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Shigeo has been quieter than usual.
No one has particularly noticed or caught on to this fact yet, but it's been getting worse.
“Hey Nii-san,” Mob opens his eyes to Ritsu, nudging him awake, already in his uniform. “You have to get up, you're gonna be late.” Ritsu says playfully. Mob groggily rubs his eyes and turns away. Ritsu sighs–”If you want I can tell mom you’re not feeling well..”
“o-okay…” Mob mumbles.
“No problem, just –uh– please tell me if you need anything, Nii-san.” Ritsu trips over his words before waving and turning to walk out the door, leaving Mob alone with his thoughts.
‘Do I even feel sick?’ Mob thinks to himself ‘If I think about it my head does hurt a lot. It's not like I want to go to school though– I actually feel a bit bad about missing it, it means I won't get to see any of my friends.’ Mob wraps himself tighter within the blankets. ‘But will any of them even wonder where I was…? Will any of them care?’ By now Mob's head was swarming, he buried his head into his pillow and let the pounding of rain lull him to sleep.
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Mob wakes up hearing his mothers voice, “Hey Shige, sweetie, Ritsu said you were feeling sick? He already left for school.” Mob’s mother said, her face painted with worry. “I brought you some soup and crackers– just try to rest a lot while I'm at work– okay hon?” She doesn't get an answer but that's pretty typical for when Mob is sick. Mob’s mother turns around to leave the room as mob sits up, before looking over her shoulder “make sure to lock the door when I leave.” She smiles warmly and continues to exit the room
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Alone once again the weight of Mob's thoughts immediately buzz back to life. He pulls his knees up to his chest and decides to just sit like this for a little while.
“Heya Shigeo—wow Ritsu really wasn't lying you look rough” Dimple’s presence makes itself known, as his wispy form floats in front of Mob.
“..hello dimple” Mob mutters, there's a slight positive shift in his demeanor.
“I came to check on you because Ritsu asked me to. He said you were gonna be home alone and he was all worried—really touching stuff I'll tell ya.” Arms materialize at Dimple's sides so he can shrug them, before vanishing again, “He had a point. Shigeo, you look really pale, worse than normal!” Dimples slightly chuckles at the last remark. Mob didn’t really know what to say.
“Oh sorry–”
“Now don’t you worry I’ll keep you company!” Dimple announced triumphantly, “Anyways, Shigeo, you should probably eat that soup before it gets cold.”
“You're right… Thank you Dimple.” Mob said, a weak smile crept onto his face.
“Don't worry about it, kid.” Dimple continued blabbering on about some job Reigen made him help with, Mob couldn’t exactly say he was listening–but he appreciated it nonetheless. Mob weakly picked up the bowl of soup sitting beside his futon, the sides of the ceramic were still slightly hot. He held it in his lap and tightened his grip on his spoon. As he brought the metal up to his face its shiny surface contorted, bending in a bunch of directions. Dimples rambling paused.
“Oi Shigeo–”
“Huh? Oh! Sorry–I zoned out for a second!” It took Mob a while to even notice the practically useless chunk of bent metal he was holding in his hands, ‘He must be really out of it, huh?’ Dimple thought to himself.
“Maybe just set the soup aside for a while… You don’t look like you're feeling well enough to eat anyway.” Dimple just hovered around while Mob set his bowl–and spoon–beside his futon. Mob relaxed as he sank into his pillow; ‘Why does everyone keep saying I look sick? It’s alright I guess…I was sort of dreading school anyways.’ Mob thought to himself, a familiar sense of fear washing over him–one from a time he’d rather forget. ‘Why do I feel like this? I haven’t felt like this since that time with Mogami–I have no reason to anymore.’ Mob’s panicked thoughts continued.
“–geo! Shigeo, are you listening to me?” Dimple’s shouting proved effective when the objects spinning around in the air came to a stop and hit the ground. “Jesus Shigeo, you scared me. You were just kinda laying there, breathing heavily, while all those books were spinning…I couldn’t get you to respond to me at all!”
“Eh? I-I’m sorry Dimple, I just have a lot on my mind.” Mob sat up looking almost normal, except the small crease of his brow and slight downturned lips, there were slight bags under his eyes too.
“Say, If you wanna talk to someone I’m right here! Or maybe call Reigen?” Dimple was floating around in different directions while talking. “Shigeo, what you just did right now doesn’t typically happen to you! I just wanna make sure you’re doing alright, okay?”
“Okay. I’m kinda tired, I-I think I’m going to sleep a bit m-more.”
“Alright Shigeo, I think that's probably a good idea.” Dimple hovered over to the side of the futon and kept a watchful eye on Mob "You look like you definitely need more rest". Mob’s thoughts came to a halt and he drifted to sleep.