"My loyal student came to be in the year 2016. She sought me out for my wisdom for I, Reigen Arataka, was the only person in existence who could guide her, Mob, in the use of her powers. Power too great for one little girl. The power to swallow up black holes, the power to throw men a hundred meters in the air, power that would be incomprehensible to the average person. It was in the year 2016 that I came to act as master towards the most powerful esper in Japan, possibly the world, Kageyama Shigeko, otherwise known as Mob."
Yes, this was coming along nicely. Reigen was at his desk, typing away at his laptop. Mob was at her own little desk, scribbling away in her notebook.
"When I was eleven years old I did a very bad thing and the only person who could help me was Master Reigen. I saw his sign while I was walking around, I didn't like to come home directly after school in those days. My parents didn't really like me, they were afraid of me, but Master Reigen wasn't. After I passed by his office for a couple of days I finally decided to head in because I thought that he could help me out. I thought that we would be the same. The stairs were tall and the door was heavy, mostly because I was so little. I was afraid, too. I thought that Master Reigen would be afraid of me because I had hurt someone but he wasn't. He was so nice. He made me tea and he looked at me like I was a person, a real person. My parents looked at me, and still look at me, like I'm a monster or a bomb. Like I could hurt them. He didn't look at me like that at all. He wasn't afraid of me at all. That's how I got to be the student of the greatest psychic and rising star of the twenty first century, Reigen Arataka."
Mob's handwriting was small and blocky, it would look better once she typed it out. Was it too short? Or too long? She didn't know. It was hard to put to paper, exactly what that day had been like. How nervous she had been coming up those stairs for the first time. How tall Master Reigen had seemed. How amazing it had felt, to find someone who understood. Who was like her, who knew what it felt like to have powers and to be different from everyone else. Who looked at her like she was a person, not a monster, not something dangerous, not a bomb.
"She came to me afraid of her own powers, something understandable as she was just a little girl and her power level did exceed anything I had ever seen before, including my own. I knew from the moment that I set eyes upon her that it was destiny that had brought the two of us together. She was destined to be my student for I, Reigen Arataka, was the only person on the planet capable to teaching her how to control her powers. How to control them and how to use them for good. For the moment I set eyes upon her I knew that she would be my apprentice, my partner, and my successor."
Hmm…maybe he was laying it on a little thick there. When he first met her he thought that she was messing with him. It didn't feel like some big, grand, destiny type of thing. He had no idea then that she would become his apprentice and friend. He hadn't envisioned any of this, but the readers didn't need to know that. People liked this kind of stuff, dramatic stuff like that.
"Master Reigen was a very powerful esper then. He could hide his own aura and sometimes I think that he was afraid of himself, too, like I was. He always had be exorcise the less powerful spirits because he was afraid that he'd end up destroying the place with his powers. His powers are spiritual though, so I'm not sure if he counts as an esper. It doesn't matter, he still helped me and continues to help me. He's my master and I'm his student. When we met I just wanted to have someone I could come and talk to, I didn't know that I'd end up being his student. I'm happy that this happened because now I'm not afraid of myself, not as much. Sometimes I lose control but not as often and not as badly as I had before I met Master Reigen."
That was good. It was important to be honest, especially if they were writing a book. She couldn't just lie to all of the people who read this. People could know that she was afraid of herself, that Master Reigen might have been afraid of himself. Maybe everyone was afraid of themselves in their own ways. What had Master Reigen called it? The imp of the perverse. Everyone had parts of themselves that they didn't like. The part of her that she didn't like, the part that wanted to do bad things, was just scarier than everyone else's that's all.
"I could see Mob's fear, her apprehension, so I gave her the greatest piece of wisdom that I could. I told her that no matter what powers we had we were only human. We were human beings the same as everyone else and our powers were just another characteristic that we had. We couldn't lose ourselves in our powers, but we shouldn't waste them either. We have the power to help others and that's what we do. The truth of one's charm is in their kindness. If it weren't for me teaching her what I did I shudder to think of what she could have grown into."
It was the truth. It was a harsh truth but it was the truth. If not for him she could have ended up like those adult espers they had fought. Actually, yeah, this could be a good sort of lead in to what had happened with Claw. He would have to write about it, it was one of the defining moments of their relationship together. Plus he was a total badass that night, sort of, when she lent him her powers. She had been pretty badass too. Yeah, that would be the book's climax. First, though, they needed to do the origin part of the story.
"Perpetuity means forever, I learned that at school. I didn't know it then, when we met, that we would be together in perpetuity but we are. I still need help controlling my powers and Master Reigen has already taught me so much. He taught me not only how to control my powers but how to be a good person. He taught me that I was a human being like everyone else, not a monster. He didn't think that I was a monster, not like my parents did. He thought that I was a human being, the same as everyone else, and he taught me to remember that. He taught me that my powers were just another part of me and that I couldn't let them define me. They are just another talent, another part of me, but I can use them to help people. Master Reigen taught me how to use my powers to help others. The truth of one's charm is in their kindness so that's why we have to focus on being good people. That's why Master Reigen and I are together in perpetuity, because he's taught me how to be a good person."
That was a good word, perpetuity. She had learned that in school and it sounded smart. Mezato used big words like that in her articles. The bigger the word the more serious it sounded. That day, meeting Master Reigen, was very serious. It was the most important and most serious day of her life. That was the day she had really become herself, she decided, when she became Mob. She didn't know if they would actually be together forever but he did promise to make her a partner in their business so maybe that meant forever. She hoped that things never changed, that they stayed this way forever.
"That is how I, Reigen Arataka, came to have the greatest esper in Japan as my humble student. I am not afraid to admit that her powers to exceed my own. I, Reigen, am not a jealous man at all and I am grateful that she accepts me as her Master. I accept her as my student and all that comes with it. In the three years we've been together I've trained her day and night in the use of her powers until she could almost always control them. I trained her too well and she decided to shun all forms of violence, vowing to spend her life as a pacifist. No matter the battle she refused to use her powers against another human being. She was a pacifist to the point of sheer stupidity! She knew the power that she held under her skin, in her hands, and she knew that if she were to lose control she could, no, would, seriously harm if not kill someone. She had made pacifism a part of her very moral framework and I let her do that. It was my fault. Everything happened to her was my fault."
No. he'd have to retype that part out later. Too real, too much of himself there. It was his fault, what had happened to Mob. That she had listened too closely, that she had ignored his talks about self-defense and running away until she was so cornered until she had no choice but to fight back. She had no choice but to put her life on the line….
"Master? How many words do the chapters need to be?" asked Mob not looking up from her writing. Reigen shrugged.
"I think that the chapters need to come to their own natural end, Mob, so I guess make them as long as you want." Said Reigen. H was averaging about ten thousand words a chapter, when he did the English version. It was good to get both versions done at once, like simuldubbing anime. Plus that way more people could read it, people who didn't speak Japanese. People on his mother's side of the family.
"Oh. Ok." Said Mob getting back to writing. This seemed done then. She had finished her version of the day she met with the first time they had ever gone for takoyaki. It had been after their first job. The spirit had been really weak, just someone who wanted people not to sit on his usual bus bench. He had been so attached he had died there so Mob had to kick him out. It wasn't anything, really, she had exorcised much stronger spirits. Master Reigen had still been very proud of her and they had gotten dinner. It had been nice.
"How's yours coming along?" asked Reigen as he finished his. He ended his on the first time he had ever taken her for ramen. She was so small he had to lift her onto the stool. Her feet dangled and she lost a shoe but caught it with her powers and slipped it back on like it was nothing. He had almost choked on a mouthful of noodles, he wasn't used to her powers yet. He got used to the mundane utility to them, though. She used them a lot more when she was smaller, mostly to reach things.
"I think I'm done with this chapter. How long does the book need to be?" asked Mob. Emi always said that the bets books were either really long or really short. That way you knew that everything that needed to be said had been said.
"I don't know, really. I was just going to end it with what happened at the, uh, Claw base." Said Reigen watching her face, her feelings, her aura. He let himself wash over her. Huh. She wasn't upset at all. She wasn't really much of anything. No strong emotion at least, and he wasn't about to start digging into her feelings.
"I think that we should end it when we found the tsuchinoko. That's what our first video was about, anyway." Said Mob. All good stories, well shows, ended on a breather episode so they should end the book on a breather chapter. Their fight with Claw was just too big, too much, to end their book on.
"You think? It's not really, you know, as much as when we fought Claw. We didn't even do much, we just hiked in the woods until we found the damned thing and then you killed it." Said Reigen. They couldn't end on that, it was too mundane. Well, mundane for them, anyway.
"I think we should end it there. All the best stories end on a breather episode." Said Mob
"You think they'll adapt this into an anime?" asked Reigen already seeing the dollar signs. He hadn't even thought about licensing rights. If he finished the English translation at the same time as the Japanese version they might even get on TV in the United States. It would be a drama with real people, though, people in the United States loved dramas with people.
"Maybe, but it would have to be a manga first, and I can't draw." Said Mob. Even with her powers her drawings didn't look good at all. Like a little kid's.
"Hang on, let me….and done!" said Reigen taking a pen to the back of a questionnaire and scribbling quickly. He scribbled down what was supposed to be a picture of the two of them. Simple geometric shapes, no color, and maybe his sense of proportion was a little bit off, too. Still, it was them. Hey, he was a psychic, not an artist.
"I think we should stick to writing a novel, Master." Said Mob. She had seen manga before, read quite a bit of it, and that didn't look like manga. Not that she would tell Master Reigen that he wasn't any better at drawing than she was. That would have been mean.
"You're right, let someone else buy the rights. We could get published in something cool like Weekly Shonen Jump." Said Reigen. Maybe the big Sunday shonen too. All those old manga magazines he had read when he was a kid. They were still published, right? He hadn't picked up a manga magazine in years and Mob only read girl manga magazines. How many times could she read about two people falling in love and not realizing it before she got bored? Apparently never.
"We can't be in shonen though, unless we make you the only main character. Shonen doesn't have girls as main characters." Said Mob. Ritsu's manga, anyway, was all boys as main characters. It was even, though, because hers was all girls as main characters.
"Nah, we'll just rewrite you as a guy. Uh, what's a guy's name that sounds like Shigeko?" asked Reigen. Shingi? No, that was too far, and people would just think he was ripping off Evangelion.
"Shigeo." Said Mob simply. That was what her parents would have called her, if she was a boy. They didn't call Ritsu Shigeo, though, because it was too close to Shigeko.
"Yeah, we could just call you Shigeo. I mean, we'll have to change a few details around but it could work." Said Reigen, forgetting the saying about not counting your chickens before they hatched.
"I think we should just finish the book, first, Master." Said Mob remembering the old saying about not counting their chickens before they hatched.
"You're right Mob, after this we'll plan out the manga. We'll have to insist that they publish every single page in color though, just so that people can, you know, see what we see." Said Reigen. He was getting better at filtering the colors out, making the world seem duller. It was just so, well, vibrant. If he really let himself perceive he could even see the energy that made up everything. He had caught himself doing the Mob stare on more than one occasion.
"That sounds expensive, Master." Said Mob as she started on the next chapter. This one would be a time skip, to today times. This was going to be paced fast, she decided, if Master wanted an eventual anime adaptation. Something that they could squish into twelve or thirteen episodes. Not something that went on forever, no, then people might get bored of them.
"You're right, just a few panels should be in color. Yes….much more powerful that way…" said Reigen getting back to typing. He worked and worked, not even pausing as he sipped his tea and smoked. Yes, this was coming along nicely. He was a hell of a writer if he did say so himself. He even made sure to keep it simple even though it would look better if he used better more obscure and poetic kanji. He didn't, though, because he had translations to think about.
"Master…Master there's a client." Said Mob. Oh. He had gotten too into it. Damn. The client already had a cup of tea and Mob was holding a filled out questionnaire. He saved his text document and read over the page. Cursed? Probably stiff shoulders.
"I can lift the curse, Master, if you're too busy." Said Mob. Reigen was about to tell her that she shouldn't go around rubbing backs and shoulders when she didn't know what she was doing when he saw it. Black, sticky, gross. It was like tar. It felt grosser and grosser the more he focused on it.
"No, I'll handle it." Said Reigen. Right, show time.
"Yes, Master." Said Mob going back to her desk. This wasn't just a bad back and stiff shoulders, no, she could see an actual curse clinging to the man.
"Hello and welcome to Spirits and Such. I'm Reigen Arataka and this is my student, Mob. How may we help you?" asked Reigen. He was marshalling his power, what he could. He focused on how much he wanted that curse gone, kind of like nudging a spirit to pass on. He met Mob's eyes and she shook her head, subtly.
"Wow, you're really Reigen! You're much taller in person!" said the client shaking his hand with more enthusiasm than form.
"Uh…thank you. So, I understand that you're cursed?" asked Reigen. Wow. A fan. Not just someone who had seen his work but an actual live fan.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I slept facing north, left my chopsticks straight up in my bowl, and went to a SHIT TON of funerals without tossing salt over myself. Funerals for people I never even met." Said the client. Mob and Reigen both stared at him for a moment.
"Well, I suppose we all like to live dangerously from time to time." Said Reigen. This guy was an idiot, apparently.
"Why would you do those things? That's bad luck." Said Mob, staring down at her work now. She could understand making mistakes but not that many.
"To meet you two!" said the client. Mob stared over at him.
"You didn't have to get yourself cursed. You could have just come in. We take walk-ins." Said Mob. People were such a confusing bunch sometimes. She'd never understand them, not one bit, for as long as she lived.
"Mob, be nice." Said Reigen. He, of course, echoed her sentiments. Curses were nothing to play around with.
"Yes, Master." Said Mob returning to her work. Great, now she had lost her train of thought.
"Wow! Just like you guys talk to each other on Youtube! Hey, can I get a picture with the two of you?" asked the client pulling out his phone.
"Of course, but first my apprentice will remove the curse attached to you. Hey, Mob, show time." Said Reigen. Mob stood up. Show time meant that she had to make this look cool even though she could easily remove this curse, and it was a pretty weak one, without lifting a finger or even looking up. That's why she had to do this. Master Reigen couldn't make it look cool, he was pulling his power together like he would for an exorcism. It wouldn't work. This wasn't something that you could coax into separating from a person. This was a pool of negativity that would need to be annihilated.
"Hold still." Said Mob simply. She let her aura show so that regular people could see it, Master Reigen said that showing people that they were the real deal would put people more at ease. She made a big arc with her hands and buried the client in her energy. It was mostly for show, she was just removing the curse after all. When she finished the client began to stretch.
"Wow! That was so cool! How'd you do that?" asked the client. Mob shrugged.
"I just destroyed the curse, that's all, I'm not sure exactly how it works." Said Mob getting back to her desk. She started writing up the receipt before Master Reigen asked her to. This probably counted as the lowest level of curse removal, since the client hadn't been there very long at all.
"No, I mean what did you 'really' do? You guys can tell me." Said the client. Reigen crossed his arms. He could feel the confusing coming off of Mob.
"She means what she said. She used her powers. Now, do you still want that picture?" asked Reigen. He had to be nice to the client. Just take a picture, collect the money, and get on with his day. Call him a fraud, call him whatever, but not Mob. She was the real deal.
"Holy shit you guys are real…." Said the client. Mob nodded. Of course they were real. Why would they be running a psychic consultation office if they weren't psychics? That would be lying, and dumb. Why would regular people go around exorcising spirits? Spirits were dangerous.
"Of course we are. We wouldn't lie." Said Mob simply. Reigen looked away from her.
"Mob, come on, be the selfie stick." Said Reigen not able to meet her eyes. More confusion was coming off of her. He'd tell her the truth when she was older. When she was old enough to handle the truth.
"Yes Master Reigen." Said Mob. They took pictures with clients sometimes. It was good for their business's public image, Master Reigen had said. They stood together and Mob took the picture. She thought that this looked alright. She smiled in that one, even though she didn't feel like smiling. Smiling for pictures was the polite thing to do after all. They bid their client farewell and went back to work. The office was soon filled with the sound of key clacking and pen scratching.
"As the years went by my student progressed far beyond what I could have ever expected. Her powers, which had eclipsed my own even during her childhood had grown beyond comprehension. This growth in power attracted the attention of those who sought to use her for their own gain. As powerful as she was she was still only the student and her power was raw, her technique was still juvenile, and that is how I, the great Reigen Arataka, had ended up taking down the organization known as Claw."
That was alright, it could have been better. Maybe he should use a proxy name for Claw, actually. They had called it the 7th division so maybe there were others. He looked up, suddenly. Others. Mob could end up kidnaped, again. No. He wouldn't let that happen. Not again. He had come so close to losing her…
"Master? You're using your powers on me again." Said Mob as she wiped tears from her eyes. She got up and walked over to Reigen. He needed her. She didn't know what he was so sad about but he needed her.
"Oh, hey Mob. I'm sorry I was just thinking about…its nothing." Said Reigen collecting himself. The thought of her kidnapped. Of her getting hurt. Of her dying. The memories of her screams, her laughs…oh God the way she was laughing. It was still a lot. It had only been a week after all. A week and a day.
"Master Reigen, you said that we could tell each other everything." Said Mob hugging him. They were level, almost, because he was still sitting in his chair.
"I know, I know. You can tell me everything but I shouldn't…Mob you're just a kid and there are some things that I shouldn't burden you with." Said Reigen. She seemed to be pretty much recovered from what happened. She and the other kids seemed fine, if their group chat was anything to go by. Kids were resilient, he had heard that before. Maybe they were resilient or maybe they just didn't fully understand the gravity of the situation.
"I'm not a little kid. I can be there for you just like you're there for me. That's what friends do." Said Mob like she was stating the most obvious thing in the world.
"Mob, no. I..I don't want to make you feel bad." Said Reigen. Mob shook her head.
"Master, it's too late for that. I'm fine though, because I can tell that these are your feelings and not mine. Well, I'm not really fine because knowing that you feel bad makes me feel bad. Why won't you tell me why you feel bad?" asked Mob, patting his hair like he was a cat. This always made her feel better. Hair was a lot more sensitive than a person would think it would be.
"Mob…I'm just…I was just thinking about what happened last week, that's all. It'll pass." Said Reigen. She was comforting him, again, like she had that night. This wasn't her place. It wasn't her place to worry about him like this. She was the student and he was the master.
"You mean when we almost all died?" asked Mob. That would be the most logical thing to be sad about from last week.
"Yeah, when we almost died…Mob…I can't lose you." Said Reigen after a moment. Mob stared at him.
"I already promised you that I would call you next time something like that happened. I'm not a liar, Master." Said Mob
"I know you're not a liar. Mob, you're the most honest person I've ever met. I was just…God damn it Mob there shouldn't be a next time! There shouldn't have even been a first time!" said Reigen before he could stop himself. Mob took a step back.
"Are you still mad at me?" asked Mob quietly. Reigen could feel it. Fear. Rejection. Anxiety. The couch flipped over and ended up on the ceiling with a loud bang.
"No, Mob, I'm not. I was never mad AT you. I was mad because all of that happened to you in the first place. It shouldn't have happened. You shouldn't have had to go through that. None of you should have." Said Reigen. If he ever met anyone who tried to hurt Mob or any other kids again he would beat them half to death, take a break to recover his stamina, and then go back and finish the job.
"But it did happen but we're fine now. We're practicing with our powers so that if it ever does happen again we'll be ready. Teru and Ritsu practice fighting every day after school now. They won't let me practice with them but I'm working hard, too. I stopped stuffing the other Shigeko down and now she's less upset and we coexist together better. If we coexist then we won't fight when we merge again and I won't forget what's real and what isn't. The others are practicing too. The Shiratori brothers are working on hearing thoughts from other people, not just each other, and can even sort of hear their parents now. Go can set his whole finger on fire now, not just the tip. Takeshi can bend spoons and forks without getting super tired. Rei is up to 75% accuracy. Well, she said it was 75% on Wednesday, I don't know if it got any better and I won't ask her now because she's on a date with Ritsu and she wants to get him to kiss her and I don't want to ruin her chances. She said that the future was unclear about if he kissed her or not. I don't know, Ritsu is my little brother, I don't want him to grow up too fast. Is that how you feel about me? I'm not growing up too fast but I am growing up but I'm sorry if I make you feel bad. Next time happens I'll call you but I'll also fight for you and everyone else. I'm not a pacifist anymore. I understand that I have to fight but I understand that sometimes I have to run away too. That's all I have to say about that." Said Mob. Reigen blinked.
"That's the most I've ever heard you say at once." Said Reigen after a moment as he tried to process everything that she had just said. That was certainly a lot. A lot a lot.
"I had a lot to say." Said Mob. She hoped that she had gotten her message across.
"I can tell." Said Reigen still thinking. These kids…they were still just kids. The worst they should have had to worry about was getting good grades and scoring dates, not whether or not they could defend themselves if they got kidnapped. Well, actually, yeah there were a lot of sick people in the world and even if they weren't espers kidnappers were a valid thing to worry about.
"Do you want me to say anything else?" asked Mob. Maybe she needed to elaborate more, or maybe he needed to hear it all again.
"No, not if you don't want to." Said Reigen. He was still processing what she had just said. OK, the kids did need to worry about bad people and there was nothing wrong with self-defense but this was still not an alright thing for them to worry about. In a perfect world they would have been safe and happy and loved. Well, this wasn't a perfect world. The world may have been bright and colorful now but it was still full of all kinds of ugliness.
"Do you understand now, Master?" asked Mob. Did he understand that she wasn't eleven anymore? That she was strong? That they were all strong. Ritsu had gotten kidnapped because she had held back, because she was afraid of using her powers to hurt someone even though they were going to hurt her. Even though they were attacking Ritsu. If that ever happened again, if someone ever tried to hurt any of them again, then she'd use her powers. Then she'd fight back. She'd run away, too, if she could but sometimes she had to fight. She didn't like fighting and violence but it was a necessary evil, sometimes.
"Do you understand, Mob?" asked Reigen. She needed to know that if this ever happened again he would be there for her. He would always be there for her.
"I understand that sometimes I'll have to fight. I understand that sometimes I'll have to run away. I understand that you'll be there to help, too. That's what I understand about all of this." Said Mob after a moment. Reigen stood up after a moment. He walked towards her and pulled her into a quick hug.
"Mob. Mob I…I just wish that…Mob remember to run away whenever you can." Said Reigen after a moment. She hugged him back and he let her go.
"I know, Master. I don't like fighting." Said Mob
"Then why do you want to fight with Teru and Ritsu?" asked Reigen. She shouldn't have to do that. She shouldn't have to put away everything she stood for and everything that made her who she was. Pacifist. She wore that word like a suit of armor, before. Now she had cast it aside like a pair of old shoes.
"Because someday I'll have to fight, again. I don't want that day to ever come, and I'll run away if I can, but I'm not a little kid anymore. I know that one day I'll have to fight again." Said Mob. Reigen patted her hair.
"Remember that I'll be there to protect you." Said Reigen. This didn't reassure Mob, he could feel it. She looked up at him through her fringe.
"Because I'm just a little girl?" asked Mob monotonously. Reigen shook his head.
"No. Because you're a kid. You're a kid, boy or girl, and you need someone to protect you. You're not a little kid but you're still a kid." Said Reigen trying to sound as diplomatic as possible. OK, maybe if she was a guy he'd worry a little less. It wasn't a conscious choice, he just wanted to protect her more because she was small and female. It was all biology and psychology and sociology and all the other –ology things he had learned about in university.
"Sometimes I feel like that's all that you'll ever let me be." Said Mob quietly
"Mob, don't be like that. You're more grown up than when I met you, I'll give you that, but you're still only fourteen. You've got a lot more living to do before you're all grown up and I want to make sure that you live long enough to do that living." Said Reigen
"Master…everyone wants to protect me. You, Teru, Ritsu…but I'm not…I'm not weak, I'm stronger. I'm really strong. I was so strong that I took out all of those Claw guys…well you helped but you had my powers…I only lost because I wouldn't go far enough…but I don't want to go that far…but I'm the only one strong enough to protect everyone." Said Mob
"Mob, you're right. In a fight the more ruthless opponent will always win. But I don't want you to become that ruthless. It's not…it is in you…we all have those parts to us…but you shouldn't ever have to embrace them. That's why I need you to let me protect you." Said Reigen
"But...I'm stronger than…am I stronger than you?" asked Mob looking up into his eyes. Brown eye met blue. Reigen felt his heart stop. She was. She was so much stronger than he would ever be. She had always been stronger. He was a liar. He had always been a liar. He…he needed to keep on lying to her. He needed to be there for her. He needed to be her rock. He needed to be her protector because that was his job. He was the Master and she was the student.
"Apples to oranges, Mob. Right now you're comparing apples to oranges. You're an esper, a powerful esper. Mob…from the way you took down all of those guys…from the power you shared with me I think you may be the most powerful esper in the country if not the world. But I'm…not an esper. Mob, you know my powers are different. I can't compare myself to you." Said Reigen telling the truth and lying at the same time.
"If I'm so powerful then why do I need people to protect me?" asked Mob. Reigen reached over and tugged her hair.
"Because you're still you, Mob. You're still just a kid and it's my job to protect you." Said Reigen. He felt her reaching up with her powers and tugging on his hair.
"You'll be there for me and I'll be there for you, Master. That's what friends do." Said Mob. Reigen decided to let it go, for now. It was true, she was more powerful than him, but he would protect her whenever he could. She was still just a kid and no amount of raw power that she wielded would ever change that.
Ritsu could have really used a friend. This date was going well, he thought. She seemed really happy. She was smiling a lot and taking lots of pictures. She looked pretty. She smelled nice, like perfume, and her clothes were tight and short. She was happy, she was pretty, and she wanted to be his.
So why couldn't he feel anything?
"Ritsu, what's wrong? We can trade if you don't like it." Said Rei. They were eating ice cream, she had thought that he would like it. He said that he liked it, and his sister loved milk to it seemed like a good choice. She had even seen them having fun with her clairvoyance. Maybe she should just go back to saying that it was 60% accurate.
"Oh no, I like it. This is really good." Said Ritsu forcing himself to eat. What was with him? She was pretty, she was nice, and she liked him. He wished that he disliked her, then it would be easier.
"So, do you want to go back to the arcade after this? There's a whole floor we haven't even check out yet." Said Rei. He was so hard to read, kind of gloomy, like Shigeko. Probably because they were family. She had thought that Shigeko didn't like her when they first met, either, but like a hard shelled ice cream ball she was really sweet once you got through the layers. She just had to get through Ritsu's layers until she got to the creamy center with hunk of white chocolate and sprinkles. This was actually very good ice cream.
"Oh yeah, that's the one with all the crane games. You want me to win you something, right?" said Ritsu absently. He didn't notice Rei's eyes light up.
"That would be great! Oh, and I'll win you something too. I think there's a machine in there with Evangelion merchandise. I know how you like that show. Did you know that they're making another movie?" asked Rei. She knew full well which machine that it was, where it was, and which toy he would like the best. It was the mystery box with the figure of Rei, his favorite character wearing the piloting suit she would be wearing in the new movie.
"Oh yeah, it's going to be pretty good I think. Have you seen the last ones?" asked Ritsu. He liked it, not to the body pillow and devoting his life to it point, but he liked it a lot. He hadn't thought that she would. She said that her favorite show was Free. Admittedly it was pretty entertaining but it was no Eva. It was like apples to oranges.
"I've seen every episode, movie, and read all the manga." Said Rei, omitting the fact that she had spent the last week studying his favorite show. She had even hung out with the anime club to learn everything that she could. So. Much. Lore.
"What did you think of the series ending? I think that it was about Shinji accepting death. Shigeko thinks that they just ran out of money so they had to get abstract." Said Ritsu. They had decided that they were both right, after debating it all night. In the end they were both right.
"The ending? I think that…I think that it was him turning into LCL. I think that's what instrumentality looked like. I know that the movie contradicts it but they can't just, like, erase the last two episodes of the TV series. If they do then what was the point of it all?" said Rei finishing her ice cream. The last movie made the show pointless. She wondered if Ritsu felt the same. It really was an interesting show, it just wasn't her usual stuff.
"You think? I think that he died and that was his afterlife." Said Ritsu. There, they had something in common. Come on, Ritsu, feel something already.
"Well, isn't becoming LCL pretty much just dying, anyway?" asked Rei using her finger to get the last of the ice cream out of the bowl. She glanced up at him. Huh. The magazine said that guys loved that.
"No, I think that it's like becoming a hive mind with everyone. It's like everyone melted together." Said Ritsu. Ick. She ate with her hands. You could get really sick like that.
"Like your ice cream?" asked Rei. Ritsu shrugged and finished his. It really was pretty good.
"Probably not that good to eat." Said Ritsu. She smiled and giggled. She rested her foot on top of his. He pulled away but she kept her foot there. Oh, right, he had seen couples do this. It was alright, he decided. Not that bad. Not great but not bad.
"Somehow I feel like it would taste like orange juice." Said Rei. Ritsu laughed, not at her but with her. She laughed a little, too.
"Or maybe cheese. Like that artificial cheese flavor." Said Ritsu. She giggled again. Getting girls to laugh wasn't that hard, he decided. He was making her happy, that was good. Maybe feelings could come later. He had just met her, after all.
"I hate artificial flavors. Like, when you can taste and smell how artificial they are. It's just like, yuck, I'll just go and eat the real thing, you know?" said Rei. Good. He looked happier now. Layer, she just had to peel back his layers.
"I know what you mean. Like strawberry mochi, the cheap ones at the convenience store. It's better to just eat plain mochi and fresh fruit. It's not that much more expensive." Said Ritsu
"I hate artificial fruit flavors the most. That's why I always get vanilla ice cream with fresh fruit in it, oh and chocolate. Chocolate is heaven." Said Rei. His hand was on the table. Now was her chance. She reached over and put her hand over his.
"Yeah, chocolate is pretty good. I used to drink a lot of chocolate milk when I was little. Not so much, now." Said Ritsu. Oh. She wanted to hold hands. Ok. It felt alright. Maybe he was supposed to lace his fingers with hers.
"Well we aren't little anymore. Chocolate milk is alright, but I like plain milk. Not as much as your sister though." Said Rei. Whoa! He was lacing their fingers already. How could she have doubted him? He obviously just had trouble showing his feelings.
"Oh yeah, Shigeko drinks more milk than water." Said Ritsu. She was holding his hand back. This was alright, her hand was kind of sticky, though.
"Are you still hungry? I can get the next round." Said Rei. If he let her pay that was good, the magazine had said, but also if he paid it was good, the other magazine had said.
"No, I'm full. Do you want me to win you a prize, now?" asked Ritsu. He'd win her a big plsuhie. They had giant dogs, she liked dogs, and she collected plushies. Or he'd get her a big chocolate bar, she also liked chocolate.
"Sure! I'll win you something, too, remember. Then we'll be even." Said Rei. They got up and still held hands. Wow. This was perfect. He was hot, smart, funny, had good taste, and he wasn't freaking out. Go had tried to run away when they held hands because his powers activated when he got super nervous. Takeshi had tried to run away when she tried to kiss him. Ritsu was way more mature than those guys.
"Take the stairs, the elevator is going to be really crowded." Said Rei as they entered the arcade. They passed by the elevator and sure enough it was crowded with loud elementary school kids.
"Thanks, Rei. Your powers are really useful." Said Ritsu. He was telling the whole truth. He would take clairvoyance over his power set any day. It just seemed more useful than spoon bending and barrier making.
"Yours are cool too. The way you threw those guys around was amazing. You're so strong." Said Rei blushing and batting her eyes up at him. They were in a stairwell, alone. Come on, Ritsu, get a clue already.
"No, I'm not the strongest." Said Ritsu. He had his powers but he couldn't even take down one of those Claw mini bosses. He had even lost to that annoying spikey haired kid. Ritsu still thought about his defeat at that kid's hands. Smug, cocky, jerk…
"So? What does it matter if you're the strongest or not the strongest? It's so cool just to even have these powers." Said Rei. She didn't care that she wasn't 100% accurate, she was just happy to be able to see the future sometimes.
"I guess. I don't know, I've just…I spent my entire life jealous of my sister because of her powers and now that I have mine…I'm still not anywhere near her level. I know that it's dumb but…" said Ritsu. She put a finger to his lips, silencing him.
"It's ok to be jealous, I think, but you shouldn't let it consume you. We have powers and it's cool. There will always be someone cooler than you just like there will always be someone smarter or faster or stronger but that doesn't mean that you aren't awesome. You're awesome, Ritsu." Said Rei. She took her finger from his lips and stepped closer. She had seen this in a movie, once. It had been so romantic. This was kind of romantic, at least they were alone.
"You're right, Rei." Said Ritsu. She did have a point. He had a lot going for him and he had let his jealousy consume him, before, and he had turned into an asshole. He wouldn't let that happen again.
"Thanks. I don't know, that's just how I look at things. Like, I know I'm not super pretty or smart or popular or athletic but I'm happy just being myself." Said Rei. Ritsu frowned.
"You're really pretty though, Rei. I think you're smart though and I'm not sure how popular you are but you talk about your friends a lot so I guess you have more than me." Said Ritsu. They had stopped walking. She was standing really close, too. She was still holding his hand.
"You think I'm pretty?" asked Rei. She had spent a while picking her outfit and finding a bag big enough to hide it in so she could change into it in the bathroom at the arcade before their date. The magazines had been right, super short skirts and super high socks were a great combination. Her shirt might have been too small, though, it kept on trying to creep up.
"Yeah. You look nice." Said Ritsu. She wore make up and her clothes were nice so she looked pretty. He knew that clothes and make up and stuff were important to girls. Oh. That just made her move closer.
"Hey, Ritsu, can I ask you something kind of private?" asked Rei. Ritsu shrugged.
"Sure." Said Ritsu. Whatever it was he'd answer her. It wasn't like he was hiding anything or had done anything he wasn't prepared to own up to.
"Have you had your first kiss yet?" asked Rei quickly. Nope. She had to be direct. Guys loved directness. Well, mature ones like Ritsu probably did. Takeshi and Go had just gotten nervous and tried to run away. Ritsu wouldn't, he was grown up like that. He had even dressed nice for their date, his shirt had buttons and everything.
"Huh? No, not yet." Said Ritsu. Was that her way of asking him to kiss her? She should just ask then. He'd either say yes or no, so what was she beating around the bush for?
"Oh. Can we kiss, then? If you want to, that is." Said Rei. He didn't look nervous, that was good. He wasn't going to freak out and run away like so many boys had before.
"Ok." Said Ritsu. He knew that it was his first kiss, and he knew that it was supposed to be special. That always seemed dumb to him. Why would the first one be so special? It was probably going to not be that good. Things usually weren't that great the first time.
"Really? Great. Now close your eyes." Said Rei. She was practically bouncing. This was so perfect! They just needed some background music and it would be the most perfect thing ever.
"They're closed." Said Ritsu not knowing why he needed to close his eyes for this. Maybe it would be weird to have his opened, things looked weird up close.
"Good. Ok, I'm going to kiss you now. Don't run away." Said Rei
"Why would I do that? I want to kiss you." Said Ritsu. Rei didn't know she could smile this much. Wow. He was so great! Ok Rei, time to dazzle him.
"Ok. Here I go." Said Rei before she kissed him. It was quick, kind of, she thought. She pulled away, though. She was too keyed up to kiss him again. One was a lot.
"That was nice." Said Ritsu. It had felt alright, he thought. Not as slobbery as he thought it would be. Not bad. He wiped his mouth. Some of her lipstick had gotten on him. Not super great but not bad either. She looked like she had enjoyed it, though. That was good.
"You were really good." Said Rei. He had been. Not all slobbery but not all shaky and afraid, either. Mature. She could appreciate that.
"Thanks. Do you want me to win you something, now?" asked Ritsu. So that's what it was like. Well, he could check that one off his bucket list. He knew what it was like to kiss a girl and now he could die happy if an evil esper group ever came after him again.
"Yeah! Definitely!" said Rei. She took his arm and they finally made their way to the third floor of the biggest arcade in Seasoning City. She practically dragged him over to the crane machines. Ritsu let her lead. He watched her. She was really excited. Happy. She said that he was really good? Did that mean she had done that before? Probably. He didn't care. One of them needed to know what they were doing.
She practically pulled him to the machine with the Eva prizes. She pointed to the mystery box that had the toy that he would absolutely love. She was sure, she had used her powers. It took her a while to win it, though, and towards the end he just ended up nudging it with telekinesis. It was nice, how much she wanted to win it for him. It was nice having someone think of him besides his sister for once.
Maybe having a girlfriend would be nice. It would be nice to have someone in his life to hang out with all the time besides his sister and her boyfriend. He did like to text her, sometimes, when he felt lonely. Maybe she was lonely, too. She had said that she wasn't popular. Maybe they could chase away the loneliness together.
He found a machine with toys she would like. She had told him about her stuffed animal collection. She was going for a particular color scheme, mostly pinks and reds and purples. Darker shades, though. He found a machine with a dark red velvet looking dog. He could win it with his powers, easily. He could but he'd try to do it on his own, first, without powers. Just once, so he could try. She was hanging off of him, now. It was alright. He had seen couples being like this. Shigeko touched Teru like this all the time. Girls liked stuff like this.
It took two tries without his powers to win her the dog. She insisted on taking a picture of the two of them with their prizes for all of her various accounts. She looked a lot happier than he did, Ritsu thought, but he did tend to look pretty serious. They got a comment immediately. Oh, Shigeko was happy for them. She used a lot of happy faces. Rei and Shigeko texted back and forth for a moment. Ritsu just sort of watched her. Rei was alright, he decided. He was in middle school and he ought to have a girlfriend. He had never had one, before, and he could die at any time so why not? She liked him, that was obvious.
He didn't like her in the same way, maybe. He had never felt that way about someone before so how would he know what it felt like? Or maybe it was one of those know it when you see it sort of things. He didn't know. He knew that he had fun. He knew that Rei was a nice person. He knew that he liked spending time with her. If she asked him to be her boyfriend then he'd say yes. Besides, they were only in middle school. It wasn't like they would end up getting married or anything.
Their date was actually pretty fun, he decided. She was a fun person. This was fun. This had been fun. He could totally do this again.
He still wasn't in love with her, though.
Mob was so glad that her little brother had found love. Love was important, it was a really great feeling that everyone needed to feel. Love made you stronger, she decided. Rei was certainly happy. She sent Ritsu a congratulations text, too.
"What's got you so happy over there?" asked Reigen as he typed. This thing was really coming along. Maybe if this whole psychic thing didn't work out they could become famous novelists.
"Ritsu found love." Said Mob not looking up. Maybe she could put this in the book, like a subplot. She was in the title and Ritsu was her favorite and only brother so it would make sense that he got his own hundred page subplot.
"Seriously? Well I guess there's someone for everyone." Muttered Reigen. These kids were growing up way too fast for his him. He almost wanted to take Mob to the park and push her on the swing like when she was little. She probably didn't even still fit, though. Sun rise, sun set and all of that.
"Yeah, it's Rei, from the Awakening Lab. She was telling me that she wanted to be with him. I thought that it was kind of weird, Ritsu having a girlfriend, but I'm happy for him. I guess that this is how you feel about me and Teru." Said Mob. Reigen leaned back in his chair.
"Yeah, pretty much exactly how I feel. You're getting better at getting a clue, Mob. Proud of you." Said Reigen pulling out a cigarette. He really needed to stop doing this around her. He opened a window. That would really help, probably.
"Oh. Well, I hope that Ritsu is happy with Rei and he doesn't end up with a broken heart like you, Master." Said Mob going back to her work. Reigen began to cough thanks to a very startled deep breath he took. Thank God he hadn't ended up swallowing his cigarette. How the hell would he explain that one to the hospital?
"Mob, I'm fine. All of that was years ago. I'm over it, now." Said Reigen as Mob poured him a cup of tea with her powers and set it down on his desk.
"You shouldn't smoke so much, Master, if it's making it hard to breathe." Said Mob not looking up. She was actually enjoying writing this book. This was a good thing, she could share the joy that she and Master Reigen had found together with lots and lots of other people. People loved books, that's why there were so many published all the time.
"You're right, Mob, you're so right." Said Reigen still not putting out his cigarette. He'd quit later, he still had this pack and the emergency packs at home. Oh, and the new emergency packs he had bought for the office. It would be a shame to waste so much money.
"You should drink something, Master." Said Mob, the cup on his desk rattling a bit. Reigen took a big swig of tea. His throat really was raw.
"Thanks Mob, for thinking about me, but you shouldn't worry about things like my love life. I'm fine." Said Reigen.
"You have one?" asked Mob. Reigen frowned. He knew that she wasn't trying to be mean. This girl didn't have a mean bone in her body, well aside from that thing inside of her that apparently could act on its own…nope. Mob was a nice person. The other Mob was not Mob.
"Uh…yes and no." said Reigen. Right. This was not an area that she should have been digging into. He let himself feel her emotions. Jealousy, probably towards him, and happiness, probably still from her brother getting a girlfriend. He pulled back into himself. As comforting as hanging out in her aura was he knew that it wasn't super healthy for either of them.
"How can it be two things? Those answers are opposites." Said Mob honestly not understanding. She was still writing, though, this time about when they had gone to an exorcism but it had turned out to just be squirrels in the attic so she and Master Reigen had to chase them out. That had been a fun day until Master Reigen thought one of them but him and he had to go to the hospital and get a shot in the stomach. That part had been scary. That was good, books needed scary parts like that to keep the reader engaged.
"Yeah…I'm not sure if this is an area you want to go digging around in, Mob. Hey, look at the time! Quitting time Mob, come on!" said Reigen. It wasn't exactly closing but it was a Saturday so maybe they could take the night off. Well, leave like half an hour early.
"Ok." Said Mob as she got up. She collected her pages and put them into her bag. They turned off the lights, locked the door, and off they went.
"Hey Mob, I don't feel like cooking tonight. How about we get something on the way home, sound good to you?" asked Reigen. Mob nodded.
"Let's get ramen." Said Mob. As if she needed to ask. Ramen was Master Reigen's favorite.
"Good thinking, Mob. Brilliant as always." Said Reigen patting her on the back. Oh. Hungry. Confused. Jealous. Happy. Rejected. Damn it, Mob, why do you have to feel so many things?
"Master?" asked Mob. Master Reigen had stopped walking. She felt his aura, what little of it she could. Oh. He felt bad. Her fault? Something else? What happened to them telling each other everything?
"Mob…jeez Mob…you really want an answer? Because this is going to turn into a long and awkward and personal talk if I give you an answer." Said Reigen. Mob nodded. She liked long talks, she didn't mind personal stuff, and she didn't even realize when things got awkward.
"We tell each other everything, remember? You said so, Master." Said Mob. Reigen sighed. Yeah, he had told her that, hadn't he? And this couldn't just go one way, could it? No, that wouldn't be fair at all and he had to be fair to her.
"I did say that, didn't I? Dug your own grave there, didn't you Arataka?" muttered Reigen. How much of his life was alright to share with her? Boundaries were a thing but their relationship was weird. She wasn't uncomfortable though. Honestly very little could actually make her uncomfortable. As long as she was comfortable she was fine, he decided.
"You never call yourself just your given name." said Mob, it was just an observation.
"Yeah, because I hate it. It's way too long. Too many syllables." Said Reigen as they kept walking. He liked his full name, though. It was a homonym for miracle worker. Kind of cool.
"Is that why people keep calling you Taka-chan?" asked Mob as they walked. Master Reigen had his hand on her back, it was nice. He was strong, it felt nice when he led them.
"I hate that even more. The only people who call me Taka-chan are my mother and relatives I never see who barely speak Japanese. I am way too old to be chan to anyone." Said Reigen. He was almost twenty nine, practically thirty, he might as well have been an old man. Of course he was way too old to be called chan anymore.
"We never use honorifics. Should I?" asked Mob. Reigen shrugged.
"I don't really care. You call me Master Reigen all the time so that counts. I guess you would be Mobbu-chan or Mobbu-san. I didn't know you minded, honestly." Said Reigen. She was always just Mob to him. She wasn't really below him, he had dropped the chan pretty soon after meeting her. It didn't really fit. She was cute and young and adorable but she was also pretty aloof to the world, sort of gloomy looking, and sometimes super intense.
"I don't, I just thought that you might. You said that you wouldn't be Master Reigen forever." Said Mob. Reigen looked down at her. Yeah, he wouldn't always be Master Reigen, would he? The two of them had had this talk before. Well, a version of this talk.
"No, I guess I'd just be Reigen-san then. We'd be equals after all." Said Reigen. He felt something like relief from her. What was up with that?
"Reigen-san. I like that." Said Mob. Not Arataka. She didn't…the last time he had asked her to call him by his name he had been sad and crying and scared and she didn't want that ever again. No. Even when she was all grown up and they were equals she still didn't want him to be like that.
"Should I start calling you Shigeko?" asked Reigen. He usually only called her Shigeko when he needed her attention. Mob honestly fit better,
"No, I prefer Mob. Also, sometimes Shigeko thinks that people are talking to her when I'm called Shigeko." Said Mob. Reigen stopped walking.
"Mob…can I ask you something? About the other Shigeko?" asked Reigen. Mob nodded.
"Of course. We tell each other everything, remember?" asked Mob. Of course she would answer any questions that he had.
"How much autonomy does she have, exactly?" asked Reigen. He probed Mob's feelings. Confusion. He probed deeper. That thing…oh God that felt gross…and it hurt a little.
"What does autonomy mean? Also she doesn't like that." Said Mob. Reigen probed a little deeper before pulling away. Base desires. Powerful base desires. It wanted to be safe. It wanted to protect them. It wanted and it wanted and it wanted but nothing else. Well, that was what he had seen. He needed a shower for his soul. It was like sinking into a warm pool of sour milk.
"Sorry, Mob. Uh, well, autonomy means…I guess I just want to know how much of her own mind she has." Said Reigen. Mob was confused. He probed deeper. She felt safe. She felt loved.
"What do you mean? Of course she has her own mind. Remember at the Claw base when we were talking? She doesn't use words when we talk, just thoughts and ideas. She talked to Teru though. She wanted to…well she wanted to do stuff and she said that self-denial didn't make any sense to her. Then we forgot what reality was when we obtained loss. Now I don't stuff her down as much and that means that she hangs around more and I have to fidget but I don't always feel like I'm about to explode." Said Mob. The other Shigeko didn't really talk too much, she just sort of existed.
"Freud was right…" muttered Reigen thinking back to psychology one back in university. So he was right about the three components of the psyche. Huh. Well then. At least this thing inside of her wasn't actually a sentient curse like Dimple had said.
"Who's that?" asked Mob. Reigen blinked. Right. Damn, he had gotten too wrapped up in his own head.
"Sorry. He was a famous psychologist. He said that the mind was made up of three parts. I think that the other Shigeko is your id, she only understands base emotions. You're the ego, you have the concept of morality, and then there's the superego who's supposed to put it all together. I guess that you were born without one…" said Reigen. Oh. Well then. That made perfect sense, actually. People were born different all the time, maybe Mob's powers were so big that she just never developed a superego. Reigen wondered if he should find a scientist or something and tell them not to discredit Freud after all.
"Something's wrong with me…" asked Mob quietly. Reigen got down to her level. He held eye contact.
"Mob, don't you ever say something like that. There is nothing wrong with you, nothing at all. You're just a little different and that's fine, Mob, so don't ever think that there's something wrong with you." Said Reigen. She was different, that was all. She needed to know that. He was not going to be responsible for her thinking that there was something wrong with her.
"There's nothing wrong with being different." Said Mob repeating what she had been told. Master Reigen said so and therefore it must have been true.
"That's right. Mob, this is important. Remember, there is nothing wrong with you." Said Reigen holding onto her shoulders. She nodded.
"Even though I can't get a clue?" asked Mob. Reigen still held onto her.
"Mob, I wouldn't have you any other way. Even when you ask me incredibly personal questions, even when you're blunter than the kitchen knives, even when you keep me up all night telling me extremely personal things I wouldn't have you any other way at all." Said Reigen. He hugged her before getting back to his full height.
"Thank you, Master." Said Mob. She thanked him for making her feel better. For being so nice. For being so wise. For giving her an answer to why she was so different, why the other her existed. She was just different. Master Reigen was so smart, he knew everything. So the mind came in three parts and she was just missing one. That wasn't so bad, better than being crazy or something, anyway.
"You're welcome, Mob." Said Reigen. She was so small and she needed him. So it had its own mind, that thing, her id. Well, at least he had learned something from his time at university. He reached over and tugged her hair. He was there. He had her.
"Should I have not asked, before, when you said that the answer was both yes and no?" asked Mob suddenly. She had been chewing on that one for a while. Maybe that was her being awkward again. Even if there was nothing wrong with her she still didn't want to come make him feel bad.
"Mob, you can ask me anything, you know that. I'll answer any question that you have no matter what it is. Sometimes things are just harder for me to answer. There are a lot of things that you just…I don't think you're ready to hear them…and I'm not calling you a little kid. Adult relationships are complicated, Mob. Come one, we'll eat in the park and I'll try really hard to answer your questions." Said Reigen. Mob nodded and followed him. They got their ramen to go, paper bowls too hot to hold so Mob carried them with her powers. They wound up eating on a bench in the park as the sun went down.
"Ok, first of all you don't need to worry about my love life. I'm fine, really, my heart broke years ago but I'm mostly over it." Said Reigen as he ate. Mob nodded and watched him. He felt her emotions, she was mostly curious.
"But you seem so sad when you talk about it, why?" asked Mob. If he was over it then why would he still be sad? Could hearts get fixed, too, after they were broken?
"Because it hurt, Mob. It's like…do you have any scars?" asked Reigen. Mob shook her head.
"I don't get scars, Master. I heal too fast. Ritsu has one though, under his hair." Said Mob. She didn't want to think about that day, the day she had lost control and hurt Ritsu.
"Well heat break is like getting a scar. You're healed but it leaves a mark. I…Mob I hope you never get your heart broken. It hurts like hell and you think it'll never end. You just want everything to end and you think nobody will ever love you again and it hurts. Mob, it hurts a lot, but then it's over. Eventually it does end." Said Reigen
"But it leaves a scar?" asked Mob. Was it literal? Could strong emotions leave scars? Sometimes if she felt deeply enough she could feel a weird sort of energy that demarcated where she ended and the other her began. She had to cross that demarcation when she and the other Shigeko merged. It had not felt good.
"Not a physical one but yeah, you do change. Even when you get over it, when you become alright with it, you'll never be 100% and that's ok. So even if I seem a little sad when I talk about it I'm still fine. Ok? You don't have to worry about me." Said Reigen as he ate. Mob used her powers to hold up their ramen for them. He could see someone taking a picture in the background. It didn't matter, really, though it was kind of flattering. Whatever, he was teaching Mob about life now, he could be distracted later.
"But then how can the answer be two things? Yes and no are opposites so how can they both be the answer?" asked Mob, genuinely curious. Reigen took a deep breath. Right. That. He knew that she had trouble with things like that, things that weren't totally literal and easy to understand. But this subject in and of itself was difficult to understand, especially for her.
"Because it just is, Mob. I don't…I haven't had a girlfriend in years." Said Reigen trying to find the words. He had words, many that he could, use but he had to be honest with Mob here. He owed her at least a little honesty between them.
"But what about all the times you-" said Mob before Reigen groaned.
"You knew every single time?" asked Reigen closing his eyes. He had been sending her out of the office to go to the store that was far away for years. God, how sleazy could he possibly get? She knew the whole time…
"No, not when I was little. But you do that a lot sometimes." Said Mob. It twisted at her insides, remembering. Knowing that he had been with someone else, a lot of someone's. But that wasn't fair now was it? She had someone, too, just one someone though. She had to get off of this. Green was an ugly color on everyone, that was a saying, and one she understood.
"You know I won't do that to you again, right? It was wrong of me." Said Reigen as she looked up at him with her big innocent eyes. She could make him feel like he was on top of the world or like the world's biggest piece of shit with just a look. He may have had his powers but she had the power to make him feel everything.
"You'll never send me to the store or you'll never have sex again?" asked Mob bluntly. She didn't like it when people were vague like that. Reigen choked on his ramen.
"Jeez Mob…chase you out of the office! I'll never chase you out of the office again!" said Reigen as he coughed. Mob slapped him on the back.
"You should eat more slowly, Master, you could choke." Said Mob simply. Master Reigen always talked while he ate even though it was dangerous.
"Yeah I-thanks Mob. Yeah, I should stop eating and talking at the same time." Said Reigen praying that this would be where their conversation ended.
"You could choke." Said Mob simply
"Yeah." Said Reigen wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
"Then you would die." Said Mob still as momentously as ever. Reigen could feel it though. Worry. Concern. Caring. Trust.
"That's why I should be more careful." Said Reigen watching her. He could tell when the wheels in her head were turning.
"I don't ever want to lose you, Master Reigen." Said Mob staring straight forward. She didn't. She didn't want to lose him death or love. But would she? One day? One day in the far off future? When she was all grown up? When he didn't think that he needed to take care of her anymore? When he decided that he wanted to find someone his own age to be with? Someone who he could be with because she was just so little even though she didn't want to be.
"Mob, you'll never lose me. I will always be there for you no matter what. I will never leave you, I'll never fear you, I'll never reject you, and I'll never replace you." Said Reigen taking her little hand in his. She was jealous all the time because…because she thought that he would leave her. It was a little but ironic, them both being afraid of the same thing.
"Even if you find someone else?" asked Mob. The grass beneath their feet grew wild like a jungle. Baby trees sprouted into life, being their full adult sizes in moments. Some of them even bore out of season fruit. She was fidgeting with her powers, giving Shigeko something else to do besides break things. Master Reigen was there and he cared and he would always be there.
"Mob, stop worrying about that. There isn't a human being on this planet, so unless your friend actually finds aliens, I will never replace you." Said Reigen trying to get her to make eye contact. She didn't. She was staring straight forward. The park was turning into an arboretum. Acorns were becoming trees. The sky was being blocked out now by all the branches. Reigen did not envy the groundskeeper.
"You'd replace me with an alien?" asked Mob after a moment. Reigen shook his head.
"Mob, you tone deaf little-I was kidding." Said Reigen. Oh. She was smiling.
"I know you were. Aliens aren't real, Master, if they were we would have seen some." Said Mob. Master Reigen let go of her hand and rubbed her hair, he might have been trying to get it to stop sticking up like that. She didn't care, it was nice.
"Even if they were I wouldn't replace you. Remember that." Said Reigen. Mob nodded.
"I won't replace you either, Master Reigen, we'll be together in perpetuity." Said Mob. Reigen felt his breath hitch in his throat. She wouldn't…she had no idea what the future held. He didn't either. It didn't have to end in them parting ways though. No. He would never part ways with her and she would never with him, for the foreseeable future.
"Perpetuity? Where'd you learn that word, Mob?" asked Reigen lightly. He was sharing his feelings now, he could tell, but he couldn't stop. So was she. Positive feedback. They were caught in a positive feedback loop. He knew that he needed to get them out of it but he just didn't want to.
"School. Remember, you helped me with my vocabulary homework." Said Mob looking up at him. She felt so happy. This was just pure and utter happiness, like someone had bottled sunshine and mixed it with a cool class of milk and a cat riding a panda served it to her.
"Oh, yeah. You're really smart Mob. You know that?" asked Reigen still watching her. She was so adorable. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with love and admiration. She cared about him and he cared about her and that was what mattered the most. There, on that bench, in the jungle she had created he could imagine them as the only two people in the world.
"You're smart to, Master, you know everything." Said Mob
"I don't know everything, Mob." Said Reigen
"You know a lot, then." Said Mob holding eye contact with him.
"So do you. You know a lot of things, things that I don't. You're…you're a better esper than I'll ever be. You've always been. I just…I've never told you." Said Reigen. She deserved honesty. She deserved all the honesty he could give her.
"I'm powerful, Master, but I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just strong, that's all. It's like you taught me, Master, my powers are just another part of me and I shouldn't rely on them. I'm trying to be a better person, Master." Said Mob
"Mob…I don't know what I'm doing, either. I can…I can barely control my powers. I have no fucking clue what I'm doing most of the time." Said Reigen. Mob put her hand over his.
"I know. I know that it's new for you, but you're doing great, Master. You can hide your aura again and everything. I can't control my powers that well, either, but it's alright. Remember, you said that we were learning together." Said Mob. She knew how it felt, not being able to control your powers. It wasn't a good feeling.
"How did I ever end up deserving someone like you?" asked Reigen quietly. She was there, she understood, she accepted him, she cared about him. What had he done in his short, failure filled life to get anything that he had now?
"Because you're a good person, Master. I've always known that you're a good person." Said Mob
"…thank you. You're…you're a good person Mob. You really are. Don't let anyone take that from you." Said Reigen. The world was big and mean and cruel and it ruined almost everything it touched. She was small, still so small, and she hadn't…but she had. She had seen what people were capable of. She had seen just how terrible people could be. She had seen terrible things, been so corned that she had to do terrible things, but she had come out the other side just the same. No. Stronger now, in many ways. Wiser.
"I won't. How can someone take that from me? I am who I am. You said that my life was my own. Nobody can make me into someone else, because I'm me. I'm Shigeko. I'm Mob." Said Mob simply. It made no sense. If she was the protagonist of her own life then how could someone take that away from her?
"You're right Mob. Your life is your own." Said Reigen. He had taught her that. She remembered. She remembered everything he taught her. She didn't always listen but she remembered. Whole hearted devotion. He had never had that from another human being. He had never given that to another human being.
"So is yours, Master. Yours is yours and mine is mine but I like how our lives are together." Said Mob
"…I like that too, Mob. You know something? You're my best friend." Said Reigen. She was, she really and truly was. She was still watching him. Not even blinking. Just staring.
"You're my best friend too, Master." Said Mob still watching him. He could feel it. Love. Acceptance. Caring. Devotion. Negative emotions were stronger than positive emotions, that was true, but that didn't make what they felt together weak. It was strong, so strong. It was so easy to get mired in them, to drown in them just as he had drowned in her aura. Just as he had lost himself in her. He could do it again. It would be so easy and he wanted to, but he didn't. He couldn't. He wanted to but he couldn't.
"So remember, I will never leave. Ever. So stop being so jealous. Nobody will ever replace you. I'll never love someone like I love you, Mob." Said Reigen. Mob stared up him. The only outward reaction she gave was the fact that the bench rose a few centimeters and the grass grew so tall seeds formed at the top.
"…you love me?" asked Mob. Her heart had stopped for a moment before it started beating like crazy. She had to do something with her powers or she'd explode so she poured as much of herself as she could into the plant life around them because she had to do something. This was everything she had ever wanted….
"Of course I do. I'm not IN love with you, that would just be…not good…but I do love you. I care about you, Mob, you're my best friend." Said Reigen. She was still staring at him, but she still felt happy.
"…I love you too, Master Reigen." Said Mob. There were different kinds of love, and that was fine. He wasn't in love with her but he did love her, and that was enough.
It would have to be.