Serizawa had never been to a videogame party before….and he didn't want to go to another one after this.

He didn't much like it. There were a bunch of people that he didn't know, though considering who he was that wasn't saying a lot. These were mostly people that Hatori knew from back when he worked in tech support. Some Awakened, too, and a couple of Scars that had come here to see President Suzuki. The whole tech room was full of people packed in back to back like those tiny canned fish people liked. He had done his best to avoid the crush of the crowd but there was only so much he could do. He was pressed between a wall and Hatori.

It wasn't enough.

Hatori wasn't big enough for him to hide behind, for one thing. Serizawa knew that he was bigger than most people but he had never been as aware of that fact as he was right now. Hatori was too small to hide behind, everyone could see him. He felt like everyone was looking at him and just…just waiting for him to mess up…and he was going to mess up. It was too loud in here. There were too many people and they were all talking at once. He couldn't even hear himself think. He had his DS in his hands but he hadn't even started a single game. He couldn't even think of what to play. It was just so…so loud and so hot and so crowded….

Serizawa wanted to go home.

But that wasn't an option. He didn't know how to get home on his own, for one thing, and for another that would have been a very rude thing to do. Hatori had invited him to this party and…and he should have been happy to have been included. Even though he hadn't actually been included. Most of them were playing one of Hatori's games, the kind where people got blown up and shot each other and stuff. Serizawa had never liked those kinds of games. He knew that he was too old to play the kinds of games that he played but…but he just didn't like hurting people. Not in life and not in games…he knew he shouldn't have cared. He knew that caring made him weird, out of place, even more out of place than he was now…towering head and shoulders above Hatori even when he sat down….he tried to make himself smaller…

It didn't work.

"Fuck all of you! I am not cheating! If I wanted to cheat then-then it wouldn't be here! Serizawa, back me up on this!" said Hatori, pointing right at Serizawa. He had a bottle in one hand and a controller in the other. He had been cheating, using his powers to play one handed, but Serizawa knew better than to say something about that.

Sometimes friends had to lie for their friends.

"Ha-Hatori isn't cheating…" said Serizawa, the lie feeling heavy and stuck on his tongue. He couldn't just come out and say it, that Hatori was cheating, because that wasn't how friends treated one another. Miss Suzuki would have been so upset with him if she ever knew that he was being a bad friend….so now he was lying and keeping secrets…what would she have said if she could have seen him now?

She would have been disappointed, obviously…but there was plenty of beer and stuff here so maybe it wouldn't have been that bad…maybe.

"Damn right I wasn't." said Hatori taking another drink. There was already a collection of bottles at his feet…maybe he should have stopped. Maybe Serizawa should have said something. There were so many and…and that couldn't have been good for him. He was swaying while he sat. Serizawa had been told, before, that Hatori wasn't supposed to drink. That he did dumb and gross things when he drank. That apparently he had done something so horrible at a Christmas party once that he was forbidden from ever drinking anything ever again…

He eyed the bottles at Hatori's feet….maybe it would be ok since this wasn't a Christmas party.

"What's the matter with you? Come on, it's a party!" said Hatori. He tried to press the bottle to Serizawa's hands but he just clutched at his DS even harder. He didn't like to drink, even when it was Miss Suzuki asking him to.

"I don't really like parties that much…" said Serizawa softly. He really didn't. He didn't like drinking or crowds or…or the game that they were playing. He wanted to go home but he had no way of getting home…he pressed himself more to the wall. He was fine…he was going to be fine. He couldn't lose control. What would Miss Suzuki have said if he lost control right in the middle of the party like this? Probably nothing good….

"Yes you do, I've seen-seen you! You like…you like birthday parties, like Mob's…the ones she throws…I should've let her throw me a birthday party…maybe then-" said Hatori, his voice breaking at the end. Serizawa put his DS on the table and reached out to hug him, stopping at the last minute. He sounded sad and…and when people were sad they needed hugs but…but was it ok to just hug Hatori like that? Miss Suzuki would have but she was Miss Suzuki…he was just Serizawa.

He brought his arms back to where they belonged.

"No, no, don't be sad! I mean you can feel however you want to feel but…but please don't be sad because of my. I'm….I'm having fun, I've never been to a…a games party before. I just…it's a lot of people and very loud in here and…and it's past my bedtime, too." Said Serizawa quickly. Hatori wasn't sniffling anymore and he didn't sound sad…now he looked serious. Serizawa thought about maybe taking that bottle away from him…he was shifting through his feelings really quickly and stuff…and he was still swaying in place. His face was really red too….

What would Miss Suzuki have done?

"You're not a kid anymore, Serizawa, you can stay up as late as you want!" said Hatori, jabbing Serizawa in the chest with the bottle. Serizawa gasped and quickly picked up his umbrella. Hatori was a friend and…and he was going to be fine. He could feel everyone looking at him…it felt like the entire world was looking at him right now…like everyone had zoomed in right on him….

He couldn't lose control. Miss Suzuki wouldn't have lost control…he had to be more like Miss Suzuki.

"I-I know but I don't-don't like to stay up this late because I means I'll oversleep tomorrow and when I do that it's like before when I would just sleep and wake up and sleep and wake up and one day would blur into the next and then into the next and then before I knew it years went by and I was older and I'd slept through my whole life." Said Serizawa

"Whoa. That sucks. Anyway here, drink this. It'll make you feel better." Said Hatori. He nodded to himself and then tried, again, to press the bottle into Serizawa's hands. This time Serizawa let him. He had no other choice. He was pinned between Hatori and a wall…and it was a party. This was what Miss Suzuki would have wanted him to do. She drank all the time, he didn't know why, but she did. He would never know why.

It tasted horrible.

Bitter. Too bitter. Way too bitter…and the aftertaste was even worse. He had no idea why she drank this stuff all the time…actually, no, the stuff that she drank was worse. The stuff that she drank burnt when it went down. This at least didn't burn, it just tasted bad. He took one sip and forced it down like medicine before he handed it back to Hatori.

One was enough.

"It's…it's very interesting." Said Serizawa. That was what Mom had told him to say if he was ever served something he didn't like. That way he wasn't lying and he never hurt anyone's feelings, either. He hadn't had a chance to use it before today. He never went places…he hadn't ever gone places when he'd been a kid and he even hardly ever went places with the others now. He'd been all over the world…but not really. He'd mostly just stayed in a collection of different rooms….

He kind of wanted to go back to one of those rooms…to be anywhere but here.

"No, I mean really drink. Come on, it's a party. Nobody should be this freaked out at a party! Especially not mine. You can freak out at Shimazaki's birthday party…if Mob throws him one….he'd better not ask her to…he'd better not ever talk to her again…" said Hatori. He got that sad look in his eyes. Serizawa didn't get it, why Hatori was sad about Shimazaki and Miss Suzuki. He could understand being unhappy about not having a birthday party, people really liked those for reasons he didn't understand, but to be unhappy that Miss Suzuki had found someone who loved her…

He didn't get it.

"But that would make Miss Suzuki really sad." Said Serizawa. Miss Suzuki had told him, before, that she didn't know how she felt about Shimazaki. How he loved her and she was his girlfriend but love was a lot for her…relationships were complicated. He had never understood them, that was why he hardly ever played dating sims. It was all just so much…he didn't get it…but he did get that Miss Suzuki would have been sad if she never saw Shimazaki again. Maybe that was why she hadn't said anything to him in a while. She must have just been too sad. She was going through a lot right now after all….

"She's already sad! I mean I think she is. I haven't called her or…fuck me….you think I should? I don't want to make it weird but, it's like, already really weird…you know? I mean it's more than weird. It's like…like what the hell am I supposed to do? He left me in charge and…and I'm damn good at it…and don't listen to Fukuda! I know what I'm doing!" said Hatori, taking both hands off of the controller. He was doing that thing where he talked with his hands, where he waved them around a lot not like sign language, and Serizawa…he knew that Hatori meant no harm but…but that was kind of a lot right now.

Kind of really a lot.

"You just got blown up." Said Serizawa quickly, pointing at the screen. Hopefully that would be the thing to make Hatori calm down. It was already so noisy in here he didn't need to make it any worse…so very loud and noisy and just…it was too busy in here!

He needed to go home.

"Fuck! Who did that!? Which one of you did that?!" shouted Hatori. Serizawa closed his eyes and cringed. He needed to go home…to somewhere quiet. He didn't know why he thought that Hatori would have been quieter after getting blown up. Videogames always, if anything, made him even more high strung than usual.

"Hope you don't have anything too weird in your search history!" said Hatori. The whole table shook. Serizawa could see his aura from behind his closed eyes. He had to calm down. He couldn't lose control. Miss Suzuki wouldn't have liked that…and she wouldn't have liked it, either, if he just sat there and let Hatori humiliate someone like that. He didn't know why Hatori was always in people's search histories and other private business…it didn't seem nice…

Actually it seemed downright mean.

"Hatori! Don't! That's mean!" said Serizawa, opening his eyes. Hatori already had his phone out. Serizawa did his best not to look at the screen. That was not the kind of thing that you were supposed to look at in public. He didn't care if there weren't any girls in the room, you still weren't supposed to look at that kind of stuff while there were other people around. Not the stuff you had saved and not the stuff that other people had saved either.

This wasn't the time or the place….and it was never the time or the place to look through someone else's search history.

"Too late, it's done…and that's not that weird. Damn…oh! I'll find something weird and-" said Hatori, getting way too happy about this. Serizawa was his friend, and he was Serizawa's, but it was kind of hard to understand him sometimes. They weren't the sorts of friends that President Suzuki and Fukuda were, the best sorts of friends that understood everything about each other. They were the sorts of friends who…well disagreed about some things.

He didn't like disagreeing with people but Hatori was about to do something really mean and Miss Suzuki would not have liked it if she knew….and she could never know about stuff like this.

"Or-or you could keep playing and do even better than before and…and then if you get really good you won't get blown up again. Sometimes games have kind of a hard learning curve. Like…like have you ever played the original Mario two? I like the American version better because the levels are less crowded but the original…if you can get past the learning curve then it's a lot of fun. It took me almost a year back when I was little to beat it and then even longer to be able to speed run it…so, um, practice makes perfect?" asked Serizawa. Hatori put his phone back in his pocket. Serizawa could have jumped from his chair if he'd had the space and he hadn't been in a room full of people. He'd done it, now everything would be ok…but then why did Hatori have that serious looking look on his face? Hatori sighed and clasped Serizawa on the shoulder. He felt his own aura jump there, the room was nearly alive with the color purple, but it went away…he had to stay calm. He couldn't lose control. When he lost control people got hurt and when people got hurt then…well they were hurt, obviously, but Miss Suzuki wouldn't have been happy with him if he hurt people even if it was on accident. Not that he would ever have hurt people on purpose…

Certainly not his friends.

"Serizawa, I love you, but we're not playing kids games right now. We're playing adult games for adults…I know what I said…anyway! We're not playing Mario and…and I lost my train of thought…" said Hatori

"Um….you were going to blow people up?" asked Serizawa, wishing that Hatori would just let go of him already. His wish was granted…he shouldn't have felt so relived.

"Thank you! See? This guy, this guy here is my second best friend in the world…or maybe third…Shibata's been pretty distant lately…that's what happens when you get a girlfriend…never get a girlfriend! You here me, Serizawa, never get a girlfriend. Shibata's got better things to do, Suzuki didn't even take me with….never get a girlfriend." Said Hatori, his face back to being serous. Thankfully this time he hadn't touched Serizawa. He knew that it was weird, not wanting his best friend to touch him, but right now he was barely hanging on by a thread. He didn't want anyone to touch him…but talking…well that was ok…

Even if it was about this.

"I-I won't! Girls are…they're scary…" said Serizawa shaking his head. He knew that it was normal to talk about girls…he just didn't want to. The only girl he'd ever liked since coming out of his room didn't even count as a girl…and also didn't even like him. He didn't like to think about Minegishi and the time they'd kissed and stuff…it kind of hurt…and also it was kind of scary. It hurt that they hadn't liked him back but it was worse, in some ways, that they'd kissed him without being in love with him. He knew that adults weren't always in love when they kissed and…other things happened….but he just…he felt like kisses were for love. He didn't know what he would have done, though, if they had been in love with him…love was scary…

Scarier than anything he'd ever experienced in his entire life.

"Oh my God, yes! It's like…why do they laugh so much? What am I doing that's so funny? It's like…like I'm out, you know, and there are a bunch of girls and they're laughing and it's like…are they laughing at me? I hate it when people laugh at me…" said Hatori

"P-President Suzuki says that there's no point in trying to figure out if a woman is laughing at you. If you ask her she'll say no but she probably is…he knows a lot about girls, I think, since he'd had a wife and now he has a girlfriend and he has kids too…he says having kids is scary too because you don't know who they'll grow up to be…." Said Serizawa. He was glad that there weren't any girls in the room or the group…well there were but Minegishi was Minegishi, Tsuchiya was a mom, and Miss Suzuki didn't really count as a girl…well she was a girl but not…she was just Miss Suzuki. She was her own category.

"…you've been hanging out with him?" asked Hatori, his voice low and kind of…mad? He must have been misreading this. There was no reason for Hatori to be mad at him but…but then again he had never been the best when it came to things like this.

"Sometimes Miss Suzuki asks him to watch me. I mean I don't really need to be watched but she likes it when I have company. She's so nice like that….I miss her a lot. We used to be best friends but now we're not….I mean she didn't say anything, it just feels like that…" said Serizawa

"You're not planning on pulling a Shimazaki, are you? Because I don't think you are but Fukuda talks a lot and Suzuki, for some reason, listens…well actually I know the reason." Said Hatori, leaning in really close and whispering. He must have been really drunk because right now he wasn't making any sense at all. It was obvious why President Suzuki listened to Fukuda.

"Because they're best friends?" asked Serizawa

"Because Suzuki is in actual fucking love with that asshole…but don't tell anyone!" said Hatori, his voice coming out like a fake whispered. He looked around, his eyes shifting back and forth. Serizawa had no idea why he was so scared of. Why wouldn't President Suzuki have loved Fukuda? They were best friends, that wasn't the sort of thing you just took lightly.

"Of course they love each other, they're best friends. I don't think that you can be best friends with someone without loving them…I don't think that you can share your life with someone without loving them. They've been friends for longer than both of us have been alive…it's so beautiful." Said Serizawa, wiping a tear from his eye. He hoped that one day he could have a friend like that. Someone who was with him through every single part of life, someone who accepted him totally and completely, someone who he could count on to always be there…but someone who wasn't obligated to waste their life being there for him too because he couldn't take care of himself.

"It's not beautiful! It's the worst thing for all of us! That's why I'm never falling in love, you hear me! Suzuki is the reason that I am never in my life falling in love. I don't want to end up just….just stuck with an asshole like that! I don't want to wake up when I'm old and realize that I spent my entire life with someone who's just…just the worst!" said Hatori. That wasn't right. Fukuda may not have been the nicest person in the world but he wasn't the worst and…and friendship, even with someone who wasn't nice all the time, was still a beautiful thing. He was happy that President Suzuki had found someone to love and care for and be loved and cared for in return even if it was Fukuda. Miss Suzuki had said so many times before that nothing was more important than love. Love and friendship and being there for one another…nothing mattered more in this world…

She would have been so upset if she'd heard one of her friends talking like that.

"That's…that's not nice. I don't think that Miss Suzuki would have liked…liked it if she heard that. She likes it when we're nice to one another. We need to be nice to one another so we can all stay friends and help each other get through life. Miss Suzuki said that before and…and it makes sense. It's important to have friends. Without friends you're all alone and…and it's hard being all alone in the world." Said Serizawa softly….but not softly enough? Or maybe too softly? Or maybe he would have been better off not saying anything at all. Hatori was…mad. His face was mad and his aura was mad and he was just…he was just mad at him…

He was such a bad friend. Miss Suzuki would have been rolling over in her grave if she had been dead.

"You don't know anything about being all alone in the world and don't pretend like you do! You at least had someone to take care of you and shit! I had….fuck….I'm sorry. I'm drunk and I shouldn't have said that to you and…and I'm sorry." Said Hatori. He wasn't mad anymore, thank goodness, but now he was holding Serizawa by both of his shoulder and….and he was way too close. There was a wall behind him and Hatori in front of him and…and everyone was looking at him and…and at any moment Hatori could have gotten mad at him again…

He didn't want that moment to come.

"It's…it's ok! I just…I have to go now!" said Serizawa. He didn't wait and see what Hatori had to say. He just got up and left. His chair toppled over behind him. He should have stayed and picked it up, Miss Suzuki would have wanted that, but he just…he couldn't stop. He couldn't look back.

He had to be alone right now.

The HQ looked a lot different this late at night. There weren't as many people walking around and the lights were a lot dimmer. He liked it this way. He could just run out into the hallway and be alone…even though being alone was dangerous. When he was alone like this he got used to it and getting used to it meant backsliding and Miss Suzuki wouldn't have wanted that. She wouldn't have wanted him to have run out on his best friend like that either…his second best friend. She was his best friend and…and he never would have run out on her.

He wanted to be with her.

He opened his umbrella and held the handle close to his chest. It blocked what little light there was in this hallway…when he was under this it felt like being in his room. Small and dark and safe…he clutched it even closer. It felt like being with Miss Suzuki, too. This had been her umbrella, her energy was in it…she had given it to him. She had done so much for him. He should have done more for her. He shouldn't have wished that she was with him. He should have been worried for her.

She'd gone through a lot.

He didn't really understand what was going on but he knew that it was a lot. If it was stressful for him then it must have been even worse for her since she was in the middle of this. He didn't understand what everyone was so upset about. She and Shimazaki had been in love and love was a wonderful thing…well actually she had said that her feelings for Shimazaki were kind of confusing. He loved her but she didn't love him back in the same way. It was very confusing…but maybe just for him. He didn't know what love, that kind of love, was. He'd never been in love before, he'd never had the chance, and he didn't really want to have that chance. He had no idea what he would even have done.

He couldn't even handle being with his second best friend in the world, let alone a girlfriend.

He needed his first best friend in the world. He needed to be with Miss Suzuki. She always made him feel better…but was it selfish of him, then, to want more from her? She was going through a lot right now. Everyone knew very personal things about her, which he would have been very embarrassed about, and everyone had been fighting because of her and Shimazaki too. She hated fights and so did he. It must have been so hard for her and…and he should have been there for her.

He should have been a better friend to her.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. There were crumbs stuck to it, he brushed them off. He needed to change clothes again. He couldn't remember the last time he'd changed clothes…normally she laid new ones out for him like she did for her little brother and sister. He should have done that on his own. He should have done a lot of things on his own. He should have been able to deal with this on his own. He shouldn't have had to call her just to hear her voice…just so that he could calm down…

But maybe she wanted to hear from him, too.

She was having a hard time…so maybe he was being a good friend right now. Yes, yes, yes. That was it. He was being a good friend by calling her…so that was what he was going to do. It had never been this hard to unlock his phone before. His hands were shaking…they shouldn't have been. It was just Miss Suzuki. She called him sometimes. She was his friend and she wasn't going to yell at him or get mad at him or anything like that. That wasn't how friendship worked…that wasn't how their friendship worked. They were there for each other like best friends were supposed to be….at least he assumed so. He'd never had a best friend before. He knew what he wanted, though, he wanted a best friend like President Suzuki and Fukuda were best friends. That would have been perfect…someone who was there and always would be there…someone who wanted to spend their whole life with him but wasn't obligated to…someone who just wanted to be with him as he was…he couldn't have imagined anything more perfect than that.

She picked up after the first ring. She was always there for him like that, like a best friend…the best friend that he ever could have asked for.

"Serizawa! Are you ok? Do you need me? Did something happen?" asked Miss Suzuki, her voice loud and frantic and…and he'd made a mistake. He'd messed up. She was upset and it was all his fault!

"No, no, nothing like-" said Serizawa. There was some movement on her end, some creaking, and then…oh. That was Sho…she was with her brother and sister…he'd known that already. He should have thought about that before he went and called her up in the middle of the night…he was the worst friend in the world…it felt like…

"Sho, go back to bed, I'm just talking to Serizawa." Said Miss Suzuki softly. There was more talking…he thought he'd heard Mukai's voice too. So she was up now and…and she was even littler than anyone else he'd ever met in his life…she needed her sleep but she wasn't getting it and it was all because of him…he messed everything up, didn't he? No wonder she didn't want to bring him with…to hang out with him…no wonder….

"I-I can go! I should have known how late it was and I should have thought about how you were asleep and…and I shouldn't have woken you up and-" said Serizawa

"No, no, it's ok. We're just tired from being at Disneyland all day." Said Miss Suzuki

"We're tired OF Disneyland! Can we go to Universal or something?" asked Sho, his voice coming through loud and clear. He was…not mad, not all the way mad, not the sort of mad that Serizawa had heard him get where he yelled and screamed and broke stuff. He was annoyed-mad though and…and that wasn't good either.

"Let's go to Universal! And then Pandas, and then Panda with food, and then the train, and then the plane, and then the-" said Mukai. At least she wasn't mad at all. No, she sounded happy…well she normally sounded happy. That was because she was so little that everything was new and fun and exciting and she didn't know how to be afraid yet…he missed her too, even if she did always get his DS all sticky.

"Or let's everyone just go to bed, why isn't that an option?" asked Minegishi. They were mad, really mad, but the sort of mad mixed with tired and…and he didn't want to think about them. The less he thought about them the less he thought about….about things that had happened…and then the happier he would be. Sometimes it was best just to push the bad thoughts away. Miss Suzuki had said that.

"We can do that. I mean we can go to Universal…we've never gone before but if it makes you happy and…and we can go to bed too. I'm sorry I woke everyone. Just…um…Serizawa, hold on." Said Miss Suzuki. Serizawa held on for as long as he could. He held onto everything he wanted to say to her, the apologies he wanted to make. He shouldn't have called her this late. He should have thought about the fact that people were asleep by now. He should have thought more about her.

He should have been a better friend to her.

There was movement, more talking, and then silence. She had walked away…she was gone from everyone. She was all alone and it was because of him. He felt selfish. He'd been feeling selfish for a while but now…now it felt worse. Like he was the most selfish person in the world. He was so lucky that someone like her wanted anything to do with him. He wanted to hang up on her, to let her sleep or have fun or whatever, to stop being selfish…

But that would have been a selfish act too, wouldn't it have?

"Ok, now I'm in the hallway. What were you saying?" asked Miss Suzuki. Serizawa needed a minute to think. He wanted to say sorry for being selfish but what if that was selfish too, him making her make him feel better when he was feeling sorry for himself. She had enough things going on in her life that she didn't need him being a burden on her. He was tired, too, of being a burden on people. He wanted to be better than that…he had to work on being better than that…on being better than what he had been before she had found him…met him…saved him.

She had saved him in every way a person could be saved…and now he had to save himself.

"I-I wasn't saying anything! I mean I was going to say that nothing was wrong….mostly nothing. Hatori yelled at me but that's ok-" said Serizawa quickly. He was fine. She was the one who needed…well not him. Someone who was better at that sort of thing. Someone who even knew what that sort of thing was. Someone who actually got what was happening…what was wrong…why she'd ran away this time. She did that sometimes and he had never once gotten it…he wasn't as good of a friend as he'd thought he was….

"No it isn't, he shouldn't be mean to you or anyone else like that. Do you want me to talk to him for you?" asked Miss Suzuki

"N-No! I mean…I mean he's been drinking and that's just…it's not his fault and I should have thought before I spoke and…and I shouldn't have bothered you either! I mean…I mean I'm sorry, Miss Suzuki, I just…I missed you a lot." Said Serizawa. He didn't need her to defend him, to talk to people for him, he should have been able to do that for himself. He should have been able to do a lot of things for him. He should have been able to get himself home or…or even just to be able to join the party. Everyone else had been having fun and what had he done? Stayed in the corner and then run away to the hallway. He should have been braver….he should have been more like Miss Suzuki.

At least when she ran away she had a good reason.

He didn't know what that reason was, exactly, but he knew that it had been a better one than the world being too loud and too busy. She had left because…because she had…he didn't know. He hadn't asked. He wasn't going to ask. He wasn't going to make her think about the things that upset her. He wasn't going to make her feel as bad as he felt now…and he shouldn't have tried to make her make him feel better. Selfish…he had been selfish…

He'd been selfish for most of his life. He should have been done with this by now.

"I miss you too. I should have called you, I'm the one who messed up. You're my friend and I completely ignored you. I shouldn't have done that…I'm a bad friend." Said Miss Suzuki

"You? No, no, you could never be a bad friend. I'm the bad friend here. I bothered you when you were trying to sleep…when you were going through a lot. I shouldn't have done that." Said Serizawa

"Serizawa, you know that you could never be a bother. You're my friend and I should have done more to be with you. I just thought that you wouldn't have wanted to come with because you don't like crowds." Said Miss Suzuki. She was right, he didn't like crowds, in fact he liked big amusement park crowds even less than he liked parties…but he liked her. He liked being with her, no matter where they went or what they did he was just happy to be with her.

"They don't bother me that much, not when I'm with you." Said Serizawa softly. Being here under his umbrella, having her on the phone, it was almost like being with her…nothing was better than being with her…with Miss Suzuki.

"That's good, I didn't know that. Do you want to come with me and Sho to Universal? I've never been before but I hear that they have a Mario land and I know you like Mario. I do too." Said Miss Suzuki

"You do? You don't think that it's for kids?" asked Serizawa. Right, she didn't like the other kinds of games…the ones with shooting and blowing people up. She didn't think that those were fun…they had the same taste in games…well of course they did, they were best friends.

"No, of course not. Mario is for everyone. My Dad even played when he was little. Well he said that Fukuda was the Famicom but he played too." Said Miss Suzuki. Serizawa nodded but then remembered that she couldn't see him. He wanted to go now. He wanted…he wanted to go wherever she went. He didn't even care where. Anywhere would have been better than this.

Anywhere was perfect so long as he was with her.

"I..I would love to go with you. That would be…it sounds like a lot of fun." Said Serizawa. Actually, in and of its self, it didn't…but he knew that so long as he was with her then he would be having fun. Anything was fun, enjoyable, and…and just better when they were together. He didn't really want to go to a busy place with a lot of people but…but he would much rather have been in a place like that with her than a place like this all on his own.

He liked amusement parks as much as he liked parties, not at all, but he liked her and for her he would have gone anywhere.