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“Did we really need to take this job, Reigen, sir?” Serizawa asked. He was eying the woods with suspicion, his hands firmly wrapped around the handle to his bag. His face was pale.
Reigen just sighed. “They paid pretty well upfront, so I didn't think much of it. If I'd known it was so far out in the sticks, I would have said no.” He white knuckled the steering wheel, fighting for control as the ride grew progressively bumpier.
After what had felt like forever, Reigen finally spotted a small house. And then another; it was quickly obvious that this was where the village was. He parked just before the village grew dense, not wanting to sacrifice his car to the poor infrastructure.
It looked empty from within the car, but after stepping out, Reigen noticed dozens of eyes on them. It seemed that the village people were afraid.
Reigen leaned in close. “What does it look like, Serizawa?”
He surveyed their surroundings, then pointed somewhere. “There's something small over there. There's also just… a lot of bad energy in the air. It’s unnerving.”
Reigen sighed. “Let's make this quick, then. At this rate we'll have to eat out again, because I won't have time to make dinner.”
“I don't mind midnight dinner again.”
“I definitely do,” Reigen said, already hungry and grouchy (not a good start to a potential client interaction). He started walking in the direction Serizawa pointed.
The farther into the village they traveled, the more noticeable the villagers became. Some became so bold as to step out of the shadows and openly stare; some whispered hushed words, probably panicking about the outsiders.
Reigen just rolled his eyes. “This is the last time I take a request from a fortune teller.
Serizawa grabbed his arm, stopping him. Reigen glanced up. “What?”
“We need to turn here, but…” Serizawa was staring down an alleyway. “There's something much more powerful here… something that's good at disguising itself.”
Reigen's stomach turned over itself, but he had a client to satisfy. He didn't want to refund their money, either, because business had been pretty rough for the past few weeks; warmer months were always like this, since people were outside more and happier. He knew how to survive, but that didn't mean it was pleasant.
So, he carried on, pulling Serizawa along with him. “Nothing you can't handle, I'm sure.”
They reached a small house. Serizawa looked like he would pass out at the slightest provocation, so Reigen pushed him slightly farther away before knocking. “Hello?”
The door opened slowly. Behind it was a young boy, no more than eighteen. The first thing Reigen noticed about him were his eyes, wide and empty. Haunting. He looked tired, only standing by rage and spite alone. Reigen grimaced. He should have asked if Mob was free.
“Did you know about this?” the boy asked, looking Reigen up and down. “No, how could you have?”
“Um… a fortune teller saw something terrible happening here and asked if we'd visit,” Reigen said, remembering his business persona. He held his hand out, a business card perched between his fingers. “Reigen Arataka, greatest psychic of the 21st century, at your service!”
The boy stared blankly at his hand for a moment, so Reigen used that time to push past him into the room. “What are we dealing with here–?”
He cut himself short. The room was dilapidated, filthy, probably abandoned. But that wasn't what gave Reigen pause. He stopped because of the two girls, holding each other in a cage. They looked cold. They were clearly uncared for.
“Ah,” Reigen said. He'd also noticed that the boy had attempted to stop him, grabbing his suit sleeve, but he simply shed his jacket and continued farther into the room. He approached the girls, getting low to the ground. “Hello there. My name's Reigen. What are your names?”
They were younger than Mob had been when he first came into Reigen's office, he noticed with a sharp pain. They looked at him, wide eyed and breathing heavily.
“They're not possessed, are they?” Reigen turned and asked Serizawa.
He could just see him through the open door frame. Serizawa was watching the boy, who now directed a lot of teenage angst Reigen's way. Still, he answered, “Not possessed, but they are espers.”
“I see,” he said quietly. He began moving slowly so they could see every movement of his hands; they shied away from anywhere he touched the cage. He smiled at them. “What happened here?” They didn’t answer. “You know, you two remind me of a very special boy I knew. His name was Shigeo; he had powers too.” He loosened the front of the cage, slowly cracking it open now. “He came to me when he needed help controlling them. I trained him to be the great esper he is today.”
They eyed him curiously. Quietly, one little girl said, “I'm Nanako.”
The other followed suit, “Mimiko.”
“Those are very pretty names,” Reigen said, standing slowly. “I promise I won't hurt you, but you're welcome to stay in that cage as long as you like. I can wait.”
Reigen turned toward the young boy again. His face had fallen into shadow in a very threatening way, but Reigen wasn't fooled. He was angry, but he was scared. It's how all teenagers are. He said, “What's their story?”
“I refuse to talk to useless non-sorcerers anymore,” he snarled, his lip pulled back as if he were ready to attack.
Reigen simply laughed. “Who are you calling a non-sorcerer?”
“I don't see any cursed energy on you,” he spoke despite his threat.
“Don't be stupid. You concealed your energy from us until we were a block or two away, yeah?” He didn’t know what the hell a sorcerer was and could only guess as to what cursed energy meant, but he wasn't a fool. All of these ‘power systems’ were the same. “I trapped my energy so close to my skin, the average sorcerer can't even see it.”
The boy looked like he was about to refute this statement, but recognition flashed in his eyes. He untensed slightly. “The girls… the villagers thought they'd bring bad luck, so they trapped them here to kill them.”
Yikes. Reigen nodded slowly, processing this to the best of his ability. In all of his years, he hadn't heard of anything this extreme happening on a case. His mind was working overtime to find a solution to this new problem. In the meantime, he said, “How'd you find out about it?”
“Doesn't matter. I'm going to kill them.” He said it so simply, so calmly, it sent chills down Reigen's spine. This wasn't an impassioned hyperbole. The gravity of the situation hit him.
He needed to talk him down off the ledge. A child.
Reigen placed his hand on his chin. “That's fair, but what if we just… didn't?”
His eyes flashed darkly. “You don't need to feel sorry. There's no humanity left in them.” He began to fidget in a way that was, to understate things, not reassuring. “All we ever do is suffer, and for what? For them to make more curses? No, they're better off dead… All of them…”
Reigen understood where he was coming from, even if it wasn’t true. He couldn't imagine how awful it would have been if Mob had been threatened in such an overt way, such an innocent and gullible child as he had been. The thought was enough to burn through his chest.
But Reigen was an adult. It was his job to see things more clearly than that. And it was clear to him that this boy needed someone to think straight for him.
“Pump the brakes, there, who said we're suffering? My job is wonderful.” He watched the teenager closely for a reaction. “Are you suffering?”
He looked uncomfortable, the danger gone from his eyes. Reigen could see the fear more clearly now. “No… no, we all suffer. My friend, he died for this. I could die for this–”
“Wait, one of your friends died?” Reigen asked, genuinely shocked. Mob had been in some close calls before, but Reigen had always done his best to protect him, and had gotten better at keeping him away from those situations with time. “Who sent that teenager into a situation where he could die?”
“The… Jujutsu High. Are you not affiliated with us?”
Reigen just clicked his tongue. “See, that doesn't sound like the fault of non-sorcerers. It sounds like a bureaucracy issue,” he said. “What you need to do is dismantle it. Killing the people of this village won't do a damn thing in terms of protecting your friends.”
He stared at Reigen blankly for a moment, as if this thought had never even crossed his mind. Finally, he said, “Who will… fight?”
“Adults,” Reigen said, as if it were obvious. It should have been obvious. “People with enough frontal lobe development that they know how to turn down jobs that will kill them.”
The boy thought about this for a moment longer, then shook his head as if to clear it. “No… no, but the curses existing in the first place is the problem. They're the source of all misery.”
“How so?”
“Well, for one, they taste disgusting.”
“...”
“...?”
“You… eat them?”
“Yes.”
Reigen frowned. “Don't… don't do that.”
“I have to,” he said earnestly. “If I want to fight, I need ammunition.”
“Then don't fight,” Reigen answered. “There. Simple.”
“What will I do if I don't fight?”
“You'll lobby the sorcerer government so that no other teenagers have to fight,” he said. “Look, I can tell you're passionate. Your problem is that you need to direct your energy more efficiently. In the future, you have to think about what you're really angry about, and who's really behind it. Nine times out of ten, it comes back to the government.”
The boy just watched him, his brows furrowed. “I… guess that makes sense. But what about the villagers?”
“Leave them to me,” Reigen said. “What you need to worry about is what we're going to do with these girls. We can't just leave them here.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line, looking past Reigen at them. “I suppose I can take them in.”
Reigen cocked his head slightly. “Um… how old are you?”
“Seventeen. But my friend has a new son around their age too,” he said, watching the girls. “They'll get along just fine.”
“I… see,” Reigen said. He did not want to unpack all of that, so he just held his business card back out. “If you ever need anything, like a trusted adult to ask for advice, feel free to reach out. I’ll even give you a discount on paid services.”
The teenager took the business card, skimming its contents with a vaguely confused expression. “Um. Thanks.”
Reigen nodded and walked out. Before he could leave, though, he turned around. “Hey, kid, one more thing. Do you have someone you'd trust with your life?”
He nodded curiously.
“The next time you want to do something stupid like that, you have to ask yourself if they'd approve, okay? Promise me you'll at least do that.”
He thought about it for a moment, then nodded again. “I will.”
Reigen gave him a thumbs up before he shut the door behind him.
Serizawa asked, “What are you going to do with the villagers?”
“Just watch,” he said. He threw his hands up into the air. “People of the village!” he shouted, “Lend me your ears, for I have communed with gods, and I see truth now!”
He felt significantly more eyes on him, even though he only actually saw a handful of villagers appear. He shouted again, “The gods are not happy with you! They sent you two powerful little girls as blessings, and you have forsaken them! That is why you have been cursed! In order to make up for this great sin you have committed, we are removing these blessings from your village, and your village will suffer! If you ever again encounter one of your kin that is blessed in this way, know that only then have you been forgiven! You must treat them with respect; treat them as the blessings they are! And they will reward you in kind! Otherwise, you will be cursed forever!”
The village people didn't respond, but he heard a low murmur as if they were all discussing amongst themselves. Reigen slumped over, then fell onto Serizawa. “Boy, interpreting for the gods sure is hard work!” he said, loud enough that villagers could hear. Then, quieter, he told Serizawa, “Why don't we hurry home? I could make a batch of curry in time for bed, I think.”
Suguru showed up at Satoru's door late that night. Satoru was bleary eyed and confused when he answered the door, but happy to see him. Suguru hadn't wanted to talk much since Haibara died. “Suguru! What's wrong?”
He unexpectedly fell into Satoru, wrapping his arms around him in a bone crushing hug. “I trust you with my life, Satoru. We're going to fix this.”
Satoru didn't know what the fuck Suguru was talking about, but when he spoke earnestly like that, it was hard to say no. He returned the hug and laughed instead, smiling. “We can do that. Maybe tomorrow, though. I’m beat.”