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As soon as Reigen walks through the doors of the hospital, Dimple is there, flittering around his head worryingly. “Reigen! Serizawa said you were coming! Are you okay?”
Reigen nods, following the spirit as he leads him down the hallway. “I’m fine. Is Tome still here?” He ignores the looks he gets from passersby while he apparently talks to himself, and punches the button for the elevator. He looks a bit of a mess, too; torn jacket, loose tie, muddy pants. He managed to find his other shoe, at least.
Dimple says, “She didn’t want to go home until she saw you.”
It’s not too late, shortly after 9pm. Reigen texted as soon as he made it out of the woods with Mob, said he would be there in an hour. He figured it was the least he could do to buy a bowl of ramen for his former student. Serizawa responded within seconds, sending a string of short texts: Okay. I’m glad you’re safe. We’ll see you soon. Tome is still here. Tell Shigeo I say hi.
Reigen follows Dimple down the upstairs hallway and into the room; it’s small, dimly lit. Serizawa, sitting up in the cot, turns to the door when Reigen eases it open. He calls out, “Reigen!” too loudly, before glancing over to the corner. Reigen follows his eye to see Tome, curled up in a chair, asleep. She fidgets a little, her eyelids fluttering, but doesn’t wake up.
“She was really exhausted,” Serizawa explains in a low voice. “As soon as we heard from you, she just… passed out. I think it took a lot out of her, the curse. I told her to go home, but… she wouldn’t hear it. We called her mom though, and, well—now that you’re here…”
Reigen nods as he settles down on the edge of the bed. He studies Serizawa’s face; there’s a streak of rusty, dried blood under his nose, the back of his head is bandaged up. Without thinking, Reigen reaches out toward his forehead, runs his fingers along his hairline. “How do you feel?”
Serizawa rolls his eyes. “Like shit. Concussion. They won’t let me leave until tomorrow.”
Reigen smiles softly. “First concussion, huh? You get used to it.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask—” Serizawa sits up suddenly, grapples for Reigen’s hand. “How are you? What happened?”
Reigen looks down at their hands, squeezes back; he notices the IV taped to the back of Serizawa’s hand. “I’m… fine. Mob came through in the end, he always does.”
“I’m so… I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened.” Serizawa makes a fist by his side, sets his jaw. “I shouldn’t have… I should have been able to handle a curse like that—”
Reigen shakes his head. “No, no. It’s okay.” He glances over to Tome, still sound asleep, her face smushed against the arm rest. “Look, I’ll take her home, and then… then I’ll come back, spend the night with you.”
“You don’t have to—”
“I’m going to, Serizawa, so don’t waste your breath.”
Serizawa looks down, folds his hands in his lap. “They said I should get some sleep, but they’re gonna wake me up a few times during the night.”
“I probably won’t be able to sleep much anyway. We can keep each other company.”
Reigen gets up and crosses the room to kneel next to the chair. He places a hand on Tome’s shoulder. “Tome… wake up.” She still looks worse for wear, the impact of the curse lingering even hours later: her face is pale, the skin dark around her eyes, nose reddened from crying. He gives her shoulder a little jostle and she blinks a few times before her eyes focus on his face. A glimmer of confusion passes over her face, then she sits up and throws her arms around his neck.
“Reigen,” she says into his shoulder, punctuated with a little sob. “I’m so sorry.”
Haltingly, Reigen puts his arms around her. She seems impossibly small, like he’s holding nothing at all. His nose starts to burn as he blinks away the threat of tears. “What are you apologizing for? You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m sorry. I’m… really sorry.” He rubs her back until she stops clutching him, stops trembling. Her breathing evens out. “I’m gonna take you home now, okay?”
“But… but I wanna stay here with—”
“No.” Reigen pulls back to look her in the eye, holding onto her arms firmly. “Serizawa and I are fine. I need you to go home and get some rest.”
She nods, sniffles. “I’m… I’m glad you’re okay. I was really… really scared.” Her voice breaks again, the last word a squeak; it’s a knife twisting in his chest.
“Come on, Tome. I’m always okay, you know that.”
She nods, smiles a little, and rubs her eye with the back of her hand.
“Let’s get going, okay?” he prompts again.
She gets up, tugs her coat on, and takes a few steps over to Serizawa. Without saying a word, he sits up and pulls her into a hug, one hand on the back of her head. He meets Reigen’s eye, smiles at him sadly, while he holds her.
Reigen can hardly bear to look. His mind settles on the thought of Tome riding along in the ambulance with an unconscious Serizawa, answering the questions of the EMTs. Then sitting in this room, for hours, with him and Dimple, not knowing if Reigen was dead or alive—having barely made it out alive herself. He shakes the thought from his head; it only makes his chest seize up painfully.
After a long moment, Tome steps back and looks over to Dimple. “Goodnight, Dimple-chan,” she says with a faint smile.
The spirit materializes a little arm to pat her head. “Get some rest, kid.”
She turns to Reigen and nods: ready to go. He guides her out of the room, a hand resting on her back, and down the hallway to the elevator, out of the hospital. They wait for a cab out front; it’s a nice night, dark and clear and crisp. They’re quiet for a few minutes, standing side by side.
Then Tome says suddenly, “I came back to the office today to… to apologize.”
Reigen shakes his head; he feels nauseous. “You don’t owe me an apology.”
“I think I do. You were just trying to protect me.”
“I lied to you and I put you in danger,” he says bitterly.
“You saved me.”
Reigen can’t say anything to that; the lump in his throat wobbles dangerously.
She continues, “Who else knows? Serizawa?”
Reigen exhales shakily, almost grateful for the change of subject even if it’s not much easier to talk about. “Serizawa… and Mob and Dimple. And… if they’ve told anyone else. But I haven’t really… As far as I know, they’re the only others.”
“Why do you lie about it?” She tilts her head to one side, looks at him inquisitively. It’s not accusatory, but genuinely curious.
“Isn’t it obvious?” It’s easier to be purposefully obtuse, but Tome doesn’t fall for it for a second.
“I don’t mean to clients, I mean… to—to me.”
“I didn’t mean for it to go this far,” Reigen admits. “I thought it was harmless. You think I’d learn my lesson, huh?” He thinks briefly that Tome won’t understand what he means, but she doesn’t ask him to elaborate.
“Can I still work at Spirits & Such?”
Reigen turns his head to her, surprised. “You still want to work for me?”
“Yeah. Is that okay? I won’t… I won’t do anything dangerous anymore. But maybe I can help you… when there aren’t spirits. You could… teach me.”
The cab pulls up to the curb. Reigen nods as he steps up to open the door for her. “Um. Yeah. Okay.”
Tome gives her address, and only a few minutes into the drive, she nods off in the backseat, next to Reigen. Her head lolls against the window, swaying with the motion of the car. When they pull up outside of her house, Reigen says her name and her eyes open immediately. She glances out of the window, to get her bearings, and then leans over to give him a quick hug.
Reigen rides back to the hospital, staring out the window. Lets his vision blur, sees the starbursts of headlights, the streaks of street lamps. He pays the driver and grabs some vending machine provisions before returning to the room upstairs. Serizawa is staring at the TV, his eyes unfocused, the volume low, when Reigen returns.
“Everything okay with Tome?”
Reigen nods, and dumps the snacks onto Serizawa’s lap, on top of the thin hospital blanket. “Scoot over.”
Serizawa shifts to one side and Reigen sits down next to him on the narrow cot, pressed against him from shoulder to hip to thigh. He’s too tired to care about what Serizawa might think, and it’s comforting as hell to feel the other man against him, breathing and warm and alive. He feels like crying again, if only out of relief.
Serizawa, to his credit, doesn’t draw attention to the chair that’s right beside the bed. As they tear into the snacks, the TV humming and flickering unobtrusively in front of them, Reigen sighs and says, “Hey, I should tell you something that happened the other day, with Tome.”
“Okay…”
He takes a deep breath. “She thought a spirit was stalking her friend, and she tried to call me for help, but she went after him on her own… Tried to ‘salt splash’ him.”
“Reigen…” Serizawa begins reproachfully.
“I know, I know. It wasn’t a spirit, obviously, but she was fine. I told her the truth, to try to get her to stop doing dumb shit like that.”
After a pause, Serizawa cautiously asks, “The truth about you? How’d she take it?”
“Not well, at first, but… We talked about it, just now. She wants to keep working with us.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Serizawa sounds like he really means it. “That she understands.”
“Yeah,” Reigen agrees. “I’m glad that… there are no false pretenses now. Should’ve been like that to begin with, but better late than never, I guess.”
“She just wanted to be like you, you know.” Serizawa nudges his elbow into Reigen’s side, a bit playfully, a bit affectionately. “And she is. Like you, I mean. Maybe she can see that now.”
Reigen feels a tickle in his nose again; this day seems determined to make him cry. But he fights it, sniffs it back down, lets out a snort of laughter instead. “Ha. That’s too bad for her.”
“Reigen.” Serizawa’s voice is surprisingly stern.
Reigen turns his head and meets Serizawa’s intense gaze, their faces far too close. He breaks the eye contact before it breaks him, settles instead lower on his face, on the shadow of stubble across his jaw.
“Dimple told me what you did,” Serizawa continues, his voice softer. “Did you have a plan?”
Reigen turns back to face forward, swallows hard. “Uh. Sort of. I had an idea. It almost worked, too.”
“You were going to sacrifice yourself.”
It’s not a question. So, Reigen doesn’t answer it. He shrugs, his shoulder bumping against Serizawa’s as he does. “What else would I have done?”
Serizawa doesn’t say anything. After a moment, he settles down until his head is even with Reigen’s shoulder, resting against him. “I might… try to sleep a little. Maybe I should uh… buzz the nurse or something. Let them know.”
“I’ll wake you up in, what, two hours?” Reigen offers.
“You’re sure you don’t want to sleep? Or go home? I’m fine by myself.”
“No,” Reigen says. “I want to stay. I’ll get some coffee.”
“Okay.” Serizawa’s eyes slide shut as he folds his arms across his chest. “I know you were just doing what you think you’re supposed to do, but… not everyone would do that.”
Reigen swallows thickly, looking down at his face, the feathery brush of his eyelashes. He knows what he’s implying; he’s glad he doesn’t say it out loud. “Get some sleep, Serizawa.”