Mob used to wear a lot of costumes.
Back when she had been little her favorite clothes in the world had been her Disney costumes. Elsa had been her favorite, of course, but she had others. Anna, Rapunzel, Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, Tiana…she used to have all the princesses and queens. Elsa was a queen, not a princess, that was important. She kind of wished she still had her costumes, especially the Elsa one. Her coronation outfit, not her blue dress. The blue dress would have been better in the summer heat, of course, but it wasn't very Presidential.
Or Vice Presidential.
Queens were kind of like presidents. Queens made up rules, told people what to do, and did everything that they could for their countries. Dad said that claw made as much money as a few big countries, had as many people in it as a few small countries, and influence the world politics in ways that even the biggest countries couldn't imagine. So maybe Mob was more like a queen... the queen of Tokyo? She didn't really want to be a queen, or vice president that matter, she kind of just wanted to be... herself?
Maybe not herself.
She wants to give me she wasn't the best person. She heard her friend, she told a lot of people, and-and she just wasn't the best person. She wanted to be better but she didn't know how. Maybe if she did a good job here maybe my clips you start work starting a new save file in a game. Or maybe it was more like leveling up. Or maybe it wasn't like any kind of email. She'd have to ask Serizawa later, he know a lot about games. Not now though, no, now she had to go to work.
For the first time in forever.
Back to work. Actual work. She wasn't just filling it for Dad, not like before, now Dad's office was her office. But she needed her own office…right? Was it ok to use Dad's office if she wasn't filling in for him? She wasn't the president of Claw and she never would be. She was a girl and that just wasn't how it worked when you were a girl. She was just…well she was in charge and she didn't feel like making a whole new office for herself. She kind of didn't even feel like being in charge. She didn't want to go back to being who she was but she wasn't sure if she wanted to be this person either.
This new person.
This sort of new sort of old person. She hadn't worn a costume in a while let alone this one. It was kind of like the one she wore, before, when she filled in for Dad back when…back when he'd given her Mukai. Blue skirt, blue sweater, white shirt, red ribbon. The same basic costume, the best that she could have put together on such short notice. The skirt was heavy, she had gotten it out of the winter clothing box, and the shirt was really light…she didn't even know what this was from. She didn't wear a lot of shirts with buttons and lace and stuff. It had just been in her pile of clothes and now…and now here it was on her…
She could see her undershirt.
She buttoned up her sweater, also from the winter clothes box. She was kind of glad, in a way, that she hadn't finished putting their clothes into storage. Even if Dad didn't like clutter…well it didn't matter what Dad wanted because Dad wasn't here right now. It was just Mob and Sho in the house. Dad's room was empty and it was never going to be filled again…did she have to sleep there now since she was in charge? She looked over at Sho's bed…she had slept away from him before but…but she wanted to be near her little brother.
She was already losing one sibling, she wasn't going to lose another one.
Mob sighed and tied the ribbon around her neck into a bow. This was the only thing from the original costume that still fit her. She had been using it as a hair ribbon but it could be used for other things…maybe she needed to wear an actual tie. Dad wore a tie and she'd seen girls in ties before. Maybe that was more queenly…more presidential. She was a president now, a vice president, and…and that was much different from being a queen. She had a lot of power and stuff but…but she didn't have a crown and that was…that was also important. She had never liked crowns. Even when she'd worn Elsa's coronation dress she hadn't ever worn the crown with it.
Crowns were too heavy.
She didn't like the way they weighed her head down. She didn't like the way they dug into her skull. She didn't like the way they slid off if she moved wrong. She didn't like crowns….or ribbons. She untied the ribbon from around her neck. She didn't like ribbons either. She didn't need it, maybe, probably. She wasn't a president. She wasn't Dad.
She was just dressed like him.
Mob sighed and ran a hand through her hair. It was loose now. President's didn't wear their hair in braids, that was a little kid thing. Only one braid was ok, like Elsa had, but even for her coronation she'd put her hair up. It was ok for Anna to wear her hair in braids because she was the little sister, not the big sister, and the younger siblings could do whatever they wanted. She wondered if Elsa ever had these problems when she got dressed. Did she ever look at all of her clothes and think 'do I even look like a queen' or something like that? In the deleted scenes there was a whole part with a dressing room but that might not have counted because it never made it into the actual movie. Or did she just make new ice dresses whenever she needed them? Maybe the ice dresses…but Mob didn't know how to make ice dresses…so she was stuck with whatever was in her wardrobe…not that it was so bad. It wasn't like she had nothing at all to wear….
Just nothing that she wanted to wear.
She pulled at the collar of her shirt. She wanted to change and she wanted to leave at the same time…leaving won out. She didn't have time to change. She heard footsteps and then a knock at the door. Sho. This was his room too after all and they were old enough that they had to knock all the time. They hadn't knocked when they'd been little…but that was then and this was now. if they had their own rooms then they wouldn't have had to worry about knocking…but then they would have been apart…
And that was the last thing that she wanted.
"You can come in." said Mob. The door creaked opened and then Sho walked in, backwards, with his hands over his eyes. His hair dripped onto the floor…oh. He'd actually taken a bath for once. Usually he just let the water run and drew pictures or played on his phone or something. Usually she had to knock on the door a bunch of times to make sure that he at least used soap. Usually…well these were not usual times at all. These were very unusual times and it made sense that things were kind of…not usual.
Unusual didn't have to mean bad, though.
"You can turn around, too. It's not like that one time when-" said Mob
"Don't remind me!" said Sho
"Ok, I won't remind you, and you can turn around…and I can go, too, so you can get dressed." Said Mob. Sho took his hands off of his eyes and turned around. She wondered if he'd let her put a face mask on him. He smelled better but his skin wasn't going to get fixed from just one bath. Maybe that was what she had to do today, what she should have been doing today, since Sho mattered most in the whole world. Hatori could be trusted to be in charge for one more day…right?
Probably not.
"I am dressed." Said Sho pulling at his shirt. He wasn't in pajamas anymore, what more did she ask of him? Girls were so weird about clothes. He would never in his life understand why.
"Those are the same clothes that you were wearing yesterday, and also you slept in them too." Said Mob
"So?" asked Sho
"Don't you want to change?" asked Mob as she looked him up and down. He didn't look dirty…not very dirty…but putting on the same dirty clothes that he was wearing right after he came out of the bath seemed like kind of a waste of a bath to her.
"Why? All my shirts are the same." Said Sho
"I bought you new clothes." Said Mob. Sho rolled his eyes and went over to his side of the dresser. He opened the drawer and pulled out some of his shirts.
"What am I going to wear today? The green shirt, the green shirt, or the other green shirt?" asked Sho as he held up a bunch of shirts with his powers. He was fine the way he was. He wasn't a baby, he didn't need her to tell him when to change his clothes. When they started to smell bad then he'd change them. It was easy.
"They're not the same…and you like green, you said so." Said Mob. If he had a new favorite color then he should have told her…or maybe she should have known. Maybe she should have been a better sister…the feeling was back. The bad one. She felt like she couldn't do anything right, that she had never been able to do anything right, that everything about her was wrong…no wonder Mukai wanted to go. Mob didn't blame her. She couldn't.
"Yeah, I do, but I don't see why I have to change clothes all the time. I'm not a girl." Said Sho
"Because you just took a bath and…never mind. It's alright. I don't want you to be upset. I just…I just want you to be happy. You're happy, right?" asked Mob
"Yeah, I'm happy. I really am. Dad's gone, why would I have anything to be upset about?" asked Sho
"I…nothing. You're right, you…you don't have anything to be upset about…um…what are you going to do today?" asked Mob
"I don't know. Fukuda said that we were going to go to the fish stuff store, he's got fish now but all he has for them is a bowl, but I think I'll just go on my own. Dad's girlfriend told me what to get, anyway, and I'm not a baby anymore. I can go places on my own." Said Sho
"That's not safe." Said Mob. She didn't know which was more unsafe. Going off on his own, he wasn't a baby anymore but people might have tried to hurt him to get to Dad, or talking to Dad's girlfriend. She was mean, very mean, and…and if she wanted to talk to someone then she should have made her own friends or talked to her own little brother…if she even had one. Mob didn't know and…and she didn't want to know. The whole thing felt weird. She should have been happy to have someone new to make friends with but…but even if Shiori hadn't been a mean witch to her Mob still wouldn't have liked her.
It was a weird feeling, not liking someone, a feeling that she didn't really like.
"I'm not a baby, I can take care of myself! I…if it really bothers you then I can take Shimazaki with me, I guess. I mean if that's not weird for you." Said Sho
"Why would it be weird for me?" asked Mob
"Because he's your boyfriend or…or whatever." Said Sho, looking away. That was never going to stop being weird. He got it, love was the most important thing ever, and he didn't get to tell her who to be in love with…but it was still kind of weird. He wasn't going to freak out like everyone else had, he still didn't get what everyone was so upset about, but it wasn't going to stop feeling weird any time soon. He could tell.
"…I don't know if he is or isn't….it's complicated…um…it's very complicated." Said Mob. She had never actually talked to Shimazaki about what they were…and she didn't want to. If she told him that she wanted to break up then she'd break his heart and he'd have been sad. If she stayed being his girlfriend then Minegishi would still be mad at her and they wouldn't be able to be friends anymore. So maybe if she could just avoid Shimazaki forever then it would all work out…she didn't know how to avoid him forever since he lived right next door….something else that she would have to figure out.
"Want me to kick his ass?" asked Sho, watching her aura. He didn't know if he could have kicked Shimazaki's ass, or if he really wanted to. Dad had done a good job of that already…well not a 'good' job but…well Sho wasn't going to kick his ass as bad as Dad had…he didn't even want to kick his ass to begin with. But that didn't matter. He was a little brother and that was what little brothers did, they kicked the asses of guys who made their sisters feel bad. He hoped that when it came time to kick a guy's ass for Mukai she picked someone that he wasn't friends with.
"No, I already told you not to." Said Mob shaking her head. Dad had done that already. She didn't want Shimazaki, or anyone, to get hurt. What was it with boys and fighting?
"Well I kind of want to. He's making you feel bad, and don't tell me that you don't feel bad. I know you." Said Sho
"He's not the one making me feel bad." Said Mob
"Well just tell me who's making you feel bad and I'll kick his ass." Said Sho
"It's not like that…it's…it's not that…I just have a lot to do today. That's all and…and you do too. You should take Mukai with you." Said Mob. She didn't know how to tell Sho that he needed to spend as much time with Mukai before she had to go again. He was happy, he had even taken a bath without her telling him to, she didn't want to ruin things…and maybe she didn't want to put herself through this either.
"She's just going to be bored." Said Sho with a shrug. He loved Mukai, he really did, but he knew how she got when she was bored.
"Or maybe she won't be. She likes spending time with you so…so you should bring her with. It's important that we spend as much time with her as we can." Said Mob
"Yeah, I guess. You sure you don't want me to kick anyone's ass before I go? I can." Said Sho
"No thanks, all I want is for you to get changed…but only if you want to…um…and thanks for taking a bath." Said Mob before she hugged Sho. His hair was still all wet. She didn't mind. He smelled a lot better. She didn't care. She just cared that she still had her little brother, that she still had one of her siblings. She held him as tight as she could for as long a she could.
Until he pulled away.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love you too. Now quit trying to squeeze my bones out. I need those." Said Sho as he stepped away from Big Sis.
"I wasn't…I just love you a lot, I guess…um…I hope you have fun today. All the fun, and try to hang out with Mukai too." Said Mob
"I will, as soon as I'm done with the fish thing. You can come too. I think I'll take her to the park, the regular park, not Disney. You should come too even though I know you like Disney better." Said Sho
"I'll try. I don't know how much work I have to do today…or even what I have to do." Said Mob. She knew, sort of, what she had to do. A lot. She had to be Dad and play catch up from what Hatori messed up on…but she didn't know WHAT she had to do. There were so many decisions she had to make, hard ones, ones about the day…the uprising day. Dad had a bunch of words for it, he'd never settled on one, it had always just been different version of 'the day'. Maybe Mob should have paid more attention, maybe he'd picked one, maybe he had everything all figured out and…and she just didn't know. The day had always seemed so far away when she'd been growing up.
It was nearly here.
A year or two, Dad had said, which wasn't nearly as far away as it felt. The years could go by fast, faster than she would have thought. It was nearly fall now. Fall would turn to winter and then it would be Sho's birthday and he'd be thirteen, they'd be the same age again, and then after that it would be Christmas and New Year and then Mukai's birthday…which she wouldn't be around to celebrate, and then Dad's birthday and then her birthday and she'd be fourteen and then the whole thing would just keep going. Winter, spring, summer, and then fall. Birthdays, holidays, work days, busy days, lazy days, they would just keep on going and going and then before she knew it the day would come and everything would be…it would be…
Better.
Dad had always promised her that it would be better once he came into power. Once he was President of the whole world, not just Claw. Then espers wouldn't have to hide anymore. Then normal people and espers could be friends…then everyone in the whole world could be friends. There would have to be some sacrifice but…but world domination took sacrifice. Dad had said so. In order to do something good then you had to sometimes do something bad.
But she didn't want to do anything bad.
She hugged Sho once more before she left. There was a car waiting for her out front. Shimazaki could have teleported her but…but she didn't want him to. She couldn't even feel him, she had no idea where he was, and she didn't want to look for him. She didn't need anything else to worry about. She had to worry about work, about Dad being mad at her, about Minegishi being mad at her, and now about Mukai leaving…sometimes it felt like her whole life was nothing but worry…
She wanted to stop worrying.
She made sure, before she left, to take her pen and her cigarette case with her. She had woken up to a new pen being right there on her nightstand. Shimazaki's doing…she would have to thank him next time she saw him. She didn't want to see him…but also she wanted things to go back to the way they were before…but mostly she didn't want to have to worry. Not about this or anything…and that was what the pen was for. The pen and the stuff Dad kept in his office, the fancy liquor for when he had company who drank. That was for her now…since she was Dad now…since she was President Suzuki now…
Vice President Suzuki, head of Claw HQ.
That was who she was now….it didn't feel like who she was. It felt like a costume. Her title felt more like a costume than her actual costume. It was too tight, too heavy, too big, too loose…it was too everything. She wanted to change. She wanted to change as soon as she left her room, as soon as she got to the genkan, as soon as she slipped her shoes on…she missed her sandals. These were pinchy and the heel was hard to walk in…but this was what you wore when you were in charge. You wore a costume…she wanted to change. The feeling didn't go away when she left her house. If anything trying to stand in these shoes made it worse. These were not her shoes, these were not her clothes, and this…this was not her job. This was not who she was…
It was like she was playing dress up…a game of dress up that she hadn't asked for…but a game of dress up that she was stuck with.
"Mob, change your shoes." Said Minegishi as Mob slid into the car beside them. They dogeared their book and closed it. That had been downright painful to watch.
"Hi Minegishi…um…I kind of can't." said Mob as she sat down next to them, happy to get off of her feet. How did girls wear these all the time? Adult girls…women. This was what women wore when they were in charge…she didn't get it. They pinched your toes and made you wobble when you walked. Even her Snow White costume had been better than this and it had that awful collar…thing….
She missed her old costumes.
"Why not?" asked Minegishi with a sigh. This was not the time for Mob to be trying out heels. There really was no time to be trying out heels. They were impractical in every single way, especially for the job Mob had…the job that they had. They meant it when they told Mob that everything that she did they were going to do with her. That included work. She needed someone to look out for her, not only for the big things like not ruining her life but for the little things, like having shoes that she could walk or run while wearing on the not so off chance that someone who had a problem with Claw, or her father, decided to take it out on her.
Someone had to look out for Mob and, once again, it was them.
"I don't have any other shoes that aren't sandals or gym shoes." Said Mob. She motioned to the driver to keep going. Minegishi raised their hand and asked him to stop.
"Well then put some of those on." Said Minegishi
"But…this is what you have to wear when you're in charge…right?" asked Mob
"You're the one in charge here, where whatever the hell you want." Said Minegishi
"But….but don't I have to look like I'm in charge? Dad said that it's always important to look like you're in charge, that's why he used to sleep in his day clothes." Said Mob
"You Dad…is weird. Wear whatever the hell you want, Mob, but not those shoes. You can barely walk in those shoes. You're like a baby giraffe on stilts." Said Minegishi
"Why would a giraffe need stilts? Even the babies are tall." Said Mob
"Just put your sandals on." Said Minegishi. Why did everything have to be a fight with her? She had never been the best listener but now…now this was a whole new level. Maybe because she was a teenager now. A teenager who had been living like an adult for years. A teenager who was now the Vice President, now with actual duties in Claw, with actual power in Claw…
But still just a teenager…just a kid, a kid who did now know best.
"Ok…if you want me to." Said Mob. She looked down at Minegishi's shoes. They were just their normal purple ones. Their clothes were normal too. A normal shirt and normal pants and their normal messenger bag…even their hair was normal. A little more combed than normal but….but still normal.
Mob didn't know how they could have managed to look so normal.
Nothing was normal now. Everything was different and…and she just…she decided to do what Minegishi asked of her. She didn't know how to be normal, still, but Minegishi did…so she would listen to them. She didn't want them to be any madder at her than they were now. She knew that they were mad. They had probably never stopped being mad. They'd broken up with their boyfriend because of her and Shimazaki had been the love of their life.
They were wearing one of his shirts.
It was his yellow one with the submarine on it, the one that he sometimes felt the picture on the front of when he was bored. Minegishi had a picture of him doing that, it had been their wallpaper. Mob didn't know if they had changed it or not…they probably had. Because of her. Because she had ruined everything. Because she had done something to make Shimazaki fall in love with her and now he and Minegishi were done and…and…
And Mob changed her shoes.
She did as she was told…as she was asked to. Minegishi was right about the shoes, of course, they were right about everything…most everything. They weren't right about every single thing. They weren't right about…about how they didn't think that Mob could take care of her own life or…or…or other things. A lot of other things…but they were right about the shoe thing so she would change her shoes.
And whatever else they wanted her to do….
They had always told her what to do, even when she had been little. They had told her about moderation even though she knew her limits…mostly. She had done some really dumb stuff and…and she still knew her limits but…she wasn't a little kid anymore. She wasn't even a kid anymore. She was an adult now, Dad had said so, and…and aside from being short and young she didn't know what really separated her from the other adults. She had a job and she took care of her family and she had a lot of decisions to make so…so she could pick what shoes she wanted!
…but her sandals were more comfortable.
So sometimes Minegishi could be right and…and she didn't want to make them any madder than they already were. She knew exactly what they were going to say if she asked if they were mad or not. They were just going to tell her that they weren't mad but…but she knew that they were just trying to make her feel better. They were a good friend like that…the trying to make her feel better part, not the lying to her part. She didn't like lying. She wished that they would just come out with it already, that they would just yell at her or…or something. That they would yell and scream and cry and curse and tell her that she had ruined everything and now they were going to be alone and sad for the rest of their life and they didn't want to be best friends with her anymore, or any kind of friends, and-and-and-
-and Mob didn't want to hear that either.
So she just put her sandals on, ran back to the car, and…and went to work. Minegishi read their book. She pretended to be interested in her phone. She had a lot to do, meetings mostly, today. Boring stuff like that…stuff that needed to be done. She had so much that needed to be done. She had to…oh, Minori posted again….
'All the world is a stage but none of you are the dancers'
That was…kind of…she looked over at Minegishi. They would have known what this meant. It would have made sense to ask them…but they were busy. They were buried in their book. She didn't know what it was about. She couldn't read that language or even recognize the characters…Russian? That might have been it…she didn't know…she would have been able to ask them if they'd…if they weren't so mad at her…
She knew that they were still mad at her, even if they said that they weren't. Sometimes they lied.
"What?" asked Minegishi, looking over the top of their book. Mob stared at them some more. The world behind her rushed by. She was still…way too still…
They closed their book.
"Yes?" asked Minegishi. They knew that look. Something had Mob worried. It could have been literally anything. Claw problems, home problems, her siblings, her Dad…maybe even something with Ryou…Ryou had better not have been bothering her.
If Ryou was bothering her then he'd be sorry.
"Um…nothing. Just…this thing that Minori posted. I just don't get it but I can figure it out on my own. You can keep reading and stuff." Said Mob quickly. Minegishi held out their hand…she flinched back. That was dumb. Minegishi was mad at her but they weren't Dad, and Dad hadn't hit her since the last time he hit her…which wasn't that long ago…but anyway she knew Minegishi would never have done anything to hurt her.
She was the one who hurt them. That was how it worked.
"Let me see." Said Minegishi. Again with Minori. They would have thought that Mob had enough sense to drop that girl as a friend. And an acquaintance. And whatever the hell came before acquaintance. But this was Mob and she didn't always made the best choices when it came to people…or anything, really.
"It's not important, just this." Said Mob as she passed them her phone. They passed it back almost immediately.
"She's trying to sound deeper than she actually is." Said Minegishi. If only all of Mob's problems could have been so simple, so easy to explain…and if only she went through simple phases like that. Minegishi used to, when they had been a teenager, try to sound smarter than they were. They read a lot back then, and now, though back then they thought that it made them smarter than everyone else. They were smarter than most people, stupider than others, and it didn't really matter. Everyone was pretty much just stumbling through life trying to find their way.
Some people had done better than others…and most had done better than them.
"Oh, ok…but I still don't know what it means." Said Mob
"She's trying to sound older and smarter than she is…so pretty much par for the course for her. I don't know why you still bother with her. From what I remember you didn't even like her. God knows I didn't." muttered Minegishi opening their book again. They went back to the top of the page. They couldn't even remember where they'd left off. It didn't matter. They were nearly there anyway.
"She's my friend…she used to be." Said Mob. Minori didn't want to be her friend anymore. She hadn't even been a good friend when they'd liked each other. She had been mean and…well she had just been trying to make Mob into a better person, into someone who was more…more like her. More normal, maybe. Minori liked hanging out with older people and she loved it when people thought that she was older, like a high schooler, and that was what Mob should have wanted to. That was what girls were supposed to want and…and it hadn't been so bad. Minori had taught her a lot about makeup and clothes and stuff like that. She'd never had a friend her own age before…
It had been nice.
She liked her other friends too, of course, but she'd never had one her own age before that wasn't Sho. It was nice to not have to look up at people to talk to them. She even had to look up at Hatori to talk to him and he was the shortest…but shed been growing again. Maybe she was taller now, older, old enough that she could at least look him in the eye without having to look up. Old enough to at least be able to look one of her friends in the eye…
Even if she grew up to be as tall as Minegishi she was never going to be able to look them in the eye again.
Not after…not after everything. She looked away from them, out the window. She could see the building now. Dad didn't like it. He said that steel and glass were uninspired. He had said, before, that if he'd had the money when he'd first bought it he would have just knocked it down and started again. They had the money for that now…she could have done that if she'd wanted to. It would have kept her busy, so busy even that she wouldn't have had time to look at Minegishi let alone hang out with them all the time…
That was no way to think about her best friend.
Minegishi didn't have to be here. They could have just stayed home and done their reading there. They didn't have to come to work with her. They even could have, if they'd wanted to, they could have stayed in the car. They could have just let Mob get out. They could have told the driver to keep going…maybe to a place that they liked. Like the botanical gardens or Starbucks or a bookstore or…or something like that. They didn't have to come with her.
But they chose to.
"Well, it's still standing at least…" muttered Minegishi as they got out of the car. At least Mob had waited for them. With as tense as she had been on the ride up they would have expected her to bolt as soon they pulled up. Was this progress? No…she still had that deer in the headlights look.
They were getting tired of that look.
"I could knock it down, if I wanted to. My Dad doesn't like it…" said Mob
"Well your Dad isn't here, now is he?" Said Minegishi shaking their head. Yeah, this was going to go over just about as well as nepotism usually did. Really Suzuki brought it on himself. It was amazing how intelligent a person could be in one field and what a complete and total moron they could be in another…though people who lived in glass houses really should not have been throwing stones.
Not unless you liked stepping on broken glass.
"He's not, you're right. I'm the one in charge…me." Said Mob. She could have knocked the building down and built it up again. She was in charge, she had the power and…and while she was building it back up then she could have waited to…she would have had to wait to go inside. To sit at her desk. To be the one in charge of all of this. She could have waited to become Vice President Suzuki, she could have just stayed Mob…
At least long enough to put together a better costume.
"That's right, you're the one in charge. So come on and be in charge already. Let's get this train wreck on the road." Said Minegishi. They were being harsh. They knew that they were being harsh. They knew that mob didn't need them to be harsh right now…but they couldn't help it. This was going to be a bigger train wreck than the last time Mob had been in charge. They had no idea what went through Suzuki's head sometimes. He'd gone on and on about 'hating' the person that Mob was becoming, her growing up too fast, but then he went and did something like this?
Minegishi was never going to understand any of this.
But it wasn't theirs to understand. They didn't have to understand the world, they just had to live in it. So here they were. Tokyo HQ, Mob's HQ. Mob in charge. The return of the little, the not so little, boss lady. She wasn't teetering around on a pair of ill fitting heels from God only knew when anyway. She was walking a lot taller now in her sparkly gel sandals. Somehow she looked older. Less like a kid teering around and more like a slightly older kid….
But still a kid.
From behind Mob was the picture of confidence. She walked tall, and with purpose. Catching up to her, on the other hand, told the real story. She was nervous. Minegishi knew that face. She looked like she wanted to run away. They didn't blame her. This was a lot…she was going through a lot. She looked up at them and they wanted to…if they could they would have saved her. They would have carried her away, back to that car, and then they would have gone and done some Mob thing. They would have taken her to where she felt safe and comfortable. Where she didn't have cause to make that face. They couldn't do that, though, they didn't have that kind of power.
There was no arguing with Suzuki, any of them, but especially the President.
"Minegishi?" asked Mob as they made it to the elevator. Even in comfortable shoes it had been a long walk. She wanted to take a break or turn back or…or something. She didn't know what she could do. She knew what she had to do and….and when you had to do something then you did it. Dad wanted her to do this. Dad had put her in charge and…and this wasn't just about her. She had to take care of all of the people here. She had to be there for all of Claw right now and…and she didn't have a choice.
She never had a choice.
Minegishi did, though. They could have left at any time. They could have gone back home and read or slept or taken a bath or any of the other things that they liked to do. She knew that they didn't want to be here. She wasn't that clueless. She knew her own best friend. She knew…she knew that maybe it would have been easier without them. She loved them so much but…but also she knew that they were mad at her.
She knew when someone was mad at her. She wasn't that clueless.
"Mob, I swear to God. If you ask me if I'm mad at you one more time…" Said Minegishi running a hand through their hair.
"What are you going to do?" asked Mob as she used her powers to smooth their hair back down for them.
"I don't know yet, just get on the elevator." Said Minegishi. The elevator touched down with an annoying 'ding'. There was no way Mob could have missed it…but she had. Instead of getting on, instead of taking even a single step, she stood there with that same nervous look on her face.
"But if you don't know yet then-" said Mob as Minegishi reached out and grabbed the elevator door. She knew that she had to get on now, she knew that she was just holding it up for everyone else in the building, and she knew that a line was forming. She wasn't clueless. She knew that she had to move…but her feet just…they didn't want to listen. If she went into the elevator then she would end up in Dad's office, her office, and then she would be stuck in there all day with Minegishi and they would have just kept on getting madder and madder and madder at her…
And they were already pretty mad to begin with.
"Mob. Elevator." Said Minegishi. A line was forming. A cloud of smoke hit them right in the face. It went well with the beam of light. Some smoking asshole in a silver coat that even Ryou have been able to tell was too much. They glared at him, he just raised an eyebrow. Behind him some Awakened shoved into each other and pointed. Behind them an even longer line was forming…and they doubted that all of those people needed to use the elevator. People were pushing past each other just to get a look at Mob…
They gave her a push.
"Sorry!" said Mob as Minegishi pushed her onto the elevator. Immediately people started to push in, so many that the emergency light came on. It only went on where there were too many people or Sho was jumping, and Sho wasn't jumping in the elevator right now. Nobody was, she had made that rule years ago when Sho nearly died…well Shimazaki could have teleported him away…but still. It wasn't safe to have too many people in an elevator like this.
She had to think of everyone's safety.
"Um….there are too many people right now so, um, if you don't need to go to the top floor then maybe you should take another elevator and…and stop pushing. Please?" asked Mob. The elevator was still making that noise and people were still pushing…but at least now they were pushing off. The Awakened weren't always the best listeners. Maybe she should have rewarded them with something for being good? Like extra jello.
That was a good idea.
She could do that. She knew exactly how to do that. Why couldn't everything have been as easy as clearing out an elevator? Things always got harder. Work, siblings, friends…things never got easier. They always got harder, like when you leveled up in a game and all the enemies leveled up with you so it was like there was no point to levelling up. If all that happened when you grew up was that people got mad at you and…and work got harder and…and even taking care of your siblings got harder then what was the point?
Well, you did get to smoke.
Someone was smoking in the elevator. Dad hated that. He had made a rule that the only place people were allowed to smoke was the outdoor mezzanine and even then only when he wasn't around…and he wasn't. Mob didn't mind smoking. She missed it, actually…Minegishi hated it. She had a whole cigarette case in her bag and it would have been easy to take one out and smoke it. She was the one in charge after all. She could have…she would just have wound up making Minegishi mad. They were always mad even if they denied it every single time she asked.
Well if they were going to be mad either way….and were going to say that they weren't no matter how many times she asked…then she might as well….
"Mob, come on." Said Minegishi as Mob pulled a cigarette out of her bag with her powers. They had thought that Mob would have grown past this by now. This was the worst of their habits, the worst thing that they'd passed onto her. If anything was going to ruin her life it was the smoking.
They reached for her cigarette. She turned away.
"It's just one." Said Mob as she turned away from Minegishi…and right into the guy next to her. She knew him. Well she knew everyone in Claw…this wasn't a Scar or an Awakened…oh! Silver coat, lighter necklace, short hair. He was that one guy from the foreigner squad…
"Need a light?" asked Joseph as the elevator climbed upwards. Tokyo HQ, the building where it all happened. No wonder it was so tall. There was a joke going around the more treasonous parts of Claw that it had to be big enough for his ego. Joseph was inclined to believe it. Suzuki Touichirou was nothing but ego.
You had to have one hell of an ego to think that your thirteen year old was qualified to run this place just because she was yours.
She'd been put in charge before, he remembered. Everyone remembered. It had been the best summer ever if the Awakened were to be believed. They still talked about it, passed tales down of the amazing 'Miss Suzuki' her 'Ladyship' and how she had granted them a summer full of parties, games, friendship, and double jello privileges. Truly the stuff of legend. Truly what a ten year old in charge would have done with her time and power.
He wondered what a thirteen year old in charge would do.
"No she-" said Minegishi. They tried to pull Mob back but she wasn't having any of it. Minegishi gritted their teeth. So this was how it was going to be from now on? They could have sworn they felt a molar move out of place….well now they had two problems on their hands. Maybe more. Mob…she couldn't have been that clueless, right?
Of course she could have.
Joseph did that thing, that old cliché, the tired out old contrivance, that overused move. The old 'let me invade your personal space to light this cigarette for you' move. That was probably why he kept that ridiculous electric lighter around his neck. The minute her cigarette was lit they grabbed her by the back of the sweater and pulled her away.
Mob was either clueless or into it. They didn't care which one, both would end badly.
"Thank you, Joseph." Said Mob as she exhaled. That felt good. It smelled good and tasted good and felt good…it even sounded good, too. The way she exhaled. The crackle of her cigarette…oh, these were a new kind. They tasted different too. She would have to thank Shimazaki later…whenever they got back to talking…
She could figure it out later.
"You actually remember me?" asked Joseph. Well that made this mission a hell of a lot easier. He might have even managed to get this wrapped up by the start of the hockey season. He doubted he'd get any time off after he was done, not enough to go home for any length of time, but a guy could dream. He'd have better earned some vacation days for this. He'd been a mole for a while, most of his mole-ing had been done in Claw, and he'd had to do a few things that he was going to have to answer about once he was done in this world…
But this was a lot.
'Get into the inner circle by any means necessary'. His orders were clear. Suzuki was either planning something big or wrapping something up. He traveled a lot with the foreigner squad, he'd been a fly on the wall in every Division, and he knew a lot….but not enough. He didn't know exactly what was happening, what Suzuki was working towards, and why it was so important that he had to put his thirteen year old in power…but he had to find out.
By any means necessary.
"She remembers everyone." Said Minegishi. They put both hands on Mob's shoulders and ushered her out, pausing only once to hit the ground floor button on the elevator. They glared at Joseph, the kind of glare that even Ryou could notice, and then they left. They wished that there was a way to slam the doors shut behind them. Really. Mob was thirteen. Ten and three. Barely middle school aged. What was WRONG with some people?
They didn't know and they didn't want to know. if they wanted an indebt look into it they could have gone back to arguing with Ryou. According to him age meant nothing, Mob was amazing, and if she was going to be the same person in five years than she was now then what was the point of waiting? He'd thrown in some fatalism too, more of his 'we could die tomorrow' shit and even some actual appeals to reason and logic…yes, they had known who he was when they'd met him, they just hadn't thought that this was the person they would end up becoming…
At some point they had become a parent without even realizing it.
Unfortunately modern medicine hadn't made an IUD for the soul or whatever. They loved Mob and cared about her and all of that. They cared enough to save her from herself. Maybe she was just clueless and naïve, maybe she was into men old enough to be her father, maybe it was none of Minegishi's business at all…
They were making it their business.
They practically shoved her into the office. She kept on trying to dig her heels in, it felt like, and it was way too early in the day to have to sit her down and explain to her that, yeah, her body her choice and all of that but she had proven before that she was going to make the wrong choice. They did not need a Shoko or Shigeo or whatever other names she'd thought up running around. They knew Mob. The next thing out of her mouth was going to be that now that she had a real job she could totally handle the responsibility of having a baby. She was completely grown up and ready for a lifelong commitment like that.
She would have been better off getting a tortoise.
They lived for over a hundred years. That was plenty of commitment. There, problem solved…if only Mob had been as into pets as her brother. They could have just put her on a plane, taking her to see the giant Galapagos tortoises or something, and then told her it was like a baby that would never grow up. A baby that bit you, hissed at you, and was faster than people would have thought….better than a human baby. Better than Mob showing up one day with her kid in her arms. Better than….better than Mob ruining her life. There was no way in hell she was ready.
If Minegishi wasn't ready at thirty then there was no way in hell Mob was ready at thirteen.
"I know where Dad's office is, Minegishi, you don't have to push me." Said Mob. Minegishi was mad at her…why? She had slept with their boyfriend. Why would they be mad at her for smoking when she'd…well they didn't like it when she smoked either…maybe the big thing didn't cancel the little thing out. Maybe they all just ended up building on one another or…or something like that. Maybe she had made them so mad that there was no way for them to be happy again…like she kept on making them madder and madder and madder. She needed to stop smoking…it would have made them happy if she started smoking…
But she needed it.
"Just making sure you get sidetracked." Said Minegishi as they came upon the door…which had been covered in sticky notes. Some of which made them wonder about where they were heading as an organization. There were an equal number of 'fuck you' notes as there were 'you're amazing' notes…and then were all the crudely drawn…were those supposed to be penises?
Claw clearly wasn't interested in making great artists out of the Awakened.
"I won't get sidetracked…not like Hatori. I think that he got really sidetracked while Dad was gone…" said Mob as she read the notes on the door. Hatori had apparently cheated and…well some of this stuff was just not possible…pretty gross, though. The Awakened were mostly boys so of course it would have been gross stuff that they wrote on the door. People needed to write nicer notes to one another.
She would make that into a rule.
Another rule would be no more of…whatever had led to this. She wanted everyone to be friends and friends did not talk to one another like this. She took the notes down with her powers as she opened the door. She folded them all up nicely and made them all fly into the garbage can. She didn't think, though, that she should have been grateful that it was empty.
Hatori needed to stop trying to throw things into the garbage can, he had bad aim.
He also needed to stop sleeping slumped over desks like that. He was asleep, using his keyboard as a pillow, and his hoodie as a blanket. It didn't look like a comfortable blanket, and you couldn't see the pictures on it either. It was a white hoodie with a bunch of faces on it. Anime girls…but she didn't know those characters-
-and now she never would.
"Hatori, get up!" said Minegishi as they covered Mob's eyes. Really. They had seen those hoodies floating around but…really? Well, at least they finally knew what sort of person would have walked around dressed like that.
The sort of person who drank what looked like an entire decanter of brandy and slept passed out on their boss's/pseudo father's desk.
"Minegishi, be nice." Said Mob as she tried to pull their hand off of her eyes. She didn't even know what that had been about. It had probably been because they were so mad, they had ever gotten mad enough that they took it out on Hatori. That wasn't new, of course, people took things out on Hatori all the time. It didn't mean that he was used to it, though. No, judging by the cursing and sound of things hitting the floor Hatori wasn't used to it at all.
He shouldn't have had to be, either, that was no way to treat your friend.
"I am being nice." Muttered Minegishi as Hatori overbalanced himself and fell backwards. Mob reached out with her powers and caught him…despite the fact that they were covering her eyes. Huh. They had always figured it was just a strictly Ryou trick.
"Are you ok, Hatori?" asked Mob as she caught Hatori. She had felt him falling. She hoped that she had done it right, that he hadn't fallen. Minegishi took their hand off of her eyes. She'd caught him…and lifted him a little bit too high off of the ground. She put him down gently.
That was no way to wake up.
"Thanks-thanks Mob, I'm fine." Said Hatori as she set him down onto the ground. He wasn't fine, actually. His head felt like he had a family of woodpeckers living in it, his mouth felt someone had tried to brush his teeth with sandpaper, and his stomach felt like it was trying to crawl up through his throat. He needed to lay down, to get back to sleep, and to not wake up for at least another year…
But he knew for a fact that he didn't have that option.
"Are you sure? You still look kind of sick. Did you drink all of this in one day?" asked Mob as she picked up the fancy liquor bottle with her powers, put the cap back on, and put it back on the shelf. Minegishi ducked at it went over their head, she didn't know why. They knew that she would never have done anything to hurt them, even on accident. They still ducked though, then gave her a look that she couldn't place…and she tried to. Maybe it was the 'I'm tired and going to go sit down sort of look'.
If there even was such a look.
"If he did then he brought it on himself." Said Minegishi as brushed the empty cans off of the couch and sat down. They didn't know what they had been so worried about. There was no way that Mob could have done a worse job than this.
"I had help…oh God…I need to sit down, sorry." Said Hatori. He sat down on the chair, threw himself down onto it, and for a moment it began to roll away. Mob caught it for him. He felt her powers. She sat him down and began to clear the desk off for him.
She was a great kid like that.
Always thinking about other people, always trying to make people happy…he should have been looking out for her more. This was all his fault. The woodpecker in his head was picking directly at his brain, the emotion center, whatever it was called. Suzuki would have known…or maybe not. Maybe the word didn't even matter. What mattered was that he'd fucked up when it came to Mob…
Here he was having the time of his life while she was going through the worst time in hers. What the ever loving fuck was wrong with him?
"Here, have some water." Said Mob as she made a water bottle roll across the table and onto his lap. She picked his hoodie up from the ground and tried to drape it over him. He didn't seem to want a blanket, though, based on fast he'd turned red and tossed his hoodie off as soon as she covered him with it. He must have been too warm to talk…maybe he had a fever? Maybe he needed Fukuda or something. She hoped that he didn't. She didn't really want to call him over right now.
She would, however, send him off with Hatori and Dad.
"Thanks-thanks Mob." Said Hatori as he threw his hoodie under the desk. Mob pressed the bottle of water in his hands…water sounded pretty good right now.
"Don't drink too fast, you might choke." Said Mob
"Sorry, sorry, I'm fine. I'm…it's all good. I'm ok, it looks worse than it is." Said Hatori
"It usually does. Don't try to drink any milk for a while, not until your stomach stops hurting. Drink lots of water and try to eat a lot of plain foods like toast and crackers. You'll feel better in a few hours and if not then I guess you can go to Fukuda…but only if you're still here. I don't know when Dad is expecting you." Said Mob
"Dad-I mean your Dad is doing what now?" asked Hatori as he tossed the bottle of water away. It made it near the garbage can, it would have made it in if Mob hadn't taken that moment to decide and try and scare him. Suzuki was expecting him today? That made no…what time was it? And what day and…and what had he done last night?
"I don't know what he's doing right now, I didn't ask him…maybe having breakfast? Or working. I don't know, you can ask him when you see him…ok?" asked Mob. Hatori was going to be gone for a while. She was going to do her best not to be sad. He was going to be happier with Dad, she decided, because Dad was always nice to him. Dad was nicer to him than he was to anyone in the world….even his own kids. Hatori…he would be happier with Dad…
And if Hatori was happy then Mob was happy too…really, she was.
"When I…oh God, what time is it? What day is it? What year is it?" asked Hatori. He tried to get it, made it to his feet, and then his head started to swim. He braced himself against the desk. Mob caught him with her powers.
"You're ok, it's ok." Said Mob as she caught Hatori. Minegishi clicked their tongue. She didn't know why, it wasn't like they were going to make help…they were just mad, that was all, and it was Mob's fault so she didn't have room to be mean to them like that…and even if she had then she still shouldn't have.
"If you have to ask then you're probably late." Said Minegishi clicking their tongue and turning the page. They could feel Mob looking at them. They weren't getting involved in this.
"I-I am…fuck. Sorry, sorry. I've…I got to go…sorry Mob. I don't know…I don't know when I'll be back." Said Hatori. Mob didn't look nearly as sad as he would have thought. Maybe because they'd been through this before…or maybe because him leaving wasn't nearly as bad as what she'd gone through.
"It's ok, it's not like I'll never see you again. Dad said that he'd been done in a year or two. I don't think that's such a long time." Said Mob. It used to seem like a long time, when she'd been little. Back when a minute felt like an hour and a five minute timeout would have been five years. A year or two didn't seem like that long anymore. Maybe because she'd been around for thirteen of them or…or something like that.
"Really? I mean you're taking this really well-" said Hatori
"I have to. It's not like Dad's going to change his mind." Said Mob, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, but if you wanted him to-" said Hatori
"She doesn't." said Minegishi. There was no need to make this any more difficult for Mob than it had to be. She'd had enough upheavals in her life as it was. Even someone as dense as Hatori could have realized it…he better have. His eyes met theirs. He looked away first, quickly, quick enough to nearly lose his glasses.
Mob caught them for him.
"It's ok, Hatori, I just want you to be happy. That's all. As long as you're happy then…then I'm happy." Said Mob as she fixed his glasses. She meant it. What could have been better what could have been worth more, than her friend being happy? She didn't know…maybe her friend being there. She was used to it, kind of, Hatori leaving. Ever sine Dad had decided that he liked Hatori best he'd been taking him on more and more long away missions. She was used to it but now…mostly. She just wanted Hatori to be happy and, anyway, there worse things than her friend leaving.
Like her friend being mad at her. Minegishi was so mad that they barely said goodbye to Hatori. They just stayed right there on the couch and read their book. That was normal for them, they liked to read, but also…also not normal. They were looking at the page more than they were reading the words, and they were holding onto their book really tight…they did that when they were mad. The plant next to them was shaking, too, and Mob knew that it wasn't out of fear.
She wasn't going to ask.
She knew that if she asked they would just tell her that they weren't mad at her and it would be like going around and around in circles. She didn't feel like having a mad tea party with Minegishi. She didn't feel like having a mad anything with anyone. She just wanted them to be happy…but she had no idea how to make that happen. Not unless she figured out how to go back in time, and even then that would have been dangerous. Knowing her she would have just made it so that she was never born or…or something like that. So maybe time travel wasn't the answer…
She knew what the answer wasn't. Now all she needed to do was know what it was.
She could figure it out later. Right now she had work to do. She took her laptop out of her bag and set it down on the table. It fit in the empty space where Hatori's had been….where Dad's usually was. But this one wasn't Dad's. Dad's was black, hers was blue. Dad's didn't have any stickers on it. Hers had as many frozen stickers as she could fit. Dad's wallpaper was the Claw symbol. Hers was a picture of her, Sho, and Mukai playing dress up.
Sho had hated that costume.
She was always Elsa, Sho was always Anna, and Mukai was always Rapunzel even though it would have made more sense for her to be Merida since she had red hair. She didn't want to be Anna, which would have made sense too, because even she knew that Sho had to be Anna. That was the way that it had always gone with them ever since they'd been little. Sho had been the younger brother so when they played pretend, of course, he had to be the younger sister. Also he was a lot like Anna. His hair was red and he had lots of energy and, back when they'd been really little, he hadn't had any powers. Now he did but….but he was still Anna. Even though he hated the costume.
Sho must have really loved her.
He really was the best little brother in the whole world. Mob knew what it was like to wear a costume she didn't like or want, one that didn't fit, one that just…it felt wrong in every single way. She hated this shirt and now she knew why she never wore it, it was itchy and showed her undershirt. She wished she would have left this skirt in the box with the other winter clothes, it was way too hot outside for wool. Her tights did that thing that tights always did where they dug into her skin and made her legs feel like they were being squeezed all over. Even her shoes…well her shoes weren't so bad.
These were her favorite shoes, actually.
They didn't go with the costume. They were her regular shoes. Her clothes were just clothes now, she had gotten too big to always wear costumes everywhere. The Disney Store had both stopped carrying her size and also she had gotten too old to wear costumes everywhere like a first grader. Minori had said so. Mob sometimes wore shirts and stuff with Elsa on them but…but it wasn't the same. Wearing clothes you liked…that was different from wearing costumes you liked. Costumes made you feel better about yourself, or at least they were supposed to, and your clothes…well they just made you feel like yourself.
The shoes didn't really help that much.
She wanted her old clothes, her old days, her old life back…but that wasn't going to happen. Even if she went home and changed it wouldn't change the fact that she had changed everything. It wouldn't change the fact that this was all her fault. This was the life she had made for herself. Now she was the one in charge and…and she wouldn't have been in charge if Dad hadn't…if he hadn't wanted to get away from her. That was it…all she had to do was think about it for a minute and stop being clueless. Dad hated the person she had become and Mob….Mob wasn't too happy either with who she was now…but she could do her best. She could take care of Claw and…and help make them stronger for when the day came…then maybe Dad would like her again…though she had no idea what to do to make Minegishi like her again…
If there even was anything that she could do.
Mob really didn't know. She had said sorry but sorry….sorry wasn't good enough. It wasn't…she didn't know if there was anything that she could do that could be enough. Minegishi might have been sad for the rest of their life…Mob would think of something. But when she had the time…she had no time to do anything but work today and…and tomorrow…and the next day…she looked through her schedule and tugged at her collar. That was going to be a lot…a lot more than what she was used to…
But she would have to get it done. She was Vice President Suzuki now, Head of Tokyo HQ…for real. This may have felt like a costume but….but it was real life. Whether she wanted it to be or not.