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"Are you sure you sure you want to go in here?" Mob asked Reigen, who was currently dragging the adult into the antiques store. "Of course! There's got to be some ghosts in here. Trust me, Mob, they always Hang around old stuff." Mob sighed in resignation. "Just don't touch anything, please."
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The two were approached by a lady, who Mob assumed owned the business. "Welcome customers!~ I couldn't help but overhear that you were looking for ghosts." Reigen eagerly nodded. "I'm happy to say we have just the thing for you!" She said cheerfully.
Mob figured this place must not get many customers.
The lady lead the two to a yellow vase sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room. "This right here is said to have its creater's soul bound to it and those who own it gain a great fortune."
Mob didn't miss Reigen's beaming expression. "Really?"
The lady nodded. "And it can be yours for the small price of two million yen!"
Mob instantly decided it wasn't worth it, no matter how much his small friend desired it. Some sort of realization crossed across Reigen's face and his expression became much more stern. "Mob, is there really a ghost in this vase?"
Mob shook his head. "I'm not sensing anything in there, or this store in general." He didn't fail to miss the grimace that swept across the owner's expression.
Mob felt his mouth become dry; he messed up the atmosphere again and upseted an innocent person, again. Right when he thought he was getting better at that sort of thing. Maybe he should learn to just keep his mouth shut.
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"...Besides," Mob began in an attempt to correct his mistake, "I wouldn't be able to spend so much money on a breakable household item."
"It's alright," Reigen assured his older companion, "I wasn't really interested in this place anyways. Let's just leave."
Mob was slightly surprised at the child's sudden lost of enthusiasm, but Reigen was better at reading the atmosphere than him. He might've realized something Mob didn't. Either way, Mob was happy to leave.
"Wait!" The lady cried. "I'll give you a special discount for the vase: only a million yen!" Mob felt the beginnings of perspiration due to the proximity and persistence of the lady.
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When Mob didn't immediately respond, she kept talking. "If you buy now, it'll only be five hundred thousand yen!"
"Just ignore her." Reigen said, waving Mob over. He attempted to walk to the exit again, but his wrist was grabbed by the owner.
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"Let go." Mob said, slight annoyance evident in his voice. "I honestly don't want that vase, no matter how cheap it is."
"Hold on," the lady said, placing his hand on the vase. "I think you'll change your mind after you fell this weird, the grainy texture here." Suddenly the vase fell off the pedestal.
In a spike of panic, Mob managed to catch the vase with his powers right before it his the floor.
"Damn it, that was a close one." He muttered under his breath.
"Sorry for knocking this over." He apologized to the owner, who must've been been startled by his mistake.
"It's okay." She assured, grinning.
Relief flooded over Mob. He carefully placed the vase back onto the pedestal, but somehow his hand slipped. The entire side of the vase cracked when it hit the pedestal. "Fuck."
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"Hey," the lady said, suddenly grim. "You're going to pay the four million yen for that, right?"
Mob began to sweat profusely.
A second person, who Mob hadn't noticed before, walked up to him. "If you don't pay, we're going to have some problems." He threatened.
Mob decided that it would be best to just pay them. He reached into his pocket.
"Mob!" Reigen called, running up, "that lady made you break the base on purpose!"
The first thought that came into Mob's mind was to scold Reigen for accusing the owner for breaking her own vase. After all, why would she want to break her own vase? The second one was interrupted.
The man knelt in front of Reigen. "Hey, kid, the adults are talking, it's not polite to interrupt them." He placed his hand on Reigen's shoulder to move him away from the conversation. However, the child recoiled in pain.
"You broke my shoulder!" Reigen cried. Then on the same side with his 'broken' shoulder, held his hand out expectantly. "It'll be a million yen for the hospital bills."
Mob stared in surprise at his under-aged coworker while the man sputtered. "That's not how much hospital bills cost you brat!"
Reigen winced. "Emotional abuse of a middle schooler will be another million."
"Bullshit," the man growled, "stop before I get angry."
Reigen wasn't fazed, to Mob's surprise. "You yelled at me and threatened me, that's another two million. Oh, that's equal to the cost of the vase! I guess we're even now."
"I don't believe this." The man muttered, grabbing Reigen's wrist and pulling him away from Mob, towards the exit.
"Let me go!" He protested, struggling to peel off the adult's fingers off.
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"Hey," Mob said, suddenly in front of the man. He freed Reigen with his power, who glared at his captor. "It's not okay to hold somebody against their will, especially a child. You should be ashamed of yourselves."
"I no longer owe you anything for the vase. Reigen, lets go." He stated.
Reigen and Mob were almost out the door when the woman spoke again. "It's said that those who break the vase are cursed with misfortune and hardship."
Mob shrugged. "I think I can live with that." I can't be worse off than I already am.
The two adults in the back were silent.
Finally, Reigen and Mob escaped the damned antique store. They walked in silence for a while, mulling over their experience.
"Those people were the worst." Mob muttered. "Reigen, promise you'll never take advantage of another person."
"I promise, those scam artists back there were annoying. I don't ever want to be like them." Reigen said.
"And good job back there, you really helped me back there; you handled them pretty well."
Reigen beamed. "Can we go out for ramen then?"
Mob's lips turned up a centimeter in a smile. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea."
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