It was a simple task: watch the office until Master Reigen got back. No clients were waiting, the tea set was put away, and everything was clean. All he had to do now was finish his homework and read his manga like usual. Nothing too difficult, right?
Shigeo couldn't have been more wrong.
Within 15 minutes of Reigen leaving to take care of a last-minute errand, Spirits and Such Consultation Offices suddenly had a line out the door of clients to be helped. This didn't do Shigeo's anxiety any favors, and he could feel his inner emotional meter beginning to strain. Some people were impatient, asking him where the owner of the business was, and others were too focused on their apparent hauntings to care about the wait.
Shigeo couldn't recall the last time they had a business boom like this, and from where it came from, he would never know for sure. But he found himself in the middle of all of it and the pressure was almost unbearable. He sent a quick text message to Reigen ("It's really busy. You should come back soon.") and contemplated calling Ritsu or Teru for help, but in the meantime, he needed to figure out how to bring some order into this sudden chaotic madhouse.
What would Master Reigen do?
Actually, he wasn't entirely sure what his master would do in this situation, considering he'd never had to see him deal with something like this before. He trembled as he thought through every possible solution he knew.
"...Actually, it's my first time here. Oh, it's yours too?" Shigeo heard someone in the crowd say, and he was immediately struck with inspiration.
Reigen tried to hurry back when he received the text message. He was, in short, alarmed when he saw two lines outside the office door. He pushed his way past some people, ignoring the ones who yelled at him to stop cutting the line, and entered the office hastily.
"Oh, Master, welcome back."
"M-Mob! What happened?" Reigen, still in a state of bewilderment, spoke as he stared at the two lines of people in front of Shigeo's desk. "I was only gone for like 30 minutes!"
"It got really busy all of a sudden, so I had to take care of things," Shigeo replied simply, as if this were an everyday occurrence at the office.
"When you said it was 'really busy', I wasn't expecting this! You should elaborate sometimes!"
"Sorry."
Reigen's gaze wandered down to Shigeo's desk where the two people at the front of each line were standing hunched over and writing. Two pages were sat upon it, and further inspection revealed that they were sign-in lists of sorts. Hurriedly written up in stress-filled minute, Shigeo had designated one sign-in list to be for new clients, and the other list was for clients who had been there before. Each list also had a place beside the names for phone numbers and email addresses, as well as a quick description of what they needed. As for the customers, they would either sign in on one of the lists and wait somewhere, leave to await being contacted later, or, if they were dealing with an actual spirit or haunting, Shigeo would exorcise the spirit promptly and collect proper payment for it after settling the bill.
If they weren't in the midst of a rush hour, Reigen might've fallen down in disbelief and pride at the unexpectedly brilliant acumen his student displayed. He swiftly began assisting the clients that he could help right away and made appointments for later times and dates for others.
Shigeo was treated to a large ramen dinner after work, and was even allowed to order dessert.