin shards that he knew where there…and he knew were too small to see. Not unless he really focused. He strengthened the barrier around himself. Mukai reached out and poked him.

He really hated doing this.

Cleaning up, mostly. It was tedious and boring. He would have asked, well told, Shibata to do it but then he would have gotten pissed and then Tsuchiya would have gotten pissed since they were pretty much joined at the hip now and if all of that happened then, of course, Mukai wouldn't get her…whatever the hell she needed a bowl to eat. Tsuchiya could be weird about feeding Mukai sometimes. He didn't get the point of keeping her on a schedule. When someone was hungry you fed them, it was that simple. You didn't leave someone wondering and waiting and waiting and wondering when their next meal would be…it was especially hard when you had no way of telling time…

His barrier strengthened on it's own.

Mukai slapped her aura against it. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He didn't have anything to be afraid of…and he wasn't afraid. He was fine. He just didn't like stepping on sharp shards of ceramic, that was all. He was fine. He just had to sweep this up and then he'd make whatever the hell it was that Mukai wanted to eat. If he could, he wasn't the best at cooking. He knew how to make somethings but Shibata was the best and Mob…Mob was really good at cooking.

Not that she would have wanted to help…or maybe she would have.

He didn't know. He hadn't seen her in a while. She was always busy with something, usually Serizawa, and that was fine. Mob could hang out with whoever she wanted to hang out with. He knew he was welcome to pop in at any time, and even if he hadn't been welcome he would have been able to show up anyway, but it was just so boring sitting in a room with the two of them while they played videogames for hours. That was it…that was why he didn't like hanging out with Mob and Serizawa. That was…he wasn't jealous or anything like that. He just couldn't stand being bored, that was all.

That was why he didn't like Serizawa, either. He made Mob boring.

"Clean up, clean up…the clean up song!" sang Mukai as Ryou cleaned up for her. That was nice of him, Mama would have made her do it herself even though she didn't like cleaning up.

"That's right, got to clean up before someone notices…though God help you if you broke Toshi's rice bowl or their cereal bowl or, actually, anything of theirs." Said Shimazaki

"I broke the bowls…over there." Said Mukai

"You did but I cleaned them up…even though it was boring as hell. You're lucky I care so much about you." Said Shimazaki

"I care too! I care about you! I care about cereal! I made the bowls all fall down!" shouted Mukai

"You did but I forgive you…mostly. Next time go and get me, so this doesn't happen again. You could have broken my dog mug, you know, and also yourself too. Actually, yeah, we can glue this shit back together but we can't glue you back together so be careful, I guess." Said Shimazaki

"Glue is for paper, not for skin, and never put it in your mouth." Said Mukai. Mama had said that about glue even though glue was tasty and it was fun to put it on your skin. Then you could pretend that you had two skins instead of just the one skin and then when the glue tried it was fun to pull off of your skin. Mama didn't let her do that, though, she had rules about glue. She had a lot of rules, she was boring like that.

"Never put it in your hair, too, trust me on this." said Shimazaki

"I trust you." Said Mukai

"Aww, I trust you too. Now do you trust me to make you…what the fuck were you hungry for? Pudding? I bet you were hungry for-" said Shimazaki

"No, not pudding! Cereal!" shouted Mukai

"You sure? Because I feel like making-" said Shimazaki

"No, make me cereal! Right now!" shouted Mukai. She stomped her foot…too hard. She stomped so hard that her foot slid right off of the edge of the counter. She fell down, again, and she couldn't make herself stop! She reached out with her colors and tried to catch herself but she couldn't! She couldn't and now she was going to fall and-

-and someone caught her.

"Hey, good catch." Said Shimazaki. He had been about to catch Mukai but Mob beat him to it. He hadn't even sensed her, her aura was so big it was hard to get a lock on her in close quarters like this, and he hadn't been focused on looking for her either. He should have been. She was here and…and he couldn't remember the last time that they'd hung out or-or anything. She'd been avoiding him for weeks…

No, not avoiding. She had just been busy.

"Um…thanks….thank you." Said Mob as she put Mukai back up onto the counter. She should have come in here sooner, the floor was a mess. There were broken things all swept into a corner and…and she should have come out when she heard something break. Things just broke all the time around here and…and she shouldn't have ignored it…

Maybe then she could have gotten here sooner.

Shimazaki was here. Well of course he was, he lived here, but he was…he was right in front of her. She had managed to avoid him for weeks and weeks now. She had been doing so good…well she had been really terrible to him, but she had…she had felt better. Whenever she was near him she thought about…about stuff….so it was better to just be away from him…even though she also kind of missed him….

Feelings were complicated….but messes and little sisters were easy.

"Make me cereal! Please and thank you." Said Mukai. There were two grownups in front of her but neither of them was making her cereal. It didn't make sense. They were both tall enough to reach the cereal but for some weird reason nobody was doing any reaching! They were just looking around! Ryou was looking at Shigeko and Shigeko was looking at the fridge…maybe she wanted milk? Well she couldn't have any! That milk was for Mukai and nobody else because she needed it for cereal and since nobody was having cereal they could just drink water, or from Hatori's secret soda drawer.

"Alright, alright, what kind do you want? Toshi has that weird healthy shit, I've got…actually stay the hell away from my cereal, Shibata's got grape nuts which taste like neither grapes nor nuts, Hatori has-" said Shimazaki. Mob wasn't even so much as looking at him and…and that was fine. He had work to do and he couldn't just let Mukai starve to death. Nope. No kid of his would ever know hunger, even kids that weren't literally his.

"Tsuchiya doesn't…Tsuchiya doesn't like her to eat this late because when she lays down after she eats she gets stomach aches and stuff…um…" said Mob. She had to say something. She couldn't just leave her little sister to have a stomachache. She loved Mukai and…and she needed to work on being less selfish.

Sometimes it felt like every single choice she ever made was a selfish one.

"Well I don't like it when she's hungry. Trust me, Mob, there's no worse feeling than being hungry." Said Shimazaki as he picked a bowl up off the ground. Mukai shook her head.

"No, Tangled bowl! Tangled bowl!" said Mukai. Ryou was so bad at finding things sometimes, but Shigeko was better. She used her colors to pick Mukai's Tangled bowl up off of the ground and hand it to Ryou. He had been picking up bowls that were nothing like her Tangled bowl…she didn't know why he had to be that way all of the time.

"Oh, well I guess getting your cereal from the wrong bowl is just as bad." Said Shimazaki with a smile he didn't quite feel. She was so far away and…closed off? That was the feeling he got….had he fucked this up too? But he hadn't done anything to fuck this up, nothing that he could remember…they'd had a great time together. That had been one hell of a trip, even though they didn't actually trip, and…and she had felt the same way, right? Well she didn't have to, she could feel however she wanted to feel, but…but it would have been nice if she'd felt the same way.

"It's not. I mean…there are worse feelings." Said Mob. Getting your heart broken was a lot worse than not getting the right cereal bowl. Getting your heart broken was the worst feeling in the whole world and…and she could never make anyone feel that way. Having someone love you might have been a worse feeling, too, maybe….having someone say that they loved you but you didn't have to say it back…but you kind of did or you were going to break someone's heart and…and you didn't think that you could say it back without hurting them….

That was worse.

"What could be worse?" asked Shimazaki as he felt around the cabinets for some of his cereal. He'd share with her, he decided, even if he was running low. Mukai was little and she needed it more or whatever. It would make her happy. When she was happy then maybe Mob would be happy too…she didn't sound happy or feel happy…and he had no clue why…

"Um….when you spill your milk all over the floor and you don't have any more milk in the house and…and you want milk. That's worse, I think." Said Mob, thinking up something as quick as she could.

"Milk! I want milk!" said Mukai

"Oh…oh! Here, sorry." said Mob. She used her powers to pass Shimazaki the milk. She would have passed it to Mukai but she was still too little to pour it herself. She had tried to pour her own juice the other day and spilled it everywhere. Mob didn't want to clean anything up, she didn't want to be in this kitchen for longer than she had to, and she didn't want to be near Shimazaki.

It was too weird.

She didn't know how to feel. She wanted to be his friend but…but they had done all the things and he was in love with her, too. She had no idea how to look past that, to get past that. Even being near him she thought about…about things that she shouldn't have been thinking about…especially not when her little sister was around!

She had to get out of here.

"You want some too? We have-" said Shimazaki as he made Mukai a bowl of cereal, milk first of course. Some people, he wasn't naming names besides Hatori's, put the milk on second and turned the cereal into a soggy mess. Well he knew better. Mukai was a cereal eater of discerning tastes.

"I-I'm going back to…to where I was. Goodnight!" said Mob before she turned and walked away very quickly. She didn't run, that would have been impolite, so she just walked away as fast as she could. That was…that was at least a little better…right?

"Goodnight, I guess, or maybe good morning…I have no idea with you…." Muttered Shimazaki as he picked Mukai up and sat her down on the table. He sat her bowl down in front of her and sighed. She was happy…why couldn't everyone have been this easy?

"My cereal…no goodnights. Not yet." Said Mukai as she ate her cereal. She paused and tried to hand a spoonful to Ryou. He seemed sad…he didn't have enough cereal. He ate it but he didn't look any happier…what was with him?

He had cereal, how could anyone have been sad when there was cereal?