Mob has absolutely no idea what she was doing, not really, and not just because it was math class. No, she had no idea what she was doing in general. She wanted to make friends and be popular, but did she want it for herself or because her mother kept telling her to be more normal, more like everyone else?

"Honestly, Shigeko, when are you going to make some friends? You can't spend your entire youth working." That's what her mother had said a few days ago.

"Oh don't be like that, Shigeko's just a little career woman, aren't you?" Dad had come to her rescue. He was always nice, well, when he wasn't too tired to be with them. He worked all the time.

"Shigeko is really nice and lots of people would like to be her friend." Ritsu was always nice to her. He was her friend, probably because he was her little brother, though.

She looked around. Other people were, not better, but different. They didn't have to worry about losing control or hurting anyone. Mob worried about that a lot. She needed to always be vigilant of herself, or something terrible could happen. Because she was always so inward she didn't have the mental energy to read the atmosphere and that made her awkward. She was tired of being awkward.

Tsubomi was up at the board solving the equation. She was always so pretty and cool. They used to be friends, when they were little, but Mob's psychic powers had just scared her away. The other kids used to poke her or yell at her until she exploded. That seemed mean but she had just been misreading the atmosphere. The other kids were having fun so she should have been having fun, too. She felt hurt then, and wanted to stay friends with Tsubomi but they were too different. She was pretty, Mob was just cute, she could read the atmosphere like a book, and Mob couldn't tell if the atmosphere was in Japanese, English, or Martian.

But if she could be friends with Tsubomi again then she could be more popular, and have other friends. But first she had to become a more well-rounded person. To do that she would need some hobbies, interests, something other than work. Not that she didn't like work, work was nice. Master Reigen was nice, always so nice. Smart too. He had already taught her so much about her powers and they had a lot of fun just hanging out.

There, she already had a friend. Did Master Reigen count as a friend? He was her teacher and her boss but they also hung out a lot. Did work still count as work if they weren't doing any actual work? Like those long days when they didn't have any clients, not even anyone coming in for a massage or anything, and they just watched funny cat videos and ate junk food all day.

If she could make one friend then she could make another. But first she had to figure out how all this math worked, and why there were all these letters in it. Ritsu could help her later. He was great at math. He was great at everything. He was super well rounded, too. He was smart and athletic and well liked, too. Maybe she could be well liked if she, what was the expression? If she put herself out there more. She'd join a club. She'd find some other people to make friends with and she'd get more hobbies than working, watching anime, reading manga, and playing go with her little brother.

But what club to join? She honestly had no idea. She wouldn't try to join student council, though. It would be nice to spend more time with Ritsu and all but she didn't get good enough grades and those guys were super intense. There was only one girl on the student council but she was older and kind of scary.

What kind of club would she like? There wasn't an Evangelion club. There was an anime club but she had passed by their room a few times and it wasn't for her. It was all boys and all they did all day was watch shows that she didn't like and draw cute girls. No thanks. She didn't even like those kinds of shows. She liked shows about feelings, mostly. Where people grew and changed and fought for good. She also liked shows where people were in clubs and had club adventures.

Hey, maybe if she joined a club then she could have club adventures.

The videogame club was all hardcore gamers. She liked mobile games, Mario games, and games where you took care of a virtual pet. That reminded her, where did she leave her Nintendog game? Oh, yeah, Ritsu had her DS now. She liked games but she was no gamer.

The manga club was super hardcore, too. This one had girls but they all cared about ships and stuff. She cared somewhat about shipping, everyone knew that Shinji and Rei from Eva were meant for each other. She liked love. She liked plots where people fell in love and kissed at the end. She just wasn't super hardcore into it. She read Weekly Shoujo and a few series when they came out in compilations. Some light novels, too. Nothing too hardcore.

Maybe she should hang out with boys, though. She wanted more female friends but hanging out with boys might be fun, too. She looked around. She liked boys. She wasn't in love with any boys but she liked the idea of them. Of someone who loved her, of someone who wanted to hold hands and maybe even kiss.

No, not kiss, not yet. The thought of kissing a boy, any boy, made her turn beet red.

She had never had her first kiss. She had never gotten close enough to any boy to kiss him. She had kissed Ritsu on top of his head but he was her little brother and she knew that little brothers didn't count as boys. Master Reigen didn't count, either. Not that she would mind kissing him…

Where in the world had that thought come from?

Kissing was for when you were in love and she was not in love with Master Reigen. She couldn't be because he was the master and she was the student. She couldn't think these sorts of thoughts about him. She should have been thinking these sorts of thoughts about the boys in her class. She looked around. Nobody she wanted to kiss.

She had to get to know a boy better before she kissed him. She had to get to know him as a person and feel comfortable with him. To do this she needed to actually meet a boy and to meet a boy she would have to join a club. But which one? Maybe she should go to work today and take a night to think about it. She could ask Ritsu. Why had he wanted to join the student council? What made him want to be a student council member? He must have enjoyed it a lot. He was always going to meetings or doing student council duties. Not that the student council did as much as the ones in anime, though. They mostly just bossed people around and breathed down your neck about your uniform.

She chewed on this for the rest of the day. She had been so deep in thought about which club to even think about joining that she didn't notice the group of people harassing the entire school about joining their club. No, not just a club but a society devoted to friendship, comradery, and discovering the mysteries of the paranormal!

"Hey, you, come with me." Mob was on her way out of school, everything but math having gone well. She looked up and saw a chubby boy in glasses trying to get her attention. Well maybe not hers, she wasn't the best at reading the atmosphere. She looked around and then pointed to herself.

"Yes you, come with me." He said. She shook her head. She had to go to work. She hadn't chosen a club and Master Reigen would probably need her for something. She also looked forward to seeing him. Maybe they could get takoyaki again.

"No, I have to go now." Said Mob in her usual monotone. She had a commitment to keep. She said that she wouldn't come to work if she had joined a club. She hadn't joined a club and therefore she needed to go to work.

"Are you in any clubs?" he asked. This was the last person left. They had asked literally every other student. He knew her, sort of. Shigeko the girl who never smiled and always stared off into space. Ritsu, the only first year on the student council's, big sister.

"No." said Mob simply. This boy was looking at her weird. People looked at her like that, sometimes. Master Reigen said that she looked weird, sometimes. Spooky.

"Cram school?" he asked again. As far as he knew she was a card carrying member of the going home club. If she was then she would be absolutely perfect.

"No, I don't attend that either." Said Mob. Cram school? Yuck. She had a hard enough time at regular school. Mom wanted her to go, though, but dad said that it would be a waste of money because if she hadn't gotten as smart as Ritsu at this point then cram school would just be throwing money away.

"Any hobbies or interests?" he asked again, holding way too much eye contact. Mob shrugged. She liked anime and manga and games. She wasn't hardcore into anything, though.

"I have an after school job and I have to go to it now. It was nice meeting you." Said Mob walking towards the door. He looked at her like she was the answers to all of humanity's hopes and prayers. It honestly made her uncomfortable, the sheer amount of eye contact he was making. Master Reigen said that there was a sweet spot to eye contact but that she would probably never find it.

"You're perfect! Come with me!" he said as he dragged her down the hall. She let herself get dragged. Maybe this was something interesting, or maybe it was something weird. Either way it didn't look like he was going to leave her be until she heard him out. Master always said that it was important to hear people out and then make your judgements about them. Master was good at things like that, talking to people and stuff.

Mob found herself dragged down the hall and into a far off club room. The sign said it was the telepathy club. Oh, she had passed by this room. She couldn't join, though. She was an esper, not a telepath.

"I found someone!" the boy said as Mob was thrust into the room. She looked around. Two other boys and a girl, lots of junk food, manga, and videogames. Oh, and what looked like a descent collection of empty soda cans. Maybe they were going to build something. She and Ritsu used to make cars and spaceships from old soda cans. Well, they did until Ritsu cut his finger and mom said no more making Ritsu play with garbage.

"Yes! Thank God!" the girl said. She walked over and bowed. Mob bowed back. That was the polite thing to do. She didn't know this girl. She looked older, though, so that would explain it. Not that Mob knew a lot of people.

"I'm president of the telepathy club, Kurata Tome." She said taking both of Mob's hands in hers. Familiar, but not unwanted. She seemed nice. Maybe she wanted to make friends. Mob knew that she could always use more friends.

"I'm Kageyama Shigeko, but everyone calls me Mob." Said Mob. She did want some more friends, and here were more friends. Sort of. She could make friends with them, though, and they wanted her to be there it seemed like. She needed a club, here was a club. Perfect.

"Hey, I've heard of you. Didn't you once ignore your teacher for so long that he dragged you out into the hall?" asked Tome. That was a rumor that had made it's rounds a couple weeks ago. This was the same girl? Tome had been picturing a badass when she had heard that. This girl looked more like a cross between an emotionless anime girl and the token moe girl. Hey, they could have a moe mascot now!

"He didn't drag me, just my chair." Said Mob flatly. Flat fact. It was just the flat fact of what happened. She hadn't been ignoring class on purpose, she had just been too wrapped up in the colors that made up the world. It was a kaleidoscope. Really, if she focused that was what it looked like. Normal people couldn't see it that way, though. This girl looked like a normal person. Not colors around her. No AT field. Or was it an aura?

"Club president, she's perfect. No clubs, cram school, or hobbies of any kind." The boy said. Mob nodded. That was pretty much it.

"She's cute too!" someone else said. The club president, Tome, whacked him on the head without turning around. Mob didn't react. She knew that lots of people thought that she was cute. She was cute in the way a kitten or a little kid was. She wasn't cute in the boys wanted to confess to her way.

"Don't scare her away. We need her." Said Tome through clenched teeth. This girl was literally their last resort. Tome circled her. She just sort of stood there. Her eyes didn't even follow Tome as she circled her. What was with her? Was she putting on an act or what she really like this?

"For what?" asked Mob. She wasn't perfect for anything but being awkward and clueless. She knew that she was weird, her parents had told her as much many times.

"Why to join the telepathy club of course." Said Tome as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. What had Inukawa done? Dragged her in without explaining a thing?

"You all have telepathy?" asked Mob, hope welling up in her eyes. The only other person she had ever met with abilities like hers was her Master, and Master Reigen said that his powers were spiritual and not psychic. She didn't have telepathy and she had been afraid to come in and ask them, before, because she was bad at approaching people. Plus she herself did not have that particular power.

"Well…not exactly…." Said the Tome rubbing the back of her head. They were still working on that part of their name. They had the club part down, though.

"Oh, Ok. I have to go to work then. Good bye." Said Mob. She couldn't believe that she had gotten her hopes up. Maybe there was nobody else like her. Master Reigen wasn't even like her, not really. She felt hurt, now, because her hopes had been shot down. She…she did wanted that, to find another person like her.

"Wait! Please, stay." Said Tome grabbing the girl, Kageyama, by the shoulders. This was their one last hope and Tome would not let her walk right out the door.

"Why?" asked Mob. She knew that Master Reigen said that she could show up to work later than usual if she had a club but she…wanted….to go to work and hang out with him. Being with him felt more…appealing…than it used to. Not that she didn't enjoy sending time with Master Reigen before, but now it was something she was really looking forward to, like a cold glass of milk on a hot day.

"Because….we need another member or our club gets disbanded! Everything that we're fought tooth and nail for will vanish! Us, we true comrades, will be scattered to the four winds! Will you do what you can to stop this tragedy from occurring!?" Said Tome, her excitement getting the best of her. Mob nodded quickly. She was being shaken now. She needed to make it stop before she got motion sick. She got motion sick easily.

"Alright. I'll join then." Said Mob. She could do that. They all seemed to really care about their club and she didn't want something they loved to get taken away from them. If she could help then she would. Besides, joining a club was something she had put on her list of things to do to become a more well rounded person.

"Really?! Perfect! I can tell that you and I are going to be the best of friends, Kageyama! Just you wait!" said Tome, shaking Mob back and forth like a rag doll. She hadn't had a female friend in a while and now she had one! And she was moe! Mob kept herself calm even though she was starting to get motion sick.

"So, what does this club do, then, if you guys don't have telepathy?" asked Mob. She didn't know what else that they could be doing if they had no powers. Maybe she and Master Reigen were the only people with powers in the city, maybe even the world.

"We at the telepathy club have dedicated our lives to improving our telepathy skills in order to make contact with extraterrestrial beings!" said Tome dramatically. The boys around her groaned. Tome shut them up with a glare. They worked hard, sometimes. Not always but they had bursts of furious activity!

"Ok." Said Mob quietly. She looked at them all with her same deadpanned stare. To them she looked bored. She was just taking them all in. They seemed nice enough, kind of like they were in a club shenanigans anime. Maybe she could find a role, here. She'd be the quiet background character, probably. She was Mob after all.

"That's it?" asked Tome. She didn't have any further questions? She was just going to accept their crazy explanation?

"What?" said Mob not getting what she had said wrong.

"That's all you have to say?" said Tome. Mob thought for a moment. Right. Master Reigen said that when you talked to other people you should always ask follow up questions.

"Have you made contact with any aliens?" asked Mob. Were aliens real? She had never seen an but then again most people had never seen any spirits. Everyone blinked and then looked off in different directions.

"Well, no, because we…um…get a little sidetracked…because we needed to keep up moral!" Said Tome. Mob nodded. On the outside she was calm, aloof even, but on the inside she was all topsey turvey. She wanted to make friends and join a club but she also wanted to better herself. Would she truly better herself by doing, what looked like, a whole lot of nothing? She could play videogames and eat junk food with Ritsu at home, so would doing so at school really be bettering her in any way? But then again she enjoyed doing these things. She didn't have telepathy and she didn't care about finding aliens but she did care about making friends.

She was interrupted from her internal debate by the buzzing of her phone. It was Master Reigen.

"Hello, Master." Said Mob as she answered his call. She was smiling a little, she noticed. She sometimes smiled when she talked to Master Reigen. His voice sounded nice, too.

"Mob, good, I got a hold of you. I need you to come by right away." Said Master Reigen. She smiled, a little smile not anything big, and felt herself get warmer. Tome gave her a grin like the Chesire Cat that ate the canary.

"Boyfriend?" she asked slyly. They could girl bond over guys. Not that she had ever had a boyfriend. At most she had practice kissed Inukawa and that hadn't been very good. Mob shook her no. Her? A boyfriend? Sure, and then they'd make another Eva rebuild movie.

"No, this is my Master, Master Reigen." Said Mob. This got everyone's attention. Shishou? Like in a manga? What did she need a Master for?

"Master?" they all asked at once. Mob nodded, not getting why they sounded shocked. It was common knowledge that she was the weird girl with the spooky powers, wasn't it?

"Yes. He teaches me to control my powers, and I work for him." said Mob. This just earned her further looks of confusion. Someone muttered something about middle school syndrome. Someone else muttered something back about crazy rumors.

"Mob? Mob? Are you still there?" said Reigen. What Mob couldn't see was the pissed off spirit in front of him, the salt needlessly scattered everywhere, and the looks of terror in the eyes of the clients. This was not the time for her to be ignoring him.

"I'm here. Master, remember, I asked you not to call me on such short notice. I have a club meeting today." Said Mob. She would have come in on her own, well, before she had joined this club.

"Can you cut it a little short today, Mob? I really need you." asked Reigen. He had absolutely no way of getting rid of this evil spirit on his own, he needed Mob's help. He'd make it up to her. He'd get ramen and one of those milk popsicles she liked so much, and he'd pay her double…or time and a half. Yes, that was more affordable. Reigen had rent to pay after all.

"Master, I just joined." Said Mob. The war within her was reignited. On the one hand she wanted to go and help Master Reigen, and not just because of the warmth that filled her when he said he needed her. No, she wanted to help him because he was a good person and he was asking for her help. Also it was her job.

"Well, say that you'll stay double time at the next meeting then." Said Reigen. Mob was about to reply when the phone was ripped out of her hands.

"Hello, this is club president Tome. Kageyama can't come in today, we need her to sign the papers so she can be an official member of our club. I'm sure you understand." Said Tome in a tone that left no room for discussion. The calm sort of angry tone that her mom used when she was up late screaming into his mic. Well it usually left no room for discussion, when she used her mom's tone, but she had never verbally sparred with the likes of Reigen Arataka before.

"I'm sorry but Shigeko has to come in to work today. She can sign the papers or whatever tomorrow." Said Reigen in his best tone that said that he was the adult and what he said went.

"It'll be too late by tomorrow." Said Tome, starting up the water works. Mob was honestly concerned and took her phone back.

"Um, Master, I think I should stay at least to sign the forms. The club president is about to cry." Said Mob. She didn't like it when people cried but she also didn't want to disappoint Master Reigen.

"Mob if you believe that I have an underwater bridge that I can sell you." Said Reigen with a groan. He could tell that those were crocodile tears and he wasn't in the room. Why was Mob so bad socially? How did that happen to someone that they couldn't even realize when they were getting the crocodile tears?

"But why would the bridge be underwater?" asked Mob. Tome rolled her eyes and tried to snatch the phone through her fake tears. What was with Kageyama? She wasn't being sarcastic, that was genuine.

"Mob…what's this club even called?" asked Reigen trying to keep from yelling. He couldn't yell at a bunch of middle school girls, that would have been bad.

"The telepathy club, but nobody has telepathy. They look for aliens and hang out." Said Mob. Everyone was, once again, looking in all different directions. Well when she put it like that they sounded incredibly shady.

"What-in-the-….?" Said Reigen trying to fit how any of those things went together in his mind. Kids these days.

"The club is called the telepathy club. They don't have telepathy but they look for-" said Mob thinking that maybe they just had a bad connection.

"I heard you the first time. Mob…it's important….please. I'll make it up to you." Said Reigen practically pleading. Mob nodded her head but then remembered that she was on the phone and that they were on chat only.

"Of course, Master." Said Mob. If Master Reigen really needed her then of course she'd go to help him. She closed her phone and bowed to her new club mates.

"You're going?" asked Tome incredulously. So what, she was just going to go running because she was told to?

"Yes. I'm sorry. I'll be back tomorrow though." Said Mob with a bow. Tome tried to stop her.

"You're just going to go? Just because he said so?" said Tome. If her mother had told her to rush home during her club time she would have given her mother a big piece of her mind.

"Yes. He's my Master and my boss. I have to go but I will be back tomorrow. I promise." Said Mob as she left. She felt sort of bad but knew that she'd be back tomorrow, she'd sign the papers, and they'd be able to keep their club room. It would all work out. She had promised after all and a promise was a promise.

The spirit turned out to actually be a fairly weak one. Mob didn't know why her Master had called her all the way out of her club meeting for such a weak spirit. Well, maybe it wasn't so weak because, well, the special salt splash move didn't work. Not that she had ever seen the salt work.

Still though, Mob didn't really like being called away.

Progress towards Mob's explosion 30%

"Thank you so much Mob. I mean, I could have gotten it if my, uh, powers weren't so drained already from clearing all of the spirits that were there before the one you got too." Said Reigen trying to sound smooth. Mob nodded and kept her eyes fixed in front of her.

"I asked you not to call me on such short notice, Master." Said Mob quietly. She liked helping Master Reigen but she did have her own life, not that she had much that she was doing. Reigen threw his arm around her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Mob. Tell you what, I'll make it up to you." Said Reigen. Mob nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak just then, and she didn't know why. This was…this was new. Master Reigen had always causally touched her before, a pat on the head, an arm across her back, so this its self wasn't different. Maybe she was different. Maybe there was something wrong with her.

"Let's get some ramen! You like ramen!" said Reigen. He took her silence for anger. Maybe he had crossed a line with her. He didn't know what he'd do without her. Hopefully ramen and a day off in the future would make her feel better.

"Alright." Said Mob quietly, looking down at her shoes as if they were the most important thing in the world. She could feel him near her, the weight of him. She could smell him. She could lean in and rest her head against him, if she chose to. She wanted to but she didn't.

"And you can have the whole day off tomorrow." Said Reigen. Mob nodded. She could go to her club meeting. The schedule on the wall said that they met every single day. They wouldn't have a teacher breathing down their necks either. The club advisor was the librarian and she was almost eighty. Mob was glad, she got enough of her teachers during the day.

"Thank you, Master." Said Mob quietly, her voice wavering a little. She wanted him to let her go and she wanted him to pull her closer. It honestly made her feel something like motion sickness.

Progress towards Mob's explosion 45%

They walked towards the Ramen shop, Reigen's arm around her shoulder the entire way there. He narrated to her the amazing, and unknown to her heavily embellished, account of that day's activities. Mob hung on every word he said. Her Master was so brave, getting rid of an entire parking structure's worth of spirits all on his own, not stopping until his powers were totally depleted. She wished she had been there to help, she could have saved her Master that fate. She wished she had been there to save him but she was also happy that she had been able to join a club, sort of.

"So, Mob, what's with this club you're going to join?" asked Reigen, finally taking a break to ask about her. They were at the ramen shop now, bowls of ramen cooling in front of them. Reigen didn't mind how hot his ramen was, he slurped up his noodles and kept up conversation just the same as if they were ice cold.

"It's the telepathy club. They-" said Mob getting ready to start her spiel again.

"I know what you said, they look for aliens and goof off all day." Said Reigen. Sounded pretty shady to him but if this was what Mob wanted he wouldn't discourage her. Lord knew that she could have used more friends.

"That's pretty much it, yes, as far as I can tell." Said Mob, stirring her noodles so they cooled faster. She wanted it to be at a pleasant temperature. Then she wouldn't slurp her noodles and make a mess like Master Reigen tended to do.

"Do you even want to join?" asked Reigen. He wasn't trying to dissuade her per se, or so he told himself, he was just trying to keep her from making a mistake. She didn't really seem too gung ho about this, even for her.

"I think so. I mean I should join a club." Said Mob quietly. She needed to join a club and this was a club willing to have her. What was there to think about?

"Do you want to or do you just think you should because everyone else is in clubs?" asked Reigen. That must have been it, peer pressure. She didn't want to quit and leave him high and dry. She wouldn't start pulling away from him until he was all alone again.

"I…I'm not sure, Master. I want to be a more well-rounded person, and to be more popular." Said Mob. She did. If she were more popular then she could be happier and all she wanted was to be happy.

"So you joined the telepathy club?" said Reigen incredulously. She wanted to be popular so she joined what sounded like a shady refuge for lazy weirdos?

"Yes. They needed another member or their club would be disbanded." Said Mob. She liked being helpful like that. The truth of her charm was in her kindness after all.

"Well if you ask me the whole club sounds pretty shady. If you want to join a club why not one you want to join, instead of one you felt pressured to join." Said Reigen offhandedly. It was different if Mob felt pressured. She was bad at confrontation especially with other kids. Realization dawned in Mob's eyes.

"I…understand. Thank you, Master." Said Mob as she began to eat her ramen. If she wanted to be a more well rounded person she needed to join a club that she wanted to join, not just one that was convenient or one that she felt pressured to join. But then again she didn't know what kind of club she wanted to join. If she didn't know what kind of club she wanted to join then wouldn't it make sense to join the Telepathy club because they wanted her?

"What's going on in that head of yours?" asked Reigen as he watched the activity behind her brown eyes. He could tell what she felt, if he really focused. Mob looked him in the eye for longer than was necessary. He had been staring at her so was it then ok for her to stare right back into his eyes?

"I already made a promise to them that I would join their club, and a promise is a promise no matter what." Said Mob. A man was only as good as his word, Master Reigen had told her that. She wasn't a man but she would never, ever, break her word.

"That's true, but…" said Reign sitting back in his chair, so laid back that a feather could tip him over. Mob liked it when he sat like that. He looked so relaxed. She could see his suit straining against his body when he leaned like that.

"But?" asked Mob leaning forward. What did he mean by that? Why would he keep her in suspense like this?

"But a promise made under pressure isn't a real promise at all." Said Reigen sagely. Mob nodded. That was like when she was five and Ritsu held her favorite stuffed panda hostage until she agreed to give him her milk pop. She had promised it to him just to get her panda back. Mom had been mad at her for sticking to the promise because she had ruined Ritsu's dinner. A promise made under duress was not a real promise and she needed to be mature enough to understand that.

"Yes Master, that makes sense. Thank you." Said Mob. Master Reigen was so wise, he always knew just what to do.

"No thanks needed. What kind of a Master would I be if I didn't impart wisdom on my student?" said Reigen. Internally he was dancing. He still had her around, he could still get rid of spirits and keep his business going. There was a part of him, long buried and dying of neglect, that actually felt, well, slimy, about what he was doing. He was lying to her, pretending that he had psychic powers and that he was her teacher. That part of him, the nay-sayer, was drowned out by the other parts of him that knew just how many truly slimy people there were out there. Guys ready to take advantage of a trusting little middle school girl, and in more ways than he ever would. Mob could have wound up working for a real piece of trash who would have done God knows what with her. She was actually pretty lucky to have someone like him looking out for her.

Later on that night Mob laid in her room, trying to figure out what to do. She wanted to tell the telepathy club that she wasn't joining after all. She wouldn't have been a bad person if she did that, Master Reigen said that a promise made under coercion was no promise at all. She didn't want to be a jerk though. The atmosphere was so hard to read.

In addition to this her mom had been very angry with her for bending another spoon. She couldn't help it, sometimes they just bent.

"Honestly, Shigeko, you're too old to be spilling your food all over the table like a toddler."

She felt bad that she couldn't be good enough, that she couldn't control her powers. She had one gift and she was bad at it. She wished she could be more like Ritsu. Ritsu was good at anything he put his mind to. She was so proud of him.

She was proud of him but she was also hoping that he didn't get powers. She knew Ritsu wanted powers more than anything but she didn't want him to have to carry this burden. He deserved better than that. She was glad her little brother was good at everything but psychic powers and she hoped that he never was in a position where he needed to be good at psychic powers.

Mob wished she were good at more things, like Ritsu was. The first step to being good at more things was to try new things. That was why she was going to tell the telepathy club…she was going to tell them no thank you as politely as she could. If she could. Could she? Would she?

The next day at school Mob was faced with a dilemma. She had been watching the clock all day, every lesson taught went in one ear and out the other. She was just a ball of worry, anxiety, and stress.

Progress towards Mob's explosion 49%

"Just sign here and you'll be a full fledge member of the telepathy club." Said Tome happily as she thrust the clipboard into Mob's hands with more force than she realized. Mob looked down at the paper in front of her. She didn't really want to join the telepathy club but she didn't not want to either and she did want more friends….and people weren't exactly lining up to be her friend aside from all of the club members. However, hanging out and goofing off all day wouldn't make her a more well rounded person.

"I'm not really sure…" said Mob. She wanted more friends so she should join but she also wanted to find out what she truly wanted. What was with her? Why was she so indecisive? She needed to just make a choice already.

"Here, just sign before the student council vice president shows up!" said Tome shoving the pen into Mob's hand. She barely held on to it. This was all too much. The other members of the club watched her with baited breath and just as she was about to put her name to the paper the student council president came barging in surrounded by the biggest middle schoolers that Mob had ever seen.

"Still only four members I see! Well that's tough but what can you do? That's life." Said vice president. He stood there in all of his fancily parted hair glory. He looked down at the slackers before him. They had wasted this room for long enough.

"Wait! We have our fifth member right here! Shigeko, sign the form already." Said Tome nudging her with her elbow. She could even sign with an 'x' if she didn't feel like writing out the kanji for Kageyama Shigeko.

"Well, the thing is, I'm not sure if I want to join your club…" said Mob quietly. A promise made under duress was no kind of promise at all, right?

"But you said you would!" said Tome. Mob shook her head.

"Only because you guys made me." Said Mob

"Listen here and listen well. Join this club if you want to, but be warned. This club is nothing but a den of slackers. This room would much better serve another, more useful club." Said the student council vice president with his nose turned up so high that he was in danger of drowning in the rain.

"What club?" asked Mob looking over at all the boys who were carrying in a lot of heavy looking work out equipment. Wow, they were huge. Bigger than Master Reigen, even, and he was the tallest person that she knew.

"The body improvement club." Said the student council vice president. Mob's eyes lit up. Maybe if she joined that club she could improve herself and become a more well rounded person. She wasn't athletic at all. Gym class and her were mortal enemies, but that was a shortcoming that she could improve. She did like the idea of self-improvement after all.

"Mob, don't listen to him. We're in middle school, this is the last time in our lives when we can just hang out and have fun." Whispered Tome. What could be better than goofing off before you had to grow up and work yourself to the bone? Mob looked at everyone before giving a deep bow.

"I would be honored to join both of your clubs." Said Mob. There. She could improve herself and make new friends and the telepathy club could keep their room. The truth of her charm was in her kindness and she was going to be kind and find a solution that helped everyone.

And so the Body Improvement/Telepathy Club was born.