Chapter Text
One of the few things about himself that Reigen felt he could safely rely on was his intuition, especially when it came to reading other people. How else could he determine what his clients really needed? Sure, he had Serizawa and sometimes Mob to deal with the actual spirits, but Reigen was still the boss for a reason. It was no fluke that in a room full of espers, Reigen had still been the only one to expose Mogami's presence.
Even still, it didn't take an emotional genius to see that today's clients were highly suspicious. The two teenage boys dressed in shabby hoodies and jeans looked no older than 20, but throughout the entire consultation they had kept muttering things to each other for some reason. Sometimes, Reigen swore he could hear a snicker, which didn't fit their "we were attacked by a scary spirit at the park" tale.
If Serizawa hadn't been there, he would've never agreed to get in their car or follow them anywhere—he wasn't keen on getting mugged, abducted, or worse—but Reigen was quite certain there was nothing these twerps could do that Serizawa couldn't handle. (He'd still insisted they pay half the fee upfront, though.)
As they drove down the street of a quiet-looking town, Reigen observed the two teens in front and tried to figure out what their real motive was. As conspiratorial as they seemed, he didn't think this was leading up to something extreme or dangerous. Though, they'd become strangely tense and quiet the longer they'd driven.
"So the spirit is haunting the park bathroom, you said?" Reigen asked.
"H-Huh?" the driver asked, clearly not expecting him to speak.
Reigen waved his hand around in a flourish. "Exorcising spirits is highly dangerous work, you know. Every little detail about the spirit in question counts, so I just want to make sure I got all the facts right."
Serizawa gave him a curious glance, having worked with Reigen long enough to know this was unusual of him to say. Reigen was indeed lying about the last part—every detail they'd described had been carefully logged in his memory the moment he'd heard them—but he wanted to see if their story would change in any way.
"Yeah, the bathroom," the shotgun passenger muttered. "The ghost, uh, made these weird groaning noises and scratched up the stalls and shit."
"Did you actually see the scratches?"
"Uh, no? I got the hell outta there!"
"Fair enough."
"Oh yeah, and I saw blood coming out of the sinks," the driver said darkly.
His friend made a face. "Ew, gross dude."
"What, I already told him that earlier!"
"And you're sure it was blood," Reigen deadpanned.
"Well it was red and smelled super bad! Like blood!"
Sounds more like a bad plumbing issue. Or maybe...
"You don't think someone was just pranking you guys?"
"NO!" both teens yelped in unison, making Reigen raise an eyebrow.
"It—It was really a ghost, honest!" the driver stammered, giving him a furtive glance in the rearview mirror. "Please believe us!"
"Y-Yeah, I thought it said it was gonna kill me!" the other said frantically. "You have to get rid of it, it's dangerous, please!"
"...All right," Reigen murmured, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. "I believe you."
At least, he'd believe in their honesty for now. Maybe the snickering from earlier was completely unrelated.
The teens sighed in relief. "Thank you, Reigen-sensei!"
They pulled up next to the park, which had an empty playground for children. The immediate question of why two older teens would hang out here was seemingly answered by the basketball court nearby.
Upon getting out of the car and entering the park, Reigen eyed the bathroom facilities before looking at Serizawa questioningly. The man quietly shook his head.
No spirits here. Reigen would have to deal with this one himself, then. Maybe he'd claim that he wasn't allowed to exorcise spirits on city-owned property and then call up whoever was in charge of maintaining this park.
"Can you sense it?" one of the teens asked as he approached the men's bathroom, the door of which was slightly ajar.
Reigen twirled his hand dismissively. "Of course I do. There's clearly something evil lurking in there, but don't worry! I, Reigen Arataka, shall—!"
"AH! I SAW THE GHOST!!!" one of the teens shrieked as he pointed his finger at the door.
"The hell...?" Reigen mumbled, pushing his way inside without thinking.
Had his body reacted one second slower, his mind would have caught up and realized that there was no way the teen could've seen anything through that slim gap. Perhaps he also would've registered how suspicious it was for the door to only be slightly open like that, or maybe even noticed the plastic bucket propped on top of the door before it careened down over his head with a thunk, plunging him in darkness and dousing his body in what felt like sand. Reigen let out a startled gasp, only to burst in a coughing fit upon inhaling the coarse grains.
Salt.
That was the only thing flooding his senses now as he struggled not to gag at the acrid grit in his mouth. The salt was all over him—he could feel the grains sticking in his hair and cascading down his face and neck to uncomfortably linger beneath his dress shirt. He couldn't open his eyes in fear of the salt getting in them.
As the coughing waned and he began getting over his shock, Reigen registered muffled laughter ringing through the bucket still covering his head. A phrase was being chanted over and over again, and it took him a bit to process what it was.
"We just salt splashed him!"
"Reigen Arataka got hit with our salt splash!"
Reigen bristled in humiliation, realizing he'd been had this whole time.
"Reigen-san—!"
A familiar figure was at his side now, but Reigen flinched away from Serizawa's concerned hands before lifting the bucket off his head and flinging it to the ground.
"You—You shitty brats," Reigen muttered thickly, keeping his eyes shut as he tried not to get any salt in them. "You shitty, stupid little—"
"Oi, I'd watch your language if I were you!"
Though his eyes were still closed, Reigen frowned in confusion as he realized an unfamiliar voice was coming from a teen standing right in front of him. Had this one been in the bathroom this whole time? No, that didn't matter right now.
"I'm just calling it like I see it," he hissed, fumbling for a nearby sink before Serizawa gently guided him to one. "I have"—he struggled to squeak open the faucet—"half a mind to teach all of you shitty brats a lesson your parents clearly didn't—"
"Is that a threat, Reigen Arataka?" the voice jeered. "Cuz you're literally live on stream right now!"
Reigen couldn't suppress his panicked jolt as an ice-cold fist clamped around his stomach. For a few moments, all he could do was listen to the water pouring endlessly down the drain.
Live? People we're watching this right now? How many people had seen him fall for one of the most obvious pranks in the world? How many more were going to see this after the moment was inevitably clipped and spread around the internet like wildfire? He could already see the memes, envision the screenshots of his face caked in salt and rapid gifs of the bucket landing on his head with "SALT SPLASH" as a flashing caption.
Not again, not again, not again—
Reigen quickly washed his face to hide his mortification. The last thing he wanted was to look even more pathetic in front of everyone watching. While Mob had saved most of his reputation at the press conference, he was still just a punchline to plenty of people, so he had to keep calm and cool right now. If there was one thing he'd learned from his brief time as a viral sensation, it was that people online preyed on any sign of weakness...
"Isn't it illegal to film someone without their permission?" Serizawa asked. "You should stop now, Reigen-san has every right to get the video taken down—"
"It's fine, Serizawa," Reigen said as he turned off the faucet. "There's no need to do that."
Getting the video taken down would only make me look too sensitive.
"H-Huh?! But—"
"That's way too much effort for something that'll never really work. Once something is on the internet, it'll never truly go away."
To his surprise, Serizawa's shaking hands bunched up into fists. "So you're just going to let them get away with this?"
"Oi, relax Serizawa!" Reigen waved his soaked hands around dismissively, unintentionally flinging water everywhere as he tried to hide how much his body was shaking from anxiety. "It was just a dumb prank made by a bunch of dumb kids, there's no need to overreact!"
"If it was so dumb, then why'd you fall for it?" one of the teens outside said, prompting his two friends to laugh.
"Yeah, you just ran in thinking there was actually a ghost!"
"You really are a fraud, huh?!"
"We got you on camera, just like last time!"
Reigen rolled his eyes. "I told you I sensed an evil presence in here. Guess it was just this guy in the end." He jabbed his finger at the teen in the bathroom, who he could now see was aiming his phone camera at him. Reigen then caught a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirrors.
He still looked like a big, salted mess. A big, salted mess with a soaked face, terrible hair, and rumpled clothes. Reigen didn't know if it would be better to try and fix his appearance or keep up the unbothered vibes.
"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that," the teen said, smirking as he kept the camera focused on Reigen while backing his way out of the bathroom. "Chat, what do you think?"
Reigen swallowed down the bile burning up his throat before reaching over to the paper towel dispenser and vigorously tugging a bunch off, trying not to hear whatever the teens were saying to their viewers. Serizawa tentatively stepped closer to him.
"...Reigen-san, are you okay—?"
"Yes!" he hissed more aggressively than he intended. "Could you calm down already?!"
"I am calm."
"Then why do you keep talking about this?!"
Serizawa blinked at him. "I'm just worried about how you feel."
A stronger pang of humiliation washed over Reigen, and for once he was grateful his face was soaked with water because he couldn't stand the thought of anyone seeing him with tears in his eyes. Especially Serizawa, who was now staring down at him with the most pitiful expression like Reigen was some kicked puppy lost on the streets.
Serizawa reached for him. "Here, let me help you get the salt off—"
Reigen reeled back like Serizawa's hands would burn him. "No, I'm fine!" he said before pressing the towels to his face, feeling the water bleed through the paper onto his fingers. He took several deep breaths, desperately pushing down his dumb, jittery feelings. Then he spread his lips to form his laid-back smile, the one he always made whenever there was a frustrated client and he just really, really needed them to give up and pay their fees.
"Serizawa," he murmured, smoothly tossing the towels in the trash can, "there's no need to worry about me. We've been through so much worse together, haven't we? Compared to evil spirits and criminal espers, a little bit of salt is nothing!" He casually swept his bangs to the side for emphasis and tried not to wince as the action flung more salt across the bathroom.
"You know I wasn't talking about the salt. I was talking about how they're bullying you in front of a live audience."
Reigen snorted, regretting it when he tasted some inhaled salt lingering in the back of his nose. "Who cares about that? I'm used to it by now. I've always just been a joke to everyone."
As he grabbed another paper towel and blew his nose, he was startled to see Serizawa staring at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, offended, like he'd just insulted his dear mother.
"...Did I say something wr—?"
"Hey, Reigen-sensei!" one of the teens from outside said sarcastically.
Reigen relaxed his brow to appear as nonchalant as possible, bored even. "Don't you kids have anything better to do? Your prank worked, show's over. No one's gonna keep watching after that."
"Are you kidding, dude?" the one filming him said. "We just hit 250 viewers, and it's only going up!"
A watery laugh bubbled up from Reigen's throat unprompted. "Oh really?"
"Chat wants to know what you did at that last press conference!"
"S-Still?" Reigen cleared his throat. "I mean, that's old news, guys."
"It's only been two years!"
"Yeah, old news."
The teens rolled their eyes at him. "But there's no way you actually used powers to do all that, did you?"
"Well..."
"Yeah, there's this theory going around that it was all staged and everyone was in on it!"
"Is that so...?"
"Well?! Are you gonna show us the truth or not?!"
"Um..."
There were a million things Reigen knew he could do right now. He could dismiss their accusations with pure indifference until they got bored and left. He could give them joke answers until they got bored and left. Hell, he could just start walking away without another word until they got bored and left. But for some reason, Reigen felt frozen in place, and all he could do was laugh awkwardly like some pathetic, guilty loser—
"That's enough."
Reigen blinked as Serizawa stepped out of the bathroom, raising his hand. The teen filming him yelped as the phone was easily pried from his hand by an invisible force.
"Oh shit what the fuck—?!"
"This guy's actually an esper!!!"
Reigen felt his throat dry up in shock. "S-Serizawa, what are you...?"
"It's time for you all to apologize," Serizawa said, his cold voice having none of its usual gentleness as he telekinetically turned the phone around in midair to film the teens instead. "You're more than old enough to know that what you did was wrong, so apologize to Reigen-san now."
The two teens who had driven them here looked terrified as they backed away from Serizawa, shaking.
"L-Look man, we don't want any trouble—!"
"You've already caused it."
"Serizawa!" Reigen hissed only to freeze as the man glanced back at him with wide, furious eyes full of dark intensity. Serizawa's eyebrows were furrowed, his jaws were tense—he had never seen his employee look this way before, had he?
No, he had. Twice, and Tome had been involved in both instances somehow (because of course). The first time had been in that cursed forest, and Reigen could never forget Serizawa's face when they'd spotted the fake Reigen leading Tome and her date deeper into the forest's clutches. Serizawa had lunged forward at the mimicry without hesitation like a mother bear after her cubs, roaring in anger as he eliminated the threat.
The second time had been when Roshuto had shown up to the office again and the nuisance had managed the seemingly impossible task of pissing Serizawa off without actually trying to harm someone. It seemed that the guilt of dooming a kid to save himself had gotten to Roshuto, so nowadays he was often trying to apologize to Tome and ask for her forgiveness. (Didn't that defeat the purpose of an apology, though? No wonder Tome still hadn't forgiven the coward.)
Reigen couldn't remember what Roshuto had done exactly—perhaps he'd put his hand on her shoulder or simply gotten too close to her in general—but it had resulted in Serizawa storming over and telekinetically shoving Roshuto out of the office so fiercely that by the end of it, even Reigen had wanted to flee with his tail between his legs.
But both times, Serizawa's fury had been more than understandable then—justified even. So why was he like this now?
"Hey, give me my phone back!!!" the teen who had been filming Reigen shrieked, standing on his toes uselessly as he tried to snatch it.
Serizawa just moved the camera further away and stepped to the side, shielding them from Reigen's view with his tall, looming figure. Or rather, the one he was shielding from view was...
...Oh.
The realization made Reigen's knees buckle as hot mortification flushed his cheeks bright red. Serizawa was angry because he wanted to protect him. But unlike before, it wasn't to protect him from something actually dangerous. Instead, Serizawa thought he needed to protect him from a bunch of teenagers with too much time and salt on their hands. Now wasn't that just pathetic?
"That's my phone you're keeping from me! Who the hell do you think you are?! Mind your business!"
"I am Serizawa Katsuya, deputy director of Spirits and Such Consultation," Serizawa replied in a low voice. "I have worked with Reigen-san for almost two years now, so it is my business."
Don't associate yourself with me right now! Reigen wanted to say, but he was too paralyzed with shock to interrupt the scene playing out before him.
The teen laughed. "You actually work for this guy?! Didn't you see him on TV?! Listen, he's a total scam artist—"
"No, you'll listen to me," Serizawa ordered. "Reigen-san is a good man."
...What...?
Reigen swayed unsteadily and clutched the doorway for support, wondering if the bucket hitting his head had somehow caused a concussion. Concussions could make you hallucinate, right?
Even the teens were shocked as they stared at Serizawa, dumbfounded. "But he's totally a fraud—!"
"Have you ever had psychic powers?" Serizawa asked.
"Uh..."
"Then what makes any of you qualified to recognize what's real and what's fake when it comes to psychokinesis?"
"There was that old guy on TV!" the teen whose phone was still hovering in the air exclaimed. "He's a famous psychic, and he was the one who first called out Reigen for being a fake!"
"And what about me, who has worked with Reigen-san for so long?"
"Uhhh... bribery!" one of the teens blurted out.
"Then let me ask you this," Serizawa murmured, taking a step closer. "Have you ever been haunted by a spirit?"
The teens began to whisper frantically to each other. ("Wait, ghosts are real?!") ("No fucking way they are...") ("Shut up guys, he's just lying!")
"I'm not lying," Serizawa said, "but I'm not surprised that you'd think so. Have you ever been cursed? Has a cursed item ever been passed on to you?"
The teens squirmed, visibly growing more uncomfortable by his questions.
"One client we recently had came to us with a cursed table ornament. Ever since her mother-in-law gave it to her, she experienced terrible dreams at night and visions during the day. It felt like all her energy was drained in its presence, and she lived an entire week in fear. But her husband refused to believe her and said she was just making up excuses to dislike his mother. Thankfully, she came to us, and we got rid of the curse for her."
Reigen remembered that client, how his heart had sank when Serizawa had given him a silent nod to confirm it was a real curse. He hoped she'd gotten divorced since then...
"If any of you were to tell your two friends here that you were experiencing these terrible things, would they give you the time of day? Would they hear you out, or would they just laugh at you?"
Their tense silence as they nervously glanced at each other answered everything.
"For many of our clients, the fact that no one will listen to them scares them more than the problems they come to us with. You should be grateful that you've never had to feel alone in a world where not even your loved ones try to understand you. That's why our clients appreciate it when Reigen-san listens to them and tries to solve their problems. That's why Reigen-san was kind enough to believe your story about the ghost in the bathroom earlier. He just wanted to help you."
"Or take our money," one of the teens mumbled under his breath.
"You told us yourselves that we were the cheapest exorcists around, didn't you?" Serizawa countered. He didn't wait for a response as he used his powers to lift up the plastic bucket from the bathroom floor and hover it near his shoulder. The teens flinched and drew back, probably scared he was preparing to attack them with it. But Serizawa was not that kind of man, at least not anymore.
"I'm not saying you have to like him, but what you did today was cruel. Reigen-san didn't deserve that, especially when he was trying to help you. Did you do this thinking it would make you popular? Because I think the only thing it did was show the world that you don't care about how your actions affect those around you. What would your parents say if they saw this? Is this how they raised you?"
For some reason, this was what made the teens stare down at their feet in embarrassment, hands in their pockets like kids caught stealing candy at a store.
"It was just a dumb prank..." one of them mumbled.
"For a dumb prank, you made a mess of a public area. You didn't stop to think about how people in your community enjoy spending time at this park. You didn't think about how you just made a janitor's job much harder than it needs to be. Before judging other people, you should look into yourselves first and think about what real good you can contribute to society."
Serizawa telekinetically shoved the bucket into the arms of one of the teens, who staggered back in shock.
"Why don't you start by cleaning up the mess you made? I'll even make it easier for you."
With a flick of his hand, Serizawa's aura swirled around the vicinity, picking up all the scattered grains of salt. Though Reigen couldn't see it, he felt the aura breeze past him like a gust of wind, tousling his hair and the tie out of his suit until no salt was left on him. If he wasn't so emotionally drained, he would've laughed at the look on the teens' faces as they stared down at the growing pile of salt at their feet like it was a giant cockroach.
"That should be all of it," Serizawa muttered before dropping his hand, stilling his aura. "I suggest you get to work now."
"How do you want us to clean up all that? We don't have any supplies—"
"You have hands, yes?"
The teens flinched before meekly kneeling down and scooping up the salt to dump back in the bucket. Serizawa gave the phone back to its owner, and Reigen noted it turning off.
Had that really happened?
Reigen blinked numbly as Serizawa walked back to him, his face unreadable. For a few moments, they just stood there, neither of them knowing what to say. They couldn't even look each other in the eyes.
It was Serizawa who broke the silence for once. "It's getting late," he murmured in that gentle voice that was so unlike how he'd sounded just a minute ago. "Do you want to take the bus back? I saw a stop on our way here."
Reigen's body felt sluggish as he finally nodded and moved his lips. "Um... Right." He took a few steps forward and stopped, looking at the teens who were still scooping the salt in the bucket. One of them glanced up at him before flinching and averting his gaze.
If Reigen was his usual self, he probably would've said something snarky to get the last laugh, driven their humiliation into their faces. But his mind drew a blank, and the thought of getting those teens to focus on him again made him nauseous, so he silently trudged past them and let Serizawa guide the way.
They walked in silence beneath the lengthening shadows of nearby buildings, the sky bleeding with rich reds and oranges. As Reigen stared at Serizawa's back, he dimly registered how much straighter it was nowadays. He could still remember the bundle of nerves that had first shuffled into his office, shoulders hunched up and curly hair askew, a stubbled face full of fear and uncertainty as he stuttered over every word. Now the taller man held himself up much higher than before, not walking the overconfident swagger Reigen liked to put on, but self-assured all the same.
Serizawa had grown so much in the years he'd spent under Reigen's employment. Reigen was undoubtedly proud, but the cowardly, selfish part of him he hated so much was scared of the implications. All this time, Reigen had wanted to be someone Serizawa could look up to. Someone Serizawa could admire even, if he was feeling arrogant enough.
But clearly, now that was a thing of the past.
When they reached the bus stop, Reigen saw his reflection in the glass and winced at how disheveled he was. Though he was thankfully saltless, Serizawa's aura had made him look like he'd gone through a tornado (and he would know from firsthand experience).
As he quickly tried to smooth down his blond hair and readjusted his suit and tie to look somewhat presentable again, he nervously glanced at Serizawa to see what he was feeling. Unfortunately, the man was just staring forward with an unreadable expression, though his jaw was clenched.
Reigen knew it would be best to never talk about this again, to pretend that embarrassing incident had never happened. But the selfish part of him couldn't stop thinking about the unbelievably kind way Serizawa had described him, and he really wanted to know...
"...Seri—" Reigen cringed at the hoarse squeak that came from his throat before he cleared it. "Serizawa, you... uh..."
Oh, he shouldn't have given into that want. But now Serizawa was looking at him expectantly, so there was no backing out now.
Reigen laughed awkwardly. "You know the business has survived worse media attention, right?"
Serizawa's eyebrows furrowed a little in confusion. Reigen scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, I mean, there was that whole thing with me on TV before you started working here, but I survived it! Business actually got better, would you believe it?"
"...I'm aware."
"Right, yes, so uh... I guess I'm just saying, if you were scared about how negative attention would affect the business, you didn't need to be. If anything, I wouldn't be surprised if we got a little boost in popularity!"
Serizawa's shoes scraped against the pavement as he turned his whole body to face him, and Reigen gulped when he saw a bit of that fierce intensity return to his eyes. "You think I was worried about the business?" he said icily.
"W-Well—!" Reigen wildly twirled his pointer finger next to his head as he tried to rectify the situation. "It's only natural that you'd be worried! After all, you're the deputy director, so the business is also your responsibility! Plus, you wouldn't want to lose your job if the business went under—!"
"I don't care about that."
Reigen winced at how bluntly he'd said that, and Serizawa sighed.
"I mean, of course I care about the business. But earlier, I was just worried about you."
Ah, so it was that. Of course. Reigen swallowed thickly, his forced smile growing shakier by the second. "Right! Yes, I understand, you wouldn't want to tell people you work for a boss with such a poor reputation, so you decided to try and fix that!"
"Reigen-san—"
"I'm sure you were also thinking about how my reputation could make your resume much more questionable when you apply to another job someday—"
"No, that's not—"
"—which makes a lot of sense, especially since this is your only work experience—"
"I don't care about any of that, Reigen-san!"
Reigen flinched and bit his lip as Serizawa raised his voice at him for once. The man was shaking now, staring down at him indignantly, and Reigen had to wonder why he was still keeping the respectful honorific if Serizawa really didn't feel that way about him anymore—
"Do you think that little of me?" Serizawa asked quietly, drawing back a little and looking down at the ground between them.
The thought was so ridiculous, it took Reigen a few seconds to process that it was a genuine question. "...What?"
"Do you think I said all that about you just to help myself? Do you think I'm that selfish?"
"Looking out for yourself isn't selfish."
Serizawa sucked in a sharp breath through his clenched teeth. "...So is that the real reason you defended me from that old lady with the haunted living room?"
"Huh?"
"It was one of the first cases I did with you. She kept yelling at me, saying I did a lousy job of everything cuz I knocked over some of her stuff during the exorcism. Did you only stick up for me so the business wouldn't look bad?"
The mere reminder of that hag made Reigen wish he could go back and rip her a new one again. He honestly hated scolding people even if they deserved it, but she'd pushed his buttons by daring to treat Serizawa so poorly. "No, I just didn't think she should speak to you like that," he said in a low voice.
Serizawa released the breath he was holding. "Then why can't you see that that's how I felt earlier?"
Reigen gripped his elbow, finding himself strangely fascinated by the bus that had stopped by to drop someone off. It wasn't their bus, though.
"I don't know if I went about it the right way," Serizawa admitted. "I'm not as good with words as you are, though I tried. Maybe what I did just made you more uncomfortable—"
"No, no, I appreciate it," Reigen said quickly, and he meant it this time. "Thank you for, ah..."
Caring enough about me to do that?
"... the sentiment," he said finally, scratching at his chin.
Serizawa's lips twitched upward slightly. "Of course—"
"But..." Reigen began at the same time, unintentionally erasing that ghost of a smile from Serizawa's face.
"But what?"
"You didn't need to lie about me, though," Reigen said with a wry smile.
The offended look returned to Serizawa as his eyes widened in shock. "You think I was lying?!"
Oh, Serizawa...
"I meant what I said," Serizawa said tersely. "Every single word."
Despite letting out a bitter laugh, Reigen's heart twisted. Lying came as easily to him as breathing sometimes, and he tended to forget that most people were better than that. Reigen had thought Serizawa had figured it out a long time ago. He'd thought they'd just had a silent agreement to let it all slide for the business. All along though, he'd been stringing Serizawa along like his old boss had.
"Ah, Serizawa..." Reigen murmured, rubbing the man's shoulder like he used to do when Serizawa was still having doubts about himself. "You're a good man, y'know?"
"So are you."
Reigen laughed again. "I'm just saying, I can tell why you like this job so much. I can see it in your eyes every time you help someone. You like using your powers for good!"
"What does this have to do with anything?"
Reigen had to suppress a shiver at how Serizawa was still clearly angry at him. He just wasn't used to that at all, not even when Reigen took credit for things Serizawa did or when Reigen couldn't stop talking to him despite Serizawa trying to concentrate on homework. But Reigen had to do the right thing for once, even if it was far too late. "Well, I could never tell the customers the truth, but unlike you, I do all of this for the thrill—plain and simple."
Serizawa's piercing gaze in his direction prompted Reigen to turn his free hand to and fro.
"I didn't start this business to help people, I started it because I was bored! Before, I was just some nobody convincing people to buy water coolers. But with this, I could finally be special! The Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century!"
Reigen was aware of how his voice was dripping with biting snark, but he couldn't bring himself to start speaking seriously because that would probably make him do something embarrassing like cry.
"You know what I learned as a salesman? Find the ones with cash to spend, plant an idea in their heads that solves all their issues, then gladly take their money. I just wanted to see how far I could go with that, even though..."
Reigen leaned in close, placing his free hand on his own chest.
"...I've never had any powers of my own, Serizawa! Everyone was right when they called me a fraud!"
The silence that followed was deafening as Serizawa stared forward again, not looking at him nor changing his expression. Despite the twisted grin plastered on Reigen's face, his heart hammered in his chest until he felt sick from it. He couldn't read Serizawa anymore. What was he thinking right now?
How exactly would Serizawa tell him to get out of his life forever?
At precisely the wrong time, their bus arrived. Serizawa's shoulder slipped from Reigen's hand as the man stepped up. Reigen was tempted to avoid the fallout by just not getting on the bus, but not only would that mean having to call a cab, but that also would just be denying Serizawa his right to call Reigen out for everything. Reigen was a coward, but he had to see the consequences through.
Reigen followed and sat next to Serizawa in the back corner, the bus rumbling as it moved on. Reigen wasn't sure if he was glad the bus was empty or not. Regardless, the silence continued for a little longer before Serizawa finally spoke.
"...I knew all of that already."
Reigen couldn't hold back a bark of disbelief. "Sure you did—"
"Reigen-san, don't treat me like a fool. Unlike the President, I've never seen you as a god. You have always been human to me."
Reigen looked away guiltily. He knew Serizawa hated it when he was looked down upon.
"...So when did you find out I didn't have powers?"
Serizawa sighed. "You know espers can tell these things, right?"
"I've still convinced plenty," Reigen muttered.
"Yes, even me at the start. I guess you seemed so convinced of it yourself, I thought there was something I couldn't see, and even Shigeo-kun played along. But I figured it out not long after our company trip to the onsen."
Reigen choked. "That soon?! You were still a rookie!"
"Yes, well, when I thought about it afterwards and realized you weren't staying in that parallel universe willingly... There was only one explanation for that."
"Ah... Right." Reigen realized his leg was bouncing incessantly and stilled himself. "So if you knew this whole time, then why didn't you say anything?"
"How am I supposed to bring that up to my boss? Plus, you kind of stopped acting like you had powers when it was just us alone, so I thought you knew I knew and that we had a silent agreement not to talk about it."
So Reigen had been right about that. But...
"...I figured that was the case. But then... why did you stay for so long?" Reigen asked quietly. "At the start, I could understand. You needed a job, and you needed time to find another one. But it's been years, and..." Reigen suddenly looked up at Serizawa in terror. "You didn't think you had to stay, did you?"
"No."
"Okay, good. Because you don't have to—"
"Why do you keep bringing that up?"
"Bringing what up?"
"The idea of me leaving for a different job. You even said earlier something about when I'd leave for another one, not if." Serizawa frowned at him. "Do you want me to leave?"
"No, no!" Reigen was quick to say. "Of course not, but it's only natural for someone to move on from their first job—"
"I'm perfectly happy where I am. I would like to stay as long as you'll have me."
"Oh that's—!" Reigen clapped his hands together. "That's good! Great, even!"
"You don't sound like it is."
"What could you possibly mean?" Reigen asked, knowing full well what he meant.
"Reigen-san." Serizawa shifted in his seat to face him. "If you're worried about holding me back, then don't be. You said it yourself, that I enjoy helping others with my powers, and it's true. I know I could do that elsewhere, but... I also like spending time with the friends I've made in the office. Kurata-san, Dimple-san, Shigeo-kun when he visits..."
Reigen's heart thumped as Serizawa softly smiled at him.
"...and you, Reigen-san."
"M-Me—?!" Reigen felt heat rush up his cheeks and knew there was no hiding how red they were. "B-But I'm your boss, I—"
"Do you not think so?"
Reigen stammered helplessly before lowering his gaze. "Y-Yeah, you're... also my friend," he mumbled, feeling extremely childish as he forced the words out.
Serizawa chuckled under his breath. "You talk yourself up so much, but you don't take honest compliments well, do you?"
"Oi, I'm still your boss y'know..." Reigen grumbled, but both of them knew the threat had no bite to it.
"I only had my mother when I wasted most of my life inside my room," Serizawa said, lazily using his powers to levitate his business cards out of his suit jacket and move them around in circles. "She tried her best, but there was only so much she could do without understanding my powers. With Claw, I was never allowed to be my own person under the President, and I didn't have any real friends. Now, I feel truly fulfilled. I have you to thank for that."
"I just gave you the job, you did the fulfilling part yourself."
"But I'm sure I couldn't have done it without you and your kindness."
Reigen opened his mouth to object, but Serizawa shook his head.
"Didn't you tell me to have more confidence in myself? Well, this is me standing by my beliefs. Even if this business was all for yourself, you have helped so many people, including me. Even if you are a con artist, you never hurt anyone and always try to make sure people leave satisfied. Maybe you hired me because Shigeo-kun was getting busier and you knew you needed a full-time esper on the job, but you also showed me how to reintegrate into society with so much patience. You even let me go to night school, even though it meant I had to leave work early."
"I didn't let you do anything, you're a grown man," Reigen mumbled despite his throat closing up and his voice quivering.
Serizawa laughed gently. "You saying that just proves my point. You are selfish, yes, and you lie a lot, but everyone is flawed somehow. It's our actions that define us, and I think you're a good person."
Serizawa turned to Reigen with a smile, only to flinch when he saw the man leaning against the seat in front of him with his face buried in his arm.
"Reigen-san?"
"I... I think some salt is still in my eyes," Reigen hissed through clenched teeth. Thankfully, Serizawa spared his dignity by not calling him out for his lie.
"Do you want a tissue?"
"No, no, I'll be fine."
"Okay."
"Um..." Reigen swallowed. "Thanks for saying all of that, first of all. It was really, um... nice of you."
Wow, he sucked at showing gratitude, huh?
"I was just telling the truth," Serizawa replied.
"Maybe, but when did you get so good with words?"
Serizawa scratched the back of his neck, suddenly bashful again. "Ah, well, am I really?"
Reigen scoffed. "Yeah, and I don't mean just now. Those three twerps went from laughing their asses off to cleaning up their mess after you told them off."
"I guess I was just trying to be like you," Serizawa admitted. "You're so good at convincing people with your words alone, and that's what I wanted to do. I hope you believe me now."
"...Well..." Reigen decided to be honest, for once. "...Like I said, I really appreciate your words, but I'll have to think more about what you said before I can believe you. Sorry."
Serizawa sighed like he'd expected as much. "Well, I think Shigeo-kun would agree with me."
Reigen heard the smirk in his voice and reeled up in indignation. "Don't play the Mob card on me!" he said, jabbing his finger in Serizawa's face as the man giggled. "That's not fair!"
"It's two versus one, Reigen-san. With Kurata-san, that would be three..."
"Hey, hey, she never said anything like that! You can't just assume—!"
"So Shigeo-kun said that you were a good person too?"
Reigen felt like his face was about to burn up. "L-Listen..."
"Actually, I already knew that. He showed me some of his memories, remember? That was one of them."
"Okay, well, Tome-chan never said that about me."
"You saved her life."
"That just makes her more biased, because anyone would've done that!"
"You almost died saving her life."
"I knew the cursed forest would buy me more time and that Mob would come," Reigen half-lied.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to ask her what she thinks when she comes in on Monday."
"Don't you dare!"
"Why not? Maybe you'll finally believe it when she says it herself."
Reigen was trying to think of another retort when he glanced out the window. "W-Wait, I think we missed our stop...!"
Quickly, they shot up out of their seats and left the bus as soon as they could. Fortunately, they were still in Seasoning City, albeit further away from the office than they wanted.
"Well this is just great," Reigen muttered. "I know we have an hour left, but you wanna just call it a day?"
Serizawa nodded. "After all that, I think I need a drink."
Reigen grinned. "Serizawa!" he said in a mock scandalized voice. "Turning to alcohol is not a healthy way of dealing with stress!"
"Well, there's a good bar near here. I went there with friends once."
"I see, have fun then."
Serizawa raised his eyebrows. "You don't want to join me?"
Reigen was torn between one side that wanted to just run home and not show his face again for the whole weekend and another side that wanted to spend more time with Serizawa. Quickly, it became clear which side emerged as the victor of his mental battle.
"I guess that means you aren't mad at me anymore," Reigen joked as he walked with Serizawa down the street.
"No, I still am."
"Still?!"
"I know what it's like to be bullied, Reigen-san. That's why I will never tolerate anyone who bullies you, whether it's evil spirits, bad clients, or yourself."
Reigen puffed up his cheeks to hide his flustered reaction. "Th-Thanks, I guess. Or no, I don't guess, I really do mean it."
They rounded the corner.
"You said evil spirits too?"
"Yes."
"Okay, then why haven't you gotten rid of Dimple yet?"
Serizawa giggled. "You think he's bullying you?"
"YES! That floating glob of snot is so mean to me all the time, and I've had enough of his stupid smug face!" Reigen tapped his palm with his finger to emphasize his point. "I want him gone, Serizawa. He's bullied me for far too long with no consequence, he has to go."
"I don't know, he's kinda funny sometimes."
"You traitor! I'm demoting you and docking your pay, I'll have you know...!"
As Serizawa laughed and pushed open the door to the bar, letting Reigen in first, Reigen found that he couldn't be bothered to worry about what had happened that afternoon anymore. Did it matter much after Serizawa had defended him like that? As far as he knew, the rest of the world could say whatever they wanted...
Serizawa woke up in the middle of the night feeling parched and hungry. His head spun a bit as he rolled out of his spare futon and went to his bed to check on Reigen. The man had quickly drunk himself to sleep, compelling Serizawa to take him home.
After ascertaining that Reigen was all right, albeit drooling all over his pillow, Serizawa went to the kitchen for a glass of water and some chips. He sat down and levitated his phone over to pass the time, but was surprised when he saw several MBNE messages from Kurata and one from Shigeo.
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: why are you and reigen-san trending on mobtter
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: [screenshots of aforementioned trending topics] ???
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: is reigen-san ok???
Serizawa softly groaned to himself. He'd completely forgotten that the incident had been livestreamed to several hundred viewers.
Serizawa Katsuya: He's fine.
Serizawa Katsuya: Should I tell him not to look at Mobtter?
It didn't take long for Kurata to reply.
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: maybe but most people are hating on the streamers i think
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: i don't think you should look tho
Serizawa cocked an eyebrow.
Serizawa Katsuya: Why not?
Serizawa Katsuya: And why are you awake at 2 AM?
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: it's friday and not even that late leave me alone
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: also people are being weird about you 🤢
Serizawa was about to ask for clarification, but then decided to check for himself. Sure enough, the trending page had "Reigen Arataka", "Serizawa Katsuya", "#DumbPrank", and "Salt".
He first checked Reigen's and found it less about Reigen himself and more full of people just talking about the prank in general and how prank culture needed to go. His own topic, however...
Serizawa's face quickly became as flushed as it did earlier when he was drunk.
Serizawa Katsuya: Are they making fun of me?
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: ...not really
Serizawa Katsuya: [screenshot of people being very... enthusiastic about his appearance] But these are clearly jokes about how I look.
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: 😐😐😐
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: no they really mean that
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: i told you not to look
Serizawa Katsuya: Why would people online think that I'm hot???
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: don't ask me i wouldn't know what a hot guy looks like
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: ask reigen-san or something
Serizawa Katsuya: Why would Reigen-san know?
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: ugh nvm
Serizawa found the comments all too much for him and closed the app, burying his face in his hands. When he finally lowered them, he saw more messages from Kurata.
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: people like big strong protective guys ig
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: btw you roasted those guys real good
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: if i were there i would've thrown salt back at them 😤
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: is reigen-san really ok though? wanted to ask him but idk
Serizawa Katsuya: He's doing better. He's asleep right now.
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: he's with you rn???
Serizawa Katsuya: We got drinks after and thought it would be easier if he stayed over.
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: oh right adult stuff
Serizawa Katsuya: You should go to sleep.
👽 Kurata Tome 🛸: ur not my dad!!!!!!!!
Serizawa chuckled and opened Shigeo's message. Like all of his messages, this one was brief. However, it also gave him pause.
Kageyama Shigeo (Mob): Thank you for protecting him.
...Had he protected Reigen? Serizawa felt like a real protector would've stopped the prank before it even happened. He wished this whole time that he'd paid better attention and reacted faster—then Reigen wouldn't have had to go through all of that. Plus, wasn't he the one with powers?
Serizawa sighed and reminded himself that he was only human and that ultimately, the pranksters were to blame. He also recalled how those teens had swarmed around Reigen like vultures, reveling in his humiliation and asking all sorts of personal questions to further rub it in. To Serizawa, it was no different than the grade-school bullies who'd treated him like a freak, except no one had stepped in to protect him then.
Serizawa had never been one for verbal confrontation. Even now, he couldn't believe he'd managed to intervene and take all the attention off of Reigen (while being filmed, no less). But when Serizawa recalled the way Reigen's voice had trembled as he'd tried his best to bear it all with a weak smile, he knew he would do it again in a heartbeat.
Serizawa Katsuya: Of course.