Suzuki Touichirou wasn't dead yet.
"Get away from me." Said Suzuki as he sat up. People were hovering around him, far too many people. One would have been too many. He was fine. He had simply…he couldn't fully remember what had happened. Just the struggle for control…
One which he wasn't sure if he had won or lost.
The kitchen was in ruins. It was nearly unrecognizable as the room it had once been. The floor tiles had been torn up, the table was in two very large and very broken pieces, food was splattered everywhere, and the walls…well now it was an open concept house.
It could have been worse. It could have been MUCH worse.
"P-President!" said Serizawa as he reached a hand out. Suzuki pushed it away and forced himself into a sitting position, as close to one as he could possibly get himself into. His back was killing him…his head was killing him. His entire body hurt. That shouldn't have been. Tadashi was right there.
Tadashi always made him feel better.
"I said get away from me." Said Suzuki as he held his head in his hands. There was a gasp and then running. Good. Space. He needed it. He needed…he felt as though the world were too small for him, now, that it could not contain…or maybe he was the one who was too small. Maybe it was his body that could not contain…what, exactly? Himself? His metaphysical self? The self that he was or on the inside, to borrow such a cliché…but he was himself.
He was this person.
This was his life.
He couldn't move. He felt as though someone had taken him, stuffed him into an impossibly small space, and now…well now he was going to collapse in on himself. That was what had happened. He had collapsed in on himself, the sheer force of his…he didn't even know what, and now…now he was like this. There was something sticky on his head. He wiped it away.
Blood.
"Try not to move, you…well you've been through a lot." Said Tadashi as he moved Suzuki's hand away from his head. In the background he could hear, and feel, Hatori panicking. There wasn't a lot for his aura to travel through, the walls had been thoroughly gutted, but there was enough that Suzuki got the most annoying feeling…not unlike when you sat in the grass for too long and ants saw fit to climb onto you….or something to that effect…maybe the bussing of a mosquito would have been a better comparison or…or something…
He couldn't think right now.
"Oh God, oh shit, oh fuck, oh man, oh damn…" muttered Hatori. Suzuki glanced to his left…his head cried out in protest. Not the best move to make, not now. He didn't even know why he had wanted visual confirmation of what he already knew. Hatori was sitting in the corner panicking. Why he was doing that Suzuki did not know. It wasn't as though Hatori had received…it was Hatori who had told him…it was Hatori who had brought this to his attention…this was Hatori's fault….
He knew exactly what had happened.
"Explain." Said Suzuki through gritted teeth. He had read, before, that the human mind could delete information that it found damaging. A bit like when a computer deleted a dangerous file. His mind had attempted to protect him from the horrible, earth shattering, truth of the matter. His mind…it knew him well. He did not need to know about this…he had no idea what Hatori had told him this…
It was Hatori's fault that this had happened.
"You had a heart attack and passed out. On the way down you got a concussion, a bad one, and I did the best I could but you really shouldn't be-" said Tadashi
"No. Hatori. Explain." Said Suzuki. He kept his eyes and his aura on Hatori. How could he…why he had thought that Suzuki would have wanted to know THAT?! Anything even close to…this was none of his business….he was going to have to kill Shimazaki Ryou now despite what Shigeko wanted…it was in her best interests that Shimazaki Ryou died a horrible death. A horrible, long, painful death…with fire…and rodents….so many rodents…
His hand had been forced.
"What!? I mean…I mean it's like Fukuda said. You had a heart attack and…fuck…you almost died. I mean I thought that you were dead-" said Hatori
"I thought so too! I mean Miss Suzuki told us that she thought that you were dead and I thought that, not that I thought she was lying! I mean I just thought that, or I guess hoped that, she had been wrong but when we got here you were laying on the ground and Sho said-" said Serizawa
"Stop. I don't care what Sho said." Said Suzuki. He tried to stand. His spine protested, his arms were shaky, and the room chose that moment to begin to spin. Well it had been spinning for a while, the Earth was always spinning, but the spinning of the earth should have anchored him to it. He shouldn't have been aware of it, the way the earth was spinning at approximately sixteen hundred kilometers an hour, but he was….and it was far too fast….
He had to stand up. Now.
"You really should sit down." Said Tadashi. Suzuki shook his head and forced himself to his feet. His powers weren't exactly listening right now. He didn't want to risk tearing himself, or one of them, apart. The children…what had happened to the children? Well Sho was fine, his aura was visible, but Shigeko was gone….out of his passive range….
Good. For her sake.
He didn't know what he would have done, killed her? Hit her? Made her explain…no, no, no. The last thing he needed right now was an explanation. He didn't need to know about his daughter's…that part of her life. She had…she had that part to her life now and…and she was at that age. When Suzuki had been thirteen he would have given up everything, even his powers, for even a chance at…being in such a position with another person. That was what it was to be thirteen and if a girl, or Tadashi, had asked that of him then…well he understood what it was to be her age….and he did not need an explanation.
He didn't have space to punish her either, now did he?
His spine cracked as he forced himself to stay standing. Tadashi reached out a hand and pulled him close, allowing him to rest his weight onto him. Tadashi…Fukuda…Suzuki wished they had been alone. He needed counsel on this subject. Tadashi had no children, he had never been in anything close to this position, but he did know people and his judgement had normally been very sound. There had been incidents but…but Tadashi would have known what to do. If they could have just been alone. If he could have put his full weight onto Tadashi…if they could have both sank back into the floor…or anywhere, really…if Tadashi could have put his arms around him and made him feel…
He didn't know why he needed it, to be mad to feel safe, he was safe…he knew that he was safe….he was perfectly safe and….and….and there was still ground under his feet.
It was just moving.
"Touichirou…really. You've been through a lot." Said Tadashi. Suzuki heard a door slam. That was Sho…but he didn't care about Sho right now and hadn't for quite some time. Shigeko on the other hand…Shigeko had…he had no place in this part of her life…but she shouldn't even have had this part of her life to begin with!
"I am aware of what I have been through. What I am not aware of is how I got to be in this state in the first place. Hatori will now explain." Said Suzuki through gritted teeth. He needed to know…he needed to know what in God's name had possessed Hatori to tell him about…about ANY of this! What had…was he possessed?
Suzuki took at him closely.
His aura was the same. Everything about him was the same. That same ridiculous sweater, this time with a kitten on it, his nails bitten down in the same way they always were, his aura jumping and flaring in that same panicked way…but what did he have to be upset over?! He wasn't the one who had to think about his daughter in…in such a compromising…and that was what this was. It compromised their family, their bloodline…well she wasn't his blood but-but still! She shouldn't have been risking herself like this. She…she could have been….
Suzuki used to want grandchildren….now he knew better.
His aura resembled Hatori's, now. The thought of Shigeko being pregnant with Shimazaki Ryou's child…or with any man's child for that matter…it terrified him. She had grown up so fast…but she wasn't grown up at all! She was…she wasn't a child anymore…but she also was! She was too young for all of this! She was too young to be having se…to be having children, to be exploring physicality like this. Suzuki, had he been in her position at her age, would have been happy…but he wouldn't have been ready. Suzuki remembered the sort of person he had been at thirteen…he had been a moron. He hadn't been ready for this, to be having children, to be…he had both wanted nothing more than to be with a girl and had also been terrified of them and…and girls matured faster than boys but….but Shigkeo wasn't that mature!
Suzuki didn't get an opinion on this…so why did he even need to know about any of this?
Hatori had a lot of explaining to do…if it was even possible to explain himself at this point.
"Me? I mean…you do eat a lot of junk food and that mixed with all the stress-" said Hatori
"That's not what I meant." Said Suzuki, leaning more of his weight onto Tadashi. Hatori's eyes were wide from behind his glasses. He moved towards Serizawa a bit, though he didn't look like he was in any position to be supporting anyone. Both of his hands were clutched around that ridiculous umbrella and he was shaking.
Or maybe Suzuki just wasn't seeing straight…the entire world looked and felt shaky after all….
"How you got a concussion? I guess you it your head-" said Hatori
"You-you have a lump on your forehead. It was really bad before but now it's hardly even noticeable! I mean I noticed it but I don't think that other people will…not that I know who'll be seeing it but…but Fukuda did a good job and-" said Serizawa
"No, I mean I need Hatori explain to me why he saw fit to inform me of the fact that my daughter has decided to pursue a sexual relationship with Shimazaki Ryou!" said Suzuki. Serizawa turned red and hid behind his umbrella. Hatori turned even redder and hid his face in his hands. Even Tadashi's body temperature rose by several degrees and he took a step back…why? What in the world did those three have to be embarrassed about?
It wasn't as though it was their daughter that was running around with the likes of Shimazaki.
"Well?" asked Suzuki
"I-I really don't know! I mean Mob didn't tell me why and I didn't ask. I mean I guess she likes older guys, I mean I know she likes me but I don't…I mean….I don't know why she's….she just is, ok?! And I thought that I should tell you because she's your kid and-and I mean if I had a kid and a guy old enough to be her Dad was trying to get with her then I'd want to know!" said Hatori
"Why would you want to know? What could you possibly do with this information?" asked Suzuki
"Kick Shimazaki's ass?" said Hatori. Suzuki decided not to go into the simple, plain as day, fact that in any kind of s fight with Shimazaki Ryou Hatori would be the loser. He was small, weak, and his powerset did not lend its self to such a conflict. To beat Shimazaki in a fight you had to be able to negate his teleportation…or put him in a curse room…but that put you at a significant disadvantage as well….
Suzuki didn't want to use his powers, though, he wanted to beat Shimazaki to death with his bare hands…and then bite him, too, for good measure.
"Can we please just stop fighting? There's too much fighting…" muttered Serizawa as he cowered in what used to be the corner.
"No, there is no stopping….I'm going to do just that. Shimazaki Ryou will pay and Shigeko….I have no idea what I'm going to do with Shigeko-" said Suzuki
"Wait, you're going to punish Mob?" asked Hatori
"Don't hold your breath…" muttered Tadashi. Suzuki would ask him why he had said that later. Right now…right now he could feel a plan brewing in his mind. Yes, he would beat up and injure, but not kill, Shimazaki Ryou. Then Shigeko…he would figure out what to do with Shigeko. She knew that he didn't like Shimazaki, she knew that she could do better, and…and it wasn't as though he could punish her. Well he could, his power over her was absolute even if he didn't always act as such, but…but he could…he could….
He would deal with Shigeko when the time came.
"I have no idea what I'm going to do with Shigeko." Said Suzuki
"You can't!" said Hatori
"Don't presume to tell me what I can and cannot do. I command you, not the other way around." Said Suzuki
"I-I know that but…but you can't punish Mob for this!" said Hatori
"You sound like my son, questioning me like this, and right now I can't deal with that. Go and be tiresome somewhere else." Said Suzuki
"No…just…no. I can't do that." said Hatori. Suzuki wondered if he'd been spending time with Sho…or if maybe he was just destined to only get son's who spoke to him like this. He had always considered, well once he got to spend more time with the man, him to be like the son he had always wanted...maybe he just wasn't meant to have sons…
Not that daughters were much better.
"Do you want me to treat you like I would my son if he were to defy me to my face like this? Because I feel like you may. For the life of my I can't understand why but I don't understand a lot of things about you right now, Hatori." Said Suzuki
"I…I can't let you punish Mob for this. She's just a kid and Shimazaki…well he's a creep and-" said Hatori
"It's not like you're any better." Said Tadashi
"What the fuck did you just say to me?" asked Hatori. Suzuki wondered if he needed to be told that he couldn't possibly win in a fight with Tadashi either. Tadashi could heal, for one thing, and for another he was quite a bit bigger and stronger than Hatori as well…
"Please! Stop fighting! Can't we all just be friends?" asked Serizawa
"With him? No! I can't believe that you just said-" said Hatori
"Tadashi. Explain." Said Suzuki before this could turn into even more of a headache than it was now.
"I just meant-" said Tadashi
"He just meant that he thought I was trying to get with Mob…you know that's really gross, right? That you would accuse me of something like that. I don't know what goes on in your head and I don't want to know. Whatever it is, whatever the fuck is happening in there, is really fucked up-" said Hatori
"Do you have to speak like that?" asked Suzuki
"Fine. Whatever the hell is going on in his head is really MESSED up! You know he knew about this long before I did, right? He was blackmailing Mob with this to, I don't know, stay away from Sho…which, by the way, it's weird how much time he spends with Sho." Said Hatori. Suzuki didn't know if he had said anything else. He had stopped listening. He had become physically incapable of listening to another word that came out of Hatori's mouth.
Another crazy word.
Crazy. Insane. Unbalanced. Words that had been applied to Suzuki for his entire life. Words that he'd seldom been able to apply to another human being before. This was…either Hatori had lost his mind or Tadashi had lost his mind…or maybe Suzuki was losing his mind. Tadashi…blackmailing Shigeko. For what purpose? She was Shigeko. Her goals in life revolved around watching cat videos, putting on makeup, and going to Disneyland. What could Tadashi have possibly wanted…to spend time with Sho…but it wasn't as though anyone was stopping him! He didn't care if Tadashi overstepped with Sho, it wasn't as though it was good for anyone for the boy to be left to his own devices, and Shigeko had no reason to care either and-and-and-
-and none of this made sense.
"I-" said Tadashi. Whatever he was about to say died as Suzuki made eye contact and aural contact with him.
"Tadashi. Fukuda. Explain." Said Suzuki. Tadashi took a deep breath. His aura evened out. His face went back to it's normal color. Suzuki could see, out of the corner of his eyes, Hatori squaring up like he was actually going to fight Tadashi. Maybe if Serizawa helped him he'd have had a chance…but Serizawa seemed busy cowering and trying to not explode….wonderful….
The only thing that could have made this worse would have been if Sho saw fit to emerge from wherever he had found himself.
"I…neither of us is happy with the person that Shigeko is becoming and I didn't want her to influence Sho so I made a deal with her. I wouldn't draw attention to the…to what she had going on with Shimazaki and she would leave Sho alone. I mean…I mean we don't need two Shigekos. One is enough for you to deal with. Do you really want Sho acting up in the same way she does? Do you really want him to drink and smoke and sleep with men twenty years older than him?" asked Tadashi. Suzuki broke eye contact. That was…he made a good point. He didn't need Sho to carry on like that. He didn't need two Shigeko, one was enough to deal with, but the fact that Tadashi had seen fit to betray him like this…to betray Shigeko. Yes, she was one who had been betrayed…
Not that she and Fukuda had ever been allies.
They had been. Once. When she had been small. Before any of this had happened. Back when she had been so small…he remembered, once, when she had been so excited to have entered the first grade…when her greatest desire had been to show him her uniform and school satchel…that was when she and Tadashi had last been allies. Now…well she had changed. Suzuki was her father and would love her no matter what, for real and not in the way his own mother had said, but Tadashi didn't have any obligation to her at all and…and he could see how Tadashi would have been at the end of his rope…
But still.
Shigeko was…she was Shigeko and one did not treat her like that. She was…in the hierarchy of Claw she was his direct superior and one did not blackmail their direct superior. They were, at this point, two unrelated adults…so that was the only thing that held them together. Claw. They did not care for each other and…and he couldn't imagine what would have possessed Tadashi to pick a fight with her like this! She could have killed him if she'd had half a mind to and…and it wasn't her way and….and Suzuki could have killed him too. This was an offense against their entire family…she did not share blood with him…but still! She was his child and…and she hadn't been a child for some time…but she was still such a child and…
…and Suzuki could feel what he strongly suspected was a migraine coming on.
"….obviously not…" said Suzuki
"See? He's putting it on Mob again! Mob is thirteen and Shimazaki is thirty two or thirty three, I don't know off the top of my head, but I do know that he's even older than I am. He shouldn't have been interested in her like that at all and-and don't get mad at her! She didn't do anything wrong! If anything you should be pissed at Fukuda for blackmailing her!" said Hatori
"I am upset with-" said Suzuki
"I-I'm kind of mad about that…I mean how could you treat Miss Suzuki like that? She's been nothing but nice, the nicest person that I've ever met in my life, and she cares a lot about all of us. She's the kind of person that would do anything for her friend and-and I don't know how anyone could have treated her like that!" said Serizawa, emerging from behind his umbrella. Suzuki had no choice in that moment, he had to absorb the extra energy that came off of him. It was either that or the house exploded and he didn't feel like dealing with the fallout from that. He stayed silent as the extra energy integrated with his aura…as his own powers shifted and grew…he had to keep control over himself…
He couldn't lose control. Not again.
"You know what? The both of you aren't exactly angels here either! If you want to talk about spending too much time with Shigeko, what about Serizawa over there? Shigeko spends every waking moment of her life in his room with him-" said Fukuda
"Hey! No! Don't you talk about Serizawa like that! He's not like that, do you think I'd let Mob be around him if he was?" asked Hatori
"Like what?" asked Serizawa
"Nothing. It doesn't matter. Fukuda's just being gross again." Said Hatori
"I'm just making an observation, she spends a lot of time alone with him and I know how she is with men. You know, if you knew about Shimazaki then why didn't you say anything sooner? Why did you choose to blackmail me with this-" said Tadashi
"Hatori doesn't have it in him." Said Suzuki. He could feel his pulse in his teeth. His head was pounding. He needed…he needed to lay down. Alone. Not with Tadashi. Alone in his bed so he could get all of this sorted out. Tadashi had, once again, made another grievous mistake and Shigeko…she was probably out there with Shimazaki now continuing his family line and…and he thought makes Suzuki want to vomit….the pounding in his head makes him want to vomit…
This whole situation makes him want to vomit.
"I do too have it in my to blackmail someone! He's got pictures of your wife and I tried to use them to get him to get off of Mob's back-" said Hatori
"You have pictures of Shiori?" asked Suzuki. The pounding in his head had dulled. His heart had even slowed down to it's usual pace. He could no longer feel his pulse…he could feel Tadashi's. Because somehow his hand had made it around his throat. Somehow he had started to squeeze. Somehow he had lifted Tadashi two centimeters off of the ground with his bare hands. That was…disconcerting. His body had acted without his input….
He let Tadashi down.
"Masami!" gasped out Tadashi as the purple bruises on his neck faded into nothingness. Suzuki had to grab his other hand before he repeated that same action. Masami…he didn't care…he did care…Masami was not his wife anymore, he didn't care whether or not she lived or died, and she didn't care which mean but….but Tadashi had no reason to….
I slept with your wife.
That was what he had said, before, back last Christmas. He had said…at least that was what Suzuki thought he'd said. He had been very drunk at the time. Drunk and preoccupied with the fact that he and Tadashi were going to have sex…but why would he have imagined it? Why would his mind have come up with something as horrible as…as the thought of Masami and Tadashi betraying him like that. Masami…he didn't know her and had never known her, not if she was capable of walking out on him like that, but he knew Tadashi and he knew that Tadashi was incapable of betraying him….
Tadashi seemed to be capable of a lot of things, though…things that Suzuki never would have dreamed of….
"What?" asked Suzuki
"He said Masami! I mean…not that anyone asked me…" said Serizawa
"That's his first wife." Whispered Hatori
"Yes, I know that she was my first wife…just…Tadashi! Explain yourself right now!" said Suzuki. There had better have been a good explanation…not that he could think of one. Hatori sometimes took pictures of women that they passed by. Suzuki found the practice socially unacceptable, of course, and knew that if he had been a woman then he wouldn't have wanted men to take pictures of him…and he knew that Masami had been his wife and he was the only person who had been allowed to have pictures of her and…and he should have been the only man who'd wanted them and-and-and-
There was no way Tadashi had betrayed him like that.
"We spent a lot of time together and I, as her friend, took her picture. She was lonely, Touichirou, incredibly lonely. She was locked up in that house all day-" said Tadashi
"She was not lonely, she had the children, and she was not locked in the house. She had a set of keys and if she'd lost hers then she could have easily had another made." Said Suzuki. Tadashi had used a tone there, one that Suzuki didn't like, and one that he new did not fit the conversation. Masami had not been a prison, she had been his wife, and he'd given her everything that she had ever wanted….it just hadn't been enough for her. He would have given her the moon, pulled it from the sky, if she had asked him to….he would have done anything for her…he just had no idea what she would have wanted. What more could she have possibly wanted from him? He didn't know…nobody knew. Nobody could have known Masami because she was unknowable. Nobody could know the unknowable…
Especially not Tadashi.
"She felt lonely, Touichirou, and she felt like a prison. I mean…you didn't let her work, you didn't let her have guests-" said Fukuda
"She didn't need to work. A man provides for his wife and children and I did just that. She didn't need to have guests, she didn't need to put herself in that kind of danger. She isn't…she wasn't like us, she had no way of defending herself, and my enemies are numerous. She…you don't know her. Nobody knows her…she is unknowable." Said Suzuki
"I know that we were…." Said Tadashi. His eyes darted from Suzuki to the others and then to the ground, the spaces where the tiles used to be. It wasn't so faceting that Tadashi would have lost his train of thought.
"You knew that the two of you were what, exactly?" asked Suzuki
"That we were….I told you what Masami and I were." Said Tadashi
"Yes…friends…but she didn't need friends. She didn't need anyone, she had the children and she had me-" said Suzuki
"The kids were Mukai's age and you were gone nine months out of twelve. She needed some adult company and I was that company. If you or Hatori or whoever want to twist it into something sleazy then twist away, that doesn't make it true. It wasn't a sex thing. It was never about….we were friends. She needed someone and I was there for her…and she was there for me, too. It wasn't exactly easy, you know, being on standby for all of those years. Maybe I got lonely too. That doesn't mean-" said Tadashi
"Here! Look at this and tell me that these are just 'friend' pictures!" said Hatori as he shoved his phone in Suzuki's face. Suzuki pushed his arm away and let his eyes focus…there she was. Masami. There she was…sleeping? She slept like an angel. He had never seen an angel but he knew that they were perfection and Masami was, at the time she had been, his most perfect person…
He took the phone from Hatori.
He scrolled down. There she was eating. There she was laughing…her eyes…had they always lit up like that? There she was brushing out her hair…he could almost smell her. He could almost smell the berry scent of her lotion, the heaviness of her perfume, the cinnamon scent that clung to her after baking…he could almost feel the silkiness of her hair. The way that strands of it would flow through his hands like water…the golden brown of it. There had been no way to tell it's true color, it depended on the light, whether or not is was a dark blonde or a light brown…in this light it looked like a dark blonde….
Tadashi might have known.
These pictures had been taken in Masami's…in the bedroom…in THEIR bedroom. Tadashi had been in their bedroom. Tadashi who he had…he needed to calm down. Hatori's phone screen shattered, the picture went black, and…and he threw it across the room with his powers. Serizawa shrieked and ducked…that could have set him off…Suzuki didn't have time to worry about that now. He had…he had to calm himself down. Tadashi had taken those pictures of Masami…of his Masami. Now they were there, in his phone, now they were…for what purpose?
What could Tadashi have possibly needed….what could….
No. Suzuki knew where his mind was going and he stopped it right in it's tracks. Tadashi reached a hand out, again, and Suzuki slapped it away. He didn't want to be touched and especially not by…by the man who…the man who he had spent the better part of his life with. Tadashi was the first person he had ever called 'friend'. Tadashi was the first guest he'd ever had in his home. Tadashi was the first person to ever use the second controller he had for his Atari. Tadashi was the first person he had ever actually looked forward to spending time with. Tadashi was the first person he had ever…Tadashi was the first person he had ever had romantic or sexual feelings for. Tadashi was the first person he had ever married his life to. Tadashi had been…Tadashi had been the first person he had ever gotten lost with. The first person he had ever gotten drunk with. The first person he had ever shown his powers to. The first person he had ever met with powers…the first esper he had ever met…the first person he had ever kissed…the first man he had ever slept with….Tadashi had been a lot of firsts…
Not all of them good.
Tadashi had been the first person ever to make him question himself. Tadashi had been the first person to ever give him a headache. Tadashi had been the first person to ever make him wonder his place in the world. Tadashi had been the first person ever to break his heart…to betray him…but they had been children then. That heartbreak hadn't even been heartbreak because he had not yet known what it was that he felt for Tadashi and that betrayal…those had been adolescent betrayals. Tadashi had gotten taller than him, Tadashi had gotten a girlfriend first, Tadashi had lost the tapes he'd been lent, Tadashi had woken him up in the middle of the night with all sorts of nonsense, Tadashi had…the betrayals had come later, too, with adulthood. Tadashi had blackmailed Shigeko…Tadashi had kept his children in contact with Mukai…Tadashi had overstepped when it came to Sho…but those hadn't been real betrayals either. Those had…they paled in comparison to the idea that Tadashi could have….that he could have slept with Masami….
Tadashi wasn't capable of such things.
"No." said Suzuki. That was all he could say to this. Tadashi was not capable of sleeping with Masami. If he had been then…then those would have been the sorts of photos that Shiori sent. The ones that they traded, though he doubted that she got anything out of seeing him in such ways. Women were less visual and…and the thought of Fukuda seeing Shiori or…or Masami in such a state of affairs but…but that wasn't possible.
He knew Fukuda Tadashi. He trusted Fukuda Tadashi. He loved Fukuda Tadashi.
"I'm telling you I never-" said Tadashi making a gesture of surrender.
"Come on, he's obviously lying. Nobody takes pictures of a girl, especially one as hot as-" said Hatori
"I said no. Tadashi would never betray me like that. I believe that he was friends with Masami…she didn't need friends and I don't understand why she would want one but I believe Tadashi. I believe that he befriended her since he's always had a need for companionship that I do not understand…and I believe that I did, truly, spend more time out of the country than in it…and I believe that this discussion is now over and I believe that I want everyone out of my house right now." Said Suzuki. He could see, clearly, what he had to do…he had to go to bed before he lost control and murdered everyone in this room. He needed rest and he needed to regroup and…and he needed to get away from the group and…and he needed to focus on the problem ay hand.
Shigeko.
She was having sex with Shimazaki and he didn't even know how many other men. That was understandable. She was a woman now. She had a woman's body, she menstruated, so obviously she would listen to her instincts and do what human beings had been doing since the beings of time. Obviously this was none of his business just as what he did was none of hers and had been none of his parents' business, too, when he had been her age…three years older than her…
He had been sixteen.
He'd been sixteen years old when he'd had sex for the first time. Three years…it was nothing. Three years was miniscule compared to what his life had been. Three years was…he was forty six now. Approximately one sixteenth of his life….she was only thirteen and three years was only…well she was her own person and it wasn't as though there was anything he could do to stop her. His parents had tried to stop him once they'd realized that he'd entered into that part of life…mother really shouldn't have been going through his things like that and it had been none of her business or father's what he had chosen to do…there had been a real feeling of violation when they had confronted him…
But now he knew how it felt on their end.
Shigeko was his daughter and it was his job to protect her. She was putting herself at risk…yes, he was justified in his concern. She could have been pregnant with Shimazaki's child. Mother and father had shouted at him, together and then they had taken turns as the night grew long, that he could have gotten his girlfriend at the time pregnant. Of course they had found out that he had been having sex by going through his things and finding his condoms…..but he knew the worry. Suzuki hadn't been in any position to have been brining another mouth to feed into the world. He hadn't been living for himself, then, he had been living off of father just as Shigeko was living off of him. Of course now Suzuki was wealthier than mother and father ever could have imagined…he could have easily supported another family member…but that didn't change the fact that Shimazaki wasn't good for Shigeko. She needed….he was a powerfuk esper and more than capable of protecting her and providing for her even if Suzuki was the man who signed his checks….she needed someone else. Someone who…someone who needed her. Someone who wasn't Shimazaki Ryou….she needed someone better….
Suzuki could figure out who that was later.
"Didn't you people hear me? I want you all out of my house." Said Suzuki. Everyone was still staring at him…why? He was speaking Japanese, wasn't he? He needed to be alone. How much plainer could he have put it? Did he need to get one of Sho's sketchbooks and write it out in hiragana for everyone?
"Are you sure…are you sure you should be alone right now? Touichirou, you just had a heart attack. That's serious. I fixed the damage but I don't know if you're going to have another one and I can't imagine that your blood pressure-" said Fukuda
"He just wants to get you alone so he can lie to you some more. Don't let him trick you! He's an asshole, he's creepy as hell, and he-" said Hatori
"I don't want to hear another word out of either of you! Tadashi, I can't stand the sight of you right now. Hatori, I am severally disappointed in you. Serizawa…you've done nothing besides be annoying, I honestly doubt that anything Tadashi has implied about you and Shigeko is true, but I want you out too….and someone take my son with you while you go. I need to be alone now so I can plan my next move." Said Suzuki
"Touichirou, I-" said Fukuda
"That was an order, not a request. Now go!" said Suzuki. He didn't wait for the arguing to start up again. He just waved his wrist and threw everyone out. His powers were obeying him again. Good. Something that was obeying him….he was getting back to certainty. He knew what he needed to do. He needed to find Shimazaki Ryou and he needed to make that man pay for even thinking that he could touch Shigeko….
Not murder.
Because he knew that if he murdered Shimazaki not only would he be out a very useful asset but he would alienate Shigeko…and he didn't know if he could handle that. She had her own life and he had his but…but that didn't mean that their lives couldn't intersect and…and right now he didn't even want to look at her. He knew that if he looked at her then he'd be forced to think about how she had…how she had been stupid enough to…he didn't want her around but he didn't want them to go their separate ways. Not yet or…or even ever. He knew what Shiori would have told him to do, she would have told him to lay down the law with her, but that was easier said than done. Maybe if he had been female it would have been easier to talk to her about this. He knew that if it had been Sho instead of Shigeko…
If Sho had slept with Shimazaki then Suzuki would have had an aneurism.
He would have been dead and Shimazaki would have been dead and…and if Sho had slept with a woman then it would have been easier to talk to him. To tell him that he was thirteen years old and had no business putting himself at risk like that. To tell him that yes, his body was telling him to have sex, but that didn't mean that he was anywhere close to emotionally or financially prepared to deal with the consequences should he make just one mistake….if Shigeko had been male and had slept with a woman then it would have been so much easier to talk to her…if Masami had been here then there could have been a woman to talk some sense into her…
But there wasn't.
Suzuki was both mother and father…as he had been for some time. He didn't know what to say, what to do. It was like the day she had started menstruating but a thousand times worse. Did she know anything about contraception? Did she know anything about how she deserved to be treated when it came to this? Did she know that she had every right to say 'no' and that if a man didn't respect that she was fully in her right to murder him? Did she know that despite how strong she was she had to take 'no' for an answer because there was nothing more wrong than to force yourself onto another person like that? Did she know…did she know all the things women told their daughters? The things that Masami hadn't been around to teach her? The things that he knew Shiori had no interest in talking to her about? The things that he, as a man, couldn't even begin to understand? Did she know…did she know anything?
Suzuki wasn't meant to be both mother and father…just being her father was hard enough…
He couldn't tell her what she needed to know. She wasn't Sho, she wasn't his son, and if she had been then the conversation could have been so much simpler and easier. Wear a condom even though they're terrible, ask her every few moments if she still wants to have sex with you, respect her desires, and then all of the other, practical, things that he wished his father had told him instead of shouting at him and telling him that he was an idiot….of course Sho thought that he was a homosexual so there was nothing really to teach him…but that was neither here nor there. This wasn't about what if scenarios, this was about Shigeko making a big mistake, and this was about him rectifying it for her before things got even worse than they were now.
Shimazaki Ryou wasn't going to die…but he was going to wish he had.