Notes: Written for Kamikakushi - A Reigen x Mob Yokai Zine.
Special thanks to my beta, Tat_Tat. I couldn't have done it without you.
"Spirits & Such, what can I do you for?" Reigen greeted in his usual jovial tone.
"Hello," a voice answered back. "I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."
"Anytime's a good time! What do you need taken care of? A ghost? A curse? Maybe you just need someone to talk to?"
"Master...it's me."
Reigen frowned. "This is a pretty lousy prank."
"It's not - I guess it's been a while. It's me, Kageyama Shigeo...Mob."
Reigen nearly fell out of his seat. "Mob?! That's you? Holy - " He pulled away from the phone to look at the number. "I didn't recognize you there! In a good way, I mean."
"I didn't know I sounded so different."
"Yeah, you been taking steroids?"
"Master...you know I never take any kind of - "
Reigen laughed. He was Mob alright. "I'm just pulling your leg. How's it been going? Still going to school?"
"Yes, I am. It's been going well...I wanted to call to-"
"Wow."
"What is it?"
"Still not used to that voice."
He could practically hear Mob blushing over the phone. "Anyway...I'm planning on seeing my parents in town this weekend."
"Hey, that's great," Reigen said, leaning back in his chair. "Stop by the office, would you?"
"I was planning to. I-I mean - "
"Hm? Something the matter?"
"Ah! N-nothing. I'll send you a text when I've arrived."
Mob had hung up before Reigen could so much as say "See you." Then, moments later, he got a text: I'm sorry I hung up early. It was nice talking with you. Reigen grinned and shook his head. Same old kid, no matter how hard a number puberty did on his voice.
He wanted to bask in the warmth Mob's text emitted, but that flame was quickly snuffed out by a sudden pang of sadness that speared through and pierced his heart. It was only natural, he supposed. It had been a long time since they'd seen each other face to face.
It hurt like hell, though; made his body sweat and throb with a soreness that felt like he'd taken a beating. He'd like nothing better than to just flip the "Open" sign around, flick off the lights, and curl up and sleep this crappy feeling off, but waking up in his clothes sounded even less appealing. He still had some work to do, besides.
He sighed and set his sights on his laptop.
Reigen wasn't sure what the hell it was. This wasn't the first time he'd been hit hard by the blues, but the last time it happened he'd gotten drunk, puked his guts out, and went about his daily business the next day. Last time it didn't bleed into the rest of the week. Last time he didn't have all these hot flashes that made him feel bedridden one moment and completely fine the next. Last time he didn't have to worry about taking a step out the door only for his legs to give way and have him nearly faint.
Reigen looked through the office blinds forlornly. Was it Serizawa's increasing jobs and (consequently) decreasing presence that had been making him lonely all of a sudden? Tome would have texted by now, too. He almost wanted Dimple to pay a visit, but he didn't feel that desperate. Hey, now there was an almost reassuring thought - maybe he wasn't too lonely after all.
Reigen wasn't too agitated by the inconclusiveness of it; work kept him busy and accompanied enough that the weekend would be rearing its way around the corner. Soon, he'd be talking to Mob face to face in the flesh.
He wondered how much Mob had changed, or if he changed at all aside from the voice. Would he still have that same bowlcut? Would he be taller? Taller than him? That was a scary thought.
He found himself with his arms wrapped around himself. He was shivering uncontrollably.
Didn't think I'd get this excited about seeing a familiar face again, Reigen thought, chuckling to himself.
"You've been looking greener than me lately," an annoyingly familiar voice spoke.
"Hey, Dimple," Reigen shot back as he straightened back his posture. "Haven't gone to Hell yet?"
"No idea how to get there, if it even exists." Dimple floated down in front of his desk. "I wasn't kidding saying you were looking green, by the way."
Reigen waved a hand carelessly. "I know, I know, I need to see a doctor."
"No, it's something else. Have you been taking on jobs without Serizawa?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary."
"How can you be sure when you don't have any powers?"
"Serizawa would have noticed something happened to me. Or you, but you being you, it's hard to say."
"Well I'm telling you now. You definitely took on some kind of odd job without you knowing."
"Ok, how about you quit being so cryptic and tell me what it is?"
"That's the thing," Dimple said, crossing his arms. "I can't pinpoint what it is. I don't think Serizawa can, either."
"So...what, you can't get rid of it?"
"It's a fickle thing, whatever the hell you've got. I could possess your body and look for it, if you want."
"How do I know once you get my body you won't stay there?"
"Are you kidding me? Why would I want to stay in a useless body like yours?" Dimple snorted. "Besides, I'd be exorcised in no time. Shigeo's coming to see you, isn't he?"
"Yeah…" A feverish flush reddened Reigen's face.
"Hey, the whatever-you've-got is back," Dimple said, smirking and pulling himself back. "Too late for any second thoughts, I'm going in now."
Dimple charged forth - only to crash into him. "What the hell?" He knocked a tiny fist against Reigen's forehead. "This thing's somehow too strong and too weak at once."
"That...makes no sense..." Reigen said between sharp intakes of air. "Are you sure you haven't gotten too weak?"
"You wanna try and provoke me, you can go right ahead. I'm not the one getting sick with loneliness every time I think about my old student."
"Every time...I…" Reigen's face grew hotter as irritation boiled up within him. "Have you been spying on me, you little bastard?"
"Just a little deductive work," Dimple said simply, picking his nose. "I sensed an energy nearby and it was gone when I showed up. I mentioned Shigeo's name and it flared up again - hey, it's getting even brighter now."
Reigen's body shook and shivered as he clutched at his chest and slumped forth against his desk. "Whatever...it'll pass soon. It always does."
"If you say so." Dimple floated away and disappeared.
He's just messing with me, Reigen thought, trying to even out his breathing. He's bored and wanted to find a reason to shake me up. I'm so stupid, I shouldn't be duped by someone like him.
A knock at the office door made him push those thoughts to the side and he straightened himself up to see his next client.
The next day, Reigen was waiting at a train station. The job would be an out-of-town one based in the countryside, and the client would be providing payment for the ride and lodging. The client claimed that ever since her grandmother had died, the tunnel that led to her grandmother's home brought about unusual sensations - breezes isolated in the tunnel followed by heavy shoulders and the like. Reigen suspected the client may just be suffering through a stage of grief that was set to pass, but it wouldn't hurt to pay a visit and he wasn't about to turn down a good offer.
The train arrived too late for his liking. He took a sip of tea he'd ordered along with some snacks, and heat struck his tongue, causing the cup to fall from his hands to the floor. It made him feel melancholy, for some reason.
He didn't feel any better after eating, and he didn't feel any better when he reached his client's destination, either.
Reigen had his routine down in his head; he'd tell her he sensed something, the usual bull, then enjoy her offer of food and lodging.
All the things he expected played out as expected until he reached the tunnel's entrance.
It was arched and lined with red bricks that faded into white as they reached the bottom. Patches of green moss clung to it in different areas. It was no more remarkable than any other tunnel he'd seen on past excursions.
Reigen turned to glance at the side of the road, expecting to see someone crouching down looking for trails of ants or any other unremarkable things that would be oddities only to him.
To "him"...who?
Chills crawled up his body and he whipped himself back around, forcing himself to face forward into the tunnel.
Whatever light there was to be found at the end of the tunnel was buried beneath the suffocating darkness that stretched out into infinity, like looking down a black hole. It felt like it could pull him in and he'd never come back.
"Wow! I sure have one overactive imagination today," he chuckled to himself. "Feel like I'm a kid taking a test of courage. Let's see what's so spooky about this tunnel."
That's right, he thought as he stepped into the tunnel, summoning every ounce of his strength into his legs. Just keep talking, pretend someone's with you. Pretend he's with you. Don't think about it. You've done a million jobs like this.
"Geez, you'd think they'd install some indoor lighting in here," he spoke loudly to no one. He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. "Hey, Evil Spirit! You ready to show up now? My shoulders are feeling pretty light."
Nothing responded, of course. No sounds, outside of his own blabbering and the echoes of his footsteps against the pavement.
"Maybe I'll just drive it off by talking," Reigen said as he shined the flashlight around. Somehow it seemed even darker with a light on. He turned around to face - nothing. His light wouldn't reach the tunnel's entrance.
"I'm that far in already, huh? I'm in better shape than I thought." He smirked weakly to himself. "Better watch out Mob, you've got competition."
The chills were coming back. He tried shaking them off as he kept moving.
"Mob...that's right, I'm going to see you this weekend," he said, resisting keeping his thoughts to himself. "I've been such a flake lately, I totally forgot."
I didn't forget. But I wanted to.
"Where did that come from?" His body was sagging with each step. "This is just sad, I'm already exhausted."
Reigen stopped to catch his breath. He shined his light around, looking for a wall to lean against. When his light hit the cement ceiling he heard a text notification go off on his phone.
Before he could check, a breeze whistled by.
A force pulled him off the ground and hurled him hard against the ceiling. He was pinned like a winged insect on display, staring down at a distance that was impossible to gauge. Blood trickled down his forehead. He'd be amazed the impact didn't kill him right then and there had his mind not fallen into a thick haze, staring at the cell phone that fell from his hand and watching its last moments crush to pieces against the pavement.
The force - the spirit, he figured - coiled itself around him from head to toe. He shivered against its tightening grip, feeling hot and cold at once, too tired to register the fear of the danger he'd landed himself into.
Reigen's lips cracked open and mumbled "Mob" before closing his eyes.
When his eyes opened he was lying on the ground before a blinding light. Looks like he died after all. What a way to go out. Colorful blasts like fireworks shot through the air followed by the screeching of some creature. Was this Heaven or Hell? Guess he'd find out before Dimple did. Go figure.
The shadow of a man towered over his body and his physical form emerged from the light, crouching down to his level. Reigen couldn't make out the stranger's face or features, he seemed to be every bit the shadow his own shadow was. His sore, weary body was scooped up into the stranger's arms. Reigen wasn't sure why he suddenly felt so comforted as he was held against his broad chest-like all the loneliness in the world wouldn't be able to track him down as long as he was with this person.
The stranger, strong enough to cradle him in one arm, held out a hand.
"You'll leave him, and this tunnel, now."
Light shot from the stranger's palm and the spirit let a last screech out. The crackles of light fizzled out and the stranger wrapped his other arm around him.
The stranger looked down and uttered something that sounded like "Master…?" before Reigen lost consciousness.
He awoke to a tea kettle whistling in the distance and raindrops thrumming loudly overhead. His body was draped in a blanket and cushioned against a soft mattress and pillow on the floor. It quickly registered to him he wasn't back in his apartment, but he was too comfortable to stir himself fully awake just yet. He winced as he felt a soreness pulse throughout his body, and realized he was dressed in bandages.
That's right. He just had his ass kicked by a ghost and some tall, mysterious stranger came just in the nick of time to sweep him off his feet and rescue him. Sounded like the makings of a harlequin romance novel, or a shoujo manga. Maybe he could work on it when business was slow.
Reigen's vision focused on the man crouched at his side - his rescuer, he figured. The man was big - not body-builder big, but his frame was much broader than Reigen's. His short-sleeved shirt showed off muscular arms. The man's knuckles sat politely on his folded knees and Reigen knew he didn't need to get up to see how much taller he was than him. His face looked soft and round, a contrast to his otherwise intimidating size and figure. On his head lay a jetblack bowl cut that hid his eyebrows, giving his eyes an unreadable expression.
Reigen's eyes widened. It couldn't be.
"Oh, the tea," the man said plainly, getting up to tend to the whistling kettle.
Reigen wanted to get up immediately and demand some answers but his body wouldn't budge.
The man returned with a tray and a grey yunomi cup sitting atop it. He sat on his knees and took the cup from the tray. Fingertips touched Reigen's chin, gently lifting it up.
"Please, have just a little of it," the man said, bringing the cup's rim to his dry lips.
Reigen braced himself for scalding hot water to strike his tongue; instead the liquid went pleasantly warm down his throat, as though it'd been cooled off first. That didn't seem possible though, the man served it to him right away -
"I used my powers to cool it off a bit first," the man said, bringing the cup back. "You've never been good with hot things."
"Mob…?" Reigen blurted out. "God...you can't be him, you're - "
Pain shot through his system and his body convulsed, shuddering involuntarily all over. His breath was growing short again, he wanted to grip the covers but he was too weak to move.
"Master!" The man said, dropping the cup and tray. "There's...there's something inside of you!"
The man raised a palm over Reigen's chest area. Something green and glowing emerged from it, drawing itself to the middle of the man's palm. The glow spasmed around like a captured firefly, before shaping itself into a horse-like creature. Its green coloration faded, now swallowed up by a crimson red in the upper half of its body and a plain white in the lower half. Meanwhile, the pain, like stabbings of icicles over roasting hot coals all over his body, didn't cease.
"Almost…" The man strained, dragging the spirit out of his body with just the palm of his hand. He looked into Reigen's eyes. "Hang on...Master…"
The last Reigen heard was "Stay with me!" before his consciousness slipped away again.
The aches and chills were all gone when he woke up. He flexed his fingers - he could move again, too. Rain continued pattering down as ruthlessly as ever, and there sounded like an equally relentless breeze outside.
Shit, did I miss a typhoon warning before taking that train? Reigen thought blearily, rolling over to his side.
His eyes fell on an enormous shadow just a little ways away from him. The man who took him in, no doubt. The lighting was too dull to make out a clearer picture, but just light enough he could trace the man's features - the toned, muscular body, the soft, plain face, and that damn haircut he should have stopped getting by highschool. The man looked peaceful, if a little sad as he slept on the floor with no pillow or blanket.
Aches pulsed through Reigen's body. The man suddenly looked much farther away from him.
"Hey…" Reigen spoke wearily, voice hoarse. "Wake up…"
It was no use, of course. He was too far away, probably too deep into sleep too. Didn't help that Reigen's vocal chords were so strained they threatened to snap with each syllable he uttered, no matter how softly.
Without thinking, he said: "Mob."
Like magic, the man stirred awake. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking groggily at Reigen.
"Master?"
Reigen shifted his body as best he could and weakly pat a sliver of an empty spot on the futon. "Here...sleep."
The man shook his head. "You need it more than I do. There's...not much room, besides."
That's not the point. You look pathetic, sleeping on the floor. Did you even search for other futon beds? 'Just sleep here', he wanted to say, but his sore throat wouldn't allow it.
What came out instead was: "I need you."
The words somehow rolled off his tongue with little effort. He was too weak to think about the repercussions of what he'd said.
A body, sturdy, big and warm, settled down beside his own slimmer, trembling frame. Just like that, he felt the sickness leave his body and replenished energy took its place. He wasn't any less delirious though, turning to rest his head against Mob's chest.
He woke up with his body in an iron grip. His head was cushioned against something firm yet soft as a pillow, but it rose and fell with unmistakable life.
Mob's arms were wrapped tightly around him.
Reigen gripped one of Mob's - Huge! he thought, seeing how much smaller his own hand was - shoulders and tried shaking him awake.
"I'm awake, Master," Mob answered back with a promptness that made Reigen jolt in his hold. Then, with a surprising tenderness in his voice, Mob asked, "Did you sleep well?"
Reigen was going to reply with a curt "Yeah, you mind letting go?" but Mob's tone took him off-guard. It made him look up at his face - it looked so concerned and gentle. It made him feel like this was less of a hold Mob had him wrapped in and more of a...
"Y-yeah, I did," Reigen replied, looking away before he could finish that thought. "I'm feeling a lot better."
"That's good."
Silence hung in the air between them. The storm persisted outside, rattling the windows with its wind while the rain continued pouring down.
"I think you can let go of me now, Mob," said Reigen.
Mob shook his head. "I can't, or that spirit will make you sick again."
"Wha…so hugging me is supposed to make me feel better? Can't you just exorcise it?"
"I tried, when I slept next to you. The spirit got strong enough to show its aura, but you were tossing and turning in your sleep. It looked like it was draining your life away, even - no, especially as I tried exorcising it. I got scared, and the next thing I knew...well, ever since, its presence has faded out. It comes back if I let go of you."
Unbelievable. Dimple wasn't bullshitting me after all, Reigen thought, recalling what the evil spirit told him days ago.
"So I'm stuck with you," Reigen said with a shrug, like he was unaffected by all of this. "Guess there's worse remedies for a troublesome spirit than being hugged. I'll have to make note of that to offer for an exorcism course."
"Master...this isn't something to joke about. This could kill you."
"I know."
"You were already on the brink of death when I found you in the tunnel."
"I know."
Reigen paused to recall something that had been nagging at him since he saw Mob in the tunnel. "Hey, how did you find me anyway?"
"The spirit inside you agitated the tunnel's spirit enough that it generated a strong enough aura for me to detect, I think. Then I teleported there."
"I thought teleporting made you sick?"
"I...don't think that mattered to me." Mob's voice was growing softer, meeker. "Because...I knew it was you."
Reigen, who'd never find himself at a loss for words, found himself speechless.
"H-huh, well," he eventually forced out of himself, patting Mob on his chest. "Good work, Mob."
Come on, that can't be all you have to say to him, he told himself. Not after he's literally swept you off your feet.
"Thanks for saving me, too," he added. "I guess I should have told you that first but...you know...it's hard to believe it's really you."
It went quiet between them for long enough that Reigen worried if he should continue talk, or at least tack on a "Not that that's a bad thing (only sent me into a bit of a crisis because holy shit, you were just a kid then and now...uh...well, you've gotten...)."
Instead it was Mob who broke the silence. "Have I really changed that much?"
"Yeah. I mean, you're still you, just…" Reigen motioned with his hands the size of Mob's frame.
"O-oh, that," Mob stammered out. "I get that a lot...I'm glad you noticed, Master."
He could hear blushing in Mob's voice just like he heard him blushing over the phone. This time Reigen could feel his own face growing hot alongside his.
"I-I think that spirit in me might be acting up, Mob."
"I don't see any trace of it."
"Maybe let me go and see if it's there."
"Do you really want me to let you go?"
Reigen bristled and let the question hang in the air.
"No...I want you to stay with me, Mob," he said, finally. After another thoughtful pause, he added, "I've missed you."
With those words his body felt lighter than air. Like he would float off the ground any minute, out of Mob's reach. It relieved him as much as it scared him.
Mob unwrapped one of his arms from him and took Reigen's hand in his, interlocking their fingers together before they both drifted off to sleep.
"It went and vanished just like that, huh?" Reigen asked the next morning.
"It really did."
"I wonder what caused it."
"I wonder."
It was then that Reigen could have sworn he saw the ghost of a smirk pass his old pupil's face. "You seem to know more than you're letting on, Mob."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Master."
"Hm. Maybe you can tell me about it, along with how you broke into this house, you little delinquent."
"Master."
Reigen grinned and gave Mob a playful jab in the arm. "Over ramen."
Mob wrapped a hand around his and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Over ramen."