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Dimple had slowly relaxed around Arataka again, the purple-black-horror fading from his aura. He definitely didn’t want to be around Arataka, but he was also strangely hovering around him too, like he was expecting something from him. If he expected anything but Arataka trying to exorcize him, then he was sorely mistaken.
But there was a buzz in the air at school. Someone else had joined the ranks of Salt Middle School, and that meant fresh meat. Arataka kinda wanted to seek out the new student, maybe try to meet them and get ahead from whatever rumors that were circulating this week. It would be nice, to have a friend that wouldn’t listen to the rumors that spurred probably from the student council. A friend that Arataka had hoped would be Shimazaki-senpai, but that wouldn’t be happening. It was now close to April, and soon Shimazaki-senpai, as a third year, would be graduating.
So he would be leaving, and that was fine.
But with a new student, maybe Arataka could make a friend.
He walked around after school, texting Mob-boss that he could be a little late. As soon as the halls emptied and he cleaned his hair and washed the worst of things out of his uniform, he felt an explosion of psychic energy on the floors above him, and Arataka threw his gakuran shirt back on, not minding the wetness, and raced up the stairs, hoping that everything would be okay. He could tell that one of the auras from the psychic explosion was Shimazaki-senpai, and Arataka really hoped that Shimazaki-senpai wasn’t doing something stupid.
Sliding open the door that held the psychic energy quickly, Arataka came face-to-face with Shimazaki-senpai, who had his red-purple aura out in a barrier surrounding himself, and a new boy that Arataka had never seen before, but he had a pink and purple aura that looked like static. The new boy’s aura was full of neon-yellow-panic and lime-green fear, and Shimazaki-senpai’s aura was full of crimson-red-franticness, baby-blue-surprise, and deep-gray-confusion. Both turned to look at Arataka as he entered the room.
Arataka took in the room, the panic that was infusing the room by both people and shook his head. He pushed butter-yellow-calm into his aura, and it pushed into the floor of the room, spreading throughout the room completely and slowly seeping into the other two auras.
“So like, is this a super secret club meeting that I wasn’t invited to?” Arataka asked cheerfully, watching as the butter-yellow-calm slowly danced into their auras. Their shoulders were slowly dropping, the calmness doing its work and Arataka felt his own shoulders lessening them calming down, even though it was through his machinations.
“Reigen-kun.” Shimazaki-senpai said stiffly, dusty-rose-trepidation curling into his aura along with the butter-yellow-calm. The crimson-red-franticness was gone at least, replaced by the dusty-rose-trepidation.
“Hi Shimazaki-senpai. How have you been? I see you’ve met our newest student apparently?” Arataka directed the last bit to the newest student, who was calming down slower, but was taking deeper breaths than before. The neon-yellow-panic was fading with the butter-yellow-calm that Arataka was pumping into the floor and into the others through the room.
“I’m, I’m,” The new student gripped his gakuran shirt tight. “I– I’m Serizawa Katsuya.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Arataka grinned at him and gave a bow. “I’m Reigen Arataka, a first year. That’s Shimazaki Ryou, a third year. What year are you?”
“I’m, I’m a second year.” Serizawa-senpai whispered. Arataka nodded, and motioned to the door with his head.
“D’you guys wanna leave the school? You know we’re supposed to, right?” Arataka offered.
Butter-yellow-calm was infused in both their auras, but it seemed that Serizawa-senpai was just a naturally jumpy person. He glanced at Shimazaki-senpai nervously, and Arataka wondered what exactly happened that made the psychic explosion. Did Shimazaki-senpai upset Serizawa-senpai in any way? Dusty-rose-trepidation was still in Shimazaki-senpai’s aura, but nothing more. Neon-yellow-panic and lime-green-fear was gone from Serizawa-senpai’s aura, but there was some navy-blue-awkwardness lingering in there. A lot of it in fact.
“Sorry. That must have been a lot to walk in on.” Serizawa-senpai muttered. “I’ve been told that my power is a lot.”
“Eh,” Arataka flapped a hand at him. “My boss is way more powerful than you are.”
Ice-cold-blue-shock whispered through Serizawa-senpai’s aura. “Your boss is an esper?”
“Yup! Wanna meet him? I think he’d like to meet the two of you.” Arataka extended the olive branch to Shimazaki-senpai, turning to look at him. Baby-blue-surprise blared through his fiery red-purple aura, making it easy to see.
“I, I don’t know about that.” Serizawa-senpai muttered, dusty-rose-trepidation curling in his aura. “I’ve met so many people today.”
Arataka nodded. “Very fair, meeting so many people is hard. D’you want Shimazaki-senpai and I to walk you to your house then?”
“I’m, I’m staying with my cousin for now.” Serizawa-senpai muttered.
They stopped at the shoe locker, and Arataka pulled out his shoes, going over to the trash can. He ignored the deep-gray-confusion from the other two boys and turned his shoes upside down, letting the tacks fall into the trash can. Knocking them together once or twice and making sure that they were all gone, he slipped his shoes on and replaced his slippers in his locker.
“Ah, are you the one who’s cousin has that new bookstore?” Arataka asked, now ignoring Shimazaki-senpai’s ocean-blue-concern and the firetruck-red-alarm in Serizawa-senpai’s auras. “I went there a while ago, it was really nice! Although I don’t get to go nowadays, since I have work and all.”
“How are you able to work?” Shimazaki-senpai asked slowly, as if he was acknowledging that Arataka didn’t want to talk about what just happened with the shoes. “I thought people weren’t allowed to employ minors.”
“My mom signed off on it.” Arataka explained as he tied his shoes. “And it’s kinda, sorta something that the government can see why I’m working there? With other espers?”
“Makes sense.” Shimazaki-senpai sighed.
“Wait. Reigen-kun, you’re an esper too?” Serizawa-senpai boggled at him, dropping his shoes and then jumping at the noise he created. “You don’t have an aura though.”
“I don’t show it.” He shrugged as he got to his feet and shrugged his schoolbag onto his shoulder. “It’s not exactly the strongest power out there, and it’s not something that’s really useful. So I don’t really use it, y’know?”
Serizawa-senpai studied him. Just, looking at him for a really long time. Cerulean-blue-confliction weaving into his aura as he looked like he was gearing up to say something. Before he could though, Arataka’s phone rang with the song that he had set for Kageyama-otouto. Arataka fished it out of his pocket, flipping it open and holding it up to his ear as he turned towards the door and started walking, expecting the two senpai to be right behind him.
“Hi Kageyama-otouto, how can I help you?”
[“Where are you?”] Kageyama-otouto didn’t even greet him. Really rude. He sounded a little annoyed though, and in the background Arataka could hear Hanazawa-san and Fukami-san arguing back and forth, Boss trying to play mediator between them. Ah, he must be getting annoyed by Hanazawa-san avoiding all his duties by hiding out at the office.
“Still at school, I sent Boss a text.” He replied, glancing behind him and found Shimazaki-senpai there, Serizawa-senpai a little behind him, clutching the straps of his backpack like a lifeline. “Though from the noise in the background, I can see why he hasn’t been able to read his messages yet.”
[“Oh good, you can hear them,”] Kageyama-otouto said sarcastically. [“Get over here so you can send them away.”]
Arataka blinked.
Huh?
“Huh?”
That didn’t make sense, why was it dependent on Arataka for two adults to do their job? Hanazawa-san should listen to Fukami-san and just stick to his schedule. And not go out of his way to try and make Boss fight him more times. Was he trying to tempt fate and pull that explosion out? Actually, that did sound like something that Hanazawa Teruki would do in the end.
[“He wants you to draw him, and isn’t moving for nothing kid.”] Kageyama-otouto sounded really tired.
Ah.
Yeah, Arataka still hadn’t drawn Hanazawa-san’s picture, had he? He had drawn Dimple’s, and even a few client’s on scrap paper, but not Hanazawa-san. He must be taking that as a slight, when really, Arataka was afraid to do draw him. Hanazawa-san was surrounded by people all the time who could draw really well and be able to do it so much better than he could do it. But if Hanazawa-san kept insisting, then Arataka would have to comply eventually. The man was really persistent.
“Oh. Well, I’m walking a friend to his place and bringing another one. If that’s alright?” Arataka asked nervously.
He had never invited someone over to the office before. Then again, he had had no one to invite to the office. Or to his home. Or to a park for after school or something. Like the arcade or elsewhere. Whatever, Arataka wasn’t lonely. He had his own things to do, and he had work now! So he was too busy for stuff like arcades and after-school clubs and stuff like that.
There was silence on the line for a little bit, and there were almost to the shop where they were going to drop Serizawa-senpai off at. They were in the middle of it when Kageyama-otouto spoke again.
[“Yeah. That’s fine kid.”]
Arataka felt himself grinning.
“See you in a few minutes then! Ja ne!” He hung up the phone before Kageyama-otouto replied, and went to slip the phone in his pocket, before pausing and flipping it back open as they stopped outside the bookstore.
“Do you guys wanna exchange phone numbers?” He asked, almost feeling that same dusty-rose-trepidation curling into his own emotions.
Serizawa-senpai perked up, baby-blue-surprise and yellow-sunshiney-happiness flickering into his aura. He looked to Shimazaki-senpai, who had ice-cold-blue-shock and pearl-soft-hope threading through his aura. Shimazaki-senpai moved first, reaching in his own pocket and flipping his own phone out. Serizawa-senpai followed suit, pulling his own phone out and they quickly exchanged numbers. Quick as a wink, Arataka, with a bright smile on his face, threw all the numbers into a group chat together.
“Seriously?” Shimazaki-senpai sighed, but bubblegum-pink-amusement was filtering into his aura, so Arataka knew what it meant.
“Yup! Have a good day, Serizawa-senpai!” The two waited as the one went in, and Arataka caught sight of another adult inside the shop, talking to Shou-san. His back was to him though, so Arataka couldn’t see much beyond the fact that the other guy was also an esper. Man, he was meeting and seeing a lot of espers that he had never even knew existed wasn’t he? Maybe it was because he was friends with Mob-boss now?
Arataka couldn’t see much of the guy in his passing glance beyond his aura colors. His base colors seemed to be fiery red, orange, and yellow. Like Mob-boss’s, there seemed to be fractals in that aura, but currently there was mahogany-annoyance rolling through the aura.
How many psychics were there even in Seasoning City? Were there more that Arataka was supposed to meet at a later date? Whatever, he’d cross that bridge when he got to it. Right now, his current objective was getting Shimazaki-senpai to the office. And hoping that Boss and Kageyama-otouto wouldn’t kill him on sight because of something that happened months ago at this point.
“So, uh, don’t really take this the wrong way.” Arataka started, swinging his schoolbag forcefully. “But my bosses may not be really happy with you.”
Shimazaki-senpai paused slightly in his steps as he walked alongside Arataka. He gave Arataka a look, but he couldn’t really understand what he meant, other than that he was confused. The deep-gray-confusion told Arataka that.
“And why would that be?” Shimazaki-senpai asked slowly. “Scratch that, do I want to know the answer to that question?”
“I kinda went to the offices after our fight? Where you tried to choke me out?” Arataka tried to explain, scratching at his cheek with his index finger. “They weren’t happy that I was hurt.”
Shimazaki-senpai sighed, loud and long. He crossed his arms behind his head, looking away. It did practically nothing, since he was blind and all and didn’t even have to have his eyes open to look at Arataka or see him however he did. Was it like echolocation or something like that? That would be so cool, absolutely the coolest power.
“I wasn’t really, trying to hurt you, you know.” He muttered, somewhat sullenly. Arataka looked at him, studying his aura. Navy-blue-awkwardness and cerulean-blue-confliction whispered in his fiery red-purple aura. “You just, kind of flipped a switch and made me mad.”
Arataka nodded. “That was kinda the point. I didn’t want you hurting the others there, and I wanted you to get sloppy.”
“You’re a little shit.” Shimazaki-senpai muttered. It wasn’t an apology. It wasn’t anywhere close to an apology. But pearl-soft-hope was whispering in the aura now, and purple-heather-regret was more prominent. That wasn’t Arataka’s doing this time.
“Don’t swear around them either.” Arataka warned. “We have a swear jar.”
“WHAT!?”
“It’s because of Kageyama-otouto.” He continued, ignoring the outburst. “He swears a lot. He’s got like, two-thirds of the jar filled by now.”
Bubblegum-pink-amusement curled through the fiery red-purple aura, and Shimazaki-senpai laughed loudly as they started climbing the stairs. Arataka himself chuckled, before he sobered up and placed his hand on the doorknob. He looked up at the doorplate, before focusing his eyes.
Something that had recently happened was he could start seeing auras that he was familiar with through walls if he concentrated enough. It was a new development, one that happened right before the weekend, and he hadn’t gotten time to play around with it before the weekend had hit.
“Reigen–”
Arataka held up a finger, focusing his eyes.
Boss’s rotating blue-pink-purple aura, threads of saffron-yellow-infatuation and peacock-contentedness. Looks like he was just happy to have Fukami-san around then. Moving onto the second biggest aura in the room, Hanazawa-san’s electric yellow-teal-orange aura was filled with royal-purple-earnestness and red-hot-triumph. Must have gotten Mob-boss to agree to another fight then. Kageyama-otouto’s spiky blue-purple was the farthest from Arataka currently, but it was larger than Dimple’s or Fukami-san’s, so it was easier to see. Currently it had carbon-gray-calculation wisping through it, as well as gray-stone-determination. Odd. Dimple’s neon-grean-blue aura has some bubblegum-pink-amusement on the edges, but that was it. And Fukami-san’s smoky cream-white aura had an edge of cinnamon-red-anger and lemon-yellow-exasperation.
That last two had to be due to Hanazawa-san.
“Okay, it’s safe to enter.” Arataka sighed, reaching up and rubbing at his eyes. It felt like he was almost straining his eyes to look at something in a distance when he did that, but it was worth the payoff.
“What was that about?” Shimazaki-senpai asked, looking slightly perturbed.
“I was looking at the auras of the room.” Arataka explained as he turned the handle of the door. “Didn’t want to walk into Hanazawa-san being dumb again.”
“Wait, by that name, do you mean–!”
“We’re here!” Arataka talked over his senpai, throwing the door open. As natural, all eyes turned to them with the noise. Boss tilted his head, studying Shimazaki-senpai as peony-pink-curiosity bloomed in his aura. In fact, it bloomed in all their auras, except for Kageyama-otouto, who instead narrowed his eyes and had that carbon-gray-calculation grow. What was his deal? He had slowly been upping the ante of things that Arataka put in the “weird” box that the Kageyamas did, and while Mob-boss was most of the box, Kageyama-otouto definitely was holding his own.
“Who’s this Reigen-kun?” Boss asked, eyes still fixed on Shimazaki-senpai. He probably didn’t remember him from that one time that Arataka walked Senpai out the door after school. However, there was growing dusty-rose-trepidation after asking that question, so maybe he did remember. Or he remembered that Arataka’s senpai was an esper. And now here Arataka was, showing up with an esper friend.
“This is Shimazaki Ryou! He’s my senpai.”
Boss and Kageyama-otouto’s auras immediately grew to expand the room as cinnamon-red-anger and steel-gray-protectiveness laced their auras, and the sheer intensity made Arataka feel slightly nauseous. Shimazaki-senpai stiffened up next to Arataka, lime-green-fear blaring through his aura. Hanazawa-san reached out and grabbed Fukami-san’s hand, covering her with his barrier from the brothers, firetruck-red-alarm burning in his aura.
Arataka reached up and grabbed Shimazaki-senpai’s arm and led him to his desk.
“Quit that, both of you.” He scolded his boss, pumping butter-yellow-calm into his aura and into Shimazaki-senpai through his hold on his arm. “We talked it out. It’s chill now.”
Kageyama-otouto’s eyes tracked them, cerulean-blue-confliction flickering in his aura before falling into cherry-blossom-pink-acceptance with a hint of bubblegum-pink-amusement.
Boss dialed back his own aura, dusty-rose-trepidation burning bright in it with steel-gray-protectiveness.
“Damn, I think he went and pulled a you, Shige.” Dimple said, breaking the tension.
“Swear jar.” Swear jar!” Swear jar you snotrag.”
“I don’t have money.” The spirit countered gleefully, floating over to hover around Shimazaki-senpai and observe him. “Hey. Hey, can you even see?”
“Dimple!” Arataka hissed, glaring at the spirit and making it pale. For some reason, ever since Arataka told the thing he was an empath, it was deathly afraid of him. Er, undeathly afraid? Whatever, it was scared of Arataka. “You don’t just ask people if they can see or not!”
“Eh, not like anything this punk can do can hurt me.” Dimple shrugged his nonexistent shoulders.
“No, I’m completely blind.” Shimazaki-senpai answered. “But I was born with the innate ability of knowing where everything is at all times in my vicinity. So I can do better than seeing, in my opinion.”
“So there was a reason that you called me here, right?” Arataka turned to Kageyama-otouto, trying to turn the conversation away from his tentative friend.
“Yes, you brat!” Hanazawa-san finally piped up. Hey three minutes, new record. Fukami-san handed Hanazawa-san a candy for the new record. “You still haven’t drawn me!”
He stood and strode over to Arataka, hands on his hips as he loomed. But bubblegum-pink-amusement and sunset-yellow-playfulness was lacing his aura, so Arataka knew he wasn’t taking it seriously. It seemed that sense was being beaten into him by Boss at Mob-boss at least. That was nice. Hanazawa-san, with all the theatrics of someone who was raised in the industry of marketing themselves, pointed to the corkboard that was on the wall, that had Boss’s sketch, Kageyama-otouto’s sketch, Fukami-san’s sketch, even Dimple’s sketch, and a few clients sketches.
“I have come in nearly every day for a few months! And you still haven’t sketched me and added it to the corkboard!” Hanazawa-san’s returned to his side, before crossing his arms and tapping his foot in mock impatience. “How many times does it take to sketch me?”
“Maybe you’re just not a novelty anymore.” Kageyama-otouto called out. Hanazawa-san whipped around to glare at him.
“HAAAAH!?”
“Ritsu why?” Mob-boss groaned, and Fukami-san sighed in agreement, sky-blue-disappointment coloring her aura.
“What did you say about me, Otouto?” Hanazawa-san snapped with mahogany-annoyance coloring his aura, marching over to Kageyama-otouto, who immediately straightened up and stood up, glaring at Hanazawa-san. Wheat-beige-disgust coloring his aura as he glared at the television star.
“Okay time out!” Arataka motioned with his hands, the vibes of the room becoming off-kilter too quickly and making his hands shake, not that anyone noticed. At least, he was pretty sure no one noticed. His hands usually moved too fast for people to notice them shaking usually. But that was because he didn’t eat lunch.
“Hanazawa-san, I’ll draw you at your and Boss’s next fight, okay?” He placated, placing his hands on the top of his desk. “Can we please not fight in front of my friend?” Arataka pleaded, looking over to Shimazaki-senpai, hoping he wasn’t scared off. He didn’t seem the jumpy type like Serizawa-senpai, but still.
Shimazaki-senpai, who had apparently pulled out a juice box from somewhere, let go of the straw from his mouth.
“Oh no, please continue. This is hilarious and way more funny than the usual show I listen to.”
“YOU’RE NOT HELPING!” Arataka yelled, before burying his face into his hands and just wanting to hide away from the world. He supposed this was payback for all the normal days he had experienced beforehand. Now it didn’t matter, because Shimazaki-senpai would be popping up and definitely was someone who enjoyed drama. Well, he would stick around at least for the rest of the school year, before he graduated middle school and left.
The thought sent a pang in Arataka’s heart. He finally made a friend, potentially two, and they were already gonna leave him.
A gentle hand on the back of his head rubbed at his hair, and he could just barely see the revolving blue-pink-purple aura that was in front of his desk. It was tinged with navy-blue-awkwardness, even though Mob-boss had pat his head before. Or maybe it was because he didn’t know how to treat Arataka right now?
Arataka let out a groan and brought his face out of his hands, turning it so it rested sideways on the desk and looked up at Boss, who was giving him his small, awkward smile.
“When are you and Hanazawa-san fighting again?”
“That’s Teru to you, brat!” Hanazawa-san called from across the room where he was still trying to poke at Kageyama-otouto. Shimazaki-senpai choked on his juice, and Arataka would have joined him if he hadn’t been dealing with Hanazawa-san trying to get him to call him “Teru-san” for months.
“When are you and Teru-san fighting again?” Arataka corrected himself in the present company, and Hanazawa-san’s aura was filled with raspberry-pink-smugness. What was that about? And why was Fukami-san’s aura now filled with gray-stone-determination?
“Probably in an hour or two. We’ll get dinner afterwards.” Boss said as an apology.
Arataka perked up.
“Can we bring Shimazaki-senpai along?”
~~~~~~~~~~
Ryou didn’t know how he got into this situation. He honestly didn’t and even by going into his memories, he really couldn’t tell anyone why exactly he was standing on the sidelines of a psychic spar, waiting for two adults to duke it out. This wasn’t exactly how he had expected his day to go, not in the slightest, and even though he was confused, he wasn’t exactly complaining either.
When he tried to wrack his brain about how he ended up here, Ryou almost always ended up at that fight months ago. When Reigen-kun had handed his butt to him, even though he had never used a barrier or anything really powerful. But surely he had a powerful psychic ability, since he was able to make all these powerful psychics his friends. But then again. . . . .
Ryou felt along the seam of his pants, rubbing his fingers against it in thought.
Reigen-kun had beaten him. He had made him remember memories of fighting people that he regretted, people that he had wished he could be friends with, but since he had burned the bridge first, it would never happen. He had made Shimazaki Ryou fall to his knees, and that wasn’t something that Ryou would take lightly. Ryou had been doing better anyways. Talking to the foster parents, actually talking. They took him to someone who talked to him and told him that he had a hard time regulating his emotions. They taught him some exercises for it, and apparently it helped? He wasn’t doing as much as he used to be, he wasn’t hurting people like he used to, and he wasn’t reacting like he used to, lashing out with his psychic powers and trying to get ahead of everything.
The person called it a “traumatic reaction,” whatever that was.
All Ryou knew was that he was better.
He was sure of a hell lot better than that cesspool of a school. Sometimes Ryou couldn’t believe the sheer number of idiotic people who spread rumors and believed into those stupid rumors. What sort of middle school did he transfer into that was like that?
And yet, Reigen-kun had defended them. He had stopped Ryou from hurting the idiots that spread those rumors, that hurt him so much. The main reason Ryou had gone after them was because of what they said about Reigen-kun. But clearly Reigen-kun didn’t want to be protected. So he burned the bridge.
And then Reigen-kun rebuilt it today.
Ryou had just tried to introduce himself to Serizawa-kun as another psychic, but apparently that was enough to set him off into a panic, and their combined psychic energy reacting to each other had brought Reigen-kun running to them. He had managed to soothe them both and guide them out of the school and get both their numbers and coerce Ryou to the office that he worked at.
And meeting those bosses had not been fun. Ryou shivered lightly at the memory of those auras turning hostile and sharp against him. He really shouldn’t have choked Reigen-kun, he knows. But he also couldn’t control himself either. And it was a thing of the past, and Reigen-kun had apparently forgiven him! So they should too!
Now they were here, somehow. Hanazawa Teruki, of all people, was challenging someone that Ryou didn’t know the name of, but was absolutely dripping with psychic power. His brother, younger brother apparently, was on standby with some sort of duffel bag. And the reason that Ryou was here was by his side, pencil scratching at a sketchbook. Ryou hadn’t known that Reigen-kun sketched.
He would have known that though, if had reached out first and not been afraid of being rejected by Reigen-kun.
Ryou lifted his head, realizing that the two adult men were finally ready to fight. They were done stretching and doing warmups. This place was kind of hidden from the public, in a park and near some water. A nice place that was probably going to be ruined by the psychic fighting.
“Hey Shimazaki-senpai?” Reigen-kun asked, his pencil still scratching away. Ryou hummed, tilting his head as the adults energy surged and a barrier was placed between them and the fighters. Cute, but that wouldn’t be enough if Ryou wanted to get in there.
“Yeah, what’s up?” He asked when Reigen-kun wouldn’t reply.
“How do you see the world? You mentioned you were born with the innate ability to kinda know where everything is, but, like, how does it work?” Reigen-kun’s hand moved, as if making something on the paper. Ryou couldn’t see that, but he could see the movement.
Ryou tilted his head as he tried to think of a way to explain it.
“I don’t think I know how to explain it, really.” He said, sitting beside his tentative friend. “I know you’re moving your hand and you’re drawing, but I can’t see what exactly you’re drawing. I know Kageyama-san is using a barrier and Hanazawa-san is going to try and kick it down. I know there are birds in the trees and there are some fish in the stream nearby. Some ants are on the ground near Kageyama-san too. But they don’t have color.”
Reigen-kun’s hand stopped moving.
“I explained what it looked like before to someone, and they said it sounded like shades of gray. A boring world in exchange for immense power.”
The psychic powers clashed more and more, growing more and more in intensity, and Ryou watched as punches were thrown. Kageyama-san, the one with the duffel bag and spiky hair, was pointedly not listening to their conversation and watching the fight. Ryou liked the pretend privacy.
“Do you feel the sun against your skin?” Reigen-kun asked out nowhere.
“Yeah?” Ryou asked, confused.
“That’s the color of happiness, at least to me. Happiness is always sunshiney-yellow.” Reigen-kun put the pencil down. “Hmm, what else. Oh! Have you ever eaten something raspberry?”
“Yeah.” Ryou replied. Is his power something to do with colors?
“That’s the color of smugness. The zest and tang you get when you manage to get one over someone else, that’s the color of smugness.” Reigen-kun nodded.
Or is it to do with emotions? That would explain why Serizawa-kun and I calmed down so quickly.
“Have you smelled mildew?” Reigen-kun continued, and Ryou just found himself nodding, entranced by the way that Reigen-kun was explaining his world and trying to relate it to the senses that Ryou still had left.
“That’s superiority. ‘I’m better than you,’ sort of thing. That’s what Hanazawa-san used to have in his aura all the time, before Boss knocked him down a peg or two.” Reigen-kun snorted. Ryou chuckled, imagining someone smelling like mildew when they were trying to be so big and powerful. Reigen-kun suddenly stiffened, and something like alarm made him scramble to his feet.
“Shi– it’s getting bad!”
Ryou tuned back into the fight.
Hanazawa-san’s moves were sloppy, and he was lifting Kageyama-san with telekinesis, and looked ready to drop him. Hard. Into the forest floor. The other Kageyama-san had what appeared to be horror in his body, the barrier flicking down as he tried to run forward. But he would be way too slow. Everyone was too slow compared to Ryou. And it seemed that Reigen-kun knew that.
“Shimazaki-senpai! Could you– if Boss gets knocked out it would be really bad. For everyone!” Reigen-kun’s voice was laced with panic. Too much panic for this to be anything but a credible threat. The older Kageyama-san going unconscious during a fight was a really bad thing, Reigen-kun said so. So Ryou would do what needed to be done.
Teleportation wasn’t really like any of the books that Ryou had read. Some of them claimed that teleportation was a blink-and-you-do-it thing. Sometimes they claimed it was something that required a lot of calculation. Sometimes the books claimed that people turned into air molecules and resolidified themselves elsewhere, appearing like they were teleporting.
To Ryou, teleportation was just like Stepping. Like walking. Just like any movement, it required some calculation, but not a lot. He didn’t turn into air molecules or anything. He just Stepped.
He was in one place one second, and then he Stepped. And he was floating beside Kageyama-san right before he hurtled into the ground. Ryou just needed a hand on the man’s shoulder, before he Stepped again, and they were back by Reigen-kun’s side. The older Kageyama startled, but got his footing underneath himself, and Reigen-kun immediately launched himself at the man, hands clasping around the man's arm.
Ryou shoved his hands into his gakuran pant pockets, glad that no one seemed to be hurt at least. Hanazawa-san and the other Kageyama-san came back, and the spirit that had been hanging around them was now around the older Kageyama-san’s shoulder. It was good that the woman who had been with them at the office wasn’t with them right now. In Ryou’s experience, women got really upset when people were nearly hurt.
“Hey!”
Before Ryou knew it or could perceive the action, he was swept up and had knuckles rubbing against his head, messing up his gelled hair. The arm around his neck wasn’t constricting or harsh, in fact it was rather nice and warm against his chest as he was pulled back against a chest. Ryou’s perception finally worked and he realized that it was Hanazawa-san who was grabbing him and noogie-ing him.
“That was pretty impressive! How’d you manage that? Was that teleportation? Is that an innate technique you have, or can you teach it to someone? How does it work, is it like super-fast movement or something else? How fast can you move? Is it because you’re a psychic or because you were born blind?” Hanazawa-san asked quickly, one question after another firing at rapid pace as he continued to noogie Ryou.
Ryou couldn’t take it anymore, and Stepped out of the hold and by Reigen-kun’s side.
“Hanazawa, don’t overwhelm the kid.” The younger Kageyama muttered, placing a light hand on Ryou’s shoulder.
“Ah c’mon! You can’t tell me that his power isn’t so cool!” Hanazawa-san sounded like he was being petulant, and he crossed his arms. He then jabbed a finger in Ryou’s direction. “That is literally the coolest power that I’ve ever seen! How did you even know where to go to help Kageyama?”
Ryou shrugged, not knowing how to explain.
“It’s like, stepping. I take a step, and I’m there. Walking. I Stepped there, and then I Stepped back.”
Reigen-kun finally peeled himself away from the older Kageyama-san, and bounded over to Ryou, taking his hand and hopping up and down while holding it.
“That was so cool! And you kept Boss from going unconscious! That was so cool Shimazaki-senpai, you totally kept everyone safe!”
Something unfurled in Ryou’s heart, an unknown emotion that he had never felt before and had never known. He felt awkward and weird and his hands shook and this wasn’t something that he had ever known before. So he just nodded along, feeling the heat on his cheeks grow as praises were showered on him for something that he was simply, capable of.
“It’s not really something so amazing.” Ryou muttered, squeezing Reigen-kun’s hand. “It’s just something that I can do.”
Reigen-kun studied him, squeezing his hand again, before he started swatting at the adults around them.
“Hey! Back off, he’s really overstimulated! And overwhelmed! Stop crowding around my friend. Shoo shoo! Go away.”
Flapping hands hit at the adults, and they all backed away from the two kids, and Ryou took a deep breath in and let himself breathe at last. Everyone suddenly looking at him in awe and in wonder when he had been searching for in all his time of trying to create a gang and making connections that way. But he had only gained scorn and fear in that way, and now that he finally used his psychic powers in a way that could help, they were looking at him like he was amazing.
Was this all it took? Him getting some help and actually listening to a friend’s advice was what it took to get others to like him? That was weird. That wasn’t something he ever tried before too, so it made sense.
He squeezed Reigen-kun’s hand again, taking deep breaths.
“You okay, Shimazaki-senpai?”
“I’ll be alright. Just a bit overwhelmed.” He muttered back. Reigen-kun nodded, still bouncing on his feet a little bit, but it was more subdued than before.
“Let’s get you kids home.” The older Kageyama-san said, his hand extended and Reigen-kun immediately took that hand.
The younger two split off from the adults later, after they had insisted on feeding them before they left, and Ryou and Reigen-kun were walking together. Ryou knew that they would have to split off soon, that he would have to head to his foster parents home, and that Reigen-kun would have to head to his own home. But Ryou didn’t want their time to end just yet.
And there was a burning question in Ryou’s mind, one that he needed to ask.
“Do you want me to keep what’s happening at school from them?”
The jovial air that had been around them since they had eaten their soba and Hanazawa-san had been poking and prodding at Ryou the entire time and teasing him. An adult liking him and treating him still like a kid was a novelty was incredible, and Ryou really didn’t know what to do about that. Most adults treated Ryou like a mini-adult, and so Hanazawa-san treating him like the fact that he was a kid was nice. A little weird, but nice. And that mood had kept both his and Reigen-kun’s smiles bright, until Ryou asked that question.
Reigen-kun’s smile fell, he could tell. He stopped walking, and stood in the middle of the sidewalk. Ryou turned back to look at him, noticing how Reigen-kun’s hands were gripping the strap of his schoolbag tightly.
Reigen-kun inhaled slowly, and pulled his head back to look Ryou dead on.
“No. Don’t tell them. You saw today, didn’t you? How they reacted to just you?”
Oh didn’t Ryou? He had felt that power absolutely threaten him for being around Reigen-kun for things that had happened in the past.
“I don’t want that to happen to the school.” Reigen-kun had a wistful smile on his face. “Boss is a kind man. A good person. I don’t want him to learn what happens at Salt middle school and get upset. And Kageyama-otouto used to be on the student council, so he would be crushed by what they’ve become.”
It made sense. But also. . . . .
“Reigen-kun.” Ryou said, watching as Reigen-kun look at him with curiosity. “You know that you’re a good person too, right?”
Reigen-kun’s eyes grew wide, before he started to chuckle. And then laugh. Bending over at his waist and absolutely crying tears of laughter. Ryou didn’t understand why he was laughing. Didn’t he realize that he was being a good person? By keeping the school safe, by keeping other kids safe, he was being such a good person. He had taught Ryou how to be a good person, how to learn to be a good person. So that meant Reigen-kun was a good person too.
Didn’t it?
“Thanks Shimazaki-senpai. I needed that.” Reigen-kun said, wiping at the tears in his eyes. “I’ll, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Count on it.” Ryou promised and they went their separate ways for today.
And Ryou intended to keep those promises that he made today. The one to not tell the Kageyamas, and to Reigen-kun. And the one that he made to himself. After all, if he couldn’t tell the Kageyamas, and he couldn’t get Reigen-kun to understand that he was a good person, then he would just do what he wanted to do in the first place when he first met the boy.
He was going to be Reigen Arataka’s best friend.
And Shimazaki Ryou did not take kindly to people being rude or bullying his friends.
~~~~~~~~~~
A long, drawn out sigh from cracked lips and a body hitting the concrete roof that they were perched on. The green coat they were wearing did little to soften the impact, but they could care less. Instead, their mind turned back to the target.
Reigen Arataka, no matter how the world pushed and struggled and bit at him, would not awaken.
It was as frustrating as it was fascinating. They had entertained the thought that Reigen Arataka was already awakened, but it couldn’t be. No one, with no exception, could hide their aura once their powers were awakened.
So he wasn’t already awakened. What a boring job, he must just be so kindhearted and pure.
Ah well.
Their grin split the skin of their lips, making blood drip into their mouth. They licked at the blood, enjoying the sting.
Watching Reigen Arataka break under the heel of the cruel world would be so enjoyable.
~~~~~~~~~~
Shigeo hummed as he typed away at his laptop, watching as the emails disappeared from his inbox. He preferred going through email with his clients, but face-to-face was good too. It was a lot better now thanks to Reigen-kun’s help, he was capable of somehow knowing which tea the client preferred and liked and gave it to them and calmed them down before handing them off to either Ritsu or himself. It depended on the severity of the cursed object or whatever the request was.
And now Reigen-kun even had a friend!
Shimazaki-kun had his own seat, leaning on Reigen-kun’s desk while the boy sketched away in his sketchbook, sometimes reaching for a colored pencil or two. Reigen-kun seemed a little happier now that he had a friend, maybe two. He had mentioned a “Serizawa-senpai” once or twice, conversed about him to Shimazaki-kun, but maybe the boy was just shy. So right now it was just Shimazaki-kun hanging around. Shigeo didn’t mind the kid, Reigen-kun was smiling more, if that was possible.
The door to the office burst open, but something that Shigeo noticed right before it was Reigen-kun’s head twitching towards it. Interesting. Did he sense the person coming before they were there? That was progress! A lot of progress, and Shigeo couldn’t wait for Reigen-kun to share that new development of his powers with him and Ritsu. Although, Ritsu had been antsy for the last few months, as if he was gathering evidence or something. He refused to tell Shigeo though, so Shigeo would have to force it out of him sooner or later.
Back to the door.
Hanazawa-san strode through the door, blue eyes pinned on Reigen-kun.
“You!”
Reigen-kun squeaked, holding his sketchbook to himself.
“Look I’m nearly finished with it, okay? Just gimme a little time, just go chat with Mob-boss and Kageyama-otouto for now! Go, shoo!”
Hanazawa-san groaned, before walking over and flopping onto the couch nearest to Shigeo. He always seemed to do that, seeking out Shigeo whenever he was in the offices and sitting close as he could to him. He once tried to sit on Shigeo’s desk, but Ritsu had flung him across the room with his telekinesis for that. It had made Hanazawa-san raring for a fight, and thankfully Reigen-kun wasn’t in the offices for that time.
“Kageyama-kun, why is your little guy so insistent on not drawing me?” He whined lolling his head to look at Shigeo.
“He is currently drawing you. And is nearly done by what I just heard.” Shigeo replied, finishing typing his email to the client. Hanazawa-san, hearing this, reached up and grabbed at his hair, groaning.
“What’s it gonna take?” He muttered to thin air.
“Try again and I’m going to throw you out the window.” Ritsu threatened, and his aura became visible and there was a sharper edge to his aura than normal. Shimazaki-kun turned to watch, a grin creeping up on his face as Reigen-kun just ignored everyone and kept coloring at the page.
“Please don’t fight in front of the kids.” Shigeo sighed, and wondered why on earth those two just couldn’t get along? They were always at each other’s throats and simply couldn’t exist in the same room as each other, always trying to fight in some way or another.
A thought struck Shigeo and made him stop typing as fear struck through him.
Did Ritsu and Hanazawa-san have a crush on each other?
Nope! Shigeo wasn’t going to let that happen. His little brother wasn’t going to be romanced away by a television star. Shigeo had seen his ratings and knew that Hanazawa-san was currently a really good television star, but he also knew now, through the power of the tidal wave that is Reigen Arataka, that rating fluctuated and people changed their minds about what to watch all the time. Unless Hanazawa Teruki had a stable job, he wasn’t going to date Shigeo’s little brother!
Shigeo must have had something in his emotional aura, because Reigen-kun started snickering into his fist. Rude. What a rude little kid Shigeo had hired. He wouldn’t have it any other way, really. He loved having Reigen-kun around and would never want him to leave the office when it was open.
Reigen-kun froze, staring at Shigeo, and his jaw dropped a little bit, before he closed it and focused on his drawing in his hands. He looked a little shaken, honestly, and Shigeo was about to walk over and check on him when Shimazaki-kun poked him and probably asked him if he was okay. A little color returned to Reigen-kun’s face, and he nodded, adding a few more strokes to the sketch in his hands.
Shigeo wondered what exactly happened. What had Reigen-kun seen in his aura that had shaken him so much?
“Done!” Reigen-kun called, and the sketchbook in his hands was immediately yanked out of said hands by a yellow aura and into Hanazawa-san’s hands. “Hey!”
“Not sorry!” Hanazawa-san stared at the sketchbook in his hands, his cheeks and the top of his ears starting to grow more and more pink the more he stared at the picture. Shigeo grew curious, and walked over and leaned on the back of the couch and looked over Hanazawa-san’s shoulder to see the sketch. He knew no matter what, the sketch would be amazing because it was Reigen-kun who drew it.
The sketch was different from the usual ones that Reigen-kun did, it seemed like he went for a challenge this time. He must have been sketching during the fight, because Hanazawa-san was a side profile, as usual for Reigen-kun, and he was at an angle, like he was vaulting forward to launch himself at Shigeo. There was a grin on his face, his hair blowing back and the slightest hint of feralness conveyed in the tilt of the jaw and the furrow of the brow and the glint of the eye. His fist was raised in a punch, about to throw it, and his other leg looked ready to fall into a kick if needed. Around him, his aura was colored in electric yellow, teal, and orange, with two types of gray and pink threaded into the yellow, teal, and orange.
It may just be Reigen-kun’s best sketch yet since he was pushing himself to trying something different.
Reaching over Hanazawa-san’s shoulder, he took the sketchbook from his hands and ignored his aggravated “Hey!” and carefully ripped the page from Reigen-kun’s sketch book along the perforation. Carrying the sketch over to the corkboard, he grabbed another pin from his desk with his aura and with a flick of it, Hanazawa-san’s sketch was beside his and Emi-san’s.
And far away from Ritsu’s. Take that, Hanazawa-san.
“There we go.” Shigeo nodded, and floated his sketchbook over to Reigen-kun, who caught it with a soft smile. He was glad that Reigen-kun wasn’t pigeonholing himself into “just a little kid” anymore. He was a strong kid, and an incredible one too. He knew the emotions of everyone the moment he walked into a room, and he reacted to it in everyone’s best interest. He drew the best out of everyone, and even had quite a lot of talent in both fighting in his shaolin kung fu classes and in his art.
It was good to see, especially since Shigeo and Ritsu had only known Reigen-kun for a few months, and they had seen him grow so much. It was good to see, but it was also bittersweet in a way. Shigeo almost wanted to use his powers to freeze time and just keep Reigen-kun here with him. He wouldn’t be able to do that, not with his powers, and definitely not to Reigen-kun. Reigen-kun wouldn’t be able to grow more if he was frozen here in the office space.
Reigen-kun deserved to grow, but Shigeo would hold onto him for now. Just for this moment, Shigeo would hold onto him.
Just allow me this happiness, for once in my lifetime. He wished, watching Reigen-kun flap at Dimple with the sketchbook to make him go away and making Ritsu laugh.
And then a shiver went up his spine and he was turning on his heel, glaring out the windows and walking over to them, his aura growing more and more with every step. He knew this feeling. This was the feeling after he had exploded that first time, and Mom, Dad, and Ritsu had been watching him all the time until he had proven that he was in control of himself. Only their watching had been nice. Loving. Caring.
This watching was malicious. Angry. Pervasive and perverted.
And it wasn’t focused on him, and Shigeo knew that, and nearly exploded when he realized that as he strode up to the window and the watching didn’t focus on him, it wasn’t even focused on him in the first place. No, the watching was entirely focused on someone behind him. Someone at Shigeo’s back, and he didn’t know who it was. Not yet.
Turning, he tried to track the gaze. How had he been positioned? Why had he felt that gaze and who was the person actually looking at? Who was he in the way of?
Shigeo’s eyes widened when they met Reigen-kun’s, which were full of concern and confusion. More concern though.
Oh. He realized dully, and Dimple was hovering around his shoulder, tugging on his ear and trying to gain his attention. They’re watching Reigen-kun.
65%
His hands started to curl into a fists, and his aura started to expand more as he turned back to the window. Trying to pinpoint exactly where the stare was coming from and making sure that they wouldn’t be coming after Reigen-kun. He could feel Hanazawa-san standing up, confused and coming to his side and Ritsu trying to reach a hand out to touch Shigeo’s shoulder. Shimazaki-kun, smart boy that he was, stayed by Reigen-kun’s side. Likely he was going to throw up a barrier should things grow dire. He was a smart kid, it was good that he was Reigen-kun’s friend.
Reaching out with his aura, he found the person on a nearby rooftop. With a direct line of sight and Shigeo realized that whoever this was probably watched Reigen-kun walk home too. Was whoever this was going to take Reigen-kun day? Just nab him and be done with this watching and have Reigen-kun and do who knows what to him?
75%
Shigeo wouldn’t allow that tO HAPPEN.
His aura shot out of the building, heading straight for the person that had been watching Reigen-kun.
It wrapped around the person, and Shigeo squeezed. He grabbed and he grappled, he didn’t want this person to survive intact. Not when they were going after Reigen-kun. Not when they were watching Reigen-kun and when they were probably stalking Reigen-kun and Shigeo wouldn’t let that stand, not in the slighte–
Something that had never happened, happened to him.
He didn’t explode.
He just went unconscious.
He didn’t even feel his body hit the floor.
He didn’t hear Reigen-kun’s screams and he didn’t hear Ritsu’s shouts and Hanazawa-san’s yells.
He was simply unconscious.
~~~~~~~~~~
Fuck.
Fuck.
They hadn’t been expecting that. They certainly hadn’t been expecting that. That psychic, that psychic had a lot of power, more than they were expecting. It wasn’t supposed to go like this.
And now their cover was blown.
Once the powerful psychic woke up, Reigen Arataka would probably be aware that someone was watching him. All these months of watching him, waiting for him to awaken. Wasted down the drain because they had gotten a little hasty and let their aura just a little bit.
Claw would have to send someone else in to watch Reigen Arataka, someone who would have a less obtrusive presence, someone who wasn’t as powerful as him.
Mogami Keiji ran a hand through his hair and jumped down to ground level, walking towards headquarters. Hopefully Boss would understand that it wasn’t his fault. He probably would get punished, but it would be fine. In the end, Keiji was strong.
And Reigen Arataka would join the ranks of Claw, whether he, or the people around him, liked that or not.
~~~~~~~~~~
Arataka held Boss’s hand tight, squeezing it really. He couldn’t get influence his emotions, they were just placid. No churning emotions, no explosion. Nothing. There was nothing except sleeping emotions. And Arataka didn’t know what to do. He didn’t even know what happened.
One second, everyone was happy, Hanaz– Teru-san was celebrating that he finally had a sketch on the board and Arataka was flicking past a sketch of his father that he had done to a blank page so he could draw Shimazaki-senpai. Kageyama-otouto was exasperated but he was happy and everything was fine, and, and, and–
And Boss had looked at Arataka with strawberry-pink-love. It wasn’t the romantic, rose-red-love that Arataka saw between partners, and it wasn't the platonic blush-pink-love that Arataka saw in friends. No. No. Of course it couldn’t have been something that Arataka could understand in a way, since he and Mob-boss were friends.
No, instead, Boss had looked at him with so much familial strawberry-pink-love that it nearly took out the rest of his revolving blue-pink-purple aura.
And even though it shook Arataka to his core, it made him scared of the future, he was also kind of happy and flattered. And scared.
And then Boss had gotten scary and cinnamon-red-anger had shot through his aura, then biohazard-orange-rage practically eclipsed it, and then–
Nothing. He fell to the ground and Arataka was screaming because he didn’t know what to do. Hanazawa-san had gone sprinting out the door, yelling something about someone being on the rooftop across the way, and Kageyama-otouto was picking up Boss with telekinesis and putting him on one of the couches and flipping the sign over so no one would walk in. And Arataka had found his place here on the floor beside the couch, and had grabbed Mob-boss’s hand and wouldn’t, he couldn’t let go.
“Here.”
Arataka looked up sluggishly, Kageyama-otouto holding out a mug to him. From the smell, it was mint. How ironic, the very same type of tea that Boss had made him the first time he entered the offices after Dimple had kidnapped them. Speaking of, where was that fart-cloud? And where was Shimazaki-senpai? Had he left Arataka again? That made sense, if Arataka’s life was all craziness and people leaving now. He reached up and took the tea, holding it in his free hand.
Shimazaki-senpai reappeared in the office, holding onto Hanazawa-san’s arm and Dimple’s little wispy top.
“No one was up there.” Hanazawa-san said, anger coloring his voice, and Arataka didn’t have to look at his aura to know that cinnamon-red-anger and wheat-beige-disgust was coloring it. “They ran immediately probably. Absolute pussycat.”
He probably wanted to say something stronger, but didn’t want to throw a yen coin into the swear jar right now.
“Fucking asshole. What kind of piece of shit runs after picking a fight!?” Shimazaki-senpai had no such restraints, and was already heading to the kitchen with his wallet in hand after saying that.
“A weak one.” Kageyama-otouto sighed. “Or a smart one.”
Arataka didn’t say anything just leaned his forehead on the hand that he had grabbed.
Please wake up. I’m scared.
Boss’s hand tightened, and a groan escaped from his lips. Arataka sat up, eyes fixed on the man and his aura.
His eyes opened slowly, grip tightening on Arataka’s hand. Boss breathed deeply, before shooting straight upright, still holding onto his hand. His aura churned around him like a storm, cinnamon-red-anger and gray-stone-determination clashing.
“Wha-ack!” Arataka yelped as he was dragged along, his tea nearly spilling onto him before Shimazaki-senpai grabbed it with his telekinesis. “Boss? What’s wrong? Your aura, you’re really upset. What is it?”
Boss turned and looked down at him. Like he hadn’t even realized that Arataka was there in the first place. He stared at Arataka, and the look nearly made Arataka shiver. His pupils were pinpricks, like he was high on something or his emotions were making him high. But underneath it all, Arataka knew, just like he would always know, that Kageyama Shigeo was a good man. He was and he always would be.
“Boss? Are you okay?” Arataka asked, tightening his grip on the man’s hand. He didn’t want him trying to run off. Not without Arataka. “You collapsed all of the sudden. Do you need Kageyama-otouto to check your head? Your pupils look kinda weird too, maybe we should get you to a doctor–”
His free hand had started waving around like the waves in a small splash pool while he was talking, trying to explain through his movements.
That was cut short when Boss yanked him up onto the couch through their connected hands and let go of his hand.
Only to engulf Arataka into a hug.
Arataka froze.
He didn’t know what to do. The only other time he had been this close to Mob-boss was months ago, back when they were in Dimple’s cult auditorium and he had been grabbing onto the man’s coat for dear life while Dimple had been fighting to kill them, and then that time when Boss had exploded and Arataka had thrown himself into the jaws of a lion to stop it. Since then, Boss had stuck to pats on the shoulder, maybe ruffles of Arataka’s hair when he was feeling particularly daring. And Arataka would stand close to the man, but he wouldn’t hug him. Just stand close so they could knock arms together if they walked or something like that. That was the only sort of affection that someone like Arataka deserved.
Boss’s hands dug into the fabric of his gakuran, and he trembled. Deeply breathing, he pulled back and studied Arataka’s face. He must not have liked whatever he saw, because Boss furrowed his brow and his lips turned down.
“Shige, what the hell is going on?” Kageyama-otouto hissed, breaking whatever spell had settled over the office.
“Someone was watching the office.” Mob-boss said, turning the intense gaze away from Arataka. “They were watching Reigen-kun in particular.”
Oh.
Sharp silence settled over the office, and as the empath, Arataka could feel the emotions settling into that silence, the anger, the unspoken promise of violence, the sharp hatred for this unknown person. And that was possibly the scariest bit to Arataka, that he didn’t know he was being watched at all, and Boss had been the one to notice. Although, it did make sense. Boss was just that powerful.
“When I tried to reach out with my aura and force them to go away, maybe turn themselves in, they instead turned that connection against me.” Boss furthered explained. His hands were still on Arataka’s arms. Arataka was still encased in the revolving blue-pink-purple aura that was laced through with steel-gray-protectiveness and blood-orange-self-deprecation.
Arataka just stared at the floor. Had someone been stalking him?
“Arataka-kun.”
He looked up to meet Mob-boss’s eyes.
“I’m not going to let them get anywhere near you.” Gray-stone-determination burned in his aura. “No one in this room will let them come near you.”
“I can keep watch at school.” Shimazaki-senpai raised his hand like he was in class. “Although Reigen-kun certainly isn’t a slouch in the combat area either, considering he beat me to pulp when we fought.”
Arataka stayed quiet, eyes falling back to the floor.
“From now on, please bear with Dimple’s presence during the nights.” Boss continued. “I know you two don’t get along, but you will let us know if someone tries to come after Arataka-kun, won’t you Dimple?”
“Sheesh, you don’t have to threaten me, Shigeo. Even though I’m an evil spirit, even I know when someone crosses a line. I’ll watch the brat and his mom during the nights.” Dimple muttered, and Arataka felt his neon-green-blue aura move to be by his shoulder.
“I’ll use my connections, Emi-chan will help.” Hanazawa-san muttered, thinking out loud. “Someone must be trying to recruit psychics or something, not the first time it’s happened. Just the first time it’s been done so underhanded. We’ll walk you guys home when Kageyama-kun and Otouto aren’t available.”
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of things.” Shimazaki-senpai pouted, Arataka could hear it in his voice.
“I know you are, my cute little student!” Hanazawa-san replied, and likely was scruffing a hand through Shimazaki-senpai’s hair. “But while having an exit plan is well and good, and being a great fighter is wonderful, we also need the firepower to back that up.”
Why?
That was the thought that was whispering through Arataka’s head as they made plans for his safety, Boss still not letting him go and holding him in that protective, rotating, blue-pink-purple aura.
Why were they going through all this trouble of protecting Arataka? He was just a kid that was in the right place, the right time, showed the right emotions and had a good enough weak esper power to be hired here. There was no reason for them to be attached to him, no reason for Boss to be showing him that familial strawberry-pink-love. There was no reason for Shimazaki-senpai to strain his awareness of the area he’s in to keep Arataka safe. There was no reason for Hanazawa-san to likely strain his relationships with people as he nudged at them for information that could or could not exist.
Why were they doing this?
“Reigen.”
He lifted his eyes from the floor, raising them to Kageyama-otouto’s, who was kneeled in front of him. That same carbon-gray-calculation was in his aura, but also in that spiky blue-purple aura was steel-gray-protectiveness and mint-green-sincerity.
“You know we’re doing this because we care about you. A lot. Right?”
No. No he didn’t know. Well, no. Not exactly that he didn’t know. With his empathy, he couldn’t exactly ignore that they cared about him, that everyone in this room held some level of fondness for him. And that was exactly the problem he supposed.
He didn’t understand why they cared. Why him? He wasn’t a good person, despite what Shimazaki-senpai had told him. He was good with people, but that was thanks to his weak esper power. He couldn’t really understand why they would like him as a person. He wasn’t the nicest, and he wasn’t the sweetest. He was loud, brash. He was annoying, and he was weak, and he was a failure.
Ah, maybe the fact was that they hadn’t realized those facts yet.
So Arataka did what he always did whenever he was confronted with something he didn’t know. Something that he didn’t understand. Something that he couldn’t understand and something that made no sense in the grand scheme that the world had for him.
He smiled.
And he lied.
“Yeah.” He nodded, his eyes scrunching closed with the force of his fake grin. “It’s just a little. . . . .”
“Overwhelming.” Shimazaki-senpai picked up where he had trailed off. “You guys are overwhelming. Put your auras away. Reigen-kun do you want your tea?”
“Sure!” Arataka reached for it, taking a sip after making sure that he wouldn’t be burned. He would be burned by the warmth of these people, who constantly were so weird and would give him praise and kindness. Maybe this was where all the kindness of the world had gone, all into these people, and the universe was playing a prank on Arataka right now by letting him experience it.
That was fine.
It would be fine.
He would play the fool, dancing into the punchline and let himself be bowled over when it finally hit him.
So long as he could bask in this warmth, no matter how much it would burn him alive.
~~~~~~~~~~
Keiji kept his eyes down as he explained the failure of the mission that the Boss had sent him on.
There was cold silence in the room, and Keiji wondered if he could get away with preparing a barrier for the Boss’s infamous temper tantrum, but he decided against it at the last minute. If the Boss wanted to hurt him, then he would.
“We should have expected this at some point.” The Boss said, his chair spun to face the windows of the office. “An awakening esper will likely seek out someone with more power or power equal to theirs. What matters right now is retreating, and letting the fools put down their guards and thinking that they’ve scared us off.”
“And afterwards?” Keiji dared to ask.
Boss turned his chair to look Keiji in the eyes.
“Then we’ll strike, and take the boy to awaken him."