Chapter Text
“No, they have some similarities but enough differences that they aren’t the same. I don’t think you could even put them in the same category.”
“But you mine and craft in both of them! They’re key features of both games; it’s the title of one of them!”
“Yes, but the other also focuses a heavy amount on social interactions with NPCs. In that one you’re completely alone.”
“Other than the villagers.”
“Other than the villagers. But the people who live in the same town as your farm aren’t called villagers, and the ones you’re talking about can’t hold a conversation.”
Tome shook her head and looked down at the sidewalk. The loafers she wore that perfectly tied together her official secretary outfit coincidently hit the ground in harmony with Serizawa’s own footsteps. Reigen had once told her it was a phenomenon that happened when two people’s minds were synchronized, so matching a customer’s pace was a good way to quickly connect with them.
“I can’t believe an adult knows more about video games than me. And three of my friends play them all the time!” she groaned.
Serizawa nodded solemnly like he was encouraging a revelation that was of utmost importance. “It’s a crazy world.”
“You can say that again.”
“I don’t— right.”
The two rounded the corner and Spirits & Such slid into view. It was an unextraordinary Sunday; the weather was sunny but not hot, there was an average amount of hustle and bustle on the city streets, and while none of Serizawa’s or Tome’s friends were necessarily busy none of them quite felt a need to reconnect at that moment leaving both of their schedules open. Besides work, of course.
“We might get to do an exorcism today,” Tome chirped. “A client booked an appointment for two and a half hours from now. I just really hope it’s an actual spirit this time, that last one was so stupid. Plus, Dimple said I could watch him eat a spirit next time he does! That has to be cool to watch!”
At her own mention of the little green spirit, Tome twisted her head to side-eye her senior. “By the way, what’s the deal between you and Dimple? I know you and Reigen get along, and Dimple gets along with Reigen, but I don’t really see you two talk much.”
Serizawa shifted his bag and exhaled through his nose. “There isn’t that much to say. The two of us just don’t really click considering our different methods and personalities. I suppose you can’t work well with everyone.”
“Mob and Reigen say you fight really well with him. Next time there’s a spirit, could you two fight it together so I can see?”
“Uhm…maybe,” Serizawa led the way as he and Tome made their way into the building and up the gray, dim stairs to Spirits & Such’s front door. He gripped the doorknob, but a thud from inside made him pause. Following it was a yelp and the heavy drum of the spiritualist books Reigen had bought a long time ago with inspiration and decor in mind being knocked off the shelf. The two employees shared a glance.
Tome inched to the left to place herself more behind the powerful esper like he was a shield and squeezed her bag strap tighter while Serizawa collected some energy in his hand like a loaded gun. He knew Tome didn’t have any powers, and ever since he’d promised Reigen he would keep an eye on her so she’d be able to join them on an exorcism he’d never really stopped doing so. It was nice to know he could help protect people when his boss was preoccupied, and in this case his boss sounded very preoccupied judging by the shouts and loud scraping coming from beyond the door. He gave the young girl one more look before swinging the door open.
It looked like a purplish brown iguana but sized up enough to fill half the room; its colossal size forcing it to dig its claws into walls and scrape its body against every surface like a coiling snake in order to move and turn through the cramped space. Still, it managed to maneuver around at alarming speeds. Its mouth filled with sharp teeth snapped after Dimple, who bounced from floor to ceiling in a frenzied attempt to dodge its non-stop attacks. Reigen, meanwhile, had just leapt onto his desk to narrowly avoid being tripped by the sweeping spike-tipped tail.
“Dimple! Get over here!” barked Reigen. Dimple made a u-turn and shot over the evil spirit’s head to Reigen’s side, getting behind it and out of the danger-of-being-eaten zone.
“Serizawa!” Reigen shouted to the man now on his immediate left. He flung an arm out to motion at the beast. “Get it!”
Serizawa furrowed his brows with determination and raised a hand toward the monster with fingers outstretched. A sizzling ray of colorful energy shot out from his fingertips aimed at its head like lightning. The evil spirit lurched its head forward and spun around, letting the shot fly above it and blast into the wall. Serizawa grated his teeth and prepared another attack, but he was too slow.
Using its hind legs to push off the back wall, the evil spirit launched itself forward head-first faster than anyone could predict with open jaws straight toward Reigen and Dimple. They disappeared through its mouth, and were out of sight as it soared over the desk.
Tome and Serizawa blinked in shock, but they didn’t have time to do much else. Even with its targets swallowed whole, the beast's momentum didn't give out. Instead, when it reached the wall, rather than smacking into it, it abandoned its tangible state and phased straight through it. Serizawa swiveled and shot his prepared energy at the fleeing beast, but only managed to leave an indented singe mark resembling a crater from a meteor in the base of its tail. When it was completely past the desk and out the wall Reigen phased through it’s behind, left standing exactly where he was. The only difference was Dimple was still nowhere to be seen.
Tome rushed to the window and anxiously peered out. She watched as the evil spirit galloped from one rooftop to the next, before fading away into invisibility. She frowned, unable to track it any longer, and turned back to her coworker and boss.
Serizawa had stepped over to the desk with his arms lifted in preparation to help Reigen balance or get down to the floor with a worried expression lining his features. Reigen, however, did nothing more than stand swaying like a blade of grass in the wind. His eyes were ever so slightly widened but there was nothing behind them; his lips gently parted less in shock and more in the sense he didn’t even realize they were open.
“Reigen?” Serizawa said. A picture frame fell from the wall, causing only Tome to jump. After making sure it wasn’t the evil spirit coming back for round two, she looked like she had something to say but stopped when Reigen began leaning forward. His knees buckled and he collapsed forward, landing horizontally into Serizawa’s awaiting sturdy arms. Gravity pulled his head down, but his arms stuck to his sides in his employee’s strong grip.
“Shit!” Tome cried out of surprise. She took one step closer but stopped, unsure what to do. Luckily, she didn’t have to know.
“Tome, go get the medkit,” Serizawa directed as he turned away from the desk to slide Reigen’s feet off of it, then used his powers to carefully roll Reigen over to hold him more comfortably. Tome instantly hurried away to retrieve it from the bathroom. By the time she grabbed it and got back, Serizawa had carried Reigen over to the couch and was working on laying him down with his head on the pillow. Reigen’s eyes had now shut, and he looked peaceful despite being out cold.
Tome placed the kit on the table and took a step back. Patching up injuries was one of the few areas she was not confident in and didn’t want to deal with enough to be. Serizawa didn’t seem to expect her to, though, much to her relief.
She’d only seen Reigen show physical weakness once, and even then he got out of sight before it got bad. Sure she knew he wasn’t an esper, but that wasn’t really what freaked her out about seeing his body completely limp. What freaked her out was the fact it was Reigen. The guy who she was supposed to lean on. Her boss. It wasn’t right and went against everything about the man to be laying there like a ragdoll. Like a corpse.
“Is he…okay?” she asked tentatively. Serizawa first placed two fingers just under his jaw, which Tome really hated and Serizawa appeared to hate doing just as much. After taking a moment to breathe deeply with eyes closed in relief, he lifted Reigen into a seated position and shook him by the shoulders.
“Reigen,” Serizawa called out firmly, in a volume just below a shout.
When he let go Reigen did nothing more than collapse back down onto the pillow with the force causing his head to loll to the side. Serizawa thought for a moment like he was trying to figure out what he could do next. His worry was evident, but having been seemingly taught a step-by-step plan of action appeared to grant some comfort and confidence.
“Now what?” piped up Tome.
“Now is when we’re supposed to call an ambulance.”
Tome began opening her bag to take out her phone, but halted when Serizawa raised his hand.
“There’s something I want to try before you do that. It will only take a moment.”
Tome shut her bag. Everything she’d been taught told her to get Reigen to a hospital if she ever wanted to share his playful banter or gossip about weird things she’d seen at school, but Serizawa knew things she didn’t. What she did know, however, is that on the rare occasion when Serizawa makes a demand you listen.
He moved his hand to hover it over the man’s pink tie. With deep focus, bright colors outlined his hand and lower arm for a few solid seconds. Finally, Serizawa exhaled and leaned back into a kneel. The stress from the unknown had dissipated, but was replaced with the stress of knowing exactly what situation he’d found himself in.
“Well?” Tome asked.
“Physically he’s fine. Just unconscious.”
“Physically?”
“Spiritually…he isn’t there.” He said this with worry and disappointment but also as if it made total sense to a non-esper.
“He isn’t there?” she once again echoed. Serizawa startled a bit in realization before mentally scrambling to figure out how to explain it to the teenager.
“Everyone has a spirit,” he started while carefully placing Reigen’s hand over his stomach when it began to slide off the side of the couch. “Usually they only leave the body when someone dies, in which case they can either move on to the afterlife or remain. Like Dimple. With enough spiritual force spirits can be temporarily pushed out of their bodies when the person is still alive. I believe Shigeo has done it to chase an evil spirit possessing someone during an exorcism. Esper spirits still have their powers and thus are more durable than non-esper spirits, but for both it’s extremely risky to be out of their body for too long.”
Tome examined Reigen. He laid there perfectly still and quiet, unwillingly ignoring anything and everything the two said.
“Why’s it risky?” she asked nervously.
“Evil spirits could come along and try to eat them, an esper could try to exorcize them…anything could happen.”
“Shit… shit!” Tome cried, putting the pieces together in her mind. “What do we do!?”
Tome flung her hands out and sharply turned to face Serizawa, who was clearly caught off guard by the outburst. “That monster ate his spirit, didn’t it!? Dimple too! If his spirit is gone, then what!?”
“Tome—”
“Is he just never going to wake up!?”
In a flash, Serizawa twisted around and leaned enough he could reach out and grab Tome by the arm. “Tome he’s still out there! His spirit is still intact!”
Tome stopped. Her free arm dropped to her side, but she let the one Serizawa clutched remain in place. “Huh? How do you know?”
Serizawa turned to Reigen. The man’s chest softly rose and fell with each breath.
“If a person’s spirit is destroyed, then they die. As long as his body is still functioning, we know he’s still intact and can be brought back. And it works in reverse too; if we keep his body strong and healthy, it will do the same for his spirit. Until we find him we can help by taking care of him,” Serizawa spoke sternly but with definite warmth. Tome could tell he was reassuring himself as much as he was her.
“So he isn’t doomed?”
“No, he isn’t doomed.”
Serizawa let go of Tome’s arm and turned back around. He picked up the medkit she brought and placed it on Reigen’s legs as if they were a table. The kit opened with a snap. He took out some disinfectant and a roll of bandages and began treating a cut on Reigen’s ankle that Tome hadn’t even noticed.
“Plus,” Serizawa said, “Dimple’s probably still with him. Dimple will keep an eye on him.”
Tome considered this. She would have preferred to swap positions with Dimple so she could live out her previous daydream of having an epic battle against an evil spirit to save her boss and prove herself capable, because seeing Reigen comatose and at the mercy of anything had kind of ruined that fantasy. She hadn’t really considered that having someone to save meant they first had to be in real danger and unable to be there for her.
Come to think of it, this was one of those times Reigen was supposed to say that kids weren’t supposed to deal with this and send her home much to her chagrin at not being seen as useful in this scenario. But Reigen couldn’t say that. So what would he do?
Serizawa heard movement in the kitchenette and paused his bandaging word so he could lean from his kneeling position to investigate. Tome was now heating up the electric kettle while she prepared to make some tea.
“When I’m sick I ask my parents to make me tea. It always makes me feel better,” she explained. “Do you know which one is his favorite?”
Serizawa smiled. “That’s a great idea, Tome. He makes sencha a lot, so I think that’s his favorite.” He turned and finished wrapping Reigen’s ankle, then sat back to admire his work. And to examine Reigen again.
He hadn’t yet figured out a way to track down Reigen and Dimple, so for the time being all he could do was take care of Reigen like he’d said to Tome and trust Dimple. He was an evil spirit; he’d be a lot more durable than Reigen. Hopefully the thought of Reigen’s spirit being destroyed made Dimple shiver just as much as it did Serizawa.
Serizawa also thought about calling Mob, but he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. He himself didn’t know how to track people using his powers, and he had no idea whether that was an ability Mob possessed. If it wasn’t, then telling Mob his master just got his spirit ripped out of him and swallowed by an evil spirit would do nothing more than worry him. But if Mob did possess such a power, then time was of the essence.
When it came down to risking Reigen’s life and worrying Mob, Serizawa knew what Mob would want him to do. He took out his phone and dialed the boy’s number, sandwiching the device between his ear and shoulder so he could check his wrapping job. He listened to the looped ring as he stared at Reigen’s blank face, grateful for every quiet inhale and exhale.
Everywhere Dimple looked was dark red, the kind you see when you close your eyes. He wasn’t sure which way was up, how far the walls were, or if there even were walls. The inside of spirits could be tricky like that. From far away were distant echoes of however many other evil spirits had been eaten as well. All of them, himself included, were in the process of being digested. In the distance Dimple could just make out the sight of numerous evil spirits devouring each other in a sisyphean effort to collect enough energy to push back their expiration.
While he’d been in a similar situation before and came out on top, he remembered Reigen had been right next to him when he’d been eaten. If he wound up in here too he didn’t stand a chance on his own.
“Damn,” remarked Dimple, which really summed up the entire situation. “That idiot better not be eaten already,” he said to himself as he flew off to go find the fraud’s spirit.