Chapter Text
Reigen squinted as he approached the near-abandoned parking garage in front of him, the sun blinding him as it peeked over the top of the building he was examining. It didn’t look like much from the outside, clearly still in some use, even if not a popular location. But it was clearly creepy enough that one of the local businesses had hired Spirits and Such to do an exorcism of the building, citing “spooky noises” and “bad vibes” when pressed for details. Reigen could feel Serizawa fidgeting from where the taller man stood next to, and slightly behind, Reigen.
Reigen glanced over at him, before returning to his examination of the building. “Sense anything?” Reigen queried, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun, which was in the process of slowly setting. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too dark by the time they finished, he was hoping to casually and completely unplanned invite Serizawa to takoyaki or ramen or kissing for dinner in celebration of a successfully completed job. Clearly not remotely date-like. That would be inappropriate as his boss. Unfortunately.
Serizawa jolted slightly, as if being surprised from zoning out, before looking pensively between Reigen and the building. “... maybe? It feels like there’s… something? But it’s oddly muffled.” Serizawa’s voice got quieter as he focused, seemingly talking more to himself than to Reigen as he mumbled theories, “Maybe it’s something smart that’s trying to hide? Or multiple weak spirits? Or maybe-?!”
Reigen interrupted before Serizawa could make himself anxious trying to consider and list out any and every possible situation that could cause whatever he was sensing. “Well! I guess we’ll figure it out once we get in there and explore!” Reigen announced, using several encouraging hand flourishes to emphasize his supposed confidence. He started forward towards the entrance of the garage, glancing back to confirm Serizawa was following as expected.
The two entered the garage, eyes flicking around as they navigated the oddly maze-like space. Reigen focused his attention to any sounds echoing around them, hoping to pick up on any “spooky noises” that had the customer so frightened. Of course, with the mild activity that Serizawa had felt, it was all too possible the noises were due to a family of racoons or something having moved in, and that any ghosts claiming the space were entirely incidental.
Thankfully, it was after only 15 or so minutes of examining the first floor of the garage that Reigen realized he was, indeed, hearing an odd echo-y noise. Not sounds of animals scrabbling (claws on concrete or wood, the type of spooky he’d anticipated), but something that sounded like ghostly sobbing, coming from somewhere above them.
Quickly spinning around to find Serizawa, he moved himself in front of the taller man, making several quick arm motions to catch his attention, before tapping an ear and pointing upwards. Serizawa blinked at him slowly, before his eyes widened and he glanced upwards, tilting his head to the side, clearly listening for whatever had caught Reigen’s attention. After a few moments, a puzzled frown spread across his face, and he glanced back down to Reigen, before giving a slow nod. Together, they turned to the nearest wall, and began to look for the nearest stairway. It took some searching - whoever designed this place needed to be fired and barred from ever designing again - but they found a stairway and began to climb.
At the second and third floors, they walked out of the stairwell, listened for the noise, confirmed it remained above them, and continued climbing. At the fourth floor, it was less obvious where the sound was coming from, though it didn’t necessarily sound like it was coming from below them. This led Reigen to believe the source was on the fourth floor, which really just figured, didn’t it?
Nonetheless, with another glance at Serizawa to confirm his thoughts (and seeing the reflected agreement on Serizawa’s face, as he stared seriously at Reigen, occasionally glancing around the empty garage, as if hoping the source of the noise would do them the favor of walking up and announcing itself), Reigen stepped fully into the main road of the fourth floor, listening closely to divine if they ought to go further up, or part way back down.
Reigen gave a hum, which he hoped sounded thoughtful rather than anxious, as he considered suggesting that he and Serizawa split up, to hopefully come to a faster conclusion. Serizawa didn’t tend to appreciate suggestions of splitting up during cases of genuine spiritual activity though, and judging by the way Serizawa had resumed his anxious fidgeting and stare-glance-stare between Reigen and the surrounding area, this probably would qualify in Serizawa’s mind at the moment, despite the total lack of any definitive proof.
As if sensing Reigen’s thought towards moving away, Serizawa suddenly stepped closer, scarcely 6 inches of space now separating the two men. Reigen wondered if Serizawa had spread his aura in the space around them as feelers for any ghosts or something… the air around him had taken on a distinctly ~tingly~ quality he tended to associate with Serizawa’s powers.
Reigen looked askance at the taller man, who gave another thoughtful frown, before shrugging and pointing up-ramp. Reigen gave a returning shrug of affirmation, and the two walked slowly upwards, ears pricked for any changes in the quiet crying that still echoed through.
Luckily, it seemed that Serizawa’s intuition was well-honed, as it wasn’t too much longer before (after turning yet another in an endless series of corners - seriously, who designed this parking garage?! Reigen considered for a wild half of a second if the entire building was somehow haunted by some eldritch horror that fed on people’s fear of getting lost) the sound of crying turned less spooky and more normal-person-sobbing, and they came across a girl sitting on the short outer wall of the garage, head in her hands, clearly sobbing her heart out. Reigen and Serizawa both froze at the sight, as somehow the creepy atmosphere and their typical ghostly shenanigans had made them forget the possibility that there could be something as common and yet mortally dangerous here as a very upset person in a bad situation.
Somehow, despite not feeling like they’d been in the parking garage that long, the sun was mere moments from fully settling beneath the horizon, lending the backdrop a melancholy feel, and making the danger of a disastrous fall feel all too real.
Not wanting to startle the girl, and risk her moving in a forward direction by accident, Reigen took a few carefully silent steps back, before moving forward again with intentionally dragging feet, making sure the sounds of his steps would be loud enough to be heard from where the girl sat a good eight or so feet away. Thankfully, while the girl did startle a bit, it was minor, and she leaned backwards, further into the parking garage to see who had caused the noise.
Continuing onward, and with Serizawa slowly following a few feet behind him, Reigen wandered towards the girl with affected nonchalance, using his best “community outreach and relationship advice consultations” face to hopefully appear non-threatening.
“Wh-who are you?” the girl stuttered, tears stopping out of surprise. She glanced around as if suddenly realizing the isolated location.
Reigen stopped short, still a good four feet away, and hoped Serizawa had his aura ready in case things went badly here. He gave the girl an awkward wave, before transitioning to his trademark introductory pose, smile and thumbs up included. “I’m Reigen Arataka, Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century!” he announced, smile just barely holding onto his face as the girl just continued to stare at him in confusion and discomfort.
After a couple more beats, he dropped the pose as easily as he’d picked it up, and gave a rueful grin, shrugging his hands into his pants pockets. “One of the local businesses hired us to investigate some rumors of this place being haunted. Was kinda expecting to find either a spooky ghost or a family of opossums or something, not a kid. Sorry if we startled you.”
The girl then glanced past Reigen, as if only realizing Serizawa was there due to Reigen speaking in plurals. She then turned herself around, sitting to face the interior rather than the exterior, and looked towards her feet. “O-oh. Um.. I’m Shizuka. I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause any inconvenience…” the girl near-mumbled, practically speaking more to the ground than to Reigen.
Reigen batted awkwardly at the air, as if to shoo away the girl’s apology. Now that she was facing them, he realized she looked around Tome’s age. Far too young to be crying her eyes out in a parking garage of all places. “A-ah, it’s no trouble! You haven’t done anything wrong. Though, ah, while we’re here, anything we can do to help?” he paused, considered making another pose, then moved forward without, opting for authenticity to ease the way rather than a hard sell. “I’ve been told I’m a good listener,” he offered, though this was a lie. Reigen had, in fact, been told he’s rather bad at listening to other people, despite somehow always managing to give good advice anyway.
The girl - Shizuka - examined Reigen and Serizawa (who still lingered a few steps further away, fidgeting anxiously while desperately trying not to look anxious), as if measuring their trustworthiness. She glanced behind herself to the opening in the wall, then faced Reigen again with a light nod, and hopped off the wall onto the floor in front of her. Reigen hid a sigh of relief at the fact that Shizuka was now officially out of danger.
Shizuka fidgeted slightly, likely trying to figure out how best to word what she wanted to say. Finally, she looked down at her right hand, which Reigen only now realized appeared to hold some kind of folded paper, and offered it to Reigen.
Reigen took the paper and, with some trepidation, unfolded it, only to relax and glance back towards Shizuka in question at what undeniably a picture of a happy-looking Shizuka with a happy-looking young man about her age. Shizuka’s eyes went glassy again.
“He’s - um, his name is - well… his name was Sho. Takata Sho. My… um… my boyfriend. He… he died. Recently.” Shizuka stuttered, clearly hurting, but wanting to power through, “I miss him so so so much. And when it hurts too bad, I come here. We, uh… we used to hang out here, together. He liked to paint graffiti. No one really ever re-paints the walls here. So lots of his art is here. And it makes me feel closer to him, to be here.”
Shizuka paused, seemingly searching for words again. After several beats, she just shrugged, looking a little lost.
Reigen gave her a pained, sympathetic smile. Feeling slightly awkward at such a dark, difficult to fix problem, he stuffed his hands back into his pockets. “I’m sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how hard that must be for you. It’s never easy to lose someone, no matter the circumstances or how old you are.” Thinking for a moment, he pulled his hands back out of his pants pockets, and reached into his jacket pocket instead, pulling out a business card.
Not one of his own, but for a psychologist he looked up after a few too many clients who needed more help than he could offer. He might be perfectly fine lying to his customer, claiming that all their ills were caused by spirits, but he still prided himself on his ability to actually help them with their problems. Dementia, schizophrenia, and depression were all common causes of “spiritual” phenomena, but causes that were very firmly outside his wheelhouse of things he could solve.
“I imagine you probably feel pretty alone right now,” Reigen continued, before slowly offering her the psychologist’s card, “but I promise you aren’t, and there are people who can help. People who want to help.”
Shizuka took the card, and slowly looked it over. She chewed on her lip, clearly thinking it over, before asking, in a quiet voice, “You… really think this would help? I-I’m not crazy or anything. I’m not gonna… gonna… do anything. Um. Bad.”
Reigen waited until she raised her eyes to meet his again, before giving a reassuring smile and nodding. “Yeah, I really think it would help. Seeing a doctor doesn’t mean you’re crazy, it just means you need help. And psychologists and therapists and such aren’t just for emergencies you know, the same way you don’t only go to a medical doctor when you’re actively bleeding out. Sometimes your stomach hurts a little too often to be normal, and you go to the doctor and get diagnosed with an ulcer before it has time to really hurt you. Then you get help, and it never gets to the point of being an emergency. The way you feel isn’t an emergency, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve some help, and it doesn’t mean you won’t feel better with a bit of treatment.”
Reigen paused, giving Shizuka time to digest his words. She looked back at the card and hummed thoughtfully, before nodding, and pocketing the card. She looked at Reigen again, and graced him with a ghost of a smile, “I’ll think about it… I promise.”
With a final nod, Shizuka started to head towards the corridor leading to the stairway Reigen and Serizawa had come from. Just after she passed him, Serizawa gave a jolt. “Oh! Um, could we - do need- um! Cab? We can call?!” Serizawa mustered out awkwardly, sweating anxiously and fidgeting with his hands.
“He means,” Reigen interjected, “would you like us to call you a cab or something? It’s gotten late.” He glanced back towards the half wall, where the sun had fully set, the stars starting to shine.
Shizuka gave a small grin and a slight bow, “Ah, no, but thank you. I live in the area, I’ll be alright. But thank you!” She definitely seemed to be feeling better, having spoken to Reigen. Livelier. Perhaps she was feeling less alone, just knowing that someone cared.
The two men watched her disappear down the corridor, before looking at one another again. After a few moments in silence, Reigen cleared his throat. “So, uh, no ghosts this time?” He asked, glancing away from Serizawa to look at the garage around him, as if checking a ghost hadn’t joined the conversation and just hadn’t noticed.
“Ah, well - hm…” Serizawa started, glancing around as well. “I still sense… something? The same something as before. Still muffled.”
Reigen hummed in consideration, weighing their options. He raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, feeling the weight of an already long day, and the possibility of it dragging longer. “How likely is it that it’s just, I dunno, ambient ghost energy from this place being mostly abandoned or something?” he asked, looking back at Serizawa.
Serizawa hummed consideringly, looking over Reigen and the area around them. “Honestly? Probably even odds,” he replied, also beginning to show his exhaustion now that the option to end the day was being considered. “And even if there are spirits here, with how weak they feel, they probably wouldn’t be the type to cause problems?” Serizawa suggested hesitantly.
“And the client did only purchase the A Course.” Reigen allowed. The A Course, also known as the Trial Course, was the cheapest option, and therefore boasted the lowest reduction in spirit possession. “Let’s call it a day. If the client calls us back for a repeat, we’ll do a more thorough examination for spirits, but graffiti artists and crying teens sounds just as reasonable a cause of “spooky vibes” as anything else. It’s not like the client gave us much to go on in the first place.”
The two turned back the way they came, and navigated back to the entrance on the ground floor. Somehow, despite having made the trip once already, it felt even longer on the way out. Reigen and Serizawa paused just outside the pedestrian entrance to the garage, breathing the fresh, crisp air free of any car fumes or stagnation. Though he was still tempted to invite Serizawa out, Reigen ultimately decided against it. It had gotten quite late, and they were both tired.
Unfortunately, they also needed to travel in opposite directions to go home from here, and it seemed like a waste to go back to the office after such a long day, so that meant he had to say goodnight here, if they weren’t going to get food.
Apparently having come to the same conclusion, Serizawa gave an awkward smile to Reigan, before opening and closing his mouth a few times. Reigan waited patiently, but eventually Serizawa appeared to give up, and simply smiled at him again. With a shrug, Reigen patted him on the shoulder.
“Well, it’s been a hell of a day. We should call it a night, rest up for tomorrow. We’ve got a client with a cursed object scheduled to come in first thing at 8:30am.” Reigen announced, with a cheer he didn’t really feel. A disappointed expression flitted across Serizawa’s face for a brief moment - probably disappointed to be reminded of how early their first client was - before he nodded and sent a relaxed grin at Reigen.
“Mm. Text me when you get home safe?” Serizawa requested. It was a common request, especially after stressful out-of-office exorcisms, which Reigen supposed this counted as, despite the lack of ghosts. And, to be fair, it’s a request Reigen often made of Serizawa as well. Speaking of - “Sure, as long as you do the same!” Reigen shot back with a breezy grin.
Reigen pivoted on a heel, and starting walking, knowing it was better to leave first and not watch Serizawa walk away from him. He threw a lazy wave goodbye to Serizawa as he went, and called a final “Night!” before speeding up and getting along his way.
Reigen was relieved when he finally got home, and was able to eat a quick meal of instant noodles (quickly texting Serizawa while he waited for the noodles to cook, and recieving a response before he'd finished eating), take a fast shower, and get ready for bed. Something about that last exorcism really wiped him out, whether it was travelling through the location or the conversational topic, he wasn't sure. Possibly a mix of both. As he changed from his suit to pajamas, he realized he had accidentally slipped that girl’s photo into his pants pocket. He’d have to make sure to bring it to the office with him tomorrow, in case she came by during the week wanting it back. Hopefully she’d be able to look him up to get it back, or he’d wind up talking himself into going back to the garage in the hopes of finding her to give it back.
As he lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, he hoped tomorrow would be a better day. The heavy topics at the end of the day made him feel oddly lonely in the darkness of his room. He supposed it was a good sign that it felt so odd. A few years ago, he felt lonely like this every night. He knows it’s thanks to how much time he spends with Serizawa, Tome, and the gaggle of kids who still visit that he now goes to bed feeling content most nights instead. As he finally drifted off, he tought to himself that he ought to invite Mob and Serizawa out for ramen later in the week. It’d been a while since he’d seen Mob, and he always enjoyed sharing a meal with Serizawa.