Chapter Text
The atmosphere inside the place where they had been sent for the job was very chilling. Much more in fact than usual. Reigen could tell that even Serizawa who was far more level headed than he in these situations was bristling at every turned corner. How unusual ...he thought, clicking the flashlight he was holding on and off again in a feeble attempt to calm his nerves. He was rather energetic today, which was proving to be annoying because of the way it heightened his anxiety. The fact that he had sent Tome home early so it was only the two of them on this rather high stakes job made his stomach do another flip.
Just us huh ...he’d been thinking about it a bit too much. Maybe i should have had Dimple come along instead of telling him to go bother Mob...Reigen’s palms were clammy and hot against the cool of the metal flashlight, and he decided to think about what had unfolded earlier in the day to keep his mind off how creeped out he felt.
...
“Why would they steal books? Don’t they have more important things to do like. I don’t know. Like haunt people? Isn’t that more fun?” Reigen had asked Dimple a similar question a few days ago after receiving the first call about the job. The customer had called again today to schedule a consultation, the time to which was nearing quickly.
“Haven’t you dealt with weird requests like this before? A spirit stealing books seems feasible to me. Especially if they’re doing it from a specific group of people. Who knows, maybe they just really like to read.” said dimple matter-of-factly. Reigen squinted his eyes and leaned back in his chair cross armed. It was how he thought best when deciding to take a client’s call seriously.
“I mean i’m going to take the job regardless I just figured that spirits aren’t usually hoarders of items from the material plane,” Dimple responded to this with a small shrug of his ghostly shoulders and floated over to where tome and Serizawa were hovering concentrated over various small stacks of paper. “You two are useless as ever today.” said Reigen jokingly in an attempt to get their attention.
“ We both have exams coming up.” tome responded flatly without looking up from her paper, tapping the eraser of her pencil on the edge of the table and kneading her brows together a small bit more than they already were.”Hey do you know anything about derivatives,” she said to Serizawa, unsurprised when she didn’t receive an immediate response. Reigen watched with amusement as she poked his arm with the sharp end of her pencil, It made him jump a bit and his head snapped up from its lowered position.
“huh!?” he said, a bit louder than he’d expected because he once again said in a lower and calmer tone of voice, “huh?” Reigen could tell that he was exhausted, the shadows under his eyes were engraved into his skin quite a bit more than usual.
Tome chuckled, “Derivatives. In equations. Any hot tips or am I just supposed to figure it out myself.” she was talking in a teasing manner, however the look on her face was anything but. She was happy to be able to have a study buddy on these slow days around the office and it showed. Serizawa, who had taken to gazing at the ceiling, had a thoughtful look on his face. It was a few moments until he responded, still looking upward.
“I think. I’m not the best person to ask about calculus.”
Tome let out a louder laugh this time, “you let it build up so much a thought you were actually going to give me some solid advice!” she leaned back, crossed her arms, took a glance toward the clock on the wall that read about half past four, and back to reigen expectantly.
He gave her a half smile and tilted his head, “Wanna go home a bit early i suppose?” she bobbed her head up and down a few times, scooping up her scattered papers into a rather messy bunch. “I think that’s fine. We should be able to handle this one, right serizawa?” said Reigen, standing up to stretch out his back which popped a couple of times in succession. He groaned a bit and looked in Serizawa’s direction out of the corner of his eye noticing that he was once again glued to his work. Tome, meanwhile, was already halfway out the door.
“I’ll see you in a few days after i get these mock exams out of the way!” she said hastily, and he heard the door shut behind her from around the corner.
“Bye I guess.” said Reigen in a lackluster tone, and a rather awkward silence entered the air. Reigen not knowing what to do with himself, tapped his fingers anxiously on the cool of his desk.
“Huh, oh? Did you say something, Reigen?” Serizawa finally said, his rather low, warm voice breaking through the dead air. He looked up from his papers and was organizing them in a similar manner to the way Tome had, but far neater. He turned to face Reigen once he was done placing them inside his book bag and Reigen had to avert his gaze somewhat when they locked eyes. He could feel how warm his face was, god this is embarrassing. His emotions had become quite troublesome to handle lately. Is it unprofessional for a boss to feel this way when he looks at his employee? he thought, his eyes were wandering about the room anxiously.
Serizawa’s voice called out to him again, “Reigen? Are you alright?” Reigen had to look at him this time, although his instinct told him not to. There was a confident, curious tilt to Serizawa’s head, though it was clear he’d been deep in thought just moments before because a haze still lingered in his eyes. Reigen, relieved, could tell he wasn’t all the way present yet, so he went on to repeat.
“Oh I was just saying how we could handle this one on our own.” he was pacing slowly in front of his desk trying to get out some pent up energy before the arrival of the client. He expected the consultation to go rather quickly since they had spoken about most of it on the phone. Still, he felt a bit on edge for some reason. A few silent minutes passed and he came to sense eyes on his back, he turned to face the presence and was met with a tired look from Dimple.
“Are you going to keep pacing around like a weirdo in the corner over there,” he said in a criticizing tone, “When the client comes in and sees you they might just turn right back around and leave without saying a word.” Reigen slowly stopped and returned a similarly tired expression to Dimple.
“Are you just going to float there and annoy me or is there something better you could be doing right now.” he was gesticulating in the over exaggerated way he did, “why don’t you go bother Mob if you are bored being here today too.” Reigen had let a little too much of an indignant tone come through with his last few words and sheepishly pocketed his hands and leaned back against his desk. Dimple raised a brow, seemingly unfazed, and took a small glance to where serizawa was sitting and studying the both of them. He had a confused and yet expectant look on his face as though he were spectating a tennis match.
Slowly, Dimple floated closer to the window and turned to face it “Hm. i’ll leave for today if that’s what you want.” there was a gentler inflection in his voice than reigen had expected. He placed a small hand on what reigen considered to be his chin, spun around and parted with a “good luck,” as he phased through the wall, and then he was gone.
The two men were all alone, even if for a brief moment. They gave one another pleasant looks and the tense atmosphere of the room melted away. This had become habit to them. Reigen pointed out the time, Serizawa stood, and both began preparing for the client to arrive. The manner in which they moved around each other in the office was natural and unfaltering. Serizawa put on the water for the tea while Reigen retrieved his suit jacket from the hooks that hung near the door. He delivered serizawa his as well, and then stood in front of the mirror double checking his appearance.
“Professional!” remarked Serizawa offhandedly as he passed behind Reigen on the way back to his desk.
Reigen, who had been in the middle of straightening his tie knot, shoved it up into his neck abruptly and sputtered out a hoarse, “thanks,” and made a robotic about face toward his corner of the room.
The door opened, and reigen had to pull himself together in an instant, running a quick hand through his bangs to make sure they sat neatly on his head. He turned around again. Serizawa was already greeting the client, who also appeared to be as tired as he was, maybe even a bit more. There was a glum air around her that reigen could feel all the way over at his desk, and he began to regret considering the job to be silly. “Good,” he began, his voice was still a bit hoarse, so he cleared his throat and tried again, “Good afternoon ma’am! Welcome to spirits and such consultations! I’m assuming you are Hirai?” he stuck out his hand out of habit, but she only glanced at it briefly and responded in a low voice.
“Yes. That’s me.” she was rather young in appearance, although the crows feet at the corners of her eyes led Reigen to believe that she was most likely a mother. It would have made sense considering their phone call the other day when she mentioned school aged children were the victims. “I’m the one who called about the disappearing books. My...my son and a few of his friends are the ones who’ve been having the problem up until today...but it has...escalated a little.” she was slouched and avoiding eye contact, sliding one of her hands up and down her arm in what seemed like an attempt to calm herself down.
“Oh?” reigen said calmly, he was used to this, reassuring his more shaken customers was one of his specialties. What he couldn’t handle apparently, was being alone in the same room with Serizawa. He shook his head out of his distracted thoughts and added, “and how has it escalated? Come take a seat and you can tell me more.” he looked up at Serizawa and mouthed, “tea?” Serizawa shook his head and Reigen nodded curtly, herding his customer over to the chair in front of his desk.
She went on to explain that the night before, not only had the spirit taken more books, but other things as well. She had awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of a struggle, and then had seen her son walk out the door in the in only his pajamas. He hadn’t responded to her when she called to him, and she wasn’t able to keep up with him, before she knew it he’d disappeared and she was distraught. Reigen’s first thoughts were, should I just call the police and file a missing person’s report? But the woman was adamant in insisting that her son had been possessed and his body abducted by the spirit, so he had that to consider.
“I thought this was going to be a run of the mill job,” Reigen muttered in a hushed tone. He had gone over to consult Serizawa because he was conflicted about how to deal with what he’d been told, “now what are we supposed to do? Do you think this kid’s been possessed or did he just run away?”
Serizawa furrowed his brow and put on a rather pensive look, “Well...she did say that he left the house in his pajamas. Wouldn’t someone who runs away have...I don’t know, a packed bag with them and be wearing clothes for the road?” he was gripping his cup of tea rather tightly and his knuckles were pale. Maybe we’re both thinking about this too hard , thought Reigen, who stood up to his full height and brought his fist up to his face, ready to over exaggerate the clearing of his throat. We can handle this... although he was not as sure about that statement this time around.