This was really more of a Sho job than a Mob job.

It was a selfish thought to have, one that she wished had never crossed her mind, but it was a thought that she'd had nonetheless. Fighting wasn't her thing and it never had been. Dad had said that girls weren't meant to fight, that was what boys were for, and that girls were supposed to take care of people, not hurt them. So, really, this was more of a Sho job than a Mob job. Also he was better at fighting than she was.

He was better at a lot of things than she was.

He was a better friend than she was. He would have been able to pull Minori away from this spirit with only the power of friendship. Friendship and love were the most powerful forces on Earth, of course, more powerful even than her powers. That was why her powers weren't working. She was trying her best to pull the spirit out of Minori with her powers but it was just…it was hard.

People were a lot more fragile than spirits.

"Minori, if you're in there…um…I'm really sorry about this!" said Mob as she tried, again, to pull the spirit out. She knew how to get spirits out of objects, she used to play with dolls and spirits loved to possess anything that people put love into, but human beings were not objects. They were flesh and blood and skin and bones and a lot of other breakable parts.

This wasn't working.

She tried to work her powers under Minori's skin, into her body, into her soul but it didn't work. Her powers didn't get in deep enough, far enough, to even touch the spirit. They just stopped right in their tracks like Mukai when she got caught stealing snacks from the secret snack cabinet she wasn't supposed to know about. Mob could have tried harder, she could have put more of herself into her powers, but then she might have hurt Minori. She didn't know what she would have done, though, if she hurt her friend…

Which was why this was more of a Sho job than a Mob job, he didn't care if he hurt people. He was a lot like Dad in that way…the room began to spin.

Or maybe she was the one like Dad. Maybe she was the one who just-just-just-she was nothing like Dad! Dad was mean and he hurt people and he didn't care about anyone other than himself and-and-and he was a terrible friend and a terrible Dad and a terrible family member and she was going to be much better than he was! She had to be! She had to be better than her Dad and her Mom and probably her grandparents, too, since they had been the ones to make her parents the way that they were. She was going to be a good mom, too, when she had a baby or a bunch of them. She was going to be so much better…that is if anyone wanted to be with her…

Nobody wanted to be with her.

The floor was so close. She just needed to sit down. She was so tired. She hadn't done much with her powers but she still felt like…like the time after she exploded and destroyed the Seventh Division. She felt like she had destroyed a division after spending the day chasing Sho and Mukai around Disneyland, the one in America not the one in Tokyo since the one in America was bigger and had more fun stuff to do…although the one in Tokyo did have better popcorn….

She felt better. Warmer, which was weird because the floor was cold. When had she laid down on the floor? And why was Serizawa standing over her. She could see his barrier shimmering around the both of them. That meant that he was unsure of himself, at least that was what Dad had said when she had been little and her barrier had been all shimmery. Dad had told her that unless she could be sure that she wanted to live then she had no reason to be putting up a barrier in the first place.

She wanted to live. She wanted everyone to live.

"Miss Suzuki, are you-" asked Serizawa as he helped her to her feet. He didn't know how to fight so he did the next best thing, he protected her, even though she had said…well she had said a lot of things. That didn't mean that she didn't need him there….or maybe he was the one the needed to be there. Maybe he was just there because he couldn't stand to be away from her…

The spirit was staring at him again. He looked away. His barrier nearly came down. He didn't let it.

"I'm fine, just…just fell on the floor, that's all." Said Mob as she brushed herself off. She felt something stinging the back of her leg. She had been laying down in glass. She almost wished that Fukuda had been there. Almost. He was such a…or maybe he wasn't a jerk. Maybe he was the only one who saw her for what she was. She wasn't that much better than Dad, really, just as selfish and just as terrible. Or maybe even worse. As far as she knew Dad had never slept with his best friend's boyfriend, mainly because Dad wasn't gay, but also because Dad said that the worst thing that you could possibly do to someone was betray them. No, she couldn't imagine even her Dad doing something as bad as she had done.

Not only had she slept with her best friend's boyfriend but she had liked it enough to do it again and again and again…she was terrible…just terrible…

"You didn't fall, though, you just kind of laid down." Said Serizawa softly. She was bleeding, a little, but even a little was too much. He should have taken better care of her, he should have been better for her, he should have been a better person in general. No wonder she had told him so many times before that she wanted him to leave. What could he have possibly done to be there for her? What could he have possibly done for her at all?

"Oh…I hadn't realized." Said Mob

"I-I should have stopped you! I mean I should have been there for you! I mean I was here for you but I should have been there for you more and-and I'm not good at anything and I'm not good enough for you! I mean I'm not good enough to be your friend and-" said Serizawa

"Serizawa, don't talk like that! I don't ever want to hear you say things like that ever again! Even if I go deaf then I still don't ever want to hear you say things like that ever again!" shouted Mob even though she knew that she shouldn't have been shouting at her friend. She just couldn't help it. She needed…she needed a lot of things, a lot of things that she didn't do as often as she used to. The sort of things that had gotten her in trouble. Not just with Dad, not just in the fact that she had made Dad stop loving her, but also she mad bad choices when she drank and smoked and stuff like that. Bad, Shimazaki, choices…and bad Teru choices, too. He was still there on the floor and he could have woken up and then she would have had even more problems to deal with!

And those problems would have been worse because now she knew that her problems, every problem she had ever had in her life, was a problem that she had made for herself all by herself.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you mad! I just…it's the truth but I know that they say that the truth hurts and I should have thought of that saying but I couldn't remember it and…and I just started talking and…and I shouldn't talk anymore so I won't-" stuttered Serizawa, hoping that his words were forming coherent sentences.

"That's not the truth, though, I don't feel that way about you and I don't want you to stop talking. I just want…I just want this to be over. I don't know. This is all my fault, that's the real truth here." Said Mob

"This isn't your fault, it can't be." Said Serizawa

"Yes it is! I'm the one who stopped being friends with Minori just because she said that she wanted to stop being friends with me-" said Mob

"But if she said that she didn't want to be friends with you then what were you supposed to-" said Serizawa

"And I'm the one who dragged you into this-" said Mob

"I came on my own!" said Serizawa

"And I'm the one who slept with my best friend's boyfriend and ruined everything and I'm the one who made Dad stop loving me and I'm the one who just…I ruin everything! My family and my friendships and just-just my whole life!" said Mob, tears running down her face. She could feel them. They somehow felt hot and cold at the same time, and itchy as they ran down her cheeks. Serizawa pulled the sleeve of his robe over his hand and dried her tears for her. She didn't deserve a friend like him. He would realize that when he spent more time in the world around other, better, people and he would probably never like her back, either.

Nobody would ever like her back and then she'd end up all sad and alone like Dad…

Or not even like Dad. Sure Mom had run away but now he found someone new who he loved and who he wanted to have a whole new family with. Probably because he hadn't gotten it right the first time. Like when Shibata baked the same recipe over and over again until he got it right. People weren't cookies and cakes, though, they were human beings with thoughts and feelings and stuff like that…but did that matter to anyone other than her? Maybe she was the only person who cared about other people…and maybe she didn't care at all about other people and she only made herself think that she did. Was she being honest or did she just care about people so that they would care about her, first?

Maybe she was just so desperate for anyone to care about her that she would even lie to herself about what kind of person she was…a selfish person…the worst person….

"I…I don't know if any of that is true. I mean…I mean I know that you and Shimazaki…um…that part is none of my business…" said Serizawa looking away. He didn't want to think about people doing things like that, especially not people he knew, especially not his best friend, and especially not when he was already stressed out. There was another wave of cold that passed over him. The spirit was still focusing. If he focused on it he could see it's aura passing over them.

It looked as gross as it felt.

"But I think that…that you shouldn't think about things like that right now. I just think that you need to focus and I need to focus and then…and then we can…um…talk about this later?" asked Serizawa

"You're right. I do need to focus. I need to just…just get rid of it while I have the chance…" said Mob. It was being still, very still, or at least Minori's body was. It looked like the spirit was almost spilling out of her, like when you tried to pour yourself a glass of milk in the middle of the night and you didn't realize that your cup was too small. She could see it's aura or…or maybe that was just the spirit. Dad had said that auras might have just been their souls, not a manifestation of their powers at all, because they might have just not been able to fit into their bodies or something. She couldn't remember, she had been really little when Dad had tried to explain everything to her, but she did know right now that the spirit was either trying to touch her with it's aura or it's self…and that couldn't have been good. This was a powerful spirit so it must have been an esper at some point…

It must have had powers at some point.

She watched it as intensely as it, or at least Minori's body, was watching her. She could see the red and black of it trying to touch her and Serizawa. It was also touching Teru. She didn't like him but she didn't want him to get hurt. It wasn't hurting him, though, it looked more like it was taking from him…like it was drinking up his energy…

Oh. She knew that trick.

"Serizawa, I need you to take Teru and get out of here." Said Mob, sending a wave of her own energy at the spirit. Either she hurt it, but hopefully not Minori's body along with it, or she fed it enough to get it to leave Teru alone. She didn't like Teru, he had ripped her heart out, but she didn't want him to be spirit food. Even if maybe he deserved…no! Nobody deserved that! She didn't know where that thought had even come from. Maybe from her own terrible mind, she was half of Dad after all, or maybe…

She made eye contact with the spirit. It made eye contact back.

"I already said that I wasn't leaving you! I mean, not to be mean but-" said Serizawa

"It steals power from espers. It could probably do that when it was alive, too. If we leave Teru here then he'll probably die, or at least get really hurt, and even if…a lot of stuff happened between us I still don't want him to get hurt." Said Mob, still keeping eye contact with the spirit. It's eyes narrowed.

"That's…that's horrible…" said Serizawa before he did as he was told. Miss Suzuki made cover for him and he did his best to save her friend, or at least someone who she knew. He didn't really like to pry into her life. if she wanted to tell him something then she would tell him. It wasn't like she had to tell him anything. It wasn't like she had to even be there…

Oh.

He was suddenly under her aura, her colors. The world was pink and blue. He felt like he could breathe again, which made no sense because he had been breathing the whole time. Now he could breathe easier, maybe, if that made more sense. He could move and think and breathe and…and of course she cared about him. She would have sent him back home if she hadn't. He took one last look at her before carrying her friend out of the crumbling room. He would come back for her, he had to, but first he had to do what she had asked of him.

He would always do what she asked of him.

"Be careful!" called Mob as she tried her best to shield him from the spirit. There must have been something more that she could do…she would figure it out. She had to figure it out. She knew that it stole energy like she and Dad could and she knew that it could possess people…and maybe it could make you sad, too. Maye it could even twist things around in your mind. Maybe it had been a telepath when it had been alive. Dad said that they were the worst kind of espers, he didn't like them at all. Maybe Dad would have helped her with this…

She didn't need Dad's help. Like he had said, she was an adult now, and adults handled their own problems.

"Maybe you should take your own advice." Said Mogami mockingly.

"Maybe you should take mine. Leave Minori's body before I-" said Mob

"Before you what? Make me?" asked Mogami

"Yes. Leave before I make you." said Mob

"And how, exactly, are you going to do that? With those powers you're so proud of?" laughed Mogami as he launched the vessel at her. She immobilized him. Good trick. Precise. Most telekinetic espers could barely bend a spoon and here she was immobilizing an entire human body, and without breaking it too.

He didn't care if this body broke.

"Yes. With my powers. I'm going to stop you if you don't stop on your own so, please, stop." Said Mob

"And now you're saying please? At least you're humble, I'll give you that, girl." Said Mogami as he tried to break free. She was focused now. The cracks that made up her psyche were starting to close. He'd just have to pick them opened again. It would be easier now that she didn't have that man to draw power from. Of course he'd lost his own extra battery, but no matter, no matter. Sometimes one had to make small sacrifices in service of their greater good.

"Are you going to leave or am I going to have to make you?" asked Mob

"I doubt you could make me, not without hurting our friend here. Human bodies are so fragile, aren't they?" asked Mogami as he pulled the tendons in the vessel's fingers. They began to bend in a way that would have been impossible, and impossibly pain, for a human body to endure. Of course none of that really mattered to him. He was about to get an even better host. He just had to break her down before he could build her up, that was all.

"Minori!" shouted Mob as the room fill with the sickening sound of a loud crack, like when Minegishi ate the marrow out of chicken bones but worse.

"So, incredibly, fragile." Said Mogami before he broke another finger.

"I said stop it!" shouted Mob

"Why should I? It's not like you can do anything to stop me. Poor little girl, unwilling to make sacrifices." Said Mogami before he cracked another finger. She was faltering. Her aura was wavering. She was struggling to keep herself under control. There was so much that he could see trying to break free, trying to claw it's way out from beneath the surface. That poor girl. She'd been living her whole life like this, hadn't she? Forcing herself to be what others wanted her to be. Forcing herself to become that thing, that caricature of a person, and for what? Friendship? Love? Affection? Lies. A pack of lies that she'd sold herself.

She needed to be set free, Luckily he was there.

"I-I won't let go of you!" said Mob

"Then you'll just have to destroy me, and of course in the progress you'll destroy the vessel as well." Laughed Mogami

"I-I could never hurt my friend…ever!" said Mob

"I have no such scruples." Said Mogami before he broke another finger, He could feel her aura crushing the vessel. She didn't even mean it. Such power…such raw power contained, if he could call it that, within one person…

Amazing.

"Stop it! You're hurting her!" said Mob

"Am I? Or is it you that's hurting her? If you just gave up-" said Mogami

"I'll never give up! I'll never abandon my friend. I don't care what happens to me, I just have to save her." said Mob

"Well you should care what happens to you. What has this girl given you? What motive could you possibly have to save her? Do you honestly value this girl's friendship, if it can even be called that?" said Mogami

"I value all of my friends no matter how they treat me!" said Mob

"Then you're an idiot." Said Mogami before he bent over backwards. Not enough to destroy the body, no, the human body was actually quite flexible when one couldn't feel pain. He just needed to frighten her and he did. The room filled with the colors of her aura, her energy, her soul. To a mortal man, even he when he had been a mortal, it would have been overwhelming. Seeing her leave her body, if briefly, would have been too much for even most spirits…but Mogami wasn't most spirits. He was the greatest esper of the twentieth century, and the most feared spirit of the twenty first…

And he had work to do. Wonderful, terrible, beautiful work.