Chapter Four: Reigen I
Date: ?
"Ahhh!"
Reigen drops out of the dark vortex and is blinded by the sun. He raises his arm above his face to block the light when he realizes the more pressing matter of falling. He twists his body the best he can to look where his body will inevitably land.
Good news! He isn't going do die with his body smashing into pavement.
Bad news! He's about to drown!
He quickly takes a deep breath as his body splats against the open body of water.
It hurts. It really hurts. Do Olympic divers always feel this way?
His suit immediately absorbs water adding weight pulling him down, and his shoes make it hard to kick his way up to the surface. It feels like an eternity later when his head breaks through the surface and he gasps for air before his head temporarily goes under again. The second time his head is above water he can stabilize himself enough to keep his head where he can breathe as he starts his swim to the distant shore.
As soon as his feet can touch the sand beneath he relaxes. He can't remember the last time he needed to use that much effort. Each step he takes to be on dry sand feels heavy like someone attached weights to every part of his body. When he deems himself safe, he plops on the sand.
Never again!
Regaining his strength, he stands up. He takes off his blazer and wrings the water out. The grit of sand is rough against his hands. He takes off his shoes, then socks, then stuffs them into his shoes. He doesn't undress more under the fear of someone claiming public indecency.
"Where am I anyway? We weren't near the any large bodies of water before."
Now that he isn't in survival mode, he notices Tome and Serizawa aren't with him.
He whips back to face the water. Don't tell him…
No. No. He didn't see anyone fall with him, and they were separated before.
They were okay, right?
Er…
"Serizawa! Tome!" He yells out as if there will be an answer.
"Right. Phone. Need to call them." He frantically reaches for his pants pockets and his face blanches. "Don't tell me." He stares at the water as another wave approaches. There's no finding it now.
No use staying there. For now, he has to hope those two are safe. If there's a physical danger Serizawa should be fine, but they are still working on his people skills. Meanwhile, Tome won't be deceived by people but she doesn't have much to defend herself. She's started using salt attacks but she hadn't been ready to use the more physical 'Reigen Special Moves' yet.
It's cold. August is never this chilly. Usually he's sweating, fanning himself with paper and magazines – occasionally a fan as a splurge.
"Excuse me," he approaches an elderly lady. "Would you be so kind as to tell me what city is this?"
"Oh dear, are you okay?" The man doesn't seem like a drunkard. Is he escaping a dangerous situation. Crime just keeps rising with all these villains around.
"I'll be fine as soon as I find my way home."
"This is Musutafu."
Reigen has never heard of the place. "What prefecture is that in?"
The woman seems surprised by the question. "It's in Shizuoka. Do you need a doctor?"
"I'll be fine, thank you."
"If you say so." She walks off.
If he's in Shizuoka he could grab a bullet train to Tokyo in about an hour and a half, and then transfer onto the line to take him to Seasoning City. The problem is, does he go back if his subordinates could be in the area? He would ask to borrow someone's phone, but he doesn't know their numbers. Who, is this day and age, remembers phone numbers that aren't their own?
It's still light out, so he would search first. They can't be that far, can they?
But first he needs something hot to warm him up. He spots a vending machine and walks over. At least he still has his wallet on him. He opens his wallet to see soaked bills. Of course. There's no way the machine will take those. He grabs the coins and has just enough for the cheapest coffee.
As he drinks, the heat warms his esophagus and stomach. Just what he needed.
Reigen gets some strange looks as he walks around the city.
It doesn't take long for him to reciprocate. Is he sure that thing didn't spit him into some kind of spirit dimension? Some of them look human but there are plenty of oddities, some straight up looking like spirits. He should try to blend in for now until he finds the others.
He gets distracted by a crowd. Someone is holding a knife to some green skinned kid's throat yelling at people to back away. He must have done something to warrant the attention and now that there is a weapon involved people keep staring. Has anyone even called the cops? And why are they staring instead of doing something? Adults are supposed to be the responsible ones.
Wherever Reigen landed is pretty backwards. Part of him is tempted to walk away, but the inaction of everyone else angers him.
He taps someone's shoulder and says, "Oi, call the police." He continues to walk forward.
"Stay back." The person waves a knife at him.
"Easy there. You could hurt someone with that."
"Not could, but will."
Reigen observes the scene to gain any insight what is happening or why. "So, you what? Pickpocket someone then when you were caught resulted to mugging? You realize the punishments to the later are more severe don't you. Not to mention everyone's seen your face now."
"So what? I'm bankrupt with a pregnant wife. You don't know what it's like to not have a single yen to your name."
Reigen has a flashback about all his poor financial statements. "I get it. Sometimes I can only afford two pieces of chashu with my ramen."
"That's not remotely the same!"
"At this rate you're only going to burden your wife and future child." The guy is blinded his immediate circumstances that he doesn't even realize the damage he's committing. "If you get imprisoned who will care for your family? Society will forever associate your crimes to them. How do you know you aren't putting someone else in the same position as you by taking their wallet?"
Unstable as he may be, he was still a person meaning Reigen had confidence in reasoning with them. The man lowers the knife a little. "If you have time to run around causing trouble for others then look for a job so you have a continuous source of income to care for what matters to you. There's no way this is sustainable."
He can hear sirens get louder and louder.
"The law is a lot more forgiving to people who give themselves in."
The man is defeated and drops the knife just as the police cars park next to the crowd.
This is the time for Reigen to get out of there. He scurries off as the authorities deal with the situation.
The problem: he still doesn't know where Tome and Serizawa are, the little money he has is soaked, he's nowhere near home, and he's getting colder by the minute.
