Chapter Text
“Master Ritsu, did Arataka-senpai seem… kind of weird today? To you?” The thought is troubling, so Katsuya is smoothing his hands down Tsutsu’s back. It kind of feels like he’s wiping his sweaty hands on her, but she doesn’t seem to mind; her eyes are squinted shut and her body is relaxed.
“Not weirder than normal,” says Master Ritsu. He stops reading his book for a moment and glances over at Katsuya. “But possibly in a different way. Why?”
“He wouldn’t stop smiling,” says Katsuya to Tsutsu’s back. “It wasn’t his normal smile, I don’t think. It looked like it hurt. It makes me think he’s trying to pretend he’s okay but he’s really not. But I don’t know how to ask him about it…”
“You’re really asking me for advice on Reigen-kun’s emotions?” says Master Ritsu. He’s doing that little amused-but-kind-of-judgmental smile that Katsuya doesn’t like but isn’t brave enough to say it. “You should ask my brother if he’s noticed anything.”
“He won’t have,” mumbles Katsuya. “Remember that time when it took him half an hour to realize Fujioka-san was dead even though he’d met her before?”
“He’s not very good with faces,” Master Ritsu admits (Fujioka-san doesn’t even have a face!). “But he’s very devoted to Reigen-kun. You should try asking him anyway.”
Really, Katsuya is hoping Arataka-senpai will get better on his own before he has to ask Master Shigeo about it. It will be a few weeks, after all, before he’s able to visit the farm. And he doesn’t see Arataka-senpai so often, so he almost forgets about it by the time he’s getting off the bus and finds Arataka-senpai waiting for him.
“Good afternoon,” says Katsuya, waving. Tsutsu sneezes next to him. “Sorry about the dust, Tsutsu-chan,” he whispers to her. “I wish they’d pave this road or something.” Who exactly would pave the road, he doesn’t know. Or how. But at least Tsutsu wouldn’t sneeze when the bus drives away.
“Good afternoon, Katsu-kun,” says Arataka-senpai, smiling widely. “Good afternoon, Tsutsu-chan. Isn’t it a beautiful day? Feels like this blue sky has been coming for weeks.”
Katsuya has no idea what that means, and suddenly he remembers his fears about his friend. “It’s very nice out,” he says politely. “Um, how have you been?”
“Fantastic,” says Arataka-senpai as they start walking. “Really, just really super good. I’m making lots of friends at school and we have so much fun together. I joined a couple of clubs just because I really like the people, even though it’s halfway through the year. To be honest, I just love being in high school.”
Katsuya frowns at the ground, sorting through all of that. “Are you… being sarcastic?”
“What, can you not believe I’d be genuinely happy and have lots of friends? That’s sad, Katsu-kun.” Arataka-senpai is looking at him with kind of a sympathetic expression. He’s not even pretending to be offended. Katsuya feels like there’s something very important he’s missing, a secret agreement or something that happened that could explain why Arataka-senpai is acting so strange. It’s frustrating, that feeling he often has that he’s missing something everyone else gets. And a little bit scary, because Arataka-senpai has never been the kind of person to leave him out of a secret while talking about it right in front of him.
“It’s just that… well, it feels like you’re making fun of me,” he says finally.
“You should come and meet my friends,” says Arataka-senpai. “Then you’ll understand.”
Katsuya hopes that’s true, because he certainly doesn’t understand anything now.
Arataka-senpai talks about his new clubs for the rest of the walk, but Katsuya is having a hard time paying attention because he’s so worried. When they come in the front door of the house, Arataka immediately goes to the kitchen table to hug Master Shigeo, which is definitely not normal. Katsuya can count the number of hugs he’s gotten from Arataka-senpai on one hand despite how often Arataka-senpai puts an arm around his shoulders or messes up his hair (which is kind of sad, because he loves getting hugs).
“Hello, Arataka-kun,” says Master Shigeo. His face gives nothing away—he just looks slightly happy to see his student, like usual. “How are your studies going?”
“Great! Pretty much the best. I’ve even been getting better grades since I started making more friends. We study together and I help them out. Dimple-sama is always really happy to hear when we’re getting good grades.”
Katsuya waits through a few seconds of Master Shigeo’s silence before deciding he’s not going to mention it, and then says, “Who’s Dimple-sama?”
“Oh, he’s amazing,” says Arataka-senpai. He’s sort of draped over Master Shigeo, and Katsuya wonders if that’s uncomfortable for either of them. Physically, or, psychologically. “He can make anyone laugh, he’s the one who brought all of us together. Without him we’d have nothing. I really want you both to meet him, I know you’d love him.”
“I’ll consider it if I ever go into the city,” says Master Shigeo.
“Um, I don’t know about getting into Seasoning City,” says Katsuya nervously. “I might not really have time.” He doesn’t know why, but he doesn’t like the idea of meeting Dimple-sama. Without him we’d have nothing, Arataka-senpai said. That’s not true, is it? He’d have Katsuya and their master and his husband and Tome-san and Auntie and Uncle and Milk and his parents. That’s not nothing. Did Dimple-sama tell him that was nothing?
Katsuya is fretting too much to pay attention to the rest of what he says, so he’s not really sure why or when Arataka-senpai disappears. He startles out of his thoughts when Master Shigeo says, “Do you think he’s acting strange?”
“Yes! He has been since two weeks ago when he visited Master Ritsu’s office! He smiles way more than normal and sometimes he says stuff I don’t understand and, well, he’s not sarcastic any more.”
“I thought it was odd that he hugged me without having to be persuaded,” says Master Shigeo. “And what he said about the cult of smiling people seems more troubling now.” A cult? Why hasn’t Katsuya heard about this? A cult? “I do wish he’d hug me more, though, I think it would do him good. Normally he makes it quite a production. He’s very proud.”
“That too,” says Katsuya, sinking into the chair next to Master Shigeo’s. The warmth that radiates off him is comforting right now, and so is his oceanic aura. Katsuya learned the term oceanic in geography class two days ago, and he immediately associated it with Master Shigeo. It’s both powerful and placid, and he thinks it has a very comforting sound. “At first I thought he was trying to cover up something that was bothering him by acting too happy, but I’m starting to think it has something to do with Dimple-sama. I think he’s been telling Arataka-senpai… bad stuff. Like that we’re not important to him.”
“I see,” says Master Shigeo. He’s looking very intently at the tabletop, which must mean he’s thinking hard. Katsuya waits for about two minutes, and then he starts to think that Master Shigeo is maybe just spacing out. But that’s all right. Katsuya knows exactly who to talk to about people being manipulated.
When Arataka-senpai comes back, Katsuya does his best to ‘lay it on thick’ and convince him to come and visit Master Ritsu’s office next weekend. He stammers even more than normal, and he’s horribly afraid Arataka-senpai will see through him, but he doesn’t seem to.
He has to rush to explain it to Takane-san when he gets to Master Ritsu’s office, because he’s not sure when Arataka-senpai is coming. “Takane-san!” he says. “I’m sorry to bother you—” She looks around, from where she’s gripping Master Ritsu’s hand like they’re about to arm wrestle—“but I need your help. It’s Arataka-senpai.”
She makes a soft disappointed sound, and Katsuya realizes that she and Ritsu-san were having an aura strength contest. “Um, sorry,” he says. He doesn’t mean to ruin people’s fun, but somehow it ends up happening over and over. Even at school when he tries to make friends with people a lot of the time he ruins their fun, and now he’s even messing it up for adults. He shuffles backward guiltily, wondering if he should come back later, and Tsutsu leans against his leg.
“No, no, go on,” says Takane-san. “I’m sure Kageyama won’t hold a loss like that against me. And I’ve already beaten him once, so I’ve got nothing to prove.” Master Ritsu rolls his eyes, but Katsuya feels a tiny bit better, just okay enough to spill everything he’s worrying about.
“Arataka-senpai has been acting really weird, like he’s way too happy and he actually hugs people and he keeps talking about all his new friends and this guy called Dimple-sama and it’s not like it’s really suspicious but I’m kind of worried about him. So is Master Shigeo.”
“Well,” says Takane-san. “If even Shigeo noticed, I should definitely take it seriously. Have you noticed anything odd about his aura?”
Katsuya starts chewing on his lip, trying to think. “Maybe… I think I thought he was sick last time he came to visit. He was a little… wobbly?”
“I’ll take that under advisement,” says Takane-san gravely. That’s something he likes about her, that she always takes him very seriously. She never dismisses anything he says, and she doesn’t treat him like a kid. She makes him feel like kind of a business colleague, only the business is Arataka-senpai’s weird behavior and the business deal they made is that he’s delegating the investigation to her. He gives her a small smile, and she nods at him. “Don’t worry, Katsuya-kun, I’ll find out what’s going on. Is there anything else you’d like help with?”
“No, I think that’s all, thank you, Takane-san.” She nods again, and he sits down on the floor and takes out his cat charm to keep testing it (Tsutsu lays her head on his lap and he starts slowly stroking her soft ears). The really interesting thing about the charm is it can do things he can’t do—he’s not lucky, he doesn’t have any powers like that, not like Kurosaki-san, but the charm does. If he whispers a question to it and drops it on a piece of paper with YES and NO written on it, it always falls and rolls to the correct answer, even when he doesn’t know what it is, so it’s not his own powers doing it. It also scares bugs away, and once he accidentally set a piece of paper on fire with it. It’s also totally impervious to damage, so basically it’s the luckiest possible charm (except when it sets something on fire, although to be fair what it set on fire was his math homework so maybe it still counts as lucky).
He gradually becomes aware that Arataka-senpai’s aura is approaching, and starts examining it. It is kind of weird. Normally it sends off little lightning bolts of energy, but now it’s just fizzing in a sort of painful way that makes his ears itch like he needs to pop them but can’t. “Takane-san!” Arataka says as he comes in. “It’s so nice to see you! You look lovely as ever today.”
“There is definitely something wrong with him,” says Takane-san. “Kageyama, can you get the door? I don’t want him escaping.” The door shuts itself and the lock clicks. Arataka-senpai turns to look at it, confused but still smiling, and Takane-san says, “Hey. Pay attention to me when I’m hypnotizing you.”
He looks around again, and Katsuya can see the exact moment he meets Takane-san’s eyes because his whole body freezes and his eyes lose focus.
“I’ve never tried to alter someone’s emotions before,” says Takane-san. “I’d appreciate if you could do a little narration for me here.”
“I’ve been reset,” says Arataka-senpai in a kind of vague, dreamy voice that he realizes sounds a lot like Takane-san. It’s really creepy, even though Katsuya knows Takane-san is doing it to help him. “Dimple-sama’s influence has already been purged and when you leave my mind will be back to normal. I won’t remember clearly what I did for the past three weeks but I’ll know something happened to me.”
“All right,” says Takane-san. She blinks and looks away, and then Arataka-senpai blinks too and his eyes focus on her.
“What the hell,” he says. “What the fuck.”
Takane-san starts laughing (she has a beautiful laugh with a warm tone, and her eyes squint shut, and she looks beautiful). “Well, we know that worked all right.”
“Thanks, Takane-san,” says Arataka-senpai. His eyebrows are doing some kind of thing that makes him look angry and confused. “I’m going to kill him.” Both Katsuya and Takane-san open their mouths, probably to say the same thing (‘he’ll just hypnotize you again if you try!’) and he starts waving his hand in the overly complex way he has and says, “I know, I know. Metaphorically, whatever. I’m going to sic someone on him who can actually kill him. Any volunteers?”
“Leave me out of this,” says Master Ritsu immediately.
“I refuse to be sicced on anyone, on principle,” says Takane-san, “but I am going to dismantle this cult if I have to do it single-handedly. All I need from you, Reigen-kun, is information.”
“Just like always,” says Arataka-senpai, twisting his mouth thoughtfully. “I want to be there to see you take him down, though. I want to see him get what he deserves.”
“I would expect no less from you.”
Arataka-senpai and Takane-san are a scary pair when they work together for once. Katsuya feels his admiration for them both as almost a physical pain in his chest. “Should I… um, should I come?” he asks timidly.
“If you want to see,” says Takane-san. “Alternately, if you’re any good with psychic barriers. If it comes to a fight I’m not confident in my defensive ability, and we don’t know the abilities of this hypnotist Dimple. I’d prefer not to drag you into this, but Kageyama seems to be busy.”
“I have total faith in your abilities,” says Master Ritsu. “But if you get my student hurt I will be quite angry with you.”
“I’ll leave Tsutsu-chan at home, then,” murmurs Katsuya as Takane-san starts to reply. Arataka-senpai slings an arm over his shoulder and pats him sympathetically.