Sometimes Tome had terrible ideas.
In Mob's opinion anyway, not that she would ever say that to Tome out loud or anything. A person did not talk to their friend like that, it was mean, even if their friend did sometimes have terrible or dangerous ideas. Like this. This was a terrible, dangerous idea.
"Hey Mob, you're pyrokinetic right?" asked Tome as she held her pilfered prize in her hands. This wasn't stealing, this was just borrowing without asking but at some point planning on returning. At some point, just not now.
"Yes…but I don't like to do that….because fire is dangerous." Said Mob. She did not want to do this, any of this, because it was not at all a good idea. Not just the fire part.
"We should go back before Reigen notices." Said Rei. There was a small chance that Reigen would notice…but a bigger chance that she would find out…and then be mad at them. Maybe mad for real. The future wasn't super clear or one hundred percent.
"Rei's right, this is a bad idea." Said Mob
"Mob, you're too cautious! Live a little!" said Tome. Mob was so glad that she had a friend like Tome to guide her. Really this was an important milestone in life. She didn't know when she'd get a chance like this again. Reigen was usually very protective of her cigarette case and it was by a stroke of blind luck that it had fallen out of her suit coat pocket and she didn't notice.
"….I think that this is a bad idea, though, I mean this is stealing…and also we're too young to smoke." Said Mob
"Yeah, Reigen isn't going to be happy when she finds out…also I'm not really sure if I'm ready to become a smoker." Said Rei
"Master Reigen does always say that we should never start smoking." Said Mob. Master Reigen had said that years ago when Mob asked her why she smoked. She just said that she started when she was fourteen to have something to do with her hands and there she was fourteen years later still going at it.
"Yeah, she said that once you start smoking you can never, ever, stop." Said Rei. Reigen said that when Rei asked what all the smoking was about. She said that cigarettes got a death grip on you and they never, ever, ever let you go.
"Also you can get really sick from smoking." Said Mob. They had gone over that in health class in middle school just like they had in elementary school, too. Why would school lie to her? What would they have to gain?
"I don't want to get cancer." Said Rei. That was what the box said, what all the boxes said. Rei didn't smoke and nobody in her family did but she had seen Reigen smoking and the cigarette box said in big red letters 'can cause cancer' which was very scary….and all of the boxes said that. At the convenience store every single box they sold warned that cigarettes caused cancer.
"Mob, didn't you say that you survived your entire body getting blown up?" asked Tome. Mob worried about the weirdest things sometimes. If Tome were invulnerable to all forms of damage she'd smoke and drink and stuff like that all the time. Superpowers were wasted on Mob, totally wasted.
"Yes but that was more like being disintegrated. It was like my body just sort of fell apart…" said Mob. She closed her eyes. Right. She was here and not there. She didn't much like thinking about that day but sometimes the thoughts just snuck up on her…and she didn't know why. She had won…sort of. Well she hadn't lost and the world was saved and she had no reason to keep going over and over and over what happened. Nobody died, not for long, and that was the important part.
"There. You lived through that and you'll live through this. Honestly, the both of you are such children sometimes." Said Tome
"I am not!" said Rei stomping her foot. She quickly tucked one leg behind the other. Right. She was thirteen now, she was mature, and mature people did not act like kids. That was the definition of being mature, not being kid, and acting not at all childish in any way.
"Technically we're all adolescents." Said Mob helpfully. Well she had been trying to be helpful at least. Judging by the face that Tome was making Mob had not been helpful at all.
"I mean, if you're too scared to pass this milestone with me I understand…" said Tome with a shrug. She watched Mob's expression, or lack thereof. She was thinking, Tome knew Mob's thinking face well. Honestly Mob was such a rule follower, she could totally see how Ritsu was her brother. Mob was so lucky that she had someone like Tome to get her out of that terrible, self-destructive, mindset. Nothing good ever came to those who always followed the rules.
"I'm not scared, I just don't want to get in trouble or upset Master Reigen." Said Mob. Stealing was wrong and that was the end of it. Also cigarettes were bad for you….and also kids were not allowed to smoke. They were still kids…not little kids but kids…and they could get in trouble if they got caught. They weren't even well hidden, just in the alley behind the building. Master Reigen could easily come outside and see them. She might even go looking for them. They had been gone for a while and they hadn't even gotten the snacks yet.
"Yeah…I'm not scared or anything like that. The thing is that…um…Reigen might just get really mad at us when she realizes that her cigarettes are missing. That's all." Said Rei. Reigen was really nice for an adult and she did not want to make her mad. Rei liked having some place to hang out after school sometimes where she could just relax and do crafts and talk and stuff. Better than crafting club anyway…stuck up bitches wouldn't know skill if it walked up and introduced itself.
"If or when?" asked Tome
"Huh?" asked Rei with a series of blinks that would have been at home in an anime.
"You can see the future. Is that an 'if' thing or a 'when' thing?" asked Tome pointing at Rei. Rei took a deep breath and looked into the future.
"Um….it's an…if….I mean there's a small chance that we get away with this…." said Rei as her aura shone brightly. There was a miniscule chance that they didn't get found out…not good odds at all.
"I like those odds." Said Tome with her best encouraging smile. Mob just stared at her. Rei was playing with her uniform skirt and digging the toe of her shoe into the ground.
"But what if…um…the case is made out of radium so what if we get radiation poisoning or something?" asked Rei. She didn't know what she wanted to do. She had been warned about smoking and drinking and all of that other adult stuff for her entire life. That stuff was for adults, not kids, but she wasn't a kid anymore. She was thirteen now and she was not a child anymore.
"I've heard that can happen." Said Mob. She wondered if she could die of radiation. She wondered if she could die at all. She had died…sort of…but she was fine now. So maybe this would be ok…but they were stealing from Master Reigen…and that was wrong….even if they weren't going to get caught it was wrong…but she also wondered what it was like. Mom and dad smoked sometimes, dad more than mom, but neither of her parents smoked as much as Master Reigen did. Mob had always wondered what it was like. It must have been good if Master Reigen kept on doing it. She had been smoking since she was fourteen she said once when Mob asked…
"First of all we're not going to be eating the stuff! Second of all Mob's indestructible! And third of all you guys already have super powers so you don't need to worry!" said Tome. All of her friends, her female friends, were too damned young. It was such a burden being the oldest, sometimes. If it were up to Mob and Rei they'd all be playing dolls together at the playground or something.
"Well…I mean if we'll be ok…" said Rei. She was not a child. Just because she was the youngest and she hadn't done any of the stuff everyone else had did not mean that she was a child. She was thirteen, not three, and she was not afraid either. Nope. She could see into the future and she knew that she wouldn't…actually she couldn't see if she died of cancer from smoking this one cigarette because it was too far away…but it must have taken more than one. Right?
"We'll be fine. One cigarette is not going to kill us or turn us into smokers." Said Tome with a dismissive wave of her hand. She was sure that it had to take more than one. Right? Well she'd find out. She had always been curious and now she'd know. She wouldn't become a smoker, not a chain smoker, maybe a social smoker…not that she had ready access to cigarettes or anything…and she had better put this somewhere for Reigen to find when they got back. Not that Reigen could ever get truly angry with any of them, she was such a softy.
"How do you know?" asked Mob. Tome knew a lot being older and having had more life experience but she didn't know everything. Her grades made that perfectly clear…not that Mob's were much better. Maybe they were all dumb and this was dumb and they should all just go get the snacks like they said that they would before they added lying to their list of crimes.
"Because I just do, Mob, now are you going to light this thing or not?" asked Tome. She held a cigarette between two fingers. Mob looked between her friends. Well if everyone else wanted to….and Master Reigen wouldn't be mad….then maybe if they all shared that one cigarette it would all be fine. Just to pass that milestone like Tome said. Mob didn't know if this was ok but she did know that she didn't want to fall behind.
Mob took a deep breath and lit the end of the cigarette Tome had pulled out of Master Reigen's cigarette case. They all stared at the burning end for a moment. Rei watched the smoke rise from the top and checked the future…and she still couldn't tell if this ended up making her addicted or gave her cancer or something. Mob stared too, but she was more worried about getting in trouble. Master Reigen had never been mad at her…well she had but not truly. She had just been worried. That was why she yelled at Mob after that first night when they faced off against Claw…and when they met Mogami…and when she beat Sho's dad.
She hadn't been mad, just worried.
So maybe she would just be worried and not mad this time…even if they did steal a cigarette and lit it which meant that there was no way that they could ever give it back. They were committed to this now. Now they were bound by a terrible secret, a crime that they had all committed.
"Here goes nothing." Said Tome. She put the cigarette to her lips and inhaled quickly and deeply…and then immediately felt the urge to cough. She tried to inhale the smoke, move it from her mouth to her lungs, but the smoke seemed to have other ideas. It burned her throat and nose and eyes…but she could not start coughing. If she did then she'd lose Mob and Rei's respect forever. It was such a burden being the oldest sometimes.
She kept her mouth shut and passed it to Rei.
Rei inhaled and kept it in her mouth. She wasn't sure how to pull it down to her lungs and she didn't really want to. It tasted awful and smelled awful and just was awful! Why did adults do this? What was the point? She exhaled and handed the cigarette over to Mob.
"Um…thanks?" asked Mob. Rei was spitting a lot and Tome looked like she was going to be motion sick. Mob didn't think that this was such a good idea and hadn't ever thought that this was such a good idea…she looked down. She could just let it fall to the ground and crush it under her shoe like she'd seen Master Reigen do a thousand times…but that wouldn't be fair because everyone else had already tried…and Mob also didn't want to get left behind.
She put the cigarette to her lips and inhaled…and then started coughing more and harder than she ever had in her life.
"This is terrible!" Mob managed to gasp out. Why did Master Reigen do this to herself? It made zero sense? Was this one of those things you had to get used to? Like sea urchin? Why would anyone want to get used to this? Nope. Never again. Maybe this was just another way that Mob was weird but she knew that she was never smoking again.
"No it's not. It's…good. Smooth. I am in flavor country." Said Tome remembering an ad from when she was little. She was in flavor country alright…and she wished that she had bought a round trip ticket.
"Here, you take it then." Said Mob. She handed the cigarette back to Tome. Tome put her hands up and shook her head.
"Oh no, I don't want to hog it." Said Tome. She couldn't just come out and say that she never wanted to subject herself to that again but she could be a kind and generous friend.
"Rei?" asked Mob. Rei shook her head. There was no way she was putting herself through that again. Now she was going to have to take a bath when she got home and double wash her uniform to get the smell out…and before mom or dad or Riko noticed too….
"Well I don't want it." Said Mob. Tome reached for it slowly and as soon as it touched her fingers she let it drop. The wind carried it away before it even hit the ground. They watched as it rolled down the alleyway. Mob could have grabbed it with her powers but…but…it had touched the ground and now it was all germy and they could all get some terrible disease or something from not only smoking but smoking something that had been on the ground. She was just looking out for her friends, that was all.
"It was an act of God that no one could have foreseen." Said Tome sagely. Mob nodded. Rei wanted to tell Tome that she could have foreseen that if she knew what to look for but at the last moment decided to shut her mouth in case Tome decided that they needed to smoke another one or something. Thank goodness that she didn't. Instead they all went to the store where they said that they were going in the first place.
Mob was glad that they at least weren't adding lying to their list of crimes. She was glad that she didn't have the guilt of lying added onto the heap of guilt that churned within her. How could she have done that? She had promised Master Reigen that she would never smoke but she did and she had also stolen, too. She was as bad as she could be. She didn't know what to do. The guilt was eating her alive from the inside. She couldn't live with this for the rest of her life.
That was why she confessed.
"Master Reigen! Please forgive us!" said Mob. The minute they got back to the office she knew that she could not keep this to herself. It was like a dam had broken and there was no way to keep the truth in.
"Huh? What's up Mob?" asked Reigen as she came up from under her desk. How could she have just lost her cigarette case like that? It had to be somewhere, it didn't just get up and walk away.
"Shut up!" hissed Tome
"Mob! Don't!" said Rei. She had foreseen this. Not Mob telling on them specifically but getting found out. This was bad. This was so bad. This was the worst.
"Master! Please forgive us! We stole one of your cigarettes and smoked it! We're sorry!" said Mob. She got down into a full kowtow. Rei shook her head back and forth and danced in place. This was bad. This was so bad. Reigen was looking at them now and she looked…she looked kind of like Mob…which was even worse than her being angry….
"Mob! Get up! Stop kidding around! Heh. Mob can be such a kidder sometimes, can't she? She sure can tell a joke, can't you Mob?" asked Tome as she tried to drag Mob to her feet. For someone to tiny she sure was heavy. She needed to get Mob to knock this off before Reigen got pissed. She seemed fine now. She was just walking towards them….with a weird look in her eye….
"Mob…Tome….Rei…" said Reigen trying her best to stay calm. She could not go off on them, no, because that would just freak them out more than they were already. Or maybe she should freak them out. How many times had she told them to never start smoking?! Once you started it was damn near impossible to stop!
"I think I hear my mom calling!" said Tome as she let go of Mob. Reigen had on heels so there was no chance that she could catch up to Tome. Hooray for sensible shoes!
"Y-Yeah! And I have to go home and…iron my homework! I mean wash my bed! I mean-" said Rei even though she was paralyzed. Reigen had never looked at them like that. Oh no…was she going to kick all of them out? Tell their parents? Call the cops? Send them to prison for underage smoking?!
"Um…Miss Reigen? I looked all over the massage room but I couldn't find your cigarette case?" asked Serizawa. He thought that he would find her searching under her desk or behind the couch again but instead he found her…looking very….what was that look? And what was happening? The girls looked scared, Miss Kageyama, Mob, was kowtowing, and he swore that he could even see the faintest bits of yellow…like an aura…from Miss Reigen….
"Serizawa, leave us. I have a matter of great importance to discuss with the girls." Said Reigen in her most serious voice. Calm. Level headed. Everything her mother hadn't been when she caught her smoking half a lifetime ago.
"Y-Yes ma'am!" said Serizawa. He grabbed his bag and scuttled out of the room like a frightened crab. He had no idea what was happening but he wasn't about to disobey a direct order like that. Besides, she'd probably text him about this when she got home anyway.
"You three….Mob, get up off the floor. Now, what have I always said about smoking?" said Reigen
"That's it's expensive?" said Tome
"That it's addictive?" said Rei
"That we should never do it?" said Mob
"Ding, ding, ding we have three winners! Yes, I've told you three, you especially Mob, time and time again not to smoke? What, do I talk to hear myself speak?" asked Reigen. Tome looked like she was going to make some kind of smart comment but Reigen shut that down with a look. How could they have all been so…irresponsible? They could all end up addicted to smoking…and it would have all been her fault….
"Master…we're sorry." Said Mob softly. She sniffled. She could feel her eyes prickling with tears and her nose filling with snot.
"Very sorry!" said Rei nodding in agreement and dabbing at her eyes careful not to smudge her eyeliner.
"The most sorry!" said Tome before she began to sob. She'd congratulate Mob later on her great idea. Yeah, this would pull at Reigen's heart strings and-
"Everyone but Mob knock it off. Mob…I'm sorry that I upset you. Listen, guys, I'm not mad just…disappointed." Said Reigen. That was what you were supposed to say. She was not going to do what her mother did and rant and rave until the neighbors called the cops. Mob felt remorse for what she did. The other two…not so much…but at least Mob did. She was too sweet for all of this, she really was.
"Master….I'm sorry. I didn't even want to-" said Mob. Master Reigen was disappointed…Mob would have picked mad over disappointed. Mom said that a lot like when Mob brought home bad grades or stayed up too late or the one time that she drank a whole liter of milk in one night….
"It was Tome's idea!" said Rei
"Judas!" said Tome
"Stop it, all of you. I don't care who's idea this was, what matters is that you all went along with it. I'm not going to lecture you about how it's wrong to smoke and steal, give me back my cigarettes by the way, but I am going to say that when I tell you guys something I mean it. It's...at your age it's normal to want to try adult things like this but that's just it, cigarettes are for adults. When you get to be my age then you can do whatever you want but right now I'm partially responsible for you and I will not be responsible for you three ending up like me. Ok? I'm not mad at any of you, I'm not going to yell at anyone, I'm not going to punish anyone, and I'm certainly not going to make each of you smoke an entire carton of cigarettes….that was some A plus parenting there, mom….but I am going to ask that you three never do it again. Ok?" asked Reigen
"You're not going to call our parents?" asked Rei. Tome facepalmed and muttered something about giving Reigen ideas. Reigen chose to ignore that and focus on the matter at hand.
"No, I won't. Not this time, anyway….but don't do it again or I'll be forced to." Said Reigen. She didn't want to call anyone's parents and tell them that she had failed their children. She didn't want to have to explain that she had been so careless that she had let her cigarettes fall into their hands.
So she let them go.
Then, after their footsteps faded down the stairs and the front door slammed shut, she walked over to the garbage can and opened up her cigarette case. She held it in the palm of her hand and let it list to the side…then she snapped it shut and tucked it back into her suit pocket.
She'd quit one of these days.
Just not today.