Chapter 4: Cutting Algae Part One

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Texting was a pretty neat function. It was widely adopted by every teenager except the one he, Reigen, had so generously gifted a phone to do it with. Mob was diligent to a fault about picking up his calls, but texting? Still a work in progress. Mob was getting better, though. After all, how else was Reigen supposed to give him a heads up about big jobs before the end of the school day? Excepting the occasional friendly lunch break chat.

That was of course assuming the phone was still intact. After their chat last night, Reigen wasn't so sure. It wasn't like Mob made a habit of texting him first.

Reigen squinted at the clock on his second-hand laptop he'd just replaced the shattered one with. 12:05PM. He had found a decent deal on one in a flea market but there was something off about the graphics. Parts of the screen were always slightly out of frame and most of his day had been spent trying to uselessly dink with the display options until it was righted, but instead he just ended up with a resolution that was too small.

'Ugh. New laptop, and if we're really unlucky, a new phone? I'll just garnish it...' Reigen pulled out his phone and fired off a text to his pupil. You didn't get washed away, did you? Your phone's still working, right?

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[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Was it? Reigen, again, considered this. His defenses felt utterly sanded away somehow to be replaced with something he couldn't name.

"No, it's not. You're saying this because you're thoughtful. There's nothing bad about that."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"No one's called me that before." It felt good to be called thoughtful. "Mom's always saying I make trouble for her."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

That felt a little too familiar. Reigen was sitting side-by-side with his pupil watching the rain and he hoped Mob didn't feel the way he twitched.

"Families are their own beast, but...you're no trouble to me."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Thanks, Master." Mob smiled slightly. "I don't ever want to be a bother to anybody, but I especially don't want to be a bother to you."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

A strong emotion suddenly cut through the haze.

Was Reigen…embarrassed?

Things suddenly fell into focus, and not in a good way. He risked glancing to his side—ah, goddamnit, Mob looked so happy…

‘When was the last time Mob smiled like that at me?’

“C’mon…you remember what I said to you not too long ago, right? You’re doing just fine.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Yeah, I know." Mob looked down at his own muddled reflection in the water. "But I want to do more than just fine. I really want to improve myself."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“For Tsubomi-chan?”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Well.. I want Tsubomi to notice me, but... I'm also doing it for myself."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen’s lip twitched. Another feeling was grounding him into place. It wasn’t embarrassment, but something brighter and bittersweet.

Reigen exhaled a massive sigh and tilted his head all the way back to rest against the warm rock. “Take it in, Mob. Really savor your time in the water. It’ll do your growing muscles good.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"You think they're growing?" Mob gave his bicep an experimental squeeze.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Let me see.” Reigen took Mob’s heat-flushed arm and inspected the small traces of definition he found. Hey, that masseuse training had to pay off in a few ways, right? “It’s definitely a bit firmer.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"You think so?" Mob looked pleased (or as pleased as Mob ever looked, which was not as pleased as your average person), even though he didn't sound it. "Your biceps look good, too."

Mob hadn't noticed it before because Reigen was almost always in a suit. "I'm sure you could become just as swole as the Body Improvement Club, if you wanted to." Swole. He'd learned that word from Onigawara, but hadn't had the opportunity to use it himself until now.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Swole?

Swole?

Reigen coughed and turned it into a laugh that would hardly sound self assured to anyone who wasn’t Mob. He took his hands back to run them over in his arms in a way that wasn’t self-conscious at all, in any way, whatsoever. “Yessss, well, a healthy spirit resides in a healthy body! My workout regimen is, of course, augmented by intense spiritual practice. It’s, ah, a little too intense for you right now but you’ll get there.”

‘SWOLE!?’

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob was completely oblivious, but intrigued by this until-now unknown workout regimen.

"So you'll show me in the future."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Naturally." Reigen reached up to ruffle the towel on top of Mob's mop of black hair. "I could never deny my precious student such a thing."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Reigen was behaving so naturally that Mob could only ponder whether or not he imagined everything from earlier. But... he was sure he hadn't.

And that reminded him of his conversation with Teru earlier.

"Earlier, you were acting a little strangely," Mob started, pressing a hand against the towel on his head to keep it steady; it'd become slightly dislodged after Reigen's tousling. "You haven't been cursed or possessed by a spirit, have you?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Possessed?” Reigen repeated with an amused lilt. “No, of course not.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Are you sure?" Mob thought it was worth confirming.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Do you really think I’d let myself get possessed so easily?”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I don't think you'd let yourself get possessed," Mob clarified. "It may have happened without you noticing."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“It wouldn’t happen.” Reigen yawned and sunk deeper into the blissful water. “If you’re really that worried, ask me a question only I would know or something.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob considered this.

"Do you remember what you said to me the first time we met?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Of course I do. It’s advice I give you all the time—simply be a good person.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"The other thing." Mob was giving nothing.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

‘Ugh, that was kind of the highlight…’

“‘…Move, you’ll burn yourself?’”