A/N: Now that I've read the manga, you can expect appearances from characters like Serizawa and Mogami!
(Just don't expect all characters to get a spot, goodness...)
N Mob is supposed to age gradually throughout the chapters, FYI.
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For all extensive purposes: Mob did not exist.
He did physically, of course, and Reigen knew that by the ache in his arms from having to carry him all the way to the police station. His haste to get inside caused the door to suck open with a bang, and the noise startled the officer on duty. It complimented nicely Reigen's march to the front and his firm hand on the reception desk.
He meant business.
Reigen ordered the process along so fast that even the lead deputy was impressed. Reigen was clear, and authoritative, and he had officers out to his house to look for the man Mob had thrown into a building in mere minutes. However, he did not think it tactful at the time to mention Mob's little talent to strangers he wanted to trust him, and instead waited with a disposition like steel while they searched the residential records for Mob's parents.
It was only then that Reigen noticed he had not yet put the boy down.
Mob did not seem to mind. He had not spoken since Reigen had asked his name, even with all the excitement around him, and did not protest when Reigen moved them to a bench. Reigen collapsed rather melodramatically—sigh and all—onto the creaky wooden furniture. Mob perched like a little bird on Reigen's lap with his legs folded in his arms, and Reigen took the effort to lift his head and quirk an eyebrow at his residing companion.
"You don't have to stay on me, you know."
Mob nodded once and spoke to confirm he in fact did know.
"I know."
Reigen allowed himself a short laugh at Mob's bluntness before tossing his head back over the rear of the bench.
After a while, the researching officer informed them that she could not find anything about Mob. When prompted to give his family name, he couldn't say, and he was so young that no one could be disappointed that he did not remember. And it wasn't a problem yet: surely, in the morning, when everyone got up, a family would notice their missing baby and come looking for him straight away.
Surely.
.
"Mob."
The boy had himself curled into a perfect sphere, and he didn't seem content on moving.
"Mob, I have to go open the graveyard gate."
Mob unfurled from his ball slowly. He sat up like a radio antenna stilled from flicking, his hair mussed up one side and his eyes blinking against the new pale light of sunrise. Reigen nudged his shoulder gently.
"You have to get off me."
Mob stared down at the little spot on Reigen's chest he had made so warm with a blank expression. Then, he yawned, rubbing his eyes with both hands.
"Make Tome-san do it."
Reigen cocked his head as he watched Mob kindly slide to the floor.
"Who's Tome-san?"
Mob watched the wall as if it would give him the answer he sought.
"I don't know."
Was Mob capable of giving a concise response? It didn't seem so.
Reigen left Mob with a promise to be back. The police search party had returned hours before with the news that the only thing to be found near Reigen's home were broken pieces of the building across the street and a-kinda-almost-a-head-and-top-body shape in the wall. Reigen was half-afraid the man was hiding in his house to kill him, but no assassin with a knife jumped at him when he opened the door, so he felt he could be at ease. (Or was that just what he wanted Reigen to think?)
Evidence of the night before was distinct in the living room's disarray. Reigen sighed at the ever tedious task of picking up the displaced knickknacks of his side table and turning off his television—which, Reigen took the moment to admire, was a shopping commercial for a bra. Anyhow:
Before he even considered unlocking the graveyard gate, he did the proper adult thing and rasped up his voice to fake calling in sick.
"Shinra-san…" he said weakly into the receiver—but not too weak!; that was the key to trickery. "I'm not going to be able to make it to the office today."
"C'mon, you were just fine yesterday!" the man on the other end complained.
"I think the eggs in my omelet rice were bad…"
"Yuck." Reigen could hear the wince in his voice. "Well, I'll tell the boss you can't make it."
"Thank you, Shinra-san."
They parted ways with a goodbye. Reigen thought himself remarkably clever, but he did not see Shinra at the office putting his face in his hands and muttering:
"That bastard's probably just hungover."
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Reigen didn't expect any crowd for the grand opening of the graveyard, and none was there. He just unchained the gates, like every morning, although unlike every morning, he entered the graveyard. He remembered when he was younger he used to run along the paths between headstones to the fountain in the shrine at the center of the graveyard and back again, and how the police had once caught him after dark in the graveyard on Halloween. He preferred not to remember that part.
He strolled towards the fence near his house. Trees from his backyard huddled near the ironwork, and in some places even entangled with it. Reigen reached the corner, where last night Mob had observed something that had interested him. Reigen thought he knew what, but…
Generations of his family lied to rest before him. Each person had their name carved in the stacked stones, and each place contained whatever was left of their body. Reigen glanced over the names—his grandfather and his great-uncle, who were buried together—until he got to the one closest to where Mob had been.
Tome Reigen
He stared intently at the white etching. Then, he pressed his fingers to his forehead, a disbelieving and amused chuckle rumbling from his chest.
"Grandma… You don't give up, do you?"
Nothing answered him. Reigen allowed himself to laugh again before he turned around and walked away.
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Reigen found Mob with a milk in both hands and a magazine on his lap. One of the officers had been kind enough to buy him a carton out of the vending machine, and he seemed more interested in it than the magazine. He hadn't even turned from the first page.
"Ah, you like cars, eh?" Reigen pointed to the flashy green sports car on the page. "Wouldn't it be fun to ride around in that!"
Mob popped the straw out of his mouth. He held his milk close to his chest, trying to see what Reigen saw.
"I like green."
Well, there was that too. Maybe it was all about perspective.
"Reigen-san?" The woman police officer called from the reception desk. "May I speak with you for a moment?"
Mob appeared engrossed with his milk and magazine, and Reigen took that as an opportunity to sneak away and speak with the officer.
"He seems to have taken a liking to you," she commented. "He trusts you."
"You think so?" Reigen glanced back to the boy with the straw in his mouth and unreadable expression on his face. In the least, Reigen didn't think Mob hated him.
"I thought you would like to know that, if we cannot find his parents, we're transferring his case to child care services this afternoon."
Reigen's spine stiffened, although he did not know why. Intuition was trying to tell him something… But what?
"They'll be able to provide for him," she continued. "They can take care of him until they find his parents, or find him a new home—if it comes to that."
Something tingled in Reigen's chest that he did recognize: rage. His jaw clinched, and he mentally had to smooth over his ruffled feathers. It wasn't the officer's fault.
"Yes, of course."
Mob had a family, and he didn't ask to be taken from them. He didn't ask to be abducted by some lunatic in a hoodie for one reason or another. He didn't ask for the man to try and harm him, and he didn't ask for the only way to defend himself to be through his psychic powers. Would a new family even understand that? What would happen to Mob if the man found him again?
Reigen couldn't bear to see him hurt.
It was at that moment he secured his decision. Reigen had never been so certain or resolute in his life.
He was going to take Mob home.
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"So, you're telling me… You we beaten by a child?"
The man hissed through his clinched teeth. He shifted angrily in his jacket, all sorts of pissed off.
"I told you already!" he forced his voice down. "The kid caught me off guard!"
"I see…" the one in the mask hummed. "Shigeo escaped."
"I woke up with cops all around me! How was I supposed to find him then? I don't know where he went!"
"He must have been taken in," his companion with the glasses considered. "They must have returned him to his parents."
"Most likely… Otherwise, where would he be?"
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"Oh, isn't he the cutest!"
Mob had his chubby cheeks smushed like dough. Reigen, hoping that didn't upset him, looked a little nervous.
"Mom, please be gentle," he pleaded with the woman doting on poor Mob.
"I know how to treat children, Arataka," she half-scolded him. "I raised you, didn't I?"
Alright: fair. Nevertheless, Reigen did not want Mob to feel overwhelmed in his new home.
Reigen had gotten all the essentials: futon, clothes, shoes, snacks—milk. He had even cleaned out the guest room just for this moment, just for this homecoming.
"You can call me Grandma, okay?"
A little sparkle twinkled in Mob's eyes. Reigen, contrastingly, panicked and made all kinds of strange arm motions.
"It's not like that!" he insisted. "I'm just watching him until we can find his parents!"
"You did all the foster care paperwork, didn't you?" his mother replied smartly. "That means I can be his Grandma!"
She was undoubtedly playing to win here. Reigen held his head woefully.
"I'm too young to be a dad!"
"Too late, Arataka!"
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A/N: To differentiate old Tome from young Tome, our alien-loving president will be Tome-chan and our hipster grandma will be Tome-san!
