"Oh, so what you're saying is-"
Mob sighed, "yes."
Reigen scratched his chin, dilemma, dilemma, dilemma.
"And does she know?"
Mob leaned into his palms, his pinkie colliding with the prop nose he had on. "What do you think?"
The man sighed, "you know, the best thing to do is to just tell her."
"Tell her what?" Mob asked, dejectedly, "that some 2nd year nobody wearing a clown costume wants to be in a relationship?"
"Correction, wearing a specialized spirit bypassing suit."
Mob just looked at him through the layers of white paint on his face, the look of which told of the mountain of regret he had when agreeing to this particular exorcism.
Reigen didn't really care about highschool flings. "And besides," he said as he sat beside the boy, "it's not like you're gonna be asking her in the clown costume right?"
Mob looked down, "I guess."
A translucent, gelatin like object then rolled out of one of the unused, unpacked, funhouse mirrors along the ruined, aged walls. Followed by another, and another, and another. Reigen noted they looked like those miniature clown cars you saw in the circus.
"Heh."
And just like those miniature clown cars you'd see in the circus, dozens upon dozens of clowns emerged from them. Before only one remained.
Reigen looked around the room, his eyes were cold and steely as they matched the glares of the many, many, many spectral performers that glared back. "Nice trick."
"Thanks," bellowed a voice from the remaining clown car. Its rough, eldritch appearance reflected the gruffness of the voice of the user within. "Been practicing a long time for our act, it's not everyday we get people on."
"Alright, let's cut to the chase. You're all gonna have to leave."
The performers looked at eachother in momentary bewilderment before bursting into an uproar of laughter.
"Boy, you sure is funny!"
"They didn't put thems costumes on ya for nothing!"
"Maybe yous can join us once we's is through with you!"
The laughter continued, honks and air horns intermixed with the noise. As the laughter grew louder, Mob sank deeper into his seat as new rocks were piled atop his mount of shame.
"ENOUGH!"
The air of the room died in an instant. The voice from within the remaining car was none too pleased as the passenger, note: singular, heaved his mighty form from within the miniature vehicle.
The absolute beast of a spirit lumbered towards the pair, his clown-like features were present yet distorted. Ornaments of mirth and joy such as his orange, powdered wig, his comically large nose and shoes, and his overall attire shined no longer under the light of a spotlight but under the dim blinking of a fluorescent bulb, preserved in their state of disrepair.
Each step shook the other clowns to their cores, along with the fragile foundation of the old abandoned mirror display. Reigen looked up at the absolute beast of a former man, face completely devoid of emotion as it stepped towards him and his employee.
Every step made the thing look bigger, until it eventually ceased its rocking of the earth below. Stopping at a titanic 10 feet tall above the pair, red painted lips in a deep scowl comparable to an Oni mask.
"Get out."
The conman smirked at the monster's bellow.
"I prefer talking it out."
"Eugh, I 'unno Ithi..."
"Yeaugh... Uh huh... buth you thee-" the girl gulped down the helping of unspecified snack product, readjusting herself to a seated position. "What if he like, thinks I'm some kinda unattractive sewer gremlin?"
"If he thought you were some kinda sewer gremlin, he wouldn't be hanging out with you would he?"
Tome rubbed her arm, "yeah but... what if that's exactly the reason why he's hanging out with me? Maybe he thinks my ugliness is some kinda weapon and is using it!"
The girl on the other scratched her head in annoyance, "you don't honestly believe that do you?"
"I believe in a lot of things, Ichi," Ichi sighed from the other end, "you should expect this from me by now."
"I mean, conspiracy theories are one thing but I didn't expect you to think so lowly of yourself."
"You're one for facts right? Well here's a fact: Mob likes that Tsubomi girl. Boom. Done. My chances? Dead."
"Maybe you should update your sources then, cause you're using the wrong tense."
"Bullshit." She flicked the channels on her TV set, "quit with the lying."
She settled for the news, some bubbly looking reporter was on the location of an old abandoned amusement park.
"Not lying. Unlike you, I don't lie. Part of being a journalist-"
Tome didn't really pay attention as Ichi ragged on about reporting. A real reporter was on screen reporting real news, and for once she was interested.
"-eyewitness accounts claim seeing two clowns entering the premises before the odd display of light that's been occuring for the past few minutes began. Some eyewitnesses claim it to be of supernatural origin."
'Odd display of light' was an understatement, it was a fireworks display.
"Tome, are you even listening!?"
She looked on, agape, as she saw spirits flying out a dilapidated circus building like oil from a pan.
"Tome!"
"Can't talk now Ichi," she changed into a loose fitting shirt and her blazer. "Looks like I'll be putting that claim of yours to the test."
It was safe to say Reigen fucked up.
His legs dangled and drifted freely in the torrent of air and mental pressure like kelp on the ocean's floor. His eyes, his mouth, his entire face was now wide open as the pressure beat at him as if he were on a rocketship to Pluto.
The talk went well, surprisingly enough. He managed to convince the living tower of a clown the plight of the citizens and how their presence affected local development. The clowns had been sympathetic to the plight of the poor, who he quite generously injected into the story, and the """"kind"""" businessmen that simply wanted to provide homes for the imaginary poor.
That is, until he fucked it up catastrophically.
"So, it's all settled then? You'll pass on to the next life?"
The ten foot spirit held a countenance of reflection before it responded keenly. The pair of man and giant undead man, along with the remaining deceased, exchanged laughs and stories while Mob just stayed in his slump, aware of nothing but the thoughts he brewed within his heart.
This was when Reigen truly screwed up.
It should have been obvious. Only when he looked back at it had he seen the signs: the trembling form, the cloudy eyes, the aura so thick which encased him that could have easily stopped a knife mid-stab.
However, none stopped Reigen.
His hand, in a playful gesture went towards the boy's shoulder. To him, he had jumped in simple surprise at the clasp, which he followed up with a joke at his expense. But when Mob turned, his eyes told of a different story.
Reigen's smile faltered at his forceful rotation. He didn't have the chance to frown, it was hard then, epecially since his face was pummeled by a sudden blast of air.
Reigen was taken out of his musings when a larger, blue presence grabbed the pole he clung to with such grace the wall nearly broke off.
"THIS... IS... YOUR... FAU-" the giant ghost's grip slipped, sending him through the roof, screaming.
"Mob? What's..."
No way, could it?
"MOB! THE FUCK IS GOING-"
The wind picked up intensity at the familiar voice. Mob was still as a statue, his head still buried in his hands in the eye of the storm.
"TO...ME!"
She turned towards the source of her name being called. From what she could make out it was Reigen in some sort of clown costume.
Important questions first.
"Reigen! What's going on here?!"
"GET... TO... THE MIDDLE-" a chunk of debris crashed into the pole reigen used for safety, sending him hurdling through the perimeter of the performance area.
Tome looked on in horror as her employer screamed through the air in an artificial tornado.
Tome gripped her head. She had to think, at this rate Reigen would get hospitalized or worse. How the heck was she supposed to get paid now?!
Then the light bulb lit up, it was so obvious!
Reigen really regret more than just this now that he'd come to think of it. As his life flashed before his eyes, the visages of all those he'd conned resurfaced into his mind. Some had it coming, sure, but others were just about innocent. Then there was Mob and Tome, basically unpaid interns. Maybe this was the gods' way of exacting judgement for all his-
"I'M REALLY SORRY OKAY!"
And then he hit something, his senses returned, his daze was amiss. This wasn't vengance exacted by the gods, this was horseshit!
The searing, sharp pain in his stomach came in the form of that forest haired employee of his' shoulder, "oi! You alright?"
"Just..." he gasped as air still pummeled him from behind, pushing the girl's shoulder deeper into his gut, "get... to the middle!"
Truth be told, that was easier said than done. And while Tome knew Mob didn't have any real intent to hurt either of them, he was still far more dangerous than what a girl on some bike wedged on wooden planks could handle.
Heck she wasn't even sure the bike would have worked.
"Meh," she says as she struggles to get footing as her left foot fights against the wind. It connects with the wooden planking.
Reigen notices, "D-do you have a p-plan?!"
"Something like that."
And with a quick push, the duo rode with the artificial air column, reaching speeds dizzying to even a professional. Tome's legs burnt in an effort to not let them both crash horribly and die.
Reigen let out a strained, ghastly scream as they sped throughout the impossible centrifuge, not noticing the subtle inching towards the middle before getting stuck at the innermost ring of the unnatural tornado.
"I can't... I can't get past this! We're going too fast!" Reigen agreed wholeheartedly as he was left dangling once more, this time by the seat of a bicycle.
Then, an idea. A pretty horrible idea... But still...
"Uhh, Reigen..."
He had calmed down relatively, just about enough to no longer be in hysterics but that wasn't really much. "What?"
"How badly do you want to get out of here alive?"
"Tome, I will fucking haunt you if you let me die!"
"So pretty badly then? Alright, here goes."
Reigen had little time to react before the girl's hand shot out to grab his own. The air pummeling them rendered them nearly weightless towards one particular direction. Freeing herself from the metal of the bicycle, she jumped towards the center with a screaming Reigen in tow.
"GRAB SOMETHING IN THERE!" She yelled as she managed to sling Reigen's upper body into the storm's eye. A stray floorboard was but their only refuge and Reigen fumbled to get it. It creaked and threatened to give until it steadied.
Reigen heaved himself and the added weight of the wind on him, Tome, and the wind on Tome combined. The rapid change of pressure threatened his collapse while whatever remnants of his adrenaline made sure those threats remained empty.
With one final pull they collapsed onto the plank flooring, Reigen out like a light and Tome just about on the edge of fatigue induced sleep.
With a few slogged steps she would be face to face with originator of her problems, both the immediate and the inner. She breathed a sigh, shaky with exhaustion and frustration.
Her hand reached for his shoulder, stopping just above it. She closed it, letting it rest beside her waist.
The one that followed poked his forehead. Hard.
Glowing, embarrassed eyes rose from the shelter a pair of arms provided. With them, he found the form of the girl his thoughts had been set on for the past while. "Tome?" he asked, in disbelief.
The girl answered with a slap to the face, effectively snapping the boy out of any prior dazing as he was left rubbing a sore cheek.
"You... You look ridiculous."
She collapsed into his form, letting her get cradled by a pair of shaking arms. The closeness brought a blush to his face as the roar of winds and debris rapidly died out and Mob realized that he was holding the most amazing girl he'd ever known between his arms...
In a fucking clown costume.
Impossibly, the already red fake blush he had painted on his face glowed even redder.
They stayed like that for a while, limply, awkwardly, technically in each other's arms. One half-conscious with her arms draped like curtains on his shoulders and the other just coming to grips with what was happening.
"Hey uh, Mob."
"Y-yes, T-Tome?" he replied, his chin resigned to the crook of her shoulder.
"Can you get rid of your stupid clown nose?"
He pulled the thing out the socket, gladly. "Any uhh, anything else?"
She snuggled into his neck, and her legs felt at home wrapped around his midriff. "Take a guess," she said with a voice indistinguishable from a breath.
He sighed as he took the hint, finally, and he hugged back.
Silence fell, a calming silence, a knowing silence.
Still, amidst the quiet and serenity, a prickly thing gnawed at his mind. Causing a shift that reverberated from his own body to hers.
"I know I'm probably not the one who should be asking this, but," she propped herself up off of him by the elbows, coming face to face with a psychic in clown makeup. "You okay?"
"Ah, well..."
Some second year in a clown suit likes you.
Boy yous sure is funny!
You look ridiculous.
His expression just about died on the spot. "Nothing."
A pause. A withering pause.
"I like you."
Mob's eyes widened before raising his eyes to meet those near-perpetual half circles that were hers. Finding a warmth, a light, that shimmered off those typically ice-cold black orbs.
"Took the words out your mouth didn't I?" She finished with a smirk.
Without warning, the girl collapsed back into the earlier hug. Mob smiled, not a thought ran through his head before he hugged back.
"Hey, uh... Mob?"
"Hm?"
"Me and Reigen are gonna need to go to the hospital."
"Oh."