A/N: warning for major character death
Reigen Arataka was an unremarkable man. He wore a cheap suit, had a simple haircut, and would have otherwise never stood out in a crowd if it was only up to appearances. However, Reigen was a man who prided himself on being more than just appearance. It was all about representation, that's what he always told Mob.
"You can be anything," Reigen had said, and he truly meant it. He could fill a room with sound and color just by stepping into it, and even when he left it seemed to linger. He breathed life into the dullest of days, made even the most mundane jobs an adventure to be shared. When Mob went home and his parents asked him how his day was, he would always share his latest venture into the world of the 21st Centuries Greatest Psychic and his humble apprentice. Reigen seemed to have a bubble around him that exemplified everything he was.
However when he died, it was without warning and without fanfare. That bubble burst, and it was as modest as the death of King Lear: he simply died.
His tombstone was an unobtrusive thing, stone with his name and date of birth and death written beneath. A single vase rested beneath the stone where a lonely carnation rested: his favorite flower.
This, Mob mused, was a good representation of his master. An ordinary man on the surface, unadorned yet remarkable all the same. All the color had seemed to bleed away from his world without the boisterous man to paint the world around him, now as grey as the stone that marked his grave.
"I graduated from high school, Shishou." Mob said to the stone quietly, face placid as he switched out the dying carnation for a fresher one, this time a different color. "I didn't get top of the class like Ritsu will, but... I did ok. All that algebra you helped me with really got me through those tough math classes."
The stone simply sat there, still and silent and colorless in a way Reigen never was, it made Mob's heart ache. Inside, his meter was kept carefully in check and balanced around 21%, the same number it had been since his explosion after the funeral.
"I've taken over the business you left me, though some of our old clients always tell me I'm no good at massages like you were." He let a fond smile through, clutching the dying carnation in his fist and rubbing at prickling eyes. "I keep thinking I'll run into you out there, as a spirit, but... I'm glad I don't. I'm glad you found peace, Shishou."
Mob took a deep breath, letting his emotions rise and fall like the tide without effecting his meter, a technique Reigen had helped him develop that worked most of the time. He smiled, remembering the day they had practiced late into the night with scary horror movies. He was pretty sure it was just an exuse to hang out, but Mob never minded the pretense. He stood straight, pushing his shoulders back and adjusting the tie around his neck.
"I'm going to make you proud, ok Shishou? I'll show you I can follow in your footsteps." His eyes blended with the softness of affection and the diamond hardness of determination as he stared down the cold stone that was all he had left of the man that had become like a father. "I may not be the Centuries Greatest Psychic, but I hope I can at least be worthy of being your representative."
A single tear rolled down his cheeks, curving with the smile he made for his master and friend. "I'll make you proud."
And maybe it was his imagination, but a breeze blew by when he finished, and he could almost hear a faint reply. No words, but a sense of pride and a final goodbye that floated around him.
A/N: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thoughts?