Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Hey, can you keep a secret?" Ritsu asks. 

He and Shou are sitting in the grass, the park nearly empty in the early evening. Shou is curled around his sketchbook, drawing idly while Ritsu lies back a few feet away, staring at the dark blue sky. 

“Sure.” 

“I think I have a crush on Teru-kun.” 

Shou’s pencil bursts into flame, but he quickly snuffs it out. “Why… do you think that?” 

“I just do, okay?” Ritsu rolls over, and Shou can feel irritation flowing off of his aura. “He’s… he’s cool.”

“I guess I just don’t see the appeal.”

"Of course you don't." 

Of the emotions bubbling inside of Shou, he allows the least selfish of them to rise to the top: biting sympathy. Ritsu wanted something he couldn't have. Even if Teruki looked his way, Shou doubts the context would be any less than bitter rebound. Teruki only had eyes for Ritsu’s brother. Shou’s seen how Teruki would always slide an inch closer to Mob, hooking his arm in his as they walked side by side pressed against each other. But it was always Teruki moving towards Mob, not the other way around. 

Mob has a girlfriend, at least Shou predicts as such. He’s met Takane a few times now, and finds her company enjoyable. Her hair has increasingly filled up with cute hair clips that he buys for her, and they hold hands when they hang out. That’s what boys and girls do when they are dating, at least at their age. 

He only remembers one time he had a one on one conversation with Takane. Mob had actually not been there on that particular outing, instead it was himself, Takane, Takenaka, Ritsu, Kurata, and one of the three boys that follow Kurata around that Shou never bothered to learn the names of. Shou had been a bit of a stowaway in the get together, only tagging along because he happened to be doing homework with Serizawa when the others came to pick up Kurata after work. The four of them wandered around town, and Takenaka bought a box of candy that everyone fought over sharing. They decided to loiter in a comic store, flipping through manga volumes without buying anything. Shou had wandered to a section with posters, spotting one of Fujiko Mine from Lupin iii that was tasteful enough he wouldn’t feel deep rooted shame at hanging it up on the wall of his bedroom. 

“Do you like Lupin iii?” Takane had snuck up behind Shou, making him flinch. It was weird how quiet her footsteps were. 

“Yeah, my- uh, my uncle was into it and would watch it with me.” Shou said, half lying. Fukuda had been a fan, and would put on episodes of the old series when Shou gave up control of the tv. Shou always feels weird thinking back on the years he spent traveling with lackeys, twenty years his elders, a bunch of emotions tied to those days and those people he has yet to untangle. 

“Oh I also like it!” Takane smiles. “Which movie is your favorite?”

The two then chatted casually about the series for a bit before Ritsu called out informing them the group was moving on to a new store to waste time at. Nothing about the brief interaction had been notable, and Shou was surprised he remembers it so clearly. It had been a somewhat pleasant interaction with a girl only a year older than him, talking about anime. He already did that quite a bit with Kurata since she started hanging around Serizawa, so Shou was hard pressed to figure out what was so special about the memory that made it remain so clear in his mind's eye. 

Shou had spent some amount of time with Teruki, likely more than Ritsu himself. The two had kept in touch, and Shou had spent a few nights at his apartment while he was still bouncing in and out of his mother’s house. Shou even helped clean the place up, recruiting Higashio after he was done fixing the Kageyama house. 

“What is it about Hanazawa-kun that you like?” Shou asks. 

“He’s cool. Charming. I want to spend more time with him.” 

Shou keeps his eyes glued to his sketchbook, pencil etching the shape of leaves in the trees of the haunted forest he was drawing. He grants Ritsu a slice of privacy, but can still hear the embarrassment that drowns his words and can imagine Ritsu’s face beet red like an anime caricature of humiliation. “We spend a lot of time together.” 

“That’s because we are friends.” 

Friends. 

Ritsu and Hanazawa were also friends, right? But Ritsu wasn’t Teruki’s Friend the way he was with Ritsu’s brother, the way Shou was with Ritsu. To Hanazawa, Ritsu was Kageyama’s brother, and to Shou, Shegio was Kageyama’s brother. The four had paired off neatly, like the Kageyama siblings were two bars from a Twix that had been unwrapped and split between them. One for each, no conflict, no fuss. When Shou had first encountered the two brothers, long ago in the 7th division base, he had chosen between the two. Mob had disappointed him, but Ritsu captured his attention. Everyone was obsessed with Mob, obsessed with his power, his sincerity, his noble spirit, his kindness. But Shou likes Ritsu more, and doesn't feel any shame at his favoritism.

Ritsu is Shou’s friend, and Shigeo is Teruki’s. Clean, clear, easy. 

Shou knows what love is in theory. He knows it from tv and comics, from the educational books Fukuda gave him when he was ten, to the girls Shimazaki always got yelled at for sneaking into Claw HQ. Shou has spent his time on the internet and eavesdropping on conversations between adults he was spying on either for his father or for his own enjoyment. 

“Do you think you will confess to him? Write him a love letter and ask him out?” Shou asks. 

“What! No!” 

A few ants briefly achieve the power of fight before being returned to their home in the grass. Shou feels a rush of relief, then guilt, then something he doesn’t know the name of. 

Shou peaks at Ritsu, who is now sitting up, knees pulled into his chest. 

“I’ll keep your secret.” Shou promises. 

It becomes uncomfortably noticeable to Shou how much Ritsu stares at Teruki. The four of them are walking down the street, to what goal Shou isn’t sure. He had just tagged along, a fourth wheel hanging off the third. Teruki has a hand on Shigeo’s arm, making his walk slightly off balance, making their shoulders bump together constantly. Ritsu watched them, and Shou watched Ritsu. 

“Oh, Hello Tsubomi-chan.” 

“Mob-kun, hi!” 

Takane appears like an npc spawning into an area when a cutscene is activated. She smiles, waves, and Mob breaks free of Hanazawa’s vice-like grip to greet her, the two weaving their hands together. 

Takane and Kageyama smile at each other, Hanazawa stares at Mob, Ritsu stares at Teruki, Shou stares at Ritsu. 

Shou goes to the school near his mother's house, at her request. He was placed in a special education program to help him catch up, after being out of school for so long. Shou goes each day, then leaves at the bell. He joins no clubs and doesn't talk to his classmates. 

He didn't even do his homework until Serizawa asked him to form a study group together. Now he only does it with Serizawa, either at his apartment or in the Spirits and Such office with Kurata. Shou thinks he likes Kurata. 

Then one day Shou enters Serizawa apartment to see an unfamiliar face sitting next to him, doing homework. An invasion of a sanctuary. Lilac hair hides the eyes of an invader. 

"Shou-kun, this Asagiri-san. She is… like you." Says Serizawa. 

In the moment, Shou rejects any commonality with the invader girl, but grinds his teeth and sits down next to her anyways, pulling out his schoolwork. The three work together in silence, the only noise being the sound of pencils on paper.

However, in time, reluctantly, then less reluctantly, Shou comes to admit that Asagiri really is a lot like him. She rarely talks about her past, but enough words and implication have passed between the two that Shou thinks he knows as much as he needs to. However the similarities between them lie less in their pasts, and more in their present. 

“High school is optional, once I finish middle school I can drop out for good.” She tells him. They are sitting together on the roof of Serizawa’s apartment. A bag of sodas and candies separates them. Shou sips a rootbeer while Minori eats some sort of gummy candy. “Papa insists I at least work with tutors, but is okay with it if I decide to stop going to school after I finish this year.” 

“I’ll probably drop out too.” Shou admits. “I’m already at the bottom of my class when it comes to grades, I don’t think any highschool would accept me anyways. I have enough money from what's left of my dad’s fortune to live on till I die as long as I live modestly. If I get a job it will be to kill time, not make money.” 

“Maybe you can come to my house and study with me instead.” Minori offers. “My tutors can teach you as well. Even if you don’t need a highschool degree it’s good to be educated.”

Shou raises an eyebrow “You’d be okay with me leeching off of you, Asagiri-san?” 

“Of course. Honestly I think I’d prefer it that way. We can be our own little classroom of two.”

“That… sounds fun.”

Shou encounters Takenaka and Takane at a tennis court, playing a game. The two are dressed for the occasion, Takane looking especially stylish in her exercise clothes. When spotted, the two of them wave to Shou, inviting him to join their game.

Shou is handed a spare tennis racket, given a rundown of the rules, and the three of them rotate as they play against each other. Takenaka is quick to yell at Shou any time he uses his powers to manipulate the direction of the ball. Eventually Shou grew tired of the repetitive game, content more so to watch from the sidelines. 

Eventually even the two athletes got tired, retiring to the sidelines to drink from their water bottles and the warm convenience store sodas that had been left in the sun. Shou steals a long sip from Takenaka’s drink, which gets him a playful shove as the bottle is stolen back by its owner. It's here that Shou finally gets both of their numbers logged into his contact list, stepping over the line that separates passing ships of the friend of a friend into full on acquaintances. 

“We should go out for ramen or something at some point.” Shou suggests, carefully tugging at the strings of friendship.

Takane looks out at the setting sun. “We could get ramen right now, I’m not expected home until after dinner.”  

“Sounds like fun.” Takenaka picks up his bag, and pushes his earbuds into his ears. 

There's a ramen stand pretty close by, the three teenagers pooling their money to pay. Shou remembers coming to the same place at some point, the chefs face familiar and ramen just barely spicy enough to be perfect. The three of them quickly find an anime all three had seen, and make that the center topic of their friendly chatter. They even make nonspecific plans to maybe see some sort of movie together. At the theater. 

“You can even invite Ritsu and make it a double date.” Takenaka jokes. “If you want to.” 

“Do you think he’d want to see that movie?” Shou asks. 

“If he doesn’t we can always see a different one instead.” says Takane. “We can watch a movie all of us want to see.” 

The bowls were now empty, and the chef shooed them away so he could serve new customers. The sun had officially set and the night was lit up by the streetlights. Takenaka puts an arm over Takane’s shoulder as they walk together. Then he glances at Shou, grins playfully, and pulls him in, wrapping his other arm over Shou’s shoulder. 

“I think I like you, Shou.” says Takenaka. “Let’s hang out more, okay?” 

“I think this is the first time I’ve hung out with you without the Kageyama brothers.” says Takane. 

“It is.” Says Shou.

They talk more as they walk. Eventually Takane and Shou bully Takenaka into letting them listen to his music. But the quest to share earbuds between three people was one doomed from the start, Takenaka unplugging the earbuds to turn up the music on his phone, music blaring from the tiny speaker, distorted and tinny pop songs filling the air as the three of them dance down the road laughing and singing along. It turns out Takenaka and Takane are both really into music. They fill up the notes app on Shou’s phone with the names of musicians and bands he’s never heard of up until then. 

Takenaka used music to help control his telepathy, and needed to reshuffle his library consistently so he doesn’t go insane listening to the same stuff over and over again, but Takane was borderline an otaku when it comes to indie bands no one has ever heard of. Shou tries to impress them with american bands he’s picked up while traveling, but it turns out they already knew every single one in his playlist.

“These guys live in seasoning city.” Takane elbows Shou playful, referring to the song currently  “They do live performances at this place nearby, you should see them perform. They are really great and sound a lot better live than on a phone speaker” 

“Ehhh??” Takenaka comes up behind Takane, wrapping his arms around her neck playfully. “Going to concerts is our thing, Tsubomi-chan, what are you inviting a third wheel for?” 

“Don’t be a gatekeeper, Momozo.” Takane giggles. “Basement concerts are more fun when they are filled up.” 

“That is true.” 

Takane texts Shou a link to a guide to get tickets to the local concerts, and when the album ends Takenaka switches to a more familiar song, the three of them singing along like they had gone out for karaoke instead of wandering the neighborhood at night. Unfortunately the party comes to an end when the door of one of the houses they pass opens up, and they get screamed at for being public nuisances. Filled with primal, youthful terror, the three book it out of there, running until the house is far out of sight. 

When the fear leaves their system, all that's left is laughter. They collapse on a bench next to a bus stop, faces red, laughter fading into silent shaking. 

“That was fun.” says Shou, face sore from smiling. 

“Maybe next time we should have our parties somewhere less inconvenient for people trying to sleep.” Takane wipes tears from her eyes, words shaky with humor. 

“There's a big parking lot outside an old closed down computer store right next to Serizawa’s apartment. We could probably do anything there without anyone hearing us.” Says Shou. 

“Who’s Serizawa?” Takane asks.

“Oh he’s uh, my uncle.” 

“Oh.” 

They remained at the bus stop until they all caught their breath. Takenaka puts his earbuds back into his ears, the night silent. 

“I gotta get back home.” says Takane 

“Me too.” Takenaka agrees

“Yeah I should also head back.” Shou fiddles with the keys looped onto his jeans, fingering the key to Serizawa’s apartment. Shou spent so much time in Seasoning City, especially on the weekends, it became easier to just spend Friday and Saturday nights sleeping on Serizawa’s couch.  

“This was fun.” Takenaka stands up, patting Shou on the shoulder. “I’m serious, we should hang out more.” 

The path from acquaintance to friendship proves itself beautifully short. 

“Well, I’m off, goodnight boys.” Takane skips away, giving a cute wave goodbye. 

“Hey aren’t you forgetting something?” Takenaka chases after her, grabbing her and spinning her around playfully. Takane laughs, smiles, then pecks Takenaka on the lips. Shou stares, eyes wide and jaw dropped. Takenaka laughs when he sees him staring as Takane leaves them. 

“What? Surprised I have a girlfriend? Surely I don’t come off as too much of a loser for a cool girl like Tsubomi-chan.” 

“It’s just that… I thought Takane was Shigeo’s girlfriend!"  

“What! No, those two are just friends.” 

“But, but they hold hands and-” 

“They’re friends, and I’m not the kind of loser who gets jealous of his girlfriend holding hands with her childhood friend.”

Shou is someone who understands what love is in theory. He knows from TV, comic books, and the pretty girls Shimazaki would sneak into the Claw HQ. He knows it from faded memories of his parents when they still loved each other and from spying on classmates who sneak kisses after class. 

“Well,” Takenaka. “I’m not going to dig into… all that. But I guess if you thought Tsubomi-chan was Kageyama-kuns girlfriend, that whole display would be pretty confusing.” 

Shou remembers exactly what type of esper Takenaka is. 

Takenaka walks down the road in the opposite direction Takane had gone, passing Shou. “Hey, fun fact for you. Tsubomi-chan is one of the few people I can’t read the mind of very well. I don’t why that is, but my theory is that she’s just too stubborn to let just anyone into that pretty head of hers. It’s nice how quiet it is around her. I only get to see as much as she wants me to.”

“Is that why you like her?” Shou asks. 

“What? Nah that’s just a bonus. I like Tsubomi-chan because she’s super cool and fun to be around.” 

Shou takes his hamster out of her cage, and carefully places her in Ritsu’s cupped hands. Ritsu looks at the small rodent in his hands, thumb stroking her fur. 

“Isn’t she cool?” Shou asks. 

“Yeah.” 

They both sit on the floor of Shou’s room. His mother is at work, leaving the house empty except for the two boys. Ritsu hands the hamster back to Shou. 

“I’ve never had a pet.” says Ritsu.” Well, except for Dimple. Do evil spirits count as pets?”

“I think so, yeah.” Shou agrees. “There is this guy, what was his name? He keeps evil spirits as pets.” 

“Oh I remember him, the scar from claw.” Ritsu nods. “I don’t remember his name either.” 

Shou pets his hamster, digging into her memories. “I think it's Matsou?” Minori told him how she hangs out with him sometimes. The two of them are still hunting down the evil spirit that had tortured her a year ago.  

It was rare that Ritsu came to visit him at his house. Shou was more willing to take a train to Seasoning City where all his friends lived than any of them were to take a train down to the more rural fringes of Cuticle City. Shou liked how much nature surrounded his mom’s house. She worked from home all but two days a week as a graphic designer or something, and the land here was cheap. Shou’s mom had bought him a bike, but mostly Shou flew to the rundown train station into the cities. It was faster that way. 

Shou enjoyed his rare sleepover with Ritsu. The two of them both already changed into pajamas. Shou turns on an anime on the tv in the living room to play in the background as they build a gundam together. “I saved this so we could build it together.” 

“You did?” Ritsu squinks at the instruction manual, floating some smaller pieces in the air.

“Yeah!” 

They get distracted by the tv multiple times while building, which slows down their progress by a lot. They lie on the floor, eating candy while carefully connecting pieces of a plastic robot with their telekinesis. Ritsu grabs the remote, switching the channel when a real bad anime replaces the battle shonen they had been watching. Eventually when the gundam is complete, they pull out video games, knocking shoulders as they compete in mario kart. 

Shou’s mother eventually comes home, dropping grocery bags on the kitchen counter. “Shou baby help me cook dinner.” 

Ritsu joins them, he and Shou end up in a competition of who can cut the vegetables for their curry the cleanest with only telekinesis. The game makes the progress of cooking take longer, but it’s more fun that way. 

Shou and his mother had been using cooking as a way to bond. It was the thread that was stitching their previously strained relationship back together. Shou still didn’t always get along with his mother, she hated his plans to drop out of highschool and wished he would at least try to make friends at his own school instead of spending his off hours a city away. She was conflicted over Serizawa’s entire existence, but those two at least got along and she was grateful the man got Shou to study for the first time in his life even if barely. 

Shou's mother liked Ritsu, that much Shou knows for sure. Ritsu is polite and studious, the perfect good influence on Shou. he had even caught the two talking together without him. Ritsu seemed genuinely interested in whatever it is that mom does for work. 

“Now boys, for the fruits of our labor!” she says, serving both of them their bowl. 

The curry is perfect. 

They watch a movie together, all three of them. Shou sits on the couch, squished between his mother and Ritsu. Godzilla destroys Tokyo and Shou couldn’t be happier. 

That night they lie side by side in Shou’s bed. The bed is shoved against the wall, right below the window. Shou’s nose brushes up against Ritsu’s cheek as he whispers secrets into his ear. He tells Ritsu about the stray cats he’d met, and the time he caught a pigeon in New York and hid it in his room for a month before anyone noticed. Ritsu tells him about how he would steal silverware as a kid, bending them with his hands. 

Shou tells him about how sometimes Minegishi would be nice to him, how when he was eight and Minegishi was twelve they would sometimes play with Shou, and he tells Ritsu he’s been debating whether or not he should talk to Minegishi at the flower shop they work at now. 

Ritsu tells him about the student council, about how Kamuro unfairly targeted the ‘undesirables’ at the school, framing them for crimes for his own stress relief. About the guilt Ritsu still felt having aided in all of that. 

Shou tells him about the time he rearranged Shimazaki’s music collection as a cruel prank, and got his nose justifiably busted for it. Shou thought the story was a funny memory of his own bad choices backfiring in his face, but Ritsu doesn’t think it’s very funny, no matter how much Shou tries to tell him about how Serizawa ended up having to help Shimazaki get everything back in order and that Fukuda has immediately healed Shou’s face.

They talk about minecraft, Shou making Ritsu promise to join his server. Hatori was also in the server, and the only way Shou had to contact him anymore was by leaving messages in his minecraft house. That one Ritsu did think was funny.

They fall asleep holding hands, then wake up in a tangled pile. 

They eat breakfast together, then Shou walks with Ritsu to the train station. Ritsu heading home, and Shou to study with Serizawa. 

“I’ve been practicing my teleportation.” Shou tells him as they sit side by side in the train. They are the onlys ones in the car. 

“How’s that been going?” 

“Badly, but I think I just need more practice.” 

“Maybe you can ask Teru-kun for advice. He’s pretty good at teleporting.” 

The name drop shouldn’t make Shou feel the way it does. “Yeah, I should.” 

Shou graduates from middle school, and finally is allowed to drop out of school. 

He celebrates by allowing Minori to drag him on one of her demon hunting adventures and introduce him to her friends. 

Minori’s friends turn out to be an old guy named Yoshioka and a former Claw member, Matsuo. The latter of the two is horrified to be reintroduced to Shou, but Minori assures him Shou is her friend and isn’t going to settle and grudges with Matsuo. Shou isn’t sure what grudges Matsuo thinks he has against him.

They two painfully long train rides out to some vacation hotel that was getting bad reviews by people complaining about mysterious horrible nightmares. Minori explains how they had been investigating any leads that could allow them to finally capture Mogami, the demon that once possessed Minori. She phrases in a way that makes it seems like she was only possessed for a day and not nearly a year of torture. 

“Come on, just one.” Minori wines. 

“Absolutely not. Your lungs are young and clean, keep them that way.” Yoshioka scolds. 

“I deserve a reward for finally graduating middle school!” 

“How about I give you one when you graduate highschool, Minori-sama.”

Minori sneers, sitting back in her seat with a huff and a pout. Shou is backwards in his seat, knees where his butt should be as he gazes out the window at the passing farmland while Minori and Yoshioka argue. Matsuo fiddles with his bottles and canisters, a pile of stickers on the seat next to him as he carefully customizes the bottles. 

By the time they get to the hotel, it’s evening. Minori hands Yoshioka a card, and he buys two rooms for the night, one for him and Matsuo, and one for Shou and Minori. 

Shou isn’t sure how his mom would feel about him having a sleepover with a girl, but the room has two separate beds and it’s so they can hunt ghosts. Shou and Minori argue over the hotel tv, Minori wanting to watch stupid shojo anime about magical girls, and whines like a baby when Shou doesn’t want to watch Sailor Moon instead of Naruto. They end up watching some local channel with a weird reality tv show neither of them recognize or understand for a few hours then leave the room to raid the vender machine in the lobby, as neither of them had eaten dinner that night.

Full of candy and soda and snacks they finally fall asleep, nearly forgetting about the mysterious nightmare demon. 

So it turns out Minori is an esper. The dream world they end up in is strange and confusing, but Minori manages to break apart the walls of the strange metaphorical stage play, setting fire to the curtains. When they finally wake up, they follow the sound of inhuman screaming to a vase in one of the hotel rooms, smashing and allowing Matsuo to capture the evil spirit within. 

In the morning the hotel manager thanks them tearfully, having seen them fighting the evil spirit in his dream last night and offers to make their stay on the house. Yoshioka has to insist on paying not only for their rooms, but also for the vase. Minori has more than enough allowance to pay for everything. 

“Hey.” Minori stops him from walking away at the train station after returning back home. “I was serious about coming to my house to study with me.” 

Despite her words, she looks uncertain. 

“You really want that?” Shou asks. 

“Yeah, we uh.” Minori looks like a nervous dog, eyes wide, despite her face pointing at him her eyes were so far to the right the white of her eyes formed half moons. “We are… friends, right?” 

“Yeah, I think so.” 

“Good.” 

“I already have my highschool picked out.” Ritsu tells him, as they walk together. “I’ll be busy studying more, so we will probably won't be able to hang out as much.” 

“Well then I’ll make sure to make the most of summer break, you can spend it at my house,” Shou tells him, “and we can explore the woods together.” 

Ritsu looks thoughtful at Shou’s plans. “That might be fun, but I probably shouldn’t spend my entire summer at your house.” 

“Why not?” 

“Well, we will probably get sick of each other if we spend that much time together. And your mom might not approve of me temporarily moving in like that.” 

Actually Shou’s mother would be more than happy to have Ritsu living with them. At least Shou thinks she would be. Shou can imagine that perfect summer in his mind's eye, and just has to make sure Ritsu wants in on it all. 

“Hey guys.” 

Shou and Ritsu both turn around to see Teruki coming up behind them. The third character joining the party pats Ritsu on the shoulder with a grin. 

“What’s up?” 

“We’re just hanging out.” says Ritsu, voice a touch quieter then it had been when he was talking to Shou. 

Teruki slips between them, turning so he’s walking backwards in front of them, hands in his pockets posed playfully. “Can I join you?” 

“Sure.” Ritsu nods.

Shou doesn't say anything.  

The three of them make small talk, most about school. Shou feels himself sliding out of the conversation as Hanazawa realizes Ritsu is going to enroll in the same highschool he goes to. The shape of the group shifts, Ritsu stepping forward to stand next to Hanazawa as they walk, Shou following behind them. 

Shou watches them as they talk, making plans to study together. He sees how Ritsu shrinks into himself, an edge of shyness almost unnoticeable in his shoulders. Shou takes out his phone, and sucks air between his teeth in surprise at a non-existent notification. 

“Hey guys, bad news.” Shou stares at his phone, at the notification that doesn't exist. “I forgot I was supposed to meet up with- I had plans to- ugh I have to go. Sorry Ritsu.”

“Uh, that’s okay, go do… whatever it is you have to do.” 

“Haha yeah, my fault for double booking. At least Hanazawa-kun showed up so I wont be ditching you completely, Ritsu.” 

“I’ll take good care of him.” Hanazawa jokes.” 

“Uh, yeah, bye Shou.” 

Shou could see a slight glimmer of recognition in Ritsu’s eyes as he turned away, that he knew what Shou was doing, leaving him alone with Hanazawa. Shou doesn't look back as he jogs away, the third wheel breaking off and rolling away. 

Shou wanders the town, debating with himself if he should go back home or not. He could go to Spirits and Such to harass the old men and hang out with Kurata, that was always an option. But also those three might be out on a job, leaving the office empty. So instead Shou cheats on a gachapon to get the Hamtaro keychain he wanted, and watches the birds in the park. 

It was here that he spotted Kageyama with a girl with short brown hair. The two were holding hands and eating pocky together. Shou watches them from a distance, trying to decide if they were on a date or not. He already knows that Mob holds hands with girls he’s just friends with, and he doesn't want to make the same mistake he made with Takane. But when the girl feeds Kageyama a stick of pocky Shou decides that was very much a romantic girlfriend thing to do. 

Shou wonders if Teru knows about Mob’s girlfriend. 

Shou buys flowers for his mother from the flower shop Minegishi works at. The two of them make eye contact briefly but say nothing to each other.

“Are you sure you don't want to go to highschool?” Serizawa asks. They eat dinner together, an event that usually happens on Friday and Saturday nights during the weekends. This time it's Monday night. It’s spring break, there’s no more time to enroll in an highschool, at least Shou thinks. 

“Yeah, High School is just everything I hate about middle school pushed to the max, and I nearly flunked out of that.” 

“Well, I’m glad you graduated middle school.” 

“So is my mom. Anyways I can always come back later like you have.” 

“It’s not the same.” Serizawa shakes his head. 

“So? It’s not like I need a degree, I have a lot of money. I'm technically a millionaire after inheriting Pop’s fortune even after two thirds of it were taken by the government.” Shou had even given some of that money to Serizawa. “I can just relax from now on. When I turn 18 I’ll get a nice small apartment and just hang out. I might even get a job if it looks fun enough.”

“I guess that’s something…” says Serizawa, still looking unsure. 

Shou wonders if Serizawa will kick him out if he starts spending way more than just the weekends on his couch. As much as the big guy loved him, he had to have a limit somewhere, and Shou was a guest in his home afterall. 

Shou quickly learns that he isn't the only person invading Serizawa’s house. It turns out it's not uncommon for Kurata and Hanazawa to follow him and Reigen around like ducklings. At least it makes sense for Kurata considering she’s their employee, but apparently at some point Hanazawa had decided to insert himself into that whole… dynamic. 

“Wait, he’s also coming?” 

Shou’s backpack has been converted into an overnight bag. The five of them are standing around the train station, waiting for the train. 

“It’s bad enough Teruki keeps inviting himself on these trips, you know I’m your employee, not these boys right?” Kurata whines. 

“Oh don’t be selfish Tome-chan, the more the merrier.” Hanazawa laughs. “I’m happy you’re coming along, Shou-kun.”

“How is he even supposed to fit into the family discount scheme? He doesn't look like either of you, how are you going to pass him off as your son!” Kurata stomps her boot in frustration. 

“The what?” Shou stares in confusion. 

“Quite a few places give a discount to families.” Says Serizawa, unhelpfully. "Like the hotel." 

“So… you and Reigen pretend to be married and Hanazawa-kun and Kurata-chan are your kids? But you aren’t old enough to be our parents.”

“N-no!” Serizawa laughs nervously, embarrassed. 

“No, that would be weird.” Kurata gives him a look. “Serizawa-san pretends to be my dad and Reigen-san pretends to be Teruki’s dad. And of course they aren't old enough to be our parents, it's called lying." 

Well that makes slightly more sense. 

“We’ll just be paying more to include Shou. Just say he’s your schoolmate, that's barely a lie.” says Reigen. “But it should be worth it, the money in this job is worth the extra help, we will even be teaming up with Shinra-san for this. It's a big job so everyone should be prepared.” 

It's another long train ride, the second in as many weeks for Shou. Hanazawa buys a lot of snacks for himself and the other two teenagers, playfully smacking away the hands of the adults. Reigen bops Hanazawa lightly on the head, joking about taxes as he grabs two sandwiches, handing one to Serizawa. 

As the ride continues, the adults both fall asleep, and Kurata joins them, falling asleep against Serizawa’s side. Watching them makes Shou feel an emotion he doesn’t understand but doesn’t like, so he stays on the bench across the aisle from them, across from Hanazawa. Hanazawa smiles politely, and gives him a candy bar. 

“So how many of these trips have you gone on?” Shou asks.

“Three so far.” Hanazawa bites into his own candybar. “The first time it was with the old men and the Kageyama brothers. We went to a hotspring to solve the mystery of this weird other world and Serizawa almost failed Reigen’s test.” Hanazawa chuckles at the memory.

“And the second?” 

“Oh that time I tagged along with Tome-chan, she had already been on a few trips with them and was pissy I tagged along. Seems like she’s still territorial. I think she’s scared I’m going to take her job because I’m an esper and she’s not.”

A pretty justified fear, all things considered. Hanazawa was far more useful to the business then Kurata ever could be. 

“So what’s the job, Shinra-san.” 

“Ah yes, Reigen-san, Serizawa-san,” Shinra leads them up a path through the forest, “this job is usually my biggest paycheck of the year. I come and do some cleansing rituals at the shrine, then go home. But this time there’s some sort of curse over the place. Despite how much my power has increased these last two years, I’m nearly strong enough to fix this. So… it with great reluctance…” Shinra looks visibly pained, “split my paycheck with you.”

“Don’t worry Shinra my friend, here at Spirits and Such we always see results!” Reigen promises with an overly complicated thumbs up and a grin. 

“Don't rub it in, you bastard” Shinra grumbles. 

It turns out they aren’t even staying at the hotel, instead camping out in the house near the shrine. They get settled on old futons, after shaking the dust out of them, that is. At first Kurata is quarantined to her own room, but Teruki and Shou quickly grow bored of the grownup talk and Reigen and Shinra’s bickering, and sneaking into Tome’s room. 

They had bought even more snacks in town, which were now piled up around the three teenagers. The window sill was lined with bottles of cream soda, and the three of them were curled around a large bag of caramels Tome had found on sale. 

“What are your highschool friends like, Tome-chan?” Teruki asks. “The girls in your class.” 

“They're alright.” Tome shrugs. “I thought they were kinda boring at first but they ended up being pretty cool. We don’t hang out much outside class though.” 

“That’s cuz you have a job.” 

“Yeah, so instead I get stuck babysitting you.” 

“This is boring.” Shou sighs. “I should have brought my gaming console.”

“Why did you even come, anyways?” Tome asks. 

“Serizawa invited me. Said it would be fun. He lied.” 

“I think this is fun.” says Teruki. “It’s like a sleepover, or camping.” 

“So now what, we tell each other secrets or something?” Tome throws a caramel at Teruki’s face. “Tell ghost stories? Ask each other invasive questions and swear a blood oath to keep everything we did and said a secret forever?” 

“Sounds like fun.” Shou shrugs, only half sarcastic. 

“Okay, I’ll go first,” Teruki grins, and Tome throws another caramel at his face, this one he stops with a small barrier. “Out of all the guys we know, if you had to marry one of them when you grow up, who would you pick?” 

“Boo! Boring question!” Tome protests. 

“Answer the question!”

“Ugh so…. Hmmm.” Tome actually looks thoughtful, considering the question asked. “I guess if I had to pick I’d choose Mob-kun. He’s quiet and I wouldn’t mind living in the same house as him. But if not Mob then Inukawa-kun because I know he’ll be a good husband because he will do everything I tell him to do.” 

Shou tucks what Tome says into a small folder in the back of his mind. 

“Okay your turn Shou.” Tome gives Shou a small shove. “Ask a question.” 

Shou mind blanks, trying to think of a good question. He doesn’t understand the game the other two are playing, and isn’t sure what type of question he should ask. “....Uh, Hanazawa, what do you think of Kageyama-kun’s girlfriend?”  

“Ritsu has a girlfriend?” Hanazawa asks, looking curious. 

“No, Mob.” 

Teruki stares at Shou. “Kageyama-kun has a girlfriend?” curiosity has been replaced with something else. 

“Yeah, awhile back I saw him hanging out with her.” Shou tells him. “I’m pretty sure she was his girlfriend.” 

“If you assume every girl Mob hangs out with his girlfriend you’d think he and Tome were dating.” Teruki chuckles dryly. 

“They were holding hands.” 

“Me and Mob hold hands.” says Tome. 

“She fed him a stick of pocky.” 

A soda bottle rattles, insides bubbling until the cap pops off, flying into the air.

“Yeah, that was probably Emi-san.” Says Tome. “She asked Mob-kun out before, and they walked home together after school for a week before breaking it off. But he asked her out again a few months ago, a little after new years. They've been dating ever since.” 

“Is that so?” Teruki asks. “I didn’t know about that.” 

“That’s pretty weird, you and Mob-kun are pretty close.” Tome says, mouth full of the caramels she shoved inside. “I would have thought he’d have told you he got a girlfriend.”

“Yeah I thought so as well.” 

“Are you jealous?” 

“Why would I be jealous?”   

“Because you like him but he has a girlfriend.” 

A soda bottle explodes. Tome yelps, but Teruki and Shou are still, silently staring at each other. 

“I’m not jealous, I just thought Kageyama-kun and I were close enough that he would tell me if he got a girlfriend.” 

“Oh, okay.” 

Shou understands romance is in theory. He knows it from tv and comic books and movies. He knows it from watching couples on dates and classroom gossip. He knows it from third wheeling on Takane and Takenaka’s dates, from how Shimazaki kept sneaking his girlfriends in Claw HQ to impress them. 

Shou isn’t sure what the evil spirit that cursed the shrine was supposed to be but it filled him with fear and dread he hadn’t felt since he was very small. He stands frozen on the steps, unable to even go inside. The emotions flooding his system were uncomfortably familiar, it was how he felt the first time he disobeyed his father after mother had left them. The terror of punishment if his father found out what he had done. It was how he felt the first time Minegishi smacked him, and Shou realized the older kid would not keep him safe. The feeling when Hatori or Shimazaki terrorized him into keeping their secrets, before he grew numb to their half empty threats and even learned to bite back. 

Then the shrine exploded, long, many jointed arms claws and grabbing at anything. Shou hears a scream, and Kurata is thrown into his arms. He isn't sure whose voice it is that screams at him to get her out of there, away from the monster she has no way to defend herself from. Shou is broken from the trance, and stares at the deep dark pit the arms were clawing out of, the hole that had eaten his friends. Fear is replaced by anger, and Shou wants to throw himself into the chasm and be the nuke that destroys it all. 

But the arms are reaching for them, and Shou decides if the others were dead, he would at least make sure Kurata survives. With his own explosion of power, he repels the arms, launching himself into the forest, arms in a vice grip around Kurata’s body. They go flying, crashing through branches then bushes as the land, cushioned by his psychic barriers. 

They land in a way that Kurata is on top of him. She stares down at him and for a split second Shou wonders if she’s going to kiss him. But she quickly untangles herself from him, standing up. 

“Why did you do that?” she demands, sounding unusually betrayed for someone who’s life Shou just saved. 

"I was protecting you!" 

Tome opens her mouth, as if to protest, then bites back her words. Her face is tight with agitation, but she holds out a hand to help Shou stand up regardless of how she feels about him right now. They walk back to the old dusty house, silent except for Tome's quiet sniffling and the crunch of leaves below their feet. 

"Do you think they are still alive?" Tome asks. 

"I don't know." Shou admits. 

They hole up in Tome's room, eating away at the last of the snacks till even the bag of caramels was empty. Tome builds a makeshift fort inside of the closets and hides inside it, playing a game on her phone. Shou wanders around the overgrown garden, listening to an album Takane had recommended to him. 

The sun sets once more, and Shou makes a decision. He leaves Tome behind, heading back down the forest trail to save their friends. 

Music helps block out telepathy, or at the very least muffle it. Shou turns up the music in his earbuds loud enough to do damage, muddling the voice of the evil spirit, not allowing it to infest his mind with its unnatural terror. He stops right outside the burnt circle in the ground that marks the beast's territory, and prepares himself by breathing in. 

And out 

And in 

And out

A hand grabs his shoulder. Shou screams, pitch much higher than is good for his dignity. Stumbling back and twisting around to come face to face with Kurata. She glares at him, pulling the buds from his ears with a sharp tug. 

"What are you doing?" She asks. 

"I'm going to save them." 

“We don’t even know if any of them are still alive!" Kurata’s voice is shaking. “Are you seriously going to throw yourself into that fucking suicide hole and leave me here alone?” 

Her hands grips his arms, nails digging into his skin so hard it hurts. They're both terrified, unnaturally so, and both on some level aware of that. Kurata’s fear is like fangs sinking into flesh, of jaws locked, unable to be pried open, like the nails threatening to break his skin. While Shou’s is a strange, immature beast of frozen terror at war with the dull rage he is far more familiar with. It is artificial in a multi-layered way, the beast digging down into some forgotten, nostalgic emotion. But it pressed too far and the purpose of its manipulation was made clear. 

“Kurata-chan.” Shou reaches up to touch her face. Tome’s nails twist, still digging into his skin painfully, unnaturally. “Tell me what happened when the evil spirit grabbed them.” 

A single drop of blood drips down Tome’s thumb. 

“Whatever it is, it dragged three espers into its home, two of them are extremely powerful. Now it’s doing everything in its power to keep me away. If they’re dead, they died putting up a good fight. It might survive them but it won't survive me, and it knows that.” 

“But will you survive?” she asks.

“Does it matter?”

Tome finally lets him go, leaving behind bright red marks on Shou’d arms. The fear leaves Shou, and nothing replaces it. 

“Kids, can you lighten up a bit?” a voice interrupts. 

Both Shou and Kurata gasp in shock, turning to see the shrine returned to its previous slightly-run-down-and-not-destroyed state, the previously assumed dead walking out of it. Reigen gives them both a wave. 

“What happened to Teru’s face?” Kurata asks, justifiably. Hanazawa has a nasty scrape that takes up nearly the entirety of the left side of his face. The other boy is red eyed, as if he had just been crying and a bit of blood trickles down from his forehead. 

“Fell on his face, then ended up saving us.” Says Shinra, giving Hanazawa a hard pat on the shoulder. Hanazawa barely reacts, not quite a thousand yard stare. “So it turns out the small summer camp at the bottom of the mountain used to have a test of courage where each year a few kids on a dare would come up and confess their secrets to the spirit that lives in the shrine. Those secrets would feed the spirit and keep it sedated. But when the camp shut down last year, the spirit started getting kinda hungry.”

Reigen grabs Hanazawa lightly by the shoulder, pulling him in. “Listen, what’s said in the cursed lair of an evil spirit stays in the cursed lair of an evil spirit. You don’t have to worry about any of us gossiping.” 

“If it eats secrets why couldn’t Reigen-san feed it?” Shou asks. “Surely he has enough secrets to feed it.”

“Ah well we better get back and find that first aid kit to get you fixed up.” Reigen tells Teruki. Teruki doesn't say anything, but tilts over till he’s leaning against Reigen’s shoulder. He pulls Teruki along as they walk back down the mountain trail. 

Back at the house, Reigen makes Hanazawa sit down on the stairs, kneeling down in front of him as he carefully washes the dirt from his wounded face and dabbing disinfectant before carefully applying bandaids. Shou watched the strange ritual, the gentle way Reigen touched the boy, intently careful in his movements. Teru was calm, only wincing slightly at the sting of the medicine. 

Shou finds Serizawa in the closet blanket fort Tome made, fast asleep. The girl herself is tucked up next to him, back to playing a game on her phone. Shou can tell Serizawa used up a lot of his own power in the cursed shrine, he was familiar enough with the man’s aura to see how it was thin and frayed like torn fabric. The scene tugs at not-so distant memories of finding the man asleep on the floor clutching an umbrella while his old boss was at meetings that he didn’t need him for. 

“Ahh now I have to find a way to feed the thing.” Shinra complains. “I’m not giving up that paycheck but damn if the job didn’t just get harder.”

When Shou checks back on Hanazawa and Reigen, the esper had also fallen asleep. Reigen carries him over to his futon, laying him down carefully. “So, do we go back now and sleep on the train, or stay another night?” 

“I told my parents I would be gone for two nights,” says Tome, “I was supposed to hang out at Teruki’s place tonight.” 

“You’ll probably be stuck here if you can’t wake Serizawa up, unless you plan on carrying him.” says Shinra. “I, on the other hand, will be taking my leave now. I’ll send you your half of the check by the end of the week.” 

“Hey hey hey don’t abandon us here.” Reigen protests irritably. But Shinra was already out of the door.

Serizawa and Teruki slept for the rest of the night. Reigen pulls a pack of cards out of his bag and spends the evening teaching Tome and Shou how to play, and cheat at, poker. They gamble the cool looking rocks and acorns picked up in the garden, and by the end Tome had won most of it. 

It turns out Shou loves concerts. Music so loud he feels the vibrations in his bones, the thrilling exhilaration flowing off the crowd that moves in waves. It was near impossible to think about anything other than the feel of the music echoing off the walls into his soul. 

Takane’ eyes light up when she sees the merch booth is selling cassettes tapes. “I already bought the album on bandcamp, but I have a small collection of cassettes. A lot of these bands have been selling cassettes, they’ve really made a comeback in the indie scene.”

Shou briefly remembers Shimazaka’s music collection, a large shelf of CDs and a smaller one full of cassettes and multiple boxes of records. But he shakes his head, dismissing the thought before it goes somewhere unpleasant, like his nose getting smashed into a table. “I’d love to see your collection sometimes.” 

“My collection is bigger.” Takenaka brags, getting an elbow to the stomach from his girlfriend. 

“Only because you inherited it all from your grandpa. You didn't even listen to any of them until after I gave you a walkman for your birthday.” 

Shou makes a mental note to buy a walkman.

Shou waits outside of Ritsu’s school, waiting for his classes to end. He watches from a tree, invisible, at all the other kids milling about, going to clubs or going home. His eyes scan over the growing crowd, trying to spot his target. Then, finally, he sees him. 

“Ritsu, hey!” Shou jumps down behind him, grabbing his shoulder. Ritsu yelps in surprise, stumbling around to face him. Shou gives him a smile. 

“Who’s your friend?” some girl asks. 

“Shou, what are you doing here?” Ritsu asks. 

“Wanted to catch up with my friend.” Shou shrugs. 

“Oh, so he is your friend.” the girl raises an eyebrow. “You two seem pretty familiar.” 

“We met in middle school but ended up going to different highschools.” Ritsu explains. “But we still hang out when we can.” 

“Liiiike right now.” Shou grabs Ritsu’s arm lightly, tugging him towards the gate. 

"Really, that's weird," the girl grabs Ritsu's other arm, "because Ritsu is spending this afternoon with me , actually." 

"Sorry Shou, I already have plans." Ritsu looks apologetic as he pulls out of Shou's grasp. "I already told Nanami we were going to hang out today." 

"Oh, well," Shou bites back something he knows better than to say. He sighs, kicking his toe against the ground. "Are you free this weekend?" 

"Mostly.” 

“Saturday?”  

“Yeah, do you want to hang out then?”

“No, well yes, well-” Shou pulls two concert tickets out of his pocket, hanging one to Ritsu, “here, I’ll swing by your house on saturday and we can go together.” 

Ritsu stares at the ticket. “Oh, cool.” 

“Well, I guess I’ll leave you two alone now.” Shou chuckles, walking backwards. “See you on Saturday.” 

“Yeah, see you later.” 

Takenaka told Shou once why he liked concerts so much, how the music and the crowd would turn everyone’s thoughts and feelings into a sort of white noise, the near unity of everyone’s hearts and minds even just for a little bit. It was one of the few times Takenaka enjoyed being a telepath, hearing the song not only from the speakers but also layered over echoing from everyone’s minds in a way that was impossible to recreate in audio. 

He would know, he’s tried. Takenaka invited Shou into his room once, showing him the audio files from his music editing program. He uses it to clip sounds together or remix pre existing songs into new ones. 

“It’s a hobby.” Takenaka shrugs. 

“These are like doodles, but with noise instead of drawings.” Shou clicks on one of the files, which reveals itself to be a bunch of minecraft cave sounds stitched together with a drum beat layered over it.

“Yeah, I guess you could call it that.” 

Shou liked the band playing that night, Takane had lended him her cassette of their album but now Shou could buy one for himself. But he’s pulled out the near hypnotic trance of the music by Takenaka grabbing his arm, pulling him up against him. Shou’s back hits Takenaka’s chest and his mouth nearly touches his ear.

“Ritsu left the venue,” Takenaka speaks directly into his ear, loud enough to be heard, “you should probably go after him.”

Panic spikes in Shou’d chest, and he swims through the crowd, bumping against the shoulders of strangers in his escape. Jogging past the merch booth he finds Ritsu on a bench outside the venue, folded over so his forehead touches his knees. Shou slows down as he reaches Ritsu, the music of the concert muffled in the background. Sitting down next to the other boy, he places a hand on his back. “Are you okay?” he asks. 

Ritsu untangles himself, sitting up so he can look at Shou. “y-yeah. I'm fine. It’s just very loud in there, and all the people kept bumping against me and- … I’m sorry.” 

“It’s fine.” 

Ritsu pulls his legs up, wrapping his arms around them and tucking his chin between his knees. “I don’t really listen to music all that much, all of this is really weird to me.” 

They sit in silence for a bit. Shou considers pulling out his phone and earbuds, saying something about how they can listen to the song out here instead, where it's quiet and no one is around. He can see the scene inside his head, shoulder to shoulder trying to share the earbuds. But the scene is unrealistic, and Shou says something else instead. “I’m kinda hungry, want to get something to eat?”

“Yeah, there’s a WcDonalds down the block.” 

They both get chicken nugget happy meals, if only to get the toys. Two bunny keychains, they end up trading so Ritsu can have the blue one and Shou can have the red. The food is gone quickly, trash thrown out and they return to the streets. They hold hands as they walk. 

Shou pulls out his phone, seeing a text from Takane asking where they went. He replies, telling her Ritsu wasn’t having fun so they left. She seems understanding. 

“I'm surprised you're friends with Takane-chan and Takenaka-kun.” Ritsu tells him. “I usually think of them as Mob’s friends, not yours.” 

There's an unspoken question layered beneath his words. 

“Yeah we’ve been hanging out.” Shou shrugs. “Sometimes I forget they are your brother’s friends. Didn’t you and Takenaka hang out sometimes?” 

“Yeah sometimes. But we were never close.” 

“Friendship is weird.” says Shou. “it's like a giant web of people who know each other, and you never know how tangled up it is until you get everyone in a room together.” 

The happy meals prove too small for two fifteen year old boys in the middle of growth spurts, and they hunt down another place to feed. They find some place selling dumplings, shoving their faces. The dough is soft and chewy beneath Shou’s teeth.

“I missed this, hangout with you, we need to hang out more.” Shou declares, balancing on top of a fence like a tightrope, Ritsu walking along on the sidewalk below. 

“Not all of us are dropouts like you, I’m trying to get into a good college,” says Ritsu, “high school is important, and a lot harder than middle school. I need to work harder to stay at the top of my class.” 

“That sounds like a lot of work.” 

“It is.” 

Shou spends a lot of time wandering around. Not going to school anymore has given him a lot of freetime, the kind he hasn't had since the stretches of time between going on errands for his dad aged ten to thirteen. He’s always been good at navigating, but by now he’s nearly memorized the layout of Seasoning City. 

He didn’t expect to run into Serizawa and Minegishi in a diner. He spots them in the window, turning invisible almost instinctively. They’re sitting across from each other in a booth, picking at their food and talking. 

Shou sneaks into the diner quietly, sneaking past the two and sliding into a booth behind them. Once he’s out of either of their line of vision, he allows himself to be visible again. He keeps his aura restrained, tense and focused hoping he remains undetected. 

“He seems very nice,” says Serizawa. “I’m happy for you, I hope you know that.” 

“I didn’t expect to stick around this long.” Minegishi’s voice sounds different in a way Shou isn’t sure how to describe, but if didn’t recognize them through the window Sho’s not sure he would have realized it was their voice. “But I’m also unsure what I thought I would be doing by now, back then. It sort of feels like I’ve dug myself into a hole and couldn't move even if I wanted to.” 

“Not the worst place to plant yourself.” 

“Don’t you dare.” 

“Sorry, easy joke.” Serizawa lets out a small laugh. 

Who is ' he' ?  Shou takes a menu from the waiter, realizing he's in some sort of American breakfast themed restaurant. The way those two were talking, it was almost like Minegishi had settled down. 

Wait. 

Did…

Did Minegishi get married ? 

The idea made Shou's head spin, but it made the most sense with the context clues he'd been given so far. He orders some sort of fancy waffle dish he has vague memories of eating at an American restaurant years ago. 

“Listen, tell me you're not still working for that Reigen guy.”

“I’m not, actually.” 

“Good, so what are you doing now?” 

“I’m working with Reigen. We’re partners now, technically speaking I have half ownership over Spirits and Such.” 

“I can’t tell if that’s better or worse.” 

 “Reigen has proven himself to be a very dear friend.” 

“Again, I can’t tell if that’s better or worse. Honestly he reminds me too much of Suzuki for his own good. Forgive me if I’m sure you are making the right choice, settling down with a guy like that.” 

“You make it sound like we’ve gotten married.” 

“Are you sure you haven’t?”

“Reigen-san is a very dear friend.” 

“If you say so.” 

The two lapse into silence. Shou can hear the sound of silverware against plates and the more distant sound of chatter from other patrons. Eventually the waiter comes back and serves Shou his waffle. 

“Gramps has been good to me. His grandkids call me their cousin, I’m pretty much a part of their family at this point.” Minegishi says, voice weirdly soft. “It feels wrong, but I'm scared to lose it.” by the end their voice was almost a whisper. 

Oh. that made more sense. 

The two kept talking, small talk mostly, back and forths catching up on each other’s lives. Shou finishes his meal, but remains in his booth, unsure if he should leave. Then, Minegishi stands up, stepping out of the booth, and Shou’s eyes widen. 

Shou had recognized them from a quick glance and the unique feel of their strange aura, but now looking directly at them it was clear how much Minegishi had changed. They had switched to a dark magenta hair dye, and said hair had grown out to what must be past shoulder length, tied back with a flowering vine. They are wearing a light green button up blouse and jeans with patches on the knees. As they walked past Shou, their eyes landed on him briefly, but there's no look of recognition within them. Minegishi simply walked past without noticing Shou. 

Shou looks into the diner window, staring at his own reflection. He sees his band shirt and fingerless gloves, and the hair he hasn't cut since he shaved it over a year and a half ago. He wasn’t straightening it anymore either, natural curls tumbling down almost to his chin. He’s also gotten a lot taller in just the last few months. 

It’s strange how quickly things change, yet stay still all at once. 

Shou knocks on Ritsu’s window, grinning as he stares out at him, then opens the window to let Shou inside. Shou sits on the window sill, grinning.

“What are you doing here?” Ritsu asks.

“Come on, I used to constantly sneak into your room.”

“Been awhile since you’ve done that.” 

“I know, and I decided to fix that.” 

Ritsu looks uncertain, glances around his room, then pushes Shou out the window. Shou falls a few feet before catching himself in time to see Ritsu climbing out to join him. The window close behind them, Ritsu pulls Shou away from his house. 

“Nice night.” Shou chuckles. 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

The full moon shines brightly in a clear sky which covers the town like a lightly speckled blanket due to the light pollution blocking out most of the stars. They hold hands as they wander the streets. 

The practice wrestling moves in the grass beside the river, tumbling around in the dirt and getting grass stains on their clothes. Shou doesn't need to use his powers to flip him over his shoulder as long as Ritsu lets him. They roll over each other, tangible, physical, youthful, like puppies in a pile. Laughter seems to almost echo across the water in the empty night. For a moment, they were the only two people who existed in the entire world. 

“Hey Ritsu?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Hmmm, nevermind.” 

Ritsu nudges you. “Tell me.” 

“Is Nanami your girlfriend?” 

“No.” Ritsu says quickly, sitting up. “Why did you think that?”

“Well, you’d rather hang out with her than me.” 

“No?” Ritsu stands up, standing over Shou with his hands on his hips. “Now you’re just making shit up. I just didn’t want to suddenly cancel my plans with her for you since we already hang out a lot.” 

Shou decides to not bring up the fact they had been hanging out a lot less often these days. 

Shou stands up, and they start walking again. The moonlight fills the world with sharp shadows, inky black and anything hiding within are invisible to the world. In the face distance he can hear unseen cars, the park is empty but they feel strangely visibly in the contrasting black and white of the night.

“So you don’t like her that way?” 

“No, I’m not sure I even like girls that way.” Ritsu admits.

That gives Shou a bit of pause, as he processes the implications of what he was just told. “Are you gay?”

“What?” Ritsu turns around, facing Shou. They aren't walking anymore. “I- I don't know? Are you gay?”

 “Haven't really thought about it.” Shou shrugs. “I know you like guys and you kinda just said you don’t like girls so…” 

“I don't know if I like girls!” Ritsu throws his arms in the air. “I don't know! I don't know okay?? I- it’s complicated and I haven’t figured it out yet.” 

They stand silently for a pause, then start walking again. They aren’t going anywhere specifically, just wandering aimlessly, just avoiding anyplace still populated. They walk up some steps to nowhere.

“Besides, you didn’t answer my question.” says Ritsu, tone accusatory.

“What question?” Shou snaps back.

“Are you gay?” 

“I told you, I haven’t thought about it.”

Ritsu seems half satisfied with that at most. Two boys find silent solidarity in a shared unknown, or so Shou hopes that what they have.

“Do you still have a crush on Hanazawa-kun?” 

Shou regrets asking the moment the words leave his mouth. 

“Why?” 

“I'm just curious. Do you think you might ever ask him out for real, you two do go to the same highschool now.”

“It's never going to happen.” Ritsu presses his palms into his eyes. “He’s obsessed with my brother.” 

“You’re brother has a girlfriend, so-” 

“I don’t want to be rebound because he couldn't have my brother.” Ritsu cuts him off. “It makes me feel like I'm back to being a shitty thirteen year old living in my brother’s shadow when I think about it for too long. He’s always going to be Mob’s friend first, anything involving me coming second.” 

“So you’re just never going to ask him out?”

“Nope.”

“Even though you like him?”

“Pretty much, there’s no point in asking out a guy if you know he’s going to say no, or worse, say yes.”

Shou invites Takenaka over for the summer. Then, he invites Takane as well. 

He meets them at the train station, both dragging suitcases behind them. Takane lights up when she sees Shou waving to them, running forward to give Shou a one armed hug. Takenaka gives a friendly pat on the bat. The three of them pile into Shou’s mom’s car heading for his house.

They introduce themselves to Shou’s mom, shaking hands and bowing politely. Mom lights up when she sees them, and quickly grows approving as they chatter on the ride back. 

The woods behind Shou’s house prove deeper than he had previously known. The sound of cicadas fill the air as they explore, walking across fallen trees and playing music as loud as they want. Takane even brought a mini portable speaker. Sweat from the heat drips down the back of Shou’s neck as he laughs. 

They find a stream in the woods behind Shou’s house, with a part that’s wide and deep enough to swim in, beneath a small waterfall. 

“Good thing I’m wearing a swimsuit.” says Takane, pulling off her shirt. “How about you boys?” 

Shou kicks out of his shoes and strips off his shirt, taking a running jump into the water. Takane shrieked with laughter before joining him with a much smaller splash. 

Takenaka makes sure all their clothes and phones are safe on top of a small boulder before stripping down to boxers and joining them. He slips into the water slower, one step at a time until he’s up to his neck, swimming towards Takane to give her a kiss. 

“I should buy a swimsuit.” Shou laughs. “I didn’t know this was back here.”

“Are you sure we're allowed back here?” Takane asks. “This forest has to belong to someone.” 

“Eh, who cares, unless someone comes to yell at us it’s free game.” 

They put on an album to play over the mini speaker, and Takenaka and Shou take turns jumping off the small cliff and trees into the water below. Takane mostly watches from the sidelines, sitting on the rocks, rating their dives based on an unknowable grading scale. 

“God, it’s so quiet out here.” says Takenaka, shaking the water out of hair. “Barely any people around, I need to move somewhere rural like this when I grow up, if I stay in the city I’ll go insane.”

They return home damp and tired. 

Karaoke follow where the three go, but eventually Mom gets tired of their noise and shuts off the radio for the night. They watch a few movies, stuffing their faces with food, making running commentary at the screen. 

Takane is given the guest bedroom, getting her own room away from the boys. Takenaka stares down at Shou, who sits on his bed looking up at the older boy. “So where do I sleep?”

“Huh?”

“What, you think I’m going to share a bed with you?” Takenaka laughs, tone of someone under the impression that no, obviously they weren’t going to share a bed, that would be silly. “But seriously you got a futon or something..? Or am I sleeping on the couch?” 

“Oh, yeah, lemme ask Mom where it is.” 

They find a spare futon in the guest bedroom closet, rolling out onto Shou’s bedroom floor for Takenaka to sleep. They stay up a little bit chatting, but not very long. 

The next day they all go shopping, Shou jumping into the cart playfully with Takenaka pushing, complaining the whole time about how heavy Shou is. Mom and Takane pick out food, placing groceries carefully around Shou. 

The next day they explore, Shou and Takenaka on skateboards while Takane skillfully circles around them in her roller skates. Her highschool didn’t have a tennis club, so she switched to roller derby. Altho Takane hadn’t given tennis up entirely, as quite a few of her dates with Takenaka centered around the sport. The wheels of Shou’s skateboard bounce against the cracked concrete of the small town roads, taking note of the shops and the sparse places worth hanging out at. 

They buy sodas at the convenience store, and Shou sees more of his so-called home town in one day than he had in the two years he’d lived there. It just wasn't any fun exploring by himself, without any companions in a town he had no emotional attachment to. Seasoning city was where his friends lived, there was motive in keeping track of the routes his friends took and the stores they shopped at and the places they hang out. There was also much more to see, keeping an eye on the esper community and keeping track of the indie music scene. 

He had no idea there was a skatepark in his town, a small one but it existed right under Shou’s nose. Takenaka’s attempts at tricks are mostly failures, not skilled in the art of skateboarding especially next to Shou’s telekinetic cheating and Takane’s skillful agility. Takane does spins and jumps with ease, ever the idyllic agile angel, at least until she finally trips, landing on her butt with an undignified noise. 

Shou does buy a swimsuit, returning to the idealistic oasis behind his house. They hang up a rope from one of the trees, so they can swing into the water. Shou doesn’t remember who taught him how to swim. 

The two of them only stay a week, but Shou wishes they could stay longer. But the week finally ends and Shou waves goodbye from the train station. 

And eventually the summer ends as well. Time moves forward. 

He finally joins Minori for tutoring. It’s a lot easier than regular school, the tutors are more concerned with the two of them actually understanding the subjects then any grades. It reminds Shou of how Fukudo would give Shou school books and try to tutor him. 

He also spends a lot of time messing around with Minori, the girl has more toys than she knows what to do with. The gaming room has all the most advanced systems and popular games, but Minori prefers to drag Shou into the garden and make him throw baseballs for her to hit. Shou switches between using his powers and throwing the old fashioned way. They eat absurdly fancy snacks while watching anime in the oversized home theater and then get dragged back to the library to study again.

Shou helps her get onto the roof of the mansion, the view from above frankly one of the less impressive Shou has witnessed, but it’s the best place to hide from the tutors without outright leaving the grounds, and that would be cheating. 

“Hey guess what I got.” Minori nudges him with her elbow. 

“What?”

Minori grins, pulling a slightly bent cigarette out of her pocket. “Finally managed to steal one from Yoshioka-san.” 

“There has to be easier ways to get a cig than stealing from him. I could steal like, ten packs from the store for you.” 

“Yeah but it won't count if I don’t get it from him .” Minori shoves the cig in Shou’s face. “Come on, light it with your pyro powers.” 

Shou gently pushes her hand away, then sticks his own finger, creating a small flame to light the cigarette. Minori puts in her mouth, breathing in deeply only to immediately start coughing, tears welling up in her eyes. 

“God that’s awful.” 

Shou laughs, Minori glares, then tries and fails to take another drag.

They sit side by side on the roof, staring out at the distant sunset. Minori gives up trying to smoke, simply letting the lit cigarette sit in her mouth limply.

“Hey Minori-chan?” Shou asks.

“Hmmm?”

“When you finally find Mogami, what will you do?” 

Minori doesn’t answer. She simply stares out into the horizon. Shou stares at her, getting enough of an answer just in her silence. The two of them really were a lot alike, in a way that fills Shou with a deep, dark, dreadful feeling. A feeling that tastes like dried blood and things left behind.

Shou somehow randomly runs into Fukuda, Ootsuki, and Higashio again. They go out to a restaurant, and they laugh and chat, Shou’s former subordinates talking about how tall he’s gotten and complimenting his new haircut like they were his uncles at a family reunion. 

They tell him they’ve all been doing well since they last talked. They tell him about their new jobs and new friends, and ask Shou about what he’s been up to, about his new friends, his mother. They are disappointed he dropped out of school but support him anyways. They promise to keep in contact more, to catch up more later.

Then Shou wakes up and remembers he lost contact with all three of them a long time ago and has no idea how to find them again even if he tried. 

He doesn’t realize he was crying until his mother comes into his room, asking what happened. He doesn’t tell her anything, but she hugs him anyway. 

In a sudden case of deja vu, the four esper boys somehow end up hanging out together on the same day. 

Teruki walks beside Mob, Teru chattering away but no longer clinging to Shigeo’s arm like he used to, instead placing a small gap of distance between them. Shou and Ritsu walk side by side, behind the other two. listening to Hanazawa’s rambling story of a very gossiping nature. 

“Hey Mob!” 

“Emi!” 

Mob breaks from the group to catch up to his girlfriend. They peck each other castely on the lips with small smiles. 

“You guys have met Emi-chan, right?” Kageyama asks, turning back to face them. An ever so slight blush of embarrassment from kissing his girlfriend in public brushes his face.

“No, I haven’t.” Hanazawa makes a shockingly good effort to stay polite. Shou feels a level of respect for his maturity considering the situation. “It’s nice to meet you, uh, Emi-san.” 

Kageyama smiles at Emi, Teruki stares at Mob, Ritsu looks at Hanazawa with an expression of vague pity, and Shou looks at Ritsu, unsure how he feels. 

Shou pulls out a key he hasn’t used in a bit, unlocking the door to Serizawa’s apartment. Long ago he had received the key as the repeated use of psychic powers to unlock the door made Serizawa paranoid he might break it by accident. Also it was Serizawa finally admitting he couldn’t keep Shou out if he wanted. 

Shou walks in to the smell of dinner, and expects to see Serizawa at the table eating exactly that. What Shou didn’t expect was for him to already have a guest. Sitting across from Serizawa was none other than Reigen. The two had clearly heard Shou come in, from the way they were staring at him. 

“Shou-san, what are you doing here?” Serizawa asks. 

“Was in the neighborhood.” Shou shrugs. “What’s he doing here?”

“Eating dinner.” Reigen says bluntly. 

Shou picks up a dumpling, putting it in his mouth as one does with dumplings. “You two on a date or some shit?” 

“N-no!” Serizawa laughs nervously. Serizawa always gets flustered when the kids make bad jokes about him and Reigen being a couple, but something was different about his reaction now. “Of course not!” 

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Reigen asks, making a small shooing gesture. “You don’t want to hang out with boring adults, go play with the other kids.”

Are they actually on a date? Shou squints at Serizawa who is red faced and flustered, and Reigen who stares back with deadpan irritation. They are! They are on a date! Shou isn't sure how he feels about that. 

“Well, have fun on your date or whatever.” Shou gives a small wave and walks away, content to give them privacy. He’ll save his reaction to whatever the fuck is happening for tomarrow.

“It- it’s not a date!” Serizawa sputters. Shou can hear Reigen laughing as he puts his shoes back on, leaving the apartment. 

Shou finds Takenaka in the park bouncing tennis balls off the wall by himself. 

“Hey, want a partner?” Shou asks. 

“God, yeah.” 

Takenaka doesn’t have a spare racket, so Shou simply uses small barriers to bounce the ball back at Takenaka. It’s a step up from playing the wall, even if it isn’t much different in effect. Shou stands on Takenaka’s side of the court so they can talk easier. They chat about the latest episode of the anime theyd both been following, and the latest album from the band Takenaka introduced Shou to.

“So was Takane-chan not available?” Shou asks. “Usually you two are always playing together.” 

“We broke up.” 

“What?” Shou forgets to block the ball with his barrier, and it bounces away. He grabs it with telekinesis, bringing it back for Takenaka to serve again. 

“We broke up, we aren’t dating anymore. We are no longer in a relationship.” Takenaka throws the ball into the air and strikes it with force. Shou makes sure it bounces back this time. 

“Why did you break up, did something happen?” Shou’s chest feels tight, for some reason he’s more upset about this update then Takenaka is.

“Dude, chill, it was mutuel. We both decided we didn’t want to date anymore.” Takenaka dashes a few feet to hit the ball again. “It’s not a big deal, it’s not like we were planning on getting married or anything. People break up all the time.” 

“So you’re just okay with Takane not being your girlfriend anymore?” 

“Yeah? Not all relationships last forever. Come on man we are both children of divorce if anyone knows that it should be guys like us.” 

Of course Shou knows that, it’s just that…

“Dude, it's really weird you care more about this than I do.” Takenaka tosses his tennis racket over to Shou, who catches it. “Let’s go buy sodas or something, I need a drink.” 

Shou understands romance in theory, but that’s all they are, theories. 

“Where did you buy your leather jacket?” Ritsu asks.

“Uh, at some shop in England years ago.” Shou picks the jacket up from where it hangs off the back of his desk chair. “Honestly it’s kinda small for me now, I should get a new one. Why?” 

“Fall is here and I need a new jacket. I figured I’d get a nice one since I have money saved up.” The light glints off of his rings as Ritsu fiddles with his latest piercings, a pair of snake bite studs in his lower lip. He had slowly filled up his ears with piercing, testing how far he could go without getting in trouble with his parents or the school. The snake bites had been a dangerous leap, being the final straw that got him trouble with his teachers, Ritsu’s immunity granted by being the top student in the school was still limited. On the bright side, he now had the week off to hang out with Shou until the school realized they had to choose between letting Ritsu doing whatever he wanted or losing their number one student. 

Ritsu’s parents, frankly, could not give less of a shit about their younger son’s fashion choices as long as he kept his grades up.

“Then let's go shopping, we can both get new jackets.” Shou pulls his hair back into a ponytail, and slides his wallet into the pocket of his jeans. 

They flit from store to store, checking out their options. They take turns trying jackets on, picking out any that looked cool or any wacky enough to make fun of. Eventually Shou finds an old field jacket made with good leather and soft cotton in a thrift store, and Ritsu finds a long black double buttoned trench coat with two belts. Satisfied with their finds, they walk through the city, taking in the sites.

It wasn’t quite chilly enough for the jackets, so Shou ties his around his waist, and Ritsu lets his fall off his shoulder, showing off his black tank top. They made for an interesting looking pair, a couple of punks out during school hours. 

Shou reaches over to Ritsu, and hesitantly takes his hand. Ritsu lets him. Nails painted black and bracelets contrast to Shou’s own fingerless gloves.

“I’m going to take a gap year after highschool, before heading to college.” Ritsu tells him. “We’ll have a lot more time to hang out then, if you want.” 

It’s a strange promise, making plans to simply ‘hang out’ two years in the future. But Shou nods. “We should travel, it’s been too long since I last left Japan, or even went anywhere beyond like, two cities. It would be fun to see the world again but that sort of thing is no fun alone, you know?”

Ritsu’s shoulder bounces against Shou’s. “We’ll be adults by then, we could do anything at that point.” 

“Is that a yes?” Shou grins. “You wanna go around the world in eighty days with me, Ritsu?”

Ritsu untangles their hands, and pulls one of his many bracelets off. He grabs Shou’s wrist, and slides the bracelet over it. They stare at each other for a bit, Ritsu not letting go of Shou’s wrist. 

Ritsu’s phone buzzes. Ritsu checks the message he just received, then sighs. “I gotta go. But I should still be free tomorrow.” 

“It’s a date.” Shou chuckles at his own joke. 

“Yeah, a date.” Ritsu’s small smile is a bit more sincere.

Shou watches as Ritsu walks away, long coat swishing in the breeze. The air is cooling down, the mark of another season descending, of time moving forward. 

Shou thinks he might know what love is.