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Takenaka had spent most of his life dividing the things he Heard into two categories, things that were his business, and the vast majority that were not.
The girl hallucinating next to him on the bus stop definitely was Not his business, to any degree but it was also incredibly hard not to notice. Peeking out of the corner of his eye as he pretending to switch the songs on his phone, he noted the ways her hands trembled against the cold plastic bench, the glazed horrified look barely masked, dripping off like the makeup that was starting to smear under a thin glaze of sweat. Her throat bobbed slowly, dry swallowing something down and a single hand migrated up to grip the top of her expensive looking school uniform.
Takenaka, for the sake of politeness, had been trying very hard to ignore her. People, like it or not, wouldn’t stop having their little mental issues just because he could read their minds. The girl looked rich enough that she was probably getting help for her problems, more so than any of the other just as troubled people Takenaka passed every day. He focused his eyes firmly on the road, focusing not on the dark and horrifying images of the girl's mind, but the road, the glow of the evening lights, the smell of
blood and spoiled milk
rain on the sidewalk.
The click and shudder of the bus settling into the station snapped him out of his reverie. He gave the girl a small glare at the corner of his eye, watching as she sunk lower, sweaty blond hair clouding her eyes, mouth moving in muddled breathless words.
Takenaka looked at the bus, the only one the stopped here this time of night. He looked back at the girl sitting at the bus stop, paralyzed by something only she could see.
He rose a hand towards for busdriver to wait and took out an earplug.
The initial surge of fear, no longer muted, set him sweating again despite the evening breeze. Parceling past it, to images to blurry to make out without careful observation, to a (mostly) coherent line of thought, took a little effort.
I can’t move. The girl thought. My bus is here but I-
I- He’s still here, I’m going to-- I can’t!!
Her thoughts jumbled up into a mix of panicky static as Takenaka jostled her shoulder. Oh. Yikes. Maybe he shouldn’t have done that. He didn’t really have any idea how you’re supposed to deal with hallucinations.
“Uh,” The girls eyes lock with his and he quickly looks away. “Ms uh…” He frantically digs for a name. “...Asagari.” The girl is less surprised that he knows her name then he’d usually expect.Bad sign? Definitely. He’s not sure why he does this to himself.
“Asagari. I want you to focus on me, ok?” Faking confidence works for Mob’s master friend, and lacking options, Takenaka gives it a shot. “Breath in and out, look around ok. There’s nothing here but you and me….” He glances back. “And our bus, which we may be missing.” Minori’s shifts stressfully and he quickly backtracks. “It’s ok though! It’s fine. Fine. Yeah it’s fine. Just focus on what’s in front of you ok? I uh, know a few breathing exercises for panic attacks...”
It takes at least two rounds of counting down breathing to get Asagari onto the bus. Another two to get her through the crowd of people at clustered at the front. One couple, noticing Asagari’s apparent distress, give up their seats to the two. Takenaka thanks god for small blessings.
Sometime during the interaction, Asagari’s hand finds its way into his, nails digging into his palms like a lifeline.
+++
“Minori” The girl finally says, after several stops had passed in awkward silence.
“Uh, what?” The bus was mostly empty now, good for the sake of Takenaka’s nerves, bad for the foreboding silence that seemed to settle over them both. The girl releases his hand, turning to look at the first drops of rain as they plink onto the buses windowsill.
“Call me that, not Asagari.” Her voice is low, but firm. She slowly rubs her brow with the rich purple hem of her uniform and turns a cold grey gaze on Takenaka. “I don’t know if you went through my wallet or something to find that out.”
The blunt hostility covers an unsteady emotional state, but Takenaka bristles regardless. “What? No! I’m not a creep who goes through girls bags!”
“Good.” Her tone is cold, gaze unfaltering. Takenaka would almost admire her ability to keep herself together enough to be a bitch if it wasn’t for her ire being directed at him. “My wallets in my coat pocket anyway.”
They lapse back into uneasy silence. Takenaka watches the rain instead of listening to the girl's thoughts.
The girl finally speaks up again, her voice a little more hesitant. “Does that mean you’re um..one of those….” She doesn’t finish her sentence.
“Espers” She doesn’t have to. Takenaka can at least acknowledges when the jig is up. “Yes. I was trying to ignore you.”
There's a stab of reproach. “Really? So what changed, Mr.Esper?”
“You were going to miss your bus.” Now it’s Takenaka’s turn to make his tone flat. He meets the girl’s gaze head on.
“Oh.” She looks away first. “I suppose I was.”
+++
“I’ve done a lot of bad things.” She mumbles later, leaning against the window. Her memories are full of ash and blood and schoolyards. There’s a boxcutter in her hand, something else in her head. There’s blood, matting the face of someone Takenaka can’t make out.
Minori’s more terrified than she’s ever been in her life.
“You’d be surprised how many people have.” Takenaka says, flipping through a manga Minori had dug out of her bag at some point. Who knew she had the same taste as Kageyama-kun? “If I judged everyone for it, I’d be out of friends in no time.” He already has none without even trying.
“You should judge me.” She’s almost pleading. “I could show you couldn’t I? Nobody remembers but me and him, you’d be able to see what I did. You’d know.”
“Nah.” Takenaka stops on a dog eared page. On it, the hero punches a dark eyed ghost to oblivion. He feels Minori’s eyes on him. “I don’t feel like it.”
+++
“Why are you even still on this bus.” She’s tapping her feet impatiently, Takenakas phone is lying between them, a song playing faintly. “Nobody lives out this far but me and some stupid farmers. There’s no way you live out here.”
“Maybe I just live to make you miserable.” Its better then her hallucinating alone on a bus stop anyway.
“I’m serious!!!” She jabs a finger at him, her, is she pouting? He’s leaning back almost incredulously. “You’re a freaking telepath for crying out loud! Don’t you have anything better to do then just follow some crazy girl around!”
The beat of silence lasts a little too long. Minori throws up her hands.
“Come on, really? Do you have any hobbies?”
“I’m in the tennis club…” He mutters.
“And I’m in the sewing club! Doesn’t mean I like it. Come on, do you do anything for fun? Go to concerts, video games, do you even have a favorite movie?” Shes...genuinely angry about this. Takenaka scoots back a little further.
“I spend most of my free time making up for the class I skip.” Telepathy isn’t very good for making him want to spend time in the crowded streets of Seasoning City.
“Ugh.” She kicks her feet up onto the bus seats like she owns the place. She probably could, from the impressions he’s getting. “Making up school is sooo lame, Takenaka! I missed so much because I was fucking possessed! I might be held back a year! It’s so, fucking, unfair.” She punctuates each sentence with a kick of the offending bus chair.
“Try two years.” Takenaka counters, some unknown hyper competitive streak rearing its head. “My teachers keep thinking about how I won’t graduate. Not my fault the city is loud.”
“Teachers suck.” Minori says, with all the cynical wisdom of a battle worn veteran. “ People suck.” Takenaka makes a noise of agreement.
“.....Sometimes I just feel like I want to burn this whole world to the ground..” She adds, voice secretive. “But then I get scared…’cause was that my thought or something of his?”
Takenaka shrugs. It’s not like he’s unused to such a thought. A burned down world would be a hell of a lot more quiet. “Hell if I know. Do I look like your therapist?”
“You look like a dick.” She shoots back, but she kicks his chair instead of him.
+++
The bus stops with the same abruptness, it arrived. The doors shutter open with a groan. Takenaka feels the bus drivers irritation grow as neither he or Minori move immediately.
She looks a whole lot better now, for some stranger he met at a bus stop. Maybe riding up here with it wasn’t the best way to spend two hours, but...well.
He tries to hand Minori her manga as she steps around him gathering her things. She gives him a piercing look mixed with a thought process he doesn’t even want to decipher, so he asks the old fashioned way.
“What?” He pours all of his mental and physical exhaustion into his words. He’s positively dripping with scorn.
Her face splits into a smirking childlike grin. “You can return it later.”
“That implies I have any intention of seeing you and your weird issues again.” He shoves the book at her again. “Get lost ok? Enjoy my random kindness for what it was. As if I want to serve as some sorta-”
“My house is pretty quiet.” She cuts him off. “Its pretty empty except for me and Dad. You mentioned it was hard to study in the city.”
“That is a bribe.” He growls, “I am not accepting. Take your damn book.”
She grins, like the spoiled brat she is. “I don’t think so~”
The bus driver honks, tiring of inane teen shenanigans. Takenaka flinches at the sound, and Minori, smelling weakness like the jackal she is, presses the book into his chest and is out the door before he can get another snarky response out. Takenaka scrambles himself into a sitting position long enough to see her disappearing into an ornate gatehouse.
The bus begins to pulls away, down the winding road and then back to the city. He looks down at the dogeared manga in his hands and then up and out to the woods surrounding the country road. Minori reappears with a grin in front of the gatehouse, accompanied by some stranger. She extends one arm above her head, clutching a small object like a prize and waving it for Takenaka to see.
He’d recognize his phone anywhere.
“Fuck me.” Takenaka groans, putting his head in his hands. This is why he never got involved in other people's business.