Mob hadn't really had a plan when she left.

She had just had to go, to leave, to get away from her friends before they talked some more about…about what had happened. She'd run away and now…well now she was done running. Her feet wouldn't carry her anymore. The sidewalks were rough and she didn't have any shoes on…and she didn't have any money to buy shoes either.

She hadn't thought of that.

Mob hadn't thought this far ahead. She was away, and she had no idea where away even was. The buildings were taller here, not skyscrapers, but not houses anymore either. She couldn't even see the HQ from here…she had no idea how far she had gone. It wasn't like she had been keeping track of her steps…and it wasn't like she had her phone to tell her where she was…

She was lost.

Kind of. If she focused she could feel auras. Dad's was the brightest, of course, not that she wanted to be anywhere near him right now. He had nearly died. He was probably in a bad mood now. Also he might have known…everyone knew. Everyone knew, even though she thought that they had known for a while, and now Dad was going to know…she couldn't think of anything worse than Dad knowing. It was bad enough that he had thought, before, that she liked Shimazaki….and she didn't even like him! She just…she liked the stuff he did….the stuff they had done…

The stuff that was never going to happen again.

Dad knew. Her friends knew. Minegishi knew…ok, Minegishi knowing was the very worst part of all. She had thought that they had known already but…but that had been dumb. Of course they wouldn't have been ok with their best friend doing all of those things with their boyfriend. Sharing was caring but there was such a thing as too much sharing and Mob…she had been selfish. She had just wanted to feel good, that was all, and every single time it happened…every single time it happened she told herself that it was going to be the last time….but then it had just happened again. She had been so selfish and now Minegishi and Shimazaki were going to break up and it was all her fault!

Her feet her.

Her feet hurt, her head her, her heart hurt, and she knew that she deserved to feel everything that she was feeling right now. She knew that she deserved to feel just as bad as she knew that Minegishi felt. They loved, had loved, Shimazaki and they didn't fall in love easily. They had said so. They had told her all about their first girlfriend, the first person that they had ever been in love with, and how much it had hurt when it had ended….and how they blamed themselves…Mob hoped that they didn't blame themselves for this. Though Mob had no idea how they could have. Mob had no idea how they could have blamed anyone other than her for this.

This was all her fault.

She stopped walking. There were some people on the sidewalk, probably because there was a store right there. The kind that sold snacks and stuff, not the kind that sold shoes, though maybe…they did sell everything in those Family Mart places…Mob felt her pockets. She had left her bag and her phone and her money at home. So either she had to go back and get it or she was going to be shoeless and living on the streets for the rest of her life….she wiggled her toes. They hurt. People were looking at her. They were looking at her feet and then her…and they were muttering things to each other. Hopefully just about her shoes. Hopefully nothing about how she had run away…about why she had run away…about what she had done with her best friend's boyfriend….their ex-boyfriend…

She had to get out of here.

She walked this time, she didn't run. Running was worse than walking…though walking wasn't good either. Why was the sidewalk still so hot? And why was it so rough? And why did people have to be so gross. Someone spat on the sidewalk as she walked past…she sidestepped away. She didn't want to step in spit even though she deserved it. She deserved that and a whole lot more. She just…she wished that she could have made it better…but no amount of pain or grossness could ever make up for what she had done…

She kept walking.

She wondered if she needed to go back now. She hadn't thought this through. Sho needed her. Sho needed her to feed him, well to make him healthy meals, and Sho needed her to help him with his homeschool work and to remember to put his phone on the charger and to keep his sketchbooks away from Mukai because she liked to color. He needed her to get him new clothes, too, his shoes were kind of small again…and he needed her to keep Dad away from him, too. Sho needed her. Mukai…Mukai had a mom, she didn't need Mob as much, but Mob needed her. It had been hard enough saying goodbye that first time, when she had been a baby and all Mob had to remember her by was a little baby sock….and she hadn't even said goodbye. Mukai didn't know what was happening, she was too little, and…and she didn't want anyone to explain it to her. She didn't want Mukai to know just what her big sister was like…and she wanted Mukai to remember, though, that she had a big sister…was she still so little that she forgot people?

Mob didn't want her sister to forget her.

She stopped walking. She was in front of a bar now, the sort of dark smoky place that Shimazaki would have taken her…she was too little to go in on her own. She didn't have any money, either, and she didn't want anyone else to buy her drinks. People did that sometimes, when she and Shimazaki were out together. He said that guys did that so girls would sleep with them. Mob hadn't ever wanted to do that with anyone but him…he had always been so nice. Before, during, afterwards. He had never kicked her out or…or anything like that. He always listened to her, and not just when she told him what felt good, when she told him about what bothered her…he had always been such a good listener and they'd had so much fun together…

They had been really good friends, when they had been allowed to be friends.

The door to the bar opened. Airconditioning hit her right in the face. It felt good and bad at the same time. The coolness was welcome, even at night it was hot and sticky, but the coolness also drew attention to the tears running down her cheeks. At some point she had started crying…at some point…she didn't know which point. She didn't know which point she was or what the next one would be or what the one before it would be…she just didn't know….she didn't know anything…

She knew that she needed a drink.

She could see her aura. She had been breaking things all night on accident. She just needed her powers to go away, to go to sleep, to leave her alone. She just needed…she was thirsty. It was hot and she was sweaty and thirsty from running all night and…and it was ok. She knew herself. Shimazaki had said that moderation wasn't the same for everyone. Mob knew herself, she knew what she wanted, and she knew what her limits were. They were different from Minegishi's. They had always, well lately, told her not to drink at all. Drinking was bad for you and made you do dumb things…they had been right about that….

Mob kept on walking.

She was too little to go in there anyway. She was thirteen years old. Not an adult but not a child either. At least she didn't think that she was a child. Everyone had said that she was. But she knew better. Mukai was a child. She was happy all the time, she didn't have to worry about anything, and everyone took care of her. Mob had to take care of other people, of everyone else in her life, and she had…she had so much to do. The laundry and the cleaning and the cooking and the homeschool and taking care of Serizawa and…and taking care of herself, too. She had to worry about everyone else but there was nobody there to worry about her….

She wasn't a child, she was an adult, she had been the adult…the mom…in her family for years now.

She wiped her eyes as she kept on walking. What would Mom have said if she could have…if she had thought about…if she had cared enough to stay in their family. If Mom had been there then Mob would have been back at the castle. She wouldn't have ever met any of her friends…she wouldn't have had any friends. It would have been her, mom, and Sho…sometimes with Dad, for the rest of her life. What would she have done? She would have been in middle school. She had seen middle school on TV. It looked fun. There were other people her age and clubs and…and even sitting in class looked fun. A bunch of people her own age….

She didn't even know what her age was.

She walked past some girls in uniforms. They might have been older than her or they might have been her age or they might have just been those adults that wore school uniforms as fashion. She didn't really know. It was hard to tell….she walked past fast. She didn't want them to see that she wasn't wearing any shoes…it was so gross and dumb not to wear shoes. She didn't want anyone to see…anyone her own age…if they ever were her own age. They looked younger than she was…but she knew that she was younger than she saw herself. Sometimes she looked in the mirror and saw a kid…but she was a kid….

She was and was not a kid.

She needed to rest. She walked until she found an alley…and then she kept on walking. She didn't have shoes on and even if she did it looked gross in there. People did all kinds of things in alleys. They peed and threw up and had sex…all things that she didn't want to walk through without shoes on. They smoked too, and drank, and did all the other stuff…the fun stuff…the stuff that she was never going to do again. Molly and coke and…and other stuff was fun but that was how she had gotten into this mess in the first place. She had been so worried about having fun that she hadn't given a single thought to…to anything. To what she was doing. To who she was doing it with.

She had just wanted to feel good.

She kept on walking. There was something in her skirt pocket…oh. Her lighter….but she had nothing to light. She wanted to smoke. A cigarette, a joint, that one thing that she and Shimazaki had smoked back in…she couldn't remember the country but she could remember that they had spoken weird English there. That had been fun, all the energy she had gotten, but Shimazaki had started hearing things and that part hadn't been fun…she hoped that he was ok. She hoped that the others weren't still yelling at him…she had no idea why. It wasn't like he was cheating on Minegishi, they could be with other people, and it wasn't like…it was like she had done a bad thing, not him. She was the one who had hurt her best friend…

She hoped that Minegishi hurt less than she did.

Than her feet did. She had to stop walking. She saw a closed store, the windows were dark and the cage thing was down. She sat down in front of it and brought her knees close. She needed to follow Dad's aura and go home. She needed…she needed to own up to what she had done. Even if all of her friends knew, each and every one of them, that she'd had sex…Minegishi had said that it wasn't a bad thing. People acted like it was a bad thing for girls to do but it wasn't. They had said that as long as it felt good, everyone was happy, and nobody had said 'no' then it was ok. Mob didn't know how something that felt so good could have been so bad….but it was. It was bad enough that everyone you knew got into a great big fight when they found out that you did it….

Mob didn't get it…and she got it completely….

She rested her head on her knees. She needed a glass of milk. She was so thirsty…she knew that when the executed people they got their last meals. Well that was what this felt like. She felt like…like she was going back to her execution…and she might as well have had her last drink. A cold strawberry milk, no, a white Russian the way Shimazaki made them. Also there would be fries with extra salt, pizza with all the toppings she liked, and one of those drinks with a bunch of fruit in it and a little umbrella on the top. Ok, so that was two drinks…but it was her execution and she got to have as many drinks as she wanted.

She had already been this selfish so…whatever.

She held her hair in her hands and tried not to cry. She had to go back. She didn't have any shoes on, no phone, and no money either. She was going to die out here. Minegishi had said that they had spent plenty of nights on the streets as a kid but Mob wasn't even half the person that they were. She didn't know where to find food, she didn't think that she had it in her to eat out of a garbage can, and she didn't want to steal either. She could have used her powers too steal but…but stealing was wrong and she couldn't grow any food either since the ground was concrete. She could feel dirt under it if she focused….but then she would have broken the sidewalk and that would have been bad for the people who had to walk here. She didn't know what she would do, then, if she was mean…and she didn't know…she didn't know what she would eat or drink or even where she would sleep. Minegishi had told her, before, about how they used to sleep in the tunnels at the park when they had been a kid but Mob didn't even know where a park even WAS from here and she didn't have her phone to tell her and-and-and-

She had to go home.

She lifted her head. Dad's aura was still there, right at the edges of her passive range. She tried to stand up but sat right back down. Her feet hurt worse than an entire day at Disneyland. She needed rest…and she needed to go home. She could feel Dad's aura and…and Minegishi's, too, if she really focused. Even Shimazaki's…but she wasn't focusing anymore.

Oh no.

"See? I knew where she was, she just kept on moving. Now can we all talk about-" said Shimazaki as he teleported right in front of her. Mob got up and tried to take a step back. Between the pain in her feel and the wall behind her she didn't get far. There, right in front of her, were Shimazaki and Minegishi….Shimazaki looked normal….but Minegishi looked mad.

She didn't even have to look at their aura to tell.

"No. Ryou, we aren't talking about anything. If I talk to you then-then I know that I'm going to say some things that I don't want to take back…so go." Said Minegishi. They had her bag, her Elsa bag and her backpack, in their hand. Mob shouldn't have taken a step back, she was trapped now. They were walking over to her. Shimazaki was staying in one place….she didn't want to talk to either of them…especially not the two of them together!

Minegishi kept on walking closer.

"Toshi, I want to talk about this. I don't know why you're so pissed off and…damn it I want to talk about this!" said Shimazaki

"Then go talk to yourself! Preferably somewhere far, far, FAR away from here! Now get out, you're scaring Mob." Said Minegishi as they came to a stop in front of her. She could see them in the light of the streetlights. Their eyes were narrow and their whole body was tense. They had their messenger bag on and it looked heavy. Mob would have taken that from them if they had asked…and her backpack and Elsa bags too….

Why did Minegishi have so much of her stuff?

Maybe…maybe they wanted her to go off to part unknown, like Mom had done. Maybe they were here to tell her that everyone had voted her out of the group because she was a boyfriend stealer. Maybe Dad wanted her out of the family because now he knew that she had done things with Shimazaki. Maybe Claw had completely fallen apart because Dad had gotten hurt. What if he'd lost the will to live because of what she had done? He had told her before that he didn't like Shimazaki…so did this make her a traitor? Was she out of Claw now? Was she-

-getting a backpack thrown at her?

"Did I fucking stutter, Shimazaki?" asked Minegishi. They kept their eyes on Mob but spoke to Shimazaki…he didn't say anything back. He just made that sound that he made when he was sad and teleported away. Mob wanted, part of her wanted, to go after him and find out what was so bad and make it better…but she knew what was so bad. She had made the love of his life leave him…she was a bad friend…that was why Minegishi had thrown her backpack at her.

She had heard the expression 'throw the book at you' before…and Minegishi had plenty of books…but Mob wasn't worth getting one of their books thrown at her.

"There are shoes and socks in there. You should put them on." Said Minegishi. They were looking at her…but also not at her. Like there was something in her direction that they were looking at…like she wasn't even worth looking at…well of course she wasn't worth looking at. She had been a terrible friend. What did she expect?

She picked up her backpack.

"Thank you." Said Mob, mostly out of reflex.

"Just put your damn shoes on, Suzuki." Said Minegishi. Mob winced….Minegishi hadn't called her 'Suzuki' since they'd met. That had been before they had been friends…maybe they weren't friends anymore…of course they weren't friends anymore. Minegishi had brought her this stuff so they could tell her to get lost.

Mob was already lost.

So she did as she was told. She would rather have been friendless and lost with her shoes on than without. She opened up her bag. There, at the top, were her blue Frozen gym shoes…she had been wearing sandals since it was summer…but she wasn't going to complain. She put her bag down and sat down. Underneath her shoes were some pairs of her socks…thick ones that she hadn't worn in a while…and those green ones with the individual toes were Sho's…he'd be mad when he found them gone. Underneath her socks were some pairs of her underwear, some undershirts, a couple of t-shirts, and some skirts that she didn't like that much…she put her shoes on. Minegishi really was kicking her out…and as more punishment they had brought her clothes that she didn't like….

She deserved it.

She put on her shoes and socks quickly, not Sho's but a thick pair of black ones with white glitter stars that she normally wore only in the wintertime. Her feet were hot now but at least they weren't touching the dirty ground…though maybe she had made them dirty by putting her feet in them after walking around the dirty city with no shoes on…Minegishi still had her Elsa bag. She had a bunch of rolls of money in it. She could buy a new phone and then…she didn't know. Live in a Claw house if she hadn't been banished? Dad owned thirteen apartment buildings and eighteen houses in Japan. She could always live in one of those…if she was even still a member of Claw…

If Minegishi was right….if she was even still Suzuki after what she had done….

Mob didn't know. She didn't ask. She just focused on tying her shoes. Once these were tied then…then she could figure out what she was supposed to do. Minegishi was still just standing there. Some people passed by and stared at them. They either didn't notice or didn't care. They were making fists with both of their hands. One was clutched around the strap of their messenger bag, the big one with all the pins, and the other was grabbing a fistful of their shirt. Mob knew that shirt….she had been there when they had unwrapped it. It had been a present from Matsuo. Yuck Fou in English…which meant something mean but also not….Minegishi had thought that it was funny…of course they had. Their boyfriend, one of their boyfriends, had gotten it for them….

Mob didn't like Matsuo like that….not even in whatever way she had liked Shimazaki….but Minegishi didn't know that…they were probably suspicious and mad now….Mob didn't blame them.

"My….my shoes are on now. I can go if you-" said Mob as she stood up again. She wanted to walk away, to go before they told her that they didn't like her anymore. She didn't know if she could handle hearing it. She didn't know if she could handle walking away. She didn't even know if she could handle this….she felt her eyes getting wet and itchy….

She tried to take a step away. Minegishi stopped her.

"What did you think you were doing?" asked Minegishi, their hand on her shoulder, their nails digging past her shirt and into her skin.

"I was leaving….like you want me to." Said Mob softly. Minegishi dug their nails deeper into their shoulder.

"Suzuki…Shigeko….Mob! Just….when did I say that you…why do you always do this!? What the fuck is the matter with you? Whenever something goes wrong you make a run for it! You…you need to start thinking of someone other than yourself. You needed to start using your head! Did you ever once-" said Minegishi, their voice turning into a shout by the end…well not the end. Mob didn't want them to get to the end. She didn't want her friend, her former friend, to yell at her…but that was selfish. She didn't want Minegishi to yell. If they yelled then they would have bothered people and then those people would have gotten into bad moods and broken up with their friends and partners…and Mob didn't want to be responsible for any more breakups than she already was responsible for.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't think-I mean I thought you knew-I mean-I mean that I'm really sorry and I just want…please don't hate me!" cried Mob. Minegishi let go of her shoulder…but that was all. They didn't take a step back, they didn't even break eye contact with her. She looked up at them. The tears in her eyes mixed with the light of the streetlight made them look like they were standing in the middle of the world's saddest kaleidoscope.

"Mob….I could never hate you. You know that." Said Minegishi softly. Mob sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Now they looked like they were in just the normal kind of scope. Not sad or the kind that collided.

"I…I can go, if you want me to…" said Mob softly

"I don't want you to go. I want…I need you to answer some questions for me, ok? I need you to answer them with nothing but total honesty. Ok? Don't lie, don't sugarcoat anything, and don't…don't make excuses for anyone. Especially him. Ok?" asked Minegishi

"Ok." Said Mob. That was easy, a lot easier then being yelled at. She didn't like to lie to anyone, especially her best friend…her former best friend.

"Did you have sex with Shimazaki?" asked Minegishi. Mob gasped and tried to hide her face in her hands. Minegishi pushed them away. She….she couldn't just come out and say it! They were looking at her and…and they wanted the truth but…but they knew the truth! So why did she have to say it again!

She wasn't going to say it.

She nodded. She looked down at her shoes and nodded. They were a weird color in this light. Streetlight light was yellow…she didn't know why. Maybe they did. They knew a lot of things about a lot of things. Maybe they could tell her why the streetlights were yellow and why…why milk tasted better when it was cold and…and why cats always landed on their feet but dogs didn't and why the sky was blue and what the things with too many teeth that Mukai was afraid of were or-or they didn't even have to say anything to her at all! She wouldn't have minded standing there in silence until they got old and died and turned into spirits.

It wouldn't have been so bad…not as bad as that question had been, anyway.

"Did you want to have sex with him? And for the love of God, use words." Said Minegishi. Mob swallowed. Words…words!? Why would she…she could see her aura. It wasn't good…she….she loved Minegishi and for them she would do this…even though being banished to parts unknown would have been a better punishment than this….

"I…I did….I wanted to do…all the things…with Shimazaki." Said Mob softly

"Did he make you?" asked Minegishi

"Make me?" asked Mob

"Yes, did he make you sleep with him. Did he say or do anything that made you feel like you didn't have the option of saying 'no' to him." Said Minegishi. Mob shook her head.

"No…he didn't do anything like that." Said Mob. Minegishi did that thing where they pulled in a lot of air through their teeth, like a reverse whistle….Mob still wasn't sure what that had meant but she got the feeling that this was not the time to ask.

"So those weird, cryptic calls you made…that was you asking my permission to sleep with Ryou…with Shimazaki." Said Minegishi

"…yes…and I thought that you knew what I was talking about! I never would have done anything if you had told me that I wasn't allowed-" said Mob

"Well you could have made yourself a little clearer, now couldn't you? Instead of telling me a bunch of cryptic shit you could have just called me and asked if you could have sex with Ryou….God, I can't even finish that sentence. I can't even…." Said Minegishi, running their hands through their hair and doing that reverse whistle thing again…mad. It meant that they were mad…at Mob….she deserved it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to steal your-" said Mob

"Do you love him?" asked Minegishi

"What do you mean?" asked Mob

"I mean are you in love, romantic love, with Shimazaki Ryou. Yes or no." said Minegishi

"No, I'm not…but I think that he might be in love with me…but I don't feel the same way at all." Said Mob. Minegishi nodded and pulled at the strap of their bag. Mob reached over to take it from them, judging by how overfilled it was it looked heavy, but they just pulled it away.

"So it was just a sex thing then?" asked Minegishi. Mob winced and nodded. That was all it had been about…but they didn't have to say it like that. Were they mad that she WASN'T in love with Shimazaki? She knew that when someone loved you then you had to love them back but….but she just…she couldn't do it. She liked what they did but the thought of him as her boyfriend…it didn't feel right. She couldn't make herself love him…that wasn't how love worked….

At least she figured that wasn't how love worked…she didn't know a lot about love…or about anything.

"It…it was….I'm sorry! I shouldn't have-" said Mob

"That doesn't make it any easier…why did I think that it would make it any easier…" muttered Minegishi

"What do you mean? If I can make it easier then, please, tell me how." Said Mob

"I don't know! I don't have the first clue what would make this easier! This…this is…how many people do you know? How many people are in Claw?" asked Minegishi

"Do you just mean the upper echelons or the Awakened, too?" asked Mob

"I mean…I mean why Ryou? Why…why out of all the people did you…why are you even having sex?! You're too young! You don't need to-" said Minegishi

"Because it felt good, ok?! Because it felt really good and…and I thought that it could only feel all slimy and weird and…and painful….but it felt good with him and the first time I was all drunk and high-" said Mob

"Surprise, surprise!" said Minegishi

"And then I told myself that it would be the last time but then I wanted to again and…and it felt good! Like the best thing ever and…and then….and then I kept on telling myself that it was never going to happen again but then I did it again and I thought that you were ok with it-" said Mob

"In what universe would I ever be ok with you sleeping with Shimazaki?! In what…yeah, I see you people staring! Mind you own goddamned business over there!" shouted Minegishi over their shoulder. Mob shrank back. People were looking…a lot of people. She just…she couldn't let them see her, not like…not if they knew…not if the whole world knew. She just…she wished that she could have just disappeared…

But she couldn't teleport or turn invisible…her powers weren't going to get her out of the mistakes she'd made.

"Nosy bastard….can't mind their own….making me mutter to myself…" muttered Minegishi as they gripped the strap of their bag so tightly that it looked like they were trying to choke it to death. The ground under Mob's feet shook…grass. There was grass starting to poke out through the cracks…she had made them that mad…

"I really am sorry….I thought that it was ok…but now I know that I did a bad thing and…and I'll never do it again…." Said Mob. That hadn't been the right thing to say either. That had just made Minegishi do that reverse whistle thing again…Mob really wished that they'd stop doing that. It couldn't have been good for their lungs.

"Mob…it's not…I have no idea what to say. You're thirteen, you shouldn't be having sex, and especially not with Shimazaki. He's…you're too smart for him. He's got a lot of problems…we all do…but you don't need his shit. You don't need to get involved with him like this….you needed…you could do better." Said Minegishi. That was a weird thing to say since he was the love of their life…or he had been. Maybe they had fallen out of love with him…that would have made sense…but maybe they could get back together! Maybe….maybe if Mob said sorry enough times it would stick and everything would be ok again.

"My Dad said that too…back when I was little and he thought that I liked Shimazaki…and now you're saying it. It doesn't make any sense coming from you. My Dad doesn't like him but you…you love him…or at least you used to…but please don't stop loving him because of me! I'll never do it again-" said Mob

"Stop it! It's not you, it's him. It's the fact that…that he never learns! This was the final straw for him before….this is what got him kicked out the last time. He just…he's incapable of learning! You…ok, yeah. I'm not happy with you but you're the thirteen year old. He shouldn't have even been….I knew who he was when I started this thing…..I don't know why I expected him to change. People don't change…not for the better…" said Minegishi

"I really am sorry! I wish I could take it back and…and I wish that we were friends again and…and I wish that you and Shimazaki hadn't broken up-" said Mob

"I thought I wasn't 'allowed' to break up with Ryou." Said Minegishi

"I…I know what I said but…but I shouldn't have done that. Just because I'm technically your boss doesn't mean I get to be bossy like that." Said Mob. Minegishi laughed. First a little, then a lot, then so much that the people passing by on the sidewalk ran away from them.

Mob didn't laugh. She didn't see what was so funny about any of this.

"Minegishi…why are you laughing? Are you high right now?" asked Mob

"No…not in any significant way….God. You just…this whole night is just…this is insane. You slept with my boyfriend, Ryou's headed off to what I hope isn't his execution-" said Minegishi

"Dad won't do it! I won't let him!" shouted Mob

"Well your Dad just had a heart attack so I'm not sure if he'll be doing much of anything for a while." Said Minegishi. Mob took a step back, and then another, until her back was pressed up against the wall. A heart attack…she had seen enough TV to know what that was. He…he had nearly died….

"Is Dad…did Fukuda come in time?" asked Mob

"Yeah, he got there and your Dad is alive and bitching to himself in his room, loudly by the way, about all the horrible things he wishes he could do to Ryou…to Shimazaki. He's probably going to work himself into another one….not like it's going to be any great loss. Plenty of maniacs where he came from." Said Minegishi. Mob ignored how mean they had just been about Dad, they were mean in general. She focused on the fact that Dad was ok. He was mad but he was ok…but she had left Sho all alone….

"What about Sho? How's he doing? Are he and Dad fighting? Did Dad hit him? Did-" said Mob

"Last I checked he was screaming and slamming doors. I don't think that's going to convince Tsuchiya not to leave, she was packing up when I left-" said Minegishi

"She can't leave!" said Mob as she took a step forward. If Tsuchiya tried to leave then she'd take Mukai with her. Mob had lost her little sister once, she wasn't going to lose her again. She took a step forward, and then another, and then another…but then she ran out of space. Minegishi put their hand back on her shoulder…but at least they weren't using their nails this time.

"Mob. No. We both know that your Dad isn't going to let her leave. If she leaves she's taking Mukai and your Dad won't let that happen. She and Shibata can pack all the bags they want, it won't make a difference. They'll be eating waffles or omelets or tall glasses of ketchup with your Dad in the morning like normal." Said Minegishi

"But…but Dad might get mad at them. We have to go back. I have to go back-" said Mob. She tried to walk around Minegishi but they grabbed her other shoulder. Not they were holding her in place…and they were a lot stronger than they looked.

"No. You don't. We're not….not now. Not tonight. Neither of us…neither of us needs to be in the middle of that shit storm." Said Minegishi

"But…but you just told me that I can't run away-" said Mob

"I know what I said, I'm not a goldfish I have an actual memory. We aren't running away. We just…we needed space. Both of us…from them, not each other. No, it's obvious that I can't leave you alone anymore. From this point on anything we do we do together. I don't care what. You want to go to Disneyland then we go together. You want to go to Starbucks we go together. You want to go to bed then we go together-" said Minegishi

"But what if I have to take a bath? Or go to the bathroom?" asked Mob

"Then I'll wait outside the door for you. I am not leaving you alone. You…I love you but I'm also pissed at you….why can't you just rebel like a normal teenager? Why do you have to put me through this? Running around having sex trying to get pregnant….why do…you had better not be pregnant, Suzuki! Do you hear me! If you're pregnant then-" said Minegishi

"I'm not! Shimazaki said that he didn't want to have a baby with me! Really! He said that the only person he ever wanted to have a baby with, on purpose, was you…because he loves you more than anyone else in the world…" said Mob. Minegishi got a weird look on their face and their aura. They let go of her shoulders and turned away.

"…he has a funny way of showing it…" muttered Minegishi as they crossed their arms. Mob reached over but they shrugged her away. They made a weird, high pitched sound, in their throat…one that she had never heard them make before. Their reverse whistles were a better sound than that…a less sad sound…a mad sound was better than a sad sound….she had made her best friend sad….

Maybe her former best friend.

"I-I'm sorry-" said Mob, trying to reach out again. Minegishi pushed her away that time and wiped their eyes before dropping their hands back down to their messenger bag strap. One of the buttons fell off. They didn't notice.

"Enough with the apologies. Come on, we need to find a place to sleep for the night and then…and then we'll see how we feel. Now come on. There has to be a hotel or something with a free room in this city. I packed you some extra clothes and what I hope is your phone and charger so…yeah. We'll be good for a while….so come on. Start walking." Said Minegishi

"But…you will want to be my friend? You're not…you're not mad at me?" asked Mob. Minegishi turned to face her again. Their eyes were narrow and their face had somehow all the expressions in the world and none of them at once.

"I have no idea who I'm mad at right now. Ryou for sleeping with you, you agreeing to sleep with him, myself for not seeing what was happening and putting a stop to it, or your parents for being such piss poor excuses for a mother and father…for being such prime candidates for birth control…just…start walking. Start walking and stop talking before I say something that I can't take back." Said Minegishi. They didn't wait for her reply, they just started walking. She did the same. Her feet still hurt, even if they were in her shoes, but she didn't say anything. She knew better than to talk right now. She finally knew what to do…she finally had a plan…

The plan was to do whatever Minegishi said and not make things any worse than they had to be.