It was such a burden sometimes, being the oldest.

But it was a burden that Tome could bear. After all, where would Rei and Mob be without her? Probably at home in their own beds being boring. Now, thanks to her, they had something to do. Something productive, too, which was good since everyone was always breathing down Tome's neck to be more productive. Every moment of her life someone was telling her to put down her Switch or her DS and pick up a book and do her homework, or get off the roof and get ready for school, or get off the internet and study for her entrance exams. The last one made no sense whatsoever. She was a first year, entrance exams weren't until third year. She had at least two more years to prepare for stupid entrance exams to get into stupid university and then start her stupid productive adult life.

It was so stupid.

What was the point? You grew up, went to university, and then what? You got a job you hated, worked all night, slept all day, and never say your family. Then you got older and more broken down and you saw less and less of your family and then you lived your life like that until it passed you by and then one day you woke up and you were too old to enjoy the things that had made life worth living in the first place.

No thank you.

Tome was going to make the most of her life, thank you very much. She wasn't going to be productive in the boring way, she was going to be productive in the way that saved her from having to be productive later. It was an amazing racket, really. You just made something that looked pretty, sold it on the internet, and then got rich. This was going to work out better than the time she tried to be a Youtuber, or the time she tried to be a streamer. If this didn't work then she could always….actually she didn't know…

This was going to work!

"Be quiet, my parents probably just got home." Said Tome as they crept into her house. They really should have stayed at Mob's. Really, who's parents got up this early on a weekend? Especially when the kids were out of the house. When her and Inukawa's kids were out of the house she was sleeping in at least until the afternoon.

"They switched back to nights?" whispered Mob as she slipped her shoes off. Tome nodded and kicked hers off into the corner of the genkan.

"Careful, there's a big chance that they're going to wake up." whispered Rei as she faced her shoes the right way. Mob looked over at hers and used her powers to fix her shoes too. Tome didn't bother. She wasn't going to waste her time fixing her shoes if she was just going to go out again at some point. If she had been them she certainly wouldn't have wasted her powers on fixing her shoes or checking to see if her parents were going to wake up.

Powers were wasted on the psychics.

If Tome had been able to see the future she would have done more than use it to check on her parents. She would have won the lottery, aced every test, won every game, actually posted up in a spot where aliens were likely to show up. That would have been the best use of it, in her opinion. If she knew which fields were going to get crop circles, which people were going to get abducted, which lights were going to appear over which sky…it would have been great.

But she didn't have powers.

She didn't have them and she would never get them. There wasn't any non torture way to give someone powers and even with the torture you couldn't really do much…and also there was torture involved. Real torture, not the kind of torture where you had to sit through class or walk home with broken headphones or deal with a million and one adults asking you about your plans for the future. Plans for the future…even if she had powers she wouldn't have made them, told anyone about them. The future could change so fast that you couldn't plan for it.

Just ask Rei. She knew.

"We're going to…I can't figure out what we're going to do. I keep on getting this feeling like we're going to get in trouble but it also feels like things are going to work out…it's hard to tell sometimes, especially when their chances are equal." Said Rei. She was doing that thing where she shuffled around on her feet. Probabilities were complex, that was why Tome hadn't done so well on that part of the high school entrance exam. Poor Rei, having to deal with that.

But that was what Tome was for.

"Sometimes you just have to take a chance, now come on, let's just jump in and see what happens!" said Tome. She wasn't yelling, Mob didn't need to shush her like that, and even if she had been she knew what volume to yell at so she didn't wake her parents. The house was old but it wasn't so old that the walls were made of paper. Mob worried so much all the time, of course Tome didn't blame her, she kind of had the whole weight of the world on her shoulders.

Tome, if she had to have powers, would never have chosen Mob's.

Telekinesis had seemed cool when she had met Mob but watching her accidentally break things, even heavy things like gym equipment, really made Tome rethink that. Things with that giant broccoli too…well that whole battle had been cool, but living through it probably hadn't been. Mob carried a lot with her, but that was ok, Tome could help.

She was the oldest after all and that was what the oldest did.

"But you're out of eggs." Said Mob as she went through Tome's fridge. Tome shook her head.

"There's no way…of course we're out of eggs." Muttered Tome. She hated it when mom and dad worked nights at the same time. Then they couldn't go to the store, which mean that she had to go to the store, and she wasn't allowed to deviate from the list….parents sucked sometimes.

"Maybe we can substitute something, like how you can use butter instead of margarine, or heavy cream instead of milk." Said Mob

"You drink heavy cream instead of milk?" asked Rei

"Sometimes. It's really thick and good, especially if you put sugar in it. Or strawberry syrup. Or both. What's really good is hot cream with strawberry syrup and then a little bit of coconut, the shaved kind, but the flavoring works too if you don't have coconut. Also you can put in a cinnamon stick too, but only one, two is too much." Said Mob

"You could probably freeze it and make milk pops…that would be a pretty good food hack." Said Rei

"Don't food hacks have to make things easier?" asked Mob

"What's not easier about that? If you don't have milk pops you can substitute heavy cream and freezing…and ingredients too, I guess." said Rei

"What's a good substitute for eggs?" asked Tome. Rei shrugged.

"Apple sauce but we can't make mayonnaise out of apple sauce." Said Rei

"Why not? They make milk out of peas and almonds and oats don't they?" asked Tome. Mob shuddered.

"They shouldn't. it's not right." Said Mob. Tome rolled her eyes. Mob and milk. If Tome didn't put a stop to this they were going to be listening to Mob's lecture series on why milk could only come from cows. Last time Mob went on about it the rant lasted for over an hour.

"We've all heard your milk rant, Mob." Said Tome

"It's not a rant, it's just a bunch of facts. Milk is only milk if it comes from a cow, or maybe a goat but I don't like goat's milk, but milk can't come from plants because plants aren't mammals and milk can only come from mammals. Also it tastes weird." Said Mob

"They were too busy asking if they could they didn't stop to ask that they should." Said Rei

"Exactly, only this is more serious than making dinosaurs…and a lot safer, too, I think. I don't know why someone would want to bring something as dangerous as dinosaurs back but also people make milk out of plants so maybe people will just do any kind of crazy thing." Said Mob

"I don't know, I kind of like almond milk. Maybe if they got the consistency closer to cow's milk you'd like it." Said Rei

"That's not possible." Said Mob

"Maybe if they-" said Rei. Tome knew she had to put a stop to this. They got too easily distracted, someone had to keep them on track, and that someone was Tome. She was the one with the best leadership skills after all. She had been president of the Telepathy Club since her first year of middle school.

"Ok, first of all nothing is more serious than resurrecting dinosaurs, except maybe finding aliens, and second of all let's focus less on making a new kind of milk and more on getting this thing off the ground." Said Tome

"But we don't have eggs, remember?" asked Mob. Tome wasn't going to let the dream die that easily. There had to have been a work around, there was always a work around. A secret door or a developer's cheat code that had been left in…but in life! She had to think of something quick, they were looking at her again. Being a leader was such a burden sometimes but someone had to bear it and it had to be Tome. Mob was too easily overwhelmed and Rei overthought things too much. Tome had to be the rock, the anchor, the boss!

She had to think of something, and fast!

She went to her fridge and dug around…nothing. A whole lot of nothing. Mom and Dad really needed to get their work schedules worked out. There was nothing at all in there. A mostly empty milk jug, half a stick of butter, some wilting greens, a couple of Tupperware containers that Tome knew better than to open…lots of condiments. Ketchup, mustard, the soy sauce that she had stolen from the Chinese place, ranch-

Hey!

"Don't panic, I know what to do." Said Tome

"Give up on this and try and make milk out of plants since that's where the real money is?" asked Rei

"What? No!" said Tome. Mob put her hand on her shoulder and nodded.

"You made the right choice, Tome." Said Mob

"Of course I did, I'm me…anyway! I have a solution to our purple sauce dilemma." Said Tome. She paused for dramatic effect. It worked. They leaned in close, which was good because she heard someone moving around upstairs.

"What are we going to do, Tome?" asked Mob

"We're going to turn ranch purple." Said Tome. Mob and Rei looked at each other…ok, yeah, it was kind of lazy but you were supposed to work smarter, not harder. Tome had heard that once. Sure it would have been better to do it themselves, and they could have charged me, and also it wouldn't have tasted like it had been in her fridge for months but beggars couldn't be choosers. If they had better ideas, that were also more feasible, then they were free to share them!

"But that's what we wanted to do in the first place." Said Mob

"Yeah, well, that plan went out the window when your mom kicked us out." Said Tome

"This is going to be a lot easier…but maybe we should make our own ranch. Things are just better when you make them yourself. I think all me need is yogurt and then dill and-" said Rei

"We don't all have parents who go to the store every week." Said Tome. And that was the end of that. Sometimes a leader had to be decisive, even if it kind of sucked. It was either this or they moved on and she wasn't about to move on. They hadn't overcome obstacle after obstacle just to give up now! They were going to see this thing through!

Mostly Rei and Mob.

Tome, of course, would supervise. Someone had to make sure that those two stayed on track. Honestly, they were so easily distracted sometimes. Middle schoolers. It was so hard to believe that she had ever been that young. To be a kid again, consumed with the details of middle school life. Clubs and homework and tests, not that they didn't have those in high school but you were used to it, friends…well they were pretty much each other's only friends…

Mob checked her phone again.

Guys. That was the biggest distraction. Hadn't either of them ever heard of 'sisters before misters'? Tome had been in a relationship the longest and she had never once put Inukawa above her friends. It was important to keep a nice balance between your friends and your boyfriend, like Reigen did. She had finally decided to acknowledge her obvious feelings for Serizawa but she hadn't once put him over them. Of course Reigen and Tome were a lot older than Rei and Mob. Things were different when you were young, more intense, and that was just the way things were.

Tome, being older, was well suited to help Rei and Mob through it.

Mostly Mob. She was the one with the boyfriend. If a person could even call Teru that. Inukawa might not have been the best looking guy, and he didn't have his own apartment, but he at least hadn't made Tome jump through a million hoops to consummate their love. Teru had some kind of complex or something, that was the only explanation, and he didn't care how badly it fucked with Mob.

Rejection sucked, any kind of it. Tome knew that better than anyone.

"What, the emojis didn't work?" asked Tome as she leaned over Mob's shoulder. She didn't hide her phone, she didn't have to. Her texts were as vanilla as it got. Teru had, apparently, seen an unusually fluffy cat on his morning bike ride and sent Mob a picture…

What was she, his sister?

"I didn't send them." said Mob. Tome looked over at the wall. She wanted to bang her head against it. She didn't, though, but she did wonder what it was that made Mob ignore her very good advice. She obviously knew what she was talking about, she had been with Inukawa since middle school. Hell, she had been with Inukawa since before Reigen had gotten together with Serizawa. Therefore she was the one who knew the most about relationships.

"Mob, how do you expect to get anywhere in life or love if you don't take a leap of faith every now and again?" asked Tome, trying her best to stay calm. She knew that she could be kind of loud sometimes, and she knew that she would be in trouble if she did, so she decided to channel all the maturity that came with her age.

"I did take a leap of faith before, to get him to kiss me, well actually I just told him what I wanted…" said Mob

"And that won't work again because?" asked Tome

"I mean it might work, it worked last time. He did kiss me but it was just kind of frustrating to have to ask him to kiss me. I don't want to have to ask him for…for everything. It makes me feel like I'm the only one who wants to do things in this relationship and if I'm the only one who wants to do this then does this even count as a relationship anyone? I mean I'd love Teru either way but it's just…not something that I think that I can be in a relationship without." said Mob. Rei stopped what she was doing and leaned over Mob's shoulder. Good, now she could benefit from the wisdom of Tome's experience too. She just…had to come up with some better wisdom, that was all.

"Aww." Said Rei. Tome shook her head.

"Mob, you've got to tell Teru that the way to your heart isn't through cats." Said Tome. Yes, alright, that was by far the cutest cat that she had ever seen in her life but pictures of cats didn't exactly stir up the passions. If Mob kept acting like this was all that she wanted then she would never move forward….god, why did Teru have to be so weird? Inukawa hadn't had to have been asked twice.

"It kind of is." Said Mob. Rei nodded.

"The way to everyone's heart is through cats…well, Reigen's a dog person…but that's not her fault. She was just born that way." Said Rei

"That's true, people can't help the way that they were born. Master Reigen was born liking dogs more than cats and Teru was born not liking….um…" said Mob

"He was born with some kind of complex or something." Said Tome

"Or maybe it's just me. I mean I'm not that pretty and I still wear an undershirt and my mom won't let me wear much makeup and she still gets my clothes at Costco." Said Mob

"My mom gets my clothes at Costco too…do guys really care about that stuff?" asked Rei. Tome took a deep breath and stood up as straight as she could. That way it looked like she was the one with authority, Reigen had taught her that.

If it worked with the Telepathy Club it would work with them.

"Guys don't care about clothes, only about how much skin they can see. They don't really notice makeup that much either, and as far as undershirts go as long as there's something there he really won't care." Said Tome. Mob looked down and pulled her t-shirt away from her chest.

"If you don't want to be direct with what you want then…then make him realize what he wants! Yeah, that's it!" said Tome

"But how do I do that? I'm not good at tricking people…I've never really tried." Said Mob

"Tricking people is easy, I do it all the time. Well, mostly my parents, but human psychology is human psychology." Said Rei

"Parents are a lot more complicated than boyfriends! I mean, it's different. You're trying to get something different out of them. For boyfriends you have to…to…" said Tome. Her eyes darted around the kitchen. They rested on the microwave…feed him? The way to a man's heart was too his stomach? No! They weren't trying to make their way to anyone's heart, that was aiming way too high! She looked around…the knife block…hold him at knife point? No, Mob was way too soft for that! And she had powers, she didn't need weapons! And also that was a crime! She just…oh! Her eyes rested on the pile of mail on the counter…including the magazines…

Hey, Tome had said that she has wisdom, she had never said that the wisdom was homegrown.

"The first thing you have to do is show a lot of skin, like I said. That makes them think about you naked, which reminds them that sex exists." Said Tome. Mob gasped and covered her mouth. Rei nodded and leaned inwards. Good, everyone was paying attention.

"And eat a lot of things really suggestively, like lollipops and popsicles. Really go to town on them like they're the real thing." Said Tome

"What?!" asked Mob. Tome nodded.

"You want him to want you, don't you?" asked Tome

"Yes…" said Mob softly

"Then go to town on some lollipops." Said Tome

"Will bananas work too?" asked Rei

"Yeah but that's too on the nose. You're trying to get him to think that this is his idea, remember?" said Tome

"Oh, right! Ok, no bananas." Said Rei. Tome nodded. They were eating out of the palm of her hand like a couple of birds…she loved power, she planned to let it corrupt her.

"Also remember, skirts are your friend. Pants and shorts are too much work when it comes time to get to it." Said Tome. That hadn't been a piece of magazine advice, so they had better have been listening! There was nothing worse than having to jump into pants every time your boyfriend's parents decided to get nosy and ask why the door was closed.

"What about dresses?" asked Mob

"No, too much work. You've got to get the top undone for him and it's too hard to get it right if someone walks in." said Tome

"People walk in!?" asked Mob

"Yeah, parents suck like that." Said Tome

"But Teru doesn't have any parents. I mean he does but they live in Europe and don't ever visit him." Said Mob

"Poor Teru…but also lucky Teru." Said Rei

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mob hit the boyfriend lottery. Now do you guys want my advice or not?" asked Tome

"We do, we do." Said Mob

"Good. So the last thing…I went over the skirt thing…" said Tome

"Is it a good idea to wear a skirt wit no underwear and cross your legs a lot?" asked Rei

"What the hell…" said Tome. That was bold, even too bold for her…how in the hell had Rei even come up with something like that? She studied Rei closely. She didn't look like she had been replaced…

"Rei?" asked Mob, putting her hand on Rei's shoulder.

"I…saw it in a movie once…" said Rei looking down and laughing a little.

"What kind of movie?" laughed Tome

"A…a real movie…with a plot and stuff…" said Rei

"What's the title?" asked Tome

"Don't tell her! Don't mention it! And…and maybe don't do that. There would be a really embarrassing accident and…and I guess maybe boys would like that but…but the risk doesn't seem worth it…or…." said Mob. Tome had to put a stop to this before Rei's terrible advice led to Mob ruining her entire life! This was why it was a bad idea to give advice when you had no idea what you were even talking about!

"You're damn right the risk isn't worth it! What in the hell are you going to do if there's a breeze! You can't take things you see in porn literally! It's not real!" said Tome. She may have gotten a little over excited. She heard a door open…and footsteps. That was Mom and Dad's room, not an intruder, though she kind of would have taken a wandering murderer above her parents right now. She crouched down and motioned for Mob and Rei to follow her.

Maybe, if she hid and stood very still, they'd get bored and go to sleep.

"Tome! Are you down there?" asked Mom. Tome, of course, wasn't that lucky. Of course mom and dad weren't going to just leave her alone. They never did.

"Yeah!" said Tome, standing up straight. At least Mom wasn't coming down stairs. She would have had a fit if she saw the state of the kitchen…more of a fit than she was probably getting ready to have because Tome woke her up.

"Those friends of yours better not be down there! I told you, no guests when your dad and I are sleeping!" said Mom. Rei and Mob looked at each other like this was some kind of horror movie. Honestly. People with nice parents were so sensitive.

"They aren't here, mom, it's just me. I'm…uh…making-"Said Tome

"You had better not be making alien blood down there, Kurata Tome! The microwave still smells weird from last time and we can't afford a new one right now!" said Mom. Tome rolled her eyes. The microwave didn't smell that weird at all, it was easy to get used to, and the food barely tasted like the insides of glowsticks. Mom could be so sensitive sometimes…all of the times. Why couldn't she have had parents like Mob's? They didn't care what she did, they just kicked her out. Even Rei's parents didn't breathe down her neck that much and she was two years younger than Tome!

Honestly. Tome was sixteen. It was about time that mom and dad treated her like the capable young adult she was.

"No, I'm making purple sauce! And I'm not making a mess again! And I barely made a mess that last time! And it doesn't smell weird down here!" said Tome

"I have no idea what that is…so stop it and eat some real breakfast!" shouted mom. Mob gasped and covered her ears. Rei shook her head and started to look around the room like she was trying to escape or something.

"There's no food!" shouted Tome. She may have been a little mad there, but what did mom expect? There wasn't anything to eat in this house. If she hadn't stayed over at Rei's house she would have probably wasted away by now!

"There's oatmeal and low sodium rice porridge!" shouted mom. Tome stuck out her tongue. Why not just go to the park and eat out of the garbage can while she was at it?

"That's not food!" shouted Tome. The kitchen shook a little. The bottle of purple ranch nearly fell to the floor. Rei slowly grabbed it and put the cap back on. Mob was covering her ears. Kids. They were afraid of the weirdest things.

"Don't make me come down there! You eat breakfast and then get upstairs and work on your homework, I've seen your grades. I'm on the parent portal! I know what you do!" said Mom

"I'm doing fine!" shouted Tome

"Tome! You're in the bottom quarter of your class, now get something to eat and get up here or I'm taking away your Gameboy!" shouted Mom

"It's called a Switch!" said Tome

"I don't care what it's called, it's going in the closet if you don't get up here! I should take it away just for waking your father and I! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to provide for a family?!" shouted Mom. Tome sighed and motioned for Rei and Tome to get out of here. Mob was so sensitive she was liable to bring the house down over their heads. Rei nodded and practically dragged Mob out, which was good, but she took the sauce with her…which wasn't good at all! She had been ages waiting for some of that!

But these, of course, were the burdens that came with leadership.