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And one more client was at the Office of Consultations and Such.
"So you are the principal of Heikikuu." Reigen says, hand rested on his chin.
The old man shakes his head in an agitated way. "Yes, exactly. For some time now we have been haunted by an evil spirit... no... a demon!!"
His expression begins to twist in terror, a mixture of agony and anger. "He tries to pass himself off as a normal student, but everyone knows!! He's the Devil himself!! Anyone with eyes could tell!"
Reigen, used to his clients' melodramatic certainty, just nods, pretending to give the old man all the credit. "It does looks serious."
"I beg you, exorcist!!! Get that evil presence out of my school!! I'm desperate!!" he slams the table.
"Look, we have three exorcism options." Reigen looks slyly, holding out a sheet of paper with information. "The first is the cheapest, but it only guarantees..."
"Please!! Just get him out of there!! Erase him from existence!! I'll pay anything!!"
"Oh. So it's the full option, I see." the blonde just writes it down on a card, ignoring the director's nervousness. "Okay. Give me the address. I'll be there tomorrow."
...
The next day, there was Arataka Reigen, the (self-proclaimed) greatest exorcist of the 21st century, in the principal's office at Heikikuu High. The old man was still agitated, but this time in a more positive way: "I'm very happy that you accepted!! I have no words to thank you."
"I'm just doing my job. There's nothing to be thankful for." Reigen gave a plastic smile. "Did you say that this evil spirit takes the form of a student?"
"Exactly! His name is Seiichiro Kitano. He's in first year."
"I see, I see... Does he cause any problems? Does he haunt some specific place? Does he go into the girls' bathroom?"
"Err...no. He...he acts like a normal student."
"I see, I see..." All Reigen can think is that this was probably, like so much of his work, a massive misunderstanding. But since misunderstandings were the source of his income, he didn't want to say anything. So he just continued to agree with whatever the old man was saying, until lunch break.
...
"Hey Kitano. Did you see a weird guy walk into school today?"
Takehisa was munching on a sandwich, sitting at the top of the bench, while Kitano was at the bottom, opening his lunch box.
"Strange guy?" Kitano looked away from the snack. His small, black eyes seemed to pierce Takehisa, even if unintentionally.
"Yeah. Suit and all." Takehisa was somewhat used to it, but he still felt a slight chill down his spine. "Didn't look like a teacher."
"I wonder if it's a new principal?... We need to welcome him."
Kitano frowned, thinking of ways to make a good impression on the new principal. However, thanks to his naturally scary face, his thoughts were read differently by Takehisa: "He... He looks so pissed off!! Does he want to challenge the new principal to show who's boss?! That's the Guardian of the school! Won't let anyone mess with your territory!"
But of course Kitano had no idea what was going through his friend's head, and he remained concerned with making a good impression on the director, in the most innocent way possible.
...
"It's that one over there." the principal pointed to Kitano, who was on the other side of the courtyard.
Reigen searched with his eyes for a few moments, until he noticed the boy's figure. He stared at him for a long minute, and thought, "He doesn't look like much trouble."
However, while he was just thinking about it, Kitano seemed to notice that there was someone watching him and looked up. Reigen felt fear ripple through his entire body at the boy's hideous face, looking away almost instantly.
"IT'S A DEMON, AND A GREAT DEMON, WITHOUT A DOUBT!!" Reigen thought, panicked. "I need to call Mob...."
Meanwhile, Kitano was in despair: "Ah!! I-I looked at him! I stared at the new principal!! God, he must think I didn't like his face!! I need to apologize!"
Rising quickly, Kitano went towards the place where the principal and Reigen were, much to the old man's complete anxiety.
"HE HAS NOTICED YOUR PRESENCE, EXORCIST!" exclaimed the director. "THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!"
"W-WHAT?" Reigen was totally focused on his phone. "HELLO? SORRY? WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
"LOOK!" the old man pointed at Kitano.
The boy grew even more desperate. "Ah! The principal pointed at me! They must be talking about what a bad student I am! Ahhh!! What now?"
"EXORCISE HIM, ARATAKA REIGEN!" shouted the old man.
"W-WAIT, THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!"
"GO ON! EXORCISE HIM!!"
Reigen took a deep breath, putting on a mask of courage. "Okay. I'll see what I can do."
Turning to Kitano, Reigen tried to face him seriously. Kitano froze: "A-ah! He's looking at me!"
The blonde swallowed hard. It was hard to look at him. Very hard. If he had to stare at him for a moment longer, he would--
"Shishou?"
The emotionless voice came from Reigen's phone. Thanking the heavens, he gave a shout: "AH!!! I GOT A CALL, I HAVE TO ANSWER, BYE" and quickly retreated.
Kitano and the principal were left speechless, transfixed by the exorcist's behavior.
"Eh?" thought the old man.
"Ah... he... he left... And I couldn't even apologize..." thought Kitano.
Takehisa, who had watched it all, was very impressed. "You go Kitano! You've made the new principal smear just by looking at him! This duel is won!"
...
"I already told you to call me earlier." said Shigeo. He was forced to miss one of the Body Improvement Club training sessions thanks to Reigen's call.
"There was no way. This is a serious. I need your help." the con exorcist was trying to justify himself. "I mean. I think it's going to be a great training for you."
Classes at Heikikuu High were barely over, so the two of them were on the other side of the street, waiting for the students to leave through the school gates.
"This has got to be one of the most threatening cases I've faced so far." thought Reigen. "I'm afraid even the Mob will have a hard time facing that monster."
Mob, on the other hand, just stared at the school gate without much facial expression. Students came by talking to each other, nothing unusual. Until...
"Wow!"
Shigeo's jaw dropped and his eyes lit up as he saw one of the students leaving the gates -- and that student was none other than Kuroda Seikichi, the school's (self-proclaimed) "No. 2", accompanied by his two faithful lackeys. His athletic physique was enviable in Shigeo's eyes.
"Oh, I envy him..." the boy commented to himself. "He's not quite as pumped up as the Body Improvement guys, but he seems to take good care of himself. I think I'll ask for some tips."
Ignoring Reigen, Mob headed towards Kuroda, much to the master's dismay: "Oi, Mob! What are you doing?"
"Err...excuse me." the boy approached the old guardian almost shyly, to his surprise.
"Huh? Who are you?" one of Kuroda's lackeys intimidated him.
"Are you here to fight?" asked the other.
"N-not at all, it's just that..."
Kuroda laughed. "Hahahaha! Look at him, a runt like that wanting to challenge the Guardian of Heikikuu High!"
The three started laughing and pushing Mob, who was still trying to express himself: "W-wait, I just wanted to..."
"Tch." Reigen shook his head. "Where are you with your head, Mob?"
The blonde was approaching the group, which was starting to draw attention. "Oi, oi, stop it. Leave him alone."
"Tch, and who are you, old man?" asked Kuroda.
"Old man?!" hearing that word pissed Reigen off. "Who are you calling old man, you little tramp?!"
And then the commotion began. Kuroda and the lackeys fighting with Reigen, while Mob tried in vain to calm both sides. In this fight, no one noticed when Kitano arrived with Takehisa.
"What the hell is that?" asked the latter.
"A fight?..." Kitano started to pay attention, surprising himself. "Gasp! Oh God, it's the new director!"
"What?!"
The two stopped close from the commotion, staring as Reigen threatened Kuroda and Kuroda threatened Reigen, both talking in all the ways they could affect each other -- all of them empty threats, of course. That filled Kitano's heart with despair.
"Kuroda must not have realized he's the new director! If he continues like this, he'll end up getting expelled! I have to do something!"
And just like that, Kitano advanced towards the two, at high speed. He shouted, "Kuroda! Have more respect for the elders! He's the new headmaster of the school!" And it would have been a beautiful message of respect from a polite high school boy, if all they had heard was not a terrible, scratchy voice screaming:
"KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Reigen and Kuroda instantly turned around, one of them recognizing the scream, the other startled. But both exclaimed the same thing: "AAAAAHHHHH!!!! IT'S THE DEMON OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!"
Despite the two lackeys running away, Kuroda didn't feel his legs. Reigen, likewise, was paralyzed with fear, just staring as Kitano's dark, hellish face approaching faster and faster. "So this is how I'm going to die?..." he thought for a moment. "By the claws of a demon?..."
However, before Kitano could reach the two of them, Mob stopped him halfway. The eldest looked at him with confusion: "Eh?". He didn't recognize the uniform, and hadn't seen the boy until that moment. "S-sorry, but who are you?"
"Please don't go screaming like that." said Mob. "It will end up scaring people."
"Ah..." Suddenly, Kitano felt a huge embarrassment wash over his face. "S-sorry..."
The conversation between the two had been so low that Kuroda and Reigen could only hear them whispering. Reigen thought "This is the Mob I know! I didn't even have to say who the spirit was and he recognized it right away!"
Meanwhile, Kuroda was in a cold sweat. "T-this brat managed to stop Number One's rage?! He... he must be amazing!"
Takehisa, defensive as ever, approached Kitano with an aggressive look. "Who are you?"
"My name is Kageyama Shigeo. I'm from another city, and I came here to do an exorcism. Nice to meet you."
"E-exorcism?!" Kitano shivered. "There are evil spirits in the school?!"
Takehisa refrained from doing a facepalm, thinking, "The director took that Kitano-being-a-devil thing way too seriously..."
"Oh! Right! I forgot to introduce myself, how rude of me..." said Kitano, all embarrassed. "My name is Seiichiro Kitano. This is my best friend Yuuji Takehisa. Glad to meet you."
And even in that demon's face, Shigeo could see the smile of an angel.
But soon Reigen came to intervene. "Hey, Mob!" he approached the three of them, posing in an intimidating way, puffing out his chest. "Do your work fast so we can go home."
"Okay. Sorry to bother you guys." he bowed to the two boys, saying goodbye. "See you around."
"See you." said the two.
Shigeo went out of the school, much to Reigen's surprise. He ran after the boy, outraged: "Hey, hey!! Aren't you going to exorcise the spirit?!"
"What spirit?"
"That boy's!" he pointed not discreetly at Kitano, who didn't even notice.
"He is not possessed." declared Mob, and continued walking. "Actually, there is no evil spirit in this school. I think they got it wrong."
Reigen was even more outraged, but knowing that Mob was the real esper, he didn't contradict him. Perhaps the "evil spirit" was simply the boy's ugliness, and that job was more of a false alarm, as usual. But instead of leaving him with relief, as these cases usually did, a certain revolt began to dwell in his heart.
...
The next day, Reigen was at the principal's office again.
"So?" asked the same.
"There are no evil spirits in this school." declared Reigen.
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!" the old man immediately got up, very angry. "YOU'VE SEEN IT WITH YOUR OWN EYES! HE'S A DEMON!"
"Look, I can't deny that the boy *looks* like a demon. But it's not his fault for being that way. Nobody chooses the faces they're born with." (He himself had a few things to say about the old man's appearance, but decided to withhold them for the sake of the speech.) "But YOU, as an adult, should be ashamed to think that of a student of yours."
"YOU WANT TO TELL ME HOW TO RUN THIS SCHOOL?! UNACCEPTABLE!"
"Interpret the way you want, but I'm just telling the truth. Old men like you can't see past their own nose, and I think what you're doing to this Kitano guy is very unfair and unpleasant."
The teacher who was next to the principal gave a satisfied smile: "It's nice to hear that from a professional." he turned to the old man. "See? I told you there's nothing wrong with Kitano."
"Lies! Lies!... I just need to find another exorcist to give me a second opinion!..."
The old man kicked Reigen out of the room, who was escorted by the teacher, who sighed all the way back to the entrance: "Forgive his bad manners. He was always like this..."
"Then you better find another principal for this school. As soon as possible."
As Reigen walked through the halls, he caught a glimpse of Kitano's face inside one of the rooms, paying attention to class. The teacher, as if guessing, began to comment:
"Kitano-kun is an excellent student, the best in the class I would say. He has a high chance of becoming a highly successful professional in the future. Well, that's if he is given a chance..." His gaze dipped in sadness . "I hope more people can see what an amazing person he is."
When the two adults arrived in the courtyard, Mob stood up. Looking at the boy, Reigen felt a little warmth in his chest, happiness and sadness at the same time. He was afraid of what bad adults could do to the heads of such kind and innocent young people.
But putting those thoughts aside, he called out to him, "Let's go, Mob."
And he replied, "Okay, master."