spirits_and_such_offices | Chapter 3: Hunting Season(ing) Part Two

Chapter 3: Hunting Season(ing) Part Two

God, was there some planet in retrograde right now? Everything was so…gray. Tome usually would have been able to cite a specific planet but she had been too oddly deflated all day to speculate.

At least she wasn’t the worst one off. No, not by far. That honor went to the pompadour’d thug who did nothing but sulk in the corner of their shared club space now. Her own club mates who were always too scared of him to even approach even tried to offer him one of their honey chip bags out of sheer pity. Tome, usually quite stingy with the resources (especially now they didn’t actually have funding anymore) didn’t even object. ‘How the mighty fall.’

Goda had spent some time trying to cheer Onigawara up. That boy was too nice for his own good. Him AND Kageyama. Tome didn’t know what Goda had been trying, exactly, since she was too engrossed in (or rather numbed by) her video game to listen but she could guess. The Body Improvement Club had one solution for every possible human ailment. It was exactly why she didn’t risk complaining today.

Tome glanced at the clock—it was getting to be that time, wasn’t it? The time where everyone finished their club activities up. Ah. Orwell was calling her name once again.

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"Yeah, he was the one who taught me not to hurt others with my powers." That seemed obvious to him now; both times he hurt someone with his powers, he didn't mean to. And it unnerved Mob a lot more than it would have if he made the choice to.

He'd really worked hard not to hurt anybody, but...

69%.

"And that people have all kinds of talents," he said before he could dwell on it any longer. "And that having psychic powers doesn't make me any more special or different than anyone else."

Tome glanced over at Mob. As disinterested as she was in others, even she could sense the weight behind his words.

"Regulus." Teru pointed up. "You're definitely Regulus."

Mob's gaze followed Teru's finger.

"Regulus?"

"It's the one of the stars that make up Leo," Tome filled in. Even if she didn't know foreign physicists she knew more than enough astronomy to get by.

Teru smiled in satisfaction. "There in the Spring Triangle, remember? If you look to that far point...you can see Leo. The sickle that makes up the head, then the body...Regulus is the heart."

"Then which one am I, Shadow-kun?"

"You're Spica, of course. You and The Fluffy One."

"The egg-shaped ones?"

"Yeah! They're the cutest ones, of course."

Tome let out a little psssh and did her best to fight the grudging smile that threatened the corners of her mouth. A silence settled over them. Mob's leaf blanket proved surprisingly comfortable and Tome's eyes were beginning to slip shut.

The stars eventually dimmed as a light flickered at them over one of the rolling hills. Teru sat up and motioned for the other two to rise as a car skillfully rushed to location side and slowed down just in time to avoid pelting them with mud.

Tome sat up and blinked blearily. Then, she was gaping. 'Car my ass! Walking and bussing MY ASS!' It was a full-on limousine that was barely tarnished by the rough country roads.

"Wow." Mob gaped, too. "I've never ridden in a limousine before." His parents didn't even own a car. They traveled by train or foot most of the time.

Tome was the first in--and she hoped the face she was making wasn't too dumb. There was fashionable backlighting everywhere and were seats really built to curve so...intimately? She settled across from the bar with glasses cleanly suspended in their holders and elected to pretend she really was on a UFO of some kind. It was easier that way.

"Long time no see, Teru-san." The partition was rolled down as the teenagers climbed in. A young man, likely no older than twenty-five, adjusted his mirror to smile chipperly at them from it.

"Matsuda. Sorry about the mud."

"Not a problem, sir. Warm towels in the right-most console."

Tome jumped as the door to the console popped open to present a row of fresh towels right on cue.

Mob waited for everyone to grab theirs before taking his own. He was really grateful to have something to wipe up with. "Thank you," he said as he scrubbed down his face.

As he settled back into the plush leather limousine seats, Mob found himself drifting off. He tried his best to stay awake, but he was tired. Sometimes he got really worn down after using his powers. Maybe that was why he felt especially exhausted.

Before too long, Mob completely fell asleep.

~~

"Yo. Sleepy-head. We're here." Teru gently squeezed Mob's shoulder. "Tome-san got dropped off earlier."

Both Mob and Tome were out within seconds of each other. Of course, Teru didn't mind being the one dutifully watching over them, though he regretted not being able to even offer them any of the sparkling water...

"Oh." Mob couldn't help but feel embarrassed that he had fallen asleep. His mom would probably say it was rude.

Mob thanked the driver before stepping out of the car. He was illuminated by the bright lights of an expensive-looking high rise that towered over him.

"You live here?"

"What? You think I'd bring you to some shady location?" Teru waved to his driver and gave Mob's back a friendly pat.

He dug around in his inner jacket pocket--ah, good. His keycard had remained intact enough to scan them both in. The concierge didn't even look at them funny despite the strangeness of a muddy pair of teens wandering through the luxurious lobby alone that late at night. Teru didn't have an ounce of self-consciousness about it, either.

When they stepped in the elevator, he pressed the button for the top floor and leaned back against the railing. "I'll find some clothes for you as soon as we get inside and call the dry-cleaner. They work really quick. They'll have your uniform clean before breakfast."

"Are they open this late?"

"There are 24/7 laundry services here. The concierge delivers them both ways." Despite Teru's boastful nature, he was fairly matter-of-fact about the luxury amenities he apparently had access to on a whim. Even the fanciful ding! that announced their arrival put on more airs than it's inhabitant.

"Ah, you can have the bedroom." Teru went for his keycard again as they approached his door and he opened it up. The lights turned on for him, illuminating his unit proper. It was clean in a way that looked scarcely lived-in. Again, in spite of it's inhabitant, there was nothing particularly striking about it--at least not more so than anything else in that building.

"Thanks," Mob said as he took in the sight of Teru's room. It was pretty ordinary. Mob didn't mind it, but it was kind of surprising. Mob took off his dirty shoes and set them outside the door. "Your place is nice."

“Thanks.”

Teru raised a hand to float a pamphlet pinned to the tall steely fridge into his hands. He wandered into his bedroom and dug through his drawers.

When he returned, he had a neatly folded pair of pajamas in one arm. The bottoms were a dark green flannel and the top was a long-sleeved pastel print. There was a picture of a cartoon skiing dog on it with English text emblazoned on it.

“Here, you can take a bath and change first. Oh, first, were you feeling pizza or pasta?”

Mob exchanged the pamphlet for the clothes. "Pizza is fine." He wasn't very picky. That was probably why he and Reigen ate as much ramen and takoyaki as they did.

"I'll be out soon."

It was the truth. Mob scrubbed down as quick as he could, not wanting to keep Teru waiting for long.

"Where should I put my towel?" Mob asked once he emerged. He hadn't had a sleepover that wasn't at his grandparents for many years, but he knew everyone had a different way of doing things. He didn't want to do something wrong, especially since Teru had so generously invited him into his home.

Before Mob could say another word, the towel was glowing gold to float from his hands into a closet with a washer and dryer tucked away. And, before Mob could turn around, his school uniform was dancing upwards and tucking itself neatly into a laundry bag.

Mob was his first ever guest and guests didn’t get their fingers dirty, after all.

“The food should be delivered soon. I’ll pass your clothes off to the concierge once I’m out of the shower.” Teru rose from the small dining table and looked Mob up and down. “You know, you look pretty good in green! It’s a hard color to pull off.”

"Really?" Mob had never considered what kind of clothes he might look good in. He just wore whatever his mom bought him. Maybe he needed to be more conscious of that. "I really like the dog on the shirt."

Teru lingered by the other boy as he passed him on his way to the bathroom, his blue eyes going from Mob’s hair to his eyelashes to his cheek. He hummed in complete understanding. “You’ve got a cool undertone. That makes the mint and forest green tones really refreshing on you.”

He thought the dog’s goggles had a similar shape to Mob’s eyes. That boosted its charm.

“You can keep those if you want. I don’t wear them much.”

"Are you sure?" Mob wasn't sure why Teru was being so nice to him. Especially since Teru had done a lot today to help him and Tome already.

“Clothes should go where they look best. Now! Make yourself comfortable.” It sounded less like an invitation and more like a demand as Mob was lifted into the air with the familiar glowing golden energy and floated to the couch. The remote nestled itself into his hand and a striped blanket draped itself over his lap. It didn’t stop there though, with a hot mug of tea, mineral water, and soda arranging themselves on the table before Mob.

“I’ll be right out.”

Mob did not object, but it was weird seeing another psychic using their powers like that... but then again, Mob hadn't exactly met a lot of psychics before. Until now, it was just him and Reigen, even though he and Tome had spent a lot of time looking for telepaths.

Mob stifled a yawn as he reached for the mug of tea. He was determined to stay awake longer. He reached for the remote and turned on the TV. By the time Teru finally emerged, Mob was engrossed in the tail end of an action movie he started halfway through.

Teru straightened his own pajamas as he emerged. He was in a comfortable blue ensemble. There was a massive photo-realistic shark on his top while his bottoms had a comparatively quite cutesy shark pattern across them. He opened his mouth but closed it when he saw Mob swaddled and very absorbed by whatever he had chosen to watch. Teru quietly leaned forward against the back of the couch to observe.

Ah, a superhero one. So, Mob liked those too? They were really popular right now, but Teru usually watched them in the original English audio. This one was dubbed over. Still, the actors didn't do a bad job. The way Thor screamed as Loki fell into the wormhole was pretty convincing.

The doorbell chimed and Teru snapped back to attention to fetch the food and coordinate Mob's clothes with the concierge.

It was only once the doorbell rang that Mob became aware of the other boy.

"Oh, Teru, you're out."

“Were you so entranced by Chris Hemsworth you didn’t notice?” Teru laughed good-naturedly as he floated the box of pizza over to the coffee table.

"There's something about his eyebrows," Mob said, pointing at the screen when there was a close up.

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