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It was really only a problem once other people started seeing him too.
"So, Hanazawa."
Teru looked up from his ice cream cone. Three scoop, chocolate, banana, and cherry. With extra sprinkles.
"Huh?"
"You know...we're being tailed, right?"
"Oh?" The blonde's tone was carefully neutral. "No, I didn't. Should I be worried?"
Ritsu eyed the esper standing on the other side of the street.
Shimazaki.
"I dunno. Are we worried?"
Teru followed Ritsu's line of sight until it met the lanky figure of one of their strongest foes. His aura alone felt like it was distorting the very fabric of space.
Ritsu held his breath.
"Nah, I don't see anyone." Teru tucked back into his snack, happily ignoring Shimazaki. "So, how's that band I told you about?"
A grimace twisted Shimazaki's face - and then he was gone.
"Well, I think it's alright. I like the lead singer." Ritsu said, staring with mild confusion at the spot.
"Right?! See, that's part of the charm, I think, did you know that they - "
The rest of their afternoon was entirely uneventful. Ritsu decided to forget about it, if Teru wasn't concerned, there was probably nothing to worry about.
Probably.
"Yo, Teru!"
"Hanata! What's up?"
Hanata slung an arm around Teru's shoulders, nearly knocking him over. For a kid who was barely at Teru's chest in height, they really knew how to throw their weight around.
"Nothin'! Figured I'd follow you to practice and then head out. Wanna go looking for a new venue tonight?"
"Sorry, I've got plans. Maybe Friday?"
"Aww, but I'm busy Friday - hey, who's that?"
Teru twisted to look at where his friend was pointing.
At the edge of the school grounds, just inside the surrounding walls, was a shadowy figure. Tall, thin. So very out-of-place in a bright school like Black Vinegar.
"Hm? Over there?"
"Yeah, don't you see him?"
Teru squinted, tilted his head.
"Nope, no one's there. Should we try for Saturday instead?"
"Uh. Sure?" Hanata blinked, and the guy was gone.
They argued about a meeting time until they got to the soccer field, by which point both of them had almost entirely forgotten about the weird shadow man.
At least, Hanata had. Weird stuff happened around Teru all the time - this was nothing new to them.
The woman cowered with her son in the corner of her living room. On the table sat an ordinary wooden box, and inside the box, an ordinary stuffed rabbit.
"I see! Yes, ma'am, this poor bunny is cursed!"
Reigen shot a questioning glance at Teru. He nodded; Reigen carried on with his salesman spiel.
It only took a bit of energy to cleanse the stuffed toy of its negative build-up. Teru followed Reigen's lead, smiling and placating the little boy with jokes and funny faces.
They left the apartment with a little bit of pocket change and the gratitude of a child as their payment. Reigen sighed as soon as they were alone in the hallway.
"At least he'll be able to sleep at night, now. How'd it end up that bad in the first place?"
"He's being picked on at school," Teru said. "His bunny was - is his confidant, and it was absorbing all his pent-up feelings for him. I guess it was just a bit too much for it?"
"Ah, that makes sense!" Reigen led them back down the hall, toward the stairway. "I should put that on my list of courses...."
"Maybe start at 1200 yen?"
"You think so?" They turned the corner, and Reigen paused.
A man stood in their way. Slicked back hair, too-tight clothes. Vaguely familiar. He didn't say anything, didn't move. Just waited.
Reigen opened his mouth to say something.
"Yeah, it'd be mostly kids who'd need the course, right?" Teru brushed past the man without the slightest hint of acknowledgement.
"I - I guess that's true," Reigen replied on instinct. "Hey, kid, are you - "
"Hm?" Teru turned around at the top of the stairs. "Yes, Reigen-san?"
"Uh." He leaned around and jabbed a thumb at the mystery man. "Do you...?"
Teru's eyebrows knitted together. "There's no spirits here, Reigen-san."
"Huh. Really?"
"Nope."
A faint hiss of annoyance came from the guy, and then he blinked out of sight. Reigen twitched; shook his head.
"Cool. Wanna get lunch?"
"Oh yes, please!"
"I dunno, Kageyama-kun. Do you really think this one suits me?"
"I think you'd look nice in anything you try on."
Teru beamed, and hurried back into the dressing room he'd commandeered. "Great! Here, hang on a sec, I just want to be sure!"
Shigeo waited as asked. The mall wasn't very busy this time of day, so the shop they were in only had a few people inside. Really, it was just them and the two employees, but that was fine with Shigeo. He didn't handle crowds very well.
The shift in the air was barely noticable - maybe Shigeo would've been able to stop it if he'd been paying attention.
Maybe he could've stopped Shimazaki from popping into existence right in front of the door.
As it was, he was a bit too caught off-guard at the man's appearance to do much of anything.
"Ta-da!"
Teru threw open the door.
There was a very, very long pause.
Nobody moved.
"Well, Kageyama-kun? Come on, if it's bad, you can tell me!"
"Well, I, um..." Shigeo was thoroughly baffled.
Does Hanazawa-kun....not see him?
"Yeah, I think you're right...the extra yellow is a bit tacky. Lemme try a different color."
Teru shut the door in Shimazaki's face.
"Son of a - !" Shimazaki mumbled an impressive string of curses before teleporting away without so much as a glance in Shigeo's direction.
Shigeo elected to ignore the entire event. There were far too many questions raised.
How strange....
"Teru....Teru, Teru, Teru, Teru, Teru, Teru, Teru, Teru, Teruteruteruteruuuuuu, Terukiiiiii - "
"What."
"Dude. I'm bored."
"Go bother your boyfriend, Shou."
"He's not my boyfriend - like you're any better! Mister 'oh no, Kageyama-kun's just my rival and best friend, I'm not clearly head-over-heels for him, no sir, all hetero here!' Hanazawa!"
Teru shut his book with a dramatic sigh. "It's not the longest title I've been given, you know."
"You're hopeless, man."
"And you're a romantic trying to woo a brick wall."
"Touché! Now, let me in."
"Fine, fine."
The lock on Teru's window clicked open and Shou slid inside, politely slipping off his shoes. That was all the respect he gave Teru's home before throwing himself on top of his friend with a huff.
"Oof!"
"Sorry, bud. Now, where are we starting our mutual pining session tonight?"
"Start by getting off of me," Teru groaned, pushing Shou off the bed. "And go grab a snack or something. Oh, get the popcorn! There's a movie I wanted you to see!"
Shou popped up from the floor, excitement sparkling in his eyes. "Oooh, the one in English?"
"No, this one's in French."
"You want me to translate for you? Teru, I'm hurt!"
"Oh, shut it and go get our snacks. There's subtitles, it'll be fine!"
"If you say so."
Shou skipped into Teru's kitchen, leaving him to set up Mobflix while he searched for snacks.
He skidded to a halt, half-stumbling over his own feet.
"Uh - "
"Don't worry about the mess!" Teru called from the bedroom. "I'll clean it up later!"
"Yeah, but - "
"Oh, right, right..." There was some shuffling; Teru joined him in the doorway. "I forgot to put away dinner, sorry. Gimme a minute, then we can start the movie."
"Teru - "
Shou stared with a mix of shock, horror and panic at his father's former employee.
What the hell?
Shimazaki was just.... standing there. On Teru's table. Didn't even have his shoes off. Following Teru's every movement with just his head.
To Shou's complete bewilderment, Teru didn't even look at him. Completely and utterly ignored the man. The extremely dangerous, volatile terrorist lurking in his kitchen.
Zero reaction.
Instead, Teru hurried around his kitchen, tidying up the leftovers of his dinner. There were dishes sitting innocently at Shimazaki's feet. Teru simply scooped them up as if there weren't scuffed shoes a few centimeters away.
Shou - to his embarrassment - was paralyzed at the door.
Shimazaki didn't acknowledge his presence, but he must know that Shou was there. He had to.
"Teru," Shou tried again, "You do see that, right?"
"See what?"
"The what - the guy! Right there!?"
"Guy? Who?"
Teru stared straight at Shimazaki's knees, across the room to Shou. Looked right through him.
"Dude, what the - " Shou's gaze flicked between Teru and Shimazaki's quickly darkening expression.
Teru frowned. "Shou, seriously. No one's here but us. Don't screw around, okay? I'll still kick you out, man."
"No, I'm not - !"
"Here, I'm finished. Did we want anything other than popcorn?"
"That's not - "
Shou swallowed back his nausea from the sudden permeation of Shimazaki's aura in the apartment. It was dizzying, twisting the air and warping his sense of equalibrium.
Once again, Teru took it in stride, moving with total ease despite the oppresive aura.
"I bought some chips, too. I want those, you can have the popcorn?"
"I - I guess..." Some weird idea was nagging at the back of Shou's mind. Call it intuition, or his ability to read a room - he prefered to call it his "Chaos Detector".
Teru was up to something. Something that could be very, very fun. He just needed to play along.
"Great! Now, let's start that movie!"
"Uh, yeah. Sure!" Teru handed him a giant bowl of popcorn. "Can I get a soda?"
"Help yourself, yeah."
Shou stepped around Teru, pointedly ignoring Shimazaki. The glower on the man's face deepened; Shou struggled to keep a grin off his face.
This should be easy. It's just like before!
He rummaged around in the fridge, emerging with a can of soda. It was so much easier to pretend that Shimazaki wasn't there now that he was in on whatever game Teru was playing.
"Ready?"
"Yep!" Shou raised his can in answer, Teru nodded and retreated to his room. He followed, snuck one final, subtle glance at Shimazaki before turning into the doorway.
The man was full-on scowling, now. And muttering quite furiously to himself.
"Stupid kid, he knows I'm here!"
That was all Shou caught of his angry rant - with a twist of energy, Shimazaki was gone as quickly as he'd appeared.
Shou burst into the bedroom, startling Teru into dropping the remote. "Teru, man, you gotta explain - "
"Shh!" He pointed at the ceiling, eyes wide. "Check first!"
"Right, right."
Both boys paused as they searched as far as their abilites allowed them to for any foreign energy signatures.
Nothing.
"Explain, now, please?"
"There's nothing to explain," Teru said. He picked the remote up, flicking through the search on Mobflix. "One day, Shimazaki started following me around. It was pretty freaky at first, but he just....didn't do anything."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He kinda reminded me of a kid looking for attention, y'know? So, I figured the easiest way to get him to stop was to pretend he wasn't there. I can't beat him in a fight, and talking doesn't work with him."
"That's true."
"And besides..." Teru looked up from the tv with a wicked smile. Shou suppressed the shiver that crawled down his spine. "It's so much fun watching him get pissed off. He won't dare to hurt me - not with Reigen-san and Shigeo around. I'll make his life miserable in return for kicking my ass."
Shou pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You, my friend, are devious."
"Thank you. I try."
"Can we watch that movie now?"
"Oh, absolutely."
They settled down on Teru's bed with the chips and popcorn between them. The credits rolled over a montage as the movie began.
"So, it's Shigeo now, huh?"
Teru choked, wheezing out frantic excuses while Shou cackled.
"It - it's not like that!"