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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"Maybe. It'd be faster than looking by yourself as just a bird."

The dove looked like it could cry. All it could do was tremble and utter a mess of incoherent coos with a few barely literate words tossed in. Tome reached up and gave it an encouraging pat. Seemed she had fully acclimated to the absurdity of the situation.

Teru watched this impassively and his eyes went to the worsening storm. It was hard to see even three feet past the shelter of the willow. Daisuke had said they should leave the countryside before the monsoon rolled in, hadn't he?

"Do you have any idea of where it is? The ring."

The was snapped out of the frenzy of emotion. "Ah! I did see it recently! I came really close, but that thing chased me away..."

"How long ago did you see it?"

"I suppose...eucooo...the sun has risen and set a few times since...I think. It was near the river. That's where I was trying to go today when I..."

'Tsk.' "With rains this heavy a river will flood in no time. To be honest...we can't rule out that it's been washed away already."

"N-no..."

"Hey. Shadow Leader-kun." Tome's voice had a protective edge to it and she stood. "That's why we need to get going quickly, isn't it?"

"Please don't misunderstand me. I would agree but there's still the matter of 'the thing' you were referring to, Fluffy One." Teru pointed at the dove who was puffing up in emotion. "Right now you're like a little tea light. One stiff surge of energy from Kageyama-kun and I and we could snuff your flame out without even meaning to."

"Hanazawa's right," Mob said. "Unless you get far away from here, there's a good chance you'll get hurt. Or worse."

"I couldn't leave. I'm bound to this place. Even if I could...I don't have the energy to even get to the river on my own anymore."

"...You know. It's strange." The more Teru thought about it, the less it made sense. "Why is it going after you in the first place? Assuming it's hungry, you're not exactly prime prey. We wouldn't have even sensed your presence if you weren't being attacked." Teru added a no offense as Tome visibly bristled.

"...I don't know. I know what you're saying. I was never strong, but I'm weaker than ever now. But you're right. It's a monster that eats other monsters. It's eaten lots of other spirits that have lived here. I always hid and fed quietly. But ever since the old woman lost her ring I could feel it stalking me. When it attacked I would always hide and come back here."

"So, it would make the most sense for you to stay here."

"I can't! I can sense the ring out there somewhere...if I can't show you all where it is, it could wash away in this storm! Just like you said!"

"I could put up a shield on Kurata-san and the bird spirit," Mob said, looking up and over at Teru. "That will keep them safe for now. If we can find the ring fast enough, we might not have to worry about 'that thing', either."

The dove bobbed its head in intense thought. It never had to think so hard about anything before. "Will it be enough...? Is it really alright?"

"That's for them to figure out." Tome took the bird back into her hands and held it at her chest so they could both face forward. "They're psychics. That's what I asked them to come with me for. So let them worry about it. If they need to fight, they'll fight. You're going to lead us to that ring and I'm going to carry you the whole way. So. Let's go!" Tome's tone was as persistently straight-forward as ever but, for once, there was restraint in her words. After all, she wasn't yelling at a bunch of slackers.

No.

This dove...

It had worked harder than anyone she'd ever met in her life. Especially her. Her sudden awareness of this made no difference in the moment. The monsoon wasn't going anywhere. She gave one last look to Teru and Mob and embarked out into the storm.

Mob nodded and followed after them, fully committed now to this plan now that Tome made the hard decision of going with it. Mob didn't like making decisions. He didn't fully trust himself the way that he trusted other people.

As Mob navigated the slippery mess of mud beneath his feet, he set up a barrier around Tome and the turtle dove. While its primary purpose was to safeguard the two of them, it had the extra benefit of shielding them from the rain.

Mob was so focused on it that he failed to pay attention to his footing, then found himself slipping in the mud.

So, that was how it was then. Fine. Teru knew what his part to play here was and he followed dutifully after.

One good rush from that thing, whatever it was, and Teru wasn't confident that a low-energy approach would be enough to ward it off. But, if it came down to a hard choice...well. That was something he didn't need to say out loud.

"Ah!" He could have caught Mob with his psychic power, but they were trying to limit the use of that now, weren't they? Not only to avoid blowing the little dove away but to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves. So it was perfectly natural he would smoothly catch Mob by the arm with his own. "Careful. Am I gonna have to hold your hand?"

"Um, maybe." Sure, there was holding hands romantically, but there was holding hands for safety, too. Like how he used to hold Ritsu's hand when they crossed the street together as kids. Or when his mom held his hand in the department store to make sure he didn't crawl under the racks of long dresses to hide. Holding hands like that wouldn't be romantic at all.

"Oh. Okay." Teru dutifully wrapped his fingers around Mob's and cleared his throat and focused on setting a good example of how to manage one's way through mud. "It's, ah, all about core strength."

"I know that the other members of the Body Improvement Club train in the rain sometimes," he mused, more to himself than to his companion. "Maybe I should do the same."

Teru kept his mouth shut in a concerted effort not to ask Mob more about his club. Out of everything alarming or unexpected that had taken place that day, the act of having to reign his curiosity in while he held the other boy's hand was by far the most frustrating.

'Focus!'

"Hey. How smart do you think this thing is, Kageyama-kun?"

Mob considered, giving Teru's hand a squeeze as he nearly slipped through another slippery patch of mud. His mom was going to be angry when they got home. He was soaked through and his pants were muddy up to his knees. He was pretty sure it was going to be worse than this by the time they were done with all of this.

"If it's only hunting the turtle dove, it has to be somewhat intelligent. Any other animal wouldn't be this focused on small prey when there's so many other things around to eat. It has to have a reason why it's hunting him specifically."

Teru nodded in agreement. "Have you ever dealt with an evil spirit like this at your job?"

Then, as if on cue, the phone Mob had tucked away in his pocket began to ring.

Though Mob was not clairvoyant, he knew immediately who was on the other end of the line before he even fished the phone out of his pocket with his free hand. His worst fears were confirmed when the screen displayed the name of the caller.

Despite the sense of dread rising within him, Mob flipped the phone open immediately. "Master Reigen?"

“Mob! Where the heck are you!? It’s a mad house over here! I’ve had five consultations and four drop-in curse removal requests—not counting our appointments—in one day and the precious reception desk is very very empty.”

"I'm really sorry." Mob really was. He really felt bad about it. It was going to be really hard for them to get through this and then get back to the office and then get back to his own home before it got too late. At this point, it was looking really unlikely. "Something's come up and I can't get away at the moment."

“What was that? What’d you just say? No, seriously, repeat that because you’re really breaking up. It sounds like you’re in the middle of a power washer.”

"We're in the middle of a monsoon," Mob said apologetically. "And we're trying to look for a wedding ring. So I'm not sure I'm going to be back in time." Mob hoped he would understand.

Reigen could make out his pupil’s follow-up a bit better but that didn’t mean it made any more sense. “You’re at a wedding in the middle of a monsoon? What? You said you were hanging out with a friend! If you were going to a wedding you could have just asked for the day off.”

"No, we're looking for the ring for a turtle dove spirit," he said, as if it's the most normal thing in the world. "We're not at a wedding."

‘Ugh.’ Reigen could still barely make him out and they were getting nowhere and he had a client on their way up the stairs. He guessed Mob lost track of time or something, but that didn’t mean Reigen was about to let him off the hook.

“Look, we’ll talk tomorrow. Get indoors and don’t lose your phone, okay? Those things aren’t cheap.” Reigen flipped his phone shut and ended the call.

"Alright," Mob said, but before he could say the word, Reigen had already ended the call. He shoved the phone back into his pocket.

"I don't have to be back at work today," he informed Teru. Even though he was sure he disappointed Master Reigen, he felt relieved he no longer had that hanging over him. Now he could better focus on their mission. Provided that they could finish it with this little visibility.

“Wait, you had to be back at work?”

"Yeah, I didn't want to let Master down." He kind of had, though. But he'd try to make it up to him some other way.

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