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]

As if summoned by the sudden outpouring of dismay, the sliding door flew open with a snap. There was Mob's master, donned in a the inn's yutaka just like him.

"Mob! Misaki-san!" Reigen tipped at the waist in a deep bow. "Forgive me! I completely lost track of time."

"Reigen-sama!" Not to be outdone, Misaki bowed even more deeply. "We've come to tell you that the baths are ready. Dinner will be ready in thirty-five minutes."

"Thank you very much!" Reigen somehow managed to bow even more deeply than before until his head was somehow level with the girl's.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Reigen was a big stickler for timeliness. Mob was pretty sure he could count the number of times Reigen had been late in the years he had known them on one hand. Mob, on the other hand...

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Scraping his composure off the walls from his sudden explosion of guilt, Reigen righted himself and smiled at Mob. "Shall we go?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." Mob had never been to a hot spring before. He was especially happy to be sharing the experience with Reigen.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Misaki sent them off with a friendly wave. Her gaze lingered on their backs until they turned to the doors leading outside.

Reigen took a deep breath as if he hadn't smelled fresh air in quite some time. He shivered and sneezed a little suddenly--it rather chilly so late and so close to the ocean, but the scent of rain mixed with the steam of the hot spring soothed his sinuses immediately. Reigen's hair was already damp from hurriedly rinsing himself down before greeting Mob and Misaki, and he ran one hand through it to slick it back. They were sheltered from the rain by the cover overlooking the thermal baths but they had a clear view of the surrounding ecology with the ocean in the far distance.

"It's been a long time since I've been to one of these." To their left was a rack for hanging their clothes--quite convenient. He adjusted the towel in his arm and began loosening his sash. "This is your first time, right, Mob?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Yeah." Mob followed suit. "I always thought this was the kind of thing only adults got to do."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

When was the last time he had been to one? When he tried to reach for the memory it was hazy.

...


Ah, well.

It didn't matter, right?

The most important thing was that his student was enjoying himself.

"There aren't many places in the world where the only expectation is for you is to relax." Reigen shed his robe and exchanged it for the towel to wrap around his waist. "I suppose the world does open up more when you're an adult, but by that point it's easy to lose sight of enjoyment of the simple things we get in life like this."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob donned his towel, too. "Has that happened to you?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen always had some kind of immediate reaction to Mob's blunt questions, though after years of knowing him he had developed an easy mechanism for rolling with the punches with deflection. He had it down to an art. Reigen approached the edge of the water and did something he never did before--he considered his student's question.

"...Yeah. I guess I have."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Maybe we should do more fun things. So you can get your practice in."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen laughed in a rather uncomplicated manner as he sunk into the water to his waist, adjusting the towel to rest on his head. He gasped pleasantly at the warmth that sunk into his skin.

"You sound a bit worried, Mob."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob slowly climbed into the water after him. "Is that a bad thing?"

[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!?’