Deep breath in… and out…

Once again, Shigeo focused on calming himself down. He had been standing outside the office door in silence, unmoving for close to 15 minutes now, yet he couldn't bring himself to open the door. He was there earlier than usual, but froze up when intrusive thoughts flooded his mind not for the first time that day.

It had been a week at best - maybe two - since Claw's world domination scheme had come to an end. Everything was more or less back to normal, any damages caused in the wake of it all had been amended, and everyone's injuries had been healed. So naturally, Shigeo wondered why his mind continuously wandered to dark places.

Particularly, he was stuck replaying a moment during his fight with Claw's boss just before the battle had grown heavy with their psychic powers. Reigen had stepped in and tried to defend him from Suzuki Touichirou, knowing full well the kind of powerful monster he was up against. He would have very easily lost his life, had Serizawa not stepped in and protected him at the last second.

If he had been even a moment too late…

Shigeo shook his head, again trying to regain his composure when he felt his emotions begin building up inside of him. He took in another deep breath, holding it for a second or two before releasing it slowly. He felt relaxed immediately, and mentally thanked Master Reigen for teaching him that particular trick. Shigeo didn't blame him for jumping at the opportunity to show him how to calm down almost instantly - anyone would have been rattled even a little bit after seeing what his powers combined with anger could do, after all.

He reasoned that surely he couldn't be the only one with a heavy mind after everything they had been through, and steeled himself up to open the door to ask his master a question that had been invading his thoughts. He placed a hand on the doorknob and tried to turn it, but confusion followed when the door refused to budge. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he confirmed that these were, indeed, normal business hours, and stood puzzled as to why Reigen wouldn't be there. Just as he was about to flip through his contacts list to call him, he heard the man in question's familiar placid footsteps approaching the office.

"Oh, Mob! Perfect timing! Give me a hand here, will you?" Reigen's head peeked out at him from behind the tall stack of books and papers he was carrying. Only marginally distracted by the sight before him, he pulled the office keys from Reigen's coat pocket and unlocked the door for them.

"Thanks! Man, they couldn't have made these books any heavier, I swear… hope you weren't waiting too long," Reigen commented offhandedly as he set the stack down on his desk and stretched his arms.

"Not at all, Master." Shigeo didn't bother telling him that he had, in fact, been here for quite awhile, but instead chose to ask "What's all of this for?" Reigen, as though expecting the question, chuckled and gestured to the books.

"This is study material, Mob. I'm going to have Serizawa read over all of it." He stepped around his desk and began preparing a pot of tea. "You see, he's a fantastic psychic! But as an exorcist? He could use a bit more work, I think. So, I decided to have him study up on different exorcism techniques, and I even threw in a few articles on how to improve social skills, too!" He ended his explanation with a confident smirk, hands resting on his hips. "Killing two birds with one stone, right?"

"Why didn't you make me do all of this when I became your apprentice?"

"T-that's because… because you were much too young! And you catch on to my techniques quickly, so it wasn't necessary!" Flustered, he threw together a plausible answer, but became thoughtful after a moment of consideration. "But Serizawa… he's a grown man, so he's already accustomed to a particular way of living. Teaching a child and teaching an adult the same thing will have very different results. Remember that, Mob!"

"Yes, Master."

Once the tea was ready, he poured out two cups, handing one to Shigeo as he leaned against the edge of his desk. He smartly chose to set the cup down on the desk to let it cool off for a minute and crossed his arms. He closed his eyes and began drumming his fingers against his arm, deep in thought.

"Let me tell you, he's got a lot of untapped potential. That Suzuki guy really didn't do much good for him."

Shigeo nearly dropped his cup with shock, his back going rigid at just the mention of the name. The invasive thoughts he'd been trying to set aside suddenly came rushing back to the surface, and he could feel his emotions torrenting within, akin to bile rising in his throat. Trembling, he squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the cup with both hands, and took another deep breath, desperately trying to get ahold of himself. Reigen seemed to sense the change in the atmosphere, and cracked an eye open.

"Oi, Mob. What's wrong?"

Shigeo didn't respond right away, but opened his eyes slowly when he felt as though he'd regained some sort of control over his unsettled emotions. At this point, Reigen had stood up fully and stepped a few paces closer to him, with a perturbed-yet-concerned look on his face. Shigeo turned his gaze downward towards his cup, ruminating his next words before speaking.

"Is- ...everything is okay, right…?"

Reigen quirked an eyebrow before answering carefully, "...Yes. Everything is okay. Do you think so?"

After a few seconds of silence, he only received a short nod in response. Reigen stared at him a moment longer before sighing and plucking the cup from Mob's hands, placing it on the desk behind him.

"Oookay Mob. I'm gonna say that now is as good a time as any to tell me what's bothering you. Anything on your mind. Just… get it off your chest," he crossed his arms again and spoke casually. But his tone was laced with a sense of authority, hinting that he wasn't joking around when he said he wanted him to speak up. Reigen patiently waited for an answer, undeterred by his student's odd behavior.

Shigeo shifted his eyes to meet his gaze, but fidgeted as he considered the question that he'd been wanting to ask him since that day.

"...Are you… alright…?"

Reigen blinked in surprise, somewhat caught off-guard by the seemingly innocent question. Years of experience allowed him to recover immediately, however, and he relaxed into a more comfortable stance.

"Absolutely! The books weren't that heavy. You could say I just do it for show-"

"That's not what I- oh, um… s-sorry," Shigeo started, but backpedaled when he remembered his manners.

Now Reigen was certain he had read his student incorrectly. His normally-subdued body language spoke a thousand words, and yet here he was, fumbling to piece together whatever on earth he could possibly be upset about. What were they just talking about again?

"...Does this have something to do with Serizawa? Is there an issue with him?"

"N-no! Serizawa-san is fine… if anything, I actually couldn't be any more grateful to him than I already am…."

Grateful? What was he talking about now? He tapped one finger against his still crossed arms and reviewed the gist of their entire conversation. He only began acting up when he said….

"Is this about Suzuki?"

Shigeo's face slightly contorted with a frown, and he cast his eyes downward again. A few of the books from the desk lifted gently into the air, as well as a few pens and papers here and there. The cups of tea moved only a little, but didn't fly away. Reigen moved his head away from a stray pencil that slowly floated by , and he was sure then that he'd found his answer.

To be fair, Reigen had only been somewhat traumatized by the alarming wall of explosive fire that had been launched in his direction. Serizawa had jumped in and protected him right before he could even mentally kiss his mother goodbye. His suit and more than a few tendrils of hair had been singed, but other than that, he counted himself extremely lucky to be alive, let alone even standing. He still became a little nervous around open flames, but other than that, he was perfectly fine. His student, however…

Mob was a different story. He had been beaten down enough to only be able to watch helplessly, having no time to pull himself together, gather his energy, and create a barrier to protect him. Now that was traumatizing. And immediately afterwards, with Mob's unadulterated anger and power flowing carelessly around them…

Well, suffice to say that Reigen could only guiltily feel sort of happy that his student held him in such high regard.

And now, the kid was trying to confront the incident head-on - something that even a man as experienced as himself would find difficult to do. Major props to him there, then.

Neither of them were able to successfully protect each other during that fight, and though he himself wasn't completely upset about it ('hey, everything turned out okay in the end, so that's all that matters, right?'), he couldn't imagine what Mob was going through. On top of that, Mob normally kept his emotions to a bare minimum, suppressing them enough so they could scarcely be seen. So for this much body language to be escaping him, he wasn't simply "upset" over what had happened.

He was completely torn up about it.

Reigen decided that he needed to tread carefully here. One wrong word or action could trigger an array of negative emotions within the boy. It wasn't that he was afraid of him, but rather he was afraid for him.

"I… am fine. Okay?" Reigen gestured to his entire being with a slow outward sweep of his arms, attentively watching for any reactions, good or bad. He received no response this time, only his student absently clutching at the hem of his gakuran. Somewhere deep down, he knew a simple answer wasn't enough, but he didn't want to create a long explanation that would upset him further.

"Mob… Shigeo," his disciple snapped to attention immediately at the sound of his own name, "What can I do to prove to you that I'm okay?"

Shigeo held his gaze a moment longer, then glanced away, uncertainty spelled all over his face. Reigen considered this scenario, and what his mother might have done to remedy the situation. He had been 14 - almost 15 once too, but he'd never had to deal with inner turmoils like this. Amidst the chaos in his head trying unsuccessfully to remember how the mind of a teenager worked, there was only one thing he could think to do at a time such as this.

Mentally hoping that neither Serizawa nor any clients walked in at that moment, he closed the distance between them and pulled his student into a gentle embrace. Shigeo didn't move for a moment, surprised by the sudden contact - and by his master of all people - before wrapping his arms around Reigen's waist and returning the hug, though hesitant at first.

"Alright, so maybe I'm not exactly 'okay' right now. But I can say for a fact that I… no, we will be okay. It'll just... take a little more time. Understand?" Reigen spoke softly this time, using one hand to rub Shigeo's back. In response, the teen tightened his hold, and several more objects lifted from their resting places, floating ever so gently around them. Positive emotions filled the atmosphere, and an overwhelming sense of relief flooded Shigeo's systems.

"...Yes, Master," his small, wavering voice could be heard after a brief pause, muffled from where he'd buried his face in Reigen's chest. Reigen didn't comment on the dampness he could feel growing there, but instead held him as long as Shigeo needed him too, squeezing him just a little tighter before letting go when he felt him begin removing his arms.

"Alright! Now that that's out of the way, let's get things ready for our new employee. As his senpai, you're in charge of his studies." Reigen patted his head and straightened the front of his suit before moving to retrieve his cup of tea and a few pens from the air, ignoring the stunned look on his pupil's face.

"But… I'm not that great at studying, myself…" Shigeo commented quietly, wiping his face clean with his hands and sleeves.

"Then this'll be even better! You can focus on learning how to study at the same time! And who knows, you might even learn a thing or two from all of this!"

Once all astray objects were back in place, Shigeo picked up his cup of tea and began tidying up his own small desk. As he worked, more questions and poor thoughts began filling his mind, and felt his features fall again.

"Hey. It'll be okay. Just take things one at a time, alright?"

He perked up when he heard Reigen's voice, then let a small smile show as he mulled over his master's words - he had a feeling he wasn't talking about studying just then. He took another deep breath and released it slowly when he heard Serizawa's footsteps approaching the office door.

It would take a while before things could be perfectly "normal", for sure, but in the meantime, he had a lot of work to do.

My very first MP100 fanfic! I've completely fallen in love with this series! I wrote this entire story in the span of nearly two days, a new record for me! Unfortunately, I didn't have an editor this time, so forgive any mistakes or repetitive phrases. I was up late writing this last night, too! XD I listened to song "103" from Soothing Relaxation on YouTube the entire time I wrote this, so read along with it for best results! ;)