Reigen wasn't ashamed to admit that she was something of a pack rat.

But not because she was afraid to let things go, or incapable, as her mother had so often accused her of being. She just liked having a good supply of everything she needed, that was all. Be it body oil or printer paper or incense. Being prepared was a virtue, she wouldn't have wanted to be caught without any of the tools of her trade after all. She had a business to conduct and she needed incense to conduct it with. Incense that was in here…somewhere.

She really needed to start labeling these boxes.

"Master Reigen, I don't think that there's anywhere else left to look." Said Mob as she closed a box with her powers, dust flying everywhere as she worked. Reigen wiped her forehead, the smell of dust tickling her nose, and sighed.

"Everything is somewhere Mob, keep looking." Said Reigen as she bent over and dug through a box that seemed to hold her entire life's collection of scarves. This was from back when she wore a fortune teller's costume, or maybe from her scarf phase back in university, or maybe…or maybe she needed to stop treating the office like a storage unit. Maybe she, in fact, needed to start getting rid of some of this stuff.

Like she was always telling herself.

She stood up and closed the box, her nose and eyes crying out in protest. So much dust. She really needed to send the kids to dust in here. She was paying some of them after all and they had small hands, good for getting into all of the nooks and crannies Reigen's were too big for. Of course knowing Tome she'd probably clean herself into a corner and then post up with her Gameboy. Mob would probably be more helpful, though her powers mostly just made dust storms, and Rei…well, Rei was enthusiastic, Reigen would give her that.

Actually yeah, Rei might have been the best person for the job, and she probably wouldn't have complained either. Having been in such a good mood lately.

"Why don't you just order more incense? They have it on Wish, I've seen it, and these really cool incense burners too. Like there's this one that looks like a dragon and this one that looks like a smoking skeleton-" said Rei as she popped her head out of a box, a cobweb caught in her hair. She didn't seem to mind, no, that smile she'd been wearing every time Reigen had seen her lately stayed on…hopefully she hadn't wasted all of her money on junk from Wish again…though if she had then it wouldn't have been so bad. She was only fourteen after all.

Reigen didn't have that excuse.

"And one that looks like a smoking cat." Said Mob as she walked over and picked the cobweb out of Rei's hair. Reigen shuddered. Somewhere in here there was a homeless spider just laying in wait for them to-

Right, she was the adult and adults were not afraid of bugs…no matter how disgusting they were.

"I'm staying off of Wish for a while, I have a lot of junk already." Said Reigen with a wave of her hand and a glance across the floor…the parts of the floor that she could see. There could have been an entire colony of spiders just living in the walls…wait, no, ants lived in colonies. Spiders lived in…packs? Schools? She'd have to look that up later…in a well lit room with Serizawa at her side.

"But do you want one that looks like a smoking cat? Like for your birthday or Christmas or girl's day?" asked Mob. Reigen looked up. Mob's eyes were practically brimming with enthusiasm. She sighed.

"It's nowhere near my birthday or Christmas and I'm way too old for girl's day presents." Said Reigen, crushing whatever it was that was brewing inside of Mob. She actually would have loved an incense burner that looked like a cat but between her stuff and Serizawa's stuff there just wasn't a lot of room for new stuff even if it did sound adorable, like something that could really tie the office together…

But that was what she'd said about all of those posters and now look where they were.

"What about international women's day presents?" asked Mob, her eyes somehow brimming with even more hope. Reigen sighed. She couldn't dash Mob's hope. Not when she looked like that.

"Mob, did you get me an incense burner that looks like a smoking cat?" asked Reigen

"Maybe." Said Mob

"In that case I'd love an incense burner that looks like a smoking cat." Said Reigen

"What about one that looks like a smoking dog?" asked Mob

"Mob…did you get me two incense burners?" asked Reigen

"Um…possibly." Said Mob. Reigen shook her head.

"Save your money for things you want, ok? You're only young once. Pretty soon you won't have nearly as much disposable income. Your whole life is going to be bills and necessities and credit card payments." Said Reigen with a shudder. If only she could have gone back in time. She would have told her younger self to be more financially irresponsible, that saving up for a dog was useless since Mom was just going to give it away, and that store brand was just as good as name brand…so much money wasted…

But maybe that wasn't the best advice to give the kids.

"It's not a problem, Master Reigen, I have a lot more money now. Teru's always buying me things, he likes to go shopping, and whenever we go he always gets me something…even if it's things I don't really need." Said Mob. Rei got a look that could only be described as sour, like she had just bitten into a lemon, and Reigen knew why. Jealousy was such an ugly feeling, especially when it was directed towards a friend.

"Maybe talk to Haystack about that, you don't want to end up drowning in clutter, trust me. Now come on, back to work." said Reigen

"It's nice that you and your boyfriend have the same love language." Said Rei quickly. Reigen clapped her hands. She had never seen them fight but she knew how things could get at that age, when your friends were starting to move past where you were, and how it felt to be desperate to catch up. She could have told them that by the time they were her age it wasn't even going to matter who had a boyfriend in middle school but she didn't. She had been their age once before, she knew how urgent these things felt, and she knew that the last thing that Rei wanted was someone nearly old enough to be her mother telling her to slow down and enjoy her youth while she had it.

"Come on, before we get a walk in client." Said Reigen

"Love language?" asked Mob. Reigen groaned. Well, it didn't look like they were going to find the incense anytime soon.

"You know, how you show someone how you feel. You and Teru give each other gifts, Tome and Inukawa's is physical touch-" said Rei

"Let's not dig too deep into that one." Said Reigen quickly

"Reigen and Serizawa's is acts of service. That means that they're always doing nice things for each other…but also I think it might be mixed with quality time since they're together…wait, ok, so there are five and I think it might be mixed with all of them. Like there's compliments, well words of affirmation, and my boyfriend loves those. He's always telling me-" said Rei

"Wait, boyfriend?" asked Reigen. If her hands hadn't been so dusty she would have cleaned her ears out. She couldn't have heard that right. Rei…a boyfriend? But she was only, well she was fourteen, and that was the same age Mob was when she and that Teru kid started going out and Tome, well she said that she and Inukawa had gotten together when she had been fourteen too…ok, so she wasn't too young.

Sun rise, sun set…Reigen finally understood the meaning of that song.

"Oh no! We forgot to tell Master Reigen!" gasped Mob, the box beside her toppling over. She quickly picked it up with her powers. Something inside sounded like it had shattered. Well, now that was going to be a wonderful surprise the next time they went digging around in here. Not as wonderful as the fact that Rei had a boyfriend. That was good even if it reminded Reigen of her own mortality for some reason.

"Sorry, the whole thing just happened so fast. I mean one minute we're talking and the next we're boyfriend and girlfriend." Said Rei as she played with her hair and smiled. Well if she was happy then Reigen was going to keep her mouth shut about the passage of time…about how it felt like just that morning all the girls were practically holding Serizawa down and playing mad stylist with him…how it felt like just yesterday that tiny Mob had wandered into her life looking for guidance. Time just kept on moving, didn't it. She was almost afraid to blink. In an instant she could have been watched the kids graduate from university, or throwing rice at their weddings, or holding one of their kids…

Wait, no, too fast! Much too fast!

"So, who's the lucky guy?" asked Reigen, pulling at her collar. She didn't have to have the safe sex talk with Rei, right? She'd had to have it with Mob, and a little bit of one with Tome, but Rei had her own parents…parents that were probably just going to tell her that she shouldn't have been doing anything in the first place…and she shouldn't have. She was only fourteen. Reigen had been…well, there was that old saying 'do as I say, not as I do' which was kind of unfair but…but…

Reigen decided to cross that bridge when she came to it.

"Go, but you don't know him. He's from the Awakening Lab." Said Rei

"Wait, didn't you say that those guys were really immature and annoying?" asked Reigen

"They, uh, well Go changed. He's really…um…different now. More grown up. I mean it's been a year after all." said Rei

"A lot can change in a year, Master Reigen, like a year ago Teru didn't have bangs but now he does. Well, he called them side bangs because they frame his face, he says that the kind I have wouldn't work with his bone structure. But he says that they work for me…but I don't know. I never even thought about my bone structure before." Said Mob

"Your bangs work for your face. If your boyfriend doesn't mind then you shouldn't either. It's like how I was thinking of dying my hair a different color, it's been red for a long time now, but then my boyfriend Go said that he likes my hair because it reminds him of fire and if my boyfriend Go likes it than I like it. My boyfriend Go has excellent taste and yours does too. Maybe we should get together with our boyfriends-" said Rei

"Maybe we should find the incense before my boyfriend gets back and wonders where we are." Said Reigen. She couldn't hear the word 'boyfriend' one more time. Not unless she wanted her head to explode…but that was alright. This was just how girls were at that age. Mob was the same way about Teru though she didn't use the word 'boyfriend' before his name all the time, and Tome…well, the less said about the her and her boyfriend the better. Reigen had been the same way when she had gotten her first serious boyfriend. That was just the way it was when you got to that age.

It would pass.

She didn't know, though, if she wanted it to. Part of her wanted to get them through these phases as soon as possible and part of her wanted to take these phases and stick them in boxes and then leave them in her storage closet until the end of time. That way she could open them up later and be surprised by all the pleasant memories she had forgotten, like this box of old flyers she had made with Mob last year, and not the box with whatever had shattered in it. They were only going to be kids once and she…well, she wished that it would have lasted longer.

The good parts and the bad.

"My boyfriend and I are always looking for new couples to hang out with. If you and your boyfriend and Tome and her boyfriend want to hang out then of course we'd say yes, though I'd have to check my boyfriend's schedule. My boyfriend has a very busy schedule of…um…burning things…" said Rei. Reigen decided to put a pin in that last part. That was…interesting. Interesting and annoying. She was going to have to listen to a lot of boyfriend talk, more so than normal, wasn't she? It was that age, she reminded herself, though if it didn't dissipate at some point she'd have to have a nice Master Reigen to students talk with them about how three talented and creative girls such as themselves should have had more interesting things to talk about than boys. There was so much more to life than guys, after all, though she had to admit that guys were a big part of it.

Katsuya was a big part of her life, after all.

She heard the front door open and stood up. Rei and Mob were crouched down on the ground talking about, what else, their boyfriends. She'd whip them into shape later. Right now she had to turn the get back out there and turn the 'gone to lunch' sign around. There could have been walk in clients lined up down the hall for all she knew. She brushed her hands off on her skirt.

Good thing that dust was grey.

She made her way through the maze of boxes to the door. As soon as her hand met the knob the door opened, leaving her with no option but to walk face first into Katsuya's chest…or maybe she was the one who had left him no option but to bump into her. Either way their collision was accompanied by a belated 'watch out' from Rei and a gasp from Mob. She tried to take a step back but found herself stuck trapped by a pair of arms surrounding her.

"Arataki! I mean Reigen! Are you hurt? I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I should have watched where I was going but I was in a hurry because I missed you and then I wasn't thinking and you were there and-and I'm so sorry!" said Katsuya as he held her close. As much as she loved this, as much as she wanted to melt into his arms and pull him closer, as badly as she wanted to kiss him she couldn't help but be aware of the two pairs of very interested eyes that were watching her. She had forgotten how quickly Mob and Rei could move when they wanted to…and how silently.

At some point those two ninjas had crept up beside her and were watching her with their eyes wide and their hands over their mouths.

"Master Reigen…you're both just so beautiful together. Your love is so strong." Gasped Mob with what looked like a tear twinkling in the corner of her eye.

"My boyfriend Go apologies like that to me all the time." Said Rei. Reigen sighed and took a big step back.

"Don't you two have incense to find?" asked Reigen as Katsuya let her go. He did that truly adorable thing where he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. She wanted to kiss him so badly…God, she felt like she was the middle schooler there, not the two of them.

"I don't think it's in here, Master Reigen." Said Mob

"We could ask more people to help. Tome won't be grounded forever and she could bring Inukawa and Mob could bring Teru and I could bring my boyfriend Go." Said Rei. Reigen shook her head. Yeah, no. The last thing she needed were a bunch of teenagers hanging out in her storage closet with the door closed.

"This can't possibly be a six man job. It's got to be in here. Everything is somewhere." Said Reigen

"Oh, did we run out of incense? I can go to the store for you if you want." Said Katsuya

"No, we didn't run out. It's just…it's got to be in here somewhere." Said Reigen

"What about the incense in the bathroom cabinet below the sink?" asked Katsuya. Reigen gaped at him, her eyes wide and her draw dropping. That was…exactly where she remembered leaving it, now, a place where she specifically remembered leaving it for this specific reason…

If her hands hadn't been so dusty she would have slapped herself over the head.

"That's the wrong…scent…but it'll do. Mob, Rei, you guys can go and hang out with Tome, we're good here." Said Reigen

"Tome's grounded. Her parents caught her sneaking out of the house to watch the skies with Inukawa and now she's grounded for life…which means about a week." Said Mob

"She'll be out in three days." Said Rei

"Well then go and hang out with your boyfriends, alright?" asked Reigen. Rei giggled and whispered something to Mob, who then gave her and Katsuya a look before doing some giggling of her own…and she was going to let them go on thinking whatever they were thinking. She was going to let them be young for a little while longer. She, on the other hand, had work to do. Lots of work.

But first she was going to store the incense somewhere within sight of her desk.