spirits_and_such_offices | Chapter 7: Serenade for Strings

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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

mp_strikinglyblessed

He felt genuinely terrible from the bottom of his stomach. It wasn’t the booze and it wasn’t the fact his student was attempting to comfort him, though those didn’t help.

No, it was the fact that he had lied. And it felt good. It felt a lot better than telling the truth had.

“One second,” Reigen said, getting up. He wasn’t sure where to go, but he needed space. The bathroom was the only enclosed place as any other so he went there.

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

Mob sat down at the couch, gazing with concern at the bathroom door, but he did not yet move from where he sat.

From:

mp_simplyacommoner

Shige! Send.

Look at THIS Send. The text was followed by a picture of a bicycle helmet with an adorable cartoon frog design.

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

Mob pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through the texts.

That's really cute Send.

From:

mp_simplyacommoner

Right!?!? Send

I thought of you right away Send

If you ever wanted to go biking with me Send

this would be perfect Send

Everyone would see your helmet Send

and recognize you and your fashionable cuteness right away ! ~ (˵•̀ᴗ - ˵ ) Send

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

Mob glanced over at the door with concern, then his eyes flickered back down to his phone.

I've never actually ridden a bike before Send.

From:

mp_simplyacommoner

(•̪ o •̪) Send

oh! Send

then I'll teach you Send

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

It might be hard Send.

But I'm willing to give it a shot Send.

From:

mp_strikinglyblessed

As Mob sent his reply, Reigen was back out of the bathroom and grabbing himself a cup of water. He wandered back to the couch and flopped down as casually as ever.

"Sorry about that. Goes right through me."

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

Mob watched as Reigen padded over and flopped back down on the couch. He snapped his phone shut and tucked it back into his pocket.

"It's okay. You just left suddenly and for a long time."

From:

mp_strikinglyblessed

"That was like four minutes--five tops."

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

"It doesn't ever take me that long. Not unless I'm sick."

From:

mp_strikinglyblessed

"Mob, remember what I always say. Everyone is different." Reigen was back to evenly and lightly chiding his student like nothing had happened. He took up the remote and began flipping through the channels as the Doraemon hour was ending. "So, what do we want to watch next?"

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

He seemed normal to Mob. Not sick at all.

"Mmm, I don't know. You should choose this time."

From:

mp_strikinglyblessed

“How about a movie?” Reigen got back up and investigated his modest (tiny—it was one shelf beneath his TV stand) entertainment center. He didn’t use it much but it had a few movies…and he made a face when he remembered most of the space was taken up by old vhs cases his mom had sent him one year. He hadn’t asked for them, they were childhood affects, but he hadn’t complained either.

“Hey, I found a classic.” Reigen held up Bambi.

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

"Bambi?" Mob had seen pictures from it before, but he had never seen the movie itself.

From:

mp_strikinglyblessed

"Haven't seen it, huh? Let's watch it." Reigen dusted off his VHS player and fiddled with the tv settings until they got to the right place. Reigen flopped back down beside Mob as the tape began playing. The barrage of promotions for the 90's releases hit Reigen with an intense wave of nostalgia. "Oh man, what a time, huh Mob? Ah, wait...you weren't even alive back then, were you."

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

"Well... I was for a little of it." But not old enough to remember any of it.

From:

mp_strikinglyblessed

"It was a good time. My mom took us to the parks every year for her birthday." She still did--not that he was privy to that tradition anymore. "Have you been?"

From:

spiritsandsuchtrainee

"No, I haven't."

From:

mp_strikinglyblessed

The opening credits began playing to a gorgeous panning shot of a painted forest. He couldn't help but think of the places he'd go hiking in his hometown.

"You should go at least once while you're still young."