"Well, that does sound complicated. Why don't you start at the beginning?

"Okay," said Mob, grateful that Teru was already trying to help. Teru was always trying to help him. Mob only hoped it wasn't out of some sort of indebtedness for the Black Vinegar Incident. Mob hadn't given it much thought. He had honestly been more excited to meet another esper than concerned about the circumstances of their meeting.

After the First Cat Incident, Mob had given it a little more thought. He woke up with his hands clenched around an invisible throat more often than he might be willing to admit, even tonight. He hoped it wasn't the same for Teru.

"There was this girl," said Mob.

Teru frowned almost imperceptibly, at least by his standards. "Tsubomi-san?"

"No. Asagiri-san."

"Like Asagiri Corp?"

"His daughter. He was the one who invited us. Well, he invited Reigen, and Reigen invited me."

"Where?"

Mob knew he was doing a bad job. He wasn't telling a story so much as taking a test. Teru must have felt like he was pulling tee- "To his house. Asagiri-san invited a lot of psychics to his house because he believed his daughter had been possessed by a spirit."

"Was she?" asked Teru.

"Sort of."

Mob continued to fiddle with Earthworm Jimothy's fur, stroking it against the grain before smoothing it back down.

Teru was fiddling with his own hair, but Mob knew that meant he was really listening. Teru normally wouldn't allow such an obvious nervous tick.

"She was possessed by a spirit that used to be a psychic. His name was Mogami Keiji. Dimple recognized him. They had fought before, while Mogami was still alive and Dimple was still at full strength."

"Dimple won?"

"No," said Mob. "He ran."

Teru whistled softly. "Mogami must have been a powerful psychic."

"I think he was more powerful as a spirit. He wanted to become one. It was his goal. When he achieved it, he decided to get revenge on the psychics who had ridiculed it. That's why he possessed the daughter of a man who could afford a lot of them."

Earthworm Jimothy's googley eyes were sewn down tight, so Mob could fiddle with them all he wanted without worrying about one popping off.

Teru was obviously waiting for him to continue. Teru was nice like that, always giving Mob the time he needed, even when he needed more than anyone else.

"They tried to exorcise Mogami, but they couldn't. He was going to kill them. It was the only thing I could think of."

Teru was waiting again, but Mob had begun to lose track of the plot.

"What was?" Teru prompted eventually.

"I used astral projection to enter Asagiri Minori's mind."

Teru's frown was gradually becoming more perceptible. He gave his hair a particularly hard tug. "I'm guessing it wasn't all purikura and strawberry crepes."

"Mogami was in control."

"But you defeated him, right?"

"Not really," said Mob. "He got away. He said he would see me again. Well, he said he would be watching me."

Mob tapped his screen a few times before realizing Teru had simply shuddered.

A strangled mewl made Mob's head whip around. He was walking along the river, no particular destination in mind. It was a rare Sunday with no plans, which wasn't so rare so long ago.

Maybe that was why he forgot about his powers until he was even more thoroughly soaked than the kitten. He'd overbalanced in his attempt to reach it, fingers straining against the air until they felt damp, matter fur.

Maybe he hadn't actually overbalanced.

Suddenly the fur was wet with blood, and the ringing in his head was from a brick, and the tightness in his chest was still anxiety, but also an open wound. He was in the river. He was in the hand-washing sink. He was spitting up milk, and water, and blood, and-

The cat scratched Mob's arm, bringing him back to the present moment. He used his powers to levitate the cat out of the water, which it seemed to like less than the water itself. It didn't even stop to shake itself off before taking off down the street. After a moment, Mob began clambering gracelessly back up the riverbank.

The house was empty when he got home. His parents were visiting his grandmother, but he and Ritsu had stayed behind for fear of missing school. Ritsu was probably still at his student council meeting.

Mob ran himself a bath, but it was some time before he remembered to get in it. The scratch on his arm wasn't bad. It had already stopped bleeding. At least the sting was a distraction from everything Mob wasn't feeling.

Maybe that was why he kept picking till it bled again.

"It was Mogami's world," Mob said tonelessly, but like, even more tonelessly than usual. "He made it just like the real one except I didn't have psychic powers."

"I see," said Teru, who didn't see at all.

Mob acted like his powers were comparable to a moderate talent at the clarinet. Except he believed that talent was deserved, while his powers were unearned. Teru was finally realizing just how much work Mob put into keeping his powers under control- keeping his emotions under control. Teru still couldn't tell which ones were prompting this confessional, despite his practice reading Mob's microexpressions.

"So Ritsu didn't care about me."

"Wait, what?" asked Teru.

That didn't make sense in any world.

Mob tilted his head two whole degrees. "That's not right. He didn't have a complex about me. I guess we were like normal brothers? We didn't talk much. He was busy with the student council, and my parents put most of their effort into him, because he had more potential. I hadn't met you, or Reigen, or Dimple. The Body Improvement Club said no, because not even the Telepathy Club wanted me. Asagiri-san and her friends were the only ones who paid attention to me."

"Attention?" Teru stuttered a little over the single word, so it sounded like he said, "A tension?"

Mob hesitated before speaking, but he still said, "She was a little bit like... you used to be?"

Teru swore. Then he made himself stop, so Mob would know it wasn't at him. "What did she do to you?"

Mob shrugged a little helplessly. "It was six months."

"What?!"

"Oh, uh. I'm sorry. I forgot that part. I haven't told this story before, so I might not be doing a very good job."

Teru raised his hands placatingly and tried to ignore how hard they were shaking. "You don't have to apologize, Mob. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry I raised my voice. Can you tell me what you mean by six months?"

"It wasn't really six months." Mob seemed to be in a hurry to reassure him. It wasn't working. "Mogami made it seem longer than it really was. He wanted to see how I would react. I think he was trying to-"

"-Bring you down to his level," Teru interrupted, even though he really was trying to get his anger under control. With a few deep breaths, he managed to put Reigen's bed back on the ground. At least Mob probably couldn't hear it through the snores. "I get that part. Okay. Six months. Of someone like me."

"Like you used to be," Mob said firmly, and Teru wondered again at his boundless consideration for others.

"Can you tell me how it started?" he asked.

"They poured milk on my head."

Can you tell me how it ended?"

"They killed a cat I fed sometimes. I tried to stop them. They knocked out my tooth."

Teru blinked twice as many times as normal in the half-minute it took him to process that. Then he swore again.

"I'm sorry," he said, interrupting himself mid-explicative. "You know I'm mad at them, right?"

"I know," said Mob. "You get mad at yourself sometimes too. You shouldn't. It's different. You're different now."

Teru choked out something, but it wasn't exactly a laugh.

"Teru, you wouldn't care so much about whether or not you've changed if you hadn't changed."

"You're serious?"

"Usually," Mob agreed.

"I tried to choke you."

"I tried to choke someone too," said Mob, and Teru hadn't been expecting that. "I think I might have killed him if he was real."

"In self-defense," said Teru. He didn't have to know the details to know that was true.

"Not… after a point."

"It never is, after a point," said Teru.

Mob started rubbing his chest through the thin material of his pajama shirt. "You killed Claw agents in self-defense, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Teru said, as nonchalantly as possible, which was not at all.

"When you were twelve?"

"Yeah," Teru said again. He hoped Mob wouldn't ask him how to live with it, because he didn't know how to answer that.

"I don't think there's any point where that's not self-defense," was all Mob said.

He was still rubbing his chest. Mob had a lot of stims, but that wasn't usually one of them.

"Are you okay? Is it hard to breathe? You might be having a panic attack." Teru didn't think anybody could have a panic attack that quiet, but if anybody could, it would be Mob.

"No. It- Sometimes it hurts even though nothing happened. My head too. From the brick."

Teru flinched at the word brick, but didn't let himself get distracted. "What did they do to your chest?"

"They- She had a box cutter."

This time Teru flinched so hard he smacked his hand on the bathtub. It didn't hurt much compared to everything else, but he waved it around anyway, like one of Mob's more common stims. It didn't do anything for him.

"Nothing really happened," Mob said again, and Teru wondered which one of them he was trying to convince.

"Something did happen," said Teru. "You were traumatized. Psychosomatic pain is a common symptom, especially of psychical trauma."

"Do you get that too sometimes?" asked Mob.

Teru very deliberately did not touch the back of his head, but he did say, "Yes."

"Do you get confused…. about where you are sometimes too?" Mob was whispering now, like this was the part he found hard to confess.

"Sometimes," said Teru, whose parents hadn't considered therapy part of his necessary medical expenses, despite the doctor's recommendations. All his diagnoses were self-made. He was a regular desk-chair psychiatrist these days, but that wasn't what Mob needed.

"Mob, I- I have no idea how to help you," he admitted, flushing with what was probably the beginnings of another fever.

"I think you already are."

Teru snorted again. "That's nice and all, but maybe you should get some real help."

"Maybe I should. Do you think it would… help?"

"I think it helps if you believe it does," he hazarded.

Mob actually smiled. It was small, but it was real. Of course it was real. It was Mob.

"Like Sakura-chan's magic words."

Teru snapped his fingers. "Yeah! You're way more powerful than she is. I bet they'd work even better for you."

"I don't think she was based on a real esper," said Mob, but also, "Everything will definitely be alright?"

"Everything will definitely be alright," said Teru, and as he said it, he started to believe it.

As he believed it, he started to understand how his talent for manipulation might be used for good.

He also started to understand Reigen, which was just gross.

"Maybe I can study therapy- like psychiatry and stuff," Teru said idly. "Figure out how to help you with all your trauma someday."

For some reason, Mob blushed at that, so Teru kept talking. Mob had such a nice blush.

"Maybe I should study massage therapy instead- to help you with your pain. I could go to work for Reigen after all." He made a face. "I am not massaging him though."

"I think Serizawa would be willing to do it," Mob said helpfully.

He was probably right. Serizawa hadn't taken much interest in massage until Reigen started complaining about back pain, but...

"I don't think he's very good at it," said Teru. "I'm pretty sure the moans you hear during a massage aren't supposed to sound so pained."

"I don't think Reigen would mind."

"Probably not," Teru agreed. "Mob? You should tell him."

Mob shook his head so hard that his bangs ended up in a serious disarray. Teru reached out to fix them before remembering they were miles apart.

"He would blame himself."

"He would blame himself more if he found out you kept it from him because of that."

Mob's head tilted to the side again, but this time it kept going. "Okay, but not now. I'm tired, Teru."

"Do you want to get some sleep now?"

"Yes, please," said Mob, "but, um- I- um, that is-"

"I'm not really tired, so do you mind if I stay on the line for a bit? I won't talk or anything. I just want to keep an eye on you."

Teru realized as soon as he'd said it, which was when he realized most things, that his request sounded alarmingly similar to Mogami's threat.

"Shit, I mean-"

"Yes, please." Mob was smiling again. "But you can talk. I like your voice."

Of course, that left Teru speechless.