Mob's New Year's resolution was to be a better person.
For 2020 she was going to be a better friend, big sister, and vice president of Claw. She was going to be less selfish and think more about what other people wanted and needed. Mostly that meant she was never going to do things like she had done ever again. With her friends at least. Not that any of her friends had asked her but if they did then she was going to say that she was busy and then work harder at being busy. Maybe she could help the Awakened build that popsicle stick skyscraper they'd been talking about for a while, or she could teach Mukai to read, or maybe she could try and teach Dad how to love his kids and act like a normal Dad…no, that wouldn't work. She needed a project to keep her busy, not one that was impossible. If she picked something impossible then her friends would see right through her…not that it had come up yet. She hoped that it wasn't going to come up any time soon.
Maybe she could resolve that it would never come up again…
That probably wouldn't work. You couldn't make New Year's resolutions for other people. If she could have then she would have asked Sho to resolve to separate his boy hamsters from his girl hamsters. That way they wouldn't have as many babies and he wouldn't have to give so many hamsters away. She would have resolved, too, to get Mukai to stop hitting people and yelling all the time. She loved her little sister a lot but she could be…a lot…sometimes. She would have resolved to make Minegishi love her again, like they used to. They weren't mad at her but things had been very strained between them…but they were coming back, Mob reminded herself, they were always going to come back. So was Tsuchiya, and if Mob could she would have resolved for Tsuchiya to stop worrying about things and just have fun with the rest of them. Shibata too, he used to be a lot more fun before he started hanging out with Tsuchiya all the time. She had rubbed off on him, and not in a good way. He didn't even throw Mukai in the air anymore because it was dangerous and stuff. Also she was all worried about Shimazaki, even though it didn't make any sense.
They were broken up now.
She changed her resolution for Tsuchiya. If she could have made a resolution for her she would have resolved that Tsuchiya put away whatever she was so upset about and became friends with Shimazaki again. She didn't understand what Tsuchiya was so worried about. Of course Shimazaki wasn't ever going to like Mukai, she was three, that would have been weird. He probably wouldn't have liked her like that in ten years, too, when she was all grown up. He had said that he thought of Mukai and Sho as his kids. Tsuchiya was making the whole thing really weird and Mob was tired of it…and maybe a little glad, too, that Tsuchiya had taken kind of a vacation from her. Maybe she would come home and realize how weird she'd been making the whole thing and then she could have made friends with Shimazaki again and everything would have gone back to normal. It had been weird for too long…though Shimazaki wasn't helping.
But he'd always been weird.
From the day they'd met he'd been weird. He liked to mess with people. He liked to throw things at them and trip them and even do crazy things like steal fish from one person's aquarium and put them in another, or steal street signs so people got confused. Also there was the way he treated Hatori…if she could have made a resolution for Shimazaki it was that he was a nicer person and better friend. He could be very nice sometimes, when they were alone. He always listened to what was bothering her, really listened, not the kind of listening where people heard what you said and then immediately started telling you how to fix what had gone wrong. Not that he didn't try to fix things, he did, by making Mob feel better. He'd mix her up a milk drink or bring her something to smoke or hold her or…or other things that she kind of missed but not with him! That maybe should have been her main New Year's resolution. Not with him, ever again…wait, no, she'd said that already. It was never to do it with one of her friends ever again. Another boy, one nobody had met, would have been…she couldn't think of any boys she wanted to do things like that with….
There were a lot of boys here, but none she liked that much or knew that well.
"You ok, Mob?" asked Hatori as he took her drink from her. She took it back with her powers and nodded. She was fine, a little tired but fine. The party was going on around her but she needed to rest. It was after midnight, long after midnight, but it didn't look like the Awakened were going to slow down and go to bed any time soon. Some people were painting themselves with stripes and running around screaming. She had a good view from here, in the closed part of the mezzanine. The open air part had to be closed. She didn't trust the Awakened up this high…they were too high…or maybe she was…no, no, no. She was fine.
She was having a nice time.
"I'm ok…I'm having a nice time. How about you?" asked Mob as she finished her drink. Hatori took the empty cup from her…mean. If he wanted his own then he could have gotten it himself….or maybe she was supposed to get it for him now? He was her big brother now…weird. So weird. He was her friend, and before that she wanted to be his girlfriend…that had been a weird time in her life, and now he was her brother and she was a little sister…what was she supposed to do with that? She didn't even know…she took the cup back…but it was empty…right, right, because she had finished it.
Time to get up.
"Hey, hey, come on. Stay there, ok?" asked Hatori as he put his hand on her shoulder and sat her back down. She sat back down, but mostly because the room spun a little. She tried to keep it straight with her powers but they weren't listening. All she did was make a little confetti storm on the table in front of her.
"I'm here…I'm fine. Are you? You didn't say." Said Mob
"I-I'm good, Mob, everything's good. You just stay there, ok?" asked Hatori
"But I'm thirsty." Said Mob
"You sure? I think you've had a lot to drink already and as your big brother it's my job to keep you safe so-" said Hatori
"You're….you're Nozomu now." said Mob. He was Nozomu now, not Big Brother, even though he was her big brother…and not Suzuki either even though he was her brother…Dad hadn't renamed him like he had Mukai…did she remember being Mi-cha? Did Mob used to have another name? She wouldn't have remembered…but then how could she have not known her own name? She felt dumb. Her 2020 glasses fell down onto the table…now she felt really dumb…
"Yeah, that's my name, do you remember yours…oh fuck…please remember your name!" said Hatori, breathing in and out faster and faster. What was he so scared of? She knew her own name. Was he worried that she was dumb? Well she wasn't. She had put all of this together and that wasn't something a dumb person could do…not unless they had help or something…and it was mean to call people dumb anyway.
"I know my own name. Suzuki Shigeko. Suzuki with the characters for bell and tree and then Shigeko with the characters for nurturing and child. You're Hatori Nozomu and your name looks like pigeon. I know names. I'm not dumb." Said Mob
"I never said that you were, I was just worried about you. I mean you've been drinking a lot and it's late and Fukuda isn't here so if you do have alcohol poisoning or something then I'd have to take you to a hospital and I've never taken anyone to the hospital before and I don't even know if you have an insurance card and…and I can fake one, and a medical history, and a name and…and then you'd be ok but it's just that I've never done anything like that before and-" said Hatori, his breathing getting fast. Everyone's phone started to ring at once, the same ringtone. The fire alarm one. She put her hand on Hatori's and used her powers to offer him some of her drink…some of her empty cup…right, right, that was what she had been getting up do to…to do…
"Ok, ok, you need a drink. Your powers are going crazy and that's not good. So, ok, you stay here and I'll get you a drink and then you'll be better. I have to take care of you. You're my brother, now, and it's my job to make sure that you're ok." Said Mob
"No, no, no. How about you stay here, ok? We'll both stay here together and just…hang out here until the party's over….if it ever ends…what if they go all night? And then they don't stop…your Dad, our Dad, is going to be so pissed…" said Hatori
"I don't care if Dad's mad or not anymore. He gets mad at the weirdest things and if I didn't do any of the things that made him mad then…then I wouldn't have any things to do at all…and then that would be so boring and being boring is…boring. I mean I don't like being bored. Not as much as Shima-" said Mob. She would have that while she hated boredom she could deal with it better than Shimazaki could. She couldn't get any words out, of course, because Hatori was covering her mouth with his hand…for some reason.
"What are you doing?" asked Mob, her voice muffled by his hand…he smelled like Doritos. He tasted like them, too. She knew that she'd made the right call getting the giant Dorito made out of little Doritos for him. Well for everyone, but mostly for him.
"Don't say his name! if you say his name then he'd going to show up and you know how weird he is with you." said Hatori as he took his hand off of Mob's mouth.
"You taste like Doritos." Said Mob
"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that…but it was the only way to get you to shut up. I mean to stop talking! I mean to stop mentioning him." Said Hatori
"I don't mind if Shimazaki joins us, he's really fun at parties. Plus I think he's been doing coke but I'm not sure, because there's other white stuff, and if he is doing coke then he's going to have a lot of energy…actually, no, it's good that he stays away in that case. He'd probably be mean to you again if he was here." Said Mob
"Me? Forget about me, what about you?!" asked Hatori
"I'm not going to play mean tricks on you, I'm your friend. I mean I'm your sister now but also your friend." Said Mob
"No, that's not it. I just…you know how weird he is with you? I mean what he did to you…fuck…I don't want to talk about this…" said Hatori
"You mean like how he drank the last of my strawberry milk? I forgave him for that a long time ago. It was kind of annoying to have to go and get more but it wasn't bad or anything. He said he was sorry, anyway, and brought me some milk. I mean it was the oat kind of milk but he tried." Said Mob
"What? No! I mean how he…how he….all the creepy stuff he did! I mean I get it if you don't want to talk about it but you should know that you don't have to see or talk to him ever again. Him or any other creepy guys." Said Hatori
"But Shimazaki's not-" said Mob
"Shigeko, great party." Said Joseph as he sat down next to her.
"What the-who the hell are you?!" asked Hatori
"This is Joseph, he's my friend…or he was my friend. He stopped talking to me all of a sudden…why did you stop doing that? That really hurt me…I need a drink…" said Mob
"Well your friend Minegishi kind of threatened my life and I figured, hey, I like living so I decided to stay away from you. Since they're nowhere to be seen and haven't been for a while I thought that it would be safe to come and talk to you, to say Happy New Year." Said Joseph
"Thank you, Joseph, and happy New-" said Mob
"You said, now leave before I do…something." Said Hatori
"Hatori! Don't mind him, he can be like that sometimes. He's really very nice, though, as a friend and a brother…but he's not your brother. Not unless my Dad adopts you too but I don't know why he would ever do that. You smoke and he doesn't like smoking, and also he doesn't know you." said Mob
"I'll be ok. So your Dad actually adopted him? That's not just a rumor like the one about the snake in the third floor men's room?" asked Joseph
"Neither of those are rumors. Hatori is my brother and the snake is real. His name is Cherry Cola, I don't know why, but be careful because he bites. He bit this one guy, Yuta, he's an Awakened, so he bit Cherry Cola back and then-" said Mob
"Yeah, this is a weird place. Maybe Joseph should go explore the building on his own before I kick his ass." Said Hatori
"Hatori! That was mean and you know it. It's not nice to threaten people, especially my friends, and I know that you're nicer than that. As your sister I have to teach you to be nice to people and….and it's going to take a long time since you can't teach an old dog new tricks….actually, you kind of can. Shimazaki says that-" said Mob
"Mob, the last thing we need right now is Shimazaki at this table…and he shouldn't even be here, too!" said Hatori, pointing at Joseph, Joseph just ashed his cigarette and smiled…even though she didn't know what was so funny right now.
"Hatori, don't point, it's rude." Said Mob. Was she going to have to take care of all of her siblings like this? She would have thought that Hatori would have known to be more polite, since he was nine years older than she was, but even he could act like…well, like Mukai.
"Yeah, listen to your little sister-sama." Said Joseph
"Don't you call her that! And get out of here before I kick your ass, and I mean it!" said Hatori
"How? At Street Fighter?" asked Joseph
"No! I mean, well I could, but if you don't leave Mob the fuck alone I'm going to climb over this table and throw you over the side of the mezzanine! I mean it." Said Hatori
"Hatori, that wasn't nice! Why are you like this? Why do so many of my friends want to kill my other friends…are you guys jealous? Because we can all be friends together." Said Mob
"No, I'm not…do I really have to spell it out for you? He's way too old to be talking to you and he's clearly trying to…uh…be your boyfriend." Said Hatori
"No he's not, he's not looking for anything like that right now and neither am I." said Mob
"….what?" asked Hatori
"Minegishi thought the same thing. Actually they thought that he was going to try and do stuff with me and I don't know why they care. I mean it's not like he's their boyfriend and I'm not even…ok, it's nothing against you, I just never thought about you like that." Said Mob. Joseph shrugged.
"No offense taken." Said Joseph
"Mob…what the fuck….what?" asked Hatori
"Wait…are you worried about that too? Because if you are then you shouldn't be. I don't think that's any of your business. I mean you're my brother now but that makes it even less your business. I can't imagine ever being ok with Sho being all worried about this and stuff and he's been my brother for thirteen years longer than you have." Said Mob
"I-I-I creepy guys trying to sleep with you are my business!" said Hatori
"Oh…I didn't know that Joseph wanted to do that." Said Mob. That was…something…..she didn't know if she wanted to with him. He was tall, which she liked, and he was nice, but she had never thought of him like that before. Not consciously. Just in that way that her brain liked to remind her when there were boys around. She wasn't in love with him or anything, but you didn't have to be in love to do stuff like that, but she didn't even know if she wanted to and-and this was not the thing to think about when Hatori was right there! It was weird, he was her brother now…so, incredibly, weird….
"I never said-" said Joseph quickly, his cigarette falling out of his mouth.
"I think you're tall, and nice, but I made a resolution not to do that with my friends ever again because it makes things weird and I don't like it when things are weird. You're very nice, though, and I know that you'll find someone…actually we aren't really that good of friends, not like me and Shimazaki were, so it wouldn't have been as weird if we had, I mean it won't be weird if we do. Not like with Shimazaki or…I can't think of another one of my friends I would want to do that with. None of them are in love with me. Serizawa is scared of girls and Shibata is Tsuchiya's boyfriend and Hatori is my brother now. I mean we could have before he was my brother but I used to be in love with him and-" said Mob as Hatori put his hand over his mouth, made a gurgling sound, and then threw up through his hand and onto the table and all down the front of his sweater.
It was so gross!
It was orange and smelled like throw up, because it was throw up, and now…now she was feeling her own stomach start to churn…she closed her nose. If you smelled throw up then you would throw up and right now she didn't want to throw up. Actually she never wanted to throw up at all but right now she didn't have time to. She had to get Hatori out of her. Joseph had the right idea, jumping up from the table. She had to get out of here.
She had to get Hatori the h-word out of here!
"Oh God…Mob…stop talking…." Said Hatori as he tried to wipe the throw up from the front of his sweater. Mob grabbed his hand to stop him. He was just going to make it all worse if he tried doing that.
"Hatori! Ok, we need to get you home. You had too much to drink. I'm sorry, Joseph, I have to go now. Goodbye and happy New Year!" said Mob as she got up and took Hatori with her. This was bad. He was sick…she didn't know what to do with sick people. Fukuda had always helped them when they got sick and…and maybe he had just had too much to drink…Hatori's worries about the hospital rang out in her mind like a million and one phone alarms. She had no idea what she would have done if he needed to go to the hospital…she hadn't been to the hospital since she'd been born!
She had to take him home.
Sometimes people drank too much and then they got sick. It was a thing that happened and…and it was normal. Sometimes people threw up. She knew how to take care of someone who was throwing up. She had to bring him home and make him take a bath and change clothes and she had to make sure that he drank plenty of water…she had this. She could do this. She was his little sister after all, she was the one who was supposed to take care of him, and she would do her job well. It was one of her New Year's resolutions after all, to be a better person.
And being a better person meant being a better sister, and better sisters didn't let their friends/big brothers get sick all over themselves like that.