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Shit.
Reigen had just wanted to go to 7-11. To pick up a few late-night snacks to bring back to the hotel room for him and a hungry Mob for the night. They were on a trip to see their client, a middle-aged woman, in the next province over, who complained of hearing creaking in the middle of the night. Mob was currently on a school break, so agreed to come but Serizawa was going on holiday with his mum to Thailand. Reigen was jealous.
“Jeez, I can’t believe we’re coming all this way just for some creaky floorboards, her house is probably just old.” Reigen sighed to himself. Damn, what the client paid probably won’t even cover the transportation costs. His brows furrowed in frustration; money was always a tight resource for the very legit psychic. Even in 7-11 he’d kept his eyes peeled for the pretty little stickers that said “reduced” on them. A salmon onigiri, an egg salad sandwich and a hefty pack of tomato-flavoured crisps would be sustaining him and Mob tonight.
He could never have guessed that by the purest misfortune imaginable, he would be stuck in a suddenly unmoving hotel elevator, vigorously tapping the array of buttons to no avail.
“Crap, the damn thing’s not working!”
Reigen began to tap his foot nervously.
He bit his lip, anxiety starting to wain in. His finger hovered anxiously over the emergency button. Never before, had he been the victim of a faulty elevator, and it wasn’t great that he was currently responsible for a precious 15-year-old sporting a bowl cut.
What if the elevator suddenly starts freefalling? Is an evil spirit trying to kill me? Oh god what about Mob?
Not so pleasant scenarios run through the distressed man’s mind. Eager to alert the hotel staff of his potentially life-threatening predicament. The emergency button is pushed with a hasty *click*.
The Greatest Psychic of the 21st century can’t die like this, not to an elevator!. There’s a sudden wave of relief in Reigen as the automated message blasts through the speaker, assuring him that help is on the way. Now, all he has to do is keep himself entertained for maybe an hour or two. Easy. Reigen knows just the way to do that. His hand pulls out his phone from one of the pockets on his coat, revealing a shiny, slimly built smartphone that looks far more capable of amusing him than his old flip-phone. Light gleams magnificently of the rims of this sleek modern invention, holding hours of unlimited fun. Reigen revels in the freedom of the app store; Reigen, who was intrigued by the games Mob plays, wouldn’t stop asking to play on Mob’s phone instead of his own. Resulting, in Mob taking the time to demonstrate to Shishou how to install mobile games. Reigen now has over 100+ mobile games downloaded on his phone. Most of which he played only once, but Mob never showed him how to delete them. He’s also confused as to why it keeps saying he has 100MB left in his storage, what the hell does that even mean?
Plonking himself on the glossy elevator floor, Reigen searches for his favourite game…Block Blast.
30 minutes flies by and Reigen is fully absorbed in what he calls, “the most spectacular game of all time”. He rubs his chin a little, puzzled on where to place his next colourful block.
“Should I put it there…no, there?” He hovers the block over a spot, but it’s not quite right.
“Uh, no… no… maybe there actually”. He explores the squared map some more, but it’s still not going to get him that combo. That’s until he eyes a certain spot.
“Oh, there!” As the block clicks perfectly into place, the surrounding blocks connect and disappear swiftly. Filling Reigen with great satisfaction as he watches his score addictively increase on the screen. It’s become a great ambition of his, in exactly this moment, to surpass Mob’s impressive score of 10,000. Why? Because Reigen Arataka, the greatest psychic of the 21st century, is an extremely competitive man, and he will not be bested by a kid still in middle school.
Reigen hums, soothed when the Block blast voice utters “Great!”. He is pretty great at this; he realises that this game demands the mind of a true strategist. One that Reigen surely possesses after having defeated so many mischievous spirits. An hour goes by and Reigen is still keenly engaged with the screen in front of him. Holding his phone close to his face, eyes squinted and focused with a slight purse to his lips. The fact he is even in a broken elevator and awaiting rescue has completely phased from his mind.
His score is now 9,348. He’s so close. But then the blocks renew after he places his last one, and his heart sinks.
“They’re all…THEY’RE ALL L-SHAPED??” It takes approximately 6.078 seconds for the unbelievable to process in Reigen’s brain. He blinks. They’re really all L-shaped.
“How is that even possible?” Reigen questions before gulping and dragging one of them to a narrowly fitting space, unclogging the field a little bit, however the remaining 652 points won’t come easy.
5, excruciating and arduous minutes pass. Reigen clutches his phone, hands so pooled in sweat the phone is hardly gripping to him. His heartbeat pulses rapidly like he’s just been told that the Spirits and such office has been set on fire a 2nd time. There are many horrors in life, but no fear can come close to Block Blast randomly deciding to generate only L-shaped blocks when you’re only a couple hundred points away from surpassing your middle-schooler rival. Reigen had battled feverously on the digital battlefield, being forced to push his intellectual capabilities to their absolute maximum. Unlocking the full 100% usage of his brain.
However, it was all for naught.
The unbelievably focused man seemed to go entirely limp as his screen suddenly spat at him. “No more space left”. “
"Hah…hah…I lost?”
The crushing weight of defeat racked on top of his shoulders. He felt his soul shatter. He was so, so close but the truth was that all his efforts in the past hour and a half had been for nothing.
No. Reigen Arataka was not a quitter. He was a fighter.
??? Hours had passed since Reigen got trapped in the elevator. He looked and felt a completely different man from when he had first entered. His stubble had grown inexplicably fast, aging him unnaturally in spite of only the few hours he’d spent in his metal cell. The previously combed spiky locks of his hair were now ruffled into anxious knots. He swung back and forth like a baby in a cradle, teeth firmly clasped onto the tip of his thumb, gnawing on its dead skin.
It would be easy for one to be frightened of Reigen at this moment. Because whilst his left eye was squinted to nearly full closure, demanding for sleep; His right eye was peeled back unnervingly like he’d forbidden himself. His ambition was streamlined for only one thing, Block Blast.
He wouldn’t lose. No matter how many times it randomly generated only L-shaped blocks. Reigen had never been so enraged, his blood was boiling with fury and determination.
97 attempts. 98 attempts. 99 attempts. Each attempt had proceeded quicker than the last. Each excruciating defeat crushed Reigen’s spirit more and more until he wasn’t even sure he was the same man. Reigen began to feel uneasy, like he wasn’t in control of his own body anymore. The hours all seemed to merge together, he must’ve been trapped for at least 8 or 9 hours now. Every time he tried to think about something else other than Block Blast, he gritted his teeth in agony as his head seemed to implode. Must play. Must play. Must play. The mirrored walls of the elevator began to twist and contort, reflecting how Reigen felt his insides twisting with every game over. There was a pendulum in his mind swinging back and forth. On one hand he wanted to let out a frustrated laugh in face of his impending failures, even though he was holding back genuine tears every time he saw those damn L-shaped blocks begin to manifest. Those tears were the only thing keeping his eyes remotely moist. Every time he blinked, all Reigen could see was Block Blast. The distinctions between reality and delusion blurred as he saw colourful blocks taunt him from inside the mirrors.
“No more space left.” That was his 99th attempt.
He’d never felt so hollow inside.
The elevator lights seemed to get dimmer and dimmer. Leaving him just like his will to live.
For a moment, Reigen’s head went silent. Shifting his legs flat on the floor, placing his phone face down on his lap before raising a hand to rest on his forehead. Tilting his head back, he looked up to see a ghostly mirage of him cast in the mirror above.
“Wow, I look like shit.” He remarked to himself.
It was true, the skin around his lips had shrivelled up, his cheekbones had hollowed creating a harsh, gaunt shadow. Even his skin seemed to be pale in colour.
Suddenly, Reigen felt a ping vibrate from his phone. One he had heard multiple times, but ignored in favour of Block Blast.
“Shishou, is everything alright? They’ll get you out soon.” Reigen’s eyes went wide.
Suddenly he curled up, rushing to open his messages app.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
He’d completely forgotten about letting Mob know he was stuck in an elevator. How could he forget? That’s the first thing he should’ve done. A wave of guilt rushed over Reigen, feeling immensely irresponsible as his eyes skimmed over the messages.
21:00: “Oh, I forgot to ask but can you get some tomato crisps. Thanks.”
21:35 “Do they not have any? That’s okay if not, I like just salted too”
22:00 “Shishou, is everything okay?”
22:02 “Shishou?”
22:30 “Is there an evil spirit? Where are you?”
22:31 “Shishouuuu” *missed call*
22:34 “Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou. Shishou.”
23:00 “Shishou, I’m quite worried, why aren’t you responding?”
23:01 *missed call*
23:08 “I went down to reception to ask if they’d seen you. Are you really trapped in the elevator? Are you okay?”
23:20 “Is there no signal in there or something? There are some guys here now trying to get you out. I’m in the reception still.”
23:30 “You okay?”
23:59 “Shishou is everything alright? They’ll get you out soon.”
Well, Reigen was grateful that Mob figured out what had happened, but he felt an awful rush of guilt swarm over him for not even bothering to tell Mob. Some master he was. He checked the time. Half an hour past midnight. Hopefully he would be getting out soon. As soon as he did, he’d give a sincere apology to Mob and those tomato crisps he wanted. He would never make the grave mistake, of prioritising Block Blast over his surrogate son. Never again would he allow himself to spiral into such a dark place.
Suddenly, with a loud *creak* the elevator doors began to split apart. Beams of angelic light began to encompass Reigen in a comforting warmth. He was saved. Hasty rescue workers ushered him out, warning him that the elevator was severely compromised, and that the cables could snap at any moment. However, it fell on deaf ears. Reigen’s concerns didn’t lie in the danger he had just avoided. All he wanted to do was find Mob.
“What floor is this?” He barked to a rescue worker, planting his hands firmly on their shoulders.
“Uh…the 3rd floor” They replied.
Reigen shook his legs, they were still aching from being folded for so long. It didn’t matter though. Reigen dashed down the flight of stairs at a lightning pace. Gripping the handrail to swing himself with enough momentum around sharp turns. Upon reaching the ground floor, panting heavily like a mutt. Reigen burst through the doors into the hotel lobby.
“Mob!”
The bowl-cut kid was casually sat on one of the lobby’s plush looking sofas. His head weighing down into the palm of his hand. Eyelids coarsely shut and looking heavy with worry, they quickly flickered open when Mob heard the echoing of his Shishou’s cries.
“Shishou!” Mob yelled, a relieved smile spreading across his face. Getting up to greet his dishevelled master.
Mob was instantly enveloped in a warm embrace, Reigen’s arms tightly wrapped around his frame. Mob hardly ever saw Reigen like this. Gently, Mob’s arms reciprocated and they patted Reigen’s back comfortingly.
“I’m so sorry Mob, I’m so damn sorry!” Reigen bawled profusely. Confusing Mob as to why he was the one being apologised to.
“Uh…It’s ok”- He barely managed to reply before Reigen sobbed on him even more.
“I should...” *sniffle* Reigen continued “I should never have prioritised Block Blast over you! I’m terrible, please forgive me.”
Mob was at a loss for words. Block Blast? Mob didn’t really know what to do,
“Um, well I’m glad that you’re out now, I was really worried since you weren’t reading my messages.” Mob replied.
“Because I was stupidly immersed in Block Blast! Trying to beat your high score that I…I don’t know why I was doing that, I should’ve just let you know first thing that the elevator had stopped working”
“But Shishou” Mob began,
“Block Blast is broken”.
Reigen let out an audible huh. Breaking the hug to peer at Mob empty-headedly.
“Mob, what do you mean.” He stared at the boy, puzzled.
“Like, there’s a bug which generates L-shaped blocks only or something after a certain point. They fixed it in the new update though I think.” Mob answered,
Reigen stared blankly at Mob, his face completely unreadable. Inside, Reigen fought with the swirling disbelief that he had spent 3 long hours of his life, chasing a score he could never reach because the game was BROKEN all along? He’d teetered on the edge of a full-blown psychotic break. Subjecting himself to a cycle spanning 99 attempts, each ritual resulting in the same crushing misery and defeat, because of a bug?
“Oh…ha ha…I see” The words barely escaped Reigen’s lips.
Mob broke the silence between the two of them. Clearing his throat.
“Do you want me to update it for you?” He offered, Reigen took a deep breath,
He could have a second chance at Block Blast. He would be able to finally surpass Mob’s high score, to get closure.
But then he looked at Mob, who was stood looking back at him. Innocent eyes awaiting a response.
“No, no it’s alright, I’m probably going to delete it anyway it’s pretty boring.”
That’s when the true liberation hit Reigen. He could just delete it. He was a grown man who didn’t need to waste any more time accomplishing such a pointless goal. He was Reigen Arataka, the Greatest Psychic of the 21st century, and from now on he would never allow himself to be swallowed in the deepest pits of despair because of a mobile game.
Block Blast was officially dead to him.
Mob and Reigen made their way back to the hotel room after that. The rescue team had also kindly returned the stuff Reigen bought from 7-11 which he had forgotten when he’d rushed out to find Mob.
Even though it was well past midnight, Reigen’s stomach was growling uncontrollably after exiting his Block Blast induced trance. Needless to say, everything except the tomato crisps that Mob was eating, was completely devoured by Reigen. They delt with the spirit at the client’s house the next day, which had stolen nearly half of her floorboards because they were too creaky.
And on the train ride back home, both exhausted after a difficult exorcism. Reigen browsed his phone.
“Shishou, why do you have so many games?” Asked a concerned Mob, who was processing that his mentor’s home screen was entirely comprised of crappy mobile games.
“Oh yeah about that, Mob can you show me how to delete some of these?” Reigen gestured for Mob to help him out, holding the phone so that both of them could see.
His finger pointed to Block Blast.
“Starting with this one.”