Chapter Text
It was meant to be a normal afternoon. Reigen and Mob had already done 2 exorcisms, well above the average, and it was nearly time to close up Spirits & Such. Mob was quiet, but no more than his usual comfortable quietness, the kind that Reigen occasionally filled with his own idle chatter inbetween bouts of calm silence.
Then, Mob opened his mouth. “Shishou, you lie a lot, right?”
Well, the silence wasn’t calm now. “Um,” Reigen started sweating, because what? How was he supposed to answer that? “That’s a loaded question, Mob.”
“Oh,” Mob’s eyes shot down to the ground and back up again. “Is it? I thought I was asking a rhetorical question.”
This kid... “Ouch,” Reigen said aloud. “I guess I deserve that. Uh, why do you ask?”
Mob paused. “I didn’t mean it like a bad thing. I mean that you lie to customers about what causes their problems so that you can both solve the problem and keep them happy, and it works out for everyone.”
Reigen felt a touch of warmth. That was a strangely kind way of phrasing the more fraudulent side of his business.
“I think I have a situation that requires that,” Mob finished. He stared up at Reigen, eyes just a shade off his usual neutral expression. His hand shifted in a near-imperceptible fidget. Uncomfortable, then, but not particularly nervous.
“Oh?” Reigen inquired, pretending to sound just a little disinterested. If he implied it wasn’t a big deal, it might put Mob a bit more at ease. The line was so unusual for Mob though, that Reigen felt horribly curious. He could be patient, though. Mob was clearly going to tell him or he wouldn’t have brought it up.
“Yes. It’s a permissions slip. For a school trip.” Mob glanced to the side, as if he was doing something wrong.
It couldn’t be something Mob didn’t think his parents would sign, could it? What else, though? Immediately, Reigen felt sweat gathering on his back again. The Kageyama parents were agreeable, reliable people. They’d have to be, to have raised Mob and Ritsu. What kind of event was this that Mob needed Reigen to sign off for? And if his parent weren’t signing it, wasn’t there a good reason? Reigen shouldn’t get between that, it wasn’t his place- Mob was his student, not his kid (maybe like the nephew or very little brother he always wished he had, but still not his). But what if Mob really, really needed it?
Reigen was trying to word his very panicked refusal in something resembling his usual voice when Mob spoke again, almost missing his words.
“It’s for Hanazawa.”
Instantly, all of Reigen’s worries fled from his brain like air from a tire, only to be replaced by blank, empty confusion. “..What?”
Mob nodded. “My friend from Black Vinegar middle school. His class is having a field trip next Friday.”
“No, no, I know who he is.” How could Reigen not? Hanazawa was Mob’s first esper friend. Sometimes, the kid swept by the office to spend time with Mob, and once in a while, Reigen would pretend to be annoyed as a cover for letting them out early. “But why does he need me to sign the sheet? Do his parents not want him going, or?”
Mob’s lips slipped for a moment into a frown, before returning to something more blank. “His parents are gone. He told me that before, he would make someone from the school gang who was good at forging signatures handle it, but since he’s not using his powers to hurt people now, he can’t make them do it anymore.”
“What!?” Reigen stumbled, jumping at his desk and slamming his hands down with a loud thump. “His parents are-- what!?” And then he paused, trying to calm himself down. “Wait, wait, wait, he’s gotta have foster parents at least, then. Do they not want to sign it?” Maybe the trip was expensive, and they couldn’t afford it. Unless it was exorbitant, Reigen could probably manage that much...
“No,” Mob stared downward, the only visual sign that this was upsetting him too. “He doesn’t have a foster family. His parents are still alive, just gone. They still pay Hanazawa’s rent and put money in his account for food, though.”
Time seemed to stand still. There was no way the situation was what Mob was describing. “And his caretaker? Babysitter? Someone?”
Mob shook his head. “Hanazawa lives alone.”
Oh. “Oh my God.” Reigen attempted to process. “How long has he been doing that? Living alone, with no supervision. Whatsoever.”
Mob poked his face up again. His brows were furrowed and his mouth set flatter than normal. “Since Claw first tried to recruit him, years ago. He didn’t say exactly when.”
Oh. Reigen needed to lie down. How was that kid alive? Did he buy his own groceries? Cook and feed himself? Go to bed at the right time, and wake himself up to go to school every morning?
For that matter, why hadn’t Mob said anything before? Reigen shot him a look. He was nervous now, clamming up in that way he did. Distressed, too. He had to know the situation with Hanazawa was wrong and bad. Maybe the kid told him not to tell, though. That would explain Mob’s hesitance to bring it up. And Hanazawa wouldn’t want attention brought to it, because he was just a child and probably thought it was fine- or at least manageable.
No wonder he was so unhinged when Mob first met him. Hanazawa was fourteen and had no adult he could go to with something as small as a class field trip.
“Okay.” Reigen took a deep breath, and released the tension in his body along with it. “Alright. Of course I’ll sign the slip. Do you have it with you?”
Mob, apparently relieved at the de-escalation, nodded. “Hanazawa doesn’t want it to be a big deal. He was just going to not go, but I said I’d ask.” Leaning over, Mob dug into his school bag and pulled out a paper.
“Of course,” Reigen answered, thinking. He would definitely be doing something, but it was worth deliberating on ‘what’ that something would be. “What’s his parents name, and which one am I impersonating?”
“Oh!” Mob stopped to think. “He always had his Mom’s signature forged, before. I forgot the names, though.”
Reigen considered it. On one hand, how was he supposed to forge the signature of a person whose name he didn’t know? On the other hand, if the school had never seen the Father’s signature, then..
“No matter!” Reigen assured. Then, before he could think better, he signed the slip under his own name.
If anything ever came of it, Reigen was sure he could argue his way out.