Mob Psycho 100
Mob stood in front of a man in a pink shirt on the other side of a round table. Two glass bottles of milk stood in front of them.
"He accepted? Why!?"
Mezato shook. Why did you accept the challenge?
"Yes, thank you, Mezato."
Come to think of it, why would Mob accept? Normally he would have just left anyway, Reigen thought.
He held the milk with a smile as a cow chewed grass in the background.
Mob loves milk.
Some corner of Reigen's mind filed away that knowledge.
"Ready, go!"
They both chugged the milk. Mob looked at the man, cheeks comically puffed up.
"Ugh, he's so cute."
"He's soft. He's definitely soft. And not, like, emotionally, like physically soft."
"He looks so squishy. Like if I hugged him, he'd feel like a pillow made out of Play-Doh."
The man made a face. Mob didn't even flinch as the man spat milk all over him.
Why?! Dimple raged.
"Go!"
A man in a green shirt made a face. Mob was still unresponsive, face dripping in milk.
The man spat more milk on him.
"He's going to smell like milk for days after this," someone muttered.
"It already happened, remember?"
"Oh, right."
Impossible...
The final smile leader, a serious-looking man in a suit, said, "Those two are pathetic. With my smiling powers, I'll throw the boy into a smiley maelstrom-"
Yeah, he spat milk all over Mob.
O-oh, I see! Forcing them to laugh all the time backfired!
"He's a total creep. God."
Mob wiped off his face with a towel. "I won, so I'm going now."
"Wait!"
Dimple had his hands outstretched.
"Oh no."
"You'll face me now."
"Oh no."
"What?"
"Dimple-sama is going to face him himself?"
I will not make you win. I will make you spit out that milk.
"Notice he didn't say 'laugh,' he said 'spit out the milk.'"
"Maybe it's good!"
The people around the kid gave him a single, identical look.
"...Yeah, I didn't think so."
"Ready, go!"
Over his milk, Dimple's eyes sharpened.
A violent shiver ran through Mob.
"Oh, bad. Very not good."
"Fantastic impression of a neanderthal you're doing there."
"That milk..."
Small circles were shown, sharpening into triangles.
Mob spat out the milk.
"...Clearly had something mixed in."
"Of course he cheated," someone muttered.
"Bastard."
"But still, what can we do?"
Mob held his neck, milk leaking out of his mouth and nose, tears streaming out of his eyes, coughing.
The school watched this silently, a few kids looking angry.
Reigen felt a wave of pity. Poor kid.
"He laughed!"
"The hell he did!"
The crowd chattered excitedly. Mezato laughed.
Even I'm starting to have fun now...
Mob panted, milk spilling off the table.
"I... didn't laugh."
His hands were held up in front of his face, his eyes shining for a split second.
And the followers stopped laughing.
"Um, did he just-"
"Holy-"
"Yes!"
"Definitely hypnosis."
"Agreed."
"Huh?" Mezato said, putting a hand on her face. "My smile..."
Dimple looked around nervously as Mob, eyes shadowed, glowed with a purple aura.
"He looks pissed."
Reigen smirked. This should be interesting, to say the least.
Dimple held his hands up like he was holding the strings to puppets. The crowd laughed again.
He turned to Mob, sweating, and said, "You just..."
No, he couldn't possibly have undone my hypnosis.
"I'm no psychic, but I'm pretty sure he just undid your hypnosis."
"The rumors were true!"
"Of course they were."
"Called it, by the way."
Mob stood alone, surrounded by waves of blue and purple.
But why can't I make him laugh?
Dimple opened his eyes. They glowed lilac. I have no choice. I have to go all out.
"Uh, is that a sign of insanity, or, like-?"
He extended a hand. "Everyone! Let us save the laughter trapped within him!"
And the sad thing is, that's accurate, Kei thought.
Mob raised his eyes as the crowd cheered.
"Dimple-sama!"
"How wonderful!"
Someone grabbed Mob's shoulders.
"Let us laugh!"
Someone yanked him backwards, seizing his arms.
They're getting too physical. Reigen's eyes darted to Mob, who was still watching with that carefully closed-off look.
"Did they hurt you, Nii-san?"
Mob blinked. "No, Ritsu, they just grabbed at my arms."
"Hey, wait. I..."
The followers now held both of his arms, keeping him in place.
"Smile and live a good life!"
"See?" Dimple said, advancing toward him. "You don't have any enemies here."
"Somehow, that's not the impression I'm getting."
"So what are you fighting?"
Dimple stared down at him, a terrifying, twisted grin on his face.
"Get a clue."
Mob's head shot up, eyes wide, letting out a choked gasp.
What? Reigen stared a the screen. How did... Why?
Why did that get such a reaction?
Ritsu was equally confused. I don't remember anything like that happening, but... He glanced at Mob, who was still blank-faced. Why is Nii-san so quiet? Like he's...
Nervous.
Why would he be nervous?
"Hey, Mob."
The boy stared at him.
"Why do you always look so bored?"
Mob, as a child, looked back. "Huh?"
"If you're bored, go home."
"But I'm not."
Oh. Reigen's eyes widened. He can't get a clue when it comes to social situations! He cursed himself on the inside for not realizing it sooner. Because he looks so unexpressive, they think he's bored.
He stole another glance at Mob.
One of the boys slid down the slide, grinning and shaking his butt. The other boys laughed.
"You're the only one who's not laughing."
"You don't need to laugh to find something funny."
Mob stepped forward, but a voice, recognizable as Tsubomi's said, "Mob-kun!"
"Oh. Tsubomi-chan."
She inclined her head slightly, turning toward him.
"Get a clue."
He stared at her, whiteness behind him, black flikes like ashes drifting by. He was silent.
"Uh... Tsubomi-chan?"
Tsubomi stared at the screen with wide eyes. She had no memory of saying that, had no memory of that scene at all.
"Mob-kun, I'm-"
Sorry, she wanted to say, but the word stuck in her throat.
The image froze. Present-time Mob, staring into nothing, arms held tightly.
Progress Toward Mob's Explosion: 74%
Something clicked in Ritsu's and Reigen's heads simultaneously.
"Oh," Reigen said, and Mob sank further into his seat.
Ritsu gently put an arm around his brother, who leaned slightly into him, eyes dark. Reigen stared at Mob with pity.
His blank, reveal-nothing face. His flash of guilt. The shame in his eyes now, raw and fresh.
He glanced up at Ritsu, who gave him a look- I've got this. Reigen nodded and turned back to the television.
"Oh, no," someone breathed.
A chill cut through everyone there- 74%.
No one said anything else.
"I will show you my true power." Dimple's hand began to glow. "Now, laugh!"
His glowing palm illuminated Mob's face.
"Here is comes!"
The followers burst into peals of laughter.
"Dimple-sama's divine power!"
When Dimple stopped, Mob's expression was unchanged.
"What?"
Someone managed a weak chuckle at this.
Dimple tried again with no result.
"Why?" He cried out, clutching his head. "Why aren't you laughing? Are you saying my power doesn't work on you?"
He started violently groping Mob's face.
"Laugh! Come on, you brat, laugh! Laugh!"
I see. He has psychic powers, too.
"Are you a corpse?"
Mob looked at him. "Your powers can't make me laugh. I don't hate it." He glanced down, some unreadible emotion flashing in his eyes. "I just couldn't, even if I wanted to."
Even if I wanted to. Reigen watched helplessly.
"Nii-san..." Ritsu breathed.
"Wait, what does that mean?" A kid shouted.
"Yeah, that doesn't make sense-"
"Shut up and watch!"
Dimple stared at him.
"I don't mean anything bad by it, though."
I see... He...
A wicked grin split Dimple's face.
"Hah!"
He leaned forward slightly, crazy eyes with the whites colored black.
"You must not have emotions, brat," he leered.
Ritsu's arm tightened around his brother.
"They mentioned you were having troubles with love." He leaned past Mob. "With a personality like that, you won't be able to laugh with the girl you like."
Mob looked up, eyes wide and hollow.
"The feelings of people resonate with one another, you know."
Progress Toward Mob's Explosion: 88%
"But you aren't able to do that."
"Stop," someone choked out.
Reigen felt an uncomfortable pulling on his thigh. He looked down, realizing one of his hands had been tightly gripping the fabric of his pants.
This time the image moved. Mob's hands were balled into fists. His clothing started to float.
"I give into whatever emotion that came up," Reigen remembered him saying. So which emotion is it? It looks like anger, but Mob? Angry?
"You can't cry together, or even be moved."
Mob, white on white, casting a long black shadow. The image froze.
"You'll be forever alone!"
Progress Toward Mob's Explosion: 92%
The atmosphere was thick with fear and tension. The teachers watched with pale faces. The students, too anxious to speak properly, leaned forward.
"I'll give you one last chance," Dimple said, turning to him. "Laugh."
"I-I think he's the one giving you the last chance-"
"Please, please, just shut up."
The people around him laughed.
Make me laugh with your psychic powers.
The followers stopped laughing.
Dimple started, a bead of sweat running down his face. "You... I see. So you have similar powers..."
He ran a hand through his hair. "I thought I'd picked a peaceful religious order that'd cause the least bloodshed, but you're in my way, brat. I'll have to get rid of the outsider that brings chaos to this environment."
"Thank goodness. You're not a person."
"Wait, what?"
"He was being possessed by an evil spirit," Mob said, speaking for the first time in a while. He stared at the screen with dull eyes, Ritsu's arm still slung around him.
"Thank goodness the one who said something as horrible as 'get a clue' was an evil spirit."
Dimple's mouth opened impossibly wide, blackness spilling out in a deep, smoky cloud.
The watchers stared in horror (minus the psychics and Reigen, who just watched like this was a completely normal thing).
"Th-that's..."
"Holy shit, my sleep paralysis demon!"
"I hope, for your sake, that's a joke.
"My followers!" It boomed. "Do not let him leave alive!"
A strong commanding signal...
Mob lurched forward, falling underneath the weight of a pile of people on top of him. His eyes were shadowed again.
Reigen frowned. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, Shishou."
"It's pretty difficult to hurt a psychic, especially Kageyama. When we met I threw him through an entire school and he got out without a scratch."
"Sorry, you what!?"
"We're talking about this later."
"Mob-kun." Tsubomi's voice again. The screen flashed white, returning to the past scene.
But this time, when she turned to him, her face was replaced by a (LOL) mask. When she spoke, a thousand mechanical voices spoke with her.
"Get a clue."
Tsubomi shuddered.
"That is insanely creepy."
Mob looked at her.
"There is an esper present here."
He turned and walked away.
"A grade schooler called 'Mob' by those around him."
He walked by the chain-link fence, and as he walked, he grew taller, clothes changing into a school uniform.
"Though he's been blessed with tremendous powers, he's subconciously always avoided trying to display those powers.
He stared at his hand, the chain links shadowed across his palm.
"As he grew, he gradually realized how dangerous his powers were."
"It's going to explain?"
Reigen watched carefully, eyes narrowed. They're more of a burden for him than a blessing.
The black borders closed in on either side as multiple different scenes from his childhood appeared, all vibrantly colored.
"When people are unable to act or do as they please, their emotions come to a halt."
The scenes faded to their base colors, Mob's image appearing above them all.
Their emotions come to a halt.
The smarter students caught on.
"Oh."
Reigen chewed his lip, staying quiet. However, he understood as well.
He's not able to be emotive because of his psychic powers, and because of that his emotions stopped, eventually only coming out in bursts.
He didn't know what to do with that information, so he tucked it away for further consideration.
"Mob hasn't realized his aversion to using his powers has become a complex."
Mob stared at the screen. A complex?
That makes sense, Reigen thought, mulling it over. He had to more or less shut himself down, and eventually it just became the norm, taking over the personality he had before.
The image reversed, black becoming white and vice versa. The scenes turned into emotions. They filled the form on he screen, shaking slightly.
"The emotions locked away deep inside Mob's heart expand little by little."
They trembled harder.
"However, there is a limit to how much his emotions can take before leaking out and going wild."
95
96
97
Eyes went wide, spines going ramrod straight as they watched, all of the air in the room seeming to disappear, waiting for it to happen.
The emotions swirled inside Mob's silhouette, unreadable, a volcano about to erupt.
"And now, an emotion is swirling like a torrent, trying to go past the limit!"
Mob squeezed his eyes shut.
The camera zoomed in closer, into the blackness and moving colors.
98
99
A loud ringing sound played.
100%
The whole room exhaled, some of the tension leaking away. Hands grabbed fistfuls of fabric or couch, some of them shaking.
Mob's shadowed eyes flashed white. The ground cracked and burst around him. He raised his head, opening his eyes, hair floating around his head.
"That was..."
"Rage."
The room erupted with noise. The loud audio of the show rose above the shouts and cries of the stunned people in the room.
Teru frowned at the screen. That... didn't look like what had happened when they had fought for the first time. Mob had been different than, practically a different order of being.
Reigen didn't let any emotions show on his face. He refused to let Mob think he was afraid of him, or hated him.
Surprisingly, he didn't feel afraid, nervous, shocked. This was still Mob, still the little boy that came to his office because he was lonely, the kid whose number was on his phone, the kid who he talked to on days where customers were few.
He was still Mob.
The body the spirit had possessed fell to the ground, a puppet with cut strings. The dark cloud spoke, flashing with lighting.
"To think you were such a powerful esper... no wonder the smile mask didn't work."
"Mask?" Mob's eyes were red. "So there was a trick to that, too? I didn't even notice because it was so weak."
Well, that was the most out-of-character thing he had ever heard come out of Mob's mouth. Reigen watched quietly, leaning on the arm of the couch.
"Oh, well. If the policy of your religion is to kill all outsiders, come at me with all you got. It should be easier than making me laugh."
"That's both badass and sad at the same time."
"'Come at me with all you got?'" The spirit cackled. The cloud spun, creating a large man-shaped green monster with two high spots of color on his cheeks.
Evil Spirit: High Level: Dimple
"Two seconds is plenty of time to make you disappear, brat!"
Black smoke bursted from him. Mob stood unfazed, glowing with a purple-blue aura.
"You're just livestock without emotions! Don't try to pretend you're actually angry!"
"No, buddy, I think he's actually angry," someone gasped out, most of the students still in shock.
He reached for him, but was deflected easily. Dimple zoomed across the room. "How about you cry next?" He shouted, descending on him, but Mob blew him back.
He laughed. "Oh, how flashy."
But he lurched forward, realizing he was missing a hand and a leg.
"Wha-?" he muttered, making a choking noise.
Dimple rose. "Well, I'll be damned." He reformed his limbs, missing hand turning into a weapon. "I never thought I'd have to fight with my full powers."
The students were watching this exchange with rising excitement.
"This is awesome, this is so awesome."
Mob, hidden behind a curtain of smoke, said nothing.
"You may be the real thing, brat, but this is where you die!"
He charged, smoke blowing away, revealing Mob's red eyes as he stretched out a hand, blowing all of Dimple's limbs off.
"Yes! Destroy him!"
Mob winced.
He crashed to the ground, thrashing, before Mob's foot slammed down onto his face.
"I'm terrified, but at the same time this is so freaking awesome."
Reigen watched this whole exchange casually. The students were right, this was extremely... cool
Although Mob was, understandably, not enjoying it.
He felt the stares on him. Most of the school was just eyeing him with astonishment and fear.
"Y-you-"
"They came out on your request."
He stood over Dimple, an entity of darkness and power. He looked completely different, face drawn with whole new detail, crimson eyes slightly widened.
"These are my emotions. This is what happens if I let them show."
Reigen inhaled sharply.
"Oh man oh god he looks so different? Like how can you change that much?"
"That is the coolest thing I've ever heard anyone say, ever."
Kei bounced in her seat again, watching with a grin on her face.
"Are you some kind of monster? But-"
Dimple shoved Mob off him. His head rocked, almost like a bobblehead.
"Wraither Beam!" He shouted, a lazer of green light hitting him dead-on.
"Yes. A direct hit!" He shot off, limbs returning, one arm turning into a blade.
"The amount of fights I've been in determines the victor and the loser here!"
Mob's eyes flashed through the smoke as the blade shot away, slamming into the center of the sign, splitting it in half.
"That's symbolism if I've ever seen it."
"Looks like he handled it for us," a teacher said, elbowing the other.
He reached out with two fingers.
"I'm..."
He raised his head, staring at Dimple with two deadened red eyes, anger gone. There was only regret and sadness as he touched the spirit's forehead.
"Terrible."
"Ah."
The spirit exploded.
No one spoke. Ritsu's arm tightened around his brother. The teachers watched, silent, some of their mouths pressed into pale lines.
A wave of guilt passed over Teru, who ducked his head, shame choking him.
Then Reigen said, "Well, that's bullshit."
Every eye in the room turned to him, some of them narrowed into glares.
"What?" He said, still calm, like this was completely normal. "I've known him for a few years and I am 100% certain that's not true," he continued, wincing internally at the poor word choice.
Shrugging casually, he said, "Come on. He's the best person I know."
Mob stared at him. "Why do you look so surprised?" He said, directing it at him this time. "You listen to what I tell you, you come even when it's burdensome for you, and this-" he gestured at the screen- "Does not count as using your powers to attack people, because he baited you and trapped you."
"He's right, Nii-san," Ritsu said, and the prospect of Ritsu agreeing with Reigen was such a foreign concept to them that both of them stared at him.
"You made me a better person, Kageyama," Teru said from his spot on the floor. "You snapped me out of my old mindset like it was nothing."
Then a student spoke. "Yeah, you're not a bad person!"
"He was taunting you, I would have snapped, as well. Just, the way you do it is different."
A chorus of "You're not a bad person!" Suddenly sounded, all of the students agreeing with each other.
Mob looked almost as if he was going to cry. "Thank you," he whispered, ducking his head, blushing.
Spirits and Such Consultation Office
"You want to be able to get a clue? Social skills like that are beyond you."
"Dude. Seriously?"
Ritsu's eyes razored into him as Reigen said, "I had to be honest."
"Yeah, but maybe not BRUTALLY HONEST!"
"Brutal honesty is the only type of honestly I can deliver."
"Cause you're a conman?"
"Do we have to keep bringing back the conversation to that?"
Mob stared at him.
"The only ones capable of them have common sense and experience. Although, your existence itself makes no sense."
He let out a tiny sigh and Reigen leaned forward. "Hey, why are you bummed out about this now?"
"Because I'm such a downer, I ruined a bunch of people's fun."
"That's... not what happened."
"Kageyama, they tried to hypnotize you and turn you into a braindead cult member. And you exorcised an evil spirit and saved a ton of people."
"That's not ruining fun."
Reigen looked at him for a moment. "Huh? Why do you want to be like them?"
He leaned back. "You're the protagonist of your own life."
"That's right, we're all anime protagonists. Cool."
"That is the best piece of advice I've ever heard."
Something clicked in Reigen's mind. You're the protagonist of your own life...
Your life is your own!
The intro is referencing future scenes. There was a scene with Dimple and his followers-!
Mob glanced down. "That whole group is gone now because of me."
"I don't know. That seems more like a public service, but what do I know?"
His hands tightened on his bag. "All they were doing was laughing."
"Again, not what happened."
"Well, your inability to get a clue is pretty destructive."
Mob was shown behind a shattered background, the words "Get a clue" displayed.
"Oh my god. You're not making it better."
Reigen winced. Sorry.
"What happened? You can tell me about it."
Back at (LOL), people were waking up.
"Huh? What were we...?"
"Dimple-sama has passed out."
He looked normal and human.
"Did he always look like that?"
The students calmed slightly, looking at the wreckage.
Mezato stared at the broken sign. "Wasn't he trying to make a boy laugh, but he wouldn't?"
Couldn't, Reigen thought.
The split sign was shown.
"Who was that boy?"
"Let's look for him."
"He might be the true messenger of god."
Ritsu's brow creased, remembering his conversation with Mezato.
Reigen sipped his drink. "I see... so typical mind control. That wasn't salvation. He was just having them depend on him. It's a popular con based on crowd psychology, but considering you're hyper-dense, it didn't work on you."
Mob looked at him.
"Which means, Mob, today you happened to save some people only you could have saved." Reigen smiled at him.
Progress Toward Mob's Explosion: 0%
Mob practically glowed.
"Aww..." someone breathed.
Reigen smiled in real life, too, glad he could make things better.
"He's so pure."
"I am now completely emotionally invested in this story."
Ritsu sighed, wishing he could have done anything.
"You can talk to me, Nii-san," he said quietly.
"I know," Mob said, voice soft, smiling at him. "Thank you, Ritsu."
"So," Reigen said to Teru. "You said you threw Mob through a school?"