Even Sho wouldn't eat a mayonnaise sandwich.
"More." Said Mukai as she pointed to the mayonnaise. The sandwich maker held the bottle and gave Sho a look. Sho didn't blame him. He knew that Mukai liked mayonnaise, and he liked it too, but maybe this was one of those 'too much of a good thing' things.
Maybe.
"Are you sure, Baby Sis? That's kind of a lot of mayonnaise." Said Sho. Mukai stomped her foot. It wasn't loud, she was wearing ballet slippers instead of shoes, but people still looked over at them. What? Hadn't these people ever seen an angry ballerina before?
"I'm not a baby, Sho!" said Mukai stomping her foot again, that time on top of his.
"Ok, ok, Little Sis. Do you think you have enough mayonnaise, Little Sis?" asked Sho. Mukai shook her head.
"More! I said more! Listen with your ears!" said Mukai. Sho sighed. Well, she liked what she liked…but her sandwich was just bread and mayonnaise. That was how she liked them. Bread, mayonnaise, and the meat on the side. She liked to lick the mayonnaise off the bread, then eat the bread, and then the meat only if she still had room…she probably wouldn't. She'd wanted a big sandwich and that was the biggest that they made…
Sho needed to learn how to cook.
He felt like Big Sis. For his entire life she had been on him to eat all of the food groups. When he had been little he had thought that she had just been bossy but now he kind of got it. Whenever he drank too much soda, more than ten cans a day, he got all cold and shaky. That happened when he ate too many poptarts, too. It was important to eat real food…and he wasn't sure if mayonnaise counted as a real food or not.
What was it even made out of?
Nothing healthy, he knew that much. Anything that tasted that good could not have been good for you…and it did look kind of good, that is if you ate it normally. He liked plain sandwiches with lots of mayonnaise too but he ate it like a sandwich, not like…whatever Mukai thought she was eating. He got some salad stuff put on his, lettuce and tomato, even though it was disgusting. He loved Mukai and he had to set a good example.
For the time that they had left together.
"Alright, you heard her. Keep going." Said Sho. He was going to make her happy while she was still with him….he didn't know how long that was going to be. Tsuchiya had actually tried to take her away and…and…and she still wanted to leave. She wanted to take Mukai back to the Seventh Division for some reason. Big Sis thought that it was because she missed her friends, which Sho could understand he missed his friends a lot too, but if that was how it was then why not just go there and leave Mukai with her brother and sister?
They took good care of her.
Like now. Sure Mukai's sandwich was just bread and mayonnaise, with meat on the side, and sure she was just going to end up with an upset stomach later since people weren't meant to eat the much mayonnaise at once but it wasn't like she was going to die or anything like that. Also he'd gotten salad stuff on his own sandwich to set a good example so it all balanced out. Sho was one hell of a Big Brother. He could take care of Mukai all by himself.
Almost all by himself.
Big Sis was still around…kind of. She worked a lot, like Dad did. Running Claw was a lot of work and Sho was glad that he was never going to have to go it. Not while he was a kid and not…not after he took Dad down, and he was going to take Dad down. He just didn't know how yet…and he didn't want to think about that right now. Mukai was the only thing he had to think about, worry about, right now. He didn't know how much time they had left together, Big Sis had told Tsuchiya off but also Big Sis was always really nice to everyone. She always gave everyone whatever they wanted and…and even when she was on his side she also wasn't…it was like she had one foot in his side and one foot on the other person's side…
Well Sho was on Mukai's side.
"Cookies too?" asked Mukai as Sho paid. They did look good…but he knew her. If he gave her a cookie then she'd want a second one and then a third and then her stomach would hurt and she wouldn't have any room for real food. Not that what she has was very real but it was better than a bunch of sugar and bread…and they had the kind with the M&M's in them….
Maybe he could get her to stop at just one.
"Just one." Said Sho
"Just ten." Said Mukai holding up all of her fingers. He had taught her to count now, well up to ten, but that was at least a start. He used to be able to count to fifty when he'd been her age but he also used to go to preschool. Mukai couldn't go to school, it was long and boring and also she didn't need it, he was going to teach her everything that she needed to know. With Big Sis working all the time he kind of had to. One of them had to show Tsuchiya how well they could take care of Mukai.
Sho was doing a great job.
"Just one." Said Sho
"Just nine." Said Mukai holding up nine fingers.
"Just one…please?" asked Sho. She knew nine from ten…and that was the kind of thing that he should have rewarded her for. Mom used to give him and Big Sis cookies after they did their homework when they'd been little so…so it was kind of the same…but ten cookies was a lot. If he gave her that many he knew she was going to get sick and throw up or just have a really bad stomach ache and she wouldn't eat her actual lunch…
Being in charge meant being bossy sometimes.
"Just eight. Please?" asked Mukai. She knew eight from nine…she knew how to count backwards! That was so cool! He remembered when she used to be a baby, back when she hadn't known how to do anything but cry and spit up and hit him….well she still did that but she was a little kid now and she was so smart and…and she deserved a reward…but only one. He had to be responsible and shit like that.
He had to be a good big brother.
"Just one, ok Mukai?" asked Sho
"Just seven, ok Sho? This many." Said Mukai holding up seven fingers. That was even better than eight…fuck! Why was it so hard to be bossy? Why was…hey, no, wait. Maybe if he kept this up he could get her down to one and then she would think that it was her idea. Mukai loved it when people did what she said….yeah, that would work.
Being a Big Brother was a piece of cake…or better yet, a sandwich place cookie.
"No, that's still too-" said Sho
"Just take them! Take them all and leave! It's on the house!" said the sandwich maker guy. He reached into the cookie case and filled a bag with everything…even the sugar free ones. Those were kind of gross…but the rest were good…Mukai was happy, that was what mattered.
Even if that was a lot of sugar for someone as small as Mukai.
"Thank you so much!" said Mukai as she held out her hands. The cookie bag was handed to her. She held it to her chest and turned her back to Sho. Yeah…he wasn't going to get those cookies back, was he?
"Yeah, thanks, but that's kind of-" said Sho
"Come on, Sho, I'm going to pick a table now!" said Mukai as she started to tug on his sleeve.
"No! No, no…you kids need to get out of here. Now." said the sandwich maker guy, pointing to the door. Some people behind him agreed…Sho didn't get it. He hadn't done anything….but whatever. He had free cookies now and Mukai was all happy and stuff. He didn't know what could have mattered more than her being happy…well aside from her wellbeing. Her happiness was a part of her wellbeing but so was her health, her stomach not hurting and stuff, and…and he did have to think about that too. He had a lot of cookies, more than ten even, and if he let her have all of those then she was going to end up with a stomach ache at best…even he couldn't eat all of those cookies on his own…
But he didn't have to.
Big Sis liked cookies, cookies and milk, and she was probably hungry too. It was almost lunchtime and she had been busy all day. She had told him so even though she hadn't had to. He knew how much work it was to run Claw…yeah. This was a good idea. He would pick her up some cookies and milk and then they could hand out, like they used to all the time when they were little.
But not with any weird talks.
Because, really, the last person he wanted to talk about stuff like that was his sister. She had nearly ruined his birthday talking about…about stuff that sisters were never supposed to talk to their brothers about. Doing it and stuff. He didn't need her to tell him to be careful and not to break people's hearts. He wasn't even doing stuff like that with anyone. He didn't know when he would but he knew that it wouldn't be any time soon. He was too scared-busy! He was too busy. He had Mukai to take care of…and it was kind of hard, sometimes. Like now. She kept on trying to pull away from him and walk on her own even though she knew that it was a bad idea. He didn't care if Shibata was following at a distance, there were still plenty of bad people out here, and Sho couldn't protect her if she went running away. She could have gotten kidnapped or shot or-or other stuff too!
His job was to protect her.
He held her tight by the arm. She could wiggle her hands free from his, she was smart like that, but he was smarter. That was part of being a big brother. It wasn't all free cookies and mayonnaise sandwiches. There was a lot of work involved. There were easy things like making sure your sister got all the sandwich fixings she needed, harder things like making sure she put on a coat even though she got upset because people couldn't tell that she was a ballerina today, and then the very hard things like walking down the street really fast so people didn't shoot at your little sister and she didn't die and then you'd have no little sister and you'd be the worst big brother ever and then your Dad was right to tell you that you sucked and your Mom was right to leave and your sister was right to treat you like a baby and-and-
He was walking too fast.
"Sho! You're going too fast! Stop it!" said Mukai as she dug her heels in and tried to stop him. He stopped instantly and she went slamming into him…but she was ok. Her sandwich got kind of squished, he was sure that at least one of their cookies had crumbled, and he was glad that milk wasn't carbonated like soda or Big Sis would have been so pissed…almost as pissed off as Mukai was right now.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't realize how fast we were going." Said. Mukai crossed her arms and glared at him.
"You were running super fast!" said Mukai
"I know, I know, and I'm sorry." Said Sho
"And you didn't get snacks." Said Mukai
"What are you talking about? We have cookies and sandwiches." Said Sho
"When we went to the milk store! You didn't get snacks!" shouted Mukai. Sho wondered, sometimes, if she had a tapeworm or something. Emmy had told him about those. They lived inside of you and stole the nutrients from your food…she knew a lot about different kinds of worms. Other cool stuff…she would probably have been able to tell why Mukai was hungry all the time…maybe because she was growing?
Or maybe she just liked keeping food in her pockets.
"We already have food. After we eat lunch with Big Sis then I can take you to the snack store if you want…but only if you're still hungry. You know how your stomach gets when you eat too much." Said Sho
"I throw up in my mouth and sometimes on the floor." Said Mukai
"Yeah, and it sucks when that happens and shit so come on. Let's got see Big Sis and eat already." Said Sho. He turned around and crouched down on the ground. Mukai jumped right onto his back like a possum but dug her claws in like a cat…wait, no, cats carried their babies around by their scruffs. He kind of wished that she had a scruff, it would have been a lot easier to hold her, and her nails wouldn't have been digging into his neck too. But they were people, not cats, and people carried each other around like possums, not like kittens…and anyway this wasn't that bad. It wasn't like it was that long of a walk, still, and she did keep his back warm.
Shimazaki's old coat wasn't that good for in the wintertime.
But he didn't need another one. He was fine. Mukai would keep him warm, anyway, like some kind of living scarf…with sharp nails. He knew that he could have used a new coat, this one was finally starting to fit, but if he got a new coat when he outgrew this one or couldn't take the cold anymore then…then he wouldn't have this anymore. He wasn't in love with Shimazaki, the goldfish in his stomach swam only for Ritsu, but it was just…nice to have. It was nice to have a piece of him or…or something.
It was nice that someone had thought of him.
Someone like his friend. His best…were they still best friends? He was kind of a coward who was scared of Dad, plus he'd done it with Big Sis and that was kind of weird to think about, but he was still Sho's friend. Also he was going to let Sho fix his tattoos for him after he practiced and…and it wasn't like he didn't like Shimazaki at all. It also wasn't like he was never going to see Shimazaki again, he said that he'd be home that night after he was done doing Dad's dirty work, and….yeah. Sho just really, really, really liked this coat and he hoped that it lasted a long time.
It probably would end up lasting a long time, too, if Mukai ever stopped kicking him in the back.
"Sho, we're here. See? Right there. See? That's the here." Said Mukai as she kicked him in the back and dug her nails into his neck. The minute he stepped through the door to Tokyo HQ he lifted her up with his powers. The windows to the outside were all frosted so people couldn't see in. Nobody but Sho, and Mukai and Big Sis of course, could walk in without ID cards. It was all espers, and gifted people, and Awakened in here…
It was nice.
It was nice to be out of the cold and it was nice to be around people who were like him. Lots of auras…most of them a lot like Dad's but still, it was nice. He kind of got it, sometimes, what Dad was going for. A whole world that felt like this. A world where they didn't have to hide who they were. A world where they could just…be. Where they could use their powers…it was nice. Kind of like…something nice, he didn't know! And he didn't agree with Dad. He was just…he was just getting delusional from hunger and how Mukai was cutting off his blood circulation and-and there were no way in hell he was ever going to agree with Dad about anything!
Big Sis, maybe….but not Dad!
He carried Mukai through the lobby and to the elevator before he put her down. He kept his head low and made sure not to look at the big mosaic of the Claw logo as he walked by it. He didn't like this and….and the world had to stay the way it was. It was like Fukuda had said, trying to take over the world would make it bad for everyone because it would be destabilized. So it had to stay the same and he had to stop Dad…but he would never have done anything to stop Big Sis. She wanted to rule the world too but not with killing people and stuff, she wanted to take over the world with love and friendship and stuff.
That was what all the posters were about.
He'd drawn some of these, the good ones. The Awakened had drawn others. It showed. They used markers, the kind Mukai used not real ones, and they could barely even make straight lines. The whole elevator was covered in wall to wall posters about being nice and being friends and not sticking your hand in the vending machine. Dad didn't know the first thing about love or friendship, he only had three friends and only one of them was kind of ok. Big Sis knew everything about love and friendship and Sho knew that, if she ever got serious about beating Dad, then Sho would have been completely on her side.
He was already on her side.
"Sho! Sho, we have to hit the buttons!" said Mukai as she tugged at his side. The elevator had dinged and the doors were opening…but she wouldn't move. She tugged on him and pointed to the wall of buttons…oh.
"We shouldn't do that, Big Sis says that it's annoying for the people under us who want to catch an elevator." Said Sho. Mukai looked up at him with her big eyes and did that thing with her lower lip where it looked like she was really sad about stuff…but Big Sis's office was right there and if she knew what he had done then she would have been pissed….
But Mukai was sad…
"Alright, but don't tell Big Sis." Said Sho as he picked Mukai up with his powers. She hit all the buttons…ok, it was kind of funny. He had been the one to teach her that and Shimazaki had taught it to him. Maybe Mukai would end up teaching it to someone else….not that he wanted there to be someone else. It was just him, Big Sis, and Mukai in their family. That was enough. He didn't need another little brother or sister. He didn't want or need that and…and the secret of the buttons was going to die with Mukai. Not now, though, that would have been really sad.
Good big brothers did not let their little sisters die.
And good little brothers, too, thought about their big sisters. He let himself into her office. A cloud of smoke hit him in the face. It smelled like a combination of the fun kind, the normal kind, and a temple….oh. Minegishi was burning incense. That was just making Big Sis smoke more. He pulled the front of Mukai's ballerina costume over her nose for her. She pulled it down and then did it herself.
Sisters were kind of weird sometimes.
"Sho, you should sit down." Said Big Sis as she exhaled. Sho tossed her sandwich onto the table and sat down on the couch in Joseph's spot. He was gone, which was kind of good since he liked Big Sis and it was weird. He wasn't even good looking, either, and he smelled like smoking but not in the good way.
"Yeah Sho! Sit down!" shouted Mukai
"I'm already sitting down, see?" said Sho
"I can see…um…are you here because of what happened?" asked Big Sis
"I'm here because I got you a sandwich and some milk. You know, because I love you and stuff or whatever. There's cookies too but I think that Mukai's going to eat all of them or hide them in her stuff….I'll try to keep her from doing that." Said Sho as he unwrapped his sandwich. She didn't even touch it…well fine, more for him then. Or Mukai. She was off in the book corner trying to get Minegishi to take a bite of her sandwich. Served them right…but maybe he should have brought something back to Serizawa, though. He was too scared to go and get his own lunch after all.
"So…you didn't hear what happened?" asked Big Sis
"No, what? Did someone else get their arm stuck in a vending machine or something?" asked Sho
"No, they got their head stuck in a toilet…but that's not what I mean?" asked Big Sis
"How did that even happen?" asked Sho
"I couldn't get a good answer. It think that they were trying to un-flush a phone or something…they're weird…but that's not what I'm talking about. Did you hear about Dad and Hatori?" asked Big Sis
"Someone tried to kill them again?" asked Sho. Well that…kind of sucked. For Hatori. Dad deserved it. Hatori was kind of annoying, and it was weird how he was Dad's friend, and it felt weird how much Dad liked him, but he didn't deserve to be killed or anything. Just seriously hurt.
"No, not for a while. I just…ok, I'm going to tell you something and you have to promise not to freak out." Said Mob. Minegishi snorted. Sho glared at them.
"I'm not going to freak out, I'm not a baby." Said Sho, looking at Serizawa when he said that. He was such a baby sometimes. It was like everything freaked him out…sort of like Mukai when did stuff like cut her food in half without asking her first.
"Ok…um…do you know how you always wanted a big brother?" asked Big Sis
"No, I never wanted a big brother. I wanted to BE a big brother wait…hang on…is Shiori having a baby?" asked Sho. This was great. This was horrible. His life was over. This was going to be the best thing ever. He had another baby to take care of…he had another baby to take care of? He had…he didn't have another Mom…the world wasn't his anymore…it had never been his…Dad was going to like the baby better…Dad already disliked Sho a lot….
He put his sandwich down. He wasn't hungry anymore.
"No, no, no. Nothing like Dad. Dad just…he decided that he wants Hatori to be his son now and…and I don't think that it has anything to do with you!" said Big Sis
"What?" asked Sho. That was all the he could think so say. What else could he possibly…how else…what?!
"Dad adopted Hatori and now he's our big brother but he's still called Hatori, not Suzuki, and it think that it would be weird to call him Suzuki but I think we're supposed to call him Nozomu now and…and it's kind of weird but…but it's better than Shiori having a baby. I mean this way at least we don't have to have her be our stepmom…ok?" asked Big Sis. Sho nodded…and kept quiet. This was…he dug his fingers so deep into the couch that he made holes. He kept his aura as calm as he could. This was…this sucked! This just…Dad already had a son! Sho was his son! Sho was…Sho didn't want to be his son. Why did Sho still want…still want anything from Dad? Why did…he was fine. He just…fine.
Fine.
"Whatever. If Hatori wants Dad then he can have him…whatever." Said Sho as he slumped down onto the couch. Big Sis tried to say something else…he didn't listen. He couldn't listen. Maybe he was just being dumb or….or something. He wished he'd had his sketchbook. That would have kept her away….or at least quiet. He didn't want to be away from her…he did and he didn't…
He didn't know what he wanted.
He wanted….he kind of wanted to kick Hatori's ass. It would have been easy, they were nearly the same size now. Also the only fight Hatori had ever won was the fight against bath time…he used to be really gross…why did Dad like him?! He used to be really gross and he was annoying and-and-and why in the hell did Dad like Hatori better than him?!
And why did Sho even care?
He didn't. Hatori could have Dad if he wanted. Sho didn't care. Hatori could be Dad's son and hang out with him and-and-and play Minecraft and drink ketchup all day and-and-and wear the same stupid suit every single day and-and-and not know how to do anything or be anything and-and-and Sho didn't care! He had his sisters and…and he didn't need a Dad, he didn't need parents, he didn't need a big brother. He had his sisters and they were all he was ever going to need.
Even if one of them was eating a mayonnaise sandwich right now…even if one of them was being bossy….even if they could be annoying they were all he needed.