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Whenever Reigen allowed himself to sit back, relax, and think… things got awkward. He and Mob were working at Spirits and Such, but only Mob was psychic.
Mob knew, Reigen was pretty sure. He’d said as much, after that disastrous interview. After Mob came to bail him out of it.
Then again, Mob hadn’t exactly confirmed it. He’d instead said that he knew Reigen “was a good person”. Reigen was pretty sure in the moment that it was a metaphor. But, maybe it wasn’t? Mob wasn’t exactly the best at picking up metaphors. Maybe he didn’t understand what Reigen was asking at the time. And yet, how could he not? The entire news cycle thought he was a fraud and reported on it. And as much as he tried, everything he said just made it worse. And Mob was the one to save him from it! So clearly, he had to know, right?
Then again, Reigen’s main cover all these years was that his powers worked differently than most psychics. That’s why he can’t exorcise spirits, or do what Mob can do. So… maybe Mob just thought it was all a misunderstanding on the news’ part. Maybe he did think Reigen was a psychic, but that Reigen didn’t have any proof, so Mob gave them fake proof just to make it simpler. A quick fix.
It was nagging at him, more and more. The uncertainties. The guilt. Bringing Mob to real exorcisms where job after job, Reigen was useless, spouting lie after lie and cover after cover, for Mob to end up doing the entire work. Finding the spirit, analyzing the danger of it, and exorcising it. He could do the entire job by himself. Well, aside from the social aspect. But even then, Mob was getting better at that, and he’d seen Reigen do it enough times that he could probably just go by a script. And he’d certainly have better answers for the clients, since unlike Reigen, he actually knew what he was talking about.
Maybe next time they get a real one, he’ll let Mob do it all on his own.
Next time, huh? Was it even fair to keep Mob on this job? Looking back, it was terribly scummy of Reigen to use a psychic kid. No. He knew it was scummy back then, too.
That was 4 years ago. Mob was still a kid. He wasn’t even in high school yet.
He’d done this long enough.
“Do you really know?” Reigen asked.
Mob froze, probably shocked by the unusual downcast tone in his master’s voice. He turned and stared at Reigen for a moment. Then he asked, “Know what?”
Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. This was Mob. He genuinely didn’t know what Reigen was referring to.
Reigen tried to think of a way to hint it more heavily. But again, this was Mob. He’d need obvious hints to finally understand. And at that point, Reigen might as well have asked clear as day.
But if Mob didn’t already know, then asking the question would reveal it.
It was either he asked Mob, or he lied and asked a different question as a cover.
Did he want Mob to know? Could Reigen handle that?
But Mob deserved it.
“Did you… really know that I’m a fraud?” Reigen asked.
Mob blinked, understanding flashing on his face, but it gave no indication of what he thought about it, or whether it was a surprise to him or not.
Mob looked down, back at his work, contemplating his answer. He still gave no indication of any emotions.
It was only a few mere seconds that Mob took to consider his words. But it felt like an agonizing lifetime to Reigen. As the milliseconds went by, Reigen’s mind raced with every terrible thing Mob could say, and even more that the real Mob would never say but his brain supplied anyway.
“I knew.” Mob said simply.
It hung in the air. There was still no indication of what Mob thought about it. But he was still here. So that meant something.
“...How long?” Reigen asked.
Mob took another moment to answer. “I always knew.”
“How long is ‘always’, exactly?” Reigen asked. Before it came out in the media? For a year? Two years?
“Since we first met.”
“What? ” Reigen asked. “Since we–? How? No, why? Why didn’t you…?” Mob was staring at him. “Why did you join, then, if you knew I was a fraud?”
“Because you might not have had powers, but…” Mob hesitated, “but you were still the only person that ever understood me. Even after that first meeting, you still were.”
Reigen’s eyes were starting to water.
“For years.” Mob added. “You were still the only one for years, until I met Teru, and Ritsu got his powers. And even now… I think you still understand me better than they do.”
This was… kind of really awkward to have such an emotionally vulnerable conversation from across the room.
“Mob.” Reigen said. He cleared his throat, trying to rid it of the emotional voice crack. “Come sit on the couch, okay?”
He walked over and sat down, and Mob came and sat down across from him.
“That… That means a lot… Thank you.” Reigen said. Finding out all that, it really meant a lot to him. He wasn’t even sure what else to say. He just hoped that Mob knew what it meant to him.
“No, thank you, Master.”
“You don’t have to call me that.” Reigen said quickly. It’d been hard to hear Mob use that title ever since. He didn’t deserve it.
“That’s why I call you that.” Mob said, and Reigen suddenly understood. Suddenly that title took on a whole new meaning. Not of a powerful psychic, but of a mentor.
“How did you know?” Reigen asked. “I-I mean, I know I haven’t always had the best…” Lies. “...covers. But I thought, most were pretty okay. And you always went along with them.”
“When we first met, and I asked you for advice, and you told me that my powers didn’t matter, that everyone has different traits, that it just matters that I’m a good person… I thought that you were one. I thought that you understood what it was like, what I was going through. But then when I used my powers, and you saw… I just knew that you had never seen anything like it before.”
Reigen sighed, grimacing. “Yeah. You’ve probably seen reactions like that all your life, huh?”
“It wasn’t bad.” Mob said. “You weren’t rude about it, or yelling at me to stop, like others have done. You were just surprised, is all. And you hid it well.”
“I shouldn’t have used you for your powers, though.” Reigen laughed bitterly. “Especially while telling you not to use them at the same time.”
“I didn’t mind.” Mob repeated. “It was just exorcisms.”
Just exorcisms, he says.
“I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I never kept my promise. I never did help you learn your powers.”
Mob shook his head.
“Huh? ‘No’ what?”
“You did.” Mob said.
“I did what?”
“You did help me with my powers.” Mob said. “You gave me opportunities to use them. I got to practice things. And you pushed me to try to do new things, too. Even now, we’re still thinking of new ways on exorcism jobs.”
Huh... That was true, actually…
“You might not have been able to show me how to do them, exactly. But you knew what to do. Or, you came up with something yourself. Or pushed me to come up with something new.”
“Did it ever bother you, that I was faking it? Spouting off about fake spirits and powers?”
“No, it didn’t bother me.”
“You didn’t think I was making fun of you?”
A hint of a frown appeared. “Were you?”
“No!” Reigen yelled. “No, I’d never do that to you!” He settled down a little, and his volume dropped. “Just, maybe you would have thought that. If I went too far sometimes or something.”
“Most of the powers you said is impossible, I think. But no, I never thought you were making fun of me.”
“Why didn’t you ever stop me?”
Mob looked up, thinking it over.
“I guess… at first, I was scared to call out an adult. And you had helped me, so I wanted to come back. I guess I thought that... if I said anything, I wouldn’t be able to come back here.”
“No one is perfect. Adults make mistakes too, Mob.”
“I know.” Mob said, a little too quickly.
Reigen sighed in exasperation, but then laughed.