Sho could too lead a mission.
Dad didn't think that he could. Sure, Dad said that he was proud of him now, but Sho knew he was lying. He said that he didn't lie but he did. After this mission he was going to go back to telling Sho that he was the worst person ever to live and that he should go fuck himself or something. Well, Dad never said 'go fuck yourself' but Sho knew that it was what he was thinking. Dad was a dickhole's asshole. He sucked in every single way a person could suck and he was lucky that Sho even let him on this mission.
This was Sho's mission and he decided what happened.
"Ootski, come on, stop going easy on them." said Sho as Ootski made the weakest fan wave, energy wave, thing that he'd ever seen in his life. Mukai could have done better than that and she made herself cry trying to make a ball roll across the floor. What was the point of having the guy who turned fans into weapons on his side if he wasn't going to actually use his powers?
"Leader…I am…I simply thought that it would have been best not to injure people too badly, we may need further information from them." said Ooski, exchanging a glance with Higashio and Fukuda. Higashio shrugged, in contrast to Fukuda who began to rapidly shake his head 'no'. Ootski was no stranger to violence, it was difficult to be in a place like this, but Sho was just a child. He didn't need to see things like this. He should have been out playing or drawing or something along those lines.
Just because he was the President's son it didn't mean that he had to be in a place like this doing things like this…Fukuda had said how bad things were going but a part of him hadn't believed…seeing was believing after all.
"He has a point, Leader. This place is like a labyrinth. We should probably get better plans from one of them." said Higashio, holding up the map that Sho had drawn. It was beautiful, of course, like everything the child drew. He obviously had some kind of a future as a cartographer. Maybe that would have been better than…whatever this mission could be called.
If the periodic screams that could be heard over the enemy's coms was anything to go off of 'bloodbath' might have been an appropriate word.
"There's nothing wrong with my map." Said Sho, crossing his arms. They really should have been moving right now, not standing around talking. He could feel a lot of auras here, dim ones, which was both good and bad. Dim auras meant weak espers and weak espers meant he didn't have to actually work hard in a fight. Weak espers also meant that it was hard to separate one aura from another. He'd seen that bug movie with the blue ants, he knew what happened when a bunch of weak enemies attacked you all at once, and he didn't want to end up eaten by a bird or dead in some other way.
They had to keep moving. He had to get everyone to listen to him.
"I never said that there was anything wrong with your work, Leader, I just meant that since we're here it might be best to get the most accurate layout possible." Said Higashio quickly. He may not have known the President's son very well but he had worked under the President numerous times before. That man didn't like to be questioned…a flicker of fear crossed his aura before he could stop it. Sho was a child, a very good child from what Fukuda had said, but he was still the President's son and a very powerful esper in his own right…he felt a burst of something…the President's aura….Ootski put his fan away and took his hand in his.
The shaking stopped.
"This is not an advantageous position." Said Ootski as he did his best to calm Higashio.
"Yeah, I agree, so we should keep moving and-" said Sho
"Sho, maybe it would be best to stop moving and try to see if we can at least get a better layout of this place. I know that you and Shimazaki are friends and you really care about him but I don't exactly trust a blind man's word on-" said Fukuda, putting his hand on Sho's shoulder. Higashio shot him a look. Oostki too, maybe, from under his bangs. He read them loud and clear.
This was not the place for children.
"Ok, fine, whatever." Said Sho, shrugging Fukuda's hand off of his shoulder. He didn't need Fukuda treating him like a little kid right now, he was the leader here, that was why everyone kept on calling him 'Leader' and shit like that. If they didn't want to follow him, if they really didn't trust his map, then they could go fuck themselves.
Away from Sho, of course, he had work to do.
"Thank God. Ok, Sho, so we should-" said Fukuda
"You guys can be the 'D' team, or go home and be the 'C' team with Hatori, ok?" asked Sho
"Are you suggesting a retreat, Leader?" asked Ootski, feeling his fan at his side. That would not be advantageous for anyone, especially not the woman that they had come here to save. He knew what happened to women when the got captured, it wasn't the sort of thing a child should have seen, and yes a retreat would have been best for Sho, and the President's daughter as well, though the rest of them could have easily carried on.
"A strategic retreat." Finished Fukuda quickly before Sho could get upset. He already seemed like he was getting upset…this wasn't good. Sho was still so quick to anger…if this had been a normal day then he could have managed it…but there was nothing normal about this. He had nothing against Shiori, personally, and it would have been wrong to leave her here…but Sho needed him more. She knew what she had gotten herself into. Sho didn't, he was just a little boy, and even if he had been a grown man this would still have not been the place for him.
"He can retreat and we can-" said Higashio
"No, you guys can go home and catch soot spirits with Hatori or stay here and do a new map. I'm going to keep moving. I don't know if you guys are tired or scared or just being weird, and I don't really have time to care, I have to save Shiori and if I'm the only person here who cares about her then I guess I'm the only person here who cares about her." said She before he turned around. He wanted to maybe tell everyone to go fuck themselves but that might have been bad leadership. Not everyone was good on a mission and…and Big Sis would have wanted him to be nice to people. Even if they weren't taking this nearly as seriously as they should have been.
Because, really, there was nothing more serious than saving someone's life.
"Soot sprites." Said Ootski reflexively. Fukuda narrowed his eyes at him. He shrugged and looked down at the floor below him. The white of the tile was streaked with blood…he took a step out of it.
"We had them in my home as a child. They're quite friendly and will disappear if you clean-" said Ootski
"Then go home and clean then, or whatever. I have to find Shiori before they do something to her, something worse, and if you guys don't want to be a part of the 'B' team then join another or make up your own team or…or something!" said Sho
"Sho, wait-" said Fukuda. He reached out towards Sho but he put his barrier up. Fukuda's hand wound up hitting a shimmering, red wall. It would have been poetic, maybe, on some level if they hadn't been in such dire straits…not poetic…prophetic?
He couldn't think right now.
"Take Fukuda with you too, if he's not going to be on my side then he can be on yours." Said Sho as he walked away. He knew that he was probably walking into danger, Fukuda was shouting that after him, but he didn't care. If they didn't want to listen to him then…then he could deal with that later. He had more important things to do right now than to be bossy. He had to save Shiori.
If he could ever find her.
They had all been right, of course, this place was a maze. It was like the dungeon in a videogame, but an old one where they made it super hard just because people sucked back then. Maybe he should have brought Hatori along…no, he always cheated at videogames. Maybe Serizawa would have been better, he was good at remembering maps and stuff, and even if he explodes then it would have been a good thing. He could have taken some of these guys out.
There were way too many of these guys.
He managed to catch two of them by surprise. All he had to do was slam them into the wall, not even beat them up, like Dad did. Not that he cared what Dad did or said or thought, it was just easier. Sho should have been on the 'A' team. He would have been more help than Big Sis. She hated shit like this. Dad had just demanded that she come with and they be the 'A' team even though Sho was the one who had planned this whole thing! He should have been with Big Sis and they should have been the 'A' team together…but you had to pick your battles, just like Fukuda had said, and right now the only battle that mattered was the battle for Shiori.
Or maybe it was more like a bunch of mini fights, like in an old beat 'em up game…how those games could have made fighting seem boring Sho would never understand.
Maybe Fukuda could explain it to him. He knew a lot about old videogames even though he never played anything anymore. He and Dad used to hang out and play games and stuff. Maybe he should have been on the 'A' team with Dad and then they could have hung out and been friends and did friend stuff or…or whatever. Anything to keep him away from Sho. He was following Sho and he wouldn't stop no matter how fast Sho moved. He wasn't even looking at the map now, he was just trying to get away. This was his mission, he'd put this whole thing together, and…and he wasn't a little kid anymore! But Fukuda just kept on treating him like he was Mukai's age or something. Everyone did. They didn't even call him 'Leader' because he was the leader. They called him that because his name had the character for leader in it…
This mission sucked…but his feelings didn't matter. Only saving Shiori mattered. He could do it alone if it he had to.
"Sho, wait up!" said Fukuda as he tried to catch up to Sho. For someone as small as him he sure did move fast. All these bodies, no, all of these knocked out people that Fukuda had to leap over didn't exactly help matters. Sho shouldn't have had to do that. He shouldn't have even been here. This place was getting to him, Fukuda could see it in his aura. He needed to stop, to rest, to…to go home.
Or at least away from here.
"Go back to your friends, I have this." Said Sho as he slammed another one of these guard guys into a wall. There were closed doors, now, with little slots in the bottom. These were curse rooms, or cells. Before it had just been storage rooms and barracks. This place was way too big…even Shimazaki hadn't been able to tell how big this place was…but Sho had this. This was…this was ok.
He didn't need Fukuda. He didn't need anyone. He could do this on his own if he had to.
"Sho, no, you shouldn't be here on your own. These are curse rooms and-" said Fukuda, finally catching up to Sho. He turned around and glared…worse than he'd ever glared at Fukuda before.
"I don't care what kind of rooms these are, I can handle it. I'm not a baby, I'm not Mukai-" said Sho
"I know that you aren't a toddler, I know that you aren't your little sister, and I never said that you were." Said Fukuda
"Then why are you treating me like a baby? Like a toddler? Like…like I'm too little to be able to handle this shit on my own? I know that those are curse rooms, I know not to actually step inside of the curse rooms, and I know what other symbols I need to look out for because they might be curses. Just because this is dangerous it doesn't mean that I'm going to get hurt! I wish that you just…that you thought that I knew what I was doing. That you thought I was good at this…at something….that I could do something right…" said Sho. He didn't know if he was sad or pissed off or what. It really kind of felt like he was both at the same time. Fukuda had always been there for him, when he'd been a little kid, but now…now he wasn't a little kid anymore. He was leading missions and saving lives and…and he was doing good things. Wasn't this what Fukuda wanted? What they had always talked about? Sho growing up to be a good person, to be a better person than Dad?
Sho knew that he was hurting people, and he knew this was dangerous, but at least he wasn't doing whatever the hell Dad was doing to make his aura glow all bright like that.
"Sho, you can do things right, a lot of things, and this…this shouldn't be one of them. I know how k=hard you worked on this plan and…and it's yours, but there's nothing wrong with letting someone else put the work in. You've done enough." Said Fukuda
"I still haven't found Shiori and, anyway, if you want something done right then you have to do it yourself. Everyone says that." Said Sho
"Let us find her, then, alright? You've already done so much for her. You were the only one who even thought to look for her and that counts for a lot. So, please, just let the rest of us-" said Fukuda. He had finally been getting through to Sho, or at least about to get through to him, when the last person he ever wanted to see appeared right in front of him…the second to last person he wanted to see. Touichirou appearing would have been worse than Shimazaki, there was a reason that Fukuda had suggested that he and Shigeko be a team of their own, though Shimazaki's appearance before him was nearly as unwelcomed.
He was supposed to be a scout and this was the direct opposite of scouting.
"What are you doing here?" asked Fukuda
"Trying not to die, you?" asked Shimazaki, turning his back to Fukuda. He normally would have loved fucking with this guy but right now he didn't have the time. Suzuki was clearly freaking out, or maybe this was in the good way, either way Sho didn't need to be here for this. Either something good had happened, or something bad, and Shimazaki wasn't really much of an optimist. Either way Sho was fucked.
Who else was Suzuki going to take shit out on?
"Trying to-" said Fukuda
"Shimazaki! Did you find her yet?" asked Sho
"Considering the fact that I can't see inside of curse rooms, no. Anyway I'm here for you so come on, before your Dad caves the whole place in." said Shimazaki
"Dad's not going to-" said Sho, speaking too soon. The floor under his feet shook a little. Sort of like…no, not an earthquake. He'd lived through an earthquake before. It was more like being on the shaky bridge at the playground…he was fine. He wasn't scared.
He didn't get to be scared. Not right now.
"I don't know what he is and isn't going to do but I know that I don't want him to do it to you so, come on, let's live to fight another day or whatever." Said Shimazaki. He reached out for Sho, he didn't care where they went it just couldn't be here, but Sho obviously did care about where they went…and apparently it had to be here.
"Sho, come on, maybe this is the time to make an actual strategic retreat." Said Fukuda. He could see Suzuki's aura. He could feel it. Something was wrong…and it was getting worse…not an explosion, but maybe the precursor to one.
For once Shimazaki was right, Sho didn't need to be here, and Fukuda…well he never wanted to agree with Shimazaki about anything ever again for as long as they both should live.
"No way am I running away. If Dad is freaking out then Big Sis is in trouble and-and-and go save her, not me! You're in love with her, right?" asked Sho
"That's actually really complicated, and anyway Mob's next. Your barrier just isn't anywhere near as strong as hers and, yeah, your Dad kind of has it out for you for some reason." Said Shimazaki. He didn't know how he felt about Mob. She was great but Toshi was still upset about all of that…and anyway this wasn't the time for soul searching. This was the time to get Sho the fuck out of here and let Suzuki bury himself, and hopefully Fukuda too.
"Suzuki doesn't have it out for Sho-" said Fukuda, stopping Sho before he could go down that road again.
"Forget me, go and find Big Sis or if you won't then-then I will!" said Sho. He pushed Shimazaki out of the way with his powers, knocked him right into Fukuda which they both deserved, and then ran off in the direction that it felt like Big Sis was in…he knew where she was…but he didn't, too! He didn't know anything but-but he would, he would find her, and when he found her then he would save her!
He had to save someone.
He would save her and then he would save Shiori and then he would…he would complete this mission. He would end this. He would…he would make sure everyone got out of here and then he would make sure that Dad brought this whole thing down over the bad guy's head. He didn't care what happened to these people, just the ones he loved, he just cared about the missions and making sure it ended with everyone being ok and alive.
He had never led a mission before, and he knew that Dad and pretty much everyone had no faith in him, but he had faith in himself…and that was enough for him!