The sun is shining above Seasoning City, the birds are singing, bees were trying to reproduce with them, as was Mob's understanding based on a very confusing saying she had heard before, and unbeknownst to her Ritsu, her only and favorite brother, was having the greatest crisis of his life. Greater than time when he was four and he took some gum from the convenience store, greater than when stole the neighbor's cat and hid it in his closet because people kept throwing rocks at it, even greater than when he accidentally broke his DS and let Shigeko give him hers so that mom would be mad at her and not him.
Ritsu was going to hell when he died, and he couldn't even tell the person he cared about most in the world because he had done it for her. He didn't want delinquents bothering her, and it's not like they were actually making the school a better place, so he and the vice president had…disposed…of them.
Not murder, though Ritsu felt like he had killed someone. He had framed so many people and now they would carry the mark of shame for the rest of their natural lives and maybe even come back as spirits and haunt him. He was only trying to help Shigeko, and he had succeeded, but at what cost to himself? The road to hell was paved with good intentions, wasn't it?
But it was worth it if it was for Shigeko.
His alarm was blaring but he just rolled over. He did not want to start this day. He couldn't face himself after what he had done, even if it was for his sister.
"Ritsu, are you still sleeping?" asked Mob as she entered his room. He was still in bed. She turned his alarm off and stood in front of him. She leaned her head down to check if he was breathing. He was alive at least.
"Should I tell mom to call you in sick?" asked Mob. Ritsu sat up.
"No, I'm awake." Said Ritsu. Mob put her hand on his forehead. He didn't feel warm but he looked pale and motion sick.
"Are you sick?" asked Mob. Ritsu shook his head. He wasn't alright, but it wasn't something physical.
"No, I'm fine. I just…" said Ritsu. Mob sat down on the bed with him, pink nightgown clashing with his blue bedspread. She used to do this when they were kids, it always made him feel better knowing that she was there for him.
"You can tell me, brother." Said Mob sincerely. The sincerity was what cut through Ritsu. He couldn't tell her. If he told her what he had done then she would hate him.
"Are people picking on you?" asked Ritsu. If they weren't picking on her anymore then he had done his job as her brother.
"No, not really." Said Mob. People have even stopped calling her a magical girl, even though it was kind of growing on her. Everyone was talking about the weird thing that Onigawara did now. Mob thought it was gross, why would anyone want to lick recorders? It didn't even count as an indirect kiss unless the person's mouth was just on the thing you were putting your mouth on. That's what Tome said, anyway.
"That's what matters." Said Ritsu firmly. There, he had done his job as her brother. Why did he still feel terrible though?
"No, you're what matters." Said Mob equally as firmly, which made sense as she was imitating the tone Ritsu used. People had been making fun of her since the beginning of her memory, somewhere around pre-kindergarten, so who cared? Ritsu was what mattered. She was his big sister, it was her job to make him feel better and fix whatever it was that had him so depressed. He was the one who mattered, not her. He was smart. He was good at everything. He was Ritsu, she was just herself. Mob. Shigeko.
"Stop that, sister, just stop." Said Ritsu pulling the blanket back up over his head. He knew she cared and it warmed his heart; that was why she needed to stop. If she knew what he had really done, what he was actually capable of she would have wanted nothing to do with him.
"Stop doing what?" asked Mob genuinely confused. She wasn't actively doing anything annoying, she wasn't even making too much eye contact as she tended to do. Has she said too many words? Too few? Usually Ritsu didn't get upset if she didn't follow the social rules exactly.
"Stop putting me on a pedestal." Said Ritsu from under his blankets. Mob laid down next to him on top of the covers. He sounded really, really upset.
"I'm not putting you on a pedestal. That means that you're praising someone when they don't deserve it. You deserve it. You really are amazing, Ritsu." Said Mob. Why couldn't he realize how amazing he was? She was proud to be his big sister, to be related to someone who would grow up to be someone smart and important. She didn't even know what she would grow up to be. She wanted to work with Master Reigen forever, but everyone else was talking about going to university and having careers and stuff. Was that what she was supposed to do?
"Why? Why do you always have to say things like that?" asked Ritsu. What had be done to earn her praise? High test scores? Popularity? Looks? None of these things mattered in the face of what he had done….or what she could do.
"Why do I always have to say things like what?" asked Mob, truly not understanding the question. To her it was a given fact. The sky was blue, water was wet, carrots didn't belong in ramen, and her little brother Ritsu was truly an amazing and talented person.
"Why do you keep saying things like that?" asked Ritsu. She always had to say things like that, like he was this big amazing person. He was a liar, and he was weak. If he could do the things she could do then he wouldn't have had to resort to such dirty, underhanded tactics.
"Like what? Ritsu, I don't understand what you mean." asked Mob, fearing that this would turn into a game of 20 questions. She wasn't good at that. If Ritsu wanted to say something she wished he would just say it instead of making her ask questions. It was always so hard to figure out what it was that people were trying to get at.
"That I'm amazing." Said Ritsu after a pause. Why? Why did she have to go and say stuff like that? She was the amazing ones. She could telekinetically lift things and exorcise ghosts. He could sneak around and plant recorder tops.
"Because you are. You're so smart and you're good at everything." Said Mob, turning to face him even though he was under the covers. Ritsu turned to face the wall, even though he couldn't see her. He didn't want her to look at him. Some irrational part of him was worried that she could see what he had done written on his face, even though she couldn't actually see his face at all.
"I'm not good at everything." Said Ritsu. He couldn't defend his own sister without resorting to sneaky, underhanded tactics. He also couldn't do even a tenth of what she could. If he had her abilities…but he didn't. No matter how much he tried the spoon just would not bend. He had been up practically half the night just staring at it, willing something to happen. Anything at all. Shigeko could bend them without even realizing it.
"Well I guess not literally everything, like the time we tried to make curry or the time we tried to paint my room when you were little." Said Mob. Maybe that's what Ritsu was upset about? That was alright, sometimes she didn't get that people didn't mean exactly what they said either. Words could be really confusing and even Ritsu could have a hard time getting a clue.
"I don't mean that. I can't keep you safe, Shigeko." Said Ritsu. If he had her powers then he could be a real brother. He could make sure that nobody in the world would ever dare make fun of her again.
"But you don't need to do that, Ritsu." Said Mob. She didn't want Ritsu to fight anyone, especially not for her sake. He needed to do what was best for himself because he was, well, Ritsu and he had his own things to do and goals to meet. He didn't need to take time out of his life to go around fighting for her.
"I do. You don't realize it but I do." Said Ritsu. She was so clueless sometimes. It was like when they were kids and she didn't even realize that people made fun of her. She needed him. Without someone there to make sure that she was safe she'd get hurt, and she didn't deserve that. What was worse was that she could explode, and turn into that thing again. That scary thing that lived inside of her, that he had only seen once but never wanted to see again.
"Ritsu, please tell me what's bothering you." Said Mob. Whatever it was that was bothering him she would do her very best to fix. She hated seeing him like this. He didn't deserve to be hiding under the covers like when they were little.
"Nothing is bothering me, Shigeko." Said Ritsu. Mob was hurt, just a little, because he was lying to her.
"You can tell me anything." Said Mob practically pleading with him. Whatever it was they could fix it together. He didn't have to deal with his problems all on his own. He could have her help. That was what she was there for. She helped people all the time and she would help him.
"I'm fine, sister, alright? I need to change and get ready for school, you should too." Said Ritsu. Why couldn't she just get a clue? He didn't want to talk about this, he wanted to be left alone with his misery.
"Alright, but if you want to talk, I'm here." Said Mob getting off his bed and going back to her own room. Sometimes when people were bothered by something they didn't want to talk about it. That was one of the rules Mob knew. Master Reigen told her that after he got really quiet one day and sent her home early. He made it clear that he had other things bothering him but wasn't upset with her in any way. The nest day everything was back to normal. Maybe it would be the same with Ritsu.
"How can I talk to you about this?" muttered Ritsu as she left. It would have been easier, their whole relationship would have been easier, if they didn't love each other so much. If she was like his friends' big sisters, all shouting and fighting, then he wouldn't feel bad about freezing her out. They couldn't fight though, not ever. If they fought than the other Shigeko would come out, the one he had seen that day. They couldn't ever fight so they had to love each other.
Mob went to her own room to get ready for school, still worried about Ritsu. She hoped that he was alright, she really did. She didn't know what was bothering or what she could do to help. She hoped it wasn't one of those times where there was nothing she could do. She needed to help her little brother, she was his big sister, helping him was her job. She loved him more than anything in world.
She was right, there was nothing that she could do. Even if there was Ritsu didn't want her help. He was doing this for her. She should have just understood that. Why couldn't she just get a clue already?
Ritsu spent the entire day in a terrible mood. He was ready to snap at anyone but he decided to take a page out of his sister's book and stuff everything down behind an impassive stare. He had caught sight of himself in the mirror once and thought he was looking at a male version of Shigeko. There were some family similarities but it was something intangible behind the eyes that linked them together.
Progress towards Ritsu's explosion: 25%
"Kageyama! Kageyama! Hey! Hey! Hey, Mob's little brother! Can I talk to you?" asked Mezato. The day was over and she had been waiting and waiting for Ritsu to finally exit the building. Her story about Mob had broken and now her star was rising, she could continue this meteoric rise with an inside look at what she was going to call "The Big Salt Cleanup" which was very poetic because people used to use salt to clean things up with, and the student council had cleaned up the school.
"I told you that my sister wasn't a side show attraction." Said Ritsu as he kept waking. Mezato was undeterred and followed him.
"I know, but this isn't about Mob." Said Mezato pulling out her trusty notebook. The nickname for his sister sent a shudder up his spine. That wasn't her name. People should not have been calling her names like that.
"Why do you call her that?" asked Ritsu, stopping suddenly.
"What? Mob? That's how she introduces herself." Said Mezato confused. Mob must have liked to be called Mob, that's why she introduced herself as Mob. Right?
"It's a misnomer." Said Ritsu
"What?" asked Mezato
"It doesn't fit." Said Ritsu
"Yeah, I know what a misnomer is, but it totally fits. She doesn't really stick out." Said Mezato. In a crowd she was pretty plain, nothing much to look at. That was why she would make the perfect magical girl. She already had a secret identity. Shigeko, average middle school student by day, and Mob the Magical Girl by….the rest of the day, Mezato guessed.
"If she doesn't stick out then why did you write about her?" asked Ritsu
"Because she's the only esper in school." Said Mezato
"So she doesn't stick out then." Said Ritsu
"Ok, so she does sometimes, but she didn't used to. Her presence doesn't really register." Said Mezato. It was true. Maybe it was Mob's powers but sometimes it was just so hard to notice her, even when she was right there.
"She doesn't want to draw attention to herself because when she does people make fun of her. You're her friend, right? If you truly are then you should know that." Said Ritsu. His head hurt, it was like a building pressure. He could feel it radiating from his head throughout his entire body. He just wanted to go home and lay down.
"People are teasing her? That's just….dumb….and not because of what happened over at Black Vinegar. It's dumb because she's actually a really nice person." Said Mezato. Teasing people in general was wrong, but Mob didn't even do anything to deserve it. Not like that kid last year who everyone teased because he got caught looking at weird stuff on his phone during class, or that girl who kept a baggy of the hair of guys she liked in her shoe box. Mob didn't really do anything wrong, aside from the fact that she couldn't get a clue, all of the creepy staring, and the whole muted emotions thing. Those weren't really wrong, though, because she was a genuinely nice person.
"They call her the Magical Girl of Salt Middle School." Said Ritsu
"We aren't teasing her when we say that. We think she's cool." Said Mezato
"You guys just care about her powers." Said Ritsu. He was trying to squish down this mounting anger he was feeling. He tried to be as numb to it as possible. He squished down everything, even his expressions, until he was blank.
"Are you alright? You look kind of like-" said Mezato
"I'm just tired of people making fun of my sister." Said Ritsu in an even tone. Simple. Flat.
"We aren't making fun of her. We think she's cool and I mean that. She's a cool person and we aren't making fun of her." Said Mezato
"Did you ask her if she wanted to be called a magical girl?" asked Ritsu
"What do you have against magical girls? Have you seen Yuki Yuna? Madoka? Sailor Moon? Magical girls are awesome." Said Mezato
"This isn't TV." Said Ritsu
"Besides, I don't think Mob minds being called a magical girl." Said Mezato. She pulled out her phone and showed him a picture that had been making it's rounds around the various people in the know. Mezato always kept her ear to the ground and her cousin, a delinquent at Black Vinegar, though he didn't like to be called that, and he had sent her a picture of their sort of shadow leader on a date with the Mob. She was dressed like a magical girl and the guy she was with, Teruki, was dressed like he had gotten into a fight with a Christmas tree. Magical power couple.
"I…don't know why she was dressed like that." Said Ritsu. She had been talking about wanting to be pretty but that outfit….it was one of those things that was so pretty it was actually hard to look at.
"I don't get Mob sometimes, most of the time, either but she looks pretty happy." Said Mezato. She really did. She was smiling so big her teeth were visible. That guy's hand was on top of hers, and she looked like she was having the time of her life.
"People still shouldn't be teasing her." Said Ritsu
"I agree. Is that why you and the student council president cleaned up the school? For your big sister?" asked Mezato probingly. Ritsu felt his heart stop.
"What?" asked Ritsu
"C'mon, we all know that Onigawara didn't actually steal all of those mouth pieces. He's stupid but he's not so stupid." Said Mezato
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Said Ritsu
"And the rest of his group? They wouldn't steal anyone's gym clothes. They respect your sister too much, she might even be the first female shadow leader in the history of Salt Middle School." Said Mezato. Ritsu was lucky that nobody liked those delinquents or he could have been in a lot of trouble. The lie was so transparent that you could read the school paper through it. Ritsu just blinked and blinked as he tried to wrap his mind around everything Mezato had just said.
"Now I really have no idea what you're talking about." Said Ritsu. Shigeko a shadow leader? She couldn't even get herself motivated to do…well much of anything besides spending time with that Reigen guy. How was she going to command the school's delinquents? Why would she even want to in the first place?
"You remember how Black Vinegar got demolished and then put back together, right?" said Mezato
"It was all over the news." Said Ritsu
"Well, Onigawara used her as bate to try and get the body improvement club to fight Black Vinegar for her after his gang set her up to be kidnapped. They did, there was a fight, and then she fought with Black Vinegar's shadow leader but they fell in love and now, well, the rest is history." Said Mezato
"Did any of that actually happen?" asked Ritsu. Shigeko wouldn't go along with any of that. First of all, how would anyone possibly kidnap her? Secondly he could see Shigeko fighting to protect herself and that other Shigeko coming out but to then fall in love with the other shadow leader…who was supposedly her new boyfriend with the weird hair who Ritsu suspected was color blind?
"I swear on my notebook. So, do you want answer a few quick questions?" asked Mezato.
"You should become a novelist, you're great at writing fiction." Said Ritsu walking off briskly. That was so crazy, too crazy. Shigeko…Shigeko wouldn't go for any of that. She did have a boyfriend though…and he was the guy from the picture. No, if this happened she would have told him, she told him everything. They told each other everything. Well, not anymore….
Ritsu kept on walking home, his headache growing. He felt like he was going to explode, like a shook up soft drink, just ready to pop at any point.
"Hey, Kageyama, right?" it was someone that Ritsu had never seen before. He looked foreign and was dressed like his wardrobe exploded.
"Yes?" asked Ritsu keeping his distance. He had been warned about strangers for his entire life, and he wasn't his sister. He couldn't throw people through walls with just his mind.
"Thank goodness, I guess there was a point in waiting around after all." He said. Ritsu looked at him.
"You just hang around waiting for kids to get out of school?" asked Ritsu. Well, at least this guy ran into him and not Shigeko, for his sake.
"No, just for you, Kageyama." He said
"Yeah, that's creepy and I'm going home now." Said Ritsu
"Wait, let me present my credentials." Said the man as he held out a red business card. Ritsu took it and read it over. Awakening Lab?
"I'm Mitsuura Kenji, it's nice to meet you." He said holding out his hand. Ritsu didn't react. He kept his face schooled into a very Shigeko like expression.
"What is this?" asked Ritsu
"This is an aopportunity to amplify your psychic powers at my research facility." He said with a smile. Ritsu kept his face impassive. This guy must have thought he was Shigeko. Well yeah, since she never really used her first name for anything.
"I have to go now." said Ritsu turning around and walking away.
"Give me a visit if you change your mind." Said Kenji. Ritsu didn't even turn around. Awakening lab, it was probably just another Spirits and Such. Fraud and charlatans everywhere. He told himself these things to keep from getting false hope. He had always lived in Shigeko's shadow and he knew that it would always be his place. Shigeko had displayed her powers from the moment she was born, he hadn't gotten anything in the full thirteen years he had been alive.
He held the card in his hand, staring at it, as he continued to walk home, deep in thought. The route took him near the cross streets of the Awakening Lab. He didn't go in, at first. He circled the building. It was just an apartment complex.
"Kageyama! You beat me here!" Oh great, it was that Matsuura guy again.
"This is just an apartment complex, you liar." Said Ritsu. He was grabbed and dragged in.
"Come in and see!" said Kenji, happy to have found another esper kid. He couldn't be one of them but he could be around them, and from what happened to that school this kid was incredibly strong. Maybe he could even become an esper.
"No way." Said Ritsu digging his heels in.
"Oh, come on in and meet the other esper kids!" Kenji said
"Others?!" asked Ritsu. There were other esper kids in the world besides Mob? He could feel the hope within him growing. He could…if there were other kids then maybe he had the gift too and it just wasn't awakened. Maybe he could at least try.
"Sure, five of 'em!" he said. Ritsu allowed himself to be dragged inside. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Maybe he could get powers too and stop living in Shigeko's shadow for once in his life.
"Five?" asked Ritsu. Five more kids like Shigeko, that had all been awakened. Maybe there was hope for him after all.
It turned out that there was no hope for him after all. All five of the kids barely had powers, and what they could do was either useless or something Shigeko could do as a baby. There were DVDs in the cabinet under the TV to prove it. Even those kids could do better than he could. He couldn't even bend a simple spoon. He felt the pain in his head growing and growing. He just wanted to go home and sit in his room. He stomped all the way home.
"I don't think it's here, Master." That was Shigeko's voice. He turned the corner and saw her….with him. Ritsu hid around the corner, she probably didn't want him spying on her. Who was he kidding, she'd invite him along. She was out here all day with that…Reigen guy. She would want him to hang out with them. She would beg and plead for him to join them, and he might even say yes just to keep her from exploding.
"Well Mob, as you know I can sense all sorts of spirits but some are so low level that they escape even the notice of the great Reigen Arataka, so I'll defer to your judgement. But first….sodium chloride monsoon!" said Reigen, tossing salt everywhere like an idiot. Shigeko was giggling, why was she giggling? He was making an idiot out of himself, and he was making a mess.
"Master Reigen, you're getting salt on me." Said Shigeko. She was smiling a little, Ritsu hadn't seen her smile like that in….actually she had never smiled like that at him. That made sense, that wasn't the smile that little brothers were supposed to get.
"Friendly fire, Mob. Friendly fire. Even our allies can get caught up in this war we rage against the spirits, but it all works out because we know the satisfaction of a job well done." Said Reigen. Ritsu peaked a little more around the corner and saw Shigeko was gathering salt in her hand, by the grain it looked like, and was making a ball out of it. She was still smiling at him. He wasn't funny, he was annoying.
"Master Reigen, there's a spirit stuck to you." Said Shigeko, still with that same smile. That Reigen guy started jumping around and spinning in circles.
"Mob! Get it off! Quick!" said Reigen. Shigeko threw the ball of salt at him. It hit him in the face, but he didn't look upset.
"Did you get it?" asked Reigen shaking the salt out of his hair. Shigeko used her powers to get the rest off. All the salt from the ground flew into the air and then spread itself out evenly. Ritsu knew she was capable of brute strength but such fine movements, to move every single grain of salt? Even if he did awaken any latent powers he'd pale in comparison to her.
"It's gone, Master." Said Shigeko. He looked at her for a while, smiled, and then tugged at her pigtail. Ritsu was about to ask him what he thought he was doing but Shigeko just giggled.
"You're adorable, Mob." Reigen said. Now Shigeko frowned a little. Huh.
"Fine, you aren't adorable at all. You're a mature, grown up lady." Said Reigen. He sounded like he was making fun of her, but she looked happy again. He was saying something mean, but not saying it meanly. He was smiling too, but not meanly.
"Thank you, Master." Said Shigeko. The way she was looking up at him…the way he was looking down at her. It was…it was different but the same….no more intense maybe? It was like her and that Teru guy. Maybe. Ritsu didn't know. He had never seen his sister so unguarded, not since they were little anyway.
"A mature grown up lady who laughs when I do this." Said Reigen tugging on her pigtail again. Shigeko giggled, batted his hand away, and fixed the ribbon tying off the end of her pigtail. She fixed it with her powers. More very fine movements.
"You're a mature, grown up man who laughs when I do this." Said Shigeko flipping that Reigen guy's tie up with her powers. He laughed too, but not meanly. He looked pretty happy.
"Mob, never change." Said Reigen throwing an arm around her. Ritsu didn't want him being so touchy with his sister, but Shigeko could handle herself. She could life cars and send people flying through walls.
"I'm trying to be a better person, Master Reigen." Said Shigeko. Reigen was checking his phone, he didn't see the way Shigeko was looking at him now. Ritsu knew her well enough to be able to read her eyes. She wanted him to know something.
"Huh, what? Oh. You are a good person Mob. I mean never stop having fun. You're good company…..unlike some people." Said Reigen. He muttered that last part, but Ritsu could make it out. He was still ignoring Shigeko and texting someone. He looked less happy.
"Master Reigen? Who's not good company?" asked Shigeko. Ritsu knew that tone, she felt worried. That wasn't good. Was he trying to send her into a melt down? Or maybe he was just too stupid to realize that he needed to tiptoe around her because she could fly off the handle at any moment.
"Oh nobody, just this chi-wom-person. Just a person, a person who obviously doesn't know how to read a clock…." Reigen said, texting more angrily. Shigeko was still looking up at that guy? Why? Why was she trying to get his attention? Or was he trying to make her jealous? Why? She'd just explode. Maybe this idiot deserved it.
"Maybe you could teach her?" said Shigeko. What was with her voice? Why was she making it high like that? She was usually so cold when she spoke. Why did this guy get her actual voice? Why did he get so much of her time?
"Honestly, her company is just so draining, and not in a good way." Said Reigen, making an 'Oh crap' face at the end. Ritsu knew that it was wrong to spy but he hadn't seen his sister so unguarded in years. This was the only way he could see this side of her, peaking around corners like a snoop.
"Is my company draining in a good way?" asked Shigeko. Man, she just couldn't get a clue, could she? Well at least that Reigen guy was funny now, the way he was wringing his hands and stuttering.
"Your company is…different…I'll tell you when you're older! Anyway don't you have to get home for dinner?" Reigen asked. Now Shigeko was looking at the ground. Didn't Reigen know that their family was happier without Shigeko around? That their parents were so afraid when she was around that they couldn't even have regular conversation? That they were tired of having to tiptoe around her because she could explode at any time? Like she would when they were little?
"Master Reigen….please don't make me go home." Said Shigeko quietly. Huh? What was with her? She never sounded like that.
"You sure, Mob?" asked Reigen. His hand was back on her shoulder. Both hands were. Whatever. If Shigeko didn't like it she could just throw him off. He was just a regular person after all.
"I'm sure, Master Reigen. Can we go to Yoshinoya tonight? Please? They just opened one and Tome says it's really good. They let you put whatever you want in your beef bowl." Said Shigeko. Why was she asking? With her powers she could have made him do anything? What was with his sister?
"Sure, but don't eat me out of house and home." Said Reigen. Shigeko was startled. Ritsu could feel the ground under him shake a little. Yes, there was the Shigeko he knew. She'd do that until she got her way, just like when they were kids and she really wanted takoyaki but his parents said no so she shook the kitchen off the house. They were four and five, or maybe younger. Who knew what she could do now that she was older.
"I'm so sorry, Master Reigen. I didn't know I was-" Shigeko was apologizing again. She did that all the time. She thought that if you just said sorry enough it made it OK. Like how she kept apologizing about that day.
"Hey, Mob. I was kidding. Eat as much as you want. We can go to the park again afterwards, too. Maybe we'll find some more of those black seeds. I want to see what they grow into." Said Reigen. Even he knew that you had to appease Shigeko or she'd have a break down. Huh. They went to the park, too. Ritsu couldn't remember the last time he and Shigeko had gone to the park together.
"I'd like that, Master. Did I tell you what happened today? Tome gave me her old DS and it has some games on it so she taught me how to play….." they were walking away now. Ritsu wasn't going to follow them. He had already been enough of an eavesdropper already. He didn't need to know about all things that they did together. Ritsu continued his walk home, kicking the ground as he walked. He was so…so….what was this? It was like something was building up inside of him, like a pot left on the stove for too long.
His head was killing him. He felt like he was going to explode. He couldn't stand it. When would this end? Would he ever-
Oh. What was that? A creepy looking balloon?
Ritsu saw something green and floating in front of his house. What was that thing? He got closer and it…it looked back at him?
What?
"What are you?" asked Ritsu. Shigeko used to draw pictures like this when they were kids. Was this an evil spirit?
"Hi little boy, I'm Dimple, a friend of Shigeko's. You mind letting me in?" asked Dimple. He had been hanging around outside for hours. He was so weak now he couldn't even get inside the house because Shigeko lived there.
"S-Sure." Said Ritsu. His brain was fuzzy right then, the regularly scheduled programming cancelled for the moment. He was seeing a spirit, a real not live spirit. Dimple was grinning. Yes, this was going to much easier than he thought. Finally, a new body. This kid's aura was all over the place, but he wasn't as strong as Shigeko. Maybe he could break through the kid's natural defenses and get his plans back in motion. He'd say hi to Shigeko too, just to see how the kid was doing.
"Man thanks for helping me out." Said Dimple as he followed Ritsu to his bedroom.
"Y-You're welcome." Said Ritsu. He was actually seeing a spirit. He actually had powers. Well, either that or he was going crazy.
"You ever been exorcised twice? It's not fun. Hurts, actually, but I made it back from the particle layer all by myself, finally. The only thing is that my spiritual energy is a lot less than it used to be, so I can't even get back into the house myself because your sister lives here, which sucks because she really needs me. Oh well, you'll do for now." Said Dimple. He was doing that staring thing that Shigeko did. What was with this family?
"You-You're a spirit." Said Ritsu. This gross thing that looked like a cross between a balloon and a jelly was real, a spirit, and was talking to him. Ritsu knew what he had to do.
"Yup, the name's Dimple. Please to meet you!" said Dimple. The kid was reaching over to him, and he had that same look Shigeko did.
"You wanna shake hands?" asked Dimple before he was grabbed and kneed in the face. Repeatedly.
"I have to exorcise you!" said Ritsu as he kneed the spirit in the face, trying to make it leave the corporeal world.
"Hey! Will you knock that off! That's not even how you exorcise someone!" said Dimple. Ritsu stopped and let him go.
"Well then how do I exorcise you?" asked Ritsu
"You don't know how?" asked Dimple. Ooh, this was good. He might even have a chance with this kid.
"No. I've never even seen a spirit before today." Said Ritsu through gritted teeth. Great, he had powers but all he could do was see spirits. He couldn't even exorcise him. His powers were as useless as the ones that those kids from the Awakening Lab had.
"But you're Shigeko's brother!" said Dimple, trying to hit a nerve. He couldn't get through Shigeko's head that she needed his help but maybe his brother would have more sense.
"I know I'm her brother!" said Ritsu kicking the wall. He finally gets powers and they're useless. Utterly useless.
"You know, I could help you." Said Dimple. Ritsu shook his head.
"I'm useless. I can't do anything." Said Ritsu, the pressure building within him again. Dimple watched his aura. He could see the kid's aura, and it was uneven. He had potential though, a decent amount of it. He wouldn't be on Shigeko's level or anything but Dimple honestly didn't think that there were people on Shigeko's level.
"Hey, why don't you pick up that spoon over there." Said Dimple
"Why what's the point?" asked Ritsu
"Go on, just do it." Said Dimple. What was with this kid? Some kind of complex? He motioned towards Ritsu and with some trepidation Ritsu took one of the spoons off his desk and held it in his hand.
"It's not bending." Said Ritsu glaring at it. He tried to will it to bend but it just wouldn't budge, exactly like what happened at the Awakening Lab. Ritsu threw it as hard as he could.
"See, Dimple, I'm useless!" said Ritsu throwing the spoon at the wall hard enough to make a loud clanking sound. Dimple smirked at him. This kid was far from useless.
"You sure about that?" asked Dimple motioning to the pile of twisted silverware on Ritsu's desk. Ritsu gasped.
"I really do have actual psychic powers." Said Ritsu. The pressure inside of him was gone. He could do it, he could really do it.
"Hey, why don't we team up? With my help you could surpass even your sister." Said Dimple, lying just a tiny bit. He could surpass Shigeko when she held back, and he doubted that Shigeko would ever let herself get to full strength. The kid was just too much of a pacifist. Dimple never should have taught her that word.
"Surpass….Shigeko?" asked Ritsu. He could be even more powerful than her. He could stop living in her shadow. He could stop tiptoeing around her.
"So, do we have a deal?" asked Dimple. Yes, this was going amazingly. He finally had a new body. He's treat it well though, no need to have Shigeko exorcise him again. He didn't think he'd survive a third attempt.
"Sure Dimple, we have a deal." Said Ritsu. He could surpass Shigeko. Suddenly everything going on in his life felt trivial. Nothing mattered now that he had these psychic powers. He didn't have to be perfect all the time. Athletics, test scores, nothing mattered now. He'd actually use his powers to the fullest too. He wouldn't waste them like Shigeko did.
"Great, wanna start now?" asked Dimple
"Yes! Right now!" said Ritsu
"Great. Well I'm going to need you to relax your body and close your eyes." Said Dimple. Ritsu did just that and Dimple possessed him easily.
"Hey, Dimple, where'd you go?" asked Ritsu. He felt a wave of energy pass over him and then Dimple was gone.
"Crap! I'm too weak to control the body!" said Dimple. Ritsu heard him in his own head and gasped. He shook his head back and forth wildly trying to get rid of this new intruder.
"You're possessing me?" asked Ritsu
"No, I'm…uh…trying to regulate the output of your powers. Your aura is all over the place, kid." Said Dimple
"Well how should it look?" asked Ritsu
"Steady. You've got flare ups and cool downs happening at once somehow. Hang on, let me just tweak a few things." Said Dimple, not mentioning that he'd be siphoning some power for his own use. He couldn't be this weak little thing forever, he'd go crazy.
"I can feel that." Said Ritsu. He could feel himself getting…stronger? Not physically stronger. It was more like an energy was filling him up like a balloon. The pressure from before was gone, and now all that was left was warmth.
"Try bending that first spoon now." Said Dimple. Ritsu found where he had thrown it and with a thought it twisted and folded.
"Dimple! It's working!" said Ritsu. He began to levitate things around his room. They orbited him like he was the center of their universe. This was so perfect. He finally had everything he ever waned. Everything would be alright.
While Ritsu was discovering his own awesomeness Mob was poking at a bowl of rice, beef, and assorted veggies with a very pensive look on her face.
"What's up, Mob? You don't like it?" said Reigen. He'd happily eat her portion. The kid could pick a good restaurant, even though she took up valuable space with vegetables. This was the only kid he had ever met that actually liked those things. Or maybe spending his childhood watching Junk Food Fighter Michael all day had warped him food wise.
"No, it's good. I'm just worried." Said Mob. What was with Ritsu today? He seemed so sad.
"About what?" asked Reigen with his mouth full, rice and sauce sprinkling the table. He didn't notice the looks other patrons gave him.
"Ritsu. My little brother…he was just so sad this morning. I don't know how to help him. I don't think he wants my help." Said Mob using her powers to get a napkin and clean up the table. She loved Master Reigen, and she looked up to him, but his table manners were terrible. Maybe that's just how people ate where his people came from. The United States, right? She honestly wasn't sure now that she thought about it.
"He's thirteen right?" asked Reigen picking out some beef with his fingers. Mob wanted to warn him about germs but she didn't. He wouldn't listen to her anyway, he never listened when he got all messy like this.
"He's thirteen." Said Mob
"Well he's probably just got some stuff going on that he doesn't want to tell his sister about. I mean, you don't tell him everything that you have going on, right? Like with that guy you're seeing, Teru? The one with the haystack on his head." asked Reigen. Mob turned pink again, it was adorable.
"No, I don't tell Ritsu about stuff like that." Said Mob looking down at her food. That kind of stuff was private. Nobody had explicitly told her but she didn't want to tell even her little brother that she had practice kissed Teru, that she hadn't done it right, and that they had played go all afternoon.
"Well then the same would go for him." said Reigen. Lord knew he had all kinds of stuff going on when he was thirteen that he didn't want to share with anyone. He had been a moody little shit too, back then. It was amazing that his parents hadn't dumped him by the side of the road. Mob's little brother seemed like the moody type, too, if their limited interactions were anything to go by.
"I just hope he's alright. Boys at my school are getting so weird, I don't want the same thing to happen to Ritsu." Said Mob. She hoped that Ritsu wasn't turning into one of those boys who did weird stuff and fought all the time. No, he wouldn't. Ritsu knew better than that. Hopefully he'd be back to normal soon.
"Weird how?" asked Reigen. He hoped that it was Mob, not being able to understand people weird, not the kind of weird he had seen in his middle school days. Hormones made a person do cray things, like dress up in a wig and girl's uniform and hang out in the girl's locker room. Reigen still didn't know what was going through his head when he planned and executed that. Not only did he get caught but all the girls hated him for the next three years. Thank God he moved in with his mother for high school and didn't have his reputation follow him as he matriculated to high school.
"This boy, Onigawara, got caught stealing the tops of girl's recorders so he could lick them, and his friends stole a bunch of girl's gross used gym clothes. They said that they didn't do it but Ritsu was there when they got caught, and Ritsu wouldn't tell lies. Maybe that's what bothering him; that he had to get people in trouble. Ritsu would always try to be so nice, he wouldn't want to hurt anyone. But why would someone do something so weird like that in the first place. Stealing is wrong and stealing that kind of stuff is so gross." Said Mob. They were suspended, all of them, but she had found a note in her shoebox saying that she was the shadow leader now and that they hadn't done anything. That was its own thing to be unpacked.
"Well Mob, it's like I said; boys are idiots at your age. Believe me, I know. When you get to that age all the new feelings make you do the dumbest things." Said Reigen. Licking recorder pieces? That was just gross. Stealing gym clothes he could understand, but it was still pretty skeevy.
"Girls too?" asked Mob. Would she start to do dumb things? She knew she loved Master Reigen but she knew not to press the issue no matter what Dimple said. It was better to wait to grow up, that way he'd be less likely to reject her and she could spend as much time as possible with him in the meantime. That and backrubs, those were heaven on Earth.
"No, girls usually have more sense than to do a lot of the dumb stuff boys do. The worst I've seen girls do it start writing their names using the guy's last name." said Reigen. As an adult it was weird but as a kid he wished a girl would do that for him. Girls wanted the same things guys did, the woman who didn't seem to get the concept of 'hey I'm not doing this with a kid around and I don't care about your schedule' was a testament to that. He hoped Mob could handle the way she felt, just so she wouldn't embarrass herself. Actually whatever she had going on with that guy she was seeing was going pretty well. She at least hadn't overshared with him, and he knew something must have been going on because Mob was way blushier than usual. Huh. He didn't know how to feel about that.
"You mean like pretending to be married?" asked Mob. She had never thought about that. She tested it out in her mind. Reigen Shigeko. He tea cup flipped over.
"You alright, Mob?" asked Reigen. Mob nodded but didn't look at him. Her tea cup righted itself and her tea went back in.
"Mob, don't try and drink that, you'll just make yourself sick. These tables are absolutely filthy. Hang on, I'll go get you another one." Said Reigen. He couldn't have her getting sick again. Last week had just been people with back pain, a couple séances, and a lady with a cat living in her walls. He didn't know what he'd do if she ended up getting sick again and there was an actual spirit that needed to be exorcised.
After Master Reigen left Mob ate her food in thought. She watched him too. Reigen Shigeko. That sounded nice. Hanazawa Shigeko. That also sounded nice. Reigen Shigeko sounded more right though. She liked Teru, she liked him a lot, but what she had with Master Reigen was different. Ritsu liked Teru better, though. She had no idea why, though. Boys, even little brothers, could be so confusing sometimes.
Mob had no idea just how confusing her little brother could be. Ritsu had skipped dinner, instead messing around with his newfound powers. He wasn't as strong as Shigeko but he could feel his power growing. He could eclipse her. He could be the strong one.
"I can't believe that I finally have psychic powers." Said Ritsu as he levitated a bottle of orange soda around his room. The sloshing of the liquid made it hard to hold onto at first but now it was like nothing.
"You've always had psychic powers, Ritsu, they've just been dormant all of these years. I suspect that they're only coming out now due to your emotional state." Said Dimple. Emotionally this kid was a rollercoaster. Guilt, shame, anger, jealousy, fear, protectiveness and love all swirled around in the storm of this kid's mind. He was trying to keep a lid on everything but that never worked.
"So my feelings are the key to unlocking my powers?" asked Ritsu. So he was like Shigeko. He could be better though. He could control his feelings, instead of letting them control him like Shigeko's did.
"Yup. So, anything stress you out really bad lately? Like shitting your pants in public or getting caught peeping in the girl's locker room?" asked Dimple. Judging by this kid's face he, also, couldn't take a joke. What was with this family?
"No. Are you making fun of me?" asked Ritsu darkly. Nobody could make fun of him, not with these powers.
"Sheesh, it's just a joke kid. Man, you really are Shigeko's little brother. Alright if nothing embarrassing happened did you do something bad?" asked Dimple. The way Shigeko talked about her little brother you'd think he was the greatest human being to ever live. A guy like that must have had a few skeletons in his closet.
"Corruption and guilt. That's what fuels my powers." Said Ritsu darkly. It was true. Shigeko's were fueled by stress and anger, all negative emotions. Therefore because he was her little brother then the same must have gone for him.
"Huh. Getting a little dark there, hus Ritsu?" asked Dimple
"I'm just like Shigeko." Said Ritsu quietly. Would he explode too? Did he also have something terrifying living inside of him? Whatever it was, he could control it. He had to. He could eclipse her. She thought that he was that person, that he was good at everything? Well then fine he would be that person, the version of him that existed within her mind.