#mob sees the good in him teru sees the gay in him(self)

[sallymew4]

finally drew something at least somewhat legit for the pre-mob terumob ive been churning out recently

i like them .i think theyre silly :)

vv bonuses vv

[magicdyke]

I wish that a lot of analysis of teru and mob weren't done within the confines of shipping them together, as it's distracting from the narrative about tsubomi driving mob's motivations overall; in all honesty i find it boring and uncreative to rip these characters of their context and feed a limited analysis of this series for the sake of temporary emotional satisfaction. I find it frustrating, because the entire series is spun around mob's adolescence and ultimately his ability to express and accept himself and his emotions, and overcome the fears he has built up regarding those things. Tsubomi is what sparks his entire character arc-- she's a huge part of the motivation he gets to improve himself every single day. He sees her and trusts her despite her initial impression to most people being that she's a jerk, because he understands and knows in his heart that she's strong-willed and focused. He admires her so greatly for her ability to live exactly as who she is and get what she wants from the world, and she represents every single thing that mob wants to become (something i feel is very transgender of him but i wont go into that right now). Mob's ENTIRE arc is centered around this one massive presence in his life that he's built up so so much, but because tsubomi is a female love interest, she is often disregarded in exchange for the gay ship of the week. She's an endlessly fascinating and unique character, and everything that he does to try and reach her is done of his own volition to better himself. Eventually he learns that pursuing a single person as the sole reason of self improvement isn't good for him, but she is the person that sparks his desire to get better and is the critical motivator of the series. However, I think that a lot of the same things can be said equally about teru. Personally i am of the opinion that teru is equally in love with mob as mob is tsubomi, and their motivations are the exact same. Mob to teru is someone that is unrelentingly kind, loved for who he is, a hard worker, very morally upright, and able to rely on others as they do them. Mob is everything that teru wants to be, and of course he admires that so deeply to the point of close obsession. All of this is so incredibly relatable to the experience of being a middle schooler: first loves (whether romantic or otherwise) are ones that completely change us as people. they form us into the beginning of ourselves, they're our first understandings of our interpersonal relationships and a very big foray into self awareness. Teru is so suddenly captured and affected by mob in a way that rocks him to his core. Of course mob becomes someone for whom he must chase after.

To take either of these ideas and start shipping them together, though, i find it kind of missing the point. romantic love is not always requited, and there's nothing you can really do about that except put in your best effort to be better for yourself and others around you, and keep moving forward with your life. Mob was never supposed to get the girl; it was supposed to show us that, no matter what hardships you will endure in your life interpersonally, there will always be people that love you to help you recover from them. You can always change and grow.

[wyrvel]

asking you this because I trust you to be funny and correct but how do you think canonverse terumob would play out

i think teru genuinely isnt conscious of being desperately in love & once mob expresses interest in love hes like I'm A Wingman Sent From God and starts investing truly uncalled for amount of energy into mob's personal traits which he hungrily digs for and essentially goes on dates with mob to help acclimate him and when mob bombs his date with a girl anyway he says "its ok. i dont feel as bothered about love anymore" <- CLUELESS. reigen who grew up excruciatingly lonely and trained labourously in the art of social convention so he could have water cooler talk with miserable coworkers & dimple who just spies on people a lot both immediately pick up on teru's crush and are like damn...well maybe it didn't work because he might like men you should try seeing if he likes men <- they don't believe teru will score but want to let this poor idiot at least allow himself to shoot his shot. serizawa also wants to know if he likes men and it turns into an extremely serious group thought experiment. tome asks them whats appealing about girls over boys so she can participate. everyone's forgotten why they're doing this they're having a heated debate where no one's allowed to talk about sex because tome and teru are 15 so reigen and serizawa dont have to bring up they are virgins who have never been in a relationship

when teru finally gets it he thinks "well if kageyama-kun can confess then i'd be a terrible rival if I didn't too" and immediately confesses. mob rejects him gently. they're still having the Gay Debate Circle because teru is the only one who actually had a concrete moment of self discovery and so mob is like well. i never thought about that stuff. i just really like hanazawa-kun as a friend it doesnt feel the same like with tsubomi ri-- and tome is like you werent even friends with her. why would you be obsessed with someone you're friends with. and mob is like hm. thats true.

mob enters a Thoughtfulness Black Hole. on tsubomi's sage advice he decides to trial date teru (rousing him from his Defeat Coma) to gauge his feelings. she says if he isnt feeling it they can just break up and because they're such good friends it will be fine. trial never ends. terumob wins. reigen downloads gay porn to his home computer but is too afraid to open it.

[dolugecat]

Stuff in Broccoli Arc I’m need animated and VA’ed rn

Spoilers, obviously 

Mob going from having a little extra self confidence to the most cursed 100% ever (like wtf ONE why are you like this literally nothing is held sacred for you damn not even Mob himself!!)

Tsubomi Insight Alert!!!! Wow! For the first time ever we finally get to learn more about her. Spoilers she’s awesome!

For the first time in years Mob finally talks to Tsubomi and its super casual???! Like our boy low key can actually be super smooth (rarely but its nice)!

“Maybe I have... started to become popular...”

Finally we get scenes that make it more believable that Mob and Ritsu are related: Mob being a bit of a shitty teenager like the 14 year old he is. Very Ritsu-like ./j

“Why don’t you stop doing bad things” 

The fact that Mob did mess up a bit in this arc was fantastic and shows again that Mob isn’t perfect or empathetic 100% of the time (*da dum tss*). He’s not a beacon of purity and that’s actually kind of a lesson he’s been struggling to learn himself. It really humanizes him and strengthens the moments where Mob does get it right. Plus it’s a good foil to Reigen during separation arc and possibly how Tsubomi shut down Mob’s attempts to impress her as kids.

“Every man has to become a cult leader once in his lifetime” - Reigen Arataka, 2016

It will be cool to see Mob and Teru hangout ok actually this is the only part where I understand terumob shippers. Why did Teru tell Mob he is really handsome, I can’t think of a non-gay answer.

The. Shirt.

Just want to emphasize again, The. Shirt.

God just imagine seeing it in color! It’s gotta be even more mortifying than it was in the manga, hope it is. 

Mob is sooooo cringe in this arc. So much so I’d argue it pushes Mob a little into trash son territory. I love it. Cursed Mob is best Mob

I Can’t Believe Y’all Haven’t Figured Out It Was Dimple Yet™

Teru fight

Reigen and Ritsu being in scenes together is always a delight

When its become apparent everyone, even Reigen is brainwashed 

Just seeing the broccoli animated again, I love how wacky this arc is!

Mob progressively getting more and more pissed 

Hearing the debate between Mob and Dimple and seeing it motion will be neat!! From a certain point of view, both Mob and Dimple have flaws in their arguments as well as truths. If you can ignore what Dimple is doing.

Teru fight again (bye bye Teruuuu)

Mob T.T why is he T.T (ok actually I’ve read this arc a million times but I still don’t 100% completely get why Mob was crying)

“That girl is strong...She doesn’t need you Shigeo”

Seeing Mob bitch-slap Dimple like that (although if you think about it too hard its kind of hard to see Mob, typically a gentle pacifist, slap his ghost friend... it is extremely justified but it’s a bit unsettling).

Please for the love of all that’s good please please please animate tch, shut up and eat. Please!!!

I used to be super into shonen so I love fight scenes and I think there will be some really cool and creepy moments

That moment when the fight between Mob and Dimple is super tense and it seems like Mob is going to erase Dimple for good and then-

“That shirt is so lame!” -> 100%

In all honestly I found *that* punchline the funniest thing in the entire series. I remember laughing so hard at 3 am reading it for the first time that I woke my roommate up. The build up and release of that joke felt like a gut punch to reader in the best way possible. Like a splash of cold water when you least expect it. ONE is a master at comedic timing!

Recent flashbacks of Mob once again failing to pick up on social cues and subtle implications during conversations. #autism #reletable 

Watch dumbfoundedly as this cursed arc becomes a very wholesome one bc ofc it would, it’s Mob Psycho after all. Yet it always takes me by surprise.

Once again Mob is back to being wholesome, it’s been a bit since we last saw Mob be wholesome. Welcome back

Trust was such a brilliant subversion and was somehow very unexpected yet makes so much sense

How this conflict of ideals melts away into a heart to heart

Mob being his empathetic and pacifistic self. Welcome back

That phenomenal apology from Mob. Dimple’s really right, he’s gonna be a man. And somehow this ridiculous and dramatic arc circles back to a slice of life core. Dimple just wanted friendship.

Dimple being best girl a tsundere

How Mob being the obtuse mf he is asking Dimple if its really ok that he is letting go of his dreams. Then tells Dimple to stay away from his house while in God!Dimple form (honestly Mob can be just as brutally harsh as Tsubomi. Neither of them intend to do harm, its just interesting the similarities they share that’s some good fucking writing)

The drop that this arc aint over and shit has hit the fan

The fight Dimple has vs the divine tree to protect Mob is going to hurt so much worse (and be much creepier) animated,  isn’t it.

Dimple was a friend *sobs*

Dimple made you cry. Admit it. That old green fart made you tear up a lil didn’t it.  

[patchyfish]

My Top 10 favourite Mob Psycho 100 Canon Things

1. The whole 'When your Dad says no but your Mum says yes' relationship between Tome, Serizawa and Reigen.

2. Dimple Saying Trans Rights despite being an old Man.

3. Serizawa finally being confident both in his social skills and powers after years of self hate and anxiety.

4. Reigen Stanning Saitama and having a photo of him as his Phone Wallpaper.

5. Reigen being a very flawed person but growing and councelling others on how to be a better person based on some of his own past failures, sometimes even disguising and weaponising it. Like when he convinced Dimple to stay.

6. Mob comforting Serizawa about his Anxieties.

7. Just everything about Katsuya really...

8. Teru asking Mob if he likes Boys and telling him he's good looking when he doubts himself oh god gay/bi people real.

9. "You're the Protagonist of your own Life" which then Mob repeats later "I'm the protagonist, of my own life.", Damn...Your Life is your own.

10. Reigen having a bad relationship with his parents and them being manipulative and trying to control his love life, which you can see reflected in how he was very controlling of Mob at first but then he changes and he feels terrible after lying and treats Mob like a Son and oh lordy I'm gonna go cry-

BONUS

Ritsu's hate for Reigen is hilarious.

[nie7027]

I just watched the Ova os its time for my scrambled up comments on it

First, I love Reigen so much

Ha had been trapped for weeks in a parallel work going crazy, he has all the right to sceam at Seri for not telling him he can go back to the real worl but he....literally forces himself to calm down? Like a mature adult should do? Because he knows screaming at Seri not only wont help at all but actually will seriously affect him(because it will be a proof he everything bad he rhinks of himself)

So he instead goes on and gives him good life advice

And it just makes it hurt so much because i dont need to read the letter to know he was going to suicide.

His last resort was killing himself and he actually went and did it on screen.

He was concious unlike movies jumping off a train is really dangerous and few people make it out alive. Thats why he did it when he couldnt bear it anymore but he knew hks chances of surviving were very little and thats why he wrote the letter and carved his name. In case it didnt work

AND IT WAS RITSU WHO HAD TO SEE IT AND BY HIS FACE YOU CANT TELL ME HE DIDNT REALIZE WHAT IT MEANT speciaññy with how quickly Reigen tried to cover it.

Dimple realized it too but just let it there hang in the air (either to see if anyone else caught on it or just was being his usual mean self). But what i get of this is that apparently Dimple knows about Reigens deppression bouts, how "easy" he depress (while it makes sense one would get depressed of that situation it didnt seem like the others realized how bad actually Reigen was, just that he looked scruffyñ which makes me wonder how does he know?? The only other time we have seen it was during the separation arc Dimple wasnt there, he went with Shige.

Maybe its just Dimple and his keen obeservations

Which brings me to...HE WAS ACTIVELY TRYING TO CATCH SIGH OF TERUS HAIR? And even went a talked to Mob about BUT he made to whisper so Ritsu (who never knew what happedned in Terus and Mobs fight) didnt hear.

Its been months but he still pays attention to it while everybody else, including Mob, has forgotten about it.

This was clearly a reference for the future brocoli arc but it was nice it was Dimple the one to brought it up

Another reference being the infamous Teru asking about Mobs crush. And as everybody else I WAS SCREAMING (TERU SAID GAY RIGHTS) and as before it draws my attention that they chose Teru to be the one who brought it up!!

He was literally that meme "lets play 20 questions. Sure what your favorite color? Square, do you like boys? :)"

Mob was too embarrased to asnwer (omg that PA PA PA was so cute) and Teru of course had to get his answer so he went and tried another way and almost got it but Ritsu saved the day.

It was funny how quick was Ritsu to try and save Mob from his embarrasment that he in the process forgot not only Seris past but all manners too and went and asked that precisely to him instead of i dunno reverting the question to Teru (an embarrased Teru would have been great)

He obviously regretted after hearing Seris answer (ouch my heart) but at least Mob was saved.

Ive bee son caught in the fanfics and everything that I completely forgot i (as an anime only) actually dont know Seri and it was nice to see him finally interact with the crew.

How nervous he is, how he takes everyrhibg Reigen says seriously and tries his best to do as he is told (instead of following his hunch).

I really liked how they kept casually mentioning Seris horrible past no one, because its something very important one cant just leave behind, but at the same time showing it doesnt hold Seri back anymore.

And they actually integrated to little things Seri still carries on (his lists, his suitcase with everything he could need, his gamer tendencies). Those were nice details.

Not even the kids glossed over it but actually offered him suport (he and Mob bonding over how nervous trips made them was very cute).

The least Reigen who went all his way(even in his state) to made sure Seri was doing okay but at the same time improving.

I meanwe all know Reigen accepted this job just so everybody could have a nice vacaction (HE DIDNT HAVE TO BUT HE BROUGHT EVERYBODY)

And my nice boy Teru wanted to make sure he thanked him (THEY ARE SUCH FATHER AND SON )

For last as always I love Teru. He didnt get that much important screen time but he was a cutie nonetheless.

Being so informed about the place they were going and showing early to scout the area and made sure everything was good (lets not dwell on the fact he still has his guard up even though Claw was defeated and this is an habit he will probably have forever)

He was so happy and relaxed ❤

Thank you Bones for showing me Teru actually interacts with Seri (his other dad afterall)

Pd: ritsu and Mob went 😮 when Teru entered the onsen because Teru is canonically very ripped off for a boy his age??

[non-specific-excuse]

Hi again! Decided to just hop off anon. Another thing I was wondering, the relationships in general, would you say they changed much from before he left and after? I.e. Shou and his mom, would their relationship change or just, not really have one anymore? And just, would he just keep having a more acquaintance one with people like Teru and Mob?

Hello again :D

Of course! Growing up always has a way of changing dynamics, especially with the experiences Shou went through. 

Shou sort of loses his relationship with his mother. He’s staying with Reigen, Serizawa, and Teru- and he does for some time. Shou keeps in touch with his mother, and though she doesn’t reach out to him, she always picks up the phone when he calls now. She wants to be better, both for herself and for him, but she’s lost the ability to recognize her son- as such, there’s always that barrier between the fear of who he’ll turn out to be and the stress of not knowing who he is preventing her from being the mother she’s maybe too late to start acting like. Shou still loves her, though he knows its not an effortless love, and he knows he’s only holding onto her because he’s afraid to let go of her in one way or another, even after everything. 

But Shou has Serizawa and Reigen and Teruki now- two dads and a brother, even if it goes unsaid as such. He hangs out with Teru a lot because they live together and learn they’re both mutually pretty cool dudes, even if Teru takes a long while to get used to how upfront Shou’s personality is without getting needlessly offended by it. Shou has trouble opening up to everyone, even Ritsu- if he talks to anybody the most, it’s Ritsu, but even then it takes time for him to become someone ready to accept others truly into his life again and come off ‘mission mode’ to just be a kid, a teen, a young adult after some time. He becomes good friends with a lot of Mob’s friends, and Mob too, because he sees him a lot through Teru (gay rights I’d imagine) and he sees him a lot bc he sees Ritsu a lot, which ya, gay rights. I’m sure they’d become something more in the future, when they’re both older, and after Shou learns to open himself up to others and forge strong relationships for reasons other than strategy.

Thanks again for the ask!! I love answering fic-related questions, especially for this series, which I put a lot of time and self-projection into aha

[fabelyn]

Atelo Ch.2

Pairing: minor serirei and terumob (no romance between any adult and kid, not even onesided)

Rated: PG-13 Warnings: spoilers for manga/anime end + Reigen sequel Chapter: 02/? (previous chapter) Word Count: 4k

Link to AO3

Summary: They wake up one morning to find Reigen gone.It’s hard to find a man whose past and history they never knew. They search for him, only to wonder if they should be bringing him back at all.

Roshuto glanced down at the yellowing tomes of what seemed like accounting books and resisted the urge to groan.

When his former disciple had brought in that girl, he’d happily assumed his sworn rival had finally screwed up and she was changing sides for someone who was clearly superior.

Well, his remarkable intellect had certainly hit the mark, partially . After all, what reason other than screwing up was there for the psychic Reigen Arataka to run off so quickly? Too suspicious.

However, the girl had not come to beg for employment, although at least she’d come seeking enlightenment; she’d arrived bearing books from Reigen Arataka’s office to request an explanation for them. Roshuto agreed he could spare a moment of his time to glance at them—perhaps even pick up a psychic signal of his rival’s whereabouts—and was annoyed when he began to peruse and realized they were all just bookkeeping.

Nonetheless, since he did understand some of that, he ploughed on; maybe he’d uncover his rival had been siphoning money out of his business.

“Aha!” He cried out proudly, and allowed the girl the come closer so he could show her his findings. “Verily I see something is wrong here. Take a look at these numbers! He’s claiming these absurdly cheap values are his consultation prices? Clearly, he’s writing down lowered values to keep a large part of the profits—”

“Nah, those are his rates.”

“...Oh.” That was… worrying. He couldn’t imagine trying to live off those prices. His rival must be swimming in clients. Although the books said otherwise. “Let’s see… ah! I see he claims he had two appointments at the same time.”

“Yeah, and now he’s updated to three.”

Roshuto was beginning to sweat now. “And… and here he has a strikethrough on a price and wrote down… carrots next to it?”

“Yeah, sometimes they can't pay with money. The carrots were pretty tasty though.”

“I… I… here! He constantly removes some pocket change and calls it “Mob”. Perhaps he’s been paying an audience some money to react as he wishes?”

“No, Mob just means Mob-kun’s salary.”

“... That’s salary ?!” Even he paid people better. Although a “Seri” seemed to earn a near living wage. He assumed it was the other man that worked there.

“Tragic, I know. But at least from what you’re telling me it doesn’t seem like he was skimming us.”

“My dear girl, I’m wondering why he was even paying you at all, with these rates. Were they always this low?”

“I think so, yeah. Why?”

“Girl, it would take too long to go through the intricate and delicate process that is starting a new business who is as often defamed as the one of psychics. To cut it short: offices cost money to rent or buy, then to maintain. So does the advertising required to kickstart such a venture. Normally one would procure a loan and pay it using the money earned. However, your Master seems to keep his rates low enough to live of off, so long as you don’t have loans on top of the daily necessities to pay. Meaning either someone gave him money to start off, he had money put aside from something, or he’s receiving money from elsewhere.”

“And can we find that out by looking through the ledgers?”

“Perhaps. It depends on how truthful and detailed his accounting is… which, I must warn you, detailed it is not . From just this sample I’ve picked it’s clear he only knows the basics. Although, I suppose, that could mean he would be unable to use any complex techniques to hide issues…” He glanced at the books the girl had brought over; there were too many. “You said these should encompass five years’ worth of accounting? Any detailed analysis will take more time.”

“... How much would that be? This is way over what highschool math is teaching me.”

No doubt . Roshuto calculated the time it would take him to look over the books, considering his current appointments… far too much.

He glanced over the girl again; she looked tired, but not yet defeated.

…Certainly, she looked better the last time he saw her, which was when he forced Rusty onto her…

Roshuto cleared his throat. “I suppose I could… glance over these in my spare time. Consider it as extending an olive branch to my rival. As payment… I’ll take information on what became of him, when you find him.” If you find him.

After the girl left, beaming, he summoned his current helper.

“Cancel any new appointment that may come up.” He glanced at the books and rubbed his hands. After this, I won’t owe you anything, Reigen Arataka.

*

Tome went back to the office with a spring in her step. Granted, the psychic hadn’t given her any answers, but at least he’d promised to work on it, and for free! Reigen would have been proud, if he’d still been around.

That depressed her all over again. And then she recalled Roshuto’s comment and anger surged instead.

She didn’t know how he got the office! She didn’t know anything! That was the worst. Reigen was claiming he was helping his parents and she couldn’t even tell if that was true or a lie fabricated by whatever entity had to be possessing Reigen right now.

Serizawa and Mob might know more, but they were too busy being heartbroken to be any help for now.

Which reminded her; she needed to see if Mob’s brother had made any progress.

As she scrolled through her contacts, an idea came to her, though she’d need the boys to see it through.

*

“Hey Ritsu-kun, how’s Mob-kun holding up on your end?”

He sighed. “My house is still under a storm cloud, Tome-san.”

“Damn, that can’t be good for the flowers.”

It’s not good for anything . “Yes, my parents aren’t too thrilled.”

“What are they doing about it, then?”

“They, uh, told Shige to knock it off with the constant rain.”

“Oh, did that work?”

“….It might have made it worse for an hour. But I might be mistaken.”

“Huh. Is this the first time he’s been this upset? I mean, okay, so obviously his parental—”

“His what , Tome-san?”

“Uuuh, his mentor figure walking out on him isn’t a normal occurrence but surely other stuff has upset him before?”

“It’s rare but I’ve seen this rain phenomenon happen twice before, yes.”

“Well then, how did you guys get rid of it?”

“…He went running to Reigen-san.”

“Well, damn .”

*

Mob flinched when another thunderbolt flashed by his window. He hadn’t meant to make the rain worse, especially after his parents scolded him for it, yet somehow remembering their orders was wreaking more havoc.

Maybe he should leave and go sit in the park somewhere until the raincloud blew over. But first…

He called Master Reigen, who picked up immediately. A sure sign he had no clients currently, which made Mob feel marginally better. “Hey Mob, what’s up?”

“ Master, I don’t think I’ll be able to come over today, I’m so sorry.”

He glanced outside the window and flinched; his mom had scolded him for ruining the flowers… and he could see the flowerbed had become a small pool already.

“Ah? Well, I suppose once in a while I do have to use my own powers, but why can't you come?”

“I… I’m a little upset…” He turned his back to the rain pouring outside his window. “And it’s, uh, making my powers go out of control. It’s been raining non-stop.”

“You sure that isn’t just the weather, Mob?”

“There’s a rain cloud over my house, and my house only, Master.”

“ Ah… well…”

“Anyway, I don’t want to drench your office. It’s bad enough that my mom’s flowers are ruined. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Hm, but it’s raining outside the house, right?”

“Err, yes?”

“So my office isn’t getting drenched. Come on over. Unless you feel more comfortable at home, of course.”

“But won’t it be bad for business, having a rain cloud over the office? And the window was leaking last time it rained, so some water might get in—”

“It’s just water, Mob. We’ll deal with it if it does get in. Besides, you need to think about perspective here. A spirit consultation office with it’s personal eerie rain cloud? Ha! That gives it authenticity . Business will boom. And if it doesn’t, you can entertain me by explaining just why you’re upset.”

“I watched a movie called Hachiko—”

“Say no more. Come on over. I have a new brand of spiritually soothing tea we could try out if you want.”

The downpour turned into a drizzle.

*

“It’s fine, I’ve called the cavalry. What about on your end, Tome-san? How is Serizawa-san?”

“Still down in the dumps. I’ve come up with a plan to boost his self confidence and locate Master Reigen but it hasn’t born fruit yet.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“I created a profile for him on a gay dating app, and added subtle messages to attract aliens!”

“ How would that even— ” The doorbell mercifully rang. “Sorry, let me get back to you later, help for my brother has arrived.”

Ritsu opened the door to a grim-faced Shou and Teru. He was about to offer a towel but noticed they’d used their powers to stay dry.

“It’s bad, huh?” Teru said as a greeting.

Shou looked down at the shoes by the door. “Are your parents around?”

“No, they left for drier ground.”

“‘Kay, we got this, lead the way.”

As Ritsu led them to his brother’s room, he felt relieved they’d finally arrived. While normally he’d try talking to Shige on his own as usual, it was complicated when the issue was the damned conman. Ritsu had had no love for him, and most people knew that, so considering the current issue, he feared he’d be too biased, or say something he’d regret, instead of helping Shige, so perhaps leaving it to Shou and Teru would be wiser.

He opened the door to Shige’s room but chose to not enter with them, instead staying next to the door so he could listen in.

“Hey, Kageyama-kun, we heard the news,” Teru was speaking. “And we’re here to help you out of this funk.”

Ritsu nodded to himself. Yup, he was wise to call on them. All would work out —

“Sometimes parents need some extended time alone away from us, but that’s normal.”

Wait, what? The wind outside picked up.

“I mean,” Teru kept going, “mine left, but they still write. Sometimes. Usually checks. It happens, it’s hard taking care of esper kids, they get tired sometimes.”

The wind was so strong it felt like someone was physically banging against the windows.

“Right!” Shou added. “My mom didn’t take me with her, but she still talks to me. Well, she’s an esper so it’s different, but — ”

I wanted calvary, I called two Horsemen of the Apocalypse instead.

“Are you two insane?! ” Before Ritsu realized it, he’d rushed inside the room.

Mob was hunched on a corner of his mattress, arms wrapping over his knees and head down. Teru and Shou looked at Ritsu like he was the crazy one.

“What’s with you, little brother? Kageyama-kun needs to learn that as an esper, things like this are bound to happen.”

“Right, most people at Claw turned orphans because of non-esper parents. Why do you think Mukai—”

“ Reigen Arataka wasn’t his parent! ”

He was met with twin withering looks.

“Ritsu, now is not the time for semantics—”

“It’s not semantics! Reigen Arataka wasn’t his parent, which is why this is all too suspicious !”

“…What?”

Ritsu was already beginning to regret it, he should not be the one to have to defend that damn man.

…But the wind outside stilled, as if in baited breath, and Mob’s head slightly lifted from the cradle of his arms.

Ritsu sighed. He was going to be mature about this, for his brother’s sake, and say it. He hoped wherever Reigen was, he was suffering enough to justify putting Ritsu in this position.

“You’re saying non-esper parents sometimes leave because they can’t handle esper kids, right? Well, my brother isn’t Reigen’s kid to begin with. If Shige’s powers bothered him, all he had to do was not involve himself with a kid that wasn’t in any way connected to him. Yet he stuck around, for years.” Granted, it was mainly because he needed his brother to bring in money…

Shige had no reaction other than to let his head fall again.

Ritsu hoped Reigen was being tortured right now.

“Look, I… was never a fan of him—”

“That’s an understatement,” Dimple made its presence known by mumbling next to Ritsu.

“He’s immature, dramatic, selfish , underpaid you and is a fraud. But… there’s proof he did care , more than just for profit.” Ritsu pictured Reigen being dragged over hot coals, it helped . “There was that time he entered Claw’s hideout to get you out. And then w hen… when you were run over before trying to confess , didn’t he go after you ? And that was after he had Serizawa-san working for him . Look, he’s not the best person out there, but even I have to admit he did more for you than someone who only wanted you for profit would .” Sometimes.

There was complete silence, and Ritsu felt his face slowly flushing at the stares.

“...Thank you, Ritsu, but that isn't it.”

Four pair of eyes stared at Mob, now emerging from his between his arms, incredulously.

“It’s… not? What are you drowning the plants for, then?” Dimple asked first.

“...He’s a good person. He’s done a lot for me when he didn’t need to. I know he cares, even if not as much as I thou — ” Mob stopped before taking in a breath and continuing. “I’m upset because he didn’t hesitate. He didn’t wait at all. Ritsu, was he so miserable this whole time that it was that easy to leave? He’s been helping me for years and I… didn’t notice at all.”

The rain started back up again. Ritsu found himself sweating slightly. He’d assumed his brother’s issues were much simpler than they apparently were.

He hadn't needed to make a speech praising the conman, damn it .

“Shige, he might just be having a mid-life crisis and is coming back soon,” he ran his mouth, hoping if he spoke enough, something convincing would come out. Oh god, he's been gone a day and I’m already acting like him . “And with the way he’s such a prideful exhibitionist there’s no way Reigen-san wouldn't want to boast about finally getting rich! It’s not like him! He’s the type that would stick around to show off and invite us over to watch his success, not cut ties! And! I find it hard to believe he was that miserable. He stuck around through that shameful media fiasco, why run off now that everything's back to normal? Not to mention, he has more people helping him at the office now as well.”

Mob finally sat up on the futon with a sigh.

“I wanted to think that but… his decision is pretty final, I think.”

“What makes you think that, Kageyama-kun?”

Wordlessly, Mob took a crumpled letter from inside his shirt. He took a check out of it and handed it to Ritsu.

Ritsu looked down at it and saw white .

“ Shit , look at that... that’s 6 digits !” Dimple screeched. “Since when did that guy have this much?!”

“Maybe the real reason Reigen-san skipped town is because he murdered someone and took their money?” Shou suggested.

“He sold his apartment,” Mob said, and waved a paper in his hands when they looked at him quizzically. “It says so in his letter.”

“He managed to sell that hole in the wall in two days ?!” Dimple asked, which Shige ignored. Ritsu noticed that while they’d been busy gaping at the check, he’d gotten hold of his phone.

It felt like everyone was drawing their breath in unison as they watched him call Reigen’s number.

It went straight to voicemail without ringing once. The usual sign of being blocked. Ritsu was beginning to sweat all over again, but his brother only frowned.

“We need to find him, let’s talk to Tome-san.” Mob said simply, not seeming at all dispirited any longer. He stood up and placed a hand on Ritsu’s shoulder. “Thank you, Ritsu. You mentioned the times he helped me, and that reminded me of something.” Mob paused, clearly thinking things through. “I think it was all so unexpected I just couldn’t think clearly about what I have to do.”

“What are you planning, Ritsu’s bro?”

“Master Reigen once said to me that he didn’t hate daily life at the office. And he also said,” Mob flinched, “...something I should have paid more attention to, if I hadn’t been so self absorbed at the time. But the point is, maybe he was lying that time. And maybe he couldn’t leave before because he had nothing else to do. But now that he can be rich somewhere else, he would rather leave.”

Mob paused yet again. However, in the last ten minutes Ritsu had heard him speak more than he had in days, and didn’t dare complain about how long it took him to get the words out. The other three people (well, two and a spirit) also seemed to know him well enough to not dare hurry him up.

“But this isn’t like the Master Reigen I know. I shouldn’t be in bed doing nothing; I want to make sure he isn’t running from something and keeping it from me. And... if that’s not it… if everything was a lie… I want to at least apologize. And give back the money.”

Apologize? Ritsu frowned. While he was glad Mob was now getting out of bed with a resolute expression, he wasn’t so sure about the apologizing part.

But he couldn't ask now. Dimple was taking all the attention by screeching about not giving back the money and they had Teru and Shou there. He’d wait for later.

*

Tome walked into the office and groaned when she saw Serizawa was still in fetal position.

“Are you going to stay like that forever?!”

“Leave me be, Tome-san. I ruined everything.”

Tome would have kicked him, but he looked more pitiful than a lost puppy. Instead she raised her hands up in surrender.

“Fine! Not even a thank you for the dating profile either. Ugh. You know what? I respect you for this, Serizawa-san. I legit respect you for being able to fall for absolute trash !”

She sauntered over to Reigen’s desk and occupied herself, pretending not to notice Serizawa finally moving.

“He’s not trash,” he said in a reprimanding tone. Tome let out a theatrical yawn.

“Really? You certainly think so.”

“ What? I do not! Where is this coming from?” Serizawa was so indignant he actually stood up, hands clenched tightly.

Tome arched one eyebrow and placed her head between her hands, hopefully perfectly imitating Reigen’s I-know-this-and-am-superior posture.

“You think Reigen-san is such a disgusting asshole that he skipped town without so much as a goodbye to everyone he knew… because you had a crush? I mean, it doesn’t even make sense because he gave you the deed to his precious office, despite the fact that, in your mind, running away from you . Still, if that’s why he left, he’s quite the trash, huh?”

Serizawa deflated, with an expression that Tome could only describe as hopeful confusion. “... When you put it that way… this isn’t like him. It’s just… I’ve been wrong about people before.”

“Yeah well, dunno what happened with your last boyfriend—”

“Ah, no, I was referring to my former bos—”

“Whatever. My point is, I’m here now. And Mob will be too, if he can get his head out of his ass, to pass judgement alongside you.”

“I see.” Serizawa looked relieved for a second, before walking to the desk and frowning. “But if I wasn’t at fault, why did he leave?”

Tome rolled her eyes. Twice. “ That , my dear Watson, is what I’ve been trying to figure out while you and Mob were being useless. Well,” She glanced at the message just arriving on her phone and smiled, rubbing her hands together. “Seems like whatever Ritsu did work, Mob is coming over. Let’s finally get to the bottom of this!”

*

Mob jogged towards Spirits and Such, pace erratic in his desire to arrive quickly and make up for lost time.

Dimple was babbling on about uses of money that did not involve giving it back, but Mob ignored it.

Even though he had pockets, he held Reigen’s letter firmly in his grasp.

  “ Hey Mob,

It sounds disrespectful to address a letter to your nickname, but I think if I started this by addressing you as anything else, you might think it wasn’t me.

Anyway, if you haven’t been told yet: I’m going to be rich! Thanks to my old man, but still. I need to leave the office for it so I've taken care of my business and my apartment. The money you’re seeing is from the sale, by the way, not from anything suspicious (don’t let Dimple dictate how you use it).

You technically aren’t an employee of Spirits and Such anymore, and actually it’s not as if you ever signed a contract to begin with. However, money is the only thing I can give you, so that’s that, and I did owe you for years of underpaid work, with interest. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you anything else.

You’re fine without me, just take better care of yourself,

From your former Master”

Notes:

-“Hey Mob”: fun fact, the kanjis in Shigeo can be read as “Mobu”, so technically all Reigen would need to do was write Shigeo with the hiragana reading. This obviously doesn’t translate at all in english so I had to adapt the letter with that in mind.

-6 figure check: the money is in japanese currency, so while its still a large sum for a teen to receive, Reigen’s apartment did not sell for much.

-I am aware we do know what Reigen was doing before he got the office. The characters, however, do not.

-Trying to juggle between Ritsu's personality given his mindsets of "must protect brother" and "must look down on Reigen" was difficult. Hopefully I haven't made him out-of-character

-Feedback is appreciated, thank you for the kudos and comments so far!

[the-nysh]

Mp100 dub: episode 5 commentary

Hoo boy, this gets a little long!

Mob: *gently raises arm* “Let’s be frie–” *Teru IMMEDIATELY backs off* Ahaha omg, Teru’s overkill reaction is priceless. XD Have to rewatch it several times! Just, the contrast in how soft-spoken and gentle Mob is, compared to Teru’s extreme (almost unwarranted) caution. 

Dimple and Mob commenting on Teru’s erratic behavior is downright hilarious, because it’s like they’re lowkey dissing him at the same time. Dimple: “Are you up for doing that?” Mob: “Nah, makes me nauseous.” (Pffft! XD) Dimple: “C’mon, look how he’s standing!” *while Teru does his weird pointed knee stance* I swear, these lines have to be intentional! The coincidence is just too damn funny. X’D

Mob recalling Reigen’s teachings about not letting the conceit from having special powers get to someone’s head–   Teru: “I’m special, better than others! And THE ENTIRE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND ME!”   WELP;;;;; Yeah…even Dimple knows Teru needs to chill.

“Dimple, no!!” D8 Omg, seeing him try to protect Mob (using the excuse that Mob has the potential to become a god), with the perspective from the latest manga chapters is just….WHOA ouchie ;.;  Especially seeing him get ‘erased’ trying is just…it hits too close to home, man!! Uwaaah! D’8

Teru’s enraged screeching is on point! Props to the va! 

Mob: “Knives are sharp and dangerous; you shouldn’t point them at–” Oh mannnnn the reoccurring visual metaphors~ Especially right after Reigen’s explanation about them too. Ohoho I love it!

Teru: *hair gets chopped off* “How dare you. You think I look like some middle-aged pencil pusher now, don’t you?” OMFGGGG X’D Especially delivered with that hyper-detailed rendered shot of his expression, TWICE! “But you thought it!” I can’t!

Ok, whoa he introduces himself as ‘Terookie’ like that, ummm;; Considering his tirade on how he looks ridiculous now, adding how he sounds on top of that just feels like an extra punch to that gag. Everything’s so EXTRA it’s ridiculous. The way he hams it up placing himself at the center of the universe too. Mob: “You’re kinda going overboard here.” I DARESAY! 8D The soft-spoken precious son knows what’s up.

Mob: “You have no confidence in yourself. Same way that I don’t. If you take away your abilities, there’ll be nothing left; you’ll be empty. …You just don’t want to admit that you’re nothing without your psychic powers.” I repeat: MY SON KNOWS WHAT’S UP! Even saying that Dimple is a better person than Teru right now, gosh!

Boiii….Teru’s intense freak-out going physical. It’s actually pretty hard to watch. :’( Accusing Mob of destroying his world just by simply existing like that (really, Mob hasn’t done anything to him, except the hair accident). Damn. Mob’s desperation not to use his powers on him, recalling the trauma of accidentally hurting his brother in the past, and resorting to defending himself with weak physical punches instead. D’8 Uuuuu!!! Also Teru’s: “How many times are you gonna reject me?!” GOSH. “Wait, don’t leave me behind!” Wow. This feels a bit gay…yeah.

*???% mode finally showcased* Teru: “His vessel is able to handle this much!?” (BONES I see exactly where his power is being sucked from XD) Something ‘that must never be touched, something incomparable, entity unknown~’ Boiiii, that menacing presence! 8D “Oh, I guess, I’m just an average person after all.” Such ultimate humbling moment for this guy…

Narrator: “His powerlessness born from overwhelming contradictions, and the feeling he would never be able to conquer himself: Sadness. What had just occurred was Mob’s meager attempt at resisting his inner self.” :’(((((( So many feels for my son.

“He’s been beaten, stripped and shamed!!” WELP! The other delinquents gtfo of there! XD And Teru manages to smile in all his reformed (naked) glory. He’s taking it pretty well, all things considered. 

Oh man, Mob searching for Dimple for hours in the rain, and catching a cold after coming up empty-handed. DDD’8 Uuuuu!!!! (manga feels are still too raw for this ahhhhh)

Osnap, Ritsu wanting to open up to Mob about it, but lying about the details in their past. “Back then… That wasn’t him – that wasn’t my brother.” Hoooo, he sees the news broadcast on what happened with Teru…and the plot’s intrigue sickens…! 8D Good stuff!

Very strong and intense episode, with lots of brilliant unintended (or maybe purposefully timed? Hey it’s ONE) humor sprinkled throughout. We get to see what’s up with Ritsu next time, looking forward to it! 8D