Serizawa still had a lot to learn when it came to taking care of himself.

"…and then you just wait for the light to turn green and pour the batter in." said Shibata as he poured pancake batter into the opened waffle maker. Serizawa watched him closely. It didn't look so complicated when he did it…but Serizawa knew that he would have just messed up. He would have probably burnt himself, or the waffle, or gotten batter everywhere, or broken the waffle maker or-or-or-

"Do you want to try, now?" asked Shibata. Serizawa shook his head and took a step back.

"No thank you. I'd probably just mess it up." Said Serizawa. Shibata closed the waffle maker. It clicked and the light turned red again.

"Unless you're planning on filling this thing with caramels and butter you're not going to break it." Said Shibata

"No-no! I'm not, Shimazaki never taught me how to do that." Said Serizawa. Shibata's whole body stiffened, there. Normally he slumped kind of, because he was so much bigger than everyone else had explained once, and he liked to put people at ease. He wasn't scary because he was so big, no, he was scared because he might have been upset…and if he had been upset then he might not have wanted to be friends with Serizawa anymore…

People could stop being your friend at any time.

"Please don't mention Shimazaki ever again." Said Shibata, gripping the end of the counter. It cracked a little bit there…he'd made Shibata really mad….when you made someone mad then they wouldn't want to be your friend anymore and…and Serizawa was in no position to be losing friends!

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad. Please don't be mad at me! I mean you can feel however you want but if I make you mad then you're not going to want to be my friend and then-" said Serizawa. Shibata immediately let go of the counter and slumped back down. Now he and Serizawa were nearly eye to eye…but that didn't help. Shibata was probably so mad at him right now that-that he wanted to-to leave and…and people could leave at any time and…and then you could be friendless at any time…

Hatori's chair was empty, so was Shimazaki's, and Tsuchiya…well she'd tried to leave an empty chair too.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I forget how big I am sometimes." Said Shibata

"I'm not scared of you because you're so big, I'm scared of you because….because you could go and then we won't be friends anymore and…and not even…it's not about me. Miss Suzuki wouldn't take it well if you left. She's really upset about Hatori leaving and she misses the President, kind of, and Fukuda…well she doesn't miss him at all but the other day she got a paper cut and it was kind of scary since….since if she gets hurt a little then that means she can get hurt a lot and…and I don't want anything to happen to her. If Fukuda had been here then he could have helped her, or even if Shimazaki had been here then he could have-" said Serizawa

"Please…please. Don't mention Shimazaki. I'm trying really, really hard right now not to lose control…so just…please." Said Shibata. His t-shirt was getting really tight. Serizawa could see the seems straining. That didn't look comfortable….oh no…he'd made Shibata mad!

"Sorry! Sorry I mentioned him again! It's just that he can teleport and he really loved Miss Suzuki a lot and I know that he wouldn't have ever let anything bad happen to her-" said Serizawa

"Serizawa. Please. Stop it. He didn't love her…he just wanted to…can you please talk about something else? Anything else?" asked Shibata. Serizawa shut his mouth. His teeth scraped together with how fast he'd shut his mouth. He just…he had to think of something else…even though he still didn't get why. Shimazaki had loved Miss Suzuki and then they broke up…sort of. Miss Suzuki had just said that it was complicated and Serizawa had on idea what that meant. He felt bad for her but she had said, before, that she just felt bad because everyone was talking about some very private stuff in her life…

He had just been talking about some very private stuff in her life.

He had been part of the problem! She didn't like people to talk about it and he had and…and he needed something to talk about…but there were so many things in the world to talk about. There were so many things and…and what had they been talking about before? Yes, that seemed good. Waffles. They had bene talking about waffles and…and could he hold up a whole conversation about them? Or just…just how the process of making them went? It was a lot easier in the Cooking Mama games than it was in life…he would have just messed it up if he tried it on his own…

But that was why he'd asked for help in the first place.

"Ok…um…how do we know when the waffles are done?" asked Serizawa. Shibata's shirt stopped straining. He smiled a little bit…good. Serizawa hadn't completely f-worded the whole thing up like he usually did.

"When the light turns green, see? The light'll turn green and then we just get them out with the silicon tongs. Don't try and use anything metal in here. That'll just ruin the nonstick. I've had such a good run with this waffle maker so far, please don't stick a fork in it or something." Said Shibata

"I-I won't!" said Serizawa. Well that was good to know. The green light meant that it was done, don't put metal in it…he wondered, briefly, if that was why Shimazaki nearly started so many fires when he tried to make waffles. If he couldn't tell when the light was green then he couldn't tell when they were done. He wondered if they made waffle makers with timers, the kind that made noise. That would have been a good birthday present for him. He knew better though, than to ask Shibata, though, since Shimazaki was such a sensitive topic for him.

For a lot of people, actually.

"Are there strawberries to go with that?" asked Minegishi as they walked into the kitchen. They stretched as they walked, their shirt coming up over their stomach. They had a scar there…a big one. Their eyes met Serizawa's. He quickly looked away. Right, right, you weren't supposed to stare at people like that…he was such an idiot sometimes.

"Good morning, Minegishi." Said Serizawa quickly. There, that was polite. Maybe now they wouldn't be mad at him…though they were always mad at something or someone.

"Morning. Now someone answer my question. Are there strawberries to go with that?" asked Minegishi

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't make the strawberry syrup you like. But we have-" said Shibata opening the cabinet. The labels inside were facing the wrong way. Some faced outwards like they should have and others faced inwards. If Shimazaki had been there then he would have had to check every single box…but he wasn't here anymore so it didn't matter...even though it kind of felt like it did.

"I'll live." Said Minegishi as they sat down. They reached out to the table plant, another fern, and it started to change color. It went from being dark green to bright green, and the shape of the leaves changed too. This was ok to stare at since Shibata was staring too. It was always interesting watching Minegishi use their powers for something other than hitting people with vines. They had the coolest powers, they could make things. They could make food and pretty flowers and ferns…all Serizawa could do was break things.

He would have given anything for powers like theirs.

"So, which one of you likes their waffles well done?" asked Minegishi as they held a strawberry as big as an apple in their hand. That was amazing…the most amazing thing that he had ever seen in his life…well not 'the' most amazing thing, since he saw amazing things all the time…but it was still up there. They were so cool! They were cool and pretty and…and he shouldn't have thought of them as pretty, they didn't like it, but they kind of were and…and….

Something was burning.

"Oh no!" said Shibata as he turned around. Serizawa covered his eyes. He had messed up…and he hadn't even done anything! He knew that he would have messed up and…and maybe just being there had messed it all up or…or something. Maybe he really was cursed. Miss Suzuki said that she couldn't see any curses attached to him but that didn't mean that they weren't there…not that he meant to contradict her like that! He just…there wasn't any explanation for why everything went wrong when he was around. Maybe everyone would have been better if he just went back to his room…

He couldn't, though, since Miss Suzuki liked having him around while she worked.

"Damn, and that looked good, too." Said Minegishi. He could hear a chair scraping against the floor. He could smell burning. He heard the sound of a cabinet opening and closing. He didn't want to know what was going on. If he knew what was going on then he would have known exactly how he'd messed up and….and he didn't want to know what he'd done or how badly the waffle had been burnt or how much batter they'd wasted or even who was coming into the kitchen.

Well, actually, it was pretty easy to know who was coming into the kitchen. He didn't need to open his eyes to tell.

"Mama! Something's burning in here!" said Mukai as she ran into the kitchen. He didn't know why she ran everywhere, he heard her slip, and he didn't know why she always had to tell people what was going on. Sometimes it could be kind of…it was fine. Cute. She was cute. Even when she ran into your legs and tugged at your robe while you were trying your best to just stay calm…

He opened his eyes.

"Good morning Mukai. Do you need something? Are you hungry or thirsty or…or do you want to play?" asked Serizawa. She was even more helpless than she was. He didn't get to stand there and just….be like that. Not when there was someone who might have needed him. She stopped tugging on his robe and looked up at him.

"Do you want to get lost?" muttered Minegishi. They put their strawberry down onto the table and leaned forward, holding their stomach. They did that sometimes. He knew better than to ask them. He'd asked them once already and they told him that it was none of his business and to leave him alone…they had been kind of scary about it…scarier than they normally had been.

"Minegishi, come on." Said Shibata

"Come on, come on, we gotta go now. it smells bad in here. Come to Sho's house, there's poptarts." Said Mukai, pointing out the window to Miss Suzuki's house. That did sound nice. Not the part about the poptarts, though, Sho hated it when people touched his food without asking. Having breakfast with her would have been so nice, whatever she'd made, though he had no idea if she was awake yet and if he woke her up then she'd just end up being tired for the whole rest of the day and if she was tired then she would have been-

"Nobody give her any poptarts! She can't have that much sugar so early in the morning!" shouted Tsuchiya from the other room. Serizawa closed the snack cabinet immediately. Shimazaki might have had some poptarts in there…and either way he didn't like people touching his food either…well he wasn't here but…but that didn't mean that he wanted people eating his poptarts and Tsuchiya had said 'no' so…so it made sense.

It really did.

"She's fine!" shouted Shibata

"I want poptarts, Mama! I want sugar early in the morning!" shouted Mukai

"Sugar doesn't make you hyperactive, you know, that's caffeine. Sugar just destroys your pancreas. said Minegishi, still slumped over the table. Serizawa knew better than to ask them what was wrong but he wanted to at least ask if they were ok. They had been like this for so long already. If something happened to them then Miss Suzuki would have been devastated.

"Well, I don't want that to happen to her either." Said Tsuchiya as she entered the kitchen. She was already in day clothes, and she had a plastic bag from the family mart in her hands. She put it down in front of Minegishi. They peeled it back and looked in the top.

"I noticed you were low on supplies and I got you some extra strength Tylenol. Just don't drink if you take it." Said Tsuchiya

"I know how to take Tylenol, thank you…and thanks, I guess." said Minegishi closing the bag.

"Mama, I want a present too!" said Mukai

"You're getting breakfast, how about we start from there?" asked Tsuchiya as she walked over towards Mukai and picked her up.

"I'm making waffles. The first one didn't turn out so great but I can make you another one…if you want me to." Said Shibata quietly. A look passed between them, one that Serizawa wasn't sure if he was meant to see. They broke eye contact and Shibata took a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water before passing it to Tsuchiya. She put it down in front of Minegishi. They took it and nodded.

"I want different breakfast. This breakfast smells like burning. Don't want it at all…and no water too. I want coke." Said Mukai

"Mukai, you'll eat what Hiroshi makes, ok? This isn't your sister's house. You're going to eat a real breakfast…and coke isn't a breakfast drink." Said Tsuchiya

"Yes it is, Sho drinks coke for breakfast. He does! I saw him!" said Mukai. Tsuchiya closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Serizawa didn't get why she was so upset. Sho did drink coke for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner. He knew that it was bad for you but it made him happy, and Mukai too since they were brother and sister. Miss Suzuki mostly drank milk, though, but she was their sister…maybe Mukai wanted milk?

"Does she want milk? I just thought because Miss Suzuki loves milk and also…also it's kind of a breakfast drink…sorry." Said Serizawa

"I don't want milk, I'm not Shigeko. She has milk with breakfast. I want coke with breakfast, like Sho." Said Mukai

"Mukai, stop it. You're not at their house, you're here and….and you just…drink water, ok? It's better for you. You can have a soda later on with lunch. How's that sound?" asked Tsuchiya

"Not good, Mama, not good at all." Said Mukai

"You know, uh, I could just get her sparkling water and put some homemade juice in it. I mean it's still sugary as hell but it'll make her happy…" said Shibata. Tsuchiya gave him a look.

"Hiroshi…not now, ok? I'm her mother and what I say goes and…and she's had way too much sugar lately. She's been acting out like crazy." Said Tsuchiya

"Are you sure it's the sugar?" asked Minegishi

"What else could it be?" asked Tsuchiya. Minegishi shrugged.

"The instability of our lives, the constant fighting, the second round of abandonment by her father….if you even want to call him that…I mean he's more like a self glorified sperm donor-" said Minegishi. Serizawa laughed. He couldn't help it. Everyone looked at him…

"Sorry, sometimes I laugh when I'm nervous." Said Serizawa

"God, you're more of a twelve year old than Mob is." Said Minegishi

"Shigeko's thirteen. That's more than ten." Said Mukai holding up ten fingers.

"See? Like I said, more of a twelve-year-old than Mob is." Said Minegishi

"Come on, Minegishi, just…come on." said Shibata

"Yeah Minegishi, come on. Leave him alone. I know that you're going through a lot right now but that doesn't mean that you get to talk to him like that. It sets a bad example for Mukai and it's just…it's mean, ok? You know how sensitive he is." Said Tsuchiya. Serizawa, if he had been braver, would have said something about how he was right here and he didn't like it when people talked about him like he wasn't in the room…but he wasn't nearly that brave, or that mean, and he didn't mind it that much either. People were talking about him and that was…at least people knew him. At least he spent enough time with them, with his friends, for them to talk about him at all.

Even if Minegishi could be kind of mean about it sometimes…most of the times.

"When have I ever pretended to be anything other than who I am? And, yeah, I know it sets a bad example but right now I have enough to worry about when it comes to Mob. I don't need two kids to worry about. I didn't even ask for the one." Said Minegishi. They were…they were worried about Miss Suzuki? Why? They shouldn't have felt that way, she was doing very well, and…and they shouldn't have been worried at all. Serizawa worried all the time, it was exhausting. It just kept going and going and going all day long…just this…it was like popup windows in his mind. He hated games with those, the ones that gave you 'helpful' tips all the time…like the 'hey, listen!' fairy from Ocarina of time…

Only more annoying.

Hey listen! Maybe nobody likes you. Hey, listen! Maybe you're a burden on all of your friends. Hey, listen! Miss Suzuki doesn't have to like you. Hey, listen! At any moment you could lose control and hurt everyone. Hey, listen! You're still not good at anything even though you've been out of your house for years now. Hey, listen! You're never going to be good at anything and if you try then you'll just mess up. Hey, listen! You're probably messing up right now and you don't even know it and everyone thinks that you should just go back to your room and nobody wants to be your friend and-

-and nobody should have had to feel like that. Nobody but him. He deserved it.

"You-you shouldn't worry about her! She's really happy! She likes her job and…and she likes making people happy and she's got a lot of fun things planned and…and she kind of misses you and the President and she wishes that she could spend more time with everyone and…and also she has this new friend who looks at her like she's a loot crate but-" said Serizawa

"New friend? What new friend?" asked Tsuchiya. Mukai tried wiggling out of her arms…and she let her. Normally she would have held onto Mukai until she got sick of trying to get away, it was breakfast time after all, but he was happy that Mukai was happy.

"She made another friend? That's…wait, what's a loot crate?" asked Shibata

"A loot crate is this thing where you can order a box of mystery prizes and they send them to you and…and Miss Suzuki and I watch those channels sometimes and Sho thinks that they're boring but-" said Serizawa

"They're boring and you're boring! I'm leaving now!" said Mukai before she ran out of the kitchen. Tsuchiya reached out to catch her but Mukai moved too fast and ducked out of the way.

"They aren't! But Mukai thinks so and-" said Serizawa

"Wait…so this guy looks at her like…what? Like she's a present he wants to unwrap?" asked Shibata, his shirt starting to strain against his muscles again.

"Or…or like a treasure chest. Or a one up block. Or like she's a-" said Serizawa

"They get it." Said Minegishi Serizawa immediately shut up. He'd been talking too much again…he always did that.

"Actually, I don't. Are you telling me that this guy-" said Tsuchiya

"Looks at her like he wants to be inside of her? Yeah, probably. Mob and I haven't hung out in a while but I know who he's talking about. He clearly wants to sleep with her. I have no idea what she wants but-" said Minegishi

"What?!" asked Serizawa. That was…he hadn't even thought of that! That was…he didn't want to think about that. He was glad that Miss Suzuki had someone else who was in love with her but…but this was not…this was none of his….that was private!

"Yeah. What." Asked Shibata. The sleeves of his shirt ripped off. Now he had a tank top. Serizawa didn't know what he was getting so mad about…actually he kind of did. Joseph didn't act like he loved her. Shimazaki may have kind of looked at her like that but he always did things for her and stuff like that and…and this wasn't his business but…but Miss Suzuki needed someone better than that Joseph guy and…and she probably wouldn't have wanted everyone to talk about this.

"Yeah, what? You're just letting this-" said Tsuchiya

"I've been laid up for ten days now and even before that Mob…she doesn't listen to me. She doesn't listen to anyone. Yeah, I'll do what I can when I can stand up for more than five minutes but right now I have no choice but to trust Mob to use what little judgement she has. Do you people honestly think that I haven't told her, time and time again, not to get involved with someone like that? I have period I have told her so many times that she needs to get involved with someone her own age but, of course, she isn't going to listen to me! She's thirteen years old…and she can be so stupid sometimes... whatever! She's going to make bad choices and that's just...I'm supposed to...I have to go. I need to lay down for six hours before I pass out at the table and hit my head or something. thanks for the supplies, enjoy your breakfast, people. Goodbye." Said Minegishi as they got up. They had to push up from the table but they made it. They grabbed their bag and their giant strawberry before leaving…and banging their shoulder against Tsuchiya's as they walked away. Tsuchiya took a deep breath.

"I…I need to…to go and see what Mukai's getting up to. This is…I need to make sure Mukai's not eating soap or crawling into the washing machine or…or on the roof or something. Excuse me." Said Tsuchiya before she turned and nearly ran out of the kitchen.

"Wait…" said Shibata reaching out after her. She was had left. He sighed and reached over to his sleeves…what was left of them. Serizawa didn't know what to say so he just kept his mouth shut. Shibata felt his sleeves, sighed again, and then turned back to the counter.

"Come on, let's…let's finish breakfast. You at least need to eat." Said Shibata. Serizawa wasn't hungry anymore but he didn't want to argue with Shibata. He didn't trust himself to talk. He was probably going to say the wrong thing, or laugh again, or something else. He always did dumb things when he was nervous. He always did dumb things all the time. He felt like…like he'd just started a fight…even though they hadn't been fighting. They had just…he wasn't sure what that had been. A pre-fight? Or a disagreement? Or…he wasn't sure. People were complicated…and making waffles was complicated…so he just decided to stick to one complicated thing at a time. He'd learn how to make waffles now and then, later on, he'd learn how to talk to his friends so they didn't fight…and then all of the other things that he hadn't learned yet.

He still had so much to learn…so he was going to start with making waffles and see where he went from there.