Normally Reigen would have approved of the girls' entrepreneurial pursuits…but normally they wouldn't have been happening right outside of her window.

"It's purple, it's sauce, it's purple sauce!" the sound of Tome's voice had been ringing in through the window all afternoon. Saturday was not Reigen's day of rest, not today anyway, and apparently not for the kids, either. They had chosen today, today of all days, to do this. This unseasonably warm Saturday. The one day when the air conditioner decided not to work. The one day when Reigen was up to her neck….well, her navel, actually, in work. The kind of work that had gotten a rush order. The kind of work that she had to do at the office, the kind that wouldn't get done if she worked at home where all the distractions were…

Somehow it felt like home, with it's TV and chores that she always had the urge to do when she knew she was under a deadline, was less distracting than the supposedly calm and serene office.

"Sauce! Homemade sauce! It's good for you!" shouted Tome, her voice carrying up through the opened window. Reigen sighed. That had been going on all afternoon. She would have thought that when she told them that they couldn't sell that stuff in here they would have gotten the idea.

Well, most of them.

Tome was being intentionally obtuse. Mob wouldn't have gotten it, she was Mob, and Rei suffered from selective hearing. Clearly Tome was the ringleader in all of this. Of course it was her…normally Reigen would have approved but all of this shouting couldn't have been good for business.

Either of their businesses.

She rubbed her temples. This was a rare rush order, normally her work was mostly fortune telling and massages with the rare real exorcism bringing in the big bucks. This was the kind of work that she couldn't bullshit her way through. Now expensive looking suit, fortune teller costume, or right combination of new age and pseudo mystical nonsense was going to make this job any mor enjoyable. Nothing was going to make this go by faster. She was trapped, here, behind her computer listened to the loud cries of a group of young, entrepreneurial, spirits.

She would have preferred real spirits.

"It'll make you live forever! You'll see through time! You'll reach nirvana!" shouted Tome. Serizawa groaned and hunched his shoulders, his desk groaning under the weight of what she assumed were his powers. This was…a semi-busy time. For her. graphic exorcisms were one of her bread and butter operations. There hadn't been an actual exorcism in a while and those tended to pay more…whatever. She was grateful for what work she could find and she was going to do her best to get this done with.

Despite the obvious distractions.

"Come on, help me!" shouted Tome. Reigen sighed as she erased outside of the lines. She hit control-z and got back to exorcizing the groom's ex from all of these wedding photos. It was tedious work but she knew photoshop so, yeah, it was a given. Even though part of her wanted to maybe be down there with the kids…

"You'll wake up with flawless skin!" shouted Rei. Reigen sort of wished she had been down there with them even if only to tell them to shut up…and to show them how to hawk properly. Lying to the consumer would just breed distrust. She had no idea what the three of them were planning on doing when they couldn't deliver on their ridiculous claims. They should have played up the color, or the as seen on the internet nature of their product, or even the fact that their product was a hell of a lot safer than dairy based sauce that had been through the mail system.

A warm breeze danced across her face.

Ok, maybe safer than something that had been through the air. They had a cooler out there…right? Reigen hadn't checked. They must have had the good sense to keep a dairy based sauce cool in this unseasonable heat…Mob must have. Mob and Rei. Tome…well she had sense, just not the common kind. She had…unbridled enthusiasm. Yes, that was a good word for it.

Extremely unbridled enthusiasm….

"Good job, Rei! Mob, go! Start selling! Make me proud!" shouted Tome. Reigen shook her head. If they were waiting on Mob then they'd be out there all day. How Mob had agreed to this she would never know. Back when they had been just starting out Mob had been afraid to greet customers and write receipts. No way would she be out there screaming nonsense at strangers in the streets.

"Is that the best you can do? Who wants to be telepathic with cats?!" shouted Tome. Reigen couldn't help but laugh. Mob and cats…some things never changed. Tome and telepathy. Other things never changed. The girls screaming in front of the office…she looked around, her eyes landing on the 'walk ins welcome' sign…

There were some things that had to change.

"I think I'd like that." Said Serizawa suddenly. Reigen's eyes moved from the sign to him. He had put his phone down. Some game was paused…she wished she had something for him to do. He liked to be useful, his last job had been ninety percent downtime and ten percent doing that nutjob Suzuki's bidding, but aside from dusting the already dust free office there was nothing…she wished that there had been something.

Like some kind of spirit infestation. She would have liked that.

"What?" asked Reigen

"To be telepathic with cats. Sometimes I wonder what they think about. Like if they know that they're cute." Said Serizawa

"They know it, Katsuya, that's how they make us their slaves." Said Reigen. He smiled and shook his head.

"Does it count as slavery if we want to take care of them?" asked Serizawa

"It does if they trick us into it with their cuteness." Said Reigen. He was looking at her, now, his eyes were practically sparkling. Or maybe it was just the way that the light was hitting him. Had his eyes always been that brown? And his hair, too? God, talk about cuteness.

"What about puppies? They're cute too." Said Serizawa. Alright, he had done this on purpose. He had spent more nights at her apartment, since they had gotten together, than his. He had seen her Netflix algorithm. He had heard her drunken rundown of her top ten reasons dogs were the greatest creatures on earth list. Hell, he'd even heard her talking in her sleep while she had 'Arataki's dog ranch dream number four', the one with great danes. He knew she loved dogs.

And he knew, too, that she loved talking about them.

"Don't get me started on puppies. You know what happens if you get me started on puppies." Said Reigen with a groan. He didn't want to hear her going on and on about dogs. He was just teasing her. The worst part was that she was tempted, too, to go on about them…there was nothing that man couldn't tempt her with…

She had no idea how they were going to live together, and not just because of the obvious monetary and logistical barriers.

"I know, that's why I mentioned them. You're cute when you talk about the things you love." Said Serizawa. Reigen was way too old to be blushing like this. God, if she was going to act like this then she might as well have been down there hawking nonsense with the kids.

"Well, if we're going there how about you tell me about that game you're playing?" asked Reigen

"My game? Why? You don't really play videogames. I mean you said that you used to like them when they were little but…but if you're getting into games then we can play together! I mean…if you want to. If you just want to talk about them then that's ok too. Or if you just want me to talk about them…but I don't know why you would want me to just sit here and tell you about games like that." asked Serizawa

"Because when you talk about games you're the cutest guy that I've ever seen in my life." said Reigen, twisting a piece of hair between her fingers. She had been messing with him just a little but…well, she did want to see him talk about something that she loved. She wanted to see his eyes light up, the glow that surrounded him, the apple in his cheeks…there was nothing cuter than-

"They'll make your dick grow a centimeter for every centimeter you drink!" shouted Tome. Ok, now that was the one step too far. It was one thing to lie to the consumer, and sell without a vendor's license, and disturb the peace. It was quite another to go shouting…THAT…out there on the street where the world could hear and then associate with Spirits and Such. Reigen wondered if there was a world record in frowning. She was probably a good candidate for winner. Much like how Serizawa seemed to be going for the world's record in blushing, stuttering, and trying to turtle up in his shirt.

"They-they can't just SAY things like that! They can't KNOW about things like that!" said Serizawa, his voice muffled through his shirt. Reigen rolled her eyes. They were in middle and high school. They knew, knew OF, everything.

"I'm going to have to agree with you on one of those things. Can you hold down the fort while I go downstairs and deal with all of that?" asked Reigen motioning towards the window.

"Sure. I mean I don't know what to do but-" said Serizawa

"If anyone comes in tell them I'll be there in a second, don't touch my laptop, and if that air conditioner ever turns on close the window." Said Reigen as she pushed her chair in and made her warm downstairs. Somehow it was hotter the lower she got, maybe because the hallway didn't have any windows or real airflow, or maybe it was because she was going to have to confront Tome about something that she didn't really want to get into.

Reigen wasn't going to pretend that she wanted to have this conversation, but it was one that somehow had to be said.

She never would have thought that she would have to tell the kids not to stand out there and yell something like that but here she was. Teenagers. Not enough sense between them to…Reigen sounded like her mother. In that moment she had completely embodied her mother. Goddamn it…well, maybe now she would have something to talk with mom about on her next, incredibly, overdue visit. Hell, maybe it would even be a nice change of pace from the usual monologue about everything that Reigen had done wrong in her life up to this point!

Huh. Somehow she felt better…it was nice to know that there were worse conversations a person could have with a loved one besides 'stop shouting about dicks in the streets'.

She opened the door to the outside world. Blinding sunlight cut right across her face. Her blouse immediately began sticking in the worst places. That was what she got for getting clothes from Wish. Clingy, unbreathable, artificial fibers that trapped in sweat that she shouldn't have been having. Not after ten seconds in the autumn sun!

How the girls could stand to be out here she would never know.

"…think we should lie to people. It feels wrong." Said Mob as she held up a hand painted sign that said…huh. As seen on the internet. They were savvier than Reigen had figured. Of course their card table, stabilized by what looked like school books, didn't exactly inspire confidence, and they were three kids selling homemade dairy based sauce out in the sun during an unseasonably hot autumn's day. They needed to inspire as much confidence as possible. If Reigen had been out there with them-

-but she couldn't be. She had her own work to do.

"All sales is, Mob, is just telling nicely packaged lies to the consumer. Haven't you ever seen a commercial?" asked Tome

"No. My parents pay extra for add free everything. Mom says that commercials rot your brain…and also they make Dad buy dumb stuff off of the TV." Said Mob

"See? Commercial's work. Now when you get home watch real TV and then learn some marketing. Then maybe you'll end up as successful as me." said Tome

"But it's a group effort." Said Mob

"Fine, you'll be as successful as the group which is currently being carried by me. Rei, check the future! How successful are we going to be?" asked Tome, pointing backwards. How she and Mob could stand to be in the sun like that Reigen would never know. Rei seemed to have the right idea. She turned away from them, away from the sun, and locked eyes with Reigen.

"Uh…I'm pretty sure Reigen's going to yell at us." Said Rei, putting that smile on that she always did when she was in trouble. She needed more practice with her powers. Reigen had no intention of yelling at them…unless it came down to it.

She hoped it didn't come down to it, she hated when it came down to it.

"What the hell are you talking about-oh!" said Tome turning around and noticing Reigen. Reigen resisted the urge to cross her arms and tap her foot. God, she was honestly turning into her mother…and she didn't even have any kids!

Yet.

"Guys, I have to talk to you." said Reigen, looking away from Rei. She focused on Mob…no, Mob had been there when Rei had made her prediction. She focused on Tome. Yeah, she had nothing to do with any of that…well, neither did Rei and Mob, really. Don't shoot the messenger and all of that.

"Do you want to buy some sauce? Please buy some sauce." Said Mob. They had a cooler, which was…something…and Reigen did love them…but she hadn't even tried the sauce they had left at her place the other weekend, and that had been in her fridge.

Somehow homemade dairy products didn't appeal to her.

"See? Now that's salesmanship." Said Tome

"She's not going to buy any. I can't see a future where anyone buys any." Said Rei

"That's because you guys aren't yelling loud enough! If we-" said Tome

"That's actually what I'm here to talk to you about. Look, you guys can sell…whatever this is-" said Reigen

"It's purple food dye, ranch, and ground up dragon fruit. We improved the recipe…but now it costs a lot more to make. We used the good kind of dragon fruit." Said Mob

"Why are you guys increasing production costs before you have any kind of a foothold in the market? Don't you know…alright, alright, one thing at a time. You guys can't be yelling out here and definitely not about di…things of a private and adult nature." Said Reigen. She didn't want to get into it with them, not about that. She wasn't squeamish, she had seen a barrel of pickles in her day, but she just didn't want to be talking to the kids about anything even tangentially related to that. Let their parents and the school system talk to them about THAT.

Or at least let her have some time to prepare herself to talk about all of that.

"What do you mean?" asked Mob as Rei started to giggle. Tome just rolled her eyes.

"She means dicks, even though it's good marketing. Guys are obsessed with them and if gas stations can get guys to buy mysterious dick pills then we can get-" said Tome

"Nope, no you can't. You can't shout about that stuff out here. Actually you can't shout about anything out here. I'm trying to run a business, guys, I have bills to pay and other such things. Important things, ok? So how about you guys go to the park with this?" asked Reigen

"If you're broke you don't have to pay me anymore." Said Mob. That was…she could afford to pay Mob three hundred yen an hour and she shouldn't have even been considering making her work for free. She wasn't so hard up, yet, that she couldn't afford to keep the kids around. She knew she was going to have to tighten her belt a little, or a lot, but once she and Serizawa…once she and Katsuya found a place then maybe things would be easier. She was the one who paid him, after all, so she was essentially paying rent on two separate places…that is if they even found a place and if he didn't change his mind…

Reigen shook her head. One thing at a time.

"Or me." said Rei. Was she paying Rei too? She couldn't remember…she did some mental math. She was at six hundred yen an hour and…and if six hundred yen was what broke her then maybe she had bigger financial problems than she thought.

"She never paid you anyway." Said Tome

"I know, but I just wanted to be selfless." Said Rei

"I'm not broke, I get by, and I would like to continue getting by. So, either keep it down or head down to the park." Said Reigen

"We'll-" said Mob

"We need time to debate." Said Tome. Reigen decided to leave them to it so long as they did it quietly. If they wanted to quietly stand out in the sun and debate all day then that was their business. She would have helped settle it, of course, if she'd had the time but she didn't. She wasn't a kid after all, she was an adult, and she was under deadline. Someone had to keep the lights on and pay the rent and that someone was her….though…next time….

Next time she would help them with their entrepreneurial pursuits.