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Reigen looks through the chainlink fence onto the abandoned hospital. The windows on the first floor are boarded up, graffiti-covered plywood. Most of the second floor windows are shattered, and the glass that remains intact is opaque, foggy. The yard surrounding the building is littered with crumbled chunks of cement and fast food wrappers, beer cans.
“Some teenagers did an all-night live stream here a few weeks ago and they ran into some spirits and got seriously injured,” Reigen says to Ritsu, who stands a few paces behind him. “Luckily, we are on the case.” He whirls around and makes finger guns at the kid. “Dream team, right?”
Ritsu barely reacts, his dark expression unbreakable. To be honest, Reigen is a little intimidated by the kid, but it’s not like he would ever admit it. He’s just Mob’s little brother, after all. Ritsu’s been helping out off and on, when Mob has something going on with school or his club or his friends. Reigen didn’t ask for this arrangement, but he’s not going to turn down help when it’s offered to him, even if the help is kind of glum and sulky.
Reigen steps up to the gate and pulls on the nearly-rusted-over lock. Nothing but a rattling sound. He pulls again, putting his entire bodyweight behind it. It pops open, after glowing blue and purple for a second, and Reigen stumbles back.
There’s a little smile on Ritsu’s face as he walks through the gate.
“Don’t wear yourself out using your powers for little things like that,” Reigen says, following him in. “You need to save your energy for this spirit.”
“That’s not how psychic powers work,” Ritsu says.
“Well, Mob tells me you’re pretty inexperienced, so you might not have learned all the ins and outs yet. That’s understandable; you’ll improve with time.” Reigen knows it’s a low blow, but he can’t help but smirk when Ritsu clenches his fist by his side.
Reigen passes him and leads the way into the building. It’s cold and damp inside, condensation clinging to the walls. More graffiti, cigarette butts, the remnants of a fire in the corner. The owner wants to sell this place to a developer—the world always needs more condos, apparently—but a haunted building is a hard sell, especially when it’s been in the news for putting three teenagers in the hospital.
Reigen starts down the hallway to his left. Walking around should be enough to draw out the spirit, especially if it’s one that likes to make trouble.
“Reigen,” Ritsu says suddenly, a note of alarm in his voice. “Don’t go down that way.”
“Why not?” Reigen stops and peers down the hallway. It’s dusty, but empty; he can see down to the boarded-up window at the end, a bit of light shining in around the edges. “Is there something down here?”
“I think so. Can’t you sense it?”
“Oh, yes. That. I can sense that.” Reigen claps his hands together and turns to Ritsu. “Well, we have to investigate. That’s our job.” He takes a few steps down the hallway, notices that Ritsu has planted his feet firmly in place. “Come on. What, are you scared?”
Ritsu scoffs. “No, I’m not scared.” He takes a couple steps after Reigen, glancing over his shoulder.
“That’s it. Follow my lead,” Reigen says. “If the spirit is weak enough, I might give you the chance to exorcise it. Earn your pay for the day, right?” He keeps talking as they slowly make their way down the hallway, peering in open doors as he goes. “I’ve been doing this job for years, kid. I’ve seen much worse than a haunted hospital. Nothing can rattle me anymore.”
Reigen pokes his head in one of the doors. Nothing but an empty bed frame in the middle of the room.
“Hey, uh… Reigen?”
“What?” Reigen looks to Ritsu who stares straight ahead. The spirit has materialized at the end of the hallway. Tall—or floating?—the tattered hem of the gown brushing the floor. Dark hair and a face mask, sunken eyes staring out of the skull.
Reigen shivers. “Well, that’s gotta be it. Do you want to take care of this one?” He hears nothing and turns his head to look at Ritsu.
Ritsu’s eyes are wide, his arms stiff by his side. This isn’t gonna go well if the kid’s gonna freeze up like this. Mob, for all his nervousness, never got scared around spirits, even when he was younger.
Reigen frowns as he glances between the spirit and Ritsu. “I’ll make the first move. Can I count on you to back me up?”
Ritsu nods, his eyes fixed on the ghost.
Here goes nothing. Reigen reaches into his jacket pocket, grabs a handful of coarse grains of salt from the paper bag. Of course it’s not going to do anything, but he figures if he can put on a display of bravery, Ritsu will be there to help.
Reigen charges down the hallway, fist first, but when he reaches the spirit, he hits nothing but air. He flails, off-balance. He doesn’t hit the ground, though, instead he finds his back slammed to the ceiling. Bits of dust and plaster rain down around him as he struggles to catch his breath. He can’t see the spirit anymore, or anything really, his vision swimming as he coughs.
“Hey! Ritsu!” he calls out. “A little help?”
Reigen drops to the floor again, landing hard on his hands and knees. Before he can get his bearings, his legs are yanked out from under him and he’s flying backward down the hallway, clawing fruitlessly at the wood floor. He passes Ritsu’s feet, tries to grab onto them, but misses.
“Reigen!” Ritsu shouts as he flies by, his voice high-pitched and—if Reigen isn’t mistaken—a touch panicked. An indigo aura bursts from his outstretched palm and the spirit above him is torn to shreds. The grip on Reigen’s legs releases and he falls back to the the ground with a thud.
Reigen rolls onto his back, and lies there for a moment to catch his breath and assess. His fingernails are chipped and bleeding, and he knows his knees are going to be bruised, but luckily he hasn’t taken any real damage. He hauls himself to his feet, brushes the dust off the front of his suit.
"Thanks, Ritsu.” He flashes a toothy grin at the kid. “I guess you don’t hate me that much after all.”
Ritsu rolls his eyes and shoves his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. “Nii-san would be really upset if you died and I didn’t save you, so…”
“Plus, I would haunt you.”
“I’d exorcise you,” Ritsu shoots back.
Reigen meets his eye and they both laugh. Ritsu’s giggle is surprisingly bubbly, his shoulders shaking a little.
“Uh… do you want to get ramen?” Reigen asks him. “I always take Mob after cases, so I have this sort of Pavlovian response now. I get thrown around by a spirit, and I just get hungry, you know? I start salivating.”
Ritsu’s expression is back to the usual blank stare that leaves Reigen feeling like he’s under a microscope.
“Do they teach you kids Pavlov still? No? Doesn’t ring a bell? Forget it. I’m buying, okay?”
“Okay,” Ritsu says simply, leading the way back down the hallway.