Chapter 7: Serenade for Strings

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mysterious flickering lights, circuit breakers tripping, and outages were all affecting the Seasoning City metro line for weeks. The trains weren't on time and neither were the people of Seasoning City. Timely bosses who usually chided their salarymen underlings for their tardiness were huffing and puffing as they raced from the subway in a desperate attempt to make it to their desks before the clock ticked down to 8 AM.

They weren't the only ones huffing and puffing, though; Mob and Reigen had chased their target down and cornered him before he could make his way to another train line and the two were exhausted. It was nothing short of a miracle that the two of them had managed to make it to the last train of the night before the doors closed behind them.

Mob collapsed one of the train's empty seats, his damp palms pressed down atop the poly-cotton blend of his gakuran slacks. It was only by sheer miracle that they weren't soaked through. Sweat seemed to be pouring from every pore on Mob's body.

"Sorry," Mob said apologetically. "If I had been faster, we wouldn't have had to do so much running."

Comments

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Don't sweat it..." Reigen masked his slight pant with a sigh of faux-relaxation as he slid down his seat. He was in a much better state than Mob, but he wasn't exactly in the peak of his physical fitness either. "With this, all the poor laborers of Salt City can get an extra half hour of sleep."

Just as he was starting to catch his breath, the train jolted, which sent his cheek slamming against one of the metal bars. Reigen whined at cupped the skin just in time to shield it from another impact as the train jolted again.

"What's up with this? We got rid of that thing for sure!" Despite his indignation there was a faint questioning lilt at the end.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"We did," Mob said insistently, rubbing his tender forehead; it too had been a casualty of that sudden jolt. "I'm not sensing any spiritual activity at all."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

With Mob's proclamation, the lights flickered out and the train ground to a halt. Reigen sighed again, this time genuinely. Still, he didn't doubt his protege's sense.

"Well, just because we exorcized it doesn't mean it didn't do a number on the grid..." At least they were at a proper stop thanks to the train's programming, even if it wasn't anywhere near where they needed to be.

Well. Anywhere near where Mob needed to be. When they emerged, Reigen recognized the stop at once.

"Wait here a sec, okay? I'm gonna find someone." Reigen motioned for Mob to hover near the information board and out of the way of the rail workers running here and there. Reigen quickly honed in on some of the more stationary ones and pushed his way through to ask a few questions. When he returned, he sighed for the third time--this time it was in resignation. "So, it doing a number on the grid? Yeah, that was an understatement. Lots of power lines to the West felled...blocks of them. No train service. Even foot traffic is out of the question."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

That wasn't good.

"So what do we do now?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Well...we're in my neighborhood." Luckily for him, and even more luckily the power seemed intact. No pulling out the seance candles that night. Reigen pulled out his phone--yep, it had service. "I'll call you a cab. If we're lucky I can expense your fare..."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"If it's not imposing... could I stay at your place instead?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Yeah." Reigen paused to digest Mob's ask. "Wait. What?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"It's a long way home from here, so a cab will probably be expensive." Reigen always seemed to be a stickler for money though they always had the funds for ramen and takoyaki. "Besides, I had something I wanted you to show me."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen couldn’t exactly argue but…in lieu of Mob having any proper friends to stay with, what else was he was supposed to have the kid do but pony up for a cab?

Mob…really had these strange bursts of boldness lately.

Reigen hadn’t thought of offering him his couch until he asked. That wasn’t anything against Mob, but…

“Look, I’m not trying to make your parents worry here.” Reigen rubbed the back of his neck. “Call and ask them first.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I'll do that now." Mob would have rathered texted. He didn't text a lot until he started texting with Teru, but he found that he preferred it to talking to someone on the phone. But Mob also knew that his mom would have preferred a call.

So he did. After a few minutes, Mob snapped his phone shut.

"Mom says it's okay. Can we head to your place now?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

'That was quick.' Even if Reigen couldn't hide the thought from his face, the good thing about Mob was that he never noticed these things.

Ah...how permissive the Kageyamas were. Well. It was good for business. But that was business. This was something else and for the first time Reigen had been hoping for them to ask a few more questions.

"Uh-huh..." His hips turned before the rest of him did towards a stretch of apartments. He was still waiting for that follow-up call that he knew wouldn't come. "You know, I practice an intentional and minimalist lifestyle. It, ah, keeps my aura pure. That's not to say there's not room on the couch, but as far as clothes don't get too picky."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Do I seem like a picky person?" It was a genuine question. Mob didn't think that he seemed picky because he wasn't. But it was hard for him to tell how other people interpreted him. Mob had a hard time interpreting other people himself.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Of course not.” Mob and picky didn’t belong in the same galaxy. Reigen began digging for his keys as his complex was already in sight.

“So. What did you want to ask me, anyway?”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob looked over at Reigen with his usual neutral expression.

"I want you to teach me how to cook."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Me?" Reigen asked in clear disbelief. "I mean. I'm flattered. But your mom's a pretty good cook." Good enough that Mob bothered to voice a positive opinion of it every blue moon.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"If I ask my mom, she's going to ask a lot of questions. And when I answer them, she's going to get weird about it." Mob said this all as if it were a statement of fact.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"What's weird about wanting to learn how to--" Reigen paused as his foot touched the first step of his stairwell. "Oh."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Yes," Mob said. He was not telepathic, but he got the sense that Reigen knew exactly what he was talking about.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"So. What are we making?" Reigen tossed a leisurely hand up as they ascended the steps. "Were you made privy to Tsubomi-chan's favorite dessert or something?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob blinked, confused. "No. I wanted to be able to cook something for Teru."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Really?" Reigen flicked an incorrect key out of the way, then one more. Reigen had to mentally agree--that was weird. For Mob. Especially after he had made it sound so scandalous. "Fine. What's the occasion?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"No occasion," Mob said. "He doesn't have parents at home to cook for him, so I thought I would try my hand at it."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Ah. The sentimentality was more like Mob.

"What a shame." Reigen turned the key in the lock. "And here I was all ready to finally show you the Sweetheart Special recipe. Guess that'll just have to wait longer."

Reigen opened the door to his studio and stepped inside. The sunset illuminated narrow patches of the interior and he reached for the light switch. It was clean--spotless, even. He had even bothered to make his bed that day.

"I'm gonna change. Make yourself comfortable." Reigen gestured at the couch and reached to loosen his tie out of habit.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob looked around Reigen's living room, then took a seat down on the couch. Reigen's place was fairly simple, but it was more decorated than Teru's place was.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

When Reigen emerged from his bathroom, he suddenly felt a chill. It wasn't from a draft or anything, though he usually did leave the window open when it got warm to keep the air fresh. He only felt it as soon as he looked at Mob, sitting stiffly in his plain school uniform.

Then there was him. He was cutting a completely different form in his jeans and shirt.

"...You didn't bring a single change of clothes, huh?"