You weren't supposed to ever tap the glass.

When you tapped the glass the fish inside the tank thought that their whole world was shaking. They were really small, and not that smart either, so they didn't know that you were the one doing it. Also it was a pretty dickhole move to torture something smaller and more helpless than you. That was why Sho never tapped on the glass, ever, even when he had been little.

Shimazaki on the other hand…well he had never had a problem acting like a dickhole.

"Shimazaki, cut it out, they don't like that." Said Sho as he finished feeding the cat. He remembered how Shiori liked to do this. Fresh fish on one side for a glossy coat and then the nutritional pellets on the other side because she wasn't going to go broke heading to the fish market every single day. Fish didn't seem like it was that expensive, not that Sho had ever earned his own money, so he made sure to give the cat an extra big portion. It was going through a lot right now.

All of Shiori's pets were going through a hard time…and Shimazaki didn't need to make it worse.

"I know, I don't care." Said Shimazaki. Sho picked up the fish knife and held it in his hand. It wasn't that he wanted to stab Shimazaki for real…he just kind of felt like stabbing things and Shimazaki was really pissing him off right now. They were in the middle of a crisis and all he could do was torture fish? Ritsu would have been all over this. Ritsu would have been investigating leads and shaking people down and…and doing other smart people things, because he was really smart, and if Ritsu had been here then he probably would have been able to find Shiori all on his own-

-but he had school today.

He had school today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. Then after school he had to go and help his friend Reigen file things and he had to go and hang out with Teru the sister fucking asshole and then he had to go home and hang out with his mom and dad and dead sister who loved him a lot and in between all of that he had homework and that other friend he had who was a girl...and anyway even if it had been the middle of summer and there had been a big world ending…thing and they were the last two people on Earth Ritsu still wouldn't have been able to help him because then he would have just gotten captured and…and wait, if there had been a big world ending thing then…well that hadn't happened yet!

It just felt like it did.

"Well you should!" said Sho, using his powers to pull Shimazaki away from the fish tank. He teleported out of his grasp, Sho wasn't Big Sis he couldn't just stop Shimazaki from teleporting, and the next thing Sho knew he was being tapped on the head.

"Someone's in a bad mood." Said Shimazaki as he wrapped his knuckles on the top of Sho's head like he was a door or something. Sho shook his and shoved him away.

"Am not…you're just pissing me off, that's all." Said Sho

"Uh-huh, and that gives you the right to stab me?" asked Shimazaki

"I wasn't going to stab you." said Sho. He didn't think that he had it in him to stab someone, especially not his friend, even if his friend was kind of being an asshole…but Shimazaki was always an asshole. If he couldn't stab his own Dad then there was no way in hell that he could stab Shimazaki.

"Then what's with the knife?" asked Shimazaki, taking the fish knife from his hands. He let him. The cat was eating. He didn't need it anymore.

"I don't know…I just got pissed I guess….just felt like stabbing things." Said Sho as Shimazaki put the knife in his pocket even though it had fish guts on it.

"Finally! Alright, who are we stabbing?" asked Shimazaki as he reached out and felt the knives on the knife block. He held a bread knife in his hands, tested the weight, and put it back…that didn't look like it would have been good for stabbing people. Not that Sho knew a lot about stabbing people, or anything at all. He'd never needed to stab anyone in real life before…and he still didn't know if he had to.

And if he had to he didn't even know if he could.

"I don't know, I mean…someone? I just…I don't know!" said Sho

"How about we start with who took your stepmom?" asked Shimazaki

"…she's not my stepmom." Said Sho. She had told him a million times before that she didn't want to be his mom or his stepmom or his anything. She was just the lady who his Dad was in love with…so gross…and…and that didn't mean that she didn't care about him, right? That didn't mean that she wasn't a good person…that she didn't deserve to be saved, if someone had taken her, and they must have.

She wasn't his mom, she had no reason to leave him like…like a mom would have.

"Fine, the lady who you're pet sitting for. Is that better? I really don't know, Toshi would have known…" said Shimazaki. He stopped playing with the knife block and his voice got kind of far away there…they didn't have time for that. If Sho had been younger and dumber then he would have taken it personally, tried to get Shimazaki to like him the way he liked them, but Sho didn't want that anymore. He had Ritsu now and Ritsu was twice the guy Shimazaki had ever been…and also Shimazaki used to go out with Big Sis and he couldn't like a guy his sister had liked, that would have been weird. He didn't have time to be weird…he didn't have time for this…

He didn't know what he should have been doing but he knew that he didn't have time for all of this.

"I don't care what Minegishi would have known and…and I just said that I don't know! They didn't leave a note or anything, they just took her…and don't tell me that she ran away. I got enough of that from Big Sis and Fukuda. I don't need that from you." said Sho

"Hey, hey, I'm on your side here. This whole thing is shady as fuck. Nobody just walks away from their life like that, I mean it happens, but not that often. People were most definitely after her, I had to put so many dumb fucks out of her misery, but I have no idea who." Said Shimazaki

"Some help you are…" muttered Sho

"Hey, I said that I didn't know why tried to kidnap her. I didn't say that we couldn't find out." Said Shimazaki

"Like, investigate and find clues and stuff like that?" asked Sho, his eyes widening. Shimazaki probably knew a lot about stuff like that. The hit squad didn't just come in and kill people, they had to plan it. Sho didn't know anything about stuff like that, and he didn't have it in him to kill anyone, but Shimazaki did…maybe this was going to work out after all. Maybe he was going to save Shiori and then she'd be all 'Sho's the best guy ever' and then Dad would have to see him and…and care…this wasn't about what he wanted, this was about saving Shiori…and he didn't even want Dad to do anything or say anything or…or anything like that!

Fuck Dad, this wasn't about him.

"That's Toshi shit. I was thinking more along the lines of kicking ass and taking names." Said Shimazaki

"Wait, like…beat people up until they tell us what we want to know?" asked Sho. That was less…detective-y than he'd thought. He knew how to beat people up, he was strong enough if he used his powers to do it, but he didn't know who to beat up. If neither of them had any idea who they were supposed to be beating up then what was the point of beating people up or…or in the first place or…or…

This was too much, and not at all, at the same time.

He didn't know how Big Sis did it, being in charge all the time. She always knew just what to do…but not when she didn't. She wouldn't help him, she had clearly said no, even though it was kind of selfish…if she had been here then they would have found Shiori by now. She would have known who to call for help, or she would have just done it herself…he was on his own now.

He was on his own with Shimazaki.

"Beat them up, stab them, drop them off of tall buildings, cover them in honey and let the ants have them. Basic shit like that…hey, does this Shiori woman have a crowbar or a bat around here?" asked Shimazaki as he pulled the knife out and started balancing it on the palm of his hand.

"No…and that knife has fish guts on it." Said Sho, taking the knife and putting it down on the counter. Fukuda wasn't here, he had gone running right to Dad, so if Shimazaki got hurt then they were fucked…more fucked than they were already.

"I know, I can smell it. Don't was it, this can be useful." Said Shimazaki. He gave Sho a look…a look that said that he had an idea…or maybe he had Sho's idea….one of them needed to have an idea…and if it was the same idea…

"Wait…are we really doing this?" asked Sho

"Yeah, it's about time I started passing down my years of wisdom. It's not like I'm ever going to have a kid, a kid who I know about, so you're the next best thing. Now come on, let's bust some heads." Said Shimazaki. He leaned over and gave the fish tank another tap…but that didn't matter…not now. No, they were going to do…they were going to do this! Shimazaki knew what he was doing and…and they were going to save Shiori!

The yakuza way.

"Yeah…yeah! Let's do some yakuza shit!" said Sho. The cat hissed at him and ran away. Ungrateful cat, but whatever. It just missed it's owner. Sho was going to bring her back. He didn't care if he had to hit people with bicycles or bat or…or other stuff from Shimazaki's stories. He was going to do this. He finally knew what to do.

He just had to do whatever Shimazaki told him to do.

And the first order of business, Shimazaki had said, was talking to her people. A lot of the time when something bad happened to the boss it was some kind of coup. Sho didn't think he was wrong, a lot of the time when someone tried to kill Dad it ultimately came from inside of Claw. People hired assassins, mailed bombs, planned coups…well that last one was Sho and Fukuda's doing…so Shimazaki had a point. Of course it would have been the people closest to her. You had to keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your best friends right at your side. You never knew when you'd need him. Even if he could be a coward sometimes that didn't change the fact that he knew what he was doing.

If you couldn't trust your friends then who could you trust?

Obviously not your workers. Sho didn't know what Shiori's office looked like before they got there but he was pretty sure that she didn't have a hole in the wall and a safe in the middle of the room. That was suspicious. Also her glass fish were all broken, but he could glue those together for her later. After he got to the bottom of why her people had betrayed her. She wasn't Dad, she didn't send people to die in holes, and she had only made someone walk out into the ocean with rocks in their pockets once. They had no reason to rob her, or kidnap her, or trash her office. They had better have had a good explanation for this shit!

Not that Sho and Shimazaki gave them time to explain.

"I don't know where she is! Honestly! She never trusted us with anything personal! I don't even know where she lives!" said the guy in front of them. There were girls, too, but Sho didn't want to threaten them. Even Dad said that you should avoid fighting women whenever you could and Dad was a gigantic dickhole, like if dicks had babies. Shimazaki said not to fight girls, too, unless they wanted to fight you first. That way it was more fair….but Sho didn't care about fair, he just didn't want to beat up any girls.

Not that he was going to get the chance to beat anyone up, not with how into this Shimazaki was.

"Let's try this again. Where is Sakata Shiori, and think hard because the next time I won't miss." Said Shimazaki swinging his bat in the air. Sho didn't know what was so much fun about this. They were working, they were on a mission, and missions were not supposed to be fun. He felt the pull of someone else's aura and pushed it away. Easily.

These guys were barely stronger than the Awakened.

"Honestly! We don't know, we thought that she left again!" said the guy as he cowered. The cowering was good, Shimazaki had said so. That was what the bats were for. It was one thing to be bigger and stronger than everyone else, and to have a bigger aura, but the bats just scared people more. It was psychology or psychiatry or something else to do with the brain like that.

"That's bullshit and you know it, Shiori would never leave! You guys betrayed her like a bunch of betrayers and if you don't start talking then we're going to start kicking ass and taking names!" said Sho

"I-I don't know anything!" said the guy

"What's your name?" asked Sho

"Shimabukuro Kayo…please, I didn't do anything! Not to Shiori and not to the Suzuki family, either! So tell your boss to back off, please!" said Shimabukuro

"I don't have to tell my Dad shit." Said Sho

"Wait, are you-you can't be Suzuki's son, I've seen him! He's a lot older and-" said the lady

"I'm pretty sure that's his kid, I mean the red hair-" said another lady

"Wait…so the rumors about him and Shiori are true? She's really sleeping with him?" asked Shimabukuro. Sho felt sick to his stomach. That was gross…that was sick…that was wrong. That was the sickest, most wrong, most incredibly disgusting thing that anyone could have said! That he could have heard! Shimazaki was laughing behind him, like this was funny, like the thought of his own Dad doing stuff like that was anything other than sick…well that was what adults did and Sho knew that he wasn't adopted…he was going to throw up…

He had to put a stop to all of this before he threw up!

"You! Your name is…um…you don't have a name anymore. You're nameless now." said Sho. There was quiet, then, broken only by Shimazaki laughing. Loud. Like he was trying to make sure that Sho heard him…what? He'd done what Shimazaki asked!

"Fuck you!" said Sho, turning around and brandishing his bat at Shimazaki…who he, of course, couldn't intimidate because he was Shimazaki. Nothing scared him, nothing but Dad, and Sho knew that he was nothing like Dad. He didn't want to be anything like Dad…mostly. Dad was really good, if anything, at getting people to do what he wanted them to do.

"No, fuck you. What even was that?" asked Shimazaki, still laughing…why?! This had been his idea, the whole intimidating people thing, and there was nothing intimidating about laughing. It was the least intimidating thing that you could do, unless you were going to laugh like a crazy person in a horror movie, but that wasn't what this was!

"You said that we were here to kick ass and take names. You do the ass kicking and I'll take people's names like…like the name stealing witch from that movie where they went to the spirit world and got turned into pigs and…and stuff." Said Sho

"We're turning people into pigs now?" asked Shimazaki, still laughing. Sho turned red. He couldn't hide it, it just happened.

"I-I would if I could but I can't but I can still kick ass and take names so…so start kicking ass! Keep kicking their asses until they tell us where Shiori went and if kicking doesn't work then use the bats and if the bats don't work then…then we can…we can sew them together or…or we could get some acid and cook them or…or we could get some knives and-" said Sho. Shimazaki had said to be intimidating and…and that was every single intimidating thing that he could possibly think of. He didn't want to do any of that stuff but Shimazaki had said that the threat of getting hurt was, a lot of the time, enough to get someone to talk…and that was what he needed right now.

He could do this.

He was doing this. He could feel a shift in the auras around him. He needed a name, a clue, a place…something! Sho had seen enough movies where people got kidnapped to know what happened to them. Bad stuff…and it had already been so long…but he was going to do this. He was going to put all the clues together and find her and then he was going to prove to Fukuda and Big Sis and everyone else who had ever doubted him that he'd been right and Shiori wasn't like Mom, she hadn't just gotten up and left one day, she hadn't wanted to. He was going to prove them all wrong!

But, also, he was going to save Shiori and that…that was the most important part. He had to remember that.

"She keeps a place! I mean I saw…I saw some papers. She keeps a place in Shinsekai! That's all I know!" said Shimabukuro. Sho could have jumped for joy, or floated away, but he didn't. That wouldn't have been intimidating at all and right now he needed to look like he had spent his whole life in the yakuza, like Shimazaki…

Though he was being intimidating enough for the both of them right now.

"You know what? I'm going to believe you but if I find out that you've been lying we're coming back, and with bats wrapped in barbed wire. Shimazaki, come on. Let's go find Shiori." Said Sho. He made his aura big like Shimazaki had showed him before he turned around and walked away, making sure to bang his bat along the walls as he went. People could lie when they were being interrogated, and sometimes they misremembered, so you had to be prepared to come back and get the truth out of them.

Not that Sho wanted to.

That had felt…weird. Wrong. Unnatural. He didn't know what he was supposed to do if he had to do it again. It just didn't fit him…but right now it didn't matter what fit him. He had to do this, he had to save Shiori, and…and like Dad said, the ends justified the means. Even dickholes could be right about somethings sometimes…not that he wanted to make it a habit to agree with Dad.

Not that he wanted to make any of this a habit.

This was…this was a lot cooler in Shimazakii's stories. A lot cooler on TV. A lot cooler in movies. He didn't want people to be scared of him…he probably got that from Mom, like Big Sis had. Fighting was ok if it was fair or…or you had a good reason…but that hadn't been fighting. That had just been making people feel scared. Not good, not good at all…but something that he'd had to do. Even though it felt like something that he shouldn't have had to do.

Somebody had to, though, and it was him. It wasn't like anyone else could save Shiori…it wasn't like anyone else cared.