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It’s 2 pm when the tremors start. Earthquakes are no surprise for Reigen, having lived in Japan his whole life, how to react to the shaking is second nature. Reigen uses his desk as a cover, riding out the shockwaves as he flinches at the sound of his plant pots breaking. He took his laptop with him under the desk, as much as insurance would cover most of the damage, lost work couldn’t be fixed with a payout, so he’d rather his laptop survive, at least enough to get his documents sorted. The shaking keeps going and Reigen is pretty sure that the building is sinking, this is the worst earthquake he’s been through, but he can’t go against training that’s been drilled in him since he was 5 years old.
Eventually, the shaking stops and Reigen takes in a deep breath before beginning to count. One Two, Three, Reigen takes his phone out from his pocket, Seven, Eight, there is an emergency alert message, the phone shows no bars, but he can still reply to log his location and status. Sixteen, Seventeen Eighteen, Reigen types out his national ID number and reports himself as uninjured while counting under his breath. Twenty-five, Twenty-six, twenty-
Aftershocks hit the building with a vengeance, the original earthquake felt like a slow build, the initial shaking didn’t really foreshadow the intensity that had eventually arrived. But the aftershock hit full force immediately, though it lasted only a few seconds. Reigen squeezed his eyes shut and started counting again from one. There was no distraction this time, Reigen didn’t want to get caught off guard again.
After starting over twice more, Reigen finally reached 60. At that Reigen carefully pulled himself out from under the desk avoiding broken glass and pottery. He pulled a packed duffel bag out of the closet, and shoved his laptop in it, and walked out of the office and started down the stairs. The building had definitely sunk, but Reigen’s office was still quite above ground. On the first floor* people were evacuating through an office window that had settled near the ground.
*A/N: by this I mean the floor above the ground floor, I know it’s different uses in different countries. End A/N.
Reigen joined the line of people, most of whom he had never met, who were evacuating the office building. Once outside the group gathered on the street in front of the building, A short slightly overweight man, who had been helping people through the window gathered the group together and took charge. “Hello, I’m Tsukino and I’m safety director for our building. I’m just going to run a roll call for each unit to see if we have everyone accounted for.”
Tsukino ran through the offices from the ground floor to the top. Leaving Reigen as the last one to state that he was alone in the office, (thank god) when it happened. A woman who worked as a receptionist for a massage therapist on the third floor looked at Reigen “Your kid should be at school right? I wouldn’t be so relieved, not all of them are as safe as you’d hope. We’re done here, you should go check on him.” She seemed genuinely concerned for Reigen. He considered correcting her, he was his employer, not his father. But she had also planted a seed of anxiety, how was Mob?
Reigen wasn’t positive on the Kageyamas’ jobs, but he did know both of them worked, so they might have duties before they could try and unite their family. (That was well decidedly not entertaining the possibility of anything having happened to them, this was a large earthquake, there were bound to be some casualties.) So Reigen made his way towards Mob’s middle school, and after that, if the Kageyama parents were busy, busy not dead, please not dead, then he and Mob could head to the elementary school to pick up Ritsu, since Shigeo had started working at spirits ’n’ such, Reigen’s emergency kit was equipped for two adults and a child, in case a client was present. He could provide for the two children and himself until Seasoning city was back in running order, no, until the Kageyama parents arrived.
Shigeo was definitely not sleeping through his Maths lesson when the shaking started. The teacher shouted earthquake, and all the students immediately pushed their chairs back and went under their desks like every drill they’d had since kindergarten. At first, everything was routine, Shigeo hadn’t lived through many earthquakes, but it was an eventuality you were very comfortable with growing up on the ring of fire. He knew what to do, and so did his classmates and teachers, everything would be fine.
A sixth sense within Shigeo said it would not be fine.
Almost as immediately as the walls began to succumb to the shaking, Shigeo used his powers to keep them from collapsing completely. Shigeo was no longer having a routine earthquake drill. While his classmates and teacher counted to 60, Shigeo was concentrating on making sure that this school had 0 casualties. After the three aftershocks, the walls were merely chunks of rebar and dust held together by a little boy’s mind. Shigeo was focusing on the building, even more tasking as students began to file out, and the places where there needed to be support shifted.
Tsubomi grabbed Mob’s arm to pull him out from under the desk, and led him down with the class to the field. Tsubomi knew why he seemed so out of it, and she was honestly really scared by what could’ve happened. The school shouldn’t be so much concentration for Mob to keep safe.
Nearly an hour after the earthquake Salt Middle had all students and faculty accounted for. Tsubomi lightly tapped Mob’s shoulder and he looked at her. “Everyone is out and safe, you don’t have to hold it anymore.” Mob nodded curtly and then the building collapsed. The student body gasped at the sudden destruction. The building was hardly recognisable. Tsubomi paled at the realisation, they all would have died. Mob saved everyone’s life.
As chatter erupted some parents had already arrived to collect their children. With this group was Reigen. Shigeo looked at his master, first with so much relief, then with confusion.
“Hey Mob, I’m here to get you,” Reigen shouted out past the teachers who were not entirely certain about this weird strawberry blonde man who was definitely too young to be anyone’s guardian. Shigeo walked up to where his principal and teacher were looking at Reigen with suspicion.
“It’s okay, this is my master Reigen, he’s my third emergency contact,” Shigeo said softly, the teachers could check their records, but that was in a file box under a pile of rubble, so they decided to take Shigeo’s word, and note down Reigen’s information for if the Kageyama parents came looking.
“So, we’re going to go get Ritsu now, alright?” Reigen said, gently taking Mob’s hand. Mob nodded but he seemed sullen. “He’ll be fine, don’t worry.” The reassurance hit Shigeo strongly, even if Reigen was lying through his teeth.
Ritsu was in the hallway when the shaking started. He was on his way back from escorting a student to the nurses. Without any obvious cover to go under, Ritsu went to the side of the hall and sheltered there with his head to the wall and hands protecting his neck. Although Ritsu knew the instructions inside and out, he had been in the classroom for every drill and felt increasingly concerned lacking any type of guidance or authority.
On his own, Ritsu rode out the quake and aftershocks and counted to 60. However, while struggling to maintain his calm, Ritsu counted much slower than the rest of the students, and there were already people in the hallway before he had finished. Ms Ishiyama’s classroom was right by where Ritsu had sheltered.
“Kageyama,” Ms Ishiyama said “Return to your class to collect your coat and shoes before evacuating.” it wasn’t meant to imply he wasn’t capable but a stab of guilt hit Ritsu anyway. It was irresponsible of a sixth-grader to not know these things.
Ritsu returned to his class collected his things, and then went to the garden where teachers were taking roll call. Everyone was accounted for, some students were injured by falling books, lights, and other debris, but nothing was serious. The earthquake was big, estimated to be around a 7 on the Richter scale was the report on one of his classmate’s phone. The school opened the emergency preparation container, beginning with first aid on those who had been injured.
A wave of anxiety hit Ritsu, and then a wave of guilt. He was worried about his brother. Salt elementary had had seismic upgrading two years ago, but Salt middle was on the waitlist. This was the largest earthquake Seasoning City had had in a long time, looking at some of the nearby low-rises and houses, not everyone had survived.
Of course, Shigeo can’t die, well, he probably is mortal, but Ritsu’s fear had a different shape than the potentially crushed body of his brother. An ethereal static shape. Ritsu began reciting the names of everyone he could remember at the school, grounding himself. Ritsu wouldn’t be able to do anything about this. Name something you can see; The teacher. There would’ve been a more localized supernatural aftershock if something had happened to Shigeo. Name something you can hear; students speaking. If the school did collapse it’s not like Shigeo could significantly change the casualty rate, not a helpful thought. Name something you can touch; the coat. Ritsu takes the hem of his shirt between his index finger and thumb. Name something you can smell, the air. Ritsu notes the scent of autumn, he can’t identify what creates it but it has a distinct smell.
Ritsu is brought out of himself by the strawberry blonde idiot talking to his teacher. He looks at Shigeo standing by Reigen’s side when they make eye contact Shigeo rushes to him, and squeezes his brother like his life depends on it. It startles Ritsu a bit but he can’t say he’s not relieved. “I’m so glad you’re okay Ritsu!” Shigeo says into Ritsu’s shoulder, “My school couldn’t handle the shaking I was so scared for you.”
Ritsu stilled, so Salt middle had collapsed. “Did everyone make it out?” Ritsu said softly, hand hovering just over his brother’s shoulder.
Shigeo nodded slowly, still clinging to his brother despite Ritsu’s withdrawal, “I made sure.” Ritsu felt a pang of jealousy, there he had been in the hallway, told by a teacher to go back to his class to collect his things and Shigeo had saved his entire middle school.
Again the conman pulled Ritsu out of his thoughts. “Hey Mob, can you and your brother talk to the teacher, I’d like to get you two home.”
Ritsu scoffed lightly, he wasn’t sure what the guy was even doing here, he would’ve had to have signed Shigeo out of school. But his mother would be required to work if the government declared a state of emergency, which they surely would, and his father’s work was too far for him to walk home in any reasonable amount of time. Ritsu also wasn’t going to let Shigeo stay with Reigen alone for however long it took for Seasoning city to get itself back in order. So Ritsu confirmed with the teacher that Reigen was indeed one of his emergency contacts and he could sign him out.
Ritsu, Shigeo, and Reigen returned to the Kageyama home. There was certainly damage, but structurally it appeared sound. They would not enter the house until an inspector had deemed it safe, but things seemed to be looking up. Reigen inputted the information on the three of them and began setting up for them to camp in the yard while waiting for the rest of the family.
The next morning Mr Kageyama arrived, he was carrying a bag with food from his work, and looked surprised and relieved to see the three of them there. “Thank you Mr Reigen for picking them up, I brought some fish we can fry, the boss said to take it since it’ll go bad before it can go to market with the power out.”
Reigen looked excitedly at the fish, and Ritsu rolled his eyes, but he definitely felt relieved to see his father okay, and happy to get some food that wasn’t ration packs.
The family of four camped out for another four days before an inspector came to clear the house for habitation, Ritsu was annoyed that Reigen hadn’t gone home once his dad had returned, but he can’t say he was surprised. After five days Mrs Kageyama returned, but not for long, she was a mandatory worker and had been camping at work. She came to check on her family and home, she bathed had a meal, and went back to work. She would be very busy for a while but things were returning back to normal.
Except for the strawberry blonde sleeping on their living room floor. His apartment building had not been spared significant damage, and currently, the entrance had a sign that it was unsafe for human habitation.
Reigen ended up staying at the Kageyama household for two weeks, and Mrs Kageyama’s work schedule didn’t return to normal for the whole month. But the whole family had survived the ordeal uninjured, and eventually, life in Seasoning City returned to normal.