Chapter Text
1.
Mob is small for an eleven year old, Reigen thinks, though he’s not in the habit of hanging out with grade schoolers, so he can’t be sure. Maybe it’s the wide-eyed naivete, or his knobby knees and bowl cut. Reigen understands fuck all about kids, but after knowing Mob for approximately three days, he’s already decided that it was probably good that they met when they did. Mob is a nice kid — a good kid — but he’s flying blind out there with his telekinesis and complete lack of interpersonal awareness. The world is vast, and though Reigen wants to believe that most people are fundamentally decent, folks like Mob tend to inevitably attract the attention of those with foul intentions. Reigen himself is a questionable enough influence as it is, but at least he’ll try to look out for him. Try being the operative word.
Reigen’s list of priorities when it comes to Mob is kind of jumbled, because his first thought whenever he sees his new disciple usually winds up being “Mob needs to eat” instead of “Mob needs to help me keep my business going so I don’t have to become a private investigator and follow cheating spouses around all day”. The first few times they meet, they just have lunch together and talk about psychic training. In between the ramen and curry and yakiniku, Reigen carefully tidies up his spiritual bullshit into an comprehensive lie that Mob can believe in. He feels kind of shitty about it, but Mob looks so dazzled and reassured that he thinks it might be worse if he reveals the truth now. He’ll just have to be careful never to slip up. Ever.
After a few months of sussing out just exactly what Mob can do, which means a lot of papers and massage oils flying around the office, Reigen finally witnesses his first real exorcism. A client comes in complaining of a constant chill, but before Reigen can launch into his speech about getting sufficient exercise and staying hydrated, Mob tugs on his sleeve and whispers that there’s a bad spirit hovering by the woman’s shoulder. She’s busy looking over his menu of courses, so she doesn’t notice them muttering by the hot water kettle.
“You can see it too?” Reigen whispers back, directing his line of sight in the general direction of where Mob is pointing. He can’t see anything besides perhaps a vague shadow, but he trusts Mob, which means a simple massage package won’t do. It’s time for the real deal.
Mob nods. “It’s a bad one, shishou. If we don’t get rid of it, I think it could be really dangerous for her.” Mob switched over from calling Reigen “nii-chan” to “shishou” by their second meeting, which lends a certain legitimacy to their relationship.
“Well, I guess it’s time for you to take your final exam. Do you think you can handle this one on your own?” Mob takes a moment to think about it, but nods again. Reigen has only seen his telekinesis so far, but if Mob is half as good at banishing spirits as he is at lifting bugs out the window, then they should be golden. And if it doesn’t work, well, Reigen will just send their client in the direction of the nearest temple to get this sorted out by the real professionals. “Alright, Mob, show me what you’ve got.”
Reigen doesn’t know what the protocol for this kind of ritual is, so he gently informs their client about the spirit that’s been haunting her, and has her get comfortable in her armchair before sending Mob up. Half of all business is just presentation, after all.
He’s expecting some level of hurrah and to-do, but Mob just lifts his hand and then turns his head back to look at Reigen for approval.
That’s all it takes: a wave of Mob’s hand, and then the client is perking up, already looking rosier in the cheeks and much brighter than when she came in. Even if Reigen couldn’t see the spirit itself, he can definitely tell that something’s changed, and that it’s the kind of something that’s beyond his ability to fix.
Reigen gives her a dusting of shoulder salt and a hot cup of tea, mostly for the optics, and they send her away happy and with a 20% off coupon for her next visit. After she leaves, Reigen puts up the “closed” sign and sits Mob down to talk, because this? This is a huge deal. Mob is exactly what Reigen thought he was — he’s exactly what this office needs, and if all goes well, this partnership will bring great things their way. He can already imagine the whole new population of people they can actually help now.
“Did I do a good enough job?” Mob asks nervously, and Reigen flashes him a weirdly elaborate thumbs-up. Sometimes it feels like his body moves of its own accord. Maybe he’s possessed. It’s not like he would know.
“You did great! I mean, maybe not as smoothly as I would have, but there’s years of difference in our levels of experience and spiritual power, so don’t worry about that. I see our training has been paying off! Uh, congratulations!” he exclaims, throwing his hands up in the air. He feels like he should have prepared confetti or balloons. “You’re officially off probation; you’ve been accepted as the one and only student of the 21st century’s greatest psychic! I should get you a pin or something. Maybe a name card for your desk.” He gestures broadly at the little reception desk that he set up for Mob a few days ago.
“Really? Thank you, shishou. I’m going to work really hard.” He beams at Reigen, who feels a sudden surge of violent heartburn. Why? All he ate today was a ham and egg sandwich. Mob is still smiling, and Reigen realizes that he should be rewarding Mob somehow for his service.
“Of course you are! And hey, now that you’ve been officially hired, you can receive your first paycheck! I don’t actually have a check for you, but uh, lemme see-” He pulls out his wallet and thumbs through the scant bills in there, before doing a quick calculation for the amount he can afford to pay Mob per hour if he keeps visiting at the rate he has been. 300 yen would be sustainable. He slaps the bills on the table and slides them over to Mob. “Here you go. For your first hour of official work.”
Mob reaches forward with a slightly shaky hand, and takes hold of the bills like they’re precious documents to be placed in a museum. “Is this really for me?” Reigen feels the urge to pat him on the head and redirects it into a sage clasp of his shoulder instead.
“Yep! You’re a part of the agency now, so you’ve gotta get paid. Ah, you like takoyaki, right? Let’s go get some to celebrate your hard work today. A double serving, on me, for my best employee.”
Mob can only eat one box of takoyaki, so Reigen sends the second box home with him as a snack for later. He sees Mob off a block or two from his house, grinning to himself when Mob, excited in his own understated way, tells him that he can’t wait to let his family know that his new job is official.
“Ritsu will be glad to hear it. You should meet Ritsu, shishou. He’s the smartest person I know. I bet he’d be a big help.”
“Well, maybe you can bring him around the office some time. Show off to your little brother what a cool job you have, eh?”
2.
Despite Ritsu’s blatant distaste for Reigen’s apartment and Reigen’s business practices and Reigen himself, he doesn’t have any actual objections to staying at his place for the night, even if it does turn out to be as cramped as expected. Not even a rude comment about the decor (or lack thereof), which means he must really be tired after today’s excitement. Fighting terrorists will do that to even the moodiest of teenagers, Reigen supposes. Teru disappears with a cheerful goodbye after gently lowering Mob onto the bed, and Reigen has to wonder about whether it’s okay that all these little esper children have the mental fortitude of elder gods.
Mob is still completely out, which is to be expected. Reigen can still feel himself shaking deep under his bones, where no one can see. How many times is he going to have to watch his student walk into danger, toward the open arms of death? How many times is the world going to put Mob in this situation? No child has any business fighting against an adult who intends to kill. Mob doesn’t deserve this misplaced weight on his shoulders, this wildly inappropriate responsibility for their rest of their well-being because these stupid fucking immature esper weirdos never learned to take no for an answer. There’s hope for most of them to change their ways, Reigen knows this, but he really wishes they could learn this lesson without having to go through his disciple first.
He tucks the covers high over Mob, making sure to cover up the hole on Mob’s ruined uniform, and then helps Ritsu lay down the spare futon at the foot of the bed, before directing the kid to the bathroom to get himself cleaned up.
He remains standing there by his bed for a moment, just watching the gentle rise and fall of Mob’s chest as he dozes. Alive. Tired, probably further traumatized, but alive. Dimple, who had been floating over Reigen’s shoulder, lowers himself down to sit on Mob’s pillow.
“I’ll watch Shigeo. You should go to sleep; you look like shit,” he says frankly, glancing over Reigen’s beat up suit with a shake of his whole body.
“I don’t think I can right now,” Reigen mutters, picking at his sleeve cuffs. “I gotta- I should see how Ritsu is doing. He might be hungry.”
Dimple nods, and settles into a lounging position. “Good idea. Someone should watch over that kid.” Reigen’s pretty sure that Ritsu would greatly prefer that the person watching over him be literally anyone else in his life, but for now Reigen will have to do.
Reigen has started heating water for some instant noodles when Ritsu wanders toward the kitchenette, now clean and wearing a tracksuit. “Oh, hey, I thought you might be hungry so I’m making two packs,” he tells the kid, who looks suddenly lost.
For a long moment, Ritsu just stares blankly into the pot, where the water is stirring into a boil. He’s always seemed like the more introspective of the two siblings, and Reigen has to wonder what it must be like, living with the specter of his brother’s overwhelming power. Ritsu has his own abilities, of course, and he’s sharp and talented to boot, but Reigen always got the sense that he was holding himself back somehow. That under the surface he’s also reaching his boiling point.
Reigen wants to say something, but he doesn’t know how Ritsu would take any advice he has to give. Besides, he’s not sure he has any words for what happened that isn’t just cheap platitudes and general encouragement.
He hasn’t even begun to process for himself what they just went through.
Tonight, they both almost lost the person they care most about in the world. It’s been over three years; Reigen can admit now that there isn’t anyone in his life that matters to him as much as Mob does. He loves his parents, he does, but in that distant way that you love relatives who are never going to understand the person you’ve become, or the person you were meant to be. He still doesn’t have any close friends his age (though he may have gained a new employee), and half the people he sees with any regularity are return clients. Mob’s been the one keeping him tethered all this time, his one human connection, but Mob is growing up and coming into himself. Turning into a fine young man. Reigen just hopes against hope he’ll make it there.
He and Ritsu stood there in the wreckage and watched the end of the world from afar. Watched Mob run back into the explosion because he was the only one who could. It’s a hollowing, harrowing experience to share.
Reigen clears his throat awkwardly when Ritsu just keeps gazing pensively at the water. It always puts him on shaky footing when he doesn’t have the right words to say. “Sorry, it’s not the most exciting meal. You should’ve probably gone with the Body Improvement Club; they would have-”
“No, it’s fine. It’s good,” Ritsu says quickly, summoning up a wan smile. It’s the most considerate expression he’s ever bothered to put on for Reigen’s sake. What a miracle. “I like instant ramen.”
“I can crack an egg in there too, if you want. Protein is important. For your muscles. Uh, not that I’m saying that you need more muscles, but since your brother’s been into the whole working out thing recently, I thought that maybe you were looking to bulk up too. I mean, a single egg won’t be enough to help with that, but it’s a good start.” Reigen lets his mouth clack closed to cut off the nonsense that he’s spewing and moves to put the seasoning packet into the pot.
Ritsu blinks once, like he’s trying to come to terms with the inane one-sided conversation he was just subjected to, and then bites back whatever snarky comment he was preparing and nods. “Thank you, an egg would be nice.”
“Two egg ramens, coming right up.”
Ritsu helps him stir the noodles once all the ingredients are in because the door is suddenly buzzing. Reigen rolls up his sleeves, ready to fight whoever the NHK has sent this time to try and sell him stuff, but to his surprise he sees a familiar mop of blond hair when he opens the door.
“Reigen-san!” Teruki says brightly. He’s wearing a torn backpack and his school blazer over tonight’s tracksuit and holding a toothbrush in one hand. “Could I accept your offer after all? My apartment is still in pieces from when Claw attacked. I kind of forgot while everything else was happening.”
“Ah,” Reigen replies, because that’s really all there is to say about it. Fucking Claw, honestly. He certainly isn’t going to let Teru sleep on the street. “Well, come on in. We’ll make room for one more.”
Teru leaves his few things by the doorway before following him to the kitchenette, where Ritsu is poking around in the cabinets.
“Hey, brother-kun. What are you making?”
Ritsu turns in surprise and almost drops the bowls in his hands. He catches them in time, but a faint yellow glow surrounds his hands as he places them on the counter; Reigen notices from the corner of his eye Teru holding out a finger.
“Just some instant noodles,” Reigen answers for them. “You have good timing. You can have the other portion.” Ritsu looks surprised at this, but doesn’t say anything as Reigen doles out the food into two bowls. The boys help him bring them to his little round table and sit on the floor to eat, even though he offers the couch.
They sit there quietly so as not to wake Mob, with the two boys eating their dinner while Reigen flips idly through muted tv channels to see if there’s any coverage yet on today’s events. Ritsu excuses himself halfway through to take a call from his parents, which is when Teru puts his chopsticks down and folds his hands together. He looks so oddly formal, and Reigen has to raise an eyebrow.
“What’s the deal? Are you about to make me a business offer? Because I should let you know, I can really only afford one disciple at the moment, but I can take you on per diem if you want.” It likely won’t be very necessary, if Serizawa decides to accept Reigen’s job offer, but he wouldn’t mind having the extra help.
Teru’s eyes widen and he unclasps his hands to wave them in the air. “Oh, no, I’m not looking for a job. But, um, I was hoping to ask for a different favor.”
“Yeah? What can I do for you?”
“Well, I haven’t called the landlord yet, but I think it’s gonna take a while before my apartment gets fixed. And I know you don’t have a lot of space here, but I was wondering if I could...stay a little longer? There’s, ah- not really anywhere else for me to go. None of my friends from school are…” Teru trails off, tugging at a strand of hair as he tries to find the words. Reigen’s pretty sure he knows what Teru wants to say — he’s always read Teru as the kind of person with many acquaintances, but few close friends. Someone who’s always on, who never stops performing until every last camera is shut off. It’s a situation that hits closer to home than Reigen wants to admit.
“The kind of friends you stay with.”
“Right. That’s why I came to you, Reigen-san. I know I might not be as useful as Kageyama-kun, but I’ll pull my own weight! I can help out with the housework and everything-”
He’s started to lean forward across the table, looking earnest, and Reigen has to throw his hands up before Teru gets it into his head to demonstrate with his powers. “Hey, whoa, no need for that. Of course you can stay. There might not be a lot of room for your stuff, though.”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem; most of my stuff got destroyed,” Teru says breezily. Of course it did. Reigen steeples his fingers together as he exhales. Where are Teru’s parents? Does he have parents? Do they know he’s homeless? That dangerous people have been hunting him? Do they know about the fights, the bruises, the trauma?
Who in this world is looking out for Hanazawa Teruki?
“Teru...how long have you been alone?”
He must hear the serious note in Reigen’s voice, because the glib expression fades from his face. “Just since the last year of elementary school. It’s not that bad! There’s a kind grandma across the hall who checks up on me sometimes, and the landlord always answers his phone if I need anything. My parents are just busy overseas with work, but I see them once in a while.”
Reigen translates “once in a while” as “once or twice a year,” based on nothing but body language and tone. If Teru’s account is correct, that would put him at about eleven years old when he starting living alone. God, that’s how old Mob was when he and Reigen first met. The thought of tiny Mob, struggling to control his powers and to understand his place in the world, going through life alone and without support, makes Reigen’s stomach churn. He can picture all too well what Teru must have been like.
“Okay! That’s fine,” Reigen says, even though this whole situation is a disaster, because he’s good at lying. He claps his hands together. “We can go to the shopping arcade and buy you some new clothes, and anything else you need for school. It’ll be extra crowded until Mob and Ritsu go home, but if you help me move the tv stand over, we can make more space next to the futon. Sound good?”
Teru nods gratefully. “Thanks so much, Reigen-san. I really appreciate it.”
“Eh, no worries. Like I could turn away a friend of Mob’s.”
Ritsu wanders back in at the end of this conversation, and immediately makes a face.
“Teru-san, you want to stay with him?” he asks with barely concealed consternation as he sits back down. “Are you sure?”
Reigen dabs at his eyes like he’s getting emotional. “Ahhh, there’s the rude Ritsu-kun I know. I was starting to wonder if you’d been replaced by someone else during that fight.”
Ritsu scowls, but keeps his attention on Teru. “You can probably stay with us for a bit once the house gets put back together. I don’t think our parents would mind, since you’re nii-san’s friend.”
Teru looks surprised, as if he’s unused to people really caring about him enough to offer something like this. “You wouldn’t mind?”
He gets a shrug in response. “I’ll have to ask my parents, but I think they’d be okay with it.” Teru glances between the two of them, looking slightly confused instead of conflicted. Maybe he’s never had this many options before.
“It’s up to you, but either way, my place is open to you if you need it,” Reigen tells him. “Why don’t you see how one night goes before you decide.”
When the boys are done eating Reigen throws everything in the sink to be dealt with later. He still has no appetite himself, so they all collectively decide to get ready for bed. It’s a crowded endeavor, though they remember to quiet down after Dimple reminds (i.e. scolds) them that Mob is asleep.
Teru is happy sleeping on the futon that Ritsu has vacated in favor of bunking in next to his brother, so Reigen gets him another extra blanket while Ritsu crawls in next to Mob. He’s careful not to jostle his brother, but sleeps facing him, as if unwilling to let him out of sight yet. Reigen understands.
He makes himself comfortable on his couch, which is a little too short for him to stretch out on, so he winds up crunched up like a paper ball under his quilt. Ritsu and Teru are whispering something to each other, but he pretends not to hear. They deserve some time to themselves. He’d thought sleep would be difficult, but exhaustion has a way of crashing into a body all at once, and before he knows it, he’s out.
--
Reigen wakes abruptly because of a crick in his neck, and then proceeds to almost roll off his couch and into his table. Morning unveils itself like a blanket being ripped away, and he stares wildly at his ceiling for answers to explain why his heart is beating so rapidly. His dream is fading from memory, and all he can remember is the flash of searing colors and buildings crumbling away. An explosion. An apocalypse. He needs to focus elsewhere.
From his position half off his couch and under the table he sees three still slumbering bodies, and he flops to the ground in relief, unable to care that it’s making the pain in his neck worse.
His alarm isn’t set to go off for another half an hour, so he brushes his teeth while watching the news on mute again. Every channel is either playing footage from yesterday’s attack, or showing a live feed of the gigantic goddamn broccoli now sitting smack dab in the middle of town. Dimple floats over eventually to watch with him, and they make faces at each other whenever a newscaster makes a wildly incorrect guess.
“It has to be Mob’s doing, right? There’s no way that Claw guy has ever grown a vegetable in his life.”
“Shigeo must’ve used his abilities to redirect the energy from the explosion. Why into broccoli, though, who knows.”
“Huh.” Reigen has his suspicions, but in the end, he’s just glad it turned out the way it did.
On tv, a crowd of onlookers has started to gather as close as the police cordon around the broccoli will allow them. Reigen finds the whole thing kind of hilariously absurd, but Dimple’s started to look intrigued, which usually spells out trouble.
“I’m gonna go check it out. Good luck with the kids. Try not to let Ritsu-chan bully you too much,” he says, and floats out the window.
“Oi, don’t abandon me, asshole,” Reigen calls after him, but he’s already gone.
With nothing else to do on his day off, Reigen putters around the minimal space in his apartment cleaning up from last night. By the time he’s changed out of his pajamas and checked his emails, Teru is stirring.
“Morning,” Reigen starts to say, when Teru jolts upward, looking around rapidly to check his surroundings. “You’re at my place,” he says before Teru can get it into his head that he’s trapped in enemy territory, because that’s evidently a thing that needs worrying about now.
Teru stares, unblinking, for a second, and then it’s like he comes back into the moment, finally recognizing Reigen as a friend. His face settles into the calm, easygoing expression that Reigen’s used to. Switched back on again.
“How’d you sleep?” Reigen asks as he logs out of his computer. There are some appointments he’s had to reschedule because of the fire, but hopefully business will be back on track before too long. Reigen isn’t the type of person who deals with free time well.
“I slept fine,” Teru says, reaching behind him to fluff up his pillow. “It’s been a while since I used a futon, but it’s not bad. Thanks again for letting me stay.”
“Like I said before, don’t worry about it. Do you want-”
He’s going to offer breakfast, but he realizes he’s now out of eggs, so there’s not many options in the apartment. While he racks his brain for another option, Mob stirs and sits straight up. He’s sporting a ridiculous case of bedhead.
“Shishou?” he asks, confused. “What are you doing here?”
Reigen laughs. “It’s my house, Mob. You’ve been sleeping for the last twelve hours.”
“Oh...I think I need to keep training. I shouldn’t be getting so tired so easily.” Mob pats at the hole on his shirt, then looks around the room, first spotting Ritsu still asleep next to him, and then Teru on the floor. Reigen can see him processing the scene in his head. “Hanazawa-kun! You came to stay too?”
Teru turns so he can look at Mob, and he smiles up at his friend. “Good morning, Kageyama-kun! Reigen-san was kind enough to let me crash here as well.”
Mob nods seriously, as if he’s not surprised. “Thank you, shishou. For always looking after us.” Reigen laughs again, boisterously, because Mob’s pure-hearted gratitude always makes him feel kind of sheepish.
“Mob, I should be thanking you. I deeply appreciate not being dead.”
Joking about it is a misstep. Mob’s expression grows suddenly solemn, and Teru looks a bit concerned as well.
“That reminds me. It was dangerous for you to come up there-”
“Yeah, but I couldn’t just leave you, Mob. That guy was clearly bad news-”
“-but I’m very grateful that you did. You and Serizawa-san helped me find my footing again. I’m glad you’re all okay.”
Jeez, how is it that Mob can just come out and say stuff like this? He’s getting better and better at emotions every day. They grow up too fast. “Ah- well, of course I did! That’s what a master is for, right? You’re my disciple; I never should have let you go in alone and underprepared.”
“It’s alright. I was never really alone,” Mob says with a small smile.
That’s right. Mob has so many friends now, so many connections and allies and teammates. People who love him, people who have been made better by his existence, Reigen included. Things have really changed, haven’t they? And they’re only going to change more.
Reigen swallows dryly, and before his cool facade can slip, he burbles out, “You, uh, do you kids want...toast? I’ve got toast. Not yet — I currently have just bread, but it can very easily become toast. If you want.” Great diversion. A+.
They both look at him a moment before Teru raises his hand. “I’ll take toast.”
“Toast sounds good,” Mob says. His voice is kind of hoarse, maybe because he had to yell at so many terrorists yesterday.
“Great. I’ll make one for Ritsu too. Um, bathroom’s over there, but no rush. Take your time. The office is still...burned down, anyway, so yeah.” He lifts his hand as if he’s saying goodbye, then shuffles over to put bread in the toaster.
While the toaster does all the hard work, Reigen tries to figure out what to do with their day. Maybe the Kageyama boys should go join their parents at the spa. Reigen could cover the costs. It’ll be good for Mob to see for himself that his family is all safe. Then again, it might be better for him to let them hang out, so he can keep an eye on them.
Teru accidentally decides for him while he and Mob are eating their boring breakfast. “I think I’m going to go back to my apartment later and see what I can salvage. I think most of my clothes and books are still intact.”
“Oh, I’ll come with you,” Mob says as he butters Ritsu’s slice of toast while his brother freshens up. “I can help you carry things. My arms are a lot stronger since I started lifting.”
With a smile that seems to only be reserved for Mob, Teru accepts his offer, which means Reigen’s coming with. Can’t run the risk of letting them go alone when there could still be Claw agents roaming around.
Ritsu tags along too when they go, and with the four of them combined they gather the remainder of Teru’s belongings and lug them back over to Reigen’s place. With the boxes in the corners, it’s gone from cramped to crowded, but they stuff as many into the closet as possible, and manage to leave some walking and breathing room.
The next few days are way more noise and people than Reigen’s used to having in his off-hours, but it’s nice, even with Ritsu still suspicious of everything he does, and Teru trying to impress Mob, and Mob unintentionally bending all of Reigen’s cutlery. At least all the boys still have intact schools to attend during the day, which leaves him time to hash things out with the insurance people and the fire investigators. Homework is quite the event, as is every attempt to cook dinner, and Reigen certainly could do without the squabbles about who’s using the bathroom next. But the ache in his neck from falling asleep at his desk looking up easy recipes is worth it for when he wakes from his impromptu nap to find the boys sat around the table playing cards and looking carefree.
By the time Mob and Ritsu can return home to get things back in order before their parents arrive, he’s feeling a mixture of relief at gaining back some space (and relief for his back as well; the couch has not been kind to his spine), and disappointment that the house is going to feel empty with them all gone.
“Okay, Hanazawa-kun, if you take the boxes in the corner there, Ritsu and I can get the ones from the closet,” Mob is saying as he tugs a box full of books along the floor.
Teru hesitates for just a second, his gaze flickering down to Mob before he looks back at Reigen, a question written across his face.
“Actually, I- I’d like to stay here with Reigen-san until my place is fixed, if that’s still okay.”
Ritsu looks about as surprised as Reigen feels, but Mob just nods once and begins pushing the box back into the space he took it from.
Reigen soaks up the sight of his own tiny apartment, wondering what the draw could possibly be for a teenage boy, but then he notices the spot on his clothes rack where Teru’s school blazer is hanging, and the stack of his textbooks on Reigen’s table, next to the chipped cat mug that Teru’s taken a liking to. It feels...comfortable, seeing the signs of another person filling up this dull space. Everything that Reigen owns still has its place, but the blank spaces are filled with reminders that he isn’t drifting alone through each day.
“Shishou?” Mob prods, when Reigen still fails to answer, and it launches him into action.
“Yeah, of course it’s still okay! We wouldn’t want to trouble your parents, Mob, and my place isn’t that far from Teru’s school. Besides, I always end up cooking too much for myself anyway, so you’re really doing me a favor, Teru.” This spiel is punctuated with way too many sweeping arm gestures, but everyone seems satisfied with his answer.
“Well, if you’re sure, I’ll guess we’ll be going,” Ritsu says. “Thanks again for everything, Reigen-san. See you...some time.” Reigen is kind, so he doesn’t crack a smile as he watches Ritsu’s stiff little bow.
“I’ll be back on Friday to help you move into the new office,” Mob tells Reigen.
He and Teru walk the other two to the train station, where they wave them off until the train departs. And then they’re left there alone, hands in their pockets and looking at one another. Normally Reigen has no problem speaking freely with Teru, who is naturally pretty talkative, but it’s also rarely just been the two of them.
“So, uh, you’re okay with staying. Hope you don’t mind the futon — I think I might slip a disc if I keep crunching up on the couch any longer.”
“The futon’s just fine. It’s mostly like you said, Reigen-san. It’s more convenient, and I don’t want to burden the Kageyamas. That, and I kind of like it here.” Teru looks back in the direction they walked from, even if they can’t see Reigen’s building from this distance. “I...never feel like I have to worry about doing it all wrong when I’m around you. Maybe because we’re kind of alike?”
Reigen hadn’t realized that Teru had noticed. That they’re both very aware of the expectations that surround them each like a shroud, a lingering spirit. While Reigen’s built a business off it, Teru has a reputation he’s still managed to uphold, even if his outlook on life has changed. Two con artists playing the people around them to make it in this world, whether with words or ESP.
But that’s an unfair comparison. Teru’s just a kid. One with a bit more power on his side than most, but trying his best to be good. Mob’s influence has helped. Maybe Reigen can do his part too, even if he’s the last person who should be responsible for the well-being of another living thing. At least he’s here. At least he’ll try. It’s the bare minimum that Teru deserves, until they can find better for him.
Resting his hand on Teru’s shoulder, he starts directing them back home. “Well, if you stick with me, maybe you could someday hold the title of ‘the century’s greatest psychic’. You’re up against Mob, but between the two of us, I don’t think he’s really aiming for it. Oh, no using powers on people to prove yourself, though. That’s the #1 Rule.”
“Yeah, Kageyama-kun was pretty insistent on that one too,” Teru says with a slightly bemused smile.
“If anyone ever puts you in a position where you can’t follow that rule anymore, come get me. That’s a sure sign that the problem’s beyond your pay grade.”
“Pay grade? I thought you weren’t hiring me.”
Reigen shrugs and puts his hands in his pockets. “Eh, I guess I could use an extra pair of hands around sometimes. It was nice to have the assistance that time you and Ritsu filled in for Mob, and you might be able to help out with another new development I’ve got in the works. Don’t expect to be paid as much as Mob, though.”
“...Reigen-san, you can’t go much lower than ¥300 an hour...”
“Aha, well, we can work that out later. Let’s go get you unpacked. You’ll be here for a while; you shouldn’t have to rummage through the closet every time you need to get something.”
“Okay, but you know you can’t weasel out of conversations with me anymore, right? We live in the same place.”
“Oh wow, would you look at the time? Already half past ten? We better hurry if we want to finish before lunchtime. C’mon, Teru, let’s pick up the pace.”
“Are you literally running away from me right now?”
(Teru never ends up leaving. By the time his place gets fixed two months later, Reigen’s lease is basically up, and it seems irresponsible to let a fourteen year old boy live alone while his parents are fucking around on the other side of the planet, so they agree to split the rent on a bigger apartment closer to both the office and Black Vinegar Middle. Teru’s happy to have his own room again, whereas Reigen’s just thankful to have an actual kitchen, now that he needs to cook so much. And maybe a little thankful to have someone to eat dinner with.)