Mob really liked her room.
Well, it was her and Sho's room, but she still liked it. She liked the blue walls. She liked the lights she'd put up on her side of the room. She liked all the pictures of Elsa and Anna that Sho had drawn for her that she had tacked up on the walls. She liked how half of her bed was taken up by stuffed animals. She liked her Frozen bedspread even though it was old and faded and she had to scrunch her legs up because the blanket was too short. She liked how soft her mattress was. She even liked how if she turned to the side sometimes the springs would dig into her. She even liked the sparkles on her pillow, the snowflake one, that said 'just let it go' when you ran your hand over them. They felt kind of itchy and pokey against her skin but she still liked them. She liked everything about her room.
Especially the person she shared it with.
"You couldn't save the kind with the caramel in them?" asked Sho as he opened another box of chocolate. She had decided to give him all of the leftover obligation chocolates. She had already gotten him some of the nice kind so this was ok, it was just extra. He deserved it for being the best little brother in the whole world. She couldn't have asked for a better little brother, and she wasn't going to, even if Sho didn't like milk chocolate for some reason.
Nobody was perfect.
"I mostly just got milk chocolate…sorry." Said Mob
"I'll live, but remember. I like the kind with stuff inside, not just chocolate." Said Sho
"You didn't like your present?" asked Mob. She had gotten him giant block of chocolate that said 'Happy Valentine's Day Sho' on it. That way not only would he have had enough chocolate to enjoy his Valentine's Day but also he would have been able to share with his boyfriend, too. She had expected him to be back in Seasoning City by now, not that she was complaining. She loved having her little brother around.
She just wanted Sho to be happy, and what could have been better than being with the person you loved?
"No, I liked it. A kilo of chocolate is still good even if there wasn't anything inside." Said Sho
"Ok, that's good. I got you a lot so you could share. I'm glad that it wasn't too much." Said Mob. Sho looked down at the chocolate in his hands. He had made a bunch of piles on his bed. Ones he was going to definitely eat, ones he was maybe going to eat, and ones he was going to probably give to Shimazaki. He had milk chocolate in his hands and she knew for a fact that he didn't like it, so what was there to think about?
"It's fine." Said Sho putting the box of chocolate down.
"Are you ok? If you don't like the milk chocolate then you can give it all to-" said Mob
"It's not about the chocolate, ok? It's good chocolate. It's about…something. I don't know…is your pen done charging yet?" asked Sho. Mob reached over and took it off the charger. She tapped the button five times…wait, no, that was four. Ok, now that was five times. It flashed green. It was on and the battery was full and now they could smoke…even though maybe Sho shouldn't have. He was a lot younger than her and he didn't always do well when he smoked…but he was her brother and she loved him and anyway it was a holiday.
She reached out with her powers and got a cartridge from the drawer, hopefully one that he would like.
"Here, Sho, you can go first." Said Mob as she passed him the pen with her powers. He took it and inhaled…for a long time…and then he did it again. And again. And again. She loved Sho a lot and she wanted him to be happy but that was a lot for him at once. Also the polite thing to do would have been to pass it back to her when he had been done. He'd had a long day but hers had been longer…that was mean. He was here, his boyfriend was all the way in Seasoning City, and they'd just come from a big mission. He was a lot more sensitive than she was and he needed this more than she did.
Besides, he passed it to her eventually.
She kept it for as long as he'd had it, just to make it even. She wasn't going to run the battery down or anything like that, no, she just…she really needed it. She needed to put some space between her and the day that she'd had. She'd spent the whole day sitting in the breakroom working from her phone just in case Joseph had still been in her office. She'd even told Minegishi not to come…and she really needed to see them. She needed to know what to do, someone to help her figure it out, and usually Minegishi helped her with things…but she knew how they could be sometimes. They were just going to say mean things to Joseph, threaten him, and maybe even hurt him….Mob didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her. It wasn't even like he had done anything wrong. When you liked someone then you wanted to do all the things with them…
Did that mean that he liked her?
Mob took a long drag, longer than before. Enough to make her throat hurt….that hardly ever happened anymore. She'd had to do it, of course, her feelings had been starting to show on her aura. She didn't need Sho seeing and then asking what was wrong. This was not the kind of thing that she ever wanted to discuss with her little brother. If Sho had been her little sister, not like Mukai but someone her own age, then maybe she would have said something to him…just to talk to him. Sort of like how friends talked. Did little sisters count as friends when you were the same age? She wasn't sure, she'd only had a little brother who was the same age as her…and all of her friends were a lot older than her.
Minori would have known what to do.
She would have been mean about it, of course, telling Mob what to do but she would have known the answer. She would have…Mob tried to think in Minori's voice. She would have said something like 'you're such a first grader, Shige, of course you should have stayed' or maybe 'oh my God, Shige, of course you should have gone. He's not even that tall or that cute' which he wasn't…but that was a mean way to think about someone…but maybe it was ok if she thought about him in Minori's voice because she always been kind of mean…she laughed a little…and then a lot.
She couldn't help it. Minori could actually be kind of funny…or at least her voice could be.
"What are you laughing at?" asked Sho as he looked up from his piles of chocolate. Mob laid down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. Maybe she would stop laughing if she did that. There was nothing funny about the ceiling. Sho was being kind of funny right now, though, the way he was sitting and concentrating. He looked kind of like Dad…and that shouldn't have been funny but it was.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about Minori…about how she talked, I mean talks, I mean how she used to talk to me and stuff…just kind of how she used to be. I don't know. I just thing that it's funnier if I think about her than if I actually listen to her." Said Mob
"Why the hell are you thinking about her? She's a bitch." Said Sho. Normally Mob would have told him not to sue that word but he did kind of have a point there. She was a b-word, well she had been the last time Mob had spoken to her, though now she was more weird than anything…people could be two things. Like Mukai said, sometimes things could be more than one thing, but not more than three, because that was too many things.
Mob wondered how many things she was.
"She's…not very nice. I don't know. I was just thinking about what she would have had to say." Said Mob
"About what?" asked Sho
"N-nothing! Here, your turn now." said Mob as she passed him the pen with her powers. She laid down on her bed and stayed there in the softness of it. That had been close. She needed to watch what she said. Sho couldn't know about this…maybe nobody could know about this. She knew how people had been when they found out about her and Shimazaki and it was mostly that he was so much older than her that they were mad at…even though she had kind of stolen her best friend's boyfriend for a while that was what they had been mad about.
She didn't understand people sometimes.
But she had always been clueless. She didn't need to know why people did what they did and thought what they thought, just that this was what they would say and do and think. She didn't want to get Joseph yelled at, threatened, or beaten up so she just…had to keep this to herself. She had to figure this out by herself somehow…maybe if she smoked some more. Smoking always helped her think, or not think, or think easier or…or something she would figure out when she had the pen back.
If Sho ever gave it back.
"Sho, slow down." Said Mob as she tried to take the pen from him. Sho was a lot…well not a lot littler than her but he was younger and he had to pace himself and stuff. When he smoked too much he got all sad and kind of paranoid and it wasn't fun when he was like that. Mob wanted to have a nice time and enjoy the way she felt right now, not have to spend all night telling Sho that he was a good person and that plenty of people loved and cared about him…and other stuff that he should have known already.
She was kind of selfish like that sometimes.
"What?" asked Sho as he exhaled.
"You're smoking too much." Said Mob
"Technically we're vaping." Said Sho
"Ok, you're right about that…but you should still slow down. You're not as used to this as I am and this is a lot stronger than smoking. Minegishi said so." Said Mob
"They don't know everything." Said Sho
"Shimazaki agrees." Said Mob. That was one way to get him to listen, mention Shimazaki. Sho wasn't in love with him anymore, or at least he said that he wasn't. Mob wouldn't have minded if he was, it wasn't like she liked him like that, though it would have been a little weird because Shimazaki had been in love with her…and also all the stuff they did. Actually, no, that wouldn't have been ok in that case. Sho was too little to do things like that.
Not like her, she was old enough. Even if she didn't want to…
She didn't know what she wanted to do, actually. She liked…a lot of stuff….but she didn't like the person who wanted to do all that stuff with her. Well she liked him as a friend, not a very good friend but still as a friend, and…and sometimes friends did that with their friends. That was just the way it worked sometimes. It wasn't just for being in love…and that was ok…but she at least had to like him, right? Or know him…she didn't even know him that well…it was so complicated….
She ate another piece of chocolate.
"I just worry about you, that's all." Said Mob as she swallowed. This was the best chocolate in the world. She decided to focus on why milk chocolate was the best, how it coated your mouth with the most perfect amount of sweetness and didn't have that bitter aftertaste that dark chocolate did, and less on…what had happened. It wasn't the thing to be thinking about when she was with her little brother, anyway.
"You don't have to worry about me, I'm not a baby anymore. You're only half a year older than me anyway." Said Sho
"I know but when you smoke too much you get all mad and sad and kind of…well, you worry a lot and then I get worried for you. Ok? There's a lot I have to worry about and…and I don't want to have to worry about you too." Said Mob. Sho inhaled again. The battery was probably going to be dead by the time he handed it back to her…but that was ok. She could always charge it. Besides, she already kind of felt better…sort of.
She didn't feel as bad as she had before, that was what mattered.
"Fine, whatever, I'll slow down." Said Sho
"Thank you so much, little broth-" said Mob
"Is…this…slow…enough?" asked Sho as he used his powers to slowly float the pen over to her. He was talking slowly too, like he was in slow motion…or maybe she was going super fast? Her heart was going really fast but maybe she was just noticing it more than normal because she could feel it now. She could feel everything now. The way her blood moved in her heart, the way her socks felt around her feet, even the way her hair rubbed against her pillow. It was like she was in her body but now she was noticing it. Like how your clothes felt when you got caught in the rain, sort of, but not the same.
"It is. Thank you." said Mob as she took the pen from him with her powers. She could reach that far now, to his end of the room, but she didn't want to move from her bed. It was just so…so warm. It was warm and soft and everything made sense in it. Her Elsa bedspread made sense, her stuffed Olaf made sense, the string of blue lights she'd stuck to the wall made sense. Even the empty milk bottles she needed to throw out all made sense. Maybe because this was her space, she had made it, and…and she could make sure that she knew what was going to happen.
She liked knowing what was going to happen.
"You don't have to worry about me, you know, so don't. I have enough people worrying about me as it is." Said Sho
"Who besides me worries about you? I mean I guess Shimazaki, he actually worries a lot. He doesn't say that he worries but when he really talks to you then you can tell all the things he's worried about. He even worries about if he's worried or not." Said Mob
"Not him, Fukuda." Said Sho
"What's he worried about?" asked Mob. She had no idea what Fukuda could have possibly had to be worried about when it came to Sho. Sho wasn't little anymore. He hardly ever got hurt and he didn't need Fukuda to watch him either. If Mob had been meaner, if she had been thinking in Minori's voice and not hers, she would have thought that if Fukuda was so worried about Sho then he could have found a wife and had his own kids to worry about.
"Nothing….just…he thinks that I'm going to leave again…I don't know." Said Sho
"Are you?" asked Mob. She didn't want him to leave, she wanted him to stay, but she knew that if she told him to leave then she would just end up hurting him. If he wanted to go and be with his boyfriend then who was she to stop him? Who was she to stand in the way of true love? She wasn't anyone, just herself, and she couldn't do that. Besides, one of them should have been happy, anyway. One of them should have found someone to be inn true love with and stuff…and it was better that it was Sho, anyway.
"I don't know, ok?! I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do!" said Sho, kicking the chocolate off of his bed. Mob caught it with her powers and stacked it back up where it had been. She knew that there was a ten second rule but it still seemed gross to her to eat food that had been on the ground.
"It's ok, Sho, I didn't mean to make you mad." Said Mob
"You didn't make me mad. I'm just…I don't know how I feel. I miss him a lot and I want to see him but I just…I just left and he's probably pissed at me and if I just leave to go to Seasoning City and I don't have a reason then Dad might notice and he might wonder what I'm doing there and-" said Sho
"I don't think Dad really cares what we do anymore. He's got Shiori now and Hatori and Mukai, I guess…it's like he has a whole other family now…" said Mob
"Yeah…I fucking know…but still! I don't want to risk it and…and I'm still figuring out what I'm going to do." Said Sho
"If you need help figuring out what to do then…then I'm here for you. It's hard to figure things out on your own, I know, and I just…I don't want you to have to feel that way. I don't want you to have to feel alone in this or…or in anything." Said Mob. Sho shrugged.
"I'm not a little kid anymore, I don't need help. I'll figure it out, ok? Just stop asking me about stuff. Worry about your own problems." Said Sho
"I-I'm not having any problems right now." said Mob quickly. Sho didn't know…he couldn't have known! He'd been home the whole day playing with Mukai and cleaning out all of his miles and miles of hamster tunnels.
"What about the vending machine thing?" asked Sho
"Nobody got stuck in the vending machine today." Said Mob
"No, I mean aren't people freaking out about how you put healthy snacks in the vending machines?" asked Sho
"I didn't do it, Minegishi did, and I don't know…actually I do know why, they probably got tired of having to get people out of the vending machines. People aren't freaking out though, they're just kind of upset." Said Mob
"I think that you should just leave the apples in there." Said Sho
"Really? Why?" asked Mob
"Because if you put the junk food back in then they're going to stick their whole arms in the machines again and get stuck and then you'll have to grease them up and get them out. It's dumb and annoying when they do that and I think that they won't steal apples and oranges and granola bars and stuff so you should just leave the machines the way they are. That way nothing's going to happen." Said Sho
"That…that makes sense…" said Mob. If people couldn't be trusted with something fun then you could just take it away…did the same thing work with…other stuff? She had avoided Joseph for the whole day so…so did that mean that she had to avoid him for the rest of her life? She had tried that with Shimazaki before but they lived together so it was a lot harder…also he had been in love with her…and Joseph hadn't been in love with her when he tried to as her to do…whatever it was that he had wanted to do…so this was…different?
Complicated. This was complicated.
"Or you could just feed them junk food until they throw up so that way they won't ever want to eat it again. Like the time we ate all of those churros and then went on the teacups." Said Sho
"We still like churros." Said Mob
"Yeah, now, but we didn't for a while even though churros are the best part of going to Disney World. Well the best food there, anyway." Said Sho
"What about the cupcakes? And the candy apples? And the popcorn?" asked Mob
"The cupcakes taste all waxy and melt way too fats in the sun, the candy apples are too big to take bites out of and cutting them up kind of ruins them, and the popcorn is good but only in Tokyo Disneyland and even then only when they have the cool flavors. Just butter is boring and so is just plain. The ones in America have the worst popcorn. Worst than Shanghai." Said Sho
"Ok…you kind of have a point…but they have churros at other places so I don't think that it counts. They had them at Universal, remember? The place in Osaka with the Mario Land?" asked Mob
"Yeah, I kind of do…that place was great. We should go back when it opens again. We can bring Shiori, too. She might like it." Said Sho
"Why would we bring her?" asked Mob. She didn't seem like the sort of person who liked fun. She couldn't have been, not if she was in love with Dad and stuff….no, no, she had to be nice. Shiori had been kidnapped and almost died. Mob had to be nice to her now and try to like her. Dad was going to marry her, too, and they'd have kids together and…and Mob had to be nice if Shiori was going to be a part of their family. Or if Dad was going to start a whole new family….
"Because she lives there and….I don't know, maybe she wants to hang out or something? She's a lot nicer than Dad, you know. I mean she's not nice but she's a lot better than Dad. She knows how to have fun, and stuff." Said Sho
"She probably wouldn't…we can ask her, I guess, but she'll probably say 'no'. She'll probably want to hang out with Dad since she's his girlfriend." Said Mob. Her whole aura shuddered when she said that. Dad in love with a girl…it didn't feel right. She knew that Mom was gone and she was never coming back so…so this was ok but it was just too weird thinking of Dad with someone else.
Sho shuddered too. It looked like he agreed.
"We should still ask her, though, if we ever go back. When everything's over." Said Sho
"When what's over?" asked Mob. She couldn't think of anything that they had going on right now. Mukai's birthday had passed and so had Valentine's Day. The next thing that they had going on was Dad's birthday and Fukuda's but they weren't going to be celebrating any of those…well there was always taking over the world but Dad hadn't told her about anything big that was going to be happening anytime soon. Even if he didn't want to talk to her as a Dad he could at least talk to her as the President.
"Just…stuff, I guess." said Sho
"Oh, you meant when we take over the world." Said Mob
"Yeah…if we take over the world." Said Sho. He seemed sad there…at least he looked it. It would have made sense. If they lost, if they didn't take over the world, then what had they been working towards for their entire lives? What had Dad been working towards since he had been her age? The thought of losing…she didn't want to think about it…and she didn't have to because they weren't going to lose.
There was no way that they could lose. None at all.
"There's no 'if', Sho, we're going to take over the world. You don't have to worry about that. I won't let us fail, Dad won't let us fail, and…and that's going to be enough to help us win." Said Mob
"But what if we lose? Or, if…if Dad, at least, doesn't win?" asked Sho
"I don't understand." Said Mob
"If Dad doesn't win. What's so hard to understand about that?" asked Sho
"Dad is Claw. There can't be a Claw without Dad and if he loses then it means that we all lose, Sho, and we can't lose. We've come so far and worked so hard and done so much already…it has to mean something." Said Mob
"I mean what if you ran Claw, not Dad. You're nicer than he is, people like you better, and you care more about everyone. Dad just cares about ruling the world so he can boss people around. if you ruled the world then you'd actually end up making it a better place. You'd made sure that people were safe and happy and had friends and shit like that. Dad would just be an asshole to everyone." Said Sho. Mob didn't know what to say to that. Sho was right, Dad did just want to rule the world so he could be bossy, but that didn't just mean that Mob could take it from him…right? That didn't mean that she had the right to take his life's work away…did it?
Of course not.
"When Dad dies and you inherit the world then you can make it a better place, ok?" asked Mob. Sho should have been happy. They both knew what kind of person Dad was, it had just taken her longer to figure it out, and they both knew what kind of person Sho was. He was a good person and there was no way that he'd make the world any worse than it was. He cared about people and he would help them, make them happy, if he ran the world.
She couldn't wait until Sho ran the world…but not until Dad died. That would have been mean.
"…whatever. Give me back the pen." Said Sho. She did what he asked. He agreed with her, he must have, otherwise he would have started arguing with her. She didn't know if she could deal with an argument right now. She loved him so much and it always hurt when they fought…and she had enough on her mind already.
She still didn't know what to do.
But she knew what not to do. She couldn't tell anyone. She had to figure it out on her own. She just…had to figure out what the next step to figuring it out would be. She had time, she didn't have to be back at work until tomorrow, and she could probably find a way to avoid Joseph too until she figured something out…yes. She knew exactly what she was going to do.
She was going to sit her room and smoke with Sho until she either figured out what she was going to do or tomorrow happened, whichever came first.