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The way Mob discovered his brother’s newly awakened psychic abilities hadn’t been ideal. He was proud, beyond his own comprehension, actually, but it was hard to ignore the alleyway they found themselves in. Or how countless strangers from another school stared them down—stared Ritsu down like they had a problem with his little brother.
As it turned out, they did, but that was the least of their worries. Promptly after Mob got the shit beat out of him by a man who jumped from an overhead rooftop, the stranger whisked Ritsu away. It hadn’t taken long for the two to reunite at Claw’s 7th Division’s base, although each minute spent worrying felt like a day in itself.
It all worked out, and yes, he was proud of Ritsu. Watching as his powers grew rapidly, just as he had imagined, warmed his heart. He knew his little brother would get the hang of them soon enough, twisting spoons with ease now, showing off in front of his classmates after school. It brought a smile to Mob’s usual thinly pressed lips.
He wanted to stay out of his way, let him grow on his own, but the brothers always seemed to possess entangled fates, more so recently.
It began one afternoon; both boys had just finished school, and Mob was about to head to work when he received an impromptu call from his master.
“Hey, Mob, you haven’t left school yet, right?”
Mob could hear the sound of papers rustling in the background, scattering about his desk urgently. This must’ve been important.
“No.”
“Good, uh…” Master Reigen clicked his tongue. “Could you bring your little brother? We really need the extra help for a client today.”
Before Mob could finish his breath in, Reigen resumed, “Tell him I’ll pay him!”
He really hated it when his shishou requested things at the last second. Why’d he need Ritsu’s help anyway? Mob was already very efficient at exorcising evil spirits, and Ritsu had homework and planning to do for tomorrow's student council meeting.
He sighed on the other end of the line, unwilling to hide his slight annoyance. He would talk to Shishou later about being unprofessional if he reasoned it’d do anything other than fall on deaf ears.
Holding the phone away and covering the speaker, he quickly asked Ritsu what his plans for the evening were and if he could help out at Spirits and Such. Ritsu’s face scrunched in aversion until his foul expression dropped as he huffed a reluctant agreement.
“Okay,” Mob spoke over the phone as Reigen let out an exhale of relief.
That day, they walked the same path to the same destination.
-
Reigen Shishou was right; they had needed the extra help. There were more evil spirits in that one location than there had been in the past five jobs. Reigen thanked Ritsu for his assistance and handed him Mob’s usual pay.
Ritsu glanced down at the yen in his hand and back up at the conman in contempt, “Seriously? This is all you're paying my brother?”
Mob didn’t think it was so bad, and as the two walked home together, he thanked him again for agreeing so suddenly, telling him how Master sometimes called on short notice. Ritsu grunted, muttering something about Reigen being shady.
-
The first time hadn’t been the last. Now, it wasn’t unusual for Reigen Shishou to request extra help in the form of Mob’s little brother, and Ritsu always agreed despite his supposed disdain for the man.
Even on days when their calendar was clear, Ritsu would tag along to Spirits and Such after school to fulfill random tasks. He’d do Mob’s usual job: file papers, write reports, and take calls, while Shigeo sat at his little desk working on homework. Ritsu said it’d be good for him to focus on his studies for once instead of doing pointless tasks for a swindler. Mob agreed, but found it odd how Ritsu took his place, doing those said ‘useless distractions’ instead of his own schoolwork while Shishou browsed who knows what on his laptop, acting as if the situation were the same as it always had been.
Mob still found it difficult to concentrate when Ritsu stepped around the office, completing his job as if it were made for him. He told himself Ritsu was good at everything, which he already knew to be true. On top of it all, sounds of his master’s incessant keyboard clicks drove him up a wall. Mob tapped his foot quietly, clutching his head in his hand as he stared blankly down at a question he’d read several times over by now.
Shishou and Ritsu didn’t talk much on their own, only when Mob was there as a buffer, and the boy didn’t talk much himself. However, in the past few weeks, Mob could make out their exchanged words from his desk, looking up to focus on what was being said and tuning in for more discussion that never came. He could’ve sworn he heard Master giggle, but he was on the goofier side in general, so he’d probably giggle at anything, really. Mob recalled making his shishou giggle a few times, nothing recent, though.
Despite Ritsu’s recurring appearance at the office, he still only primarily showed up when there were too many spirits in an area, hastily exorcising them as Mob did. Maybe he was even faster at it than Mob now. Ritsu had undoubtedly progressed quicker than him in learning to control his powers. At this rate, he’d surpass him, be the stronger psychic in the end.
Mob kept these thoughts to himself, figuring Ritsu already knew his competence. He had natural power, but Ritsu had skill, intellect, and knowledge. He was proud of his little brother, so it made sense that Reigen Shishou would be too. He praised both of them at the end of a job well done, patted them on the shoulder. Ritsu would tug away from the appreciative grasp in faux-vexation while Reigen playfully rolled his eyes. It was their thing.
Even though it felt like it, Ritsu hadn’t been at the office constantly, not fully an employee yet. On the days he was gone, Mob found his mind to function more clearly than it had been. He filed away papers, swept up salt, took calls, and scheduled appointments on the laptop’s calendar. These days went smoothly, like clockwork—like before. Until his shishou asked about his brother.
“What’s Ritsu up to today?”
Mob flinched; he could’ve sworn he felt his heart… sink?
Reigen never asked him about Ritsu before; had he begun to care about him? The way he cared about Mob? The way he mentored Mob—in a sense, raised him to be who he was, with similar morality to his own, from the very first time they met, when he was eleven?
It felt like his skin was lit afire, flames not sparing his burning throat or the sting of his eyes. It was harder to breathe all of a sudden. Mob closed them to regulate his oxygen intake and prevent anything from cascading down his cheeks.
“He’ll be here tomorrow.” He answered.
Ask him yourself.
“May I be excused?” Mob promptly asked, opening his eyes once more before standing up, making a beeline for the bathroom.
“You don’t have to as—” Reigen couldn’t finish his sentence before the bathroom door shut harshly, barely short of a slam uncharacteristic of Mob.
The man shrugged it off as him having to piss really bad all of a sudden or something.
-
The next day arrived, along with the brothers at the business's doorstep. It was a typical evening spent with the two of them. Mob cleaned the office, making sure to dust it extra well to perfection as Ritsu filed documents. Their client for the day came in and guided them to a separate haunted location in the depths of Seasoning City. There were around ten evil spirits, and Mob wondered when and why they decided to group up so often nowadays.
The exorcism was done in a flash. Reigen got paid, and then he paid Mob and Ritsu.
“Whaddya say we grab some ramen for dinner?” He asked the brothers as he counted the money in his hands.
“Sounds cool.” Ritsu chimed in first, stuffing his hands in his coat’s pockets.
“Yeah…” Mob followed, already lagging behind his boss and brother as they walked slightly ahead.
“Great!” Reigen exhaled condensed moisture. “Hey, Mob, pick up the pace!” He called back, smiling over his shoulder.
He listened.
Mob found it odd how the two of them sat next to each other at the restaurant, Reigen across from him and Ritsu at his side—the side he used to occupy. His shishou could never finish all the pork in his bowl; he didn’t know why he insisted on ordering it the same way each time, but Mob usually ended up finishing the meat. Today, though, he offered a slab to both of them, groaning out about being stuffed and not able to take another bite. The two brothers accepted a piece, but Mob couldn’t finish his, leaving it floating in the otherwise empty bowl of broth as he watched Ritsu tear chunks off his and swallow.
Why did he feel like this? What unfamiliar emotion had sprouted like a potted cherry tomato under psychic influence? Whatever the case, it was one of the worst ones he’d ever endured. It never went away entirely, lingering past his return home and continuing on the next day when he sat quietly at his school desk. It spiked when Ritsu and Shishou were in his proximity. He watched them silently like a bird stalked its prey; it creeped him out, and he wasn’t even on the receiving end. Mob had no comprehension, nothing to compare this to. He was scared to teeter on the verge of explosion once more, lose control as he did with Teruki and then again at the 7th Division after finding his little brother hurt. It was like he lost all sight of anything other than Master and Ritsu, like the world was foggy and they were the only two he could clearly observe.
-
Reigen was clipping his fingernails at his desk when Mob arrived alone today. The boy’s demeanor had changed—shifted. Reigen couldn’t place a finger on when, but it had, and he’d been meaning to talk with his student about it, to avoid any… complications.
“Hey, Mob! So, we’re all alone today.”
Mob cut his eyes toward the man and then back to his schoolbag he’d just placed on the floor. The darkness surrounding him grew at Ritsu’s referenced absence. He hated feeling like this; it was as if he could no longer control or hold back the pestering emotion while it took charge of all his interactions. Mob had been increasingly irritable. Was this what it felt like to be Ritsu?
“Hi, Shishou.” It was brief; he wanted to shout and cry, but desired cold silence all the same.
“How was your day?” Reigen giggled for no good reason, and Mob knew it was fake; weren’t they always? He’d probably saved all the real ones for Ritsu now anyway.
“Fine.” Mob took a seat.
“How’s Ritsu doing?”
His master had referred to Ritsu by his name more, instead of just ‘your brother’. Mob’s jaw clenched as if he’d just eaten the sourest lemon known to man. He felt something akin to anger and sorrow form as a knot in his chest. Normally, he’d ask Shishou to massage it out, but right now, he was the cause.
“I don’t know, you saw him two days ago, and you’ll see him again tomorrow; why don’t you ask him?” The words spurt out; he kept his head down. It was rarely Mob’s intent to be snarky, but he wasn’t in his right mind as of late.
Actually, after thinking back to last week, when he had an itch in need of scratching in the form of his little brother’s reassurance, he walked to Ritsu’s room after dinner. First, it was small talk. He asked how his brother was doing, to which he responded, ‘fine,’ as expected. Mob sat on his floor, blabbing out pointless questions, which raised flags of confusion in his brother’s head. Questions about his master, particularly concerning how he felt working with him—someone he appeared to have some sort of disdain for prior to showing up regularly, which had seemingly vanished. Ritsu noted his uncharacteristic behavior; his brother coming off as a detective trying to solve a personal case. Mob gathered his answers along with the remains of his sanity when he departed the decorated bedroom, noting that Ritsu hadn’t disliked his shishou as much as he originally thought. Through the crack of the closing door, Mob bid his goodnight, followed by a sincere ‘I love you’. It was true, so why’d it leave a taste in his mouth as bitter as one of those cocktails Shishou seemed to enjoy?
“Yeahhh, that’ll work. That brat’s probably too busy doing nerdy stuff like schoolwork anyway. He should get a real life.”
Mob returned to reality, listening to his master chuckle for no one but himself, clipping his final nail, and throwing the scraps in the trash.
Brat—a nickname Reigen Shishou used to call Ritsu as an insult behind his back—was now said straight to his face as a playful term of endearment. His brother protested it at first, but currently went along with it, only rolling his eyes with a scoff.
“So you pay enough attention to him to know how my brother acts?” Mob was like a faucet pouring out—word vomit. His voice trembled against his will. Whatever possessed him, he wished would stop.
Reigen crooked an eyebrow, glancing up to study Mob, who looked a wreck, hunched over his small desk. “Was that sarcasm?”
Yes, it was, and the realization upon realizing his master was picking up on his behavior snapped him out of his attitude problem back into obedience. There was no reason to act this way when the only guilty one was himself for accusing innocent people.
“No, no. I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.”
The kid scrambled up from his seat and bowed, like he’d been caught sticking his hand in the cookie jar. Mob had sneak dissed him before, but never like this, never apologized so profusely after something so minuscule.
What had come over him? He should’ve been happy; this was good. Ritsu and Shishou were getting along. The two most important people in his life came together, spending time with him and each other, all at once. What could’ve been better?
“Relaaxx…” Reigen drew out, “What’s up with you, Mob?”
To Reigen’s slight concern, the kid was shaking, standing in front of his larger desk with eyes glued to the ground. He seemed completely out of it, a demeanor Reigen recognized. The man stood up, giving his student his full attention.
“I-I don’t know,” Mob muttered.
“C’mon, you must know something if you’re feeling it.” Reigen moved around the desk, standing across from the boy, the strange urge to hit his shoulder teasingly forming.
“I’ve just been feeling weird lately… Like I unlocked a new emotion, one I haven’t learned how to control yet.” Mob peeked up slightly.
“Go on…” Reigen nodded, hand at the bottom of his chin as if he were already drawing conclusions without any information.
“It happens at random times, all the time now. I wish it would just stop.” His eyebrows furrowed, Reigen reached a supportive hand out to rub at his shoulder, something he discovered grounded him.
“What does it feel like?” Reigen inquired.
“Like a stinging anger and sadness. Hatred for me being myself and feeling this way.” After collecting his thoughts, Mob spoke more clearly.
“And when are these emotions most prominent?” Reigen believed he had pinned it.
Mob grew shy, ashamed as he curled a bit into himself, not going unnoticed by his Shishou. “Around you and… Ritsu.”
Reigen looked up in thought, “Hmmm…”
“I got it!” He cheerfully snapped his fingers, looking back at Mob, “You’re jealous!” He teased, ruffling his pupil’s hair.
Reigen didn’t understand why, but it was a cute look on Mob; he’d have to admit.
“Uh-jealous?!” The boy jerked up.
“Yep, well… I dunno for sure, but based on how you described, sounds like it. The real question is, of who, though?” Reigen’s fingers were back at his chin, stroking the smooth area. “But who am I kidding? I’m not gonna steal your little brother, Mob—”
“It’s not that.” Mob’s face stiffened back to its usual stoic look, which Reigen came to cherish.
“Then what else are you feeling?” He’d help Mob sort through his problems if it took all night; it wasn’t like they had any clients lined up for today.
“No, I mean—I think you’re right. About the… jealousy part. I’ve heard about it. But it’s not about Ritsu, it’s about you.”
Reigen choked on his spit, blushing as he stammered, “Me?”
Ritsu was amazing. More than just smart—clever, instinctual, and good-looking. He was admired by his classmates, standing out and blending in simultaneously. Popular yet private. Mob didn’t know how he did it—wished he could be the same way. But he had never harboured anger, envy, or resentment toward his younger brother for his success. He was proud and happy for him in everything he did. So why was it so different when it came to Shishou?
Mob sighed in shame, “I know. What an ugly feeling to direct at my own brother. Ritsu really is better than me.”
Reigen frowned, “Hey now, don’t beat yourself up over this. It’s a normal human emotion. Besides, Ritsu’s not perfect either. Remember when you were telling me about when he first unlocked his psychic abilities, and he got all self-righteous?” He scoffed with amusement.
Mob didn’t care if Ritsu was stronger. Nor that he went on a power trip shortly before getting kidnapped and dragged away helplessly. He was his baby brother and deserved everything good in life, even if that meant his shishou’s admiration, affection… love. He felt gloom cloud over his entire body.
“I don’t want him to work here.” He was so selfish.
“He’s not; he just helps sometimes, nothing to worry about.” Reigen rubbed down Mob’s shoulder—he didn’t seem reassured enough yet.
“I don’t want him here at all. It’s selfish. Why am I being like this?” Mob wished it were an easy question for his master to answer.
Reigen didn’t know, and still couldn’t process that Mob was jealous of someone getting closer to him, much less Ritsu. Especially since he seemed to love his brother a great deal more than he cared for Reigen, the younger being his family and all.
Reigen opened his mouth, unplanned words about to figure themselves out on their departure from his lips, until Mob said, “I don’t want him to replace me.”
“Huh?” Admittedly, Reigen was dumbfounded.
Mob didn’t speak up again, already too vulnerable for comfort.
“Mob… you don’t really think that?” Reigen asked rhetorically; he knew Mob had insecure tendencies, but he never would’ve pictured he’d feel possessive over him. “I would never replace you; no one ever could. We go way back.”
Mob stood still, only briefly maintaining eye contact.
“Besides, I’m not that great anyway; you shouldn’t fight over me, although I am flattered.” Reigen flipped his hair back, sparkling.
“I think you’re great, Shishou; that’s the thing. Ritsu’s so smart, he’s the top of his class, girls think he’s…” Mob thought, “Handsome?” It didn’t seem like the proper word to describe his brother; he was too boyish to be considered that; pretty would suit him better.
“He’s better than me at everything. He’s better than me in general. You’d be a good pair; I don’t know why I’m like this.” Mob fidgeted his fingers.
“Pair? What are you talking about, Mob? Sure, Ritsu may excel more in school or social circles, but that doesn’t mean he’s better than you. No one is greater or less than anyone. We’re all human, and psychic powers don’t change that. It’s like what I taught you.” Reigen asserted.
Mob nodded because it was what he taught him.
“I’m closer to you, always have been and always will be if you wanna keep hanging around me much longer.” Reigen gave a wry chuckle of self-depreciation. “I like you more; you’re my apprentice.”
Mob gasped quietly as if Ritsu would be offended and not already know that if he were here in the room with them.
Reigen smiled at the small noise. “Don’t be so insecure; you have nothing to be jealous of. If anything, it should be the other way around.” He didn’t want to elaborate on that.
“You’re good enough for me, perfect for me actually.” Neither realized they had stepped closer together. “There’s something special about you, Mob. You have something that neither he nor anyone else I’ve ever met has.”
Mob’s eyes shone up at his shishou like polished marbles, indulging in the praise.
“You have this…” Reigen tried to put his finger on it, “Air of goodness. This innocent mentality and hope for the world, wishing the best for everyone in it…”
It was true, but contrary to Mob’s belief, Reigen knew most people didn’t share the sentiment. In that way, the boy was naive, which made him even more endearing and adorable to him.
“And a kissable face.” Love overtook Reigen like an eclipse, and before he could think it through, he leaned down and pressed a kiss against Mob’s forehead, not forgetting to push his bangs to the side for skin-to-skin contact.
Mob’s cheeks broke out in a red as bright as a field of strawberries. Shishou had never done anything that affectionate before; he smiled, bashfully glancing away before requesting, “Can you do that again?”
Reigen knew he went too far, but said screw it and planted another kiss slightly to the left of where the previous had lingered.
“Uh, a little more, please.” Mob was beaming and embarrassed.
“Someone’s greedy.” Reigen obliged, though, enjoying the gesture himself; anything was worth it to see Mob smile.
His shishou pressed another one further to the right, then one more down his temple. Mob giggled, and Reigen felt the sound add twenty more years to his lifespan, so he kept going until his deshi’s face was peppered with kisses all over and around.
Mob couldn’t hide his grin if he tried, feeling a great baggage lift off his shoulders as if Reigen Shishou just massaged them, one of the expensive packages he reserved for extra tense clients.
Reigen pulled away, just as giddy, looking down at Mob’s chubby cheeks pressed into his palms.
“Shishou…” Mob’s voice was muffled from the firm squish. “Can you… can you kiss here?” He looked down at his lips.
An electric chill came over Reigen’s body, and Mob almost regretted asking. He knew he shouldn’t, but he did anyway. Reigen leaned down, eyes closed as Mob’s stayed open, unfamiliar with kiss etiquette. The connection was soft, plush, nice, and warm.
When Reigen pulled away, he noted Mob’s already wide eyes; he hoped he felt better after brushing their lips together. Mob smiled, even narrowly revealing the bottoms of his top teeth.
“Thank you.” Mob gave an appreciative nod.
Always so polite.
“You’re a good kid, Mob. My deshi.” Reigen pulled his hands from his student’s face to ruffle his hair, never having felt this much love swell his corrupted heart before.
Mob stood there, humming as the ruffling turned into a smooth caress.
Reigen was glad; he’d have to teach Mob the rules of kissing next.