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Ritsu wasn't fond of Reigen Arataka. He was a brash kid who voiced his opinion even when it would probably be best if he didn't. He had a way with words, Ritsu would admit that much– but as an adult, all he could see was a child who had a knack for lying and exaggerating things. Reigen was loud, could talk and talk and talk and not know when to stop and on top of it all he was reckless in the sense that he didn't fear danger. He had watched the kid throw himself headfirst into exorcism after exorcism knowing full well he did not have any psychic abilities.
Though his brother had a soft spot for him, that was enough for Ritsu to keep his mouth shut and stay out of it.
Look, it wasn't as if Ritsu was up for picking a fight with the kid– of course not. He was an adult and Reigen was a child. He wouldn't be considered responsible if he held all of that against the kid. Sure, he could get annoyed at Reigen's antics or roll his eyes whenever the blond suggested something outlandish, but he didn't hate the kid. Of course not.
They had argued lightly in the past. They had bickered. Dimple particularly liked to rile them both up and see what the reaction was. However, Ritsu knew one thing at the end of the day: he was the adult. So, differences aside, he sure as hell was going to act like one.
It was a completely ordinary Thursday afternoon when something regarding the kid happened.
Contrary to what others may think, everyone had some sort of aura. It was just that the masses of people who had no connection to the psychic world tended to have a very similar aura to one another, creating the idea that ‘normal’ people didn't have energy buzzing around them. However, Ritsu knew better. He knew that most people just had a standard aura that made them hard to pick out amongst the crowd. Psychics, on the other hand, could easily be spotted because of their overwhelming force. Plus it would differ from psychic to psychic, making it easy to spot the difference between two ability users.
However, on some rare occasions, normal humans had a slightly different aura than the rest of the non-espers.
Reigen was one of those people.
Both Ritsu and his brother had noticed. Over time it was easier to make out. Sheigo thought it was because he had once transferred the majority of his powers over to Reigen to protect him but Ritsu wasn't so sure. Ritsu would assume that something had always been slightly different regarding that kid. Though, he'd never say it out loud to prevent the guy's ego from increasing even more.
Reigen's subtle aura was a soft golden glow. It spiked ever so slightly when he got overly emotional. It reminded Ritsu of a sunrise over the city, basking the bricks of each building in a warmth unattainable by most. It was fitting, he thought to himself. Within the grey buzz of every non-psychic's aura was a kid with a golden heart, honest and pure that it erupted into gentle waves around him, making all the dullness disappear.
So when Ritsu noted that energy– sensed the way it spiked, hard, his feet were already heading in that direction before he was even aware of what he was doing.
He realised he was nearing one of the schools around the city– Reigen's school to be precise. The shot of an aura ringing out from just a little bit past it. It led him to a winding alleyway between some buildings, shadowed by the tall walls beside it.
It was quiet.
Slowly, Ritsu made his way down the path, careful in case anything ill-willed lay amongst this alleyway. However, he hadn't sensed anything else. Just the flicker of a familiar aura that he was sure was close by now.
Then he took another step forward, past some dumpster and halted when he spotted a figure beside them.
The kid was slumped against the wall, knees up to his chest and head hung low between them. Hands clutched the fabric of his trouser legs, knuckles grazed and rubbed raw. Beads of crimson formed, some trickling down his hand and dripping off the edge of his forearm. His breaths were coming out shaky, rattling against his ribcage.
Ritsu couldn't see his face but he could recognise that tuft of strawberry blond hair anywhere.
“Reigen? What happened?” Ritsu said softly and the kid just flinched inwardly, refusing to lift his head and meet Ritsu's gaze.
He looked… so small like that. It reminded Ritsu that Reigen was just a child. That his perhaps annoying tendencies would one day be gone, he would grow out of them and Ritsu wondered briefly what type of adult Reigen would be like. Though, here (right now, right in front of him), he was just a small schoolboy. A child cowering away from something, a kid seemingly lost in a scary swirl of thoughts.
Every time they've managed to annoy each other, every time they've argued or thrown insults each other's way, all of that was put on hold. Ritsu was an adult and grudges be damned, he was going to give this kid the help he needed.
“Reigen, I need you to look at me.”
“Go away,” was mumbled back to him. At least he was getting a response now. “I'm fine.”
Clearly, that was a lie but Ritsu was used to Reigen's behaviour by now. He was used to the way the kid would utter I'm fine after a particularly scary exorcism even though his hands would shake. Or when he came into the office one time with a fever, had claimed he was alright, but then Sheigo had to send him home early when he collapsed shivering. Reigen Arataka had a way of pretending everything was alright until it pushed him over the edge.
Though there was always someone there to catch him before he could fully topple over the side.
Ritsu didn't fight the words. Instead, he rested a hand gently on Reigen's knee. “Kid, please could you look at me?”
Perhaps it was the sincerity in his voice or perhaps something else entirely but something made Reigen listen. Slowly, he lifted his head and Ritsu suppressed a gasp. Reigen's right eye was swollen, irritated skin had started to bruise. His lip was split, skin torn roughly and the blood around it had already dried. Then there were grazes up the side of his face as if he had forcefully hit the gravel around them.
Like this, Ritsu could also take in the dishevelled uniform. Nothing was torn, thankfully, but it was dirtied and crumpled. The collar had darkened to a murky red from where some blood must have splattered down onto it.
“I'm fine,” Reigen repeated, albeit his voice broke at the end, weak and unstable and Ritsu knew he was trying to hold it all together. “Why are you here, anyway? Don't you have more important things you should be doing?”
He ignored the snarky deflection, doing a once over again to really take in Reigen's state. “How did this happen?”
Reigen went quiet, mouth a thin line.
Now, what Ritsu did next was a dirty trick and he would be sure his brother wouldn't agree with his methods. However, his brother was not here at the moment so if Ritsu wanted to know what happened, he was allowed to play dirty.
He made sure to elongate his sigh. “Look Reigen, if you don't want to talk I'll just have to let my brother know–”
“No don't!” Reigen cut in and it certainly didn't feel good to play dirty but boy did it work.
(It also did not help that Ritsu would most definitely be having a conversation with his brother about this later but Reigen didn't need to know that.)
“Please don't get him involved,” Reigen continued, unfurling himself finally, “it was a fight. That's all that happened.”
“You got into a fight?”
Reigen hummed. Ritsu didn't believe it for a second.
So, crouching down he sat back onto the cold concrete floor. Hopefully being on the same level made him feel more approachable. More open. Reigen seemed to be looking everywhere but Ritsu though he did not push. Letting out a sigh, he started again, thinking of what his brother might do in this situation. “Reigen,” he said slowly, the kid stopped looking around so much, now focused on one weed managing to crawl through a crack in the pavement. “What happened?”
“It's nothing,” he muttered but there was hesitance in his voice and Ritsu knew he was close to breaking through the wall the kid had built up around himself.
“You can talk to me, alright? I know we perhaps don't get along all the time but you're safe to speak your mind here, if you want.”
“I,” Reigen stopped, his tongue running over his cracked lips. He grimaced as he felt the dried blood. “Look, I'm fine.”
Ritsu rolled his eyes. “I'm going to level with you here Reigen, we both know you're lying. So why don't you tell the truth and then I can help you?”
“Some kids were being really mean to someone in my class.”
Ritsu had honestly been prepared for Reigen to stick his tongue out at him and stubbornly not explain anything at all. So he kept his mouth shut and let the kid continue.
“I told them they were being assholes and should leave him alone and they didn't like me saying that. They said some mean stuff to me, but that's fine! I'm fine!” He laughed wetly, hands shaking ever so slightly in a way that Ritsu knew that whatever those other guys had said had definitely gotten to Reigen. “They dragged me over here after school and– yeah…”
He didn't need to finish the sentence, Ritsu could see what had happened. He took in a steadying breath, aiming to not lose his cool around the kid. Those fuckers, he thought to himself. Reigen was perhaps not too popular at school but he was a good kid. Evidence: Reigen sticking up for others who were being mistreated. Reigen always picked doing the right thing when it came to other people. He didn't deserve that treatment. Now Ritsu was thinking to himself, wondering how many times something like this had happened in the past.
He's not going to probe the kid with too many questions right now though in fear of scaring him off.
“May I?” He asked instead, hand hovering over Reigen's bashed knuckles. The blond nodded hesitantly and Ritsu lay his palm over the torn skin. A wave of every pulsed out and washed over Reigen.
Minutely, the kid relaxed. “What did you just do to me?”
“Don't look at me like I've done something bad. I just sent over some of my psychic energy to hopefully alleviate the pain a little bit. Has it helped?”
Reigen blinked, taken aback and glanced down at his knuckles. “Oh. Erm, yeah. Thanks.”
“Don't mention it, kid,” his knees popped loudly as he stood up. He silently offered a hand to Reigen. “Also, don't listen to what those assholes said, alright? Guys who beat up other guys are stupid and you should never take what they say to heart.”
“Well duh obviously. I know that.” And Reigen had said it with such conviction that perhaps he was being a little more truthful now.
Ritsu thought, briefly, that everything was going to be fine.
This was Reigen, the kid who could bounce back from a near-death experience with a ghost just fine. If a few bullies managed to knock him down for good, Ritsu would be worried. (Not that he worried for the kid. Even if his brother would say otherwise– that Ritsu had a soft spot for Reigen. Don't listen to him, he's lying about that. Totally.)
“Here,” Ritsu pulled out a tissue from his pocket, offering it to Reigen. “For your face. We don't want you going out into public with blood dribbling down your chin.”
Reigen took it, scrubbing away at his lip and face until there was nothing but subtle grazes on the side. It just looked like he had fallen over, no one should question that.
“Where do you wanna eat kid?”
Reigen's attention snapped to him, eyes shining with childlike wonder and it made Ritsu realise, again, that Reigen was just that. A child. Who needed help from time to time. Who, if some assholes decided to be mean for no reason, needed a responsible adult to give him a helping hand.
“You're being serious?”
“Yes, I'm being serious. You can pick.”
Reigen thought for a moment, holding an expression that looked far too concentrated for choosing where to eat. “The ramen place we went to after the river spirit exorcism.”
“Sounds good. Let's get going then.”
Ritsu stepped out of the alleyway and into the busy street. People moved on about their day around him. Though he stopped when he noticed Reigen hadn't followed. He turned around, but the kid still stood a few steps back holding an expression Ritsu could not quite decipher.
“Reigen?” He called, hopefully masking the worry in his tone.
“I just–” he stepped forward to be beside Ritsu. “ Thank you. ” He mumbled and Ritsu definitely did not feel his heart melt. “Y'know, for helping and everything. That was nice. So… thanks.”
Ritsu smirked, ruffling Reigens hair and receiving a groan from the blond as he did so.
Yeah, everything was going to be just fine.