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Shigeo waited outside Salt Middle School.
He felt sort of like a creep to be doing this, but Reigen-kun had insisted that Shigeo pick him up after school and show him the route to the office that he rented with his brother. Even though Shigeo himself had to look it up, he knew the way back, so it would be fine. Hopefully. Maybe. It should be fine, Shigeo knew a few shops along here that he used as a signpost.
After facing practically a verbal gauntlet to prove why he should be allowed to hire Reigen-kun, Reigen-san just out and said "I had already made the decision, I just wanted to see if you would fight for him."
Really rude, of course Shigeo would fight for Reigen-kun.
For some reason, the kid wasn't afraid of him, even after seeing him go one hundred percent on something. That was rare, and it may have to do with the fact that Reigen-kun had empathy-related powers. It was nice, to be perceived as slightly human.
Besides, espers should protect espers, and Reigen-kun couldn't put up a barrier. That meant he needed to be extra protected.
It honestly made Shigeo a little nervous about Reigen-kun joining his and Ritsu’s services. The fact that Reigen-kun couldn’t do something that was so, so normal for the two of them was a little weird. And incredibly concerning. Because Reigen-kun was someone who just ran into things head-on and would care about the consequences afterwards, Shigeo knew that.
The kid was brash, he was fierce, he spoke loudly about feelings, something he knew about and could talk about proudly. He jumped into help a client that had come to Shigeo and Ritsu without a second thought, simply because he and Ritsu were floundering on what to do first after the tsunami wave that was Reigen Arataka-kun coming into their lives.
It was only natural for Shigeo to offer Reigen-kun a place where he could be himself. Somewhere where Shigeo could only find that place in Ritsu when they were growing up, and he imagined Reigen-kun only found that place of solace in his own mother. But the freedom of being yourself, if only partially, in public, was something that working for Shigeo and Ritsu could do. Something that working for other espers could only do, and Shigeo could give that to him.
Apparently the bell must have rang, and Shigeo remembered from his own days at this middle school, because kids were streaming out of the school. Shigeo once again felt like a creep, but this was on Reigen-kun’s insistence, so he stayed here and didn’t move as he searched the crowd of practically identical gakuran for the blond hair.
Where are you?
The stream of kids was slowing down, and still no Reigen showing up. There was no sight of blond hair contrasting the black gakuran.
15%
Finally, finally, Shigeo found Reigen-kun. He was beside a kid who had his eyes closed, and was using a walking cane that he imagined was used to feel out the sidewalk in front of him, but was simply held aloft right now. The other hand was on Reigen-kun’s shoulder as they maneuvered the thinning crowd and to a less crowded side of the sidewalk. He looked a little older than Reigen-kun, maybe a year or two, and had hair that spiked straight up.
And he was a psychic. Shigeo could see his red aura, and if he could see it, that meant Reigen-kun could as well.
Walking forward, Shigeo was capable of listening to one-sided conversation that Reigen-kun was talking, his free hand spinning a whirlpool-like circle of movements. So the hand movements were just a quirk of Reigen-kun’s. It was. . . . very oddly him. It suited him, those grandiose gestures that garnered attention despite the fact that Reigen-kun’s own voice could do that enough.
He was certainly loud enough for it.
“And really Senpai, I would be happy to help after school until you get used to it. Having to move in the middle of the semester is rough, and getting used to the school must be even worse. Especially with all the people! It’s worse if you had eyesight, believe me. You know how a cloudy day feels, right? That’s kinda how it looks.”
The newly-transferred senpai let out a laugh. “That does sound how the classroom feels. Thank you, Reigen-kun. I may take you up on that offer until I get used to it. I know how to get to home from here thanks to my phone, you exited us to the left, correct?”
“As ordered, Senpai!” Reigen-kun threw a little salute, then faltered when he realized his antics weren’t seen. “Ah-!”
“I’ll count on you tomorrow then.” Walking stick on the ground now, the older boy walked off, feeling his way in front of him.
Shigeo let the boy walk out of his range, or more accurately, let the boy’s range faze out until he approached Reigen-kun himself. Reigen-kun noticed him immediately, may have noticed him as soon as he left the school proper, and turned to greet him with a bright smile on his face.
“Hi Kageyama-san! I’m sorry I’m later than I promised.”
“It’s no problem.” Shigeo let his eyes trail off after the boy who was clearly holding his phone to his ear to listen to directions. “Who is that?”
“That’s Shimazaki-senpai!” Reigen-kun tossed his shoulder bag over his shoulder in a way that couldn’t really be comfortable. “He just transferred in today, and I noticed he was an esper. And he’s blind, but he’s so cool Kageyama-san! He already knew where the cafeteria was today and how to get to the roof. But getting through the after-school crowd was a problem, so I offered my help. I should have told you. Again, I’m sorry.”
“I told you it’s not a problem.” Shigeo turned his eyes to Reigen-kun, whose own eyes were downturned to the ground. “Did you tell him you were an esper?”
“Not yet.” Reigen pressed the button to cross the sidewalk safely. “He didn’t tell me he was one, so I want it to be a mutual thing, ya know?”
Shigeo didn’t know, but he wouldn’t say that.
“How was your day at school?” Shigeo asked instead, seeing it as an equal ground thing to ask. Reigen-kun could ask him about his day before picking him up, and he could ask Reigen-kun about school.
Reigen-kun swung his bag down in front of him as the man turned blue. “It was fine. Long and boring though. Why do we need to learn about people in history Kageyama-san? Will it help later in life?”
Shigeo blinked. He’d never had to recite about the people that he’d learned in history, but then again, he had gone into a rather unique field of work. Then again, he and Ritsu didn’t really have a sort of choice in that, the both of them were espers, and so they would do something that had to do with espers, even if it meant starting their own business. It helped people in the end, so what did it matter?
“I think,” Shigeo started, hesitating. He wasn’t sure how to word this, and he wondered what his emotional aura was telling Reigen-kun. Reigen-kun, whose eyes were darting around Shigeo and seemingly reading him better than he could really speak. “I think, so long as you do something that helps people, it doesn’t really matter what you do or how well you do in school.”
Reigen-kun laughed lightly at that, swinging his shoulder bag back and forth like it was a shopping bag.
“Of course Kageyama-san thinks that.”
Shigeo felt vaguely peeved at that.
“What do you mean by that?” He asked as they came to a corner that they would take a left at, and then it was a straight shot to the office.
“Be-cause~!” Reigen-kun drawled. His hands started to move in incomprehensible patterns before pointing at Shigeo.
“Kageyama-san is a good person.”
Shigeo stared at the boy, blinking the shock in his system away as quickly as he could. However it must have colored his aura thoroughly, because Reigen-kun laughed. He turned around, skipping along and swinging his bag.
“I should get used to shocking you both, huh? Am I just that good?” He struck a pose before the stairs, his chin cupped in the soft v between his thumb and forefinger. “Hey hey, Kageyama-san, how often do you get shocked? Should I be keeping a tally?”
“No, it’s fine.” Shigeo brushed the questions off, climbing the stairs. “Just, some of what you say is a little unexpected. That’s all.”
Reigen-kun went quiet on the last few steps and gave Shigeo a look, but he focused on opening the door.
“Ritsu, we’re back.”
“You’re late.” Ritsu was at his own desk, hand buried into his wild bangs that spiked up, likely budgeting. Reigen-kun had been fine with them giving him any sort of salary, but Ritsu absolutely refused to underpay his employees. It helped that they were a reputable business too, and had just come out of one of their busier seasons. Winter was always the time that spirits seemed to like crawling out of the woodwork. Something about the cold bringing misfortune, but Shigeo didn’t keep a track about stuff like that. He just exorcised them.
“That’s because of me! And my good deeds!” Reigen-kun’s hand shot up like he was trying to answer a question on the chalkboard.
Ritsu gave the boy a baleful glare. “What? Did you need to get your homework done?”
Some of his authority that Shigeo remembered from Ritsu’s student council days started to seep into the tone, and he wisely beelined to his own desk to avoid the academic talk that was no doubt about to come up. Academics had never been his strong suit, but neither had been people. Ritsu had taken all that skill.
Well, not the people part. But now they had Reigen-kun.
Who scoffed at Ritsu. Shigeo blinked at him.
“Puh-lease! I finished all my homework already.”
Ritsu’s eyes narrowed, and he stood up and rounded his desk, hand out. “Give.”
“What, are you a schoolyard bully now?” Reigen-kun griped.
Oh no. Now that they weren’t in the get-to-know-each-other phase, they were letting their true colors out. Well, Ritsu was, Reigen-kun had nothing to hide, except his aura. And apparently his homework. Which old, student council Ritsu was no doubt going to make him do at work.
“No, I want to make sure you did it correctly. Knowing you, you probably wrote down the first answer that came to your head.” Ritsu returned the volley.
To his seemingly constant surprise, Reigen-kun pulled out his homework and put it in the expecting hand. Reigen-kun was watching with albatross-sharp eyesight as Ritsu looked it over. Ritsu, who was shuffling through the papers.
“When did you do this?”
Reigen-kun looked triumphant, his eyes darting around Ritsu like an eddying flow, and no doubt reading Ritsu better than even Shigeo could. “I finished it after each class period.”
Ritsu got through the papers, shuffled them back into a clean stack, and placed them back in Reigen-kun’s awaiting hand. Reigen-kun, who looked immensely satisfied and smug. Shigeo wondered what exactly Reigen-kun was seeing in their auras, what colors they were emitting beyond their passive colors. What exactly they meant to Reigen-kun, and if the colors just meant something to him, or did he learn through trial and error?
“It’s acceptable.” Ritsu muttered, and stomped back to his desk, sitting behind it with a huff.
Shigeo’s eyesbrows shot upwards. Getting an “acceptable” from Ritsu was akin to pulling teeth, so that meant that Reigen-kun was rather intelligent. And he applied that in class. Incredibly impressive, and they had only just gotten back to the office. Shigeo wondered what other surprises that their little secretary had in store for them.
Reigen-kun slung his shoulder bag off his body and slipped the papers back into it, before just holding it in his hands. Likely he was thinking of where to place it, and Shigeo felt a little bad about that. They had ordered a desk and a chair for Reigen-kun, but they still needed to come in and then be assembled. So that would have to wait until next time. For now–
“You can place it here.” Shigeo motioned to beside his desk, and Reigen-kun gave him an embarrassed smile. He placed it beside Shigeo’s desk, before clapping his hands together.
“Okay, so I’m like, a secretary. Right?”
Both brothers exchanged glances, not knowing where exactly this was going.
“Yes.” Shigeo answered plainly.
“So do you have something for me to do? Filing? Maybe some number crunching? I’m really good with numbers! I can calculate like no one’s business!”
Reigen-kun seemed really happy to be of use. And well. . . . .
Reigen-kun stared at the storage room.
“You guys are really bad at filing.”
Shigeo had the decency to feel a slight creep of embarrassment in his spine as Reigen-kun started looking through the errant boxes and the empty filing cabinets.
“We’ve always been meaning to get to it. But. . . . Well.”
Something always happens.
“Something always comes up?” Reigen-kun asked, looking at the dates Ritsu had hastily scribbled in marker on the cardboard. Shigeo sighed and leaned against the doorframe.
“You’d be surprised at how busy summer and winter get. Just when things start to wind down we remember this room, it picks back up.” He tried to explain. Reigen-kun just nodded absentmindedly as he started going opening the boxes.
“That makes sense. Winter makes people sad because of the cold, and people are miserable in summer because of the heat. Not to mention the likelihood of people getting into car crashes during those times because of weather conditions and animals on the road. Not to mention the phobias that people have, you wouldn’t believe the ones I’ve heard of.” Reigen-kun started to ramble as he reached into the boxes and started pulling paper out. “Do you guys have some filing folders? If not I could go get some.”
“I think we have some, let me go look.” Shigeo turned from the room.
It was just two seconds of him being turned away.
“AAAIIEEEEEEE!!!”
Shigeo snapped back around and Reigen-kun slammed into the wall beside the doorway, hands covering his eyes.
Thumping noises and the sudden influx of energy from Ritsu let Shigeo know that he was going to make his appearance and soon.
Shigeo crouched beside the boy, his hand coming out and brushing against the skin of his hand just for a second.
In that second, it felt like he had gone to one hundred percent fear. Shigeo yanked his hand away, noticing Ritsu’s presence in the doorway. Ritsu had looked ready for a fight, and Shigeo was grateful for it. Who knows what Reigen-kun could have stumbled across back here that hadn’t noticed? It could have been an evil spirit for all they knew.
But it was quite impressive that Reigen-kun hadn’t let go of his control over his aura, even in his fear.
“Ritsu, can you bring Reigen-kun into the office space? Maybe make him some tea?” Shigeo asked, and relaxed when Ritsu immediately used his telekinesis to pick the boy up. “Be careful of his skin, he’s really scared, and I think he’s unintentionally pushing that outwards.”
“Got it.” Ritsu grunted, taking Reigen-kun out of the filing room and towards the front of the office space. With the boy out of the way, Shigeo can now investigate in peace. And hopefully find whatever the hell made the kid freak the fuck out like that. Moving a few boxes here and there, there was nothing. Picking up a few papers that had fluttered to the floor, Shigeo studied them. They belonged to the time that he had taken care of a curse that had been feasting on the client’s energy through them wearing the cursed necklace. So not that.
What could it have been. . . . . .
Shigeo brushed a few cockroaches to the side in his search and made them scurry to the corner. And then he paused. And turned to stare at the cockroaches. Hadn’t Reigen-kun just mentioned phobias? What were they again? Shigeo wracked his brain, trying to remember what exactly they were. Obviously they were something that Reigen-kun thought was intertwined with spirits popping up in the busy times.
Phobias. . . . .phobias. Fears. Irrational fears. Right? Reigen-kun was afraid. Nothing else in here could be it.
Shigeo stared at the cockroaches before crushing them with his aura and disposing of their corpses in the nearest trashcan.
If it was an irrational fear of bugs, why hadn’t Reigen-kun or Reigen-san told him or Ritsu about it? Wasn’t that something that they, as employers of a kid, were supposed to know? Like allergies, fuck, did they know if Reigen-kun had allergies? That wasn’t good either. Shigeo needed to have a talk with Reigen-san today, and Reigen-kun. Reigen-kun was closer, so he would start there, and then call Reigen-san when the kid was on his way home.
Shigeo just hoped they hadn’t managed to break the kid within the first ten minutes of having him.
Walking into the office area, he saw Reigen-kun holding a mug of tea in one of their older teacups, and Ritsu at his desk, glancing over almost every five seconds. That was his version of hovering, and it wasn’t subtle at all. It definitely made something deep in Shigeo happy, that Ritsu, for all that he snipped and huffed about bringing the boy under their wing, was still worried and cared about him. Obviously he hadn’t seen Reigen-kun hold his own against a manipulative spirit before, but hopefully in due time he would.
“Reigen-kun.”
Reigen-kun looked at him mid-sip.
“Was it the cockroaches?” Shigeo decided to be blunt. It usually worked out for him, and clients usually preferred a blunter nature, despite sometimes needing some gentleness that Shigeo couldn’t provide.
Reigen-kun flinched violently, the tea spilling out of the mug and nearly onto his gakuran. Shigeo’s hand came out and stopped the tea, putting it back in the mug.
“I’ll take that as a yes?”
Reigen-kun looked down at the mug with a sorry expression on. “Sorry. I’m just really, not good with those types of bugs. Any other, I’m okay with, but those– that–!” Reigen-kun gagged. He shook his head vehemently.
“It’s alright.” Shigeo said.
It wasn’t alright. It was something that they should have known beforehand. But they knew now.
“Ritsu and I will check the less populated rooms if we take you on exorcisms.” Shigeo said. “As it is, the pests are gone now, if you feel up to filing? If not, we can–”
“I can do it!” Reigen-kun said, standing abruptly. “I’ve caught a second wind! I can most definitely do this!”
Shigeo nodded and Reigen-kun put the tea down on the table, trying to get back to filing.
“One more thing Reigen-kun.”
Dark brown eyes looked at him, then darted around him to try and read his aura, then returned to Shigeo’s face. “Yeah? What’s up Kageyama-san?”
“Are you allergic to anything?”
Ritsu sat upright, his face going pale as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him as well. At least that meant that both Shigeo and Ritsu were on the same page then, if they both had never realized the possibility of Reigen-kun having allergies.
Reigen-kun placed a finger to his chin, thinking. “Hmm, I’m allergic to lemons.”
Ritsu snorted. “Lemons? Of all things? What are you, some kind of cat?”
The kid whipped to face Ritsu, all up in arms to defend himself. Shigeo was quick to intervene, because he really didn’t want to deal with their yelling right now. It wouldn’t help the headache that was starting to develop in Shigeo’s brain.
“Anything else, Reigen-kun?”
“Huh? Oh. Umm, it was an antibiotic.” He muttered, hands on hips as he stared at the floor. “I forget what exactly it’s called though. Sorry Kageyama-san.”
“I can call your mother and figure it out.” Shigeo nodded, and let Reigen-kun past so he could get to the filing room. He bounded past, seemingly bouncing back from the encounter with the cockroaches. Shigeo would have to ask future clients about their curses and make sure that any rundown building that they go into would be cockroach free for the kid, should they take him on any exorcisms.
“You’re soft on him.” Ritsu muttered, writing something on the paper in front of him.
“He is just a kid, Ritsu.” Shigeo pointed out. “And he’s polite. To me at least.”
Ritsu pointed his pencil threateningly at Shigeo, who held his arms up in self-defense.
“That kid is a menace.” Ritsu muttered, but his tone was just that barely-there softness that was reserved for only so few people in Ritsu’s life. Usually for Mom and Dad, and sometimes when people asked about Shigeo it would be used to talk about him, but to hear it extended to Reigen-kun so quickly just meant that the kid was simply something special. Something Shigeo had known from the moment that the two of them had met in that cult meeting.
“He only returns what you give out.” Shigeo said, clicking through the work emails. “So what does that say about you that you’re, what’s the term, having beef with a middle schooler? In your own workplace?”
“In my own–!” Ritsu threw down his pencil with force and threw his hands upwards. He opened his mouth–
“No swearing now, remember?”
Ritsu glanced to the door that Reigen-kun had disappeared behind. Because the kid was actually capable of hiding the damn fact that he was an esper, they wouldn’t actually know if he was trying to eavesdrop on them and their “adultier” discussions. Which meant absolutely no swearing. Much to Ritsu’s chagrin, because since getting a workplace with their adult money and without their parents rules, Ritsu had quite the foul mouth on him.
And as the adults in Reigen-kun’s life, they couldn’t be seen swearing around the kid. Who knows what Reigen-san would do to them?
That woman scared Shigeo.
Ritsu glanced back at Shigeo and mouthed a “fuck,” at him just to be cheeky, and picked his pencil back up. They both started working again.
Several hours passed, and a few scheduled clients came in, and thankfully they were ones that both Shigeo and Ritsu had already met and that they knew the reactions of, so there was no reason to dig Reigen-kun out of his focus in the archive room. Either Ritsu or Shigeo had quickly exorcized the cursed objects or let the clients know that they weren’t actually cursed.
Shigeo stretched his arms upwards, getting out the aches that had settled in there while he was busy trying to help people from their nonexistent problems or their invisible problems. With a simple glance at the other desk, he saw Ritsu squinting at the papers on his desk, which definitely meant that it was time to stop working at the computer and at the papers today. Maybe a dinner break and then continue working until eight tonight. With a soft sigh, he started to drop his arms, and then he froze.
Oh no.
He glanced at the clock.
It had been around three hours.
He had picked up Reigen-kun around three twenty-ish since he was helping his senpai, and they had gotten to the offices around three thirty since it was a ten minute walk.
It was six thirty in the evening.
And they hadn’t checked on Reigen-kun in the entire three hours.
He stood abruptly, drawing Ritsu’s eyes to him, and started walking quickly to the backroom, opening the door slowly. He didn’t hear anything on the way that could have said that Reigen-kun was in pain or had hurt himself, or heavens above forbid spotted another cockroach, but well–
Call Shigeo a little paranoid. The kid had kept his aura under his skin, even at being confronted with the object of his fright and phobia. It could mean a lot of things, but to Shigeo it meant that the kid was used to dealing with things on his own, and something about that didn’t really sit right with Shigeo. Reigen-kun was still a kid, that meant he had so much ahead of him. Being silly at a festival as he got scammed out of his money, finding girls attractive, meeting people at an afterschool club.
So Shigeo was slightly worried for what he was opening the door on.
What he wasn’t expecting was Reigen-kun in a nearly perfect straddle split as he sorted what looked like the last of the papers from one of the boxes. The said box that was tipped onto its side so Reigen-kun could reach the papers from the floor.
Reigen-kun shuffled the papers a little on the floor, tapping them to get the one-behind-the-other, before something must have told him that Shigeo was here, and he was turning to look at him.
“Oh, hi Kageyama-san! I’m nearly done, I have one more box to do!” Reigen-kun beamed up him, before a frown crinkled his brow. “Are you okay? You’re. . . .”
Reigen-kun squinted and mumbled under his breath, something that Shigeo couldn’t quite catch.
“I just wanted to check up on you.” Shigeo said, deciding to lean on the doorway with his shoulder. “I realized I hadn’t in the entire three hours you’ve been back here.”
He got a blank look in return.
“It’s been three hours?”
At Shigeo’s nod, Reigen-kun’s face started to pale at a considerably quick pace. He placed his arms on the floor in front of him and made a sort of triangle with them, and then placed his head in the said triangle. His hands came back up and cradled the back of his hair.
It didn’t hit Shigeo what exactly he was doing until his shoulders started to shake like he was crying.
“Ah! Reigen-kun, what’s wrong?”
“Mom is going to kill me. Late home twice in a row? In the same week? It’s so bad Kageyama-san, I might as well give up now and become a spirit here. Maybe I can be a helpful spirit for you and Kageyama-otouto while I’m in the afterlife before you exorcise me.”
Shigeo blinked down at the kid. His first thought was that the boy needed a watch so that they could ensure this couldn’t keep happening. The second thought was that maybe they could get Reigen-kun a phone so that he could call his mom should he stay later than expected. His third thought was interrupted by Reigen-kun’s stomach loudly protesting the fact that it had no food in it, but just proved his third thought. The third thought being that they needed to feed Reigen-kun before sending him home.
(The fourth thought was that Ritsu was absolutely going to flip over the fact that he was being called “Kageyama-otouto,” but would secretly enjoy the nickname and strike back and make one for Reigen-kun. Shigeo certainly would enjoy the nickname for Ritsu.)
He crouched down and poked Reigen-kun with his finger.
“C’mon Reigen-kun, she knows you’re here. I’ll call her and let her know that Ritsu and I are taking you out for dinner before we drop you off at your home. Get some water and dust yourself off, and we’ll leave.”
Reigen-kun lolled his head to look at Shigeo. His eyes darted about, looking at something that only he could see. It utterly fascinated Shigeo, this portion of esper capabilities. After he had gotten permission from Reigen-san to hire on Reigen-kun and the two had left for the night, he had spent the rest of the time in the office just looking up “empaths,” as they were called.
Not much was known about them. Either they were incredibly rare, or incredibly reclusive. Since Reigen-kun lived for the spotlight, Shigeo would go with incredibly rare, although it didn’t negate the other possibility. Reigen-kun simply could be an outlier.
“What does it look like?” He couldn’t help himself with asking.
Reigen-kun’s face refocused on him, and then flicked back to something that only he could see, then back to Shigeo’s face.
“Right now it’s peony-pink. You’re curious. Also a bit of green sea mixed in too. That means wonder.” Reigen-kun frowned. “You really think my esper ability is so cool?”
Ah, shit. Shigeo was caught.
“Well, ah.” Shigeo scratched his cheek with the nail of his forefinger. “It’s just. I’ve never really heard of an esper power like yours before. So yeah. It’s really cool and fascinating Reigen-kun. To know how someone is feeling and helping them out as much as you do, it’s really cool.”
Reigen-kun’s eyes were studying the space beside him again, and then he sighed. Long and loud, placing his head back on his arms.
“Reigen-kun?”
Had Shigeo said something wrong?
“I’ll be ready to go in like, five to ten minutes? I have a few pins and needles to shake out.” Reigen-kun completely bypassed what Shigeo was asking.
“Uh, okay. Remember, get some water.”
Shigeo was perplexed, but walked over to the phone and punched in the phone number that Reigen-san had given them so they could contact her should something happen. He supposed this was something happening. Right? This was something that adults did when they were taking care of kids, right?
[“Ah, is this the Kageyamas?”] Reigen Yoshiko-san asked on the opposite side of the line, and Shigeo let out a little breath.
“Yes, hi Reigen-san. Let me just say, I’m so sorry. I should have noticed that the time had passed so quickly.” Shigeo would have bowed had they been in person, but thankfully for himself and his own heart, Reigen-san wasn’t here. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to stomach that.
[“It’s no problem.”] Reigen-san sighed. [“Although I hope it doesn’t become a reoccurring issue.”]
Was Shigeo imagining a threat in her voice? No, couldn’t be. But then again, this was Reigen-kun’s mom, there could be a threat and it would be hidden so thoroughly that he wouldn’t notice until three business days later.
“I hope it wouldn’t.” Shigeo nodded, not that she could see it. “I was wondering, would you mind me getting your son a phone?”
Silence on the line. Ah, had that been an overstep? He had his back to Ritsu, so he had no way to know if the other adult was sending him “you’re an idiot” signs.
[“May I ask why you feel the need to get my son a phone?”] There was definitely a dangerous undercurrent to her voice. Whoops. He’s overstepped big time, hasn’t he?
“Mostly to keep in touch with him, should he need a day off or has a club activity to go to.” Shigeo shifted on his feet. “Also, a time-keeping bonus. It would only be a flip phone, I promise Reigen-san, should you allow me to get him one.”
[“Taka-kun doesn’t have a club. Although he does go to shaolin kung fu classes on Sunday.”] Reigen-san said absentmindedly, but she wasn’t smiting him over the phone, so that was a good sign at least. Although what she did say made him a little concerned. Even Shigeo had the Body Improvement Club, surely even Reigen-kun had an afterschool club?
[“I will think about it.”] She sighed over the phone. [“Although, between us, having another adult looking after Taka-kun definitely does assuage my fears. Again I’m merely thinking about the prospect of him getting a phone, you could end up not getting him one.”]
“I understand, thank you for hearing me out.” Shigeo said instead of what he wanted to say. “Are you fine with us buying Reigen-kun some food tonight while we go out?”
[“Yes, that’s perfectly fine. Thank you, I’ll pay you back.”]
“There’s no need for that.” Shigeo shook his head. “He’s a child, there’s no need for a child to pay for his own food.”
[“Ah, so what you’re saying is that once he hits teen years, it’s on him.”] Reigen-san replied, and while Shigeo wasn’t exactly the best at reading people, he could swear there was a smile in her voice.
“Yes, exactly that. Have a good night Reigen-san.”
[“Have a good night, Kageyama-san.”]
Hanging up the phone, Shigeo ran a hand down his face and checked that Reigen-kun wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity. Ritsu nodded to the fact that the kid wasn’t here, and Shigeo let out a long, loud sigh. Which meant that it was a normal person sigh at a slightly-lesser-than-normal sound. Ritsu then proceeded to cackle into his fist.
“Really Nii-san? Really?”
“Look, it’s a good idea, okay? And I had her on the line and I thought I would ask.” Shigeo defended himself, crossing his arms and definitely not pouting.
Ritsu continued to laugh at him, and at that time, Reigen-kun decided to appear, blinking wide eyes at the two of them. His eyes darted around the two of them, reading their auras that were no doubt swirling around them like foam on an ocean wave, and Reigen-kun gleaned more knowledge from it than an oceanographer.
“I don’t even want to know. I’m just gonna head home.”
“Actually, we’re going to eat first.” Shigeo held out the kid’s shoulder bag to him. “I told your mom, she’s fine with it.”
Reigen-kun gave him a smile while taking the bag. “Ah, but I can’t ask you to do that, Kageyama-san, Kageyama-otouto. I don’t have–”
“What.” Ritsu broke in, staring at Reigen-kun with tunnel vision. “Did you just call me?”
Reigen-kun’s face changed from the polite smile that Shigeo realized it was to a shit-eating grin.
“What? What do you mean? I just called you Kageyama-otouto. Surely that’s fine, since you are the younger brother, after all. Hey hey, Kageyama-san, it’s fine, right?”
“Nii-san, don’t you fuc–!”
“Language!” Shigeo yelped, before giving Ritsu a placid smile. “And I don’t see anything wrong with that nickname Reigen-kun, I think it suits Ritsu.”
Ritsu’s jaw dropped.
“NII-SAN!”
Shigeo quickly scooped Reigen-kun up and darted out the door with telekinesis, managing to avoid the nausea since he was also holding onto Reigen-kun. Reigen-kun, who was also cackling, and holding onto Shigeo’s arm and kicking his feet in what Shigeo hoped was happiness.
“Nii-san! Reigen! Get BACK HERE!” Ritsu screeched as he followed them.
10%
Shigeo released the telekinesis in front of his and Ritsu’s favorite ramen place, placing the kid down on his feet. Reigen-kun was still giggling as he held onto Shigeo’s arm as they entered the place.
“Ah, Shigeo-kun!” The waiter remembered Shigeo from his youth and turned to greet him, and then froze and crouched to greet Reigen-kun. “And who is this?”
“I’m Reigen Arataka! Nice to meet you, I work with Kageyama-san.”
The waiter, whose name Shigeo could never really remember, gave Shigeo a look. He had gone to them for services before, so he knew what they did. So what was with the look? “Didja replace Ritsu-kun?”
Oh.
“No, he should be here, right about–”
“Hey!” Ritsu burst in through the door behind them.
“–now. There he is.” Shigeo finished, and Reigen-kun giggled into his hands.
“You little brat.” Ritsu lightly flicked Reigen-kun’s earlobe. “I’m going to get you back for this.”
Reigen-kun let out a little laugh as they were led to their seats. “You wish you could, Kageyama-otouto, the middle schoolers I go to school with are more vicious than you are.”
Ritsu glared at the kid as they sat down, well slid into the booth, and got some water.
“Okay, whatever you say, goldilocks.”
Reigen-kun clutched at the fabric of his gakuran over his heart.
“Oh! A reference to a classic fairy tale! However will I recover?” He flopped against Shigeo and pressed the back of his hand against his forehead. “I’m passing away from the sheer acidic delivery right now! Go on without me Kageyama-san. Just call him Kageyama-otouto in my stead.”
Shigeo nodded, barely keeping his blank face on.
“It will be hard without you, Reigen-kun, but I will ensure it happens.”
“Uhm?”
They all looked at the server.
“Are you guys ready to order? Or should I come back in a few minutes?”
Shigeo couldn’t help it. The poor server looked so confused at their antics, he really couldn’t help it. He snorted into his fist, the laughter breaking into soft chuckles. Then Reigen-kun laughed, bright and loud. And Ritsu shook his head, but he was laughing, light and breathy.
“Apologies.” Ritsu muttered. “We’ll order soon, but the kid has to look at the menu first. My brother and I know what we want.”
A quick peruse later and a shoyu chicken ramen ordered for Reigen-kun, a spicy tofu ramen for Ritsu, and a tonkotsu ramen ordered for Shigeo with extra nori. The dishes came out quickly, and the three of them were quickly digging in. Although, apparently that was something that made Reigen-kun think of something.
“So since we exorcize spirits, does that mean that we shouldn’t say blessings over food anymore?” He asked, before putting a huge bite of noodles in his mouth. That made Shigeo freeze, and he gave a look to Ritsu. They had completely forgotten that Reigen-kun was someone who was impressionable, but he was also really intelligent too. Damn it.
Shigeo and Ritsu had gotten out of the habit of saying blessings for food a long time ago. After a particularly bad job that they had done, they both had just, kinda stopped. But Reigen-kun didn’t know that, didn’t have that experience.
“We just forgot.” Ritsu said, before slurping up his own noodles. “We’ll say them next time.”
Reigen-kun nodded, and they ate in peace and paid the check and left.
“I could pay.” Reigen-kun muttered, arms crossed.
“You and what money, Goldilocks?” Ritsu ruffled Reigen-kun’s hair roughly, but not too roughly. “Just take the free food you idiot.”
“I’m not an idiot, you didn’t have to correct any of my homework!” Reigen-kun shot back, and Shigeo couldn’t help but nod at that. Ritsu had had to correct a lot of Shigeo’s homework when they were growing up, so it was a testimony to Reigen-kun’s intelligence that Ritsu hadn’t had to correct anything.
“He’s got you there Ritsu.”
“Shut up, Nii-san. Why are you taking his side so much?” Ritsu grumbled as they hit the split and Shigeo kept walking alongside Reigen-kun.
“Kageyama-san? Did you need something?” Reigen-kun peered up at him.
“I’m walking you home, Reigen-kun. The sun will set soon, and it’s not good for you to walk home alone.” Not without the ability to throw up a barrier or without a phone, but that was neither here nor there. So until Reigen-kun had one of those things, Shigeo would walk him home.
Reigen-kun let out a long sigh. “I’m not helpless you know.”
“I know. But since you seem to be so certain that I’m a good man, I should try being one, shouldn’t I?” Shigeo decided to throw Reigen-kun’s own words from earlier into his face. Shigeo didn’t think he was a good person. Maybe a decent person on a good day, but not a good person. Sometimes he didn’t even feel human most days, since he was holding the explosion in.
“Kageyama-san is a good person.” Reigen-kun insisted, skipping over a large crack in the sidewalk. “Even if he doesn’t see it himself, he is.”
“We’ll see.” Shigeo just sighed, and they walked up to an apartment building.
“This is me! Thank you Kageyama-san.” Reigen-kun bowed. Shigeo bowed back.
“See you tomorrow.” Shigeo said, and watched Reigen-kun buzz himself in until he walked away. Getting back to the apartment that he shared with Ritsu, he noticed the silence. Usually his brother had a kettle on the stovetop, getting his evening cup of tea ready.
“Ritsu?” He called and walked into the open area living room.
There with his brother in the living room was a bright green blob, with a really defined nose and eyes.
And bright red splotches on his cheeks.
20%
“What are you doing here? I thought I exorcised you.” Shigeo said, his voice cool and sharp as he stared at the spirit that he had exorcized the day before.
“So this is the Dimple that you dealt with.” Ritsu nodded, standing to his full height. “He’s been trying to sell himself, but since you’re here, I’ll let you deal with him Nii-san.”
“Hey wait! Ritsu-chan~!” Dimple whined, and Ritsu gave him a sharp look.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Answer my question.” Shigeo said, breaking into the conversation. His gaze was still tunneled in on Dimple. “I thought I exorcized you. I know I did.”
“And you scared the absolute shit outta me!” Dimple huffed, and two stick-like arms protruded from the side of the blob. “You reduced me to a mere fraction of a fraction of my power kid.”
“I’m not a kid.” Shigeo was barely in his midlife time, he was no kid.
“Compared to me? You’re a child. An infant. My lifetime is about thrice, no, five times the span of yours.” Dimple shot back.
“And you got, what’s it called Ritsu? Read for filth by a kid like Reigen-kun.” Shigeo said, accepting the tea that Ritsu gave him.
“Wait really? What did he do?” Ritsu asked, eyes lighting up at the fact that Reigen-kun didn’t pick solely on him.
“He said that Dimple had never felt happiness, so he built an entire cult to find that happiness, but he missed his calling as a comedian.” Shigeo reported, sipping the tea. Sweet but not too sweet. Ritsu still liked sweet things, even now. Speaking of–
Ritsu bent at the waist, cackling. His mug floated in the air, suspended by his powers.
“Okay okay, The kid had a silver tongue. Big whoop.” Dimple grumbled, his tiny arms crossed. “But! I have a proposition for the two of you.”
Ritsu stopped his laughter, sobering pretty quickly, and the brothers exchanged glances. Shigeo wished that the spirit had showed up while Reigen-kun was around, the empath and his ability to read auras would be so useful right now. But they would just have to try and figure out the lies on their own for now.
“Y’see, you did exorcize me, technically.” Dimple said, nodding his head up and down, which was really weird to watch, since he technically was all head. Really weird. “But there’s something really interesting about spirits that obviously you kids don’t know about. Whenever you think you exorcize a spirit, you’re really just getting the biggest portions of energy out of the way. You leave just a little bit behind. Now normally, this doesn’t allow a spirit to come back to themselves! But since I’m a high-level spirit, I’m fully capable of doing that exact same thing!”
Here Dimple placed his hands on where his hips would probably be, should he have an actual body.
“You guys can’t really get rid of evil spirits, but I can!” Dimple thrust a thumb at his blobby self.
Shigeo and Ritsu exchanged glances.
“And what exactly do you get out of that arrangement?” Shigeo asked dryly, drinking his tea. He definitely didn’t want Dimple getting to his regular power that he had gotten to before. Something like that, that had scared Reigen-kun, he didn’t wanna deal with it again.
“Eh, I just get a little bit of the spirit’s power when I take them out.” Dimple waved a hand, like it wasn’t important. He tried to move onto another topic quickly, but Ritsu held up his hand, his aura glowing menacingly.
“So you basically want to use us to find spirits for you, you take the last of their power, and regain your own? Yeah, I don’t think so buddy.” The blue-purple glowed in warning. Ready to surge out and hit the spirit with everything that he had.
“Wait wait wait wait! Why not take a night and think on it?” The spirit wheedled.
Shigeo groaned and sat up, stretching this way and that to get the kinks out of his spine.
“We might as well wait until Reigen-kun is done with school tomorrow. Since he was also affected by Dimple’s cult.”
“Fine by me.” Ritsu glared at the spirit, before getting up as well. “This will just be settled tomorrow then.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Arataka frowned as he searched the school. He had gone to the senpai’s floors, he had searched everywhere, he had tried to find Shimazaki-senpai everywhere! But the guy was just nowhere to be found. Which wasn’t good, because he was blind, and he has asked Arataka to lead him around the school so he could get his bearings of the school with his walking stick.
Glancing out a window, Arataka froze.
There, in the baseball pitch, Shimazaki-senpai was being surrounded by a bunch of other seniors.
Crap! Shit! Crap! Arataka turned on heel and raced for the stairs, jumping down them where he could and zooming to where he knew the doors to the baseball pitch was. What did the seniors want with Shimazaki-senpai? Was it a hazing ritual? Wasn’t Senpai’s life already hard enough with the handicap he was born with? Why did people have to try and make it harder!?
Seeing the doors in front of him, Arataka slammed through them, eyes not adjusting to the outside light immediately.
“Shimazaki-senpai! Are you. . . . .”
His eyes adjusted.
“Shima. . . zaki-senpai?” He stuttered, staring at the sight before him.
The seniors were floating above their heads, Shimazaki-senpai’s red-purple aura pushing them up and higher. Using Shimazaki-senpai’s fire-like aura to push the seniors higher, and if they fell from any higher, they could get seriously hurt.
“Senpai, what are you doing?” Arataka asked, looking down at Shimazaki-senpai. Who simply lolled his head over in Arataka’s direction, eyes closed, but seemingly knowing exactly where he was.
“Ah, I forgot about our promise! Don’t worry, you can lead me out now.” Shimazaki-senpai took a step towards Arataka.
“What about them?” Arataka motioned to the floating seniors, who upon closer look appeared to be unconscious. He forgot Shimazaki-senpai couldn’t see his motions, but he seemed to understand what Arataka was asking all the same.
“They’ll be fine. Probably. Once we’re out of range, my telekinesis will stop.” Shimazaki-senpai tilted his head, almost like he was studying Arataka. “You’re not surprised I’m an esper.”
“I’m a- a coworker to two.” Arataka stuttered. But what his senpai had said scared him, it made his heart race and his hands clench. “Senpai– you’re talking about dropping them from a potentially dangerous height.”
“Yes?” Shimazaki-senpai tilted his head, like he didn’t understand the problem.
“You can’t.” Arataka firmed his stance. “You shouldn’t use your powers like that, Senpai. Psychic powers aren’t meant for harm.”
Shimazaki-senpai let out a long sigh, his walking cane extending to its full length.
“Reigen-kun. I know you don’t understand, not having psychic powers for yourself, but you should try to at least. You don’t have to follow normal people’s rules. When you’re a psychic, you’re a god amongst men, and you don’t need to follow the prayers of the weak.”
“You’re wrong.” Arataka refuted. “Psychic powers are just like any other characteristic of a person. Just like being better at sports or being smelly, or, or remembering things better.”
He remembered the psychic auras that he’s come across so far. Kageyama-san’s was a rotating type, protective. Kageyama-otouto’s was spiky, offensive. Shimazuki-senpai’s was fiery, crackling.
And Arataka had seen all those same characteristics on other people too. A salaryman that was angry had Kageyama-otouto’s spiky aura, a housewife had Shimazaki-senpai’s fiery aura, an older brother had an aura like Kageyama-san’s, protective.
“Senpai, I can’t let you do this.” Arataka dropped his schoolbag to the side with a whump got into stance that his shaolin kung fu instructor had taught him.
Shimazaki looked a little sad. “So this is where our friendship ends, huh?”
“I can’t stand by while you hurt others.” Arataka was slightly afraid to be quite honest. Shimazaki obviously had some sort of telekinesis. Which meant that he could just grab Arataka and Arataka wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. But he had to try.
“I was hoping we could be friends. Maybe even run a little gang together.” Shimazaki sighed, and the senpai behind him started to float down to the ground. Slowly. Was he in control or was he listening to Arataka after al–
Shimazaki disappeared.
Arataka froze, staring at the spot where he had been.
Arms wound around his neck, hoping to choke him out maybe. Arataka swept his leg behind Shimazaki’s and used his shorter height to his advantage, throwing the older middle schooler around his body and down to the ground. He reached for skin, hoping to maybe pump some lavender-sleepiness into Shimazaki and get this over with quickly–
In a blink, he was gone again.
Teleportation? But how does he know where to go if he’s blind? Arataka took stock of his surroundings, trying to find Shimazaki among the people.
“How do you know where to go?” He muttered.
“When I was born, I was blessed with the ability to know where everyone was at all times, where everything was at all times.” Shimazaki said right behind him, and Arataka tried to throw a punch, only to be clocked on the head by Shimazaki’s walking stick. That was probably just for show, if what he said was right. “This is my gift. And I will be able to do everything with it. Maybe even rule the world. I could even be the most powerful esper in the world.” Shimazaki rambled, and Arataka had to laugh.
“Puh-lease.” He muttered, feeling the welt on his head. That was going to leave a mark. “You’re such a small fry. An ordinary man even. A cog in the wheel of normality. Even someone like me could defeat the likes of you.”
“Why you little–!”
Arataka had noticed it yesterday. When Shimazaki got mad, he missed things.
Arataka lunged, his hands grappling for skin contact. Shimazaki was also grappling for skin contact. Before Arataka knew it, he was down on the ground, back to the baseball pitch’s mulch. Shimazaki above him.
Hands around his neck, and they were squeezing. Tight.
Oh. Shimazaki seemed to like that. Or well, he seemed rather angry. His aura was without purple now, streaked through with cinnamon-red-anger and that just pulsed into Arataka more with each squeeze and every second the skin contact stayed.
I wanna. . . . .
Arataka’s eyes fluttered as his fingers clawed at Shimazaki’s hands.
I wanna go. . . . . .
He could do it. He certainly could do it. Shimazaki was yelling something. He was squeezing tighter. Shaking Arataka back and forth, like he was some sort of ragdoll. What if the other senpai woke up and saw this? What would they think of Shimazaki, huh? Shimazaki didn’t really think things through, did he?
What did Arataka want again?
Kageyama-san’s slight smile and his soft laugh, the rotating blue-pink-purple aura that was protective.
Arataka’s hands were so heavy. Moving them was hard.
Kageyama-otouto’s rolling eyes and sharp words hiding the softness that was undoubtedly hidden inside, the spiky blue-purple aura was offensive and yet fierce.
One hand hit the ground, and he could vaguely feel the mulch pressing into his skin. They were so so heavy.
Mom’s hands ruffling through his hair and her knowledge of his antics, her placid pink sunset and golden aura bringing him peace.
It was hard to breathe. He needed air.
I wanna go to work today.
Arataka’s hands clamped down on Shimazaki’s.
Deep-gray-confusion overtook Shimazaki, infused by Arataka, whose features slowly morphed into purple-black-horror, and he backpedaled quickly, hands retracting off of Arataka’s throat quickly. Arataka took in a sharp breath, coughing loudly as he tried to bring air back to his lungs. It almost felt like he would throw up, he was coughing so much.
Turning over just in case he did, he finally stopped coughing, just heaving now. Arataka pushed himself up on shaking arms. Then pushed himself up onto shaking legs.
And then he let his aura out.
Rose gold, periwinkle, and sunset purple swirled around him in a dangerous flow, but the effect was kind of lost on Shimazaki, who was blind. He may have a weak power, but he couldn’t let his senpai do this. Walking down this road only meant disaster for him in the future.
“You– Reigen-kun you–”
“Psychics,” Arataka coughed, his throat felt shredded but also bloated at the same time, “psychics are just normal people. It doesn’t matter how powerful you are. It doesn’t matter what you think is fate.”
He turned to look at Shimazaki through his aura, the rose gold, periwinkle, and sunset purple giving him a bit of a headache already. But he would weather this storm until his senpai understood it. No matter how long, no matter how many times they fought.
“We are each equally important. So that means no one is more important than anyone else.”
If there was any lesson that he was holding onto from his deadbeat father, it would be that one alone. People are equally important, and so no one could be more important than the other. Of course, his piece of shit dad probably didn’t mean it like that, but Arataka just. . . . recycled what he meant. That’s what you’re supposed to do with stuff you don’t want but can’t get rid of, right?
Arataka got into position again, moving into the stance that his shaolin kung fu instructor had taught him.
“I’ll teach you that lesson Senpai. However many times you need to learn.”
Shimazaki got to his feet, cracking his neck on one side and discarding his stick.
“How interesting.”
And then he teleported again. He probably thought he had the upper hand here with that teleportation trick, but something Arataka had learned pretty early on, a person can’t run from their feelings. His emotional aura was loud and clear behind Arataka, and Arataka just slid into the stance and caught the punch that was coming to the side of his face, and threw his senpai over his shoulder.
Shimazaki groaned on the ground, before teleporting.
To the left this time, not good. That was Arataka’s weaker side.
With a grimace, he decided to slide down and try to punch Shimazaki’s solar plexus, and instead got a fist to the head for his trouble.
That was going to leave another mark.
But it did leave Arataka with another opening.
Reaching up, he caught Shimazaki’s wrist with his hand, and pumped purple-heather-regret into the older boy. Down he went onto his knees, tears starting to prick his eyes.
Breathing heavily, raggedly, Arataka grimaced and retracted his hand.
The purple-heather-regret dialed down in intensity, but–
But it was still there?
Arataka felt a soft ray of hope in his heart.
“Senpai, I don’t know your past.” He muttered, standing to his feet. He winced when he probed at his throat, knowing that going to the offices would mean a lot of questions. A lot, and probably a call to his mom. And he was late too, wasn’t he? That was doubly not good. So much for his good deed and trying to help his Senpai.
“I don’t know your past, but I don’t have to be a clairvoyant to know your future.” Arataka continued, watching the purple-heather-regret still exist in the red-purple fiery aura that was Shimazaki-senpai’s aura. He wondered what the emotion did to him, if it showed him memories that he should have thought about before when using his powers incorrectly. “It’s not gonna go so great, if you continue doing stuff like this.”
“If you do something like this again, I’m not going to be so nice.”
Shimazaki-senpai scoffed where he was kneeling on the ground, auburn-bitterness weaving into his aura. “Or what? You gonna tell your psychic shishou on me?”
Arataka blinked. He didn’t have a master. He had a shaolin kung fu master, sure, but not psychic shishou.
“What makes you think I have one?”
“I felt him yesterday. His power. . . . was insane.”
“Sure.” Arataka shrugged. He looked around, and noticed the other senpai were still asleep on the ground. He brushed off what he could see of the baseball pitch mulch off of his gakuran and walked over and picked up his schoolbag. “Sure, I’ll tell him. And then you can deal with him next time. Just, think on what I said. Please.”
And with that, Arataka walked off. He made sure to dial down his aura along the way though, he didn’t want anyone to know that he was an esper and try to take advantage of him. Damn, what was the time anyways? How long had the two of them been rolling around in the dirt and he had been trying to talk sense into Shimazaki-senpai?
Uuuugggh, how was he supposed to explain this away? He could lie. He could most certainly lie. But that wouldn’t help the Kageyamas help him.
He trudged along the ten-minute walk, managing to keep his head down until he got to the stairs.
Arataka glared at the stairs.
He really wasn’t looking forward to the stairs. His legs weren’t happy, but oh well. Up he went. One step at a time, until he finally was in front of the door that said Kageyama Brothers: Spiritual Consultants.
“I’m here.”
Is what he tried to say as he opened the door. As Arataka tried to open the door and call out, his throat decided that enough was enough and give out and cough up a storm.
“Reigen-kun!”
Immediately he was floating, and on the couch. Kageyama-san was crouched in front of him, hands waving in front of him, likely trying to figure out what to do first, but not knowing what to do at all. Arataka only knew that because both of the brothers auras were laced through with neon-yellow-panic, Kageyama-san’s moreso than Kageyama-otouto’s.
“What the hell kid? What happened?” Kageyama-otouto asked, bringing what looked like a first aid kit with a flick of his fingers. “Those look like manual strangulation marks, what the absolute–”
An elbow was forcing Kageyama-san to move, and a bright light was shone in Arataka’s eyes.
“Ow.”
“Suck it up, buttercup. What did you do, fight a gang? No signs of concussion at least.” Kageyama-otouto muttered that last part.
“Shimazaki-senpai.” Arataka muttered. “He, his powers.”
“Don’t force yourself to speak.” Kageyama-san placed a hand on his shoulder, snow-white-gentleness in his aura and trying to soothe Arataka. He just shook his head, as much as he could with Kageyama-otouto still holding his head still to look at his face with the light.
“He, doesn’t use his powers. Not responsibly. Hurting other senpai. Couldn’t. . . . .”
Kageyama-otouto let out a longsuffering sigh. “You couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?’
Arataka tried to smile.
“Damn kid, he got you good.”
Arataka’s eyes were finally drawn to the flying, snot blob that was in the room.
“What the fuck?” He asked, too tired from everything.
The brothers stopped moving, before Kageyama-otouto started wheezing out laughter, letting go of Arataka’s face to bend in half and cackle. Bubblegum-pink-amusement was radiating from him like a damn solar wave.
“Not a word Ritsu.” Kageyama-san muttered, running a hand over his face. Lemon-yellow-exasperation was laced into his aura. “Not a word.”
Clearly, Arataka had missed something.