Now he had Fukuda's number.

It was there, in his phone, and now all he had to do was hit the call button and then…and then…and then he didn't know what was going to happen. Either Fukuda picked up or he didn't. If he didn't pick up then Sho was going to have to go back to Hatori and force him to find Fukuda. It wasn't hard to find people, not with all the security cameras around, and Hatori could totally look through every camera in the world to find Fukuda. He was, of course, going to give Sho a bunch of excuses about why he couldn't. The kind that all pretty much boiled down to him being too lazy to help…but Sho would make him help.

That is, if Fukuda didn't pick up the phone.

If he did pick up the phone then Sho…would keep it strictly business. Because he didn't have any other reason to talk to Fukuda aside from asking him, no, aside from telling him to take care of Dad. Presumably by taking him far away where he couldn't bother Sho anymore. Sho was still, technically, the leader here. He was the one who'd put the team together, he was the one who made all the plans, and he was the one who gave all the orders. That wasn't going to stop just because Dad had been defeated, Claw had fallen apart, and everyone had gone off to start new lives…lives away from Sho…

Sho was still the one in charge.

And Fukuda was still just someone who had been a big help and…and also he'd put Sho back together all those times he'd gotten hurt…and he'd also tucked Sho in a few times when he'd been little and taught him how to tie his shoes and…and he'd been the one to get him his first set of real artist's pencils and his first sketchbook…and he'd been the only one, before Dad put the Ultimate Five together, to give a damn about Sho's birthday and he'd been the first one to tell Sho that it was ok to be gay and…and a lot of other stuff that had happened when he'd been a kid.

But he wasn't a kid anymore.

He had a mission and that mission was getting Dad the hell out of here. He hit the call button before he lost his nerve. He was just tired and…and stuff like that. And it was cold out here, too, in this tree. It would have been warmer if he'd been closer to the ground but if he went lower people would have noticed him and asked why he wasn't in school. He didn't have a good answer beyond telling people to mind their own business…and that didn't always go over well, especially with how Mom seemed to know half the city, so he stayed put and watched his phone ring.

Twice.

Then it stopped. Not because Fukuda picked up, no, because Fukuda had hit that stupid, red, 'I don't want to talk to you anymore' button. It hadn't gone to voicemail. That would have been the smart thing to do, that way Sho could have pretended that Fukuda was just away from his phone or something, that would have been the polite thing to do to the guy who had saved his ass. If it hadn't been for Sho's idea to take Dad down, if Sho hadn't brought everyone together, if he hadn't been the tactical genius that he was then-then Fukuda and all the others could have been trapped in Claw and the world could have been Dad's and it would have been the like bad ending to every movie and videogame about the bad guy taking over the world! The least Fukuda could have done was pick up his goddamned phone and said 'hey Sho, thanks for saving everyone' or 'wow Sho, I'm sure grateful that I'm not still in Claw' or even 'it's so great to hear from you since now I know and care that you're still alive' and…and stuff like that.

He tried again.

That time it didn't even ring. Fukuda…wherever he was he either had shitty service or he didn't want to talk to Sho…and he knew that it probably wasn't shitty service…fuck! Sho threw his phone as hard as he could…and watched it disappear. Goddamn it! He pushed himself out of the tree and let himself fall to the ground. He didn't care who saw. He wasn't with Dad anymore, he was with Mom, and he couldn't just point to some random Claw member and tell him to get him a new phone when his broke. The ground came in fast. It didn't hurt, not really, he'd had worse.

And so had his phone.

"Wow. It really is life proof." Muttered Sho as he picked his phone up. Fukuda had made the right call when he made him get a real case for his phone. The one before this one had been really cool with glow in the dark glitter inside…and it totally hadn't been able to stand up to what Sho put it through. He rubbed the dirt off of his phone case and turned it on…Fukuda hadn't called him right back…but whatever. Hatori could always find him and if he was deep in hiding then Sho would just have to track him down, that was all. Hatori could find Higashio and Ootsuki, they'd know where he was, and then he could have Shimazaki teleport him to wherever they were and help threaten them into telling him where Fukuda was, if they didn't just tell him right away of course, and then he could bring Shibata along since he knew how to be threatening but he didn't take things too far like Shimazaki did…and if he was bringing Shimazaki he needed to bring Minegishi, too, since Minegishi was the best at keeping him on track, and if he was bringing Minegishi then he might as well have brought Serizawa along, too, since he hated being left out even if he was way too nice to be any use in a fight…and then Shimazaki would drag Hatori along, too, since he loved messing with people and Hatori was easy to mess with…yeah, they'd have all been together…

Just like old times.

Just like when he'd been a kid, a little kid, before he realized that Dad was evil…those had been good times…but they were done with now. Sho put his phone in his pocket. He wasn't going to call Fukuda again. Not now. He was thinking too much about…about how things used to be. Dad had always said that it was important to always look forward, that nostalgia was a trap, that a true leader never stopped planning for the future no matter what happened…and Dad was evil, and crazy, but…well, he'd managed to get a lot done.

Especially if you knew what he'd been like as a kid.

Dad, kid dad, was such a weirdo, and a jerk, and way too scatterbrained to have taken over a tree in the park let alone the world. At least that was what it felt like. Sho didn't know what had happened between the asshole he was now and the evil asshole he would grow up to become. At some point he'd stopped caring about videogames and started caring about world domination…or maybe he'd always cared about that. Fukuda would have known better than Sho considering the fact that he and Dad had been secret best friends…and also Fukuda was secretly ten days older than Dad…and whatever other secrets he'd been keeping from Sho. Dad, at least, could have secrets. It made sense, Dad was a weirdo and he'd never pretended to like Sho, but Fukuda…he had been Sho's friend. Or at least he'd acted like it. He'd been there and…and there was this whole secret history that Sho didn't even know about…that he'd had to hear about from DAD of all people…

Even Serizawa had kept it from him.

Even…no, Serizawa was Serizawa, and he had always been weird about Dad. Fukuda was the one who should have said something! Fukuda was the one who-Sho took his phone out of his pocket. That was his number right there…he tried it one more time. He watched his phone as it rang…and rang…and rang…

And then stopped.

Not even to voicemail…not that he knew what he could have said without sounding like he'd been going through the secret pockets of Shimazaki's coat. Whatever. He could deal with this on his own. He could talk to Hatori and…and the thought of being there, back in the safehouse…safe apartment building, made him feel weirdly tired. Maybe because it would have been a lot of work to avoid Serizawa, maybe because he knew Hatori would be difficult, maybe because the others might have been around and…and then he would have had to explain all of this to them…and he didn't want to. He wanted…he didn't know what he wanted.

He wanted to be with Ritsu.

He looked up at the sun. It wasn't nearly time for school to let out and even if it did Ritsu had afterschool stuff to do. He had student council and then family stuff. Sho wasn't going to get in the way of that. He may not have gotten along with his family but that didn't mean that he was going to ruin things for Ritsu, too. He just…he needed Ritsu…just to be with him. Without anyone else around, and not for kissing reasons, just because when it was just the two of them it was almost like they were the only two people there in the whole world…they were just so warm and…and safe. Like he was surrounded on all sides by walls and he could just lay down and relax. Ritsu had never once tried to screw him over and he didn't keep secrets…not like other people in his life. Not like other people who he had thought that her could have trusted.

Fuck Fukuda.

Fuck him for leaving! For running away as soon as everything had been over! Fuck him for leaving and not even saying goodbye! And fuck Dad for making him leave! And fuck Dad for being here and ruining everything that Sho had! And fuck…fuck Sho himself for feeling this way…for even caring. For caring that Fukuda was gone. People, non-Ritsu left all the time, that was what they did, and non-Ritsu people kept secrets too…big ones…and then they never called you again and…and…

And maybe Sho wanted to know why.

Why they kept those secrets and what they were and…and he had a right to know! He wasn't a kid anymore, he wasn't going to let people treat him this way, and he wasn't going to let his Dad come in and ruin everything! Even if it was a different version of his Dad! Sho had decided, years ago, that he was never going to feel this way again. All small and scared and…and ignored and invisible. Yeah! He wasn't going to feel invisible ever again unless he himself had decided to turn invisible! He was-

-going to answer his phone.

'Fukuda's new number you're welcome'. There it was in plain Japanese. Hatori had even added the emoji where it was sticking it's tongue out. Fukuda was calling him back. Sho immediately took back all the bad things he had thought about Fukuda and hit the 'answer' button. His hand was shaking. He didn't know why. It was just Fukuda.

He wanted to talk to Sho. That was the important thing.

"You have my attention." Said Fukuda as Sho pressed his phone to his ear. He'd never heard Fukuda talk like that before. Normally he was really soft spoken, almost like Ritsu's older brother but not as bad, and never, ever, pissed off…this was weird…

Sho had grown up in Claw. Everything was weird there.

"Good, because I called you three times." Said Sho

"Sho?" asked Fukuda, his voice instantly softening.

"Yeah, who else would it be?" asked Sho. He could hear some static on Fukuda's end. Or maybe it was the wind…or maybe he had just been somewhere with shitty reception like Sho had thought.

"Sho, you really had me scared for a minute there. I thought that you were…never mind who I thought that you were. It's just you." said Fukuda. Sho leaned back against the tree, for some reason feeling both light and heavy at the same time. He was so…so happy to hear Fukuda's voice again even if he should have been. Even if he should have been old enough to have been past this but…but Fukuda had been avoiding him because…because it sounded like there were people after him. It made sense. People had been fighting over the scraps of what Dad had left behind ever since the day he'd been captured. Sho and the Ultimate Five had stayed out of it because they were strong enough that they could…but Fukuda couldn't. He was a healer. He didn't have anything he could use to defend himself…

And Sho knew better than anyone else how many bad people there were in the world and what they would have done to get their hands on someone as powerful as Fukuda.

"Are people after you? If they are I can help. I know a lot of people, well three, but they're really powerful! Like the guy who took down Dad, Ritsu's big brother, we're friends now and if anyone's trying to mess with you we can totally kick your, I mean their-" Said Sho

"No, no, no, I don't need you to come and fight for me. I'm doing fine on my own, alright? You just focus on living your life." said Fukuda

"Where?" asked Sho. Where in Japan, no, the world was he doing alright and why hadn't he brought Sho…why hadn't he told Sho where he was going? If he was in danger then it made sense, how hush hush he was being, but if he…if he just didn't want Sho around…

Non Ritsu people left. It was what they did.

"In Seasoning City with your friends and, I'd imagine, your mother." Said Fukuda

"No dumbass, I meant where are you right now? Of course I'm with Mom in Seasoning City and of course it's going great. It's just like when I was a kid…what I imagined. Stuff like that." asked Sho. There was that static again. The call was just bad, that was all, Fukuda wasn't ignoring him or getting ready to hang up or anything like that. It was just a bad connection wherever he was in the world.

"Sho…it's best for the both of us that I don't say. Things haven't entirely cooled off and I don't want to paint a target on either of our backs." Said Fukuda

"You know that we could take them. You and me and Ritsu and his brother and Hanazawa, the blond kid that Dad kept on trying to kidnap, and Serizawa-hey! And the others, too, the rest of the Ultimate Five. We're kind of sort of made up…it's complicated, but we could-" said Sho

"I'm fine, Sho, I don't need your help." Groaned Fukuda

"But I could-" said Sho

"What do you need?" Fukuda asked suddenly, completely interrupting him even though it was Fukuda himself who had been breathing down Sho's neck his whole life about being polite.

"What are you talking about?" asked Sho

"From me. You must need something if you went through the trouble of figuring out my new number." Said Fukuda

"Hatori figured it out in, like, ten seconds." Said Sho with a wave of his hand even though Fukuda couldn't see him trying to be casual about all of this.

"Hatori…nobody's shot him yet. Amazing." Said Fukuda

"No, why would they? He's Hatori, he's annoying but not that annoying." Said Sho

"Because he…things your Dad had him do over the years. Never mind. Nothing that you need to know about." Said Fukuda. Sho gripped his phone tightly, grateful that his phone case was life proof. Didn't need to know…so what, more secrets? Sho was the one who was in charge here and…and he wasn't an asshole. He wasn't Dad. He was better than that.

"You can tell me what he did. You don't have to keep secrets from me, I'm not a little kid anymore. I can handle it." Said Sho

"Sho…no, you're only a kid and-" said Fukuda

"And you know I've seen some shit, and done some shit, and-" said Sho

"And I think that it's best for you to just be a kid, ok? You're young, Sho, you can put all of this behind you. You can walk away from everything and never look back. Just…live your life, alright? Just be a kid. You have no idea what a gift it is to be a kid. To have your whole life ahead of you…to able to just walk away from your mistakes without even a second glance." Said Fukuda

"Like you wish that you could?" asked Sho

"…yes…but that's not anything you need to know about." Said Fukuda

"Like how you wish you'd walked away from my Dad while you still could?" asked Sho. Nothing. More static…and more silence.

"How do you…how do you know about that?" asked Fukuda

"I mean you guys aren't friends anymore, are you? You used to be. You guys were best friends. You did everything together and you knew everything about each other and you hung out all the time and…and that's what he said, at least. That you're his best friend and…and I don't know why you kept something like that from me for all these-" said Sho

"They're letting your father have visitors? After everything he did? After kidnapping the prime minster, destroying Seasoning City, the kidnapping, the brainwashing, the phony orphanages, the murders, what he did to the stock market they're letting him have visitors…and why are you visiting him? Sho, I thought that you said that you were done with him. You need to be done with him. For your own safety you need to be done with-" said Fukuda

"It's hard to be done with him when he's right there." Said Sho

"Sho…are you telling me that he, what, escaped?" asked Fukuda

"No-" said Sho

"I mean it's not like he couldn't. Sakurai can dispel most curses and Shimazaki can teleport…Hatori can destroy any system-hell, he might have even held the economy hostage again-" said Fukuda

"No, no, Dad's still in prison and I sure as hell haven't been visiting him! God! What the fuck is the matter with you?" asked Sho

"Then…don't tell me you've bene talking to Serizawa. Sho…I know that he's your friend but there are some…some aspects to their relationship that you don't need to know about. That it's better for your mental wellbeing that you don't know about." Said Fukuda

"But it's not about him either. Just…ok, I'm going to sound like the time Shimazaki let me have-" said Sho

"Do not accept anything from that man! I'm not there if you end up overdosing and you could easily die and you know that man would just treat it like a big joke-" said Fukuda

"Just shut up for a minute and listen to me, alright? Dad's here, but not him, it's him from the past. The time that you guys tried to time travel, well it worked, and he's here and he's my age and he's staying with Reigen and he's being a total asshole and he keeps on asking where you are and, anyway, you need to come and get him because I don't want him anywhere near me so get off your ass and get over here!" said Sho. He was breathing heavy, he didn't know when that had started, but now that he'd noticed he couldn't unnoticed. The silence on the other end of the phone wasn't helping…but that was fine. Fukuda was just taking it all in. That made sense, this was a lot to take in, and the whole thing would take time but Sho would stay on the line and-

-and be hung up on.

"Hello? Hello? Fuck you!" shouted Sho. He could feel people looking at him. He didn't care. He dialed Fukuda right back…and this time it went right to voicemail. He tried again and again again…and Fukuda had turned his phone off….he had turned his goddamned phone off!

Somehow this was worse than being hung up on.

"Fine! I don't care anyway!" said Sho as he pulled his arm back and prepared to throw his phone. His aura was showing, people were looking at him, even a squirrel was staring at him…he put his arm down and shoved his phone in his pocket. The squirrel was still looking at him. He was here in it's home, he wasn't going to invade it's privacy by looking at it's junk, and he wasn't going to keep on freaking it out either. He had to get out of here. He had to calm down. He could see his aura. It was at it's full range. He could feel so many other espers and that meant that they could feel him…he could feel Ritsu. If Ritsu could feel him then he'd worry and Ritsu didn't need anything like that in his life. Sho calmed down and pulled his aura in before he could worry Ritsu anymore.

Or himself.

He felt…somehow Dad's aura was the same even if he was, supposedly, a different person than the one who Sho knew. He was…he was there, out there, and he was making Sho's life worse! He was…he was such an asshole! Even Fukuda was done with him…done to the point that he hung up on Sho and turned his phone totally off. Something had happened there, something that everyone decided was a big secret, something that Sho needed to know about. He wasn't going to be treated like this! He wasn't going to let Dad treat him like this!

Not anymore. He wasn't that person anymore. He wasn't a little kid anymore.