[A/N]: Thanks for everyone who reviewed and followed it! It means so much to me. Sorry for not updating for long, [school works, a shit ton of them]. Anyway, just to inform you, this story takes place after the anime and before Mogami's arc, and if you find my story interesting, please leave a comment. Every criticism/encouragement/opinion counts!
Chapter 05 — Mob's True Identity
Yumei wasn't always the type of person to listen to announcements.
She wasn't the type to let her mind fixate on one thing for very long and in result, she would always lose herself in pleasant reveries. It didn't help that she was near the back of the crowd; causing the inactivity of her mind by the early hours of the morning combined with the drawling voice of the one speaking to let her drift off. However, she was abruptly brought back by the sudden bursts of shocked whispers by the students around her, and she looked around languidly at all their surprised faces, trying to find what got them to react like that.
She then returned her gaze to the one standing in front of the podium: a male with well kept hair and black eyes that seemed blank as he surveyed the crowd before him with ease, his voice firm and steady as he spoke — like he was used to standing in front of large crowds. Yumei remembered this person from yesterday: he was the one who she saw exiting the room of the Student Council as members of the said council chase after him.
"...That is why," the male continues, sweeping his black eyes on the crowd once more, "As of today, I, Kamuro Shinji, will retire from my Student Council President's position." he finished, earning another shocked gasps that rippled through the crowd. "Because of my hasty decision," he added, briefly silencing the students. "A part of our students were falsely accused and had to bear the consequences. I have caused you a lot of trouble..."
And just like that, the (now former) Student Council President stepped back from the podium and left the stage through the stairs.
And that was how her second day in Salt Middle School began with a bang.
The rest of the morning was spent with relentless gossips about what happened at the latest morning assembly. In between periods, everyone was talking about the retirement of the Student Council President and who would replace him. During break, some were actually considering to run for the position and submit their names. It came to the point where Yumei herself wanted to ask Shigeo what he thought of the matter, since it's the only available topic to start a conversation with, but when she turned around she find herself disappointed to see him sleeping with his lips slightly parted, looking excessively tired.
But when lunch came and he was still out cold, the brunette decided that something was wrong and shook his shoulder gently to wake him up. Still, he slept on. Yumei raised a brow at this, wondering what kept him exhausted that caused him to sleep all throughout the morning. It was fortunate that he wasn't called to recite, like yesterday, but it was probably because students keep whispering about what happened in the morning assembly that the teachers were distracted to notice someone was openly sleeping.
"Hey, Kagayema-san..." she muttered softly, shaking his shoulder a bit more. No response. "Kageyama-san." He stirred, but that was him changing position. 'Now, seriously...' she thought, staring at him in disbelief. At this rate he could just sleep through the whole day unnoticed, but that was her thinking naively. "Kageya—"
"Mob-kun!" someone interjected loudly from behind, making Yumei jump out of her wits. The brunette looked around to the one who screamed blithely and shamelessly to see a female with a pink digital camera hanging from her neck, having a dijon-colored hair, and sporting a short hairstyle that it almost resembled Mob's, though more girlish.
The yell was what made Shigeo wake up, snapping out from his torpor and sitting up straight, catching two pairs of eyes staring down at him which made him slightly confused. Without any sort of preamble, the newcomer then took both of his shoulders into her hands and shook him rather forcefully. "The next Student Council Election, Mob-kun, you have no choice but to participate!" the female exclaims, causing a few students to turn their heads to her words in surprise then snigger loudly when they saw who she was talking to.
Still shaking himself from the deep sleep, he mistook some of her words as he replied, "Eh...? Are you gonna compete, Mezato-san?" Mezato shook him more vigorously in return, "No, not me! You! I'm talking about you!"
"Eh? But I'm not applying," Shigeo yawned, covering his mouth as he did so which only made Mezato frustrated.
"Uh," came a small sound from her side, making Mezato look towards the petite female standing there awkwardly, waiting to be acknowledged. "Oh, you're Shizuma-san, right?" she added, releasing Shigeo at once and facing her. "I must have surprised you, shouting like that. But News Club members should be as enthusiastic. I'm Mezato Ichi, nice to meet you." she finished with a small bow.
The brunette replied with a clumsy nod of her head. "P-Pleased to meet you, too, Mezato-san. I—" Yumei then stopped short, about to introduce herself to her when she remembered that she already knew who she was, so she changed top speed. "—am wondering why you chose Kageyama-san, I mean," she added quickly, not trying to sound offending to Mob, "you seem so oddly passionate about it."
Mezato smiles and abandoned all attempt of persuading Mob (which he inwardly appreciated) and went to Yumei instead, making her nervous. The journalist, after surveying her, then told her. "Why do you ask?"
The question caught Yumei off guard that her confusion showed on her face. "Eh? What? What do you mean?"
With an air of someone who knew something that nobody did, Mezato just smiled and invited Yumei to eat lunch with her. "E-eh? Me?" she clarified, afraid she might have heard wrong. When Mezato repeated what she said, Yumei responded with "I'm glad to!", pleased to see someone willing to spend time with her as they both went towards the cafeteria with Shigeo forgotten.
When they arrived and bought food and found a table to stay, Mezato then proceeded to tell her her reason without further ado. Mezato seemed the type to be straight-forwarded, Yumei thought while barely taking her first bite off her lunch when the other female started talking. "You may not know this, Shizuma-san, especially since you are new to this city, but there's a trending cult these days." Yumei nearly spat the strawberry milk she was drinking at the sudden unexpected information before swallowing it thickly.
"C-cults?" she repeated, taken aback by this abrupt topic.
"It isn't unusual," Mezato shrugged, taking a sip from her soy bean milk.
"Gangs and cults are what run the streets here, and also suspicious-looking offices offering dodgy services, but the point is," she blabbed on, "There is one cult that I belong to and our leader is currently studying here in Salt Middle School — and that someone is Mob-kun."
This time, Yumei sharply inhaled her food and coughed hard in hearing this bit of information. Mezato slapped a hand to her back to alleviate her suffering, and later, Yumei brought her head up while fixing her glasses, still shaken. "Wh-what...? Kageyama-san...cult? Leader?!" This was simply too much information at once as she stared at her classmate incredulously.
"Shh! Keep it down!" was Mezato's quick response because several students turned their heads towards them at her exclamation. "Ahh—! S-sorry, I couldn't help it..."
Mezato nodded, not pausing to let her breathe in the facts while looking nonchalant. "But he isn't aware of it, yet. Nor any of our members. That's why I'm encouraging him to run for the election so when the time comes, he can be prepared to show himself to the rest of the Psycho Helmet Cult!" During this time, Yumei didn't try to eat nor drink for fear of choking, so she ignored her lunch for the meantime to continue their conversation. Psycho Helmet Cult...?
However, before she can digest this news for herself, she didn't see the point of Mezato telling her this. So she asked, "But. . .Mezato-san, why are you telling me this?"
For the first time that day, the journalist paused before talking, looking like she was choosing her words carefully as she set her eyes on hers. The silence unnerved Yumei, especially since silence didn't suit someone like Mezato Ichi, so she waited for her response.
But the response she got was not she expected.
"You seem to be concerned for Mob-kun enough, that's why?" Mezato even looked confused and unsure herself that it didn't make sense for Yumei. "If you weren't you wouldn't be asking me, and besides, I just like to tell my master plan to get him out of his shell and be born anew!"
'Alright,' Yumei thought, leaning back on her chair. 'Mezato-san is just weird.' (But if she was weird then what about the Telepathy Club?)
Yumei shrugged inwardly and pressed on. "But, why do you have him as a leader when he doesn't even know you exist? What did he do?"
Mezato slowly craned her neck to regard what she just said, analyzing her for a moment like she was taking every pore on her face before she took a sudden moment of clarity and saying, "Wait, oh right, I forgot! Of course you didn't know." The journalist released a small laugh as she realized something and shook her head to herself.
The brunette quirked a brow. "What do you mean, Mezato-san?"
She, however, refused to say anything but "I don't know if I'm allowed to say. . ."
At this point, however, Yumei was gradually becoming agitated, having received the same kind of talk yesterday where the Telepathy Club seemed to know something she didn't know and weren't bothering to explain it to her — and somehow, it was related to Mob one thing or another. If there was one thing Yumei didn't tolerate, it was being cryptic; she endured being left out most of the time in her previous schools to last her a lifetime and Mezato was doing the exact same thing.
[Progress towards Yumei's breakdown: 45%]
"If you don't want to tell me, it's fine." she muttered lowly, failing to control the bitterness in her tone as she spoke. Mezato seemed to notice her tone because she was immediately trying to mend her mistake. "Eh? Oh no, Shizuma-san, I didn't mean—! Well, he's not trying to keep it a secret anyway so I guess it's fine for me to tell you:" Yumei looked passive at this point and was now looking interested and Mezato took that as a good sign — so the journalist took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Shizuma-san. . . Mob-kun is an esper."
Esper.
This wasn't what Yumei had in mind. "Eh?" she heard herself say, like a distant echo that she could barely hear. Once upon a time, when times were happy, she might have laughed at Mezato for saying it with a straight face. But no, she couldn't deny it this time, there it is, the word presented itself to her, and suddenly, the Telepathy Club's unwavering devotion to their goal showed sense for once.
Espers.
They do exist, people believe in their existence, and if what Mezato told her was a fact: there are enough number of people who believe in their existence that they had started a cult.
Yumei didn't know why she believed her, but there was something in her eyes that made her.
Then suddenly, a burst of excitement gushed out from her chest. Yumei felt confused yet elated, so much so that she was actually not paying close attention to what Mezato was blabbing on at the moment.
"—maybe we'll persuade him by using his love interest as the reason, don't you think? It may give him the inspiration—"
"Yes." Yumei nodded, not entirely sure what she was agreeing on with her mind still grasping the truth behind Mob's identity. She let her speak, it was not important at the present, everything can wait.
"—right. So I'll tell him "Tsubomi-chan" will get interested—"
"Of course he will." she agreed, not even registering who in the world Tsubomi-chan is.
"—then we'll confront him later. Don't you want to finish your food, Shizuma-san?"
Yumei looked down on her half-eaten lunch and was surprised to see it, as if she had just remembered that they were at the cafeteria eating lunch. The brunette nodded dazedly and picked up her chopsticks, while Mezato continued her feverish approach on how best to persuade Mob.
But Yumei wasn't listening — because she had found someone at last, someone who is, hopefully, a real esper, someone who could help her, who could truly help her, and the prospect of meeting someone that can understand her overwhelmed her so much that she was keeping herself from actually running from the journalist and proceed to confront him about it immediately.
Finally. . .finally.
After all these years.
[A/N]: I understand that after four months of not updating the chapter is a bit too short for expectation. However, it's my current best and I hope you settle for it at the meantime, I apologize. Now, I think it's about time for our main character to meet Reigen - don't you think?