Hatori loved Touichirou, he really did, but the last thing he wanted to do was spend the New Year with him.

He was spending it with Shiori and Shiori didn't like him in her house for too long. Probably because they were trying to have a baby and they wanted privacy…or at least she did. Touichirou didn't mind having him around. They mostly lived in one bedroom apartments just to keep it simple, they moved too much to pack up an entire house every week or two, and in that time they'd wound up sharing a bed or a floor more times than Hatori could count. Touichirou actually picked him up and put him in the same bed whenever he had nightmares. He said that he did it because Hatori's aura was keeping him up but, from Touichirou, that was pretty damn loving.

Kind of like Dad…like a Dad.

That was who he was now…kind of. Being adopted did and did not feel like being his kid. He was still Hatori, Touichirou said that there was no point in changing the name that he'd had for the past twenty two years. Hatori had, of course, brought up the fact that people changed their names when they got married but then Touichirou had counted with the fact that they were not married, could never be married, and would never be married since Suzuki had no desire to marry him. It was mutual but the conversation had gotten weird at that point so Hatori dropped it. That part had been kind of like being his kid. There was no way in hell anyone else could have been able to talk to him like that, and argue with him, only his own kids. Hatori couldn't believe that he used to be afraid of Touichirou. Who could have possibly been afraid of that guy?

Aside from all the enemies they'd killed, of course.

Not Hatori personally, he'd just knocked some dominos over. Changed some flight plans, cancelled some trains, left some incriminating pictures and documents opened for the whole world to see…or just planted some there if the guy was, rarely enough, squeaky clean. Lots of enemies, rivals, people who had a problem with Claw, and people who Hatori just plain had a problem with…people who'd had it coming, that was all. A lot of people who'd had it coming got what was coming to them. Touichirou trusted Hatori enough to give everyone what they had coming to them. It was a lot, being able to act on his own, and Hatori made sure to rise to the task. He was going to make Touichirou, he was going to make his sort of Dad, proud.

But he wasn't going to spend the new year with him, not when he was with Shiori at least.

"And….safe." muttered Hatori as he watched Touichirou's phone make it's way across the map. There were four groups and two independent agents, that Hatori knew about, trying to kill him right now. That included the fucking government of all people! They paid their taxes…on the income they reported…and anyway they shouldn't have had to pay anything since they fit the definition of a church and Touichirou should have just let him fuck with the documents-but that wasn't important. What was important was that Touichirou had made it to Shiori's house safe and sound. Now all that was left was for Hatori to get home…home to where the group lived. He should have been there hours ago but he'd had to make a lot of shopping stops. He'd missed Christmas after all, he owed a lot of people a lot of presents.

But not Shimazaki. Fuck that guy.

Hatori couldn't feel his aura as he came up to the house. He couldn't feel anyone's aura, just Serizawa's…but that was normal for him. Touichirou had even said that, amongst other espers, Hatori's aura was weird. At the same time he had all the range and none of the range. His aura didn't look for other espers, it looked for electronics, anything with an electrical current. The car pulled up. Hatori was in the dashboard, the onboard computer, even the headlights. As they got closer to the houses he entered the walls, the lights, the TV, anything that he could. He couldn't feel anyone, only Serizawa.

Better than no one.

Hatori checked the time as he got out of the car. It was late, late enough that there should have been people home. He knew for a fact that it was past Sho's bedtime, and that Mukai should have been long in bed by now too. Mob…well she did whatever she wanted to do, Touichirou had pretty much left her in charge of herself and the, their, family for the past three years or so….wait, did this mean that he was in charge, now? He was the oldest after all. Mob really was Little Sister-sama now…or just Little Sister…chan? No, no, Mob was too old to be chan. It felt kind of weird thinking of her like that. Maybe she was just Little Sister…he could go back to calling her that. It had fit from the very beginning. He actually had a little sister now…two of them. A little brother, too, though he wasn't sure how well Sho was taking this right now. He and Touichirou had never gotten along, mainly because he loved to push Touichirou's buttons, and Hatori wondered if he felt like he was being replaced. He wasn't, of course, Sho was still Suzuki's firstborn son. If anything baby Tetsuro was going to replace him if he was ever born…not that Hatori was going to tell Sho that.

Not that he could tell Sho that.

Sho wasn't home. Nobody was home…that he could feel. Nobody but Serizawa…in Mob's house. That could either have been very good or very bad. Hatori decided that he was going to go and see which. In Mob's house. Where he knew that it was going to be much safer. For all he knew Shimazaki was next door waiting to teleport in and fuck with him in some way. That was the only thing that he could think of that would clear out a house like that.

Seriously. Fuck that guy.

Hatori knew that now, as a big brother, he had a moral obligation to beat the shit out of Shimazaki and any other guy who tried to sleep with his little sisters. That was just how being a big brother worked, part of the job description, like how being in floating teach support meant that you were going to see a lot of weird porn or being in industrial espionage meant that you were going to get a lot of people fired, or how being Touichirou's son meant that you were going to get picked at and held under a microscope because everything you did was a reflection of him!

He could kind of see why Sho cracked.

It was a lot of pressure, being Touichirou's son and Shigeko's big brother, but Hatori could rise to the occasion…even though a big part of him wanted to crawl into a hole, or a low cabinet, and hide. There was so much that could go wrong…so much that he could fuck up. There was no way he could even land a hit on Shimazaki so defending Mob was out. He didn't have a search history to speak of, porn for the blind sucked and anyway it was mostly just Minegishi breathing and talking while they did it. As hot as it was, Hatori may or may not have a flash drive that was nothing but Minegishi breathing and screaming and sometimes making that weird mewing sound they did when they came down, it wasn't anything that was going to get him publicly shamed and humiliated. He slept with Mob, thirteen year old Mob, and he didn't care who knew. At that point Hatori had no idea what dirt he even could have dug up on him…and Touichirou called HIM shameless…

He was going to end up calling Hatori worse than that if he fucked up being a part of this family.

Touichirou wasn't like Mob. Mob always gave you a second chance, and a third, and a fourth too. Touichirou hated failure. If someone failed him then it was over. They either got reassigned to a terrible job, Hatori did not want to end up being the guy who cleaned out the Awakening Chambers, or if they really fucked up they wound up dead in a traitor hole. Hatori didn't plan on fucking up that badly….or at all.

He just didn't know how to succeed.

He started by going through the front door. All the lights were on. Mob's shoes, a big pile of them, were in the genkan. He had no idea if she was home or not. He owned more shoes than anyone he had ever known in his life, it was impossible to keep track of them all, so she might have been in…he couldn't feel her phone or her aura. Only Serizawa's. Though that made sense since Serizawa's aura was bright….and getting brighter. His shoes were in the genkan, those same crocs he always wore. Hatori kicked his shoes off next to Serizawa's. Ahegao shoes, of course, he was going to get as much wearing out of these before Touichirou noticed. He didn't get what Touichirou had against it, it was a good pattern, and it went on everything. It wasn't like it was actual hentai, just cropped, and even then it wasn't like anyone was going to say anything. Nobody was going to say 'hey, isn't that from Danke Dankei Revolution' without telling the whole world what they were into. Hatori wasn't an idiot, he wasn't going to where it around Mob or Sho or Mukai, and it wasn't like that was even a problem right now.

The only one home was Serizawa.

"Hello? Anybody home?" asked Hatori, mostly in an effort to keep Serizawa from freaking out. He heard a door open. His aura got brighter. Hatori's aura found his phone. He resisted the urge to go looking through it, not now, anyway. It wasn't like Serizawa ever did anything interesting, anyway…and no, all that Link and Zelda stuff wasn't interesting. Hell, Fukuda's search history was more interesting than that and he was mostly into girls who looked like Touichirou's ex-wife…that was definitely something he was going to have to work harder at. Showing Touichirou what a piece of shit that guy was. A liar, a cheater, a wife sleeper with-er…he was a piece of shit! He was…also gone…

Hatori suddenly felt very unpopular.

He hadn't been expecting them to throw him a welcome home party but they could have at least been home. Even Shibata was gone and he lived for surprises like this. Hatori had kind of been expecting a cake…or a pancake cake…or something. At least a hello. The only thing that greeted him so far was the sound of his own voice…and the house shaking.

He'd maybe spoken too soon.

"Serizawa, hey. Do you know where everyone went?" asked Hatori as soon as he saw Serizawa. He looked a lot better. New pajamas, Link ones that Mob had probably gotten him, and he was standing taller than normal. Usually he hunched down really low, he said that he liked to make himself as small as possible to feel safe, so did this mean that he felt safe…or was there no reason to feel safe…like something horrible had happened? A million scenarios raced through his mind as Serizawa practically raced up to him. His eyes darted to the living room, a stack of boxes, some of them big wardrobe boxes…he was short. He could have fit in there if he'd wanted to-

No. He was way too old to be doing that…and anyway, Touichirou couldn't stand a coward.

"Hatori! I thought that I felt you coming but then I thought that it might have been in my head but then I thought that it might not have been so I texted Miss Suzuki and she said that she wasn't expecting you back and then I thought that I was going crazy but now I know that I'm not crazy and-" said Serizawa

"You're not crazy, I just didn't tell Mob I was coming. I wanted it to be a surprise." Said Hatori

"I-I'm surprised, this is very surprising. We thought that you, well Sho mostly thought, that you were never coming back. Miss Suzuki thought that you'd be back after President Suzuki took over the world…did he take over the world yet?" asked Serizawa

"Not yet. Right now he's mostly about seeing his girlfriend and playing Minecraft when he thinks I'm not looking. Which I don't get. I'll play with him if he wants to but he never asks me too. Maybe he just doesn't want to be a hypocrite since he's always telling me to be productive…it's whatever. Dads are weird like that, right?" asked Hatori. When he had been a kid it hadn't seemed fair at all. Dad got to play all the videogames he wanted to play but Hatori got grounded from them just for downloading pirated games, or being in fights at school, or taking money from Mom's purse…ok, those hadn't exactly been good deeds, but still! Games had been life, and they still were, and Dad of all people should have gotten that…but that might have just been how dads were…or whatever. Hatori didn't know, it wasn't like he was anyone's dad.

"I…don't really know. I never knew my Dad. He left when I was a baby." Said Serizawa. Hatori nearly smacked himself upside the head. Right, right, here he was going on about his shit and Serizawa…well he'd never even had a dad at all.

"Sorry, I forgot…that sounds terrible. I hadn't remembered, that's all. About your dad leaving. Most people just have dads…sorry. If you want one Touichirou might want to adopt you. He's actually weirdly into having a family, growing the one he has I mean." Said Hatori. He didn't really want another brother…as selfish as it sounded it was true. It was one thing to have Sho as a brother, and Mukai and Shigeko as sisters, but it was another for Touichirou to just pick someone else…but this was Serizawa. He didn't know why he felt threatened. It wasn't like Touichirou could unadopt him…well he could…but it wasn't like Touichirou couldn't have other kids, either…he was working on one right now, probably…

Could people his and Shiori's ages even still have kids? He kind of hoped that they couldn't….

"I-I'm alright! I wouldn't want to impose and…and I already have one parent and I never see her and also Sho isn't happy about you being adopted and…and I don't want him to stop being my friend. I'm sorry, I know that it's selfish, but I just don't want Sho to be mad at me. He's kind of scary when he gets mad." Said Serizawa

"Yeah….I don't like being on Sho's bad side, either. It's kind of like Touichirou's bad side but Sho doesn't kill, uh, hurt! Sho doesn't hurt people, I mean he doesn't hurt people in any serious way." Said Hatori. He wasn't sure how much Serizawa knew about what actually happened in Claw. He was kind of like Mob in that way. Hatori did his best to shield her from the worst of it. He made sure that certain reports and memos never landed on her desk, certain emails never made it to her inbox, and certain…areas…of Claw never sent representatives. The less she knew the better. She couldn't handle it, she was too nice, and Serizawa…he was like Mob times a hundred. The last thing Hatori wanted to do was shatter his innocence. He wasn't an asshole, he wasn't Shimazaki, he didn't like causing people he knew pain.

"The President would never hurt anyone. He's too nice. I mean he can be mean but he's not mean in the real way." Said Serizawa

"Uh…right…hey! I never gave you your Christmas present." Said Hatori. He quickly took off his backpack and pulled out the topmost bag…wait, no, that was wrong. He picked out the one underneath it. This one was for Serizawa. He passed it over. Serizawa took it in his hands and held it close like he'd just been handed a lucky egg.

"Can I open it now?" asked Serizawa, his eyes practically welling up with emotion.

"Yeah, feel free. Sorry its not wrapped but I didn't have time." Said Hatori

"It's ok, I'm just happy that you thought of-of me…" said Serizawa as he pulled the shirt from the plastic bag. He held it up and unfurled it…and then turned bright red. All the pictures on the walls came untacked and fell down…Sho wasn't going to be happy about that. Mob wasn't going to be happy by the state her shoes were in now, too. The shoes in the pile had at least been paired up, now they were spread out all over the genkan and hallway. If Touichirou had been there he wouldn't have been happy either, not about the mess or the noise or the gift it's self.

What did everyone have against the ahegao shirt?

"Don't tell me you don't like it." Said Hatori

"I-I don't even know what it is…I mean I do. These girls are from…they're from….things!" said Serizawa

"Things?" laughed Hatori

"Y-yes! They're from things that…that…I mean…you can keep it! I mean thank you for the gift but-but I can't wear this. What would Miss Suzuki think?" asked Serizawa

"Obviously you don't wear it around Mob, she's just a kid…and a girl, too. Girls don't really appreciate the humor in it." Said Hatori

"It's supposed to be funny? Isn't it more likely to get you made fun of?" asked Serizawa

"You sound just like Touichirou right now, you know that?" asked Hatori

"I'm sorry! I mean not for sounding like the President, he's so smart and brave and…and nice…but I am very sorry for being ungrateful! Miss Suzuki would have been so disappointed in me if she had seen how I was acting…she wouldn't have been happy at all and then…I don't even want to think about it!" said Serizawa

"Where is Mob, anyway?" asked Hatori, mostly to get Serizawa out of the spiral he was caught in. He pulled out his phone…she was obviously somewhere…but it was way too late for someone her age to be out anywhere! It wasn't safe. Perverts, murders, kidnappers, all the people who wanted her dead…he couldn't believe Serizawa had just let her go out like that!

Actually, he totally could have.

Mob did whatever she wanted to do. Touichirou let her and it wasn't like anyone could have hurt her, really, if she put her mind to defending herself. She was the reason there wasn't anymore Eighth Division, and why they were so far in the red from rebuilding the Seventh. She had killed nearly thirty people from exploding, the Seventh and Eighth Divisions had both been where Awakened had been made and trained, and…and that was another Claw secret that had to be kept from her for her own good…

Actually, yeah, he was more worried about the guy who pissed her off…the guy who pushed her to that point…Mob couldn't even play Smash Bros without feeling guilty, of course she couldn't be expected to defend herself is someone tried anything with her.

"She went out with Shimazaki-" said Serizawa

"She did what!?" asked Hatori before he started to choke on his own….he didn't even know what this feeling was. Rage? Fear? Guilt? He didn't know…maybe all three. He couldn't believe that Serizawa had let her go with him…that she had gone with him…that-that-that-

"She and Shimazaki are having a New Year's Eve, eve, night out…but only as friends. They broke up because they're looking for different things and they don't work together. They're back to normal now, Miss Suzuki said, but she's worried about-" said Serizawa

"She should be worried! You should be worried! How could you have just let her go like that?!" asked Hatori

"She…she wanted to and…and I don't like telling people what to do…sorry." Said Serizawa. He reached his hand out and an umbrella flew out of the pile of junk in the genkan. Hatori reigned it in as best as he could. Touichirou could exorcise his feelings…Hatori needed to learn. Right now he couldn't freak out, he couldn't run and hide. He had to save Mob before…before she got hurt. Again.

Fuck Shimazaki.

"I'm the one who's sorry, ok? I shouldn't have freaked out and yelled at you." said Hatori

"I-I'm ok! I mean I'm fine! I mean I'm not….not sad or anything-" said Serizawa

"Good! Then you can come with me! The car should still be here and I can lead us to…hang on." Said Hatori as he pulled his phone out. He used it to find Mob's…she was in a place where she should NOT have been. What in the hell was she doing in the Kabukicho? That was nothing but yakuza and brothels and bars and soaplands and those places where you sat down on a bench and girls came up and…and a lot of other stuff that Mob didn't need to know about!

"Wait! Why do I have to go and-and where are we going?" asked Serizawa

"To get Mob, ok? I have to bring you with. She kind of listens to you. Just tell her that you miss her and you want her to come home. I mean it's not a lie, right? You do miss her and you want her to come home?" asked Hatori. Mob would have done anything for her best friends. Hatori knew that he was a friend but he wasn't going to pretend that he and Mob were on the same level as Serizawa and Mob were. That was ok, he could use this. If Serizawa showed up begging her to come home then she'd listen…and if Serizawa lost control then Shimazaki would end up getting really fucked up.

And, yeah, even if a bunch of other people got hurt or whatever it would still have been worth it.

"I….I do miss her…it's not a lie. I've been waiting for her to come home, she said that she was going to be home soon, but that was an hour ago and…and I kind of watched ahead on this show we're watching together. It's about a girl who dies, which is sad, but then she gets reborn in another world and she likes books but there are no books so she's trying to make them and we left off on episode ten but I wanted to see what would happen and I couldn't wait-" said Serizawa

"That's good, Mob's going to eat that up. Now come on, put shoes on, we're going to Kabukicho…but maybe don't tell Touichirou we went there. I don't think that his heart could take it knowing that Mob was there." Said Hatori. That was a very real worry. Touichirou had already had one heart attack, it wasn't like he couldn't have another, and the thought of Mob alone with Shimazaki in a place like that was enough to give Hatori a heart attack!

He had to save her.

No time to freak out, no time to scream, no time to hide. He had to save her. He had to find her and bring her home and…well he didn't have a plan past that but it would come to him. He was her big brother now and with that came a responsibility to her…and Sho and Mukai, but he had no idea where they were. He could figure that out later, right now he had a Little Sister to save!

He loved Mob as a sister, of course he'd keep her safe.