Archive of Our Own

Serizawa Katsuya wasn’t expecting much when he had transferred into a new middle school when he and Shou-san had moved away from where they had lived before. In his heart, he knew that there would always be bullies, and that the new kid would be the easiest target for kids to target. In his head, he tried to beat that part down so he could try, he could try to make a new friend or two. Maybe even meet someone that could be interested in him or he could take out on a date to his cousin’s bookshop? That would be a nice date, even if he got that idea from the internet.

Surviving the first day, he hadn’t expected a senpai to corner him in his homeroom, introduce himself, and then reveal that he was an esper.

Now, Katsuya was surrounded by espers. Shou-san was one. Toichiro-san was one. A few of his online friends claimed to be espers even! He knew a lot of espers.

But meeting one, so suddenly and right after transferring, the only thought in his head was that Shimazaki Ryou was trying to establish a hierarchy and that would put Katsuya on the absolute bottom of it. He had panicked, his aura surging out of him into a barrier with excess energy crackling off of it. Shimazaki-senpai seemed shocked and reared back, his own barrier coming up to protect himself. And they had stayed like that for maybe half a minute, not knowing how to move on.

Katsuya was slowly realizing in that half a minute that Shimazaki-senpai had maybe wanted a friend, when the door had slammed open.

And the force of nature that was Reigen Arataka roared into the room.

He studied them both before grinning and calming the two of them down somehow and they were leaving the room. Katsuya’s head was spinning with the fact that he was somehow making friends on his first day, when he had transferred in during the middle of the semester too! Reigen-kun was a nice guy too, chatting and keeping things rolling as they walked to the shoe lockers.

Salt middle school had seemed so nice to Katsuya on that first day, he had the foolish thought that maybe they didn’t have a bullying problem. The foolish thought that maybe everything would be okay and he could make more friends.

And then Reigen-kun had taken his shoes out, didn’t even look at them, walked over to the trashcan, and dumped out tacks that had been filling his shoes.

Katsuya’s heart dropped when he saw that happen. How often did Reigen-kun get bullied that he didn’t even have to look in his shoes? Was the bullying so bad here? Would he have to transfer out again when he had two new tentative friends? Katsuya didn’t want that, but he also had their phone numbers, so they wouldn’t lose contact with each other if he did.

So Katsuya didn’t immediately tell Shou-san about the bullying when he went home that fateful first day. He was going to watch and listen and maybe he could fight back against the bullying with Reigen-kun if they tried to target him some more?

But his heart dropped the more that he watched and listened to the hissing rumors that circulated Salt middle school, the more that anxiety was replaced with anger.

Because it wasn’t the matter of the fact that Reigen-kun was one of the kids being bullied at Salt Middle School.

Reigen-kun was the only kid being bullied at Salt Middle School.

Day by day, Katsuya watched as the kids at Salt middle school beat Reigen-kun down, and Reigen-kun simply refused to break. It didn’t matter who it was, they would pick on him, even in his own homeroom. The teachers merely looked the other way, and no matter how much Katsuya wanted to kick up a fuss, he knew that it wouldn’t matter. He was a kid, and they were adults, and wouldn’t listen to him.

Day by day, his anger grew. Like a bubble in his chest, but he pushed it down, down, down, every time the three of them spent time together at lunch. Reigen-kun didn’t need Katsuya’s anger, as much as it was warranted. No, what Reigen-kun needed was Katsuya and Shimazaki-senpai being goofy around him and making him laugh. What Reigen-kun needed was Katsuya failing to do something with his esper powers and making the others roll around and clutch their bellies in laughter.

One day though, Katsuya had had enough. He didn’t know what had tipped him over the edge. Maybe it was the fact that the world was heating up and the air conditioning didn’t really work in his homeroom. Maybe it was the fact that Reigen-kun had to go to the bathroom on the opposite side of the building to escape someone from bullying him. Maybe it was the fact that Katsuya or Shimazaki-senpai had to hold onto Reigen-kun’s lunch during the day so no one threw it out or tried to tamper with it and make it inedible.

Reigen-kun was gone, so Katsuya swung his head around, his purple and pink aura flicking off him in static bursts. Shimazaki-senpai was drinking a strawberry milk box, and tilted his head at Katsuya. He was listening, he was always listening. Katsuya knew that he was.

“How do we get them off his back?”

Katsuya couldn’t ask for a miracle. He couldn’t ask how they could get rid of the bullies for forever. Not when seemingly every other student in this damn middle school was gunning for Reigen-kun’s head. Not when Reigen-kun wouldn’t accept help from outside adults, even though Katsuya knew just from stories about the man that Reigen-kun’s boss would probably tear down the school for him.

Katsuya couldn’t ask for that.

But he could ask his other best friend how to protect their other best friend.

Shimazaki-senpai’s smile slowly grew around the straw of his strawberry milk box.

“I thought that you would never ask.”

They planned over text, listening in on the rumor mill and who was in charge of it. Who was spreading the most rumors and who was being the most vindicative towards Reigen-kun for no reason. It didn’t make sense to Katsuya why the entire school was after Reigen-kun, but in the end it didn’t matter. He was going to try and change things when he was a third year, like Shimazaki-senpai. Hopefully he’d have enough pull with the school then and be able to protect Reigen-kun by that point.

Asagiri Masashi was the worst offender. One would think with a name like his, he’d be a kinder boy. Nope. The third year that was going to graduate with Shimazaki-senpai focused on Reigen-kun with almost pinpoint precision and tried to break him down. He often poured milk over Reigen-kun’s head or hot drinks into Reigen-kun’s food. Flinging spitballs at the boy and trying to get him to break under the pressure of the rumor mill that his lackey used with viciousness.

Roshuto Dozen was that lackey, the same age as Reigen-kun. The boy had more opportunities to hurt Reigen-kun in small ways, focusing on placing tacks on his chair or trying to swap his books out and make him fail the teacher’s questions. Roshuto was the one who was hurting Reigen-kun the most, and often was the reason that Reigen-kun had spitballs in his hair or bruises on his arms and shoulders. Katsuya was so proud and in awe of his friend for lasting this long and not breaking, but, he was worried about him too. Because while Asagiri and Roshuto  were all well and fine, there was their muscle to deal with too.

Shibata Hiroshi was a musclehead, but he was one that knew how to cover his tracks. And he knew how to lead with the fear of his muscles too. Everyone in the second year, barring Katsuya himself, followed his word like law, and he followed Asagiri’s word like law. He was also an esper, but it wasn’t something to be concerned about. He didn’t flaunt his power, unless someone tried to go against him.

Katsuya almost wanted to try it.

Just to knock Shibata down a peg and upset the hierarchy that had been set up by the three and make himself a target instead of Reigen-kun.

But knowing Reigen-kun, the first year would try to make himself a target all over again to keep everyone away from Katsuya.

He was kind like that.

And both Shimazaki-senpai and Katsuya would be leaving Reigen-kun here for a year. Two whole semesters. And they wouldn’t be able to help him, they would be leaving him alone with Roshuto. Maybe Katsuya should fail his graduation so he could stick around? But no, that wouldn’t do anything except make Shou-san upset at him for failing. Well, not upset. Shou-san didn’t really get upset, but he got disappointed, and Katsuya hated seeing Shou-san disappointed.

So, he and Shimazaki-senpai were stuck to doing really small, really quiet things that the bullies couldn’t prove was them. Katsuya went after Shibata and Shimazaki-senpai went after Asagiri, and thanks to their esper power, they were able to get away with a lot of things.

Just quiet defiance.

Shibata made a joke in homeroom about Reigen-kun, something about him being sugar when everyone else was salt, and everyone but Katsuya laughed, and when Shibata glanced at him, Katsuya, shaking in his slippers but chin tilted in defiance, looked the bigger boy in the eyes.

“I don’t get it.”

Shibata floundered. The entire room floundered. The teacher stumbled in her attempt to get to her feet.

“What– what’s there not to get?” Shibata sneered, getting to his feet and looming over Katsuya’s desk. “The little twerp doesn’t belong here. You should laugh too. It’s funny.”

“Why would I find an insult to my friend funny?” Katsuya shot back, his hands curling up into fists on his desk. He wanted nothing more than to lash out with his esper power to make the bigger boy back off. But he wouldn’t do that. Reigen-kun thought that espers shouldn’t use their powers on other people in ways that could potentially hurt people, so he wouldn’t do it.

Shibata, because he was a musclehead and only a musclehead, didn’t have a comeback. He just stared at Katsuya, and everyone in the room stared at Katsuya. It was making him anxious, it was making his heart pump and pump and his aura was trying to flick out and trying to attack. Katsuya reined it in, and his eyes turned to the teacher. She should have started homeroom already, but she was watching what was going on between himself and Shibata, not trying to do anything or help him in any way.

Anger sparked deep in his chest, but he buried it deeper. The anger would help no one.

“Shouldn’t it be time for homeroom?” He asked, his voice which was so quiet sounding like a shout in this room which was staring. “Shibata, you should return to your seat.”

The teacher cleared her throat.

“Yes, Shibata-kun, return to your seat and we’ll start homeroom.”

Shibata kept staring at Katsuya, but he kept his chin high, even as his lower legs to his toes shook under his desk. He had made his stance, and he wouldn’t go back on it. Reigen-kun had been the one to smooth everything over with him and Shimazaki-senpai, and Reigen-kun was the one who shone the brightest here in this place. If these silly people couldn’t see that, then it was fine. Because Katsuya would keep the light going.

He didn’t know what Shimazaki-senpai was doing in the third year classes, but whatever it was, it was causing a stir in the halls. People whispered, not about Reigen-kun anymore, but about Asagiri. Things about how he was picking on someone that was his sister’s age and he was going after that someone because of the fact that he couldn’t even win against his sister.

Shimazaki-senpai was starting waves in the third years, despite only having been there for a few months. Katsuya wished that he could have that sort of confidence, that sort of power, the ability to walk into a room and be able to do and say what he wants to do and not be anxious about it. But that was fine, everyone would have their eyes on Shimazaki-senpai and everyone would overlook Katsuya. Which meant that he could move with more sneaky stuff.

After doing a successful prank on the worst of the three bullies, for Asagiri in particular, Katsuya used his esper powers to make himself float with telekinesis and dart up the stairs before he stopped at the final flight up. He had to make it normal, he had to have an alibi. Walking up the last flight of stairs, he opened up the door to the rooftop of Salt middle school.

“There you are Serizawa-senpai!” Reigen-kun waved at him, smile bright and loud from across the rooftop. Salt middle school had that wire fence wrapped around the rooftop and it wasn’t exactly stable in Katsuya’s eyes, but Reigen-kun and Shimazaki-senpai leaned against it without a care. They were both so confident like that, and Katsuya supposed that since the two of them were proficient in telekinesis, there was no reason to be afraid of a fall.

“We’ve been waiting for you to get here.” Reigen-kun continued to comment, and Katsuya felt a pang of regret burn through him. He was the one holding Reigen-kun’s lunch today, which meant that he was waiting on Katsuya to eat. Thanks to the second years classrooms being towards the back of the school, he had a reason for being later, but it always made him feel so guilty for Reigen-kun not eating as much as he should.

He was looking better though, now that he was eating lunch. Now that he could eat lunch. His cheeks, which had been just ever so slightly hollow, were filled out now, and he had a healthier glow to his skin. It was a good look on the boy, and Katsuya was grateful that he got to see it.

Katsuya was so glad that he could have friends this time around. And maybe fight some bullies in a subtle way.

“Sorry for the delay.” Katsuya said instead of talking his feelings, but Reigen-kun cocked his head to the side and studied him for a second, before the smile was back.

“It’s okay!”

“We were waiting for you anyways.” Shimazaki-senpai said after letting go of his strawberry milk box straw. “Did you get the worksheet done for English?”

That was their code, it actually meant “did you complete your mission?”

“Just in time!” Katsuya beamed and handed Reigen-kun his curry lunch and pulled out his own. Shimazaki-senpai grinned and pulled out his miso-glazed salmon dish. However, Reigen-kun stared at the two of them, his eyes bouncing between the two of them like a ping-pong ball in an ocean.

“Why are you two so satisfied?” Reigen-kun asked, his tone somewhat suspicious. “You both are so happy and satisfied with something. What are you up to?”

“Hey Reigen-kun, have you told your bosses your birthday yet?” Shimazaki-senpai asked before he chewed on some rice, and Reigen-kun’s face lit up in bright red.

“DON’T YOU DARE!”

“Aw, why not? I’m sure they’ll like spoiling you with some gifts. Hell, even Teru-shishou would enjoy that.” Shimazaki-senpai shot back, not even swallowing his rice and speaking with his mouth full. Katsuya inched away, a barrier coming up to deflect the rice that was spewing out.

“Eat with your mouth closed you gross fool!” Reigen-kun flapped his hands at dizzying speeds. “And what’s this about Teru-shishou? Did you finally acknowledge that? Huh huh? Do I get to tell Teru-san that?”

Shimazaki-senpai’s ears were now a bright red color, and he swallowed his rice with a cough.

“Well he insisted, and I couldn’t really refuse him. He’s just so stubborn, and it was pretty futile, especially since he still shows up and fights your boss all the time. So there was no point in trying to fight him on that title, right?”

Reigen-kun laughed, leaning back at last, but it was almost as if Shimazaki-senpai followed his movements, as much as he could without eyesight.

Katsuya studied the two of them, their body language. He was good at reading it, he had to be because of all the bullying he’s lived through.

Reigen-kun’s body language was open and free. Relaxed. Happy. He was having fun with the two of them during this time and not worried about going back to classes after this hour was up. Roshuto was probably the last thing on his mind right now.

Shimazaki-senpai’s was a little different. Happy and relaxed yes, but it was also leaning towards Reigen-kun. Like he was trying to listen to every word that came from Reigen-kun’s mouth and commit it to memory.

Katsuya stared, barely eating as he watched the body language in disbelief. He’s seen this before, he’s seen this a few times in a few different schools.

Did–

Did Shimazaki-senpai–

Did Shimazaki-senpai have a crush on Reigen-kun!?

He reached up and slapped his hands to his face, rubbing at his eyes to get rid of those thoughts. Shimazaki-senpai didn’t, right? This was simply his own hyperactive imagination and there was no way that Shimazaki-senpai liked Reigen-kun. Sure, Reigen-kun was so easy to like, but liking in that way wasn’t something that could happen.

Shimazaki-senpai was going to graduate in a few months and be off to high school. There was no way that he could like Reigen-kun like that, because then they’d never see each other again. Oh wait, but that would make it a great childhood lovers story. And then they’d meet up again when they were older and remember all the good times together and could get together? Would that work?

“Serizawa-senpai? Are you alright?”

Reigen-kun sounded so concerned and Katsuya pulled his hands from his face to look at his friends and maybe eat his food.

“I’ll be fine.” He croaked out, opening his nikujaga bento and started to dig in. “Just realized something is all and I’ll have to keep an eye on it in the future.”

“Is it your English homework?” Shimazaki-senpai asked, his tone slightly sharp. He was asking if it had to do with the bullies.

“No. Something else. Probably will have to be some self-assigned homework.” Katsuya sighed after he had swallowed his food. Should he keep his eye on this? Or should he just ask Shou-san what to do? Shou-san might know what to do, the man read so many books, surely one of them was a romance book? Surely he would know what to do?

“Alright.” Shimazaki-senpai looked slightly upset, but he let it go.

They ate their lunch, Reigen-kun keeping the conversation going and talking about his mom’s new promotion and how he’ll get to spend more time with her at last. Shimazaki-senpai was listening, but he was also leaning against the fence and looking out over the city that was beyond the school. And Katsuya just listened, watching with a smile and reacting to everything. He loved this little golden hour, that was theirs and theirs alone. No one else would come up here and check on them, and they all had timers. So this hour was theirs.

Reigen-kun froze mid-sentence. His eyes were focused on the doorway, and his hair ruffled in the wind.

Reigen-kun’s hair was quite long, apparently when Shimazaki-senpai and the boy had met, his hair had been a lot shorter. But in the fact that his mother was absent with work and the bosses at the office not daring to step over that boundary, Reigen-kun’s hair had the freedom to grow. It now brushed along the middle of his neck, and the red-gold had a lot more to shine with. He even sometimes pulled it back into a small ponytail. It was cute, and suited Reigen-kun.

“Reigen-kun?” Katsuya asked, putting his bowl down but kept holding his spoon. “What’s wrong?”

He got his answer when the door to the stairwell banged open, and Asagiri, the menace of the school and number two bully to Reigen-kun, stood there.

Evidence of Katsuya’s and Shimazaki-senpai’s prank was still on him, the milk dripping down his hair and into his eyes and staining his gakuran. It would wash out, as Reigen-kun proved so many times over the course of the week. Katsuya felt his lips twitch in satisfaction at the sight of a prank done well, even if it was just a simple bucket on a string over the doorway prank. Asagiri deserved it for everything that he had done to Reigen-kun.

“You three.” Asagiri hissed at them, stalking forward, and Shibata and Roshuto flocked in behind him, looking surprised and then not at the sight of them. “How dare you soak me with milk in front of the cafeteria!?”

“What do you mean?” Shimazaki-senpai asked, sipping his strawberry milk and subtly scooching in front of Reigen-kun. “We’ve been up here the entire time, the entire hour.”

Reigen-kun’s eyes flicked to Katsuya, who was looking at Asagiri and Roshuto and Shibata. He sent a tight smile to Reigen-kun and scooched in front of him too.

“I mean, I was a little late, but that’s because I’m a second year.” Katsuya said, drawing eyes to him. “Shibata would know, wouldn’t he? How hard it is to get anywhere when you’re a second year?”

Shibata nodded at his question, playing directly into their hands. “OH yeah, I suppose it would take you time to get up here.”

Asagiri was too angry to listen to his lackey, and took another step forward.

And immediately slammed straight into a barrier.

“I don’t like how you’re acting.” Shimazaki-senpai drawled, hand out and clearly the one who put it up. “So you stay over there, mkay?”

“You dare–!” Asagiri nearly started to throw a fit, when Katsuya stood to his feet and let his aura leak out. The purple and pink static curled around him as he kept holding his spoon in a tight grip.

“We’re being nice.” Katsuya hissed, trying to ignore how he was trembling from his head to his toes. “We are being nice, and you are interrupting our lunch. Leave.”

Asagiri’s face paled. He stared at Katsuya, turned his eyes to stare at Shimazaki-senpai, and then probably turned to stare at Reigen-kun. Katsuya was sure that he would say something else, that he would try to attack despite the barrier, that he would do something dumb and blame it on them. And Katsuya was ready, he was so ready to try and defend his friends, he was ready for the onslaught because these were his first friends and he wouldn’t let them go.

He may be afraid, but he wasn’t gonna let anyone take them from him. He wouldn’t let anyone take this happiness from him.

Asagiri, instead of doing whatever Katsuya had expected of him, turned on heel and ran away.

Katsuya stared after him, blinking at the quick exit and slowly reined his esper power back in, purple and pink static slowly disappearing.

Roshuto stepped back, a sneer on his lips but his legs were shaking too.

“You all are freaks.” He spat, before also turning tail and running away too. Running after his leader who had run away first.

Shibata watched them leave, a flash of hurt in his eyes.

“You’re not a freak.” Reigen-kun said, standing up and walking to the barrier, despite Shimazaki-senpai trying to grab him. “Shibata-senpai. You’re not a freak. Neither are we. We’re just, we just have a little something extra. Like people who are smarter and people who can jump higher. You know that, right?”

Katsuya almost wanted to tear his curls out.

Reigen-kun was too nice.

Shibata turned to look at Reigen-kun, but his eyes weren’t that mean glint that they had been a few homerooms ago. He looked at Reigen-kun, and Katsuya wondered what he was thinking. What he was seeing.

It didn’t matter, because Shibata turned around and walked to the door, opening it gently and walking through it, and then closing it gently behind him.

They watched him leave, before Shimazaki-senpai sighed and let the barrier fall at last.

“I hate when you try to play nice with them, Reigen-kun.” He sounded pouty, and Reigen-kun turned to look at Shimazaki-senpai and laugh. He flopped beside the two of them on the rooftop, staring up at the sunny sky above them.

“You didn’t care too much when I befriended you after what happened.” Reigen-kun sighed, folding his arms behind his head.

Katsuya’s interest was piqued. He’s never heard the start of their friendship before, only that it’s grown with the rest of the group when he had entered Salt middle school.

Reigen-kun must have seen something on his face, despite him making sure it was perfectly blank, because he grinned. He nudged Shimazaki-senpai with his slipper, and Shimazaki-senpai lolled his head back and sighed. Reigen-kun laughed and checked his phone.

“We have enough time, wanna hear how we met?”

Katsuya sat back down, leaning forward to catch every word.

“So it was a few months ago, and I heard that there was a new kid in school. I stay behind at school, for kinda obvious reasons, and bumped into Shimazaki-senpai when he was walking the halls. I thought he was trying to familiarize himself with them, since he had his walking stick with him. I offered to walk him out of the school, and he was really quick to accept, almost like he had been looking for someone to take advantage of.”

“Hey!”

“Am I wrong?”

“No.” Shimazaki-senpai grumbled.

Katsuya laughed, the golden hour feelings returning to him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Teruki sighed as he managed to lose his adoring fans when he leaped up to the rooftops.

He did love being a television star. He had felt like it was owed to him, in some way, and that he needed to be the center of attention. His ratings certainly hadn’t helped in that regard, his unique appearance making him a novelty and someone to watch for on television. Teruki loved his job, even when Emi-chan refused to acknowledge their chemistry or Kageyama-kun also ignoring their chemistry.

And he was still searching through his underworld connections for who the hell was after Reigen. Well, Emi and he were, but he was doing most of the work really. He was reaching out more, which meant working more, which meant not going to the offices as much as he wanted to. Teruki just wanted to spend time with his friends, was that too much to ask? Yes, apparently, because someone in the underworld was after Reigen and that meant that there was no rest.

Kageyama-kun was on a warpath. Most days when Teruki went in, he looked up and hoped that there was some sort of information for them.

No such luck. Whoever this was, they were either incredibly slippery, or incredibly feared in the underworld. But Teruki would drag the information out of someone one of these days. Whether the way he did that was legal or not, that was up for debate. But whatever, that part didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, besides, it wasn’t like they could report him if he used force.

Now though, he was avoiding a hoard of fans that seemed to be made of mostly women and some men. On the rooftops, he could just use his psychic energy to whip himself across the buildings and avoid his seemingly rabid fans.

He did love them, truly, But not on the same level that they seemed to love the characters that he played on the television screen. They adored the character that he played, the characters that he exaggerated certain parts of himself to show or a complete one-eighty of his own personality to be. But no one liked him for him, except for maybe Emi-chan, but Emi-chan simply refused to acknowledge that they could be good partners, no matter how he tried, so Teruki decided to at least pursue Kageyama-kun while he could.

A cool guy like him, surely he had a lot of people and ex-clients knocking at the door and trying to ask him out?

Turns out that wasn’t the case, and Teruki had his work cut out for him just trying to flirt with the man. Trying in any sort of way to convey that he liked him more than a friend wasn’t getting anywhere, at least with Kageyama-kun himself. Otouto-kun, though, had clocked him the very second he walked through the door the second time and had watched him with narrowed eyes. Ah well, couldn’t win all the in-laws over. Teruki had a monopoly over Emi-chan on Reigen, since they were closer.

So ha!

Speaking of the devil! Hopping along the tops of the buildings, his aura caught on the feeling of Reigen, something he’s been working on honing in on. The kid was slippery like an eel in water, so Teruki made sure that he was able to find the brat in a room even when his aura wasn’t out. The kid was somewhat shy in that regard, at least Teruki thought that was what was going on. Maybe it was a little worse than he initially thought as he stared down at the kid who was trudging along to the offices.

Reigen’s hair had been growing. It was subtle, but the kid’s hair was growing longer and longer. It wasn’t too much, just an inch or two, maybe enough that the kid could pull back and it would look cute in a promotional commercial. Totally not something that Teruki had been planning or anything.

But now–

Teruki felt anger bubbling in his chest as the kid trudged along, Ryou-kun alongside him, arms crossed and utterly fuming too.

He could understand why his student was fuming and mad.

A large chunk of Reigen’s hair was missing.

How did that happen? The angry thought blared through his head, and no more than a second later, Reigen’s head lolled back and his eyes caught on Teruki, who no doubt looked like an omen to someone. Reigen’s eyes widened, something like panic rippling in them, and he reached out and grabbed Ryou-kun’s arm and motioned in Teruki’s direction. Ryou-kun turned his head in that direction, but it was too late.

Teruki was swinging down with a whip of psychic power and cupping Reigen’s head, twisting it to see the damage more clearly. The ends of the hair were frayed, the scissors or whatever blade that did this wasn’t sharp. And it had been so close to the kid’s head, almost like he had dodged using his shaolin kung fu to avoid the blade as it came towards him. But no, that couldn’t be it, because Reigen was someone who knew where practically everyone was in a room. It came with being an empath psychic, and something that Teruki wanted to study more, but alas, empathy wasn’t something that could be taught in the psychic sense.

“Who did this?”

Ryou-kun startled, shifting away with his hand latched onto Reigen’s wrist.

Teruki didn’t blame the kid. He was usually so nice around him, maybe reckless and arrogant sometimes, but he was never angry and never like he had been that first time when he had been in the offices when he had been ready to knock Reigen on his ass for simply telling him to apologize to Kageyama-kun. Teruki had changed since then, refusing to become someone like that again, a man that would even entertain the thought of hitting a kid was not someone he wanted to be.

But that didn’t negate the fact that Teruki had never gotten mad around Ryou-kun and right now he was downright furious about Reigen’s hair.

Reigen sighed and pulled his face out of Teruki’s hands, flapping at his hands with his free hand.

“No one.”

“That isn’t a no one cut.” Teruki shot back, resisting the urge in his fingertips to yank the kids into his aura and never let them out. They would be safe there. No one else would hurt them. Better yet, present them to Kageyama-kun and just let the dragon inside the man take charge and protect them for eternity.

And somewhere in his chest, there was an ache of pain.

Because why didn’t the kids trust him? Didn’t trust any of them? They were adults weren’t they? Hadn’t they proven themselves? Hadn’t Kageyama-kun in particular proven to Reigen that he would do anything for the kid? Why didn’t the kids trust them to handle things?

Of course, it could be the fact that the adults in their lives before them simply never did anything to help them. So adults like Kageyama-kun and Teruki and Otouto-kun weren’t the norm, even though they really should be. Teruki just wanted to wrap the kids up in blankets sometimes and hide them away from the world. Kageyama-kun wouldn’t be opposed to that idea, would he?

They were at a standstill for a few seconds, before Teruki let out a sigh.

“You’re not going to tell me?”

Even though I could hazard a guess?

Ryou-kun being so upset and the two of them walking said that it happened at school at least. Which meant bullies. Cutting someone’s hair was technically assault. Which meant that this had escalated from past experiences with bullies. Teruki almost felt sick, how long had Reigen been dealing with bullies and no one had noticed? And Ryou-kun never said a word? Well actually– knowing Reigen Arataka, the boy who was so self-sacrificial and threw himself at a raging Kageyama-kun to get him to calm down?

Ryou-kun was probably sworn into silence. To save the damn bullies lives from Kageyama-kun and Otouto-kun, who would no doubt try to destroy the middle school down to its foundation and not feel any remorse in the slightest.

Reigen merely looked away at his question, and Ryou-kun crossed his arms and jut his chin out stubbornly.

Teruki closed his eyes.

Why? Why did kids have to force themselves to grow up so early? They were just in middle school, they should be trying to figure out crushes and feelings and stuff like that, not dealing with idiots who think that they’re more important than everyone else. And he can’t do anything until they finally trust him or another adult and maybe tell them.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, before opening his eyes and looking at the kids in front of him.

Reigen looked defeated. Exhausted. Overwhelmed. Like he had the entire world resting on his shoulders and would crumple under it within a minute. Made sense, hair was something that was important to a person, whether they realized it or not. And for someone to go and change something like that without someone’s explicit permission was technically a crime, both in the fashion world and in real life.

Ryou-kun looked angry. Defensive. Sharp. Like he was one second away from lashing out and would be dangerous and would be a fucking problem for everyone involved should he get out of control. That made sense too. The kids were friends, maybe even a little more on Ryou-kun’s part, even though he was somehow hiding it from Reigen or Reigen was somehow ignoring it, wanting to just be friends. Teruki couldn’t tell.

“Alright.” He said.

Reigen looked up at him with skepticism, eyes darting around him like a buoy in the ocean, before relaxing.

“But at least let me help you fix it before you go to the offices and Kageyama-kun sees this.”

Reigen blinked once. Twice.

And then all color left his face.

“You didn’t even think about Kageyama-kun seeing it, did you?” Teruki sighed, not blaming the kid. He was probably overwhelmed and just needed the safe spaces that was the offices. The safety that was an adult that would keep him safe. He probably had just been trying to get to safety as quick as possible, and all that meant to Reigen was Kageyama-kun.

“It’s okay.” Teruki placed a hand on Reigen’s shoulder, feeling tingles from that contact and the slight feeling of franticness that curled through that contact. The franticness cooled off, and Teruki rubbed his thumb against the shoulder. “It’s alright. Kageyama-kun hasn’t seen it yet, so there’s no reason for him to explode this time.”

Reigen let out a sigh, blowing up what was left of his bangs. Hmm, maybe if they could style it correctly, it would look just like it used to before it started growing.

Luckily, Teruki has the best stylist on speed dial. So that could become a reality.

“Let’s go kids, make sure to text Kageyama-kun that I’m kidnapping you, you know how he gets.” Teruki rolled his eyes, and rejoiced at the giggle, which was oh so soft, that he got from Reigen. The kid let go of holding his schoolbag in front of him like a shield, and reached for his phone, whipping it open and texting. While he was doing that, Teruki wandered over to his student, placing a hand on his shoulder now.

“Sorry, did I scare you?”

Ryou-kun shrugged.

“I’ve never heard you like that.” The kid muttered, leaning into the hand on his shoulder. “You’ve never been mad before.”

Teruki squeezed his shoulder in apology. “I don’t usually get mad. Do you know who did that?”

Ryou-kun shifted under his hand.

“I have an idea. But I’ve also made a promise Teru-shishou.”

“I understand.” Teruki sighed. He wanted answers, he wanted to tear the idiots to pieces for daring to lay a hand on the kid and going as far as to cut hair from Reigen’s head. But that wasn’t his place, because Kageyama-kun would do that himself when everything would come to a head. No one could hide bullying for forever, so Teruki would just have to bide his time with this. Maybe drop a few hints when Reigen wasn’t in the office to the two brothers.

The phone clicked close behind him, and Teruki sent a grin to the brat.

“Ready?”

Reigen nodded his head, stepping closer to Teruki, almost making his heart melt that the kid trusted him enough to get close after getting his hair cut without his consent. Teruki knew out of everyone what it felt like to have your hair cut without your permission, how it impacted you. So Teruki would fix this.

“Alright, the stylist I have will be able to squeeze you in, and you’ll be looking like your normal self. Will you grow it out again though Reigen? Or will you keep it short?” Teruki rambled as they changed direction under his guidance and he texted his stylist.

“Uhm, maybe not. Mom is home more often now, so she can get me scheduled in easier now.” Reigen replied. His hand came up and latched onto Teruki’s shirt, near his belt. Odd, but not something that he needed to call out. The kid was probably seeking some sort of assurance after the hell that he went through today at school.

“Okay, then I’ll tell Kurata-chan to just cut and style it short then.” Luckily, they were quite near Kurata-chan’s salon, and before long, Teruki was pushing the door open and ushering the kids into the hair salon.

No matter how many times he came here, he was still in awe and shock at the entirely space-themed hair salon. The wallpaper was made of stars and nebulas, and the chairs all were UFO shaped. It didn’t seem like the place had a ceiling, due to the fact that the ceiling was painted black and had flecks of different colored paint to represent the stars. The hardwood floor had constellations burned into it, looking so unique and clever.

Teruki loved this place, and he loved teasing the woman who owned it. Maybe another time he would get to tease Kurata-chan, since getting Reigen’s hair fixed was the biggest concern here.

“Oi!” Said woman started strutting across the floor towards them, her footsteps silent since she wore sneakers. “What’s with the last minute call-in Hanazawa? You’re not usually like that.”

And then her eyes dropped to Reigen, and she started shaking her head.

“Nope. Nuh uh. That’s a crime, let’s go kid.”

Kurata-chan reached over and snatched the brat’s arm, dragging him to the closest UFO chair. The boy had wide eyes, flicking around and his hands were tight on his schoolbag.

“Sit. I’ll get the cape while you talk with Hanazawa about what you want done.” With the whirlwind that was Kurata-chan gone with the wind, Teruki approached, hand on his neck.

“Sorry about that. She’s a lot and I should have warned you.”

“It’s fine, I could tell that she didn’t mean any harm.” Reigen thumbed at the schoolbag, before holding it out to Ryou-kun, who took it without question. “Uhm, what should we do with my hair? I just told Mob-boss that I was hanging out with you and Shimazaki-senpai for a little bit before I came in today.”

“Well, what do you want done with it?” Teruki leaned on the chair and looked in the mirror at the kid. “Do you want what it used to be? A new style? Hey what about a mohawk? You’d look nice with a mohawk.”

Reigen’s laughter floated through the salon as Teruki pulled out his phone and started to flip through the pictures that he’s taken of everyone at the offices. Going back a few months, he finally found one that he wanted to show Reigen. It was when he first started hanging around the Kageyama brothers offices, and he had wanted a group photograph, just because. It was nice to take photos of those you loved. That’s why he had so many pictures of Emi-chan.

“This okay to show her?” Teruki dangled the phone in front of Reigen, making the kid reach for it and pick it up and look at the photo. “It maybe be a little longer than your original hair, but it could work. Kurata-chan is a miracle worker like that, she’s really spectacular. Clears out this place when I come in because she knows I need space, heh.”

Reigen and Ryou-kun groaned at the pun.

“Damn right I’m a miracle worker.” Kurata-chan came back, silent in her approach thanks to her sneakers and bullying Teruki off his perch on the back of the chair with a hip check. She threw the space-themed cape around Reigen’s neck and fastened it in the back. “Not too tight, right? Good, what are you thinking of kid? We got some lovely hair and length to play with if you want to, or we could just give you a buzzcut.”

Reigen cackled at that thought.

“Boss would probably freak if I came in with a buzzcut. But now, here.” He handed off Teruki’s phone, which Kurata-chan has handled a few times, and she studied the picture.

“Can do, anything else to it? Or do you want some color? We could add some color.” She waggled her eyebrows at Reigen in the mirror.

“I don’t think so. My mom probably wouldn’t be happy if she wasn’t here to advocate for purple or pink.” Reigen laughed into his fist.

“Fine fine. Kid wants just a cut, wash, and style.” Kurata-chan threw her hands up and handed Teruki his phone back.

“Uh, what does that entail?” Reigen asked, his voice growing quiet.

“Well, we’re gonna cut it to the desired length, around here, yeah?” Kurata-chan worked her magic, tapping gently on the head where she would cut the length of the bangs to. “And then I’ll have to wash your hair to get all the loose hair gone. We’ll come back to the chair and I’ll dry and style, and we can give little cuts here and there if you aren’t happy with it after the first cut.”

Under Kurata-chan’s knowledge and confidence, Reigen slowly relaxed with every snip of the scissors and movement of her hands, the humming of a silly song she was letting loose and Reigen actually started to sing along to the silly space song.

One wash later and back in front of the mirror, Reigen looked exactly like the kid that Teruki met all those months ago.

“So what do we think?” Kurata-chan leaned on the back of the chair, a lazy grin on her face. Reigen stared at his reflection before grinning. His eyes scrunched up with the force of it, a bright and beaming smile that Teruki saw pretty often in the offices thanks to others.

“It looks great! Thank you, Kurata-san!”

“None of that, call me Tome. Now scat, you mentioned a boss, and I imagine he’s waiting for you to come to work.” Kurata-chan waved the boy off her chair, and flapped her hands at Teruki when he went to pay for the wash and style and cut. “Don’t you dare Hanazawa. I know bullying when I see it.”

Teruki turned to make sure that the kids didn’t notice the hiss. They didn’t thankfully, Ryou-kun’s hand on Reigen’s hair to see the difference in length.

“Just make sure it doesn’t happen again, and we’ll be even, got it?” Kurata-chan asked, and Teruki gave her a rueful smile.

“That all depends on the kid. He won’t tell us anything.”

“You might have to step in then.” Kurata-chan said solemnly. “Kids like that, they won’t say a peep until you ask first.”

Teruki shook his head, and he and the middle schoolers left.

Surely, surely Reigen would tell them if it got too bad, right? He would know, more than anyone, his breaking point. He was an empath psychic after all.

Teruki would put his faith in Reigen.

~~~~~~~~~~

His hair being short again was a weird feeling. Arataka didn’t realize it, but he had been getting used to the weight of the growing length, little by little. He kept running a hand over the shorter length on the walk to the office, Shimazaki-senpai and Teru-san chatting about something. He had liked his longer hair. And then dumb Roshuto had to go and cut it, and make him get the rest of it cut.

Arataka had liked his longer hair. Mob-boss had liked playing with it sometimes, and Fukami-san would do little braids in it.

The cut to his hair had probably been in retaliation for Asagiri-senpai getting doused in milk. That was the only thing that Arataka could think of. No one else got their hair cut today, so it was the only explanation.

Mob-boss got up from his seat when he saw it, his rotating blue-pink-purple infused with baby-blue-surprise. Kageyama-otouto’s aura filled with ice-cold-blue-shock and then it shifted into carbon-gray-calculation. So it wasn’t just about the other espers that were showing up.

“You got your hair cut.” Boss said, walking over, even though he could pull Arataka to him with telekinesis.

“Yeah. It needed it.” Arataka said, flicking at his longer bangs. Kageyama-otouto’s aura flickered with ocean-blue-concern. What was his deal?

“It looked good both ways.” Boss insisted, mint-green-sincerity replacing the baby-blue-shock. “Arataka-kun looks good with long and short hair.”

Arataka still couldn’t get over the fact that Boss called him by his first name since the attack on the office, if it could be called that. It was like the man wanted to erase any doubt in Arataka’s mind that he was considered one of them. It was fine though, because the stalker was gone and there was no reason for everyone to be so protective of him nowadays. The stalker had probably realized that Arataka was nothing important and had no reason to watch him.

“Thanks Boss.” Arataka looked down, not able to look the man in the eyes when he had that familial strawberry-pink-love in his aura whenever he looked at Arataka. It made no sense to him, why on earth was it him? Couldn’t it have been someone else? Well no, Arataka couldn’t see Boss becoming the best of friends with Shimazaki-senpai, but maybe Serizawa-senpai? Whenever they managed to coax him to coming into the office? That might be nice, all his favorite people (sans him mom) in one place.

A hand clapped down on his head, rubbing back and forth. Arataka let out a miffed noise, glaring up at Kageyama-otouto with no heat. The man didn’t even bat an eye at his glare, simply rubbing back and forth at his newly shorn hair.

“Looks good on you. What brought it on?” Kageyama-otouto asked casually, but his aura was still full of carbon-gray-calculation. He wasn’t fooling Arataka!

“It’s getting hot.” Arataka whined. “Boss, why does the world heat up, why can’t it stay the perfect temperature for forever?”

Crisis averted as Kageyama-otouto immediately started lecturing him on seasons and climates. Arataka snickered as he escaped to his desk and put his stuff down, sighing in relief at the normalcy the offices had quickly become. The safety of this place that he had immediately wanted after his hair had been cut. He hadn’t even thought about the potential fallout when he walked in without a chunk of his hair. Kageyama-otouto definitely would have shrieked and Boss would have exploded.

Probably.

Or maybe they wouldn’t even glance his way and not acknowledge that his hair had changed. Yeah, probably that option. After all, they hadn’t realized that exerting all the time and effort into protecting him was just a waste. He wasn’t the good person that Shimazaki-senpai thought he was or the special person that Boss thought he was. He wasn’t someone who needed protected or cared for, he just was an esper with a weak power and was simply in the right place at the right time when Dimple had tried to hurt himself and Mob-boss that day.

It could have been anyone else, but it was Arataka that day, and maybe it was fate’s way of shoving his face into the mud, showing him how nice the world could be and then shutting him up in Salt middle school. Fate’s way of showing him that he didn’t deserve the nice things in life. Fate didn’t have to be so cruel, because he knew that already. He had learned that lesson, why was it constantly reminding him of that fact?

“Oi.” A flick to his forehead made him pout up at Kageyama-otouto.

“What? Did you say something Kageyama-otouto? Were you missing my wonderful voice?” Arataka asked in a saccharine tone, making sure to bat his eyelashes at the man. Who simply rolled his eyes at the dramatics. Shimazaki-senpai, who he hadn’t even noticed sitting beside him, cackled into his homework as he trailed his hand over his textbook.

“I asked you if you want to go eat ramen tonight. Shige is walking you home.” Kageyama-otouto studied him, the ocean-blue-concern still there on the outskirts of his spiky, blue-purple aura. Steel-gray-protectiveness was starting to weave into it though, like an iceberg in the night. Was he still worried about the stalker? The guy was gone though!

“Ramen!” Arataka cheered, spinning in his chair and throwing his fists into the air. On his turn back, Kageyama-otouto was rolling his eyes and turning to walk back to his desk, the ocean-blue-concern gone and replaced with gray-stone-determination.

Whatever. Kageyama-otouto could be determined all he wanted, there was no one after Arataka anymore, so he could calm down already!

Mob-boss was shaking his head, but bubblegum-pink-amusement and familial strawberry-pink-love and peach-soft-fondness.

He hid his face again and started on his writing assignment. It wasn’t a hard thing to do, but it wasn’t something that he wanted to do at school. He used to like writing at school, showing the teacher what he wrote and how he wrote it. Now though, he preferred writing here, because one, he wouldn’t get interrupted and his work ripped to pieces. And two, because Fukami-san was at the offices. He loved getting input from Fukami-san, she was so awesome!

Arataka hadn’t known that Fukami-san was a writer, but it made sense in hindsight. Teru-san wouldn’t surround himself with people who weren’t incredible, his ego simply wouldn’t allow it. Ah, but what did that make Arataka then? Probably the television star just wanted him around for his ability to draw. That made more sense than the peach-soft-fondness he saw arching through Teru-san’s aura sometimes when he looked at Shimazaki-senpai and Arataka. There was no way that Teru-san was fond of Arataka himself, right?

Arataka shook his head, sighing lightly. He was so glad that no one else in the room or in his social circle was also an empath, there was no way he could get away with half of what he does if they were. Although, with Boss’s and Teru-san’s natural ability to copy and replicate other esper’s abilities, he wouldn’t be surprised if they were working on that. Thankfully though, the twosome seemed to be at a standstill.

Shimazaki-senpai poked him with a pencil.

“Hmm?” Arataka asked, still writing down his assignment. Huh, this was actually turning out to be really interesting, maybe he could pull Fukami-san into it? Or add other elements like espers or supernatural abilities? That would be fun to try and incorporate. Sure, Fukami-san had pointed out where he was clunky on some things, but he could only get better with work, right? He needed to keep his high grades.

“Do you wanna go get mochi real quick? Or a milkshake? Or ice cream?” Shimazaki-senpai asked, spinning his pencil around his fingers. “I just need to use energy.”

Arataka could understand that. Shimazaki-senpai probably hadn’t been able to get out that energy that had been crackling in his aura and the cinnamon-red-anger that had been bubbling in his aura ever since he realized that Arataka’s hair had been cut at school. Serizawa-senpai had firetruck-red-alarm in his own aura at lunch time. His senpais were really so kind.

“Yeah, I could go for some ice cream.” Arataka put his pencil down. “Let me grab my bag.”

“Nope!” Shimazaki-senpai reached forward and grabbed Arataka’s hand. “I’m stealing Reigen-kun for ice cream! We’ll be back in a flash.”

Boss looked up and studied the two of them, cloud-gray-unease flickering through his aura, before his eyes went over to Teru-san, who was nodding fervently to allow them to leave. Ew, Teru-san probably wanted to flirt while they were gone, even though it would be a minimal amount of time because of Shimazaki-senpai’s teleportation. Cherry-blossom-pink-acceptance filtered into his aura then, and Boss sighed.

“Don’t eat too much, we still have ramen later.”

“Ramen!” Arataka threw his hands up in a moment of yellow-sunshiney-happiness, and dislodged Shimazaki-senpai’s hold on him. His hand was then grabbed. “Eh?”

“Let’s go!”

Teleportation was weird. Arataka had never teleported with Shimazaki-senpai, so it was slightly disorienting to be sitting at his desk at the offices and then to be sitting at a booth of an ice cream shop. Arataka shook his head, slight shivers from esper energy that wasn’t his that had curled around him recoiling back into Shimazaki-senpai’s aura. An odd feeling, it was like Shimazaki-senpai wanted to keep his aura coiled around him, but that could be because of the stalker issue everyone was pushing.

Everyone was so overprotective.

“What do you want?” Shimazaki-senpai motioned to the counter.

“Eh, if they have strawberry I’m happy.” Arataka was pretty partial to strawberry flavors, they were always so tasty.

“Got it. One strawberry cone coming up for the newly shaved esper.” Shimazaki-senpai teased, and Arataka rolled his eyes. His hair wasn’t shaved, it was just back to being short again.

Before long, the older boy was back with their ice cream cones, one green and the other pink. Arataka was handed the pink one, and he hummed happily at the taste of strawberry, leaning back in the booth. Shimazaki-senpai probably had gotten something like matcha or pistachio, like a weirdo. They should bring Serizawa-senpai next time to see if he would get a purple ice cream. Arataka was pretty sure they had a purple ice cream here.

“How much do I owe you?” Arataka asked halfway through his cone, realizing that Shimazaki-senpai must have paid at the front for the ice cream.

“No payment necessary. You’d be surprised at how much money Teru-shishou throws at me.” Shimazaki-senpai denied, and Arataka laughed at the image of Teru-san throwing yen at Shimazaki-senpai like a gatling gun. “I’m serious! That man practically pays me for existing in his presence. I hope he pays Emi-san as much as he does me.”

“Fukami-san deserves a raise.” Arataka said, staunchly believing this and was pacified when Shimazaki-senpai nodded, royal-purple-earnestness burning in his aura.

“I’ll talk to her about that later. She definitely does after putting up with all his shit these past few years.”

The time at the ice cream parlor was nice, and when they teleported back into the offices, Boss looked him over, but seemed to deem him safe and sound and asked if he had a nice time. Meanwhile, Teru-san stole Shimazaki-senpai practically immediately and seemingly started interrogating him? Why was Shimazaki-senpai suddenly exuding cranberry-red-embarrassment? What was going on here and why was Arataka out of the loop?

“Arataka-kun.”

His head whipped back to Mob-boss, who was gathering his things. So was Kageyama-otouto, and Dimple was hovering around. The only two not ready to walk out of the offices were Shimazaki-senpai and Teru-san, but they could get out easy enough with Shimazaki-senpai’s powers. Ah, must be time for dinner. Arataka quickly gathered his own things, for once in his life not finishing his homework.

It would be fine, right? Surely one time wouldn’t make this a bad habit. He just needed a break.

Homework put away, and he bounded up to Mob-boss, grin firmly in place.

“Ready when you guys are!”

Mob-boss’s eyes softened, and he smiled down at Arataka, and that familial strawberry-pink-love was so strong in his aura. It would be blinding to Arataka if he didn’t purposefully ignore it. But maybe he shouldn’t now? Since he had talked things out with Mom now and she was glad that the Kageyamas were stepping in and taking his deadbeat’s place? Maybe he should try embracing that familial strawberry-pink-love? If only just a little bit at first. But no, that would mean that Arataka could have something nice. Arataka couldn’t have nice things, according to the universe.

“Ah, you have. . . .” Boss muttered, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handkerchief. Arataka watched, slightly confused as the man poured some water from a water bottle on the corner of it.

Next thing he knew, a large, warm hand was cupping his face and tilting it up. The wet cloth was pressing against his face gently, wiping away at something at the corner of Arataka’s face.

Ah.

Arataka’s eyes went wide.

Huh?

Mob-boss was already turning away, folding the soiled handkerchief and putting it in his pocket as he grabbed his wallet and pulled a light coat on.

Like he hadn’t just–

That had been Arataka’s deadbeat’s last so-called “fatherly” act. Wiping something off of his face when he had been messy.

Something squeezed deep in Arataka’s chest. It hurt, like someone had bypassed his muscles and his ribcage and was squeezing his heart directly. His throat was tight and his eyes were stinging. He wasn’t sure he could eat ramen now. Not with all these feelings that he had swirling around him like a damn whirlpool and threatened to drown him under the weight of them.

No. Not now. He couldn’t do it here. He would be fine. He was always fine. Reigen Arataka was always one hundred percent a-okay.

A quick swipe of his gakuran sleeve and a few deep breaths, and Arataka bounded up to Mob-boss’s side, chatting about the toppings he would get on his ramen this time.

And if this time, his hand reached up and didn’t take the fabric of the coat like he usually did, because people didn’t notice that, but instead he reached up and tentatively, so slowly, reached up and took his boss’s hand, that was no one’s business.

Boss’s larger hand was warm, and his fingers immediately curled around Arataka’s. There were some callouses that reminded Arataka of his own shaolin kung fu training, did Boss work out? His rotating blue-pink-purple aura extended around the two of them, yellow-sunshiney-happiness and steel-gray-protectiveness curling around the edges of it. That’s what Boss really was, wasn’t he?

Protective.

That thought buoyed Arataka throughout the entire evening until he came home.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” He asked, placing his schoolbag down. Mom had sky-blue-disappointment and cinnamon-red-anger and heather-exhaustion and auburn-bitterness and burgundy-black-hatred in her normally placid aura.

“Mom? You’re scaring me.” He whispered the longer she didn’t answer him.

She sighed and looked at him. She had been crying, and Arataka could feel firetruck-red-alarm blare through him at that sight. Reigen Yoshiko didn’t cry. Not in the face of her divorce nor in the face of such a horrible work schedule. What made her cry now?

“Your father called.” Her words tilted his world on its head.

“He wants to spend this weekend with you.”