Mob didn't mind helping Ritsu.
It was nice to be able to help someone with something, to have something under control today…not that he was worried. Not that he should have been worried. He had nothing to worry about, Master Reigen had this. Mob trusted him more than anyone else in the world, including his best friend, and maybe even his little brother, too.
Or maybe not. There was no way he could ever trust anyone more than Ritsu.
Ritsu was his brother, they had known each other for their entire lives, and they were kind of like best friends but more so. There wasn't anyone he knew better than Ritsu…mostly. He kind of knew Touichirou, that was kind of the word for it….right? When you lived someone's life through their memories? He didn't know. This seemed like something that Ritsu would have known.
He was really smart like that.
"Ritsu?" asked Mob. Ritsu's aura prickled against his, kind of like the time he fell into those pricker bushes at the park. Maybe it was best not to bother him right now. Mob wasn't the best at reading the atmosphere, he accepted that about himself, but he knew his little brother.
Ritsu could be kind of…prickly…sometimes.
"What?" asked Ritsu, trying his best to keep calm. He didn't feel like talking to anyone right now, anyone who wasn't Sho. It wasn't that he didn't love his brother, of course he did they were brothers, but Shigeo was just…he wasn't Sho. There were some things that they couldn't talk about. Things that Shigeo would have been disappointed to know about him.
Like how badly he wanted to beat Sho's Dad up right now.
"Nothing." Said Mob as he hot back to work. Ritsu obviously didn't want to talk right now. Even he could see that and he was the worst at reading the atmosphere. Maybe because auras were so much easier to read…or maybe because he knew Ritsu so well. This had to have been a lot for him, his entire room was trashed after all.
Ritsu really cared about his room.
He kept it neat, mostly, and even if it looked messy sometimes everything had it's own place to be. Even his collection of bent spoons. He could feel one under his feet. He wondered if he should have unbent it. He kind of wanted to. Ritsu had been doing this back when they had been fighting, back when they had been fighting and Mob hadn't even realized that they had been fighting. That had been such a bad time in their lives and he had no idea why Ritsu wanted a memento from it.
He left the spoon alone. He may not have always understood Ritsu but he was getting better at it. It there was one person in this world that he should have been able to understand it was his own little brother.
"I know it's not nothing, brother, otherwise you wouldn't have said something. So whatever you have to say just say it." Said Ritsu. He didn't turn around. He had been such a jerk then, Shigeo didn't need that. He had enough going on, they all did. It was probably rougher on Shigeo than most of them, aside from Sho, since Sho's dad was pretty much his greatest enemy. Ritsu had barely met the guy and he didn't like him. He knew it much have been so much worse on Shigeo.
He may have been the little brother but, a lot of the time, he had to be the bigger brother…and this was one of those times.
"I was just wondering if you knew the word for living someone's life through their memories, that was all. It's not important, I can look it up later." Said Mob
"I think…vicariously? I don't know, that seems close. I'll think about it more later. I can't really think right now." said Ritsu
"Because of what happened?" asked Mob
"Yes, what else?" asked Ritsu
"I don't know, maybe you're upset because your room is kind of…ruined." Said Mob, motioning to what used to be Ritsu's room. They had barely made a dent in it. There were still clothes everywhere waiting to be sorted and folded, there were still books that needed to go back on the shelf, all of his journals were everywhere, and there were loose papers too just…all over the place. Some of this stuff wasn't even Ritsu's…
They were going to be here all day, weren't they?
"It's not exactly helping." Said Ritsu as he used his powers to pick up what had thought were pieces of his journal and…no, wait, this wasn't his handwriting. He crumpled the pages up with his powers and threw them across the room.
"If you ask Touichirou to help he probably would, will." Said Mob as he caught and uncrumpled what Ritsu had thrown. He smoothed it out, this looked important. Well, important to Touichirou, which made it important to Mob. When something was important to your friend then it was important to you…were he and Touichirou friends? They knew a lot about each other, more than he knew about his other friends…his best friend…his best friend who apparently was keeping massive secrets from him.
"Or he'd try and beat me up." said Ritsu, moving onto the piles of clothes on his floor. If Shigeo wanted to preserve every scrap of paper that Sho's dad had ever scribbled on then that was all him. Ritsu had other things to do.
"He wouldn't. He doesn't fight people who don't upset him, and he's probably too scared to fight. He doesn't like it when things don't go his way." Said Mob
"Yeah, I know. I was there when he blew up most of downtown." Said Ritsu
"That was…kind of my fault too…" said Mob. He wasn't afraid to take responsibility for his own actions that day. He had gone too far, too, when they had been fighting. He had briefly turned into the kind of person he had vowed never to be and he was truly sorry. He just wished that everyone else could have seen how sorry he was, especially Ritsu. Not that he was sure if Ritsu could see much of anything, rolling his eyes like that.
"Why do you keep defending him?" asked Ritsu. He shouldn't have rolled his eyes but, well, he couldn't help it. Maybe he was just tired, or maybe Sho was rubbing off on him, or maybe it was a little bit of both. Shigeo was a good person to a fault and this was where the fault lied. How could he have thought that he had any part of what had happened? He had been reacting to the person trying to kill him, nobody blamed him for what he had done.
Sometimes he worried that he wasn't nice enough, but then he remembered that he was comparing himself to Shigeo, and if anything Shigeo was too nice.
"I'm not defending him, I know that what he did was wrong too. I just know how he is, that's all. As a person." Said Mob
"That's….really weird, brother. I'm sorry but it is." Said Ritsu
"I know, it's weird to me too. I mean I know a lot about him, more than I even know about you and I'm your brother. I'm supposed to know everything about you." said Mob
"That'd be even weirder. You can't know everything about a person." Said Ritsu
"I know that you can't know exactly everything about someone, since nobody can know everything, but I know a lot about you and you know a lot about me. It's just the way it's supposed to be. It's weird that I know so much about Touichirou, especially since he doesn't even know me, I mean he does but not the one of him living with Master Reigen, it's just…weird." Said Mob
"Stop thinking so much about it, then, and it won't be weird." Said Ritsu
"I can't." said Mob
"Try harder, that's what I'm doing." Said Ritsu. He knew that if he thought about this, really thought about it, he'd completely lose it. This whole thing was just…this was too much! Time travel was real and not only was it real but Sho's Dad was just…he was right there and a kid and…and he needed to focus on getting his room cleaned up. He needed to focus on the one thing he had control over.
"I am trying but I can't. It's a lot. The thing with Touichirou and also Teru keeping secrets-" said Mob
"Wait, you're worried about Teru? That's what's on your mind right now?" asked Ritsu. Alright, yes, that was kind of a big thing. Teru hadn't been lying, if he had been lying then he would have been bragging about it. If he was keeping it a secret then something hadn't worked out…which meant that something had happened….which meant that Ritsu knew someone who had done, well, anything…not that it was important.
They had actually important things going on right now that he had to worry about.
"Kind of. I mean the thing with Touichirou is a lot bigger but the thing with Teru…it just seems like the kind of thing you tell your friend." Said Mob
"I wouldn't want to know that about anyone I knew, too personal." Said Ritsu
"I know it's personal but…you're right, it's none of my business." Said Mob
"And we have bigger things to worry about than what Teru does and with who." Said Ritsu
"Like how mad mom and dad were about the mess?" asked Mob. That did seem like a more immediate problem, Mom and Dad being mad. If Mom and Dad got mad enough at them then they would end up being punished, or grounded, and then that would make everything a lot harder. Also they would have disappointed their parents and there really wasn't any worse feeling than your parents being disappointed in you.
"No…about the person who traveled through time to take over the world…" said Ritsu
"Oh, right, Touichirou. He's fine, Master Reigen is taking care of him." said Mob
"Yay, all hope for the future depends on Reigen Arataka." Said Ritsu
"See? Even you can tell that Master Reigen has this. I trust him completely." Said Mob
"Didn't Sho's dad try and kill him the last time they met?" asked Ritsu
"Yes, but that was an older version of him. Touichirou hasn't killed anyone yet. On purpose I mean." Said Mob. He saw his aura, there, and pulled it in quickly. That had always been a fear of his, the kind of thing that lingered in the back of his mind. He had never killed anyone, thankfully, but he had come close so many times…it would have been so easy, too, especially when he had been really little…
But Mob wasn't really little anymore.
"Uh…" said Ritsu. He wasn't exactly president of the Reigen Arataka fan club or anything but even he was a little worried. He remembered what Sho had told him, those quiet kinds of stories that were only told under the cover of darkness, the kind that ended in him holding Sho close and telling him that everything was going to be ok…he remembered those stories and, as much as he disliked Reigen, he didn't want Reigen to be the ending to another one.
"Master Reigen is going to be fine." Said Mob, more for himself than anything else. He knew Master Reigen and, yes, he didn't have any powers but he was still Master Reigen. Nothing was going to happen to him and, anyway, Touichirou had no reason to hurt him. He never killed people on purpose when he had been that age and he hadn't done it on accident since he had been little…
Master Reigen was…he was going to be alright…but there couldn't have been any harm in checking up on him.
"Do you want to go back to Master Reigen's after this? To see how Touichirou is doing?" asked Mob. It couldn't have hurt to just check on him…right? It wouldn't have been too much, visiting someone twice in one day, right?
"That's the last thing I want to do right now. I just want to clean my room and…I don't know, wrap my mind around this, I guess." said Ritsu as he sorted through a pile of papers. Homework…not Ritsu's. He crumpled it up and threw it in the general direction of the trash…but of course Shigeo caught it and uncrumpled it.
"You really don't need to help me." said Ritsu
"I want to. You shouldn't have to do this alone. It's kind of my fault too…what happened." Said Mob as he smoothed out the papers Ritsu had been about to throw away. Not his handwriting, not his work…and the date on the top was different. He probably should have started with that. He'd give this back to Touichirou next time he saw him. Far from home or not it was important to get your homework done, otherwise it piled up and you got in trouble, and Mob knew that being in trouble meant something different for him than it did for Touichirou.
"It wasn't your fault, you were trying your best…sometimes things just happen." Said Ritsu. Sometimes he wondered if he just said the things that he was supposed to say…but no, he meant it, he had to have meant it.
"Yes, that makes sense…sometimes things just happen." Said Mob as he sorted out what was Ritsu's and what wasn't. Ritsu was so smart. Sometimes it seemed like Ritsu should have been the older brother and he should have been the younger brother. Sometimes things just happened. Sometimes people traveled through time, sometimes your room got trashed, and sometimes your friend kept something really big from you. Sometimes things just happened.
It didn't matter why they happened, the only thing that mattered was what you did next…and what Mob was going to do was help his brother. What else could he do?
Sho had no idea what to do.
So he went home. What else was there to do? He had to go home eventually, Mom really cared about that stuff for some reason. She was always on him about not staying out all night, telling her where he was going, telling her when he was planning on coming back, not staying out too late, and just…about where he was. Even though it made no sense for her to care that much. He was thirteen, not three, and she hadn't even cared that much about him when he had been three anyway. Or seven.
Or any age, really.
He didn't get her, not one bit. Dad at least made sense. He was crazy but it was a self serving sort of crazy. He wanted to rule the world because he thought that he was the greatest human being ever to be born or whatever. Hell, he even went forward in time to take over the world better or whatever…at least he made sense. At least Sho knew what to expect from Dad, at thirteen or forty six.
Mom…he never knew what to expect from Mom.
Which was why he avoided the front door. Instead he went around the back of the house and let himself in through the window. He made sure that none of the neighbors saw him, this wasn't the best time to be a psychic thanks to all the stupid shit that Dad had pulled, and he even made sure not to make a lot of noise as he opened the window and let himself in, and that was a really squeaky window.
Not as squeaky as his hamsters, though.
"Shut up, guys, it's just me." whispered Sho as he flew over to their habitat. Mom had told him not to get a hamster, or two, or three…but he didn't care. What was she going to do to him, exactly? Kick him out? It wasn't like he didn't have other places to live. Hatori may have been a jerk, and an asshole, and he may have cheated at every videogame that he and Sho had ever played together but he wasn't a complete dickhead. Everything that Dad owned was now Sho's. If he had wanted to then he could have bought his own house and filled every single room with hamsters from top to bottom. He didn't, though, because having that many hamsters was a lot of work and also, for some reason, they wouldn't sell houses to thirteen years olds even if they had money. He could have just gone to one of the guys for help, they were still kind of fighting but not as bad as on uprising day…but he didn't want to start anything with them.
Living with Mom was just easier…most of the time.
"Sho! Is that you in there?" called Mom from the other room. Sho sighed and kicked his shoes off. At least Mom wasn't going to get on him about that. He heard her door close and then her footsteps coming down the hall. At least it was just her this time. He didn't know if he would have been able to keep it together around any of the kids…around his siblings…
His half siblings. Half…if even that.
"Yeah Mom, I'm in my room." said Sho as he got down on the floor. He hadn't fed these guys yet. They were probably starving and scared that he was never coming back. It sucked, waking up all alone, not breakfast for you and no ability to make it. Then lunch passed, then dinner, and then it got light out again. It must have been awful for these guys, they couldn't even tell time.
Not being able to tell time always made it worse.
He heard his door open. He kept up what he was doing. It wasn't like Mom had anything important to tell him, she never had anything important to tell him. She sometimes tried to hang out with him, or ask him how his day was going, or tell him about some family thing she was doing with her new family that she was so graciously inviting him to. Never anything that mattered. Never battle plans or missions or even to tell him that she was going away for a while and not to fuck anything up while she was gone.
Never anything important.
"Where have you been?" asked Mom. Sho shrugged and got up. She expected him to face her, right? Adults liked it when you faced them even when they weren't saying anything important. Even when they just wanted to talk at you, or try to make you feel bad for the things you did or the person that you were. Sho had stopped listening to that kind of shit a while ago. Like Fukuda had said, he couldn't heal what wasn't broken.
So why break himself over someone else's words?
"Ritsu's house." Said Sho with a shrug. Mom had her arms crossed. That was how he could tell she was pissed off. It was a lot easier to deal with her being pissed off than with Dad being pissed off. At least she didn't have an aura…or powers…or two caterpillars for eyebrows that he had to try not to laugh at while they did that thing where they came together like they were trying to kill each other.
Mom was just regular person pissed off. Nothing that he couldn't deal with.
"All night?" asked Mom. Sho shrugged again and pointed out the window. It was daytime, wasn't it? What did she care about the time anyway. He wasn't one of her kids, of the kids, he was thirteen and he could handle himself. He'd been handling himself for most of his life.
"Yeah, all night. Why do you care?" asked Sho
"Because you didn't tell me where you were going or who you'd be with and there was that…incident…last night. I was worried." Said Mom. She uncrossed her arms now. Sho just shrugged again.
"I'm fine Mom, see? No concussions, contusions, or abrasions." Said Sho. Mom used to smile when he said that, she was the one who started it after all, but all she did was look like she was sucking on a lemon.
"I can see that. Just…tell me where you're going next time." Said Mom
"Why? I don't get it. You know I'm coming back, all my stuff is here." Said Sho. Mom got that look again, that look like she was sucking on a lemon…only now it was more like how Sho would have looked if he had been sucking on a lemon, complete with looking like he was going to die at any second.
"Sho…that's not fair and you know it." Said Mom
"Life's not fair." Said Sho, rolling his eyes. Dad must have told her that, too. He had certainly told Sho that enough times.
"I'm your mother, don't you talk to me like that." Said Mom. Sho didn't know what she wanted from him. He wasn't a little kid anymore and, anyway, the time to treat him like a little kid had passed years ago. If she had wanted to treat him like a little kid then she'd had years to do that. He was thirteen. Even Dad trusted him to run his own life and Dad was…well, he was Dad.
At least he made sense. Crazy sense, but sense.
Mom was like a puzzle, like the time he and everyone in the Ultimate Five tried to work Shimazaki's complicated braille rubiks cube. Just a bunch of noise all at once and nobody knowing what to do but also knowing exactly what everyone else had to do. Sho knew what he had to do…he had to get away from Mom. He could see his aura, frustrated, again like the time with the rubiks cube, only this time if he lost control there wouldn't be coming back.
Mom was a normal person after all. Really soft and squishy and just…Mom.
"Fine, then I won't talk to you anymore." Said Sho as he tried to take a step forwards. He didn't need to fight with Mom, not in the way he fought with Dad and the others, but he knew that he was getting close to that point. He had kept it together mostly for the latest in Dad's craziness. Mom…Mom was somehow worse than Dad trying to break the space time continuum because he saw Back to the Future too many times.
"Where are you going?" asked Mom as she stepped in front of him. He could have easily picked her up and moved her out of the way…but he wasn't going to and the fact that he had even let the thought cross his mind meant that he needed to get the fuck out of here right now.
"Out again." Said Sho as he tried to step around her. She was one step ahead of him and blocked his path. He took a deep breath. He wasn't Dad.
"You just got home, you're not going anywhere. Anyway, your sister and brothers wanted to go to the park with you." said Mom. Sho wondered if she could see his aura, he certainly could. That was a lot of red…he needed to keep it together. Even though he could hear them, now, his new siblings and Mom had just said that like it was…like it was nothing. Like she hadn't just gone out and replaced him as soon as she could. Dad, at least, hadn't been trying to replace Sho. He had just been trying to replace Mom…and even he had realized that people weren't replaceable. Mom had tried to replace him and now she was trying to act like she hadn't done anything…or maybe she just didn't want to take care of the kids that she had replaced Sho with.
She had never been good at that, had she? Taking care of kids?
"Did they? Or do you just want me to take them to the park so you wouldn't have to." Said Sho
"I would love to spend time with you but I have things to do around the house." Said Mom. She wasn't moving, and she wasn't going to get out of the way…but he could get around her if he wanted to. He had to get out of here. He couldn't go back to Ritsu's, not this soon, and he didn't really want to see anyone else right now…but there were people who wanted to see him.
Little people who he hadn't seen in a while.
"I'm going to go see my sister." Said Sho as he turned around. It was bad luck to leave through a different door than you entered through, right? He had heard that somewhere. Well he didn't need to bring any more bad luck into his life, it was already pretty sucky as it was.
So out the window was really his only option at this point.
"You mean your father's daughter." Said Mom. She stepped to the side again. Sho was smarter, though, he just kept going towards the window. Maybe a little too slowly…maybe he wanted to be stopped or maybe he wanted her to…he didn't even know…go with him? Run away with him, for once, instead of just on her own…or…
Or maybe Sho was just being ridiculous.
"Yeah, Mukai. She's seven, looks like me, has a ton of dolls and a scar on her face from when she tried to challenge Dad?" asked Sho as he made it to the window. He could see her in the glass. She still looked like she was sucking on a lemon. What? Did she think that she was the only person in the world who was allowed to have kids or something? Sho was the one it should have been weird for, since these were his parents and he couldn't escape them. Mom had left Dad, what did she still care about what he did?
"You…you can't just run off to your stepmother's at the drop of a hat. Your family needs you at home-" said Mom
"Tsuchiya's not my stepmom, she's just some lady Dad slept with, we're not family. Just me and Mukai are family." Said Sho as he opened the window. Mom was getting closer, he couldn't see her in the glass anymore but he could hear her walking…coming close…close enough to stop him…
He didn't want to be stopped.
"Sho, you're not walking out this door-" said Mom
"Fine, I'll just use the window." Said Sho as he jumped out the window. He heard her scream. He didn't look back. He didn't want to look back. That was her house, not his, and he didn't have any reason to look back. If she wanted to have a knew family then she could, he wasn't going to stop her, and he wasn't going to try and become a part of something that wasn't for him. Something that had been created to replace him.
He wasn't a part of that and…and he was ok with that.
So he went to a place where he didn't need to be a part of anything. Dad and Tsuchiya had never been married, or even going out. Hell, before Mukai had been big enough to talk he hadn't even met Tsuchiya. She wasn't his stepmom and she had never tried to be. Not like that guy who Mom had married. Haato…even his name was dumb. He was always trying to talk to Sho like they knew each other, like he wanted to be friends, like he wanted to do something other than take Sho's mom from him.
Well the joke was on him, Mom hadn't been his since he had been five.
But that was fine. He had someone, he had someone who was his. His sister, someone who wanted to hang out with him, and someone who he would have been happy to take to the park. At least he had someone in his life who wasn't a jerk, or crazy, or…well there wasn't anything wrong with Mom's new kids but he just…he just…
He just thought that the entire thing was entirely too weird!
But at least Mukai was normal…mostly normal. He could see her apartment from here, luckily this city wasn't that big. He could even see her window. It was the one with all of the dolls in it. All the dolls with their dead, beady, little eyes…watching him…and he wasn't imagining that last part. Their heads turned to watch him walk down the sidewalk and towards the front door. He didn't have a key but that was alright, he had learned how to pick locks with his powers a long time ago. He let himself into the apartment building and then up the elevator. It was only ding, thankfully. He didn't know if he could have handled another. He just…he couldn't be alone right now. He didn't want to be with other people but he didn't want to be alone, either.
But, thanks to Mukai's doll collection, you never felt alone in her apartment…even if you wanted to be…so many eyes…
He could deal with this. He could have let herself into the apartment but Tsuchiya hated that. She couldn't have kicked his ass, he was Suzuki Sho after all, but he didn't want to fight with her. She didn't like fighting with him, either. She had said, before, that there was no honor in fighting someone so much smaller than her. Sho had never fought with honor before, aside from not kicking guys in the buts even Dad agreed that you never kicked another guy there, but if that was what Tsuchiya wanted then he could put forth some effort for her.
Sho understood her. She never asked anything of him that didn't make any sense.
"Mukai, I know you're home." Said Sho as he knocked on the door. He could feel her aura, not Tsuchiya's, but that was alright. Mukai was his sister, she could be left alone. Hell, she was a full fledged scar at the age of seven. Dad had even said that he was proud of her…
At least one of his kids was making him proud…he had said…
"Halt stranger!" said Mukai
"C'mon, Mukai…" said Sho
"Who goes there?" asked Mukai through the door. Sho rolled his eyes.
"You know it's me." said Sho
"I know nothing, stranger, now state your name or suffer my wrath!" shouted Mukai. Sho shook his head. He knew what she was doing. He could play along. It made sense, her games, even though it only made sense to the two of them.
"Here be Sho, your best and only older brother and first born son of clan Suzuki. I seek entry into your home." Said Sho
"For what purpose?" asked Mukai
"Wanna go to the park or play dolls or something?" asked Sho with a shrug. The door immediately swung opened and he was surrounded by little people…worse. Surrounded by dolls.
So many dolls.
"Get in here or get captured!" shouted Mukai as Sho was dragged into her apartment. He decided to let himself get captured. They were just normal dolls, not the ones weird human sized ones she fought people with, and he could have easily broken them but then he wouldn't have been much of a big brother at all. No, he would have been a complete and total piece of shit. Seriously, who broke a little kid's dolls?
That was one thing he was never going to forgive Ritsu's big brother for, even if it had been one of those life or death things.
"I chose to get captured. You can totally take me alive." Said Sho as he walked into his apartment, hands held above his head.
"Aww…that's no fun." Said Mukai as she dismissed her dolls. She pulled her aura from them. immediately they all hit the floor. It was just her standing there, now. Same four pigtails, same blue eyes identical to his, same scar on her face, same everything.
At least one thing was still the same.
"What? You want me dead? Then who's going to take you to the park?" asked Sho
"Tsuchiya when she comes back. She's my mom, that's what they're for." Said Mukai
"Where's she now?" asked Sho
"Working. She said that her new boss needed someone's head knocked in and she wouldn't bring me because I'm too little. Like I'm not a Scar too! Can you believe that?!" asked Mukai
"She just wants you to be a little kid for a little longer." Said Sho. Mukai crossed her arms and stomped her foot. He didn't get what she was so upset about. Being a little kid was awesome. You didn't know about all the bad things that were going on around you and all you had to worry about was playing and learning and stuff. It had been pretty great, being a little kid…at least it had been for the short amount of time he had been one.
"I was never a little kid." Said Mukai
"Then you're too big for the park?" asked Sho. Mukai's aura glowed and suddenly an army of dolls was kicking Sho in the shins. Not hard, though, so she was just kidding…either that or these dolls weren't strong enough to mess someone up. She could have messed him up if she'd wanted to, he'd seen her mess people older than him up before, though he was her brother so she must have wanted to keep him alive for just a little longer.
"Don't say crazy things like that, Sho, I'm under the height limit. Now take it back!" said Mukai
"Alright, alright, I take it back. You win, ok? Now come on, put your shoes and jacket on so we can go." Said Sho. The dolls all fell to the ground at once. The genkan was flooded with them. He could hardly see his own shoes let alone hers. Maybe this was going to be like the time when she had been a baby and hid her shoe somewhere at HQ and they'd had a whole hunt to find it…and it had turned out that Shimazaki had hidden it to fuck with them….but not to be an asshole like Fukuda had thought…
Mukai had too been a little kid before.
"I'll put my shoes and jacket on, Sho, but only because I know that I need to or else I'll get sick and probably die since our healer went missing. Not because you told me to. You don't outrank me." said Mukai as she swept her dolls to the side and picked up a pair of tiny shoes.
"Claw's gone, Mukai, rank doesn't mean anything anymore." Said Sho as he got down to her level. Tiny shoes with laces. She had never been good at laces. He hadn't been either, he had always tucked them into his shoes until Fukuda taught him how to tie them. Mukai didn't have Fukuda to teach her things, and Tsuchiya wore slip ons…he didn't even know why Mukai had shoes she couldn't do up.
Oh. They lit up. That explained it.
"Rank is always going to mean something. I'm a Scar, see? I'm strong enough to go up against the president and live to tell the tale." Said Mukai as she sat down and held out her foot.
"I'm pretty sure Dad was going easy on you." said Sho as he put her shoe on her foot and started to tie it. This was a lot easier than when she had been a baby. No kicking and screaming. Sho wondered if he had been the same way back when he had been a baby…it wasn't like there was anyone he could ask. Mom was being weird, Fukuda was missing, and Dad was in jail…the Dad he knew was in jail. The only Dad that either of them had ever known…
Him better than Mukai.
"The President doesn't go easy on anyone, Sho, that's why he's the President. He didn't come to power by showing mercy." Said Mukai
"Dad went easy on you, he likes you the best…" said Sho as he did up her other shoe. Dad only liked her best because she had been born with her powers, she had presented when she had been a baby. Sho hadn't presented until he had been almost eight and it hadn't been until he was nine that he could do anything more than bend a spoon…it had gotten better after he had been Awakened…Dad had called it better…
He doubled knotted her shoelaces. She was little, she was always kicking them off. She couldn't help it.
"The President doesn't like anyone. That's why he's the President, duh. He moved past mercy and other weak stuff like that." Said Mukai
"And now he's rotting in jail." Said Sho as he finished her shoes. She stood up and flicked him across the forehead.
"That's only because someone stronger came along…that jerky boy who broke all my dolls…" said Mukai
"Ok, yeah, I'll give you that. I should make him apologize." Said Sho as he stood up.
"No, don't do that. Apologies are for the weak too!" said Mukai
"Is there anything that isn't for the weak?" asked Sho
"I don't know, ask the President." Said Mukai
"Yeah, no, that's not happening. If I never speak to Dad again for the rest of my life it'll still not be long enough." Said Sho
"You're lucky he at least talks to you." said Mukai
"Do you…want to talk to him?" asked Sho. He wasn't sure who he meant. The Dad that was rotting in Prison or the one that Reigen was taking care of? Old Dad or young Dad? The Dad who existed now or…the one who had existed to Mukai and everyone else in Claw aside from the Ultimate Five, who they always lived with, and Fukuda who….apparently knew Dad better than he had ever let on….
"Nope. I want to go to the park. We can talk to people later, now come on!" said Mukai as she tugged on him. Sho reached out with his powers and pulled a tiny, red, jacket off of the hook on the wall that he assumed was hers.
"Not without this you're not." Said Sho. She sighed and snatched it out of his hand.
"I'm doing this because it's cold out and not because you told me to." Said Mukai
"I know, I know. You're a Scar and I'm just a lowly Awakened." Said Sho. Mukai rolled her eyes.
"You're not an Awakened, you're not anything in Claw, so that means that no matter what I'll always outrank you." said Mukai
"Fine, you'll always outrank me…but I'll always be able to outrun you!" said Sho before he took off. She followed him, closely, but mostly because he was running kind of slow so that she could keep up with him. She was just a little kid, after all, and her legs were all short and stubby. There was nothing to be gained, really, by beating a little kid.
But everything to be gained by letting a little kid win.
It was more worth it to see her smile, to see her happy, than to beat her. She was his sister, his only real sister, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her sad. Especially since there were already so many things in the world to be sad about. She was little. She knew about some of them but not all of them and he was going to keep them from her for as long as possible. He was going to keep her a little kid for as long as possible.
Which was better than anyone had ever done for him.
Dad hadn't cared about him, not enough to play with him, or to do much of anything with him. That had been other people's jobs. First Fukuda, since Sho had been such an accident prone little kid that he'd needed a healer following him around twenty four seven. Then came Shimazaki, he had been really fun back before Sho had been old enough to realize that he was kind of an asshole, then Minegishi who Sho had always known was an asshole…and a boring one at that which was even worse. Hatori had come third and he had been alright, even if he threw worse tantrums than Sho ever had in his entire life. Shibata had been fun, he liked to bake and play and if Sho had been younger when he'd joined then they could have had even more fun. Serizawa, of course, hadn't been much fun but he'd always been more of Dad's friend. Sho…there had been people who cared about him…back when he had been little…
But not the people who were supposed to be there.
There had been times, times like these, when Sho had wished that he'd had a big brother of his own. Times, the rare ones, when he'd been able to take Mukai out into the world. The world outside of whatever HQ or Division they'd been in. Parks and stuff like that, stuff with families. Stuff where he could see how people were with their families…and how much he had been missing out on over the years. He had always wished, after becoming a big brother, that he'd had one. He'd long given up on having a mom, at that point, and having a dad had always been something as nuts as having a giant hamster that he could ride through giant hamster tubes. A big brother, or even a big sister, would have been great…
But he was the big brother, he didn't have one, and that was ok.
He could be that person for Mukai. He wasn't sure how much Tsuchiya liked her, Mukai had never called her 'mom' even when she had been a baby, but she took care of her and she was around. That was more than his mom had ever done. He was better, though, than Mom. He was always going to be around for her…like he should have been for his other siblings…
They didn't need him.
They had a mom and a dad. They didn't need a big brother. He already had a little sister, he didn't need more siblings. If only Mom could have understood that…but Mom was weird. Dad had even said, that one time when Sho had asked why she had left them, that Moms were women and women were puzzles that men could never understand…but of course then he went off on Sho about being gay so kind of mixed messages there. He didn't know what Mom and her new family would think about that so he kept that to himself…he kept a lot of things to himself.
It was easy to keep things to himself when he had no intention of ever going 'home'.
The sun didn't stay up for very long this time of year. Soon, way too soon, the streetlights came on and it was time to bring Mukai home. Tsuchiya hadn't been happy, not about him borrowing Mukai without telling her or about the door being opened, but he said sorry. He said sorry because he meant it. The things that she said made sense.
Not like the things that Mom said.
He didn't know if he could take another conversation with Mom, the kind where she said one thing but he knew she meant another. So he didn't go home. He just…walked around. Not to any place in particular, no, just around. Around the one place in the world that he wanted to go. Around the brightest aura in this entire city. He knew that Ritsu didn't go to sleep until late, and that he couldn't safely go to Ritsu's until his parents went to sleep even later, so he avoided the house with the brightest aura in the city…but he hadn't been thinking while he walked. His feet had just carried him here, there, and everywhere.
Including everywhere that he hadn't wanted to go.
His feet, or maybe his aura, had taken him back to Reigen's. Back to where Dad was. Young Dad, not old Dad. Old Dad was still rotting in prison where he belonged. Young Dad should have been in there with him. Then maybe he wouldn't have been able to grow up and try to take over the world. Then maybe he wouldn't have grown up to ruin so many people's lives.
Including Sho's.
If it weren't for Dad then he could have been happy. He could have been with Mom and…wait, no, if it weren't for Dad then he never would have been born. So maybe it was best that he didn't drag Young Dad to prison so he could be locked up before he did anything wrong. Obviously he didn't, obviously he knew as soon as he thought about it that it was a bad idea, obviously Dad was still here. That meant that he went home. That meant that Sho could go home.
He didn't go home.
He went up the stairs. This was one of those apartment buildings where everyone had a balcony and you could just walk up to their door. No locks to pick at all. Maybe that was why Sho was here, if he'd had to put forth the effort of picking a lock opened then he would have just gone home…or maybe not. Maybe he would have put forth the effort. He would rather have checked up on/beaten Dad up and dragged him to prison instead of spending more time in Mom's house than he had to.
He didn't beat Dad up.
Even though he wanted to. Even though it had been easy, way too easy, to unlock Reigen's door, which left him with a lot of energy, a lot of energy that would have been put to good use dishing out the same thing that Dad had for his entire life. He could have beaten Dad up pretty badly if he had wanted to. He was asleep after all right there on the floor in front of Reigen's TV. Sho could have easily at least kicked him in the side a few times, or the head, or just choked him until he saw stars and passed out…
But he didn't.
It wasn't a fair fight, Dad being asleep. Sho had never seen Dad asleep like that before…or ever. He must have seen Dad asleep back when he had been a little kid, back when he used to go into Mom and Dad's room even though he knew that it wasn't allowed. He had never seen this before, though, Dad laying on his side on the floor. The TV casting it's pale light on him. Some game over screen…heh…Dad had died. Good. He deserved to die.
In game.
In life…in life Sho didn't know how he felt about Dad. He wanted to beat him up but also…also just kind of watch him. Savor it, maybe, Dad being all vulnerable like that. Dad just sleeping, laying on his side, like Mukai used to do when she was really little and would fall asleep in weird places. Yeah, that was what Dad looked like…a little kid.
Just like a little kid.
"Fuck's wrong with me…" muttered Sho as he looked around. There was a coat hanging in the genkan. That would do. He wasn't a complete and total asshole, just because he came from Dad didn't mean he was an apple from a tree or whatever. Dad looked cold and…yeah. This wasn't Dad…his Dad. This was Young Dad. Young, kind of weird, even kind of gross sometimes, Dad…and he looked cold.
So Sho put the jacket over him.
"Not cold…." Muttered Dad as he pulled the jacket up over his head. Sho wondered who he thought he was talking to. His Mom and Dad? Fukuda? Or someone else…Sho didn't even know who else. Sho had never thought much about Dad's life, that he'd even had one before he became Dad. But he did. He had parents who, Sho guessed, he loved and a best friend who Sho had grown up with…who had never mentioned anything about being Dad's friend…there was so much that he didn't know…so much that he wanted to know…
So much that he didn't ask about.
Because it was late. Because Dad was asleep there on the floor. Because Reigen was asleep on his bed and Sho knew that if he woke either of them he'd have a lot of questions to answer…or worse. Reigen would be all concerned about him. He didn't need Reigen or anyone to be concerned about him. He was thirteen, nearly fourteen if you rounded way up, and he could take care of himself. He wasn't afraid to be out at night, he wasn't afraid of being out on his own, he wasn't afraid of anything!
Not even his own Dad.
He didn't leave because he was afraid, he left because he didn't want to deal with a lot of stuff. Questions, concern, stuff like that. He didn't want to deal with anyone, anyone but himself or…he checked the time. Ritsu's parents were probably still going to be awake, and probably his big brother too, and Ritsu himself…well he went to sleep kind of early but…but Sho really needed to see him to…to…
To check up on him!
Yeah! He put his phone in his pocket. It would have been easier to call him but this seemed more like the kind of thing that he should have done in person. So that was what he did. He got back to walking. He had always been good at this, walking a lot. He used to go on long walks back when they had been going from Division to Division, HQ to HQ, safehouse to safehouse. It was fun, exploring new places. Just being out on his own without anyone there to tell him what to do. Not Dad, not Fukuda, now anyone else who thought that they were the boss of him.
Sho was the boss of himself.
And as the boss of himself he decided to walk across town to see his boyfriend. Boyfriend. He was never going to get used to that word. He actually had a boyfriend! Not some guy he liked who would never be able to like him back, not someone he met and made out with knowing that they'd never see each other again, and not someone that Sho imagined on those long nights all on his own. Someone who listened to him, wanted to be around him, understood him, and put up with him. Ritsu was real, his real boyfriend, and Sho…
Of course Sho wanted to spend time with his boyfriend. That was the point of being boyfriends.
Also the difference between boyfriends and regular friends, not that Sho'd had a lot of either in his life, was that you could totally sneak in through your boyfriend's window and he wouldn't get mad. It was like how the only person who Shimazaki was allowed to sneak up on, who he was allowed to teleport into the room of, was Minegishi. They weren't a couple but they were in love and stuff. They even called each other by their given names when no one who cared was around. If Shimazaki would have tried that with anyone else he would have gotten his ass kicked…or nearly kicked. Nobody could kick Shimazaki's ass.
Not that Sho still though that he was cool.
Because he wasn't. He had beaten Ritsu up, and all those other guys, but Ritsu was the most important. So Sho didn't think that he was cool or funny and he certainly didn't want to hang out with him or be his friend or anything. Him or those other guys. They had sided with Dad, Sho had sided with himself, and now the only person he could still be friends with was Serizawa but that didn't matter because he had Ritsu and Ritsu was the love of his life-
Ritsu was his boyfriend.
Ritsu was really smart, and funny when no one else was around, and he always smelled good, and he was always so warm and comfortable, and he always put up with Sho even when Sho knew that he was being annoying. Ritsu was…he was perfect and Sho knew that he loved…that he liked Ritsu. A lot. He liked Ritsu a lot but he knew that if he ever told Ritsu that he loved him then Ritsu would be all weirded out so, yeah, Ritsu was not the love of his life. Not even in his head. Not in life or in his head or…or…
Or anywhere.
But liking him a whole lot was enough for Sho. This whole thing was already more than he had ever imagined for himself in his whole life. A boyfriend and friends and Dad, the asshole version that he knew, was in prison…everything that he had ever wanted. He was even back with Mom again but it turned out that being with Mom was one of those 'be careful' what you wish for things. But that was alright.
Even if he had just had Ritsu then he still would have been alright.
Even if this was what his life was, creeping through Ritsu's window in the middle of the night in a way that would have been creepy if they hadn't been together, then Sho would have been happy. The happiest that he had ever been in his life. Ritsu's room was dark but Sho didn't need light, he could see Ritsu's aura with his own. A glowing dark blue, but also very warm, and kind of comfortable. Sho slipped his shoes off and flew across the room. He focused on Ritsu's aura and ignored his big brother's way too big and kind of scary, when he thought about it, aura. He made a point to ignore it. He was…he was here for Ritsu…
And anyway they were friends so there was no reason to be worried about Ritsu's big brother.
There was no reason to be worried about anything. This was…he should have been happy. Things were working out. Reigen was going to take care of Dad, Sho still existed so obviously Dad went back home, Mom kind of wanted him around for whatever reason, and he had someone who he really liked and who really liked him. He had friends and a life and…and there was no reason to have this weird, worried, feeling in his stomach. There was no reason at all to feel the way he felt now so he just…he just had to stop…to make it stop…
He just had to stop thinking about it, that was all.
"Hey, Ritsu?" asked Sho as he poked Ritsu's aura with his. It was hard to think about other things, the things that worried him, when he and Ritsu were together. Hell, it was hard to think about anyone or anything other than Ritsu when he and Ritsu were together. He poked Ritsu again, this time with his finger. He knew that he was kind of being an asshole but just…he just really needed to talk to Ritsu.
To be near him.
"What?" groaned Ritsu as he sat up. Sho felt like his heart was trying to climb up into his throat. Finally! Not that he hadn't just seen Ritsu but it was different when there were other people around. When it was just the two of them then…well, it was better when it was just the two of them.
"Nothing. Just felt like waking you up in the middle of the night for no reason." Said Sho
"Uh-huh. Sure, no reason." Said Ritsu
"Ok, yeah, there's a reason." Said Sho
"What? Your dad didn't kill Reigen or anything, right? I mean I don't like him all that much but I don't want him dead or anything." Said Ritsu
"No, he's still alive. He's asleep on Reigen's floor, kind of like a little kid…it's weird." Said Sho
"This whole day's been weird." Said Ritsu
"Can I be weird and get in there with you?" asked Sho
"That's the least weird thing to happen to be all day." Said Ritsu as he pulled the blanket to the side. Sho shrugged off his jacket and laid down next to Ritsu. It was dark, Ritsu couldn't see how red he was getting. It always looked worse than it was, with him being as pale as he was. It wasn't like he was super embarrassed or anything. It wasn't like he expected anything to happen or anything. They were too young and Ritsu hadn't ever done anything before and, anyway, neither of them was named Hanazawa so they didn't have to worry about any of that!
"What's with you? Your aura's being all…like that." Said Ritsu
"Nothing just thinking." Said Sho
"About?" asked Ritsu
"Weird stuff." Said Sho
"So pretty much all the normal things you think about?" asked Ritsu
"Hey, I think about normal stuff sometimes." Said Sho
"Like the time you thought about what life would be like if we had giant hamster tunnels instead of sidewalks?" laughed Ritsu
"Hey, I stand by what I said. It would be really cool if we had giant tunnels to crawl through. Fun, too. I mean unless someone threw up in them or whatever." Said Sho
"Gross. I didn't even know that hamsters threw up." said Ritsu
"They don't, but people do, so you know someone would throw up and then the whole thing would be gross forever." Said Sho
"Yeah, you've got the most normal thoughts out of all of us." Said Ritsu
"I do. I mean at least I'm not…" said Sho. At least he wasn't his Dad. The guy went forward in time because he saw a movie way too many times…that was NOT normal! But what was even more not normal was bringing him up…so Sho wouldn't. He had no reason to, he was with Ritsu now.
"At least you're not my brother." Said Ritsu
"What's with your brother?" asked Sho
"He's more worried about Hanazawa than your Dad. I mean, yeah, I can't believe he did anything with anyone let alone…yeah…but it's not nearly as interesting as the fact that time travel is real. Also maybe we should be worried about your dad because he's kind of-" said Ritsu
"Evil?" asked Sho
"I was going to say 'a jerk' but, yeah, evil works too. Just didn't know if I could say anything because he's, you know, your dad." Said Ritsu
"I know my dad's evil, it's not a big secret. Non-evil people don't try and take over the world, or do even half of the other shit that he did." Said Sho. Ritsu didn't say anything, he just reached out and slid his out and up the back of Sho's shirt. He knew that he had a scar there, a really bad one, though some people would have called it cool…Sho just called it a bad memory. A bad memory on a long list of bad memories…another one of those 'be careful what you wish for' things.
He had his powers now. There was no reason to think about what happened.
Or what…he couldn't even finish the thought. Ritsu was so close. Sho could have kissed him if he'd wanted to, and he did want to, but this was…this was different. They were closer now, and in the dark, and worst of all in a bed. Not that Sho was a little kid about this. He just…didn't want to rush Ritsu! Yeah, that was it. What kind of an asshole rushed his boyfriend into stuff. If he rushed Ritsu into stuff then he'd end up just like Hanazawa and nobody wanted to end up like Hanazawa!
Especially not Hanazawa.
"Still thinking of weird stuff?" asked Ritsu
"No, just Hanazawa." Said Sho. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Ritsu's aura pulled back as quickly as his hand did.
"So you're thinking about him right now?" asked Ritsu. Sho didn't need to see his face to know how pissed off he was Why? It wasn't like…wait. No. He knew what he had done. But why would Ritsu think something like that? Hanazawa wasn't all that hot, or that funny, or that smart, and he cared way too much about how he looked. Sho didn't want a boyfriend who was afraid to do anything because he might mess his hair up or get his shirt dirty. How could Ritsu have ever thought that Sho would have wanted to be with someone like that?
It didn't matter why Ritsu felt the way he did, what mattered was that Sho had made Ritsu feel that way, and now he had to fix it.
"No, not HIM just…just how he did it with that girl, the one who was on your team when Dad tried to take over the world, and now he's banished from her hangout place or whatever. Just…that we know someone who did it, that's all. Not about doing it. Not with him, I mean. I don't like him like that. I don't think I ever could. He's not my type." Said Sho. He watched Ritsu's aura. There was a moment when Sho thought, scared, that Ritsu didn't care…that he was still going to be pissed off…that he was going to kick Sho out…
He relaxed. So could Sho.
"Sorry." Said Ritsu
"It's ok." Said Sho
"Really, I'm sorry." Said Ritsu
"I just said that it was ok." Said Sho. He had never been good with apologies, probably because he hadn't gotten a lot of them in his life.
"No, I mean I'm really sorry. I don't know what's with me." said Ritsu
"It's been a weird day, you're allowed to be weird." Said Sho, lightly kicking Ritsu's foot with his own.
"Well, you're always weird." Said Ritsu kicking him a little harder.
"You're the weirdest." Said Sho kicking Ritsu just a little bit harder. Just enough so he could feel it, not enough to hurt him. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Ritsu. He loved…he liked Ritsu a whole lot. More then he had ever liked another person in his life. More than, maybe, he ever would like another person in his life…
He didn't want to like another person as much as he liked Ritsu.
"I think you're talking about yourself." Said Ritsu. He kicked Sho but didn't move his foot away. He kept it over Sho's and then, after a moment, scooted a little closer to him. Then he scooted his whole self closer. Sho didn't know what he was taking his time for, it wasn't like Sho was going to run away or anything. It wasn't like Sho had ever run away from anything in his life. Certainly not his boyfriend, and certainly not from this.
There was nothing to run away from.
"Really? I'm not the one scooting along like…uh…something really slow." Said Sho. It was hard to think when Ritsu was this close. Hard to even remember what it was that they had been talking about. Ritsu was so close, close enough that Sho could see him in the darkness. Close enough that he could feel Ritsu breathing on him. It tickled, a little, not enough to bother him…there was nothing about Ritsu that could ever bother him.
"Something really slow?" laughed Ritsu
"Yeah, something really slow…so are you going to kiss me or what?" asked Sho. Ritsu didn't say anything, he just kissed him. Ritsu was weird like that, like he needed to be told. When they were alone. When they kissed for real…not that they kissed for practice…it was always real. This was just more real. Nobody was around.
They could kiss for real.
That kind of…he didn't even know the word for it. Not as much as making out, or doing stuff, but more than the little kisses that they were restricted to when they kissed around other people. He didn't know the word for it and…and he didn't think that it mattered. Not when Ritsu's hand found his. Not when Ritsu was even closer to him. Not when Ritsu was practically on top of him. Not when-
-someone was at the door.
"Ritsu? Are you still awake?" asked Ritsu Mom. Ritsu froze. Sho froze, trying to remember how to turn invisible. It took time, a lot of time, and a lot of energy too. It was easier to do it in the light. It was bending light after all so, yeah, there wasn't a lot of light in this darkness…fuck! He was fucked! He was-
"Mom? Can I have a glass of milk?" Said Ritsu's Big Brother, the best big brother in the entire world. Sho could have kissed him if he and Ritsu had been in an open relationship and also if he had been attracted to Ritsu's big brother in the least bit!
But he wasn't, so he wasn't going to.
What he was going to do was lay very still until he heard Ritsu's mom sigh and muttered something about 'being half milk at this point' and then walking away. He didn't dare move until he heard her go all the way down the stairs. Ritsu didn't, either. If his mom had come in then they would have both been dead…not literally, but maybe it would have been better if they had died. Angry mom's were worse than angry dads. Angry dads just hit you until they felt better. Angry moms stayed mad at you forever and then had a bunch of kids with some random guy.
He didn't want that for Ritsu.
So he stayed still until it was safe to move. When it was they didn't get back to kissing. That would have been weird, his mom having had just been there, and his big brother being awake and on the other side of the wall. They weren't Shimazaki and Minegishi, they weren't going to do it all night with a lot of screaming and talking and stuff. That was weird for everyone involved. What Sho was going to do was sit up. He was more aware, he felt as he sat up, of the aura on the other side of the wall…but it wasn't scary, not like it had been before. It was kind of…nice. Not nice like Risu's but still nice, like a friend's would have been…was.
Like a friend's was. He and Ritsu's Big Brother were friends.
"Thanks!" said Sho because, well, it seemed like the right thing to say to a friend. Ritsu's Big Brother had his back. It was…it was nice, having people who had his back, people who didn't disappear when the fight was over. People who stuck around…it was nice…so of course he was going to thank the person being nice to him!
Even if, judging by how much Ritsu was cringing, it had been a little too loud.
Sho had been a little too loud…but Mob wasn't going to say anything.
"You're welcome." Said Mob, just loud enough that he could have been heard. It would have made more sense to go and tell him but Mob wasn't dumb, he knew that Ritsu kissed his boyfriend, he'd even seen it…the way that they kissed when people were around. Mob blending into the background, he knew how people kissed when they thought that there wasn't anyone around.
Not the kind of thing he wanted to see, or even know about, when it came to his brother.
So he stayed in his own room. He was happy to have been able to help. To be of some help to someone. He hadn't been of any help to Touichirou, and they were sort of friends. He hadn't been able to be of any help to Teru either and they were definitely friends…not that he was sure what he could have done…if anything…probably nothing. But that was…that was alright. At least he could still help his little brother when he needed it.
Mob never minded helping, especially when it came to helping Ritsu.