Chapter Text
Just as Seasoning City had rebuilt itself into a stronger, sturdier version of itself, Shigeo’s life seemed to realign into somewhat of a comfortable routine. Inspired by his former clubmates and encouraged by none other than Musashi himself, he helped start his own body improvement club at his new high school, studied with Hanazawa long into many school evenings, and on quiet nights like these, continued his tradition of keeping up with Tsubomi Takane on the phone.
“Hanazawa and I planned to go shopping again this weekend in celebration of my newest record for my math exam.”
“Wow! A new high score! That’s amazing, Mob.”
He shifted in his position seated on his bedroom floor. Well, it wasn’t high, but it still was a major improvement. He decided to opt out of revealing the concerning nature of his average grades and chose to keep things positive.
“Thank you. Even Master Reigen was impressed.”
So impressed, in fact, that he clapped Shigeo on the shoulder with a weak laugh and “congratulations…!”. Shigeo noted a matching textbook on his desk the next time he came to visit. “It’s never too late to learn new things, Mob,” he said after catching him staring at the book. “Of course, I already know all there is to know about those sorts of things, c’mon, what is that, algebra? Anyway, I just thought it’d be nice to be more supportive of Serizawa over there.”
But Master was always a little odd, showing his support in his own way like getting a math book to brush up on skills and giving him “a tip” to splurge a little on his outing.
“I’m excited. Hanazawa is very fashionable.” Shigeo glanced over at his closet slowly filling with a handful of apparel Hanazawa insisted suited him very well.
“You sure do think of Hanazawa highly, don’t you?” Tsubomi said, a smile hinting through her tone. “It sounds like you guys have been hanging out a lot lately.”
Shigeo’s eyes brightened. “Of course, and…I guess I’ve never realized, but yes. It’s been nice. He’s my closest friend.” After everything, he doesn’t add, his glow only dimming slightly.
It was a little surprising how easy it was for Shigeo to admit his closeness to Hanazawa, another thing he hadn’t really thought about, but once the words rolled out of his mouth, he couldn’t help but find how nice they landed. It was the truth.
“Wait, but wasn’t he the one who— with the broccoli and the…shirt?”
Shigeo had gotten a bit better at reading tone over the years, but it didn’t seem like Tsubomi was smiling anymore.
“H-he meant well! Well, Dimple didn’t think so, but…” He recalled how Hanazawa had apologized profusely to him before aggressively defending his decision to the green spirit in choosing an article ‘the world just wasn’t ready to see yet’. He let out a small snort. “I trust him. I think I just wasn’t about to pull it off yet. Mast Reigen says confidence can change the whole reception of an outfit.”
“Hmm…your master doesn’t seem too far off on that one.”
He doesn’t add how Dimple retorted that Reigen only said that ‘cause he wears the same one to work everyday.
Fashion seemed like a lot of work to keep up with.
“Ah- but I-I’ve been talking this whole time.” Tsubomi laughs in seeming acknowledgement, and Shigeo burns pink. Despite growing comfortable calling the popular girl, he could never seem to become immune to her teasing, no matter how slight it be. “Wh-what have you been up to?”
Tsubomi hums light and breezy. “Oh nothing much, but I did see a cute girl at the vintage comic book store, though…”
He moved to his futon, hugging a soft and plush stuffed frog Hanazawa had won and gifted to him after a day at the arcade together, and listened to Tsubomi talk about a spirited short-haired girl haggling the store manager in a manner he felt would impress even Master Reigen with her quick wit.
He hugged the frog closer. He was grateful for his confession those few years ago. Despite the rejection, he’d gotten to become friends again with the girl from his childhood.
⋆—-⋆✶⋆—⋆
The routine is nice. Though Shigeo doesn’t mind doing things outside of the norm if it means he can spend more time with the people he cares about, he enjoys the consistency school so easily brings for him, a structure that helps re-regulate his mind.
Eating lunch with any of his classmates that manage to pull him around first.
“Hey Mob, you gotta check out this new game Mameta found!”
Jogging the group mile with the rest of the new body improvement club.
“Fight on! Fight on! Fight on!”
Even struggling in his classes.
“Falling asleep again, Kageyama?”
It’s predictable but in the comforting sort. Even the new changes found their way into his daily or weekly patterns, one of those changes-turned-new-normal was meeting with Hanazawa halfway between their schools after clubs to walk home together.
Another new normal was associating Hanazawa’s home with Master’s. Hanazawa had confessed it had been a big adjustment when Reigen first offered him a home under his roof, or his apartment, but Shigeo was equal parts grateful to his Master for taking Hanazawa in and relieved Hanazawa’s pride hadn’t pushed the offer aside. Though Claw was a thing of the past now, it never sat right with him that Hanazawa’s parents had so easily left him to live alone when he needed them most.
Imagining a young Teru, not much older than he had been when he met Reigen, all alone in a big apartment with adult espers targeting him…
Shigeo clenched his fists.
“Woah, Kageyama, are you alright?”
“H-huh?”
Shigeo blinked out of his thoughts, zoning back in to find him nearly running into Hanazawa. He held his school bag over his shoulder like the perfect school idol you’d find in a shoujo manga, his hair shining golden in the sun, eyes sparkling bright. He cracked a grin.
Hinging on his hips, “What’s on your mind? You looked like you were thinking pretty hard about things.”
“Oh, Hanazawa, sorry.” Hanazawa’s grin faltered. “I was just thinking about you, that's all.”
“What, me?” He pointed up at himself.
Shigeo smiled up at him. “I’m happy you’re doing well, Hanazawa.”
“Hm, that’s kinda outta nowhere.” Hanazawa chuckled awkwardly, ducking his head as a hand came to rub the back of his neck.
“Oh, was that odd to say?”
“No, no, no, not at all!” Hanazawa waved his hands around in a manner reminiscent of a certain copper-haired man. “Well, we should probably start getting you home now, shouldn’t we? Wouldn’t want to have little brother get onto me for keeping you out so late,” Hanazawa said with a wink. Shigeo could have sworn that a sparkle appeared beside his eye.
“Right, let’s—”
A video game theme interrupted them. It was from one of Tome’s favorites that she’d set as his ringtone as a “subconscious reminder to check it out, Mob!”
The two espers locked eyes for a moment before Hanazawa tilted his head and asked, amusement coloring his voice, “Don’t you wanna take that?”
“Oh, right.”
Shigeo pulled out his phone, his master’s caller ID shining bright. Hanazawa hummed, hovering over his shoulder. “Reigen? Looks like he might need some help on a job,” he mused.
“Hello Master. Huh? Oh, purple-haired…? No I don’t— Oh. Right… I see now…Oh. Okay, I’m on my way,” he said but made no move in the office’s direction.
“What was that all about?”
Shigeo stared at his blank screen, wincing when Hanazawa spoke up, realizing he’d zoned out again.
“Asagiri’s at the office.” He swallowed his nerves, peering at the other boy through his peripherals.
“She’s looking for me.”
⋆—-⋆✶⋆—⋆
The same girl who bullied Kageyama for months in some sort of mind prison was waiting for him. Teruki couldn’t say he was particularly thrilled about the occasion. Kageyama hadn’t told him much about his encounters with previous spirits, but from what the passive boy has shared was that Minori had been a bully in her real life too. Any and all actions she did in that world were things she was capable of doing in the real one. Despite Kageyama saying he ultimately trusted her word of becoming a better person, his brows furrowed without permission.
Slight flares in his aura that tickled the air. Damnit Teru, get your priorities straight! He shouldn’t let his unease get in the way of comforting Kageyama whose own nerves were ebbing off him in waves.
He gently nudged his aura with his own, an emphasis on gentle as that was about as far he could get against the formidable force of Kageyama Shigeo. Teru sent a smile his way when the other boy glanced over, celebrating internally when Kageyama’s shoulders relaxed from their tense hike up to his ears.
He took a surreptitious deep breath.
They were almost there at the office.
After Kageyama insisted mid-way that Teruki hadn’t needed to come if he had other plans to which Teru argued his only plans were hanging out with him, the rest of their walk had been silent, each purposeful step accompanied only by the ambiance of the moderately bustling streets and quiet noise between each floor of the building Spirits and Such was located in.
He hadn’t known what he expected, but it was a bit anticlimactic once they entered the door.
That was, until Asagiri spotted them. Or, Kageyama, rather.
“Mob!”
She gasped, jumping up from her seat at the couch, eyes latched onto the bowlcut bowl just slightly behind Teruki. She would have spilled her tea had Serizawa not enveloped the steaming liquid that jostled out of the cup in a reddish pink hue.
“Kageyama, Hanazawa,” Serizawa greeted. “Reigen and Tome had to step out for a small job just around the corner, but they should be back any second now.”
“Right, thank you Serizawa.”
“Hi, um.” She tucked a lilac strand behind her ear, sucking in a breath before daring to look Kageyama in the eyes. “It’s been a while. Thanks again for…saving me.”
With hair a striking light purple and eyes that couldn’t decide whether to be blue or green, she set herself apart from looking average, but Teruki knew better. At the end of the day, everyone was all the same. Teruki and the girl who now bowed in front of Kageyama while he awkwardly fretted over the gesture were both two commoners changed by the same boy. Or…that’s what he assumed was what Asagiri wanted them to think.
“It’s really no problem. I’m glad to see you’re doing better.”
“Yes! I am! Being a better person! Since you saved me and all,” she added the last part in barely a mutter. “I really do mean it. Thank you for that much needed wake up call, I guess.” She smiled wryly.
Kageyama smiled his awkward little adorable smile back, eyes darting around, landing on Teruki’s just in time for—
“We’re back!”
Tome swung the door open with a flourish. She seemed especially chipper, waving a crisp comic book in hand.
“Oh hey, Mob, I see you had time to reacquaint yourself with Miss Asagiri,” Reigen said, closing the door Tome burst through.
The erratic girl’s eyes glinted upon landing on Kageyama whose own widened in response. Teruki knew even he knew what that look could only mean.
Trouble.
“Mob!”
Too fast for anyone to register properly, she sleuthed around to sit next to Kageyama on the couch, leaning in close to poorly whisper, “How come you never told us you had a girlfriend?”
Dimple egged it on, “Yeah, come Shigeo, how did you manage to keep such a big secret?”
“H-huh?” Kageyama said at the same time Asagiri exclaimed, “What?!”
Teruki glanced her way, mildly annoyed. She’d be lucky if Kageyama even thought of her in that way, wait, what, is Kageyama blushing?
“N-no, she’s not my g–” Man, he can’t even say it, Teruki thought, hopelessly endeared. “Asagiri’s just an old client of ours. She used to bully me in a mental alternate universe an evil spirit trapped us in.”
Tome blinked a few times to process the troubling new information. “Well…that was unexpected.”
Asagiri at least had the decency to look ashamed of herself. She rubbed her hand across her arm in a self-soothing fashion, and Teruki suddenly felt ashamed himself. Staring at her sitting alone across from them, she suddenly looked much smaller than she had before.
Hadn’t he made a promise to become a better person as well? And here he was judging her every move.
He shifted his gaze down before a sudden wave of distrust washed over him once more. Unless she’s just that great of an actor! Sure he’d feel mildly guilty if he later learns his judgment had been in bad taste, but he preferred to be safe than sorry. He wasn’t going to say anything yet, but until he could, he’d been keeping an eye on her.
As if sensing the shift in mood, Reigen clapped his hands together. “Well! Now that we’re all here, what was it you needed my ex-protege for, Asagiri? You said there was another evil spirit targeting you?”
It wasn’t that he didn’t think could change, but look at him! It took him months to get where he is today, and he still has loads of progress to make. For Asagiri to saunter around like she mastered being a good person was textbook manipulation, especially considering how natural forgiving Kageyama was.
“Yes,” Asagiri said. “I-I was gathering my things for school one day, and, well, there were these love letters…”
“Spiritual love letters, I am familiar,” Reigen said, nodding along in his infinite wisdom.
“No, they were regular letters…” she insisted, glancing up at the man with an arch brow but otherwise continued, “but when I went to grab them, they just suddenly crumpled, and my bag swung around in the air like someone standing right beside me was wearing it. It’s been happening for a few days now, but even worse, some of the letters ended up plastered around the school.”
“That’s particularly cruel,” Tome muttered, hand on her chin as if imagining the scenario. “Can’t imagine how much courage it must’ve taken to confess. If it were someone like Shigeo, I wouldn’t even be able to imagine how they’d handle it.” Teruki and Kageyama winced.
Asagiri glanced between the group, hesitantly continuing her story. “Exactly, the boys weren’t exactly thrilled with what happened to their letters, and how can you explain the supernatural? Even though it does exist—everyone saw the news not even three years ago…” She sighed.
“What I’m trying to say is that even when it happens right in front of you, to us, commoners, I guess, we’ll find some way to explain that with what we understand. I–well, Shi–as Kageyama already stated, I wasn’t the best person before, but I really have been trying,” she said, almost pleading. “I wouldn’t do that to those people who wrote me the letters. I–please, you have to believe me.”
She was speaking aloud to everyone in the room, but her eyes were locked on Kageyama’s.
Teruki crossed his arms and sat further back into the couch.
Surprisingly, the boy hadn’t turned rigid under her intense pleading stare. Instead, he nodded. “I believe you.”
Like a weight lifted off her shoulders, she heaved a sigh of relief.
“Sounds like a pesky poltergeist,” Reigen said, pursing his lips. He shared a look with Serizawa who shrugged with a slight frown.
“Maybe it’s some cosmic karma that I’m being targeted, again.” She hazarded a glance towards Kageyama who no doubt offered his unwavering gaze as she spoke her next words with a little more confidence. “But. This time things are different. If you would help me, Kageyama.”
⋆—-⋆✶⋆—⋆
It went without saying that as soon as Asagiri was out the door and the adults went to the backroom to discuss, the entire situation went up for debate between the kids.
“You guys can’t seriously think she’s telling the truth, can you? I mean come on, Kageyama, you said it yourself, she’s a bully.” Teruki had started off attempting to sound diplomatic and reasonable, but as the argument prolonged, he became more insistent in his claims.
“Right, I don’t know how you just dropped the news like it was the morning paper, Mob,” Tome deadpanned.
“Was, and she didn’t really bully me, she was under Mogami’s control,” Mob retorted in a meek voice.
“But she was a bully in real life, too!”
While it seemed things had worked out so far, Shigeo was quite forgiving and rather selfless, so Tome wondered if this would be the point it came to a fault. Still, it wasn’t like he was in any immediate danger, and Teruki was being a bit too loud.
“But she didn’t, so maybe she really has turned a new leaf,” Tome reasoned in her best Reigen-trying-to-show-you-a-new-perspective imitation.
“Whose side are you on!”
Tome’s placating expression fell flat. Teruki can be a real twerp when he wants to, she thought, eye twitching.
“And anyway,” Teruki added, “why ask for Kageyama specifically. She doesn’t know about Reigen, and Serizawa is perfectly equipped to handle some random ghost. They can do the job themselves if she really wants them to!”
It seemed that was Reigen and Serizawa’s cue to step in, Reigen leading in the stride with Serizawa offering his trademark wobbly smile, though with less darting non-eye-contact than when he first started. He’d really grown into his position as co-owner of Spirits and Such, Tome noted with an odd pride.
“Alright everyone, settle down.”
“But, Reigen—!”
He gestured in a flurry of hand movements before landing on his ex-student. “We can discuss things later, but right now, you’re stressing out, Mob,” he pointed out.
Teruki slumped in his chair, crossing his arms tighter across himself but otherwise didn’t say anything else.
“Right, well, while you three were arguing, Serizawa and I already decided. Telling the truth or not—”
“But she is—” this time Mob, surprisingly, (tried to) cut in.
“---there’s only one surefire way to find out: finding the spirit in question ourselves.” He grinned confidently.
“Are you sure you’re not just saying this ‘cause she comes from big money?” Tome asked in faux innocence. Teruki barked a slightly sardonic laugh next to her, but she smiled anyway, glad the boy wasn’t going to continue stewing in his own thoughts by himself.
“Hey!” Reigen gawked incoherently before Serizawa cut in, cupping the slightly shorter man’s elbows.
“While some money is nice to pay everyone here, including you Tome, our priority at Spirits and Such is and will always be our guests.”
Reigen stared at the man in awe, and were those tears of pride?
“Well put, Serizawa! Now, I’d love for you all to stay, but we have a client coming in, so everyone except for my regular employees, scram.” He put a hand to his chin in thought.
“If you need to come back, just give us like thirty minutes.”