Minegishi was not a vegetarian.

They didn't care where their meat came from. Plants suffered just as much as animals did, most people just didn't know or care to listen to them. So, really, whatever the hell was on their plate suffered just as much as the cow that it was imitating. It would have tasted a hell of a lot better, too.

Minegishi didn't care what anybody said, this did NOT taste a thing like hamburger.

"Lovely." Said Minegishi as they poked them hamburger steak on their plate. Maybe they could tell the difference between this and real meat because they were chlorokinetic. They could taste the plant based suffering in every single bite.

Tasted weirdly like chicken.

"See? Tastes just like the real thing, doesn't it?" asked Shibata. He looked around. A lot of shrugs. Hatori and Serizawa were buried in their Gameboys, Mukai was making tiny food towers, Minegishi was just poking at theirs and Shimazaki…well he hadn't; actually invited Shimazaki to this dinner. He had just teleported in with a chair…well he did live here so he was entitled to share a meal with them…

Whether Shibata liked it or not.

He didn't care for Shimazaki, so he didn't care if he liked it. The others….well a little appreciation would have been nice. Tsuchiya smiled at him when they made eye contact…she liked it, that was ok. The kids would have liked it too, or at least Mob. She and Sho were eating in their own house. Sho was kind of the reason he had switched to plant based meat. That kid needed more vegetables in his diet and Shibata…well he was doing his best. He would have thought that Sho would have liked it…well there was always next time.

Though maybe he would just try and make regular vegetables instead of trying to trick people.

"Tastes like chicken." Said Minegishi as they took another bite. They weren't about to pass up food. They were thirty years old, they could eat what was put in front of him. Even Ryou, who normally had something to say for every occasion, kept his mouth shut and ate his dinner like it was the most amazing thing that he'd ever had.

"It's not chicken, Mine, it's meat." Said Mukai as Mama took her fork and tried to feed her like a baby. She slapped the spoon away as hard as she could, with her colors too, so Mama would know that she wasn't a baby.

"Mukai, come on, eat your meat. Shibata worked really hard on this." said Tsuchiya as she wiped the food from the front of her shirt. What had Mom and Dad done when she wouldn't eat? Well…there was the old sitting at the table all night thing…but she wouldn't be doing that. Mukai needed more vegetables in her diet, all the kids did…though sometimes it felt like she was just pushing a boulder up a hill. Every time she made progress President Suzuki just came in and undid everything. He was a complete pushover when it came to Mukai…to his kids…or just his daughters.

Poor Sho.

He should have been here. He was eating with his family for once, apparently Shigeko knew how to make really good stir fry, which was…not ideal. Shibata was trying to get Sho to eat more vegetables, it was unhealthy to eat the way that kid ate, and it was…not going well. Apparently he had a sixth sense for when someone was trying to sneak him healthy food.

Though Tsuchiya had no idea how healthy this really was…it didn't taste a thing like vegetables. If it had then Mukai might have wanted to eat it.

"No! I don't want meat! I want cakes!" shouted Mukai as she tried to dump her plate on the floor. Mama caught it and held it close…so now Mukai was going to have to eat it! She held out a forkful of meat. Mukai slapped it away. The fork went flying through the air, she watched it, and tried to get it with her powers…she missed. It went up too high.

She needed that fork, it went with the plate!

"What the hell!?" shouted Hatori as something stabbed him on the top of the head. He pulled his sweater over his head and ducked down before someone, probably Shimazaki, would stab him even harder next time. His DS slipped out of his hands and hit the floor but he didn't care. How could he with Shimazaki torturing him again!

Why couldn't he just have one normal meal?

Was that so much to ask? One meal without anyone picking on him? Without someone tormenting him? With people treating him with some basic respect? He should have had dinner with Suzuki…even if he had been kind of weird since the whole Fukuda thing. Hatori liked Suzuki a lot, he was a good friend, but he didn't like listening to some of the more personal things Suzuki would tell him when he felt like spilling his guts….though Suzuki at his most opened and honest and overshare-y was a hell of a lot better than Shimazaki on a fork murder rampage.

Maybe next time they could have fake soup instead of fake meat.

"Hatori! Are you ok? Mukai didn't mean it. I mean I don't think that she meant it. I mean I don't know why she did what she did but I know that she likes you a lot and I know that she would never do anything to hurt you or any of us. I mean she hits us sometimes, and one time she tried to smother me with a pillow, and then there was the other time where she stabbed me in the face with a spoon, and also one time I caught her rubbing soap on the stairs-" said Serizawa

"She didn't do that to be an asshole, she did it because I told her to." Said Shimazaki between bites of whatever the hell he was eating. It smelled like meat, tasted like chicken, and cut like…meatloaf? He took another bite. Not meatloaf, he'd had Shibata's meatloaf, and it sucked. Mob's was much better, she used ketchup. Mob would have cooked the hell out of this dinner if she had been in charge. He should have gone next door…

Well, no, he did want to live.

Suzuki was not his biggest fan. He didn't care. He didn't much want to get beaten up again. He knew Mob would never have let him die but getting the shit beat out of him was painful…and also once Suzuki took over the world he'd have plenty of time to sit down and start writing lists of enemies. He knew that Mob wouldn't have let Suzuki kill him but there were worse.

Things worse, even, than not knowing exactly what it was that you were eating….ground chicken soaked in steak blood?

"I'm sure you were kidding…he was kidding, right?" asked Shibata. He knew that look, when Tsuchiya swallowed and narrowed her eyes. This was…he didn't want a fight, not now. Not while Mukai was in the room. Not that he didn't want to take a swing or ten at Shimazaki, there wasn't a single person in this world that didn't want to, but Mukai was watching. She was learning from him, from all of them, and someone at this table needed to know right from wrong.

"Don't look at me. How in the hell should I know why he does what he does?" asked Minegishi

"Well maybe he can…sorry, sorry. Maybe YOU could not tell Mukai to do these things? She's only three, she doesn't know when you're kidding and when you're serious." Said Tsuchiya. She knew…she got a feeling that he had been serious, but…there was always the chance that he hadn't been. He was such a nice person…why couldn't he just be that way all the time?

"Mukai, do the opposite of everything I say. Now don't you dare give me your plate." Said Shimazaki

"No! No, it's my plate!" shouted Mukai. She reached over and took it back from Mama. No way was Ryou stealing from her!

"Well then you had better not start eating! You hear me?" asked Shimazaki

"No! I'm eating! Eating it all gone!" shouted Mukai as she shoved food into her mouth and started to chew. She had to go fast, before Ryou stole all of her food!

"Well you had better not take sensible bites and chew well! And don't you even think about drinking a full glass of milk when you're done! And you stay away from those gross chalky vitamins they make you take-" said Shimazaki before he felt a hand on his arm. Tsuchiya's. Shibata was glaring at him. What? She wasn't into him and if he was that wasn't his fault. The heart wanted what it wanted….it just so happened to want him.

"I...I get it. Thanks." Said Tsuchiya. Well Mukai was eating so….success?

"You're welcome." Said Shimazaki before getting back to his food.

"Yeah, thanks for that." Muttered Hatori as he rubbed the top of his hear. Serizawa dipped his napkin in his water glass and patted Hatori on the top of the head…he hoped that was just fake meat juice and not blood. The last thing he wanted to do was track down Fukuda.

"You're welcome! Wait, sorry, I thought you were talking to me. I mean why would you have been talking to me? I mean we're friends. I mean-" said Serizawa

"Maybe if you thought before you spoke then you wouldn't stutter so much." Said Minegishi. They made eye contact…Serizawa immediately looked down. Did this count as victory?

"I-I-I-" said Serizawa

"You-you-you!" laughed Mukai. She pointed so everyone could see how funny Seri was being. Well, she tried to. Mama grabbed her hand and shook her head.

"Minegishi!" said Shibata. They should have known better. Serizawa didn't deal well with stress…usually Mob calmed him down. He had thought that she would have been here but the minute he said he was making dinner for everyone she said that she was making dinner for her family too. It would have been nice of her to have warned him…but he wasn't mad at her. She was just a kid.

"You're alright, I don't mind. Really! Ok, maybe I'm a little…no, no, no. I'm fine!" Said Hatori. He tried to do that thing Mob did where she patted his hand but, of course, she was better at it. Somehow Suzuki was easier to deal with than him. Suzuki didn't explode, he lost control sometimes, but he never exploded. Most of the time he just needed someone to listen to him. Serizawa needed…well he needed someone stronger to make him feel less terrified all the time, like an emotional support dog….wolf…whatever the hell Mob was compared to the rest of them.

"Hatori's fine, Seri. Over there." said Mukai

"I'm…I'm fine." Said Serizawa as he held his umbrella in his hands. It was almost as good as being near Miss Suzuki. He should have gone with her…but then he would have had to be in the middle of what was happening in her house but…but he was such a bad friend! Or maybe if she had brought him then she would have been even more stressed out since she would have had to take care of him, too.

"Are you sure? I can get Mob if you-" said Shibata

"He said he's fine!" said Shimazaki….maybe in something close to a yell.

"Ryou!" said Minegishi, kicking him under the table. No. He could have a crush or whatever on whoever he wanted to…and he didn't have a crush on Mob. They knew him, they knew better, but the others…well they'd already had one intervention for him. Minegishi didn't want to go through that again.

"What? I didn't say anything or do anything or-or-hey! This is good meat? What is this? Chicken soaked in ground beef?" said Shimazaki through a mouthful of food. Beside him Toshi muttered something about chewing with his mouth closed. Something about him choking and dying.

"Ryou, come on…enough with this." muttered Minegishi as they passed him his glass.

"It's called a Next Meat….um…maybe you should take smaller bites." Said Tsuchiya

"And chew with your mouth closed." Said Minegishi

"Or just eat somewhere else." Muttered Shibata

"Ok, ok, I know when I'm not wanted." Said Shimazaki as he finished chewing. He could feel everyone's auras on him. He leaned back and folded his hands behind his head.

"And?" asked Shibata

"And what?" asked Shimazaki

"Us-usually when people say that they leave-but you don't have to! I just…that's normally what people mean but…but Miss Suzuki knows better than me-" said Serizawa

"Will you shut the fuck up about Mob?! God, if you want to be with Mob so much then go and eat dinner with her…it's not like she'll kick YOU out…" muttered Shimazaki as he scratched his fork against his plate. He hated the sound of it, worse than nails on a chalkboard, but he needed it. He was being a jealous prick again.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" said Serizawa

"You didn't do anything wrong, he's just being weird again." said Hatori. He turned to glare at Shimazaki but couldn't, not with Mukai's greasy hands reaching for his glasses.

"See? Ryou, will you please-" said Minegishi

"So, how's everyone like the meat substitute. It's better than normal meat, right? I think-" said Shibata

"Will you PLEASE come off this thing with Mob? It's getting old and people are starting to talk. When they talk I'm forced to listen and when I'm forced to listen then I'm filled with a murderous rage…and then somebody's going to suffer…and it might be you. So shut the fuck up about Mob." Said Minegishi with a sigh. They couldn't take it anymore. This was…they didn't even have words for this anymore.

"Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up!" laughed Mukai as she banged her fork against her plate.

"Nobody say anything." Said Tsuchiya. She was looking for attention, that was all…like some people.

"Alright, alright, I'll shut up….but just to be fair I don't complain when you talk about-" said Shimazaki. Really Toshi had no room to complain. He loved Mob so, of course, he was going to talk about her. He used to talk about Toshi all the time, too, when things had been new. They had told him to shut up and he listened. When Mob told him to shut the fuck up about her then he would.

"You know what we don't complain about enough? Who keeps on leaving spit spackles on the mirror." Said Shibata. They were not going to talk about this. They were not going to fight. Mukai was sitting right there and she didn't need to hear about this…and she didn't need them to fight. Not in front of Mukai…or ever. There was no point to fighting, they were all stuck together in this thing no matter what. Like when Mukai handed you a ball of play doh and told you to unmix it, it couldn't be done.

"Sorry about that…." Said Serizawa softly

"We're all responsible for the mess in the bathroom…but Mukai's the one who's been drawing stick figures in deodorant on the mirror." Said Minegishi

"Yeah…right….Mukai…" said Hatori tugging at the collar of his sweater.

"For the love of…someone deal with him, it's hard enough dealing with just Ryou…." Muttered Minegishi

"You don't have to deal with me. I'm me, I can take care of myself. I'm not needy." Said Shimazaki

"It's not about being needy, Ryou, it's about you and Mob…whatever the hell you think is going on. Knock it off already. It's annoying and it's making us fight…and we don't need any more of an excuse to fight. I just want to have a peaceful dinner and then a peaceful night and then a peaceful next fifty or sixty years. Is that too much to ask?" asked Minegishi

"No…well the fifty years thing, yeah, I don't see myself living that long…and I won't shut up about Mob. She'll tell me when she wants me to shut up about her just like you did. She's my girlfriend, she tells me things." Said Shimazaki. He couldn't, actually, hear a pin drop. Not unless he focused. Of course nobody dropped any pins so the skill would have been useless. What he heard, and sensed, was the simultaneous dropping of everyone's silverware like they had planned it…which kind of would have been a funny prank….though how they got Mukai to go along with it he didn't know.

This was funny but they didn't need quite so much staring.

"Ryou…what did you just say?" asked Minegishi as they did their best to collect themselves. They were having a stroke. They could feel it. Their entire body felt numb and words…they had no idea what exactly it was that they were saying. They felt…they couldn't feel their body….

"Mob tells me things. I've been reading, well listening, to these relationship books and they all say that it's important to talk about everything. Which, I mean, you would have thought would have been a no brainer but-" said Shimazaki

"You…you're kidding…"said Tsuchiya as she pulled Mukai onto her lap. Shimazaki…he had never gotten past that stage, the one that Mukai was in now. He just said shocking things for attention like a toddler would and…and he was older than she was! He was at least twenty years older than Shigeko! He…he was kidding…he had to have been kidding….

"No, you really are supposed to discuss every little thing. Not just the big things like kids and-" said Shimazaki

"Oh my God….oh my God…" muttered Hatori over and over again. He eyed the space under the table. He didn't want to be here right now. He didn't want to be near Shimazaki…but also he wanted to strangle or mangle or tangle him up into a pretzel or-or something!? He was hot and cold all over and he couldn't breath and…and he just….he needed to get out of here.

"He isn't serious…he can't be serious. If he's serious then…then he knows that I'd kill him. Me or President Suzuki…so therefore he isn't serious…." Said Shibata. Mob…he was glad that he was gone. She shouldn't have had to hear that. Shimazaki was going too far! Shibata…every time he told Shimazaki he was going too far that asshole took it as a personal challenge! He just…he just needed attention. He was doing this because if he wasn't the center of attention he forgot that he existed and…and he needed to see a shrink or something about that so…so he needed to get on that already!

"I really am! Relationships are actually incredibly complicated and-what the hell!" said Shimazaki as he ducked. Shibata had thrown a plate at him! What kind of moron was he?! He knew that it would have just shattered on impact! If it did then it would have hurt Mukai…and Shibata called himself a stepdad. For shame.

"No!" shouted Serizawa. He saw his aura…he had to stop it. He had to…he needed Miss Suzuki! But she wasn't there and-and he needed…he if she had been there then she would have been upset with him if he'd lost control like that…so he needed to…to stop it. He needed to calm down and…he held his umbrella in his hands. It wasn't enough! He needed to be near her and-and he opened his umbrella. He knew that it was rude and bad luck to open an umbrella indoors when there wasn't any rain but-but it was even worse luck to lose control and hurt all of your friends!

"Shut up! Will you just…sorry, I'm sorry all of you had to see that." Said Shibata. There was a yelp, that was what had brought him out of it. Serizawa was trembling under his open umbrella. Shibata looked down at the scraps of cloth clinging to him…he had damn near hulked out of his shirt…and now Mukai was tearing at hers.

"I'm mad too!" shouted Mukai as loud as she could. She reached for her plate to throw but Mama stood up and held her way too close! She needed space to breathe!

"You…you…you aren't serious. Shigeko…you aren't serious about Shigeko….you're just saying things…that's all." said Tsuchiya as she held Mukai as tightly as she could. She couldn't believe that he would have…she couldn't imagine that he would have….she had trusted him!

"About Mob? I fucking love her, of course I'm serious about her." said Shimazaki. He would have thought that he would have cleared everything up with that…but it was the opposite. Everyone started talking at once, and more things got thrown at him. He teleported into the living room in an effort to at least get Mukai out of the line of fire.

Everyone followed him.

Lots of death threats, more than he would have expected. Shibata and Hatori didn't like him, he expected them to wish death upon him, but Tsuchiya? He had thought that things were good between them. Also Toshi was pissed…and hey had no right to be. It wasn't like this was news to them…right? Come to think of it he had never actually asked Mob if she'd told Toshi….

Ok, maybe he wasn't as good at this communication thing as he had thought he was.

"Ryou! What the fuck is wrong with you!" shouted Minegishi. That, and some combination of those words, made up the brunt of what they hurled at Ryou. This was…this was beyond…this was completely like him…they just hadn't wanted to think about this part of him….

Now there was nothing else that they could think about.

"You had better have been kidding!" shouted Shibata after he completely ripped free from his shirt. He…he needed to calm down. Mukai was in the house and…and what if one of the kids showed up and saw him like this? They were bigger now but they were still so little….Mob was so little…how could Shimazaki have…he was kidding. If he hadn't been kidding then…then Shibata was going to kill him. He'd find a way.

"I trusted you! I-I'm leaving I-I trusted-" said Tsuchiya over and over again. Mukai had run off someplace….good. She was…Tsuchiya had…she couldn't think! She couldn't begin to imagine…she just…she couldn't-

"Please! Stop fighting!" shouted Serizawa from the kitchen. He didn't know what to do or-or say or-or-or-

"I-I'm calling Suzuki! I mean I'm texting him! I mean….I mean don't make me tell Suzuki! Say you're kidding! Don't make me make this call!" said Hatori. Suzuki was going to murder Shimazaki if…if this was true. Shimazaki deserved to die if this was true but…but Hatori had never made this call before. He knew people died in Claw, that was the reality of this kind of life, but he had never straight up ordered someone's death before and…and he didn't know if he could live with this on his conscience. Even if…it was Mob and…and she was worth more than his conscience!

"Please! For the love of God, yes! Tell him! Tell him right now! I don't…Ryou….you brought this on yourself!" shouted Minegishi, their voice lost in a sea of accusations, death threats, and excuses. He didn't…there was no combination of words that he could string together that would make this ok. He had been telling the truth…he loved Mob and…and now a lot of things made sense. Mob…she…Ryou…

Ryou was going to die and he'd asked for it.

Somewhere in the screaming Hatori had said…something. They weren't listening to him, they were too busy screaming in Ryou's face. He was screaming back about not knowing what the big deal was, that Mob liked him and he liked her and that was it. That Mob was even capable of…Mob was thirteen. Mob could feel whatever the fuck she wanted to feel and…and it was on Ryou to tell her 'no'! He was twenty years….they had known this about him….he…they had thought he'd known better! Suzuki was going to kill him and…and why did the thought of him dying make them feel….they didn't even know what they were feeling!

Pain.

A flash of red. Pain. The next thing they knew they were on the floor with their head right into the wall….their head hurt. There had been so much red…well that would have been the blood…and the aura. They…they sat up. There was silence…calm. Quiet. Like something…like someone had turned the volume down on something they hadn't even known they'd been listening to. Like ambient music….like being in the mall and the music went out…and the lights too….

The silence didn't last.

Footsteps, running footsteps. The stillness was broken when the door was thrown opened. They forced themselves to sit up, to stand up. They had to get up. They had…there were footsteps, then backtracking, and then more footsteps. They wiped the blood out of their eyes….they needed answers. They needed….Ryou was going to die and…they just…

They just had to know what the ever loving FUCK was going on here!

"Shimazaki…Ryou! Quick, go get Fukuda! I think my Dad died!"