It was time to get some new jello colors.

"What about pink?" asked Mob. She and Minegishi had been thinking up different jello flavors all day. It was important. More important than all of those boring meetings she'd had to sit through. She didn't know why everyone needed to meet with her for everything. People needed more money, more Awakened, to move, to stay where they were, to build, to demolish…she didn't know why they had to ask her about it specifically.

She always said yes, anyway.

Well she said that she'd think about it, which always meant yes, but it was important to say that she was thinking about things. Minegishi had said so. It was important, they had said, to make people think that you were going to say no to them. That just seemed kind of mean, in Mob's opinion. When you cared about someone you always said yes to them. Even Dad wasn't mean enough as to tell her 'no'. Well not about most things. He had been a lot meaner before…and was still mean to Sho…

But Dad wasn't here right now.

"What flavor?" asked Minegishi, looking up from their book. They'd kept meeting notes in the margins. Mob had said that she'd think about a lot…a hell of a lot. The slide from the top floor to the lobby wasn't going to happen, obviously, but there was also the matter of every single Division wanting the uprising to center around them, everyone wanted more actual Awakened soldiers instead of just plain Awakened, and then the new holidays like bring a pet to work day…which could have worked…but swim in jello at work day would not…

Mob was lucky…no, Suzuki was lucky that they were around, otherwise Claw would have been completely bankrupt and burnt to the ground in a week.

"Pink." Said Mob

"Pink is a color, not a flavor." Said Minegishi

"Colors can be flavors, like…like orange." Said Mob. Minegishi looked up from their book.

"Yeah, you've got me there." Said Minegishi. They would let Mob worry about the little things. It looked like they would have to be the one worried about actually getting things done. They were going to have to be only actual adult in the room.

"So what do you think about pink?" asked Mob

"If it's going to be something like strawberry then yes but if it's going to be something like pink lemonade then no." said Minegishi

"What about raspberry?" asked Mob

"Raspberries are red, Mob, I know you've seen them before." Said Minegishi

"But the jello is pink." Said Mob, flipping through the different kinds of jello she could order. Maybe it was just her screen being weird. She didn't know, though, if that was the case. Hatori would have known and he would have been able to fix it too if he'd been around…but he wasn't. She frowned. The desk still had crumbs on it. It was like he hadn't even gone…but he had. He'd been gone for hours. It felt sort of like he was coming back, like he was going to be at home playing videogames or hiding from Shimazaki or…or something like that. But he wouldn't be.

He was gone…he was off with Dad…and she didn't know when he'd ever come back.

"Well then that's just plain wrong." Said Minegishi, clicking their tongue. Pink raspberry jello…what was wrong with the world?

"Should we just make our own jello, then? All of these colors are kind of confusing." Said Mob. Making jello was easy. You just had to mix the powder and water and then let it sit all night. That way they could make whatever colors and whatever flavors they wanted to make. The Awakened would like that, too. It would give them something to do. There were a lot of Awakened around.

"If you think that the Awakened can handle that kind of responsibility." Said Minegishi. They were going to have to ask Mob to tell everyone to hold off on Awakened production. The faster you made them the worse they came out. This newest batch was acting like a bunch of three years olds. It was not a nice change of pace from them acting like a bunch of ten year olds. She didn't need to deal this, they didn't either, nobody did. Especially not if the uprising was coming up soon.

They needed as many competent people as they could get.

"I think that they need something to do. There's a lot of them and they get bored." Said Mob

"Well maybe we can just put some giant hamster wheels in the breakroom. Stick your brother and sister in while we're at-" said Minegishi as they jotted down some more notes in the outer margins of their book. They stopped, though, when the energy around them shifted. When a shadow was cast over them.

"-it." Finished Minegishi. They didn't look up. They made it a point not to look up. They didn't need to look at him to talk to him…and they were not going to talk to him. They glared down at their book. They had to glare at something and their glare would have been lost on him…even though he deserved it.

Fucking Ryou.

"Hey Mob, hey Toshi." Said Shimazaki as he teleported into the room. He hadn't exactly been driving himself crazy trying to figure out the perfect thing to say…and he thought that he'd done decently. Hi. What else were you supposed to say when you saw someone for the first time in forever.

Hi.

"Shimazaki! What are…what are you doing here?" asked Mob. She made herself look at him. She couldn't look away. It would have been so much easier to not look at him. Then she wouldn't have had to think about him. Then she wouldn't have had to think about herself and…and what she had done. She could feel herself turning red, or at least warmer. She had…with him…and he was right there…and so was Minegishi….

She wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"What? I can't come and see my two favorite people?" asked Shimazaki. Toshi was still pissed off. He could feel it. Mob was…he didn't even know what Mob was. Her aura was loud, kind of like a screech, like someone had stepped on a cat's tail or something…but also bells? Not bad bells, nice ones. Kind of like at a temple but loud-ish…he couldn't tell. Mob had always been hard to read. Even when they had been together, realty together, she had always been hard to read. Sometimes she'd be all over him and sometimes she'd run off every time he came near….but then she told him that she was happy with him…and she had been. She had been very happy, she had said so, and Mob didn't lie to people. She wasn't like that…she was kind of like Toshi in that way.

Toshi always told the truth, even if it made no sense, or maybe it just didn't make sense to him.

"No, you can't. Get the hell out, Ryou. Now." said Minegishi

"Wait, wait! I come bearing gifts!" said Shimazaki

"Come back during Christmas then." Said Minegishi with a wave of their hand.

"That's a good plan, Toshi, but the thing is I won't be around during Christmas. New Year's too. Probably Valentine's Day, going to miss a bunch of birthdays too…maybe even both of yours…so here." said Shimazaki as he pulled the backpack off of his shoulders and upended it right on Mob's desk…and it was Mob's desk now. It hadn't taken long for the news to reach him. It was all everyone was talking about.

Either Suzuki Touichirou was a moron or a genius.

People had been talking about this for a while now. Suzuki had put Mob in charge. Actually in charge. Tokyo was hers. Taking out Shimazaki's old family had left quite the power vacuum, one that was only going to get worse now that the inhumanely terrifying guy who'd been keeping a lid on everything was gone. People were talking about Mob. How this was either their chance to take back Tokyo from the 'weirdos' or that this was a sign of the end. That Suzuki wouldn't have left his kid in charge unless he was confident about her. That she could have been as bad or worse than him. He hadn't been able to get away from it. Every single place he'd gone to. Bars, clubs, brothels, even the place with all the cats. Mob was all that anyone could talk about.

Of course she was. She was Mob.

"Shimazaki….Ryou…what is all of this?" asked Mob. She knew what some of that was. A bunch of pens and carts, two whole freezer bags full of flower, a bunch of white stuff that might have been coke, a lot of those rectangle pills that Minegishi was always taking. Things that she hadn't even tried yet. This was…this was amazing…

He must have really loved her a lot.

"Yes, Ryou, what even…where did you get this?" asked Minegishi, practically running over to Mob's desk. They knew Mob, they knew what it meant when she got that gleam in her eyes. Nope. No way. This was too much for her…this was too much for everyone. They smelled blood…fresh blood. Ryou was wearing black but…were those bloody fingerprints on the bags?

He was lucky that they loved him…that they'd loved him once.

"Some morons moved into the our old…the old building the family used and tried to take over a shit ton of the old territory. A few people, actually, but this was the easiest to rob. I mean it's not like it's changed, it's a building. They don't change." Said Shimazaki. He felt around the table until Toshi stopped him. What? He'd just wanted…he wasn't even sure what he wanted.

To make this feeling go away, maybe?

Mob and Toshi together…this was the worst of it. It hadn't been feeling his way through his old home. It hadn't been the way his mind had tried to trick him into hear and smelled and sensing things, people, that he knew were gone. It wasn't even the bender he'd gone on before this, the way his body was telling him that if he so much as looked at another line or another joint that it was going to quit on him. It was Mob and Toshi together.

Together without him.

He could sense when he wasn't wanted…and he wasn't wanted here. Not by Toshi. Mob was always kind of closed off, especially when something was bothering her, but Toshi…their aura might as well have been shouting at him to leave them the fuck alone. Why? Well he knew why…he did and he didn't know why. Yeah, twenty years was one hell of an age gap but it wasn't like he'd done anything to hurt her. He'd asked her every step of the way if she was into it, and she had been! He could still feel marks on his back, scars now, from how into it she'd been. If she hadn't been into it then she could have just told him to stop or even kicked his ass, not that it would have come to that but she had that kind of power. She was Mob. She was the second most powerful esper in the world. Once Suzuki died or got too old she was going to be the single most powerful esper alive…and she was officially his boss, too!

He had no idea what in the hell Toshi had been going on about…

But it didn't matter. They didn't want…they didn't want him around. He focused on them. Every breath they took, every step they made, the way they maneuvered themselves so that they were between him and Mob…why? It wasn't like he was going to do anything to hurt her. He loved her. He loved her. He loved Toshi. He loved the both of them…

But that didn't seem to matter to either of them….well he knew for a fact that it didn't matter to Toshi anymore.

"Buildings change! Um…I mean…I mean I could change this building if I wanted to. The Awakened want a slide to the ground floor and…and I could give them that if I wanted to." Said Mob. She had to say something. Minegishi was close to Shimazaki, but not in a good way. Their aura felt like they were about to try and fight him…but that would have been wrong. Boyfriends and theyfriends didn't fight. People who were in love never fought and…and she knew that they were both still in love. They had to be. They were…they were Shimazaki and Minegishi.

"See? This is what I love about you. You're up for anything-" said Shimazaki

"Ryou." Said Minegishi lowly. A warning. One which he had better have heeded. They stepped completely between him and Mob. She didn't need this. They didn't need this. They needed…they needed a nap. This whole day had been one big headache from start to finish…and it wasn't even dinner yet.

Damn it, Ryou. Why did he have to make their life so much harder than it had to be?

"What? I just meant that I wish I could have been around long enough to see it but, yeah, I won't be." Said Shimazaki

"Why? Where are you going?" asked Mob. Had she sounded happy? She had felt happy and it might have leaked through. He was going…she shouldn't have been happy…but if he wasn't around then Minegishi wouldn't have been mad at her anymore…but also he was her friend and he'd been her friend for nearly as long as Minegishi had. She didn't know…she didn't know if she could lose a friend and…and she was being selfish.

She may have been losing a friend but Minegishi was losing the love of their life.

That was so much worse! Not only were they losing the love of their life but-but-but Mob was the one responsible for all of this. She was the one who'd made Shimazaki fall in love with her. She didn't know what she had done but…but she knew that she was the one responsible for all of this…and she didn't know how to make it right. Why couldn't this have been as easy as running Claw? Why did love and stuff have to be so complicated?

Or maybe it wasn't complicated. Maybe she was just clueless.

"Osaka. Apparently there's someone there worth stalking and I guess I look like a stalker." Said Shimazaki. He didn't do security. He didn't do spying. He didn't do boring work like this. If he was going to Osaka to fight someone then that would have been different. There would have been a definitive plan, something to look forward to, and a definitive endpoint too. A time when he knew he was coming back to Toshi and Mob. Suzuki, or Hatori, whichever one gave him his orders now…it better not have been Hatori…told him that he had to post up in a Claw house with some other morons and follow this woman around for some reason.

If he had wanted to follow people around he could have done it in Tokyo, or wherever the hell Mob wanted them to live.

"I'll tell you what you look like…" muttered Minegishi as they took a step to the side. Ryou's attention followed them. He turned to face them. Good. Mob's attention was on them too. Double good. They watched her out of the corner of their eye. They had to get rid of that before Mob completely lost it. They knew her. When she was stressed, when she was sad, or even when she was bored she reached for whatever was there.

Like them.

"Please do, Toshi, because right now all I have to go on is how I feel. I feel like shit so I guess I look like shit too." Said Shimazaki, running a hand through his hair. He could feel it laying down onto his forehead. He could feel, too, the spiky parts sticking up, the ones that never went down no matter how greasy his hair got. He must have looked like shit, he felt like shit, and had been feeling like this for so fucking long…

It was getting kind of boring.

"You look…ok….but maybe it would be nice if you took a bath and combed your hair and changed your clothes and…and stuff. Also you have crusty stuff around your eyes." Said Mob. She had been about to agree with him but she wasn't that clueless. People didn't like it when you told them that it looked like they hadn't had a bath in days.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I missed an eye cleaning day." Said Shimazaki rubbing the dried crap from around his eyes. He'd missed a day….or maybe more. He wasn't entirely sure what the date was.

"Oh…I'm sorry." Said Mob. He had missed it because of her. Shimazaki had run away because of her. Because she had just…just left him. It had probably broken his heart…but what about her? What about what she wanted…no, no, no. Those were selfish thoughts. She couldn't hurt Shimazaki like that but…but she'd also hurt Minegishi and…and she had no idea how to set any of this right.

"About what?" asked Shimazaki. Disappearing like that? Going to Disneyland without him? Leaving him completely alone like…like it was nothing and he was nothing? Like…he didn't get her sometimes. He loved her but he didn't get her. She had always been there for him, for everyone, that was just who Mob was as a person. But she'd just left…why? Had she been so embarrassed, and yeah it was kind of embarrassing when your private life became public, though it also made no sense at all. People fell in love, people fucked, that was the basis of their whole civilization. Why was she so embarrassed that it had all happened with him?

"About being mean…I guess…" said Mob

"Yeah, what's that about-" said Shimazaki. Good, they were finally going to talk about this. He wasn't a fan of these big, heavy talks but they had to happen. She had been kind of mean to him…the worst he could say about her. She had just…just left him. He felt like a yo-yo sometimes. She liked him, she avoided him, she liked him, and she avoided him again. Up and down and then down and up…again and again and again…

It was getting kind of boring and he didn't do boring.

"You aren't mean, nobody's mad at you, and for the love of God do not start any of that again." Said Minegishi, turning to face Mob. They made sure that they looked her right in the eye while they said it. She needed to get it. They needed to get it through her head. She wasn't the one at fault here. Why did she have to blame herself for EVERYTHING.

She hadn't played her part in this, they reminded themselves.

"Start what?" asked Mob

"With me." Said Minegishi

"But I'm not-" said Mob. She wasn't trying to start anything with anyone. She just wanted everyone to get along…to be happy. She just…she didn't know how to do that. She knew how to run Claw, how to make hundreds and even thousands of people happy, but the people who mattered the most to her…she didn't know what to do….

"Ryou, you said that you had somewhere to be, right? So why don't you just go already?" asked Minegishi. They were done with him, they had to be. Ryou always got to them, right under their skin, and they couldn't deal with that right now. They didn't want to stand there and…and be near him. Being near him…seeing him like this…vulnerable…

No.

"I will. I just wanted to see-" said Shimazaki, taking a step closer to Toshi. They put their hands up and stepped back…they had never stepped back from him like that….not even when they'd first met.

"Well I can't help you with that. Now go." Said Minegishi. They were well aware of the fact that they were being an asshole. They didn't care. Ryou…Shimazaki…he needed to get the hell out of here before they said something that they were going to regret…no, that they couldn't take back.

"Yeah…you got me there Toshi. You got me there." Said Shimazaki. They really had. He had walked right into that one. Good for Toshi. He…he was happy. He was happy to have been able to talk to them, and Mob, again. He was happy to have been able to make them happy. It was a hell of a job, a hell of a boring job, and he had made it a little better for them and…and that was all that he could do. This wasn't how he had planned it…but that was what he got for planning things.

Plans were boring and very rarely worked out the way you wanted.

So off he went. He had to get ready to go…for however long it took to stalk someone. Not forever. That was why he wasn't going to say goodbye. Goodbyes were so…permanent. He didn't do permanent, not in a bad way. In a good way, like a strawberry fields forever sort of way, not a depressing sort of way…not that he was that depressed….or depressed at all! He was just bored, that was all.

He just had to find fun, that was all.

"Well that was fun, wasn't it?" said Minegishi as Ryou teleported away. They went back to their spot. There. It was over. Now they could get back to the very important work of choosing jello flavors and…and whatever the hell else Mob wanted to do.

"Um…not really. It was kind of…um…are you mad at me? It's ok if you are. I know that you said that you weren't but if you were mad at me then-" said Mob. They had to have been mad at her. They couldn't have been as ok as they looked. They were just reading, like normal, but on the inside…on the inside they had to have felt just as bad as she did…or maybe not. There was guilt and…and a lot of embarrassment and…and of course they wouldn't have felt that. They would have felt mad at the person who ruined their relationship.

"Mob! For the love of…I am NOT mad at you, ok?! But if you keep on accusing me of being mad at you I'm going to-to…I'm fine, ok?" said Minegishi

"But…but if you were mad at me because I made you and Shimazaki fight-" said Mob

"You didn't do anything. Ryou should have known better, and that's all I'm going to say about that." Minegishi

"But-" said Mob

"That's all that I'm going to say about that, so either change the subject or we're going to sit in silence for the rest of our lives." Said Minegishi

"For the…the rest of our lives?" asked Mob. How long did people live for again? Longer than Dad had bene alive for and he was the oldest person that she had ever known. She didn't think that she could sit in silence until she was forty six…people lived longer than that, too. Just sitting there in silence with Minegishi…that would have been awful…but what were they even supposed to talk about? It was like there was this…this thing, between them. This big thing that…that they were mad about. That they should have just said that they were mad about. Mob would have felt bad, too, but if they talked about it then it could have been better. They could have moved on from it…

If this was even the sort of thing that you could move on from.

"Yes. The rest of our lives…or mine. Stay out of everything that Ryou got you, Mob, not until I can sort it out. I can tell right now that some of that stuff is going to kill you." Said Minegishi. There, a fight that they'd had before, a fight that they were used to. A fight that had nothing to do with the fact that Ryou had broken every ounce of trust that they had…they focused on the drugs. The fact that Ryou had dumped enough of everything onto Mob's desk to put her away for life if someone felt like betraying her.

"I know my limits." Said Mob

"Do you really?" asked Minegishi

"Yes, I do. I'm not a little kid anymore, Minegishi, I know my limits and…and I can tell when someone's mad at me. I wish you would just talk to me for real and…and I know that we'll fight but…but I also know that we'll be able to work it out somehow." Said Mob

"There is nothing for us to work out, Mob, because I'm not mad at you. I told you this already. I'm mad at Ryou, I'm mad at myself, and I'm even a little mad at your parents for not taking the time to actually look after you. You're just about the only person right now that I'm not mad about so just…come off of it already. Talk about something else. Talk about jello. What other kinds of jello do you want to order? Come on." Said Minegishi. They made an effort not to look at Mob. If they looked at her then they knew that they were going to say something that they were going to regret. They were going to tell her to come off of it…or worse. There were much worse things that they could have said…things that they knew that they couldn't take back.

They didn't blame her.

They knew better than to blame her. She hadn't played any part in this. She was…she was thirteen years old. She hadn't…she hadn't been thinking…not that she should have had to have been thinking. Ryou shouldn't have put her in that position. She shouldn't have put herself…she didn't know any better. She just…she made bad choices when it came to men, so had they at her age, and at their current age too…but this wasn't her fault…but it boggled the mind how she could have been so clueless as not to even think about how other people would…no, no, no. Ryou should not have been pursuing her. End of discussion…there was no discussion. There was just…just….

There was work to be done.

"I….um….I don't know…" said Mob. She knew that they had to get back to work. She knew that there was a lot to do but…but how was she supposed to work when all of this was happening? When she was so…so…she didn't even know what this feeling was. She just knew that she didn't know how to exorcise it. She wanted to but…well Dad had always told her to exorcise her feelings but she hadn't ever told her HOW to exorcise her feelings.

"Blue? Green? Aquamarine? Come on, Mob, start picking colors already." Said Minegishi. The jello thing wasn't very important, not in the grand scheme of things, but it was something that Mob cared about. Maybe it was something that she cared enough about that she came off of…whatever the hell this was.

"Um…I think that it depends on the flavor, though, not color and…and maybe a bunch of mystery flavored ones would be good. I don't know. I should ask people though and…and I think I should do that." Said Mob, getting up from her desk. She knew that it was mean but she needed space. Just enough space to make her brain and her feelings shut up. This office was too little for the both of them…but it was the biggest one….but this was her building, now, and she could do whatever she wanted to this building…like she had said, buildings could change.

So could people.

Best friends could be mad at you all the time. Your oldest friends could fall in love with you…and they could leave. Mob wasn't running away, not for real, not like…she had lost two friends. Hatori was off with Dad and Shimazaki was off on his own mission…why did it hurt? Hatori had gone with Dad on missions before and Shimazaki…well she had been avoiding him for a while now…but avoiding someone wasn't the same as wanting him gone! Now he was gone and Hatori was gone and…and Mob…she wanted to be gone, too. If she hadn't had this job then she could have just gone with them. She could have followed Dad and Hatori or she could have followed Shimazaki but…but she did have this job and now she was stuck here.

She had never been stuck anywhere before.

Not since she had been too little to know that she'd been stuck. Back when she had gone to school and home and sometimes the park. Back when if she had wanted to go somewhere she had to ask Mom and Mom had been sick for a long time so…so she and Sho had been stuck in the house all day. It felt like that. Like she was little…like she was stuck…like the world was shrinking. For the longest time the only people that she'd known, really known, had been her parents and her brother and…and Fukuda. Fukuda was the first person she had lost. Now she had lost Hatori and Shimazaki…she was losing so many friends…

She needed a cigarette.

A plain one. Minegishi had told her not to smoke while she was at work. She had a lot of choices to make, important ones, and she couldn't let her mind be clouded. Minegishi was always telling her to have moderation and stuff. She knew her limits…but she didn't want to make them mad. So that was why she was having a normal cigarette now. She wasn't skipping the lunchroom, she was definitely going to ask people what kind of jello they would have like, but she had taken a stop over in the mezzanine. This was where you were supposed to smoke, after all.

So here she was.

Awakened, Scars, and other people stopped and stared at her as she sat down in the shade and tried to get a cigarette out of the box. Her hands were shaky. Her powers were shaky. She was shaky. She just…she needed to calm down. When the day was over then she could smoke for real…her and Sho, he was going to need it. His best friend was leaving. She knew that she had driven a wedge between Sho and Shimazaki but…but Sho was still sort of Shimazaki's friend and…and this was going to be so hard on him. He was so little…half a year….but that could be a very long time. Half a year ago she never would have thought that she would have been here. It was so long ago…it felt like that anyway. But it wasn't. Things just changed really fast, faster than you could ever think. One minute she'd been Mob and now…now she was…

The person she had become…Vice President Suzuki.

The only thing that was weirder than calling herself Vice President Suzuki was hearing it from someone else.

"Vice President Suzuki. Didn't expect to see you here." Said Joseph as he slid into the seat across from her. This was good. Suzuki had been the type to lock himself away while he worked. It was damn near impossible to get near that man. His daughter on the other hand…well she seemed like she'd be a lot easier.

"Oh, hello Joseph. How are you?" asked Mob. That was what you were supposed to say, it was polite, and…and she had to be polite. Even though she just kind of wanted to be alone right now. She always sorted her feelings out better when she was alone. She exorcised them better…well when she smoked for real…but that wasn't an option right now.

And neither was being mean.

"Could be worse, just killing time until there's something to do." Said Joseph with an exaggerated stretch. She watched him. He had no idea what that look was. He decided to tone it down a little. He sat up, not church straight, but respectfully straight. She liked to make friends with people but she was still the boss here, and she was Japanese too. There was a certain amount of respect she expected. He could deliver it.

Friendly but respectful. He'd try that for a while.

"Sorry, I don't have a lot of jobs for people. Mostly this is just housing right now…sorry. I'm still getting that sorted out…sorry…um…do you want a cigarette?" asked Mob. That was the polite thing to do, right? She knew that he had his own but people liked it when you shared with them. She wasn't so clueless that she didn't know that…but she was really clueless when it came to everything else.

"Thanks. Peace's?" asked Joseph

"They're maybe favorite, I mean they taste good…but the kind that you smoke are good too. I like how they crackle." Said Mob

"You've never had a clove cigarette before? An aficionado like you?" asked Joseph

"What's an aficionado?" asked Mob

"Someone who's really into something." Said Joseph

"Oh, like a stan." Said Mob. Minori had taught her that word. That was a kind of mean word for someone who really liked something. Minori had called her a Disney stan once. Mob didn't see what was so wrong with that. Disney made the very best movies and shows. Things always worked out for everyone, all of the characters had a lot of friends, and even when bad things happened it was never truly bad. Sometimes people died but…well people dying was better than them disappearing. At least if someone was dead you had a grave you could visit and you could maybe see their spirits too.

"A who?" asked Joseph. He knew that name…he should have known that name. Right? His bosses were going to kill him. His pay was going to get cut, he just knew it.

"Someone who's a super fan of something. My friend, well my ex-friend, Minori called me that once. But for Disney. I don't see what's so bad about that." Said Mob

"I don't either. Disney is amazing." Said Joseph. He had been to Disney World once when he was five, and the last Disney movie he'd been excited about was the second Toy Story movie back when he'd been a kid…he was going to have a lot of studying to do. This girl did NOT keep her cards close to her chest. Ok. Disney, he could do that.

The price of admission to the upper echelon didn't seem like a steep one at all.

"It really is! Sorry, I just never met a boy who liked this stuff before. I mean for real. My brother liked Universal better and my friends…sometimes I think that they just go places to make me happy. I'm glad that you like it, though. Which is your favorite Disney Park? Mine's Epcot in Florida because there's this new Frozen ride, well it's kind of a world, but you get to actually WALK through Arendelle! And also there's a desert party too and…ok, I like Hollywood studios too because there's a Frozen sing along thing and I don't really sing but I like it and…oh, wait, hang on. That's in Shanghai. I like Shanghai too, a lot better than Hong Kong, but my little sister likes Hong Kong because there's this Toy Story place and it's little like she is. She can't ride a lot of stuff. She fell out of the mountain at Tokyo, well the mountain ride. She was too short but we unbraided her hair so she'd look taller and…and that was kind of dumb, but Sho and I caught her so she was ok." Said Mob, smiling. This. Was. Amazing! A boy who liked this stuff! This was…ok, she had to calm down. She felt better now. She felt a lot better. Her new friend liked…no, no, no. They might not have been friends yet and…and maybe it would have been better if she didn't make new friends since friends could leave too, just like family, and…and she didn't want anyone else to leave…

But it was cool, though, another person who liked Disney…a boy who liked Disney, too!

"What about your other brother?" asked Joseph. People liked to talk about themselves. When you didn't know what to say just keep the conversation on the other person. He had research to do, a lot of research….it couldn't have possibly been this easy, right?

"Other brother?" asked Mob

"The guy your Dad put in charge. Rumor is he's your brother." Said Joseph. A question his superiors had been asking about. With Suzuki acknowledging his two year old it was most likely true that Hatori was his son. A guy like that must have had dozens of illegitimate children out there.

"Hatori's not my brother, Dad just likes him a lot. He doesn't really like Disneyland that much because it's outdoors and there's a lot of walking. He comes with sometimes, though, he liked to mess with people's fast passes even though it's mean and one time he made a rollercoaster, the slinky dog, keep going and going and going until Mukai got tired of it…which was nice for her but mean to the other people in line…do you like the slinky dog? Or do you not fit in it anymore? Um…not to call you fat or anything, you're just tall." Said Mob

"What's your favorite ride?" asked Joseph. He didn't like theme parks at all. They weren't fun. They were expensive, hot, and crowded…but if this was what she was into then he'd make an effort. He'd done a lot in the name of duty. Killed people, set fires, kidnapped kids, started wars, ended wars before they started…he could take a day to familiarize himself with the Disney parks, enough so that he could keep up a conversation with her.

"At which park?" asked Mob

"Tokyo. What do you like best about your home park?" asked Joseph

"I like the teacups a lot, but only if Sho doesn't spin them too hard. He likes to spin fast and I like to spin slow so most of the time we spin medium and that's ok. One time he spun it way too fast and that was after we'd had six churros each and three milkshakes, well he had three and I had four, and then…wait, no, that story's kind of gross. Sorry." Said Mob

"No need to apologize. When I was a kid I got sick on the giant drop at this little theme park you've probably never been to." Said Joseph

"Drop rides are the worst. One time when I was little me and Sho went on the tower of terror I got scared and kind of…stopped the ride on accident with my powers." Said Mob

"How old were you?" asked Joseph. She was thirteen now and already stronger than most grown men…how long had she been like this? And what did he, and his superiors, have to expect from the newest addition to the Suzuki family?

"Seven…but it was really scary. I got kind of motion sick and that was before I smoked. Cigarettes are really good for calming your stomach down, so if you ever go on the teacups you should smoke afterwards…but only in the smoking area. People probably won't bother you there since you're an adult. You have to bring your own, though, since they don't sell cigarettes there, not even the normal kind let alone the kind you like." Said Mob

"I think that we might have different definitions of normal. I'd imagine that you've got some pretty expensive tastes, I mean beyond Peace's." said Joseph. Amazingly enough she shook her head…well she was thirteen so it shouldn't have been amazing…but he would have thought that she would have had more expensive tastes. Usually with women you could just buy your way close to them, even if they had money. Not that he was complaining, of course. He would much rather have ridden the spinning whatever with her until he threw up than wine and dine her until she spilled all of her secrets to him the morning after.

The things he did for this job.

"No, not really. I'm not really picky when it comes to cigarettes. I mostly just smoke what Shimazaki gets me and he gets this kind because Minegishi likes them…" said Mob. She looked down at the cigarette in her hand. She knew that she hadn't stolen it but…but that was what it felt like. This was their favorite kind, not hers…did she even have…could she even smoke this? Was it ok? She wanted to, and this cigarette wanted to be smoked…no, wait, that wasn't how it worked…but if that was how it worked then it would have been ok…right? She didn't…she didn't know…

She kept on smoking. Maybe if she smoked for long enough it would come to her.

"If you want another one, go ahead." Said Joseph, holding out his cigarette box. She was starting to withdraw. The trick, he decided, was to watch her aura. She was just as stone faced as her father. One of Suzuki's sons would have been easier…but beggars couldn't be choosers and neither could government agents.

"Thanks. You can have one of mine, too." Said Mob holding out her own cigarette box. He took one of hers out. She put the one he gave her in the empty space. It wasn't the same length as the others, or the same color, but she was happy to have someone to share with.

"You're very generous, Vice President Suzuki." Said Joseph

"You can call me Mob, or Shigeko, or just Suzuki. Miss Suzuki is ok too, I guess." said Mob

"I wouldn't want to be disrespectful towards you. You are my boss after all." Said Joseph

"I don't want to be bossy, though. I'm not Dad." Said Mob

"No, you're significantly cute….nicer." said Joseph. He pulled back at the last second. He knew that 'by any means' meant, literally, by any means…but he would wait and see which means he would need to use.

"Yeah, Dad isn't as nice to you guys. He even cut down on the jello options in the cafeteria to save money. I don't know why he's always trying to save money, we have plenty of it. We should share the money we have with everyone in Claw, we should try and make people happy, not save it for the uprising. I think that jello is better than spending money on uprisings. Everyone likes jello." Said Mob. Joseph's aura woke up when she said that. She knew that she had been right about the jello thing. Dad knew a lot about taking over the world but very little about people.

"Uprisings are expensive, I mean I'd think so. We don't really get told a lot." Said Joseph, leaning in close. Was it this easy? There was one hell of a bonus coming to him if it was. Bonuses, promotions…hell, he could probably pick and choose where he worked if this went well. Joseph, the man who saved Japan…the man who saved the world. He might even have been able to finally go home if this worked out….

"You're right, I should do more newsletters…that'll be a priority. After the jello thing…hey, what's your favorite kind of jello?" asked Mob

"My favorite what now?" asked Joseph

"Jello. Dad cut down on the different types to save money but I don't care about money. I just want everyone to be happy. That's why I'm spending money on jello instead of something better like an all you can drink milkshake place. Or maybe just milk…I like milk but a lot of other people don't so I went with jello." Said Mob

"You know the milkshake bar might be a better idea….but jello is great too. So why not have both?" asked Joseph. Show an interest in her, make her happy, make her think of you as a friend. This was basic…but there was something to be said about the basics.

"You're right, we can have two different things…or three, or even….I have to stick to one thing at a time. I have…there's a lot going on….but, um, what's your favorite kind of jello?" asked Mob

"Blue." Said Joseph, looking her up and down. She was wearing blue from head to toe. It was worth the gamble.

"Blue…we can get more blue…I can do that." Said Mob. She could at least make one friend happy…not that she was looking for new friends. She had already lost two of them. She wasn't going to replace people as soon as they left…well it wasn't like they were vanishing. It felt like it but she knew where they were going and…and she wished that they all could have been together. She wished that things would have been able to get back to the way they were before….

But that wasn't going to happen.

So she just…she had to…she had to get through today. She wasn't happy but that didn't matter. She could make the people around her happy. Not the person she wanted to…Minegishi would tell her what to do eventually, once they admitted to being mad at her. When that day came she'd be right there for them.

With jello…the green kind they liked.