Mob didn't like not knowing what she was eating.
She wasn't a picky eater, Dad and Sho were the only picky eaters in the family, but she did like to know what it was that she was eating. There were only a few things that she wouldn't eat. Anything that had ever been near cilantro, it tasted like soap, locusts and other bugs, and shiokara because it was just…wrong. She liked to know what kind of meat she was eating, first of all, and she had nothing against sauce but the sauce that came with it was just…wrong. Too thick and too thin at the same time and the color was just….wrong.
Not as wrong as this, though.
"What does everyone think?" asked Shibata as he watched everyone picking at their food. Nobody was eating it enthusiastically…he kind of understood why. He had wanted this to be a dinner to remember, one of their last as a group for a while, and also Mukai had told him that she wanted meat-ghetti with noodle balls and, yes, it had been hard to get pasts to cook into a ball form and meat didn't like being turned into noodles…and it didn't keep it's consistency, either, when it was being cooked…but it wasn't that bad.
Right?
"It's very…creative Hiroshi." Said Tsuchiya as she moved her food around on her plate. If she'd been wanting to hurt him she would have told him that it was like eating overcooked noodles and cat food…but she was done trying to hurt him. She couldn't believe how terrible she'd been to him. It was everything that had happened…this house…the people sitting at the table with her. All of it had brought out the worst in her but it would all be over, or at least paused, soon…if everything went well.
It hardly ever did.
"Yeah, it's creative, and interesting too. It's very…interesting." Said Mob. She meant it, interesting was a word that could work for this…food? She had no idea what meat this was supposed to be, and how he had gotten the spaghetti into ball form, and how she was even supposed to eat it! She could have eaten it like an apple, the way Sho was, or she could have smashed it down, like Mukai had, or she could have pulled it apart strand by strand the way Minegishi was.
She could do everything but leave the table and get her own dinner. This was the first group dinner in a while, since the last one had gone so wrong, and she was going to do everything she could to make it go right.
"It's edible." Said Minegishi as they pulled another noodle from their noodle ball. Tsuchiya had wanted to wait to tell Mob over dinner…and this was the dinner she had chosen? What, did she think that Mob would have gotten so distracted by whatever the hell Shibata thought he'd done that she wouldn't notice Tsuchiya telling her that they were leaving? They shook their head and pulled out another noodle. This was going to be a long night.
One which would be spent, apparently, choking down overcooked noodles.
"I love it!" said Serizawa before he cut of a piece of meat and ate it…or tried to. It wouldn't go down on his own, he had to force himself to swallow. He tried to smile the whole time. Everyone else seemed to like it and he didn't want to be ungrateful. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin this for Miss Suzuki, and his other friends, but mostly Miss Suzuki. They hadn't all come together since the last time…and he didn't really want to think about the last time that they'd all come together like this. He poked at his noodles. They were a lot easier to eat…though kind of mushy. Miss Suzuki was the best cook and she could have…well if she had wanted to make this than her own version would have been better but that was only because…because of important reasons!
Reasons where he didn't sound mean.
"I like the spaghetti balls." Said Sho, trying his best not to be mean. The noodles were ok, it was actually kind of fun to eat them like this even if they were super squishy. The meat, though, was just weird. It was like someone had taken a bunch of hamsters and flattened them with one of those machines that flattened out the streets…or something….
He used his powers to put some of his meat on Mukai's plate while nobody was looking.
"I'm going to throw it." Said Mukai as she picked up at meat that Sho had thrown onto her plate. When he tried to take it from her she just threw it behind herself. She tried to use her colors to make it go forward but all she did was push it and make it go faster! It wasn't fair! She didn't even know why she had colors if they wouldn't work right. Her colors were like the meat…whatever it was it didn't work…
At least she was pretty sure that it was meat.
"What am I even eating? It feels like noodles and…meat? What animal even is this?" asked Shimazaki as a piece of…something, fell onto his plate. Mukai had thrown it…he debated throwing it back to her. He could have made it from here…but Toshi wouldn't have liked that. They'd had their back to him the whole time and they hadn't even glanced in his direction…he focused on them…it didn't help.
"It's spaghetti balls and meat-ghetti." Said Sho quickly. He could feel Shimazaki's aura hanging out around Minegishi. If he kept that up he was going to get all mopey again and Minegishi wasn't worth being mopey over. They'd made Big Sis feel like shit…fuck anyone who made her feel like that!
"It's what?" asked Shimazaki
"And abomination." Said Minegishi, stabbing their meat clean through with their fork. They heard their fork scrape against the plate. Behind them Ryou hissed. They stopped. He deserved it…but they didn't feel like expending that kind of effort right now.
"Minegishi!" said Mob. Shibata's eyes feel. Mob quickly shoved some of the mystery meat in her mouth…it somehow tasted like both every kind of meat and no kind of meat at all. She forced herself to chew and swallow.
"I-I still…I can eat it." Said Serizawa. He forced himself to eat. The noodles this time, of course, not the meat…or maybe he should have been eating the meat…but even the noodles were too much. They were really dense and squishy and just…he kept on eating and he smiled the whole way through. Like Miss Suzuki would have wanted.
"Good, you can have it all, then." Said Minegishi, pushing their plate away.
"I like it. It's easy to dip the noodles in ranch and the meat looks like a pile of-" said Sho
"Sho!" said Mob
"What? I was going to say it looked like someone had squished some dead hamsters together. Not living ones, that would have been fucked up." Said Sho. He couldn't think of anything worse than dead hamsters…maybe dead actual people….or maybe nobody had to die. Why wasn't that an option?
"Oh, that's ok then…I think..." Said Mob
"It looks like throw up. Over here." Said Mukai, pushing her plate away. Mama tried to push it back. She picked up a ball of noodlers and threw it behind her. Mama wouldn't see it coming if it came from that direction…she couldn't use her colors on that one, either…it wasn't fair at all. The noodle ball just kept on going backwards until it ended up on Shimazaki's plate!
"It looks like what? Are you trying to kill me." said Shimazaki as something round got tossed onto his plate…he poked at it. It felt like noodles but…he was reminded of that Halloween game but in reverse. The old 'here's the witch's eyes, and her blood, and her brain' but in reverse…he poked his meat with his finger.
It felt like the time with the rendering plant. Smelled like it, too.
"If only…" said Shibata, clutching his fork so hard it bent. He let go as he felt a hand over his. Tsuchiya's hand…he had honestly forgotten how strong she was. It had been so long since they'd been able to be close like this…he nearly felt better. Nearly.
"Hiroshi. We all would." Said Tsuchiya as she held his hand in hers. She nearly wished that her self control hadn't been as good as it was, that she could have just…just gone over there and knocked Shimazaki into the next room. Every meal with him was, somehow, the worst meal of her life. He always managed to make everything worse just by being there. It hadn't always been like that. Why did he have to go and…and do everything that he'd done?!
"What'd I ever do to you…uh…Tsuchiya? Not Shibata, I did a lot of shit to Shibata. Some of which he really enjoyed, if I can still trust my memory." Said Shimazaki
"Ryou, child in the room." said Minegishi, pointing to Mukai.
"Well, get her out of the room then and I'll regale you all with tales of-" said Shimazaki
"This! This is what you do to me, specifically." Said Tsuchiya, slamming her free hand onto the table. Everyone jumped. Shigeko's braids went straight up into the air. Even Mukai's aura was bright…though she was laughing and slamming her own hands on the table now. Behind her Shimazaki was staring at her, or at least facing her, with an expression that she could only call 'confused'.
"Did we ever?" asked Shimazaki as he wracked his brain for even the barest hint of the memory of anything happening between them. He was coming up with a whole lot of nothing. Of course he was. Tsuchiya was alright and all but, physically, she wasn't his type and emotionally she was way too rigid. He needed someone who could just be present in the moment and go with things. Of course it was over with Mob, but Toshi could be pretty loose sometimes…though not any time lately.
All of this fighting wasn't helped.
"No! Absolutely not!" shouted Tsuchiya. A piece of meat hit her right between the eyes. Somehow she felt a little bit cleaner. The thought of her and him…knowing what she knew now…no! What was wrong with him?! Them together…him with Shigeko…she felt like she was going to be sick, and it had nothing to do with how much of Hiroshi's latest cooking experiment she'd eaten.
"Absolutely not, got to bed, put on shoes, brush your teeth, don't start the stove." Said Mukai, waving her finger like Mama did when she was serious. Nobody got it…they just didn't know what was funny…actually Sho kind of got it, he was starting to laugh a little.
"Absolutely not what? Wait, you guys are talking about-" said Sho, trying not to laugh. Shimazaki had actually done it with Shibata?! That was funny and, yeah, he knew that he had to be mature or whatever but how could he when they were talking about doing it?
"Sho, eat your meat-ghetti." Said Mob, practically shoving Sho's plate onto his lap. He caught it…and kept on laughing. He didn't try to eat a single bite…she needed him to eat something. Or at least to stop talking about…about things that she didn't want to hear her little brother talking about.
"I don't want to, it tastes like cat food." Said Sho
"Then please talk about something else." Said Mob
"See? This is what…this is what I don't like about you. This is what you do to me. You just…I don't know if you just say things for attention or you really lack that much self awareness-" said Tsuchiya
"A little from column 'A' and a little from column 'B'." said Minegishi, rolling their eyes. Honestly. They'd all been living together for how long, now, and she still didn't get it? Ryou was who he was and this was who he was. There was no changing him.
"And column 'C'. Never forget Column 'C'." said Shimazaki
"What's column 'C' have in it?" asked Sho
"Coke." Said Shimazaki. He heard Tsuchiya gasp. What? Coke started with 'c' right? He didn't think that his English was THAT bad.
"I like lemonade but Sho will die if I have lemonade." Said Mukai as she passed Mama her soda. She looked like she needed it. Her mouth was opened and her eyes were wide, like she had seen one of the things with pointy teeth.
"I think if we got him to Fukuda before he started to suffocate-" said Shimazaki
"Mukai, eat your dinner and leave Shimazaki alone. He shouldn't be talking to people right now…or ever. He's in the alone zone, anyway." Said Shibata
"Can I come out of here now?" said Shimazaki
"Ryou, it's just a dented hula hoop. You can step right out of it." Said Minegishi, running their hands through their hair. A mistake. Now their hair smelled like Italian spices…great. Just what they needed on top of everything else.
"I can step out but if I do then Shibata's going to hulk out and try and kill me. After he fails then Tsuchiya's going to try and I'll let her get some hits in, because I'm a nice guy like that, but then I'll just teleport away and everyone's going to be pissed off. I need permission to come out because I don't want to deal with that, it stresses Mob out and it bores me. So someone, please, let me out of this hoop." Said Shimazaki
"You're stay in the alone zone, Shimazaki, that's your home now!" said Mukai. She didn't why he had to live in her hula hoop, only that it was his home, and she knew that people and things belonged in their homes. So why did he want to leave?
"Don't talk about her." said Tsuchiya. He was going to 'let' her get a few hits in? Was that how he saw it? She'd show him easy. She'd shown restraint so far, for Mukai's sake, but Shimazaki was really pushing her right now.
"How about we talk about…about New Year? I was thinking that we could have another party, I mean I have one planned, but before that we could have a just us friends and family party. We didn't get to hang out on Christmas Day, that's all, so I think that we should hang out for New Year's Eve the eve." Said Mob
"You have fun with that, Mob. I'm going to Seasoning City for New Year's Eve to see Matsuo. It's been a while." Said Minegishi. They turned their aura to Ryou, daring him to say anything. They held eye contact with Mob, too, though it was much less effective. She just looked up into their eyes, hers welling with tears…or she might have been smoking earlier, they didn't watch her twenty four hours a day. Something hit them over the head…they reached up and pulled a noodle out. Lovely.
"Got you!" said Mukai. Nobody congratulated her on her perfect hit, not even Sho. All the growups looked really worried about something….she poked her meat-ghetti. It wasn't throw up, it just looked like it.
"I'm coming too for…for reasons!" said Sho. He had tried to think up some good reasons but the time that he spent thinking up good reasons made him look suspicious. They couldn't know why he was going…Big Sis already knew he had a boyfriend but he couldn't risk anyone who didn't need to know, knowing. That way Dad would end up knowing and Sho knew what he would do then. He knew…knowingly.
"Why do you want to go? What did I do?" asked Mob. The milk in the pitcher in front of her started to float away. She quickly pulled it back down. That was something that she had done…but that had just happened…and it hadn't been enough to make Minegishi leave! Did they know that she had broken up with Shimazaki? Were they mad about it…wait, no, this was a good thing for them…or maybe they were mad that Mob had done all of that stuff with their boyfriend and now she had left him…let him leave…or…or…she held her braids down.
She had to stay calm.
"You didn't do anything, Mob, I just want to see my boyfriend." Said Minegishi. They made eye contact with Tsuchiya. This whole thing had been her either…or maybe theirs. They didn't really remember Christmas all that well. It had been one of those rare times they drank until their memory got spotty. They knew that they talked about taking a break and then, at some point, they had crawled into the bathtub together and marathoned that new Sailor Moon thing together.
"I'm right here." Said Shimazaki, pointing to himself.
"I know." said Minegishi, keeping their back to him. They knew that he'd heard them. They were done with him, they were broken up, and whatever had been between them was over. They couldn't have made it any clearer to him.
"Did you hear me? I'm going too." Said Sho. He did want to see her for New Year…but they'd spent every single New Year together since he'd been born. He hadn't spent a single New Year with Ritsu. The swimming of the goldfish in his stomach won against the guilty woodpecker pecking at his heart.
"Sho's going too, Shigeko, and me too!" said Mukai. She didn't know where they were going but maybe it was fun. Maybe it would be Disneyland! They hadn't been to Disneyland in so long…or Universal…or the ocean…or a plane. Or into space. They hadn't gone there yet. Caterpillars said that it was fun.
"Mukai, no. You can't go. Sho can come with because of…reasons…but you have to stay here with me. Ok? It'll be fun. We can paint each other's nails and play Tangled and make strawberry milk-" said Mob
"And then we watch Train to Busan, and then we play with the ham-hams, and then we drink coke. That's what's going to happen Shigeko." Said Mukai. She pushed her plate away. She was done with the noodle balls and throw up meat.
"Um…we can do that, too. If you want." Said Mob
"Shigeko…Mukai is coming with Minegishi…" said Tsuchiya slowly. It felt like the time a wasp's nest had taken up residence in the reflecting garden back home. They had made their home in the best mediation spot. Tsuchiya had been too young to put up a qi guard, a barrier, and every time she had tried to go near the tree, or even enter the garden, without getting stung. No matter how slowly she walked, or how quickly, or how quietly, or how loudly. None of it had mattered, she had still wound up getting stung, but she had still tried.
Getting stung hurt.
"Why? Minegishi doesn't like taking care of Mukai." Said Mob
"I-I can't imagine why!" said Serizawa. He really couldn't. Mukai was always so fun and happy…she did kind of make a lot of messes and go through a lot of his things…but she was still a really nice person to hang out with.
"Neither can I." said Minegishi
"See? So you don't have to let her go. We're going to stay here and hang out together." Said Mob. Minegishi gave Tsuchiya a look. Tsuchiya gave one back to Minegishi. Shibata started to cut his meat-ghetti even though it had already been cut. Their auras was being all…like that, too. Tsuchiya's and Minegishi's auras were practically touching, and Shibata's was all mixed up in Tsuchiya's…she really hoped that everyone wasn't fighting again. Or maybe it was the same fight they they'd been having for weeks and weeks already.
"Are you going to tell her or should I?" asked Minegishi
"Tell me what?" asked Mob
"Tsuchiya and Mukai are coming too, alright? For. A. Visit. Don't argue." Said Minegishi
"But-" said Mob
"What did I just say?" asked Minegishi
"That Tsuchiya and Mukai are coming with and that I'm not supposed to argue but…but I said that Tsuchiya couldn't leave and…and I don't want her to take Mukai from me either. One of my siblings is already gone-" said Mob
"Hey! I'm coming home again! Just when I'm done…doing everything that I'm doing." Said Sho
"No, I meant Hatori." Said Mob
"I can't believe Suzuki went that route. I, personally thought that Suzuki was going fuck him." Said Shimazaki. Partially to change the subject, maybe Toshi would change their mind or something, and partially because that was honestly the way that he felt. Suzuki was clearly not as straight as he thought he was, Ryou knew when he was being checked out, and it wasn't like Hatori would have been able to say 'no' to him. Plus he could be kind of fun if you got him upset enough. Suzuki seemed like he'd have been into that.
"Ryou. Child. In. The. Room." said Minegishi, pointing at Mukai. She looked up at them and smiled…they wished she had swallowed first.
"I'll take her out of the room, then!" said Mob. She got up fast, so fast that her legs slammed into the table, and nearly ran out of the room. She pulled Mukai's chair behind her. She didn't stop until she was in the living room…she didn't know what she was supposed to do now. She hadn't planned this far ahead. She just needed to get out of that room and…and think. Try and figure out what in the h-word was happening here.
She had told Tsuchiya to stay.
Dad had told her, before, that people were like dogs. They forgot how terrifying their master could be when he was away. Mob hadn't been away…she had been avoiding Tsuchiya…but still! She had been right there and…and she didn't want to be terrifying…but she didn't want Tsuchiya to leave either! Dad would have been able to get her to stay, he always knew what to do when it came to running Claw, but Dad wasn't there. She was the one in charge now.
Tsuchiya just didn't seem to know…and Mob didn't know how to get her to learn.
"We're going to paint nails now and watch Train to Busan. Stay over there." Said Mukai, pointing to the couch. It sank a lot, and some of the cushions were squished from Shibata sleeping on it, but it wasn't that bad. Shigeko would be happy there, happier than she had been in the kitchen. All the grownups were mad now, even Sho. He was saying bad words to Minegishi. Mukai would say some bad words later, too, but only after she found where Minegishi had hidden their nail polish.
"Ok…I guess." said Mob. She did what she was told. There was fighting in the kitchen, now. Even Sho was in the middle of it. She had no idea what it was about. It sounded like everyone had figured out what they were going to do. Minegishi was going to run away again and make Tsuchiya go with them, and Mukai too, and probably Shibata. Then she would be all alone…Serizawa would be here, and Shimazaki, of course. Things were normal between them again, mostly, so that was ok…but that didn't mean tat she wanted them to leave! She had already lost Dad and Hatori and…she was just going to be here with Serizawa and Shimazaki…and Fukuda…why couldn't he have been the one who was going?!
Why did anyone have to go at all?
She heard footsteps. Loud ones, but heavy-loud. Mukai was just loud, she stomped when she ran and had to take a lot of steps because she was little. Serizawa couldn't help but walk heavy. He was really tall. Even when he hunched over he was really tall…like now. He was hunched over walking slowly with a full glass of milk. Mob reached out with her powers and took the glass from him.
It smelled like coconuts.
"Shimazaki said that you would like that! So…so here!" said Serizawa as he handed her the glass of milk. It took him a second to realize that the polite thing to do would have been to bow afterwards. He bowed as soon as he realized that he had to. Too fast, though, and too low. He looked up. She was smiling at him….so maybe it had been a good sort of mess up. He loved it when she smiled. It was like everything in the whole world was ok in that moment. He straightened up. She was still smiling…and she even drank her drink!
He hadn't messed up at all!
"This is really good, thank you." said Mob. She scooted over and made room for Serizawa. From the hallway she could hear Mukai calling out for the nail polish. From the kitchen she could heard angry whispers occasionally broken by Sho saying the f-word. There were pots and pans clanking together, too, so Shibata was probably cooking or doing the dishes…or maybe Shimazaki was being a pots and pans band again. It didn't sound like any song she knew, and thanks to him she knew all of his favorite songs…or maybe that was supposed to be the lonely people song. She couldn't hear well enough…she didn't know if she wanted to.
She took another drink.
"Do you like it?" asked Serizawa as Miss Suzuki took another sip of her drink. She was still smiling, her face and her aura, so maybe that had been a stupid question.
"It's very good, thank you. I needed this." Said Mob. She patted Serizawa's hand with hers, and his aura with hers as well. He had been doing that thing where he sat all scrunched up and his aura pulled in really close. She hated it when he got all closed in and sad like that. She had to fix this, now. She didn't need to mess this up just like she had messed everything else up.
"I know you did! I mean I figured that you did and-and Shimazaki figured the same thing so he made this for you and told me to bring it to you. There's no way I could have made something like this for you, I don't know how…I probably would have messed it up." said Serizawa
"I don't think you would have. I'm the one who's always messing things up. I made Minegishi want to leave again and now Tsuchiya is going to leave too…I guess that we won't be friends anymore…and it's all my fault. I thought that breaking up with Shimazaki would have made everything go back to normal but now it feels like it's just as bad as it's always been." Said Mob
"You broke up with him? I-I didn't know…I'm so sorry. I never would have brought you this, I mean I would have made it myself, if I had known that you'd broken up with him. I'm so sorry that happened to you!" said Serizawa. There were very few times in his life when he'd thought about hitting someone, seriously thought about it, and this was one of those times. Fighting was wrong, especially when it was with one of your friends, but-but so was breaking your friend's heart! Serizawa had no idea how Shimazaki could have just walked away not only from someone he loved but also from Miss Suzuki! She was the best, nicest, kindest, most perfect person that he had ever met. She cared about him when she didn't have to. She had saved him when she hadn't had to. She took care of him even when she didn't have to. How could he have broken her heart…wait…she said that she'd been unhappy…but still! He should have waited for her to break up with him, then!
"It's ok, I kind of wanted it to. I don't think that it's good for us to be together like that. I mean it makes people mad and…and I think that Shimazaki likes them better anyway. He wants to have a baby with them and stuff, not me, and I think that you really have to love someone to try and have a baby with them. I can't get in the middle of that." Said Mob. She left out the part where it felt weird to steal your best friend's boyfriend and how much you disliked yourself for doing the unthinkable…and some other stuff, too, that she didn't even want to think about next to him in case he suddenly learned how to read minds.
"That makes sense but…but I still feel bad. I mean if you'd gotten your heart broken then I would have felt bad but you didn't so-so I feel fine? I mean I said all of that before I knew that you and Shimazaki had broken up." said Serizawa
"Oh yeah, I never told you…I never told anyone else…Serizawa, you're a genius." Said Mob. She got up, hugged him, and made her way back to the kitchen. She stepped on a rock that Mukai had brought inside, or maybe it was just a piece of the road…Mob didn't know how she kept on pulling them up, but it didn't matter.
She knew, now, how to get things back to normal.
"I can make things go back to normal!" said Mob loudly as she came back into the kitchen. Just in time, too. Sho's aura was really mad. She got him another can of coke from the fridge. He sat back down, he'd been standing up on his chair the whole time…a piece of spaghetti ball fell onto the floor. Then another, and another, and another…Shimazaki had been using him for target practice, it looked like, or maybe he had just gotten in the way of Shibata scrubbing the cooking pot.
The one that he hadn't put a hole through the bottom of.
"Things are normal and fine, Mob, normal and fine." Said Shibata as he discreetly put the broken pot in the garbage can. That had been an accident…that was all. He hadn't broken a pot in years but he hadn't been this upset in years. Shimazaki needed more than a hula hoop to live in, he needed his own continent!
"Your brother was about to strangle me to death with a noodle. So, yeah, that happened." Said Minegishi. They held their glass down as Sho slammed both of his fists onto the table.
"I said that I could have if I wanted to, I never said that I was going to do it! They're making me look bad! And anyway they're a dickhole!" said Sho. He had just meant that if they didn't stop making Big Sis feel like crap he'd fight them and it would have been easy for them to accidentally get really hurt or die, that was all. If you could kill a guy with a piece of string then you could kill a guy with a noodle and if you could kill a guy with a noodle then killing people on accident was super easy! He didn't know why they'd had to make it weird.
"Or you could stop threatening Toshi's life. I'm not going to stop throwing noodles at you until you do and, believe me, there are a lot of noodles here. Seems like kind of a waste, if you ask me." said Shimazaki
"It was Mukai's idea, ok, and I did my best with it. Do you think it's easy filling tea infusers with cooked pasta? Do you think I like having to puree meat and then reform it into noodles? Do you think that dinner just happens on it's own? Well, it doesn't!" said Shibata. He was not going to stand here and have his cooking criticized, especially not by the likes of him!
"Hiroshi, calm down." Said Tsuchiya. He wasn't trying to smooth things over and move on, which was good, but he was starting to strain the seams of his sweater. That wasn't good. Shigeko and Sho were in the room, they didn't need to see what a real fight was like. They had seen enough in their short lives to last them an eternity…those poor kids.
They'd seen more than any child should have had to see, done more than any child should have had to do, and…and Mukai….she didn't need any of that for her future.
"I'm calm, I'm fine….I'm fine." Said Shibata
"No, you aren't, you clearly aren't, and Mob isn't stupid. She knows that you want to beat up and or maim Ryou…not that Ryou doesn't deserve it, of course." Said Minegishi
"I don't! I didn't even do anything to him…lately. I've been in the hoop and everything." Said Shimazaki, picking up the hula hoop in case everyone had forgotten about it….in case Toshi had forgotten about it. They didn't even look his way.
"He doesn't, so quit being like that!" said Sho. He didn't know how they could have talked about someone they loved like that. Sho knew that if Ritsu'd had a partner who went out with his sister and then they got into a fight and….actually, no, he would have been pissed if Ritsu had been seeing someone else this whole time. For real, not like that fake thing he had with Teru…but did that make him a bad boyfriend, then, if he didn't want Ritsu to be happy? Or did…this was a lot. Relationships were complicated as fuck…
But not so complicated that Minegishi couldn't have known how much of a dickhole's asshole they had just been to Shimazaki.
"Sho! No! I mean, ok, don't yell and don't threaten to kill people-" said Mob
"I never said that I had plans to kill them, just that it's easy to kill someone on accident." Said Sho
"Oh…well that's not ok either. It's still mean and…and I just want you to be nice. I just want everyone to be nice so…so please, everyone, stop fighting. I broke up with Shimazaki, actually he broke up with me, so now you guys don't have any more reason to fight or leave or-or wash dishes." Said Mob
"Mob…Shigeko. If I stop washing these dishes then I might end up doing something that I'm going to regret." Said Shibata as he went back to washing the already clean put. It was dented on the side from where he'd been clutching it. He couldn't put it down…if he put it down then the next thing that had a dent in it would be Shimazaki's head, and that would have upset the kids.
"Um…ok. But just so long as everything's back to normal. Or close, close is good too. The kind of close where nobody tries to leave." Said Mob
"Shigeko…I'm…I'm not running away. Just taking a break." Said Tsuchiya. She knew that she had to choose her words carefully. She wasn't trying to be persuasive, she was just trying to keep Shigeko calm. This was delicate. She had to keep control over herself here….she used to be a lot better at it than she was now. Though, of course, she hadn't had to deal with Shimazaki before…and certainly not as bad as he was now. Broken up…they never should have been together in the first place!
"Can't you take a break here? I don't know what you need to take a break from, I don't make you do things, but you can take as long of a break as you want if you stay right here." Said Mob
"Shigeko-" said Tsuchiya
"Mob, stop it. You're acting unreasonable, like your father would have." Said Minegishi
"Hey! Big Sis is nothing like Dad and you know it!" said Sho
"Sho, can you go and make sure that Mukai is ok and not trying to, um, paint Serizawa or something?" asked Mob
"What do you care if he gets painted?" asked Sho
"Please, Little Brother?" asked Mob
"Fine….but you shouldn't let them talk to you like that." Said Sho
"I'll talk to whoever I want however I want, and right now I need to talk to you. So stay there and listen." Said Minegishi
"I am listening…but I want you to listen to me, too. You don't have to go. Ryou and I are broken up now and everything can go back to normal!" said Mob
"Please…stop saying that." Said Tsuchiya
"Why? It's the right word for what we are. We were together and now we broke up." said Mob. There was the sound of metal straining and then a loud crash…Shibata had broken through the pot.
"I-I'm sorry about that…that was a good pot too. I'm just…going to go and check on everyone in the living room…to make sure that nobody's getting painted or anything." Said Shibata
"They had better not be in my nail polish." Muttered Minegishi
"I-I can go check right now-" said Mob
"Sit. Listen." Said Minegishi
"Me first, ok? I know that what I did was wrong, I should have told you, but now we're broken up and everything can be ok. Ok?" asked Mob
"I asked you not to use that word." Said Tsuchiya
"Why not? It's the right word." Said Mob
"Because you and Ryou never should have been together in the first place!" said Minegishi
"Toshi! I'm sorry, ok?! I'm sorry about not telling you, about assuming that Mob had told you, but I'm not sorry that I was with her. I am who I am and I never once lied to any of you, not on purpose, and…and what do I have to do to earn your forgiveness? Write you a note? Get on my knees and beg? Chop off my pinky? I'll do it, I'll do it all and then some!" said Shimazaki
"Wait…what? You'd actually cut off your…your pinky finger?" said Tsuchiya
"You know he would. Why are you asking questions that you already know the answer to?" asked Minegishi through gritted teeth.
"Shimazaki, don't." said Mob
"I will, if I earns everyone's forgiveness. I'll…a cleaver would be better." said Shimazaki as he felt around the knife block. Toshi was cursing under their breath, Tsuchiya was practically sweating bullets, and Mob was shaking her head. Well too bad, he'd come this far and…and that was a really big knife…but if this was what he had to do to win Toshi back then that was what he was going to do. He had gone this long without losing a finger, he'd been living on borrowed time.
He got out a cutting board, the fancy stone one that Shibata was always telling him not to touch.
"You're actually going to…can you just put the knife down?" asked Tsuchiya
"If this is the only way then, no, I can't." said Shimazaki
"Shimazaki….Ryou, this is dangerous…and bad…and…and you can't do this." Said Mob
"It's not that bad, nobody's ever died of getting their pinky cut off…that I know of. I guess blood loss and shit but it's a small finger, how much blood can there possibly be in it?" Said Shimazaki
"Maybe you shouldn't try and see." Said Mob quickly. Minegishi clicked their tongue and shook their head.
"Ryou, you're being ridiculous right now. More than you normally are, and that's saying something. I don't care what happens to your pinkies, or other fingers, so really the only thing you're doing is giving everyone something new to describe to the therapist that we all should probably be seeing." Said Minegishi
"Wait…he isn't actually going to do it…is he? No. No way. There's no way he's actually going to…this is crazy!" said Tsuchiya. She had no idea what was even happening. He had the knife and he looked like he was going to do it…why? To apologize? Or…atonement? She didn't know why the yakuza did things like that, only that they did. Until five seconds ago she had always thought that it was a form of punishment for them or something…punishing himself? He deserved it, obviously, but the way he was going about it was more than a little…macabre.
"If this is the only way to get everyone to let it go then, yeah, I'm going to do it." Said Shimazaki
"Please don't! I'm sorry that I-" said Mob
"Ryou, if you want to do it then do it. Mob, stop blaming yourself. Tsuchiya, stop egging him on." Said Minegishi
"I never meant to egg him on, I've been trying to get him to stop! This is…this is macabre!" said Tsuchiya
"It's more ridiculous than anything." Said Minegishi
"I-I said no! Don't do it!" said Mob
"Too late." Said Shimazaki as he brought the knife down…over his barrier. He picked the knife up and felt the dent. Damn, that would have been a clean cut through the joint, too. It was always best to do it in one cut to get it over with. Two was pushing and three, well three you were either really bad at it or some kind of sadist. Shimazaki was not bad at it, and he wasn't a sadist…or maybe masochist would have been the better word for it? He just wanted this thing to be over already! Besides, it wasn't like Fukuda didn't know how to reattach limbs.
"That wasn't funny!" said Tsuchiya as she got up from the table. She shoved the table aside and left the room. She needed to be alone. How dare he play on her sympathy like that! She had actually thought that he was going to do it!
"She's right, really right. It wasn't funny at all…I was scared for you, actually. I don't want you to ever do anything like that ever again." Said Mob. That seemed kind of far just to mess with people, it really did.
"I wasn't trying to be funny, but yeah the thing with my barrier was kind of funny. I guess, instinctively. I want to keep all of my fingers where they're supposed to be. Who would have guessed?" said Shimazaki
"You're ridiculous, Ryou, that's all I have to say about that. You can stay here and keep on being ridiculous. I have packing to do." Said Minegishi. They got up. They didn't care if their…whatever the hell this was supposed to be got cold. They had no intention of finishing dinner. They just wanted to get out of here.
Apparently, so did Mob.
She followed them. She was right behind them apologizing over and over again…it was getting so tiring. No amount of apologizing was ever going to make what had happened ok. Not Mob practically crawling on her hands and knees in apology and not Ryou threatening to chop off all of his fingers and toes. Mob had nothing to be sorry about, anyway, they reminded themselves as she followed them to their room. Mob was thirteen and her decision making wasn't the best. Ryou was the one who should have known better. They weren't mad at Mob…not about that, at least.
They couldn't be.
"I really, really, am sorry. I thought that breaking up would make things go back to normal and…and I still think that it should. You're mad at me because I was his girlfriend and now that we're just friends, the regular kind too, you don't have to be mad at me anymore and you and Shimazaki don't have to be broken up anymore, either." Said Mob as she followed Minegishi into their room. They didn't say anything, they just started folding up clothes from their clean laundry pile. They had said, before, that they had packing to do but…but this wasn't packing. This was just cleaning up…and cleaning up was ok. It didn't mean that they were leaving her.
Right now, anyway. They had already said what they were planning on doing already.
"Minegishi? Did you hear me? I said that I was sorry." Said Mob as she came up next to them. She tried to help them fold clothes but they just pulled the basket away. Their aura focused on hers…and it hurt a little.
"Yes. I heard you. I heard you the first time, the second time, the third time, and every other time that you've brought this up. I know that you're sorry. Sorry doesn't….you aren't even listening." Said Minegishi, practically tearing the t-shirt in their hands in half. The needed a break. They needed to get the hell away from Mob before they lost it. Before they said or did something that they would regret….though it would have gotten Mob to listen…
They weren't going to hurt her like that.
"I am…you're going to say that me saying sorry doesn't make it any better…but I don't know how to make it better. I don't know how to make you like me again." Said Mob
"I still like you. Things are weird as hell between us right now but I still like you…and don't you go and accuse me of trying to run away. I need a break, that's all, and so does Tsuchiya. She's coming back, Mob, so just let her go." Said Minegishi
"But what if she doesn't come back, though? What if she decides to stay at the Seventh Division because she's mad at me about…about what I did. The cheating and stuff. Shimazaki cheating, I mean, I never cheated on anyone." Said Mob. The plant on the floor grew thorns, big red ones, and the leaves turned purple. Minegishi's aura was bright now, so bright that maybe even a normal person could have seen it.
"Mob…that's not what everyone is upset over. We went over this so many times…people aren't pissed at you, they're pissed at Ryou, and Ryou's the one who fucked up here. He knows how old he is, he knows how old you are, and he knows how well it went the last time this happened." Said Minegishi
"Do you mean how they tried to kill him but they couldn't so he just got kicked out of Tokyo? He told me that story…seemed kind of unfair. If he loved that girl and she loved him then why were they mad? Well he was more in love with her sister, actually, he said but you can also love more than one person…um…that's just what he told me and…and what I feel." Said Mob. She got the feeling that Minegishi was mad at her. The way that they were glaring at her with their aura. She could see the glare, like the sun bouncing off of a TV screen. They were shaking in place. The shirt that they were holding started to rip apart.
It had been a really nice shirt, too.
"Ryou should have had the foresight to know that sleeping with you would be a bad idea. Ryou is the one who should have known how, incredibly, pissed off I'd be at him. Ryou was the one who knew that there was no way in hell he was going to get away with all of this. Everything that happened is on him, not you, and I have no idea how to get you to listen to me." said Minegishi through clenched teeth. They threw the shirt that they'd been holding…but now they had nothing to do with their hands. Nothing besides find Ryou and wring his neck. He was the cause of all of this. He was just…chaos. He was the living incarnation of chaos. They were better off without him…maybe eventually they would be able to convince themselves of that fact.
"I still should have made sure that he told you and…and if everyone's not mad at me about he cheating then what are they mad about? And I know that Tsuchiya is mad, that's why she keeps on trying to leave. That's why Dad left, too…and I don't know why everyone has to make it their business who I do stuff with. I just want things to go back to normal and…and if they can't then I just want us all to find some way to be friends again. Even if it's not all the way the same I don't want…I don't want us to be fighting next year. We fought enough this year." Said Mob
"You want everyone to just let it go?" asked Minegishi
"Yes. Turn away and slam the door." Said Mob
"You don't care what they're going to say?" asked Minegishi
"No…the cold never bothered me anyway…so people can be cold to me and mad at me but when…but when people try and leave because of me and the group breaks up then…then it does bother me. I don't care if people are mad about what I did but they should leave Shimazaki out of it." Said Mob
"Mob…stay there." Said Minegishi. They weren't going to get through to her…it just wasn't going to happen. Not as themselves. Mob had this idea in her head that everything could get back to normal. That life had some kind of reset button. That at the end of the movie things were going to either get back to normal or get better…they really should have gotten her more books. Maybe if they had gotten her more books then she would have had a more realistic outlook on life and then they wouldn't have had to do things like this to get through to her.
Things that they really didn't want to do.
They pulled a box out from under their bed. This was…not something that they wanted to do. They didn't like costumes, they didn't like dresses, and at this point if they had to hear one more word about Frozen they were going to tear their hair out at the root…but they loved Mob. They loved her enough that they could just let it go and put on the damn Elsa costume.
But they weren't growing their hair out for the braid. That was the one step too far.
"What's that?" asked Mob as Minegishi pulled something blue out of a box under their bed. They didn't say anything, they just pulled it over their head. The blue didn't really go with the green of their pants, and tulle didn't really go with jeans…and neither did silk. The snowflakes on the…dress? Minegishi didn't wear dresses and…and the snowflakes didn't go with the vines on their pants…
But it didn't matter.
The carpet under her feet ripped its self up. The books on the floor next to her flew into the wall and dented it. The plant beside her grew so tall that it hit the ceiling. Mob knew that dress. She had spent years of her life in that dress…not that specific dress. It wasn't a Disney official Elsa dress, they didn't make those past kid sizes, and also the collar of the dress and the cape was wrong. The blue was kind of off, too….but that didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.
This was fifth greatest day of Mob's life.
"Now will you listen to me?" asked Minegishi as they smoothed their dress down. This was hell on Earth. They knew that they were wearing pants under this but they were still self-conscious of their legs, the way that they were standing. Their shirt had bunched up, too, under this thing…and whatever the hell the sleeves were made of was itchy as hell…but it had worked. They had Mob's complete and total attention now. Their room was in shambles but at least Mob was paying attention.
Now they just had to see if she was willing to listen to what they had to say.
"Minegishi…I love you so much right now. I mean I love you all the time but right now I love you more than I've ever loved you before." Said Mob. Did this mean that they were alright again? This was…they had an Elsa costume…so did Mob! It didn't fit, the real one, but she had an Elsa t-shirt and a blue tulle skirt and that was close…maybe she could fit into the old one if she sucked in her stomach and taped her breasts down like Mulan did when she had to pretend to be a boy…did she still have her Mulan dress? No, no, she had outgrown that years ago…who else would have been friends with Elsa? Merida was really more Anna's friend…maybe Aurora? Because they both lived in medieval times…no, she was kind of bossy…Cinderella was too cheerful…Snow White, maybe?
Or maybe it all depended on what costume she could still fit into…or maybe there was a store opened somewhere….or a tailor….did Shibata know how to make clothes or just sweaters?
"I love you too, now sit down and shut up." said Minegishi pointing to their bed.
"But wait, hang on! I can go and change and then we can both be Elsa, or whatever still fits, and-" said Mob
"Mob. Sit." Said Minegishi. They snapped their fingers and pointed to their bed. Mob, for once in her life, listened to them. She sat down and looked, wide eyed, up at Minegishi. There was a lot of hope, there, in her eyes. Unfortunately Minegishi was going to have to crush that hope and joy she was feeling right now. They had to get to the end of this. Now.
"I'm sitting…what is it? And can it wait? It won't take me that long to change." Said Mob
"It's going to take you at least an hour to find the box with your old costumes and we don't have an hour….or at least I don't want to wait around waiting for you to change. We need to talk, now. right now." said Minegishi
"Is this about how you're mad at me? Or does this mean that you aren't mad at me anymore and we're friends again?" asked Mob
"Mob…Shigeko. Listen to me. We never stopped being friends. Do you understand? I have never, once, wanted to end our friendship…in any serious way. Even with everything that happened I still love you, so stop it." Said Minegishi
"But you…you…I made you and Shimazaki break up. He's the love of your life but then you broke up with him because I made him fall in love with me." said Mob
"How?" asked Minegishi
"How…what?" asked Mob
"How did you make Ryou fall in love with you? Because the Ryou I know does whatever the hell he wants whenever the hell he wants to do it. He's never taken orders well in the nearly ten years I've known him. You didn't make him do anything." Said Minegishi
"If I didn't make him fall in love with me then…then why did he? It doesn't make any sense." Said Mob
"Ryou developed feelings for you because…because he's Ryou. He's needy and clingy, even though he pretends that he isn't, and when he finds someone who'll put up with him then….well then that's it. I don't doubt that he did love you…but he shouldn't have. Ok? He's too old for you and…and yeah, I knew that about him for a while. Since we met…but I thought that he was done with all of that…and I'm sorry." Said Minegishi
"Why are you sorry? Don't be! I'm the one who…I shouldn't have just thought that he told you and….and I should have told him that I wanted to be just friends and…and I shouldn't have liked…a bunch of stuff about being his girlfriend." Said Mob
"You're right, you should have known better but you're only thirteen and I can't hold you to that kind of standard. You're…you're you. You're not me. You're hellbent on making all of my mistakes but you're not me." said Minegishi
"I'm not trying to make any mistakes, mine or yours, and I don't think that they count as mistakes if you try to make them…and also I don't think that you being in love with Shimazaki is a mistake. He really loves you a lot and he's good at listening when something is bothering you and he's good at remembering things you like and he's good at-" said Mob
"I wasn't talking about Ryou." Said Minegishi. That shut her up…good. The last thing that they needed right now was a list of all of Ryou's best qualities from Mob of all people. Just…no. They knew that he was a good listener, they knew that he did genuinely have a bottomless well of caring inside of him…it wasn't the best well but it was there, and they knew all the other things that he was good at, too. The things that Mob was getting dangerously close to mentioning. The things that they knew she had experienced firsthand. The things that they were going to have to sharpen a coat hanger and poke themselves in the brain to forget…yeah, a home lobotomy was preferable to sitting there in this itchy Elsa costume listening to Mob go over every single one of Ryou's good points.
"Oh." Said Mob
"Yeah. Oh. Not every romantic failure in my life has to do with Ryou. I had a whole life before him and I made some mistakes…a lot of the same ones you're making right now." said Minegishi
"You also had a best friend and-" said Mob
"I didn't have any friends when I was thirteen…not like this. When I was thirteen I met a man who was a lot older than me and I went looking for love in the only way that I know how…and then I got hurt. I made a mistake and I got hurt and…and I guess there's a part of me that wishes I could have saved you from going through that." Said Minegishi
"But…I didn't get hurt. I didn't even mind when we broke up. I think that Shimazaki was more hurt than me." said Mob
"You can be honest with me." said Minegishi
"I am being honest. I don't mind that we broke up and being together wasn't that bad…but I'm glad that we broke up. I just want things to go back to normal now. I told you, I told everyone, that I wanted everything to go back to normal. It's just…it's weird for me that everyone talks about it and I thought that things would get better when I we broke up but it won't….everyone's still mad. You're still mad…that's why you're leaving…and that's why Tsuchiya's leaving too. She's the maddest of all…and I don't know why. It wasn't like he was her boyfriend…or maybe she liked him." Said Mob
"I know with complete certainty that Tsuchiya has never had feelings for Ryou. She's upset because she wants to protect Mukai, that's all. She thinks that Mukai is going to end up making the same mistake that you did." Said Minegishi
"But she's three…that would be weird." Said Mob. Tsuchiya had the strangest ideas sometimes. Before it had only been about schoolwork, meditating, and yoga. Now it was just getting crazy.
"Pot, kettle." Said Minegishi
"What?" asked Mob
"Nothing. Just listen to me when I say that she thinks she's doing what's best and, yes, she's coming back. She just needs a break. She's not mad at you, I'm not mad at you, nobody is mad at you. Do. You. Understand?" asked Minegishi. If this didn't work then, what, they were going to have to sing? Put together a choreographed ice dance? Bring a snowman to life?
"Um…kind of…but I still made Shimazaki-" said Mob
"Ryou chose to act like a moron…or maybe he was just born that way. Whatever. You have nothing to do with the way he is, so don't act like it's your fault. It's not. Don't argue with me." said Minegishi. They held eye and aural contact with Mob. This was it. After this they were out of ideas. Mob needed to listen, to get it, and to stop arguing with them. Mob kept up eye contact and nodded….success?
"But…ok." Said Mob. She wanted to argue, to tell them that she must have done something, but they had told her not to…and they loved her enough to put on an Elsa dress for her…so she wasn't going to make them any madder than they had been before. When someone loved you that much, enough to both put on a dress and forgive you for doing things with their boyfriend, then you had to be nice to them.
"Good. Now go and hang out with everyone in the living room. I have packing to do…unless you want to help." Said Minegishi
"I do." Said Mob quickly. She picked the clothes up from their clean basket and started folding them with her powers. She folded them up really small, like how Dad wanted his clothes folded before he went somewhere…not that this was going to be like with Dad, no, this was going to be better. Minegishi was actually going to come back. They were going to go and see their boyfriend and then when they came back everything was going to be back to normal.
She'd find a way.
She kind of got what Minegishi had been saying, about how they had been worried that she'd made the same mistake that they had, but she hadn't. The only mistake that she had made had been making Shimazaki love her…no. He had done that on his own. Shimazaki didn't like being told what to do so, of course, she couldn't make him love her…or trick him into it, either. He had just…fallen in love with her. She liked the thought of someone being in love with her, someone picking her out of all the people in the world to be in love with, but the thought of it being Shimazaki…it still felt kind of weird even after everything. But it didn't matter. They were broken up now and things…they couldn't go all the way back to normal…but they could get pretty close, and that was the best that she could hope for. Minegishi and Tsuchiya, Mukai too, would go but then they'd come back…Sho too…but that was different, he was going to see that boy he was in love with. People were leaving but once they came back after the New Year then everything could get to being close to normal…it felt good.
Mob liked knowing what the future would bring…or at least having a pretty good idea of what was coming.