Chapter Text
There was absolutely no reason for anyone to be knocking at Reigen's door at 10 PM. It was just ridiculous—how dare someone interrupt Reigen's Friday night? Sure he was sitting alone in the dark trying to save on his energy bill, but he was also having a swell time texting Serizawa about very important things like how cute the puppy pic he'd just sent was.
(It was completely normal for a boss to text his employee about such matters, yes.)
As the knocking continued in earnest, Reigen groaned in annoyance before reluctantly getting up from his chair. "Listen here, stranger," he muttered as he turned the doorknob and pulled, "you definitely got the wrong room, so stop..."
Reigen trailed off in shock as he registered the tall, familiar man standing before him.
"Serizawa?!" he yelped before subconsciously smoothing down his hair and pajamas with shaking hands. (Of course, Serizawa had to show up when he was wearing a random logo T-shirt he'd snagged at a career fair back in college.) "Wh-Why didn't you tell me you were coming—?! We were literally just texting, you could've said something and I would've cleaned up—No wait, why are you even here it's 10 o'clock at night—?! "
Serizawa laughed, and Reigen felt his cheeks burn. (It was completely normal for a boss to blush when his employee laughed, yes.) As it was a hot and muggy summer night, Serizawa was only wearing a baggy white shirt and blue sweatpants, but Reigen still found himself staring at him a little too closely. (It was completely normal for a boss to appreciate his employee's physical aesthetics, yes.)
"Sorry, sorry, but I needed to tell you something in person," Serizawa said.
"And it couldn't wait till tomorrow?! No wait, you're taking the weekend off to spend time with your mom—Okay wait then why the hell are you here you should be getting ready for that—?!"
"Can I come in first?"
Reigen opened the door a little further and noticed a massive suitcase next to him, soft-shelled and completely black. Now why the hell had Serizawa brought something like that here? "Uh... Sure...?"
Reigen stepped back and let Serizawa roll in the suitcase, which was so tall it went past his waist. He then hurried to turn on the lights before shutting the door. "You want something to drink, or...?"
"No, it's fine. But can I ask what your schedule looks like tomorrow?"
Reigen gave him a perplexed look. "I told you earlier, the guy with the cursed teapot had to reschedule for next week."
"So you have nothing else planned?"
"Uh, not yet at least?"
Serizawa beamed at him. "That's good. Perfect, actually."
"Really?" Reigen scoffed out a laugh. "Why, do you need me for your plans tomorrow?"
"Oh, absolutely."
Reigen almost dropped his phone. "What?!"
The immediate thought that popped into his head was incredibly embarrassing and would only happen in a cheesy romance story. Serizawa was just his friend at best. There was no way Serizawa would want Reigen to join him on his weekend trip and meet his mother, because they weren't close like that...
Serizawa was now only a few inches away from him, and Reigen bit down a squeak and fought the urge to step back for some personal space.
"One more thing, Reigen-san?" Serizawa asked gently.
Reigen sincerely hoped Serizawa couldn't hear how fast his heart was pounding. "S-Sure."
He did not expect Serizawa to spray something in his face, something dark red and wispy that had him coughing and flapping his hands wildly.
"What the hell was that?!" he hacked out, gazing up at Serizawa in bewildered confusion. But Serizawa just kept smiling placidly back at him, holding up a familiar looking bottle of cologne.
Cursed cologne.
"...Wh... Why...?" was all Reigen was able to utter before his phone slipped from his fingers and he crumpled forward like a lifeless doll. Serizawa caught him and laid him down on the ground, where he struggled to keep his eyes open despite his sudden exhaustion. What was happening? Why was Serizawa doing this? Serizawa would never hurt him... right...?
Through the blurriness overwhelming his vision, Reigen saw Serizawa unzipping the giant suitcase he'd brought in, which seemed to be completely empty. For some reason, Reigen felt cold dread seep into his stomach, though he couldn't put the logic into words. His gaze then lowered to his flip phone, which was lying half-open on its side about a foot in front of him.
I need to call Serizawa.
He was too out of it to process what little sense this thought made as his fingers twitched forward, straining, the buttons so tantalizingly close yet so far.
I need to call Serizawa.
I need to call Serizawa.
I need... Serizawa...
Need him to... help...
But he might as well have been trying to move a mountain, and the last thing Reigen felt before his vision darkened completely was someone grabbing his shoulders and dragging him to the suitcase.
Reigen's first thought upon regaining consciousness was that he didn't remember getting blackout drunk last night. In fact, he didn't remember drinking any alcohol at all, as his doctor had recently told him not to do that anymore. (Who would've guessed he had alcohol intolerance?)
No, he couldn't remember even touching the stuff. But why else would he be curled up on his side and lying on a hard surface, his mind hazed with numb static? Too tired to open his eyes, let alone move, he weakly groaned and tried to go back to sleep, but then—
CLANG!
Reigen squealed and jolted up, looking around wildly. What he saw only confused him further. He seemed to be trapped in a metal cage, the bars only tall enough for him to sit up as he was now. Someone wearing black dress shoes and navy blue slacks was standing right outside of the cage, making Reigen feel very underdressed in his pajamas. As the bars slowly stopped rattling, Reigen realized that this person had kicked his cage for some reason.
It seemed... he'd been abducted somehow. That was concerning. But where had he been taken? Looking around him, Reigen could see that he was in a wooden building that resembled a traditional Japanese house with its flooring of tatami mats and sliding walls of paper.
He couldn't imagine why someone would abduct him and bring him to a place like this. It honestly scared him, but right now he had to keep his composure and show no fear.
"Oi, you could've blown my eardrums out!" Reigen snapped, looking up through the bars to see his abductor. However, his breath hitched when he saw Serizawa of all people glaring down at him with a face usually reserved for rude clients or spirits. Bits and pieces of what had happened the night before began to return to his memory, and Reigen wasn't liking the conclusions he was reaching.
"Don't tempt me," Serizawa sneered in disdain. "It would be payback after having to hear you yap on and on in my ear every single day."
Reigen rolled his eyes. "Wow, ouch. So what's the reason for all this, Serizawa? Salary not high enough for you? Hours too long?"
He fought back a shiver as Serizawa smirked in a way that looked extremely wrong on his face before slowly pacing around his cage. "Did you really think I'd actually switched my loyalties to you, Reigen?"
Reigen blinked, not missing the lack of an honorific. "Eh?"
"Did you really think that I would turn my back on Claw just like that?"
"Uh... I mean, Claw kinda disbanded and all..."
"Oh, you naive thing. The Boss may have been captured, but many of us espers still believe in the world he promised to create. We were so close to achieving that until you came along." Serizawa kicked the cage again for emphasis, making Reigen wince and cover his ears at the deafening clatter. "As the Boss's bodyguard, I knew I had to avenge him. So while you thought I was happily working for you, I was really just waiting, biding my time for the perfect opportunity to strike..."
"...For two years," Reigen deadpanned.
"I'm a patient man, Reigen," Serizawa replied. "I'll wait as long as it takes for that perfect moment. Even if I have to humor the most aggravating person on the planet every single day..."
"Gee Serizawa, you really know how to hit it where it hurts."
"What, thought an outcast like you finally had a friend who wasn't in grade school? Thought someone actually liked you for once?"
Perhaps that was the final straw for Reigen. This whole time, he'd been trying to hide how he really felt, but hearing Serizawa say those cruel things to him pushed him over the edge until he just couldn't hold himself back anymore.
He snorted out a giggle.
"...Are you laughing? " Serizawa asked, his sneer fading in his confusion.
"N-No—!" Reigen snickered before covering his mouth with his hand.
Serizawa's eyes narrowed. "Even now, you're still not taking this seriously?!"
"I—I could ask you the same thing—!"
"The hell does that mean?!"
After letting a few more bouts of laughter wrack his body with small spasms, Reigen finally regained his composure and raised his head to glare at his abductor. "If you're going to intimidate me, at least face me as you really are instead of pretending to be my co-worker."
Serizawa's face turned cold at this before he straightened up and sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot just to see you squirm. What gave it away?"
"What didn't give it away?" Reigen snapped. "You clearly know nothing about Serizawa, at least the way he is now. Your impression of him was a total joke!"
"Figures. He's changed a lot on the outside, I'll admit. It took me way too long to realize your deputy director was the Boss's former lapdog. I wonder how he feels, having lost his beloved master he once served so loyally..."
Reigen couldn't hold back the sudden rage that boiled within him. "Serizawa is doing just fine without Suzuki, thank you very much."
His abductor sneered. "Protective of him, are you? I knew I picked the perfect form to trick you with."
"As if! I saw through it almost immediately!"
"But you fell for it long enough for me to get what I wanted, no?"
Reigen cursed under his breath. "Whatever. So since we've established that you aren't Serizawa, then who are you really? You're not a spirit possessing him, are you?"
"What makes you think I'm not?"
"Everyone knows that espers have mental protection against possession. I suppose it's possible for you to be a very powerful spirit, but given the fact that I was texting the real Serizawa right before you showed up at my apartment last night, I'm guessing he isn't involved."
The impostor hummed. "Clever, clever. You're right, this body of mine that I created isn't Serizawa's at all. Though I'll admit, it's nice to take on such a tall and strong form for once."
"So that's your power, then," Reigen murmured. "But since the jig is up, would you mind taking on your actual form so we can speak to each other honestly?"
Reigen felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as the impostor barked out a bitter laugh that Serizawa's voice should never make. "Actual form?! I am beyond such a thing!"
"...What? I'm talking about how you look like without using your powers!"
"And why would I ever want to look like that?!"
Reigen blinked. "Uh, I dunno. Doesn't it get tiring always impersonating someone else?"
The impostor covered their chest with their hands. "I was blessed with the ability to shapeshift for a reason, Reigen. Before this blessing, I'd always hated how I looked. No matter how I styled my hair, no matter what clothes I wore, no matter what makeup I used, I was ugly. My voice never sounded right, and everyone ignored me in favor of the good-looking people! So when I finally mastered my powers in high school, I gladly threw away the form I loathed so much, and I have been so much happier ever since. You couldn't possibly understand!!!"
Reigen rolled his eyes. "Of course I do, I was a teenager too."
The impostor glared down at him. "What?!"
"Yeah, puberty sucks, doesn't it? Pimples everywhere, gross sweat, squeaky voice—I don't miss those times either!"
"As if a pretty boy like you could ever understand my true pain!!!"
"Uh, thanks?" Reigen shook his head. "No, listen. You should've seen me in middle school and high school, I was a mess! One time, a girl asked me out for a dare! People found my high school graduation photos and laughed at them online! Teenagehood is a pain!"
"Okay, and? So you grew out of it. What makes you think I would too? Besides, I hated my body and never went back to it since high school, so I have no idea what I'd look like now! Nor do I care!"
Well, this issue definitely ran a lot deeper than just mere self-consciousness. Reigen had his work cut out for him with this one, but he tried another approach. "Okay fine, then how about the form you prefer the most?"
The impostor stroked their chin with their finger. "Hmm... Well, I like this one a lot..."
"No, Serizawa is off-limits!" Reigen snapped. "God, do you always just imitate how other people look?! You could make yourself look like anything you want, and you just pick other people?! Where's your sense of creativity?! Where's your sense of self?!"
"Do you still not understand the meaning of my powers?!" the impostor retorted. "I was never meant to be perceived as myself! That was what made me useful to Claw, to the Boss!!!"
"Oooh boy..." Reigen groaned and slid his hand down his face. "Look, can you just please stop looking like my coworker? I can't take you seriously like this."
The impostor gave him a maniac grin, another look that did not suit Serizawa's face at all. "What, scared you'll pop a boner?"
Reigen stared at the impostor in disbelief as they cackled madly at their own joke. "...Are you twelve? "
"N-No!"
"Okay, then stop acting like it and look like someone else already!"
The impostor snapped their fingers "If you say so!"
Reigen watched in mild disgust as the impostor's body shrunk down like squished clay, their features shifting around and changing colors until a new form finally emerged. All Reigen could do was blink in stunned silence for a few moments.
"...Not that one either."
Reigen's mirror image, gray suit and pink tie and all, snickered back at him. "Nope! I was already planning on looking like you anyway, so I figured I might as well just do it now!"
Reigen could not suppress the horrified shudder at hearing his own voice being spoken to him. "F-Fine, whatever. But what do you mean you were planning on looking like me, er..." He sighed. "Okay, could you at least tell me your name?"
"Don't have one anymore!"
"Great, I'll just take a guess and call you Yamada-chan. How's it going, Yamada-chan?"
Yamada huffed. "You're really fucking annoying, has anyone ever told you that?"
"Oh, too many times to count. Now tell me what this plan of yours is, if you don't mind. Yamada-chan. "
Yamada flipped open a cellphone to look at something, and Reigen gulped when he realized it was his. "Yeah, I've got time. Y'know, I can't believe it took you this long to wake up. I guess the cursed spray I used was too old or something, it took forever to knock you out and then put you to sleep for ages. "
Reigen's eyes widened. "How long was I out?"
"Oh, a month."
"What?!"
Yamada cackled. "Nah, just messing with ya! Or am I? Maybe you were out for two months?"
Reigen sniffed his armpits. "No, it couldn't have been for more than a day."
"Ugh, you're so gross."
"Says the person who knocked me out and put me in a suitcase! Now could you tell me why you did that already?!"
"Gladly. You see, as a member of Claw, I really didn't like what you guys did when we were supposed to take over the world. It kiiinda made me wanna get revenge on every person responsible for stopping the Boss..."
"...Right," Reigen deadpanned.
"But y'know, it's just little ol' me against a bunch of powerful espers. I mean, I'd say I'm pretty clever and that my powers are quite strong, but they're not exactly good for fighting. So unfortunately, I had to lower my expectations and be practical about my revenge. That meant only targeting the most responsible party." Yamada sneered and pointed their finger at Reigen. "That's where you come in, Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century ."
Reigen sighed and raised his hands. "Okay, listen. I don't know where you got your info from, but I'm not the one who took down Suzuki."
Yamada's smile didn't falter. "Oh, I know."
"Eh?"
"You think I'd believe a powerless twerp like you could defeat the Boss? Get real."
"Okay, uh, rude. I am a very strong psychic, thank you very much—"
"Oh yeah? Show me your powers!"
"Kinda hard to do that when I'm trapped in a cage. Could you maybe do something about that?"
Yamada's lip curled up in mocking disdain. Reigen really hated seeing his own face contort like that. Had he ever made that face before in front of others? God forbid. "Nah, you're not leaving that thing for the rest of your short, pitiful life."
Reigen faltered. "Uh, but didn't you say you were going after the one responsible? Haven't we established that it's not me?"
"Yeah, yeah, but you see... You're the kid's master... "
Reigen felt the breath fade from his lungs as he realized Yamada's true intentions. Then his brain kicked into overdrive mode as he flailed his hands about and spewed whatever words came to mind. "Wh-What kid are you talking about?! I don't have time to teach a student! Just look at my website, it's always just been me and my deputy director—"
"Reigen-shishou, please be honest with me..."
Reigen couldn't hold back the repulsed yelp as he heard a perfect replication of Mob's voice. Yamada's head had shrunk, their features above their shoulders having shifted from Reigen's to that of Mob's. It was extremely difficult to look at, especially when "Mob" stared down at him with that familiar blank look.
"You don't lie to me anymore, right?"
Yamada's head transformed back into Reigen's in a flash, and the impostor began nervously scratching the back of their head. "N-No! I mean, I try not to! It's not like there's anything left to hide from you, er, at least anything important!"
Back to Mob, who smiled softly. "I understand, Shishou. Thank you."
"Reigen" chuckled. "Listen, you know you don't have to call me your master anymore, right?"
"...Do you not want me to?"
"W-Well, I didn't say that— "
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's rude to listen in on private conversations?" the real Reigen muttered, trying to hide how pissed off he was that this person was tarnishing what had been a very good memory of him with Mob.
"You were in a public area!"
"Oh please, you must've been stalking me for a while for you to know all these things. When did I even have that discussion with Mob, three months ago?"
"I've been preparing this for a very long time," Yamada murmured. "I need this to work out perfectly, because I'll only get one chance to pull this off."
"Only one chance? Doesn't sound like a good plan to me if you don't have any backups."
Yamada sighed and shook their head. "Unfortunately, when your target is the most unfathomably powerful being on the planet, your options are limited. Fortunately, I have you as bait."
Reigen rolled his eyes. "So you use me as a hostage and Mob shows up. Then what, genius?"
"Well, that's when I activate the trap."
"The trap," Reigen deadpanned, to which Yamada gleefully spread their hands and spun around.
"You see this place? This was once a safehouse where Claw members could stay during missions! However, it also doubled as a place to stow away and protect our classified research." Yamada approached one of the sliding doors, which Reigen now realized had Claw's logo painted on its paper in black ink. "Behind this door is some of this research. If someone without the proper authorization were to get past that door..."
The impostor's eyes gleamed.
"A psychic barrier would cover the entire safehouse, preventing anyone from leaving or entering. At the same time, the safehouse would burst into psychic flames, killing everyone inside and destroying all the research contained here."
"That seems... excessive," was all Reigen could say to that.
"It's perfect, " Yamada said, clasping their hands together. "Not even the powerful likes of that brat could escape such a trap, at least not before succumbing to the smoke and flames. And don't think he could use his own barrier to wait it out—the heat would roast him alive, haha!"
This mental image made Reigen swallow down bile that suddenly threatened to rise out of his throat. "L-Listen, the kid didn't do anything. Yeah, he was there, but he definitely wasn't the one who beat Suzuki. He was only 14, for god's sake! So I don't know where you got that info from, but—"
"Oh, do you ever stop lying for once in your pathetic life?!" Yamada snapped. "I've done my research, I know he did it, end of story!"
"Fine, so what if he did it?! That's no excuse to hurt a child! Besides, what if you end up caught in the trap too?!"
"You think that isn't part of the plan?! Who do you think's gonna activate the trap in the first place?! I'm not trusting that the brat will do it for me!"
The implications of this took a few moments to register. "...You're willing to end your life just to kill Mob...?" Reigen whispered.
Yamada sighed and wistfully stared up at the wooden roof. "As much as I would've liked to get my revenge on everyone responsible, I don't mind dying if that'll ensure I kill the brat. With Claw defeated and the paradise for espers never seeing the light of day, there's no point in going on for me."
"Just kill yourself then," Reigen hissed, not caring how cruel he sounded. "Why bring others down with you?"
"I can't rest in peace as long as Kageyama lives," Yamada said in a low voice. "I must have my revenge no matter what. Taking you down at the same time is a bonus."
Perhaps it was only then that Reigen realized he was dealing with someone whose cruel malice was beyond the pale. This person could not be reasoned with. Yet... Reigen tried one last time.
"...He was only 14," Reigen found himself repeating shakily. "He was scared and confused—Suzuki had destroyed his hometown and hurt his friends. Can you blame him for reacting to that? I know it's been two years, but even now he's only in high school. He's still just a kid..."
Any hope of appealing to Yamada's sense of morality was dashed as the impostor threw their head back and cackled. "Yeah, and I hope that makes him easier to trick! I want to see the terrified look on his poor little face as he realizes he just walked into his final resting place!!!"
Reigen snarled and punched the bars of his cage without thinking. Despite the pain that exploded across his knuckles, he found himself feeling slightly satisfied by Yamada's startled yelp. However, their slimy smile quickly oozed back onto their face as they relaxed again—an expression made all the more unsettling with Reigen's appearance. "You know, that reminds me. We can't have the brat seeing the two of us, can we? I mean, I'm supposed to be you, after all..."
"But I thought I was the bait," Reigen said in confusion. "Am I not the hostage?"
"No, but you as a concept are the bait cuz I'm pretending to be you. Who do you think called the brat over here?"
Reigen jolted with a start. "He's already on his way?!"
"Has been for the past half hour! Man, you've got a really whiny student, though. He kept complaining about how you were calling him on short notice again and that you promised him you wouldn't do it anymore or whatever. I had to bring up how your deputy director took the weekend off in order for him to listen, but he was still so pissy about it and I had to bribe him with more money after! Did you only keep him around cuz of his powers or is he just being a moody teen? Either way, that brat's a pain in the ass for sure!"
If looks could kill, Reigen would have eviscerated the impostor right then and there. How dare they say these things about Mob, one of the best people he'd ever known? How dare they impersonate him to call Mob over?! How dare they plan to hurt and kill him?! The kid had probably been enjoying his summer weekend, finally free from the pain that Claw had brought him, but now this impostor was forcing him back into the fray...
...and Reigen had no idea how to stop them.
Sure, he could probably break out of his cage (it had been built for dogs, not humans it seemed), but then what could he do? The impostor could probably apprehend him, especially if they took on a bigger form like Serizawa's again. Then he'd be back to square one. Though, maybe it would buy him some time before Yamada could keep going with their plan—
"Anyway, I can't have you looking like... that when the brat shows up. It'll ruin the whole plan."
"Mob's known me for five years," Reigen said bitterly. "He'll see right through you, and then you'll be sorry."
"Are you sure about that, though?" Yamada replied with a sneer. "Like you with your co-worker, I just have to fool him for a few minutes."
"So what do you want me to do, wear a mask? Hide me away?"
"Nah, I've got a way better plan. You see, you're probably the most annoying person I've met in a long time."
"Glad to hear you think that."
"Even on a normal day, all you do is yap your mouth on and on. You eat like a slob and you demand attention from everyone all the damn time. You're like a gross, pathetic dog."
"...Dogs are cute," Reigen muttered to himself.
"Glad to hear you think that!"
Before Reigen could even muster up a confused look, he froze as his double walked up to his cage and aimed their palm at him, reminding him of how Mob and Serizawa would exorcise a ghost or lift a curse.
"Nice talking with you, Reigen. Hope you didn't have any other ideas for your last words."
Then there was a shift in the air, and Reigen felt an unbelievable pressure push his knees to his chest and crush him from all sides. He couldn't even scream in pain, because his shocked gasp was cut off by his lungs being unable to expand and draw breath. It was like he was a piece of paper being crumpled into a ball, squeezing him together and mangling him beyond belief.
Oh god, he had to be dying. There was no way he could survive this tortuous agony.
Someone was gargling like crazy, and Reigen's aching lungs made him realize he was the one doing that. He dimly registered himself clawing at the bars, trying so hard to hold onto something in his torment, but his fingers couldn't grab onto anything. Did he even have fingers anymore? They felt more like nubs now...
Maybe he passed out for a few minutes, or maybe the sheer pain of it all blanked his memory out. Regardless, when Reigen finally opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on his side and panting for breath. The worst of the pain had ceased, and he couldn't believe he'd survived. Nevertheless, he still felt wrong, like his body hadn't emerged unscathed.
He weakly pushed himself up with both hands, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he continued to pant. His vision cleared a bit, and he blinked down at his hands. Except they weren't hands anymore, but way smaller.
Furrier.
Like paws.
Reigen tried to scream, except all that came out was a loud, animalistic shriek. He tried to swear, but all that came out were frantic barks. He flailed about in a panic, his smaller yet fluffier body smacking against the sides of the cage as he tried and failed to stand up on his hind legs. He was permanently stuck on all fours, the cage was a lot bigger than before, he couldn't speak at all, and everything just felt wrong wrong wrong—
"Awww, you're adorable!"
Reigen looked up at his captor, who was holding his flip phone up close and ecstatically taking photos of him.
"Who's so cute and fluffy now?! Who's so soft and sweet and plushy?! You are!!! Yes!!!"
For some reason this reminded him of the time he'd drunkenly walked home from a bar and seen an adorable dog through the fence of someone's yard, except now he was the...
...No...
"Don't believe me? Here!"
Yamada gleefully turned the phone around and Reigen saw a photo of an average-sized Shiba Inu cowering in a wire crate, ears flattened against its head and tan fur bristling in a wild panic. He had never seen a Shiba with its curled tail tucked between its hind legs like that before, but this dog was clearly scared out of its mind.
Reigen was scared out of his mind.
Reigen felt something fluffy brush between his legs and slowly looked behind him. What he saw made him start whimpering loudly as he circled inside the crate, examining his new canine form with horrified disbelief. He wasn't stuck like this forever, right?! Someone could fix this, right?!
"Aren't you so much better like this?" his captor cooed. "I mean, look at you! What were once your flaws that annoyed the people around you have now become lovable traits! Your incessant yapping, your whiny behavior, your slobbery ways—hell, you can't even sweat anymore! This sort of curse always takes a lot out of me, but I think it's worth how much I've improved you!"
Reigen wanted to scream at Yamada to shut the hell up and stop looking the way he was supposed to, but he also wanted to just bolt away in fear. How could he get out of here? He needed to find someone who could help him, that someone either being Serizawa or—
"Mob?"
Reigen looked up in horror as Yamada paced near the front door, flip phone pressed to their ear.
"What's the holdup, you can't find the place? You're only a few minutes away, just keep following the path and you'll see the gate."
No!
Reigen screamed and clawed at the crate in a frenzy. Yamada grinned cruelly as they plugged their other ear with their finger and leaned in closer to the phone.
"What was that? Oh yes, sorry. This evil spirit I stumbled into won't shut up, you see..."
Reigen howled and resorted to slamming his body against the crate to no avail. He was so frustrated, he could cry. Mob was almost here, Mob was going to enter this cursed building, and that poor boy would be none the wiser as the impostor set off the deadly trap—
"Who do you think I am, an amateur? I have the possessed creature contained of course, I just need your help to get rid of it—hey, what's with the attitude?"
Instead of warning Mob not to listen to the impostor, all Reigen could do was bark over and over again like the pathetic dog he was now. He was useless like this, useless and pathetic and stupid and...
...No, he wasn't stupid. He still had his human consciousness, yes? Reigen stopped trying to brute force his way out as he pondered over a plan. He wasn't sure how this worked, considering his dog body couldn't have a human brain, but he'd long given up on questioning esper power logic. More importantly, he needed to think of a better way out, and fast.
"Look, just get over here already! I don't think this cage is gonna hold it down for much longer!"
Reigen bared his teeth and growled deep in his chest.
Oh, it won't.
Reigen's plan was two simple steps: get out of the cage, then immobilize Yamada through any means necessary. No matter what, Reigen could not let Yamada activate that trap.
Thankfully, Yamada had cheaped out on the crate and bought one with a shitty latch that only needed the right push and slide to open it, but there was still the issue of Reigen only having paws for hands. Though, he'd seen viral videos of actual dogs escaping these things. If they could manage it, he probably could too, right?
No, there was no "probably" about any of this. Mob's life was at stake, and he would be damned before he let anything happen to his kid.
Reigen desperately pawed at the latch, silently cursing his lack of fingers as he tried his best to get through the bars and push the handle up. He briefly looked and saw that Yamada had their back turned towards him, fully distracted by their phone call with Mob, and he prayed that they would stay that way.
Just a little more...
Finally, Reigen pushed the handle with enough force for it to stay up. He would've cheered had he still had his human form, but there was no time to celebrate regardless. It then became a frustrating struggle to push the latch to the side bit by bit until—
The door to the crate swung open with a loud metallic clang, and Yamada whirled around. It was almost comical how wide their eyes grew as their smug expression shifted to one of shock.
"Shit, how did you—?!"
Yamada reached into their gray suit for some sort of weapon, but Reigen bared his fangs and snarled before lunging at them. He'd quite frankly aimed to bite at Yamada's throat, but his jump fell short and he bit their arm instead. Regardless, Reigen clamped his jaws down hard and was a bit startled when coppery warmth flooded his mouth and Yamada screamed like a banshee.
The two of them tumbled to the floor, where Reigen leapt onto Yamada and began scratching and tearing into whatever flesh he could in a frantic frenzy to make them stop moving, make them stop, can't let them hurt Mob, can't can't can't—
Reigen was flung back with great force, and the dog yelped in pain as his body slammed against the metal cage. As he struggled to pick himself up on all fours, wobbling unsteadily, he heard Yamada wailing in agony.
"YOU BASTARD!!!" Yamada howled, staggering to their feet as well. "YOU STUPID LITTLE SHIT, I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
Despite knowing Yamada had simply taken on his form, it was jarring for Reigen to see himself in such a mauled state. He had wounded them far worse than he'd expected—besides the deep bite in their arm, their torso was all clawed up and Yamada was clutching their slashed abdomen. Blood was everywhere, splattered all over the tatami mats and staining the impostor's torn gray suit, oozing through Yamada's fingers.
Reigen hated how he could taste blood all over his slobbery mouth and feel it sticking to his fur. However, he couldn't think much more of it when he processed the faint shouting coming from his flip phone on the floor.
"Shishou?! Shishou, are you okay?! What's going on?!"
The panic in Mob's voice was palpable, and Reigen wanted nothing more than to reassure him that everything was okay and that he should not investigate. But Yamada didn't seem to hear Mob as they finally reached into their suit and pulled out their weapon—a pocket knife that they opened with one flick of their wrist. Reigen cowered low to the ground, growling as Yamada pointed the sharp blade at him.
"You'll pay for this..." Yamada hissed, keeping their blade pointed at Reigen as they limped over to the sliding door with the Claw logo painted on it, dripping more thick crimson onto the mats with each drag of their feet. "Once that brat gets here, you'll... you'll be sorry..."
"Hold on!" Mob sounded out of breath now, like he was running for his life. "I'm almost there, I can see the gate—!"
Reigen's heart stopped as he realized he could hear that same voice distantly coming from outside. Yamada finally heard this too and grinned, cruelly laughing under their labored gasps for breath.
"Help me, Mob!" Yamada cried out, perfectly mimicking an anguished voice despite looking like the cat that finally caught the mouse. "I'm hurt real bad, please hurry!!!"
Reigen knew it was only a matter of seconds before Mob entered the safehouse. With Yamada still able to activate the trap, Mob taking one step inside would spell his doom. But what could Reigen do to prevent that? In what little time they had left, Reigen's mind scrambled for a solution. Trying to attack Yamada again would be pointless now that the impostor had a knife at the ready. Trying to run out and warn Mob wouldn't work at all if Mob only saw him as some rabid dog covered in blood. Perhaps there was the slight chance that Mob could see through the cursed disguise, but what if he couldn't?
Reigen couldn't risk that. Reigen couldn't risk anything now. All Reigen knew was that he had to prevent Mob from entering this building and getting caught in Yamada's trap. Could he stop the trap from being set off somehow? Or maybe...
Reigen's chest tightened as he quickly realized that there was only one option left. It would be drastic. It would be devastating. Like many of the decisions he'd made, it would be something no one else in his life would approve of.
But for Mob, there was no other choice.
Yamada's smile faded when they saw Reigen standing up straight and staring hard at the trap, no longer trembling in fear. "...Hey, what are you...?"
Before he could give himself time to chicken out, Reigen bolted for the sliding door at top speed and leapt at it with all his strength, bursting headfirst through the thick paper. He then crashed to the floor and rolled over a few times before slamming into something hard, knocking the wind out of his smaller body.
Reigen's head spun as he struggled to pick himself up and get his bearings straight, dimly processing that there was now an alarm blaring loudly throughout the safehouse. That meant he'd successfully set the trap off, right? What was supposed to happen next?
A burning smell filled Reigen's nose, making him look around in a panic. At first glance, it seemed like he was in a normal storage room with wooden filing cabinets lining the walls. However, the air shimmered before him like he was in a sauna, and he could barely see thin tendrils of smoke rising from the gaps of the drawers...
Oh crap, I actually did it, Reigen managed to think before bright-hot light overwhelmed his vision and all the filing cabinets went up in flames.
The fire moved unnaturally fast, shooting through the paper walls and licking across the ceiling until the entire building was utterly ablaze around them. The eerie red-orange glow now illuminating his surroundings made Reigen feel like he'd suddenly been dropped straight down to hell, but he wasn't the only one here. Through the crackling flames and thick gray smoke now flooding the safehouse, Reigen could hear Yamada shrieking madly.
"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT?! DON'T YOU KNOW YOU JUST SIGNED YOUR OWN DEATH SENTENCE?! WHY?!"
Was the idea of putting someone else's life over their own so incomprehensible to Yamada? Had Yamada never felt such a love for another person? Reigen would've felt sorry for them were he not reeling from the toxic smoke in the air and, quite frankly, the sinking terror of what he'd just done.
Had he even activated the trap in time? God forbid Mob had managed to slip inside the building right before... But the longer Reigen listened to Yamada's devastated wails with no Mob in sight, the more it seemed like the kid was safely in the clear.
"NO!!! NO NO NO, THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!!" Yamada almost keeled over, hacking up their lungs. "THIS ISN'T... THIS ISN'T OVER...! I SWEAR, I'M STILL GONNA KILL THAT KID...!!!"
Reigen watched in mute horror as their silhouette staggered deeper into the smoke, presumably towards the exit, but he wasn't sure if the effort would amount to anything. If Yamada's description of the trap had been correct, there would be an impenetrable barrier surrounding the entire building. That didn't bode well for Reigen, who was already feeling lightheaded and couldn't stop coughing from the smoke.
Well, it wouldn't hurt to check...
As Reigen weakly turned his head and tried to see past the smoky haze clouding his vision, he saw that the filing cabinets surrounding him had been reduced to charred, broken heaps on the ground, exposing the walls behind them. Though their wooden lattices remained ablaze in a rectangular grid of hellfire, the paper of said walls had already burnt away, allowing Reigen to vaguely see the greenery outside through billowing flames and smoke.
Presented with the faintest sight of freedom, Reigen scrambled for the nearest gap he could see, not caring if he had to crawl over the sizzling remains of the filing cabinets to get there. But despite seeing nothing in his path, Reigen's face collided with an invisible wall before he could cross the gap.
That damn barrier—!
Whining and shaking his head to clear the pain, he desperately tried to claw his way through the barrier, but it remained firm. To make matters worse, a horrible creaking noise filled the air before the roof caved in behind him. Reigen yelped as burning rafters crashed to the floor, scattering embers all over the mats and charring the woven straw black. While he'd narrowly avoided being crushed, now he was thoroughly trapped inside this small room.
"Seriously, what's with this ridiculous luck of yours? You're definitely going to die a horrible death," Dimple had joked once.
All Reigen could do now was lay flat beneath the smoke, panting and coughing as the suffocating heat now grew unbearable. With no other means of escape, he began to feel like Dimple had been right and that today was the day his luck had finally run out.
He'd had a good run, he felt. He hadn't lived anything grand or spectacular, but he had been happy getting to know Mob and everyone else associated with Spirits and Such. Sure, there were plenty of things he'd wished he'd done before he went—he'd only just started trying to patch things up with his family a few months back—but he was mature enough to know that life never worked out perfectly.
The most important thing was that Mob was safe. The poor kid probably had no idea what was going on, but he was safe from this fiery hell and that was all that mattered...
...Right...?
Suddenly, the end of his tail felt unusually hot. He uncomfortably swished it back and forth, but when the feeling only worsened, Reigen turned around to look and promptly shrieked in horror.
All rational thought flew out the window as Reigen clawed at the barrier again, practically throwing himself at it in utter desperation. His panic swelled as his tail grew hotter with each passing moment, the fear of burning alive only getting more real, but it would probably take a miracle for him to escape at this point—
Reigen tumbled forward into a patch of dirt and landed flat on his belly, the cursed barrier having inexplicably vanished before him. He had no idea why, but the fact that he was literally on fire made it impossible for him to question anything as he shot away from the burning safehouse like a bullet.
I just need to get to that river up ahead!
Reigen had no idea how he even knew there was a river nearby (perhaps his subconscious had registered the sound of running water), but his burning tail chased him like a missile as he sped through the grass on all fours. It didn't take long before he saw this river in the distance, and the thought of diving into that cool water felt like heaven to him after the sheer hell he'd just been through.
Then it happened.
The river was just a few feet away when Reigen heard a deafening explosion behind him. The ground jolted violently and dipped several feet below, an invisible force flinging him into the air like a ragdoll. Reigen's mind registered everything in slow motion as he saw huge chunks of dirt being ripped from the ground, tall cedar trees toppling over like dominos, and water shimmering before him in midair as the river too was caught in the blast.
Time sped up again as the river dropped back down to earth and Reigen plunged inside the water, the impact almost knocking him out. He pawed desperately through the choppy current and tried his best to keep his head above the surface, but he was already disoriented and the water kept slamming him back down until he couldn't find the strength to struggle anymore.
As his consciousness faded, Reigen's mind rapidly shifted through brief glimpses of the past like it was flipping through a photo album.
Reigen's father trying to fix the radio-controlled toy car that Reigen had accidentally broken.
Reigen's mother singing an old song as she cooked oden stew in the kitchen.
Reigen's sister tearfully waving goodbye from the taxi taking her away to college.
Ritsu casually stealing the yakiniku that Reigen had grilled for himself.
Teru startling a client in the office as he walked in with the gaudiest outfit ever.
Tome talking a mile a minute as she shoved a blurred photo of some cryptid creature in his face.
Dimple chucking Go stones at him while accusing him of cheating at the game.
Serizawa coating his lips with beer foam as he laughed mid-drink, his face flushed with drunken mirth.
Mob proudly holding his junior high diploma, wearing that familiar black uniform for the last time.
All of these memories and so much more washed over him like colorful beams of light, filling him with vivid warmth, and then Reigen thought nothing else.