Work Text:
Cover art!!! Made by me. Find me here!
“Paranormals n’ Stuff consultation, at your service!”
Tome raps her knuckles against the wood of the door as her two subordinates, Reigen and “Mob”, awkwardly glance around at the surrounding scenery like it’d kill them to look anywhere else.
As “outgoing and lively” as Reigen apparently was, even he couldn’t handle the sisyphean task that was attempting small talk with his Shishou. It led nowhere, and fast. Hell, a wall would probably be more interesting to talk to, albeit utterly pathetic.
Focusing on the task at hand, he honestly hadn’t a single clue about what they were doing here. All Reigen knew was that it was a job, and that it was “safe enough for him to go”, as Tome-San had put it—or, as he himself would rephrase: “it’s going to be boring as all hell.” No spirits, no ghosts, and certainly no aliens (despite his boss’s insistence on them being real).
It honestly wouldn’t be the slightest bit outrageous to bet all 800 yen to his name on the fact that he’d be the one holding the flashlight while Tome-San wrestled with the pipes of a leaky sink, because god knows how much time he’s spent doing that in the past month alone. Unfortunately, Tome-San has already rejected his much more accurate Pipes n’ Shit rebrand.
“...Hello? Is anyone home?” His boss knocks again.
“One moment!” A young woman’s voice calls out from the inside of the house. Only a second or two later, and the door gently sways open. “Please come inside—I’m very sorry for the wait.” She does a small bow before moving to the kitchen, leaving the others to take their shoes off at the entrance. Tome moves forward with business (aided by the power off quick slip-off heels), while Mob and Reigen are left to fumble with their shoelaces in the meantime.
“So, you called about your son, correct?” Tome sits herself down at the small dining table in the center of the room, clasping her hands together and patiently waiting for the client to seat herself as well.
“Yes.. I did.”
Even half a room away, he can still make out a hint of dejection in her voice—as if her son were some unsightly, hush-hush topic.
He’s heard the tone himself too many times to count, but it was a bit surreal to be the one in on it this time. Reigen takes it upon himself to stand a few steps away from the table, a guilty conscience not letting him sit down to participate in what would effectively be gossip.
“He’s been... Oh– I-I’ve tried everything– He’s been locked up in his room for.. almost two years? And– And every time I...” She takes a deep breath. “I’ve hired counselor after counselor, I... I even tried to get him out myself once, but...” The woman covers her mouth, tears glossing her eyes as she faintly shakes her head in disbelief. A shuddered breath trembles her shoulders.
“There’s something in that child, and it’s dangerous. I.. I don’t have any other options, please... Please get that thing out of him.”
Almost like clockwork, Tome is already up and consoling the weeping mother, rubbing circles into her back as Reigen fidgets with sweaty hands and looks off to the side.
“Can you tell me what happened when you tried yourself? ..I need as much information as I can in order to help properly, so any details you have about how he acts would be greatly appreciated, ma’m,” Tome whispers.
“I..” The woman sniffles. “The worst it hurt me was when I tried to force him out of his room. I-I had grabbed his arm and.. My wrist—It just... broke. O-Out of nowhere! Nobody believes me—but I swear, it just snapped on it’s own! He was only twelve, he wouldn’t have had the strength to–”
She softly shushes the woman, “Hey– Hey, I believe you, okay? It’s alright.. Could I ask what room your son is in?”
“..It’s.. on the second floor in the hall. T-To the left.. Please be careful.”
As the woman wipes her tears, Tome averts her gaze towards Mob. With nothing more than a nod, the Esper excuses himself from the table and makes his way upstairs. Reigen practically sprints after him, taking any excuse possible to escape having to hear even more of this poor shut-in getting antagonized by his own mother.
Reigen tugs on his Shishou’s coat, leaning in to whisper his... personal thoughts on the matter. “ Do you seriously believe her? ”
“...He could be possessed.”
“Yeah, and what if he isn’t?” Reigen snaps back.
Mob sighs, eyeing the door in front of the two. “..I will find out. Um.. just... stay in the hall, and... focus on trying to–”
“ Stay in the hall? You think I can’t handle... what did she say, twelve? He’d be like.. my age, at most! I’ll be–”
“Reigen, stay in the hall. You can... work on sensing ghosts.” He lets out a small cough. “If I fail, then you can try.”
“If you fail? ” The look on Reigen’s face is an incredulous amount of sass that could only be obtained through being told the exact same impossible scenario at least 30 times. “Alright, if you fail , sure, have at it Shishou!” Sarcasm oozes from his voice as he gestures to the door, propping himself up against the far wall and crossing his arms in a fit of teenage “compliance”.
His efforts are not rewarded.
With a readjustment of his coat, Mob starts with a gentle knock to the door. Couldn’t hurt to try, right?
...Silence.
He knocks again, this time following it with a question. “Hello? Are you awake?” A pause. “...I’m sorry if I woke you up, but I’m here to..”
“ Are you another counselor? ” The voice, barely audible from behind the door, speaks up. It’s irked, but.. timid. Like an animal backed into a corner.
“No, but.. I’m still here to help.” Mob slowly turns the handle, cracking the door open. “Excuse me, but I’ll be coming in now–”
SLAM
...It takes a few seconds before Reigen’s brain catches up to the fact that his all powerful and cynical Shishou had just gotten his face rammed into by a door. A perplexed scoff comes from his mouth, followed by a rather cruel eruption of giggles, poorly hidden by a hand covering his mouth. Mob can only stand there in shock, blinking like some sad, kicked puppy.
“You–..” Another snort escapes Reigen. “You got it, Shishou? You need help-?”
“Um.. L-Let me try again–”
“No way! You said that if you failed, I could have a go at it! Aren’t you the one who said that people should never go back on promises, Shishou?” He leans to the side of Mob, a shit eating grin on his face knowing full well what he was doing. Technically, he had only told Reigen to do that, but they both knew for a fact that Reigen was not above bringing up the whole “practicing what you preach” thing.
Mob grimaces—words truly are one’s greatest enemy. “..I still don’t know for sure if he’s possessed or not, and Tome-San wouldn’t like it if I let you into somewhere that I knew was dangerous. You can help on an easier job, just not this one for now.”
“What, you planning on taking me Tsuchinoko hunting again?” He cocks his head.
“... No .”
“ Ahem! Step aside then, Shishou. Feel free to let the student handle this one..” Reigen cracks his knuckles, a smirk on his face and a lifetime supply of stupid confidence the last barrier between him and, what is most likely, the last room he will enter prior to his next hospital visit. Mob can only watch in mild, helpless disappointment. If he couldn’t get through, Reigen absolutely couldn’t.
The muffled voice from beyond the door speaks again.
“ Can you please go away already? ”
It causes Reigen to pause for a moment, just enough for reason to finally catch up to him.
Why was he so eager to be doing this again? To spite that kid’s mom? To spite his Shishou? ...No. No– He has an even greater opportunity at his hands! He could prove to Shishou and Tome-San that he can actually handle these kinds of things, however obviously normal this kid would probably turn out to be. Besides, it should be a breeze! All he has to do is get through the door, work it out from there, and come out with a “saved client”!
Shouldn’t be too hard, right?
“I’m coming in!”
“W-Wait–”
Reigen practically hurls the door open, shoving whatever and whichever scrawny limbs could fit through the gap before–
“ Ow! ”
The door slams on his arm and knee, a panicked “ Sorry! ” squeaking out from the dark as the weight of the door lifts, just enough for him to kindly and carefully remove himself from the premises and say sorry for intruding.
It’s also conveniently enough space to force the rest of his lanky body through the gap and tumble onto the floor, just in time before the door attempts to slam him out again. Perks of being an annoying little brother: you know just the perfect way to be absolutely insufferable at any and all times.
It’s only a few seconds in before the smell hits Reigen.
It’s an unbearably human odor, filthily so. All the stench of sweat, laundry, trash, stagnated into a cramped and humid cage. As much as his body panics to reject it, he’s forced to take in as much air as he can get just to barely fill his lungs. It’s a suffocating sort of torture, one that nearly chokes up a gag in Reigen just a few seconds in. It stings his eyes with how overwhelmingly sour it is.
The only illumination in the room is coming from the dim television set up on the far wall, directly blocked by the couch in front of it. He can vaguely see the silhouette of curly hair ducking beneath the broad shape of shadow, a yelp followed by a thud on the floor sounding throughout the room soon after.
“..Are you okay?”
“Get out!”
...Rude.
Reigen shuffles himself up to standing with the help of a wall, brushing off any small specks of dust or trash that had clung to his uniform. Taking another glance around, he can only vaguely make out the forms residing in the room: A mountain of presumably old food and trash piled up on the table in the middle, clothes scattered haphazardly about the floor, the sheen of posters hung throughout the wall, and a curled up, timid boy glaring up at him from his spot on the floor.
The floor—a surprising distance away from where the kid had presumably slammed the door shut. Either he missed him running through the dark, or he... actually has some sort of supernatural powers. That would be... yeesh. Still, if worse comes to worst, he can always just scream bloody murder and hope that his Shishou comes running in. That is, if they.. haven’t already gotten sick of his bullshit and left already. Hopefully they didn’t.
“Um.. What’s your name?” Might make this a bit less awkward.
A second of ratting ceramics reverberate throughout the room before any words do.
“Why are you in here?! Y-You’re a..” Reigen can see a faint furrowing of eyebrows. “You’re with all of those other kids that throw rocks at my window, aren’t you?”
“What-?” Reigen throws his hands up, like some accosted criminal. “No, I–”
The boy stands up, a daunting height difference suddenly making itself clear, along with the fact that Reigen absolutely could not take this guy on in a fight . He sends a fearful glance to the door, but his dignity forces him to turn back. This would probably be the only chance he got to prove himself worthy, however reckless that opportunity may be.
“Get out before I hurt you!” This time, it sounds more like a threat than a warning. A couple objects find their way to the floor, seemingly startling the boy in front of him more than Reigen himself.
“I’m not here to–”
“Get out of my room!”
“Could you just–”
“I said get out! ”
“ Make me! ”
The next thing he knows, small shards of ceramic debris clinking down onto the floor in front of him, flying halfway across the room before clattering to a slow stop.
...His heart rate sure as hell notices it, despite his eyes apparently being a mile behind and failing to realize that an entire plate was being hurled full-speed at the wall behind him. The only reaction he can muster is to stand there like a deer caught in headlights, wide-eyed in a shaky attempt to catch his breath and process if he was dead or not.
A faint, “ Reigen? What’s going on in there? ” sounds from the other side of the door.
“Um,, I-I’m fine!” He glances over to see a look of confusion on the other boy’s face. “Just—ah,, t-technical difficulties! Don’t worry!” Do worry, actually. Please do worry —because if that plate were any more to to the left, then Reigen is pretty sure he’d look like a slapstick cartoon with how pancaked onto the wall his face would be. That is—if it didn’t completely shatter his skull open to begin with.
He honestly isn’t entirely sure why he’s still going for it right now. This is a stupid idea, he’s just now realizing. A very stupid and dumb mistake that he has made , and now has to live with for what will probably be the rest of his suddenly exponentially short lifespan. Sure, the door is 2 feet away at most, and he could easily, no, effortlessly just walk out right this very second, but that was the choice of a failure. A useless person who tried and gave up at the first sign of hardship, someone that nobody likes and wouldn’t want around.
He needs to do this.
“Um.. O-Okay, just– Listen to me , okay?” He makes an attempt to explain himself. “I’m not here to make fun of you, or– or fight you, or anything like that, I just want to get you out of your room, and..” Reigen pauses for a cough, raising his hands up for air-quotes, ““ Exorcise you” or whatever your mom wants, alright? I’m here to help.”
It’s an uncomfortable moment of silence, in reality short but unfathomably long in feeling.
“...She wants to exorcise me?”
.. Jesus .
That sentence couldn’t have been uttered in more unbearably hopeless disbelief, the threat of tears emerging in the undertones of his voice. It makes Reigen tense, in the way that he knows he’s said something wrong, but that it was already far too late to take back. It’s far too late to take anything back, such is with the person who digs his own grave.
“She–She’s the one who thinks you’re possessed! Um.. You’re.. You’re an Esper, aren’t you? Right?...” An Esper. It was his best guess, and prayer, that what threw that plate at him wasn’t some blood-thirsty spirit out for his soul (although he wasn’t sure if there was even any left at this point, considering it had practically jumped out of his body the moment that plate hit the wall).
He can only hope that his intuition of the kid reminding him of his own Shishou was right; always reluctant to use his powers and scared to death of even the mere thought of using them on other people. He was never exactly sure how he managed to drag the psychic out into the open world, but.. he’ll do his best to replicate the magic.
“It’s not like you’re.. trying to hurt people, it’s just accidents. Anybody can make those!” He takes a step forwards, the boy takes a step back, and the objects in the room take on a purple sheen.
“That’s just what all of the counselors say! It doesn’t matter if I want to or not, I hurt people —a-and I wouldn’t want to leave anyways, because everyone out there already hates me, so it doesn’t matter anymore. You–You can’t fix anything. I can’t be fixed .”
“Well—of course I can’t fix something you’re stuck with, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try to change–” A hiss cuts Reigen’s sentence off, a shard of ceramic from earlier having dug its way into his foot. The aura wavers and sparks throughout the room as he stumbles over to the armrest of the couch, propping a hand on top for support. It’s greasy and stain-ridden.
“I-I already told you I’m not going—why are you still here?!” The boy accuses, backing even further away from Reigen and receding into the darkness behind the glow of an increasingly static-filled television. Oddly enough, he’s still able to see dim smears of light twinkling on the boy’s form. It’s only a few seconds later that he recognizes the source to be from levitating objects, all haphazardly making their way up to the ceiling.
Reigen would probably want to hurry this up before any of those start launching at his head again.
“I’m not leaving until you get out of your room!” He raises his voice.
“Why do you care so much?”
“Just let me help you–”
“Answer my question!”
Reigen limps forward, the other backing himself into a wall as the floating objects in the room begin to sporadically alter their paths throughout, creating a slow whirlwind of sorts. It sends an array of oscillating violets illuminating the space, a tense and unpredictable feel now settling into the room as he takes another step closer.
“I know someone who’s done it before, you just have to trust yourself!”
“Are you just in this for a fucking payday?! ” The other boy accuses, shouting. “Did the counselors think that sending in someone my age would solve all of their problems for them? Because–”
“I never said that I was with any counselors! I’m not! ”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“I.. I’m doing it because I want to be your friend!”
...
It’s such an obvious lie, it’s almost pathetic. There isn’t a single reason Reigen could think of having for wanting to interact with him prior to this moment, nevertheless be friends . It was a desparate, clawing attempt to climb up the deep walls of an already too-deep grave, one that would surely collapse the surrounding marsh and bury him alive. Every outcome that could possibly resort from this last-ditch effort was the last possible thing that he wished would happen. He doesn’t have a backup plan. No plans at all if this failed—actually. Maybe one, but curling up in a lonely bed and crying himself to sleep was just something he didn’t want to acknowledge right now.
“..And why would you want to be friends with me?!”
Oh god.
“B-Because I’m not scared of you! I.. Look—I’ll prove it!”
“ Get away from me! ”
Reigen’s breath hitches as he staggers on his injured foot, the buzzing of the TV only growing louder as everything in the air picks up its pace. More dishes crash themselves into walls, and action figures zip past Reigen’s face without so much as an inch to spare.
“ Reigen, what the hell are you doing in there?! ” A distressed woman bangs on the door of the room, a thunderous echo billowing across the walls paired by a jingling of metal. “ Unlock the damn door! ”
He never locked the door. He doesn’t know why it’s locked. It doesn’t matter. He just needs to–
“You are scared, you’re shaking!” The boy shouts.
“No I’m not! J-Just– let me–”
Reigen reaches his hand out towards the other.
He can’t remember what happens next.
...
There’s a hushed, shuddering breath somewhere in the room, only occasionally broken up by a wet sniffle. If he listens closely enough, he can just barely make out the faint pattering of tears against the floor. He could tell that they were doing their best to be quiet about it. Still, small squeaks of pain always came through in the end.
Reigen knew that he himself wasn’t the one crying, despite the room being pitch-black. This made it awfully strange to pick up on the sensation of a warm, thick liquid trickling down his forehead and the edges of his nose, leaving an uncomfortable tickle of itchiness along it’s path. His eyes feel a bit wet as well, but he isn’t sure why. They still seem to sting with the reek of the room.
...Is he.. Is he still in there?
He thinks so. It smells the same. ..His foot still hurts. His head hurts now, too. So.. maybe it wasn’t all some bad dream. Maybe this really is reality, where he’ll have to walk himself home and never come out the next day.
No, that was too sad. A bit anticlimatic, even. He’ll still go outside, surely, he just wouldn’t be told to by people anymore. Because, well..no more work, because he would be too much of a hassle to keep around. Pft— point proven, am I right?
..Humor wasn’t really helping that much.
...He isn’t sure what to do now. It had obviously been some time before Reigen had woken up again, yet neither Tome-San or Shishou were anywhere to be heard. The door was still shut tight, and the television had been turned off. It would be awkward to say anything to the other boy now, but.. it might honestly be even worse to wait for help that supposedly had already left.
“...Are you still–”
“ Eek! ”
A hand slaps over some foreign mouth, trash on the ground crunching beneath a shifting body.
...Reigen waits a few moments before trying to talk again.
“..Are you still gonna try to attack me if I get up?”
...
“I don’t know.”
...He’ll take his chances.
Reigen gradually shifts himself onto his shins, using a free hand to wipe what was presumably blood from his face. He probably looks like a total mess right now, so he’s glad it’s at least dark.
..After a bit of thought, Reigen decides to situate himself next to the other boy. He crawls over to his best guess of where the wall is, feeling out what was hopefully just some laundry and making himself comfy. ...Well—as comfy as you could get in a room like this.
“..Why are you sitting next to me? Aren’t you scared?”
Reigen contemplates a shrug at first, before remembering that the other.. probably wouldn’t be able to see that. “...I don’t have anything else to do.”
“...Do you feel okay?” A twinge of worry comes through in the boy’s voice.
“My head hurts. ..I think I stepped on a shard of something, too. ..It’s...definitely not the best , but..” He sighs.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I’m.. sure.” Reigen fumbles with his hands as he stares out into the darkness.
The two sit in silence for a couple of minutes. Silence that is.. honestly just unbearable to be apart of. Reigen can’t think of anything to say for the life of him, while the other one wipes his tears up in the meantime. Maybe he should have just left while he still had the chance—maybe he should leave right now, actually! Forget any of this happened and just leave and just go home and—and go to sleep.
“..Um.” The other boy speaks up first, but then goes silent.
“What is it?”
“Is... I-Is your name.. Reigen?”
He bites the inside of his cheek. His lie had caught up to him, hadn’t it? Why else would someone ask for your name, other than to remember you? ..Did it even matter at this point though? Nobody was–
..His thoughts slow to a stop as the other boy speaks up again.
“Sorry. I.. um. I just... overheard it whenever people were shouting at you and stuff.” He pauses. “I’m sorry if that’s weird.”
“No—No, you’re fine, it’s my name. ..Actually, you can just, um... call me Arataka. If you want.”
An odd moment of stillness pervades the conversation, the fact that Reigen was supposed to continue talking only hitting him just a few seconds too late.
“..What’s your name?”
“K-Katsuya.”
Was implying they’d call each other by their first names too soon? He.. well. Katsuya sounds as if he’s just a minute away from dying out of embarrassment, the crunch of some plastic only hammering in what he could only assume was the other boy curling in on himself. At least Reigen wasn’t the only one feeling disgustingly shameful.
“...How old are you, Katsuya?”
“Thirteen. ..I’m.. pretty sure, at least.”
“I turned fourteen in October. ..Um... What.. game were you playing before I walked in and ruined it?”
At this point, he was just babbling off a list of “friend conversation-starter topics” that he had memorized the day before school had started up again. Hell—this could barely even be called a conversation at all, it was more like a torturously awkward interrogation that Reigen had been forced to lead. This is how you make friends, right? Right? He doubts Katsuya knows any better than he does. The boy just talks and acts and does everything awkwardly, not Reigen. He’s the awkward one.
“It’s uh– it’s kind of like.. a,, knight and princess sort of game..? Like you defeat enemies and stuff, and.. and there’s dungeons and a dark world that you have to go to. I’ve beaten it a few times already, because I never really.. had much else to do.” He pauses to take a breath. “I think I might’ve exploded my TV screen though, when I.. um... freaked out and hit you on the head.
“Psh—My mom would kill me if I did that. ..How come you’re so much calmer now than you were before?”
“Oh. I guess... Maybe it’s because we’re in the dark? ..It gets a bit easier to talk whenever you don’t have to focus on a bunch of other things. And, um.. I guess...”
He audibly shifts his sitting position and gulps, a small fidget to fill the gap.
“..I think you’re nice. Normally all of the counselors that come into my room can’t stay long because I don’t.. smell great... I’m sorry about that, by the way. I-It keeps people out of my room more, and I’ve.. gotten used to it over time. Besides, I still don’t think I could get you to leave even after all that.”
... You’re nice.
Reigen grimaces at the implication of those words.
“As long as there’s no cockroaches anywhere, I think I’ll be fine. ..T-They’re just gross y’know? I’m not.. scared or anything.” He also shifts in his. ...Let’s call it a seat.
“I think I saw one in here last month, actually.”
.....
“Arataka?”
“It’s nothing! ..Um–You.. remember the guy that I was talking to in the hall-?”
“The one you kept calling Shishou..?”
“Bingo! ..Ah,, you... remind me of him.” Great way to lead a sentence, Arataka. “He was the guy I was talking about, earlier. And..what I mean is that—he’s an Esper like you. Um.. a lot like you, actually. ...The first day I met him, he flat out refused to admit that he had psychic powers to me, despite beating up some creepy-ass cult ghost right in front of my own eyes, like.. five minutes earlier. And he was the one who was looking at me like I was crazy! ..After I followed him down the sidewalk for a bit, he told me that I shouldn’t stay around him, because he was “too dangerous” or whatever.”
Reigen rolls his eyes, despite the gesture not being able to show.
“I’m surprised you didn’t follow him to his house.” ..Okay. Ow . Slight jab at Reigen’s dignity.
“I.. almost did, but before I left I told him about our whole.. Um... I work for a kind of.. exorcism company? For ghosts..? I mean—we’re supposedly trying to find aliens as well, but... not too much luck with that yet. Anyways, he actually came in the next day and I got to ask him about training me to use my psychic powers. ..We're waiting for them to manifest right now! But,, it’s why I call him Shishou and all that stuff. But—moving on!”
Reigen clears his throat.
“I had a talk with him a week later about why he was so iffy about using his powers. He didn’t really.. say anything too directly, but from what I could tell, I’m... pretty sure he had hurt someone that was fairly close to him. ...But—obviously, he’s basically fully reentered society by now. He’s got a job—one where he helps people with his powers. He’s taking care of a stay cat, too, and... I think he’s working towards getting a girlfriend or something? Shishou’s been watching these crazy workout videos where the guys look like they could lift a boulder with their pinky . I can show it to you once we get out of here.”
“..But I–”
“All I’m saying is that it’s not impossible! If some guy pushing thirty having a mid-life crisis can drag himself out of his apartment—I’m confident you can, too. You just need to focus on the present, because the future is for future you! ..Besides, it’s not like you’ll be locked out of your room forever after you leave. At least try .
“...I’ll think about it.”
Another round of silence befalls the boys. This time, it was a bit more.. comfortable, in a way. It would almost be nice if Reigen’s thoughts weren’t bouncing off the walls of his mind right now, screaming at him to just say goodbye before anything could get too serious and he’d be disappointed again. ..What the hell does he mean too serious—he’s the one who decided that being on a first-name-basis right at the very get-go was a great fucking idea! Every single word that spills out of his big stupid blabbering mouth is secretly a pitchfork just waiting for the perfect moment to stab him directly in the back and–
“Are we... friends?” Katsuya asks in a timid voice.
“...If you want to be.”
...
“Thank you.”
Reigen could hear the grin in his voice—the slightest of pitch changes, a watering of eyes and the biggest smile he’d probably ever care to imagine on the memory of Katsuya’s face, however angry and scared he might’ve been when Reigen had first met him.
Maybe it’s better that he wasn’t able to see the real thing now. If he had, it’d only tear his heart apart even more when his words inevitably failed to keep up. Real friends don’t lie to each other. Real friends wouldn’t talk just for the sake of approval. They aren’t friends. They just aren’t . It doesn’t matter how Reigen feels now, he still lied to him then. Real friends value how the other person feels above what’s convenient.
Real friends tell each other the truth.
“..Katsyua, I... I lied when–”
THUD
The two squeeze their eyes shut, a nearly blinding light suddenly invading the room.
“M-Mob?! Did you seriously just–” Tome scoffs, the sound of groaning and shuffling along the floor being the only response to her question.
... Shishou?
Reigen cracks his eyes open to confirm for himself.
And sure enough, the man himself was hunched over on the other side of the room, a tarp clinging to the floor and the window behind him flooding in a haze of amber light. He looks exhausted, heaving in as much air as he could fathom in order to wobble his way up to standing. Tome-San, on the other hand, maneuvers herself through the window just a tad more gracefully.
“Reigen—are you–..?” Mob barely even has to glance around the room before locking eyes with Reigen. ...He looks terrified.
“..You’re bleeding! R-Reigen, what happened-..?” His Shishou fumbles his way across the mess of a room, only halting to a stop once the balled up form of Katsuya had finally entered his vision from behind the TV. He only pauses for a brief moment, before crouching down to meet Reigen and dab at the wound on his face with the edge of his coat.
“Wha–Shishou, stop! You’re just gonna get blood all over your–” Reigen bats his hands away. “ Seriously! ”
“What, you want me to take you to the hospital-?”
“ No —Just,, stop rubbing your dirty coat on my face!”
“..Is your foot bleeding too?”
“No!”
“We’re taking you to the hospital!”
“ No! ”
Another voice chimes in. “Reigen, don’t fight it! This is exactly what you get for meddling with things you shouldn’t have. Just..” Tome lets out an exasperated sigh, palming her face as she puts the other hand on her hip. “You’re lucky it wasn’t anything worse. Although..?”
She takes a suspicious look at the complete carnage ravaged throughout the room. It wasn’t... not something a normal angry teenage shut-in could accomplish, but it was definitely... poking a few holes in what she had imagined was the initial problem.
“.. I’m sorry that I hurt him. ”
A small, barely audible mumble comes from the shriveled up ball of what Reigen had been calling Katsuya. It seems to catch Mob’s attention as well, his Shishou turning his head only to blink in disbelief a few moments later.
“Did you... actually ..?”
“..I-I mean—not yet . ...He’s still in his room, isn’t he?” Reigen re-adjusts himself to be a bit more propped up, turning to face Katsuya.
...Katsuya.
His friend.
...He had never gotten to tell him about that lie, hadn’t he?
“Hey, come on.. You don’t even have to go out through the door like I was yelling at you to, you can.. climb out the—how did you get through the window?”
Mob sheepishly looks off to the side. “Um.. We had to run around the neighborhood looking for a ladder tall enough to reach. The door wouldn’t budge, and you.. weren’t exactly responding to anything. I wanted to make sure you were both doing fine.”
“Yeah, and we could’ve gotten here faster if you had just used your powers, but noooo —I had to sprint around in heels for 20 minutes carrying the backend of a 50-pound–”
“If I had tried to float us up here, who knows what could’ve happened? A ladder is safe, reliable–”
“Slower than a snail?” Tome butts in.
Mob sighs in defeat.
“Reigen, I’ll go ahead and carry you out so you don’t have to walk, okay?”
His face scrunches up in confusion. “But what about–”
“Serizawa can decide for himself if he wants to leave or not. Now come on, hop on my back.”
.. Seriously? After all that, there’s still gonna be a chance that he just.. stays? ...Reigen turns his head to face his friend in disbelief, but.. Katsuya doesn’t even bother to reciprocate. In fact, he shifts his head away from Reigen, still buried in his knees in an almost guilty manner.
He isn’t following them out of that room, and he knows it.
...Reigen can’t even bring himself to plead for him to go with them. He truthfully had done everything he could have—there wasn’t anything left . Katsuya just simply isn’t going to leave. And..maybe it was better that he wasn’t friends with a liar. Reigen knows it’ll fall apart eventually, either way. ..Hopefully now, someone a bit more honest would come along, really want to help him instead of doing it all for some stupid job that they were never qualified for in the first place.
Hopefully they might treat him a bit more like an actual friend.
..Reigen reluctantly clambors himself onto his Shishou’s back, wrapping his arms around the other’s neck as he lifts the smaller one from off of the ground. Tome-San gives a certain look to her coworker before silently exiting through the window, Mob close behind her. Reigen takes one last look at Katsuya, mumbling a final and measly “Bye” before being manuevered out of the room and down the ladder.
The minutes spent waiting, staring at the blank window for some miracle to happen were only painfully slow and certain.
They needed to take the ladder away at some point and give it back. And they... couldn’t take all day.
“Reigen, I’m..” Mob sighs, knowing they were nearing the limit of how long was too long .
“...I’m proud of you for trying. ..And... I’m glad you’re safe. I’m sure he won’t forget you.”
“...Can we wait a bit longer?”
“Five minutes, okay?”
“ Six. ”
His Shishou scoffs. “ Bargainer. ”
...One minute passes.
Then two.
Then three.
Then six.
Then seven.
“...I’ll go grab your shoes from inside, alright Reigen?” Tome calls out from the backyard door.
Eight.
..Nine.
...Ten.
The ladder is gone, and there is no Katsuya.
“Come on,” His Shishou says in a hushed voice. “I’ll get you ice cream on the way back to the office.”
...And they walk off.
...
The crunching of grass beneath shoes is painfully loud in Reigen’s ears.
He doesn’t even want to look anymore by the time they get to the door.
Even Mob rests his hand for a second too long on the cold metal, spending a moment to contemplate if he really has to.
...
click
..It’s not like it was a hard door to open. It drifted gracefully across the hardwood floors of the home, not a single squeal or squeak to be heard from any hinges. Still, it looked as if his Shishou had been pushing lead.
...
“ I’M LEAVING! ”
A declaration from the heart echoes out from the top floor of the house, followed by footsteps, followed by..
“ Katsuya-! ”
Mob whips his head around, only to be greeted by the sight of a teenager effectively hurling himself out from his own window as far as he could manage, all attempts at a safer method completely abandoned and forgotten in the heat of the moment.
It was almost.. majestic , in a way—Awe-inspiring. The evening sunset billowing through the clouds, rays of shadow filtering out the silhouette of pure and utter freedom, how the wind rippled through his hanten like some sort of cape, and.. Oh shit–
“Katsuya!”
Mob shreiks, outstretching his hand to catch the kid with his aura. He wasn’t exactly given the choice of doing it the old-fashioned, non-psychic way— he needed to stop this kid before he turned into a screaming pile of broken bones on the backside of his house .
..Something causes him to pause, though.
He had already been stopped.
In fact, he seems to be almost suspended from the heavens themselves, a glittering violet encapsulating his levitating form as tears wallow in his eyes and his face hurts from smiling.
“ ..I did it! ”