A/N:

#Jell-O

Since the story is getting more complicated, I made a timeline of key events on my tumblr ( thejapanesemapletree) under the 'fic: a risk of going through a doorway is that it may be locked shut behind you' tag!

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Mob did not like Reigen's father.

Or (correction) at least not nearly as much as Reigen's mother. Unlike his mother, his father seemed to impose a point of making himself scarce, like if he wanted to see his son that should not include seeing the estranged child he took in. He had been stand-offish in the beginning about Reigen's decision to foster Mob, passively suggesting that he would have preferred at minimum a wife for him first, then a child—ideally of their bloodline. Like his mother (and perhaps what his father had disliked most about her), Reigen would not tolerate that kind of talk, and viciously and vocally challenged his father about it. Not wanting to sour their relationship, Reigen's father warmed up to Mob eventually.

No way would Reigen allow anything so awful to be said about dearest Mob.

It was good fortune he settled everything with his father beforehand, because he was the one with the family shrine, and Reigen wanted Mob to say goodbye to Tome-san one last time. When she had died around the time Reigen was Mob's age, he had the opportunity to let her go, while Mob really did not. He figured it would be good for the boy's coping if he could even have a farewell to move on from.

"Hello Arataka, Mob-kun."

Reigen's step-mother answered the door. She was a quiet, sweet woman who always smelled of the cookies she made in her bakery; dissimilar to the outlandish personality of Reigen's mother, but not in a bad way. Although, she was also sort of distant and not personable; she asked Mob to call her by her first name instead of Grandmother.

"I just cubed some Jell-O, if you want some," she offered as she closed the door behind them.

"Maybe later," Reigen declined. Mob pouted. He would have liked some Jell-O.

"Where's Dad?"

"In the living room." She motioned in the general direction. "You know, watching his soap operas."

She prayed with her eyes for release from the torment of all that drama. Reigen went to collect his father, leaving Mob in the entrance hall to view the house. It was the first time he had seen where Reigen's father lived; when he needed a babysitter, he would either go to Reigen's mother's apartment or she would come over to his house by the graveyard. Reigen's childhood home was about the same size, but had a tangible emptiness left from the flight of Reigen and his mother and the prospect of visiting grandchildren. Squares showed on the walls from where photos had obviously been taken down, next to frames that looked like they had not moved since the day they were hung. One in the hallway depicted Reigen on his school's sports day, sweatband on his forehead and cheeky smile on his face.

Reigen's step-mother broke Mob from moving his eyes around the room. She leaned down to him, smiling and whispering.

"Would you like some Jell-O, Mob-kun?"

Mob's eyes sparkled. He nodded enthusiastically, matching her whisper.

"Yes, please."

He received a little rice bowl of blue Jell-O cubes and a fork. The first bite went okay, but the second bite involved the fork warping in half with the cube stuck on the end. Mob flushed suddenly and held the bowl and fork away.

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

"It's alright," Reigen's step-mother said in a wavering tone of not understanding what just happened. She glanced at Mob with the briefest awe, questioning if maybe he was a demon child sent to play tricks on her. In the end, her human logic of uncertainty ruled out the notion, and she took the quirked fork from him.

"It's probably old," she reasoned even though she had never seen a metal fork bend on its own. "Here, you can use a toothpick instead."

She stuck a toothpick in a cube to show him how. Relieved to not have upset her, Mob readily used the toothpick-in-Jell-O technique and ate his snack like fancy hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail party. Reigen's step-mother smiled at his success. Footsteps came from the living room, and she turned her head to note them.

"You managed to get him away from the television?"

Mob had his cheeks pouched full of Jell-O cubes, so he could only watch Reigen enter with his father. When he was younger, his hair had been a dark chocolate brown, and it showed in the linger pieces amongst the faded grey. He had stern features Mob had not once seen his guardian try to imitate, but they did have the same nose shape, at least. Reigen was really a product of his mother.

"You act like you are not just as bad with your talk shows," Reigen's father scowled at her, but they both chuckled and smiled, so there was love in it. He nodded once towards Mob to cordially acknowledge him.

"Hello, Mob-kun."

Mob chewed and swallowed the Jell-O in his mouth. He nodded in return, figuring that the proper thing to do.

"Hello, Reigen-san."

Reigen exhaled at Mob's ever persistent formality. He turned back towards the living room and ushered Mob to follow him.

"Come on, I'll show you where the cushions are."

Mob made a quiet noise of compliance. He set aside his bowl, bowed and thanked Reigen's step-mother for her generous gift of food, and tailed behind Reigen to the living room. The old family cat sat perched atop the chifforobe, and she watched as Reigen dug into the drawers for the floor pillows. He placed them before the black-stained box shrine, and motioned Mob forward to draw him out of both his feeling and location of distance.

"Here, sit there and I'll let you open it," Reigen offered as Mob nested atop one of the cushions.

Mob felt nervous at the prospect for reasons he could not identify. He peeled open the shrine doors with a slight tremble to his fingers, revealing the various contents of the inside.

Mob was rather taken aback by what he saw. A framed picture of Tome-san resided at the front of the shrine, but he could hardly tell it was her. The photo was washed black and white, like she had been in death, yet she was so young in the picture Mob had to stare into her eyes for a moment to affirm it really was the Tome-san he loved. He knew because the same softness was there.

Altogether, the picture showed her with her arm around the neck of a man who must have been her husband, a fan gripped fiercely in her other hand. She had their faces smushed so close together that her hat almost caught his eye, but he did not seem to mind so much. An overcoat that looked like it matched with his kimono was on her shoulders instead.

"That picture is from Grandmother and Grandfather's honeymoon," Reigen responded to Mob's widened eyes. "They couldn't afford a trip, so they just went to the local university's baseball game."

He laughed. "I suppose that's what happens when you run away from home and get married. It was one of her favorite pictures, so we decided to put it in here."

Tome-san had told Mob the story before: her brave quest of defying her parents and marrying the man they did not approve of. It allowed her to be happy, marrying the one she loved, and Mob thought she was very lucky in that respect.

"I think she would have liked that."

Reigen hummed sagely. He reflected for a moment, staring at the picture of the family members he undoubtedly missed.

"… I'll light the incense for you."

Mob knew of the common shrine rituals, but he had never seen them preformed in person; many clients had shrines in their homes, but it's not like he had one in his own. He fussed with the hem of his pants and looked into his lap as Reigen prepared the space, startled from his worry when he spoke quietly.

"Mob? Do you want me to leave?"

"Ah, no," Mob half-mumbled. "It's fine, Shishou."

Reigen ruffled Mob's hair assuredly. He faced the shrine and pressed his hands together, and Mob followed suit, sitting up straight with his hands in prayer. He faulted a bit when he realized he did not know what to say, and Reigen offered him a pick-me-up.

"Tell Grandmother whatever you like—whatever you never got to. She may not be able to respond, but she will hear you."

That was the thing: Mob was used to the dead reacting to him. He was used to seeing spirits, not believing in them, so the idea of speaking into a realm even he could not perceive created a tiny flame of wonder and mystery he felt in his chest.

This was a little different. This required a different mindset.

Faith.

"Tome-san…" Mob began his reconciliation, timidly. "I never got to thank you properly."

Mob paused, flushed, but Reigen said nothing in the silence. What had to be said was Mob's to decide.

"You always watched out for me," Mob continued, not quite able to meet the eyes of her photograph for more than a moment. "And guided me, and took care of me, and protected me, and loved me. I wanted to thank you for that. You were always on my side."

Mob swallowed the knot in his throat. "But, like the man you showed me at the funeral, you had a time to go also. A time to move on from the world of the living. I never knew you when you were alive, but those who did are very, very lucky."

The final line surprised Reigen. He peeked at Mob out of the corner of his eye, and he saw how his face had mellowed into a peaceful expression of reverence.

"I just wanted to thank you for all you did for me," Mon concluded. "And to say goodbye. It was really great to have known you at all, Tome-san."

He kept his eyes shut long enough for the last words of the farewell to leave his body. When he was contented, he opened his eyes and allowed his hands to fall to rest in his lap. He now stared at the photograph of his beloved Tome-san fondly. Reigen was eager to know his lingering thoughts.

"Did that make you feel any better?" he asked. "Do you feel more at peace? Less tense?"

Mob made a small noise of confirmation and nodded once. "Yes. I feel more… hopeful. Like I know that I'll see Tome-san again someday."

He looked up to Reigen. "Thank you for bringing me here, Shishou."

Reigen could only blink for a moment. Then, he grinned and laughed, preening his own ego at the terrific decision he had made.

"Of course! I always try to do what's best for the problems that I see in the world."

He was in the business of it, in fact (and, he thought, very good at it). Mob had no doubts about Reigen's sincerity, and a little glitter illuminated his eyes. Reigen permitted himself to bask in the glory of his self-praise before the cat darted into the kitchen and reminded him of other matters.

"Since we're finished, you'd better eat the rest of your Jell-O before it gets too warm," Reigen successfully recollected the existence of the half-full bowl of Jell-O. Mob perked, and bounced up from the cushion, excusing himself with words and a bow although he did not really need to, and returned to the kitchen to eat the remainder of his snack. Reigen watched him depart before turning back towards the shrine, saying his own prayer to the grandmother he had known in life but never in death.

"Thanks for looking out for Mob, Grandmother," Reigen said to the photograph. "Please, help him have the optimism he has with seeing you again include finding his parents."

The last crumble of incense fell away to smoke. Reigen looked expectantly to the photograph, and then sighed, shutting the doors of the shrine and putting away the cushions until the next time someone needed the assurance of dear Grandmother Tome.

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A/N: Reigen's Step-Mother: Yeah, Mob's pretty cute!

Reigen's Mother: I would die for him.